be nice or leave

i LOVE this pillow, found at alexandra ferguson's etsy shop. hmmm, new motto perhaps?

my entirely scientific poll

when surveyed, 55% of mean mama readers not too shy, confused, or bored to participate responded that twitter is, indeed, "silly."

jo myles pointed out a flaw in my poll when she noted that there should be a "silly, but I still like it for some reason" option. i agree, since that's my basic take on twitter. although i recommend that those with a serious interest in the subject (i.e. beyond "silly or not?") read what alex steed has to say about it.

personally, i "unfollowed" a few people who i was finding unaccountably irritating and started following some friendly new people, and i feel much better about the whole thing.

holy smokes!

it's me...only 17% more famous!

items of note (and an amazing race spoiler)

*as of this minute, there are still six hours left to vote in my exciting twitter poll!

*hugely disappointing: mel and mike were eliminated last night on the amazing race. boo and m are so bereft that they swear they won't watch another episode, but i still want to see who wins (now i guess i'll root for luke and margie -- margie, who fainted dramatically into phil's arms last night, by the way). and i want to see that last episode when the winning team sprints to the finish line and everybody's there to slap hands and cheer them on. then we'll get that last glimpse of mel and mike.

*i was much cheered, though, to learn on the today show this morning (while on the treadmill at the gym -- i didn't need to include that information, but i wouldn't want you to think i sit at home on my couch watching the today show, 'cause i don't) that 40 is the new 20. i hope it's the new 10 pretty soon, so i can ride my banana seat bike all afternoon and throw mean kids over fences when they dis my brother.

*i switched the car radio to wmpg because there's an even-more-annoying-than-usual pledge drive going on at the npr station right now. this morning, i heard this song, which just might be my new theme song.

*i realized that the weightlifter guys at the gym stare at themselves in mirrors just as much as (if not more than) fourteen year old girls do.

*artemis has two tickets to see david sedaris on friday, and she invited ME to go with her!!!

infinite jest update

i'm still reading it; i am on page 230, which is about 100 pages more than i managed on my last attempt. i'm actually really enjoying it, just kind of savoring its length and heft instead of fretting about how i'll never finish it. i sometimes have issues with huge, fat, lengthy books, and to be perfectly honest, i also have issues with sports of any kind as a theme in a book (the reason i've never been able to make it past page 50 of don delillo's underworld is all about the role baseball plays in those first 50 pages). there is a lot of tennis in infinite jest. but i'm not letting that stop me.

on a side note, this is a really challenging book to read in the bathtub.

minnow got a haircut

it's actually a work in progress - it takes me many days to get him evened up. but here you can kind of see how his arms are less muppetty and his ears are all sporty:
























and here you can see what happens to my house when i give minnow a haircut: it looks like i've been shearing sheep all over my dining room:

oh.

i just saw these jelly belly pudding snacks in the grocery store, and they stopped me in my tracks. specifically, the "bubble gum" flavored pudding.

maine coast magnets

from papermenagerie's etsy shop! i LOVE them.

boo is a gemini

sweet: he told me recently that he finds a single hair in his sandwich at lunch almost every single day. a long, scraggly, brown-colored hair. i apologized profusely, of course, because - gross. and he said, "oh, that's okay mom! you're probably just really tired when you're making my lunch."

not-so-sweet: on a regular basis, he comes up behind me while i'm sitting at the computer, removes the elastic hair thing from my ponytail, and shoots it across the room.

new math

i love this:
















and this one, too:
















there are so many other great ones at new math. found (by me) via oh, hello friend.

cool or lame?

my kids and their friend miss gliss used to play this hilarious "game show" game they called are you cool? or are you LAME?* that's the basic idea of my wee poll over there on the right. twitter: is it cool? or is it lame? or do you have no idea what i'm talking about? i'm just kind of goofily excited about making a poll on my blog (i didn't even realize it could be done til i saw one on hillary's blog, to tell you the truth). so don't be lame! vote!





