Isn't she lovely?

Today is Anjali's birthday! There is something about the 2nd Birthday that is pretty cool - this year, she is aware that it is her birthday. As such, presents, cupcakes, a song and attention are required, thank you. Although, you can "Ixnay on the pankingsay". She knows better.

And we are more than willing to oblige.

I could wax poetic on my little girl, but that would be redundant since long time readers of this blog are already well aware of exactly how tickled we are with our girl.

Instead, I will share some favorite photos and quotes with you. If you do not mind.

Quotes:

NO! I can do it myself! (this includes buckling herself into the car, pouring her drink, wiping her own butt, getting out of the car, doing her taxes.....)

I get a handstamp. Den you WEAVE me. I missed you and I CWIED. Can I have a muffin? (She LOVES going to the gym's nursery. Don't believe a single word out of her lying lips.)

Mama! Dat cart stuck in the MUD. It's SCARED. We hafta save it! To the rescue center! (Abandoned shopping carts left on the side of the road inspire compassion in my wee one. Could not be prouder. I guess.)

Ni-hao, Mama!! (Are you seeing a theme with the television, here? Awesome. If she starts calling my dad "ye-ye", we have got real problems, folks.)

RAWR! I a scarwy MONSTER! (Indeed.)

I have ONE neck! (Damned shame, or we could make millions on the carnival circuit, no?)

Anjali and the Giant Cantaloupe

Baby girl loves her some FOOD.

Why are there five syllables in the word "monosyllabic"?

Am feeling the need to take a break. Last night, I actually pondered a post about how Anjali kept exclaiming she had one neck. As in, "I have ONE neck, Mama." And then, I was debating whether to talk about how when asked to count, she commences with "uno...dos...tres...." even through I have not taught her a lick of Spanish and how obviously, she is watching too much TV. In that vein, Arun is now officially obsessed with Bindi the Jungle Girl and insists he is Arun the Jungle Boy as he parades around our house with a notebook and pen speaking in narratorical tones "This is Vanessa. She is a jungle cat and eats cat food and this is her friend the jungle cat Harry. Vanessa likes to sleep at night and is afraid of dogs. We must be nice to jungle cats. They are our friends."

And then, I was going to talk about how the marketers have finally found me because I am getting pitches for garages sales sites and bottles of stuff that will clean my washing machine. Which completely squicks me out because dude - is my washing machine not already clean? Fear not, gentle reader, I am sparing you sponsored posts on those particular subjects. I will sell my soul for tacos, but not household products. I have standards.

And then, I was going to talk about how my husband worked in the basement yesterday but it did not help because he was still working in our house and little by little that mere fact is driving me slowly insane oh my god why can he not just leave the freaking house already I am supposed to be the stay-at-home parent here why the hell can I not just sit in the house day after day after day??

And then, I was going to talk about how much I enjoyed the first of the Spellman series - Izzy Spellman is smart like Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone but hilarious like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum. I was going to rave about how I love how it is set in the TenderNob area of San Francisco, an area with which I am intimate because that is where we always stay while in town and I know the neighbhorhood like the back of my hand from hoofing the hills. I was also going to complain about how frockin' slow the 1st book in the Outlander series was but also about how quickly the 2nd in the series, Dragonfly in Amber, has gripped me. YUM.

And then, since I was on the subject of books, I was going to rave about how excited I am for Jennifer Weiner's new book, Best Friends Forever, is coming out and about how she is one of the few authors left who makes me feel the urge to purchase a book all sparkly and new-like as opposed to waiting for a dirty, grimy copy from the used bookstore. Still, I sorta wished she would have named this new book Love Ya Like A Sister.

And then, I was going to apologize for my snippy post yesterday about BlogHer and was going to promise my roommates that I am not planning on stalking them throughout the conference. And I would like to promise the entire conference that I will not be the dork sitting in the corner knitting away. Not too much. Anyway.

And then, I was going to bitch about toysellers on Amazon that sell toys for 2 to 3 times as much as what you can get the same damned toy elsewhere. About how I bought Anjali a wee dollhouse for $15 at Wal-mart- the same dollhouse selling for $30 on Amazon. Dude, that's just rude.

But then, I decided that would be entirely way too boring of a post and that I probably should take a day or two off from writing.

Are you a sheep in the BlogHerd?

Whoa. Two posts in one day? Do check out the post from earlier today, if you have not already (I think most folks are in feed readers, no? I am never sure where folks are coming from. Just in case.) Anyway. Throwing Things is constantly posting such clever things, but that one was worth pointing out in particular.

