While you were sleeping...

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This is me. Just in case you were wonderin'. Don't know about the bike in the office -- haven't tried that one yet! But I do have a bike that looks much like this one. And I can often be seen wearing zebra prints. So as far as versimilitude goes, we're spot-on.

Stitch Marker Swap

These are the cool gals I have addies for. If your name is not on this list, you are going to be one sad chica when the stitch marker swap comes and goes and you don't get an ultra-sweet package in the mail!

Robyn, Ragan, Kim, Lillian, Angela, Miriam, Courtney and (just added) JENNIFER .... YOU ROCK!

The other twenty-some babes who have not responded as of yet???? WHERE ARE YOU???

The countdown has begun....

Monday Angst

No real angst here... other than I had just finished this post and Cal somehow managed to delete it... Ugh. Ah, well... that's what happens when it's always "Take your child to work day:"

*Quote of the day: "Fear Truth: The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out... and DO IT!" I think this is from Susan Jeffers. In any case, there's a lot of wisdom there. I have so often sat around, praying to have the fear go away... only to find that it never does. You have to just move past it, doing the thing you fear doing. Even then it may not go away! The fear will likely always be there -- it's just that our courage grows stronger.

Fear is such a defining motivator in my life. I was raised on doing things out of fear rather than doing things out of excitement and love. It got me far -- but it's not the way I want to operate anymore. I recently wrote an article on fear in the creative life, based on an interview with Lee Silber. You can read it here.

What do you think about fear? Is it a big factor in your life? How do you deal with it?

*On another note, I am still waiting for many addresses for the stitch marker swap. I don't want things to delay too long, so I'm pulling the plug at midnight on 2/28. I'll match up the folks who are raring to go at that point, and anyone else will be SOL. Sorry!

*Speaking of swaps, if you're into this kind of thing (and clearly I am), Moki is hosting a hand-carved rubber stamp swap. I got so many great exchanges from her last go-round, so I encourage you to think about this! Details here.

Happy Monday to one and all. :)

Of Crudites, the Bright Side, and 9-1-1

As I sit down to type this, I am in a great mood... the sun was out today, we had a terrific dinner with my parents and my lil' sis and her family, and the girls are downstairs watching Elmo ("Melmo," as Callie says). But when I think about what I want to type, I realize that I've got some downers to report:

*Ben got booted from the spelling bee in the second round with the word "crude." I could not believe it. He just got ahead of himself and then after three and a half hours of waiting for his round, it was over in 15 minutes. :( He was so mad at himself. It was one of those critical parenting moments where I knew how I reacted could make the difference between a future of self-confidence or a one-way ticket to years of therapy... I just held him and told him it was okay to cry, that he did great, that everyone makes mistakes. Then John took him to the sports bar and grill for lunch and a game of pool, and by nighttime, he was all better. There's always next year, right?

*Only two people came to my class. :( My sis, Mindy, came, and it was her first time scrapbooking! She had a blast, and I just may have managed to convert her. We'll see. And I met an adorable woman from Argentina who was so fun. So even though the turnout was low, we had a great time. How's that for lookin' on the bright side?

*We had to call the police today. We live on a very safe, child-infested street in a calm town. We were out for an afternoon walk when we passed a couple by a parked car. The girl was clearly intoxicated or wasted -- she could not stand, her eyes were barely open, and the guy she was with was trying to hold her up. We know most of the people on our street, but don't know this family at all. John was firm that we needed to do something, as the girl was in bad shape. We finally decided that I would go back on my bike and get the house number. As I was riding past the house, another guy came out and ran down the street, waving his arms in the air wildly and kind of dancing all over, yelling to himself. He looked like one of those "manumanum" guys from Sesame Street. OOOookay. I zipped back home, gave John the update, and he called the fuzz. Told them the scoop, then we all headed out on our bikes. Just as we were turning the corner, the two guys plus another jumped in a car and went careening down the street, music blaring, windows down, shouting weird things out the windows. It was really kind of scary.

