Ok, you know how I'm so crazy busy doing report cards? Well, I took a little break.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Little late, but really grateful

Ok, I'm a little late with this one. I haven't been online in two days and it feels like a decade! Weird. Anyway....

We had a lovely holiday. I am embarrassingly overendowed with good things. My family, my friends, my job...I'm really glad to be where I am. It was nice to be able to share that with my daughter, who is starting to realize what I'm talking about. She made some really cute "thankful fors" too. The first one was "I am thankful Jesus loves me." I very nearly abandoned the whole enterprise right there!

But we had a great day, all working together to make a wonderful meal, set a beautiful table with wedding crystal and the gorgeous Wedgwood china from my dadii. On a hideous tablecloth, but what are you going to do?

And of course, the topper, the turtle centerpeice. Tradition, with an edge. Or a shell. Whatever.So you gotta know...we are so very grateful for all y'all. We don't have a ton of "stuff," but we've got piles and piles of what counts. Happy Thanksgiving and the best of everything in the year to come!

growing up

We had a little tiff about her having to pick up her room this morning. So afterward, I come around the corner into the living room and there's this little couch cushion fort with this sign taped to it:

"I want to be alone please"

Oh I love my kid! Even when she's a pill she makes me laugh!

dude

Ok, I don't wanna pile on or anything....but for god's sake what the hell? I won't post it here, because honest to francis it makes me ralphy, but have you seen Palin's video where she's pardoning the turkey? Not a big deal really, but then, she steps over and gives this rambling interview while in the background, the farmer guy is slaughtering turkeys!! It's so awful...I swear as the words, "They'll probably find something to criticize me about with this, but at least it was fun," come out of her mouth, some blood spattered guy in the background has a bird with its head down some kind of funnel thing while it kicks and thrashes around. It looks like it kills it and drains the blood out. But it's a big metal funnel and it's all making a banging noise in the background and I just about puked. Granted, I have a really, ok REALLY low tolerance for that kind of thing. But google it and watch and tell me I'm wrong. How honest to fuck clueless can this chick and her handlers be?
On to more pleasant news. So whaddaya think of Hillary for Condi's job? Honestly, I feel like that chick is such a powerhouse, she can only do a good job. I know she gets kicked around a lot, and while I admire the living hell out of her, I don't know that I particularly like her, but I think she doesn't get anywhere near the credit for sheer grit she deserves. She'll secretary the crap out of the state! Also, my faith in humanity has been somewhat restored with Stevens' losing his re-election bid for Alaska senator. I read that had he been re-elected, he would have been the first felon elected to the senate. Awesome. I'm still pissed that it was close at all, for fuck's sake! but reason won out in the end. Now for Franken! Go baby go! Although, I'm glad the democrats don't have the 60 person majority to knock out filibusters. I honestly feel Obama is making a real effort to have everyone work together, disagree without being disagreeable, and that kind of power doesn't play into that. I think if your idea is a good one, you shouldn't have to force it through anywhere.
Not speaking of this at all...Trueby said one of those weird "insight into her head" things again today. She told me there was a "lady" at school who looks "just like Sharlet," a worker from her old daycare. "But her name isn't Sharlet. It's Mrs. Little. And she knew my name!" Knowing that Sharlet is doing her student-teaching there, I said, "Are you sure it wasn't Sharlet?" "No. They aren't the same." Long pause. "They only are the same that they look the same." Shorter pause. "And they both know me." Short pause. "And they look the same." Me: "But you're sure they aren't the same person." Her:"Mom! I said her name is Mrs. Little!" Me: "All right! So what if you had to call me Mrs. Jones. Would I still be your mom?" Really long pause. Her, in a very small voice: "Please don't turn into Mrs. Jones." Dude! It's what I was talking about before. She is navigating in this world I don't even know exists. Her rules and realities don't even connect to mine. It's so weird. Like calling me a different name would change my personality irrevocably! Ooh, segue. Ok, if you haven't, check out "Interworld" by Neil Gaiman. Or, honestly, anything by him. He is the most amazing writer. I'm in the middle of Interworld right now, and it is sucking me in to the point I was a little late to work today because I had to read some before I got in the shower. On my Kindle I got from my lovely husband for my birthday might I add. Super gift baby! I love to read it while listening to my iPod. I feel very disconnected from everything else. All wired up. Anyway, here he is on a tour reading from his newest book, "The Graveyard Book." I just finished it a bit ago, fantastic! Kind of a spin-off of the Jungle Book with a kid raised in a cemetery by ghosts. Way cool. Follow this link and you can hear the whole book: http://mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx
He also wrote Stardust, one of my new favorite movies. I haven't read the book yet, but bet it's awesome too! I've read a ton of his stuff since finding Stardust a bit ago, he's really incredible. Also, try Terry Pratchet's Discworld series if you haven't. I love funny brit sci-fi.
Speaking of, well, except for the sci-fi, though not entirely...I am totally obsessed with Spaced! I bought it and now get to watch all the DVD extras... woo hoo! It's killing me, I love it. Seriously, you have to try and get hold of it. And no, don't bother asking for mine. Put it in your queue. Although, fair warning, I had it in mine for a good two months before I got it. Reserve your copy today! (Read that in a totally infomercial voice.) And now, because Simon Pegg is Scotty, I have to go watch Star Trek when it comes out. I don't wanna! Well, that isn't entirely true. I didn't wanna. Then I saw a trailer and it actually looks pretty cool. Dang it.
OH YEAH!! Welcome to the world and best of luck to you darling little Craig Knutsen. Fresh and new on November 18. Big brother Adam and mom and dad are so lucky to have you in their lovely little family. I'll see if mom will let me post pictures soon. I'm getting over a cold, but when I'm germ free True and I are gonna photo the bejeebies outta that little cutie!

