how i've missed you, little blog of mine

today i am all about the random thoughts.... so random, in fact, that i have barely been able to put together a coherent facebook status update. truly sad.

for example, on my way to work today, i observed a man kind of yelling at some guys who were stocking some items (produce maybe?) from a truck. i immediately thought, "hello, crazy" until i passed by the man in question and got a whiff. he smelled FANTASTIC. really, really nice, and i am generally not a huge fan of cologne, but this was spicy, woodsy, fresh-soapy all rolled into one. my friend rebecca pointed out to me that with the mentally incapacitated, hygiene is one of the first things to go, so perhaps i misjudged him.

random thought #2 is that i think i need to break up with the professional. it seems that lately when i find myself performing the juggling act of meeting my own needs, meeting my child's needs and taking care of business, this somehow ends up being put into question at therapy.

to whom am i comparing myself?
am i running away? can i not just enjoy my time with max?
do i come up with distractions? why?

and you know what? i'm a little done with that. is this truly helpful to me? when bdub was out of town last week, the boy and the biscuit and i high-tailed our butts up to beacon to hang with karadean and her boys. and no, i didn't want to be alone in my apartment with my 17 month old all day long for two days.

and we had a great time, and it meant a lot to my bff-since-9th-grade that we came up, despite the dog puking all over the back seat, and despite us needing to leave by 3:30 so we could beat the traffic.

so what am i running from? does it really matter? maybe i am running towards open arms that love me and want me and the boy and our dog who puked all over their brand new slate floors to sit down and stay awhile. i don't know why they would want us, because we are a bit of a sorry lot sometimes, and we cry and fuss and make a mess.....but i'll take it.

the photo below was taken by my dear friend, kelly jones. she is cool loveliness, very real and clearly a woman of many talents. this image knocks my socks off, takes my breath away, and rocks my world, all at once:

small victory II

the zen buddhists believe (or so i have been told) that one cannot multitask; that multitasking is, in effect, just trying to do several things at once and not giving your full attention to any of them...thus, doing them all badly. i tend to agree.

however, this morning i was forced to let out the biscuit and take care of baby simultaneously. baby who skipped his mid-morning nap. uncomfortable baby, red-faced crying baby who for some reason i chose to dress in a sweater vest and cords, complete with belt (??).

step one was to stick crying baby in crib, slip on my boots, and fetch the biscuit, who was collared and leashed. red-faced baby was changed out of ridiculous get-up and slung to mama in his pouch. i tried several futile attempts to select an item of outerwear that would be able to zip over both myself and the pouch of slung baby, but to no avail. i then unslung screaming babe, stuck a hoodie on him as gingerly as i could, re-slung baby, grabbed the essentials (umbrella, keys, cell phone) and headed out the door.

the biscuit skipped through the slushy puddles, the baby hushed himself, and all seemed right with the world. that is, until the biscuit had to go #2. i let him into our mess of a front yard (his pooping domain), where he walked around quite a bit before finding a suitable spot. and then, one of the worst possible scenarios occurred: the biscuit had a hanger-on. (how can i put this delicately? sometimes the biscuit ingests too many of my stray hairs--by accident, of course-- and tends to have some poops that literally hang on by a thread). by the grace of god, i had a plastic bag in my pocket.

the boy and i entered the yard, nearly slipped several times, and bent down to break the biscuit free of his hairy predicament. baby clung closely to me, closer than the hairs clung to the biscuit: i set him free and once again, all is well in wolfeinelli land. i am considering penning a letter to the makers of the kangaroo korner adjustable fleece pouch, letting them know how well their product performed under the pressure of these adverse conditions.

a little holiday cheer from the lasters

nothing beats a hannah anderson package arriving in the mail, especially when it contains goodies for both babe and beast!

check it:

yearbookin' the biscuit!