I'm no prude, but I do fear for the safety of the kids in the neighborhood -- as well as the safety of these kids! I am so glad that John insisted on doing something, even if it doesn't amount to anything. We don't want to get the kids in trouble -- we just want some responsible adults to be aware of what's happening in their house.

What would you do? What should we have done? I wonder if we should have rung the doorbell, but we truly didn't know what we might find -- we didn't want to do anything risky... but I still feel a little bad about calling the police. I think, though, that I would have felt worse if we'd done nothing.

Best news of the day? John took my car to fill it with gas and get it washed. WahooOOO! Now THAT is romantic. If you've ever read "The Five Love Languages," I'm plainly an acts-of-service kinda gal. If you haven't read it, READ IT! It will change the way you look at relationships and how you display love.

Happy weekend!

Contest Time!

I am feeling quite loosey-goosey, so that can only mean... It's time for a CONTEST!!! I see that I am almost at 10,000 hits on this page, and my "comments" count is getting up there, too... So here is the deal. If you are the lucky person who leaves the... hmm... 333rd comment, you will win a lovely selection of crafty-type items from me. So get going! Leave those comments! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

In other news, if you have not done so already, PLEASE send me your mailing address for the stitch marker swap. I only have about 7 addresses so far, and many more of you signed up! Email your addy to me at lainATlainehmannDOTcom.

What else??? It's 66 degrees here today. Cal and I took a lovely stroll. John's in Portland. The big spelling bee for Ben is on Friday. Can you say A-N-X-I-O-U-S?? He'll be competing against second graders throughout the district. We watched Spellbound a while ago when he won his school bee (actually he came in second, but in our eyes, that means he won!!!). What a movie! It's amazing that parents hire spelling coaches and "consultants" in order to improve their child's chances of winning the national bee. Such pressure. But I guess in a lot of ways it isn't any different than parents who get soccer coaches or send their kids to performing arts camps.

I was glad Ben didn't get first in the school bee because I thought that meant he WASN'T going to the district bee -- it's too stressful for ole' mom! But he is going, and the little girl who beat him at the school level is not competing in the district bee. So keep your fingers crossed! We're trying to get him to practice his words without stressing him out too much. Delicate balance, as is all things in life having to do with parenting...

SAVE ME!

...from myself! Argh. I don't consider myself to be a procrastinator, but maybe that's part of my problem. As you may know, I run my own business -- I'm a freelance journalist. That means I get to write off a bunch of fun stuff like books and office supplies and computer things. The only catch -- I have to keep receipts for all this stuff and enter it into Quicken in some kind of reasonable fashion.

Here's where things get tough. Okay, I am a mom. And I am a knitter. And a scrapbooker. And that means I have like 1,00,000 things I'd rather be doing at any given moment, other than sitting at my computer and entering in piles of receipts. All last year I mindlessly shoved receipts into a file folder, and told myself I'd get to it "soon."

Needless to say, that didn't happen.

Needless to say, it's now 2006 and my dear hubby is going to want to schedule our tax appointment soon (yes, soon -- that's what kind of guy he is -- and that's one of the reasons I married him!).

Needless to say I better get my rear in gear and get this stuff entered. So that's what I'm doing today. Fun. Fun. Fun. NOT. But I'm concentrating on how great I will feel when I cross this particularly nasty item off my to-do list.

What are you going to do today that you'd rather not?

So Much to Say...

So little time!

It's Presidents' Day, so the kids are off today. I dumped enrolled them in a morning program at the club because our nanny is off today and I have a huge article due (of course!). But instead of writing, what am I doing??? Updating my blog, of course!

First things first... THANK YOU to my SP7 who sent me the most amazing gifty package ever -- Lorna's Laces, a sock pattern, bath stuff, a beautiful greeting card (which I'm thinking she may have shot herself??) and a cute notepad. All my favorite things in one box! Here's the pic:

How fun is that??? THANK YOU!!!

NEXT... Here's what greeted me Saturday morning. Not in the picture -- a glass of iced tea that Kinsey poured for me. Very, very sweet.

