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My Halloween Top Ten

Post on October 31st, 2009 by Jodie

10. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! - True, this hasn’t aged well, but it’s still a classic and without it…well…I just don’t want to go there.

9. Halloween M & M’s - Purple and black M&M’s? Sign me up!

8. Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven - Nevermore.

7. Leaves - On grey days, you can still see fire all around when the leave change their colors. And crunching leaves on the ground, the smell, raking…it’s all good.

6. Let The Right One In - if you haven’t seen the movie, read the book. If you have seen the movie, GO READ THE BOOK. Intense and horrifying, a good scare all around.

5. Little Kids - Like all holiday’s they are geared to children, but Halloween give us the freedom to let our freak flag fly, not matter how young we are. Whatever kids want to do, whomever they want to be; on Halloween, it’s okay - you are accepted for your weirdness. If only we encouraged that feeling more.

4. The Dead - Supposedly on Halloween night, the veil between our living world and the spirit world is at it’s thinnest. I have lost more important people in my life than is healthy for someone of my age. On Halloween night I bring out their pictures and light my candles. I let them know they are missed and loved and any messages they have I will receive with joy and gratitude.

3. Pumpkins - Pumpkins are a complete tactile experience. The smell good, they look good, they last good. Give them a few thumps, they even sound good. Smooth and cool, rough or bumpy. You grip a pumpkin stem in your hand, there is nothing like it. Carving pumpkins, squishy flesh, toasting seeds. You don’t get more bang for you buck.

2. Candy - I’m not going to lie. I love candy. I have a sweet jaw. I buy things I won’t eat now to give out on Halloween, so I’m not that bad lady who hands out a toothbrush. I’m not big on the suckers, so that’s what we’re doing this year.

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas - A whole town of Halloween?! When can I get in on a condo? I allowed my four year old to watch this, supervised of course. She can’t get enough. She likes the characters and the music. She sings The Halloween Song randomly. Last night she even said that Jack was “The Santa of Halloween” and I added “Maybe he’s The Skeleton of Christmas” We agreed he was both.

Category just the day, the love i have for you, lists | No Comments »

Excerpts from Walt Whitman

Post on October 30th, 2009 by Jodie

Thank the hip jeans commercial for this. From Walt Whitman’s Pioneers O! Pioneers:

All the hapless silent lovers,
All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,
All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying, Pioneers! O pioneers!

I too with my soul and body,
We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way,
Through these shores, amid the shadows, with the apparitions pressing, Pioneers! O pioneers!

Lo! the darting bowling orb!
Lo! the brother orbs around! all the clustering suns and planets,
All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams, Pioneers! O pioneers!

Category poetry | No Comments »

On cheering myself up…

Post on October 28th, 2009 by Jodie

I have been up on and off since 4:30AM. It’s abysmal. And for once, it’s not The Buns waking up with his five alarm fire scream and subsequent two hours of crying. This was all me. Boo crept up into our room at about 4:18. We went back down to her room and then she and I were awake for another half hour. For whatever reason she was just wide awake and wanted to talk to me. She fell asleep between 5-5:15 and then slept until 6:30. I, on the other hand, wafted through anxiety-ridden wakefulness, half-sleep, deep relaxation while awake and maybe a cat-nap. I feel barely functional. Like maybe I shouldn’t drive small children around.

Luckily, The Buns goes into daycare today. Which leaves me home with Boo. And we are still struggling with her attitude and willingness to do what she’s told. It’s wearing me down. This is my favorite time of year and I don’t feel like I can fully enjoy it. I’m seriously considering buying her the new Tinkerbelle movie, just so I don’t have to deal with her. And then when she watches it and wants to watch it again right away, I’ll say yes and sleep.

I hate feeling this way. I confuse it so easily with anxiety and depression. Then I start thinking there is something deeply wrong. And soon I’m in a panic spiral thinking I have all kinds of terminally diseases which all stem from the fact that I am morbidly obese and every other woman in my family is dead.

