Super Daddy, snuggled under his pile of pink Hello Kitty blankets,
is able to entertain two small children without leaving his cocoon.

08 March 2008

I’ve decided that I’m a Planning Nerd.  Now here’s a secret for all the non-nerds out there:  nerds like — very much, mind you — being nerds of whatever chosen hobby fascinates them.  There are music nerds, computer nerds, history nerds, anime nerds, the list goes on.  And, it turns out, there are Planning Nerds (we get capitalized because I’m a Planning Nerd, therefore we’re special 😉 ).

Last night, I made a new list — beautifully organized with fancy bullets and a pretty font — and then I surfed the DIY Planner template directory (which I surf regularly) and found another great planning tool, this one for planning your entire year on a single page!  How cool is that?!

My new list with its fancy bullets and pretty font is a list of things (hobbies, activities, etc) that are most important to me now.  It’s so easy to lose sight of what I’m trying to accomplish underneath the laundry and the bills, the shopping and the cleaning.  The minutiae and logistics of day-to-day living become my focal point, and then, suddenly, a year has passed and I’m thinking to myself, “Wasn’t I going to learn how to sew this year?” or “Wasn’t I going to start podcasting this year?”

So, you see, I like being a Planning Nerd.  It helps me remain “Angel” and not “the lady who does the laundry and cleans the kitchen.”

Damian laughing at the world.
06 March 2008

I turn 40-years-old in less than four months.  I’m just not ready to be 40-years-old yet.  It’s not that I mind getting older.  As everyone says, you actually find peace with yourself and the world as you get older.  It’s just… well, there are clothes that I haven’t worn yet; shoes that I haven’t tried yet; experimentation that is waiting for me.  Sure, I might be a mom, but I’m not ready to be matronly yet.

I had heard “40 is the new 30,” and I have decided that will be the theme for my birthday, and may well be the theme for the next decade of my life.  It’s all in the mind anyway, isn’t it?  And I’m just not ready to be matronly.  I’m sure one day I’ll be ready for that stage of my life… just not yet. 😉

Lily with (from left to right) Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora, Jasmine (again),
Belle, and Snow White. Mattel’s marketing department is a bunch of 4-year-olds
playing with construction paper and crayons compared to Disney’s princess
marketing onslaught. I have bought a Barbie doll (The Angel of Peace Barbie
for my desk), but Lily has no idea who Barbie is.
06 March 2008

I’m ready to podcast… in fact, I’ve been ready to podcast for awhile.  But I can’t seem to find the time.  The cleaning, the cooking, the children, paying the bills, the laundry, the shopping… my time disappears into the daily routine of household chores.

Have you ever heard folks say that they don’t like to work from home — that they prefer to go to an office — because when they work from home they feel like they are never off from work?  They find that they constantly work.

Well, what is a housewife to do then?  The house is our work.  How does a housewife delineate work-time from play-time when the two are so intimately entertwined with one another?

I’m complaining again.  Sorry.  I’ve just been wanting to play with my websites for the past week and have not because of household chores.  So here it comes out on the blog. 🙂

Lani and the children playing in the back garden…
playing in the dirt to be exact. When they came in,
there was dirt in their hair, dirt all over their clothes,
and dirt in their diapers.
04 March 2008

We bought a silver Toyota RAV4 Limited with V6 engine and the third row seating.  And I love it!  Like a vegetarian who craves bacon, I dreamed of a Toyota Prius or Hybrid Honda Civic or experimental electric/ethanol hybrid with high-speed Wi-Fi connection…. until I test-drove the RAV4.  Then I ate the bacon.  And it was good.

The RAV4, being a small SUV, gets decent gas mileage, about the same as my Mazda Protege actually.  Sure, not the greenest car in the world, but I don’t feel like I’ve completely gone over to the dark side. 

Here she is.  She doesn’t have a name yet.

05 March 2008

Mommy vision
25 February 2008

Matt and I are considering the purchase of an SUV, the Toyota RAV4 to be exact.  “Why?!” you ask, “Why, when you are a hippy and your husband is European and both of these groups cling to small, fuel-efficient cars with an unmatched self-righteous passion, are you considering an SUV?”

SUVs really fit our current lifestyle.  After Matt, myself, and both the kids in their carseats have been put into the car and the two strollers have been put into the trunk, my car is completely full.  So we’re moving up a size.  We’re looking to move up a size in house as well within the next couple of years.  Bigger family, bigger car, bigger house, bigger bills.

My only real fear is that we will not be allowed back into Austin.  Folks that don’t live here don’t realize that you actually have to fill out a questionnaire in order to become a resident of Austin.  Here is a sample of some of the questions (to gain residency, you must answer “yes” to 90% of the questions):

———-

4.  Do you have a tattoo, body piercing, brightly colored dyed hair or dreadlocks? 

5.  Are you gay or do you have a friend who is gay?

6.  Are you in a band or do you have a friend who is in a band?

11.  Do you own at least two domain names and/or two DBAs?

15.  Is some of the software on your home computer open-source?

16.  Do you own a Linux server?

(If you don’t know what open-source software or Linux is, the city planners feel it is best that you stop at this point and move to Round Rock or Pflugerville first and slowly become acclimated to Austin society before moving directly into Austin.)

20.  Do you own a small, fuel-efficient (preferably hybrid) car and openly mock people with large vehicles?

28.  Would you vote for a transient cross-dresser and/or a fictitious comic strip character for political office?

34.  For at least five years of your life, were you enrolled in college (the years do not have to be consecutive and actual graduation is optional)?

39.  Do you feel the Democratic Party is too conservative?

———-

The longer I live in the suburbs, the more I am assimilated.  If we get this SUV, I am one step closer to being a true suburban mommy.  Now I just need a bumper sticker that says, “My child is an honor student at her preschool” to put on it.