|
« June 2007 |
Main
| August 2007 »
Episode 2 of the podcast is now available! This week, Jeff and I are joined by our friend Jake to discuss new fall shows like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Pushing Daisies and Moonlight, as well as other big television announcements from Comicon. We also take a look back at series 3 of Doctor Who and speculate on the big changes rumored for series 4.
Click here to download the episode.
The show should be available on iTunes soon (we hope!).
Please note: new episodes of the series will now be available in our RSS feed on Tuesdays.
Today we are two years old. In the morning, we each get a bag with two presents. One from Mommy and one from Daddy. The gifts from Mommy are a homemade stuffed lion and cat (photos to come). Daddy went to the posh toy store near his work and picked up toy wooden Bento Boxes. Sushi kits complete with chopsticks with velcro on the end to pick up fake sushi. We are delighted to feed the sushi to the cat and lion.
I tell the girls the names that came with the cat and lion. Letitia and Ada. Anya repeats hers, "Titia," she says. But only minutes later I hear her say, "Pascha, eat your sushi!" I ask her, "What is the lion's name?" "Pascha," she says. I am delighted by this. To me, this is a big step, naming her toys. She has done this before, but never so quickly and do elegantly. Our Little People are all named, Nonal, Nona, MayMay and then another Nonal. Nice, but Pascha makes me think of a real person that Anya may have known in another life. Perhaps a life where she lived in some far off land where the sand always got in her eyes.
At the aquarium, we see animals. What kind of animals, I ask, "Wet," says Anya. Yes. We look at dolphins from under a pool and are thrilled. Rachi dances and screams, "Hello dolphins. I love you. What you doing?" This is a repeat of last weekend, when we went to the Ag show and she yelled the same thing at some goats.
Each time we walk away from a tank of fish, Anya is so polite. She says, "Bye fishies. I love you. Thank you." Sometimes she says, "Hi-lo, fishies. I Anya." Sometimes we say, "Fishies yum." This is strange because we don't eat fish. A few times, they call the biggest fish in the tank, a "mommy-fish." I don't take this personally, but it reminds me why I am losing weight.
In the basement, it is so dark and the shark exhibit is genuinely scary for me. All those teeth. And I am reminded of Damien Hurst's wonderful Tiger Shark at the Saatchi Gallery in London. My girls were made that week, but it seems so much longer ago. We don't linger with the sharks.
While waiting for Jeff to use the bathroom, the girls and I are in a small sitting area with an Indian famly. They are delighted by the girls, but don't talk to me. They just smile and speak to each other in another language. As we are leaving, Anya goes up to the oldest woman in the family and says, "Thank you." All twinkle eyes, my Anya is. And I have no idea what this is all about.
In the car on the way home, after much crying over wanting to not share my Italian Ice, but just wanting it all to herself (we give it to her and it is a huge mess!), Anya says, "Pascha. I need Pascha." Her eyes are red and she is tired from an exciting day of wet animals. I hand her Pascha. Rachi says, "Cat. Where is cat." I ask her what her cat's name is, expecting her to say just cat. Instead she says, "Kascha." I wonder if she is just parroting her sister or if she has purposely named her cat a matching name to her sister's. Great, Pascha and Kascha, I think. Were these your names in that past life? The sandy one? Twins with twin names? Maybe not, but it is funny that for all our wanting things to be different for each girl that this is what we name our new friends.
I think much today about how as parents, our main job is creating memories. These memories are what build up like blocks into who we will become. Will this be the girls' earliest memory? Perhaps. I need to remember this, though, that every minute that I spend with my girls is building who they will become. Every minute is a lesson yearned, a love created, a memory added to the pile. And it is my job to make these memories fabulous and usefull and totally rad. This is my job as mom. I am protector and entertainer and creator of wonderfulness. I don't always succeed, but at least I am aware of what it is that I *need* to do.
We are two and we are creating our first memories. What could be more awesome?
I am desperately trying to finish Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. For a few nights, Jeff and I sat in the living room until quite late, reading and reading and reading. I felt like we were studying for an exam. It was stressful. Of course, he reads far faster than me, so he is done. But I am still stuck around page 400.
The amount of free time that I actually have has become so very clear. I am also realizing that I need glasses big time, as I find myself reading with one eye shut. Cyclops reader.
