Posted by Allison on Feb 6, 2010 with
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in
Ramblings
as
family,
holidays,
zombies
Cue the theme music from Jaws because regardless of how many people dread February 14th, it’s coming. Next week.
I’m personally not a fan. Valentine’s Day has been historically unkind to me. On that day I’ve been forgotten, fought with, and even cheated on. Okay, technically the cheating didn’t occur on the 14th, but that was when it was revealed so it’s all about the same to me.
When hubby and I got together I made it very clear to him that I do not celebrate Valentine’s Day. It didn’t matter that he was amazing and would have loved to shower me with wonderful gifts, I wanted none of it. I even made it clear that should he propose on Valentine’s Day I would say no. He waited and popped the question on the 16th.
Even now that I’m married I chose to continue ignoring V-Day. Sure, I have a sweetie who would still love to shower me with wonderful gifts, but why should either of us be pressured to perform on a specific day because some zombie corporation can make an extra buck. Not to mention the number of people, women specifically, who are left feeling somehow less when they go through the day without getting a stupid box of chocolates or generic bouquet. That’s just not cool.
So here’s the deal. Valentine’s Day sucks. Instead of making it about romantic love let’s make this year about an unconditional love. Let’s love on people around us who need it. Buy a few dozen carnations and hand them out at the store to everyone you pass. Take a big box of chocolate to the office and share it with your coworkers. Leave cards under the wipers of your neighbors’ cars.
Valentine’s Day isn’t going away. I know, I’ve tried to get rid of it for quite a while. I can’t beat it so I’m joining but I’m sharing the love with more than just my family. Join me?
Posted by Allison on Feb 1, 2010 with
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in
Writing
as
editing,
Writing
Janet Reid on her blog, Query Shark/, said the following:
“Madmen are over used as villains and even in thrillers they are boring. The most interesting and compelling villains are the ones who would describe themselves as heroes of the story.”
This is exactly why I’m having trouble with my antagonist, he’s boring.
When PK was about three she started making up excuses for getting out of bed at night. Anything to interrupt my peace and quiet and get a few more minutes of attention. PK’s favorite distraction was ghosts. She would come out to the living room crying that there were ghosts all over her room and that she couldn’t possible sleep with the fiends flying around.
In order to deal with her fears I would run around the room scooping the ghosts up and throwing them out the windows and doors. It was quite a workout and made PK laugh like a hyena. The upside was that after I’d chased all the ghosts out of her room she would go to sleep. The downside was that she was so amused by my ghost-busting that every time I went into her room to catch them there were greater numbers of ghosts. Just inventing more ghouls wasn’t enough though, they also got smarter. Eventually I’d go into her room to find hordes of ghosts who would no longer cower and scurry off when tossed out on their ears. The new ghosts would cling to the door frames, wriggle out of my arms to hide in the closet and creep back in the window while my back was turned dealing with the next apparition.
Fortunately there came a day when PK outgrew the ghosts and I was forced to join a gym to get my exercise. Now I’m dealing with Monkey’s fears: Monsters. Tonight she crept into our room after she’d been tucked in to let us know that her room was overrun and she was on the run. Since DH was lounging face down on the bed and showed no sign of concern I abandoned my ironing to fend of the oogedy boogedies.
She entered her room cautiously and told me the monsters were under her bed. After I turned on the light she inspected the shadows below her bed and declared that there were no monsters because they were only there when the lights were off. Flicking the switch down she checked again and pronounced that they were back.
I turned the light on once more and sat with her to discuss the problem. It turned out that the monsters hid right outside her room waiting until the moment the room went dark to go mini-size in order to slip in unseen. Once under the bed they got big-sized again in order to scare her.
The solution to the problem was immediately clear. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my aerosol can on monster repellent. It’s very similar to bug repellent or RAID. By spraying it around all the doors and windows we were able to stop the monsters from entering the room at all. With the monster problem solved Monkey snuggled back into her bed and hasn’t been seen again.
Two questions remain. How far will the monster problem escalate and what boogy-woogie with Busy B come up with?
Posted by Allison on Jan 14, 2010 with
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in
Humor
as
husbands,
lists,
sleep deprivation
1. Thou shalt always choose an alarm that sounds nothing like your partner’s cell phone ring.
2. Thou shalt never set the alarm too early to allow for snoozing.
3. Thou shalt always turn off the alarm before it wakes your partner.
4. Thou shalt never knock everything off the nightstand while attempting to silence the alarm.
5. Thou shalt always keep the alarm within reach.
6. Thou shalt never snooze more than once.
7. Thou shalt always remember to set the alarm before going to bed.
8. Thou shalt never turn a light on in the middle of the night to set a forgotten alarm.
9. Thou shalt always turn the alarm off before going to bed when it will not be required the next morning.
10. Thou shalt never snooze the alarm then carry it across the room and leave it there while taking a shower forcing your partner to stumble around trying to silence it and tripping in the dark making a racket then innocently asking “What’s wrong?”
Posted by Allison on Jan 11, 2010 with
3 Comments
in
Television
as
lists,
preschool
Busy B is getting older and is starting to actually pay attention to those crazy cartoons on the television. It’s fun for me to see him dancing and singing along, or at least trying to sing along, to his favorite shows. Unfortunately a lot of those shows drive me bonkers so I decided to make my lists of the best and worst of the kid oriented shows I end up absorbing during the day. The best are shows that I don’t mind sitting and watching with BB on my lap while those I’m naming the worst are shows that I will turn off even if I’m not in the room, or even in the house.
Yo Gabba Gabba
The Backyardigans
Olivia
Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends
Lazy Town
Little Einsteins
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
3-2-1 Penguins
Happy Monster Band
Handy Manny
Ni Hao Kai-Lan
Max and Ruby
Imagination Movers
Charlie and Lola
Elliot Moose
Elmo’s World
Barney and Friends
Little Bill
Bunnytown
Caillou
These are not in any particular order because that would just be way too much work. I’m already feeling strained from providing links to each of the shows in case you see something you’re not familiar with and would like to check it out. Obviously everyone’s tastes differ so let me know in the comments if you disagree or want to add a few of your own.
