cranky pixels

Happy Halloween! We’re not dressing up this year, unless you count the fact that Happy Fun Baby is wearing pumpkin-colored sweatpants. Oh, and I’m going as a frumpy housewife. It’s a costume. No really.

The blogosphere is, as expected, abuzz with seasonal goodness. In addition to seriously cute pictures of wee children in costume, I am currently entertained by The Zero Boss, who is featuring a post from Girl’s Gone Child with an updated, politically-correct version of the trick-or-treat rhyme we all knew and loved as kids. (Man, we were smart-asses as children! You’d think we’d have grown out of it by now, wouldn’t you? At least I don’t threaten to de-pant random passers-by. Usually.) As someone who owns Politically Correct Bedtime Stories (and, er, its sequel), I can appreciate such things. Political correctness is totally a punchline. Didn’t you know?

I almost wish we’d decided to dress up the short person, but at almost 11 months old he’s a bit too young to appreciate the finer points of Halloween: namely, candy. I appreciate candy. I appreciate small, individually-wrapped confections of delicious, chocolate-covered…wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. Trick-or-treating, and why it’s sort of silly to bring the little one out into the cold and dark to knock on strangers’ doors and beg for treats he can’t have. Which…seems pretty self-explanatory, now that I think about it. Still, he makes a damn cute pirate, even if we haven’t taught him how to say “Arr.”

technorati tags:halloween, pirate, trick-or-treat, zero boss, girls gone child, arr

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My creative muscle (which I think is located just below the base of my skull, if the headache is any indicator) has been stretched to the limit this weekend. Not only did I have the beginnings of a final project that kicked my ass all up and down the block, but we’re getting ready to launch both the official couldbe studios site and my pet project (one of them, anyway) copywriting service. And I’m almostalmost done with the site we’re designing for my first client. So: busy! But not too busy to update in list form. I’m never too busy to make lists. Other things I never am include well-rested, conservative, and frugal.

* I finally managed to take my kid to storytime at the library. The verdict? The kid had a grand time, and I really need to work on my social skills. Show of hands: who is surprised by this? Also, there are more hip parents in St. Johns than I would have thought. This is a good thing.

Note: my Cranky Mama flickr account is out of space for this month, so all these pics are from our other account. In case you were confused. Which, I would be.

* I take lots of pictures of my kid. It’s only because he’s so much cuter than anyone else in the world. Except maybe his dad. The two of them together? Cute overload.

* We figured out how to set the shutter speed on the camera. Yes, I know, but who has time to read the manual? I still need to figure out the whole f-stop thing. My photo-geek high-school self is mocking me right now.

* My head has hurt for almost two weeks now. Stupid sinuses.

* Happy Fun Baby figured out how to clap and wave this weekend. His favorite part is getting us to mimic him. Who can resist a baby clapping his chubby little hands together and then looking expectantly at you? The grin he gets when we do his bidding? Totally worth it.

* I have no other bullet points.

Right now the kid and the cat are snuggled up together on the couch, napping. I could take a picture, but I’m not going to. This one I want to keep for myself.

technorati tags:camera, f-stop, pictures, baby, business, couldbe studios, buzzverb, snuggling, clapping, waving

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Today has been somewhat…trying. I’m trying to tweak the CSS of a WordPress theme that would be perfect for my upcoming copywriting service website (because…I didn’t have enough side projects going on?) but since I’m functionally illiterate in CSS, it isn’t working. I’ve been trying to catch up on the housework, but Happy Fun Baby is going through a demanding phase, in that he demands to be held while simultaneously demanding to not be held. Yeah, but just try explaining illogic to a ten month old.

Seriously, though? This whole growing thing he insists on doing is causing no end of grief for his poor mama. Every day he can reach something he couldn’t reach the day before, meaning my clever “childproofing” method, which involves moving things I don’t want him to have onto a surface he can’t reach, is failing spectacularly.

When he finally went down (for what turned out to be a 20-minute nap, but I didn’t know that yet) I started the involved process of reorganizing my the desk. (I keep calling it “my” desk because it used to be my desk but is now the “shared” desk. Much like everything else in my world. Er, the world.) As I was stacking things on the chair in preparation for an extravaganza of sorting, a huge, white spider crawled up the chair back.

The spider is a symbol of poisonous and sinful desires, on one hand, and an emblem of skilful and creative attitudes, on the other hand. If you dream of a spider, you’d better be honest and work hard in order to be happy and successful. To dream of a spider sitting on your skin: you need to be ready to fight provocation and worries. Sometimes a spider represents female seduction which “devours” of the male, in this case reconsider your behaviour, it may look patronizing, overprotective or demanding.

Dream-Land’s Dream Dictionary – Find Dream Symbol Interpretation

Okay, so I didn’t exactly dream of a spider. I manifested one on my the office chair using the power of my brain. Also: MEEP. (Spider phobia. Have I mentioned my spider phobia?)

