Irreverent Mother

Budget crisis (cry-sis?)

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:19:00 +0000

Word on the street is that, due to a hosed budget, our state is going to increase state witholdings for the next 6 months. On the one hand, I want to see safety nets in place and social programs continue to be funded. On the other, I don't feel this is the way to do it. I'm especially chapped by the thought of a smaller paycheck, too.

I wonder if I can change my W-2 witholding status for 6 months to offset it? Do you think the voices in my head can count as dependents? If so, it's about time they started helping out around here!

Weaning a little

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Bean's a year old now, which is the time frame I'd always had in my mind for weaning. Add to it that he has 8 teeth and my production has dropped dramatically, and it would seem that nature agrees. He does a great job with solids - opening his mouth like a little bird and trying everything - so I don't think this will pose a problem. I'm just not sure of the exact logistics for doing this successfully. What I *am* sure of is my desire to have my boobs back and to no longer feel like a dairy.

Ode to Weaning
Oh how I miss my old boobies
Due to gravity and the work of Bean's mouth
What once so proudly pointed northward
Alas have begun to head south

Haaaaaaaaaaaaate

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:33:00 +0000

You can tell we're moms. With Bean's arrival, we've re-evaluated raising kids in LA. (Though I hate to admit it, my sister's right.) We are going suburban. Ish. Which means we're moving. Have I ever mentioned my thoughts on moving? Sweet holy Moses, I LOATHE moving. Home dental surgery sounds more enjoyable. Hate. It. Haaaaaaaaaaaaate.

Which is why I'm baffled by my own behavior. Since college, my longest tenure in an abode is a measly three years, with the majority being two years or less. The place we're moving is an apartment, so there's another move even after this. My hope is that the place after this is officially ours, in Bean's future school district, with room to grow. Once we find that place, I'm gonna plunk my rear there and I AIN'T MOVIN' AGAIN.

Cult news, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:42:00 +0000

This stuff just writes itself sometimes. From BBC news: Scientologists convicted of fraud. Well color me surprised!

Unlike the US, France has always refused to recognise Scientology as a religion, arguing that it is a purely commercial operation designed to make as much money as it can at the expense of often vulnerable victims

...

In the case leading up to Tuesday's ruling, a woman said she was sold expensive life-improvement courses, vitamins and other products after taking a personality test.

A second woman alleges she was fired by her Scientologist boss after refusing to undergo testing and sign up to courses.

"Religion" my Aunt Fanny.

Now if we could get Tom Cruise to do the same...

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:50:00 +0000

Scientology as a religion baffles me. Seemingly intelligent people join and the reasons just don't make sense. Is it the promise of fame and glory? Is it a deep and abiding love for sci-fi? Is is it the refusal to believe any other organized religion?

Okay, I'm with them on that last point...

Actually, very few recognized religions make sense to me. I count myself as an agnostic atheist (agnostheist? athenostic?) depending on my mood. At times it's a flat-out disbelief in any higher power, at others it's an uncertainty. However, my beliefs are mine, and I don't expect others to do what I do. Likewise, I don't do well with following senseless orders. Apparently, Paul Haggis agrees. After 35 years with the ~~Cult~~ Church of Scientology, he's finally come to his senses and decided to quit. Two of the main reasons are because Scientology refused to take a stand against homophobia and the other had to do with them forcing his wife to sever contact from her family.

Read the whole thing here.

Once you've read it, if you can enlighten me as to why people join in the first place, I'd love to hear.

ONE. Oh. My. God.

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:38:00 +0000

Yesterday, Skatcat said the day's post wasn't very saccharin. Today, I'm probably gonna break that. Bean is ONE today. Sweet jumping jeebus. How is it that a year of this kid's life has gone by so freakishly fast? Two seconds ago he was rolling over for the first time. Now he's almost walking. And he is so effing smart. And has a great sense of humor. I am endlessly grateful that he's a part of our lives.

Happy birthday, Beanie. Your mommies love you more than anything!

On the eve of one

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:02:00 +0000

One year ago today, I was in very active labor. The doctor had warned that if I didn't go into labor on my own, then by Friday he was going to induce. I'd already had a few false starts, so an induction and potential C-section were looming.

I'm sure you've heard all the "surefire" ways of naturally inducing labor. There's nipple stimulation (nope, just annoying); "The Salad" from Caioti Pizza (yummy, but no dice - though one woman's account that it induced a massive fart at 4:00 in the morning made me giggle); sex (for lesbians, this doesn't work at all - it's not the nookie, but the...um... "man juice" shall we say? that does it); an enema (I'll spare you that); long walks (nope) and finally castor oil. It was down to the end. So I went to the drug store... and bought... castor oil. (Cue dramatic organ music.)

I had been warned to have a glass of OJ to cut the ooze that was going to make its way down my throat. Very. Good. Advice. Chug-a-lug... Taste-wise, not too nasty, but imagine thick oil coating your entire mouth and you'll understand why that OJ was sage advice.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the intended effect of castor oil, it's supposed to make you poop. I guess the thinking is that if everything below your boobs is intent on expelling something, then your uterus may as well join the party. Take a crap and out pops a baby!

