August 05, 2007

What I Did This Weekend

Posted by Robin at 11:46 PM | Comments (5)

July 23, 2007

Dotty Monday

Posted by Robin at 10:11 PM | Comments (4)

August 10, 2006

Dots of Weirdness

There is weird business afloat around here these days. Well, not really that weird, but it beats the whole lotta nothing that's also going on around here.

Posted by Robin at 01:30 PM | Comments (5)

August 02, 2006

Cure for Verbosity

Since I've been both verbose and curmudgeonly of late, here are some dots.

Posted by Robin at 07:09 PM | Comments (11)

June 05, 2006

Notes From a Lazy Summer Morning

Today feels different. The Detroit trip and worry about traveling with the tot have passed. We have no commitments or obligations. The day's going to be warm and lovely, perfect for a little post-grocery-shopping picnic. Remember the contentedness from a few weeks ago? It's back. Mellowness abounds. Life is good at Chez Poppymom.

Want to have morning coffee with me? I feel the need to share a blurry photo of my coffee mug:


I found this mug about five or six years ago when I was scrounging thrift and antique shops for mid-century basset hound paraphenalia. It was love at first sight with this mug. I paid an exorbatant amount of money for it. Don't regret it, though, because I truly love this mug.

For years it sat on top of our espresso machine, rarely used. I was afraid I'd break it. But last fall, I got B. a Senseo coffee maker for his birthday. I used the hound mug when we were in the machine experimental phase, where I discovered that it's the perfect size for a double cup of coffee with a splash of milk and a bit of sugar. I use the mug almost-daily now. On the days when it mistakeningly doesn't make it into the dishwasher and I have to use another mug, I get a little shaky.

Want to see how I'm going to be taking my tea?



This is the only souvenir I got for myself during last week's trip. We got carryout sushi from Noble Fish for lunch on Wednesday. It's a little sushi counter tucked into the back of a Japanese grocer. I came away with a set of kiddie chopsticks adorned with monkeys for Clara Jane, some sour orange gum, and my new tea mug. By next week I predict that drinking tea from any other mug will give me the shakes.

And yes, the mug lacks a handle, like most Asian tea mugs. You know why? Because they know something us impatient Americans don't: if the mug's so hot that you require a handle to hold it, that means the tea within is too hot to drink and you're going to burn your tongue, you dumbass. As one who has a perpetually burned tongue, I think this was a wise purchase for me to make.

B., Clara Jane and I went to the Rock & Roll Craft Show on Saturday, which was awesome. Clara Jane got a cool new doll:



The doll's a female Robin Hood with an anime-style face, clad in purple felt. Clara Jane thinks she's the bee's knees, and she's right. I wish the gal who made her had a website, because every little kid needs one of these awesome dolls.

I'd like to take a moment to profess my love for my pal PKB. You all know I adore her. She's having a rough day. Considering that she made dinner for my family last night - she never cooks, but you wouldn't know from the yumminess of last night - she shouldn't be allowed to have a rough day. C'mon and give her a hug! She might give you some kick-ass sangria in return.

There's one thing that's a little irritating today, other than the unfairness PKB is experiencing. It's minor, though. Clara Jane was on the wait list to take a toddler's bug class at the butterfly house. The class is at 10 AM today. I got a call at 9 AM, informing me that there was an opening available for her. That's all well and good, except we live 30 minutes away and had just rolled out of bed. No bug class for us. To vent our frustrations, maybe I'll teach my own bug class. It will involve a lesson on what happens when Mr. Ant meets Mr. Magnifying Glass, which is exactly why I should make every effort to let others teach my child.

Despite that, I'm feeling generous. My Flickr link is back on the sidebar.

I'm reading the worst book ever. It's also listed on the sidebar. I could list it here, but I don't feel like giving such a piece of crap any more free publicity than I already have. In the past, if I found myself disliking a book, I had no qualms about ditching it. But this year, I've opted to make an an Amazon Listmania! list detailing every book I complete. It's changed my mindset, and not in a good way. I find myself yelling (inside my head, of course), "I hate this book! But my God! That's precious reading time I've wasted and if I quit, I'll have nothing to show for it on my list!" I spent hours yesterday with my nose in this book not because I love nothing more than curling up with a good book on a lazy Sunday, but because the sooner I muddle through this shitheap, the sooner I get to check it off my list and move on to Marley & Me, a book that guarantees a different kind of moaning and wailing. My dad couldn't finish it because it made him miss his dog, Mindy. You know, the yellow Lab hybrid who once ate a ride-on lawnmower.

