A rocky place

Okay, I have something to say

no, I'm not pregnant....but Naked Ovary is back. Holy shit!!!

Neglect

I'm neglecting this blog, I realize.

The proverbial pie-slicing is complicated. I know I need to make some choices and exercise some discipline regarding time management. I already have cut out tv, not that I watched much (and when Ugly Betty's back on, I'll be there.) I'm working 30 hrs a week and with Lincoln every bit of time I'm not at work, which leaves me with evenings free, after Linc's bed. That's often when we eat dinner together, or one of us goes out, or we do some housecleaning--not that you can tell, b/c our house is so very messy and dirty (the former connotes clutter/chaos, the latter dog hair, dust, and dead bugs).

I participate in an online community which is where I spend a lot of my free time (those evening hours, or stolen minutes at work), presumably at the expense of seeing friends in person. We socialize on the weekends sometimes, often with another couple/family/friend. I spend very little time doing anything alone--reading, writing, even talking on the phone or emailing. So this blog is neglected, and some projects I'd been working on are covered, metaphorically, in dust. I'm going to have to make some changes.

What's really fallen by the wayside is exercise. I used to get a fair bit of exercise most days--working out at the campus rec center probably 4-5x/week, plus a bike ride or walk to and from work. Now I manage maybe one workout every two weeks, tops, and the commute now involves taking Linc to day care, so the bike ride/walk doesn't work. When it cools down a bit, we'll bike ride between his day care and work, so that will add some exercise and save some gas. And, most notably, once it's cooler and the mosquitoes are gone, I/we can go on long fast walks with Lincoln in a carrier/stroller. Right now we can't do that, b/c he's asleep by 7, and before then it's too hot/bright/mosquitoed. I've never in my life gotten so little exercise. I miss it. My appetite is kind of eh, too, which I think is tied to the decreased exercise (and thyroid stuff, and hormone stuff, and all that.)

I usually love summer here, and much of it's been lovely, some wild storms and before it got wet, the nights were wonderfully temperate and mosquito- and ant-free, delightful for eating outdoors. Now it's too hot inside and too itchy outside. We have evaporative cooling, which keeps the house a comfortable 70 degrees in June, when it's 110 out with 9% humidity--but later in the summer, when it's in the 90s with humidity 50% or more, it's about 88 in the house.

But summer is still beautiful and evocative, even if I'm uncomfortable and pent up. Here's a photo from a recent storm--a dove taking flight after a huge lightning strike nearby.

Time for change

My friend S (who is the mama of the wondrous IH) suggested that it's time to change the name of my blog. While my ute may still be a rocky place--we've yet to test those waters--one seed did in fact find purchase, and things are quite different around here now. I started this blog nearly two years ago, and I'm wondering if S isn't right about the name change.

Here are her ideas, all from the movie Raising Arizona, of course. (Let's not discuss the fact that I am now completely humorless and even the Coen brothers can't joke about stealing a baby without giving me that pit-of-the-stomach feeling. Mamahood did that to me. Ain't nothin' funny to me these days!!)

Anyway, the possibilities are:

Unpainted Arizona
He's awful damned good. I think I got the best one.
He's gotta get his Dip/Tet
What are you kidding, we got us a family here!

I don't have a little poll thing here, but if my three readers want to weigh in, I'll take a vote in the comments section. The URL would stay the same--I don't think Typepad will let me re-title this--but I can make a new title on top, perhaps. Or at least a subtitle. I'm partial to options 2 and 4, but I'm open...

Thanks, S!!!!

Naked Ovary

Anyone know how I can read Naked Ovary? It asks for a password, and I hadn't set one up. I don't know where/how to create one, or if it's even possible.

Pru Rocks

Can we talk about how much Pru rocks? This is a fantastic, articulate post about being a new mother, and not feeling exactly like everyone else supposedly does, or not feeling the way everyone assumes you do/should. Go Pru!!!

Question for you

To bloggers with significant others--do they know about your blog? Read it? Why or why not, for both questions?

Me--S knows. I have shown entries to him on occasion. He reads them and says something nice. That's it. He doesn't seem to have any interest in reading it otherwise, doesn't ask about it. This is SO opposite of me--I'm supremely nosy interested, and would want to read everything he wrote--perhaps whether he asked me to or not (I mean I probably wouldn't snoop, but a blog is public, so I'd find it and read it, I imagine.)

Spooky cool

I learned about the word cloud over at Persephone's. Very very very freakishly accurate ("sad, dark, embyro, pregnant"). Except...POTATO????? Beer and wine, yes, mentioned a lot, but not in there. And I can't recall ever mentioning a potato.

Games

Wow, I feel like a real blogger--I've been tagged, by Jude.

Here are the rules:

“The first player of this game starts with the topic “five weird habits of yours", and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says “You are tagged” (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.”

This is pretty easy, though I might widen it to include quirky traits.

1) I put potato chips in all my sandwiches. Ain't the same without 'em.

2) I have an extremely acute sense of smell. Example: I can smell daddy long legs spiders before I see one. They smell gray and green and slightly wet. Maybe I have synesthesia. Baudelaire would be impressed. My sense of smell is partially why I'm such a beer connoisseur--I taste every nuance.

3) I love pineapple and jalapeno pizza. Maybe this isn't that weird, but people seem to think it is. Pineapple, jalapeno, garlic, and spinach is also great.

4) I can't talk on the phone with my left ear. I'm not partially deaf, more like I can't process what I hear if the phone's on my left.

5) I have a very complicated sleep situation--must take a hot bath before bed, sleep with some kind of noise (we have a white noise machine, though in summer the swamp cooler's loud enough), and have a very particular arrangement of pillows. Must sleep with socks on. Must fall asleep on my back.

Will tag people shortly.