As advertised, the castor oil worked. Contractions began and this time they didn't stop. In the wee hours of October 23rd, Bean entered the world.

And tomorrow he turns one.

I may just crap myself all over again.

Twelve!

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:32:00 +0000

Can you believe this is Sesame Street's 40th anniversary? Pretty cool to consider that some of my favorite characters and concepts can be shared with Bean. One favorite was the pinball counting segment. We sing this with Bean a lot (while making him "dance," natch). I just learned that the voices are the Pointer Sisters - even better!

Prop 8 upheld

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:20:00 +0000

The California Supreme Court just announced that it is upholding Prop 8, but will not invalidate the 18,000 same-sex marriages that have already taken place. This boils down to "This group of 36,000 people are okay, but no more!" In what kind of cuckooland does this make sense? Furthermore, it took them this long to reach the weakest ruling they could have mustered. How very milquetoast of them.

I'm very disappointed. I know we'll rally. I know good will ultimately prevail (right, Mom?), but I also know that good needs a swift kick in the keister to get moving. I'm tired of this back-and-forth over something that seems so simple. Once again, it's a civil rights issue, not a religious one. Even God would agree...

Recap: Month 7

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Saturday was Bean's 7-month birthiversary. We celebrated by going to this park and playing on the swings (big hit) and chilling out in the shade (bigger hit).

On the blanket, Bean practiced his crawling, which is _thisclose_ to being a full-on crawl. Depending on the surface, he'll either do what we call "scrabbling" or he'll use his head as a means of locomotion. On a smooth surface (like wood floors) he'll scrabble, which is a cross between a dog paddle stroke and actual crawling. He revs his engines and all 4 limbs work like mad to propel him a foot or two. It's grossly inefficient, but he can get from point A to B with surprising speed. On a softer surface (like our bed), his butt goes up in the air and pulls himself forward by putting his forehead down and bending his neck. Talk about using your head...

On the flip side, his periods of inactivity (sleep) are changing. From time to time he'll go down for a monster nap. Rather than his typical 45-minute jobbie, he'll crash for 2 hours. When these long naps happen during the week, it's fantastic. Sweetie can get a whole mess of work done without interruption. When they happen on the weekend, they usually torpedo any social plans we may have had. But a nap's a nap so I'll take it!

Alphabeans

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:23:00 +0000

I'm a bit of a font dork. (Actually, I'm a dork in general, but that's a different post for another day.) I like looking at signage and seeing if I recognize the font. One of my favorite signs in LA is on the no-longer-in-business House of a Thousand Fabrics. I love the mid-century script they used:

Given this, it should come as no surprise that I decided to create an alphabet series for Bean. I used 26 fonts; each font name begins with the letter of the alphabet it's representing. I still don't know what I want to do with it - wallpaper border? Framed art? Big poster?

Any ideas?

The fonts - in case you're as big a dork as me (in which case: hi! drop me a line!) - are:

Aardvark Cafe
Bauhaus 93
Caitlyn
Daly Hand
Eco-Files
Farang
Giddyup
Halbstarke
Informal Roman
Jester
Kawoszeh
Larabie
Madfont
Nickelodeon
Old English Text
Patrick
Quixotte
RaggMopp
Sala de Fiestas
Transformers
Ultima Campagnoli
Vendetta
Weirdmojo
XenoWort
Yellow Submarine
Zebrra

Imagination

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:42:00 +0000

My youngest niece would "hide" in the dog's crate. We were happy to oblige and play along. Besides, who knew a crate could be so useful? Apparently, we weren't thinking hard enough, because here's yet another use for them!

Well, that's different

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:36:00 +0000

I wake up every morning with a song in my head. It sounds much more upbeat and happy than it actually is. Most mornings I have some inane song - or worse, just one line of a song - stuck for the majority of the day. The song or snippet will loop ad nauseam and it drives me buggy.

Today, I got a bit of a twist. In addition the the mental jukebox selection (which, by the way is "I Love to Laugh" from Mary Poppins... somebody please kill me) I woke with random vocabulary words, too. Like a gerbil in a wheel, my brain is cycling through the song and throwing in "terpsichorean" and "churlish" Tourettes-style.

Seriously, what. the. hell?

I've found the best way to get the song out of my head is by infecting someone else with it.

You're welcome.

Swingster

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:25:00 +0000

I know, I know... I haven't posted in forever and you are sick of seeing Sarah (funny though she may be). So how about a video of our favorite Bean instead? The video quality is crap, but that's what you get from a cell phone. Rather than focusing on the quality, enjoy the subject matter. It's his first time at the beach and his first time in a baby swing. Summer fun times ahead!

Carwash and burgers

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:21:00 +0000

You know what, Sarah's right. It is hard to wash your car while eating a burger...

p.s. Those commercials have always grossed me out.

