Casual Observations and OMG I gave birth to a legal eagle

• There were many responses to my Regrets post. Hit a nerve, eh? I must follow up on that. More thoughts. More regrets.
• So the fortunate byproduct of giving up beef/pork/chicken/duck/lamb for Lent is that (a) I feel pious, for that that is worth and (b) I lost five pounds which in the wake of not working out for...oh...3 or so years, is nice (particularly when we are beach bound in the near future).  However, with regard to (b) I cannot tell if I lost said pounds because I am not eating meat or because I am SO BEYOND BORED with my dietary options I almost never have an appetite anymore!  Seriously, that is why vegans/vegetarians are skinny, because the food sucks.  I mean, I like beans and eggs and fish and vegetables but I LOVE roast chicken, grilled beef, sauteed pork (talk dirty to me!).  I guess the lesson is that this was a great thing to give up for Lent.  I am suffering.
• Do you think every parent thinks their child should be a lawyer?  I ask because 2 year olds are incredibly adept negotiators who will go balls to the wall, as they say to avoid going to bed.  By the way, I never use that phrase "balls to the wall" because, well, the imagery is just awful.  Trying it out here for effect...thoughts?  Anyway.  Avery appears to be seeking an Attorney General post with her new tactics.  Tonight we had three decoy trips to the potty (two post getting her into the crib), at least 20 requests for "rub back!", dramatic coughing followed by "WATER!", stuffed animal rearranging, and my personal favorite "Hurt!  Sick!"  Now, you tell me, what parent when they hear screaming followed by "Hurt! Sick!" is not going to feel a pang to go and check for a fever or a leg stuck between the bars?  A sucker I tell you.  That is me.
• I miss my dad but I will say, having him gone has allowed for my relationship with my mom to develop in a way I am not sure it would have if he were still alive.
• Why is affordable child care such a tough thing to come by in this country?
• I would like to write two books.  Here are my ideas (1) a book titled "Questions you should have asked but didn't" about all sort of random topics (questions most people don't ask when investing in a company, buying a house, getting married, ordering furniture...the topics are endless.  I suppose this would be a sucky book since it would be all over the place.  I may start a blog on that one.  The second book would be titled "Extraordinary Lives of Seemingly Ordinary People".  I am convinced that we have greatness all around us - if we only knew the stories of our neighbors and the people we sit next to on the bus, pass on the street, ignore on the sidewalk.  We so often define greatness by fame and fortune, which might be strong indicators of greatness, but there are a lot of folks out there who achieve pretty remarkable things in the face of adversity and it might be nice for us to know their stories too.  Who wants to publish that?
• The other book that needs to be written might be titled "Why don't you JUST" which is a phrase often heard uttered by venture capitalists who have never worked in a start-up.  Let's just say I think for all VCs it should be a requirement that you spend some time working at a young company.  It sure is fun and definitely will give you an appreciation for the ripple effect "Why don't you just..." can have through a company.

Not much else to add.  Thanks for listening.  I always like to hear from you when you comment, text or email about something on this here blog. 

Quick follow-up to the above mentioned no appetite issue: just said to my husband "I cannot believe it's 10 and I have not eaten dinner nor do I have any interest in dinner and I am probably going to end up eating a sad bowl of YOGURT!"  Sad, I say.  Very sad. 

Comments

[Dave Schappell]

My hunch is that affordable child care isn't the problem. However, if you insist on quality, it can get quite expensive.

Sorry -- I love your posts. But, having no children, I generally only have snarky replies :-)

[tismoi]

Dave - snarky is great! and yes, in NYC quality nanny costs you around $12+ an hour, which is a pretty low hourly rate but man does it add up (post tax btw). And I would love to think it's not the problem but if I believe that, I move myself from snarky to defensive...wait...if that is not the problem what is!! Could it be lack of concern for "women's issues!" and I can't be that person all the time :-). I hope btw that www.teachstreet.com changes the world in time for my daughter to benefit - I love what you are doing!

[Jen]

I know this post is ancient, but the expression 'balls to the wall' is not (imagery aside) rude. It comes from WWII-era bombers, whose thrusters had ball-shaped handles and when you were going all out, those balls were up (forward) against the firewall where your instruments are. Voila! :)