Girl Scout cookie booth sales start tomorrow. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

if you want to see sophie and/or buy from her troop, she'll be at the Wells Fargo in Montclair from 2-4 tomorrow (her troop will be camped out there from 10am-4pm).

OR

you can let me know if you want to order some cookies. We can deliver this weekend!

please buy some cookies. i need them out of my house. pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssse.

you know how to find me.

i need a meme to get back into the posting habit. here's one from tapati .( This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. )

in other news: was laid off from le frog (yay!), soph had a Rapid Palatial Expander installed (doesn't expand our palace, unfortunately, just her palate), things still lovely and fun with dan, all in all things are quite spectacular at the moment. hooray!

thank you everyone for all your fabulous supportive comments re: lay off. i feel like y'all have my back, and that makes me feel all loved and warm and fuzzy.

everyone keeps trying to convince me that this could be a good thing, but the thing is, i KNOW it is a good thing. i was going to have to leave eventually/soon anyway. this way, i get to leave with a fat check and bennies for a few months, and can be picky about choosing another job. with the copious contract work out there, i can stretch it out for a long while. my cow-orker kim pointed out that i can get health insurance through the techwriters' professional society we belong to, which solves the benefits issue, and even tho i feel better having a regular paycheck coming in every two weeks, i can live with contract work if i know we have health insurance.

so it really really is all good. i wish more people would believe me when i say that!

YAY

YAY

YAY

YAY

california folks - while you're voting no on 8, vote no on 4 as well. it's important too!

i need to make a glaze for a galette. recipe calls for apple jelly; i have apple butter. can i use it instead, or will it be terribly wrong?

so a meme instead!

* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal along with
these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one:
pick the CLOSEST.

"Whatever style is adopted, punctuation and capitalization must be consistent throughout. Runover lines should be indented three or four spaces."

Yet again, from The Chicago Manual of Style.

I'm gonna do another one, because I always do the CMoS.

"And savage that thinking of it now, I feel
     The old fear stirring: death is hardly more bitter.
     And yet, to treat the good I found there as well"

Dante Alighieri, from the Inferno, printed in Lapham's Quarterly, Summer 2008.

The latter is much prettier, tho not quite as useful as the former, in my overly-practical opinion.

local folks: i need some soundproofing foam (or something similar) to cover an area about the size of a standard interior door. basically, something not too heavy, with decent (not professional or anything) soundproofing qualities, about 2'-3' x 6.5'? or so? where should i go to get something like that? or does anyone have any laying about they'd like to offload?

eta: alternate ideas for cheaply adding a layer of soundproofing over an otherwise unused door are appreciated, too!

last night i had a strange and terrible dream. in a nutshell, sophie's school had a little-known clause in its bylaws that allowed teachers to lay the death penalty on students who broke any of a handful of bizarre rule-combos. soph broke one of them: joining chorus without being willing to sing a solo, in tandem with not memorizing her times tables. i had to pull her out of school to save her. she does still struggle with her times tables, and she did negotiate with the chorus teacher to never have to sing solo, but for god's sake. i think part of it might be stemming from the idea that puberty is coming (has already overtaken some of the girls in her grade) and i fear for her emotional safety, just a little bit. sure, no one gets through it unscarred, but i'm getting a little freaked out about it.

unrelated question: how's big sur this fall? is much of it burned out or closed to hikers? i think this summer's fires were mostly just in the north end, but i can't really remember. anyone been through there in the last few weeks?

i am not photogenic, i'm exhausted and a mess. it must be time for that photo meme!

Take a picture of yourself right now.
don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair... just take a picture.
post that picture with NO editing.



enjoy!

thanks for all the feedback, honeys! i'm so glad you all are part of my borg.

1. Nine years ago today, at 7:29am in Berkeley, CA, I had a baby! Go me!
2. She is a completely spectacular kid, funny and smart and an absolute joy to be around. Go me! (yes, I am taking credit for some of that.)
3. The last nine years have been the most fabulous, hilarious, awe-inspiring and educational of my life. Go me!
4. I somehow managed to get the daughter I always dreamed of having. Go me!
   

So now that I have made this all about me...

Happy birthday to my kidlet Sophie, who has taught me nearly everything I know about love, wonder, and being a mother.

i cannot find any good house pr0n online.
i have no idea where my ipod is, and most of my music is on my dead ibook.
project runway isn't on tonight; i have to wait til tomorrow.

otherwise, i'm in a quite cheery mood!

Last night I took Sophie to see her dad play with his old band at Slim's in the city.
in other news: there isn't a whole lot of other news.

i need a home shaved ice/sno cone maker, that can possibly accomodate a dozen or more snow cones over the course of a couple hours. anyone know of one that doesn't suck, and doesn't cost a whole lot?

slushie maker is an acceptable alternative.

I am taking a cue from my awesome kidlet and am going to try to think/say/write positive things about myself periodically. Even (especially) congratulating myself on the boring day-to-day things, because those common things are victories, too! I recommend you do it as well.

• I am $155.63 from paying off my car. Go me!
• When I make that final payment on 7/15, I will have cleared every penny of my consumer and loan debt. Go me!
• I ironed all my wrinkly tops the other day. Go me!
• I whipped up a delish hot weather dinner last night, using what little stuff I had on hand, and it was healthy too. Go me!
• I opened negotiations with Allen to rework our custody arrangement, and am being firm where I need to and flexible where I can be. Go me!
  

Now I want to hear about your awesomeness. Go You!

Got Sophie's progress report in the mail yesterday. Her teacher asked each kid to "reflect
on their year and if they could write their own report cards, what would they say." Here's Soph's answer:

Today I'm going to tell you about how my year went in 3A. I think I've done a marvelous job this year. I would give myself an A+. I've done a very good job with time management. Time management is getting things done in time. I like all my specialist classes. I like Spanish, computers,
library, music, P.E. and garden. I behave very well. I'm a good kid. Go Me!

The teacher said "We couldn't agree more."

Neither can I! She's the awesomest.