tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67416232024-03-05T03:59:27.612-05:00MimilouMusings on parenting, books, and whatever flotsam floats to the surface of my mind.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger572125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-19570036445486769172010-12-16T17:27:00.002-05:002010-12-16T17:31:33.407-05:00What I've Been Up ToChristmas is in one week! Why do I feel woefully unprepared for this?Perhaps it's this new endeavor I've been obsessing over working diligently on. Check it out if you are so inclined. Oh, and feel free to leave a comment!And if anyone wants to come wrap my presents for me (after I actually buy them), let me know.Hope you all are doing well!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-86101526545286568602010-06-19T08:05:00.002-04:002010-06-19T08:21:46.098-04:00Future Sellers of AmericaA few weeks ago we participated in a community yard sale. I'll call it a qualified success -- we brought home fewer items than we came with, and even recouped the cost of the space.Although I love seeing people cart off our stuff (and relieve us a bit of our surfeit of belongings), I have a hard time actually engaging with browsers. I tend to look away so that I can't seeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-75321507572095811572010-06-02T10:33:00.004-04:002010-06-02T12:42:40.449-04:00BrandedLast summer I read Juliet Schorr's Born to Buy. I'd expected to be horrified by the pernicious reach of kid-centric marketing, but even my jaded mind was boggled over both the insidious and the blatant ploys that marketers use to influence kids.Of course, I told myself, I've done a pretty good job at keeping that commercialized claptrap at a healthy distance. My kids are not sheltered fromUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-87512052364935505562010-05-20T21:12:00.004-04:002010-05-20T21:42:58.916-04:00Enriched(Okay, you talked me into it.)Allie has been attending an afternoon enrichment class three days a week. Since her kindergarten is just half-day, she needed something to fill the long afternoons until her brother comes home. It's a terrific program. It provides exactly the mix of arts and crafts, science, and social studies that I wanted her exposed to; you know, all the fluffy stuff that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-80348912139812600892010-05-18T15:59:00.003-04:002010-05-18T20:38:34.905-04:00She Surfaces (now with short p.s. added)So it would appear that if you abandon your blog for a year, you may find that some changes have taken place in your absence. Some weeds may have sprouted up, or vandals may have hurled rocks through your windows.Or all the comments you had accumulated over the past 5 years may have been vaporized -- POOF. Thanks for nothing, Haloscan. I'm not sure what Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-43142259426025006092009-05-12T18:35:00.003-04:002009-05-12T18:58:39.966-04:00Attention SpanYou might think, given my usual child-centric content, that this post is going to be about how one of my kids can't seem to focus on anything for more than a few minutes before being distracted.A reasonable assumption, especially because....Wait, is that a fly buzzing around the kitchen? And wait a sec, I need to check my e-mail.Umm, where was I?Oh, yes, posting. About short Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-16714703486231863962009-05-07T16:29:00.004-04:002009-05-07T17:04:27.138-04:00Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's...Twenty-five. I know that's not quite how the saying goes, but the number that does rhyme has connotations I'm just not up to embracing right now.So, it appears that I haven't posted since, umm, February. Which means I've missed the chance for a timely post not only ignoring lamenting celebrating my birthday but also acknowledging my blog's fifth anniversary.Five years! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-26553727611750401522009-02-04T11:18:00.002-05:002009-02-04T11:30:11.534-05:00Job InsecurityThe economic news is grim. With rounds and rounds of layoffs announced daily, it seems that everyone currently employed should be taking steps to work harder, smarter, whatever it takes to protect his or her job. Rookie mistakes should be avoided at all costs.Someone needs to remind the Tooth Fairy that even she is not immune from losing her job because of substandard Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-13448237106951789632009-01-13T10:28:00.002-05:002009-01-13T10:33:13.632-05:00Music to My EarsAllie was watching me play Scrabulous, or whatever its latest incarnation is called."Oh, Mommy, you're playing that word game again! I LOVE this game.""Really? Why's that?""Because it's filled with letters, and letters make up words, and I just love words!"Ah, the sweet sound of validation.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-62406709320396367012009-01-08T09:25:00.002-05:002009-01-08T09:49:35.215-05:00Yawn, Stretch, Try to Come to Life ...*Although in January that might be asking too much. So, hi, how are you? I've been feeling like the blogosphere wraith lately -- not posting, not commenting, just ... hovering, I guess.I don't have much to report from my 2 months of silence. Christmas was great, Sean did not wail in abject disappointment over the fact that Santa didn't bring him a DS system Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-46813495103061382092008-11-19T20:10:00.003-05:002008-11-19T20:16:14.666-05:00Thanks, I ThinkAllie was twirling around in her room. It's one of the many, many tactics she deploys to delay the bedtime process. Tonight there was sing-song commentary as well: "Mommy, you are so nice and sweet and appropriate!"At least someone has finally noticed.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-3056395689245764832008-11-11T18:06:00.002-05:002008-11-11T18:30:49.723-05:00Thank a VetToday Sean's school had a Veterans Day assembly. The first graders sang a song that Sean's been practicing for a few weeks now (sample lyrics: "If you love your country thank a vet"), the high school's ROTC showed the students how to fold a flag, the mayor popped by -- Sean was very impressed.He came home filled with questions about veterans, and soldiers (he's a little unclear on the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-56630656914091630402008-11-05T07:44:00.003-05:002008-11-05T07:45:47.346-05:00Yes, We DidI never thought I'd have tears of joy in my eyes after a presidential election.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-64985613869698526072008-11-02T23:45:00.003-05:002008-11-02T23:48:08.414-05:00Boo '08This year's Halloween was brought to you by three-sizes-too-big ruby slippers that will take you back to Kansas, but only if you can keep them on your feet.and by George Lucas, purveyor of the franchise that will never ever die, apparently.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-15659371705054102402008-10-22T09:57:00.002-04:002008-10-22T10:08:29.665-04:00My Son the SmugglerThis morning Sean asked if he could take his T-ball portrait and team picture to school. "I need to show them to my friends," he explained.I nixed the idea because Sean is not what you'd call careful. I hate to be a killjoy, but I like those pictures and don't particularly trust that they'd return home unmangled.Case closed, or so I thought.As we were hustling out the door (Do Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-7846481377348096692008-10-18T20:58:00.002-04:002008-10-18T21:59:12.649-04:00Cowardice(This was inspired by Aliki's post about a reunion with a friend from high school. I'd wanted to write about this over the summer, but self-recrimination is a mighty foe, apparently.)In early August I got a call from an old high school friend. We're no longer close, but she is in the periphery of my life because she is good friends with Jeff's brother. A call from her is most unusual.SheUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-77928349018812730232008-09-28T12:47:00.002-04:002008-09-28T13:07:35.727-04:00Return to SenderI'd been tucking little notes into Sean's lunchbox. "I love you," "I hope you're having a good day," that sort of thing.After I'd done that for about a week without any reaction from the addressee, it came up in a conversation about why Sean wasn't finishing his lunch. I knew the real reason -- my son is an incurable chatterbox -- but I hinted at another explanation."I know!" I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-14145270884084623862008-09-24T13:09:00.003-04:002008-09-24T13:36:27.658-04:00Yes, I Know It's Almost the End of SeptemberIn my continued neglect of my blog, I am guilty of unfair and unbalanced photo representation for the first day of school, female edition.Here's my girl 2 weeks ago, about to embark on her first five-days-a-week school year:She's attending a transitional kindergarten program this year, five afternoons a week. I've come to peace with the fact that she Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-14061865813605388302008-09-05T14:53:00.003-04:002008-09-05T15:09:46.849-04:00Yes, Another One in the Recent Spate of First-Day-of-First-Grade PostsWahhh!Where did my kindergartner go?Sean started first grade yesterday. Today is his first full day of school ever. After soothing a distraught Allison, who realized that she'd be spending an entire day without her best friend, I found that this morning was business as usual. Around noon, though, I started getting a bit twitchyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-25084025814353619392008-08-22T09:47:00.003-04:002008-08-22T14:05:40.570-04:00Just One Late Book Away from the HoosegowDid you hear about the woman who was arrested for $30 in unpaid library fines?Under a more unforgiving municipal regime, that certainly could have been me. I have this unfortunate tendency to a) check out a lot of books at one time (for the kids, but still) and b) forget when they're due.I do get a receipt with all the due dates. And if I remember, I do Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-34365392081645603062008-08-15T08:16:00.002-04:002008-08-15T08:19:30.456-04:00MonopolyI JUST found out the most remarkable news.Did you know that there are actually other athletes besides Michael Phelps competing at the summer Olympics?No, seriously. In fact, there could be, like, hundreds of them.How about that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-608634987347892442008-08-12T10:45:00.002-04:002008-08-12T11:10:59.487-04:00The Grouchy EditorI'd call this the first in a series of posts about grammar and punctuation and usage mistakes that annoy me, but I know better.We'll be lucky if there's a part 2, let alone a series.And with that disclaimer, let's rock and roll.We could also say, although I wouldn't, let's rock 'n' roll.What we should never say? Let's rock n' roll.Or rock 'n roll.We need a lovely matching set ofUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-78402622877170465472008-08-06T13:55:00.005-04:002008-08-06T14:07:31.922-04:00Narrow VocabularyI've seen this very cool image on several blogs but only recently found out that my sister's colleague created the Wordle site. Hey, I thought, I have a nicely varied vocabulary. The Wordlet for my blog will surely reflect that.Apparently not. See the prominence given to "Barbie" and "TV"? If you see me randomly tossing about words like "perambulate" and "quotidian" and "NPR" inUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-86264666622162612492008-08-04T11:26:00.004-04:002008-08-04T11:40:06.729-04:00Project Runway, Here I ComeSuch was my guilt over Allie's accident (she's all better now -- thanks for the kind words!) that I may actually have agreed to a trip to Target for a toy of her choice.And I may actually have agreed to uphold this agreement when it became obvious that "her choice" was to be found residing in the *gulp* Barbie aisle.Friends, I bought my daughter a Barbie.And not just Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741623.post-19122466176522136362008-07-21T17:12:00.003-04:002008-07-21T18:12:10.193-04:00Pride Goeth after the FallLet's see, let's see, what was it about last Thursday that was so exciting?The fact that Sean decided the best way to rid himself of sand from the sandbox at the pool was simply to discard his bathing suit while strolling across the pool grounds en route to the showers? No, that's not it, although I believe I had to be resuscitated after I died of embarrassment.The fact Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0