Rock-n-Romp pimpage over at Cool Mom Picks!

actually, it's a shout-out from a dad, who is contributing as part of father's day week. flippin' sweet.

have i mentioned that Rock-n-Romp is less than a month away and i am SO not ready? YIKES. oh, and all systems are go for the Austin RnR...i've got my plane ticket! whee! all i can say is that paige better show me a good time...heh.

VICTORY!

YES! first, let me say thanks to you ladies who offered words of encouragement over my crafty predicament. things continued to get testy via the listserv, and i finally convinced others that we needed to break free from the oppressive dictatorship of SAHMs Who Craft Ugly Things And Wear Mom Jeans! we are starting our own collective, and i am beyond happy. check out these cool chicks and their wares:

• i like seamonsters
• my paper crane
• artschool dropout

awesome stuff, yes?? these are the confirmed members of the new collective, and i'm hoping there will be a few more very soon. so now we just need a name, because there is an amazing opportunity for heidi from my paper crane to be on a DIY network show with some other crafty friends to promote the group, and they need to know the group name! like NOW! give me some suggestions, dudes. i know you all are creative and shit. here are my least lame ideas so far:

• Indie Craft Brigade (or just Craft Brigade)
• Craft Mutiny! (something pirate-y would kick ass)

uhhh, i guess that's all i got. thoughts? ideas? suggestions?

don't rock the boat, baby....

[rock the boat!]
don't tip the boat over!

i am not a drama queen. i do not like confrontation. but if it's important enough, i will stand up for what i believe in and make my voice heard, no matter how unpopular my views may be. okay, even if it's not so important, i'll weigh in with my opinion, but i don't do it to be obnoxious or offensive. i do it to make sure that all sides are heard. i do it if i feel that something is unjust, unfair or just plain wrong.

recently i joined a craft collective (who shall remain nameless because i don't want any of the other members to google that shit and end up here!) to meet other cool, crafty people and work together to build/promote our little crafty businesses. honestly, my main objective was to find other crafty chicks to hang out with -- none of my friends get into the crafts like i do! well, imagine my surprise when i meet some of the women in this collective and they are nothing like i'd imagined them to be. NOTHING. a few are awesome -- funky, indie, interesting, creative, potty-mouthed.....everything i was looking for when i joined. a few are, uh, not so awesome. these would include the person who started the collective (basically she got permission to use the name, which is an offshoot of the original collective using the name in another state) and someone who showed up wearing mom jeans and white sneakers (who i will now refer to as mom jeans). oh, and who makes jewelry that i hate. i have no idea what the woman who started the collective makes....let me start calling her the founder. i do know that they are both stay-at-home-moms who live in the suburbs FAR from DC (which is part of the collective's name and, obviously, identity). i won't get into the boring details, but these women and i seem to have reached an impasse. on the group listserv i expressed my displeasure with all the tedious rules of linking to each other and the fact that i'm not interested in promoting someone else's work when i don't even know what they do. i called the founder out by name on that last point. mom jeans said i was being "offensive and less than tactful." you can see where i'm going with this, right? these women don't have their shit together (the group site is ugly, there is no cohesiveness [is that a word?] to the group), and i don't have time to fuck around with a group of people i don't like! so my first instinct was to get the other cool chicks to leave with me and start a new group! heh. i'm such an instigator! but they seem to think that sticking it out is the way to go, and eventually we'll be able to take over. so then i think, okay, i can stick it out. then i read more tedious bullshit emails on the listserv, and think about how much i don't want to work with the founder and mom jeans, and think FUCK THIS. how will we take over without being total assholes? god, i feel so elitist and exclusionary saying this, but the fact is that certain people in the group do not represent what i feel this particular craft collective is about. but i'm not into hostile takeovers. i'm not into hurting people's feelings. i'm not into telling someone that i don't like their work. i respect anyone making things for the love of making things, but just because you craft does not mean i want to work with you! i just don't see how sticking it out and being lumped in with uninteresting product is helping me. oh yeah, the main thing it seems that other people want out of this group is promoting their businesses and getting exposure. that's all well and good, but the people who like mom jeans' jewelry are certainly not gonna be into the skull and crossbones i stitch up, you know? and vice versa! SIGH.

