The Week In Links

Here are some links that were sent my way this week. I hate keeping them all to myself!

Of course I'll lead off with Michael Phelps. Although I enjoyed this elaborate conspiracy theory too.

This news about Chip's number one girl came with the comment "Chip – I think you might actually have a chance at this point."

This Friday Night Lights link was a big hit with the guys, although my girl list is represented here so I liked it too!

The Amethyst Initiative has decided to open the debate on the national drinking age. This has been a hot topic around here, due to the involvement of our college president. They certainly succeeded in opening a debate.

Kristy helped me learn my type.

This movie poster contest looked like a fun diversion, but after the first "C" I quickly failed. I think I got five.

How much would I love a Veronica Mars movie? I so miss Veronica- she is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time!

What else is going on out there? Did you see anything good this week that I should take a look at?

Scheduling

Here we are at the end of the first week of navigating a new school and a new schedule. You'll be happy to know that I haven't seen Connor cry since that first day, although this morning one of his seatmates was in tears as I left. He's a kid Connor likes, so I hope they can console each other. I also got a hug from the girl who sits across from Connor (she likes me because I know her name) and gave the stink eye to the girl who sits next to him, because yesterday she called him a "stupid boy." Although she's probably right- I'm just glad she hasn't mentioned the cooties yet.

Something else exciting was going on this week, but I wanted to make it to Friday before sharing. As you may know, Connor's school starts at 7:30. You may also know that the school is on the same block as my office, and both are at least 20 minutes from our home. With those facts staring me in the face, I decided to man up and officially request a "flexible" schedule. After some negotiation, I have been allowed to come in at 7:30, take a half hour lunch, and leave at 3:30, three days a week, with the other two days following the traditional 8:30-5 schedule. Woohoo!

While the week has been full of changes, it has gotten progressively easier to keep up with them. I think we're all comfortable with our new schedules, and can expect things to go much smoother from here on out. One thing's for sure- the prospect of ending my work week at 3:30 on Friday afternoon sure has taken the sting out of the way the week began. This kindergarten thing might not be so bad after all!

Roasted Squash, Zucchini, and Cannelini with Basil and Goat Cheese

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

The first real week of kindergarten has been rough so far, for me and for Connor. As you may know, my boy does not embrace change and is not quick to feel comfortable in a new environment. So while last Monday went alright, Connor had a week between day one and day two to work up a good ball of anxiety about the whole situation. It was no surprise that things went in the crapper this Monday. Connor got to the classroom, put his things into his first-ever locker, then walked past Miss M in her assigned seat on his way to his own. You could see the reality wash over him as he slowly passed her by- they were not going to be sitting next to each other. It was like the teacher had snatched his security blanket right out from under him.

I crouched down next to him at his new seat, and was promptly knocked onto my butt by the force of his hug. As I got back on my feet, he pulled away and I could see that the tears had already started. “It’s going to be fine,” I assured him. “Have a great day!” I kissed him and left him there, tiny and lonely and sad, as the teacher swept in behind me to provide some comfort. As I got to the door, Connor did like he always does and gave me one last, “Bye Mom.” (He does this every time I leave him, even if it’s just at bedtime.) So I turned around for one last wave and saw him just totally splotchy and sobbing at this point. I still had my composure, so I came back in for one last kiss and “I love you” before running out into the hall, plopping myself in a chair next to SAM and Mr. Baby (who were filling out some forms) and doing some sobbing of my own. It’s safe to say that Monday will remain on my list of “Worst Parenting Memories” for quite some time.

In addition to spending most of Monday (and Tuesday) crying off and on, I’ve been struggling to get used to our new schedule too. (It should come as no surprise that Connor inherited his need for a regular routine from me.) We now have to leave the house around 6:50. That changes everything, and it is going to take a while to get used to it. While we are adjusting, I feel that everything is out of control. There are a bunch of little things that need to be attended to in our household, details that I’m supposed to handle, and I just can’t get to them.

Fortunately, I can make a list of things that need to be done and feel like I’m getting a grip on the situation. Connor, who also feels out of control right now, does not have a healthy way to handle that anxiety. Instead of making lists, he is attempting to exert control by doing everything on his own terms. If I ask him to quiet down, he starts yelling. If I say two cookies, he says three. If I hand him his Spiderman pjs, he throws them across the room and grabs a different set. Now I can work with giving him some choices, but at some point this just becomes disrespectful and rude. Since I’m already teetering on the edge this week, you can imagine that things have been tense between us.

