Responding

I want to thank everybody for your comments the other day and figured I might as well share my responses with everyone.  :)  There's a question near the end about subscribing to the blog and I don't have a good answer, so if that's something you could help with, please scroll down and chime in!  :)

Betty says (among other lovely things - and I will point out that she is much too modest about her crafting abilities; she taught me how to use a sewing machine) "As for doing biased binding--Dotsy (my mother, who was the best seamstress I've known) taught me to baste in place before stitching. It takes longer, but turns out better in the long run--but guess it doesn't matter if you want to hand stitch first or later."  I had just been starting to think that basting was the only way to get it to really work, but I figured that was somehow cheating and if I were really Master of the Bias I wouldn't have to do that...  but, now that I have permission, we'll see if I have the patience. ;)

Rita also has very nice things to say and is also much too modest about her talents.  She is one of the craftiest people I know!

Gina also likes the crafts and I would love to have a Pooh-making get-together when I'm home!  As for, "And if you're taking requests for post topics, I'd love to hear your thoughts sometimes about being at home vs. having a career right now," my first reaction was to recoil in horror.  TABOO!!!  TABOO!!!  WE MUST NOT SPEAK OF THIS!!!  And I wondered if dear friend Gina knew this and asked anyway because it's That Important (the whole question, I mean, not whichever answer anyone comes to, but the question, which is That Important and it's insane that we are not allowed to talk about it) or if she is as yet still blissfully ignorant of the Great Divide over which sisters fight sisters and mothers disown their daughters (ok, maybe I haven't actually heard of that, but I would believe it's happened) in THE MOMMY WARS.  And then I went off into a hideous tailspin of typing out as many of the swirling thoughts tumbling through my brain on this issue as I could snatch out of the whirlwind... and it was a mess.  A total complete mess.  Soooooo... I was going to say, yeah I'll have a post on that for you in a few days and it'll be short and sweet and all kinds of tactful... but, no.  I wish.  I am still trying.  And then I noticed in rereading the comment that she said, "I'd love to hear your thoughts sometimes," not "sometime," as in, one post in which you say everything you care to say on the issue, but "sometimes," as in, off and on, as the thoughts occur to you.  Which is a bit different and a bit more reasonable and maybe (maybe?) less likely to scare off huge portions of my still nascent readership.  :)  So, I don't know.  Maybe any day (but no more than once a week) when I can't come up with anything else to post, I'll indulge myself in a little navel gazing regarding the whole motherhood/parenthood/career/stay-at-home can of worms (that's what my horrific mess of a stream of consciousness post is currently titled, "Wanna see my can of worms?").

Mike and Kelly are Captain Shouting fans, and can you blame them?  I myself am rather sad that he has not made an appearance as of late (not by name, that is; by behavior, definitely).  And you skim the bits about sewing???  How ever will I manage to convert you into home sewers if you only skim???  :)

Mom says (among other things), "the main deal for your mother is that I learn more about what you are thinking and feeling by reading your blog than by talking to you. I should have made you write letters to me when you were growing up!"  Hmmm.  I guess that means you didn't read my diaries??  Good for you; as a mother now I am impressed at the restraint that would have required.  ;)

MLE says, "I don't subscribe to any blog feeds - there's something more satisfying about hunting down new posts. But your blog is one of a small handful that I visit each day (sometimes more than once if I'm feeling fidgety, even if I've already read the post - sorry if I skew the hit count)..." and I say, that's an absolutely wonderful complement and please do not worry about skewing anything.  She also says, "I wish I returned the favor by commenting more often, but I don't always feel equal to the task - how to sum up my thoughts on Bad Mommydom in a little comment?!"  And to that, I say, whenever you want to say anything, any small piece of a thought, please do.  I continue to be dumbfounded by the fact that no amount of physically-possible talking and typing could fully communicate the actual complexity of thought we each have (even sometimes on one "little" topic).  So, small snippets of thoughts are allowed and I, at least, promise not to take any one (or handful) as the sum total of all your thoughts on the subject.

Suzanne (also one of my sewing teachers, and a very generous Lender of Sewing Machines to poor wayward stuff-less travelers with uncontrolable crafting urges) reveals (I think I'm reading this right) that she does not knit!  I'm surprised!  But here, at least, is one reader for whom the crafting is a major draw :)

AnnaSara is very kind and especially notes appreciation for the frequency of postings, which is something I do try to keep up with because I know that I get impatient when my favorite blogs go too long (like, more than a day or two) without a new post.  And perhaps because I am just that self-centered that I have just that much to say.

