(Photo by Steve Rawley.)

Misc. everything, by me, Wacky Mommy:

1) No one told me Will Smith and Jada Pinkett (soon to be not) Smith were divorcing. Explain yourselves, prettiest couple in the world next to President and Mrs. Obama.

2) Is it really necessary to make one movie, much less two, about the poor, sweet, late Linda Lovelace? Do all oppressed women everywhere a favor and skip the soon-to-be-released movies. Skip Deep Throat, too, if anyone happens to suggest that you view it together, for a little “fun.” Go read her autobiography/biography by Mike McGrady instead. Seriously. She was one of my heroes growing up, because she lived through her past. Rest in peace, hon.

3) The wild tom, Baby, is back at the vet. There goes another several hundred dollars that I don’t have. Love you, fluffy boy. Please stay healthy.

4) Tired today. Gardened and planted all weekend. It’s looking nice out there… Maybe Stevie will take some pictures this week for me to post.

5) My kid is getting some dental work done soon. Not so much fun. Send some good thoughts his way, would ya? Thanks.

6) Off to read now, and possibly write. No word from the vet about when Baby gets to come home. Soon, we hope. Well, our grouchy old-lady cat is glad he’s gone, but the other cat and I miss him.

7) I was thinking about this Goldschmidt situation a little more. How I feel about this can be best explained by Andrew McCarthy, telling off James Spader’s douchebag character, Stef, at the end of “Pretty in Pink.” (Somehow I never saw the movie — watched it with my daughter this weekend. It’s awfully good.) The douchebag has convinced his BFF, Blaine (played by McCarthy) that Molly Ringwald’s character is a poor, ugly, worthless slut, and that he shouldn’t date her. And like the big idiot that he is, Blaine listens to him. Then he wises up.

Blaine, to Stef: “You couldn’t buy her, though, that’s what’s killing you, isn’t it? Stef? That’s it, Stef. She thinks you’re shit. And deep down, you know she’s right.”

That’s what I’m saying. That’s what we all want, am I right here? For people to not think that we’re pieces of shit. For Goldschmidt, he can atone forever, but there is no hope for him. He is upset because he knows that Steve and I can’t stand him, and are calling him out for the child rapist asshole from hell that he is. So he needs to go climb back under his rock and stop re-traumatizing the rest of us by trying to crawl out again. Give up, already. Done.

For the rest of us? We all need to be a little more like Duckie, and a little less like James Spader. Or Charlie Sheen, as the case may be.

8) Just heard from the vet: The cat has cystitis. They’ll shoot him up with antibiotics and send him home with pain meds. Three hundred dollars, please. (Edited to say: Total was $353.13, and that included pain meds for him only, not me.)

all for now,

yours, as always,

wm

It’s true, what people say. The best time to catch up with your kid is right after school.

My 4th grader, yesterday afternoon: “The school counselor came in and we learned about segregation. Usually we just learn about bullying. We talked about why it’s not good to leave somebody out just because of… something. Some of us got stickers” (holds up his hand and shows me the sticker that’s plastered to it).

“Yeah, they’re scratch n sniff, they smell like Play-Doh. Then the kids got asked, How did you feel about that? And they were all, Oh, it was really bad, it was unfair. But really, they were lying. They were glad they got stickers and the other kids didn’t.”

me: “Do you think the lesson was maybe because of Black History Month?”

kid: “Nope. And that’s how we got… Punxsutawney Phil!”

And then we had a talk about Malcolm, and Dr. King.

“In the darkest days, the Lord puts the best people into your life.”

— from “The Fault in Our Stars,” John Green

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

Yeah, try covering those behinds with all four of your hands, how ’bout?

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

And now, in the category of “ya gotta send a letter to get a letter”: Here is my project for February.
Why should kids be the only ones to exchange Valentines? ;)

smooches,

nancy

“Let’s get one thing out of the way: Mexican immigration is an oxymoron. Mexicans are indigenous. So, in a strange way, I’m pleased that the racist folks of Arizona have officially declared, in banning me alongside Urrea, Baca, and Castillo, that their anti-immigration laws are also anti-Indian. I’m also strangely pleased that the folks of Arizona have officially announced their fear of an educated underclass. You give those brown kids some books about brown folks and what happens? Those brown kids change the world. In the effort to vanish our books, Arizona has actually given them enormous power. Arizona has made our books sacred documents now.”

— Sherman Alexie is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and filmmaker. His book “The Lone Ranger and Tonto’s Fist Fight in Heaven,” was on the banned curriculum of the Mexican American Studies Program

new post from Steve, writing for both of us.

You know somebody I really hate? Neil Goldschmidt.

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

January: Write and dream about plants.

February: Plant peas, garlic? onions? Prune roses, plant two daphnes out front, move the Japanese maple so it has more space. We’ll do “lasagna layering” — spread out a thin layer or two of newspapers over the grass we want gone, spread compost/mulch on top of that, then plant. Then remember to water, once the rain stops. We’ll be good until July ;) We live in western Oregon, after all.

March: Hanging baskets? Naw, too early. Primroses in pots.

April: Get good and fed up with the rain.

May: Hanging baskets, plant garden, watch it get soggy and drown.

June: Re-plant garden.

July: water, weed, pick, water, weed, pick

August: repeat

September: repeat

wish list: foxglove, coral bells, clematis, wisteria, snapdragons, crocus, daffodils, lilacs, Roses of Sharon, Sweet William, bleeding hearts, more columbine, hellebores, more tulips, more dahlias…

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

I can read this pretty well:

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

And the winner is: The AcuVue TruEye, 1-day disposable soft contact lens

Second place: AcuVue Moist 1-day disposable lens

Third place: AcuVue Oasys, which are supposed to last two weeks but bug me after about three days

No place: Bifocals, aka “Progressive lenses,” which make me throw up (I’m talking about glasses; my mom uses the bifocal contact lenses and says they’re alright, but to me that sounds like a smaller version of hell)

Glasses: Mostly work, except when I need to read. (Middle age equals… I don’t get it. But although I am near-sighted, and barely have any correction in my left eye, I can only see close-up when I take off my glasses. “Playing the trombone,” as Bing Crosby called it in “White Christmas” — holding the letter far away from you, then up close in a vain attempt to see what those little squiggly words say.)

Reading glasses: The cheap-o’s from Safeway. Over contacts, I can see great for everything. Except driving. Then I need plain contact lenses or regular glasses

Readers: Like the cheap-o reading glasses, but prescription (see: right eye/left eye variances). Great for reading and writing longhand; worthless for computer. I wear them by themselves — no contacts.

Sunglasses: Prescription. They had to adjust the “warp” around the edges so I don’t get sick

Stupid motion-sickness. Stupid bad eyes. Can’t do Lasix — doc says my eyes are too dry, and I have astigmatism in both and “You would not be a good candidate.” Would my first wish be for world peace? Or perfect vision? Argh. Don’t ask me that, today. You know those eye tests where they ask, Which is better? 1? or 2? 2? or 3? 3? or 4? My response is now: “Uh…”

My eye doc and I have been working on all of this for two years, and this elaborate plan is working for now. The fierce headaches are lifting. We’ll see how this goes…

(No, I didn’t get paid for any of this. Going into debt just so I can see properly to read, work on computer and focus on the tiny print.)