kdiddy.org

I’m home a little early today because of a dentist appointment and am now desperate for sugar because of my contrary nature. I just wanted to pop in and make note of two things.

1. The winner of the 77kids gift card giveaway is hellohahanarf from midnightcliff.com! Congratulations and thanks to everyone for entering.

2. My buddies Emily and Shannon have a blog and have started a cool new feature called Guest Music Snob and today I was the snob in question. I recycled my post about Andres for them, but you should head over there and check out the site in general, since they’re always posting about the music and design things that strike their fancy and their cool dinner parties.

So that short guy that I write about from time to time? The fruit of my womb? This one?

He’s NINE today. NINE YEARS OLD. And he’s all:

By the way, we didn’t spray-paint his friends’ faces in real life. Just protecting their privacy and whatnot.

Like last year, we had a roller skating party. It turned out to be a pretty great day. We stopped in Polish Hill to pick up one of his friends and then swooped through Lawrenceville to pick up one of our friends who was going to be attending the party. On our way to Lawrenceville, the husband said, “Hey, look. Beetlejuice. Driving.” What? We looked in the direction of his pointed finger and saw an old burgundy minivan and, no shit, this guy at the wheel:

Not Michael Keaton circa 1988…at least I don’t think it was him. But a guy dressed up as Beetlejuice. The costume was amazing and the makeup was incredibly detailed. We just, uh, weren’t expecting that. As Beetlejuice drove past us, he saw our stunned expressions and grinned. It was really bizarre.

After we had picked up our friend, we shifted seating so that he and the husband were sitting up front and then in the back it was me, the baby’s friend, and the baby. About halfway through our drive to the roller rink, the baby’s friend said, “You know, I get carsick a lot.” To which I replied:

But we made it to our destination without incident.

Once we got there, and my grandparents showed up, the party quickly reached Animal House levels of mayhem.

It was a small group, but the kids had fun. And nobody broke anything so I pretty much my crossed off my entire list of goals for the day. Our other major coup was bringing a CD that we burned of songs that the baby likes. He has some current mainstream favorites, ie, Rihanna, T.I., but a lot of what he wanted to hear was Kraftwerk, Common, Black Sheep, and A Tribe Called Quest. The DJ put the CD in and pretty much just let it play, which was cool with us but the other kids who came to skate in a circle to “Party in the U.S.A.” for the 500th time in a row were close to revolting. Around the time that “Trans Europe Express” came on, I looked over and saw a gaggle of tweens shaking their fists at the DJ booth. Fortunately, the CD started skipping so the DJ switched to Ke$ha. Yay.

We’re going out to dinner tonight with my mom to celebrate. In the meantime, I’m doing that “Nine years ago at this time, I was…” thing. As much as I can, anyway. I spent most of the day in a post-C-section morphine cloud probably saying stuff like, “What baby?”

(Psst! Today’s the last day to enter my 77kids giveaway!)

One of my duties at WeCovet is to select a post each day to actively promote. It’s a simple task, takes less than a minute. The only catch is that I’m supposed to do it by noon and I sometimes get engrossed in something at work and noon flies past without me noticing it. So, yesterday, after this exact thing had happened, I set a recurring alarm on my phone for 12:00 p.m. so I would be sure to tend to that duty. Thinking I wanted a sound that was more pleasant than a regular alarm, I decided to go with a nice, mellow harp sound.

Of course, I forgot about this entirely. Around 12:00 today, I was delivering a book to a professor’s office and had my phone stuffed into my back pocket. As I was closing the professor’s office door, the alarm went off. It took me a second or two to notice the harp sound and I, of course, couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. I looked around, trying to find the source of the pretty harp music that was somewhere behind me. My eyes settled on the door of the office next to the one where I delivering to. The first thought that ran through my head, and I’m being serious here, was, “Oh! Neat! She must have some kind of motion-sensor harp thing on her door or something!” To test this cracker jack theory of mine, I started lunging back and forth. It seemed to work, since the harp kept playing, but I still couldn’t find the motion-sensor device that just HAD to be there.

It’s important to note that there were students milling about and had one of them looked up, they would have seen me staring at a door, lunging back and forth, all while harp music, muffled by my butt, played.

