Nov. 11: It's Game Night

We've been playing a lot of board games this past week. I don't know why K&J are suddenly into all their games again, but I don't mind one bit. I love playing with them. We're working on the "good sportsmanship" concept, which is just about the only lesson one can learn from games like Chutes & Ladders. Oh, and "cheating is wrong." Jack's getting the hang of sportsmanship, but the cheating thing, well... my advice is to pay close attention when playing a game with Jack.

Some of our family's favorites:

Disney Scene It?
Pass the Pigs
Disney DVD Bingo
Pretty, Pretty Princess
Rummikub
Cranium Hullabaloo
Texas Hold 'em (um... well, that's my favorite)

Unfortunately, the list of games I really do NOT enjoy is quite a bit longer. Meh.

Both our kids are starting to enjoy some longer, more complex games. I'm looking forward to being able to play a decent game of Monopoly or Clue with them. Maybe someday we'll even have Manullang Family Poker Night™.

Here, courtesy of Dribbleglass.com, are some Monopoly cards that we'd like to see.

Nov. 11: “My Turn”—Blogging

Y’know how you can find yourself in the strangest places on the Internet, with no clue as to how you got there? Occasionally I’ll be telling Victor about something I saw on a web site and try to explain how I found it; most the time I just give up. You keep clicking links, and you’re bound to end up worlds away (almost literally).

Well, it’s that way with blogs too, of course. Lots of people list other blogs they enjoy in the sidebar of their own blogs. For some bloggers, this increases ad revenue. For those of us that don’t put ads on our sites because we are looking for fame, not fortune, this simply allows more readers to find us. We are desperate for attention. Recognition. Comments.

The difference? Blogs will often introduce you to incredibly interesting people that you would otherwise never meet. If I visit a blog I’ve never read before, I might read a post or two, and then I read the blogger’s profile. If I like what I read, I bookmark the blog. Here’s what will keep me from bookmarking or ever reading you again:

• Poor spelling/punctuation. I’m sorry, but if you can’t use spell check, you should not be writing for publication, even on the Internet. The occasional error is acceptable. The constant errors... bye-bye.
  
• Obvious indicators that you’re unaware you’re a complete Jesus freak. Your beliefs are your own; I can respect that. But I don’t have to agree with you and I don’t have to read you. I will also turn away if you regularly write about worshiping Satan or reading Danielle Steel novels. It ain’t just Jesus.
  
• Unwavering support of George W. Bush. Come on! He’s an idiot and you know it.

On the other hand, if you have a great sense of humor, I love you. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

What brought on all this blog talk, you ask? I’m fighting another headache--right now it’s mild enough that it could quietly go away or turn into a big ol’ beeyotch--and have spent the last hour following blog links in an attempt to fool my head into thinking it’s too busy to hurt. So far my head has not been fooled. I hate my head.

This morning I found a blog called Every, every minute. The name comes from part of a quote from the play Our Town, which I love, so it appealed to me from the very start. The author has a regular My Turn/Your Turn entry, and this week I’m playing along (though this is actually his My Turn post from last week).

My Turn/Your Turn

1. What motivated or inspired you to start blogging and how long have you been doing it?
   I’ve been blogging since 1999, though it wasn’t widely called “blogging” at the time. I created a web site to share family pictures when I was pregnant with my first child. It has become an excellent way for me to communicate with family and friends. A couple years ago I started using blogger software and that made it a lot easier to blog, which made my blog a lot more active.
   
2. What are your goals, purposes, or reasons for blogging?
   Communication. Pride (um, have you seen Presley???). Humor. And I love writing, so there ya go.
   
3. In your opinion, is your blog “successful?”
   If “successful” means “handful of regular visitors” then I guess I’m successful.
   
4. If you pay attention to your blog statistics, rankings, number of comments, number of visitors, etc., share some of your significant numbers.
   The search statistics (how people get here) are interesting to me, but the other stuff doesn’t change much. Here are some numbers for the past 30 days:
   376 visits from 21 countries/territories
   532 page views
   46.01% new visits
   1:09 average time on site
   194 unique visitors
   

Any fabulous blogs to recommend? Leave them in a comment. Thanks!

Nov. 10: Today in history

Today in 1969, Sesame Street debuted on PBS. Like many people my age, I loved the show as a kid and appreciated it even more as a parent. The addition of Elmo is a teense questionable, but I do enjoy Mr. Noodle (R.I.P., Michael Jeter). Trivia question: how many years after Sesame Street's debut were we all sitting in movie theaters thinking, "Geez, this Yoda guy sure sounds a lot like Grover..."?

