Facebook Etiquette

So, am I allowed to friend an ex-boyfriend on Facebook and be all "What the heck?"

Hee! I love facebook.

Don't worry, I haven't been sitting around for the past twenty years pining over this boy. I was pretty much past that within a month of our breakup. Anyone who knew me in high school knows I didn't waste much time pining about the ones who got away when there were always the ones to still get on the horizon.

It was just a weird relationship. I'm curious about it, in a "I'd forgotten pretty much about it until I saw he was on facebook" kind of way. He was far more popular than I was in the lovely stratified social world of high school...the first person I dated where random girls would come up to me in the hallway or cafeteria and threaten me.

Didn't you just love high school, I ask sarcastically?

Anyway, he was really nice to me, right up to the day he broke up with me.

It was pretty confusing, but as I said, I got over it. But I've always felt like there was a story there that I missed. I feel like I was very much a bit character in a larger story that I didn't get to read.

Maybe I'll write my own story about it. I'm sure it'd be far more interesting than the reality. Maybe he could have been visited by a future version of himself telling him he needed to break up with me so that I could go on and meet TK and have twin boys who one day would save the universe. Or maybe he was some kind of Jekyll/Hyde monster, and the evil half took over. Or maybe he just really liked the girl he broke up with me for. Hmm, that sounds the most reasonable but least intersting. I think I'll go with the "the universe fated me to end up with TK version". Yo, thanks, universe! You got that one right!

Any budding YA authors have an alternate explanation they'd like to write? I think this is far more fun and less stalker-y than finding him in Facebook and demanding an explanation nearly 20 years later.

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You're all awesome. You're all so sweet! Comment burnout hadn't occurred to me. I could see I still had as many readers as normal, but instead of 10% leaving comments, only like 2% were leaving comments. I was feeling a little low. I promise to be a little less needy from now on ;)

But we can all come together to discuss hotties, right?

I have to do a follow up post about that one. I have more opinions about all your comments. I'll probably write it tomorrow, so it's your last chance to leave your vote for your celebrity crush.

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Current NaNo Word Count: 10,830.

Current NaNo attitude: Much improved! I went to a write-in last night. I was in a bad place, struggling for every word of my novel, really hitting a brick wall. The change of venue was just what I needed, though. We spent too much time talking when we first got there, though it was good to get to know everyone and I certainly wasn't complaining as I was in a spot where it was NOT fun to be writing.

Then we got to work. I put a 500 word challenge out there (race to 500 words), and got trounced. Not surprising as I was still very much TRAPPED in my novel. Who said "No plot, no problem"? Because no plot....PROBLEM!

Did a 20 minute sprint, and I churned out a little over 500 words. Most of it random description that will probably be cut in the first edit I hate to say. Writing just to be writing, hoping that something would shake loose. And you know what? It did. It was amazing. The next part of my novel opened right up.

Some people had to leave, but the three of us left did another 20 minute sprint. And I hit nearly 750 words. That's almost 40 words a minute. I didn't even know I was capable of typing that fast.

It was amazing. There was a different energy about writing with a group, and it was just what I needed. This morning a huge plot point finally coalesced for me. I'm back on track, idea-wise. Which probably means I should stop blogging and start writing. Though the Backyardigans my kids are watching is almost over so I guess I'll be playing, which'll be fun, too.

Oh, and I crossed the 10k mark. 1/5 of the way to the goal of 50k words, though I'm starting to notice that once again, just like last year, my novel is going to be more like 75k words. No way will I get 75k words done this month. Ah well, still aiming for 50k this month, and the other 25k will be a problem for December.

Still nervous about the upcoming time constraints, but once again enjoying the challenge!

The One Where All is Right in the World, AKA, What is Wrong with Some People??

I think I've mentioned a time or two that my boys' mop tops are, well, mop tops. Their hair has gotten so long, and while cute, it's certainly well past time to get it cut.

So today I decided it was time to head out to our friendly neighborhood children's hair salon. Okay, that "friendly" is a stretch, as it's actually a vaguely disturbing, slightly annoying chain of children's hair salons that I go to only because they're extremely accepting of children who have a HUGE melt down starting the minute they walk through the door. Geez, I need a stiff drink on these hair cut days!

