But Call Me Betsy

We're throwing a Halloween party tonight and I am very excited to see how it is that Shawn and I will be able to stay awake to attend it. Last night, Shawn went to a work happy hour and arrived home promptly at 4 a.m.---a full eight hour work day of drinking and socializing. I was fine with him being gone until about 12:30 when I still couldn't fall asleep and hadn't heard from him since 8:30 p.m. when I called him and he said he'd be home in about an hour. At 2:30, I called his cell phone. No answer. At 3:30, I called him again--no answer again. At 4, he stumbled in, soaking wet because he had decided to walk home from downtown (in the rain) which took about an hour and a half. I was relieved that he wasn't dead (kept thinking, if he had been hurt, who would call me? Would anyone know to call me?), but livid that he was so late and that he didn't call at all and that it kept me up until 4 in the morning, especially since we're having a party tonight tha

You would think I was from small town in the Midwest (well, I am), the way that I behave sometimes in this city--as though everyone is looking out for me and has not intention of bad vibes. For instance, I decided while at Rocket Cat this morning (took today off as a personal day), that I had to go to Circle Thrift next door. But I had a problem--I wanted to return to the coffee shop afterwards but didn't have enough money to buy yet another coffee. The solution? Leave my laptop and jacket on the table and trust that these nice city people won't steal anything of mine. I did a bit of speed shopping at CT (which is quite difficult with everything I must look at, try on, touch, contemplate). I came back here about 35 minutes later--laptop still in place. Still, I don't think it's the best idea to expect the employees/patrons of the coffee shop to watch my stuff. A similar event occurred on Tuesday when I went out with Kelly and Amanda. Since the new stupid smoking ba

We are about to descend into the holiday season in just a few short weeks--sooner, probably, if Hallmark has anything to say about it. The season of cliches, Target, and the little baby Jesus and another year of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty, the Snowman, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and other slighty terrifying shows produced in the early seventies that continue to return again and again and again, no matter how much you might hate animatron or little green monsters who mistreat their dogs. I suppose they might play Nightmare on Christmas Street or whatever that Tim Burton movie was called, but it seems that the film reels from the olden days will sustain, especially now that all those people who were kids when the TV programs appeared now have kids of their own to watch them with. Here's the thing about Rudolph: I don't like the way he talks. I know he has a problem with his nose, but why does he have to sound like he's stuffed up? Can't he just blow his n

Three nearly identically dressed thin twenty-something guys with brown hair. They are all wearing hoodies , jeans, and sneakers--one with a black knit cap tight against his head. All are artistic and by "artistic" I mean effeminate (cross their legs, gesture with their hands, speak with a certain drawl). We also have a husband and wife and their blue jumper clad eight month old--a bald headed baby boy (also wearing a hoodie ) who is behaving pretty well aside from his persistent " aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh "- ing . Seems like everyone knows everyone here--how do they meet? Should I introduce myself loudly to the room? "Hey, guys, I live just down the street and I like interesting things and will wear quirky clothes on occasion." I could brag about my recent publishing accomplishments even though they are not based on anything I did really recently. Philadelphia Stories is republishing "Wonderful Girl" in their first anthology and I jus

As uttered by some white t-shirted kid on the corner down the street from me last night while I was attempting to watch ER and knitting a sweet little baby blanket (not for me). At first, I thought the noise was coming from the TV (when you knit and watch TV, it's more like listening to a radio program b/c your attention focuses on the task at hand. Most TV shows now don't require a visual component anyway, particularly not ER or Law & Order where the dialogue usually just supplements the action for those viewers who may be really, really dumb or toddlers. Example from last night's Grey's Anatomy : "So you're saying you don't want to have the double mascetomy because you feel guilty about being mad that if you hadn't been breast-feeding, you wouldn't noticed the lump in your breast?" Mom: "Yes! Yes!" (a nod would've been fine, but a nod might be too subtle. Example from any episode of Law & Order: "I get it. You

I blushed yesterday for the first time in about 15 years. As you may know, I have a slight addiction to Sims II, a PC game wherein you basically play life--creating characters who then have to fulfill mundane human needs like eating, sleeping, socializing, going to the bathroom, and having fun--which you fulfill endlessly at the expense of your own appetite/social life/bladder. And because I love my Sims so much, I had to buy the latest expansion pack as soon as I came out (it's about pets. I love pets!). I went first to Best Buy and was looking around at the PC selection but didn't see it. I approached an employee and before I even opened my mouth, he said, Let me guess. You're looking for Sims Pets? That is when I blushed. What was it in my appearance that hinted that I spend a not insignifcant amount of time playing a simulation game most popular with pre-teens? Was it my Hello Kitty purse, my ponytails, or my I HEART THE SIMS tee shirt? They did not have Pets yet. I lef