Anyway, as you can tell from the title, this is going to be one of those posts. About BlogHer. And while it may seem that I should get all sheepish towards the Bitter Betty posters who are already coming out in droves complaining about those of us writing about the conference, I am not going to do it. Listen up. I know how it feels to not be going. I missed BlogHer one year - it was 2007, Anjali had just been born and X was persnickety about me traveling with a newborn. So, I licked my Feeling Left Out Wounds in private and moved on. Folks, the world does not stop just because a few of us are at a conference. Yes, we are excited. Most of us have been saving $$$ for this all year long and making special arrangements for it. Of course, we would want to talk about it. Anyway, if you have not clicked out of this post in a huff yet and if this is going to be your first BlogHer, I highly recommend Average Jane's BlogHer For Beginners post.

Truthfully, BlogHer has always been a mixed bag for me. I waddled my way through BlogHer 05 while heavily pregnant with Arun. I was not yet a Mommyblogger and I was still finding my footing as an IdentityBlogger. When Alice Bradley declared mommyblogging as radical act, I had no clue what she was talking about (respectfully, I still do not understand the statement since Erma Bombeck and Teresa Bloomingdale had already laid bare the irreverent Soul of Mothering decades ago. ) Anyway. My cankles and I had trouble finding a space where we felt that we fit in during that conference. Then, BlogHer 06, which found me secure in my Mommyblogger status and was very fun, had me feeling completely left out and my feelings were hurt more than once as I was snubbed several times to my face by A-listers. BlogHer 08? Was a much better experience for me - I was still directly snubbed by an A-lister, but by that point I was rolling my eyes about it because I gave up on Caring and instead, focused on my friends. Last year, I had so much fun with Monkey in a Suit, Brit, Average Jane and Rita. And all of the Sleep is for the Weak book stuff? Icing on the conference cake.

So, in a nutshell, my primary focus for BlogHer 09 will be Friends. I am bunking, sorority girl style, with Jane and Rita and Blondie (Tales from Clark Street!) If I make some new friends along the way, that would be grand, but I am not going to sweat it this year. Primarily, I am so excited about having a 3 day weekend to myself - this will be my first time without a child in my midst since Arun's birth and I do not want to waste One Single Iota on trivial matters such as "hurt feelings". If someone snubs me, what the fuckever. My parade shall not be rained upon.

That said, this year at BlogHer there are three people in particular that I am looking forward to meeting in person for the first time:

1. Mrs. CPA - Kelly has been my friend forever now and I cannot wait to meet her and get all gooey on her and pat her pretty, shiny hair. Am v. sad that CPA Mom will not be there for the hair braiding, though.
2. Jodifur - I will definitely be checking out her shoes! No pressure, Jodi. Heh.
   
3. Jenny, the Bloggess - She gave me faith again in A-list bloggers with her willingness to be able to laugh at her own expense and forgave me for my crude references to her being a "drunken volcano". *DoubleGulp*
   
4. Julia at Uncommon Misconception - I have been reading Julia for over 5 years now and she has been such an inspiration to me over the years. I directly credit her for sharing her experiences which made me appreciate my beautiful, healthy pregnancy with Arun. I tried not to focus on my minor aches and pains and as such, really relished that pregnancy, a gift for which I am forever grateful since I remember it now as one of the most contented periods of my entire life.

So yes, friends will be the focus this year. And friends include yours truly. As in, me, myself and I. I am viewing this weekend as my own personal sabbatical from my life. A boondoggle, if you will. In that vein, I am going to do a few special things for myself, some other activities that make me gushy and happy inside. Quite simply, knitting and museums.

I have started a knitting project that travels well and that I can work on while sitting in sessions. Frankly, now that I "stay at home", I am out of practice just sitting like a lump during meetings. Last year, I was a bit of a nervous mess with nothing to do during meetings and my stomach was in knots with nothing to do with my hands. I felt as if I was wasting precious time doing nothing and actually left mid-conference to hunt for some sticks and yarn. This year? I will come prepared. And yes, I am a Type A personality. Why do you ask?

The museum thing? I am also planning on sneaking out of the conference and walking to an art museum - probably the Art Institute and hopefully, the Museum of Contemporary Art as well. One of the things that I miss the most in this Life as a Mother is my lack of art museum time. I used to take Arun to museums when he was a baby, but for obvious reasons, that became more difficult as he got older. Now our museums are limited to the sort that display bones and bugs.