Anyway, I got to the hair salon and got the boys out of the car. We were walking along the sidewalk, and I'll admit, not going super-fast as N-man especially likes to admire every stick, weed, or speck of dirt he sees. I hear another mom coming up behind me as we near the door to the salon, and wouldn't you know, she pushed right by us, practically ran to the door, and went in right before me. In order to do this, she had to leave her two children behind! She was carrying the youngest, who was probably 18 months old, and the two others were yelling, "Mommy, wait for us!" She ignored them. They were probably about 4 and 6 years old, so while not super young, not old enough (in my opinion) to walk unattended in a busy parking lot, even if it was on the sidewalk. And clearly they were distressed at being left behind by their mother.

All that to beat me into the hair salon?

I couldn't believe it. My jaw was hanging open as I opened the door (which I held for her kids and waited for them to make it in. I didn't want her kids to get hurt or more disturbed by her behavior!) And I saw the most beautiful sight: the store was MOBBED. I mean, so crowded there was absolutely no place to sit down. I counted 12 kids waiting, and there were only two hairdressers working. That means it was, at the very least, an hour wait for this woman.

That's what you pushed in front of me for? That's what you were so ill-mannered toward me and my kids and unfeeling toward your own children for? That's what you were such a poor role model for? Ha! I didn't even need to get my kids' hair cut today. It was only a slight problem for me, as I had to go across the street anyway to get my watch fixed. So it wasn't even a wasted trip for me, even though we didn't get hair cuts. I just left, but not before I laughed triumphantly.

That's what you get, babe. I call it karma. I hope you enjoyed your 1 hour wait, crazy mean mom.

My awesome bad luck

I was having a rough afternoon yesterday. I've been sick, and while I'm recovering, I feel pretty low on energy. The boys were in a grumpy mood, and probably would have napped except a thunderstorm rolled through right as they were falling asleep. So I had two grumpy, overtired, scared boys while I was feeling pretty crappy myself.

I brought the boys downstairs, and N-man played quietly while I held B-man, trying to console him from the scare of the thunder. Of course B-man fell asleep in my arms. So I was trapped on the couch. Luckily, the computer was close by so I started browsing. I decided to look for a wii fit. Of course, it was nowhere to be found. Until I happened across one local store that as of closing the night before, had a "limited stock" available. Well, I figured that was a long shot if I ever heard of one as it was already afternoon. So I kind of put it out of my head.

Then N-man peed out of his diaper, and I had to put B-man down. B-man woke up, and started having a crying fit. I'm busy cleaning up pee and changing all of N-man's wet clothes and B-man is working himself up to a full-blown tantrum. I know, you're all jealous of my super-glamorous life. Luckily, I think the vast majority of my readers are all moms so I know you all have had days like this. It's not just me, is it??

I get N-man all cleaned up, then work on calming B-man down. I finally turn on a short TV show (god, I love on-demand. They have a huge selection of free children's programs, including a few really short animated versions of story books. A perfect 5 minute calm-down activity!) It helped a little, but things were still on the verge of falling apart. Oh, and TK wasn't coming home until bedtime since he was at band practice. I was all on my own.

So, a change of venue was in order. But where to go at 5pm? Of course, on a quest to get a wii fit! I load the boys into the car. And get going. And get stuck in traffic. Because it's rush hour. And not only that, but the road I was taking was torn apart. Shouldn't they give me updates if they're going to start construction on a road I want to take? Geez! (And yes, I'm also now running into dinner time. Luckily, since my boys don't eat, this is never a big problem with them).

I get to the store, get the boys back to the electronics section, and...no wii fits. Of course. But I didn't go all that way to give up without even asking. I wait in line, and ask the people who work there. Nope, no wii fits. Another woman comes up to ask the same thing, and we all start chatting about how many people have been in to look for wii fits and how annoying it is that there are never enough wii things to go around. I was laughing, talking about how on the way over I was teaching the boys about a "long shot". Well, along comes a manager, listens for a minute, then asks, "Are you looking for a wii fit?" Yes, answered the other woman and I. "Well, I have a few I just got in."

Really?