*they also played a game called tape 'em up which i never quite understood fully -- it involved one person getting taped to a chair with duct tape, as far as i could tell.

streamline your humiliation

i find this article - about a guy who said something dumb on twitter and cost himself a job - quite amusing. i should be more sympathetic, since who among us hasn't said something stupid and humiliating that we wished we could snatch back just as it escaped our lips?

Why waste valuable social networking hours getting yourself "Facebook fired," when Twitter allows you to humiliate yourself quickly, and in 140 characters or less?

honestly, i am having very mixed feelings about twitter lately. i think it might turn out to be silly. facebook, on the other hand, gives me the opportunity to 1) play scrabble a lot 2) make plans with local friends 3) re-connect with high school and college friends 4) see what two of my cousins are up to 5) stay in touch with bean's friends, 6) watch funny videos, 7) etc.

from the aforementioned article, a bit of wisdom:

Never post anything you wouldn’t say to your mom, boss and significant other.

i have always stuck to that, as it's an intrinsic part of my very own personal lady blogger code of ethics (the other part is "always ask people, especially your own children, if they're cool with you posting their photos").

cesar and daddy

*if, like me, you are a fan of the dog whisperer, you know daddy, the elderly pit bull who heads up cesar millan's pack of reformed, "balanced" dogs. he is a calm, wise, old guy. i am feeling a little weepy after reading about how cesar deals with daddy's aging (he's fourteen):


Daddy has been my kids' grandpa. He helped me raise them. We don't share much about the whole passing away thing. Right now, we're doing some Dog Whisperer segments about letting go. It's hard to hear, because you have to come to reality. To see someone as amazing as Daddy grow old - it's painful just to think about it. But I don't want to share that around him, because he's going to think, 'What are you worried about? I'm not gone yet!' But as humans, we anticipate things, and we get emotional at the wrong time. Of course, dogs have emotions, but they don't get emotional prior to the occasion. So I won't do it in front of him.


*i apologize for all the commas in this paragraph! i don't quite know what happened there.

milo in rome

hillary went to rome, and she brought milo in maine with her!

potholes

i love this adorable pothole map courtesy of the portland press herald. although every time i look at it, i muse that it would make more sense to have a map of where there are no potholes.

german david

came to visit us this weekend! it's nice to see him - he seems quite content with high school life in ellsworth, and his english is even better than it was in august. yesterday we took minnow to the beach. it was sunny but COLD.

i was born in kansas

i had the radio on just now while i was dealing with some laundry, and down memory lane was on maine public radio, which is actually kind of an adorable show. and guess who i should hear singing i was born in kansas but frank sinatra!? i never in my wildest dreams imagined frank singing that song. in fact, i only ever imagined my own kansas-born relatives singing it. or me, singing it to myself. i was born in kansas, and i was partially bred in kansas, and when i got married, i was wed in kansas. i'd certainly never heard this verse before:

troubles end in kansas, folks unbend in kansas,
everyone will be your friend in kansas
and they'll be there to help me celebrate
with my sunflower from the sunflower state

happy spring!

some adorable pigs playing in the mud for your first day of spring enjoyment:

homekeeping tip of the day

cause when you think of me, you think of homekeeping, right?




















throw away your sponges! forget the paper towels! stock up on these bar mops, the only purchase i've ever made from williams-sonoma. they're the best -- way more sanitary than sponges, but much more eco-friendly than paper towels. the end.

vote for best portland filmmaker!

funny prononciation on my radio

corey flintoff on npr : "marijuana." he says it with such a sort of spanish flare. "mare-uh-hwwwhana!"

everyone on the bbc: "condoms." they pronounce it in a kind of uptight british way. "con-doms." an american pronunciation would be like "con-dums." oh, okay. i guess we say it wrong. they also have a tendency to pronounce our president's first name, "bare-uk," like the word "barracks."

this guy on one of those boring midday cityclub talking shows: "hybrid." he was talking about hybrid cars, and he said the word over and over again, pronouncing it thus: "hy-bred."


