I’m not sure I qualify, but I was nominated as a Top Mommy Blogger over at Babble. Do you feel like voting for me? You can do so here if you like.
Just go to that page, look toward the very bottom (Or do Ctrl+F and search for Parsing Nonsense), and then click “I Like This Blogger”. Easy peasy. I’m flattered to be nominated, but still feel rather like a guppy who got lost and ended up at Sea World.
Did you know that there actually is a difference between geeks and nerds? There is, and it’s a big difference. My husband, the geek king-pin that he is, has made it his mission to school me on this tangible difference.
Heaven help me if I mess up and call him a nerd, because he is SO not a nerd.
I was reminded of this distinction when we watched the new Star Trek movie last night. I enjoyed the movie, it was a lot of fun, but it was definitely a lot different than the Star Trek series I used to watch with my Dad. This movie was a lot flashier, with more action and less of an emphasis on technical/scientific jargon.
It used to confuse the heck out me when I was younger, because I grew up a fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek, and couldn’t understand why people chose one with such fervor. If you ask Wes if he was a Trekkie he will look down his nose at you and scoff.
The reason? Geeks like Star Wars and nerds like Star Trek, and never the twain shall meet. I’m sure there are exceptions (like me), but this has turned out to be true among the people I know. So now, I’m curious:
**Edited to add: I added a third option because, as I said above and Delisa reminded me in the comments, sometimes people like both!**
So, out with it! Are you a geek or a nerd?
Total Voters: 20
Loading ...Wow. Hi. Yes, I am still in possession of all my faculties, though if you’d asked me yesterday I would have informed you politely that I had no idea who Erika was and could you please direct me to the nearest couch so I could take a nap? The reason why, in case you missed me on Twitter or Facebook, is we launched Offbeat Mama yesterday and it went so very well.
It’s really cool to see something you’ve worked on come to fruition. Like, back in July it was just an idea, and now it’s a verifiable entity. With posts. And comments. I think that’s the one-of-a-kind rush you get from launching a new website: You send it out into the world, and when you started getting responses it’s a very heady feeling.
That’s not to say I was feeling 100% awesome last night. No no. I had a headache that could have crushed a donkey and it stuck around all freaking day. I tried eating some M&M’s for the caffeine factor (and because they’re yummy) but to no avail. I’m avoiding drugs during pregnancy just because I enjoy playing it safe when it comes to my fetus, but even the self-gratifying rush that comes from doing the best I can to be an awesome pregnant chick did nothing to help me feel better last night.
What did make me feel better was watching Doc act like a complete goof. The first thing he did was fart, loudly. Then, because he always surprises himself when that happens, he craned his neck around so that he could smell his own butt. When I asked him what in the blue heck he was doing, he smiled at me and wagged his tail. Whatever makes him happy, I guess.
The second thing he did was whine and pace in front of the sliding glass door because, wait for it, there were leaves blowing by. Menacing leaves, that obviously meant the two of us no good at all, and the only thing for it was to stand guard at the door to ensure those suckers didn’t come charging in, crumbling all over the place. It’s a good thing he was there.
Truthfully, I’m finding myself in the very familiar situation of not knowing where to set boundaries for myself with work. There’s always something I could be doing, but doesn’t mean it’s healthy for me, or for Squishy, to work constantly. Sure, my kitchen is immaculate, the laundry is folded, dinner is set for tomorrow, and I’ve written five posts, but I’m also exhausted and can barely muster up the energy to shower and then succumb to the luscious pillows on my bed.
I determined last night that I had better get my act together and start parceling out time to relax, or I’ll be in very sorry shape once this baby’s done cooking. If I refuse to give myself time and space to do something relaxing now, what will become of me when I have four times as much laundry to do and a child I have to feed with my boobs?
A big soggy mess, that’s what will become of me. A big, soggy, miserable mess who will find it very hard to distill pleasure and enjoyment from my new little family, and will instead just be resentful and bitter.
That being said…Does anyone know of a way to get chores to do themselves?
Wow. I got schooled in that last poll, didn’t I? I mean, it wasn’t even a fair fight at all. Just goes to show you: Let the Internet settle your marital disagreements.