So the manager went to get the boxes, opened them, and we bought our wii fit! It was that easy. And if I hadn't had the bad luck to have N-man's pee accident, B-man's tantrum, rush hour traffic, road construction, and just generally being in a bad mood and having to get out of the house, I would have been there too early and they wouldn't have had any wii fits.

It's amazing, sometimes all kinds of bad stuff can happen that come together for something good.

Random related thought: I'm completely uncoordinated and a lot of the wii fit games rely on balance. Of which I don't possess any. At one point, the game actually heckled me and asked if I tripped a lot while I walk. Sadly, the answer is yes. My play was further impaired by having the boys playing with me. I'd let one get on to the balance board with me and we'd play together.

When TK got home, the boys excitedly told him all about playing the games. N-man happily reported, "We played the falling off the building game!" Yeah, it was a tightrope walking game. Although mostly we did just immediately fall off the tightrope and down between the buildings. Kids are so easily entertained. I love that he was just as happy with the thought that the goal of the game was to fall off the tightrope as to stay on it!

Cosmic payback

Or is it COMIC payback?

See, today I snuck in a little computer time while the boys were playing. I think it's important for them to develop some skills to play on their own, without constant adult intervention. It's a parenting strategy, damn it, not a desperate need to have a few minutes on my own on days when the boys don't nap. Oh geez, I need to start clearing a spot on my mantle for that June Cleaver award I'm sure is on its way...

Anyway, I used my few "free" minutes to write a reply to a friend's email where she tended, just a bit, toward over-explaining things. My reply may, perhaps, have teased her, just a little, I promise.

Well, while I'm busy thinking I'm so funny, the universe is conspiring to pay me back, courtesy of my wee little N-man. I thought he was playing with this annoying self-propelled Thomas train we have. It's kind of neat. It's battery-powered and it moves all on it's own. Sounds great, right? Well, it's surprisingly noisy and the boys both like to turn it on and let it roam all over the house until I'm on the verge of going mad from the constant sssssssss noise it makes.

So as I'm typing I hear N-man playing with the train in the bathroom. That's okay, we have the bathroom babyproofed of anything dangerous, and I'm right next door and I can hear everything. I spend my 5 minutes on the computer, then go in to see what he's doing.

And I discover that the noise the self-propelled train makes is the same as the noise of running water out of the tap. Assuming it's not hitting the sink but is instead hitting a pile of hand towels. N-man had piled all the hand towels into the sink, turned on the tap, and was making a pond. For a little plastic turtle.

Oh, and he's also managed, in those 5 minutes, to squirt out pretty much an entire bottle of hand soap into the sink, onto the counter, onto the soap bottle, and, of course, all over himself.

I just laughed...it's hard to get too mad at him when it's my own fault for not paying enough attention. It actually made me realize that they're getting big enough that we need to do a more effective job of laying down rules about things they used to be too little to do. It's only recently that they could even reach the faucets...before we didn't have to have a "no turning on the water except to wash hands or brush teeth" rule. Now I know we do.

So there you go...the universe sent me immediate punishment for a snarky email. Please let me apologize to both the universe and J. I loved your email!

Random totally related thought: The boys didn't nap again today. What's up with that? Aren't they too young to give up their nap? Do I need to start reading Healthy Sleep Habits to them again? They totally ignored all of Weissbluth's advice the first time I read it to them, but now they're older and might see the wisdom of it**.

**Totally kidding. I hated that book. Of course, my B-man is in the running for worst sleeper ever so maybe I should have taken the advice offered in the his book.

A Pint's a Pound

Yesterday, I went to a blood drive, to volunteer and to give blood. It was a rockin' good time. Okay, maybe not, but it's a relatively painless way to do good, and I'd been meaning to get back to donating blood for quite some time now.

As I was leaving, I joked with the two woman checking people in that I felt lighter. Well, that left us wondering: what does a pint of blood weigh? Did I really lose weight just by donating blood? I'm not an idiot (okay, that statement may be up for debate)...I realize that you can't PERMANENTLY lose weight by donating blood. I'll drink some water, and my body will get to work replenishing those blood cells. But, did I temporarily lose weight? I highly doubted there would be any discernible difference on my scale.

Luckily, I had just happened to have weighed myself that morning. I went home, got back on the scale, and was shocked to see it registered two pounds less! Okay, that's amazing. Now I'm really curious: how much does a pint of blood weigh?

