PoDA

Lots to do, need a list to keep me accountable:

• Call Cozmore, order supplies
• Call omnipod
• make LIGHT calls/emails
• grocery list
• grocery shopping
• paperwork box
• finish evaluations
• print quarterlies and evals
• update LOIs

Random Friday

Stuff that happened this week:

1. Took Charlotte to pediatrician on Tuesday for an infected insect bite.  Doc put her on antibiotics and said keep up with the neosporin.  Had a follow up appointment on Thursday and doc agreed that it’s healing well and to keep doing what we’re doing.  Nothing to worry about.

2.  Two cases of H1N1 at work.  The powers that be, of course, are in denial about all sorts of things.  Hard not to be a consipracy theorist in my line of work.

3.  Had a party for June bdays at work last night.  This meant lots of cake.  I love cake.

4.  Spent Wednesday at Cedar Creek Park with the homeschoolers.  Tons of fun and sun.  I am so grateful for my homeschool community.  They really rock.

5.  Omg, Real Housewives of NJ finale.  That was one of the best things ever.  I love those women, every last one of them.  I’m actually a fan of all the housewives shows, but the NJ one is my favorite.  There is something so real about them that the other shows miss.  It’s given me a lot to think about in my own life, actually.  About drama and family and enjoyment and relationships.

Cool stuff I found on the interwebs this week:

1.  SmittenKitchen One of the sexiest cooking blogs since Pioneer Woman.  I want to make all those recipes.  The photography is gorgeous and the food is simple, beautiful and real.  Yum.

2. This House/Wilson fan video.  I love it so much.

3.  The Hot Fat Girl Manifesto! Oh, if you are a hot fat girl, or love a hot fat girl, go read this!  Now!

4.  A facebook update from my friend Jenn reminded me of the amazing show Really Rosie.  Here’s my favorite number, Chicken Soup with Rice.  My memories of this show are so amazingly vivid and positive.  I wonder if the library has a copy.

5.  My Milk Toof.  Oh, just go look.  It’s too cute to pass up.

Week in review

My birthday week has been wonderful (so far, I’m still celebrating!).
Continue reading »

Wordless Wednesday, birthday edition!!

[we're all going to pretend I did this yesterday.  k?thxbai]

Tackle it Tuesday, masterbedroom dresser and nightstand

I chose my bedroom dresser and nightstand for a couple of reasons.  First, I was feeling a bit lazy and this was a quick and easy project.  Second, tomorrow is my birthday and I’m hoping for some good nooky.  A clean and crisp dresser, with room for candles and toys/oils/music within reach are nice touches.

Without further ado, before:

And after!  Took less than 15 minutes.  The basket of socks has to stay and I’m sure the kids’ books will be back by nightfall.  lol

Sunday Vlogorama

Vlog onepointoh from bethany farmer on Vimeo.

On being two things, which is more about being more than two things

I straddle a lot of fences.  And I pass for a lot of things I’m not.

Biracial.  I’m not a huge fan of that term, but is the most easily recognizable and understandable for people who are unaccustomed to children of interracial couplings.  Being biracial is not like being both black and white.  I was never able to be either one or the other.  I’m not sure I ever really tried or wanted to.  People make assumptions.  I can pass in a lot of ways—raised by a white mother, in a predominantly white town, I’ve been told I sound “white” on the phone.  I went to a predominantly white college, married a white man, made a bunch of kids, the eldest of whom really passes. I live with a lot of borrowed privilege.

I like the term mulatta. [aside:  I'm aware of the controversy surrounding the etimology and modern use.   Wiki's got a decent breakdown, if you're interested.]  It’s pretty and romantic to me.  It’s meaningful in a way bi- or multi-racial has never been.  It separate from white and black.  It’s something else entirely.  I guess everyone likes to think of themselves as “something else entirely.”  I am not what you think I am.  I am something else entirely.

Bisexual.  Now, I do really try not to use this term at all (unless someone else prefers to self-ID this way), for lots and lots of reasons.  Like biracial, it’s based on a bianry system.  As if there were only two choices.  As if!  Pansexual is good, but always requires explanation.  I used to enjoy the tongue-in-cheekyness of “heteroflexible” but that no longer seems appropriate.  In fact “homoflexible” is probably more appropriate for me, but that sounds like some sort of Vegas act.

Queer is probably the most preferrable term for me.  I like queer.  I commented on another blog recently that I feel like I should wear a pin that says “I’m queer.  Ask me how!”  Not that I want to tell every Tom, Dick and Harriet how I spent my Saturday night, but I’m open to discussing my thoughts on my own sexuality and its fluidity.  It’s something I think about a lot.

People make assumptions.  I’m married to a man.  I live with a lot of borrowed privilege.  But I am not what you think I am.  I am something else entirely.  Ask me, I’ll invite you to sit a spell and hear my story.

Thursday Thankful Thirteen

I’m combing a couple of memes here.

