Mommin' It Up!

October 15, 2009

Yes, You’re Probably Dying

yes dying

I have this wheel hanging up in my cubicle at work… it comes in very handy when I need to diagnose something. Point the arrow to your symptom, and you’ll find out what illness/disease you may have, the appropriate medical term, the correct specialist to see, what to obsess about in the meantime, and what harmless condition you probably have after all.

Very handy indeed.

Well I could definitely use it this morning… if I had it here, I would point the arrow toward “headache,” “stuffy nose,” and, if available, “head going to explode.”

Because basically? I feel like crap.

I have an old-fashioned cold… I don’t think I have H1N1 or anything crazy like that… but still, I feel pretty awful. And since yesterday I was given strict orders from my co-workers not to come back to work until I was over whatever communicable disease I was carrying, I have decided to stay home.

I have homework to do, and there’s so much cleaning I could finally get around to now that I have a day off, but for the moment I’m trying to ignore all that. I am going to sleep… sleep until I wake up. How’s that for luxury?

October 14, 2009October 14, 2009

Just Another Jenny

Jenny19days

I was born on September 5, 1977. My parents named me Jenny Michelle. My dad liked the “Michelle” part, my mom liked the “Jenny” part, and, apparently, so did the rest of America. Except the rest of America preferred to name their daughters “Jennifer” and call them “Jenny.” I was not so lucky. For most of my life I have wished the presumed “ifer” was part of my name, just because it would make it easier. But, oh well, it could be worse.

So I entered school in the early eighties with many Jennys. I graduated high school with a few, and joined legions at college. As a matter of fact, in my freshman “suite” (which is a fancy name for two cinder-block-walled bedrooms and a one-holer bathroom), there were three of us. Three out of four. The other girl’s name was Arlyce. Lucky!

Now I am in my 30s, and like most of the other Jennys (though many of us have taken to deleting the -ny, I have stubbornly kept mine) I am a wife and a mother.

And, like myriad Jen(ny)s on the interwebz, I am also a blogger. With a unique voice, if not a unique name. I’m Just Another Jenny. But also, I’m really not. And as thousands of Jennys come of age, what I hope for us is that we all find our voices, speak the truth, and mother our children in positive ways that are anything but ordinary.

October 13, 2009October 12, 2009

Almost Famous

itouch
(photo by Tricia’s husband Ben)

The other day, after I helped my famous Uncle Paul set up his new blog, Redneck Latte, (which you should totally go read just as soon as you’re done here, cause he’s hilarious!) he did a very nice thing and ordered me a fruit bouquet. You know, fruit cut to be shaped like like a bouquet of flowers. Which is a genius idea and was very thoughtful of Uncle Paul. The bouquet had cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, and chocolate-covered strawberries, which I may or may not have immediately eaten five of as soon as I ripped the cellophane off. But anyhoo, after I received it, Uncle Paul called me to tell me he had a very interesting conversation with the woman who worked at the fruit bouquet place. It went something like this:

Fruit Bouquet Lady: What do you want on the card?

Uncle Paul: “Thanks for all your help. U-P”

Fruit Bouquet Lady: What does U-P stand for?

Uncle Paul: Uncle Paul

Fruit Bouquet Lady: Uncle Paul? Like the blog?

Uncle Paul: Uh…yeah. I guess you read Mommin’ It Up?

Fruit Bouquet Lady: Yeah! Did you start your blog yet?

Uncle Paul: Um…yeah. I started it yesterday!

Needless to say, Uncle Paul was pretty stunned. But the point of this conversation is…we’re flippin’ FAMOUS!! Some random lady at the fruit bouquet place READS OUR BLOG! (Please, fruit bouquet lady, step up and identify yourself! We want to know who you are!)

I was so excited about this blogtastic reader sighting that I waited until the next night to tell Emily about it so I could tell her in person. Because we are big dorks, we practically jumped up and down with glee! It is quite gratifying to know that someone other than my mom reads us and knows who we are!

So, since we are like, suuuuper famous and SUCH a big deal, Emily and I decided we really needed to commemorate our fame in a very tangible way. Like by pretending to put our hand prints in the dirt in front of the Tom’s Corn Maze sign, since they haven’t invited us to the Hollywood Walk of Fame yet (although I am checking my email frequently for that invite, ’cause I KNOW it’s coming!)

So next time you see us, if we’re acting like we’re a little big for our britches, well, you’ll know why. Not because I’ve upped my Hershey bar intake or Emily’s fallen off the Weight Watchers wagon. Rather, because of a good old-fashioned ego boost. We’re now pretty much convinced that we are like the First Family of the blogosphere. Kind of like the Baldwin Brothers are in Hollywood, you know. Except we’re female, and we’re cousins, and there’s only two of us, and we’re both successful instead of just one of us…wait…where was I going with this?

Oh, right, we’re COOL! Tell your friends!