We went to the pumpkin patch last night with the kids and they have this hay-bale picture area with pumpkins and mums and gourds, etc. We have our family picture taken there every year. It’s just my thing. When I look back at the those pictures it’s so obvious that I have gained a good 70-80 pounds in the last four years. This year’s was the worst. Even when you crop it, so it’s just our faces there is still a very fat unhappy girl underneath it all. One of my favorite things and I’m not happy.

I feel like I will snap out of this, I want to. But even if mentally I’m feeling better, physically there is still the fat issue. Maybe I’ll apply the Betty Draper diet to myself, just drink red wine and have cigarettes for dinner - pick at but not actually eat a salad - coffee for a snack. The upside to that is you get Don Draper for dessert. Yum!

Category just the day, medication needed, momdom | Comments Off

…Female Rain

Post on October 26th, 2009 by Jodie

I am looking up “ambient noise” today. Both my children are sleep deprived. My daughter was up at 5 AM today and is currently talking a nap. School has started and she’ll be late, but that’s fine. She has been a complete pill since Friday, not listening, fussing, complaining, etc. This morning, when I saw the tidal wave of tantrum about to crest and crash over my living room, I simply put her in bed. After about ten minutes of her not coming out, I went in to check on her and she was in a ball on her bed, I covered her up and we snuggled. She fell asleep within two minutes.

My son has never slept in. He wakes up before 5 Am and talks to himself for about an hour then howls to get out of his crib and start the day. Literally, he howls. This usually wakes everyone up and we put pillows over our heads and wait until at least 6 AM before going to get him. My son takes his daily nap between 9-11 until 12-3. He’s like a cable installer. It’s ridiculous. Ridiculous, I say!

So we are going to try some white/ambient noise in both the kids’ rooms, and maybe in ours too. In the course of my research I came across a really cool site with natural sounds and fabulous explanations of how they were recorded, etc. And then I came across a link for “female rain”. The phrase struck such a chord with me that I Googled it and found the following poem. I’m taking a page from Ann Leary here, she’s posts poetry quite a bit and it’s always good. So I hope you enjoy.

Male Rain, Female Rain, & Awakening
by Agnes Tso

male rain
He comes
riding on the wind
kicking up dust
bending the trees
blowing flakes of rain
He flees past my window
to a distant rumble

In-laws beware of him
who mocks the braves
as his features are majestic illusions
his knife the cutting cold
and his soul a drifter

female rain
she pregnant with rain
comes
quite
softly
and gently
in the night

At dawn she gives birth
to little droplets of rain
and for days on end

awakening
male rain has come and gone
female rain is fading in the distance
father sun is here
and mother earth is awakening

Category momdom, poetry | Comments Off

Sookie can suck it – pun intended

Post on October 25th, 2009 by Jodie

Sookie Stackhouse - Southern Vampire Series
Books 1-8
By Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark , Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse

Yes, I’ve been reading vampire novels in October. Shocking. Not just any vampire novels, serial vampire novels! I understand if you question my judgment. I certainly do. After reading eight books back to back they all blend together. However, I can tell you that while Ms. Harris has created a new rush in reading, her writing and storytelling doesn’t improve through the course of books. Reading an entire series of books is a feat. And if authors are going to put out a series, they need to gradually raise the bar to keep readers interested. Ms. Harris has created a half-cooked heroine in Sookie Stackhouse. She’s a cute, country mouse with telepathy. And she stays that way, through all eight books. Yes she’s charming and brave and weird, but we never see her evolve. Sookie constantly questions her telepathic ability as being a talent and instead calls it a disability. Sookie goes up against vampires, shape-shifters, fairies, were-animals, killers and surly bar-patrons. But never once do these experiences make her smarter. Friends and relatives die and these tragedies don’t shape her ways. Ms. Harris only tells us Sookie is sad, never shows us. Even Harry Potter got sick of his bad luck.

Another way Ms. Harris keeps Sookie down is her country bumpkin language. Sookie keeps tearing off pages from her “Word a Day” calendar, yet her own language never improves and Ms. Harris makes it a point to let us know when Sookie is using her “Word a Day” calendar, which wears thin. I mean, if you’re sleeping with vampires, you should know what exsanguinates means.

Ms. Harris also keeps Sookie’s good-girl image so squeaky clean that four out of the eight books that I read didn’t have any sex in them. No. Sex. Isn’t the point of writing a vampire novel sexual by nature? Even Twilight had more sexual tension for crying out loud! While Ms. Harris does a great job of creating real world scenarios with these mythical creatures, she focuses so tightly on Sookie that we never see the background or history of any of the other characters, and I’m sorry, but Sookie is boring. There I said it. Even with her ability, she’s boring. Only once does Sookie believe in her own powers enough to use them to help, in All Together Dead. For that reason, All Together Dead is the best of the books that I read. Sookie must use her ability to save lives, but feels that even though the world has accepted vampires into society, she will be singled out for her telepathy and forced to use it in rescue operations and she doesn’t want that much attention or pressure. It’s sad and selfish and you can’t blame her for the decision she makes, but this is the most interesting character dilemma Sookie faces. I don’t count “should I sleep with the gorgeous blond vampire, the gorgeous dark haired vampire, or the big, sleek, handsome were-tiger?” much of a dilemma – poor Sookie.

Now some thoughts on the books versus the HBO series “True Blood”; the books stray away from the series early on, so if you are watching and aren’t reading (like I was) nothing is too redundant. If you’ve read the books and haven’t watched the series, I think the series is better. HBO has fleshed out more characters and there is way more sex in True Blood, which is why most people like vampire stores right, the sex? True Blood also has more comic relief than the books do, and with the scope of the world Ms. Harris has created, she takes it far too seriously. I can see where fans of the books are such fans of the show. But if you haven’t read the books, there is nothing in them that outshines what happens on the show.

Unfortunately, I have a hard time recommending these books to someone who has seen the show. They are light, fun, little books with a southern flare. If the hard-core vampire stuff creeps you out, these are just the books for you. If you like Stephanie Plum, you’ll like Sookie Stackhouse. If you like Anne Rice, you’ll yawn. Whereas Stephanie Meyer wrote about boys, Charlaine Harris writes the men, but not nearly enough for my taste, pardon the pun.

Category books, Charlaine Harris | No Comments »

Nobody knows this little Rose

Post on October 24th, 2009 by Jodie

by Emily Dickinson

Nobody knows this little Rose –
It might a pilgrim be
Did I not take it from the ways
And lift it up to thee.
Only a Bee will miss it –
Only a Butterfly,
Hastening from far journey –
On its breast to lie –
Only a Bird will wonder –
Only a Breeze will sigh –
Ah Little Rose — how easy
For such as thee to die!

Category poetry | No Comments »

Poor Me

Post on October 23rd, 2009 by Jodie

All month long Hubbin and I have been struggling to keep the kids active and doing fun things. October has been especially shitty here in Minneapolis. It’s rained 9 out of 10 days and the temperature has barely been about 40 degrees. It’s depressing. Kids should be out enjoying cool, dry air and jumping in leaves. But it snowed at the beginning of the month and it’s been a wet muddy sink-hole since.

It can be stressful constantly planning things to do. Because on days like today; slate-gray, wet, and 35 degrees, you can’t go out and play with your 19-month old. Slides are wet, leaves are wet, puddles are icy, and he’s got a runny nose already. So I’m running out of ideas.

This weekend however is so overbook that I’m in tears trying to figure it out and let people down easy. We have been invited to a birthday party down on a friend’s farm for their one-year old. It’s going to be horses and apple-bobbing and fall/harvest type stuff. The kids are going to love it. Boo is all into the horses now. We have also had plans to go up to my BFF’s house with another groovy couple for silliness with all the kiddos. My BFF has two-year old twins, and the other groovy couple has a 3 1/2 year old boy. It’s the perfect blend for my little darlings. And I love love love my BFF and the other groovy couple. There is also a local music scene I want to check out, and one of Boo’s school mates family is hosting a bunch of the French teachers over for a Crepe Cook-off. Holy shit, have you ever had crepes with Nutella?! It’s manna from heaven bitches. Seriously.

AND I’ve been invited to see a musical tonight with aforementioned BFF and her Mum and brothers. I can’t go tonight, but I want to. Not really to see the musical, but to see BFF and her family.

All month long we’ve been struggling to come up things to do and then everything happens on this one weekend. I know, I know, I sound like an ungrateful socialite. Sorry, darlings, I just have TOO much to do. Bleh.

It would help if I weren’t a total shut-in every other weekend, but to have so much fall on this one day, it’s frustrating. And naturally we want to do what is going to be the most fun for the kids, not what’s most fun for us. How’s that for mother-of-the-year mentality? Did I just lose all sense of myself as a person and not just a mother? Hmm…I’ll have to look into that. Surprisingly, for once, Hubbin has an actual opinion about this weekend. He never weighs in unless it’s really important, so I can’t just discount that, even if it’s the exact opposite of what I want. Hmm..Did I just lose all sense of myself as a person and not just a wife?

Days like today, the weather, the stress, just make me want to hide in bed. I’m not a non-confrontational person. I’ll bring it to the mat every time. However, I hate to disappoint people, and that’s going to happen no matter what. Sigh.

Category just the day, medication needed | Comments Off

Stupidity or writer’s block?

Post on October 21st, 2009 by Jodie

I have nothing on interest to say. Nothing. I have officially turned into one of those women that I hate. Home with their kids, nothing else going on, talks too much and is boring. Is it really that big of a deal that I put food coloring in with the waffles? Or that I even made waffles? For lunch? I read blogs and updates from Moms who make such a big deal out of every little thing. I don’t want to be like that, even if I’m slowly heading in that direction.

I also personally don’t think it’s interesting that I’m kicking ass at Boo’s school with the fundraising stuff. It’s going well, but how important is that to people who don’t know me and don’t attend the school?

Also, there are a million books that I’ve read and want to write reviews for. But the words just do not flow. It’s much easier for me to talk about stuff than write about it. Ask my 19-month old about it, he’ll tell ya.

Category just the day, momdom | Comments Off

The Halloween Site

Post on October 20th, 2009 by Jodie

Since I’m the Queen of Halloween and am decorating my house, I thought I’d do the site too. It’s only temporary. It will go back to its old boring self on November 1. Just in time for Nanoblogpomowhateverthefuck.

Category dorkdom | No Comments »

Iowa weekend: a list

Post on October 19th, 2009 by Jodie

- Packing for the trip was not as bad as I thought.
- Nice drive down - fall colors…ahhh.
- Cold white wine upon arrival.
- Hubbin sleeping in on his birthday.
- Getting manicures and pedicures with my cousin and daughter.
- Having my nails painted black and having halloween designs airbrushed on, toes too!
- Birthday dinner with family.
- Chocolate cake with family.
- Seeing Pezzettino in B-Sides‘ living room.
- Talking with Pezzettino afterwards (I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home).
- Hugging B-sides, his pretty wife, and awesome daughter. I’ve missed them and didn’t realize how much until I saw them again.
- Hubbin having a good birthday.
- Boo making me a necklace with Aunt Iowa.
- Drive back, fall colors again and Viking game.
- Home, pizza and baths and early bed.

Category Music, fam damnly, momdom, lists | Comments Off

Archive for October, 2009

My Halloween Top Ten

Excerpts from Walt Whitman

On cheering myself up…

…Female Rain

Sookie can suck it – pun intended

Nobody knows this little Rose

Poor Me

Stupidity or writer’s block?

The Halloween Site

Iowa weekend: a list

Greetings My Darlings

Tweety Pie

Sites I Like

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