here's the biscuit circa 1968. that's one hep dog:





i really like this one, too. the glasses definitely add a distinguished flair:





however, it's clear that the biscuit would have really been a child of the eighties. in fact, i think i went to high school with these guys in wv (not during the eighties, but we were a little behind the times):






disturbing....


in baby news, today is my due date, and i think things may be moving along. i don't want to gross anybody out, so i won't post details....but i will say that i had a little visitor called "the mucous plug" last night (click here for a detailed explanation). sweet.

new digs, no time to blog

we're all moved in! unbelievable!

i think that perhaps my stress level is starting to alleviate. after a hellish week, i was awoken at four am by a full bladder, and upon my return to bed had a tremendously cathartic and snotty cry. not at all a pretty cry, but one of those cries that really feels like one is exorcising demons (my demons being those of complete and utter irritability, focused nearly 100% towards my poor bdub, bless him).

so anyway, i actually had a weekend off to enjoy my new digs, which i have been looking forward to for months. i was booked for work every day this week, which left no time for any exploring of my new 'hood, and since exploring takes too much energy and my feet are seriously KILLING me, i have been laying low on the home front (the home front including kara dean's new digs as well) and nesting like a little bird.

all that we have left to do is the nursery and some accessorizing! i can't wait for my first opportunity to hit ikea and target, as i believe that these shopping trips and the storage and organizational products they promise will greatly improve my quality of life.

a fun development here at hawthorne street is the tremendous and practically instantaneous popularity of the biscuit. our building is full of the most adorable children i have ever seen, and once one of them knew the biscuit's name, it seemed like all of them were instantly smitten and dying to get a look at him and give him a pet. the other day, as i took out the biscuit for a pee, some 10-ish year old boy i had never seen before in my life came speeding by on his bike. he yelled to us, "hi biscuit!" and waved. who are you, sweet boy, and how do you know my dog?

pics of new place to follow, i promise. new pregnancy symptoms (as i am now 30 weeks) include:

-a perpetually full bladder
-a left foot that looks like a potato
-insomnia
-inability to see my toes
-difficulty picking objects up off of the floor (which can actually be quite amusing)
-the desire to want to bludgeon peeps who do me wrong

since i'm thinking about it...

my poor dog. the other day, as i looked at his crumpled up mug, filled with longing to take a walk or cuddle as he gazed at me from across the room, i asked him, "what's wrong, tuna? does this doog need some love from mooma?" and i thought to myself, "how does this poor creature know his own name, much less mine?"

so i have set out to list all of his nicknames. my guess is that there are atleast a hundred and that most involve a double O...let's see:

actual name: the biscuit
registered name: RB's biscuits and gravy
nicknames:
1. bully
2. boolee
3. boo
4. the doog
5. sheena
6. sheena easton
7. judy
8. judy in the sky (? why? who calls their dog this?)
9. tuna
10. tuna doog
11. hot tuna
12. tune
13. poo
14. frida
15. mooney
16. poodle
17. shooter
18. shooter mcgavin
19. boogie
20. floozie
21. floo
22. tulip
23. mama's little tulip (ripped off from ehrin keenan's dog, the k bear)
24. shoonee
25. poot
26. pooter
27. boodee
28. biggie
29. toodle
30. goo
31. uncle mina
32. mina
33. hootchie mama
34. hootchie
35. hootch
36. hacker
37. dude
38. peanut
39. hooter
40. coodler (one who likes to coodle)
45. coodle doog (see above)
46. cood
47. pah poo
48. hootcha boolee
49. snoozie
50. nibbler

(let's stop there, for now...)

we found a place! HALLELUJAH!

and it's about @(*%$& time!

wolfeinelli inc headquarters will be moving to 92 hawthorne street in just 17 short days. i will not disclose the rent on here, as i do not discuss things like rents in greater new york city....this is because to those fine peeps who live in new york or other expensive metropolitan areas, our rent would seem like a STEAL, yet to those who live in less populated areas, it would appear more like a ripoff.

