I'm so totally going to do it

Had a playdate this late afternoon/early evening with E (Mom) and T (baby) - one of the mommies I met at a parents group that is so rockin' awesome I wish I'd been friends with her for years. (We're both the type of mom that will let our kids eat off the floor, and I love her for that. Our daughters ate blueberries off the floor tonight - it was awesome).

The plan was for the babies to play, and then we'd all have dinner together and part ways. E was going to provide dinner, so I brought two small desserts for after.

As it turns out, the babies needed to be fed earlier, I ate too many chips, so by the time it was necessary to take Erin home, I hadn't yet had dinner.

But I DID take my desserts with me. (At E's insistence - lest you think I am a MONSTER).

So, here it is, 10 pm, and I did not have dinner. But I DO have two desserts.

Oh smurf* it, I'm going to eat them both.

*Author's Note: Given that Erin is now repeating a lot of what we say, I am in the process of cleaning up my sailor mouth to turn me into a semi-respectable mommy. Because I know that I won't be able to delete expletives completely from my vocabulary, I have endeavored to use a variation of "smurf" when another word would normally come flying out of my mouth. Mostly it's to clean up my language - but I can't wait until Erin asks me for her smurfing milk.

I'm it?

So, I got tagged. Being new at this blog thing, I'm not sure if it is the equivalent of a chain email, or something else.

But, (also being new at this blog thing), I'm somewhat flattered. So I'll answer, but I don't think I know anyone in the blogging world well enough to tag anyone else, so I'll answer the last question truthfully.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
In May 1998, I was living in San Diego with BPD, going to college full time, working at a bank part time, and wondering with BPD was going to propose to me. (It was like 2 months later, but I'd already booked the ballroom for the wedding, a fact that has BPD still smarting. But you know how hard it is to get into a good event location, right?)

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Salt and Vinegar Chips
2. Dulce De Leche ice cream
3. Jelly Bellys
4. Good 'n' Plentys
5. Oranges

Things I Would Do If I Were a Billionaire:
1. Buy a pied a terre in the Marais in Paris
2. Open my own public interest law firm
3. Pay off my family's debts
4. Have more kids
5. Figure out how to keep those gets from getting spoiled

Five Places I Have Lived:
1. Hilo, Hawaii
2. Fullerton, California
3. Buena Park, California
4. San Diego, California
5. Menlo Park, California

Five People I Want to Get to Know Better (seriously):
1. Walt Disney (I don't care that he's dead)
2. Brad Bird
3. Zach Braff
4. The dude I saw today riding his bike, smoking a pipe
5. Erin

A shout out to single parents

So, Backpacking dad is out of town this week, so I am solo mommy until Sunday.

Wake up. Bottle. Get me ready. Get her ready. Get her breakfast ready. Get stuff ready for daycare. Drop her off at daycare (with attendant crying). Work all day. Pick up. Bring back to office because everytime she is in the backup daycare, I can't seem to finish what I have to do before it is time to pick her up. Go home. "Make" dinner. Bath. Bottle. Sing songs. Get her to bed. Clean kitchen. Work more. Get me to bed.

Rinse. Repeat.

I have so much respect for single parents, I truly wonder how they do it.

I also wonder when Scott Baio is going to get here.

I wish I had been the Attorney of Record

Eighty years ago tomorrow (May 21, 1928), Walt Disney filed an application for the trademark MICKEY MOUSE with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

I'm sure he had no idea what he was starting. Or maybe he did. Whatever people may say about Walt, he was the true meaning of a visionary.

and one of my personal heroes.

I Saw The Sign - Literally

ok, so weird relation back to my earlier post about Ace of Base (i'd link to it here with some sort of fancy hyperlink thingy, but 1 - if you can't just scroll down, well,... and 2- I don't really know how to do that fancy stuff anyway)

On the way into work this morning, I was thinking about signs - street signs, road signs, advertisements, and about whether I could make them mean anything to me.

Ravenswood Ave - nope.

Menlo Park Library - no ephiphany there.

Starbucks Coffee - nothing monumentous there, other than a reminder to feed my addiction (Emily pulls into the 'bucks parking lot...)

Be Prepared to Stop - WHOA nelly. A sign that would otherwise tell me that there was construction going on ahead made me pause. Be Prepared to Stop WHAT? Working? Stressing? Wiping my boogers under the bed when I'm too lazy to get up and get a tissue? (c'mon, you know you do it)

How am I supposed to Be Prepared to Stop when I don't know what it is? For now, I'll focus on the booger thing. I guess being prepared would mean more tissues in the nightstand.

OK universe, you win this one. Tissues it is.

What Could Have Been

Today, Shawn took Erin to GeekFest..or, GeekCon - Geek-a-palooza?

In any event, Wil Wheaton was there, and Erin took a picture with him. This wasn't just a random act of geekness. There is a backstory:

When I was 12, I had a HUGE crush on Wil Wheaton. HUGE. I liked him so much, I wanted to, like, KISS him. (*gasp*).

As I look at this picture, I wonder what would have happened had my 12 year old self had her way.

First of all, there's no way my daughter would have been as cute as she is. I mean, as cute as Wil is (yeah, and he still looks pretty cute 18+ years later), my husband is WAY cuter. No contest.

Secondly, there's no way he could love my child as much as Shawn does. That's because nobody else could - ever.

Lastly, [CENSORED].

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Oh, and hello to the mommy bloggers that may have made their way over here from Backpacking Dad, and who secretly wonder what kind of chick snagged such a great guy. It's me - my interests include Otter Pops.

Why do I Love Ace of Base?

Last night, "I Saw The Sign" popped up on the iPod. I rolled down the windows. I opened the moonroof. I cranked that volume up to, like, 45. And I screamed along as if I were shooting for worst contestant on American Idol.

I'd like to be able to say that it's because it was 11:15 at night, and I was coming home from work, and I was tired -- both mentally and physically.

I'd LIKE to be able to say that. But it isn't true.

Even today, with decent night's sleep under my belt (I have a toddler, I'll never have a GOOD night's sleep again), with a good breakfast and a cup of coffee, I'd still crank it up.

"Life is demanding, without understanding?" C'mon, it's Swedish gold. (or are they Norwegian?) I mean, it's no "you live for the fight when it's all that you've got" but nobody beats Bon Jovi.

Emily Works In Mysterous Ways

As the saying goes, "God works in mysterious ways." It's supposed to be a way to get you to see some sort of silver lining or good side of a bad thing that happens to you.

My question is: why does he get to do that? None of the REST of us get to work in mysterious ways.

Just once, when one of my too-many bosses asks me why I made a certain judgment call, I'd like to say: "Be patient. Emily works in mysterious ways."

If I said that, I'd surely be fired. And go to hell. Not sure which one is worse.

Fabulousness

As I was watching the preview for the Sex and the City Movie, it occurred to me that I am not fabulous.

I am a lot of things, and most of those things are positive (cute, funny, smart, etc...), but I am not fabulous.

I don't even know how to go about being fabulous. I think it involves large purses.