by mayberry on January 25, 2010
Actually, vote for you. For us.
A few months ago I cryptically asked anyone who was reading, who considered their blog “small,” to raise a hand. I had an idea for a BlogHer’10 session on small blogs. Now is your chance to help me bring that session to BlogHer. Whether you plan to be there or not, please vote for my Room of Your Own session! To vote, you must be a member of BlogHer and be logged in; then you’ll see links at the top saying “I would be interested in presenting on this topic” and “I would attend this session.” Click on one or both and you’ve voted. Comments are optional but appreciated.
You can see the whole list of Room of Your Own ideas here. I’m thrilled that mine is one of the top 4 right now. I would love your help to keep it up there. Thanks!
by mayberry on January 20, 2010
I have learned a new secret to compliance and pleasantness at the dinner table. I trust you’ve heard the one about letting kids help plan the menu and cook. This really does work, at least when you can get them to actually do it. Last week we made “Brownie Soup,” which doesn’t actually contain any chocolate or any little girls in uniform. It is a recipe from the Brownie Try-It book. I hooked the children by suggesting we make it. Then I reeled them in by allowing them to help, and most especially by allowing them to use knives. Sharp ones. Sure we ended up with some 1/2-inch pieces of celery and some 6-inch ones, but who cares?
Finally, the big finish: I left my laptop on the dining room table and set up the screensaver option that plays a slideshow of photos randomly selected from your files. Kids can never get enough of seeing pictures of themselves. So use their natural egomania to your advantage, I say. It’s not like reading or watching TV at the table (which I don’t allow), because you are still talking to each other. In fact, we talk more and sit longer because of the photo display, discussing when and where the picture was taken, and so forth.
*
Via the Parent Bloggers Network, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Dean Ornish a question about health and wellness. Dr. Ornish is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California. He advocates comprehensive lifestyle changes as a means of preventing and reversing disease, so I asked him about how to lower our kids’ risk or high blood pressure (there is some history of it in our family). I mentioned that my children are pretty active and eat fairly well, but there is always room for improvement. Thanks to PBN, I received an answer from Dr. Ornish in the form of a personalized video he made after reading this blog. I tried to embed it here but could not–I hope if you click on the link you’ll be able to see it.
by mayberry on January 17, 2010
Not too many people even know it, and fewer still dare to say it aloud. But my littlest boy, lost one year ago today, has a name. It was important for me to give it to him, because it’s one of the only things I know about him. He was a boy. He sucked his thumb. His name is Simon. I have no pictures, save a few blurry ultrasounds. No clothes or toys or locks of hair. Just his name, which I whisper to myself at night. I tell him I love him, and that I’m sorry. And that I wish he could come back to me. I call him by his name.
The name is one that was rattling around in my head during those few short months I had with him. It amused me that it is one of only two that I happen to know my late grandmother hated … and the other one is Opie’s name. A friend mentioned it just a few days before everything started to fall apart, which I suppose is why it kept coming to mind during that awful time.
After he was gone, I thought about what I wanted for his name. I like Gabriel; maybe an angel name would be right. Or one of the boy names I loved but my husband didn’t, like Theodore. Did I want something common, so I could hear it often and think of him? Did I want something unusual, so I wouldn’t have to be reminded so very often (I know now that doesn’t matter; I think of him constantly, reminders or not)? Did it need to match my other children’s names, or not really?
In the end, Simon kept coming up, so Simon it was. Is.
For months, he didn’t have a middle name. I’ve always liked the family name Anton, but didn’t quite dare use it. It doesn’t work with Simon, but Anthony does. Then I learned that January 17 was St. Anthony’s Day. Anthony was a protégé of St. Francis of Assisi (I loved the Franciscans at my parish in Manhattan, and they are known worldwide for their work on poverty and human rights issues). Anthony is often depicted holding a little boy–the baby Jesus–in his arms. And he is the patron saint of lost items.
My Simon Anthony is not an “item,” but he is surely lost, as am I without him.
The sea obeys and fetters break
And lifeless limbs thou dost restore
While treasures lost are found again
When young or old thine aid implore.
