(Wow, I just realized I've got a lot of postings here!)
The book I've been reading recently is "Helping Me Help Myself" by Beth Lisick. She is awesome and my new hero(ine?). This book is a documentary of her 12 months of self-help guru work. Each month she picked one area of her life to improve upon and enlisted the help of an "expert" in the field to get some advice from. Of course, she is very sarcastic about a lot of it because at first she is skeptical that this will work. But as the year goes on you can tell there was a change in her; she seems more accepting of just about everything, and definitely relaxes her uptight feelings about a lot of things. She has what the mainstream calls an "irreverent attitude" - my favorite kind of writing. Caustic and bitter, which is funny.
I heard her speak at the WNBA event in SF about six weeks ago, and she was hilarious. She had a great speech about waiting for the "right time" to start writing, if you have a block. There is no right time, and whatever is going on with you, write about it. Someone will appreciate good work eventually. It doesn't hurt to network too. If she needs another career (but it sounds like she doesn't from her book) she could be a stand-up comedian. I went to her website and lo and behold she does voice-over work, poetry slams, avant garde indie films with friends and performance art too. www.bethlisick.com Visit her site, buy her books!! You will not be disappointed.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
I don't know when I will golf again...
In a burst of enthusiasm about my golfing, my sweet darling wonderful husband bought me a brand new Titleist golf bag for my birthday in November. This is under the assumption of my being able to get out of the house one day a week for a league or something, once spring came around. Well, we didn't count on my getting about 1/8 of a paycheck each week through the winter, or my having to look for a new job come spring.
And we had no idea what we were in for in terms of time-consuming parenthood. Here is a "typical" night for us.
- We both arrive at home about the same time, greeting with a kiss.
- I get all the baby stuff and other miscellany out of my car and Scott gets E out of the car for me.
- We let Dudley out and let him run around squeaking his toy in blissful greeting.
- Dirty bottles, nipples, bottle covers etc. go to the sink. We also put our travel mugs in the sink, along with any dirty Tupperware we used for lunch.
- I set E on his playmat and he kicks and giggles like usual.
- Scott pours us each a nice drink - lately mine have been delicious gin & Squirt, thanks to a recent dinner guest who brought us some good stuff (thanks again Mike... I was sort of kidding when I said, "Bring gin.")
- I read over the day care sheet and see what we're up against in terms of sleep and food for E.
- Scott changes his clothes and goes outside to start the grill (because 90% of the time we're eating something grilled in the summer). Dudley follows, because... he does.
- My mom calls to talk about some logistics for the weekend.
- I take the dirty crib sheet off E's crib and take his dirty clothes downstairs. I also take our hamper downstairs.
- Tonight we're planning a trip to a family reunion for the weekend, so we need to take the back seat out of the van. In order to do this, the van needs to be in the driveway. But it can't be there because there's a giant limb from the tree that fell there (that's another story). Scott gets the chain saw out and takes care of that. Then he moves the van and gets the seat out.
- Meanwhile I start a load of laundry, taking E with me downstairs. E does not seem to enjoy the atmosphere in the basement, so we get out of there ASAP.
- Scott starts getting the burgers together, and pours some frozen green beans into a bowl for microwaving. He also feeds Dudley. Dudley won't eat his food until he sees Scott eating some chips.
- I grab a half-full bottle of formula from the day care bag and fill it with more formula to feed E. - Scott and I chat about our days at work.
- E seems hungry even after 4 more ounces of formula so I decide to make some rice cereal for him. Scott gets it together for me and I feed E in the living room while Scott eats dinner sitting on the couch.
- Scott starts reading some of the awesome book I am almost done with; he finds it as amusing as I do. Big surprise! :)
- After the cereal, E seems much happier and even starts giggling. I put away the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, and start the dishes while Scott entertains E.
- E starts fussing before I am done with the dishes, so superdad changes him, and puts PJs on him. While this is happening, I am reminded that I need to finish putting a crib sheet on the crib mattress, and I do that, but only after I realize what I thought was the crib sheet is actually for the pack and play.
- Scott puts E in the crib; he thrashes around for about 5 minutes and goes to sleep.
- Scott goes outside to clean up the yard and mow the really overgrown lawn (we've had a lot of rain). He moves a ladder, sawhorses, the recycling bin, and garbage cans before he can mow.
- I finish the dishes and realize as the water is draining that I need to go to the bathroom.
- I make E's bottles and rice cereal for tomorrow; he's going to Aunt Kim's for the day and not daycare because it's Thursday. I take an inventory of the diaper bag and restock a couple of things. Then I make sure his bouncy seat and playmat are next to the car seat with everything else; Aunt Kim's house doesn't have baby stuff anymore so it's BYO.
- I go to the basement and realize the washer has not actually done a spin cycle. But it rinsed. So I put it on spin and take the contents of the dryer upstairs to fold (they've been sitting there for a couple of days at least).
- While I am folding, Scott comes in from outside and tells me the yard waste bag that I filled up the other day and left in the yard has disintegrated in the recent soaking rains, and he needs me to come help him put the yard waste into another bag, and then store that in the garage, so he can finish mowing that part of the lawn.
- I change out of my work clothes and help him outside. While I am out there, I do some weeding in the front yard. I realize some of the perennial seeds I planted are finally coming up.
- Scott finishes mowing the lawn.
