Danville - twelve years ago today. What a different life that was. Still miss you, Danville.

As long as there are products like The Mom’s Ultimate Family Organizer, the harder it will be to force equality among most parenting relationships about whose responsibility it is to maintain and keep up a family (here’s a hint: it’s not just Mom). It will be harder for women who choose to work outside the home, it will be harder for men who choose to stay at home and babywrangle, it will be harder for everyone.

Can we quit with the gender stereotyping? Why can’t a family have their own organizer? Why can’t this be a shared or distributed responsibility? Why are people buying this crap?

I am thinking of posting a video response, as suggested at the end.

A list.

• This has been a quiet weekend, mostly! Yesterday I took Matthew out to San Francisco to pick something up at work and we ate breakfast together - just the two of us. It was fun, until it was time to leave and Matthew ran away from me but luckily Mama has +2 SPEED and so I caught him, to his great dismay.
• I had a pedicure and manicure yesterday, which is one of those things I always feel terribly guilty about getting, but I always enjoy the results of.
• This morning I stretched funny and tweaked a nerve in my neck and can’t untweak it. I hate that!
• I also hate falling down the stairs - which I did as we were trying to get to the farmer’s market with Clio and Lara and Matthew. Oy. My right butt cheek feels like it has its own butt right now and my elbow is very sore.

I think that is about exciting as I like to get over a weekend. Ow.

1 year ago today: JoJo.
5 days ago: Grandma.
2 days ago: Gran-Gran (one of Matthew’s daycare providers)

I am at my limit.

it really does seem like you’re at the edge of the world.

Grandma died today, 6AM eastern time. She was with my mother, sleeping peacefully. We tried hard to get back east, but the prices of tickets combined with fewer flights meaning more packed trips meant nothing was to be found.

I really wish I were home.

I am feeling less funky, which is a good thing, I think. I spent a couple of days brooding, which is to be expected, given a hectic work schedule, and a hectic year in general. Josh has challenged me to come up with concrete ways to move my life in a way I want to move it, and I’m still thinking on that - but just that challenge seems to have changed my outlook. Tomorrow I have a professional development session with one of my colleagues - to talk about my emotional competency. If he’d asked me what I thought my emotional competency was Tuesday morning, it would have hovered somewhere around -4.

My Friday has been pretty good so far - I have the day off and I’ve run errands and had a yummy scone from Bakesale Betty’s. In a little bit I am going to go to the bank and stop by the drug store. I am syncing my iPod right now and came upon a way for those of you who are truly inclined to pay your respects to the Big Guy upstairs during this commemorative holiday weekend:

Jesus’ obituary and associated memorial guestbook.

I have to say, for some reason, this is a little bizarre to me, but I didn’t grow up with the faith, so who am I to judge?

Erika pinged me to overshare. I am a sheep, and I do as I say.

The rules are:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules here
3. Share 7 random or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of the post, linking to them
5. Leave a comment on their blog so that they know they’ve been tagged

FIRST: I once auditioned for Road Rules/Real World. MTV had a huge carnival-type event while I was in grad school and I snagged one of the last applications and had a 5 minute audition. I was, as you can tell, unsuccessful, and I can’t say I’m terribly displeased with that.

SECOND: I waffled big time between majoring in French or Political Science. I loved learning about languages but the idea of taking French literature made me want to shove forks in my eyes. Seriously, have you ever tried reading French literature with its associated extraneous literary verb tenses? No, thank you. So Political Science major it was, with a French minor. I do nothing related to either area of study in my profession.

THIRD: My second toe is longer than my big toe. Josh seems to think this is a gross genetic abnormality. Matthew seems to have inherited Josh’s toes where the big toe is largest. Strange, strange.

FOURTH: I have lived in over 22 dwellings, in the following states: Illinois (twice), New York, Massachusetts (twice), Virginia, Connecticut (a few times), and now California. I hate moving, but every three years even if we aren’t moving, I kind of wonder why we’re not and get that moving itch.

FIFTH: I love brussels sprouts, roasted in butter, bacon or pancetta, and garlic.

SIXTH: During my senior year in high school I got nearly straight As - 5 As and 1 C in English. I didn’t find English difficult but it was boring as hell.

SEVENTH: I pick relentlessly at my cuticles. It’s not pretty. But I don’t smoke, so I cut myself some slack.