triptych

So I have three things on my mind right now. The first is this...what the hell is going on with Prop 8 in California? How did that happen? I'm so excited that Trueby will just take it as part of the world that there is a black first family in the white house. It isn't a historic leap forward for her, it just is. I'm hoping we can get the rest of this "us vs. them" out of our systems someday. Take a look at this, from Melissa Ethridge:

Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.Okay, cool I don't mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We're gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that's not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won't have to pay their taxes either.Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.Oh and too bad California, I know you were looking forward to the revenue from all of those extra marriages. I guess you will have to find some other way to get out of the budget trouble you are in.…Really?When did it become okay to legislate morality? I try to envision someone reading that legislation "eliminates the right" and then clicking yes. What goes through their mind? Was it the frightening commercial where the little girl comes home and says, "Hi mom, we learned about gays in class today" and then the mother gets that awful worried look and the scary music plays? Do they not know anyone who is gay? If they do, can they look them in the face and say "I believe you do not deserve the same rights as me"? Do they think that their children will never encounter a gay person? Do they think they will never have to explain the 20% of us who are gay and living and working side by side with all the citizens of California?I got news for them, someday your child is going to come home and ask you what a gay person is. Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.I know when I grew up gay was a bad word. Homo, lezzie, faggot, dyke. Ignorance and fear ruled the day. There were so many "thems" back then. The blacks, the poor ... you know, "them". Then there was the immigrants. "Them.” Now the them is me.I tell myself to take a breath, okay take another one, one of the thems made it to the top. Obama has been elected president. This crazy fearful insanity will end soon. This great state and this great country of ours will finally come to the understanding that there is no "them". We are one. We are united. What you do to someone else you do to yourself. That "judge not, lest ye yourself be judged" are truthful words and not Christian rhetoric.Today the gay citizenry of this state will pick themselves up and dust themselves off and do what we have been doing for years. We will get back into it. We love this state, we love this country and we are not going to leave it. Even though we could be married in Mass. or Conn, Canada, Holland, Spain and a handful of other countries, this is our home. This is where we work and play and raise our families. We will not rest until we have the full rights of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us, that is not the American way.Come to think of it, I should get a federal tax break too..

Can't we all just get along? In the spirit of love, look at this. But only if you aren't in public or easily offended


Went to the movies with some gals last night, this is what we saw. Half of it I spent guffawing and the other half with my eyes averted and mouth agape. They really did make a porno...and we watched them do it! It was sweet and funny and filthy! I loved it. Kevin Smith never lets you down, and neither does Seth Rogen. So considering the company, when I say Jason Mewes almost stole the whole show, it's saying something. And bonus...Randall was the camera man! Woo hoo!

