Another new beginning

Hi everyone! I’ve moved to a new blog: http://athreehatday.wordpress.com/

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2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,800 times in 2010. That’s about 16 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 130 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 193 posts. There were 34 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 2mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was August 9th with 111 views. The most popular post that day was Disaster at the Mall (part 2).

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, nevercookonasaturdaynight.blogspot.com, livinlavidalovas.blogspot.com, fuzzypurplesocks.com, and housethatfunkbuilt.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for modern mrs, the modern mrs, ludite, miss rumphius, and the amazing mumford.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Disaster at the Mall (part 2) August 2010
1 comment

2

Heads together June 2010

3

Pregnancy hormones, or how your body tricks you into wanting more babies March 2010
4 comments

4

About November 2007
1 comment

5

A La Peanut Butter Sandwiches April 2010

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Terrible Twos-ish

Let me begin by saying that in my attempts to do some quick research to support my personal info on the “terrible twos” that apparently the established medical community doesn’t like this term and considers this abhorrent toddler behavior to be…normal.

Little C has fully entered into his terrible twos at just 18 months.  Our average day now includes such behavior as pulling all the books from a particular shelve, throwing toys at the dogs, and perfecting the charming “screaming while running” tantrum.

Now I’m all for C exploring his universe and learning about things like gravity and force, but not at the expense of my sanity and the dogs’ well-being.  As to the running tantrum, it’s all I can do not to fall down laughing (C gets really mad and literally starts running as fast as he can until he can’t go any farther and then turns around and runs the other direction at full speed.  All the while he is screaming and crying.  It would be sad were it not for the fact that his little wobbly run is adorable and the behavior is just so bizarre.).

To make matters worse, I’m getting a tantrum nearly every time I tell him “no”.  Not fun.  If C isn’t allowed to do one of the three things he always wants to do (dig in the dirt, watch Sesame Street on the computer, or pull things off shelves/out of cabinets)  I am the immediate recipient of ear-piercing screams and foot stomping.

It makes me so glad that I decided to devote my life to raising him.

The few somewhat legitimate websites about the terrible twos really emphasized how important it was to remember that the toddler is not being willfully rebellious or defiant, but is frustrated with the lack of control over their own life and their inability to communicate.

So I try to remind myself the my son isn’t purposefully trying to drive me insane, take a few deep breaths, and chase after him.

Until he outgrows this stage (in what? two to three years?) I’m going to try to redirect some of his energies into something more productive.

As of today, I’ve ordered a “rollercoaster” table (you know the tables with long wires twisted into shapes and curves, loaded with beads?) and I’m looking into some MyGym classes.

Any other ideas? I’m all ears!  I’m looking for classes, outdoor activities and entertaining toys if anyone out there has some suggestions.

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Rough Day

Sometimes mommies have rough days. Sometimes they are just tired, worn down, and grumpy for no good reason.

And you know what?

That’s ok. We’re allowed.

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Setup

Hi All! The internet is setup at my new house and I’ve managed to clear a path to my computer, so I will be returning with new posts shortly.

I also found my laptop, so that was exciting. I can now resume my lazy nightly routine of watching my DVRed shows, eating ice cream, and writing in bed. (Although I should stop with the ice cream. For real, my waist line is not happy.) Anyways, prepare yourself for more bizarre stories about my totally harried motherhood.

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I like the way you look

For the last few days I’ve been getting a lot of double takes, some deep eye staring, and, frankly, a bizarre amount of attention.

The conceited part of me was like “yeah! all the weight loss is paying off! I must look gggggggggoooooood!”

I strut a bit when I think this.

But oh vanity, thy name is Erin!

Today I realized it wasn’t so much the thinner me people were staring at (though I still secretly hope that was part of it). People were actually staring at the crazy sick person who sounds like she’s been smoking a pack a day for the last 15 years.

For example, I came downstairs early the other morning to open the door for some handymen. They all looked shocked at my appearance at the door, but at least no one cringed. When I managed to whisper loudly that I was a bit under the weather, all of their faces changed to expressions of relief and pity. The foreman even managed a sad smile and said “That’s ok, honey. why don’t you go back to bed?”

I would have been angry at the patronizing tone of a stranger if I hadn’t actually been desperate to follow his direction and return to bed.

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A Letter to Myself

Dear Erin,

You are white. You are the epitome of whiteness. When people in this country think of their ancestors in the “old” countries, like Ireland, France, Germany, you are the lily white person that springs to mind. Evolution has not caught up with you.

Please remember that when you decide to spend 6 hours laying out in the baking 115 degree sun.

Yes, I know you were in the shade for 5 and a half of those hours. And yes, I know you stayed hydrated. Yet in that half an hour you spent in the sun you managed to get burned on every surface that showed above the water, including your scalp…through you hair. And all this was despite your 30 SPF sport/waterproof sunscreen.

You really should know better.

Also, spending that much time in the “shade” doesn’t actually equate to making you cooler. It was maybe 15 degrees cooler in the shade, still making it about 100 degrees. So for those 5 and a half hours in shade, you essentially cooked. Good job.

This type of behavior literally makes you sick. You learned this again yesterday when you had to skip an evening of raucous entertainment. When will the lesson become permanent in your brain?

OK, so let’s come up with a game plan for the next couple warm weather excursions: you MAY go sit in the shade for a couple hours maximum, you MAY NOT go into the sun while it is at its zenith, ever! It would be best, in fact, if you stayed inside until the sun was far into its descent. Please stop confusing yourself with someone who tolerates extreme heat and has the skin pigment to endure sun exposure without resembling a tomato. This is not you!

You’ve disappointed me, hopefully, for the last time. I hope you won’t force me to so painfully remind you that you are not meant for the sun; this hurts me more than it hurts you.

with concern,

your skin

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Broken

Aside from having a craptastic couple of weeks, my blog hasn’t been working correctly. I don’t know if it’s WordPress, my internet connection or what, but I can’t type up a full blog post, only these quickies.

I’m going to take it as a sign from the universe that I need a few more days before I write a long post, so maybe I don’t sound like a raving lunatic or a complete B (either of which have been perfectly possible these last couple of weeks). Ok, universe. Message received. I’ll avoid scaring my friends and family for a few more days. Thanks for looking out!

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Finally

Finally feeling better, but still worn out. Hand Foot Mouth disease basically sucks. And as much as I love my son, I now view him as a tiny disease incubator.

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Adieu, Law and Order

For those of you who are not a fan of the show, this blog post will be meaningless.  For those of you who are, you’ll know where I’m coming from when I say:

I’m really going to miss you, Law and Order.

You’ve been like an old, dear friend to me over the years.  20 years to be precise, which would technically have made me 9 years old in your first season, and therefore a wildly inappropriate audience for your dark subject matter.  Yet, when I did discover you, years later, it was an instant connection.

I wouldn’t say love at first sight because in those early days your video and sound production was shaky.  Perhaps you were trying to capture the grittiness of New York City, pre-Giuliani and the great clean-up of Times Square and the Great White Way.  Perhaps, because of your newness, your budget simply wasn’t that big.  Even your cast photos needed some polish back in those days.

Michael Moriarity and Richard Brooks

Though your actors have real names, often with illustrious careers prior to joining your cast or even after they depart, I’ll always remember them by their characters’ names.  For example, the pair above, the DA dynamic duo in the very early days, will always be Stone and Robinette to me.  And Jerry Orbach will always be Lennie Briscoe in my heart.

In fact, when Jerry/Lennie passed away a few years ago, part of my love for the show went with him.  Not that I didn’t still love you, but I loved you more when Lennie was with you.  In fact, Lennie was an important part of my personal “dream team”: Det. Lennie Briscoe, Det. Rey Curtis, ADA Claire Kincaid, Exec ADA Jack McCoy, and DA Adam Schiff.

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed Jesse L Martin and Chris Noth as Lennie’s partners (and the partners of other detectives), but Benjamin Bratt’s role as Det. Curtis was so perfect, so spot-on as the young, excitable detective, who chafes at the old-school way of doing things, yet struggles with his own demons, that it successfully makes Bratt my favorite of Lennie’s partners.

Lennie, or Jerry Orbach I should say, was on the show for over 270 episodes from 1991-2004, making him third to Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson)  at 391 and Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) at 368.

These three characters weathered the technology revolution that shook the justice world to its core, both in reality and in fiction.  Through your eyes, Law and Order, we saw the world embrace DNA evidence, trace evidence, e-mails, cell phones, digital cameras, etc.  I saw the phone on Lt. Van Buren’s desk change from rotary to multi-line punch to sleek flat panels for caller id.  I saw the detectives go from checking pagers and using payphones to holstering their cell phones alongside their weapons.

But it’s not just the nostalgia of changing times that will make me miss you, Law and Order.  It’ll be all the times I spent with you that I miss the most.

You were there for me with a Saturday afternoon marathon when I was desperate to avoid homework.

You were there for me with regularly schedule early morning repeats on weekdays for hung-over college students, senior citizens, and stay-at-home moms (at various times, I fit all but one of these categories).

You were there for me everyday, like clockwork, when I was stuck on bed-rest with 1) a broken toe; 2) a bum knee; 3) a nervous breakdown; 4) pregnancy related illnesses.

You were there for me when nothing else was on.  I knew that even if the current season wasn’t to my liking, as it has increasingly been, there would be re-runs of you somewhere, out there on the web or the thousands of channels provided via satellite.

And so, I’ll miss you.

I’ll miss your legal nuances and blunders.  I’ll miss your “ripped from the headlines” stories and the ones that were just too bizarre to be true.  I’ll miss your “da du”.  I’ll miss the ironic one-liners.

So goodbye, dear Law and Order.  Adieu.

I’ll see you in re-runs.

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