Also, 32 years ago today the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. I don't want to make light of the tragedy, but if not for the sinking Gordon Lightfoot would not have written that song about it and we would have one less weepy ballad through which to suffer. And for those of us unfortunate folk who married guys that are way too young to think Gordon Lightfoot is cool, but do anyway, it makes for an even sadder anniversary.

Sigh.

Nov. 9: Grief counseling

There was a time, and oh how I long for it again, when I never knew what to say to someone in grief. Somehow "I'm sorry" never felt like enough. But then I lost my dad. I know now that any gesture of kindness is appreciated by a grieving person. Well, I guess I shouldn't speak for all grieving people, but for me, the simplest acknowledgement was comforting.

And yet, even now that I know how much your heart can hurt when you've lost someone you adored--more than you ever thought possible, and in a much more physically painful way than you ever imagined it would be--I still search for the perfect thing to say. I know that "I'm sorry" is probably sufficient, yet I still feel the need to say something more, something that conveys how truly sad I am. I still try. Most of us probably do.

Today I was shopping at the Powell's Books web site and saw that Lauren Weedman, whom you may recognize from those funny "I love the [whatever]" shows on VH1, was a recent guest blogger. She wrote this piece on interesting ways some people react to others' suffering. I thought it was funny and heartwarming and real. Here it is:

Grief Counseling
November 5th, 2007: Posted by Lauren Weedman

Noooooo. Is this the last day of my blogging for Powells? I hate that.

I may have to start my own website called "Blogging for Powells" just because I've loved the mere idea of waking up and the first image in my mind is a bookstore in Portland. It replaces the image of me naked and sobbing on a scale. I guess that one's not an 'image'... more a memory.

At the hair salon place yesterday I was lying back to get my hair washed by my hair lady Sashiko — and I heard the lady next to me say, "My brother died in March and this November is his birthday. And it's the first birthday without him. And with the holidays coming right after that — it's going to be so —" And the lady who was washing her hair chimed in — loudly and with a crazy cheerful voice — "Isn't Emily's Birthday in December?"

Apparently she didn't want to hear this sad news as she deep conditioned. So she just chirped her way past it. I should have leaned over and chirped in a, "Hey! Did I hear March? MY birthday is in March!" That's the way they do it in the Midwest.

I remember right after I got divorced and I called my parents and started crying about how it was all so much harder then I thought it was going to be — and my mom brought her voice up into a happier octave and sang, "Oh my gosh — it's just tough all over! Are you still liking your car?"

Her idea is always that she wouldn't want to upset me more by saying something like "That must be hard," just in case I'd completely moved on in the half a second since I MENTIONED IT and she was just bringing up all these painful memories. That I'd moved on from... in that half a second.

But I love her. I can tell stories like that about her on a blog for all to read — BUT YOU BETTER NOT TALK SHIT ABOUT MY MOTHER.

The woman in the salon — she was so sad. Oh, her voice... I wanted to reach over and grab her hand and tell her that something like, "Yeah, that's tough," but she had on this giant smock that they give us to wear — this big poncho to protect us while we get our hair cut. I'd have to pat around for a while to find her hand under it. I imagined myself patting away — pat... pat... pat... pat... "That's not your hand... okay, there's your belt... now I'm going in the wrong direction — where's your damn hand so I can... comfort — GOT IT!"

I thought about the lady and her brother as I got my hair cut — and as I was walking out I passed her buying some shampoo — and I really wanted to tell her something so I told her that her hair looked amazing.

I should work in grief counseling.

÷ ÷ ÷

Lauren Weedman made her television debut on Comedy Central's Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2001 as a featured correspondent. She is the author of A Woman Trapped in a Woman's Body.

Totally unrelated fun fact: Lauren Weedman was once a cast member of Almost Live!, the Seattle sketch comedy show. One of my all-time favorite sketches: Cops in Ballard. Man, I miss that show.

Nov. 9: Don't rush me

Sometimes there's just too much to write about that it's difficult to get started. Busy weekend, busy week. And my sister has updated her oh-so-"chatty" blog twice this week, so I know I've fallen way behind. The next few days look a lot less stressful, so I ought to have some time to get y'all caught up with my veeeery exciting life. Because I know it's hell waiting.

