A new place

I've been toying with the idea of moving over to Wordpress and finally messed with setting up a blog over there today. The new address is: www.intothethickofit.wordpress.com. Or, you can just click, here. Please change bookmarks and links accordingly. Apologies for any inconveniences.

Happy Friday!

UPDATE: I've fixed the links and they will now take you to the correct spot. Sorry 'bout that!

A song for JP

JP was singing a song last night. It is, I believe, from a commercial. It goes something like this: Baby you got it, yeah you know you got... It's got a pretty kickin' bass guitar, male voice singing but beyond that I've got nothing. Does anybody know the artist or the commercial of this song?

This is j0lt's fault

Your Score: Cheezburger cat

67% Affectionate, 56% Excitable, 62% Hungry

Sure, you deserve one. You helped popularized lolcats from a running gag to an online sensation. Now mainstream media writes asinine columns on this 'phenomenon', students write theses on the topic, programming languages adopt the grammar, and losers write tests about them on dating sites. Now take your cheezburger and never touch teh internets again.

To see all possible results, click here.

Which Lolcat Are You? Test

For the record: I don't like cheese and I'm not terribly fond of hamburgers.

Which kitty are you?

A fair point

My mom approached me today about JP's painted toenails (currently lime green). She's worried that other children will make fun of him, call him a girl, etc. She's got a point and I've worry about that, too. Father's of other children in the neighborhood raise their eyebrows and ask, "How does Mr. Tonks feel about that?" when they see his toes. My answer, "Mr. Tonks knows better than to inflict patriarchal values on our children." Or, "Why did you paint his toes?" My answer, "Was I supposed to tell him no just because he has a penis?" Unfortunately, at 4 1/2, JP can't play the patriarchy card very well and even if he could, chances are the kids teasing him wouldn't know what it meant anyway.

I'm not about to let a patriarchal society influence the way I raise my kids but, still, what's a mom to do?

Spoilers go here

So, if you've finished reading the final Harry Potter book, feel free to discuss it here.

WARNING: This thread has the potential to contain spoilers.

Thanks, J.K. Rowling

Thank you for giving a 20-something a taste of what it was like to be a kid again. I looked forward to Harry Potter books with anticipation I've not experienced since I was little and awaiting Christmas or my birthday- something thrilling and wonderful and palpable.

Thank you, for creating books that my husband (not a reader) and I can enjoy together. On numerous car trips we would pass the time discussing where we thought the plot was going, Snape's true allegiance, Harry's fate and lamented that it would be years until the next book came out.

Thank you for creating books that I look forward to sharing with my children that will allow us to discuss otherwise difficult subjects (human nature, right and wrong, love, death) in a way that will make the topics easier for them to grasp.

Thanks for writing in a way so as not to pander, condescend, or otherwise insult the intelligence of your primary audience- children. Kids are smarter than most adults want to give them credit for.

Thanks for creating female characters (Hermione, Tonks, Ginny, Luna) that buck the patriarchy and defied the female archetype that is too often found in children's books and making them likable, cool and admirable.

Thanks for creating Fred and George Weasley- two characters who made me laugh out loud in every book.

I shall miss the Harry Potter books (and the hype) more than I can say but, damn, what a fun ride it's been.

Jell-O doesn't work

I'm in the middle of trying to get my hair to a shocking pink color. Our grocery store doesn't have sugar free Kool-Aid in the color I want (unless I want to purchase enough to yield several gallons, which I don't) so I called A White Bear and she and I decided that Jell-O (sugar free, of course) might be a viable option.

It's not. While my hair does feel ridiculously good, it is still brown. I started to freak out just a little about 5-minutes into the process because my hair actually started to "set". I was worried that if I left it for a full 30-60 minutes I would be in big, big trouble- as in never-get-a-comb-through-my-hair-ever-again.

SO! The Tonklings and I are going to head up to the beauty supply store to traumatize the woman that works there a little more and I'm going to shell out $4 for a perfect shade of pink.

I can't resist!

I'm going to a Harry Potter release party this evening. I wasn't planning on dressing up. I was going to resist, pretend to be an adult and go in my everyday street clothes.

No more!!!

Here is a bit the Tonklings and I are headed out to by Mommy some hair dye so that I may dress myself up as (duh) Tonks. I've decided to don pink hair with a violet stripe, ripped jeans, an orange t-shirt and black robe*.

