- Yesterday Corbin told me that my lipstick is loud. I’m thinking of making that the new name for my blog.
- We are taking the boys trick or treating for the first time tonight. Benny is going as a chicken, which will be the third year in a row that costume has been worn by one of my children (best $20 I’ve ever spent) and Corb is going as half a shark.
- My mother made him an adorable costume that is a dead ringer for the $60 Pottery Barn version, but the stubborn child refuses to wear the head. I told him that people wouldn’t give candy out to half boy-half shark hybrids, but he didn’t buy it.
- When I was a kid we didn’t really get into Halloween, which is ironic because I married a man whose family makes a bigger deal of it than Christmas.
- Chris has pictures of every costume that he wore for 21 years…the most disturbing of which is a hula girl costume complete with grass skirt and coconut bra (he wore that the year before I met him.)
- I only remember wearing 2. Punk Rocker, Pippy Longstocking.
- If I can figure how how to work our scanner I might put up a few pictures of said costumes later tonight.
Archive for October, 2009
Chicken or Fish?
Saturday, October 31st, 2009Thing In Progress
Thursday, October 29th, 2009I’m writing a thing. Its too long to be an essay, too short to be a book, too general to be autobiographical, and too personal to be informational.
Its just a thing I’m writing, and its about my experiences during and after hyperemesis.
I don’t know why I’m writing it. Maybe its just for my own edification. Or maybe its so that somewhere down the road someone who is going through the same thing might read it and not feel quite so alone. It gets longer and longer every time I touch it because each paragraph I review brings another memory or feeling to the foreground, and I just have to get it down.
Writing it has certainly helped me to understand some of the issues I have been facing in the aftermath of those experiences. It has also helped to solidify in my mind some of the decisions that we have already made. A few days ago I spoke to a friend of mine who is currently enduring her second battle with hyperemesis, and it was so interesting to hear her echoing some of the same sentiments I have expressed in this ‘thing’. She talked about the guilt of not being there for one child as your body fights against itself to produce another. She talked about the pain and hurt that is caused when well meaning, unknowing, friends or family members suggest that perhaps the issue is more psychological than physical. She also talked about the need for constant medication, and the insane ability to minimize the experience after the fact, thus rendering yourself willing to endure it all over again.
This is a story I want to tell. Not just the story of my own experience, but the story of all women who have dealt with hyperemesis, who know how very real and traumatizing it is, and who have somehow come out on the other side.
Questionable Dependence
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009I have a question.
I’m going to preface this question with a few facts that are pretty common knowledge at this point.
Fact 1) In 2007, the FDA discovered that pet food containing melamine (an industrial contaminant) was killing thousands of American pets. The pet food was made in China.
Fact 2) Also in 2007, toy makers RC2Corp. and Fisher Price recalled a combined total of 2.5 million toys that were found to contain dangerous levels of lead based paint. The recalled toys were all manufactured in China.
Fact 3) In 2008 at least six babies died, hundreds experienced kidney failure and around 300,000 were sickened by formula containing the same chemical (melamine) that had been found in pet food just a year earlier. While the US did not import the contaminated formula, related products suspected to contain melamine were recalled from at least five countries. The formula and related products originated in China.
Fact 4) As of this year, an estimated 100,000 homes on the Gulf Coast are basically uninhabitable because they were build with toxic dry wall. The dry wall is said to contain a sulfur compound that corrodes appliances, emits a foul smell and causes headaches and respiratory problems. the total cost of replacing the toxic drywall has yet to be determined, but a story done by NPR quoted National Underwriter as estimating the cost at somewhere between $15 and $25 billion. The dry wall was imported from….you guessed it, China.
So I’m thinking at this point my question should be pretty obvious.
I understand that in the midst of this recession (and really even before the bottom dropped out) many American consumers are willing to sacrifice on quality in order to spend as little as they can on as much as they can get. I also realize that with major corporations, its all about the bottom line. Producing as much as you can for as little as you can is the name of the game, even if that means importing cheap goods from other countries rather than paying more to have them made on American soil. I understand that this is all a part of the capitalist society in which we live. And while it is by no means a perfect system, it is a system that has provided amazing opportunities for many people…and I am one of them.
But what I don’t understand is, where exactly do we draw the line? At what point do we recognize that clearly the Chinese government has had some fairly major regulatory enforcement issues over the last decade? And that maybe by allowing our economy to be so dependant on Chinese goods, we are inadvertently encouraging these reckless, corner-cutting, life endangering practices.
Ancient Canadian Proverb
Friday, October 23rd, 2009Never store your toothbrush next to another toothbrush of similar colour (Ancient Canadian spelling) and size. Especially if the other toothbrush belongs to a one year old who routinely eats objects of unknown origin off the floor.
Noted.
Now I’m off to spray Lysol in my mouth.
This Season On….
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Well, it looks like its about time for this TVholic’s biennial update. I have to admit, I’m watching more television than ever now that we finally have a DVR. As I’ve said in the past, I’m a bit of a media junkie. And with my new found ability to see Taye Diggs in all his high definition glory whenever I like, well there’s just no stopping me. So without further adieu (that’s right, I said adieu) Lets get on with the shows!
Grey’s Anatomy: Oh Grey’s. Grey’s, with your embarrassingly high rate of cast member turn-over. Grey’s, with your failed attempts to write character’s on and off the show ‘organically’ and ‘plausibly’. Grey’s, with your main star in a hospital bed for, what is it, like, the 6th time since the show started!? Oh Greys. I loved you once. A part of me still does, but I fear when this is all over there will be nothing recognizable left of you. Where is the dark wit, I ask you? What can turn Cristina’s uncharacteristic crying to dancing? What can restore the somber figure once known as McDreamy, to his former charm? Will anyone care when the newly villanized chief is deposed and Shepherd takes over, or be surprised when Katherine Heigl’s ego finally gets the best of her she leaves the show? I don’t know….I just don’t know.
Parks and Recreation: Comparisons and ratings be damned, Knope is dope.
The Office: How cool must that couple feel to have their wedding video emulated (albeit mockingly) on one of the funniest shows on American television !? I mean, for the rest of their lives, Jill and Kevin will get to look back and say, “Yea, Jim and Pam totally copied our wedding entrance.”
The Mentalist: This is one of the few shows that my non TV addicted husband actually watches with me. We try to identify all the little tells that Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) picks up on as he’s talking to suspects. And we argue about which of us would be easier to hypnotize. (ahem, Chris.) Its a fun little show and usually the mysteries aren’t troubling enough to make me lose any sleep. Not like say..
Criminal Minds: I mostly just watch this one because I think they do a great job developing the agents’ characters. However, I often delete episodes from the DVR without watching them because the descriptions alone give me the heebie jeebies. I can’t watch any of the cases that deal with kids, rape or domestic violence…which basically means I only watch one or two episodes a season.
Private Practice: You had to know we’d come back to Taye eventually. I’m pretty sure there are a few other characters involved …but lets be honest here. I watch the show for one reason and one reason alone.
My husband and I have this ongoing argument about whether or not Taye Diggs could take a punch. Second only to time travel, it’s the most hotly debated issue in our household. I say any jaw that chiseled and well defined would take a punch beautifully. Chris says any man who wears a pink, silk shirt to work (or anywhere else for that matter) is not someone he’d want backing him up in a fight. We’ve surveyed just about everyone we know in an effort to resolve this little marital dispute, but in almost every case the men side with Chris and the women side with me. So for now we remain at an impasse. But since ‘Dr. Bennett’ verbally threatened a suspected abusive father a few weeks ago, I am confident my theory will be proven solid by the end of the season.
House: I do so love me some Hugh Laurie. Actually, come to think of it, I love most actors from the Commonwealth who are pretending to be American. Anthony LaPaglia and Poppy Montgomery from Without a Trace, Simon Baker from The Mentalist…and I think there is one more who isn’t coming to mind right now. Anyway, I’ve been watching House for years now. And even though Kal Penn left a bit of a comedic void when he quit to join the Obama administration last season, I am confident they’ll get their chemistry back on track very soon.
Heroes: This is the other show Chris and I watch together. I (like the show itself) am a bit scattered on the plot line. Claire may or may not be starting a lesbian relationship with her roommate, Nathan may or may not be gone forever, Syler may or may not become a carny, Ali Larter may or may not have played four different characters when the show is all said and done….and the list goes on. So many possibilities to explore, so many comic book character’s to rip off.
Top Chef: I totally called it that Padma Lakshmi was pregnant. In one of the first episodes of the season I noticed that her tummy looked slightly less than flat, and called it right then and there. Although, of course, I secretly hoped she was just finally growing love handles from eating all that rich food week after week. Because, well…I mean come on! To eat for a living and still look like that is so far beyond the limits of fair! But anyway, I’m really happy for her about the baby and all. (I’ll bet she’s back in a size two by the time she leaves the hospital, the skinny #%&#!)
Believe it or not, that is not actually a complete list of the shows I’m following. I also watch Family Guy, Burn Notice, NCIS and Project Runway. But in the interest of time, I decided to narrow it down to a nice even 9 
Wait! Gabrielle Anwar from Burn Notice! That’s the other actress pretending to be an American that I was trying to think of. Although in her case, she’s an English actress pretending to be a former Irish spy, pretending to be an American bounty hunter. Man I love that show. The plot is so twisty, and it always leaves me craving a mojito.
Blog Action Day
Thursday, October 15th, 2009The new post on climate change is up on All You Can Green. Just follow this link to read it.
Blog Infidelity
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009I know, I know, again with the blog neglect. But I swear I have a good excuse this time. I have started doing some freelance writing for a site that is in development. Its called All You Can Green and it promises to be a great resource for anyone who is interested in introducing green practices to their lives without blowing the bank. I have been writing some blog articles for them in preparation for the site launch later this year. The next article will come out on Thursday and it will be in support of Blog Action Day. If you get a chance please check it out! Just click on the ‘read more button on the main page and it will show you the full text. Questions and comments are welcome, just please don’t use my name