On a less derelict note, try this out


Hee hee! I just got season one of the BBC's Spaced with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the comic geniuses behind two of my favorite movies, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Seriously, if you haven't, check these out. The clip above isn't them, Simon is the guy on the bike, but it just makes me giggle. I've added him to my seriously problematically long celebrity crush list. He's in Run Fatboy Run and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People recently, which I haven't seen yet, but so gotta! If you can get hold of Spaced, check it out. It's really funny.
Ok, I gotta go...more Spaced to watch before True is up!

no focus

So one of my friends asked, "What's your deal, now that your guy won you have nothing left to say?" No, no. Just busy. No time to post.

But it's a little weird. I have a ton of stuff in my head, but I don't know what I have to say. I'm not saying I'm outta stuff without the election, but it gave me a start to grease the wheels, you know? I've been too busy to get great pictures to start me off, and have had ugly things in my head with no funny to temper them. I don't know, maybe it's 4 AM and I wish I were able to sleep more.

So, out of gross, into mundane.

Follow this link and see pictures of my girl's class party on the 31st. http://picasaweb.google.com/burnettclan4/MrsMillersHarvestParty#

How about this? Yesterday was specrapular out, so we huddled with buddies and made my girl's favorite treat in the world. I kid you not, it was my 40 year old friend's first time making them! As one of her witty neighbors noted, she just spaces out the good stuff. Why blow it all at once?

Mmmm, good stuff. Lovely to listen to the world howl outside in the dark, and sit inside a warm kitchen while our girls squeal and give silly a run for its money. To bitch and moan to a sympathetic ear about stuff that's making me crazy, and she agree with me on every point. My favorite thing! Except when I'm spoiling for an argument of course. I love having good friends. That's my grateful thing today. And everyday.

perspective

So today I go to work with only this on my mind. I'm excited to talk about it with friends, to celebrate together, to be proud together. To talk to my kids about it. And most of the day did go like that. Before the first bell, my kids from last year were all over the place, making sure I knew. So concerned that I not miss the news. It was so sweet. And I'm so excited that my kids CARE! In each of my three classes we discussed the president-elect, I played the last 5 minutes of his speech for them and told each class how proud I was to be able to say with complete honesty for the first time ever that it was finally true. ANY one of the kids sitting in that room could one day be president. There are no more barriers to anyone who works hard and earns themselves a spot.
Oh, did I mention that the psycho mom is in the room to watch her daughter present her report? Yeah. So after five other kids go, the daughter goes, then the mom takes her and they leave. After class, we're outside and my principal comes out and says, "What did you do?" I was, I swear to heaven, clueless. "NO! What the fuck was her problem??!?!??!?" She doesn't want her daughter in my class anymore. She took her daughter AND her sixth grade son and fled the premises. Apparently she busted into my principal's office, started screaming about how biased I am because I didn't play any of McCain's speech for the kids, and my principal finally got fed up and told her, politely, she was off her nut and she needed to leave me alone. The chick wigged out and took her kids and left. Seriously, to the extent he isn't certain they'll be back. This woman is UNHINGED! It's good to know it's totally her problem and not mine though. I know all along we never think it's us...but then, she doesn't think it's her, so maybe it was me. But I think today proved pretty definitively that it ain't me. So that's good.
I went to pick up my girl and when I get there she is eating a big old milkshake at 5:00 PM. Outside of the whole brainwashing for jesus thing, my only problem with this joint is how they have junk food all the time. Ok, not all the time, but some of the time. And some of the time is too much of the time for me. Anyway...so we're driving home and we talk about dinner and I mention that when she chooses to eat a treat at dinnertime it's her responsibility to eat a good dinner still because...blah blah blah you know the spiel. So she says, "I know mom. But the only choices were homework, and why would I do homework if I don't have any? Whittling, that's too sharp for me (that's another post, funny story. But it was only a choice for 3rd grade and up is what she meant), guns...and we don't choose guns, or the Mississippi Lake (ok, it's River, and it was an activity to fit into their whole theme about traveling across America with the Muddy Mighty Mississippi but it was still a huge cup of ice cream at dinnertime!)" So it got me thinking. She is swamped in all these rules she's trying to negotiate, and she found herself kinda between a rock and a hard place. She KNEW I wouldn't like her to do it, but she didn't feel she could go against the rules at the daycare either. Since one side offered ice cream, that's the side she came down on. It's like a while ago, they decorated these huge sugar cookies and she wanted to eat it in the car. I was all, "Of course not!" and she said, "But they said I could eat it at snack and I didn't because I didn't know if you wanted me to and I really wanted to!" It just made me want to cry. She sees kids all around her all day long, in some cases with adult encouragement, making choices she doesn't think should be made. And for my rules girl, this is so bewildering. She literally does not understand why people don't follow the rules. It throws her all too sea. She is completely off kilter. Of course I'm not saying she does everything perfectly every time. She's five for crying out loud. What I'm saying is that she is very, no really, VERY quick to recognize the wrong choice in others. I feel so bad for her in this world she doesn't have a handle on yet. She gets grenaded for no reason, in her mind. Kinda like with my psycho. I don't understand the rules. When I get penalized, I don't know why! Ok, I'm babbling, but I just was thinking how hard it has been for her, and how I want her to be ok. I guess I'm willing to trade a suck ass kindergarten year for a real shot at a future in a country she can be proud of though.