Still popular!

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:45:00 +0000

I heard this piece from BBC World Service on the way in to work. It summarizes Obama's first 100 days in 100 seconds. Look at all that has come his way in less than 3.5 months. And to think, I consider it a huge accomplishment if I just get to work on time...

Wait... that's how you do it?

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:16:00 +0000

Wow, we went about making a baby all wrong.

This clever bit of entertainment was brought to you by Cassidy Curtis and Raquel Coelho. (And to think, we just did the week-by-week shots against a wall. This is way more fun!)

Tenacious and awesome

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Have you seen Will Ferrell doing Bush in "You're Welcome America?" No matter. This ad for it sums up why I love him (Will, that is).

After watching this, I've decided that "tenawesome" is a very handy word. To wit: I have tenawesome friends. Bean is tenawesome. And you are tenawesome for reading this blog.

Ways to pass time

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:55:00 +0000

We call this series "Crap on Bean's Head Because A) It's Funny and B) Mommy is (Really) Easily Amused."

The upshot is the mouse ears that Nona bought at Christmas are getting use!

Recap: Month 6

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Hi, remember me? The one who is supposed to man this ship and actually post stuff? Turns out these things don't write themselves, so I thought I'd actually dust off the keyboard and get y'all up to speed.

Today marks Bean's big half year mark. Six months and we've managed to keep some semblance of sanity - woo! Not only that, but it seems we're doing a decent job. At his six-month check-up, the doctor confirmed that he's in the 50th percentile - for a 9-month-old. Yup, we grow 'em big here.

In the past month Bean has finessed the art of rolling over rapidly. Good for motor development, bad for leaving him in bed alone. Nap time is now accompanied by a mountain of pillows. He's also vocalizing like crazy and it's hi-freaking-larious to watch. Big facial expressions accompanied by a barrage of sounds. So cute. And he knows it, too. To celebrate, he claps and waits until we join in with the applause. Though the talk is meaningless, he does know how to use sign to communicate. So far, he's got "all done," "milk," and "more" in his arsenal. You have to watch closely, though, lest "milk" be signed very near bare skin and you get raked by 5 tiny daggers. Given his size, you can tell that "milk" is one of his faves.

He's been eating a lot, which makes me eat like a pig. (Thanks for that, Bean.) We've decided that we're going to have to put him to work before he eats us out of house and home:

Best to get started early.

Pay attention, Schwarzenegger

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:16:00 +0000

Vermont has it now, too. The state Senate overrode the governor's gay marriage veto 23-5 and the House voted 100-49. Seems a pretty large margin - and this without needing to make it a judicial measure.

The California Supreme Court decision on Prop 8 will be coming down soon. Fingers crossed.

Written communikashun

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:45:00 +0000

I blame spell check. If a word passes through spell check's filter, it must be fine, right? WRONG. Re-read what you're written especially if you're about to send an email to the whole company. Take this to heart even more so if you print something. (I once worked at ExecuTrain where we received a written thank you note to all the "Executrix" trainers. It made us giggle for days.)

Before hitting send, remember this:

Advice/Advise - The former is the noun; the latter the verb. If you are giving advice, then you are advising.

Intact/In tack - You mean the first one. Yes, you do. Unless, of course, you actually *are* referring to something inside a small nail or push pin...

And if you're unsure on the your/you're or there/their usage, I suggest a quick review.

Iowa?! Really??

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Oh, come on, California! Freaking IOWA is now allowing same-sex marriage. Iowa. As in, the Midwest. And California tries to have this reputation for being progressive. Newsflash, if Iowa is repealing the ban then they have lapped us. We should be so ashamed...

To those of you in Iowa, my sincere congratulations. It's about time the Midwest offers something! ;)

You'd think we'd learn...

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:09:00 +0000

Picture it: a late night and a family getting ready for bed. Mama is brushing her teeth, Mommy is changing the baby's diaper on the bed. Mama finishes brushing just in time to hear, "OOP! Shoot! Quick - grab me a towel!"

The scene in the bedroom looks like this: semi-nude boy child with his nether regions exposed and his Mommy (quite unsuccessfully) trying to catch and hold his pee. Seems someone forgot to A) put Bean down on his changing pad and B) put a fresh diaper underneath. Since it's so late, the mommies briefly consider not changing the sheets. (Oh, hush - it's warm for a moment and it was late! Plus it was a MOMENT.) Before the decision can even be debated, the youngest amongst us decided to decide for us.

By peeing AGAIN. Without a diaper.

We never learn.

Leaps and bounds

noreply@blogger.com (KarenSeeta) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:45:00 +0000

You know how you can tell it's been a while since posting? Because our amazing Bean has gone from hating a bottle to loving a sippy cup. It's like he's telling us there's no use in shining him on with as-close-to-boob-as-possible warmed milk in a boobie-like nippled bottle. Cut the crap, Mommy. Now he takes cold milk in a cup. Such a big boy - and low maintenance, too!

And did I mention cute as the dickens?