And on that note, take a gander at the gorgeous, dearly departed lawnmower-nosher as she prepares to eat my dog:

Posted by Robin at 09:15 AM | Comments (5)

May 25, 2006

Late-Mid-Week-Videoless Dots

I've got a playlist on my iPod that consists of the ten songs Clara Jane insists on hearing over and over and over. In thanking my lucky stars that I live in a world where the biggest worry I have regarding my child involves keeping my sanity after 45 minutes of listening to the same song, or the hissy fit that ensues when I turn it off, I present you with The Clara Jane Boogie:

1. City of Blinding Light - U2
2. Love Like a Truck - Bottle Rockets
3. Honky Tonk Hiccups - Neko Case
4. Woo Hoo - The 5.6.7.8's (This is the song from the Vonage TV ads. Yes, I purchased the song for her. Yes, I need to be beaten.)
5. Candyfloss - Wilco
6. Come Together - The Beatles
7. John Henry - Bruce Springsteen
8. Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand
9. Mirror in the Bathroom - English Beat
10. War on War - Wilco

Posted by Robin at 05:13 PM | Comments (5)

May 03, 2006

Fighting Crime, One Dot at a Time

I love it when I don't have anything to blog about, because it means life's relatively even-killed. No big lows, no big highs. Bad for readers, good for me. Since I have nothing that merits deep explaination, here's some dots for you.

Posted by Robin at 05:52 PM | Comments (4)

March 27, 2006

Monday's Little Tiny Nuggets

It's taken me nearly an hour to post, and because of an gangly pinky fingernail I just deleted everything I've written. Fucking Windows keyboard.

Posted by Robin at 05:15 PM | Comments (6)

March 16, 2006

My Day, Chunky-Style

I'm too tired to string together real paragraphs, and don't have anything particularly paragraph-worthy. So you're getting dots. Dig in!

Posted by Robin at 08:50 PM | Comments (7)

March 06, 2006

Waiting for the Fairies to Show Up

We're going to leave the house today. Really. I know it's 10 a.m., and we're both still in our pajamas, and we have to be home no later than 12:30 so I can be the Nap Nazi. But really! We're going to leave the house! I'm just waiting for the magic fairies to show up, clothe us, bathe us, and fantastically transport us to a mall with a candle store. In the meantime ...

Posted by Robin at 09:54 AM | Comments (5)

February 19, 2006

The Abbreviated Version

A quick summary of some of this weekend's highlights before we hit the road home:

Posted by Robin at 02:13 PM | Comments (3)

February 08, 2006

I'm Worthy, Dammit

Clara Jane has returned home. My mom claims Clara Jane only cried three times during her visit, and each spell was brief and quite adorable in its darlingness. So why is it:

And that's not all! I'm just stopping the list at three because my God! Why continue? She cried five times in her first six hours with me. I am. The mother. Supreme.

It's been an irritating day. I'm a firm believer that the universe isn't out to get me, that other people aren't out to get me. It's just the way things roll; some days I rock and some days I can't catch a break. Like everyone.

That being said, I wished horrible things on these people who annoyed me today:

But those are all minor. I'm sure today's snow had everyone in a snit. I know I was in one and I probably annoyed someone just as badly. At least, I hope I did. I'll bet the woman who found my assprint in her lunch probably wasn't thrilled with me.

There was one irritation that overshadowed all of these minor ones, though. We're talking a veer-off-the-road-in-shock level of irritation.

While driving down the interstate, I saw a church billboard that read, "Be worthy of love."

Be worthy of love?
Be worthy of love?!?!?!?!?!??!?!

I'm sorry, I thought that, by merit of being, oh, I don't know, human, we're all worthy of love. I know my religious education doesn't go much beyond a few summer of vacation bible school as a tot, but Jesus I mean God, um, goodness gracious sakes alive bless my heart shit fire to save matches*!

What was I saying? Right. I don't have much God-learning beyond "This Little Light of Mine" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children", but maybe it's an elementary lesson in Christianity that's needed in this case, all that business about all the little children being precious in His sight and such. But maybe that really only pertains to children children. Jesus loves you unconditionally until you're 18. Then you've gotta earn it, Bucko.

I'm worthy of love because I spent my evening making four dozen frosted, decorated cookies for my bawling child's Valentine's Day party, and I fucking hate making cookies, dammit.

*These are all phrases that my Pentecostal grandmother uses in place of taking the lord's name in vain. I'm thinking I should adopt some of them, as my usual motherfucker is becoming a tad trite.

Posted by Robin at 09:30 PM | Comments (16)

February 05, 2006

Sunday Nuggets

Posted by Robin at 07:02 PM | Comments (12)

January 30, 2006

Cordially Invited...

Do you read This is not a ham sandwich? If not, why? Are you simple-minded? Because you really should read it. Summer, the author, is funny, thought-provoking, and today she's discussing enormous sweaty sausages.

By far my favorite thing on Summer's blog is the sidebar section she calls "Cordially invited to lick my pits", in which she lists things that are bothering her. In the six months or so since I started reading her blog, I keep finding that phrase running through my head. I don't think I've ever said it outloud, but it's embedded there in my subconscious, just waiting for a party. So much so that when I used capers in not one, but two meals last week, I thought, "Hello capers. Licked Summer's pits lately?"

I love it when my mind is overtaken by other peoples' thoughts. I also love hijacking those thoughts when I'm too lazy/tired/braindead to come up with anything interesting on my own. So without further ado ... The following are cordially invited to lick my pits:

Posted by Robin at 01:44 PM | Comments (9)