but i will say this: we are moving to a lovely block in prospect lefferts garden for little more than we pay now. we will be a mere six stops to the city on the Q train and just 2 blocks from prospect park! we will have two bedrooms in a lovely pre-war building with hardwood floors and great big windows. the unit is entirely renovated, as in the plastic is still on the toilet seat, so our hienies will be the first to sit on it. it is up one short flight of stairs--easy peasy for the biscuit and for transporting things like strollers and drum kits.

here are some pics:




i am psyched. while moving can be a bit of a stressful endeavor (or, atleast, the packing can), i love making lists of things to buy, going shopping for home bargains, decorating, picking out paint samples...the whole nine. i'm needing this fresh start. i am so over all of the annoyances of 89 maujer, starting with the pests (i think the final straw was the giant flying cockroach i came nose to nose with last week. horrifying.)

on another disturbing and frustrating note re. vermin: my animals have fleas!! first i noticed them on the biscuit, which is just ri-dingdong-diculous, because he was dosed with frontline. turns out that under all of that thick white fluff, the woob is also crawling with them. my theory is that they hopped on the woob during one of his suntanning sessions he likes to carry out on our patio table. because his outdoor visits are so brief, i didn't bother giving him a flea preventative. bad kitty-mama, i know. so now, both of our pets are swimming in chemically, flea-killing goodness (that i hope for baby max's sake doesn't get all over my fingers and cross through the placenta when i apply it to them.)

and in baby max news, i am now at 26 weeks! we just had our appointment with sandy woods, one of two midwives who will go through this pregnancy with us and possibly deliver the babe (it will be either sandy or corie macqueen, our other awesome midwife.) after drinking a really nasty orange liquid for my one hour glucose screening, i was weighed and measured and poked and prodded by sandy and given the "all good" prognosis once again. thank god. max is doing great in there...he even kicked when he heard his own heartbeat! i wonder where he gets that rhythm from?....

another milestone

within the last two days, two people whom i hadn't told i was PG commented on my pregnancy. i guess that means i am officially showing!

the first was a little old actor with whom i was working on these australian "webisodes". out of nowhere he asked me, "when are you due?" and when i told him he said, "i have a daughter...." and paused...and told me that he never really knew love until the day she was born.

the other was the biscuit's vet, dr. leiman (the one who shushed bdub). we took the biscuit in to see him today (i was convinced that le bisquit had pneumonia...long story, he's fine,) and after the exam concluded, dr. leiman said, "i have some really good literature about introducing a new baby to your dog" and proceeded to give us all of this good advice about keeping treats by the door for visitors to give the biscuit, and how to enter the home with a baby. it was so sweet! and so out of nowhere, because i was wearing a very loose tunic that is not especially bump-revealing.

how nice, though, that these comments have been helpful and encouraging. i'm just waiting for the bad parenting advice to ensue. maybe i can get one of these for after the little bean comes along:

dogs will be dogs

last night i am cuddling up to some deliciously bad tv (i believe it was "miss america: reality check") when the biscuit comes to his feet and gives me that "i'm going to puke" look.

i hoist him to the floor just in time for him to barf up a small puddle of liquid (his usual)....only to realize that he's not done yet. he proceeds to puke again, this time the biggest hairball i've ever seen. in fact, the biscuit has never puked up hairball in his life. weird.

i grab some paper towels and as i'm lifting the "hairball" i realize...that's no hairball. honest to god, my dog had consumed an entire. baby. mouse. i was cleaning up a baby mouse torso (no head or tail, thank you very much).

i send you this message as a reminder that while our dogs are adorable, while they are our snuggly little babies who do the cutest things and shower us with kisses and cuddles, they also eat garbage....and other dogs' poop....and baby mice. whole.

merry new year!!

much to our surprise and delight, bdub and i did not attend any organized festivities on new year's eve. we forewent invitiations to house parties and to bars, and instead decided to take a walk.