1. The library.  We were there today and it’s just so awesome.  It’s like the internet but IRL.  So much information all in one place!
2. Rainy days with nothing on the calendar.  Like today.  Where you can spend the early afternoon at the library and the rest of the day enjoying the booty you brought home!
3. My goofy-assed co-irkers.  Sometimes they make me crazy, but most work days I’m just very very thankful for those smart, funny, quirky people with whom I get to share the cube-farm.
4. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.  Yum.
5. My mama, who agreed to take a day off from her job to watch my kids so I can participate in an extra daytime Kaizen meeting thing at my job.
6. Twitter, for being an endless source of entertainment.
7. Jon & Kate, ‘cuz they made those cute kids and crazy show that we just love.
8. Hot dudes on tv.  Namely, Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard and Marc Harmon.  Yumyumyummy.
9. Cortaid anti-itch cream.  I probably would have scratched off half my lovely jiggly thighs without this stuff.  I got all bitten up by springtime buggies at a BBQ last weekend and I’ve been applying this cream every few hours all week.
10. My kids’ interests.  Really, they are interested in all sorts of things and it’s fascinating to me.  Julian is reading Diary of Anne Frank right now.  His idea.  Charlotte is working on her recipe collection (she bought blank recipe cards and a recipe card box last weekend).  Emma has taken up song-writing.
11. The hot dude who lives at my house.  He gets hotter every damn day.  Yumyumyummy.
12. Spring green.  Even with the grey sky out there, the view from my living room window is mainly lush green leave on the maple and oak trees.  So pretty.
13. Svedka vodka.  ’nuff said.

What are you thankful for this week?

Social (and Sociological) Sunday

We just got back from a loverly BBQ at my friend Forte’s.  There were plenty of friends, kids, good drink and food.  And the weather held—-sun and warm breezes despite the forecast of thunderstorms. It was really very pleasant.

I was rather traditionally feminine today, which felt nice.  I wore a very pretty sundress, pulled my hair back in pretty gold combs, put on make-up.  I even shaved.  I go back and forth over cosmetics and shaving.  On the one hand, it feels like a lot of fucking work and I’m annoyed that they feel “required” to be the right kind of feminine.  On the other hand, freshly shaved legs and glossy lips do feel awfully good.  I do these things very infrequently, and I like that—-it feels like dressing up, like play and it’s freeing to only do them when the mood strikes me.  However, because I do them so infrequently, it’s very noticeable when I do it—people comment, sometimes ask why (which I never really know how to answer).  It’s not altogether uncomfortable for me.  I mean, it’s sort of the point, no?  I am generally good at accepting compliments.  And I suppose I’d be annoyed if I went through all the work on altering my appearance only to have no one bat an eye.  But it does make me wonder how people see me on my “normal me” days—a slob?  unattractive?  unfeminine?  At the end of the day, I obviously don’t care much either way and I’m happy with my public persona and I’ll keep going the way I’ve been going.  I just like to think about these things.

My approach to femininity and appearance are, as always, complicated by being fat.  On my worst days, I don’t bother with the conventional trappings of modern Western femininity because I fear people will see me and think “omg, why does she even bother?”  And on really high self-esteem days, I get all dolled up as part of my fat positivity stick-it-in-your-face personal politics.  I guess most of my days are somewhere in between those two, so I simply don’t bother with too much of the work of striving to traditional standards of womanliness.  My normal daily wardrobe is a long full skirt with a low-cut bright colored top and sandals (or boots and tights in cold months).  My curly, unruly hair is usually down (more like “out”) with little thought to style or accessories and the only jewelry I wear on a regular basis is my wedding ring.  I’m likely to have very chipped polish on my bitten-to-the-quick nails.  I do like to try and match my purse to my outfit, or at least not clash (ie, a brown and gold outfit will make me move everything out of my silver/black/purple purse).  I don’t even own a pair of heels that I would wear out of the bedroom.

I’ve been avoiding the term “femme” through this post.  I think that probably deserves a post of its own.

W00t for the Three Day Weekend!

The weather here is still gorgeous, although the forecasters say that will not last long.  Nice quiet Saturday morning of coffee and potato & egg scramble.  We’ll leave to take the van in for servicing in a bit.

I plan to work more on the craft room today.  I found some brackets for the ribbon bar so I’ll put that up and maybe finish the wall.  I’ll try and get some pics up of that.  I’m also working on the other pages of this blog.  And I need to start on planning next year’s curricula for the kiddos.  Maybe a stop at the library would be a good idea for today.

No other big plans this weekend.  BBQ with friends tomorrow, weather permitting, and hopefully a trip to Michael’s on Monday (got a good coupon in the email).

I may work on some fanfiction this weekend as well.  A couple of plot bunnies for a NCIS/House crossover have been hopping around in my head.  I’ll likely do those over at the elljay, maybe tomorrow night after a few drinks.

I hope everyone’s weekend is lovely and fun!