We’re showing the world what we’re made of July 14, 2006
Posted by table4five in BlogHer, Blogging.8 comments
Enough gloom, enough doom. It’s time to focus on something positive around here.
Like being asked to participate in what is going to be the HOTTEST THING AROUND for the next two weeks. It seems that in blogging, as in business, it is all about who you know.
You never know which of your fellow bloggers is plotting World Domination, so it pays to be nice to EVERYONE. And then one day you might get an email from a beautiful, equally coffee-addicted blogger asking if you would like to participate in a little pre-BlogHer interview. Then she asks two bloggers who are contributors to the BlogHer network, and they ask one of the co-founders of BlogHer if it’s okay to base our button on the BlogHer logo, and not only does she say yes but she asks if it’s okay to mention it on the BlogHer site? Um, YES!!
And I might have just set a record for the most mentions of BlogHer in a single sentence.
See that button up there on the top of my sidebar? Each day starting Monday, that button will link to another of the Original Eight women participating, including the blogger who is interviewing me, and the woman many of you already know who I will be featuring here.
We will each answer five or so questions, and then tag other bloggers to answer the questions, who will then tag bloggers they know, and so on and so on. You don’t have to be going to BlogHer to participate. The button will soon be available to grab here.
Although she might not have been referring to me directly, the blogger I linked to mentioned me in the same sentence with the words “hilarious” and “talented”. I know I have been FAR from hilarious lately, and I’m still working on the talented, but I am honored, flattered and excited to be asked to participate. Let’s get to know each other better, people. Let’s share our thoughts, opinions and blogs with each other. Let’s stretch our community out to include new friends. Let’s show the world who we are.
Screw the Universe July 13, 2006
Posted by table4five in Family, personal thoughts.13 comments
After my last post announcing that my husband’s Grandma had died, I got this comment from Dawn:
“I declare that this is enough for your family. No more universe. do you hear me? No more for this family”
In a follow-up email, she even threatened to bring down the wrath of Vlad the Impaler should the universe decide to fuck with my family again anytime soon.
Apparently the universe is not at all scared of Vlad, and in fact would like to invite Vlad to kiss it’s hairy, universal ass.
In the hospital, my Dad had an endoscopy to look for the source of the blood in his stool. During the procedure the doctor saw a polyp on the lining of his esophagus, which he took a scraping from and sent to the lab for a biopsy, which is standard.
Did you catch the keyword biopsy?
That’s right, the polyp is malignant cancer. In my Dad’s esophagus. He sat here today, his voice catching and his eyes swimming as he told me about upcoming meetings with Oncologists and Radiologists, and how there is an award-winning cancer treatment center near Detroit, and then he segued directly into how he wants to be cremated and buried next to my Mother but doesn’t want a funeral because it doesn’t interest him anymore.
And the whole time I’m wondering to myself, “why am I so calm? Why am I not crying?”
Then I went into the kitchen to make the baby a bottle and took an internal inventory. I feel…numb. Blank. Like there is something I am supposed to be feeling here but it hasn’t hit me yet. No one should have to have this much…what? Misfortune? Bad Luck? Misery?
When Vlad catches up to the Universe, I hope he makes it suffer.
We left our brains behind. July 12, 2006
Posted by table4five in Family, Humor.7 comments
This morning I have a vague memory of cracking open an eyelid and telling my husband that I wanted to go walk around the mall tonight. This is a long-standing ritual that goes back to when we were first living together and had no money for entertainment, so we would go to one of two area malls and just window-shop, with a stop at the Food Court for a terrible but cheap dinner. We have continued the tradition with the boys, although we almost always end up buying new books at Barnes & Noble because it’s so HARD to say NO to a kid who is standing in front of you clutching a book. NO, NO reading for you!
Anyway, after Chris got home and changed his clothes we began the long list of pre-outing tasks that must be completed: let the dog out to pee, get the boys cleaned up and into shoes, change the baby’s diaper, fix her a bottle to drink in the car and another bottle for later, pack the big diaper bag with diapers/wipes/change of clothes/bib/spoon/ food/changing table pad/Aquaphor/cloth diaper in case of spit-up/small diaper disposal bags/extra toys. Get the boys in the car, decide to change from big purse to small purse, transfer phone/keys/wallet/lipgloss, decide to put hair back in clip, decide to pee before we leave, run back in to grab camera, finally everyone is in the car, let’s GO.
We get to the mall, park, get out of the car and Chris says, “where’s the diaper bag?”
Fuuuuck. Okay, I will take the boys and Kaitlyn into the mall and get them some food, Chris will drive back home (it’s five minutes away) and grab the bag. We order our food and start eating when up walks Chris swinging the SMALL diaper bag. He looks pissed.
“Yeah, it’s great to drive all the way home just to get the EMPTY diaper bag”. He is pissed.
Me:”It’s my fault, I set it down to change purses and forgot to grab it”. Him:”I’m the one who looked right at it but grabbed the small one instead”. Me:”Didn’t you notice the small one felt kind of light?” Him: “Do you see me shooting invisible glaring death-rays at you for asking me such a dumb question?” ( He didn’t really say that, but there were glaring death-rays).
So, this time he sits down with Kaitlyn and the boys and I drive home to get the big diaper bag. Which is sitting right where I left it.
I love me some Canadian bloggers July 10, 2006
Posted by table4five in Blogging.4 comments
You may already know that Canadian bloggers are some of the coolest, funniest writers in the Blogosphere. If you’re not already reading those four blogs, you really should be.
I’d also like to recommend a new blog, Bread Crumbs in the Butter. Her three most recent posts have me completely hooked. I could have written the one titled “How to clean for a visit from an old friend”. And you definitely should read the third post, about how she stopped a flirt from stealing her fiance while she was pregnant with their child.
I was going to title this post “O Canada! Your bloggers are so great”, but I didn’t want to come off like I was disrespecting the Canadian National Anthem.
Oh, and thanks to Mama Tulip, I am pulling my cropped maternity sweatpants out of the Goodwill pile and wearing them again, because they are comfortable.
Edited to add:
Ladies, you have been holding out on me. I just went to Mommy off the Record, and I started reading her posts and the comments, and I realized that practically every one of my regular readers also reads her! How the heck have I been missing her? She’s on my blogroll now, AND she’s coming to BlogHer but only to the cocktail party on Saturday. So Dawn, Nancy, Jennster-make sure you introduce me to her at the cocktail party? mmkay?
Today didn’t completely suck July 10, 2006
Posted by table4five in Photos, personal thoughts.9 comments
Today was an okay day for me. My Dad had all of the tests he needed at the hospital, and is feeling pretty well except for being bummed out about still needing blood transfusions. His nurse said he was very anemic (but his hemoglobin was NOT two as I originally reported but rather 7.2. It has gone up to 9.5).
On the way home from the hospital, I decided to be spontaneous for a change and go do something completely indulgent just for myself. So I went and got a manicure and a pedicure. I know, watch out, I’m pretty wild.
I can’t remember my last manicure, my last pedicure was at least four years ago (sorry, Dawn, I’ll do better, I promise). I am not familiar with pedicure procedure, and was therefore somewhat taken aback by the non-verbal signals of my non-English-speaking pedicurist. I didn’t realize that instead of asking me to lift my foot out of the heavenly warm bubbly water, that she would tap twice on my leg. The first time she did it, I took so long trying to figure out why she was tapping my leg that she did it again. I’m sure after I left they laughed at the pedicure virgin who didn’t even know what the tapping was for.
I’m pretty happy with the results. Photos are on my Flickr page . But let me warn you, no matter how I held my hand out, it looked freakishly wrinkled. I am OLD, dammit. The color on my nails is “Up the Amazon without a paddle”, and my toes are “Don’t Socra-tease me”. So witty, O.P.I.
Speaking of Flickr, I would love to have more Flickr contacts. If you have photos posted there and wouldn’t mind me looking at them (I leave comments, too!), you can go to my Flickr page, put the mouse pointer over my buddy icon, and then click the little blue down arrow and select add as contact. Come on, let’s Flickr together!
Updates and Photos! July 7, 2006
Posted by table4five in Family, Photos.15 comments
First, news about my Dad. I was there last night when the Internal Medicine doctor came in, and I learned that Dad’s blood level was two pints short yesterday, and he had been given four units of blood so far that evening. He takes Coumadin, a blood thinner, because he had a clot in the back of his heart two years ago. The Relacore that he took messed with the Coumadin level, which caused internal bleeding. He is scheduled to have an Endoscopy today.
Oh, and the doctor said, right in front of me, “I hear from my P.A. that you have quite the active sex life, more active than even my wife and me”. Um, THANKS doc, and oh, yeah, EW EW EW EW! My Dad is 72 years old, and I know you’re thinking “yeah, go Liz’s Dad”, but I’m still thinking EW.
And now, photos from last weekend. Our hotel had a big pool, and I put on my bathing suit and in I went. Even with my poochy tummy and flabby thighs and you know what? The world did not end! Although I have my hair back in a ponytail so I kind of look like a twelve year old boy, except with boobs. But this is the first photo taken of me in a bathing suit in a long time.
This bow on the back of Kaitlyn’s swimsuit just SLAYS me. It’s a miracle I haven’t gobbled up the backs of her legs yet.
We all have so much fun playing with her, especially her brothers, and she soaks up all the attention they will give her.
Chris’ Dad stopped by on his Honda, but we told Kaitlyn she has to be at LEAST 13 before she can date a boy with a bike.
So that’s some of what else has been going on. I’ve been trying to get to everyone’s blogs and catch up, I don’t always have time to formulate a comment that makes sense, but I’m with you in spirit at least. And for my BlogHer peeps, yes I am still going. My wonderful, considerate husband even told his sister on the phone that the only weekend we couldn’t have the Memorial service was the weekend of BlogHer. Not that I wouldn’t stay home if he needed me, but he knows how much I want to go. I’m not the only person who needs to get together with friends and have some diversion. And drinks.
Another death in my family July 6, 2006
Posted by table4five in personal thoughts.11 comments
Last night, my husband’s Grandmother passed away in the night. She was in her 80s and living with my husband’s Aunt in New Mexico. As far as I know, she did not know that her daughter, my mother in law, had passed away two weeks ago. She had grown more confused over the years and it was decided that she would not understand.
I didn’t know her very well, but I know that she loved collecting clown figurines, loved the city of San Fransisco, and always wore hats. She was sweet and funny and liked to dance. If you would like, please visit my sister in law’s blog Java Junkie and the Monkey to read another touching tribute.
And since bad news always seems to come in threes, I also got a call from my father’s girlfriend today telling me that he was taken by ambulance to the hospital because he was taking a non-prescription diet pill and had a bad reaction to it. He may have to stay overnight just for observation.
Would you please say a prayer or whatever it is that you do for my family? We are all in pain right now. I feel numb, and yet have so much to do. I don’t even want to answer the phone at this point.
Another death in my family July 6, 2006
Posted by table4five in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Last night, my husband’s Grandmother passed away in the night. She was in her 80s and living with my husband’s Aunt in New Mexico. As far as I know, she did not know that her daughter, my mother in law, had passed away two weeks ago. She had grown more confused over the years and it was decided that she would not understand.
I didn’t know her very well, but I know that she loved collecting clown figurines, loved the city of San Fransisco, and always wore hats. She was sweet and funny and liked to dance. If you would like, please visit my sister in law’s blog Java Junkie and the Monkey to read another touching tribute.
And since bad news always seems to come in threes, I also got a call from my father’s girlfriend today telling me that he was taken by ambulance to the hospital because he was taking a non-prescription diet pill and had a bad reaction to it. He may have to stay overnight just for observation.
Would you please say a prayer or whatever it is that you do for my family? We are all in pain right now. I feel numb, and yet have so much to do. I don’t even want to answer the phone at this point.
Back on track July 5, 2006
Posted by table4five in personal thoughts.4 comments
Good morning! I’d first like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who commented on my last post. There are tears in my eyes as I write this. I don’t know if every blogger has readers who are as kind and supportive as all of you, but I feel incredibly lucky. Thank you for all of the virtual pats on the back, and for reminding me that it’s best to ignore the bloggerhaters.
We spent Saturday to Tuesday at a Holiday Inn Resort with a Holidome, which is a big indoor/outdoor pool with a playground and an arcade. The boys were thrilled to get their own adjoining room which they shared with their cousin. Kaitlyn slept in a Pack -n- Play for all three nights, and I was grateful that she took to it so well.
As soon as I get a chance, I’ll download my camera and put some photos up on Flickr, and try to visit everyone’s blogs to catch up on what’s happening with everyone. There are 22 days until I leave for BlogHer, yay! I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July.
