WW: Too much to do, too little time to do it in edition

Did you know that we are 36 days from the election? And I'm here at work instead of knocking on doors?

Need to do laundry, pay bills, feed my child...and here I've got a meeting at 10 AM that I'm not prepped for.

How's by you?

Prizes: Keep on Keeping On Edition

Old Skool Award to Emily, whose recipe for shredded beef tasted fine, but the beef would not shred. A hearty Pixie welcome to Emily, too, and may future adventures with the crock-pot have better visual results.

Runner up in the Old Skool category is Sarah at ratatat, who had to go off her allergy meds to see the allergist. Gah. Hope the headache is now a thing of the past.

Go, Mini-Baboo! Award to Esperanza, who says: "Mini Baboo land is apparently the place to party while mama is trying to go to sleep. Which is not a whine, of course." We're happy-dancing right along. Esperanza also gets the When It Rains, It Pours Award, this time for the literal rain after two years of drought.

Elevated Risk of Mullet Award goes jointly to Sue and Esperanza. Sue rightly complained that "Little girl kitteh has taken to kicking me in the arse during the night." And Esperanza was thusly inspired: "Note to self: use 'arse' more often. makes me giggle." Us, too.

Amy wins the Remembering What It's All About Award, Weaning Division, for her Tater's unwillingness to be fed anything but the real thing by Mama. Amy's husband gets a short but pointed visit from the Cluestick Posse, whose message is: "Disinfect the wound. Thank you."

The Cluestick Posse is once again visiting Sue's docs, while Sue, meanwhile takes further decisive forward-moving action ON HER OWN. Cluestick Service Awards to Madeleine, who lamented, "Sue, will we EVER be done cluesticking your doctors? Dear me." and to Liz, who added, "I'm getting out my extra-special, limited-edition, ebony with mother-of-pearl inlay cluestick to bring down upon the heads of your docs."

Being Grownup: Who Needs That? Award to Sarah at ratatat, who managed 5 days of 24/7 parenting while her beloved was off moutain-biking with the boys. Sarah wins valuable mommy time-outs at her pleasure, adding up to 5 days plus interest.

Automotive Woes Award to Liz, who rarely ends up in tears. In fact, Liz also gets the Energizer Bunny Award for all the classroom volunteering, doorbell ringing, event-juggling, and good mommy work, in addition to regular work and, ya know, everything else. Like Aunt Flo.

Much love and many good thoughts to KLee, whose aunt is struggling with a brain tumor. Of course, you have to be there. That is what families do.

Love and strength also to Margalit, whose son needs help in the worst way.

Thanks, everyone, for your good wishes about my big boy, who seems to be on the road to recovery. And thanks for playing! See you next week!

Little Pieces of Heart Edition

We all have them, those people and ideas and things that take hold in our hearts, and our lives take a different path. Now, I may complain about some side-effects of pet ownership, but it's been a hopeless love affair from my earliest years, and the beasts make me laugh every single day. A passion for fairness took root and grew, nurtured by a thousand stories and experiences. My beloved held the key to my heart, and we have had amazing adventures, not to mention the children we both hold so dear. Our babies are all grown up, but . . .

AW: Today is the annual Bazaar at the church one block away! It is a wonderful celebration, with food, music, games, prizes, crafts, plants, bake sale, etc. Many congregants are Japanese-American, so the food includes sushi, udon, curry, fabulous teriyaki cooked on a giant grill they build each year; there are taiko drummers; crafts include beautiful cards and origami. Daughter loved that bazaar, so we took photos. Which I guess is like sending coal to Newcastle, since she is in Japan, but she doesn't want to be left out of events back home.

W: We're really proud of our son, who had a rough patch in his teens but is working and supporting himself, living independently, pursuing his music. But he was beaten up a week ago when leaving a show, and has been sick for days with a sinus infection, and he has no health insurance. He absolutely refuses to go to the ER, but will let me take him to the doctor tomorrow. This stuff scares us. Badly.

AW: Cats. Very silly cats.
AW: New watchband. I decided that even though the superglue was holding on the old one, I'm worth it. ;)

AW: Whining. Let the festivities begin!

Bare Bones Awards

Whines of Substance Award to Madeleine, for the asbestos needing removing in her basement; Sue for teh headache; and to purple_kangaroo and her community, for their losses. P_K, we’ll be holding your family and theirs in the light.

Old Skool Award to kathy a and Sue for cat poop, again. We should send the award to the cats themselves, fo r keeping us real.

Pixie cheers for kids-out-of splints, daughters taking good advice, successful anti-hate rallies, good community, Klee’s whine-less week, clean houses, Sue’s dad, Amy successfully blogging the lost (and finding the tickets!), successful events with Governors and evening purses, research assistants (um, yeah!), and a successful peek at the Mini-Baboo.