Yeah, that's it.

P.S. Here's something you can do while you wait... answer the meme from Nov. 5 in the comments. I know it's kind of a boring one, but it's something.

Nov. 5: Monday meme

Memories... like the corners of my... um... uh...

1. What kinds of things do you find it easy to remember?
   People's birthdays, meaningless phone numbers
   
2. What kinds of things do you find it difficult to remember?
   Things I need to accomplish (without a list), the kids' schedule
   
3. How does your short-term memory compare to your long-term memory?
   Both suck a lot worse since I had kids
   
4. How do you commit things to memory? Do you use songs, images, word associations or other tricks?
   Some things, I just say aloud and it seems to be enough to commit to short-term memory. In school, I used acronym mnemonics. Sometimes they worked.
   

Nov. 4: Pa-too-ee

Long before I ever had children of my own, I vowed I would never use my own saliva to clean their faces. My mom did this to me and Kathy all the time (well, it seemed like she did) and we hated it. And when we told her we would never do it to our own kids, she laughed and insisted that once we became moms, we would. "Every mom does." She could not have been more wrong. I can't speak for my sister, but I have never cleaned my kids with my spit. Their spit, yes. But mine? No way.

If the thought of spitting on your children disgusts you like it does me, you might be interested in this product, MomSpit™. It's supposedly sanitary.

Because this product does not appeal to me in the least (could it be the name???), I'll stick to the baby butt wipes I keep in my car, thankyouverymuch. There are plenty of other ways I'm sure to screw up my kids; this is not going to be one of them.

Nov. 3: Word association

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you read these words?

1. assets :: good things


2. concern :: worry


3. over the top :: Vegas


4. supplies :: good excuse to shop


5. mustache :: Magnum


6. Doug :: April's brother


7. coach :: that unfortunate person who's been trying to keep Jack on task for the last two months


8. bleachers :: uncomfortable


9. stripes :: silly movie


10. assortment :: buncha crap

Nov. 1: More Halloween

Oh my word. I know no one else who can come up with costume ideas better than Daryl and Sally do. If you're ever invited to a Halloween party they'll be at, GO. You'll laugh your arse off.

Daryl dressed up as Tinky Winky. He's not as creepy as the real Teletubbies, but he comes awful close. Yikes.


Sally's "Crazy Cat Lady" costume is hilarious! Love the pooper scooper, and the big cat attached to her leg is the perfect touch.


Excellent choices, guys! You're awesome!

More Halloween pics on the Daryl & Sally page.

Nov. 1: Halloween stories

We had the most perfect trick-or-treating weather last night. Well, it was cold, but it was as nice as you can hope for this time of year. Past years have been either rainy, windy, icy cold, or a combination of all three. It made for an especially pleasant evening. Thank you, weather gods!

We started our Halloween celebration with dinner at Dawn & Darby’s. They had prepared quite a feast, and I was thrilled to see Dawn made macaroni and cheese. It was a bit different version, but delicious nonetheless. She even sent me home with some, which I gobbled up last night and this morning. Dawn is such an amazing cook. And she’s super nice, too. I will cry if someday we’re not neighbors anymore.

Katie and Jack wore their pirate costumes:


Vic and I also wore partial Halloween costumes. I put on my Mickey Mouse pirate head scarf, and Vic wore his Jack Sparrow dreads. When we walked into Dawn & Darby’s, Rob (our next-door neighbor, who was also dressed pirate-y) said, "Jennifer, you should tie me up!" Wuh-huh? I’ll be honest; I was scared. I had no idea what he was talking about and wasn’t about to venture a guess. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that he said something about how difficult it was to tie his head scarf that I finally got it. I know, I’m slow. But I was so frightened! And that is my spooky Halloween tale.

Alisa sent a picture of baby Brooke in her first Halloween costume. Is she the cutest little punkin?


April sent pictures of Emma (with a t-o-t’ing pal) and Trevor, along with this little story: Emma is a princess and Trev did his environmental part by wearing E’s old ladybug costume. I love the age he’s at since he’s totally fine with it. We were at Sportscamp this morning and the other boys were shouting out they were going to be a fireman, ninja, Harry Potter, etc. and T proudly said ‘I’m a ladybug.’ Personally, I love Trevor’s dead-on jack-o’-lantern impression below:



Where are your Halloween pictures? When you’ve recovered from your Halloween candy hangover, e-mail them to me!