Julie Pippert: Using My Words

I'm going to be late to my own party. Yep, that's right, I will post my own Hump Day Hmm post LATE! (See? It really is a loose deadline folks LOL!) Here's why: 1. I have to work 3 Halloween events today. I'll probably manage no more than 2 of those, disappointing everyone else. This is on top of my regular obligations for the day, such as my work. 2. My husband is AWOL again. I think he's somewhere near the Louisiana border surveying a site. So I'm solo parenting. 3. The really great pictures and stories will happen later today and tonight. 4. Blogger won't let me upload photos now...so I can't even show you the pumpkins my husband so beautifully carved! However! In the meantime, there are a lot of cool Halloween stories floating about today...just email me at j pippert at g mail dot com if you want to be included in the list. And be patient. I might be at a carnival or a festival or a party. But I'll get to you. (And seriously! The list below? I hav...

On Saturday, as we drove to Patience's soccer game I noticed the two schools we passed on the way to the fields were decorated merrily in red ribbons. I might not even have noticed, had it not been for my two sharp-eyed lookouts, who catch everything and catalog it for me. Over. And over. "Look Mama," Persistence cried happily, "Wed wibbons! All ovah!" "Wow, so there are, red ribbons, how pretty," I answered absently, scouting for a parking spot. "Wed wibbons!" she squealed. "Umm hmm," I replied, guiding the car into a spot. "Wed wed wed wed wibbons!!" And so on. On Monday, instead of our usual power walk to school---aka the 'we left too late to saunter and oh well it burns more calories woo hoo!' walk---we were running so late that I had to drive. This annoys me. I feel ridiculous. The weather is great for a walk, everyone benefits, and we live close to the school. And yet, here we were, driving, in order to not b...

Who's that alleged health nut stalking out of McDonalds this morning? Could it be the Good Girl of Blogging being Oh-So-Bad? Indeed it is. Independent sources confirm that celeb-wannabe blogger Julie Pippert of Using My Words was seen clutching a non-diet soda and a bag containing not one but two Bacon, Egg and Cheese McGriddles plus hash browns! Todd Talmadge, morning shift manager at the Space City McDonalds, confirmed that the blogger formerly known as the Ravin' Picture Maven purchased two McGriddles and a full calorie Coca-Cola. "She always asks for Pepsi products like we're some sort of low class joint, KFC or something. Sometimes she gets the Deluxe breakfast---that's the hotcakes, sausage, egg and hash brown---but usually she gets the McGriddles. She always wants extra ketchup. I think she puts some on her eggs," Talmadge said, grimacing in disgust. Blogger Pippert smiled for the cameras as she exited the local fast food restaurant. When asked about th...

I hope everyone had a happy weekend. I have a little bloggy business so I'll get right to it; this way we get back to the fun that is this week sooner! 1. Blogging Pledge Class of October 2007 If you are a new blogger, undiscovered blogger, blogger who wants to reach a broader audience, or if you know a blogger like this...send me the deets! I have a great list going already and will post that later this week (to give everyone who wants to time to join in). To get listed simply email me at j pippert at g mail dot com or comment here with a brief synopsis of your blog and a link to your blog. 2. Hump Day Hmm for Halloween 10-31: What other topic can I possibly ask everyone to talk about except something Halloweenish on this date? :) Tell us a scary story, a fun story, an experience, a tradition, anything you'd like to that has to do with the event most people celebrate on 10-31. If it means more than a night of silliness and trick or treating to you, tell us about that. If you d...

Outside, it is the upper 70s, maybe even the 80s. Who can tell, who cares, when it is perfect like this? Outside the leaves and lawns are still green; incongruous with the fall and Halloween decorations. Outside, the children have gathered in the cul-de-sac. They've brought toy cars and scooters, a few bikes. Even the adults, their own toys in hand---basketballs, RC helicopters---have come. Who can resist a day like today? Outside, on a day like today, we are all children. Outside, the sun shines, the wind blows gently, stirring the leaves and the small plastic jack-o-lanterns suspended from tree branches with grosgrain ribbon, orange and white striped. Outside children shout ideas, games, and laughter. They approach one another tentatively, at first, used to one another only within the confines of scripted playgroups and playdates. Within a short fall perfect moment, they relax and find easy comfort playing with one another, alongside one another. The smallest girls are quickly ri...