I carried on like this for at least another minute before I finally solved the mystery and shuffled out of there to spread my brilliance elsewhere.

(Psst! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a gift card to 77kids!)

Because this week has been surprisingly busy, I’m going to combine days 15 and 16 of 30 days of truth in the interest of keeping this exercise moving along.

Day 15 Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.

Shallow answer: cable TV. I really wish I could be one of those superior human beings who doesn’t watch TV, has no interest in TV, and spends their time pursuing intelligent, worthwhile things and not spending money on something so frivolous. I’m not. I love the history-lite stuff that they show on The History Channel. I love utterly stupid things like Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel. I love passive gluttony on the Food Network. And I love all of My Shows on HBO. Now, obviously, if it were between eating and watching Ghost Adventures, I would…think long and hard about that. Heh. No, I know that since I’m one of those horrible people who has credit card and student debt that I don’t deserve the luxury of cable TV. But I really like it, so while I can, I’m making room for it in my budget.

Deep answer: the husband and the baby. Technically, I’ve never lived apart from the baby, but the husband I lived apart in the summer of 2002. Neither of us really had jobs and so could no longer afford our apartment. I moved in with my dad and he moved in with his mom. It was a sad time. Now, whenever I spend time away from them, I really don’t like it. I missed them terribly while I was at BlogHer in August, bursting into tears one night after talking to them on the phone. Charlie had to talk me down. They’re my dudes. I want them around always.

Day 16 Someone or something you definitely could live without.

I don’t really know how to answer this. It sounds snarky. Like, “I could live without you being a pain in my ass all the time.” But I think it’s supposed to be about what I could sacrifice. I mean, all any of us really needs is shelter, food, water, and love. Everything else is just cherries on top, right?

Day 1 Something you hate about yourself.
Day 2 Something you love about yourself.
Day 3 Something you have to forgive yourself for.
Day 4 Something you have to forgive someone for.
Day 5 Something you hope to do in your life.
Day 6 Something you hope you never have to do.
Day 7 Someone who has made your life worth living for.
Day 8 Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
Day 9 Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.
Day 10 Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.
Day 11 Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12 Something you never get compliments on.
Day 13 A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)
Day 14 A hero that has let you down. (letter)
Day 15 Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.
Day 16 Someone or something you definitely could live without.
Day 17 A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.
Day 18 Your views on gay marriage.
Day 19 What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20 Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21 (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22 Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.
Day 23 Something you wish you had done in your life.
Day 24 Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)
Day 25 The reason you believe you’re still alive today.
Day 26 Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 What’s the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28 What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29 Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30 A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

The baby and I did two unusual things two weekends ago: got up early on a Saturday and went to Ross Park Mall. Ross Park Mall is on the other side of town for us and we all know how I feel about sleeping, so you can imagine that whatever pulled me out there must have been pretty cool. The folks at 77kids and TheMotherhood invited me and a few other local blogger-types to see the new store out there, check out their cool winter displays and merchandise, and learn about their charity initiative.

We arrived before the mall even opened, so it was nice and quiet, aside from a few mall-walkers (those folks who powerwalk around the mall early in the morning for their exercise). 77kids launched about two years ago in Robinson and the Ross Park store is pretty new. The store itself was warm and cozily lit, which made it instantly comfortable. The baby made a beeline for the interactive photo booth display so that he could live out his Shaun White fantasies.

After oogling at his photo after it printed, we headed to the outside of the store to see their cool window displays. 77kids took a cue from the downtown department store window displays and had the 77kids birds skating around and skiing. The window is interactive and the kids were invited to race each other’s birds down the hill. I would have taken a picture of the race in action, but I was holding our coats and my coffee and a bagel and a DS and a doughnut. I managed to get a shot after the fact.

I had to stuff his bagel back into his mouth to free up my hands, though.