It was a very mellow day, but as I just wrote to Jody, at this advanced age, I'm beginning to appreciate mellow! I must really be getting old. :)

THIRDLY, if you have signed up for the Stitch Marker Swap, please email me your address ASAP so I can match up pairs. You can reach me at lainATlainehmannDOTcom.

FOURTHLY (is that a word? If not, it is now...) the quote of the day! It is, after all, MONDAY. Yahoo. Here's what I grabbed from the Box 'O' Fun:

"The healthier the culture, the more individual and familial factors can be the defining ones. In a healthy, decent society, families have some power to define their members. And individuals have greater power to define themselves. Many important variables, such as safety, education, adequate income and freedom, can be taken for granted. Hence, family dynamics and individual choices account for many of the differences between people." (The Shelter of Each Other, Mary Pipher).

I must say, this wouldn't be my choice to write about today, but it's the luck of the draw and I don't cheat (though I thought about it!).

I think I copied out this passage because I thought it was such an important point that differences are a sign of the strength of the culture. If we were all the same in dress, religion, beliefs, opinions, that would likely indicate a dictatorial society in which true freedom did not exist. It's only when our culture is a free one that we can observe the unique aspects of each of us that make us individuals. How cool is that? So let's embrace our differences and those little quirks of others around us -- the lady wearing a purple-and-orange beret over her wild white curls, the man with the car covered in radical bumper stickers. It's a sign of our freedom.

But please remember on today of all days -- with freedom comes responsibility. I'm going to ask myself, What can I do today, right now, to make this home, this street, this town, this country, this world a better place? What is one small thing? Now do it. And tomorrow do another. And another. (Hugs count).

FIFTHLY (I'm on a roll here -- somebody stop me!) I scrapped my little heart out last night. Click here to see the latest and greatest. It was so awesome -- I took two big boxes of patterned paper to Picture Passion with me, a bag of photos, and very few embellishments. And I just set to it. Very free. Very fun. Very productive.

Happy Birthday...

TO ME!!!

37 today, hurray, hurray!

More soon... many things of great import to pass along... Including the fact that I have now found the meaning of life!!! Hehehe. Just kiddin'. If it's anything other than hugs and peanut m-n-ms, I don't know...

Recovering... Slightly!

Thank you all for your well wishes! I don't know which made me feel better -- the good drugs from the doctor, or the nice notes from everyone. :) I appreciate it! John is back from Portland, and I'm feeling at least 50 percent better. Which is good because I've got two major work assignments due today... ack!

Over the past 24 hours, though, I've managed to catch up on a ton of blog reading, and to watch a couple of weird and dumb movies. Adaptation (the weird one) was quite a trip. I cannot believe they billed it as a comedy. I thought it was sad and interesting but not really that funny.

Intolerable Cruelty (the dumb one) was pretty stupid except for the portrayal of the millionaire Texan by Billy Bob Thornton. That in and of itself was worth the rest of the schlock! Looking past the whole Angelina-and-the-vial-of-blood-that-never-leaves-my-side thing, I think ole' BBT is a talented actor, and pretty cute, too. But maybe that's the drugs talking.

Today's schedule includes Born Into Brothels and Suze Orman's The Courage to Be Rich.

Back to work, sleep, and movies with me.

I am sick and tired.

Literally! What a Valentine's Day present! I have STREP!!!

I have not had strep since... geez, sometime in the 70's, I think. Bummer. Big time.

The bad news: John is out of town. I have a lot of Work (with a capital "W") to do. We're supposed to go away this weekend with our friends to Calistoga. I am missing the kids' Valentine's Day parties at school! AND I was supposed to scrapbook tonight. I feel awful, and my throat is so swollen that I am having trouble swallowing.

The good news: I'm on Amoxycillin. I've got Randi, our nanny, here, and my mom and dad are going to get the kids from school and keep them so I can rest. I have tons to read and a bunch of movies to watch, and the dr. said to TAKE IT EASY for the rest of the week.

So. That's today's news. Hang tight, wash your hands, and say a prayer for me!