clumsy?

Recently, my brother did a 6-word autobiography, on his blog. I thought It sounded like fun, so here's mine:

family singing coffee reading organized-scatterbrain

I mentioned it to my husband, the other night ... he said I wasn't scatterbrained, so I asked him what he would call it. Mentally Clumsy. Since I'm physically clumsy, the thought of being mentally clumsy makes me giggle. I like it.

Is movie magic another digitally enhanced model?

The other night, my husband and I had one of those conversations that are diverse in topic and as deep as it is shallow. It was one of those “we should be sleeping, but ended up talking instead” conversations. Do you know the ones I mean? It was nice. We don’t get much time for major conversation, and even less for meaningful conversation.

At one point he started talking about models in magazines; how they take someone with near impossible looks that have the additional benefit of hair, make-up, and fashion professionals and still manage to find things to digitally enhance, remove, etc. The end product, the magazine photo, projects an image that many women (and girls) spend their lives trying to live up to. He said that chic flick/romantic comedies/any movie romance has that same destructive pattern; just apply them to romance instead of body image. Many of these movies don’t have realistic relationships, or ones that you could really see lasting if you thought about real hard. They set up impossible expectations for romance. He asked me if any of them even seemed real.

While I admit that many of them don’t (no matter how much I like to pretend that they do), there are a few that do feel more real. I used the example of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy as a movie relationship that seemed as though it could be “real.” He conceded that they do feel more real, but that they still represented an impossible romantic standard, but not with movies … the book came first. I countered with something much more contemporary, but still “real” seeming, and he agreed that however unlikely it may be, the possibility of a real-seeming movie romance does exist.

My husbands analogy of movie romance to magazine models does make a point. I wonder if some of us don't see the romance all around us because we are waiting for that moment. That wonderful, movie-magic moment. Time slows, music swells and women everywhere sigh. Maybe that moment is the equivalent of digitally enhancing the gorgeous model's body. Romance is already gorgeous and it doesn't need the enhancements. Still ... I have to admit, while I've never seen cover models and celebrities as something to aspire to be, I'm not sure I'll be able to stop watching those movies, and sighing at their magic moments.

barely any words to say ...

Have you ever been so impressed and proud of your child that you are moved to tears? My daughter walks around the house (the store, dance class, ...) singing all the time. This morning, however, it's absolutely, totally, completely out of this world. I wish I could record it and put the file here for you to hear her. I can't believe what's coming out of her six-year old mouth. I'm sitting on the couch in shocked amazement with my mouth open, eyes bugged out, tears welling up.
This goes beyond proud parent. She's singing with a strong, clear voice; putting vibrato in all the right places. It's as good as any child-lead in theater.

wow.

"t's a beautiful morning!"

The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. I can have my sliding door open partly. This is what I love. This is what makes me smile and puts a hop in my step. This weather gives me energy. It makes me feel alive and vibrant and well. The chirping birds are key, in this scenario. For some reason, the sun alone does not completely do it for me. In my perfect world, the birds would chirp all winter. Wait. No. In my perfect world, there wouldn't really be much winter. Just enough to have a white December. After that, I'm done. I have to go and color with my son, now. Enjoy the picture! He helped me pick it out.

cannonball!!

I.am.a.genius.

I found a tiny little heart-shaped cookie cutter and made 12 mini peanut butter sandwiches (6 each), for Valentine's Day. It was too cute. I arranged them in a circle with apple slices and put a cadbury egg in the middle. They loved it!! I considered taking a picture so you could all bear visual witness to my genius-ness, but decided it was the sort of beauty only a young child could behold. We spent a portion of lunch-time going through my daughter's first-ever valentine's day bag of candy and cards from school. Also, too cute!!

(now that's my kind of heart!)

too far?

Speaking of appalling, my brother recently blogged on the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The appalling part is that this is what they have come up with. There's a whole series of posters you can peruse ... I've pasted my favorite one below.

"Stay Cliquey; Stay self-centered; Stay in demand"

I know that it will be a proud moment for me, as a mother, when I can say that my teenage daughter is a cliquey, self-centered individual who is in high demand. My dreams will have all come true in that one shining moment.


Here's a shining example of some of the postcards they are selling ... I won't post it here, I find it to be too offensive for this simple-minded, diaper-changing mother to handle.


In the interest of fairness, I'm sure that these folks have helped out a lot of teens as well as their families. I just think they might want to re-think the direction the current ad campaigns have them running in. Go here or here and make up your own mind.

We are not in China?

Yesterday morning, we opened our front door, and found a note* taped to our door**. Now, we know that association rules do not allow for items to be in the hallway, but we figured (as did many of our neighbors, if their shoes are any indicator) with all the inclement weather that it would be acceptable to leave shoes neatly lined up on our doormat. If this wasn't acceptable, we knew a small reminder note would likely be found next to or inside of our shoes at some point. Apparently, after more than a month of our doing this and who knows how long of several of our neighbor's doing this (one of which has done so every day since they moved in), someone has had enough. It looks very much like our exalted association manager's printing, too. I wanted to leave a nice little message for her, but my husband stopped me. We have managed to live here in relative peace for 7 years, and he is not interested in rocking the boat. I can respect that, so while I thought we should mark our door as the entryway to China, he contemplated putting a sign on the door with the Chinese*** translation of a phrase I will not repeat here. We were also wondering if this indeed a common practice in China, and why this is not common anywhere else. Perhaps the Chinese are the only one's that care about keeping their carpeting free of snow, rain and mud. We must assume that we are quite unschooled. To make any other assumption would be to call the writer of such grand notes ignorant, rude and condescending not to mention offensive, slanderous, and few other adjectives. We would never say such things, however, because our education has apparently been incomplete.

You should also check out the note I found taped to the window between the second and third floors ...

I put with my children not being allowed to play by our building. I put up with being told that my curtains must show white from the outside of the building. I put up with being told what I am and am not allowed to put on my balcony. I put up with being asked to tattle on my neighbors (which I will not do). I put up with being spoken to and treated as though I were three, on a variety of matters. I put up with a balcony that is unsafe for small children to be on. I put up with paying to have my dryer vent cleaned every year when I know that the space the vent occupies legally belongs to the association AND could be done by me for free if I was allowed to put ladder to the side of the building. I put up with the essential monopoly my wonderful association has made for Comcast cable services. I have even put up with being told that if I have to ask permission to use the parking lot when I have more guests than fits into two cars (if you saw the capacity of the parking lot you would understand why this angers me). I even put up with having to pay a $200 pet deposit when I own my home, and cannot figure out what on earth they need that much money for. Enough. Do I live here? I though I had purchased my own home!? I am writing this to vent and make people aware. This is not right but they can get away with it. We know that if we complain, they will find ways to be a thorn in our sides. They can do whatever they want ... they are the association, and by deciding to live here we have agreed to play by their rules.****

I cannot wait to move.


*Not the best picture so here's what it says: "We are not in China, please keep your shoes inside. Thank you."
**this picture is actually of a neighbor's door. My note hit the garbage can too quickly for me to think of grabbing the camera.
***He knows katakana, but I'm guessing he could get the mandarin for what he wants and do pretty well at drawing a representation of it.
****I would like to note that rules are added/amended every year and the way they condescendingly upheld was not covered when we moved in.
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update: My education is so lacking that my husband emailed me some editorial notes. My installation of "why I love my association" now reflects changes as suggested by him.