Just Another Day

So Elizabeth wants to know "your most embarassing moment while doing the wild monkey dance. Details, we want details." Well, I know that Elizabeth isn't one to mince words, so I am going to take what she wrote at face value and respond. I need to take a deep breath, for I am still scarred to this day. I can't believe I am actually going to share this story with the Internet. Ok, one day I was hanging out in the jungle, just kinda minding my own business. I was up in a large, gnarled tree that had long, leafy vines hanging from it. The smell of exotic fruit mixed with damp earth filled my nostrils. The next thing I know, some monkeys casually swung up to the branch I was occupying. It was a little crowded, but I made some room. "Hey," they said. "Hi!" I responded. "Would you like to dance with us?" they queried. "Well, I wouldn't mind, but I have to ask what might be considered a rather rude question." "Shoot,"...

So here are quite a few interesting topic suggestions from Gina : cheesy: your favorite celebrity boyfriend? Hmmm, I tend to be not very discriminatory regarding celebrity boyfriends. There is no solid criteria for me, sometimes they don't even have to be good looking for me to have a mild crush on them. I have, at various times had crushes ranging from Michael Palin of Monty Python's Flying Circus (and if you have never checked out any of his travel series, I highly recommend them) to Micky Dolenz of the Monkees. I have to say that if I were to pick anyone though, it would have to be a young Mel Gibson. Ok, yes, I must leave this topic as I am starting to drool onto the keyboard. serious: do you believe in global warming? I think more evidence points to it than not . whimsical: are you a good witch? Or a bad witch? I am a bad, bad witch. touching:what is your favorite moment with Mr. Personality? Oh my, out of all the moments with my son I have to pick one? I think ...

So, yeah, so if anyone wants an invitation to Gmail, let me know. I have like a billion of them. It is free and pretty cool. I use it for all of my blog-based email and most of my personal email as well. Gmail is Google, and the ONLY drawback that I know of is that there are unobtrusive print ads on the right side when you check your mail. It is still in Beta, and I have answered a couple of questionnaires from them about their service. Also, when you establish your email address, I will automatically get an email telling me about it. Bwaahaahaaa! I can already taste the power!

So like many people I know, I have a bit of a weakness for chocolate. The way I avoid this character flaw is to simply not keep chocolate in the house. That way, I have no temptations to eat any, and I have yet to have a craving strong enough to send me out of the house in search of a Snickers. We had a park and dinner date with some very old friends of ours this weekend. We figured we would let our kids build up an appetite playing on the swings, and then head off for a great little Mexican place not too far from here. We had a wonderful time and we had already hugged our goodbyes and were heading to the car. As I was loading up Mr. Personality, I noticed J walking toward us with a box in his hand. "J wanted to give this to you," he said. "Oh, thanks!" I replied, and took the box. I immediately knew what it was. "Oooooooh nooooo, J, we don't need this!" I wailed at him as he made his way back. He just grinned and waved. You see, it was a two po...

So my dear friend Suzanne from Mimilou wants to know what I miss most about my pre-child life. How's about just being able to walk out the door when I want to? Seriously, I was just thinking that very thing not too long ago. I wondered at the fact that I used to be able to throw some clothes on in about thirty seconds, pick up my keys, and walk out the door whenever I felt like it, to go where ever I felt like going at the time. Spontaneity? What's that? The prep time that goes into an outing these days seems to almost equal the time we spend at the actual destination. Mr. Personality is exactly where he wants to be at any given time, so wheedling him to get dressed and such to go somewhere is a time-consuming process. And, whether he dresses himself (sort of) or if I dress him, it still seems to take forever. I am a prepared mother, or at least that is what I like to fool myself into thinking, so whenever we go out, everything has to be just so. Change of clothes, fresh w...

So chichimama wants to know "...favorite thing to do without Mr. Personality. And favorite thing to do with Mr. Personality." Can I just say, horrible selfish mother that I am, that I like to do just about anything without Mr. Personality? From being able to sit on the computer without an interruption, to eating a meal in peace, curling up and reading a book without a grimy face attempting to place himself between the book and my face, to shopping unencumbered by a small person who refuses to sit nicely in the cart, I like it all. I don't know if it is a phase he is currently going through, but he is uncanny in his impersonation of a barnacle, and it is beginning to wear on me. We were all at the park on Sunday, and even Hubba-hubba told him that it was time to cut the umbilical cord, buddy. So after he is asleep, I breathe a deep sigh of relief and wish I could stay up reeeallllyy late so as to get the maximum barnacle-free time. As for with Mr. Personality, Disneyla...

So today was my first day alone with Mr. Personality, and I can honestly say it was not one of my more stellar days of motherhood. I am still sicker than I would like, and my fuse is much shorter than it should be. I wasn't much fun, and I'm sure it was a bit of a shock for him to have the reality of Mom after the, shall we say, easing of the rules under Grandma. As I was pleading with him to please listen to me, for the sake of my sanity, I began to notice all the different tactics he uses in order to delay my request. For some odd reason, I flashed back to "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu . It is a revered, 6th Century BC text of battle strategies. Hubba-hubba owns it, and I have glanced at it a few times. I did a search for some quotes from the text, and I was flabbergasted to find this one: If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be wea...