Or maybe Will did--I'm not sure. I was still asleep, but after they left, I went down to the kitchen to get my own breakfast (a cup of coffee) and saw a skillet out as well as some pepper and a spatula. Being a brilliant deducer of clues, I quickly figured out that someone quite possibly may have fried an egg or two. The other smart thing I accidentally did was to not notice that Ernesto slid out the door some time last night and so consequently, he spent the entire night outside where it was very cold. Hasana spotted him the morning, clinging by all fours on the top half of the screen door. Why was this smart of me? Because now he will never want to go outside ever again. See? Tricky! I'm sitting in Rocket Cat Cafe which is why I'm able to get on-line. Always an interesting mix of people here. Currently, we have a guy with intentional Elvis hair (slicked back, long sideburns. He is being ironic. He also wears Dickies jeans and has a chain wallet), an older man in a Re

Shawn sent me an email yesterday with these two pics and headings: Lemur And: Almost a Lemur: Pretty much all we do is take pictures of the cats. But they are so photogenic! Hasana and Will are visiting from Montreal and Pittsburgh respectively. We bought a bed at IKEA on Sunday with a real bed frame and a shitty little mattress, but at least it's better than the fold-out couch. Now we have an actual guest bedroom (sans closet and sans dresser). Ernesto is confused because when we got the bed, he assumed it was for him only and now he has to share. Not to mention that fat Henri has decided the box lid ghetto bed I made for Ernesto is his and he now lays in it or rather, wedges himself in it. Hasana woke up this morning and actually toasted two English muffins and put jam on them and she and Will had breakfast. I was amazed. I almost never make breakfast. I scarf cereal out of a box by the handfuls and drink coffee and maybe have a piece of fruit, but I don't think my

This isn't th e best representation of my new black eye, if only because you can't actually see the true purpleness of the lid. It really just looks like I'm super tired or haven't slept well for a few nights. Shawn is going to send me a better one if he can find it. How many times have I told the story? As in every accident, there are moments where I should've just stopped and said, Hmm...Is this really a good idea? Moment One: I contemplate the wooden, twin-sized bed frame sitting in the hallway on the second story of the house. Shawn is mopping the hardwood floors in the bedroom where we just spent the last two hours breaking our backs pulling up the carpet, linoleum, and two layers of thin paneling. I could ask for his help, but look, he is already so industrious mopping the floor and if I ask for his help, he might make me switch with him and I totally don't want to mop. So instead, I decide to pick up the bed frame and take it to the basement by myself

Here is my new baby Owen Matthew. I know I didn't tell anyone that I was with child, but here he is. Or at least he will be mine as soon as I can get it together to drive to State College and steal him away from Julie and Danny. I swear in this picture of Owen that I can see Julie's expression. This is the look she will give you if you suggest that we could skip yogilates just this once. This other picture shows Julie and Owen and Danny. Doesn't Julie look like she was just in labor for the last six hours? Like, ten years ago? I mentioned how she barely looks like she exerted herself at all and she said, Well, this was after I had a shower. Clearly. Okay, and then there is the baby, Lina, and LWhiz. I would very much like to marry LWhiz after seeing this picture, but alas, he has gone to Israel to write a screenplay with his stupid girlfriend who is very beautiful and smart actually. Look at Lina. Just look at her. Don't look at the baby! Walk Lina! Lina needs a walk an

First, we have Henri, in a rare moment of whimsy. This photo is entitled "Play." Next, we have Ernesto in his Fishtown trashy cat bed--a box top with a towel in it. I call this photo "Hey Baby" because it looks like he's leaning out of a car window, hooting at all the ladies on the street. The picture above is entitled "What Has Happened to My Life? ---by Henri."

Liz and Luke came to visit this weekend and we had two dream-come-true moments over the weekend. The first occured on Saturday after we went bowling in Northern Liberties with Padhraig and Carrie. We were going to go to Johnny Brenda's, but it was loud and obnoxious, so instead, we wandered over to this house design place across the street. It turned out that they were celebrating their two-year anniversary and so had set up several huge white tents on the outside of the store with music, food, and drinks. We had walked past the tents but assumed it was a private party, only to be told by the friendly and only slightly drunk store owner that it was open to the public. We went inside and settled in by the food and wine area. They were serving hummus and fancy crackers, bread, cheese, and cheese pate, sunflower seeds (?), lemon bars, chocolate bars, fresh shrimp with cocktail sauce, something wrapped up in dough, thick slices of pizza, and a few other things. You could choose from re