In another week or so, we’ll have a handle on things. I’ll remember to iron my clothes before bed, and I’ll find a way to replace my morning Chloe time (or I’ll start waking her up earlier!). Connor will get to know some people in his class, and it won’t all seem new anymore. But that doesn’t make today any easier.

(Temporary) Tattoo Session

They skipped the wet washcloth and went right to the source.

He carefully removed the backing as she waited with bated breath.

It's so glittery and awesome!

He generously waited until she was inked to go under the needle- er, faucet- himself.

The Weekend in Pictures

We had quite a busy weekend, and like good little Nikon owners, we took pictures of almost all of it.

At Cocktail Hour, we rubbed the birthday boy's head for luck.

Chloe ate a block of parmigiano-reggiano like it was an apple, confirming rumors that she is the love child of Stephanie Chockley and George Costanza.

We obtained visual evidence, even more compelling than the ultrasound, that Gina is pregnant.

We went to the Zoo and spent a long time in the butterfly tent.

We had one last birthday celebration with fellow Leos Tiff and Mark. After opening presents with them and Mom, who graciously kept the kids on a school night, we went to the Farmer's Market dinner held at River Oaks. Yum!

Scenes from Memphis Farmer's Market

Some of these made it into the August issue of Memphis Health and Fitness.









For a sample of what farmer's markets look like in other cities, check out The Farmer's Market Report.

Friday Lists

Things I Need To Do This Weekend, But I Probably Won't, But Maybe If I Put It In Writing I Will
1. Clean my car inside and out. It still has our trip to the beach on it and in it.
2. Use the weedeater.
3. Clean the kids' rooms.
4. Go to the blind tasting of California wines at Salsa.
5. Get Chip to change the lightbulb in the stairwell.

Random Things That Need To Be Mentioned But Don't Warrant A Whole Blog Post
1. I did 47 push-ups in a row on my birthday.
2. I've bought plenty of squirt toys in my day- I'm not pointing fingers. They're fun for a while, but I don't have the patience to keep them Chloe-proof.
3. Yeah, I've been staying up late to watch the Olympics.
4. But I still find time to watch Mad Men. I'm almost done with the first season.

Guestlist I Graciously Sent To Listwork That Was Soundly Rejected, Titled "Things Chip Can’t Believe I Keep In My Purse"
1. Neosporin and Band-Aids
2. Pink umbrella
3. 50 SPF sunscreen
4. Lightning MacQueen
5. Reusable shopping bag
6. Clinique Dramatically Different moisturizer
7. Mosquito repellent
8. Disposable toilet seat covers
9. Separate zippered container full of lipsticks
10. Package of mini note cards/envelopes

Pregnant Women Whose Blogs Make Me Teary-Eyed
1. Gina
2. Hillary
3. Cathy

Possible Endings to the Title of the Previous List
1. . . When I See Their Sweet Ultrasound Pictures
2. . . As I Think About How Pregnancy Is Ruining Their Perky Little Figures
3. . . And Sad That I'm Done Having Babies
4. . . With Joy Over The Fact That I'm Done Having Babies

More Things

A while back I wrote about Things I've Bought That I Love. Time for another installment, although this time it's not all stuff that I bought. Some of it is stuff I've managed to collect without paying for, which is not to say I charged it but rather that it was given to me. But also, some of it is stuff that I do not at all love, but I felt you needed a heads-up on.

Love It:
Logitech Trackball Mouse: My boss has one of these, and I've always been curious, but recently my amateur carpal tunnel syndrome was threatening to go pro so I thought I should make a change. I love this mouse- it just seems right. And since my hand is on a mouse much of the day, it only makes sense to have the best one I can have. My only complaint- I wish it had a button that automatically takes you "back," like our mouse at home does. But that would be asking for too much.

Waiter Rant: This book, by the author of one of my favorite blogs, is less an examination of the restaurant industry and more an autobiography told in the context of restaurant stories. Two of my favorite things- biography and tales from the front of the house. I will loan it to any of you who wants to read it. In a day or two- I still have 50 pages or so to go.

Hate It:
Bath Squirters: Really I hate all bath toys, because they immediately mildew and gross me out beyond belief. But when I tried to get rid of all of them, Chip laughed at me and called me "Richard" so I dropped it. So now I just regularly run most of them through the dishwasher. However, I did manage to throw away all the squirt toys without too much resistance. The mildew just grows and festers inside of them, and there's no way to clean them out. Then when the kids squirt them a bunch of yuck comes out and floats in the bath water. It's bad enough that Chloe always drinks that water when I'm not looking- I'd rather not know there were flakes of rotten mildew in there along with the rest of her dirt. (shudder) So in summary, don't buy these for your kids or as a gift for someone else's kids. Or at least lie to me and tell me you won't.