In asking around, it turns out I may be the only person on earth not to know that saying "A pint's a pound the whole world 'round". That's talking about water, a pint of which weighs one pound. Who knew?

But, I'm more OCD than that. Blood, while it may be primarily water, is not *exactly* water and therefore probably weighs a slightly different amount than water. Also, how much faith am I going to put in some random folk-ism? Is a pint really a pound, or is that just an approximation? (Turns out, a US pint weighs 1.04375 lbs).

I'm not google-impared, but I couldn't really find an answer to how much a pint of blood weighs. Thankfully, someone just as obsessive as I am, and much more weights-and-measures conversion savvy than I, calculated that a pint of blood weighs approximately 1.1 pounds. That makes sense, based on this information that blood is slightly more dense than water.

So what does this prove? First, that I'm insane enough to keep researching this...I just couldn't be happy with an answer of "oh, about a pound". Second, the fact that I lost two pounds (still off today, despite the two packs of cookies I had post-donation) I can attribute to nothing except the good karma from donating blood. Sure, a 1.1 pound loss would be explainable, but that extra 0.9 pounds I'm chalking up as a cosmic good-deed thank you. Or, you know, some random event.

Random unrelated though, What I'm Reading Edition: I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See and found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable book. Interesting, believable, engaging: All that My Sister's [idiotic] Keeper was not. I mean, it's not on my "greatest book ever" list, but I'm glad I read it and would certainly recommend it. It also spurred me to spend over an hour researching foot-binding on the internet. When TK saw what I was doing, he was relatively unfazed. It's fair to say that neither food-binding nor the weight of blood have been the first things I've obsessively researched. I think I've broken TK of being surprised by whatever odd topic is pulled up on a browser!

Now I'm reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I'm not too far into it, but am totally loving it, which is good since it's my book club selection. Only google search it has spurred so far: the surprisingly boring definition of duralumin.

Whatever you do, DON'T LOOK BACK!

I think the universe is trying to teach me about the importance of looking to the future rather than the past.

Let me go back a bit. I know, looking to the past, but forgive me for a moment as I explain the back-story. See, our garage is narrow. I mean, just-inches-wider-than-the-car narrow. It takes a great driver (unfortunately, a better driver than me) to make it through without regularly dinging the bumper or catching just the very edge of the garage. Oh well, I can live with that. Our cars have a few paint streaks, our garage has a few dents. Nothing major.

Well, a few months ago my husband was backing out, and somehow managed to be so incredibly misaligned that he pulled his driver's side mirror right off. I didn't say a word, because I understand. Good thing! Because I was just pulling his car out of the garage, and guess what? Yep, smash. Although, this time it wasn't the edge of the garage. I actually knew the car was in kind of screwy so was being incredibly careful not to hit the side of the door. What I didn't realize is that I was aimed right at the snowblower. The handle impaled the driver's side window, popping it entirely out of its frame.

So, from this I conclude not that we're especially accident prone, or that our garage is too darn narrow, but instead that I'm pretty sure the universe is sending us a message to look to the future. Hey, Universe, I hear ya! You don't need to ruin anymore of our rear view mirrors, okay?

Speaking of rear views, Orlando Bloom's been staring at my butt. We've been nursing colds in the house, and of course with colds comes the requisite ran-out-of-tissues. So, TK was wonderful enough to run out to the store to buy some necessities, including tissues. He was even smart enough to realize that it would be a good idea to buy a three-pack. But, unfortunately, he didn't look closely enough to realize that one of the boxes in the three-pack is covered with Pirates of the Caribbean advertising. That box of tissues is sitting on the back of our toilet, and now every time I go to the bathroom, I have to face Orlando Bloom getting a good view of *my* pirate's booty. I guess it could be worse. It could have been Johnny Depp...


Unrelated thought of the day: Tomorrow my book group meets, and it's my turn to provide choices for next month's book. I always find it so hard to narrow my choice. I want to pick something interesting and different, but it's also tempting to pick something safe that people will probably enjoy. Well, I get three picks, and then the rest of the group narrows it down to just one, so maybe I'll pick two risky choices and one safe and let the rest make the call.