A dozen for the new year list
Sep 30, 2008 The Story of My Life
1. I have a wicked bad hormonal headache. I hope starting out in grouchy pain doesn’t cast a pall on the rest of my year!
2. My mom and my aunt are coming over for honeycake later. But we don’t have the car so no shofar for us. (Brett got a new-to-us car in what we’ve deemed a signing bonus. There are many advantages to going to work for a friend! But he doesn’t have the tags for it yet so we’re still acting as a 1-car family.)
3. Pennie is coming over tomorrow to see Madison’s very loose tooth! Yes, Madison is only four. We’re shocked, too.
4. Speaking of Madison and Pennie … the other day Madison and I were in the grocery store where there was a truly scary rubber animatronic witch with lit up eyes. (At the Westerville Kroger’s for you locals.) Noah would have had to leave the store IMMEDIATELY if he saw that at four but Madison was fascinated. I asked her if she thought it was scary and she said, “No, funny.” Then she wanted to touch it. Pennie is a huge fan of horror movies like Saw and The Hills Have Eyes (I can’t even look at those posters!) and also thinks they’re funny. Who knew horror appreciation was genetic?
5. I let the kids decorate for Halloween even though I usually make ‘em wait ’til October 1st but my head is killing me and I wanted some coffee and I wanted to drink it in peace. They did a bang up job of it, too.
6. I’m trying to dig out of the morass of undone housework due to Brett being home for that year. See, we thought he’d be a better housekeeper than I am but it turns out that he’s a surface cleaner. He doesn’t know that you also have to periodically clean from the inside out so I’m upending drawers, digging through closets and clearing off the top of the refrigerator.
7. I also went through the kids’ winter clothes and we will need to hit the thrift stores hard for both of them. I haven’t had Noah try his winter coat on yet but I think Madison is covered there thanks to Abby.
8. I’m caught up on work, which is a nice feeling. The article that was giving me fits source-wise went to bed and I really enjoyed writing it. I realize I’m most happiest when I can mix marketing communications with consumer stuff. Now if I can just figure out when to fit in creative nonfiction…
9. I’ve kept up with my exercise routine for over a month now. I’m definitely getting stronger and have lost a very little — and I mean LITTLE — weight. It’s going to be a long road to my fit by forty goals but it’d be an even longer road if I waited ’til fifty so I’m sucking it up. I love to exercise although you wouldn’t believe it just by looking at me. I also love to eat, which wouldn’t surprise you one bit.
10. To establish an exercise routine I can stick to I need: ease (no elaborate rituals, no weird schedules, no reliance on other people), privacy (no classes, no companions, no nosy trainers) and a decent soundtrack. One thing that surprised me about my mom’s trainer is that it feels like I’m moving in a smaller range than with the other but I think it must also be more focused because I’m really feeling changes in my back, especially my neck and shoulders. I get very sore but I’m also hurting a lot less from my whiplash (once I get past the lactic acid days) so the soreness is worth it. I haven’t really had a bad neck day since I started. Plus my mood? Not as psychotic.
11. I work out in the mornings while channel 34.1 (PBS) is showing kids’ shows. Madison watches ‘em while I sweat and Noah usually sleeps in. If he’s up, he’s doing his school work. A good time is had by all. (And today a better time than was intended because a quick glance at my browser’s history shows that Noah was on Neopets instead of Study Island. Busted!)
12. I want to think about buying a used piano for the kids’ big xmas present. I know Madison would like it and Noah might, too. But I don’t know anything about used piano buying. Anyone have advice to share?
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Tags: abby, clothes, creative, creative nonfiction, exercise, Family, goals, halloween, kids, Madison, marketing communications, my mom, Noah, whiplash, Writing
Up and up and up
Aug 21, 2008 work work work
I had two great client meetings today. The first was with the owner and staff of this fantastic clothing store in the Short North, Substance. The clothes are beautifully designed, well-made and from sustainable manufacturers (often times using organic goods). There are fantastic purses from Ethiopia and the softest t-shirts designed right there in the store. They even have a handful of desigs made from discarded shirts brought in by customers. And the prices? Comparable to the clothes I was writing up at Express this summer (only much more beautifully, comfortably and respectfully made).
They brought me in for a Q&A about some web 2.0 stuff and I hope I’ll get to work with them further but whatever else happens, count me in as a fan.
Next I headed North to the Short North Business Administration to help John launch their new blog. Chris brought me in on the project — they set up the blog and asked me to help him figure out how to use the software. He’s a funny, personable, friendly guy and I had a good time showing him how WordPress and Twitter work. (He’s shortnorth on twitter.)
Now I’m watching Brett clean the kitchen while we wait for Abby to call and tell us she’s heading over to Kristen’s with the kids.
Anyway, it’s been a busy day and tonight will be a busy (social) evening and tomorrow I have some client calls and work to do then maybe I can rest a tiny bit this weekend. Or something. But today was fun — I like hearing about other people’s lives and I like helping them figure out how to do something new and interesting.
Oh last night I sent a proposal for a project that I’m really really really hoping gets approved (it’s a work thing — not a writing thing) because it would be a blast to put it together and I’d like to see what people would make of it. If you think you can type with your fingers crossed, please consider crossing them!
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Tags: abby, business, client, clothes, express, job, Kristen, project, software, wordpress, Writing
Have you ever…
Jun 13, 2008 Feminism/Politics, The Story of My Life
worn a new outfit for the first time when you’ll be gone all day only to discover that the new outfit creates issues that you cannot fix until you get home?
(Subtitle for this entry: My skirt is falling down and I don’t have a safety pin)