Lolonis Ladybug White: I'm a fan of other wines by Lolonis, and I'm impressed with how they do things, using ladybugs to keep pests off their grapes rather than pesticides or herbicides. Lolonis and Bonterra are basically the only two "organic" wineries who put out a decent product. Usually, that is, but not in this case. This particular white blend is not good. It's really unfocused and soft and tastes like something you'd get in a $7 magnum rather than in a $13 bottle. Not worth it. Stick to their Fume Blanc if you want white, or the Ladybug Red or their Zinfandel if you want red- all are reasonably priced and are much tastier than the Ladybug White.

Love and Hate It:
Weezer's new CD: Another self-titled record, this one is referred to as the "Red Album." The first five songs are amazing! I'm generally a fan of Weezer, but they definitely have had their ups and downs over the years. These first few songs are the best thing they've done in a long time. Sadly, the album totally falls apart for the last half. Rivers let the other guys in the band write and sing a song each, and they are rough. I can't decide if he did that because his therapist told him he should be less controlling, or if the guys were bugging him about it and he wanted to let them crash and burn to prove a point. In any case, I imagine I will listen to the first half of this CD repeatedly in the near future, but I might never listen to the last half again.

None of One

Chloe is at that age when pronouns confuse her and adults laugh at how adorable that is. Her main problem comes when trying to use the word "one." For example, if she picks up her brother's crayon, she might say, "Now I have one!" Then if her Connor generously hands her another crayon, she'll say, "I have two ones!"

But then she might say, "I like the pink one crayon," not understanding that we know "one" refers to "crayon." If Connor then picked up a different crayon, she'd say, "There's another one crayon!"

Of course, if Chloe tried to take that one too, Connor would say, "Now she has all the crayons and I have none crayons!" Only Connor can take a cute grammar mistake and turn it into something negative. He doesn't have anything to worry about, though. He's got a box with 64 one crayons hidden from Chloe up in his room.

First Day in Pictures

Connor said, "It is way too early!" (Check out the bags under his eyes!)


Connor said, "I'm big now, so we didn't have nap time."


Chloe said, "Kindergarten? Sign me up!"

Day One

This morning, at 7:20, I walked my first born child into Snowden Elementary School and delivered him to a Kindergarten teacher. His dear friend, Miss M, was also in attendance. They sat down across from each other and began to draw what they did during their summer vacation. (I can only assume they both drew a picture of themselves jumping the waves in Dauphin Island.) I could see the conflict behind Connor's eyes as he tried to decide whether he was excited to be at a new school, or nervous as hell to be at a new school. I was prepared for him to fling himself at me, drape his arms around my leg, and beg me to take him home. I could see it in his eyes, right there below the surface. But in an instant, that impulse was squashed. His eyes suddenly gleamed with confidence as he waved, "Bye, Mom!" I took that opportunity to run out the door, as SAM encouraged me. "You can do it, Mom!" With tears in my eyes, I walked to work. It was easy to pull it together, though. I wasn't sad, because Connor wasn't sad.

I picked him up at 2:15 sharp, showed him where to meet his after-school ride (starting next week), and asked about his day. Playing outside on the playground and eating lunch in the cafeteria were his two favorite activities. "Did you get the note I put in your lunch?" I asked. He did. He even had a teacher read it to him, though I know he knows what "I love you" looks like. I complimented his bravery, how he had been so comfortable in that new classroom. "Oh, I cried after you left, Mom," he replied. "I was sad because I missed you." Sigh.

He came home exhausted. After dozing off and on in front of the TV, he pulled himself together to play a while and eat dinner. After dinner, however, he just couldn't take anymore. He spilled some of the Sprite he had been given in honor of his special day. He recovered from that, but minutes later hit Chloe on the arm because she was too close to that Sprite. We didn't think anything of it, consoling Chloe and letting her help with the dishes. Ten minutes later, I found Connor on the couch, sobbing still. "I didn't mean for her to tell on me!" he screamed, full of guilt and burned by her betrayal. His face was pale and splotchy. He had cried that whole time, not because he needed the attention, but because the day had finally caught up with him. I got him to relax, took him for a quick bath, and dumped him in the bed by 7:45. He was glad to be there. He might have enjoyed Kindergarten, but that 7:30 a.m. call time combined with no nap came back to bite him in the butt. I believe he'll fit in fine, play with Miss M, make new friends, and impress his teacher. He'll find his place at Snowden Elementary School. But not until next week. Right now, he just needs his momma and a good eleven hours of sleep. I'm happy to accomodate him, while I still can.

