this woman’s work

• Madison has a loose tooth. I know! She’s only four! Not even four and a half! But she has a loose tooth any old way because apparently she missed that chapter in her training manual. (I have a text in to Pennie to see if she lost her teeth early, too.)
• Speaking of Pennie, she and her fabulous boyfriend broke up. I haven’t wanted to write it here because I had this Parent Trap fantasy of it all being a bad dream. But it’s a good break up because they still spend time together and support each other. We went and saw Pennie’s new apartment last night and she’s a good decorator.
• And while we were there Pennie was going to show us an empty apartment next door so she opened the door and scared the bejesus out of a guy who had just moved in. He in turn scared the bejesus out of us by yelling when we opened the door. When we were back in her apartment she and I started going, “That’s YOUR fault because…” “No it was YOUR fault because…” And Madison said, “I know it’s not MY fault!” She was disgusted with us both.
• Madison’s name is Tess Tyler today. Last week it was Sarah. For awhile before that it was Clonda and Laura but of course it was Wanda that started it all. She gets pretty mad when we forget but she changes it so often that we forget an awful lot.
• Noah got a haircut! And he is darling! Not that he wasn’t before but it’s nice to see those big blue eyes again!
• And I fixed my archives — thanks Rebekah! (A sharp-eyed reader who wandered over from Cecily’s!)
• Speaking of Cecily, she likes me! She really really likes me!

An awful lot of ‘em clash with 2.5 so if you don’t want to upgrade yet, don’t. Give the design people some time to catch up. I went through three or four here before settling on this one (having trouble with widgets in some of them) and this one seems wonky with pictures.

I also redesigned Smart Cookie Communications to leave out some of the sales-y stuff because I’m down on the sales-y stuff right now. I had a blog on there but am too busy to keep it up so I squelched it. Now to a list entry:

1. I know I said I’d post the results of the survey YESTERDAY but I want to try to figure out a helpful way to share the information and haven’t come up with it yet.
2. Brett got a part-time job today. We want a predictable amount of money coming in to ease our budget and decided this is the way to go. The biggest challenge will be working around our one-car status and also if he works nights, that cuts back on my networking at night. But that’s why God created relatives (i.e., free babysitters). And it gives me an excuse to cut back on networking. Heh. (Plus his hours will be flexible.)
3. Being in Portland reminded me of how active we used to be. The day before I went into labor with Noah I walked three miles to go see a movie and visit Trader Joe’s. (1.5 miles each way.) We lived on the third floor, too, and I thought nothing of it. No wonder I put on weight very quickly when we moved back! It inspired me to get my exercise regime back on track. And to work on using our car less.
4. My sister and I spent this morning chatting on the phone and debunking family myths. This is probably the most useful thing about having siblings; Brett and his brother did the same thing during our visit. My sister is a big-hearted person and the family myths hit her harder than they seem to have hit me. I don’t know why it is — she worries more and feels more responsible than I do and this makes her a lovely relative to have but is an awful lot of pain for her. Maybe it’s a birth order thing. (Brett — also the oldest — feels the same way about a lot of it.)
5. I also want to find time to write about other people’s marriages/partnerships because I find them fascinating. Don’t you? Isn’t it weird how people end up together and stay (or don’t) together?
6. Madison is at a mommy (or in this case, daddy and big brother) & me gym class today. It’s free so heck, we signed her up. She would only go if Noah came, too, and he was game so off they went. She’s wearing a pink undershirt that she calls a ballet shirt because it’s sleeveless and a brown and yellow striped skort that she got from Karoline. She looks cute and mis-matchy. I hope she has a good time.
7. Tonight my friends Kristen and Abby are taking me out for helping them with their blogs! I’m going to order the most expensive thing on the menu because they’ve been a lot of work! (Especially that Kristen!) I kid. I don’t even like the most expensive thing on the menu. On principle, I can’t. I’m like that. You guys know how I am about money. It’s sad.

• For Yondalla (and others), I added a plugin that lets you edit your comments! Here’s hoping it works!

• We got our plane tickets for Oregon. Hit me up if you’d like to try to meet up. I don’t know when we’ll be in Portland because I need to see my brother in Eugene and we’re also planning on getting the kids to the beach. I’m just glad we finally got the dang tickets!

• My horoscope says I’m going to come into money this month. It also says:

Your artistic side will be very strong too, so if you write for a living, you’ll be even better positioned to make use of these aspects. Do you write screenplays or novels that have vivid, imaginative descriptions? Are you a copywriter for an ad agency, or do you write compelling press releases? Great! You must set aside time to devote to your work then. You’ll be astounded at the results and people who know you will say you have set new standards.

(Are you listening Barb? We’re gonna be rich! And famous!)

• 172 responses on the survey so far. Yeehaw!