Thursday Thirteen #15 - Let's get packing!

It's here, it's here, it's here! Oh, and did I mention that it's here? Tomorrow the family piles in the Honda and heads to Washington where we will invade Ronnie & Frank for the first annual Non-Con North. It's a weekend full of my favorite unschooling peeps, all together for the laughing and loving. What better way to kick off a long weekend than than with a Thursday Thirteen?

13 things I am bringing to Non-Con North

1. My official and in no way legally binding coupon for a fabulous birthday do-over.

2. My camera, cause ya gotta get the evidence for the blackmail to be really effective.

3. This thing for the Found Items Raffle.

Participants from the October Non-Con will recognize it from the game of Bigger or Better. I've decided it's now got to make it to every Non-Con and go home with someone different each time.

4. My laptop, although sadly mine does not have its own fuzzy jammies.

5. Mardi Gras beads for Saturday night's party. These should be good for coaxing some serious silliness out of people.


6. Some jokes for Gillian and Craig because they know I love them dearly.

7. Oh-My-God Brownies! Because I promised. And they're yummy. And you can't have a Non-Con without brownies. But no Frank, they're still not spiked. Sorry.


8. Hugs, hugs and more hugs. Hugs to be given. Hugs to be received. Hugs to chase away the moments of doubt. Hugs to celebrate the joy of life. Hugs for my very favorite people.


9. My funky new green crushed velour shirt. I got it from Goodwill yesterday and it's going to be a central part of my Mardi Gras outfit.

10. My pink cowboy hat with a built-in tiara, now also sporting a feathery Mardi Gras mask. I will wear it with my funky new green crushed velour shirt.

11. An orange feathered boa that properly accents the funky new green crushed velour shirt and pink cowboy hat with a built-in tiara, now also sporting a feathery Mardi Gras mask.

12. My sense of humor, which I'm going to need to pull off an outfit made from a funky new green crushed velour shirt with a pink cowboy hat with a built-in tiara, now also sporting a feathery Mardi Gras mask and orange feathered boa.

13. My very best self, because these wonderful friends deserve nothing less.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

If I Was...

A long time ago, in a blogosphere far, far away Sandra tagged me for the "Weird Things About Me" meme. It turns out that I had completed that same meme here just the week before and so I cleverly deduced that my readers reader would not be in the mood for any further insight into the strangeness of my being. I mean there is such a thing as too much information.

Fast forward to the now. I'm listening to Amy Steinberg's song If I Was. Great song. The original lyrics are here on her site. (It will take a couple of clicks to get to them. Click on "words" and then the album Sky High.) So anyway, as so often happens, it got me thinking. What would I be, if I was...? I thought it would be fun to take these lyrics and turn my ponderings into an alternate, Amy-inspired meme.

Here are the rules: there are no rules. Think, ponder, have fun. Add a few pictures if you like. Do it all in pictures if you prefer. When you're finished, tag 3 friends. Or 5. Or not.

If I Was ...

If I was a punctuation mark, I'd be ... a question mark


If I was a form of currency, I'd be ... the barter system
If I was a hallucinogen, I'd be ... magic mushrooms


If I was an element I'd be ... krypton (because I'd like to think I could take down Superman)
If I was a best-selling book, I'd be ... Eat, Pray, Love (I'm still figuring stuff out myself)
If I was a philosophy, I'd be ... Understandism
If I was a thought, I'd be ... confused
If I was a way to understand love, I'd be ... music
If I was a boot, I'd be ... go-go's, baby!


If I was a hue, I'd be ... purple!
If I was a soup, I'd be ... warm, creamy and nourishing
If I was time, I just might ... run backwards
If I was a drink, I'd be ... a dirty martini (and I would totally look like this)


If I was a play I'd be written by... Mel Brooks
If I was a long distance carrier I'd be ... hangin' with the "Can you hear me now?" guy
If I was this song I'd be ... singing myself out loud in the shower

I'm tagging: Qacei, Diana, Kelli, Sandra, Ronnie

It feels like a Dirty Harry moment

I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?


