cabbage patch-alooza

Well, I am officially jealous. My sister-in-law (with my then 8 year-old whining and cranky husband in tow) got to actually GO to Babyland General Hospital to have "surgery" on her Cabbage Patch Kid. Apparently, the original dolls did not have heiny cracks, so kids could take them there to have them added. Hee hee.

I just asked Bill to PLEASE PLEASE take me to Babyland General Hospital, but he said, "no". It would make me sad. Much like he banned me riding the Figment ride at Epcot two years ago. Some things are better left in your memory/imagination.

I am also including a picture of the Cabbage Patch Kid pony. I never knew anyone who actually had the CPK pony. Probably just for the little girls who wanted a doll pony to match their REAL pony.

being vs. doing

I have 7 days of work remaining with the organization I work for. It's a bizarre, bizarre feeling, as I have absolutely NO clue what I will do after that. My dad calls it "short-timer's syndrome". I call it "clueless about what I want to do with my life." My mother-in-law was telling me about the happiest time she had working at the dance studio where my sister-in-law took dance lessons growing up, and I have to say I think that sounds like so much fun. That's the kind of job I want. However, I have no idea how to acquire one like that.

And I think I pinned my finger on it this afternoon. I've spent so many years now with the mindset of "this is what I do" (i.e. a college student, a grad student, a counselor, an adoption worker), and now, I'm confronted with the need to switch my mindset to "this is who I am." A definite change, but I think it's needed whether I get a new job in 2 weeks or 2 months or 2 years or never (ha ha...fat chance.)

Sorry for all the deep thoughts. I promise a fun nostalgia post soon. To get you going: Did ANYONE actually have the Cabbage Patch Kid playpen, quilted baby carrier, or pony? Anyone? Anyone? Who WERE those girls that had the big accessories?

goodbye, ellaroo

My sister has decided to stop blogging. You should go and wish her well.

Perhaps now she and Anna will have time to come and play with me. Hint hint.

informal poll

I have been watching the DVD of the (unfortunately entire) series of Freaks & Geeks. I find myself identifying strongly with both Sam (one of the geeks) and Lindsay (one of the freaks) during high school. Probably more so with Lindsay. Her entire plotline is focused on her trying to figure out where she belongs in the world of high school. She starts hanging out with the "freaks"--I believe they were called "stoners" in my high school--after her grandmother dies. Before that, she was a "Mathlete" and ran with the goody 2shoes crowd.

The "Mathlete" bit hit hard as that REALLY was me. I was in MathCounts, and I placed 2nd in the state Trig competition. Then, after I lost a dear guy friend (who I was not-so-secretly head-over-heels for) my junior year, I pretty much went a tad over the deep end without actually doing anything really bad. I was the drummer for an extremely short-lived grunge band with a bonified pothead on bass guitar. I rode around town with my friends until dawn while they smoked and I kept my window cracked open so I didn't have an allergy attack. I wrote depressing journal entries about how nobody understood me or my pain.

But I still kept straight-A's and was friends with my old friends as well. I still watched Star Trek and had afterschool snacks and was nominated and elected Beta Club treasurer without anyone remembering to tell me as I'd missed the meeting. That one was actually really funny as the Beta sponsor teacher called me into her room after the next year's elections to ask me about receipts and to get the checkbook back, and I had no idea what she was talking about. She found the checkbook in her stuff and was just like, "Well, okay, then, sorry I didn't give that to you." And of course, I wasn't too offended as I had no idea what she was talking about. Then, when I got my yearbook the next year, there I was with the Beta Club with "Treasurer" written next to my name. (My husband is probably laughing especially hard right now as he knows how horrible I am with finances.)

All that to say, I was both a freak and a geek, but after reviewing, I'm going to have to put myself in the "Geek" column with an asterik next to it stating **In times of grief, may turn to freakish behavior.

How about you?

Goodbye, mate.

I can't believe that Steve Irwin has died. I've always really liked him, crazy and dangerous as he was. Above all, he really seemed to love and respect the animals that he was working with. It's pretty amazing that of all the possible animals that he's handled, he was killed by a stingray, a fish that's usually considered to be safe and docile.

Bill and I are going on a cruise in December with his family and were planning on swimming with stingrays. Now, I'm not so sure...

Procrastination

Yeah, it really is a problem with me. I procrastinate at almost everything. One of my friends from college gave me my mantra: "If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute."

And that's the thing. I always seem to scrape by and get it done. The 11th hour may be awful, but it passes, and all is well. Even in procrastinating in school, I never had to pull an all-nighter. In grad school, once, I had to stay up until 3 writing a paper, but it was my last one, and by that point, I was so burnt-out on school, I could barely string 3 words together anyway.

Hmmm....maybe that would be my super-power. Look...in her bed napping...on the couch watching television...it's...Procrastination Girl! Able to accumulate large piles of papers (and yet finish them at the last minute) in a single bound. There's nothing that woman can't avoid!!