Secular Confessions

[demigraf]

I feel like Sawyer keeps getting happier and happier. It's like with each physical milestone he meets he's just ecstatic as if he had no idea life could be so good. Just the other day he pulled himself up for the first time in the playpen while I plopped him in there so I could make playdough. He screamed in pure delight. His joyful screams are so loud that you can feel it in your toes. Seriously. It's piercing. I can tell that when we are out in public people want to be annoyed when he does it but they really can't so they give me painful smiles.

LIKE!

Also, I was totally into ol' skool rap too. But that was a little bit after my Duran Duran phase.

[Suja]

Oh I still had to time to love Duran Duran too My favorite was John Taylor, my best friend liked Simon LeBon. The 80's had the best music. I loved it all from hair bands, Billy Joel, Madonna, Michael Jackson, U2, The Police, INXS, Run D.M.C, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

And Springsteeeeeen! OMG, how can y'all forget BRUCE? And y'all have to promise you won't shun me for this, but I LOVED WHAM!

[girlwonder]

If he is interested, I don't see any reason on earth not to read those books to your child.

Suja - that dish looks so yummy. I'm hungry for it now! Next time my dh goes to whole foods I will ask him to get some coconut meat and good green beans. Thanks and keep 'em coming if you can!

So I finished painting the door today:

TA-DA!!!!



Ugh! my house is so ugly on the outside! Oh, well. I like the blue!

[missychrissy]

I love it! And your house does not look ugly!

I agree with Katy L...if he likes it, then read it.

[daylilies]

Haha yup my greatest musical influence came around 11 years old ;) And I had a couple more big influences in high school and early college, such as Dave Matthews Band and Sarah McLachlan. I idolized her for a long time.

The Ozma dolls sound so cute! Ozma is a beautiful name, and a beautiful girl plays her in Return to Oz so I think I kind of idolized her--even though Return to Oz is rather creepy for a children's movie. I watched it again recently and I was like

[Bridget]

Lydia, I checked a book out at the library that I planned to look through before I read it. But I left it with the others and dbf's mom read it to the kids. It had a story about how ancient egyptians, while preparing the body for mummification (?) saved all of the important organs for the afterlife but at that time they thought the brain was nothing but a mass of mush in the head so they sucked that out through the corpses nostrils before wrapping the body. Savana loves to share that information and then I feel obligated to explain. Remember that my children actually sat in the tub with me while I birthed Sawyer so I bet your co-workers would find me a very inappropriate parent.

I loved George Michael too. And Michael Jackson.

[AmeriBrit]

Your door looks super cool, Katy!

[Bridget]

I love bold doors. And I think your house is cute.

[demigraf]

Suja, thanks for posting the photo of the green beans. For some reason, making a dry stir fry the RIGHT way has always escaped me. I will try again, and come back and (shamefully?) post my results. And nice photo, btw.

Speaking of photos, I have volunteered to be the assistant photographer for my mothers' club. It will be a nice way for me to get in more practice, and maybe a good excuse to buy a new lens I’ve had my eye on. (Even if it’s on the bottom –ish end of its price range, it’s still a little too steep for me at this indebted moment). My girlfriend who’s a professional jokingly told me to get model releases and “start making some money off those kids”. LOL.

On a slightly related topic, another person I know – the wife of a friend – is an amazing photographer specializing in children’s fashion. She has this cult following on Flickr and her kids’ lives are just beautifully documented at this point. I have mixed feelings about her because I really admire her taste, and I think she’s a funny writer and so visually talented, but for some reason, she’s always been haughty and sarcastic towards me. We used to play on the same pub trivia team as couples before the kids arrived, and it was always so much fun, but then she’d open her mouth and say something to me, and it’d stop being fun. They moved off to Australia years ago anyway. We’re nominally still “friends” on FB, but sometimes I wonder if she just asked me to be her friend so she could snoop my pictures since she’s never actually said anything to me since requesting to be my friend. The reason I bring her up now is that she’s going to start teaching a photography webinar, and I want to take it because I think she’s that good, but I sort of want to do it anonymously. Like, as demigraf, or one of my other handles, because I have this fear that she’ll teach me less if she knows it’s me. I feel like I sound so neurotic right now.

Katy, I love stone houses, so I have no idea why you think your house is ugly on the outside. The door is a fun pop of color now too. Nice job!

Suja, I am a recent convert to Springsteen. My musical tastes tend to lean indie, but my DH is in the recording industry and he used to get a lot of mainstream classic rock complimentary tix. We knew we’d have some Springsteen tickets months in advance, so I started listening to him, not knowing more than Glory Days and other stuff from that period of time. I had him pegged so wrong as this narrow range, “rah-rah USA” bore. His early stuff surprised me as very conversational and Bob Dylan-esque, so I had no idea he was such a good lyricist, and then he was always backed by these incredibly talented musicians. I even love his politics. Yay to Bruce. Sometimes I think I write my wordy posts the way Bruce Springsteen would if he were an APA mom.

