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Daily Dose of Life – Discardia

Holidays /

Discardia: A floating holiday to celebrate letting go.

I always forget about Discardia until it’s too late. I forgot about it in the fall until Ed talked about it on his blog. I vowed I would not forget next time. And I didn’t!

I have mentioned it to Michelle in passing a couple of times each month. She’s never seemed very interested. Sometimes she’s even done the typical teenage “fine, just throw it all away, I don’t care!” thing and stomped off to her messy room. Not the reaction I was going for, obviously. Discardia is about celebrating letting go, not huffing and puffing and feeling forced into letting go.

I was patient. I was also lucky.

TW and I had been watching Clean Sweep quite a bit and I even had a Clean Sweep Birthday which helped to keep thoughts of clutter reducing fresh in our minds.

That wasn’t enough though. We needed to go further than that. And I do believe Michelle got there all on her own this week.

“Mom, I just realized that 75% of the stuff in my room is stuff I have never needed and never really wanted. I mean it was fun to get gifts. And fun to buy. But most of it I never even used or touched or looked at again.”

So Michelle spent several days really cleaning out her room. She hasn’t gotten rid of all of it. The idea of letting go of the entire kit n caboodle all it once is a little overwhelming, I think. But she hit the point where I hope she’s going to think more about whether she’s truly in need of a particular object or simply in need of something, some intangible something that brings pleasure or piques an interest or simply fills an empty space.

Discardia is a celebration of letting go, indeed.

Nancy White talks about Discardia and reflection on the past and quite a few folks on 43 Things practicing Discardia, too.

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Daily Dose of Holidays – Hide and Seek!

Holidays, Pet Peeves /

If you were the PERFECT gift for my father, (a Heathkit tshirt purchased weeks and weeks ago), where would you be hiding? Because it is definitely hiding. I’m beginning to think TW has decided it is the perfect gift for her and has hidden it somewhere. I mean heaven forbid I get my father an actual gift that indicates I know something about him. Or actually knew something about him. Because the dad I knew who would have fiddled with his Heathkits and worn the Heathkit t-shirt doesn’t exist anymore. I have no idea what he fiddles with now. (yes I edited this – it sounded like my dad is a pervert or something the way it was originally written, and he is anything but that, sheesh)

Anyway, WHERE IS THAT DARN SHIRT???

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Daily Dose of Holidays – Advent Angst

Christmas, Daily Dose, Family Funk, Holidays, Kid Talk, Pet Peeves /

advent.jpgI have an Avon advent calendar that my ex mil gave me in 1987. It looks exactly like the one in this picture except right now it has a tiny Starbucks reindeer in it instead of the mouse. The mouse is missing. Again. It does that and has always done that. Missing for years much to the dismay of my children only to reappear again a few years later for one trip through the calendar and then back it goes into hiding. We had the mouse last year. This year, no mouse. It’s ok. We make do. But we still say “move the mouse” when we discuss whose turn it is, whose turn it isn’t and whose turn it is never going to be again if you don’t stop whining about that darn mouse.

Did you detect some frustration there? This advent calendar has a history of causing angst amongst my oldest three children and for the last three years it has caused angst among the youngest three.

His highness, Prince J, only causes a stink over it when he wants to annoy another sibling (preferably Princess E or Princess M). He really doesn’t care about the mouse at all. Moving it is like work. Someone else can do it and if they don’t, Christmas still comes. Work for no reason. No thanks.

