Friday, January 12, 2007

Blurking Ban

No Thursday Thirteen for me this week because yesterday was my birthday (31!), and I was too busy carting The Boy to therapy, taking Baby Girl to her 6 mo. checkup, and then stuffing my face with celebratory onion rings at Red Robin to think of anything else-- and now it just feels like I've missed the boat, even though I have been known to post a Friday edition of the TT. Thanks to all my friends and family who called, emailed, snail mailed, sent flowers and gift cards, or left me a comment here -- I love you all too!
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And now to the point of this post: I have noticed little buttons around the blogosphere saying that it is International DeLurking Week (thanks, Canada, for the "inter"national street cred). I realize that I am really late to the whole "week" part, and I don't know how to create (or steal) those cool buttons, so I am just telling you straight up: It's International DeLurking Week, and I'm all in! There is no law in Blogville saying that you must comment on a post, and I know that there have been plenty of posts that I have read and enjoyed anonymously -- I call it blurking. Usually, I leave a comment if the blogger asks for advice about a topic I know (or sometimes about a topic I don't know), or if I thought the post was so hilarious/touching/uncannily like my life that it needed my attention. And it goes without saying (but I'm just sayin') that I LU-HUV me some comments on my blog! I mean, if you knew how many times a day I check for new comments (5, 15, 8700 x's . . .) you might be concerned about my self-esteem. I just like to know that I am not crazy all by my lonesome over here. I know that many of you do comment regularly, and I thank you heartily; and I also suspect that perhaps I don't get more comments because the few people who do read this blog are already commenting, in which case I am down with that as well. But if you are out there, and you are reading this, and you never comment, now is the time! Unless your fingers are broken and you managed to navigate your way here by tapping your nose on the mouse, in which case I say you may have a dispensation, then please leave a comment! And in the spirit of making it interesting, I will shamelessly jack these few questions from Bub and Pie to make commenting worth your while.

1) Which is better – The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?

2) Who would you be more likely to be attracted to: the bad boy (think Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver) or the nice guy (think Colin Firth in a reindeer sweater)?

3) If you’re a mom, how do you tend to greet your children’s milestones: with a nostalgic "What happened to my baby?" or an exultant "Yeah! Bring it on!"

4) What are the biggest "don'ts" when it comes to helping a first-time mom?

5) What, if anything, would you like to ask me? (I have no boundaries; I’ll almost certainly answer.)

To all those wannabe commenters (and the regular commenters, too), I say: Bring it!
PS: If you really want my answers to these questions, I'll update this later. Right now I have to go get Older Girl from school, because they won't keep her any longer than they have to. I've asked.

17 comments:

  1. Hehe. I'll answer! (I was thinking I'd have to do this on my blog, but I've been so busy answering everybody else's questions that I figure I'll hold off unless specifically asked!)

    1) For movies, LOTR all the way (I find the Harry Potter movies almost unwatchable, and not because of any sense of purist outrage - just because they're so DULL). But as for the books, I'll read the Harry Potter series over Lord of the Rings any day.

    2) I like the nice guys. (Especially now that I'm married to one.)

    3) Bring it on.

    4) My favourite word of advice on this question from the discussion at my blog is to remember that I'm not the expert - I will probably have something to learn from her.

    5) This one's actually hard. I think I burned up my question-asking juices yesterday. So I'll go with something frivolous: have you seen any good movies lately?

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  2. Hi!

    1) I have not read or seen Harry Potter, so I'll not answer that. I will say I have read the LOTR books more than once and watch the movies about 4 times a year. They are our standby movies when nothing good is on TV and we aren't ready for bed (and we are in red-light fertility time!).

    2)Nice guy. I love Colin Firth.

    3)Both. It depends on the milestone. I like crawling, not walking. I like laughing, not screaming.

    4)Don't offer advice until asked. Just love on the mom and baby and let them know you're willing to help if needed. But if asked, be completely honest about the subject. No one told me how hard breastfeeding way and I was woefully unprepared. It was not until #4 that I had big success nursing.

    5)How do you handle the fertile time when trying to postpone a pregnancy? Just asking. Don't feel obligated to answer. :)

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  3. happy birthday! and onion rings, yum, i LOVE onion rings!

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  4. happy, happy birthday!!! you have the honor of being the same age as me, if only for a few short months...

    and i check for comments at least that often too...good to know i'm not alone in that silliness.

    so here are my answers:
    i liked both series, but in terms of books, i preferred harry potter, in terms of movies, i liked the rings.

    definitely more attracted to the bad boy. lucky to have married one who really is a good guy at heart.
    (i still think brigit should have gone back with daniel!)

    milestones for kiddos: yeah, bring it on! especially when they make life easier, like being able to tell me what you want, instead of crying, and walking on your own instead of carrying you in a baby carrier!

    don't tell a first time mom who is one or two weeks away from giving birth all about your friend whose baby was stillborn at 37 weeks with no medical explanations!!!!

    and here's my question to you aimee. maybe you can settle this one for me and my hubby. if one person folds towels a certain way, and the other person folds towels in a haphazard fashion, and really has no preference one way or the other in how towels get folded, doesn't it follow that all towels should get folded in the method preferred by person #1?

