We're in!

Julia's application for South Bay Prep (the charter school we applied for) was accepted yesterday! We're excited, of course, but I actually have mixed feelings: sadness that our time homeschooling will end, fear that she'll encounter more problems with the teachers re. her attention issues and/or with the kids re. her eccentricities...stuff like that. But, between now and August - when it begins - our mission is to get a game-plan together addressing the attention stuff (read, see a few specialists), fill any holes in her 5th-grade curriculum and just spend as much happy time together as possible.

Funny. This was intended to be a celebratory post. So why am I tearing up?

A rollicking band of pirates we

So we've had 3 whole rehearsals of Pirates now but only one with the whole cast in the room at the same time, and if everyone (including myself) can remember to articulate clearly (easier said than done with a mouthful of braces), we'll be a GLORIOUS cast. Seriously. I'm so very impressed with our group. Got the ticket ordering info Sunday night as well so now I can guilt folks who don't want to come into coming by making them think they're getting "such a deal" with my cast discount! Muahahahaha! Come on, people...doncha want to see me fall on my face after a 20-year theatrical hiatus? You know you do! ;)

A little freaked that we need to be off-book by May 5 but it makes sense since that's our first blocking rehearsal. May 5 is also the deadline to sign up for the charter school we're trying to get Julia into. We've already submitted the form but after the 5th, we'll know whether she's in or if it'll go to lottery. May 5th is a significant day around here, apparently.

Not much else going on. Entertaining the idea of another surgery put "the girls" back where they belong once I hit my weight goal (no earlier than September). Seems such a shame to come this far and let them just lay there like deflated beach balls. A lovely visual. You're welcome. ;)

Tag Teamed 2

We'll see if blogging feels different on the new Mac. So far, I have to say it does, largely because, well, it's larger; I have more room to rest my arms on a 17" than a 15". Sweet!

FIVE THINGS
Sigh. More talking about myself. Joy. From my so-called friend Todd. You'd think being an only child I'd enjoy talking about myself more but I'm easily the most boring topic on the planet. Seriously. Anyway, two meme's in a row should absolve me from these things for a while, should they not? YES, THEY SHOULD.

What I was doing 10 years ago - Spring 1998:
1. Carrying around my 8-month old daughter
2. Preparing to move from our 3/2 2000sq ft apt in Redwood City to our 2/1 900sq ft rental house in San Jose
3. Working at what was easily the most emotionally and intellectually fulfilling web design gig I've ever had at the Tech Museum of Innovation
4. Smoking 20-25 cigarettes a day
5. Eating anywhere between 1500-5000 calories a day

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Drink this here tasty grande skinny iced latte that my lovely Mr. just brought me
2. Finish stapling the reed fence to the inside of the wood fence
3. Nail carpet tack strips to the top and bottom of said wood fence (and then spray with habanero-infused water) to thwart neighborhood squirrels from further terrorization of my patio. <!-- insert evil cackle-->
4. Shower (bitch got the stank)
5. Go to first Pirates of Penzance get-acquainted/music rehearsal at 7:30....eek

Snacks I enjoy: (pre-surgery, actually...post-surgery, I actually don't eat any of this stuff anymore. Oh well.)
1. Stacy's Naked Pita Chips
2. Fuji apples with peanut butter
3. Pretty much anything dipped into a chocolate fountain
4. Japanese rice crackers with mixed nuts (otherwise known at Chez Creth as "crack")
5. Fritos, Fritos, Fritos. With guac, queso, refritos, nekkid, no matter. I bathe happily in their salty, corny goodness

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay off my house and rent it out after we build our completely green post-modern straight-out-of-Dwell-Magazine modular home on enough acreage that we don't have to deal with people if we don't want to and never have to worry about having enough space again
2. Buy Chris and I the hybrid or pure electric/hydro vehicles of our choice
3. Put away a decent portion in a short-term interest fund for Julia's college/car/set-up
4. Put away a HUGE portion in a long-term interest fund for security
5. Relax, knowing I'm able to finally contribute both my time and money to the causes I care about in the broad strokes I'd like to when it matters most

Five of my bad habits:
1. Perfectionism/obsessive-compulsiveness
2. Night Owlishness
3. Bossiness
4. Impatience
5. Laziness

Five places I have lived:
1. Bay St. Louis, MS
2. Baton Rouge, LA
3. Lynnfield, MA
4. Palo Alto, CA
5. Las Vegas, NV

Five jobs I've had:
1. Cashier (University Art Center and T&C Pharmacy, Palo Alto, CA)
2. Screenprint pattern-cutter (F&S Bowling & Trophy Supply, Mountain View, CA)
3. Alternative-bookstore assistant manager (Opening Books, Huntsville, AL)
4. Frozen yogurt pump-jocky (Heidi's Frogen Yozert, Palo Alto, CA)
5. Desktop publishing coordinator (Kinko's, Campbell, CA)

Five people I tag:
Claire, Annie, Derek, Brian, and Lotti

Tag you, Tag me, Tag this

I've been tagged by my crone mistress, CDR.

