this woman’s work

You are browsing the archives from 2006 January.

Just had to let you all know that I’m disabling pictures ‘cuz of bandwidth theft. I may create a password only blog with pics but they’re coming off the regular blog. It’ll take awhile to get ‘em all moved out so there may be some here and there for awhile.

I’m having a blog day where the only topics I can think to write about are not very nice ones where I would mostly be complaining about people. I don’t really want to do that though so I’m sitting here stymied about what to write.

Maybe I can be vague and that way I can vent without making anyone feel picked on. I don’t know though; I appreciate that vague can be boring. Hmmm. No, I don’t think I can do it.

Well, maybe having no good blog thoughts is the Powers that Be trying to get me to work on my essay. I guess I’ll go do that then. Or laundry. There’s always laundry.

Oh here’s something though. I was giving Brett a hard time about doing a lousy job of cleaning the kitchen after dinner. He’ll run the dishwasher but leave it full of clean dishes and the sink overflowing with dirty ones, which so doesn’t count as cleaning the kitchen. So last night I was really hassling him and he promised to get up early and do a decent job this time. I woke up to a sparkling kitchen and a note, which read:

A full service essential cleaning was provided by Friedman Cleaning and Supplies. “For a Brighter and Cleaner Tomorrow.”

It made me laugh and I appreciated being able to see my way clear to cook breakfast.

An exhaustive A to Z list is over at Why Homeschool: The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 3

I don’t think I’m going to get a chance to make it through the whole alphabet but I’m certainly going to browse!

I signed Madison up for a toddler art class figuring it would be a chance for her to get really messy and I wouldn’t have to clean anything up. Her first session was today and I think she mostly enjoyed it. We left early because her attention span ran out but I think we’ll get our money’s worth.

It’s insane, really, to have an art class for toddlers. I just let her smoosh stuff around but there are always parents who really want to end up with a piece of artwork worthy of display. This makes me crazy. While I was listening to parents correct their children (as if mastery is the thing we want our toddlers to get out of it) I was thinking of one of the very first essays I ever sold (twice — it sold as a reprint too). I’m putting it below the cut.
(more…)

My old friend, Robert, has always been a geek. He was president of the Central Ohio Dr. Who fan club at about fourteen and by the time I met him (he was 21, I think? I can’t remember — I was about to turn 17) he had focused his geek-energy on being a 4AD punk rocker. You know, Cocteau Twins, etc. (His mix-tapes set the standard for me throughout my formative years.) Nowadays he’d be called a goth but this was before there were all those sub-categories. People with funny hair in Columbus Ohio in the mid-80s were simply “alternative” or “punks.”

Anyway, Robert now has the disposal income to let his inner-geek run wild and he has an impressive collection of Godzilla memorabilia so when Noah decided that he would be a fan of Godzilla (despite never having seen the movies) I directed him to Robert with his questions. Burning questions like, “Is Godzilla a boy or a girl?” (Boy, if you didn’t know.) Robert, being a generous sort of man not to mention a tad evangelical, not only answered Noah’s email (with pictures) but sent Noah a large almost-birthday package of Godzilla toys, DVDs and magazines.

Can you believe this? See the incredulous joy on that nearly-9 year old boy’s face? Robert just made his whole damn week, honest to goodness. And Noah watched Godzilla vs. Mothra and declared it “really good” even though he thought the animation was not so hot. Still, he was able to see beyond that to the coolness of the actual Godzilla legend.

Between this new fixation and his continued admiration of showtunes, Noah is surely on his way to being a nerd extraordinaire. It’s a good thing we homeschool.

Thank you, Robert!!!