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  5. Happy Birthday! In honor of your occasion, I'll play along in your Comment-Meme :)

    1. I haven't finished reading either series, and haven't seen the movies either. So I'll just say I'd go with Tolkien because he's Catholic, and a Beowulf geek, and leave it there!

    2. Nice guy. Hands down.

    3. BRING IT ON! I enjoy the milestones. But I'm not the nostalgic type.

    4. Don't believe her when she says she has everything together--and don't hesitate to surprise her by helping out in a way she can't refuse. (Show up, hot dinner in hand, place in oven, kiss baby, and leave.)

    5. No burning questions here--can you recommend a good book for me to read?

    And I'll throw in my answer to Carrie--I've been married 15 years, 364 days now....if Person #1 cares about how the towels look when folded, then Person #1 should either fold the towels herself or suck it up when Person #2 does it (and hey, if she wants to refold them OUT OF HIS SIGHT LATER) then that's her prerogative. In my house, it's loading the dishwasher....

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  6. I love this!!! It's like a big bloggy block-party! OK, I will leave one comment with my answers to the stolen questions, and then I will leave another comment with my answers to your questions for me.
    Comment 1 of 2:

    1) I have to say that I enjoyed the LOTR movies WAY more than HP, but I do get sucked into the HP books much faster than LOTR. Actually, Rob has to explain all of the backstory for me while we watch the LOTR. He is an inexhaustible font of LOTR knowledge.

    2) COLIN FIRTH!!!!!!!!!! So, so dreamy, and I've always been drawn to the nice guys anyway.

    3) I tend to be the nostalgic type (you've read the blog, right?), except when it comes to feeding themselves and wiping their own bottoms. Those days cannot come fast enough for me!

    4) I agree with Carrie - don't tell a horrible birth story, just to tell it. There will be time enough to talk about those things when the new mom is cuddling her little one. But I also agree with 4andcounting -- don't sugar coat the details if you are asked directly. Breastfeeding was a nightmare for me, and I had no idea. Don't judge, because we are all doing the best we can; if she is not feeding her baby crack-cocaine, then she is doing pretty well already. Be like Barb, and just show up with dinner and a pack of diapers and be on your merry way!

    5) I answer this one because I think we already have enough questions floating around!

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  7. Comment 2 of 2: The Answers to your Questions!

    Bubandpie: OK, I'm assuming you mean movies on video because I can't remember the last time I went to the theater. My brother gave us a gift subscription to Netflix, so we have been enjoying receiving videos in the mail. We just watched "Little Miss Sunshine" which was very funny, and "Pirates of the Carribean II," which I did not enjoy as much as the first one. Tonight we are going to watch "The Constant Gardener" I feel good that we are only one Oscar year behind in movies!

    4andcounting: Hmm . . . Nerf bat? big stick? stun gun? Actually I got nothin', since it's not just the huz who needs swatting away :) What I find myself doing is staying on the computer later, since it is all the way downstairs, or something like that. Not very helpful, I know!

    Carrie: GAH! The towels, we have the same issue with the towels! (and with the dishwasher, too, Barb!) I, of course, want towels folded the "Aimee way," but I am the one who has to do it if I get all OCD like I usually do. It's a curse, I tell ya!

    Barb: I have read some pretty good books lately, and my tastes range all over the place. I've been thinking about putting up my reading list on the blog, but I'll give you the last couple of titles that I've enjoyed:
    "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See (very good, it's about the lives of 2 Chinese best friends and their shared experiences, ie: foot binding. If you've read anything by Amy Tan, this is similar)

    "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova (VERY creepy, and I usually don't "do" creepy. this is very well written, it's about Dracula, but it's not your typical vampire book. It's more the history of the legend, etc)

    Right now, I'm reading "And Only to Deceive" by Tasha Alexander, and it's fun. A little lighter than the others, it's a Victorian mystery/thriller/historical novel.

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  8. OK, I've gotta know....which recipes did you try?

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  9. Hey! De-Blurking here. I agree on the comments thing - I *always* am on the lookout for new comments, increasing counter numbers, and so on.

    1 - I agree with bubandpie. LOTR for movies, HP for books.

    2 - Neither, I want the FUNNY guy! I guess the nice guy could also be the funny guy?

