by mayberry on September 3, 2008
Occasionally our neighbors gather for a summer potluck. There is an older man who always attends; he’s more than 90 and lives alone–and a bit lonely since his wife died several years ago. He’s always in good spirits at these events and basks in the attention of kids and adults alike.
At one such party, he started choking on a hunk of meat. Luckily for him, there were several doctors in attendance. One of them Heimliched the man and he was soon fine again, although those of us who witnessed all this were shaken.
As the party drew to a close another neighbor said goodbye to Mr. G., giggled, and noted “Glad you are OK! That would have been an awful way to go, after you’ve lived this long!”
Oh yes, she did.
Jen’s post inspired Magpie’s which inspired mine. Are you next?
by mayberry on August 12, 2008
Via Wordle (click on it to see it bigger), which I found via Mimilou.
This is an image derived from the RSS feed of my blog. How perfect is it that “child” appears right in the middle, connected to words like “love” and “thought” and “nasty” and “normal” and “responsible” and, of course, “sucked”?
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Today’s PSA:
Hoard is not the same as horde.
Chic is not the same as chick.
Pore is not the same as pour.
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Words that sound better with a British accent:
controversy
aluminum
whilst
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I’m finally a-Twitter. I’m afraid this is a slippery slope which inevitably leads to me neeeeeeding an iPhone.
by mayberry on May 28, 2008
Blogging has influenced my thinking and decisions and changed my point of view in more ways than I can recount. Last year after the Virginia Tech tragedy, for example, Suebob suggested an excellent, thoughtful, helpful response: giving to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I immediately clicked through and made a donation. I’ve gained a much deeper appreciation of what it’s like to face homelessness, depression, a health insurance system that doesn’t help parents help children.
More frivolously, I’ve made purchases based on recommendations from other bloggers and tried dozens of new products for myself. And lately, I’ve been actually sticking with an exercise plan, and I have a blogger friend to thank for that too.
Last fall, Amy from Binkytown wrote about starting a running regimen (and in fact she, in turn, was influenced by another blogger!). What stuck with me was this: “You don’t think you have 20 minutes? You do.”
That’s sound reasoning and it’s totally true. And it’s no slam to Amy to say that it’s not original. I’ve heard the advice before, but I didn’t really hear it until she said it. It still took 6 months for me to actually act on it. But now, I’m looking for that 20 minutes every day, and I’m finding it. First thing in the morning, right after bedtime, by bike on the way to or from the kids’ schools, even squeezed into the middle of my working hours if that’s what it takes. It’s there and I just have to use it. (My secret weapon, by the way, is Exercise TV on Demand.)
So thanks, Binkytown, for kicking my butt into gear via the Internetz. And thanks, Julie P., for another Hump Day Hmm (which I also seem to be making a habit. Two in a row!).
by mayberry on May 8, 2008
Confession time: Are there blogs that you read purely for impure reasons? Not impure as in all about the bangability, but as in you read them to make yourself feel superior? Or because you are spying checking up on on an old colleague or ex?
Blogging can open minds, but it can close them too. There are a few in my reader that are there because they get a rise out of me. (None of you, trust me–no one that’s ever commented here, and I’m certain they’re not reading either.) No matter what these people say, I’m going to disagree and think they are foolish. Reading them is nothing but a boost to my own ego.
On other blogs, I’m strictly a voyeur. Of course all blog-reading is in some way voyeuristic, and if these people are putting it out there, they’ve agreed that it’s mine for the viewing. But if I read your site regularly and I comment, if you know I’m there, I’m now at least friendly, if not a plain ol’ friend. If I read my nutty former co-worker’s husband’s blog to find out what she’s doing, because I just think she’s weird, then that’s … embarrassing. Same goes for a another ex-colleague who has a lame blog of her own, slapped up to promote a book; I only read it to mock it.
I try to cut myself off, on the grounds that this kind of entertainment really isn’t worth any of my limited time or brain cells. That only works some of the time. It’s no worse than reality TV, right? At least bloggers aren’t subject to the whims of editors and producers who have only a commercial interest in their life stories. (Well, unless they’re on the Today show.)
by mayberry on April 25, 2008
This is going to make me sound like a dopey job interviewee who answers “I work too hard” to the question “what is your biggest flaw?” but sometimes I think I am too empathetic for my own good. I am so readily able to see the other side of an argument that I can’t bring myself to take a strong position of my own. As soon as I begin to form an opinion I am already thinking of all the ways it could be rebutted and countered. I am thinking of a person I know or a blog I read and how “so-and-so would say … “
Kristen asked the other day about blogs that help us see the silver lining. Understanding more about the challenges that other families face every day–illness, infertility, infidelity, poverty, injustice–has been one of the most moving, amazing, unexpected benefits to me of spending time in Blogsylvania (thanks Jenny for that term). The flip side is that I’m sensitive, to a wishy-washy, mushy-middle fault, to the way others experience tough issues.