that's it. just take a walk down to the water on grand avenue (aka grand ferry park) and ring in '08 drinking in the view of manhattan along with our champagne. we leashed the biscuit and packed our bag with the necessary things:






we strode passed the hipsters and house parties... the angry, drunken youths outside of the delis...the foodies loudly reviewing their new year's eve dinners ("everything was just ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!" we heard one woman exclaim in front of aurora).

as we reached our destination, our hearts sunk as we discovered that our once adorable waterfront has been fenced off by developers. i am hopeful that this is just a temporary stay.

before:








today:








the biscuit was so dismayed that he couldn't even look:









onward we marched up to mccarren park where, with mere minutes to spare, we popped open our champagne,










counted down the seconds,









and rang in 2008 with a kiss. just us.









afterwards, we took the luckiest dog in brooklyn to the dog run.....which, truth be told, is a lot less fun when it's cold and damp and there are no other dogs to play with. the biscuit just kind of stared at us once we were within the gates, had himself a pee, and we leashed him back up again and made the walk home.

we ended our evening with snacks and a viewing of radiohead's little film "scotch mist" (current tv was showing the webcast...so no, we are not so nerdy that we snuggled up in front of our laptop on new year's eve to watch a radiohead webcast! but i digress...). pretty amazing, and i am not usually one to necessarily have my attention held by such things for such a length of time. i liked knowing that perhaps one band was doing its best to try to move the music industry in a different direction. this gave me hope for the future somehow.

so as i sit here typing away on january 2nd, reflecting upon what has felt like the holiday that will never end, i am sweating it a bit. i have ONE DAY of work on the books for 2008. of course, the nature of my job is generally sooo last minute with the bookings that 99% of the time i do not procure these until 24-72 hours ahead of time. thus, i need to relax...but i fear that i am beginning to get a little freaked out by this career of mine (and why didn't i schedule a trip somewhere this month? that always eases the pain of slowness). perhaps it's time i looked for work that is a little more reliable? somewhere between the hell that is teaching middle school kids and the bliss that is working days or weeks in a row on shoots?

eh. i dunno. i'm open for any/all suggestions or words of wisdom, though. of course, perhaps next week i will be booked up the wazoo and pining for my next day off. could be. rinse. dry. repeat.

hot dog

this afternoon, the biscuit and i were running some errands in our neighborhood. a group of 'tweens passed us and one of them took a look at the biscuit and exclaimed,

"DID YOU SEE THAT DOG?! YO, THAT DOG WAS HOT!!"

word, son.

christmas, christmas time is here

the christmas spirit is alive and well here at wolfeinelli inc (despite most of our decorations, such as our tree, being artificial in nature) and as for me, i have been a bit of a busy bee. which is nice. of course, most of my jobs have been editorial (read: low-paying) and i have been working almost entirely with the 8 months to 6 years old set, but i am not complaining. it is nice to be working again after an unexpected and unwanted hiatus.

during my downtime, i quite enjoyed doing a bit of christmas baking.






on the platter, clockwise from the top, we have peanut butter kisses, saltine toffee with pecans, buckeyes, chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips, macaroons, saltine toffee with almonds and walnuts, and mexican wedding cookies in the center. all have been taste-tested by bdub and given his stamp of approval. in fact, bdub was crucial to transferring the cookies into their containers, and taking care of any cookies that just weren't going to quite fit in their tupperware. come to think of it, i wonder what happened to those spare treats?

the biscuit developed a nasty case of hives on thursday afternoon...angry red spots on his bum, his ears, his muzzle. we made a vet appointment for friday morning and gave him a benadryl (which you can totally give to dogs: 1 mg of benadryl per pound of your dog's weight ). by morning, he was hive-free, so we cancelled the appointment. less than an hour later, the hives sprouted up again, but this time on his side and along his back, underneath the fur. another appointment was made for today, and again, the hives are gone. we went to the vet anyways, and are awaiting the results of blood and fecal tests. $245.00 well-spent? we shall see.