Back inside the store, we learned about Wish 4 Snow. In stores, customers can add a donation at the register that will go toward children’s hospitals all over the country. Online, you can play the Make a Snowflake Wish game. 77kids’ goal is to get 100,000 snowflakes made for their blizzard by December 14th. If they reach that goal, they will donate an additional $25,000 to children’s hospitals. AND for every snowflake that you make, you’ll be entered to win a $77 gift card to 77kids and a chance at the grand prize: a winter block party for you and 77 guests. You can click the widget over on the right to get to the Wish 4 Snow game. It’s pretty cool. I’ve made a couple snowflakes and they look WAY better than the ones I’ve attempted with scissors and paper, which tend to look like diseased Swiss cheese.

I had to drag the baby away from these huge pillow bean bag things to go look at clothes.

Can’t really say that I blame him, though. They looked extremely comfortable.

He made a beeline for this hat, which I unfortunately can’t find on the 77kids site anymore. I hope it’s not sold out completely!

After donning the hat, he was drawn back to the photobooth to play with the neat little DJ setup that they had. Since his dad’s a DJ, the baby is always trying to play around with records whenever he gets a chance, so he was really into this gadget.

He circled around the store one more time and grabbed some gloves, a pair of jeans, which are awesome because they have that adjustable elastic waist and my toothpick kid needs that, and these cozy pajama pants that reminded us a little of the Abominable Snowman. We’ve been pretty happy with all of these so far and that hat gets so many compliments, it’s ridiculous.

Now, here’s where the cool stuff happens for you. I’m giving away one $50 gift card to 77kids to one of you lovely readers. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post between now and Monday, December 6th. I will choose one winner at random and announce the winner here on Tuesday, December 7th. You could give the gift card as a gift to your favorite kid or parent or stock up on some duds for your shorty. You should also take a minute to go play that Wish 4 Snow game. Do it! It’s for the kids!

(Awkward full disclosure: I’m working with 77kids and The MotherHood on this campaign. For my efforts, they provided me with a 77kids gift card and a small stipend.)

Again, not doing the letter format as per the instructions because I hate open letters.

I’ve never been much into Harry Potter. I haven’t read the books, but I’ve watched most of the movies and have found them to be entertaining enough on their own. They’re not my favorite movies, but I enjoy them well enough. But I’ve never found anything about the Harry Potter dynasty to be particularly inspiring.

However, there was one quote from The Goblet of Fire that was pretty kickass. Barty Crouch Jr. and his role in the plot to capture Harry are revealed and Dumbledore instructs Snape (I think?) to inform the Azkaban prison that Crouch will be returning. Crouch shouts after him that he’ll go back a hero. Dumbledore looks at him and says, “Perhaps. Personally, I’ve never had much time for heroes.”

I think you can admire and be inspired by someone’s achievements, but this insinuation that we have the right to be disappointed in someone who we thought was above x behavior is just silly to me. Everyone is living their own lives and we all make our own decisions based on an infinite combination of circumstances. Screwing up and making the absolute wrong decision is just something that all of us are bound to do at one point or another. I’m not saying that we should just automatically absolve each other of those decisions that negatively affect others. I just don’t think we should place anyone above that possibility because we dubbed them a hero. Even the most inspiring people we know are just human beings figuring out how to live every day. Flawed, complicated, beautiful messes of existence.

Day 1 Something you hate about yourself.
Day 2 Something you love about yourself.
Day 3 Something you have to forgive yourself for.
Day 4 Something you have to forgive someone for.
Day 5 Something you hope to do in your life.
Day 6 Something you hope you never have to do.
Day 7 Someone who has made your life worth living for.
Day 8 Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
Day 9 Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.
Day 10 Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.
Day 11 Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12 Something you never get compliments on.
Day 13 A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)
Day 14 A hero that has let you down. (letter)
Day 15 Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.
Day 16 Someone or something you definitely could live without.
Day 17 A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.
Day 18 Your views on gay marriage.
Day 19 What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20 Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21 (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22 Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.
Day 23 Something you wish you had done in your life.
Day 24 Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)
Day 25 The reason you believe you’re still alive today.
Day 26 Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 What’s the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28 What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29 Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30 A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

The instructions for this post say to write a letter to this band or artist but I’m not going to. Here’s some more truth for you: I hate the open letter format. Hate. It.