So, there have it - my plan of action (aka Kelli's Agenda) for BlogHer 09. Friends, knitting, art museum and most importantly - me.

Are these truths that evident?

Over the weekend, the astute and talented Mr. Isaac Spaceman on Throwing Things created a lovely little diddy pondering what would have happened had our founding fathers been all wired up with access to email and such - LOL Revolutioncats. Dude. I declare this Today's Required Reading. A sampling??

From: jadams@mass.col
Sent: July 3, 1776, 2:38 p.m.
To: benf@penn.col; tomjeff@monticello.com; livingstonipresume@ny.col; rsherman@conn.col
Subject: RE: George

And so I was like George, chill out, just have some tea and stop the drama for a minute and he goes "TEA, great idea, comes from somewhere, goes somewhere else, I tax it everywhere, gonna put some CHROME on my CARRIAGE." So I said, George, do you really mean that? And he goes, "got a problem with it? Let's have a drink and talk about it IN LONDON see you in seven months hope you don't get scurvy on the boat over ha ha." I mean what could I do, he just doesn't get it

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From: livingstonipresume@ny.col
Sent: July 3, 1776, 2:47 p.m.
To: jadams@mass.col; benf@penn.col; tomjeff@monticello.com; rsherman@conn.col
Subject: RE: George

that dude crazy ;)

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Why are you still here?? Get your ass out there and read the rest.

There is not much to be had here today - just the usual Fireworks Recap, or the My Husband Grilled a Kickass Tandoori, or the I Read A Grand Book Scribbling or the usual My Baby Girl's Birthday Is This Week Lament. Which I will spare you.

Now everyone say, "Thank you".

Who is your worst enemy?

A while back, we ripped out some major bushes. As in "20+ year old evergreens and bayberry bushes" - backbreaking work, but it was worth it. We removed 7 evergreens and 3 bayberry bushes. The problem is that after ripping out these bushes, we suddenly had wide expanses of raw dirt that needed to be landscaped - or something to that effect since my version of landscaping includes loose bricks and mulch. All of that raw dirt inspired hope. Hope that I would plant something interesting. Hope that I would drive to an actual plant nursery instead of veering through Lowe's after a trip to the grocery.

I planted some filler boxwoods in one portion of the landscaping and some ornamental grass in the other. Then, I went about the process of hoping. And I continued to hope. In fact, for well over a month, I hoped. In the meantime, that raw dirt sprouted weeds. Which began to flower. I can imagine the extent to which our neighbors were impressed with these botanical developments.

And then I realized something. Something I have suspected for years. I am my own worst enemy. Time after time after time, I create my own stress.....my own worries. I am not a yard person. I enjoying lounging in my yard, but not actually working in it. I was creating completely unrealistic expectations for myself that I would most likely not meet, yet I would surely flog myself for the failure to meet them.

So, yesterday. I veered into Lowe's and picked up three more boring boxwoods. Okay... Okay.. I love boxwoods, so it was not that painful. Yesterday afternoon, I planted them. And in the evening, I sat in my front yard watching my kids catch lightening bugs and playing with our new puppy.

I need to let go more often.

Git 'er Done
The Landscapin' Edition

Before. Part 1. This is an old picture and actually, this section was covered in weeds before I pulled them all yesterday.

Before. Part 2. Also, an old picture and also, covered in weeds until yesterday.

After. Obviously. (right? Please say "right".)
Stay tuned for Part 2.......

Gratuitous Puppy Snaps

Just like having a baby. And yes, we discuss her bowel movements and nap schedule. Awesome!

Have a Heart, Tinman.

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week.
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I was having a bad day a few weeks back when Average Jane sends me this link for Handbag Thursday. (Note: I have been begging Jane for a picture of her handbag for months, but she resists. Don't you want to know what she carries?)

Anyway, the link made me laugh out loud and I thought it might make you smile as well!

Via Boing Boing, the Ribcage Backpack. Awesome. Just that - awesome.

Description: Carrying our possessions around has become essential to our lives. Bags have become a part of who we are, a part of us. This bag is a living, breathing backpack. It responds to sound in the environment around it, appearing to breathe. This is one of three identical bags. On the inside of the bag, there is a screen printed lining as well as a change purse with a screen printed heart on it. The bag closes with a draw sting, which has flameworked glass beads on the ends of the string.

Materials and Processes Wool, Boning, Pigment, Borosilicate Glass, Machine Embroidery, Screenprinting