today is my catch-up day so as to feel released from holiday stress (ha!). we are doing laundry, and i am hoping to finish up some shopping, and prepare for our annual company party (our "company" being the two dudes bdub plays with regularly--chris "hotface" tarry and steve "stevie e" elliott and their lovely ladies).

the tradition of the musician's company party is a few years old, as we were all sitting around after a gig one december night circa 2005 and lamenting the fact that the boys have no corporate holiday party to attend, though they had many where they were to provide the entertainment. thus, our company holiday party was born.

this year, the party is tomorrow evening at wolfeinelli inc. and should prove to be a good time (hot buttered rum is on the menu). tomorrow afternoon, i am busting out the old flute for meredith dean-augustin's christmas concert. after a traumatic four and half years under the tutelage of this lady i have not played my flute in public since 1996, so this should prove interesting. i am confident, though, as i took the old girl (my flute, not my professor) out of her case and was pleased to discover that i can still rock some debussy! a true christmas miracle indeed.

yo yo yo---let's take that back a minute

i realize that in my mouse-induced insanity i managed to gloss over the greater half of my week! plus, i need to clear up something: it seems that my friend ehrrin believes i have defied her, and i need to set the record straight.

pre-sickness, i had decided that should i not be booked for any jobs on wednesday, i would attempt to drive to pittsburgh and see the dub perform with my brightest diamond at the warhol museum. this has been mentioned in previous posts. though i was no longer a twisted ball of achiness by wednesday, i was still in.....gastrointestinal distress. the thought of driving seven-plus hours was not appealing. plus, i was booked for a great job with this guy--amazing photographer who is sweet as apple pie.

so alas, da burgh was not to be. however, my dear friend katie schwartz came a' calling, asking if i was interested in recuperating at her beach house in stone harbor, nj. now THIS i could handle. after my job was over, the biscuit and i headed south, and were greeted by katie and her st. bernard, gus.

we shopped. we cooked. we ate...or atleast, i ate some of katie's delicious treats some of the time. the rest of the time i attempted any and all variations on the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast) so as to soothe my stomach. i substituted cheerios for toast most of the time, and katie accused me of smelling like a baby. plus, we picked out a christmas dress for me at tj maxx, and i think i officially reverted back to two years old. it was odd.

but back to the fun and less wierd stuff: the dogs cavorted on the beach. we chilled on the soafs and read magazines and watched the premier of project runway. katie and i booked massages with this guy, nick. nick gave me the best massage ever. my knots were untied...my muscles were unlocked...even my lower back, which feels pretty constantly inflamed and sore, was loose as a goose. as katie and i compared our blissful, noddley states, she asked me, "when nick massaged your scalp and then let your hair fall until every last stand was hanging, didn't you just feel like he loves you?" perhaps it's a "had to be there" moment that doesn't transfer well to the blog, but it's absolutely true. our massage therapist loves us.

post-massage, katherine had booked a couple of other spa treatments at a spot nearby. many dollars later, katie returned from her salt scrub and tanning treatment looking a little spotty. a little....streaked. and definitely not amused. luckily, much of it rubbed off, but in yet another "would only happen to katherine" moment, the poor thing was quite a scary shade of orange blotchiness for the better part of the afternoon, and kept repeating, "LOOK AT ME!!! I LOOK CRAZY!!"

by friday evening, the biscuit and i were prepared for a relaxing, easy return to brooklyn. instead we were scared shitless by insane drivers: on the BQE, a crazy driver decided it would be a great idea to swerve into the lane to his left. the motorist occupying that lane swerved into mine, and i in turn swerved to my left. thankfully, i did not hit the guard rail, but the biscuit flipped in his bag and hit the dashboard.

i panicked a bit. i unzipped his overturned sherpa bag, and a shaken bisquit crawled over onto my lap. his left ear was a little bent, but he was otherwise no worse for the wear.

