Me and my auntie Square!

Today get to take care of my nephew while my sister and brother-in-law go to the Dodger game (as Dodger Stadium is ten minutes from my apartment). And while I babysit quite often, it is usually AT the location of my neices or nephew's, thus in a more baby proof environment. The last time I watched my nephew at my place I realized just how NON-babyproof my apartment actually is and wrote this post on another site:


Dear Mamma and D-A-D Dad,
I like our house and all, really I do, but after hangin out at auntie Square’s last night I realized that our house really isn’t very baby FRIENDLY after all. Let me show you what I mean…


See! SquareGirl's doors actually OPEN and are not stuck together (by the way, her toilet seat opens too). and why is this? That’s because Auntie Square TRUSTS me mom…you ever hear of that word? "TRUST"? Maybe YOU should try it sometime.


Oh yes, and the shelves…look at all these fun things for me to pull down...er I mean, look at.


Auntie Square has an actual fireplace, the perfect size for me to walk into. I tried.


See that vase behind me? It is totally real live genuine GLASS. And these candleholders? Much better than any of the toys you sent with me.


And let’s talk about the television set…It’s my perfect height! I can touch it and everything! AND auntie Square let ME hold the remote…see? I liked the news. That Sesame Street DVD is getting a little old.

Oh yeah, and that whole eating in a high chair thing you make me do? Well auntie Square doesn’t believe in those restrictive chairs so at her house eating time is actually fun…eat a bite and run, another bite then play some more…really mom, you can learn a thing or two from her.

All in all it was a wonderful night with my auntie Square, and I am quite sure that midway through the evening, she could hardly even wait to start having kids of her own.

Love,
Your son

I think this time I'll take him to the park.

So glad i'm it!

Upon completing this post, I became very glad about being tagged by MOM-NOS as it gave me a good reason to go back into her archives and re-read some of my favorite Bud posts, so thanks MOM-NOS for including me in this game of tag.

I’m generally not a fan of tag and probably normally wouldn’t want to participate, but I’ve been tagged by MOM-NOS who happens to be one of my favorite bloggers of the entire blogosphere. Her blog is one of the first I ever discovered and fell in love with her writing and her son Bud so much so that hers is the first and only blog that I went through and read EVERY. SINGLE . POST. So for her and Bud, I am actually more than happy to join this game of tag. So here goes…

Oh and if you haven’t been reading MOM-NOS, I suggest you skip this list and hop right on over there right now and get acquainted with her entertaining, charming, stunning, heart-warming and occasionally heart-wrenching posts about her experiences with her delightful son Bud.

5 things in my refrigerator

Tortillas (always, always, always have tortillas in my fridge…their my staple)

Tomato juice (that I bought over a month ago because I had an unexplainable craving for it when I was at the grocery store and have yet to even open it)

Snow peas

Easy home-made chili/salsa (a small can of tomato sauce, fresh chopped cilantro, finely chopped onion, chopped serano chili, crushed red pepper flakes…I like mine really spicy and put it on everything, eggs, chicken, baked potato…yum!)

Garlic (another Square staple)

5 things in my closet (significantly less than before now that I’ve cleaned a lot of it out)

My Clippers Hat

Make that two Clippers caps and two Clippers beanies.

That’s five! ...oh wait, it’s actually four.

My favorite groovy embroidered scarf.

5 things in my purse

A travel-size dental pick (gross, I know, but not as gross as stuff in your teeth…did I mention that my childhood dream was to become a dentist?)

Postage stamps (cause you never know when you’re gonna need postage stamps)

3 library cards (that reminds me, I have an overdue book that I need to return tomorrow)

A keychain with photos of my niece and nephew (gonna update to include my newest niece when I get a photo)

A rubber band (Because a Squaregirl needs to be able to throw her hair up in a moments notice)

5 things in my car (mind you, it’s new-ish, so there is really not much)

An extension for an ipod (I don’t actually own an ipod, but I’ve actually used the extension when other people with ipod’s were in my car)

Change (for meters and newspaper and postage stamps and stuff. I realized after I traded in my Jetta that I actually still had at leas forty dollars in change in the ashtray, darnit!)

Various CD’s (Curious George soundtrack, Depeche Mode, Indigo Girls, David Bowie, Lyle Lovett, Johnny Cash, U2...my music taste is somewhat eclectic)

Post-it notes with a principal or positive phrase to contemplate for the day (Yes, I know…I sound like a nut!)

A Thomas Guide (I live in Southern California, so it’s a must for me)


5 friends I am tagging (hmmmm, never been a huge fan of tag and not great with rules, so I’m not gonna pressure anyone to do this, but lemesee…)

Minka (unless you’ve done this one)

You know, Almost all the other blogs I read have either already done this, or I can’t imagine that they would…so anyone who might, Tag. You are now it.

I have c-list celebrities calling me now!