Liz is a die hard fan, which is hugely encouraging!  She also wants to hear more about DH, which is a reasonable request and I will try to be on the lookout for things he wouldn't mind me posting about. :)  "And can we have more follow-ups, e.g., what transpired at the new school parent interview?"  I guess there are probably two things going on here - one, that my memory span is short, and, two, that sometimes if there's no comment expressing interest in a story line (despite a good number of readers - I can see how many people visit and roughly where from, but not who exactly they are) then I figure it just wasn't that interesting and a follow up might be beating a dead horse.

Liz also brings up the question of cross-gender appeal.  I do know that there are several men who are very loyal readers.  Mike even comments regularly.  :)  I'm guessing (just guessing) that pretty much the only draw for them is that they know me.  Maybe dads would find some of it entertaining even if they didn't know me.

And Marti penned a lovely poem, thank you!

If you are not there - I find myself a little sad
I count on the next story & adventure -they always make me glad.
Sometimes I may get the DH & DS mixed up a lotty :)
but then I realize it's DS who needs the potty
Humor & frustration are part of it all
Legos, Baking, Oscar & Who took his football?
So keep them coming Mama - I'm counting on you
Happy blogging & I hope the next "sick" is not the flu!
:)

And I got an email wondering about how to subscribe to the blog.  Rather than pretend that I have a clue, I will say that I have never subscribed to a blog (like MLE, I like revisiting my favorite blogs over and over again, waiting for a new post).  I have noticed that someone (or several someones) is getting this blog through GoogleReader.  I also did a quick search on "email update atom rss" (my blog's feed seems to be provided in both the rss and "atom" formats) and it looks like there are several services that can deliver updates to your email inbox.  I also see something I could sign up for called FeedBurner, which would put a little box for your email address and a subscribe button right there on the side of the blog.  Has anyone used FeedBurner as a subscriber?  Do you like it????

I have noticed that a number of people find it hard to keep track of the DH, DS, DD thing.  I'm open to suggestions for nicknames.  The problem is, with the kids, that maybe I'll be doing this awhile and they'll grow out of things like "Bubs" or "Captain Shouting" or "Chunka Monka" (she weighs nearly 16 lbs now, at not quite 4 months; sometimes I also call her "Miss Moo," which I mean only the very best way, but which she will have all rights to hate me for when she eventually learns of it).  Suggestions?

 

Comments

[Mar Mar]

It is so nice to have electricity so I can read your blog.....and be warm. First, I LOVE this picture of DD. Something very special is captured in this picture. Second I was so happy to read: "And then I went off into a hideous tailspin of typing out as many of the swirling thoughts tumbling through my brain on this issue as I could snatch out of the whirlwind... and it was a mess. A total complete mess."

As you and Liz will remember I wrote LOTS about this issue and, because I am not a writer, it was a total complete mess. I think Liz said (almost 20 years ago now) that it gave her mental indigestion. She was kind enough to read it. I think I had a lot of good ideas in all that mess, and writing helped me think some things through, but I just couldn't express them properly (because I am not a writer). So......it needs to be done. Perhaps thoughts every now and then is a good way to start.

[Mike]

I suggest a series of arbitrary, but distiguishable, nicknames for the other family members. I'd like to nominate DH to be Sprinkles.

No idea about the subscription business. I'm also of the just check and see if the blog had been updated variety of internet user.

[Liz W]

If I said that about mental indigestion, Mar Mar, that was rude of me, and I apologize! Am rushing now, what with just having gotten home after spending past two days and nights stuck downtown by the snowstorm and having to go out again any minute now to watch the superbowl or something, but I, too,would be interested in thoughts on the career/mommy duality. Also have a few of my own to offer -- it's something I've been thinking about for a long time, as well. Love the picture of DD, also. What a sunny little darling.

[Amber]

Just Husband, Son & Daughter? Or H, D and S so all the extra D's aren't confusing?

[AnnaSara]

I would laugh every time I read your blog (in a good way) if you called them "Captain Shouting", "Chunka Monka", and "Sprinkles" (or something?) ... :)