drive carefully, my friends, and please watch out for "the other guy". from here on out, le bisquit will be belted in in his bag. and we move forward, thinking not of what could have been on the road, but thankful that we were spared (and maybe in a bit of karma -induced guilt, this is what i get when i defy ehrrin?).

i am sick.

sick. sick. sick.

yesterday, i went over to kara dean's in the afternoon to make soup. we chopped a bit, sauteed our veggies and poured in our tomatoes. deanie and dyl finished the rest of the pot and about ten minutes after i sat down, i found it difficult to move off of the couch. no good.

i slept for three hours at their place and then managed to drive home and watch bad tv. still today, my joints ache...from my neck to my wrists to my ankles. i go from burning hot to shivering in minutes. my stomach hurts in waves that trickle down from around my chest area to my belly button. my hair even hurts when i try to put on or take off my sweatshirt (which i feel like i have been doing every five minutes).

the biscuit has yet to leave my side, though. bless him.

bdub is on a little tour with my brightest diamond this week. they are en route to louisville from chicago, and he will be playing in new york on saturday! not long now. i had seriously considered making the trek to pittsburgh for their show at the warhol museum this wednesday, but since brushing my teeth seems like a major accomplishment today, i can't imagine making a seven hour car ride. who knows? maybe i'll feel lots better in a day, and i do love my pittsburgh peeps, like this girl and this girl. the best.

and look at these cute photos of the sweet divines! this is the girl group with the retro style that i mentioned way back in this post. aren't they cute? see if you can spot the wolfe in there!

my favorite things

to counteract the piss and vinegar of my last entry, i thought that i would post some of my favorite things. for those of you with blogs of your own, i'd love to hear about your favorite things, too! this time around, mine will be purely material, because my favorite sentimental things would be the cozy nook of bdub's neck, the biscuit's frito-licious scent, my hands side by side with my mom's (they're the same, and i can see the future. which makes me smile and feel connected to this lineage of short, ballsy, fiercely-loving women)...

but that's for another post. for now, allow me to pretend i am oprah and share my faves.

le sportsac bags:


i have been loyal to these for years. they have amazing patterns and they last forever. when they start to get dirty, you can throw them in the washing machine and they look good as new.


dc apres-ski boots in chocolate:


lemme tell you what, these boots were one of my all-time best shoe purchases. i think they are filled with that memory foam stuff in the bottom, because every step i take feels like i am walking on tiny little sole-shaped pillows. cute with jeans, skirt, dresses, cords. totally waterproof and very warm. i made a promise to myself a couple of years ago that i MUST HAVE warm, waterproof boots for the slushy new york februarys, when the snow melt is dirty and extra cold. these have fit the bill nicely!


graftobian high-definition cream foundation:


this is what i use on photoshoots and on myself. i use it with an alcone non-latex sponge (my favorite makeup wedge--the best) that i wet and then wring out. this "sheers" the foundation to perfection. amazing finish, nice range of shades, good pigmentation, great coverage, and long-wearing. probably my most recommended product (and the most asked about, as people always want to buy it).


the bubble roome 3-butter creams:


i have never met a bubble roome product i didn't love --and it was hard to choose just one-- but these body butters are simply perfection; the best incarnation of their body butters yet. i got to try them out when deej (their creator) was testing them, and i was blown away.

they're made of good stuff, too, which is getting to be more of a concern of mine, especially the use of parabens. paraben is a controversial preservative that's in everything and may be linked to breast cancer; all bubble roome products are paraben-free. they smell amazing and the price point is right: no $32.00 nonsense for a sugar scrub, like some high-ends brands, but every bit as good. better, in fact.


smith's rosebud minted rose lip balm:


a classic. but dude, now it comes in a minted version. i just worked on a job with my friend, jules, and she turned me on to this. i am now obsessed. it's not a strong, overly-tingly mint, either; it leaves just a hint of subtle, minty-rosy freshness on your kisser.


