humans, think they own everything

maura @ 10:49 am

It’s a Free Friday again, wahoo! I can’t remember what I did with the last one, but it wasn’t redoing this site, as you can probably tell. Today I’ve got to clean out the closet o’ Gus (into which old clothes + toys get tossed in anticipation of the day I’ll have time to organize it, roughly once every quarter or so), in anticipation of our Food Coop’s kids’ clothing swap next weekend. So let’s get right to it. I’ve been storing up stuff to write about, perhaps it’s time for a list:

1. Maggie
2. Garbage Land
3. Fun links

1. Gus, like most little kids, is a collector. Recently it’s been acorns, since it’s fall and there are just so damn many of them everywhere (also he’s been watching My Neighbor Totoro again, in which acorns figure prominently). The other day he wanted to wash the acorns, and spread them on a paper towel to dry on the coffee table. The next day, after we came home from school, I was putting stuff away in the kitchen and heard him crowing with delight in the living room, only to walk over and see that he had what appeared to be an undulating white MAGGOT in his hand.

Ew. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Ick, ick, ick.

(Although, I should pause and say how cool it is that kids are born so unsqueamish.)

Nature-boy that he is, he was of course adamant in declaring his love for the little white worm, and quite unhappy when we suggested that the worm might be happier outside, with all the other worms. He even said to Jonathan, as the worm squiggled in his little hand, “Daddy, look at that little cutie!”

We were finally able to convince him to put it in a small plastic container and take it out to our courtyard, where he put a few leaves and a little water in there and promised to come back and check on her later. Miraculously it was still alive the next day, though I’m sure it’s dead now since the temps were in the 50s last night. Poor Maggie. Luckily, Gus’ first gymnastics class was yesterday and was such a hit that it seems to have wiped all thoughts of the little cutie out of his little head.

(I’ve been calling it Maggie the Maggot, but in actuality I think it’s the larva of a fly or something, rather than a true, necrotic-flesh-feasting maggot.)

Clearly, our son needs a pet. Maybe a hermit crab, though Anne advises against them? Or, better yet, something mammalian? Stay tuned.

2. Gentle readers, you may remember from last time that I was practically pulling allnighters to finish my book before it was due back to the library. Well, I failed. I decided that it was just not worth it to be so crabby and sleep-deprived over a book. So I returned it and re-requested it. What a sane solution!

BUT, the copy of Garbage Land I requested came in, so I wasn’t book-free for long. I zipped through it in a few days (it’s shorter, and more journalism than academic writing).

It was really, really good, but also really, really scary, the kind of book I’m not so sure I’m happy to have read. I’m newly guilty about the composter (we bought one for our courtyard a few years ago, but after the first summer I kind of lost steam and I haven’t used it all summer, which isn’t SO so bad because we have a disposal but still, we should be using it). I nearly got into a huge fight with Jonathan because I bossily demanded that we must start washing all ziploc bags. But, on the plus side, I did come to the conclusion that we are doing pretty well on the whole Reduce Reuse Recycle tip, so that’s somewhat soothing, at least. Of course, municipal waste is still only 2% of the total waste generated in this country, which is kind of depressing.

3. And now, links, because there’s been too much good stuff out there in the intarweb recently to let it go unremarked upon.

- some very excellent bento boxes

- the most hilarious company cookbook ever

- very fantastic blog entry about ritalin

- You know what would really fix their little red wagon?

Hey, I’ve got a closet to clean, leave me alone!

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watching the fire as we grow old

maura @ 9:58 pm

Ugh, man, it is hitting me that this site is sooooooo ugly. I was supposed to be working on that, long ago, but I totally lost my steam. And recently Jonathan even gave me some nifty php to help me out, but still I remain steam-free.

Maybe that is my project for next week’s Free Friday. Today’s was spent at a dr. appt. and cleaning the house and reading. And a small nap at my desk, which I wished had been longer.

Oh, and I’ve found my fall soundtrack (for now): this very smoove rad pop gal. Yes, I know this came out last spring, I am behind the times.

So the recent trauma is that the library really has my balls in a vice (if I had balls, which of course I don’t, so I guess that doesn’t seem very traumatic at all. New metaphor needed, alert the media!). Have I blathered yet about how much I am LOVE LOVE LOVING the library in recent years? With the new eXtreme we-chose-time-over-money economy here in our household has come a greatly reduced leisure budget, thus much less buying of books (which, frankly, is a good thing on a space level [where's the space level? can you take the space elevator there?], too, because we are seriously running out of habitable room in our apt.). Which of course leads to much more borrowing of books from the library, or sharing, as we like to tell Gus: “the library shares its books with us, isn’t that nice?” The Brooklyn Public Library actually has a really excellent collection, and you can request books from any branch in the borough to be sent to the branch near you. And also put books on hold, which is good when you want to read a new book that the whole rest of the borough wants to read, too.

Hence, the vice: 3 of my requests came in at the same time, all new (-ish) books. We took two of them to the beach (Freakonomics [thanks for the recommendation, Anne!] and The Historian) and both of us read them with fair speed. But the third, Collapse, I neglected to bring to the beach. So I’ve been trying to read it before it’s due back on Tuesday (and of course I can’t renew it, someone else has a hold next). It’s like grad school all over again, and not just because he uses a lot of archaeological sources: I have 350 pages to read by Tuesday!

So leave me alone, you, I have work to do! And beer to drink! Yeah! Party like it’s 1992 or so!

P.S. from last time, I completely forgot one of my most favorite time v. money essays, which I initially read way back in first year soc. More on all of that another time.

P.P.S. I am quite liking Collapse, actually, even though he remains a huge proponent of environmental determinism, as in Guns, Germs and Steel. I do love me a good synthesis though, such a refreshing alternative to snooze-inducing, minutia-filled site reports. And he talks a lot about Norse Greenland, who wouldn’t love that?! (Answer: a dufus, that’s who. The story of Norse Greenland ROCKS HARD!)

P.P.S.S. I said leave me alone!!!

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just keep swimming

maura @ 11:38 am

Woah, so suddenly it’s fall here, yippee! I love fall, that whole back-to-school thing, plus the promise of cooler weather (after the hellishly hot summer the weather’s been gorgeous the past few weeks) and pretty leaves and yummy roasted root vegetables. Jonathan’s listening to the Sundays, as he does every fall (though sometimes they seem more springy to me). I’m listening to the Lucksmiths, still, which is definitely warm weather music so it’ll have to be phased it out soon. But it’s too early for the Cocteau Twins, so I’ll have to find something else to hold me over.

Gus is OBSESSED with Finding Nemo recently. Like, would watch it continuously all day if we let him. This is a weird place for us, and we’re not sure where to draw the line. Historically he hasn’t much been interested in TV (we don’t have cable), and while his interest in videos has waxed and waned it’s been mostly restricted to 30 min tapes. Even with movies, he’d usually watch about 30 min then wander off. But now, he will be glued for pretty much the entire hour and 40 minutes. And we’re torn…we can get so much done in that time! And he’s quiet, and not getting into anything! At least school’s started again, so he doesn’t really have that much free time during the week anyway.

Today is my first Free Friday, having just reduced my work hours from 30 to 25, woo hoo! Hooray for some breathing room! Hopefully this will make me feel a little less like a rat (in a race). I’ve been reading lots lately (like this book) about the whole time v. money conundrum, and it’s been getting me thinking lots, too. Jonathan pointed me to an interesting article from Harper’s about the virtues of idleness (side note: sometimes I really miss subscribing to Harper’s) that is really, really worth a read.

I want to be less busy, less stressed. Part of that is my own fault — I fill the non-work and non-childcare hours with innumerable projects, lists, tasks, etc. But stress management is a huge deal for me. And in talking to a massage-therapist friend recently I’m reminded that the last time I had a massage the masseuse actually scolded me for being unable to relax! Oh, the shame.

So, to sum up: I’m tightly wound. Going to try to unwind more in the future. Meditation, I think, will figure prominently, if I can figure out when to do it (I want to do it in the AM but I can rarely get out of bed without waking Gus up). And also going to the gym more. And sleeping, yes, sleep, my favorite friend: I’m going to spend more time with you and try not to feel guilty about it. (I have mentioned before that I require a pretty big chunk of sleep to function at my crank-free best, at least 8 hrs, preferably 7 at night with a 1 hr nap [which only ever happens on the weekends but what can you do?]).

And wine, of course. Lots and lots of wine.

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