RJ really doesn’t have advent calendar issues because she is perfect and always bows to the will of any sibling in the room. (she does this because later she can play the martyr role. I know this because it’s a trait often shared by those with October birthdays. Not me of course, but others. Born in October…)

That leaves Princess E. The baby in the family. Those of you who have experience with “the baby in the family” probably understand exactly what has been going on. But there is a twist to the story…

The twist is that Princess E is not the only “baby in the family”. Princess M, generally referred to as Michelle (the 16 year old with the hair), is also the “baby in the family”. These two girls have been having “move the mouse issues” virtually non-stop since the calendar went up. If E moves it to the proper pocket, Michelle will move it back a day and then move it forward – and then tell E she did it later on. E will do the same thing to Michelle. What’s even better is when Michelle comes home at midnight and says “ohhhh it’s tomorrow, I can move the mouse” when she knows it is E’s turn to do it. When E is not here and not going to be here for a few days, and it’s just Michelle, I have to actually REMIND Michelle to move the mouse. She can go days and not think of it but as soon as E is home or coming home, she goes into move the mouse first, last and only mode!

Advent calendars are a pain if you have more than one child. But they are a real nightmare if you have two “baby in the family” children to deal with!

Edited on 12/24/05 – The mouse came out of hiding! And I’m the one who put him in the FINAL little pouch! hahahahahaha! That’ll teach those princesses!

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Daily Dose of Music – Decade

GLBT, Melissa Ferrick, Sights & Sounds /

At the risk of making it look like I’m writing a MUSIC blog, or more likely a Melissa Ferrick blog, I’m writing another entry about music and Ferrick. I’m going to try really hard not to post about music (or Melissa) until at least after Christmas. Surely I can hold out a couple of weeks, can’t I? Maybe write about gay marriage or queer blogs or why boys are smelly but smell is no the prime indication that you are a boy or have a boy or maybe even that us/them piece about homeschool and school at home? Surely. But until then, Melissa it is.

Awhile back I talked about ordering two copies of Melissa’s DVD, Decade. Well I did and they arrived on Saturday to applause and whistles. Well no, not really, but Michelle did jump up and down and say “Thank you Mommy” about ten times. Which is high praise from an almost 16 year old.

Michelle and the half kid who half lives with us watched “her” copy upstairs and TW and I watched “our” copy in the bedroom on TW’s laptop (first time we’ve ever watched a DVD on a laptop in bed). It was cool, the DVD not the DVD on laptop watching part.

Really interesting to see Melissa and her “big break” – opening for Morrissey when she was 23 and unknown. How young and out of place she looked at the photo shoot, the makeup, the hair, the kiss Atlantic record executive butt nervousness. No wonder she was less than clean at that time of her life. And “Happy Song”, gosh I apologize for ever making fun of it or giggling about it (but I won’t apologize for having giggled and laughed at “Favorite Person in the World” cause that’s just one weird song for MF, ya know?)

From her big break to WAR to Right On Records and Brian – man I miss Brian. That’s pretty much what the entire second part of the DVD had me saying. I felt like a broken record. I miss Brian. I miss Brian. I miss Brian. I hope Brian Winton is doing a vanity search and comes across this post so he knows I MISS BRIAN. Pretty amusing and amazing watching MF and Brian setting up the studio at her parents’ house (too bad there wasn’t more footage of mom and dad, ya know?) and thinking about Valentine Heartache coming out of that big event. Cool, really cool.

Melissa – Decade was worth waiting for. I’m glad I bought two copies and I’m probably going to go ahead and order that third copy, just in case something happens to these two…

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Cats are King!

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites /

Yes, I admit it, I spent yesterday evening and a wee bit of this morning reading Carbonel: The King of Cats instead of some other “real” book. Sue me. I like children’s fiction and I don’t read enough of it (let’s not count Harry Potter, ok?).

What’s weird is that I really enjoy children’s fiction that has cats in it – talking cats, flying cats, magical cats. Cats here, Cats there, Cats and Kittens Everywhere! Hundreds of Cats! Thousands of Cats! Millions and Billions and Trillions of Cats! Oops, sorry, I got carried away.

The weird part is that I really no longer like the real thing, cats I mean. When I no longer have a single cat living in my house I will be one supremely happy woman. So why do I enjoy cats in literature? Millions of Cats is my favorite! Catwings and all of the sequels is awesome! And Carbonel is one cool cat!