there is also funny pronunciation going on on my telervision, via baltimore locals on the wire (which i LOVE LOVE LOVE - i don't think there's an actor in the world who can "do" the authentic white baltimore accent correctly).

opposite of the cute list

i need to come up with a personal category which is the opposite of my ongoing cute list. cases of animals (especially pets) mutilating humans (especially their faces) belong on such a list. this story would go on that hypothetical list (warning, do not read unless you want to learn more about a chimp ripping someone's nose off).

also on the yucky list or whatever would be this story, from boo:

enoch: we should play frisbee at deering oaks this summer.

boo: i don't like deering oaks anymore.

me: why not?

boo: i just don't like it ever since i saw a homeless guy skinning a bird there.

me: (!)

enoch: (!)

mistrial by iphone

i had a funny reaction to this article in the new york times today, which is about jurors screwing up trials by using their blackberrys and iphones to google defendants, twitter jury decisions before the trial is over, and make other smartphone-related infractions. so my first thought was, "would i do that if i were on a jury? would i blog and twitter and facebook-status about how the trial was going? lord knows i love to share the daily details of my life." then i realized no, of course i wouldn't, because 1) i am a huge fan of constitutional law and 2) i'm not an idiot and 3) i am a rule-follower. in fact, i tend to be a rule-follower almost to a fault, and sometimes i try to cure myself of it, for the sake of spontaneity and carpe diem, etc. (although actually i believe that it's kept many of my loved ones from mortal injury, and worse, getting yelled at). but if a judge frowned sternly at me over her judicial-looking glasses and instructed me not to go on the internets during the course of the trial, there's no way i'd disobey.

i've never been on a jury, or even called for jury duty. i'd actually really love to do it, and i promise to leave my iphone at home.

i'm reading infinite jest again

i am determined to finish it this time! i found this so funny, especially in light of my current position around page 65 of this lengthy tome:


Growing Sentences with David Foster Wallace: A Primer for Kicking Ass - Being the Result of One Man's Fed-upped-ness With 'How to Write' Books Not Actually Showing You How to Write

dirty dozen

related to my dangerous foods post awhile back, here's a list of produce you should try to buy organic, from the environmental working group -- i like to keep this list handy when i'm shopping, even though i don't stick to it every single time (i just can't afford to). click on the picture for a printable copy of the list.

happy

when she's happy, i'm happy!!!

ides

yep, it was back to the beach for us today. it was almost fifty degrees, which meant a throng of people and deliriously happy dogs on willard beach, and it also meant nearly naked sunbathers here and there, as people clearly desperate for vitamin d soaked up the sun. there's been a huge dog-related controversy brewing at willard beach for quite a while (basically pro- and anti- dogs on the beach). i am firmly in the pro-dog camp (no, really, liz? you are?), so i'm clearly biased, but i have to say that despite the fact that there were probably thirty or more dogs on the beach during the hour we spent there today, i didn't see one single pile of dog poop left unscooped, and i didn't witness any remotely bad dog behavior. there were nearly as many extremely short children (like, under the age of four) as there were dogs, and i saw not one of them get knocked to the sand by an exuberant canine. so there.

i would like one more day of this weekend, please. one more sunny, lazy, sunday-type day. in retrospect, last week was long and stressful. i'm not quite ready for the next one. i would like to lie nearly naked on a beach eating cupcakes instead of resuming the week's routines and money stress and job hunting...

spicy

enoch made us dinner last night at his new west end digs. below, his toilet.
























it makes more sense once you realize that this sweet cat, one of his two roommates, is named floor (below: floor in foreground, enoch cooking spicy tofu in the background).
























boo, one eye/two:
























the spicy tofu was amazing, and the hearts game afterward was fun.

and finally, enoch's idea of a hilarious gag gift, a sex book from 1952. i'm pretty sure he gave it to m and me because we are the oldest people he knows. "the book of hope for men and women in or nearing the turbulent years."

dinner last night

we had two of bean's favorite things for dinner last night: glazed seitan stir fry, and miss gliss:
























both were, of course, delicious.