L, regarding your comment about me having indirect brushes w/ celebs, I’ve had a lot if you count all the people my DH has come across professionally. They’re mostly musicians (and I’ve got some fun stories for you girls about who’s a mimbo, a prima donna, who had an unpleasant stomach bug, whose entourage tried to steal from another recording session, etc.) but last night DH just casually starts talking to me about the time he gave Ben Affleck a tour of the studio. It was just so random for him to tell me now. It happened years ago, but while we were already dating. You’d think he would have told me around the time it happened. He said he was mostly surprised the Ben didn’t make any mention of his Boston accent, and that he’d kind of hoped they would have had more to talk about being from there, but no. It was just a very cordial, business-like walkthrough and then it was over. You think you know your husband…

[raspberry]

missychrissy, sorry I don't know your name, I've seen your posts forever, but not sure of your name, I like the story about the Joan Jett concert. How fun! Also loved Pat Benatar, I just read her book-it was a good read. Oh wow yes I loved Wham! I was so clueless, I didn't know GM was gay. Even when he shaking his butt in the "Faith" video-no clue.

I cannot wait until G is old enough for chapter books, like Harry Potter. I guess we'll need to start with Little House on the Prairie first. One of my favs. Right now G wants to read Goodnight Gorilla everynight.

I love hearing the baby stories, missing the baby years here. G will be our only, so I will live vicariously through you ladies with young babies.

[daylilies]

I like your door Katy! And your house too--I think it's cute.

[missychrissy]

Myles, I get what you're saying about your photographer friend. If you do sign up anonymously, don't use demigraf. If she thought to google that name, it would lead her straight here.

I'll respond to the rest of your post when I find my glasses. I'm 99% sure I wore them to work, but at one point this afternoon I noticed they weren't on my head and now I can't find them anywhere. It doesn't bother me so much during the day, but at night it really bothers me a lot because of my astigmatism.

missychrissy, sorry I don't know your name, I've seen your posts forever, but not sure of your name, I like the story about the Joan Jett concert. How fun!

Thanks! My name is Chrissy. Actually, Christina but I go by Chrissy in my personal life. Joan Jett was easily one of the best concerts I've been to. She's great-and sounds really close to her records, but not so close that you think she's lip syncing.

[Gwenn]

Katy, I love your door and your house.

I remember the Duran Duran days. I was something of a loner and had an older brother who dictated what was "good" music and wasn't - it took me a long time to get out from under his shadow. He wasn't into Duran Duran, so my 12 year old musical crush was on David Bowie. I believe it had more to do with his voice than anything else. I liked the Police, too, but I don't recall having a crush on Sting - odd because now I think he's gorgeous. And U2 - I definitely had a thing for Bono at one point.

Love the Ozmas! And L, you should read your kids whatever interests them. Nothing inappropriate in opening a child's mind.

[beanpop]

Dude, that's such a cool door. I love loud colored doors.

[girlwonder]

I really like the color a lot - it could be darker but I'm not going to go buy more paint and spend another day painting because of that.

I think my house is ugly - it is off-center because for some years it was re-fashioned as a duplex. To the right of the front door when we moved in was a sliding glass door which had been the front door of the other half. The stone facing is not original, but is a "casing" around the original house apparently put on after it was damaged in a fire at some point, and that isn't mortar but cement between the rocks. This house is S.O.L.I.D. The fireplace was put on at the same time and is so heavy that it is tipping the whole house to the right - all round things can be found in the front corner of our living room.

[girlwonder]

Oh, and while I was painting my door I listened to Marc Maron's podcast WTF and Jon Hamm was his guest. He sounded like a completely cool guy that would be fun to hang out with. Not to mention very easy on the eyes. He hangs around a lot of comics/improv folks. I liked him a lot as a person after listening, not just as the amazingly beautiful creature.

And poor Todd Barry. He already has such a perfect hang-dog face I can just seem him trying to get in that locked door

I had a few brushes with celebrity in my short time in LA. My favorite was seeing Chaka Khan at the Ralph's grocery store on Ventura in Studio city. Random!

[demigraf]

Eeks! Find those specs, mama! Eta: "mama" being Chrissy. I thought my post would be directly below hers.

DH & I ran this footrace awhile back called the Nike Run Hit Wonder, with all these one-hit bands stationed around the course. We mainly went to see The Donnas and The Fountains Wayne, but Joan Jett was gonna be the headliner at the finish line at the LA Colisseum. We'd signed up to do the 10k course, but took a nap before the race, got lazy, and decided to do the 5k instead. Anyway, we were so lazy, we just decided to go home before she played. Oh yeah. and we saw an IMAX movie right before we ran too. Totally forgot about that. As an aside, they showed me on one of those 70ft stadium screens as I was approaching the finish. I don't need to ever see myself that big again. I'm good.

Karen, I feel like I'm always responding about 15 posts behind. I'll be replying to someone's old post and feel like I'm totally ignoring something pertinent that someone's just written. So no worries. we're all catching up.