- I go to the basement to change out the load of laundry. While that's working, I decide to document this nutty lifestyle of ours on this blog.
- Scott comes in from his work outside and says, "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care." I have no idea what this means.
- He makes himself a mojito with some of the fresh mint growing behind our grill. I get some white zin out of the fridge for myself.
- While Scott is opening the wine for me he realizes he probably has bugs in his hair from being outside.
- Scott calls his parents to make sure they can take the dog overnight Saturday while we're out of town.
- Scott also calls to confirm up plans to go fishing with an old highschool friend.
- We settle in on the couch to watch some DVR recordings (usually Family Guy or Whose Line Is It Anyway) because we no longer have satellite TV service. There's nothing much on anyway.
- I'm sure we'll be in bed by 10.
I don't know when I thought I was going to golf.
And we had no idea what we were in for in terms of time-consuming parenthood. Here is a "typical" night for us.
- We both arrive at home about the same time, greeting with a kiss.
- I get all the baby stuff and other miscellany out of my car and Scott gets E out of the car for me.
- We let Dudley out and let him run around squeaking his toy in blissful greeting.
- Dirty bottles, nipples, bottle covers etc. go to the sink. We also put our travel mugs in the sink, along with any dirty Tupperware we used for lunch.
- I set E on his playmat and he kicks and giggles like usual.
- Scott pours us each a nice drink - lately mine have been delicious gin & Squirt, thanks to a recent dinner guest who brought us some good stuff (thanks again Mike... I was sort of kidding when I said, "Bring gin.")
- I read over the day care sheet and see what we're up against in terms of sleep and food for E.
- Scott changes his clothes and goes outside to start the grill (because 90% of the time we're eating something grilled in the summer). Dudley follows, because... he does.
- My mom calls to talk about some logistics for the weekend.
- I take the dirty crib sheet off E's crib and take his dirty clothes downstairs. I also take our hamper downstairs.
- Tonight we're planning a trip to a family reunion for the weekend, so we need to take the back seat out of the van. In order to do this, the van needs to be in the driveway. But it can't be there because there's a giant limb from the tree that fell there (that's another story). Scott gets the chain saw out and takes care of that. Then he moves the van and gets the seat out.
- Meanwhile I start a load of laundry, taking E with me downstairs. E does not seem to enjoy the atmosphere in the basement, so we get out of there ASAP.
- Scott starts getting the burgers together, and pours some frozen green beans into a bowl for microwaving. He also feeds Dudley. Dudley won't eat his food until he sees Scott eating some chips.
- I grab a half-full bottle of formula from the day care bag and fill it with more formula to feed E. - Scott and I chat about our days at work.
- E seems hungry even after 4 more ounces of formula so I decide to make some rice cereal for him. Scott gets it together for me and I feed E in the living room while Scott eats dinner sitting on the couch.
- Scott starts reading some of the awesome book I am almost done with; he finds it as amusing as I do. Big surprise! :)
- After the cereal, E seems much happier and even starts giggling. I put away the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, and start the dishes while Scott entertains E.
- E starts fussing before I am done with the dishes, so superdad changes him, and puts PJs on him. While this is happening, I am reminded that I need to finish putting a crib sheet on the crib mattress, and I do that, but only after I realize what I thought was the crib sheet is actually for the pack and play.
- Scott puts E in the crib; he thrashes around for about 5 minutes and goes to sleep.
- Scott goes outside to clean up the yard and mow the really overgrown lawn (we've had a lot of rain). He moves a ladder, sawhorses, the recycling bin, and garbage cans before he can mow.
- I finish the dishes and realize as the water is draining that I need to go to the bathroom.
- I make E's bottles and rice cereal for tomorrow; he's going to Aunt Kim's for the day and not daycare because it's Thursday. I take an inventory of the diaper bag and restock a couple of things. Then I make sure his bouncy seat and playmat are next to the car seat with everything else; Aunt Kim's house doesn't have baby stuff anymore so it's BYO.
- I go to the basement and realize the washer has not actually done a spin cycle. But it rinsed. So I put it on spin and take the contents of the dryer upstairs to fold (they've been sitting there for a couple of days at least).
- While I am folding, Scott comes in from outside and tells me the yard waste bag that I filled up the other day and left in the yard has disintegrated in the recent soaking rains, and he needs me to come help him put the yard waste into another bag, and then store that in the garage, so he can finish mowing that part of the lawn.
- I change out of my work clothes and help him outside. While I am out there, I do some weeding in the front yard. I realize some of the perennial seeds I planted are finally coming up.
- Scott finishes mowing the lawn.
- I go to the basement to change out the load of laundry. While that's working, I decide to document this nutty lifestyle of ours on this blog.
- Scott comes in from his work outside and says, "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care." I have no idea what this means.
- He makes himself a mojito with some of the fresh mint growing behind our grill. I get some white zin out of the fridge for myself.
- While Scott is opening the wine for me he realizes he probably has bugs in his hair from being outside.
- Scott calls his parents to make sure they can take the dog overnight Saturday while we're out of town.
- Scott also calls to confirm up plans to go fishing with an old highschool friend.
- We settle in on the couch to watch some DVR recordings (usually Family Guy or Whose Line Is It Anyway) because we no longer have satellite TV service. There's nothing much on anyway.
- I'm sure we'll be in bed by 10.
I don't know when I thought I was going to golf.
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