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Post 10 random things about yourself.

Choose five people to tag and a reason you chose them and make sure to tell them. Don’t tag the person who tagged you.


1. I don't cook. But occasionally bake. Really really well.

2. I can walk on the sides of my feet just as comfortably as the bottoms, a fact that my podiatrist felt I should be casted for. I should learn to shut up.

3. I've never been to Hawaii. Seems like most people I know have been so maybe it's significant enough to mention.

4. I can't roll my tongue into a U. But I can turn it upside down in both directions (left or right).

5. I like Spam. And Tang. And PopTarts. And Cheetos. And Fritos...dipped in chocolate frosting. And Dr. Pepper. And a thousand kinds of other junk. A product of middle-class suburban upbringing, through and through. With the thighs to prove it.

6. I got up at 4 am (Central time...was visiting family in Louisiana at the time) to watch the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981. Was an avid "royal watcher" til Diana's death in 1997. I got up at 5am Pacific to watch her funeral.

7. I was a cheerleader in 5th grade. I was also a Girl Scout, from age 5 to age 13.

8. Speaking of Girl Scouts, I won a blue ribbon in archery at Girl Scout camp. Speaking of blue ribbons, I won another blue ribbon for cow milking at some county fair in the late 70s. It was my first time ever touching a cow. Udderly dumb luck. Yes, I did write that. Wouldn't you? Yes, you would so get the hell off my back.

9. I haven't been on a boat since 1985 when I literally tossed my cookies (Oreos, to be exact) into San Francisco Bay off the side of a sailboat on a particularly choppy day. My mother managed to keep me from going over the side by grabbing my ankles. Was lucky not to be wearing socks that day. My very real inner ear issues (Meniere's Disease) and overwhelming fear of seasickness have kept me away since. I'm great IN the water. Just not ON it.

10. I've seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show 57 times at the now defunct Varsity Theater in Palo Alto. Misspent youth.

(p.s. if you want to know yet more crap about me, check out the "Crap about me" link under the "Sundry Crap" area on the upper-right side of this page)

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My fab-tagged-5: Andrea (Ator's Love Theme, cuz she's as snarky as me) , Heather (My Universe is Room 3, because she always has a fresh perspective), Helen (I Forgot Where I Was Going With This, because she's hysterical and one of the strongest people I know who doesn't advertise it), Jason (Vermyndax's Lair, cuz he's Jason, duh), and Todd (Rhymes with Drowning, cuz I'm always searching for ways to crawl deeper into his head). Ok, go.

I'm baaaaack

Well, I never really left. I just got caught up in stuff. Did the Lousyana trip over Easter (click HERE for the Easter 2008 Flickr photoset). Visited Dada and it was as pleasant as seeing one's 91 year old grandmother in a nursing home can be. Saw other relatives on Easter Sunday too, and though I know people will say I'm going to Hell for saying it, I'm damned glad I didn't have to see the one or two racist relic fuckers who still insist on peppering the N-word through their everyday conversation (honestly, it's bad enough when I have to hear it but it makes me downright angry when it's said around my kid. I just resent being forced to have that conversation with her, esp. by a member of our own family. Sickening.).

Good thing I don't believe in Hell.

My parents were on the lookout for a house to retire to while they were down there as well and found one place that piqued their interest. But then they're also looking at places in Mariposa and San Lorenzo valley as well. So they may wind up a little more local. I'm hoping for that. I'd like to see them more than once a year, and I just don't know if we'd be able to get to Louisiana more often that that due to financial constraints.

Came back with a miserable cold that forced us into quarantine for a full week. Correction: a disgusting, miserable cold. Seriously. It was gross. 'Nuff said. We're better now.

We've signed Julia up for a brand new charter school that's opening up in September called South Bay Prep. Went to the enrollment meeting this past Wednesday to hear what they had to say and were happy to sign her up. Julia, on the other hand, was bored to tears because of course the meeting presentation format was primarily for adults, but the kids DID get excited about the idea of being able to be part of the shaping of the school, and especially its extra-curricular activities. Anyway, we'll find out if she's enrolled after May 5th. If less than the maximum number of students per grade apply before May 5th, all will be enrolled, and that will include Julia. If more than the maximum apply, it'll go to a lottery, and we don't have as good a chance there considering it's outside our particular school district. And that will suck cuz we're already excited about it.

This week, Julia will be taking a week-long "spring-break" cooking intensive: 3 hours a day, every day. Otherwise known as bliss-on-a-freakin'-plate for both of us. She gets out of the house doing her favorite class, I get me-time, which I get precious little of these days. Though I guess if she goes to a charter school, that will change. Sniff. :(

Topamax is working quite well and I'm having very few migraine symptoms these days. As a result, I'm looking at gearing up my freelance again. Just ordered a MacBook Pro for the occasion in fact. Should arrive early this week. Mwuahahahahahaha! New gear dance! New gear dance! Tralalalalalala! (hi, I'm a geek)

Spent today watching a movie Chris knew but I'd never seen called Topkapi and then tearing apart, sweeping and redesigning our back patio. Lots more work to do on that but a good start and it was nice not to be stuck indoors. Gorgeous, gorgeous weekend.

I've been tagged by 2 different friends in recent weeks but am not up to addressing said tags now so I'll use those as excuses to get my ass back here in the next few days. By any means necessary, and all that jazz.

Speaking of All That Jazz (quite possibly my favorite movie of all time...well, one of them...), Roy Scheider passed while I was off playing. I'll miss you, sir.

Whisper to the Universe...

...and sometimes it'll shout back at you.

Remember my last broke-as-broke-can-be whine? Well today, after borrowing money from the in-laws JUST LAST NIGHT to prevent us from going into the red, Chris got a raise and was given his end-of-07 marketing bonus. I also got an unsolicited freelance gig nibble...one that could get me $100/hr. Shit oh dear! The phrase "when it rains it pours" comes to mind. So does "ask and ye shall receive."

But then again, so does "whore yourself out enough and eventually some asshole will pay." That's not a cliché to anyone except me but hey. Butt hay.

In other news, I saw 163.5 on the scale this morning, down from 164 yesterday and most of this week. Only half a pound, I know. But significant because it marks the difference between being obese (164lbs, 30BMI) and overweight (163.5, 29.9BMI). Which has not occurred since I was on my way UP the scale when I was pregnant with Julia. Probably almost exactly 11 years ago. That's a long time to be obese. Anyway, here's to the "20s" (24.9 being the minimum goal), and to never being a big old obese broad again. ;)

Friday is my 39th birthday and I'm having very mixed feelings: I'm both horrified that I'm actually this fucking old and also indignant because I feel way too young in spirit for it to possibly make sense. Really looking forward to this Saturday though. Cemetery stomp followed by dinner somewhere. Told Chris to arrange something so I don't really know what's going to happen. Doubt much as he's not really one for planning that sort of thing or surprises. Whatever. Just so I don't have to. I'm not driving either. I'm going to drink. Perhaps not heavily. But enough to not care that it's my last birthday before 40.

Shit.

My cocoon year is turning into a lifetime

So in the spirit of getting to the bottom of what the hell has been wrong with me all my damned life, I met with a podiatrist yesterday to talk about my weird-ass feet. The ones that like to roll over to the side and dump me on the ground. Yeah, those. Anyway. The problem, says Sir Doc, is not my feets but my ankles, which are waaaaaay too loose and stretchy, bending in ways that ankles just shouldn't bend. Like, sideways and nearly upside down. When he tried to place them in what is supposed to be a "normal" position, he asked me how it felt, and I said it felt like he could put a pinky on me and push me over it was so unstable. This, my friends, is the foundation I've been balancing my obese frame upon for the last decade. Fantastic.

My alternatives:

1) live with it, and continue falling down intermittently, sometimes with injury.

2) get casted for orthotic braces for my ankles. They won't be pretty as they'll have to be worn with athletic shoes or high-topped shoes of some sort, but I'd be stable. Homeschooling moms have little need for fashion, after all.

3) surgery. The tendon that is too long/stretchy would be looped around something (I forget what he said...a bone? another tendon? a curb? a streetlight?) to stabilize the ankle, preventing it from bending past a certain point.

Sooooo...

I get casts made for the braces first week of April. If I ultimately decide I can't live a lifetime being braced, I reserve the right to go see a surgeon. Go the path of least resistance first, of course, right.

Gearing up to go to Hammond, LA in 2.5 weeks. I can't decide if I'm looking forward to it or not. I think I might be if I weren't so damned worried about money. We're living on fumes right now. The words "not in a good financial space" are a gross understatement of our situation. More accurately, we're sinking. So, just what we need...a trip to visit family for a week!!! NOT.

;)