Suja, oddly enough, I posted twice about Wham's Club Tropicana video this yr on my FB profile. One time it was about how I can't seem to let go of some clothes because I believe I'll need them one day when my life finally resembles the video. And the other one was about how the video bugged me because of the line,'"all that's missing is the sea", which George sings and seconds later a wave splashes in GM's face. It's sort of given me this false rep as the friend who's totally into Wham. I've recently gotten a couple comments about how "I listened to Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and totally thought of you." Heh.

[missychrissy]

Whenever I think of all the stuff our house needs I feel totally overwhelmed I don't think any part of it looks good at all, and the kitchen and bath are simply atrocious.

[demigraf]

Oh yeah, and I meant to say to L that she'd probably be able to take a book about the sex trade in Malaysia and make it educational and appropriate for her children.

[girlwonder]

Whenever I think of all the stuff our house needs I feel totally overwhelmed I don't think any part of it looks good at all, and the kitchen and bath are simply atrocious.

I'm so embarrassed about our bathrooms I can't tell you. We sort of did the kitchen before J was born, but it is still not the best.

[missychrissy]

Oh yeah, and I meant to say to L that she'd probably be able to take a book about the sex trade in Malaysia and make it educational and appropriate for her children.

True, true!

I'm so embarrassed about our bathroom I can't tell you. We sort of did the kitchen before J was born, but it is still not the best.

Me too, I'm humiliated about our bathroom. Jesi's friend brought her home and needed to use it...I got a deer in the headlight look. I wanted to suggest the gas station down the road :-)

[Cosmosmom]

On a related note to books read in the order they were written, I'm trying to read Josh the Oz books in chronological order even though they don't really need to be. Every time I ask any librarian what order the Oz books were written in they're very confused by that, for some reason. "Well they're not really a series," they point out to me. Well I know that, but the same characters tend to pop up in some, and I'd like to read their stories in the right order. Sigh.

I disagree with them. I have the 14 Oz books that the first guy wrote and I do think that they should be in order. Let me know if you need the order.

[Suja]

Y'all talk way too much in here, so I'll start a separate recipe thread. Otherwise, I'll totally miss it if anyone asks anything.

[Cosmosmom]

Agree with the music of the teen years being most influential. For me it was Nirvana, Counting Crows, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Cranberries, Pearl Jam, Candle Box......

I agree too, read what they want if it doesn't bother them. My DH when little used to ask his mom to read the encyclopedia to him.

[3andMe]

Oh yeah, and I meant to say to L that she'd probably be able to take a book about the sex trade in Malaysia and make it educational and appropriate for her children.

It's kind of funny, because we have actually discussed the SE Asian sex trade because of a scene in the movie Baraka. I mean, it was more like the kids asked why all of those pretty girls looked so sad, and I just told them they were sad because they were doing a job they didn't like very much but they felt like they had to do it because otherwise they wouldn't have enough money to eat or pay their rent. I think that was also well over a year ago. It's a beautiful movie, btw, sex trade aside. It was one of DS's favorites before he discovered Mighty Machines.

Speaking of, DD just this past week suggested we should take a walk in the evening now that it is getting dark so early. She said it would be really cool to take a walk at night. She said "I would have so much fun being a nightwalker! I would go to school the next day and tell my friends and my teachers that I was a nightwalker!!!!" Dh and I were silently cracking up.

[3andMe]

Y'all talk way too much in here, so I'll start a separate recipe thread. Otherwise, I'll totally miss it if anyone asks anything.

Oh yes, will you repost the green bean and coconut one in there, too, please? I was meaning to write it down and when it's not right in the front of my brain I forget about it.

--------------

Oh, btw, my job interview went fine today. I will have the job if I want it, I'm sure. The only question is if they can pay me anything close to what I'm making now. It's like 10 or 15 minutes away. Was it really bad that I was looking around to see if there were computers for me to use on my breaks? There were NOT!

[Bridget]

Speaking of missing stuff...Lydia, I missed that you had an interview! Glad it went well.

[AbbeysMom]

My charger broke so I'm computerless and posting from my phone until I get a new charger tomorrow. There's a political thread elsewhere on APA and I find myself thinking "I wish Erin/Ky's mom would respond so I can just "ITA" because it's too hard to formulate a reply on my phone."

Anyway I made a mental note when L posted about her job interview to wish her luck that day and failed, because in another FWP, I can't remember people's birthdays or other important events without FB reminding me. Congrats on a great interview and hope there's room to negotiate a nice high salary and some computer time too.

[beanpop]

Y'all talk way too much in here, so I'll start a separate recipe thread. Otherwise, I'll totally miss it if anyone asks anything.

I know, right? I just can't keep up!

My charger broke so I'm computerless and posting from my phone until I get a new charger tomorrow. There's a political thread elsewhere on APA and I find myself thinking "I wish Erin/Ky's mom would respond so I can just "ITA" because it's too hard to formulate a reply on my phone."

Dude, I think this about EVERY controversial topic on APA

[daylilies]

I disagree with them. I have the 14 Oz books that the first guy wrote and I do think that they should be in order. Let me know if you need the order.

Mandy posted a wiki article of the order, but thanks!

Oh yeah, and I meant to say to L that she'd probably be able to take a book about the sex trade in Malaysia and make it educational and appropriate for her children.