Besides being a cool cat, this little version was a really nicely bound piece of reading. Nice, quality, old fashioned cover and binding. Paper that felt good to the hand. It even ummm smelled good!

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Veronica aka Fag Hag?

2005, Books in Bed, Fiction, GLBT /

Veronica is a fag hag of the worst, I mean best, kind. She apparently really loved the fag she was hagging with… so much so that she wound up with AIDS. Allie was not a fag hag, but a screwed up teen/young adult model with all the crud that apparently goes along with that.

What a weird book this was – told by Allie in jumps back and forth between “now”, as a 50 something year old woman with HepC, and “then”. We don’t get to hear much about “modeling” just a lot about the men who screwed her, the drugs and alchohol and the struggles of the “Go-See”.

Weird book. Not a bad book, just a weird one. I can’t decide if I actually enjoyed it or not. Some parts of it, I did. Other times I found I didn’t particularly care about Allison or Veronica or anyone else who crossed their paths.

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Daily Dose of Music – Not so Random 10

Holidays, Kid Talk, Sights & Sounds /

Today I’m dropping some music onto Jenn’s iRiver, it’s her Christmas present, so do not tell!), and it’s fun but difficult at the same time. I haven’t spent much time with her in the last 4 years so there are huge blanks where I have no idea what her favorite songs were. Sniff sniff! It will be fun to see her reaction to what I’ve downloaded for her and more fun to hear what she will want to download for herself.

Here’s a random 10 list from what I’m downloading for her:

1) Every Breath You Take – Police (number 1 when she was born)
2) Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice (man she loved Vanilla Ice lol)
3) Lump – Presidents of the United States (we loved it when this came on MTV!)
4) Like a Virgin – Madonna (she adored Madonna, wanted to be Madonna!)
5) I’ll Make Love to You – Boyz II Men (…hahaha family joke)
6) When I Come Around – Green Day (reminds me of her and Audrey and Chanae too a little bit)
7) Changes – 2Pac (yes dear, he really is dead)
8) Wannabe – Spice Girls (I can’t bring myself to put Mmmbop on there so this will have to do)
9) Wonderwall – Oasis (I think she wore this CD out)
10) Strawberry Wine – Deana Carter (for Jenn AND Ronnie because I heard that this was their song about the time they were married)

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A Quirky Meme

7 Comments / Meme /

Adrienne did it again, she tagged me for another meme. Apparently she has not learned that I ask the questions I do not ANSWER them. Grrrr! This one is even harder than the last one because I am not quirky! I have no weird personality quirks! I am PERFECT! Here goes nothing….


1) I do not like people in my kitchen when I am in there – cooking or cleaning. I don’t like it and I’ve been known to say “GET OUT OF MY DAMN KITCHEN!” if people are in there and in my way for more than a few moments. Even when I’ve had a relatively decent sized kitchen (which I don’t right now) I don’t like it. I think I get this from my mother…


2) Michelle reminded me that I have spent quite some time taking photos of bathrooms. Apparently neither she or TW can enter an interesting bathroom without wishing they had a camera so they could take a photo for my “collection”.


3) I was (and in some circles still am) known for taking BUTT SHOTS of online friends who I have had the pleasure of meeting in person. That’s not quirky, is it?


4) I have a thing for front doors. I’ve passed that along to my kids. Jenn in particular, I think. We all notice the front doors of a house first thing and when we see an interesting one, we’re quick to point it out. Front doors are important.


5) When I see a Beanie Baby that has the tag torn off, I cringe. Defacing Beanie Babies is bad. Really bad. Nobody should do it. Ever. For any reason. Even if you have a two year old with a beanie, you shouldn’t do it. In fact two year olds shouldn’t have them because they aren’t old enough to be careful with the tags! Again, not quirky, just common sense!


OK I’m heading off to tag five people – Koan, Karen, Katie, RE (If I can find her blog) and LJ this time I think….


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