Watch, think, change the world.



Thanks, Kelli.

Better than huffing oven cleaner

I just found this site while surfing around. It seems to go along well with my previous entry today. Maybe we middle aged types should create more art to stave off the obvious.

Women's Work is a collective of women who work in and around the visual and literary industries.

We are creators and storytellers. We’ve banded together and built ourselves a fort in our internet back yard and we invite you to come see. We have a database in which all creative types might take part, and a forum in which anyone might join the conversation.

Art before housework. In a hundred years, no one’s going to care how clean your floors were.

So not perfect

Penelope Anne over at Cafe at the End of the Universe has created the "perfect" award for me. Because as we have all seen this week, if I am anything, NOT perfect is at the top of the list. But even if I'm not perfect, this award comes pretty darn close. Check her him it out.There's just never been anything more beautiful if you ask me. But no one did.


This award award is not actually given, you have to snag it, as the not perfect shall not judge, lest we be judged. But it was "suggested" to me by the sweet Penelope Anne. (And she's never even been to my house.) It's meant for all of us who are *ahem* less than June Cleaver-like in our approach to household maintenance. Hell, yeah! All those homeless dust bunnies that have been cruelly evicted by neat freak super-housewives? Fear not. I give the little critters a place to call their own.


They have happily taken up residence under my bed, in my corners and nestled behind my furniture. Who am I to deny them the warmth and comfort of a good home?

See? I'm NOT perfect on so many different levels.

Can you relate? Head over to the Cafe and pick up this little dust collector for your own virtual bookshelf. Tell Penelope Anne that zenmomma sent ya.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

My birthday weekend had a little bit of everything. I'm still trying to sort it all out. I had a lovely brunch on Saturday with unschooling friends. Qacei and I went together and we really enjoyed ourselves. It wasn't meant to be a birthday thing, but Diana and Wendy surprised me with a Death by Chocolate birthday cake. Thank you oh fabulous baking goddesses!

I think I gained 10 pounds just by looking at that thing. But Oh My God! it was delicious and oh so appreciated. Kind of like a big old helping of soul soothing chocolate morphine. Thanks to everyone who helped make that afternoon so special. I needed it!

I've already posted about my birthday morning surprise of the horrifying Terror Eyes. My day got better from there luckily. The family took such good care of me. They lovingly delivered my favorite lattes to my caffeine addicted waiting hands, snuggled me up with blankets and pillows and allowed me to wallow the day away without having to show my face in public. (The public should be really grateful. Trust me.)

We dined on take-out Indian food, yum, and had our own little private birthday celebration. They gifted me with beauty, comfort and sweet music. Jon gave me this absolutely stunning necklace that I can't wait to actually get out and wear.

Conor gave me one of my very favorite gifts-SOCKS! I just love really nice socks, don't you? And Qacei came through with the soundtrack to Juno. Gee, how did she ever know I would want that? All in all, a good day.

But as often happens, the joy was tempered with some more difficult moments as well. Donna was not able to join us as she's still in the hospital recovering from pneumonia. She's seems to be on the mend (THANK YOU for all of your good wishes) and we spent a lot of time together laughing with her in her hospital room. But you know we all wished she could have been out and about and raising hell with the best of them. Soon, though. Soon.

Part 2 of my "Things That I Wish Could Have Gone Better" this weekend involved the tangled web of relationships, families, groups and our children. It's left me thinking a lot about what it means to really support and respect our kids. It's been hard for me, but I've come to understand that sometimes doing what is right for our own kids is all we can do. And unfortunately what is right for one person's child may be exactly wrong for another's. And sometimes, we just have to let that Be.

