Now

I have found that, like so many things, my interest in blogging waxes and wanes. In nearly three years I have published more than 500 posts. Every time I approached one of the century marks, I have thought I should make a fuss about it, but each time I forget until it's too late. I look and realize that I'm at 407. And really, who cares how many posts I've put up. Does it make me a more accomplished writer or blogger for the number of times I have managed to hit the publish button? Do the 100 or so people who visit here each day, most of whom are likely family, even care? Having said that, my relative absence from blogging lately has left me feeling stranded. Missing out on my friends lives and missing out on writing, something I truly enjoy doing. I want, no I need, to get back in to it.

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I am restarting Operation Smaller Ass. I lost 20 pounds earlier this year and then proceeded to gain most of it back over the following 8 months and that's total bullshit. I work out like a fiend, I NEED something to show for it. I've considered all of the easy routes: pills, hypnotism, chaining the fridge; and have decided to just get back with counting calories. I had success with it before, and early results are good. Five pounds in the last week. How many times do I say "this time I'm serious" before I really do GET SERIOUS?

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I'm considering doing NaNoWriMo. I have a story. And a pretty good one, if I do say so myself. I've been fleshing it out in my head for a while now, so it's just a matter of buckling down and bringing it to life. Will having a month deadline make it happen? I don't know, but it can't hurt trying. Neil's always asking me when I'm going to write my novel. Maybe now is the time.

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Maybe now is the time for a lot of things.

Birthday Wishes

I'm not sure what she wished for, but she got three cupcakes out of the deal.

Three!!

My darling girl is three years old today. I know that every single parent says it at every single birthday, but how did that happen? How have three years passed since she came into our world? She was just my tiny little bean and now she is a KID. She walks, she talks, she opines, LOUDLY. We have our highs and lows but every day with her is an adventure.

And now after more than one thousand glorious days of on the job training, I think it is safe to claim to be an expert on child-rearing.

Just a few of my pearls of wisdom:

1. Potty training is more art than science.

2. I don't care how many experts say that you can get your kid to eat anything. Accept that you will never understand your child's culinary choices.

3. Sleeping in? Fuhgeddaboudit.

4. Clothes will be changed a minimum of five times a day.

5. Related to #4: seasons, weather and temperature have no bearing on clothing selections.

6. Tantrums happen only at the very worst times. Like in the middle of the painfully quiet craft store.

7. Your child will do things for other people they will never do for you. Like eat. Or sit still.

8. Forget about making phone calls during their waking hours.

9. You don't know stubborn until you've tried to keep a 3 year old away from a cupcake.

10. What worked yesterday will absolutely not work tomorrow. No matter how ingenious.


Happy birthday to my beautiful girl! Every day you make me so proud.

It's Tuesday. And That Means Absolutely Nothing

- Sophie's 3rd birthday is just two days away. Can't even process that I have a THREE YEAR OLD. And NO, we're not having another kid.

- I ran another 5K a couple of weeks ago and now I have the bug. I want to do another. And another. Who is this person that has taken over my body and what has she done with the real Cara?

- We broke down and hired a biweekly cleaning service. All is right in the world again. There is really nothing better than coming home to a yummy clean house. Of course, the clean only lasts for 42 seconds, but those are 42 heavenly seconds.

- We got rid of the last of our tube TVs a couple of weeks ago. We tried to donate it to the local Goodwill but they wouldn't take it. A perfectly good 32 inch TV. We wound up taking it to the dump. I can't get over that.

- I have enough red clothes to do an entire load of them when I do laundry. I really need to diversify my wardrobe. I don't want to be known as the "lady in red", although I would love to have a song like that written about me. Sigh.

- I got hit on by a 90 year old white bearded fellow in the waiting room of my dermatologist yesterday. It was funny and flattering and creepy all at the same time. I think his 70 year old daughter, who was pushing his wheelchair, was embarrassed.

My Social Network

I went to see The Social Network yesterday. For those of you living under a rock, this is the movie about the creation of Facebook. It was good. Damn good. The writing was whip smart and the acting was unbelievable. The fact that it is based on a true story is a very compelling element. Of course, from what I understand large swathes were taken not from actual accounts but from writers interpretations of what likely occurred at known events, but that is to be expected.

After the movie, Jill and I sat at a deli enjoying fantastic pastrami sandwiches and cream soda while we dissected the movie. One thing we kept coming back to was just how significantly Facebook has changed the way we interact.

I was a late comer to Facebook. I joined about two years ago. I had heard of it before, but I resisted. At the time, I had been blogging for about 8 months and felt that was all the online interaction I needed. But my 16th* high school reunion was coming up and it was the easiest way to connect with former classmates leading up to our get together.

At first it was people I was current with and those high school classmates I was trying to get in touch with for the reunion. But it pretty quickly evolved into a self-indulgent trip down memory lane. I looked up people I haven't seen since grade school. I'll confess there are a couple of ex-boyfriends in there. But only the friendly ones.

Sometimes I think that we're supposed to lose touch with people. That maybe there is a reason you don't talk anymore to that girl you ran around with for a couple of months when you were 20. And that snarking at photos of your ex-boyfriend's ugly wife is mean and unnecessary.

But for the most part, I love Facebook. I can't imagine life without it. I love that it allows me to passively follow a large number of friends on an everyday basis. I love that I can interact or not, at my discretion, and no one will criticize me either way. I love that I can disseminate information about myself and my family so easily.

There is little doubt that it has changed things. Like all of the greats, it was an invention I didn't even realize I needed until it was so entrenched in my life that I couldn't imagine operating without it. But that brings up the inevitable question: What is the next step? What will be the next Facebook?

I wish I could invent it.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think? Are you on Facebook? Love it? Hate it?

*We also had an 11th reunion. Not sure what, if any, plans there are for future reunions but I have full confidence they will NOT fall on the usual years.