Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Broked

My computer.
My vacuum cleaner.
My mixer.
My garberator.
My garage door opener.


My truck brakes are squeaking.
My lawn mover needs servicing.
My laptop is missing the "9" key.
My barbecue is on its last legs.
Two bi-fold closet doors have fallen off their tracks.
The drain in my bathroom sink is no longer functioning.

And the dog? Got hit by a lonesome train.

I've taken the computer in to get a new power supply installed.
I've taken the vacuum in to get a new switch installed.
I've asked my mom to buy me a new mixer for my birthday. (An appliance. Shudder. You know you're getting old and practical when you ask for appliances.)

I am a slave to my "things". The more I have, the more I have to look after.

And that's about as deep as my thoughts go tonight.
Shallow Jane.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had my dad and mom over for dinner tonight. Chinese Food.
My dad is doing so good. Drew complained about something and dad laughed. Seems insignificant, doesn't it? But there he was, tracking the conversation and snickering.
Afterwards, we sat in the living room, because, well, from there you can see how clean my dining room is, and he visited. Didn't say much, but he was engaged.

On a side note, apparently a person can wear out a DVD. Romancing the Stone - the movie he must've watched 250 times last month, will need to be replaced. He used it all up.

And, in case you were wondering, my mom looks awesome. Bowel surgery agrees with her.

If you've been praying for them, thank you. I'd say God answered a whole lot of prayers to get them where they're at today. Bless you, internet. You rock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ha, I put off blogging tonight, because I didn't think I had anything to say, but lookee here. I just keep going and going.

Are you a dooce reader?
Heather Armstrong is dooce and she is the queen of bloggville. Her royalty is getting some respect in the real world lately - she'll be on the TODAY show with Kathie Lee on Wednesday. Anyway, Heather writes a letter to her (now 4 year old) daughter every month and posts it on her blog. These are beautifully written, full of love and humor and are an absolute joy to read. She adds photos of Leta as well, so the whole thing looks like a scrapbook page.

Heather writes about her everyday life - the good, the bad, the challenging, the difficult, the glorious, the painful, the confusing, the awesome - and does so with humor and wit.

I admire her transparency and am inspired to be the same on pixnprose.
However, her child is 4. So when she deals with the challenges of parenting a toddler - her illiterate daughter and her daughter's friends, and her daughter's future husband, and future inlaws, aren't all reading in horror as Leta throws a temper tantrum. Those other moms who are reading her blog are sighing in relief that there is another bratty kid out there. I have often wondered how many more years she'll be able to write about Leta.

She receives a ton of crticism for the way she "exploits" her child for money and it has been suggested that writing about her life is egotistical. (Her blog earns enough income that her husband quit his job and stays home full time.) Here's an excerpt from this month's letter:

"I know I am not alone when I say that when I sit down to update my website I do it to connect with other people, I do it to reflect on the absurdity of everyday life with the hope that the people who read it will find similarities in their own routine.

Some of our websites make us money, yes, money that puts food on our table, pays for preschool and helps pay for utilities. Sometimes we even use this money to pay for more unnecessary things like computers or manicures or purple ceramic hippos, and this in particular is something people grab hold of to try and twist what we're doing into something gross and ugly. And try as they might, I will not be discouraged from continuing to document the beauty of life with my family or supporting them with an income from doing so. Leta, some people will one day try to convince you that what I've done here is some sort of sickening betrayal of your childhood, and what those people fail to recognize is that I am doing the exact opposite. This is the glorification of your childhood, and even more than that this is a community of women coming together to make each other feel less alone. You are a part of this movement, you and all of the other kids whose mothers are sitting at home right now writing tirelessly about their experiences as mothers, the love and frustration and madness of it all. And I think one day you will look at all of this and pump your fist in the air."

Maybe Leta will be proud of her mom.
Maybe not.
But I have a feeling, that just like Anne Lamott, Heather will not be able to write about the process of getting a kid through the teenage years.


There is a huge number (like, a really REALLY big number) of "mommy blogs" on the internet. And when I browse through them, it's obvious mommys of teenagers do not have mommy blogs. I haven't found single one. Which is not surprising.

But kind of sad. Because mothers of teens, especially teens who are excersing their United Nations right to be rebellious, can be just as lonely as mothers of newborns or toddlers.

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to say that I echo Heather when she says, "When I sit down to update my website I do it to connect with other people, I do it to reflect on the absurdity of everyday life with the hope that the people who read it will find similarities in their own routine."

The only thing I would add to that, is to say that I also have the hope that through this little blog of mine, God would somehow be glorified. Although, I'm not sure there were any God-moments in that vomit story.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. A special walk with Janice tonight.
2. A long overdue walk with Clint last night. (at midnight)
3. A long weekend just around the corner.

Shalom,

2 comments:

Tricia said...

Mommies of teenagers having a blog ... hahahahaha!

Jacki said...

2 things:

1. I also read dooce, it's where the addiction to this whole ew culture began.

2. I do know of one mommy of teen blogger. http://blogs.chron.com/goodmombadmom/2008/05/

It's two people, one has a two teens, and the other has a toddler and they write together. you might like it...