Qacei's specific needs have changed over the years, but the basics have remained the same. She needs me to listen to her. She needs me to believe in her. She needs me to create a safe space for her to work through both joy and pain. Once again I have had to request that friends give her that space. I've had to advocate for her and in the process I probably hurt some feelings. That part sucks. But advocating for my kids is a big part of being an unschooling parent. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last. Because have I mentioned it lately? This is one of the coolest people I have ever met and I HAVE to be there for her.




Hopefully friends will get through the muck of hurt feelings. But if not, I understand that they too will do what is right for their own families. And for that, I honor them.


Namaste.

Government Health Warning

Do NOT swallow
bubble gum!!

*thanks to Jon for sending me this joke

Happy Birthday To Me

Well that's a fine howd'ya do! I woke up this morning, after a crappy night's sleep in which I dreamed my eyes were on fire, to find out that indeed, my eyes seem to be on fire. Well not the eyes exactly, but the lids and tender skin area around my eyes. Swollen. Red. Painful. Itchy.

Oh so attractive.


I call a redo on my birthday.

Friday Fill-In #5

1. My new blog header (a birthday surprise from Qacei) makes me happy.
2. I would like peace with a side of love and joy, please.


3. Cheesecake topped with a chocolate ganache tastes SO good!
4. Sunday is my favorite day of the week because this Sunday is my birthday!
5. My sense of humor is my best feature.
6. We could learn so much from each other.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to pizza and Hell's Kitchen on the DVR, tomorrow my plans include brunch with the unschoolers and Sunday, I want to visit Donna at the hospital some more!

Get your Friday Fill-In here.

Things that suck

1. Magazine subscription cards - also known as drop cards because they drop out of the magazine and into your lap whenever you're trying to read. So annoying!


2. Crawler ads - those ads for tv shows that they obnoxiously put at the bottom of the tv show you're actually trying to watch. They're getting so big now it's hard to tell what show is really playing.


3. Spam filters - it's been said before but really, just how many junk comments do you think are coming your way without the filter? Damn letters all run together and challenge my hand-eye coordination. Grumble.


4. Donna in the hospital with a case of pneumonia that just won't go away.


So much for my lighthearted list of petty annoyances. This sucks for real. She's one of the strongest women I know and she'll beat this. (Can't kill her with a stick ya know.) But I just wish she didn't have to go through it. Again. Send her her your loving thoughts.

Thursday Thirteen #14 - Fab Fonts

We've come a long way since the days of the old manual typewriters. What monsters those things could be! I learned to type on one of those bad boys in high school over 30 years ago. Back in those days it was called typing not keyboarding and it was mostly the girls who participated. I also took shorthand that year, the Gregg method. Yes, the powers that be made sure I had my secretarial skills all lined up. Can you say sexist?

I actually aced both classes and even enjoyed them. (I would have been a kick-ass secretary.) Now of course, many of those detailed skills they painstakingly taught me have become obsolete. Only the typing keyboarding part is still useful. I haven't had to load a piece of carbon paper, slam back a return cartridge or use Liquid Paper to correct mistakes in decades. (Thank all that is good and holy for word processing programs!)

By the way, did you know that Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 and was originally called Mistake Out? Bette was a typist with a good idea and an even better business sense. She originally offered the product to IBM, but they declined. Undeterred, she sold it from her house for 17 years. By 1968 the product was profitable and in 1979 (two years after I decided NOT to be a secretary) it was sold to Gillette for $47.5 million. Not bad! When she died in 1980, she left half of this fortune to her only son, former Monkee Mike Nesmith. It's true. The be-hatted guitar player of the Pre-fab Four was heir to the Liquid Paper fortune.

But I digress, for this week's Thursday Thirteen is not about obsolete machines, sexism or boy bands. This week, I give you...

Thirteen Fabulous Fonts*

1. 2.3.4. 5. 6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.
*Ironic isn't it, that Blogger has NO fabulous fonts for me to actually use in this post. --sigh--

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants