Charlie is a very naughty Charlie.

Just what the doctor ordered:
Charlie Bit My Finger!

Do NOT stick your finger in Charlie's mouth!
love you,
p

full of shame

Why? Because I have a serious urge to hang pictures of famous hotties around my desk or on the fridge. The problem is that I'm about 20 years too old for that. Can you please tell me what I should do? Should I release the shame and just hang away? Or should I find some way to work through this and make myself be an adult with a shred of taste? Help. In the meantime, make like this is my "locker."

Antidote

I see this nuggest every day when I go to work. He is the happiest thing in my day sometimes. It doesn't even matter what kind of day, he saves it. What is more awesome than being hugged around the knee? Not much.

Love you.

p.

Flowers for you

Dearest Pea,

Thinking of you.

Love,

P-

Rice is the new Cheeto

My sweetest Pea,

Looking for a way to improve your vocabulary, feed hungry people, and wile away countless hours at your computer, all at the same time?

Look no further!

Thinking of you,

P-

INTERCHANGEABLE ROBOT CUPCAKES!

Magnificent

I catch my breath sometimes when I see storms over the mountains. Thrilling and terrifying.

Also really fucking cold.

love you. P.

Hitting a wall

My last two weeks have been consumed by a very important decision:

which of THESE to choose?

Help, my sweet Pea!

Love,

P-

Beautiful Print

No longer available; more great prints at obeygiant.com.

I would love to see the usual political posters get some art schooling.
xoxoox
p.

Drunk dialing...

...or blogging.

Nothing more to report, but that I'm tipsy on a school night, and blogging to my Pea. I went to an Obama rally tonight, and watched with sadness as my glorious, earnest, and honorable Barack got roundly spanked by Hilary's superior debating skills.

Sadness, then drunkenness, then hamburgers.

Wish you were here for the politics and the fries,

P-

Nice to See You

glumbert - THX for the Eyes

An Official Annoucement

On May 10, I will run the Susan G. Komen 5K Race for the Cure. I've never run a race before and I'm out of shape; but this year, I'm going to do it. Now that it's in writing, I've made a promise. Please send a case of the thigh chafing gel.

Maybe someday we can run a race together. We will race to a finish line made of cupcakes. Yum.

Love you, love you!
p

Managing Bloodthirsty Beasts

Utah has heart.

Hygeine

Dear Pea,

Do you have a DIRTY COMPUTER SCREEN?

Never fear! Click HERE!

I'm always happy to help you out.

Love,

P-

Back in the Saddle

Yee-haw! It's taken me until today to look at the blog because I've been missing you so much and I didn't want to look at an old post. It's like that time you moved away (Remember? When you broke my heart and moved to that sparkly place you live?) and I couldn't/wouldn't call you? Because I'm a little crazy and because sometimes nothing feels better than a tiny speck of contact? That's just stupid. And I've wanted to work the blog too, for all the reasons you mention and because I might as well write down the notes I recite to you in my head.



Let's get this party started.

• December brought an impromptu trip to Seattle for a choir concert. Star of concert: my awesome brother. Attendees at concert: me, brother's girlfriend and her kid, mom, stepdad, grandparents. SO MUCH PROCESSING to be done on that familial melange, and on my overwhelming pride and love for my rockin' sib.

I saw the pictures and guessed about your trip. What a cute bunny Stan is. Can't wait to talk about all of it. Family processing? My favorite kind.

• Someone's girlfriend has applied to work at my job. The SWFing continues.

I wasn't sure which of two possible crazies it would be, but that seems right. Are there not other jobs in your tiny village?

• I'm planning an ACTUAL VACATION. For real this time. Destination? Here's a hint: husband and I took an online quiz to figure out which is the best island to visit for our beach sitting and ecotourism desires.

WOOOOOO!!! New Zealand? Tell me! Tell me! Hooray for going bye-bye.

• Wedding plans back on for this summer; date TBD.

July 26? SWF much? That gives me plenty of time to tattoo tiny images of your face on my face-- multiple profilies, etc. I just want to make sure the guests have something to chat about.

• Husband passed his licensing exams. Yay, husband!

Indeed! A true champ! So, uh, what does he get to do now?

• Built in bookshelves installing this weekend. I'm almost crying with excitement; I love and miss my books.

I love them too. I've always liked to look at the way you put your books on shelves. You do this beautiful thing where you have just the right books-- it's like super-condensed goodness. The way a really good cupcake can be better than a huge cake.

• Have purchased my very first grown up bag. Witness its splendor.

Splendiferous! I like the inside. Do you snuggle it? Can I ride inside?

Many things going on here--mostly good. I shall share with an efficient bullet-point presentation as well:

• Brother and SIL: PREGNANT! Hooray times a million. I'm insane about it. L. told me yesterday that the baby is the size of a sesame seed. That is verrrry verrrrry tiny.
• Husband got into the MSW program at the U and is also part of a tiny group of students picked to be in a pilot program that emphasizes abnormal psychology and criminal justice. He is very excited. I am too-- I think he's ripe for this kind of education and I'm thrilled that the school figured out what I know--that he is a very tall parcel of potential.
• I dreamed that I made out with my boss at school. I think you know who I mean. Even in the dream, he was wearing sandals and athletic socks. I need an enormous psyche scrub brush.
• It's taken me awhile (1.5 years) to completely figure out that a woman I work with (a staff member!) is some combination of antisocial pd and narcissistic pd. For real. It's maybe the scariest interpersonal situation I've been in/around. It's so crazy that she has bamboozled all of the bosses in the company the whole way up to the CEO. It's not a small company. So my excellent boss and friend, P, is fighting for her to get the boot. This is after two other attempts to get her fired-- once was for an incident that involved her throwing a client's stroller in a fit of rage, destroying it. She did this in front of other clients and kids. She talked her way out of it. SCARY. I'll keep you posted partly because, of course, I'm in her cross hairs. She could eviscerate me. Husband contends that she is made of the exact material of serial killers. I don't want to be the one to check her trunk.
• Speaking of serial killers, we are hooked on Dexter. More than hooked. When I watched the last 2 episodes of Season 1, I had to call Husband at work for emotional support. When do we get Season 2? Also, how is a serial killer so hot? Seriously, how? Oh yeah, Ted Bundy.

Oh, my sweet. I miss you so much. And I did mangle your birthday-- I looked at my calendar last week and internalized the wrong day. I'm a tool. But I'm a crafting tool (perhaps an awl) who is crafting away on a dorky gift. As usual, I'm making sure that you get to celebrate your birthday long after the actual date.

I love you a billion...

-p

Lonesome Pod

My most beautiful Pea,

You searched the world and found all delightful pea-themed treasures, and sent them to me. I was overwhelmed and amazed and I miss you and love you.





The overabundance of peas also inspired me once again to blog, though I have little time this morning. I'm realizing that blogging, like jogging or eating veggies, is something that makes me feel good but that I also sacrifice in the face of random other business. I'll try to be more diligent, pea of my heart. I have so much to say to you every day.

A few highlights until we speak again:

• December brought an impromptu trip to Seattle for a choir concert. Star of concert: my awesome brother. Attendees at concert: me, brother's girlfriend and her kid, mom, stepdad, grandparents. SO MUCH PROCESSING to be done on that familial melange, and on my overwhelming pride and love for my rockin' sib.


• Someone's girlfriend has applied to work at my job. The SWFing continues.


• I'm planning an ACTUAL VACATION. For real this time. Destination? Here's a hint: husband and I took an online quiz to figure out which is the best island to visit for our beach sitting and ecotourism desires.


• Wedding plans back on for this summer; date TBD.


• Husband passed his licensing exams. Yay, husband!


• Built in bookshelves installing this weekend. I'm almost crying with excitement; I love and miss my books.


• Have purchased my very first grown up bag. Witness its splendor.
  

Love you so much, wish you were with me every second.

P-

time consuming = -calorie consumption?

(not a day goes by that a colleague doesn't mention this annoying triangle, but it's so frustratingly on target most of the time)

Heavy math. I have thought a million times about your post re. the eating and the learning and the struggling to do what should be one of the easiest things we do. After all, if eating is at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, then it should be as basic a process as taking shelter for the night. I pay the rent, I have an apartment. I buy the food, I eat it. Except that basic isn't as easy as it looks. So sayeth P.

I have crowned myself Team Captain of my unit's (of the Valley Mental Health conglomerate) Holiday Weight Loss/Maintenance Team. I knew that if it was a competition, I'd get off my ass (literally and emotionally). For now, I'm okay with my weight being linked to my craving for an A+ -- for being the valedictorian of weight loss. Seems to me that you're more fully evolved in this area than I, and as I overachieve my way into a smaller booty, I hope to learn to eat.

Oh, and also, I got sucked into this. Someone found me and steered me to this wee struggling non-profit with the suggestion that I might help with grant writing. I can't do much, really, because I don't know tons about grants and also because I don't care to know much about them (despite once being paid a nice little salary for doing just that). I met with the "development team" (so named today) this afternoon and we already have a plan to offer a "healing movement" workshop for my inpatient clients. Hooray! I don't have much time for this project and so I'm being very selfish. In other words, I'm going to do only what I want to do and will squeeze everything out of this experience that might make me happy. And that's that.

I only wish you were here to play too. How happy it would be to have you inserted into my favorite parts of my days.

Love you,
p.

Miss my Pumpkin

Dearest P-is-for-Pumpkin,

Remembering Thanksgiving several years ago, me with pink hair and you with delicious cheese. Wish we could do it again this year.



All my love,

P

One answer.

Sustainable

My sweetest of Peas!

My heart is with you on this subject. Please don't take diet pills. Or get tucked or snipped or anything else. You are perfect and flawless as you are. I know this is an obnoxious mom-ish kind of thing to say, and I have also found it infuriating when my mom says it to me, but it is true.

Problem is, that doesn't solve the problem. My therapist and I were talking yesterday about this very issue. I talked about the good days: eating well and exercising and feeling great. I talked about the bad days: marathon eating from start to finish. Then, I talked about the worst days: starting out well with grapefruit and scrambled egg whites in the morning; moving to a healthy salad and soup for lunch; and then dissolving into desperation with a too-large greasy dinner and intermittent snacking right until bedtime. Her question was simple: "Do you know how to eat?" I was startled and a little offended. Yes, from the high chair and "here comes the airplane," I have indeed evolved into an adult human who can use her opposable thumbs to pick up a fork, thanks. Yes, I understand about food groups and three meals a day, as I am not a complete fucking imbecile. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that she is right; at a very basic level, I don't know how to put together a day's worth of meals, or to plan in advance to do this every day for an entire week, or to develop a practice that allows me to do this sanely for the rest of my life. She gave me the number for a nutritionist. I'm hoping she can provide me with a plan of attack. When I get up in the morning, what do I do? What do I prepare, and how much? What do I do after that? And after that?

I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, try snacking on raw sugar snap peas. I ate a whole bunch for lunch yesterday, and with every sweet bite I thought of you.

All my love,

P-


P.S. I added a new fave blog to our links; check it out. Pretty scary shit.