After leaping backward and gasping loudly enough to wake the dead, I ran upstairs (circumventing the chair by as many feet as possible) and grabbed the handvac, which I used to suck the spider into oblivion. Which, naturally, woke the baby, thus ending any hopes I might have had of making the desk a safer place for humanity.

technorati tags:spiders, phobias, dream, symbols, cleaning, babies, css, wordpress, copywriting, logic

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Several things entertain me this morning, and none of them are Veronica Mars. Last night’s episode was…fine. It was a show. It just wasn’t my show. My show involves somewhat more darkness and intrigue and somewhat less matter-of-fact mystery solving. What happened to the emotional investment? The closest thing Veronica has to a mission these days is checking up on things behind Logan’s back…and since when is that an acceptable addition to a relationship? If the roles were reversed we’d be all “Dude, that Logan character is out of line,” but as it is we’re given the impression that it’s practically a tic on Veronica’s part. Which, whatever. She spies. We get it. How come that has to translate to borderline sociopathy?

It’s too bad, because by Season 3 you’d think a show would have hit its stride.I’m thinking wistfully of the halcyon days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is apropos given Daddy Types’ report that there will soon be a Mr. Gordo stuffed plush pig available for purchase. Mr. Gordo! I am filled with fangirl squee.

Buffy Mr. Gordo Stuffed Pig Plush Replica

Somehow I doubt that there will be any cross-marketing of Veronica Mars merchandise, although a Vinnie Vanlowe spy pen would make a great stocking stuffer…

technorati tags:veronica mars, buffy the vampire slayer, mr. gordo, stuffed pig, daddy types, tv, fangirl, toy, Vinnie Vanlowe, spy pen

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Pregnancy brought me many things, including a baby, which is pretty damn cool if you think about it. Somewhat less than cool are the post-pregnancy side effects: feet too big for my shoes, stretch marks, saggy boobs, extra pounds. Obviously the having of the baby outweighs the suckage of the side effects, but still, they do not thrill me.

Until today: I discovered that my eyesight has actually gotten better! This hasn’t happened, well, ever. I got my first pair of glasses at 12, and my vision’s gotten significantly worse every year since. Last exam (two years ago – I had to skip last year’s exam) I was up to -9 in one eye and -8.5 in the other. Coke bottles! Or they would have been, if anyone used glass for lenses anymore, but who does? Also: contacts.

It’s not like I’ll be going without corrective lenses anytime soon, but it’s nice to know I won’t be completely blind before the kid’s in kindergarten.

technorati tags:glasses, contacts, myopia, eyes, vision

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Our weekend was absolutely, unexpectedly idyllic. The weather was bizarrely perfect and we took full advantage by going on lots of walks. We went out to Signal Station last night for dinner (so cute, and the pizza = quite good), and on the way home our kid walked two whole blocks by himself (holding either my or Not So’s hand). Two whole blocks! I expected it to be much like trying to walk the cat on a leash (ten months is a bit little for the holding-hands-while-walking thing) but he was so delighted to be walking along like a big kid that he just trotted next to us with a big grin. I’m getting all sentimental!mama just thinking about it. Time to start researching ways to stunt the baby’s growth. I hear caffeine does the trick…

I also – believe it or not – did a craft! I am not exactly a crafty sort of girl, but we went out to Michael’s right after we moved into the condo (what, five months ago?) and in a fit of I-don’t-know-what I was inspired to purchase some felt and batting. “I’ve got this idea for a stuffed animal,” I told Not So, who did not burst into laughter right there in the store. True to form, once we got home I shoved the bag of supplies deep into a closet and barely gave it another thought.

Until this weekend, that is. We unearthed the bag, I made a pattern, assembled and sewed it, and the result: my very first sideshow freak stuffed animal! Ellison named it Dao:

As if that wasn’t enough, I decided I actually like making creepy dolls (…big surprise…) so I’m working on setting up a Shopify storefront to sell them online. Because, yes, I am that big of a geek.

I also found out that my sister and brother-in-law have actual, confirmed tickets to come out and visit us in December. That means they’re going to be here for Happy Fun Baby’s first birthday! Particularly apropos given that my sister was here for his birth. This morning I worked on the Wiki, where I set up a page of gift recs for Ellison, and a little later I’m going to start checking into different places to have a birthday party, since our condo = very wee. I’d love to do it at Sip & Krantz. Not that I’m in a big hurry – December isn’t exactly looming. Except that it is, kind of.

technorati tags:crafts, birthday, visit, wiki, signal station, pizza, walking, baby

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Ever since Not So got his Cold of Doom last month, I’ve had off-and-on sinus woes. This is nothing new. My sinuses are a sort of catch-all for any unpleasantness that enters my body. Allergies? Sinus headache. Cold? Sinus headache. I’m used to it. It’s relatively easy to deal with – just pop an Advil Cold & Sinus and drink some tea and all is well.

Except, no. Advil Cold & Sinus contains pseudoephedrine. Apparently pseudoephedrine has been co-opted by the always-industrious meth community. As a result, Oregon is now requiring a prescription for any medication containing pseudoephedrine.

Yes. You heard that right. I need a prescription for a freakin’ Sudafed.

Stupid meth-heads. They ruin things for everyone.

technorati tags:pseudoephedrine, oregon, prescription, advil cold & sinus, sudafed, sinus

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