The funny thing is, I want to finish it so that I can listen to my beloved Mugglecast. How weird is that? I want to finish the book so that I can listen to other people analyze it. The 3 Harry Potter podcasts that I listen to have so made my fandom of the series more enjoyable. In this order, I enjoy, Mugglecast, Harry Potter Prognostications and then Pottercast. If any of those URLs are wrong it is because I am too afraid of being spoiled on the ending to check them!
Yesterday morning the phone rang once. Jeff brought it to me to show me the name of the caller, "Aldron Godblot" was calling. Jeff said, "Is the Harry Potter universe calling us?" I thought with giggles of some poor wizard accidently dialing a Muggle phone. With a name like Aldron Godblot, there is no way you are a Muggle.
My new post to the Crafty Bastards blog is now up!
Take a look here.
After over a year, we've produced not one, but two new podcasts. First up is the final episode of the "Restaurant Fuel/I Like Seamonsters" podcast, which you can get here:
RFSM 202: "Television Zombies"
In addition, we've released the pilot episode of our new ongoing podcast, Television Zombies. As the name may suggest, we will be talking about our favorite television shows. You can get it here:
Television Zombies Episode 1: "Lost in Twin Peaks"
For more information on the new podcast, please visit the Television Zombies Web site located at http://www.televisionzombies.com.
All of this will be available on iTunes at some point to subcribe to. The TV podcast will be weekly! How rad is that? We have actually bought equipment and stuff, so the shows should sound ok, but I am a little low-key so you might have to turn it up a bit to hear me. I am attempting to not swear, so in with the calm. We totally want your feedback on the new show, so please comment on the Television Zombies Web site located at http://www.televisionzombies.com. The future is bright for this project, as we will have forums and a community at some point. We want to connect to people who like and watch good TV, so we are excited if you do too.
We started our first podcast at the birth of podcasting and didn't really know what we were doing, but we are back and ready to provide kick ass content every week.
Thanks for listening and being rad.
I have had an interesting two weeks of smallening. A yucky stomach virus left me weak and not eating for two days. 4 pounds down. When I got my appetite back, the pounds found me and then some. So, I was 2 pounds up. Whoohoo! And I have been climbing my way back up the mountain since. Today, I finally saw something smaller than before being sick. Whoohoo!
Since the beginning of the year:
Since I gave birth two years ago:
I am so aware of my collar bones and it is totally creeping me out. They just sit there, pointing out at my clothes. I shudder when one of the girls touches them. I cannot imagine feeling all of my bones unearthed. It is going to be hella creepy. Fat keeps you from your bones. And I kinda like that. Of course, I know I will get used to my bones, but dude, the reality that I have a skeleton under here is creepy.
There is this other feeling, too. And I think I am only noticing this because my weight has jumped around so much in the past two weeks. The less I weigh, the less toxic I feel. Like, the parts under my skin, the muscles, even the fat, feel far less toxic with each pound dropped. I am sure this is true. It is as if the less fat in my body, the healthier I am, the less bad stuff under my skin. This must be how it feels to detox from drugs or something. Like a cleansing. I never thought about this and it was never a reason to lose weight. But it is a nice side effect. I know that thin people are like, "um, duh." But our enabling culture doesn't remind us that being fat is unhealthy. It just pats us on our plump little backs and says, "You are beautiful no matter what!" Well, screw that, I wanna FEEL good.
Even though I am back to pre-pregnancy weight, I am far bigger than I was then. I am sure this is about the fact that I don't walk 2 miles a day now the way I did back then. So if you are out there trying to drop pounds by just cutting food, the exercise totally matters. I might weigh 223 pounds, but I am a size 18-20 and not a 16-18 like last time. Muscle makes you leaner.
Something I found from the first smallening is reminding me of how I feel right now (this is in my book):
I am an archeologist.
Digging up bones. This is what I do for fun. I have wrist bones. I have rib bones. But best of all are the hip bones. I never thought they would be unearthed. When you are super fat, you don’t even think about the fact that there are bones under there. They surprise you when they pop out and poke at your clothes.
I think of all my bones, all secret under my skin. They have hidden for so long. I can’t believe they are really mine. I could make a prehistoric animal with these unearthed bones. Instead, I will make a new me. And she will be pretty and she will be strong and her discoveries will continue to astonish.
This is a feeling that I seriously wish for everyone struggling with the search for their bones.
For the 4th year in a row, I am a Crafty Bastard! This means the next 10 weeks will be spent preparing for one awesome day of meeting new people. We are hatching new plans for new designs and other things.