It must be said that my girls are no longer babies. They are getting big, developing their own lives. Cases in point... Boston, October 2007, Museum of Science A child pointed to Persistence and said, "Baby!" Said child appeared about Persistence's age, and was at the time being carried by his mother. Persistence, on the other independent hand, was walking about of her own volition (her usual state). Persistence shrieked in fury and yelled back to the child, "I NOT BABY! YOU BABY!" and ran off, mortally offended. She could be heard muttering for the next hour, "I not baby!" And was quite pissy about it all. Coastal Texas, October 2007, Elementary School Patience begged me to come lunch with her at school on Thursday, so Persistence and I went. I had grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk in buckets. A big deal. This is Fine Kid Dining. She was waiting for me and happily leapt up to join me at the guest lunch table, a big table in the center of th...

** Hey please come vote for this at SK*RT to get the word out! ** You know what? There are new bloggers out there. I know! NEWBIES. What's more...there are undiscovered bloggers, untapped wells of talent. But we don't know about you. I know, some people are shy, not really joiner types, don't prefer blog blasts or carnivals and so forth. So tell you what: I'll try to create a link list with some regularity. All you have to do is comment and let me know how to find you (aka paste in your link). Write a brief description of your blog, you know a couple of sentences a la "Hi I'm a mommyblogger from Detroit and I have two preschoolers who are very loud and creative, all funny stories on my blog!" or "I'm so deep I make Julie look shallow. If you wish you could have hung with Plato, come by my blog." or "I'm a guy who likes to talk about motorcycles." or "My blog is all about space exploration." And I'll link you. I...

The mahvelous Queen of the Mayhem asked a great parenting question today. Answering it in comments took too much real estate so I decided to post. This one's in honor of you, Queenie ! Here's what she wrote: Do you believe everything your kids tell you? During my Open House speech with my parents.....I always end on a humorous note....I tell them that " I will promise not to believe everything they say happens at home, if you promise not to believe everything that happens at school!" We all get a good chuckle....but my point is made. . . . Being the mother of an incredibly over-sensitive child, I can appreciate this rationale...as The Princess takes every statement that is not a glowing remark of her greatness to be a slap in the face......but here's the difference....when she tells me crazy things like this....I remind her that, just because someone isn't thrilled with something you do that is inappropriate...doesn't mean they don't like you....it ju...

It just so happens that the next two Wednesdays already have stuff going on so I'm going to try to dovetail with that and delay my planned next topic until 11-14, when it's probably not as timely but eh, if it seems really off then we can change. Anyway, no rule saying you can't write about it now and then I'll link it up then. :) 10-31: What other topic can I possibly ask everyone to talk about except something Halloweenish on this date? :) Tell us a scary story, a fun story, an experience, a tradition, anything you'd like to that has to do with the event most people celebrate on 10-31. If it means more than a night of silliness and trick or treating to you, tell us about that. If you don't celebrate Halloween, feel free to talk about that! I enjoy hearing all angles. If you want to tell a scary story, or some supernatural experience (that may or may not have happened on Halloween), go for it. 11-7: This is Blog Blast for Peace Day. I try to keep up with all th...

Last week I announced today's Hump Day Hmm topic as: "Where I'd like to go next." This can be your personal goal, professional goal, cultural or societal goal, political goal...you get the picture. Just tell us something about how you'd like the future to be. Link back to me in your post, send me the link to your post at j pippert at g mail dot com and I'll add you in to the list! I had three or four other post ideas in mind in answer to that question, which strikes at so many things for me. But, in light of Monday's news , my words are sort of jumbled, unprocessed...a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom mess after falling down from the coconut tree. Two things are clear in my head, though. Clear Thing One: Silent Spring One commenter asked if I'd read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring . I have. A little known fact about me is that I aspire(d) to be an anthropologist. I figured this out a little too late, without enough confidence, after I stumbled into what woul...