Pixie boos for cramps, lost stuff, lack of energy, feeling sick, pants without pockets, job fairs that feature mostly insurance salespeople and investment salespeople, and kids who need your company just when you could use a break from theirs,

The Cluestick Posse will be paying a visit to Sue’s moody doctor this week. Dude, we get that your life isn’t all sunshine and roses, but it’s time to *stop taking it out on your patients.*

I personally want Madeleine’s Fashion Fairies to pay me a visit too.

And, finally, the "I am Full of Good Ideas" award, to all the Pixies, and particularly Liz, who suggested places Amy’s tickets could be hiding.

The awards are a little bare bones this week, but I have to drive seven hours to the town where I went to college and run a marathon. See you next week!

Straight from the (almost) frozen north!

Hi Pixies -

It's 37 degrees Farenheit here this morning - brr! All my winter gear is still packed in boxes, in a storage unit 30 minutes away, because I am not in my own place yet. I think that is a double whine - still camping with friends three plus months after my move, and cold!

Fortunately fall here is gorgeous, I'm excited to be running my first marathon here on Saturday, and I've got a good cup of hot coffee as I type this.

How about you? What are your whines and antiwhines of the moment?

Ready, set, awards!

Hello Pixie pals. I know many of you are familiar with the ills of procrastination, so I will freely admit that I have 19 minutes in which to write and post these awards. And . . . go!

Hands down, the Remembering What It's All About award goes to debangel, whose sore, pregnant boob got honked by her work-child. Congrats from all of us on the prospect of a healthy baby girl, and for the record, no, placenta-brain, I don't think you did tell us that already!

Musical Chairs award to JenR for successfully getting her son placed in the new daycare room instead of yet another stop on the carousel of childcare.

What??!?! This Again???!!?!?!? award to Sue, for the return of Teh Headache and the doctor runaround. We're all blue for you, Sue.

How'd That Get There? award to amy, whose camera was in a bag of groceries. Hmmmmm.

Sign of the Times award to Elizabeth for continuing bank-failure issues.

Style is a tough competition this week. Kathy a. delivered two fantastic haiku (and a package to Japan) while Liz dished up a plaintive ode to the lack of plaintive posts on Wednesday.

Hero award (in absentia) to Sue's son for excellent handling of a tough situation, and in advance to Sue for the great speech I'm sure she'll give tonight at the rally.

And Hero award, with hat tip to colleagues, to KLee and her co-workers who work with children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and autistic.

And . . . 5 minutes left.

Marvelous Mysterious Slow-moving Miracle award to kathy a. for the unbloggable something she worked on 15 years ago that is finally coming to pass. We're proud of you, for whatever it is.


Old Skool award to Sue for "Aging Actually Sucks." Time for the Old Lady Glasses!

Time's up! Apologies to anyone I missed . . . have a good weekend, and we'll whine again next week.

WW: Back to School Edition

It's back to school day at my house, though I know some people started long ago.

Whine: Snuggly Girl's new school anxiety was about as bad as expected.

Anti-whine: She unexpectedly snapped out it last night and started spinning tales about a Mr. Bean-like character for whom she has several humorous adventures planned. I can't tell you too much in case she publishes them some day . . . but one involves a boomerang, another involves hamsters, and a third involves a parking ticket. Hilarious!

Bonus anti-whine: I take total credit (though I probably don't deserve it) because the change in mood started with me asking her to list 3 Good Things about the New School. And she did. And was cheerier ever after.

Minor and expected whine: The wistful waving from the school bus window.

Bonus whine: Back to work, piles of emails, urgent meetings. But hey, at 3:20 I'm done and I vow to ignore the computer until she's in bed tonight.

What's whiney by you this week?

Awards! My county's school board is a buncha cowards edition

First, to Sue, for her obituary search, this video:



Elevated Risk of Mullet goes to Esperanza for

Whine? Antiwhine? My boobs and my tummy are having a race to see which will stick out the farthest. I believe that tummy has edged out a victory just this week, but perhaps boobs are unfairly held back by a too-small bra.

Also sending hugs and a copy of this book to keep that second shoe from dropping.

Kathy A. Remembers What It's All About with the boobal squashing. I'm glad you got a clean bill of health and also wonder where the priorities lie at the hospital. Sistine Chapel beauty aside, how many free or low-cost mammograms could have been given for the cost of the decor?

Sue wins for Style. Said that is all that needs to be.

Madeleine brought the Bodily Fluids this week. Cross-stitch your new motto on a sampler and hang it on the wall of your kitchen.

Sending out the Cluestick Posse to whale on KLee's daughter's school staff. Sincerely.

Hugs to those dealing with angry drivers, irritating menfolk, SFBMs, forgotten meds, and all other issues.

That Back-to-Schoolish Sort of Something

The air is crisp, like the first bite into a tart apple. The sky is blue with cotton ball clouds. The humidity is non-existant. All of which means I need a new wardrobe and shiny new shoes. And a new bag. With freshly-sharpened pencils!

Well, I got them for Muffin Man at any rate. Living vicariously is the new black.

He starts back to school next week and already has three friends in his class. So life is good.

What's on your minds?