—Responsory of St. Anthony
by mayberry on January 14, 2010
According to whoever decides these things, today is Delurking Day 2010! So, please, say something. You can tell me your favorite way to lurk. Mine is a tie between “looking in people’s windows as I walk/drive by when it’s dark outside and they have their lights on and curtains open” and Zillow.com.
graphic by greeblemonkey
by mayberry on January 13, 2010
We randomly acquired this item yesterday in one of those “skill”-crane machines. Immediately Opie said “Hey! I can use it for the wedding!” We sent this picture to my sister so she knows her ringbearer is already prepared.
by mayberry on January 11, 2010
The kids played together all day. Like 12 straight hours, except for about one hour when the shorter one was at Sunday school. All it cost me was about three entire spools of ribbon from my wrapping paper stash (to “decorate,” aka “booby trap like a laser security system,” the family room for a party honoring a stuffed animal). And only one child ended up with a potentially disfiguring injury to the face!
The victim refused to be photographed, but the CSI agents known as “mom” and “dad” were quickly able to deduce that this victim (the aforementioned Sunday school student) was, to use the technical term, asking for it. Hugs and ointment were administered and the party continued. Better yet, the revelers actually helped clean up the festivities before bed.
Not a bad Sunday.
by mayberry on January 6, 2010
For Patty, in the spirit of making deliciousness out of aggravation.
- 1 lb. rice
- 4-5 lemons
- 6-8 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1 pie crust (storebought or your own recipe)
Cook rice the night before, rinse well and cool in the refrigerator.
Beat eggs. Add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Grate lemons and add all rind with juice from lemons. Add rice. Mixture should be really soupy. Add another egg or two if necessary.
Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Insert knife – should come out clean.
by mayberry on January 4, 2010
alternate title: I Was Under the Impression that the Craptasticness Would Be Confined to 2009
At the end of the summer, my one-month-old netbook had to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair. I got it back, fixed, for free, but not in time for a business trip (which is the whole reason I bought the netbook).
Right before Thanksgiving, the hard drive on my regular, workhorse laptop died. I limped along for a week or so on the netbook and my husband’s laptop, then rebuilt everything on my old laptop when I got the new hard drive. You know, re-finding all my favorites, reinstalling all the software, downloading stuff like Tweetdeck and Adobe Reader, restoring all my files from my (thank god) backup. (Shout out to Mozy.com, by the way.)
A week or so after that, the hard drive on Jeff’s laptop died. So then he had to order another one, and go through all the restoration process, accompanied by much gnashing of teeth. He is still convinced that I caused the failure by downloading Firefox. Which, no. And, he was running IE6! I couldn’t function!
Saturday night, I spilled, like, a tablespoon of tea into my laptop.
Yup. Dead hard drive AGAIN. Another $150 and another two days of my life, gone.
2010, so far I am not impressed.
(P.S. This a.m., I am not able to comment on Blogger blogs, for some reason … sorry)
by mayberry on December 30, 2009
by mayberry on December 26, 2009
… a meme, found at Swistle.
Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate.
Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? Mostly he wraps them, especially when he is also visiting our niece at the same time. (Because her daddy thinks Santa should wrap and why would he wrap for only one out of three kids?) (Also, here is the SIL #fail of this trip: Requesting that our kids wait to open their Santa gifts until their cousin arrived from the hotel where she was staying. At 1:30 p.m.!) (Request: denied.)
Colored lights on a tree or white? Colored, but I have given in to my husband’s preference for white. (See additional tree-decorating guidelines.)
Hang mistletoe? No. But I still remember the giant, fake ball of it my mother used to have.
When do you put your decorations up? Outdoors: If there is a warmish day somewhere near Thanksgiving, grab it. Otherwise, first or second weekend of December. Tree/indoors: I prefer the second weekend in December.
What is your favorite holiday dish? Here at the Laws of In, homemade pierogies.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Here, all of them (except for Santa’s). At my house, only one on Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? See link to rules above. This year, our tree was very finicky and it took a long time to secure it in its stand. While they were waiting, the kids drew ornaments on colored paper. So those are prominently displayed. Also this year, Jo took extreme pride in being permitted to hang up very fragile ornaments herself.
Snow: Love it or hate it? I like it while it’s falling, and I like it lying prettily on the ground (but not the roads) for Christmas, but basically I hate it. (Answer stolen 100% from Swistle.)
Can you ice skate? If by “ice skate” you mean “remain upright and locomote forward while wearing ugly, rented boots with dull blades attached” then the answer is Yes!
What is your favorite holiday dessert? My grandmother’s pumpkin bars with cream-cheese frosting.
What is your favorite holiday tradition? Listening to holiday music. When I was a child, we used to have Christmas Eve dinner at my grandmother’s, then go to church, then drive down a nearby street on which the neighbors collaborated to depict the 12 Days of Christmas with wooden cut-outs.
Candy canes: Yum or yuck? I prefer them in the form of peppermint bark.
Favorite Christmas show? The Grinch.
And you?