This evening I received a phone message from Carmen Electra. Really. Yes it sounded like a recorded message, but nonetheless it went something like this: "Heeellloooo there! It's me Carmen Eelllleeeectraaa and I had to call to say heeelooo and tell you how I've teamed up with Dr. Phil.." (hold on there...what the heck? Carmen Electra and Dr. Phil? Is this for reals?) "...to team up with a new numner that you can call to meet up with available singles in your area..."

I can't tell you the rest.

Because I hung up.

Seriously? Carmen Electra and Dr. Phil? A dating servie?

No thanks.

And I really wish I were making this all up...

Happy Birthday Paul McCartney!

Hope you got the valentine birthday greeting and the bottle of wine!

And of course we still need you and surely someone will feed you now that your sixty-four!

What a Mess!

This has been my 2 year old nieces newest favorite catch phrase, which she uses whenever she anything out of place or say drops like 2 cheerios, being quite the fastidious little girl. Needless to say, my home sweet home has become quite the mess with piles of clothes draped here and there, as I begin the process of simplifying, re-organizing and downsizing, getting the energy flowing if you will, in my living space. I won’t bore you with details here, but BIG changes are on the horizon for this Square…

So in my downsizing efforts, I have chosen to start with the closets (yes “closets”, I have three). I have resisted doing so in quite a while, mostly because it means admitting to myself that I will never be the effortless size six I used to be and because I really like some of my smaller clothes, I have maintained the delusion that I would be able to wear them again one day.

But I’m stepping into reality. My niece (well she’s not technically my niece, but my “niece” nonetheless) is graduating from high school today and will be working at USC over the summer so although her style is more of the groovy, punk, mod eighties thing that kids are doing these days, she’s always liked my clothes and tells me she’d be more than happy to inherit some of them, making it much easier for me to detatch from them knowing that someone will appreciate them (yes, I know, it’s only clothes).

Needless to say, I am creating different piles of clothes around my house based on where they will be going and I am actually realizing quite a lot by looking at things I used to wear…



For example, see that dress with the groovy print? Well, by hanging it in the window, I am realizing that it is quite, er, transparent. And while I can’t remember exactly everytime I wore this dress, I do know that I once wore it to a Picasso exhibit at the Norton Simon museum a few years back, and to everyone there, I apologize…I am just not fussy enough of a person to wear slips and such...but I really had no idea exactly how sheer it actually was…so I really hope you’ll accept my apology…

And that turquoise shirt, pretty huh? Well at least I think so…It’s actually Versace and the most design-ery piece of clothing I have ever owned, bought for me by my good friend Chris...(Dear Chris, I appreciate the shirt, really I do, it is soooo my color. And I know that in your five foot, ninety-five pound, size zero world that this “Large” actually seems large, BUT seriously girl, that is not a “large” shirt…well, I hope not at least).

Does it look “large” to any of you?

Needless to say, I have only just begun…after the closets comes the bigger projects, i.e. dismantling my office/guest bedroom that rarely gets used, moving my current bedroom into aforementioned office/guest bedroom, moving my television into my current bedroom, re-painting the walls a new color (don’t actually know what color yet) No more T.V. in the livingroom, more yoga and reading, less STUFF. I am in the process of further simplifying my life and unplugging…Of course something tells my DSL will be the last to go…

I suppose it's gonna get messier in order to get better, but isn't that how it always goes?

Have you ever...

suddenly heard loud music right outside of your house and gone to the window to see if there’s a guy with a trench coat holding a boom box over his head (Not necessarily in your direction of course).

No?

Oh.

Um, me neither.

Conversations with MamaSquare

SquareSis, you'll appreciate this one!

MamaSquare has a tendency to start her dialogue in what sounds like the middle of a conversation. My theory is that she can never remember which part of which conversation she has had with each of her five children and seems to think that we must all telepathically communicate and know what she has told one or the other of us. When we lived together it was easier…we can piece together parts of our own conversation with her to collectively come up with one sensible (depending on how you look at it) conversation. But my MamaSquare tends to call me and begin talking to me with the assumption that I’m up to speed…and our conversations tend to be pretty amusing to me (although indeed very serious and important to her). Last Friday night the phone rang and our conversation went something like this:

SG: Hey mom! (I have caller ID)

MamaSq: Hey beautiful! (we’re all “beautiful” or “pumpkin” usually) So you can get a bowl or a leash or a collar…

SG: Huh? Wait, mom, what are you talking about?

MS: For your father.

SG: I see…why a bowl and a leash?

MS: Oh, well I got him a puppy. For Father’s day.

SG: Wait! Is Father’s day this Sunday? And I thought you said you weren’t getting a dog again? (Which she’s been saying adamantly for the last four years when our family dog went to doggie heaven. In fact were instructed to NEVER get her a dog EVER AGAIN.)

MS: Not this Sunday, the next Sunday. And I had to.

SG: I see, you had to…why did you “have to” again.

MS: Well you know me and you know how I say things without even thinking about it, well when me and your father were looking at the house tonight (after moving out of the old Victorian house that we grew up in being that all five kids had moved out and the house was HUGE, my parents decided to have a much smaller house built and it is currently in construction…needless to say the smaller house has four bedrooms and an office) I told him “well I guess now I have to get you a dog”…and his eyes lit up so I HAD to get one.

SG: Clearly. You HAD to get him one after making such a binding commitment. Wait, you said that to him tonight?

MS: Yes

SG: And you say you already have the dog.

MS: Yes. A golden retriever. It’s a girl and she doesn’t have a name yet because we want to get to know her better and find a name that matches her personality.

SG: How did you find this golden retriever? (coincidentally the breed of our beloved Goldie)

MS: Well turns out there were some in Covina so we went by and got one…so she needs a bowl and a leash and a collar and…oh wait! I have to get that call, I’ll call you right back.

She didn’t. Don't worry, I din't expect her to.

Square Girl's Weekend Movie Trailer Reviews #3

THE LAKE HOUSE

As much as I appreciate the whole concept of the bending of the space and time continuum, this trailer about a woman (Sandra Bullock) living in a Lake House 2 years after a man (Keanu Reeves) lived there, yet somehow they were somehow there at the same time and date and could communicate with each other via letters. Highlights include Sandra leaving a scarf with a note explaining that there was a freak blizzard that day two years earlier (when he was living there) and a note from Sandra saying she missed the Lake House prompting Keanu to plant a tree from the Lake outside of her city apartment, that two years later (when Sandra’s) there is a fully grown tree. To be honest the trailer seemed a little silly to me…

LOWER CITY

Narrator: “Two friends” (screen shot of two men, obviously friends)

Narrator: “One woman” (screen shots of an attractive women)

This is followed by screen shots of the friends and the woman together (and narration I can’t remember). And a rapid succession of screenshots of the each friends with the woman, dancing, kissing, throwing glass bottles at wall.

SG's review: Huh?


WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?

Interesting. Very interesting. This trailer starts by reminding us all that ten years ago we had a sleek, fast, cost-effective electric car that insured that our dependency on oil would be resolved by this car. It included footage of Tom Hanks praising it on David Letterman and some other various celebrity endorsement.

But! Dun, dun, dun…whatever happened to this amazing invention? Why did the electric car mysteriously disappear? Well according to our narrator (not the same narrator from “Lower City” by the way), the business of selling oil is not over as there is over a trillion dollars worth of oil still to be tapped into and sold. In other words, get this people, it is ALL ABOUT MONEY! GASP! Say it isn’t so in this ethical and honest country of ours! The trailer ends with Huell Howser interviewing one of the men in the junkyard who is shredding the electric cars asking why these cars are being destroyed and the man responding with “I don’t know. It’s just a mystery.”

Mysterious indeed!

And this time I'm sure!

I’ve been voting since I was eighteen. It’s what we squares were always taught to do. Vote. And Recycle.

Which is why it was so disturbing durning the last presidential election when I showed up to the polls to find that somehow, my name had disappeared. So I was ushered to some line where I had to fill out a special form in order to possibly get my vote counted if all my information was correct and validated and some other nonsense.

And they gave me my sticker that I didn’t even want to wear because I wasn’t sure if my vote was gonna even count. Apparently this happened to a lot of people, and frankly I’m a little suspicious…I mean, they could find my name for a State Primary election apparently, but not the presidential election?

Perhaps you need some sort of clearance for that now…I suppose it’s in the Patriot Act or something.

God Bless America.

Sigh.

Hey sis, check it out!

I thought those eyes looked familiar!

Nostalgia is dying...

Apparently.

Sigh.

I received a letter from the school I attended from preschool to high-school graduation and it said…

“The Senior Class of 2006 is replacing all of the CIF banners as part of their Senior Gift. The new banners will all be identical and colorfast and we are excited about the new look. Rather than throw away the old banners, we’ve decided to AUCTION THEM OFF…”

I don’t know what to say…

I haven’t worn an official basketball jersey in over thirteen years (incidentally my jersey number), and I’m not a fan of the term “Glory Days”, BUT, I sincerely believe that Basketball plays a HUGE role in who I am today…teaching me the importance of teamwork, accountability, work ethic, sportsmanship, responsibility, humility, and responsibility. And our coach, who now suffers (maybe I shouldn’t say “suffers”, he seems quite happy) from Alzheimers, epitomized and lived those values.

The banners of team the that I played on…that I was co-captain of is being sold to the highest bidder…and I am pretty sure that it will be someone who will appreciate it. I don’t even want the banners, BUT…

When did being “colorfast” become a priority.? I don’t know why it matters, but it DOES. I don’t want those banners replaced. I don’t want to be “Colorfast” (what the heck is “colorfast” anyway?)

La-Di-da, I suppose. I guess I am being too sentimental…too nostalgic…too sensitive. I should be happy that our banners are being replaced by colorfast ones…

Unfortunately, I’m not

Again...
Sigh.