i won a major award

yes, i did -- two tickets to see duncan sheik, who i really do like, "adult contemporary" as he may be. i dragged enoch along with me, and we partied like it was 2003. actually, it was nice, but duncan is into rock musicals now (he did the songs for spring awakening, and he's now all excited about this new project involving lighthouses and ghosts), and thus what he mostly played were basically showtunes. showtunes about ghosts and lighthouses. still, it was fun, and i was this excited to win something ("it's a major award! i won it!") from hillytown.com.

let the right one in

may i recommend a scary swedish vampire movie? it was soooo creepy...and yet, somehow, sweet at the same time. i loved it.


*also, i thought you might like to know that i got an email from bean today, and she is alive and well!

new gray hairs on my head

View Larger Map

i woke up this morning to this information on npr: something to the effect that "at least ten people have been killed in a school shooting at a high school near stuttgart, germany." so yes, probably seven new gray hairs popped right out of my scalp. as you can see from this map, bean's school in pforzheim is nearly an hour away from the school where the shooting occurred. still, such a sick, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. and inevitably i'll be talking to some worried grandmothers today! and i hope also to bean; i wonder if she's heard about it and, if so, if it's freaking her out.

tiefenbronn

View Larger Map

we lost our girl, but then we found her again! she is settling in with her new host family in tiefenbronn.

four legs good, two legs bad

i am strongly attracted to this orwellian screenprinted card from whigby (they make a poster, too!). but who would i send it to? one of my four-legged friends, most definitely.

springing forward

sort of. with the help of my third delicious cup of intelligentsia coffee (a gift from meiklejohn-in-maine).
























also, i hauled myself to the gym this morning after about a week and a half of perfectly legitimate excuses not to go. and i even had the excuse this morning of IT'S SNOWING. not to mention daylight savings.

so now i'm getting ready to do a quick milo in maine inventory while i keep one eye on the computer at all times, just in case bean might be online. she is experiencing a bit of an upheaval right now; tomorrow she is moving to a new family due to the fact that her current host father had a pretty serious ski injury and is now recovering at home. i guess her family thought this might be stressful for everyone involved, and afs germany found a temporary host family in a nearby village. bean really doesn't know much of anything about them, except that there is a 15 year old and a 17 year old, and that they go to a waldorf school. she is understandably stressed by this turn of events, although she is also eager to meet a whole new family. at the end of six weeks, she can decide whether she'd like to stay with the new family or return to her original family. i am feeling anxious and excited on her behalf!

below, a portrait of an unusually tidy work space.

at the beach

we've spent a lot of time at the beach in the last couple of months (especially considering there is still a six-foot pile of snow beside our driveway). but today, it was so warm that the time and temperature clock claimed 58 degrees (it's usually off by a few degrees, but still!). we went to kettle cove and ate lunch by the water, then played on the beach for a while. it felt like spring, the sky was bright blue, and the water was all glittery.

channel surfing

and i would want to watch something called "colon detox"...why?

artwalk

m and boo have actually been pretty intrepid this winter about getting out for the first friday art walks each month, but as i may have mentioned, i've been in more of a hibernation mode myself. i could stand the thought of it last night because 1) we told nathan we'd come by and check out his portraits of the public thing at aucocisco gallery, and 2) it wasn't 70 degrees below zero. from what we could see, nathan did a steady portrait business -- boo got his picture took, and it came out great. the entire series will be posted on the gallery's facebook page eventually.





