Today I had another appointment with the endocrinologist to discuss the treatment failure and the next step to keeping me functional. No wait, forget functional; I'd like to be well again. You know, healthy, with energy and a mind. In general, as a rule, rather than as a rare exception. See, here's the perplexing thing: my body is acting like it has tumors. But it doesn't. We tried treating me as if I did have the tumors and that stopped the symptoms but created a new ball of problems. So we stopped treatment. My main question is why? My next question is how do we fix it? The doctor visit today was confusing because there really wasn't time to have an actual conversation; it was, instead, a simple exchange of information. He'd been lecturing all morning and was running late, so I felt like I was spinning in a tornado. However, he proposed a new theory, the first time I've heard a doctor mention this although as I've slugged my way through the syrupy thick ba...

Every week I have to go to the grocery store to get perishables. Every week I have to stand in line alongside a plethora of gossip crap tabloids (sorry if you like Enquirer and Star , really sorry). Every week the covers of these magazines wallow joyfully in the muck of other people's lives, in a completely schizophrenic way. Schizophrenic? Huh? You see, alternating issues---or worse, sometimes even the same issue---mock "fat" celebrities and then turn around and castigate "too skinny" stars. (They do the same for make ups and break-ups.) The articles are always so surprised and confused, even faux-concerned, "Why are these women so thin? They need to get healthy!" Let those same stars gain a little weight and VOILA! they are back on the cover, mocked as fat. Take, for example, Tyra Banks, who, as I once said oh-so-eloquently is so not fat . And yet, people of her size (i.e., me) are often treated as though we are large as in oversized as in FAT. Take...

Cheap. As Americans, we like our things. Boy, do we like our things. We like our little impulse buys and we like our big luxuries. But we want it affordable. So we've moved from a culture of craftsmanship to a culture of mass production. This isn't limited to products, either. It extends all the way to customer service, too. My mind started down this path a while back, but it began honing in on the topic late last week. A week ago, my husband and I took a long weekend getaway to a little resort within driving distance. It was our anniversary trip, and we'd planned it long before the other travel came up. While there, we chatted with a man who asked where we lived. We told him and he asked if we were "from there." My husband said yes, I said no, and somehow within a few minutes he was telling us he'd moved from Maine around the same time as us for more or less some of the same reasons. "I grew up here," he told us, meaning the city near the resort, ...

I adore bossa nova, and really like what Luciana Souza has done with it, maybe more than Bebel (Gilberto)! Plus she duets with James Taylor (who knew he was huge in Brazil!). Please watch this interview with Luciana as she eloquently explains her bossa nova (in English) (includes some musical samples): I love how she describes bossa nova as reflective and introspective, a poetic and lyrical musical interpretation of life. I think this is why I love it so well. Five last words: Luciana Souza and Pablo Neruda. Whose voice does she put you in mind of? Curious to see if it is the same as me! Note: Don't miss my post about living Green-ish rather than as a Green Queen below! It ain't easy being Green! Copyright 2007 Julie Pippert Also blogging at: Using My Words Julie Pippert REVIEWS : Get a real opinion about BOOKS, MUSIC and MORE Julie Pippert RECOMMENDS : A real opinion about HELPFUL and TIME-SAVING products

A blogger I really like recently wrote a really fantastic post about mindful, organic and green living. Her journey began with cleaning out her closet, paring down to only what she needs. This is a goal I've had for a long time, but can't seem to accomplish. It's an emotional hurdle I need to overcome. If Helen Buttigieg (my idol) were here, she'd have some wise words on the matter of why I retain clothing I no longer need (most of which doesn't fit my body or my current lifestyle). After puzzling out that my clothes are the only area of material possessions in my life that are ridiculously cluttered and to which I illogically cling, she'd figure out why. She'd figure out that I cling to my old clothes because I cling to the past, and am not easily able to let go or transition. Although generally I deposit my memories into stories carefully stowed in my own mind---which is, of course, cluttered---to be pulled out in fanciful moments or as fodder for social...