It's Not April Fool's Day Yet!

Yes, that is the big weekly award ceremony anti-whine! Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Taxes, the state of the universe these days, and medical issues put up a good fight this week, but the overall prize goes to Those Darned Kids We Love!

Liz wins Old Skool, with her tale of a son in "in a negative argumentative nothing is good enough space," lasting for a whole long time in the morning, and then escalating to a Last Straw just as it was time to run out the door. Hate when that happens. Esperanza is runner up with another argumentative child (although the A/W portion there is improving word skills!).

Neighbor Lady wins the Something Bad Happened With The Internet Award, which comes with a complimentary "not a bad parent" sash. All that, and strep, too.... Kudos to the kid who told on himself.

Sarah wins the Parenting Head-Explosion Challenge Prize, reporting that "my 10-year-old just spoke disparagingly about evolution." We trust that this has been discussed, and that you could use some cookies.

Big Picture Award to Miranda, who reminded us of so much left to do in NOLA, after all these years; and for her excellent observation about a more recent event, "Post racist society, my left hip!"

Good Mama Advice Award to Liz, for talking smartly with her boy about threats on the street.

Esperanza wins the Spousal Support Prize, for getting to play the part of the pastor's wife, even if she is one herself.

Kudos to not only the kid who told on himself, but to: doctors with a sense of humor; ministers who are there when someone needs them; friends who visit and help sort the hard stuff; persons who can summon "the look" in times of need; parental controls.

Cluesticks to: standardized testing that freaks kids out; canker sores; people who say "suck it up"; people messing up necessary tax forms; therapists who manage to make their clients feel defensive instead of giving guidance; blogger; complicated families; taxes in general; bad dreams; late-season snow; alarm clocks; and strep throat. A special fully-equipped Posse is heading out to visit the jerkface who deliberately misrepresented our Liz on the internet.

Love to those in need.

Congratulations to Sue, for getting relief! And also to our longtime pal, Yankee Transferred, who is a new grandma!

Climb Every Mountain

When I was young, my friends and I used to sing all the time. Today's song refers to the mountain of paper awaiting organization in my office. I plan to find my "can do" spirit and organize the heck out of this stuff. Does anybody know where I left my "can do" spirit? Maybe I should check under the car, just in case it fell out and landed there.

In anti-whines, my beloved and I went crazy and ran off to the coast north of here. Together; no kids! It has been forever since we did something like that, what with one thing and another. And pixies, we saw whales, among other wondrous things! Small W: the spring break party room was naturally right next door.

What is with the weather? Dry winter after unusual moisture last year, but kind of a deluge last week, with more on the way. I hear of lovely and unseasonable weather in the northeast; of early spring blooms to be followed by frost other places. Freaky.

And what's new with you this week?

Why Awards? Because We Like Them, That's Why

(Title inspired by Mini Baboo, she of 10,000 "why" questions per day).

The Grand Car-Earring-Beloved Whine of '12 Award, with Style Bonus goes to kathy a, for an absorbing (ha!) tale of leaking cars, beloveds who poke noses into other beloveds' cars, and a lost earring which was then found--ahem--outside the car.

The House Roller Coaster Award, unfortunately, goes to JenR, who in the time it took to antiwhine about it, saw the buyer disappear.

The Elevated Risk of Mullet Award goes to Sue, who reframed kathy a's whine most helpfully, thusly: "as an expert on Committees from Hell (aren't they all, really?)" Indeed, Sue. You speak truth.

Job whine sympathy goes to Miranda, who is busy cleaning up messes and putting out fires and can't, you know, do her job.

Hugs to Sarah, because regardless of how she tries to make it sound, a whine that includes "regular slog of grumpy people and arguments and gloom" is pretty sad.

Hugs also to JenR as she contemplates baby boy's surgery. (It's not minor when it's your baby. Doctors, take notice!).

Cluesticks to Miranda's co-workers, Sue's son's college admissions personnel, who don't know a good candidate when they see one, politicians who don't even listen to themselves, much less anyone else, moving mailbox places, and to Sue's headache and/or cold (if we thought applying cluesticks would help, we'd try it, Sue).

And, in the wise words of the ever-wise Liz, "This too shall pass."

Oh Right, It's My Turn

I hope you didn't have any Monday daytime whining, because I forgot I was hosting this week.

Anyway, I would like to register a complaint with this global warming business. Look, the *only* thing that makes Texas summers bearable is the thought that in say...mid-March...we can gloat to those Northerners about our beautiful 80 degree weather, sunshine, green grass, and wildflowers. So if those Northerners have the exact same weather, then we're just left being insanely hot for 8 months of the year. Wait. Is this some sort of punishment for our governor-presidential candidate track record?

Ahem. Whines, pixies?

Pi Day Awards

Arctic North Newsflash! We have not hit the snow record yet, but we are only three inches away! Don’t worry, I will keep you posted on this excitement…

Happy Pi Day to All!

Miranda wins the Bon Voyage Award for her trip to Texas. Her ex gets a light cluesticking for borrowing her suitcase and keeping it until the middle of the night before her trip. It’s a light cluesticking only, because he did come through on the delivery.

esperanza wins the Whine of Substance Award for describing a trip that involved a bout of food poisoning for her as “mostly Anti-Whine material.” We are glad it was a good trip, but it is time for the universe to cut you a break, let the baboos sleep through the night, and give mama a little introvert time.

kathy a gets the Spring Forward (Into A New Project) Award for clearing out her office and preparing for The Next Big Thing. You are an inspiration to us all.

Sue and kathy a share this week’s Old Skool Prize for the anti-pedicures.