    3 - I'm more of the WHAT HAPPENED! variety. 'Course I've got 4 kids and it's okay for the older ones, but the baby is nearly 3 now and it's getting harder and harder.

    4 - Advice? Try talking to veteran mothers, don't let the medical professionals tell you they know everything and you know nothing, and the GUT knows more than you credit it for. Also, call me if you need help b/c I'm having some serious baby withdrawls!

    5 - Nope, no burning questions.

    Thanks for the fun!

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  10. Anonymous2:37 AM

    1) Why does Hollywood keep spoiling good books with movies? (Can you tell my mom is a librarian? :D )

    2) The nice guy... I finally found one who hasn't decided upon the seminary!

    3) N.A. - maybe someday

    4) I don't have experience on the mom side... but I love to play with kids... esp. babies

    5) Did you have fun shopping on your birthday/did you find anything cool for yourself? (Sorry I didn't get to wish you a Happy Bithday... I called while you were out and didn't have a chance to call back at a reasonable hour.)

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  11. Barb - I made Hugarian Pork Paprikas; Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken (twice! and the second time I added some frozen veggies and made it like a stir-fry); and the Swiss Chicken, which Rob ate 3 days in a row because he liked it so much (swiss cheese is his fave)
    All of these have now been added to the menu roster!

    Johanna - I did have fun prowling around the stores by myself. I could stand in the shoe section for as long as I wanted without having two kids walking around in high heels because they were bored.
    I bought myself a CD, and some gum (can't forget the birthday gum!), but mostly just a lot of window shopping. Rob did tell me that you called - thank you! We hope to see you Sun at Mom & Dad's

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  12. The high-heel thing sounds like fun to me. I'd enjoy watching someone else's children do that ;)

    Glad you liked the recipes. Those are big hits around here too.

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  13. The thing to remember about the Great Towel-Folding Debate is that this is not a matter of mere aesthetics or slavish devotion to habit: in order to fit on the rack, the towel has to be folded length-wise. If it's folded width-wise, somebody (i.e. me) is going to have to re-fold when it comes time to put out fresh towels. It's really just a matter of WHEN the re-folding takes place: now or later.

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  14. ok, so let's see, questions to answer - are we being graded on this? ;)

    1)i neither watched nor read either of them all the way through so i suppose i'm not quite qualified to answer this one...but if i had to pick i'd go with LOTR

    2)Well, considering who i married, i'd have to say the bad boy...but he has to have a good guy underneath the gruff exterior

    3)Depends on the child...with my lil girl i'm usually psyched about the milestones, but with my lil guy i get a lil more weepy...probably because i know he is my last

    4)For first time moms...when asked for any kind of advice don't make her feel as though your way is the ONLY way...much rather suggest that it worked well for you but might not work for her but it's worth a shot

    5)hmmm, ask you anything, eh? Uhm...do you think Fr B still has his Chubby the Hip Cherub book??? LOL

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  15. I don't lurk, but I couldn't resist.
    1) Which is better – The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?
    LOTR, but Harry is fun 'cause he's so much less taxing brain-wise.

    2) Who would you be more likely to be attracted to: the bad boy (think Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver) or the nice guy (think Colin Firth in a reindeer sweater)? Bad boys are attractive, but the nice guys are the kinds your marry.

    3) If you’re a mom, how do you tend to greet your children’s milestones: with a nostalgic "What happened to my baby?" or an exultant "Yeah! Bring it on!" Uh, "what happened to my baby" with a smattering of the blues. Not so much birthdays as losing first teeth, starting school, etc.

    4) What are the biggest "don'ts" when it comes to helping a first-time mom? Don't give advice unbidden EXCEPT when you're talking about the baby blues (or depression) after the baby is born. Every first time mom feels completely overwhelmed and she needs to know that she is not alone and that she will come out the other side and perhaps want to do it over again with kids 2, 3, and/or 4!

    5) What, if anything, would you like to ask me? (I have no boundaries; I’ll almost certainly answer.) Did you get the invite to Primo's Birthday and are you coming? And also, Are you mad at having a bad friend like me who can't get it together long enough to call you on or near your birthday? :(

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  16. Anonymous8:16 AM

    First and foremost- happy b-day!
    1) Harry Potter definitely. This is mostly because it had gotten a lot of kids excited about reading and as an English Teacher that's a big thrill!
    2) I like nice guys- mine is the best!
    3) It depends on the time. I am always excited but when I realize the little days are slipping away I get weepy.
    4)The best advice to give a new mom is to be supportive and never point out things she is doing wrong, rather say what has worked for you. (It is better for everyone's self- esteem).
    5) Okay, here's my question since I only have time to read the blog in the morning before my team wakes up (again), How do you find time to keep this going?

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  17. Anonymous8:19 AM

    Sorry Aimee- last comment was from me - Mirabella Mom

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