I sometimes wish my blog could be more opinionated and argumentative. I’m sure it would be more fun to read that way. But I’d be worried about hurting people’s feelings, and–truth be told–about upsetting people I care about. It just wouldn’t be me. So I’m trying to be okay with that.
by mayberry on February 26, 2008
I am looking for good food/mom blogs. Not so much for myself, but for a work project. Can you recommend any that you love — not too gourmet; more about everyday cooking with/for kids who may or may not only eat their pasta without sauce, their apples peeled, their yogurt character-ized, and their pizza only is “someone else bakes it.”
Merci bien.
Oh, and any grandmothers and mothers of middle schoolers would be magnifique as well.
by mayberry on February 18, 2008
Like many other little boys (and girls) out there, my son is a fan of the round-headed, overall-clad, fix-it Brit. So we said “yes we can” to an offer from Parent Bloggers Network to check out Bob the Builder’s latest DVD release, Bob the Builder On Site: Roads and Bridges. This one-hour show is a complete how-they-do-it explanation, in preschooler-friendly terms, of road- and bridge-building. As Bob spells it all out for his pal Roley and a collection of rabbits and squirrels (yeah, I didn’t really get that, either), a combination of animated and live-action videos illustrate the steps.
Get the full review (with bonus Opie photo) at The Full Mommy. And if you like freebies–add the site to your reader! Contributor Leighann has tracked down all kinds of sweet goodies to share. The current giveaway ends today, but more are coming.
by mayberry on February 13, 2008
Some of you know that I have another blog on the site I work on. I don’t link it here because, you know, I feel that I am the second coming of Dooce. My mother is the most faithful reader of that blog (probably the only reader. Even I am usually bored with it, and it’s all about my kids). She checks compulsively for updates, never fails to mention what she’s read, and even suggests topics.
So today, when I felt a bit of bloggers’ block, I emailed my #1 fan. I usually can’t keep track of where she is because she travels all the time, but she does check her Crackberry constantly. Sure enough, she called me from her cell phone within a half hour and reeled off four ideas.
Write about everything you have to prepare before you go out of town.
Too stressful. NEXT!
Write about how you embrace the winter season with the kids.
Ha. Ha ha ha ha. I only embrace the sturgeon-spearing. Pucker up, dino-fish. NEXT!
Write about Valentine’s Day and all the learning opportunities that go with it [a lifetime ago Mom was a first-grade teacher].
Reasonable possibility. After Jo rejected my idea for homemade valentines (red construction paper hearts with cut-out pictures from other cards glued on top, and the text “You’re cut out to be my valentine”), we bought a couple of packages of licensed-character goodness. She sat right down and addressed and signed them all in one fell swoop. No nagging, bribing, or even coaching. I was very proud. But: If I do this, I’ll save it until after the school party, in case that yields any good stories. NEXT!
Write about how you cook with the kids, what they like about it, what they are learning from it.
Ding! I think we have a winner. Yes, I may be a kitchen lame-o but I am raising a boy who has an entire wardrobe of aprons and his very own whisk. Tonight: “Now you can help me mix up this stuff and make meatballs.” “I can use my whisk?”
Next time, though, I may just hire Grandma as a ghost-blogger. I can pay her a percentage of my lucrative salary of $0.
by mayberry on January 23, 2008
by mayberry on January 21, 2008
In honor of the impending arrival of mothergoosemouse‘s little boy blue: A story.
The minute you give birth to an infant of the male persuasion you learn (and you are informed about three dozen times a day, anyway) that their boy parts are to be covered at all times. Something about exposure to the open air makes their little firehoses want to perform.
During one of Opie’s very first diaper changes on his very first day home from the hospital, my mother was doing the honors while Jo and I looked on adoringly. Because, you know, it takes two adults and a preschooler to change one teeny weenie newborn. Of course, since it had been over 30 years since Grandma had unwrapped a boy diaper, she forgot the Take Cover rule. Opie sensed an opportunity and let fly with a targeted stream. He managed to hit:
- the pack-n-play
- the living room wall
- the living room floor
- and his sister’s face
- (her hair too)
So Julie, be sure to stock up on the cloth diapers and use them to cover the danger zone any time the little guy is mid-change. Tacy and CJ, I advise you to keep your distance.
xoxoxoxo from Jo, Opie, Jeff and me!
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It’s a baby shower and you are invited! Grab a button and post anytime today in honor of one of the blogosphere’s favorite writers … and the biggest surprise of her life.
(And there are prizes involved, to boot.)