This is going to be fun!**

*My mom, who holds onto things "just in case," still has a Halloween costume I wore in the mid-90's that has a long, black robe.

**Not sure what's going to be more fun. Going to the party or sporting my newly died locks to my in-laws house this evening when we go over to help them move furniture. My in-laws already believe me to be slightly loopy, this will likely clench the decision.

Why do the East Coast bloggers have all the fun?

I called A White Bear this evening to check on her. While at dinner with my parents, my mother saw news of an explosion in NYC and asked if AWB was alright.

She was, of course. She was on her way to meet Scott Lemieux and then they were off to a party with a bunch of other bloggers.

Surely there has to be some Midwest* bloggers and surely we must be enough fun to have a party of our own. Let's make plans!


*Preferably KC area but I might travel a little.

This makes me sick

Courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times:

NFL star Michael Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on charges of sponsoring a dogfighting operation so grisly the losers either died in the pit or sometimes were electrocuted, drowned, hanged or shot.

If that's true, you fucker, I hope you rot in hell. I hope they skip normal prison and send you straight to one of Dick Cheney's houses of horror abroad.

Don't just talk about it, do something

Before going any further, head on over to Is There No Sin In It and read this post. Once you're done there, meander on over to Bitch PhD to read this post.

Once you're done, if you're outraged and tired of the Bush Administrations' repeated abuse of the law and flagrant disregard for the Constitution, take a few minutes to compose an e-mail. Send it to your state Representative(s) and congress(wo)men.

Not sure who they are or how to contact them? Click here (look in the upper right hand corner of the page) and here.

This country and its government are not going to change the status quo if we only sit around whining. We have to get up, kick and scream and make our voices heard. NOW.

My childhood revisited

All of the toys I loved during my childhood are making a comeback: Strawberry Shortcake, Transformers*, Care Bears, etc. and the great thing** is that I have my own kids which allows me to play with this stuff all over again! Since we're revisiting the 80's here are a few more characters I'd like to see reappear:

1. Monchihichis
2. Smurfs
3. Rainbow Brite
4. Charmkins
5. Fraggle Rock
6. HeMan
7. Jem
8. Snorks
9. Alvin and the Chipmunks
10. Kissyfur
11. Get Along Gang

I could do this all night but will stop for now and will probably add more later.

What characters would be on your list?

*I remember being very upset one Christmas because I wanted Optimus Prime and instead my cousin got that one.

**Another great thing about being a parent: I can sit at the table and color with my kids and it's okay because I'm spending quality time with them!

Response?

The following snippet I received in an e-mail from a family member. The e-mail was in response to my comment that Bush is in denial over the Iraq war.

Despite his verbal clumsiness and mistakes, based on his actions that I know of, President Bush is a man of integrity and I appreciate his courage in attempting to bring us to success.

Comments?

Rich white people

Recently I was elected to the board of directors of a group that is comprised of a lot of rich white people.

I feel completely out of my element because:
1) We are, by no means, rich.
2) I'm the youngest board member by at least 10-15 years.
3) I don't have a "real" job.
4) I don't give a shit about golf.
5) I don't have any affiliations to any organizations (local or national) whatsoever.

I'm still happy to be on the board and hope that I can do a lot of good for the cause but came home from my orientation last night feeling like a fish out of water and wondering what the hell I'd gotten myself into.

For more on rich white people, see this post by our favorite Bear.

July 21

July 21 is a day that I'm both dreading and looking forward to with great anticipation- it's the day the final Harry Potter book comes out.

I started reading the series out of curiosity, mostly to see what the fuss was about. Instantly I was hooked. I have sucked Mr. Tonks into my curious obsession and we've had numerous discussions about Snape and Horcruxes, foreshadowing and political parallels. A big topic of discussion these last few weeks is who's going to die. For the record I fear it will be Hagrid. Mr. Tonks thinks it'll be Harry (NO!!!).

I've waited for eight-years for this last book but after next weekend I'll have nothing else (Harry Potter-wise) to look forward to and that makes me ridiculously sad.

Best wishes

...to Cindy Sheehan.

Just one question: can a man who was never actually elected president be impeached?

One request: Impeach Cheney first (what a dick), then go after Bush (a mindless twat).

Other than that, kudos to you! Down with King George and his evil empire!

Fun news

...for me at least.

We have an internet connection at last!!!