Are you a Crafty Bastard?
My newest guest blogger spot for the Crafty Bastards blog is up! It is about setting up and growing an Etsy shop! I share tons of tips and tricks to help you with your crafty business. If you have questions, feel free to comment with them and I will answer in said comments.
Growing your Etsy Garden, Washington CityPaper Crafty Bastards blog.
Just a note, the CityPaper site is up and down today because of lots of commenting on their cover story. Check back later if you can't get to the link.
And my Etsy shop is here: tinaseamonster.etsy.com.
Eileen is here from Chile. She comes once a year like Father Christmas. She swoops in and tells me I am tiny. I do not often believe her, but it is nice to hear. I do not tell her how tiny she is because I think she already knows it. This is an oversight on my part. I make up for it when I can slip it into the conversation. She is the fittest person I have ever known, so I try to match her ability to walk long distances. We walk miles home from the zoo in 98 degree weather and I do just fine. The top of my body feels big and fleshy, but my legs are strong.
In the bird house, we set the girls free from their stroller. They are excited and Rachi runs for it. I hang back with Ani and let Eileen race for Rachi. I would not trust anyone else that is not family to do this. But I trust her and it works out just fine. She was here when we were all born and this is something that cannot be forgotten.
Leaving the bird house, we round a corner and come upon the most amazing pink flamingos. First, just a few, then a huge flock of them. We are delighted. The girls practice standing on one foot like their pretty pink feathered sisters. The birds slowly creep toward us, very close. "No fighting, mingos," Anya says as one bites at another.
Then we come upon some ants. Hundreds of them. "Hello, ants. I Anya." "Be good, ants. No eating." I don't really know what Rachi means by this... but I can't stop thinking about it. And in the whole zoo we are delighted by ants and flamingos.
The misty water sprinklers are on and the girls are at first afraid of them. But Anya is either tired or hot or both and decides to stand under one for a good 10 minutes. She just stands there, getting soaked. We let her. As always with my children, I try not to tell anyone no. The longer I am a parent, the harder this gets. But for some reason, Eileen reminds me of this, that I want to be this carefree mum. That I want my girls to feel like they can do anything in the world. She is like this, the only person who I know who is like this. The only person who seems to always do what she wants to do. I respect this. But is also scares me. For me, this freedom could be difficult to control. For her, it seems brilliant, though.
We eat sushi while the damp haired girls sleep in their stroller. They wake half way through our meal and sit like big girls and cram cucumber rolls and pickled ginger into their mouths with their tiny long fingers. And I think, this is the kind of mom that I have always wanted to be. A city mom who takes her two year olds to a sushi place. A fearless mom who doesn't worry about anything. Of course, I know I am always this person deep inside, but the days often wear me down and make it hard for me to realize these adventures.
I am thinking of the last time Eileen was here, last September. And I am seeing how far I have come since then. How far with the smallening and the online shop and the being a work at home mom. But mostly, I am thinking of how different I feel about myself now. How much more I trust myself and accept myself this year. This is rad.
And I am reminded once more about how certain people in our lives can make this tremendous, gigantic impact without even trying. Without even knowing it. And how we should all remember this. And think of who does this for us. Who reminds us to be fearless and strong.
I am moving into smallest ever territory, for serious. And I can't believe normal sized people live in these tiny bodies. Like, are their organs the same size as mine? No wonder people can run so fast, ya know?
I am bogged down with web work, but would rather be silk screening ghosts on everything I can find. I silk screened some seamonster shirts last night, mostly plus sizes for moms and little ones for boys. I made myself a shirt in a size 16 and it fit. You can see it here:
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=5681868
I find that I am selling the plus sized shirts super fast, so this is encouraging me to make more and more, but the Target clearance rack hasn't been very fruitful with the big shirts lately (only 3 in this batch).
The ghosts are next and I am looking forward to them. My sister's ghost activity is big right now at her house now that she is home sick with Mono of all things. This is inspiring me to make more ghosts.
My pajamas keep falling off as I sleep.
Rachi has been saying to me, "mama, i miss you." This is funny because, well, I am rarely out of her sight. If I ask Anya to do something, she says, "No, I working."
Time to step away from the computer.
Another week down, another pound gone.
Since the beginning of the year:
Since I gave birth two years ago:
|
Copyright © 2005, Tina Henry-Barrus, all rights reserved.
Design by Jeff Barrus, 2005. |
|
|