so now i don't know what to do. maybe it's really not so important to be part of a collective? i can still hang out and talk shop with the cool crafters i've met from the group, right? but then if the group ends up being really cool and the boring ones drop out, i'll feel like i fucked up a good thing. ugh. today i'm leaning towards sticking it out, but i seriously don't know if i can keep my mouth shut for that long. if i stay, i'm not going to blindly follow the founder, and that's going to mean i'm gonna say some very unpopular shit. gah, why can't i just be a follower???

we went insane when we took cocaine

WTF? this is why i should not be allowed to have an iPod, people. i will troll iTunes and find all the songs of my misguided youth and listen to them over and over, bypassing all the cool, new music i have also downloaded. i guess it was the summer of '81 or '82 when i would listen to "genius of love" over and over and OVER. it's a pretty great song, even now. clueless preteen me didn't even notice all the drug talk in the lyrics! oh who am i kidding, i barely pay attention to lyrics now. heh. i'm all about the instrumentation, dudes. speaking of which, i've had a serious hankering for taking up the drums lately. maybe bashing away will get rid of these sausage-like upper arms! but i digress....

so david took pity on his prehistoric technophobe wife and got me an iPod for mother's day. pretty sweet, eh? now i can listen to all my favorite songs from the 80s while looking all 21st century with white wires coming out of my ears! the last 5 songs that played in shuffle mode:

tom tom club - genius of love
yaz - don't go
fishbone - ugly
tears for fears - mad world
asia - heat of the moment

HA! did i just admit that i downloaded a FUCKING ASIA SONG??? dudes, i have no shame. you know, this could very well be someone's submission for paige's shittiest mixtape challenge which, by the way, you should all really enter. the winner will receive a totally awesome hand-stitched tee shirt made by ME, proclaiming them as the mixtape king or queen. whee! what have you got to lose??

paper planes don't loop

it looks better than a straight line, though.

check out

paper planes don't loop
Originally uploaded by workforidlehands.

my latest creation. over the winter i schemed stitching on cute velvet mary janes, but life was too hectic to try it. i'm quite pleased with the results! i remember my first pair of cheap, black cotton chinese mary janes in high school. god, where did i get those? i don't even remember, but they were the perfect accessory for my gothy-punky-new-waver, all-black wardrobe. i actually preferred the boy version, and when i bought this red pair, saw that they make them in kiddie sizes! whee! so jack and nate have been sporting their mini karate shoes everywhere. fucking adorable. there's been a lot of "HI-YA!"ing going on in this house lately. heh. so i think it's safe to say that this will be my new obsession, stitching on shoes. so many colors! so many sizes (yes, they make baby sizes)! awesome. if you want a pair and have an idea for a design, you know where to reach me.

shittiest mixtape challenge

so, the lovely paige offered up this challenge a week or so ago, and i was intrigued. watching the video of aziz wandering around the city with his boombox blasting god-awful songs made me laugh, and i thought this could be a fun challenge! so many bad songs! how to pick just five?? then i forgot about it. but dear paige has reminded me, and i'm feeling inspired by xiobhan's submission, though a little intimidated by her forethought and criteria for her mix. dudes! i just figured i'd pick 5 shitty songs off the top of my head that make me cringe when i hear them! so that is what i will do. and, no, you will not get mp3s, because i still don't know how to link to them, and your efforts to instruct me will be a waste of time! but you won't need them. trust me, you will read the title of the song and you will instantly remember the melody and all the lyrics, though you'll desperately wish you couldn't. heh. so, without further ado, my shittiest mixtape:

1. steve miller band - abracadabra
2. shania twain - man! i feel like a woman!
3. crash test dummies - mmmm mmmmm mmmm mmmmm
4. USA for africa - we are the world
5. starship (they had dropped the "jefferson" by then, right?) - we built this city

so there you have it! wanna play along? submit your list to paige's blog! there is a prize, though i'm not sure what it is. i'm hoping it's a roundtrip ticket to austin. heh.

now playing

big country - in a big country

you know what? i fucking LOVE this song, and i don't care who knows it. the bassline is crazy, and the bagpipe guitar effects are awesome. yes, i am a dork. SHA!

last night there were skinheads on my mom*

in the car today the whole family rocked out to an interesting setlist:

• ...trail of dead - the rest will follow
• supersystem - born into the world
• camper van beethoven - take the skinheads bowling
• the darkness - i believe in a thing called love

basically played on repeat the whole journey. all songs vastly different from each other, but each deemed worthy of rocking out (complete with air guitar solos, flailing imaginary drumsticks and rousing choruses) by the boys. we must have looked insane to people in the cars around us. awesome.

* from the fantabulous CVB song above. this is jack's take on the line, "last night there were skinheads on my lawn." yeah, i laughed my ass off, too.

kindergarten roundup

jack did not get into the spanish immersion program. or the french immersion program. motherfuckers! did i not say that i don't handle rejection well? heh. so today we went to the academy program's kindergarten roundup, where jack got to do a project in the classroom while dave and i filled out paperwork. it's still kind of unbelievable that i have a child that will be going to school! real school! where there are no naps, no one to wipe your butt, you eat in the cafeteria, you go on field trips...wow. pretty crazy. we had a sweet, 5 minute walk from the house to school, which will be our daily ritual come fall. as we were walking i wondered when i would ever feel comfortable letting him walk by himself. NEVER! heh. no, seriously, i don't know. i'm so fucking paranoid, i'd probably stand on the curb and watch him or something, even though the school is literally down the street from us.

so that's that. school. jack is really into it, so i'm happy no matter what program he's in. really! doesn't sound like me, huh?

i've been feeling really uninspired as far as blogging goes, friends. i'm boring you , i know. bear with me.

i just don't know if i can handle that kind of rejection*

this week we are waiting to hear if jack got into the fantastic spanish immersion program offered by the county school system. we've also applied for the french immersion program, but spanish is obviously our first choice because that is what he has been learning for the past 3 years. plus, the spanish immersion program is highly coveted because it lasts through high school, and is taught in three (elementary, middle, high) of the best schools in the area. so yeah. i'm pretty much freaking out right now. it's a total lottery system, so no kid is rejected for any other reason than the luck of the draw, but i hate this shit because I NEVER WIN ANYTHING. seriously! and this is important, so the randomness of the selection kind of sucks. jack deserves to go! gah, i need to just deal with whatever happens. i need to work on my "it's okay, sweetie, french is going to be fun!" speech. and, speaking of which, the french immersion program is taught in the school down the street, so the walking factor would be sweet. and, on the off chance he doesn't get into the french immersion program, the school down the street also offers all students what they call the academy program, which pushes math and science. so, really, any program he is in will be good. no, any program will be GREAT, because we are lucky to have great schools in our area. even so, if he goes to the school down the street, it's still going to feel like he's getting the short end of the stick.

dudes, how the fuck am i going to handle college applications??

*from the excellent toy story, which has all its dialogue permanently etched into my brain. why don't they make a toy story 3?? no, really. i want to know.

now playing

love and rockets - kundalini express

when this album came out 20 years ago, i'd listen to it regularly -- it's really damn good. this song is all about transcendentalism and reaching that "higher plane," blahblah bullshit. heh. what can i say, i'm too wound up and cynical to believe in such things now. but i still enjoy listening to it even though now, two decades old, it has lost any spiritual meaning it may have had for 16-year-old me, and has instead become the perfect vehicle for nate and i to yell "WHOO! WHOO!" as loud as we can. it is about a train, after all.

i know they say deaths come in threes

but this is ridiculous. yesterday was an awful day for people we care about. a good friend's father passed away, another good friend's sweet, sweet dog was put to sleep, and dave's aunt succumbed to her illnesses. i'm always pathetically inarticulate when it comes to things like this, so i won't muck up these tragic events with stiff, hollow sounding words. i just want to say that the pain that those who have lost are suffering is something i can't really relate to, but my heart hurts for them. i'm so incredibly sorry for their losses.

now go kiss/hug/call someone you love. life is much too short...

um, men? you might want to skip this one...

so, ladies? give it to me straight: do any of you know when you're ovulating? like, know precisely when you're ovulating? I DO. and it's freaking me out! i know that mittelschmerz is quite common, but it doesn't seem right that i can literally feel the egg BUSTING OUT OF MY OVARY. and it does NOT feel good! i won't even get into the abundance of cervical mucus.... and i'm not usually squirmish about bodily fluids, but ICK. so yeah. i ovulated today. for 20ish years i was so clueless and unaware about my body that i'd get surprised when my period started, and now i can set the clocks by my cycle. i guess this is what birthing babies does to a woman, huh? tell me this is what birthing babies does to a woman! PLEASE. i won't feel so freakish then!

with great power comes great responsibility

some days i feel like i can do anything, and say things like, "oh, we don't need to worry about summer camp for jack this year! we live in a place full of awesome things for kids to do like visit the museums at the smithsonian and the national zoo (both of which are FREE), the botanical gardens, glen echo park, the aquarium in baltimore, the washington monument (all the monuments, really), numerous nature centers, six flags, the list goes on and ON. we can go on little field trips every week, and jack and nate can spend time together, and we can SAVE MONEY. yes, that is what we should do this summer!"

and then i wake up the next day and realize I'VE LOST MY FUCKING MIND. TWO crazy boys with me ALL DAY? EVERY DAY?? YIKES. but maybe, just maybe, it will be the funnest summer EVER. i dunno. the jury's still out on this one, folks.

oh, and for the uninitiated (non-parents, parents of girls, non-comic book readers, et al), that line is from spiderman. DUH.

so spring has sprung

it is gorgeous outside and i feel all energized and ready to conquer the world! there is the slight problem of my allergies wreaking havoc when i am outside for any extended period of time, though, which makes gardening or other nature-related activities next to impossible. but that's okay! i'm looking at the positives! dave can take care of the yard and i can set my sights on Rock-n-Romp!

the insanity of starting up 60 bugs sidetracked me, so i've been totally remiss in relaying all the exciting news about RnR this year! so, RnR::Baltimore is going on its second year, which is great, and we're going on our fifth year, but we also have some new additions to the RnR family: Memphis, Austin and -- this just in -- Canada! does that not kick ass?? Memphis had their first show last month and it was an unbelievable success, and they're planning several more this summer. my pal paige is hosting the Austin version, and i'm pretty sure i'm gonna be there for the inaugural Romp in july -- i'm so excited! and now i've just heard from my pal jess that she and her hub are down with doing RnR Canada-style! whee! dudes, they live on a farm. i am totally envisioning a Woodstock-type festival, with toddlers caked in mud and twirling around and playing hackysack. heh. is that not AWESOME?

if you know anyone who lives in the DC, Baltimore, Memphis or Austin areas, hep them to the awesomeness that is Rock-n-Romp! [jess, help me out...where exactly are you in Canada?] if you live in any of those areas, get your butt to a show! you will have fun, i promise. if you don't live in any of those areas: got a backyard? want to elicit oohs and aahs over how brilliant you are from all your parent friends?? want to rub shoulders with the cool, local indie bands that you never get to see?? Rock-n-Romp across the world, baby! you know where to reach me.