the garmin nuvi gps:


truth be told, this was a gift for bdub's birthday, but the gps has become one of my favorite things. there's an amazing sense of security that comes with knowing you're not going to get lost (or if you do, you will easily get back on track). plus, it points you to the nearest starbuck's or lunch spot, and estimates your arrival time. i love it.


sherpa original bag deluxe


at first i thought that the price for the sherpa bag was a little high for me, but the quality is outstanding. it's comfortable, you can wash the inner liner, and the biscuit loves it. he crawls right in as soon as he sees me grab my keys! plus, the sherpa is designed to fit under and airline seat and is the only carrier approved for in-flight use by all of the major airlines.


dwell bedding:


i heart dwell bedding. karadean and i like to hit up their annual sample sale and clean house. i love the color pallette, the patterns, the quality, the feel of the cotton. "playful yet minimalist" is a fitting description. plus, it cleans up well when the biscuit pukes on the bed.


trader joe's


i seriously had to wrack my brain to think of a product at trader joe's that i don't like. i honestly can't think of one dud. i can think of many, many favorites, though: the dried white peaches, the flattened bananas, the cheese and green chile tamales, the spinach artichoke ravioli, the gorgonzola and walnut tortellini, the chili-lime cashews. all amazing and less expensive than the nastiness that passes as consumables at our local key food.


sudoku:


i had to fit my puzzle nerd in somewhere on this list. i really, really enjoy sudoku (in case you are unfamiliar, an explanation is here). i wouldn't call myself "obsessed", but i quite enjoy the satisfaction of completing a puzzle before i get to my subway stop. aahhh...

cuteness alert

"uncle" bdub recently did a recording session at this spot called frisbie in tribeca. they had the cutest kid's t-shirts and onesies, so of course he had to get a couple for our favorite niece and nephew.

and just look at what was in my inbox!



i think those two need to start a band or something. they already exude such 'tude.

beezie also emailed me this--from sadie's first birthday (and really, what good is birthday cake without a handful of goldfish crackers thrown in?)

ah, time... she flies...


in other news, this weekend was pretty relaxed once i got through my 12 and a half hour day at cstv on saturday (ouch). on sunday, bdub and i went to visit kurly, dyl, and wiles for some halloween festivities at fort greene park. we were a bit late for the activities, but were in the spirit regardless.

the assael's costumes: kurly as bearded lady, dylan as fortune teller (complete with giant 'stache and turban), and wiles as strong man.

i swear, had there been a baby costume contest, that kid would have won first prize. he was dressed in a striped sweater, red knit pants, boots, studded black cuffs, a studded black belt, and, to top it off, his hair was slicked over and he had a penciled-in curly black moustache. he also carried (or, played like a guitar, rather) a big dumbell which dylan made out of a black plastic handle of some sort and two big, black styrofoam balls on the ends with "100" stenciled on them. genius.

i will definitely post pics when i get 'em! i dressed as rosie the riveter (v. easy last minute costume, should you ever need one) and the biscuit went as himself, as he was not digging his dinosaur costume. it so messed with his balance, in fact, that he was falling flat on his face (which is flat enough). here's my last minute rosie:


bdub went as "disgruntled vietnam vet"...which, actually, isn't a costume at all but rather bdub's "uniform" as of late: brown hooded sweatshirt, olive drab army-ish coat, jeans, and brown chukka boots. to get into character, bdub was saying things like, "i gave it all for my country, man! when i came back, they called me a baby killer, man!".

good stuff.

checkin' in

i just realized that i haven't posted an entry since the infamous lemon lady! now that's just sad.

of course, my absence here is due to an overwhelming amount of work. since the job with the mysterious lemon lady, i have done makeup for:

-ms. leah siegel's music video, using stop-animation done by these amazing peeps. here's a sample of the director's work (and how cool is it that he loves daniel as much as i do?):



-a long-ass day at CSTV, the home for college sports (and bane of my existence),

-a photoshoot for "the sweet divines" , a new quartet of lovely ladies who sing in the style of a late sixties girl group and fancy their hair and makeup done in the same manner. hello, hairspray and liquid liner!

-more music video shooting

-and tomorrow: a shoot for tommy hilfiger kids, and then on wednesday: makeup for the finalists of a new reality show involving supermodels (or atleast supermodel wannabe's)...

whew! i'm exhausted just typing about it all!

the biscuit (whose eye is completely healed, by the way) has resorted to keeping me up at nights and giving me the brush-off when i return from work. it's really quite exhausting; bdub isn't half as demanding! i've never been in a relationship like this before! the guilt is enormous, but he is managing without me and resorting to snuggling under bdub's armpit when necessary.

the biscuit's got the crazy eye!

poor little biscuit. since friday evening, his left eye has been red and cloudy. we took him to the vet today (we saw dr. eisner, and dr. zamata popped in to say hello...no dr. mann this time) and, as much as it pains me to say so, the biscuit was not very well-behaved. he wasn't having it with the eye stain, and thrashed and wailed like an alien banshee. he was rather out of control, and i don't think dr. eisner was amused (but you know what? bdub and i weren't very amused with her either, so there) .

as for the diagnosis, they really aren't sure why there is inflammation and redness. he doesn't have a scratched cornea, though, which is a relief. now we must administer two kinds of drops as well as some chinese herbal medicine to the biscuit three times a day. we check back on thursday with them, so i'll post an update then.

bookmarks--a memoir

i was organizing my bookmarks, and some of them are pretty funny. for example: "Ridding Your Home of Fleas" (self-explanatory) and "Ecure me: T Flava", from when bdub had mysterious red and white spots up and down his back. others conjur up memories i'd rather not revisit for too long, like "Pilling Cats" or "The Animal Legal Defense Fund: Winning the Case Against Cruelty" or "LA Daily News- Tahoe Blaze, Homes Evacuated" (...the fire is unrelenting...you are forced to evacuate your home...it's the stereo or your son's darth vader mask that he just got for his fourth birthday. you go for the mask. you're his father...you lose everything else but none of it matters, really...).

still others, such as "Small Space Entertaining" bring me back specifically to a time and place: our tiny apartment, last thanksgiving, eight people for dinner. it's chilly and raining, so we can't eat out on the patio. i want us to sit down and have a nice dinner together. after much deliberation, we flip up our mattress against the wall and cover the whole shebang with a white sheet. we put out card tables and borrowed chairs, make gingerbread martinis and drink champagne and eat roast turkey and seitan with a red wine and mushroom sauce (for the veggies) and stuff ourselves with pie and bread pudding.

"njtransit.com/pdf/bus" is the schedule of buses from new york to atlantic city. while bdub was on tour last winter-into-spring, the biscuit and i boarded a bus to atlantic city where we met my friend katie. we spent the weekend at katie's family's beach house with her and her st. bernard, gus.

the biscuit got sprayed by a skunk that was making his home underneath the back porch...as long as i live, i will never forget his soaking wet, tomato juice-pink mug as we bathed him to rid him of the stink. he was such a trooper, and katie didn't even mention how much the smell permeated the house, the towels, everything. she made tuna noodle casserole and we chilled with our dogs and got caught up on each others' lives. it was a great weekend.

there are even bookmarks that give me hope for the future, such as "Good Questions: How Small An Apartment Can You Have a Baby In?". an awkward sentence, to be sure, but a good question indeed. i've read it again and again, and it gives me hope to hear of people's babies all over the world sleeping in dresser drawers and salad bowls. i like that. it makes the future (*ahem*, the very distant future--not the near future, thankyouverymuch, mom) seem not so impossible.

turn around v-e-e-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y....

...and do not be alarmed....but a horrible monster now walks among us: