it beats the hell out of doing laundry

Friday, March 31, 2006

damn, mickey's short


damn, mickey's short
Originally uploaded by workforidlehands.
we are having a wonderful time in disneyland! lots o' fun to be had in the Happiest Place on Earth, that's for sure. had to share the awesome photo of nate meeting mickey. true to form, jack refuses to get anywhere near the costumed characters, which is cool. a little frustrating, but whatever. natey cries whenever he has to leave the characters. night and day, those two. anyway, judging by his face, i think nate's a little annoyed that he had to wait in line so long to see mickey for 10 seconds.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

IN-N-OUT BURGER, MUTHAFUCKAS!!!

it's what's for dinner! and mucho excellente fish tacos for lunch. is it terribly sad that i mostly love california for the food? i guess the beautiful weather and palm trees and stuff are okay.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

I'm going back to Cali, Cali, Cali

I'm going back to Cali....hmmm, I don't think so.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD, LL COOL J.

So, we are, indeed, going back to Cali(fornia) bright and early tomorrow morning. It will be Nate's first trip to the left coast and [sound the trumpets] his first 5+ hour flight! Whee! Yes, we booked a non-stop flight, because what sane parent wants to have to lug all the shit that comes with dragging your kids on an airplane around three fucking airports in one day?? Not I, friends. It will be a radical experiment, but we are hopeful. I do believe this is only Nate's second encounter with the friendly skies, which makes me a little anxious, but I'm sure he'll be fine. We've got the laptop powered up with Dora and Diego and Bob the Builder and Thomas the TankEngine, which means he'll probably be in a video-induced coma by the time we land in San Diego. Heh. As long as there are no shrieking/whining/hitting-filled tantrums on the plane, I am fine with that. For the first time, I am not worried about Jack at all, which is such a relief. He's at the age where he can occupy himself for LONG stretches of time, and looks forward to plane rides. [in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice] Yessss.

When it comes right down to it, this trip is mostly about Jack. Dave has a meeting in San Diego, which also happens to be where the sister-in-law lives, and we've been meaning to get the boys out there to visit, so thought this was a good opportunity. Most importantly, though, is the close proximity to the evil empire, Disneyland! Dudes, I have been practically counting the days until Jack was old enough to appreciate Disney! The time has finally come. Yes, I am a geek. I love Disney. I've never done Disneyland, but I've been to Disney World several times, and all in my adult life. I think I'm making up for the shitty childhood trips I had to take to places like Paris and Venice and Switzerland. Fuck the Alps, mom, show me some Space Mountain! Heh. So this will be the first time I get to experience Mickey Mouse-land through the eyes of a child. I am beyond excited. I think 5 is a perfect age because he can process what the hell is going on, you know? Plus, he can talk about it. Coherently. That has been the greatest thing lately, to be able to talk with Jack about stuff. Like, really have a conversation. Little dude's pretty smart. Anyway, I am looking forward to sharing his enthusiasm and excitement in a more equal way, you know? It will be awesome.

I think Natey will have fun, but he is a little more sensitive than Jack when it comes to things like sleep. He has never been able to sleep with others -- near him, with him, whatever. God knows I've tried, but he will have none of it (much to Dave's delight). So we're a little nervous about the hotel situation when we're at Disney. I think if we make sure it's completely pitch black and lay perfectly still and makes absolutely NO sounds, we'll be okay. Heh, sounds like a fab vacation, huh? Shit, we should've just gotten him his own room! Oh well, kid's gotta learn sometime.

So today is get shit ready to go day! I will attempt to post pictures of glorious Cinderella's Castle and Jack fleeing life-sized Mickeys and Goofys trying to hug him and shit. Heh. Have a good week, blog peeps! Oh hey, anyone want Mickey ears? Anyone??

Monday, March 27, 2006

this really could start going to my head

i received a nice email from emily of pretty crabby, telling me that she has listed 60 bugs on a group site she contributes to called Awesome! is that not awesome? the blog love...it is blowing my mind. i may not have the money to advertise on dooce or other superstar blogs, but i placed an ad with the most excellent (not to mention reasonably priced) fussy, which has already paid for itself a few times over. plus, mrs. kennedy is really fucking NICE. it's pretty cool. anyway, i do believe the fussy ad has proved itself to be a most wise investment, since i'm betting that is where emily found out about 60 bugs. awesome. no, really, i mean it! AWESOME. i am in awe at the power of the blogosphere. please forgive any badmouthing i have done. oh wait, i only do that in email or on the phone. heh. nevermind. I [HEART] YOU, BLOGOSPHERE.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

yup, i'm famous

the dooce has photos of leta wearing her 60 bugs "more cowbell!" shirt up on her blog. nevermind the fact that she doesn't reference that it is a 60 bugs shirt or who gave it to her (sweetney) or anything about it AT ALL. heh. it doesn't matter. i know that i made that shirt, and it feels pretty dang good to think that thousands of people have seen it and thought, "hey, where did that awesome shirt come from??"

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Learn budgeting basics with Excel!

Discover how to use a spreadsheet to create and manage a budget in this FREE online class.Whether your business is a struggling startup or a thriving enterprise, knowing what money is coming in and going out is essential for making solid business decisions. In this course you'll learn how to create budgetary spreadsheets, analyze the financial data, and make predictions for the bottom line.

This hands-on class features interactive tutorials that show you how to create basic formulas, analyze worksheets, collaborate with others to share and merge workbooks, create trendlines, and perform what-if analyses to estimate expenses and profits.

this is the kind of email my husband sends me. gee, thanks, honey. the title alone makes me want to claw my eyes out. so, yes, the financially responsible member of the family has already started with the 60 bugs money talk: i need a spreadsheet, i need to remember the tax shit, i need to do this, i need to do that, blah blah blah. maybe this is why i've never started my own business? totally makes sense.

Friday, March 17, 2006

shout-outs and such

dudes, i am so frazzled i don't even know what to title this post. suffice it to say that the last few days have been BUSY. 60 bugs is taking off. i am slightly freaked out, but mostly floating-on-air. some things to note:

  • the internet is my friend. if you had asked me 5 years ago if i thought i'd ever have a web-based business i would've laughed so hard that i'd probably start choking. for a dinky little crafty thing like what i've got going on, the web is the only place to have any real success. after 2 days of being open for business it's already obvious, and i haven't even tapped all the amazing internet-ty resources there are for 60 bugs!
  • i have truly amazing friends, who not only helped design and host 60 bugs, but have also pimped and pimped and pimped, and whose kind blog posts have spawned even more pimpage, which is so kind it makes me weepy. then there are the lovely bloggy friends who have taken photos and ordered shirts and used their amazing talent for illustrating insects to help with the website design (i swear your beautiful bugs will be used once things calm down, chair!), and all out of the kindness of their hearts. oh! and friends who post things on geeky chicago music message boards about 60 bugs, which results in orders! and can't forget the new friends , who i have literally just "met" and are totally awesome and starting up Rock-n-Romp in memphis, who place HUGE orders! and then there are the friends who don't have websites or blogs who have deluged my inbox with praise and orders, and my insides are just all mushy trying to comprehend and absorb all the love. wow. and, of course, you 10 readers with your congrats and supportive words are the bestest. i [heart] you all!
  • as the poster child for pmdd, i really should know better than to start something huge like launching 60 bugs at my most overwhelmed time of the month. stupid dumb, as the beasties would say. but the OCD won this month, and i'm really not complaining, just feeling, you know, FUCKING TOTALLY OVERWHELMED. heh.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

and on the 6542842256987235756984238th day

60bugs.com was finally born! check it, blog peeps. give me your feedback!

EDIT: shame on me for not mentioning supamb, without whom 60bugs.com would still just be a crazy pipedream rolling around in my computer-illiterate brain! smooches to MB! bow to the kickass webdesigner, peeps!

Monday, March 13, 2006

oh, richard harris

why'd you have to go and die before the harry potter movies were done filming?? that new dude playing dumbledore is LAME. not to mention the fact that the kids are getting more annoying and overacting too much as they get older. sadly disappointing.

three things

the lovely jess asked me to do this meme and, to be honest, i quite like participating in these little survey-type things. it forces me to think about things i probably won't/don't have time to otherwise, and it satisfies the voyeur in me because i get to learn more about you all! this particular one, though, has made me see how selfish i am deep down inside. heh. oh well, here goes:

3 things you wish for (just for you)

1. a flat tummy
2. money to open a shoe store
3. the ability to deal with stressful situations calmly

3 things you would do to/for yourself if there was no one to judge you (or if you had the guts to do it!)

1. get a tattoo on my arm (i'm scared of flabby, wrinky old lady arms with ink!)
2. give the boobs a lift
3. lipo the tummy

3 bad habits you have

1. junk food
2. buying things i don't need
3. criticizing others

3 insecurities you feel

1. i'm not really that smart -- i'm quick, but that's not the same thing
2. that the things i make or do are really not worthy of praise
3. that my ideas are unoriginal

3 talents/skills you wish you had

1. that i had the innate ability to just pick up and do all this computer shit
2. i wish i could sew
3. i wish i could draw well

3 things that you would do if you had more time

1. silkscreen shirts
2. spend one-on-one time with jack
3. make Rock-n-Romp a worldwide sensation!

3 things that bring you peace/relaxation

1. being alone
2. doing anything completely uninterrupted
3. acting crazy with the kids

3 things that spark your creativity

1. discovering other creative people's work
2. my favorite songs
3. my boys

and now it's your turn paige, shannon and chair!

Friday, March 10, 2006

nerds nerds nerds!


nerds nerds nerds!
Originally uploaded by workforidlehands.
part of the 80s ABCs collection (i'm still tweaking the design of these shirts, so they may be slightly different in the end), soon to be available at 60bugs.com. yes, this website IS going to be ready SOON. if i weren't so obsessive about details it probably would already be up but, well, you know how it is. when you're obsessive. and compulsive. and such. heh.

Monday, March 06, 2006

now playing

de la soul - potholes in my lawn

dudes! does anyone remember 3 feet high and rising?? wow, i'd forgotten what a great album it is. natey and i have been shaking our booties all morning. perfect music for a dreary, overcast day such as this.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

you think you know a person

like really really know a person. you've enjoyed spending time with them, laughing with them, learning about them, sharing your life with them, giving them pretty much all you've got to give. and then? then you learn that this person has a side that's so bizarre that you can hardly believe that you thought you knew them at all. you wonder how it's possible you never picked up this facet of this person's personality, it seems so huge. *shudder* i'm still a little shaken from the shock of it all.

i have learned today that dave does not like the beatles. does NOT like the beatles. who doesn't like at least some beatles?? i can see how someone could not like the more sugary, early stuff, but hard day's night?? fucking revolver?? COME ON NOW. how did i not know this?? "i just don't think they're that great," he tells me. "i've NEVER liked them," he tells me. wow. and please, if you don't like the beatles, don't tell me. not today. i don't think i could handle the shock.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

kid-friendly?

ever since seeing the fantabulous edie sedgwick the other night, i'm having a hard time clearly defining this term. in my post below i told you that i had asked edie/justin to play Rock-n-Romp, such was my admiration for what she/he had just done on-stage. justin was most gracious and, in fact, already knew about RnR (let me pat myself on the back here, because i am constantly meeting hipster, childless, musician-types who know about RnR. i suck at promoting the damn thing, so i think that it must be seen as a pretty cool thing for the word to get around like that.). as he looked at my shitty little RnR business card (shitty because my black ink is fucked and i can't figure out how to fix it!) he chuckled at the tagline Kid-friendly rock shows! and said, "i'm not exactly kid-friendly." i laughed and said that it was just as much about the parents enjoying the show as the kids, and to give me his email and we'd talk about it more later. so the thing about it being as much for the parents is true, but now i'm wondering, would parents not want their kids to see someone like edie sedgwick? so she's a skinny boy dressed in drag singing/screeching about famous people. the music is loud and fast-paced. she gyrates and dances and knocks over chairs. it is truly an awesome show, and i can't wait to see her again, but i suspect that i've got unique tastes. and even though edie sedgwick is kind of outrageous, i'm not sure i agree that she's not "kid-friendly."

i use "kid-friendly" to describe Rock-n-Romp because it's held during the day, there are toys and a playground, the volume is kept low and it's held in a safe environment. the only ground rules for bands who play are 1. keep the volume low 2. keep the cussing to a minimum. um, yeah, i guess that's it. i don't want bands or musicians to have to compromise their artistic integrity, you know? and i have had bands not want to play because their music is meant to be played loud, or their lyrics are too maudlin, which i totally understand. to be honest, though, volume control is much more important to me than whether or not someone says "fuck" in a song or sings about smoking pot or something. i don't think children necessarily need to be shielded from that sort of thing, though, again, i suspect that i am unique in that sense. i think if edie played RnR, there would be questions from the kids, but isn't that a good thing? i dunno. ugh, the more i write about this the more i'm not sure!

help me out, folks! answer this: knowing what you know about edie sedgwick, would you feel comfortable bringing your kid to see her perform?