(the piece above is by lucinda bliss)

we also stopped by whitney art works (i was lured inside by the pictures of rabbits and fawns i could see from the street) and saw this amazing show. of course, i loved the animal-themed pieces, but there were also these incredible, quilt-like fabric pieces by patricia brace that were stunning.

it was weird to have actual conversations with people. you know, like for real, in person -- not on facebook. that's sad, huh? we ran into about twelve thousand people we knew. it was actually kind of nice. i think i'm almost ready to emerge from my winter cave!

dreamy

my splitting headache and i just took a nap together, and i had one of those strange, intense, middle-of-the-day dreams which involved my etsy shop, my aunt sooze and my friend emily throwing a party in a tiny house at the top of a tall hill, the tip of my embroidery scissors, and my iphone.

maine maven

the maine maven digs milo in maine!

sweeties

here's another girl i miss:

















i'm not tortured by recent photos and videos of her, though (no offense to her parents' blogging skillz, but...). i miss her and her sweet, sweet bruddy.

two girls i miss like crazy

girl number one:



















girl number two:



i could just bite them both, i love them so much.

and by the way, bean is doing really well! she is spending a week in bonn right now with some other cbyx kids, and she had just finished her winter break from school before that, so she's getting a nice long holiday. she has been in germany for six months, a time span that's somehow been simultaneously endless and instantaneous. when people ask what it's like for us to have our girl go off on a year-long international adventure, i truly don't know how to answer. the nearest i can get to describing it is "surreal." i miss her constantly, and it's acutely painful when she's having a hard time and i can do nothing about it, but the fact that she's doing it...leaves me speechless with pride.

up to

*sewing scarves (seen above) for whole foods, bliss, and a couple of samples for our etsy shop too.

*reading the abstinence teacher for my new virtual book group (i won't say a word for fear of spoiling it for my group). and by "virtual" i mean "via email."

*attempting to read jean genet. but...i requested the book from the liberry, and it's one of those special books with the blue paper belt around its middle, and you can't disturb or remove this belt. and the pages were kind of falling out, and the ones that weren't were rather...sticky. the whole situation was making me anxious, so i took it back to the liberry. maybe m. meiklejohn will loan me a copy sometime.

*watching bad tv. so bad i almost don't want to confess. oh, okay, if you're gonna twist my arm like that! toddlers and tiaras. the real housewives of (wherever), and intervention, which is so painful, raw and (for me) irresistible.

*also watching good tv, specifically the wire (we just finished season three) and foyle's war.

*eating vegetarian meatball subs. and cassoulet. also, rice and beans.

*drinking too much coffee.

*laughing at literal music videos, especially this one.

this recession...

is AWESOME!

water dogs

i read this book in a day -- its plot moves like a mystery. the thing that's really amazing about it is what a huge character maine is, this vivid, specific, snow-covered presence. it was the perfect book to read right now, in maine, near the end of winter. thanks for the loan, mama d!

a murder of crows

the scene in my back yard a couple of minutes ago. i love crows so much. i wish i could've recorded the indescribable noise they're making!

strange searches

...which brought people to my blog this month: well, there really weren't many weird ones, which makes me think i've been pretty boring lately. too much weather talk this winter, no doubt. there were many variations on "topless coffee shop pictures," searched by many hopeful googlers, and one guy (i'm sure it was a guy, for some reason) who was in a rush and typed "coffe (sic) shop toeless waitresses." i haven't mentioned daniel pepice in a while. so i thought i would mention him, just to see if he's still being stalked and/or compulsively googling himself.

the ten most dangerous foods

i found this list really interesting and a good reminder that it's worth spending the extra bucks on organic fruit, especially (i just wish it weren't so expensive and/or unavailable locally):

1. farmed salmon
2. conventional bell peppers
3. non-organic strawberries
4. chilean sea bass
5. non-organic peaches
6. genetically modified corn (and if you read the omnivore's dilemma, you know this is in all kinds of processed food)
7. bluefin tuna
8. industrially farmed chicken
9. non-organic apples
10. milk from cows treated with rBGH

(this list is from sprig.com, where you can find more details.)

rabbit rabbit

phew, it's march! this year, march is going with an "in like a lion" theme, apparently. snow is fluttering from the sky. maybe fifteen inches of it. maybe.

i didn't get around to posting your monthly rabbit until late in the day because this morning i was making pecan waffles and a broccoli-veggie bacon quiche for brunch with eva, nathan, elliot and esme. this was planned as part of my resolution-not-to-neglect-friends as well as my personal anti-hibernation campaign.


where's esme?
























there she is!