Getting dirty

I had a great day. What did I do? I pulled weeds in the garden.

“Well that sounds shitty.”

Yeah, it does. But it was easy work, the weather wasn’t terrible and Beta was bored at home so she came to do it. Nina, her daughter, is our sitter who watches the kids & helps me with stuff while I clean, write, etc. So today Beta took the day off work for a couple of personal appointments, didn’t feel like driving all the way home and took me up on a joke I made about weeding the garden.

So we gossiped and acted weird & silly, got honked at by some teenaged boys, talked about guys, talked about all kinds of stuff & came to the conclusion that we both have few IRL female friends and that it’s probably b/c other women can’t handle how awesome we are (speaking of awesomeness, happy birthday ron). We decided we have to go out some night. So we can talk more about guys, girl stuff, etc.

I love having cool girlfriends, online & off.

Creative quiz

I think I saw this at Paula’s.

You Are 83% Creative

You are an incredibly creative person. For you, there are no bounds or limits to your creativity. Your next creation could be something very great… Or at least very cool!

How Creative Are You?

Half a million

“Let’s Go Crazy” #1

00:29

Added: 1 year ago
From: edenza
Views: 518,448

Half a weekend of excitement

We went to two gatherings yesterday. At neither did I get my belly button pierced. More on that later.

The first gathering was Thing 2’s birthday party at the state park. They have his party at the state park every year and have done that since he was at least 3 or 4. It’s not so bad as it was when we would come from Erie & had nowhere to retreat. The state park is very nice but it’s about half an hour from our place. It’s also about half an hour from Scooter & Char’s place but I don’t think they take that quick route. I think they go by Jed’s. I know they also go “camping” the week before his party. They put a pop-up at the crowded campsite and eat microwaved food and junk for a week. That’s what I hear. I saw the campsite once and it was very “oh dear god.” Noisy and crowded and not what a townie like me would think when imagining “camping.”

So anyway…

We get there slightly later than the official start time: 1 p.m. We’re late b/c I drop cupcakes and non-hash brownies off at Wynne’s for her start-time-of-3-p.m. tattoo party. While there, I enlighten the group by telling them that the name for it is a “Prince Albert.” I am a font of useless knowledge.

So we got to the party, which was Thing 1, Scooter & Jed at a picnic table. Char & Bets had gone god knows where and Thing 2 and his friend were also god knows where but a different god knows where. So Hawk & I took Z&H to the playground area. Holden did not want to go down the slide nor did he want to swim in the lake. Zoe however was ALL about the lake. So she & I went swimming for a while and it was a nice time. Eventually I convinced her that cake awaited her back at “the picnic.” And we went up and waited and waited and waited. Scooter got the grill going while we were gone and Hawk says that Char gave him hell for getting the food ready “too soon.” It was about 2:30 by then.

In time, we had some hamburgers. There were also chips and pop. There was also a mayonaise salad, this one with cooked macaroni and hard boiled eggs. It had flavor so I think there were onions or something in it too. I was starving so I ate it. Holden ate a bun. By the time the burgers were ready, Zoe had changed her mind. Then Scooter decides he wants to “get the boat ready.” Apparently we were all supposed to ride his floating redneck party dock (shout-out, Nat) and THEN do cake and gift cards in lieu of presents.

That was at 4. I said to Hawk, “I told (Wynne) we’d be there at 4. We can’t wait for him to get this thing ready, cruise around the lake and then come back for cake and gifts.” And seeing as Hawk was in a foul mood already, it didn’t take a lot of convincing. Of course his mood didn’t improve for a few more hours but by then I’d had a Yuengling and didn’t care a whole hell of a lot.

When we got to Wynne’s, the kids were asleep so Hawk decided to drive them around for a while. Given his aforementioned mood, I was happy for him to go do whatever made him happy. So I socialized a bit and did not get anything inked or pierced. It turns out that tattoo guy doesn’t do piercings but there is a guy who does. Wynne & I are going to get our belly buttons done together somewhere, sometime (either at her place via another party or at their shop). I told her that I considered a tattoo but not being able to take anything much for pain, if it hurts, I’m screwed. A piercing? That’s nothing.

But her brother D (not S) was getting a tattoo when I got there and this is it:

It was D’s birthday (he’s older than I am — ha ha) so he got to get a biggun. It’s a Maltese (firefighter’s) cross combined with a Celtic cross. And it only took the tattoo guy about an hour. D’s wife also got a tramp stamp. When we were all on the back porch talking about what the tramp stamp should say, the winner was “two finger minimum” — from Wynne’s bf. Yes, we’re all inappropriate. That’s why I feel I fit in so well in this crowd.

S saw Dark Knight. Bastard. He wouldn’t tell me what “pencil scene” means or how the Joker got his scars. He said, “I can’t tell you that. The Joker has to tell you that.” *shake fist*

We were there until almost dark, which screwed up my Batman Bedtime Program but only slightly. Kids crashed once they had baths and got home.

Today we hung out inside for a bit and then went outside. I began to knit a pink hat for Zoe while watching them. Once that was under way, we all played in the wading pool, in the sprinkler, etc. Then it hit me that I wanted a more comfortable outside chair and an extra swimsuit for each of them, since all of theirs were dirty (Zoe wore an old one; Holden wore his “‘Pidey” shirt and a swimmy diaper). So we went down to Target and really only got what we needed for once. We had dinner at Hoss’s and came home. The kids fell asleep in the car but woke up at home. For winding down, we watched Ratatouille on Starz and, since they got warshed up before Target, the kids went to bed.

Then I caught up on our news stories and video comments, uploaded pics and blogged this. Next, I’m possibly eating a leftover brownie or cupcake and then going to bed.

Feet on ground, heart in hand*

Okay, I kinda like this one (source — use pop-up blockers):

The recording industry has finally met its match, and it’s one bad mother — or, more accurately, several good ones.

The first good mother in our saga is Stephanie Lenz, who posted a 30-second video of her son Holden learning how to walk on YouTube in February 2007. In the background Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” is just audible and the toddler bops gleefully to it.

Naturally, Universal Music responded to this almost unbearably cute video by sending Lenz a DMCA Takedown Notice ordering her to remove it from YouTube, claiming it infringed the rights of both Universal and the Artist Formerly Known As.

After a flood of bad publicity Universal relented and let her repost the video. But that wasn’t enough for Lenz. She wanted to keep the record companies from intimidating other innocent Netizens. So with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, she sued Universal

Last Friday a federal judge in San Jose rebuffed Universal’s attempt to have the case dismissed, calling it a “case of first impression” that addresses an issue not yet decided by any court. One way or another Lenz v. Universal could end up establishing a precedent — by either defending the concept of fair use or affirming the divine right of corporations to do whatever they please under the DMCA.

It goes on to talk about Tanya Andersen and Deborah Foster as well. I like the “good mother” label. It’s much better than “greedy whore” and “stupid bitch” — and thanks to all the wonderful people who jump on commenters on these news stories who say such things. It’s the adjectives I object to. The nouns, well, when you’re right, you’re right.

I read every article on my case without comment (except, like I said, on that P2P article) and usually just laugh at the trolls and feel emboldened by the supporters. Every article I find, I share via Facebook so if you’re interested, go be my friend. I also like Word Twist, the new Scrabble, and getting pieces of flair.

* post title taken from Jann Arden’s “Good Mother” — thanks to Theryn for making me a sooperawesome mix tape with that wonderful song on it.