Born Again American

To quote my girl, "Oh my goo'ness" I am absolutely dumbfounded. I was expecting to be this thrilled, but I was totally unprepared to be this proud to be an American. I cried a little at his acceptance speech. I was moved to be able to believe that we may be able to do this. Maybe we can make America more that a caricature of what we say we are. Maybe it won't be empty words anymore. Is it possible we have given my girl that gift? I am so overwhelmed at the possibility that my daughter may grow up in a country where we are the greatest nation on earth, not because we say we are, but because we actually are. His call that the problems we have to face are bigger than one man, bigger than one party, that we are all in this together and we need to come together and stop looking to blame and start looking to help. Fuck it, I am truly inspired! I want to hang a flag off the deck for the first time in my entire life!

It's not just because he won. It's because of how many people of how many differences voted for him. I'm thrilled he won, but I'm even more thrilled we elected him. A friend of mine is married to a lifelong republican and he voted democrat for the first time ever. It made him a little sick, but he did it. Colin Powell, all the many many republicans who came out to support Obama. It proves that we can see a right and a wrong. We can put aside our differences and see that one thing is right for all of us, regardless of the past. We have proven that our massive country can work together. It makes me believe that we can accomplish great things. We are ready to work and to try and to succeed. I am so fired up! I am so proud of my country!

Let's not even get into the black thing. It chokes me all up. I have a poster up in my classroom that says "Civil Rights" across the top, and is a collage of famous segregation photos. It makes my heart hurt to look at it. And here we are. To all those out there who stood up on camera or in public or to their families or in their hearts and said, "I will not vote for a black man," your time is done. You and your hate have had your time and it is over. I don't feel like I can lay claim to this victory like some people can, but that does not make me any less overjoyed, any less proud, any less exhilerated that our country pulled this off. I wasn't alive when King was leading his fight, but his story has always had a place in my heart. The injustice, the unreasoning unfairness of it has always resonated with me. And the horrifically violent end for a man who wanted only peace has always caused my throat to close up. I am so hopeful that he is able to know what has happened. To share the victory. To lay a huge cosmic "Suck it!" on those hate mongers.So instead of the work being over, it has just started. It is no longer someone else's problem, it's our problem and the solution is up to us. The gross end of the stick when you wrest power unto yourself I guess. So be informed. Be involved. You are the change you are looking for. We did it, now let's do it!

Happy Halloween!

Happy because honestly, there is no other way to describe how my kid felt on Friday. I was able to schedule the morning with no conferences so I could be at her Harvest Party in the morning, she called it doing parent hours. We got dressed up, the best part of which was putting her in the bathtub naked and spraying her hair bright pink. Her traditional trick or treat partners met up with us and we hit around in their neighborhood, made an impressive haul even though Trueby wouldn't go to any of the houses that had dogs. Finally we headed over to meet up with her two best friends in the world to terrorize the joint. While the adults visited and ate, the girls ran screaming through the house for no apparent reason other than they are little girls who love being together. I adored watching her have so much fun, be so at home, feel so comfortable. Literally, she stripped to t-shirt and tights as soon as we got there, and her buddy made it down to only panties! Those two girls are family to her, they've been part of her life every day for as long as she can remember. Luckily, all three moms are a little photo manic, so it's all well documented.
So my friend inspired me to create a new scrapbook this month. I'm going to document one thing I am grateful for every day of November. I'll put some of them here, keep an eye out. While a great time on Halloween doesn't count, since it was October, I am so incredibly grateful my girl has friends like these!