Pixie Love to Sarah at ratatat and the Holding Pattern Prize for “going slow and acting carefully and letting the kids adjust.” These are all good things, even when they are crazy-making. May all the grown ups in your world act like grown ups this week.

The Cluestick Posse is out in force this week and will be paying visits to the Mean Girls at Church; the politicians who missed the memo about whose bodies they get to control (hint: do you brush this body's teeth? If not, you don’t get to make its medical decisions); headache pain; grown ups acting petulant; and the conference call spiral.

Have a great weekend, Pixies, and see you next week!

Lions and Lambs Whining

Hi Pixies!

I hope your March is going well. We've had snow and sunshine, and stand poised to break the record for "number of inches of snow received in a single winter." Of course, now that we are within a foot of the record, the skies cleared up (I am not sure if that is a Whine or an Anti-whine).

I'b got a code (cold) - W - and am having both literal and figurative grading nightmares (W! W! Is sleep not sacred? W!) but can feel spring on the way (AW). What's up in your world?

Twist and Shout Awards

Does this thing work? Who knows. We forge on ahead, belatedly, hoping this is an actual link to classic music.

Winning the Things Are Shaking Award is our dear Sarah, who has decided that "I am going to stop squashing the anger for a while. I might even figure out a time/place where I can scream a bit. ha!" You go, girl! We have your back.

The coveted Elevated Risk of Mullet Award goes to Experanza, who explained her A/W free brownie "was much needed after two (2) baboos fought me on every action on our get-ready-for-school list this morning. ugh. Hubby came out and asked what he could do. I said, 'Take them to school! Now!'" So been there and done that. We admire your powers of delegation.

Liz wins Best Whine Involving GS Cookies: "I want to eat Thin Mints, and Trefoils, and Samoas...but they are at home and I am at work. So I am eating Snickers Bars, which is not at all the same thing and is not helping." Hugs about the other strategy not really working so well. xoxo

Neighbor Lady wins both the Baking Prize and the Food Worries Solved Prize, by baking her delicious lemon curd in cookies. Baking kills germs, but in case of any lingering doubts, one should eat them all. Win, win!

Sue is Fashionista of the Week, for having so blissful a massage session that she both put her top on backwards, and embraced the cat motto: I meant to do that. She also gets a corsage for Humorous Misspelling, initially explaining the problem as a backwards skirt, which we all took to mean this was a really good massage. Jealousy abounds; expect visitors.

Cluesticks to tax things, workplaces, pickiness about getting a job done, germs and their effects on people, extra programs that drain one's soul, all the stoooopid crappy things during a divorce, slow-mo days, wrong fits for meds, people who misunderstand, and etc.

Onward and upward! Let's dance in the meantime.

Shake it, shake it, shake it up, baby!

Of this the pets do not approve: we had a little earthquake this morning! It was only a 4.0, but less than a mile from our house, so we all woke up and were rocking and rolling a little. No damage. Every picture on the walls is now a little kattywampus, though, which I've decided is fashionable. Just a fun little quake. ;)

Tomorrow is the day of reckoning with my accountant, so I spent all day yesterday wading through bills and fading wadded receipts and Important Tax Forms. And didn't finish, but the end is in sight. The accountant is for my peace of mind, not because I'm a high roller; it tests the limits of my talents to locate and organize the paperwork, so I leave wrangling the IRS regulations to my friend. He's a good guy, never lectures me very harshly about my poor money management, and his office cat is friendly.

So, that's plenty for a Monday, right? One of my tires is almost flat, too.

In antiwhines, had a lovely dinner out last night, with my beloved and daughter.

What's shaking with you?

Leaping toward chocolate in yoga pants

There is very significant support in the Pixiesphere for a floating Leap Year holiday, more chocolate for all, and the wonder of comfortable pants. May it be so!

Neighbor Lady wins the Fashionista Award, for mentioning the inexplicable tightness of her pants, leading to a lively discussion of bad pants. Runners up are Sarah, whose grandmother wore amazing shape-accommodating dresses, and Sue, who recommends yoga pants for all occasions. (One never knows what a preacher is wearing under that robe, does one?)

In a related vein, Esperanza wins the coveted Elevated Risk of Mullet Award for her shopping report: "Bah. Badly fitting pants. Tried on many, many pairs of jeans today. I would like them to fit, but not be a pair of tights. Is that too much to ask? Bah. Shopping. Blech." We could not have said it better!

Roller Coaster Award goes to Sue, for the joy of adjusting to new meds. Hugs and crossed fingers!

Ain't That the Truth Award for Sarah, who observes: "heard a newborn baby cry today and realized how much nicer it is than little kid cry."

Esperanza wins the Takes a Village Award, for the Baboos seeing cows! horses! baby goats! dogs! with their BFF's mama, which kinda balanced out the more stressful time at the developmental pediatrician's.

The Motivated Seller Award goes to JenR, who must be in about the 400th week of trying to sell her condo. This award comes with a magic wand, to conjure up interested buyers, and a supply of chocolate with which to bribe them.

For whatever ails you, the overwhelming recommendation this week is chocolate: dark chocolate, chocolate cake, girl scout cookies. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the pants complaints.

The Cluestick Posse will be visiting Sarah's (former, we hope) facebook friend with a message about not creating drama and trashing actual live people to the entire universe. Geesh. Never appropriate. And then we're circling back around for another go with the cluesticks, because honest to betsy, you're picking on Sarah??? What, you think she does not have enough going on without involuntary drama-hood?

Birthday congratulations to Sue's 90-year-old friend, who meets that milestone "funny, bright, healthy and full of spunk." That's what we want to do when we grow up.

Thanks for playing!