Anyway, at different points in life, I’ve found different music comforting. Back when I was a teenager, I really liked Janis Joplin and R.E.M. A few years later, I always turned to Nina Simone and Radiohead. These are all still in my arsenal, but for the past several months, the artist that has been helping me a lot is Andres. He’s a hip hop producer from Detroit via L.A. and his most recent album, Andres II, has been a favorite of mine since it came out.

Andres II isn’t strictly hip hop. The only way I can really describe it is roller skating music. Fast, but not too fast, funky, soulful, and the perfect inspiration for going faster, further, staying in the flow even if you’ve taken a nasty spill.

When we were in Detroit a few months ago, our CD of Andres II didn’t leave the player in the car because it was an absolutely perfect soundtrack. And one night we were driving fast down one of those big, wide streets downtown where everyone cruises with their insanely cool cars. It had been a brutally hot day and the night brought such relief. This song was playing as the Detroit wind blew through my hair. And for a few minutes, I was really, really happy. Since then, whenever I hear this song, I think of that moment and smile.

Day 1 Something you hate about yourself.
Day 2 Something you love about yourself.
Day 3 Something you have to forgive yourself for.
Day 4 Something you have to forgive someone for.
Day 5 Something you hope to do in your life.
Day 6 Something you hope you never have to do.
Day 7 Someone who has made your life worth living for.
Day 8 Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
Day 9 Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.
Day 10 Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.
Day 11 Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12 Something you never get compliments on.
Day 13 A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)
Day 14 A hero that has let you down. (letter)
Day 15 Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.
Day 16 Someone or something you definitely could live without.
Day 17 A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.
Day 18 Your views on gay marriage.
Day 19 What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20 Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21 (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22 Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.
Day 23 Something you wish you had done in your life.
Day 24 Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)
Day 25 The reason you believe you’re still alive today.
Day 26 Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 What’s the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28 What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29 Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30 A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

“Alright, buddy, go upstairs and get dressed. We need to get going.”

Ten minutes pass while I make sure that lunch and piano books are packed. I head upstairs and foolishly expect to see the baby in some advanced stage of dressing, at the very least wearing pants.

Instead, he is crouched on the floor in his pajamas, reading a book.

“What are you doing?!!?!” I hiss. “We need to GO!”

“I couldn’t find any pants.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake…”

I rustle some clean clothes together and toss them in his room, explaining again that we need to leave in just a few minutes. I start getting dressed myself and poke my head into his room because I sense something off. Something procrastinating. He’s wearing pants, but no shirt, and is playing with some magnets.

“Dude. Seriously. Come on.”

“Oh, FINE!” he sighs, as though going to school is some inconvenient favor I’ve just asked of him.

Downstairs, he has not put on his shoes like I told him to, but is looking for the gloves that he threw somewhere in the house when we got home last night.

I finally get him out the door and hustle him to the bus stop, explaining along the way that he has to go to school so there’s no point resisting and when he goofs off in the morning we risk missing the bus, which would screw up everyone’s day.

“Understand?” I ask/demand.

“Yessssss,” he moans.

We stand and wait for the bus. He breaks the silence by innocently asking me, “Can you take heavy blows to the head?”

In non-bludgeoning news, my dad’s birthday was on Sunday and we had him over for dinner and cake. He brought Champagne. He’s my favorite father.

He’s getting ready to blow out the candles in that picture. He’s not overly excited about or terrified by the cake that I made despite how it might look.

By the way, that cake is this Chocolate Overdose Cake, which is some Serious Business.

Brownie, mousse, cake, ganache. Ya heard?

I’ve had two mostly low-key weekends in a row, which means I’m due for another whirlwind. Tonight we’re trying to go see the new Harry Potter movie. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be hanging out with some other blog types at 77kids to check out their holiday displays and to learn more about their charity initiatives. At some point, I need to bake some cookies because later in the day, I’m going to hitch a ride with Allison to Michelle‘s house for a cookie swap. Then I will ponder who I am, doing all of these nice, wholesome things. Sunday, my mom and I are supposed to do some hardcore cleaning at my house. I may have to drink throughout that process.

This exercise is making me realize that emotionally I’m healthier than I thought, since prompts like this make me realize that I really haven’t obsessed over what I’m NOT praised for. Back when I was in school, I think I sought a lot praise for balancing (or “balancing,” really) everything. And even though people did occasionally say, “Wow, I don’t know how you do it,” I think I wanted more…sympathy? I don’t know. But that’s sort of the last thing that I remember really pouting about.

