Friday Poll

Today we had an earthquake, hail, and a tornado. Well, the tornado wasn't exactly where I live, but it was close enough.

Do you think the weather is weird lately? Or is it just me?

An Incoherent Rant

For whatever reason, I just cannot seem to find the time to visit your actual sites and comment. I think it has been all the end of the year stuff, coupled with T-ball and all sorts of other things that have been occupying my attention. I am sorry, and I promise to be by soon.

But in the meantime, I am going to write about something that has been on my mind for a while. It will probably be lacking in sense and logic, but that has never stopped me from writing anything before, so why should I let it bother me now?

When I first began writing at my "other blog" I was so excited. I thought, oooh, some sort of legitimacy as a writer. Someone was actually willing to pay me money to write!

And yes, it isn't a normal sort of mommyblog because we are pretty much all over the place, but I kind of like it that way.

Back in November when we were having a contest with over two hundred bucks worth of prizes, my boss directed that I send emails to all of the top mommyblogs, asking nicely if they would mention our contest on their blog. And of course, if they linked to us, we would link to them and all kinds of nicey-nicey stuff like that.

So think of a fairly big name blogger and I probably sent it to her, minus Dooce and finslippy and Fussy. I was pretty sure any email from me would wind up immediately in their spam folder.

And do you know that out of the fifty or so emails I sent out, only ONE site responded? It was acutally 5 Minutes for Mom, which sort of specializes in contests. But still, to be just totally ignored? Did they not want to give their readers a chance to win some good prizes? Were they suspicious of our motives, seeing as how we were a "for profit" sort of site?

And I find that to be the case with practically all of the mommyblogs, except for people who knew us before we began blogging there. No reciprocal links, no "hey, thanks for mentioning me on your link round-up!" All the things they would do if the blogger were a "regular" blogger. But we get nada, zip, zilch. It is like we don't even exist. It is like a link is worth a pound of flesh, too dear to give up.

And for the life of me I can't understand why. As writers, as women, shouldn't we be supporting sites that pay us to write? Instead of shunning us, they should be glad to give recognition to a site where the writers are valued enough to get paid. Which happens not a whole lot here on the internets.

I happen to think that there are fabulous bloggers out there. Better than me, who wirte more interesting and engaging things than what I see in newspapers and magazines. Why shouldn't there be a culture of valuing what we write instead of giving it away? Why is profit such a taboo thing?

Am I crazy? Probably. Am I an A-list blogger? Not in a "pure" mommyblogging sense, I suspect.

But hell, I'll take a paycheck over social acceptance any day.

Music Monday

Energy, I need energy. I've got lots of things to do and never enough time to finish it all. With my bummer of a medical condition, fatigue is common if hormonal levels are not optimal. That last sentence sounded a bit robotic, but there it is.

So lots of times I put on the old iPod Shuffle (hello, dinosaur Gina, I know you are saying that) to motivate myself whilst doing hateful tasks like folding laundry.

Every song on the Shuffle is upbeat and fast, because it was originally formatted for my workouts. Quite a while ago, my computer made it clear that Apple software (meaing iTunes) and Windows software (uh, my entire OS) were not meant to coexist in peace. So, I'm stuck with what I got.

One of my most favorite songs on there is this old gem from Stevie Wonder. I lurve Motown Stevie, and am not all that fond of Mellow Pop Stevie. I am a big fan of the "wall of sound" which this song displays nicely. And how cute is Stevie at just 15?

This song never fails to get me shakin' it, no matter what I am doing. And, what up with all the crazy white people in the front? How could they possibly be listening to this song and not moving?

Friday Poll

We're heading into the weekend, and boy has it been a long week. I know some of you have had a rough time of it lately as well.

Which alcoholic beverage is your favorite?

And if you don't drink alcohol, is there a virgin version of something that you like?

Update

The conference today lasted over an hour. I am happy to report that the teacher was very receptive to what I had to say. Although I think she was understating some things that went on, we were both able to develop a plan of action, both at home and at school.

I know that kids are resilient, but mine has the memory of a freaking elephant. He just does not forget things. Even things that happened years ago. I'm wondering if his future wife will like that trait or will hate it passionately. It could go either way. And, he gets it from me.

Anyhoo, I have been a veddy veddy bad bloggy friend lately. I have been reading faithfully in my bloglines, but for some reason am finding less time to actually click over and comment.

I lurve you all, thanks for your support!

FAIL

I have failed.

I have failed in my obligation as a parent.

I can't go into the details here, but just know that I have yet again naively given someone the benefit of the doubt. That is one of my biggest failings as a person. Some people would possibly see that as a positive character trait, but trust me, it isn't. I can't tell you the number of times I have been screwed over by people that I have trusted to do the right thing.

And now, now my son has been screwed over. And although I am not completely to blame, I accept a large part.

There have been some ongoing problems with Mr. P and his classmates at school, and I assumed they were being handled. They weren't. I can't get into specifics, partly beause I am tired, and partly because I am too angry to detail them right now.

I have a meeting with his teacher after school tomorrow, and I am completely livid. Oh for sure I will go in there and speak politely, but there will be no doubt in anyone's mind that I am pissed. I am generally a pleasant person, but when you mess with me or my kid, then watch the hell out. I don't care that you are Christian and that this is supposedly a religious school. That will not keep me from breaking out my can of whup-ass and withdrawing my son from the school for the remainder of the year.

I truly believe I will be dealing with the fallout from what has happened at this school for quite a while.

It took me far too long to piece together what has been going on, and for that, I have failed.

My son, I am so, so very sorry.

Friday Poll

Do you consider yourself to be a Type A or a Type B personality?

Write or Wrong

Jesus, I didn't write anything yesterday and I STILL can't come up with anything. I know that I thought of something this morning, but pffft, it's gone. Just like that chocolate bar Hubba-hubba thought he hid.

I was thinking the other day about my shortcomings as a writer. This took me approximately two days, since I have quite a few of them.

One of them seems to be the fact that I crack myself up, but may or may not crack other people up. I have been known to write something and cackle at it for five mintues straight. But then it goes live, and even the crickets are desperately lonely.

Another of my weaknesses is the inability to make up great similes. There are writers who can toss off beautiful, perfect similes like they were nothing. I am very jealous of those people. I am forbidden to be within two hundred yards of a simile, I am that dangerous with them.

Sometimes I'm not sure if I explain things well enough. Like I will be referring to an event or literature or something, and I won't explain it because I figure if I have to explain it, then it isn't funny anymore. Right? Or am I wrong?

Possessives. Sometimes I can get mixed up with singular possessives and the proper punctuation. I once had a reader point out my mistake and I was sooo embarassed. But then part of me wanted to have her go ahead and edit every dang thing I write, because I write a lot. And I get tired and lazy and don't double-check as well as I should.

Hmmm, remind me again why I like writing so much?

School Blues

Mr. P is not the biggest fan of school.

He complains that it is "boring." He loathes circle time, especially. Which is odd because there is nothing he likes more than stories, and a close second is showing off whatever knowledge he might have about a particular subject.

He can read very well, and in discussing what school he should attend next year with Hubba-hubba, I began to think that perhaps he needed to be challenged more. His teacher had told me, well, whispered because there were other parents around that Mr. P is "very, very intelligent" and is the only one in his class that can read at such a high level. He can read so well, in fact, that he read "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" to his classmates.

Ok, bragging aside, my last wish is for him to detest going to school. Because dude, you've got at least 12 more years to go.

I agonized over whether he should enter first grade in the fall instead of kinder. I talked to people, and of course, no one could answer such an important question for me.

In desperation, I called the local elementary school and asked if I could speak with someone, or get him tested, or something that would help me make this decision.

That very day he went in for an assessment test, and he passed the kinder asessment with flying colors, he missed only two things. One being that he forgot the number fifteen when counting, and the second being identifying a lower case "l" as an "i." It was found that he is reading at or above first grade level. He can write sentences and sound words out phonetically at a first grade level. The teacher said that academically, he would do fine in first grade.

But then that whole social aspect of it loomed large. And should I really put him in school all day long when he already has doubts as to its usefulness in the overall scheme of his life? Do I want him to be among the oldest in the class, or the youngest?

What do y'all think? Should we challenge him and put him in first, or hope that the kinder curriculum can keep him occupied?

Music Monday and Randomness

Well, we got a new washing machine, and yes, Mrs. G, it is indeed one of those fancy-schmancy front loaders. To be honest, I wanted this new washing machine to perhaps induce some sort of enthusiasm on my part for the doing of laundry. I was hoping that having a really nice, new machine that washes my clothes fabulously (which it does, I would highly recommend the Maytag Neptune to anybody) would somehow change my loathing and dread.

But, to hardly anyone's suprise, it didn't.

Although we did shop at a warehouse store that happened to also be selling pay washing machines, the kind that are in laundromats. I pointed them out to the very bored Mr. P, who was enthralled at the idea of inserting four quarters every time we want to wash our clothes. "Let's get this, Mommy! Please, can we get this one?" I laughed and said, "And pay myself every time to do the wash? I don't think so!"

Then I got to thinking, and it might actually not be a bad idea. I mean, we could have a "laundry fund" wherein I save all the quarters and we use the money to go on vacation or something. Whaddaya think?

And in a laundry-related video, I present this gem from David Bowie. I had thought of doing "Blue Jean" instead, but I've always liked "Fashion" better. Beep beep!