Birthday Boy and Cohorts

Chipotle Shrimp on Polenta with Roasted Red Peppers, Black Beans, and Pepper Jack Cheese

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

It's my girl's day, y'all. She only gets more beautiful as she gets older. In other words, hey-- it's Steph's birthday, which is a perfect excuse to tell her I love her and put lots of pretty pictures of her up on the blog.

The Power of the Push-up

After Chloe was born, I took a Pilates class. I loved it, and when it ended I kept three moves with me. One was the basic push-up. I continued doing ten push-ups about three times a week, and I thought I was really doing well “for a girl.” Then I read that a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups. I can’t do that now! Time to step it up. I slowly got to where I was doing 12-14 push-ups two or three times a week. I knew I needed to do more, but I didn’t have the right inspiration. Then, a few months ago, I started to feel the pressure of my upcoming birthday. Thirty-five! I have a friend who wakes up each year on his birthday and does one push-up for each year of age. I got to thinking- could I do 35 push-ups by my 35th birthday?

I spent a couple of weeks trying to up my number, and was consistently doing 15 push-ups every other day. Then the same friend introduced me to the program at hundredpushups.com. The idea is that their interval training program can take you from zero to 100 push-ups in as little as six weeks of training. This kind of program is perfect for me- there are charts, specific numbers, and a definable goal. So I got started.

This isn’t news, since most of you have heard me talk about my push-ups over the last five weeks. But what is noteworthy is how good this has made me feel. I have loved seeing the results of the training- my arms look different, and I regularly do 100 pushups in the course of one workout. There has been something so empowering about doing this program- I highly recommend it to all of you, especially to the women. It’s nice to feel strong physically. It goes a long way towards feeling strong mentally.

Do I think I’ll be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups after another week and a half of this program? Probably not. The program allows for you to repeat weeks in order to get strong enough to do 100, but I’m not sure I need to do that. I just want to complete the program, and then figure out some level of the training to stick to in order to maintain the strength I’ve gained. I’m happy in the knowledge that tomorrow morning, I will easily be able to do 35 push-ups. Not a bad way to begin a new year.

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Don't be surprised- this happens every year! Happy birthday! We love you!

Family Ramblings

Thoughts while I wonder what you got me for my birthday. . .

The next time you see Chloe, ask her to say "Polly Pocket." Trust me, there is nothing cuter.


The next time you see Connor, don't ask him about starting Kindergarten. He does NOT like starting a new class.

I think that this fall, I'm going to add Life On Mars and Fringe to the season pass list. And possibly re-add Pushing Daisies. Any other suggestions?

On that note, this article from the Onion made me laugh loud enough that a coworker stopped to ask if everything was okay.


Recently, Chloe's great-grandfather said, "Wow- once she gets wound up, she really goes!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

We will not know where Connor is going to school until Friday. I'll let you know as soon as I know.


I'm turning 35 this week, and I feel every year of it. This weekend I went dancing, and my legs are still sore two days later.

I would replace all of the Tyson "chicken" nuggets in my freezer with Quorn "chicken" nuggets if they didn't cost so damn much.


We saw Batman this weekend- it was good, but a little long. There were a lot of drawn out action sequences, and I don't necessarily want my superhero movies to be action movies. All of the performances were great, and there's no question that I want to be Christian Bale's love slave. We were really surprised that so many people have seen a movie that is so dark! It was not an easy summer blockbuster. But it also was much higher quality than your usual summer blockbuster.

I took all these pictures myself.

That Scary Thing

This morning at breakfast, I read the paper while the kids fiddle-farted around with their Cheerios. Connor noticed the big picture on the front page:



Now, the boy wasn't even trying to make a joke. But what he said nearly made me pee my pants.
"Daddy-- what's THAT scary thing?"

My lip started to quiver, but I asked for clarification before unleashing my howl.

"What thing, Connor?" I held the paper closer so he could show me.

He put his finger directly on John McCain's face and said "THAT scary thing! Is that a monster?"
HOOOOOOHAHAHHAAH!

My laughter was so out of control that Connor actually freaked out and starting crying because he wasn't trying to be funny. But that's a whole different story.

Fashion Models

I think these pictures look like they came out of a fashion spread in a magazine. Chip makes everyone look good! Well, almost.