I don’t seem to get any compliments on how well I sleep. Or maybe I do but don’t hear them because I’m passed out. Maybe the husband invites our friends and family over during the night and they all stand around me going, “Wow. Look at her go. Look at that drool string reaching from her mouth to her pillow! She’s an inspiration.” But I kind of doubt it. I go through bouts of insomnia from time to time, but when I’m not, I am seriously ON my sleeping game. My powerful sleeping skills prevent me from waking up early every single day, which I think is pretty impressive.

Back when I was a teenager and I was still in ballet, my winters were always completely bonkers with Nutcracker stuff. In the midst of Nutcracker performances, a ballet mistress (which is a big deal) from the New York City Ballet was visiting Pittsburgh and wanted to lead a rehearsal of my class in Concerto Barocco, which is one of the toughest ballets ever. (You can check out more info about it here.) Already exhausted from our harried schedule of school, ballet classes, rehearsals, and Nutcracker performances, we trudged up to one of the studios in the Benedum Center. My group went first. We did well. I sat down to stretch and watch the other group go. The next thing I knew, I was pulling my face out of a puddle of drool on the floor and the ballet mistress was glaring at me. I had fallen asleep on the floor and apparently had made it very evident that I was unconscious. No one complimented me on my awesome time management skills that allowed me to squeeze in a nap during a packed day. Jerks.

Day 1 Something you hate about yourself.
Day 2 Something you love about yourself.
Day 3 Something you have to forgive yourself for.
Day 4 Something you have to forgive someone for.
Day 5 Something you hope to do in your life.
Day 6 Something you hope you never have to do.
Day 7 Someone who has made your life worth living for.
Day 8 Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
Day 9 Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.
Day 10 Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.
Day 11 Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12 Something you never get compliments on.
Day 13 A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)
Day 14 A hero that has let you down. (letter)
Day 15 Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.
Day 16 Someone or something you definitely could live without.
Day 17 A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.
Day 18 Your views on gay marriage.
Day 19 What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20 Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21 (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22 Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.
Day 23 Something you wish you had done in your life.
Day 24 Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)
Day 25 The reason you believe you’re still alive today.
Day 26 Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 What’s the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28 What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29 Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30 A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

There are, fortunately, several things I can list here.

On the physical, shallow end, I can say that I receive a lot of compliments on my eyes and my hair. They’re both intriguing shades, I will admit.

I receive compliments on my son, that he’s cute or sweet or funny or smart.

I receive compliments on my writing, which means so much to me since I’m forever convinced that I’m barely succeeding at stringing sentences together.

I receive compliments on my full-time work, which also means so much to me. It can be a thankless job sometimes, but I help people, day in and day out, and when someone thanks me for that, it’s very humbling.

I receive compliments on my cooking and baking. There’s a commercial for the Travel Channel in which the guy from Man v. Food says that he hasn’t met a mother in any culture who doesn’t love feeding people. It’s an oversimplified stereotype of mothers, sure, but not a totally untrue one. Being a parent switches on, in many people, an undeniable urge to feed a) your child(ren) and b) anyone in your house. It can be annoying to the recipients, but if I’m remembered as a distributor of tasty foods, I’ll have lived a full life.

Day 1 Something you hate about yourself.
Day 2 Something you love about yourself.
Day 3 Something you have to forgive yourself for.
Day 4 Something you have to forgive someone for.
Day 5 Something you hope to do in your life.
Day 6 Something you hope you never have to do.
Day 7 Someone who has made your life worth living for.
Day 8 Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
Day 9 Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.
Day 10 Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.
Day 11 Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12 Something you never get compliments on.
Day 13 A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)
Day 14 A hero that has let you down. (letter)
Day 15 Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.
Day 16 Someone or something you definitely could live without.
Day 17 A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.
Day 18 Your views on gay marriage.
Day 19 What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20 Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21 (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22 Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.
Day 23 Something you wish you had done in your life.
Day 24 Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)
Day 25 The reason you believe you’re still alive today.
Day 26 Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 What’s the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28 What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29 Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30 A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself