Posted on August 24, 2008
My mom is so bad ass, she got KICKED OFF of Facebook. (This is me, giggling with glee.) Turns out, when you put yourself on a list to add mob members for Mob Wars, you make a lot of new “friends.” Now, I warned her, that after she added these people to her mob, she needed to delete them out of her friends list. Did she listen, NOOOO! So, the gods of Facebook have decided that my sweet innocent (and apparently bad ass gangsta) mom is “spamming” people. They kicked her off without even giving her a warning. She’s pretty upset about it. She’s even been considering getting a new email address so she can start a new mob. (This is me, shaking my head.) Oh Mama, time for a new obsession!
Posted on August 23, 2008
I have now read three blogs from people who have made major moves (example, from Colorado to New Jersey) and are celebrating the anniversaries of their moves.
It never occured to me that I should be tracking our New Jersey anniversaries. I had to look back at the calendar and check the date. I can now say Chloe and I have been here for two years as of June 19th. Of course, for John its been a little longer, he moved out a month before we did.
We were completely INSANE to do it the way we did. Chloe was only 6 weeks old, when the movers showed up and packed everything in the house. Our official last day as Colorado residents was on Father’s Day, and both families gathered at my parent’s house. I think I cried nearly the whole day. Of course, it didn’t help that I had a touch of post partum, but I still remember a lot of tears.
When we got out here, it was hot, strange and TERRIFYING! We lived the first three months in a corporate apartment that I liked to call the “White Apartment.” Everything in there was white except for two red sofa’s. The bedding was white, the towels were white, the dishes were white, the walls were white. I though for sure somebody was going to show up with a nice white coat for me that would allow me to hug myself all day long.
That’s Chloe sleeping in the boppy on the sofa.
This was a very lonely time for me. John had to work exceptionally long hours, and I spent most of my time alone in that apartment with a newborn. Chloe was so tiny, I didn’t feel comfortable going for walks in the 90 degree weather. And, as many of you know, I am a terrible navigator, and I have absolutely no sense of direction, so I was afraid to drive anywhere because I thought i was going to get lost.
Add to this that I wasn’t sleeping very well. Chloe was getting up every 3-4 hours to nurse.
My true savior was our real estate lady, Karen. She was so sweet and kind. She drove me all over, introducing me to how all the little towns were layed out, explaining how the school systems worked, and generally just supporting me. She even took me by where Bruce Springsteen lives just so I could show my dad when he came to visit. I know in the end she was paid for her efforts, but I think she earned every penny. She was an amazing lady and I will be forever grateful.
Eventually, Ellen and the crew moved, and then Misty and Amy with their families (who have now both moved back to Colorado.) I started Gymboree and have been able to meet some amazing women through that. Ellen talked me into signing up for the mom’s club. I am not so alone anymore. I don’t have the same kind of friendships that I had in Colorado, but I am getting there. I just have to remember that two years is actually a short time, and the friends I have in Colorado I have know far longer.
Moving was the scariest thing I have ever done. I honestly thought that I would live in Colorado my entire life. I know it sounds cliche, but I really have learned a lot. I learned that I am capable of surviving away from my family (although, admittedly, I go back to Colorado every chance I get!) I learned that I can be an adult, I can take care of myself and my family. I am a lot more independent than I ever thought I could be. In the end, I certainly wouldn’t recommend moving with a new born baby, but I am glad we did it. Even if I am not always happy with New Jersey, and John isn’t alway happy with his job, at least we proved to ourselves we can do it!
Posted on August 22, 2008
My latest obsession is the TV show “The Wire” from Showtime. We, of course, don’t get showtime, so I have been watching all the DVD’s from Netflix.
I gotta say, this whole drug dealing business is starting to make sense to me (hence, my concern.) The first season was impressive, but the third season is totally off the hook! (They still say that right, “off the hook”? I am pretty sure it means: “really really cool.”) The third season is about one of the drug dealers trying to legitimize himself and his partner by investing in real estate. I have to admit, as evil as this man was (ok, yeah, he killed people, and when he was too high up to kill people, he had other people kill people) I felt for him. He was just a business man who was constantly getting screwed by a corrupt system.
Of course, my favorite character is Omar, who happens to be a gay drug dealer. His only racket is to screw (both literally and figuratively) the other drug dealers. In other words, he robs them. He has a very specific code of ethics, so every now and then he has a “crisis of faith” and has to rethink his life. When he loves, he loves unconditionally, and that’s something that you have to respect. (And ya, he had to kill his last lover. But that was ’cause the guy knew too much, and really, what’r'ya’gonna do?)
This show is all about point of view. Each character has their own agenda, their own ideas on right and wrong, and their own understanding of good and evil. The drug dealers’ code is more straight forward and adhered to than the cops, probably because straying from their honor system is literally a life and death choice. And the politicians are the ultimate evil, because they don’t really care what’s happening, they mostly just want to “look good” which is a terrible way to lead. (Hmmm….)
I told John, “I am pretty impressed with the work ethic and the business saavy of these drug dealers!”
He says, “Tiff, you realize that it’s not really like that, right?”
Shiiiiit, what does he know? He don’t know what life is really like on da streets! I’m down with it now. If this whole teaching thing doesn’t work out, I think I could be a “soldier.” (Maybe they could call me, “bad ass teacha,” Or “Mommy with tude”? I don’t know, I’ve never been good at coming up with gangster names.)
Yo, holla! (which, if I am reading the context right, means: “talk to you later.”)
Posted on August 21, 2008
The cruelty of man knows no bounds. Every now and then you find a novel that literally hurts to read. It pains your heart, it tires your brain, and in the end, it damages your faith in humanity. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum, was that book for me. WWII was one of the darkest times in history, and those of us who weren’t there, have often wondered how the German citizens could have sat idly by and allowed the Jews to be exterminated.
The fundamental question is: “What would you do for survival?”
The story is about a mother, Anna, and daughter, Trudie, who lived in Germany during this time. Anna falls in love with a Jewish Doctor, and when it becomes clear that he is going to be sent to the concentration camp located in the hills close to their village, she hides him in her house. Unfortunately, her father finds the doctor and turns him into the SS for his own career advancement, but not before Anna discovers she is pregnant with the doctor’s child. She takes refuge with a local baker who also happens to be helping the underground resistance, and covertly providing food for the prisoners in the camp. She joins in the resistance until it becomes clear that not only is she risking her own life, but she is also risking the life of her infant daughter. In order to survive, she has to become the mistress of a high ranking SS officer. Now, I say “has to” in that if she didn’t, both her and her daughter would have been either executed or sent to the camp. So, yes, she had a choice, but it wasn’t much of one.
Flash forward, Trudie is a History Professor for the University of Minnesota. She joins a project to document the stories of survivors, both Jews and German citizens. For Trudie, its a search for identity. She doesn’t remember much about the War, and her mother will not talk about it.
Jenna Blum was one of the interviewers for Spielberg’s Shoa Foundation, and she structures the story like a mystery intermingled with accounts from other survivors. It is well written, thought provoking, and like I said earlier, difficult. But it is well worth the time and the heartbreak, because it gives us a different view point of the atrocities of WWII. This novel gets 5 stars from me.
Posted on August 20, 2008
Yesterday, I was sitting on the floor in Chloe’s playroom watching Legolas do something stupid. Chloe walked over to me, ruffled my hair, leaned over so she could peer into my face, and said, “How ya doin’, kid?”
This morning, I asked her if she was my big girl, she looked at me earnestly and said, “It’s possible.”
Posted on August 18, 2008
We went to yet another farm today with the Mom’s club. Here is Chloe’s description to daddy.
Me: Chloe, did we got to a farm today?
Chloe: Yeah, a farm, (gibber gibber gibber) a cow.
Daddy: You saw a cow at the farm?
Chloe: Yes, I saw a cow, it jumped high.
Me: The cow jumped high?
Chloe: Up high.
Me: Chloe, did you feed some horsies at the farm?
Chloe: Yes, feed horsies.
Daddy: What do horsies eat, Chloe?
Chloe: uhhh…Rocket soup!
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