I wish I had more to say at the moment, but unfortunately every time I open my mouth the only thing that comes out is either “Baby!” or “Offbeat Mama!” or “Windows!” because that’s pretty much the majority of what I’m thinking about at any given moment. Baby because, well, duh. Offbeat Mama, which is the name of the new site I’m helping to launch, because we’re launching next week and I’m juggling a whole heap of things to get that going. Windows because we’re getting ours replaced.
I’m actually pretty darn tickled about getting our windows replaced. Our house has two kinds of windows: vinyl and aluminum frame. The vinyl windows are newer and work great. The aluminum ones? Not so much.
They’re as old as the house and you can certainly tell. They leak heat like a sieve during the winter, and let it come pouring in during the summer. The winter is the worst though, because they collect condensed water and then it pools on the window sills and I have to mop it up every morning to prevent it from dripping onto the carpet. All that moisture eventually leads to mold growth, so every week during the winter I have to disinfect and clean out our window tracts. Just so you know, winter in Washington? Lasts a long frigging time.
Adding insult to injury, the seal on the windows in our bedroom broke and now there are little white spots on the insides of the panes of glass. This means we can no longer see through the windows in our bedroom. Super fancy nice, huh?
Wes’ brother is an excellent contractor, so he’s going to replace our windows when his schedule clears up. Not only will this save us buckets of money on our heating bill this winter, it’ll update the heck out of our house and enable us to see clearly through our bedroom windows.
I’m excited about these things, but what I’m most excited about is the prospect of bringing Squishy home in February (the deep, dark depth of winter) and being able to keep the house warm enough. Also, being able to put the baby to sleep in his/her bassinet next to a window that doesn’t grow mold? That tickles me too.
Now, as for Offbeat Mama. I’m really excited about that too. Ariel and I have been working on it all summer and the official launch is on Monday. But. If you want to, you can come sneak a peek extra early-like. You just need the login / password, which are: mamasays / timeforbed
The site is really fun already. It’s basically an online community where offbeat parents don’t have to apologize for being who they are and where we can all collectively ooh and ahh over one another’s adorable progeny without wondering whether someone’s judging us for whatever decision they think is weird/wrong/whatever.
So yeah. Come check it out, at the very least so you can see the adorable shoes I blogged about last week :)
PS: A new belly pic is coming up tomorrow! I’ve decided I’d like to do those every two weeks, so we’ll see if I can keep it up!
I am a crazy person. A certifiable nut-job. A few eggs short of a dozen, not the sharpest tool in the the shed, nor the brightest crayon in the box. I know, I say such nice things about myself.
The reason for all this self-loathe is simple: I have a meeting tonight to discuss a new project. I’ve been going back and forth with someone else about the project for awhile now, and we’re meeting tonight to see if I’m a good fit for said project and whether it’s possible.
Obviously with my full time job, personal blog, novel-in-the-making, and really excellent relationship with my husband (the excellent state of which I’d rather like to maintain), I am awash in extra time. I kinda have, like, five minutes every now and then that I’m not using for things like eating and sleeping. Clearly, I am just aching for something with which to fill my extra hours.
This is, of course, a lie. I’m already humming along quite nicely with the projects I have going right now. Coming up with content for my personal blog (which you’re reading right now!), work blog, and novel is hard enough. Adding another blog, with frequently updated content no less, is just asking for trouble. Who in their right mind would do this to herself?
Well, I would. It’s a really cool project, and really cool projects just don’t pop their noses around very often. They’re elusive, like pixies, and you have to catch them with your wiles before they twinkle out of existence. As a professional blogger/content queen, I have an almost freelance relationship with my job. Not my full-time one, of course, but my other projects. If an opportunity catches my eye and I can squeeze it in, it almost behooves me to do so.
Who knows who you’ll meet during the course of a project? I learn so much from every site I help run, and meet so many neat people, that starting new projects feels like the start of the new school year. I usually can’t wait to see who I end up eating glue with.
So that’s what’s going on today. A meeting with a really cool chick to see if this is something the both of us can handle. If I land the project, well, I may just have to stop sleeping. I’ll get through it the way I got through NaNoWriMo…Taking every day a little at a time and eating ice cream until it doesn’t hurt anymore.
