Get Rich Quick Scheme #432 – The Bar Laundromat

>> I wrote this post in April 2013 and somehow didn’t publish it. Seize the day! Today. For publishing a blog from another time… A simpler time. 

I stumbled upon some notes from 2005 the other day. Notes just 8 years old, yet they transported me to another place, another time.

I had just started this blog. I was working as a temp doing odd jobs. And I was dreaming.

A lot.

One of my dreams was to own a Bar/Laundromat. The slash was a key ingredient; when discussing the plans with friends it was always pronounced “the-bar-slash-laundromat.” Never just “bar-landromat.” The Bar-slash-Laundromat. Continue Reading

Our first Music Together class!

For Christmas, Marsha, my mother-in-law, gave us a session of Music Together classes at our local chapter.

Will and I postponed signing up with the excuse that we were going to transition from one nap to two and had no idea when that would happen and thus could not commit to a time.

Marsha reported back to me that the woman she had spoken to had said earnestly, “oh, they should come sooner.”

And she was totally right.

If you know me very well, you likely know that I have a history of crying at such mundane banalities as long-distance phone call commercials (woah, dated reference!), soap operas, the Great British Baking Show, virtually all movies… You get the idea.

I didn’t have a chance to put on my eye makeup before we headed over and within the first five minutes, I was so glad. It was all I could do to stifle my tears. My mascara would have been all over.

The kids were soooo cute. The songs were soooo fun. It was such a relief to just be and forget my busy week and weekend. And watching Quinn become comfortable and then boogie his little butt off during free dance… Well, my heart warms and tears spring just thinking about it.

When Will and I put off signing up, we were seeing these classes as another weekend obligation.

But, I can’t wait to go back. I had just as much fun as he did. I’m excited to hear him add some of the songs we are learning to his repertoire that currently consists of mainly a slurred “Twinkle, Twinkle” (or is it the “ABCs”?? I can’t wait to figure that out!).

Our teacher in the class made a distinction between making music and consuming music; a distinction that I hadn’t considered before. We listen to a lot of music as a family, and we have a lot of silly songs that we sing already. After Sunday’s class, our daily activities have become even more musical. Will actually got out the guitar the other night. Instead of singing along to music on the stereo, I’m more likely to sing a song and invite Quinn to join. And I downloaded the Music Together app so we can sing the songs we sang in class on our way to and from daycare.

We are making more music as a family and it is the best ever.

In class, we are making music with our neighbors and that’s pretty cool too. No cell phones are allowed so you are forced to be present, musical and silly. I can’t think of a better way to spend forty-five minutes a week.

RIP Lucid Dreams

I’ve written a few posts in the past… Turbomode and Turbomode Take Two.

Life sometimes levels up. Shit gets super crazy and insane for a year or two… and then it dies down.

But now I have a kid. And I want another one. So I know, rationally, that this Turbomode has a shelf life of 14 or so years. It is not going to let up.

Somehow after having a baby, I can no longer sit tight with all my ideas. It’s like they are bursting through. The actual feeling of them inside me, undone, is suffocating in a way it never has been. I’m confronted with a choice: do I create or do I sleep? Continue Reading

Bon voyage, best feline friend. Bon voyage, the Guster.

This weekend we said goodbye to the Guster.

I first met Gus at a play structure in an apartment complex in Pleasanton, California, in June 2000. My friend James had adopted him.

He could fit in the palm of my hand. He must have been a month old. He was the cutest thing I had ever seen.

He lived with James through the summer but in Fall he and James moved in with me in Cloyne, the student co-op I was living in. James soon moved on but the Guster (known back then as Garfield), was my best friend to stay.

That moment when I met him — when I held him in the palm of my hand — I was 18. It was 17 and a half years ago. Continue Reading

Where does my brain end and do I begin?

Quinn will be nine months old in two weeks.

I have never loved anything so much as I love this baby. I thought for sure that when he came home from the hospital, I would have gained a third child, a sibling in my affection to our existing two cat children.

Nope. From the moment he was born, I had one kid and two cats.

Parenthood is hard.

I knew it would be hard, but, damn, it is hard. It’s hard in a new way because as soon as we’ve hit a rhythm, he grows a new arm or a leg or all of a sudden starts puking small amounts of food all over all my clothes. And we have to roll with the punches. And they just keep coming.

Despite how hard it is — how hard it’s been — I’ve spent a lot (A LOT) of time staring at Quinn with little hearts in place of the pupils in my eyes. “Oh you darling, boy… oh how cute it is when you puke… how adorable you suckle… how hilariously you throw Mama’s phone on the floor!”

And you know why?? Continue Reading

I’m Afraid of DT, Nuclear Bombs and the Fate of Our Planet

Shit’s gotten both super real and totally bat-shit insane lately. It’s hard to even watch late night TV (nevermind the news) because everything is so terrifying.

My therapist introduced me to The Work of Byron Katie, and I’ve posted about it before. I love the way she uses worksheets to help you systematically turn around the thoughts that are causing you grief. I regularly turn to her One-Believe-at-a-Time Worksheet to tackle feelings and beliefs that I just can’t shake.

If, like me, you’re freaking out right now, I recommend watching this video. I found it both entertaining and lightening.

I also recommend sunshine, exercise, ice cream and kitten videos in case you need more support (and who could blame you).

The Wheels on the Bus Extender Pack

We recently returned from our first vacation with the baby. The baby unlocked all sorts of badges like Baby’s First Camping Trip, Baby’s First Foot in the Ocean, Baby’s First Foot in the River and Baby’s First Road Trip.

We also got to unlock a couple exciting badges such as 100 Times Singing that Monkey on the Bed Song and Longest Ever Rendition of the Wheels on the Bus.

Knowing that I can’t be the first parent with a little one who hollers unless you keep singing, I thought I’d share our extended version of the Wheels on the Bus song.

Start with the tried and true…

The wheels on the bus go round and round, Continue Reading