Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Must Be ToysRUs’ First Christmas

November 28th, 2010 — 9:32pm

I’ll admit it. I went shopping on Black Friday.

Now don’t be getting any crazy ideas about me waking up at 2:30 a.m. You’d have to be giving away A HOUSE for me to spend the night in line outside of a store in the middle of November. I’m not 19 yo anymore hoping to see The Rolling Stones once before they retire (hey who’d a thought Keith Richards would live this long??).

All of the shopping I did Friday was Santa-related. Therefore, I wanted to make sure I could easily hide the gifts from the prying eyes of my three crazies.

Lessons learned?

1.  When you drive off in your small car wondering why it was you had thought about driving the big SUV with the tinted windows, go with your gut and turn around to exchange cars.

I looked at the circulars the night before, compared prices, determined the bargains worth pursuing and reminded myself to drive the SUV. So why did I hop in the little car the next morning??
Who freaking knows.

It was early and I still had a turkey hangover. That’s the only way I can explain it.

All I know is I was shoving bags into every crevice in that damn little car, bitching at myself for not having cleaned it out and realizing I’d have to go drop stuff off at home before I could park it in the next parking lot or fear being robbed.

Annoyed–mostly at myself.

2.  ToysRUs needs to get itself a mom blogger panel or something STAT!

Target had red bags to use for Christmas presents.  KMart had black bags that said “no peeking” on them.

ToysRUs?  See-thru tan bags.  Um?  You primarily sell toys.  It’s Black Friday.  Do you think I waited for twenty minutes for staff restock the shelves and stood in that winding line to buy a birthday present for my kid’s classmate?!  This clearly isn’t your first Christmas in business is it?  Do you have any moms on your executive staff?  I mean it had to occur to SOMEONE that providing bags kids can’t see through would be a great idea at this time of the year.

Now you know I’m a slob,  shopped big box this weekend (for the record I was also in supporting small businesses too) and that I drive a gas-guzzling suburban assault vehicle.

Oh. my. god!  I’m a suburban cliche.

Crap.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Learn from My Mistakes…

November 25th, 2010 — 11:18am

When it’s 5:30 p.m. on the evening before Thanksgiving and you haven’t even been to the grocery store yet, don’t get on Twitter…and tell a reporter “sure, c’mon over and try to capture Thanksgiving disaster at my house” in an hour and a half.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. My life is full with so many wonderful things, and the amazing people I’ve met through this blog are among those I count on this day.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Get Your Shopping Shoes On!

November 24th, 2010 — 6:39pm

Thanks to American Express for sponsoring my writing today about small businesses.  American Express is presenting Small Business Saturday, a way to honor the local merchants who are the backbone of the economy, this Saturday, November 27.  They’re offering statement credits to people who shop at small businesses, advertising for small-business owners, and donations to Girls Inc. for “Likes” of the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook.  Join the celebration by clicking the “Like” button and then visiting the Facebook page to learn more about the program and read the terms and conditions that apply.

You taking advantage of the days off after Thanksgiving to get some holiday shopping in?  I most certainly am.  Not one to take advantage of the 3a.m. sales, I will be visiting some of my favorite stores this weekend.

One of my favorites is Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria, VA.  It goes along with my newest addiction–knitting.  I learned about Fibre Space from the fantastic site Try Handmade.  The yarns this place has??  Amazing.  Seriously, I spend hours there petting the yarn frequently (it’s a problem I know, but I don’t want help).

The other thing I love about the store is that all of the people who work there are not only knowledgeable, but also really nice.  I’ve asked what have felt like the dumbest questions and they not only take time to teach but offer to have me come sit and knit to practice.

Plus the other cool thing?  Danielle, the owner, is all about social media and has been working to have a real online presence as well as fostering a mutual support system with the other small businesses in Old Town.  You can always pop into the store or the website and find out what else is going on in town.

The store offers great sales, classes, get-togethers and even movie nights.  I was there on a recent Thursday night and they were having to bring out more chairs for all of the people who were pouring in to socialize and knit.

I am being compensated for this post–yes, but this is a store I truly love.  And I MUCH prefer to support my local small businesses whenever I can.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

…And tell me what you’re planning to shop for.

Small Business Saturday

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity , as do I.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Talking to Myself?

October 14th, 2010 — 4:24pm

There are times I want to talk to you.  Times I wonder how you are.  I want to call, but there is no number to dial.

You’re not there anymore–at least not in the way you used to be.

You are very much here in my thoughts, even in my dreams.  So I talk to you in my head, send words to you up through flames, let free my thoughts to the universe hoping one or two will find you in a warm, gentle breeze.

I wish I knew for sure you got them.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Sorting Out My Thoughts

October 5th, 2010 — 11:06pm

My grandmother died in August.  The memorial service will be held for her this weekend, and my mom has asked me to speak.

I could put together something easy, talk about how I’ll miss her, share a few memories, but I feel as someone who conveys my thoughts on “paper” that I should be able to string together something a bit more substantial.

Gram suffered from Alzheimer’s for the last ten years.  In the last few years, she had few words and the only way I could tell she recognized me even remotely was by the way her face lit up a little when I entered the room.

My grandfather passed away when I was only four.  My grandmother was only in her early 50’s–far too young to be a widow.  She had to find work, had a life to continue living.

She wasn’t the traditional grandma.  We did go to her house for dinner every once in awhile.  All the major holidays were celebrated together and she was always with us to celebrate our birthdays, but it was the 70’s and 80’s.  She was going on cruises with her girlfriends.  She was dating.  She got remarried.

Mom and I have discussed it before.  My grandma wasn’t very “grandmotherly” in many ways.  She didn’t play with us, she didn’t demand to see us once a week though she only lived 20 minutes away.  I’ve been used to her being gone from us through Alzheimer’s that her death has been a bit easier, but also because I never thought of her as a central force in my life.

As I think through the words I want to share this weekend though, I realize she was there in so many ways.

There are traditions at Christmas that I’ve continued with my kids that she started for my sister and I (hiding a bag of chocolate coins in the tree for us to find on Christmas day).  I still make her meatballs and spaghetti sauce because that’s what sauce should taste like to me.  She always had extra mashed potatoes for me at Thanksgiving because she knew I could eat my weight in them even when age was in the single digits.  And though she never had very much money, she saved to take my sister and I on our first trip to Disney World and she took me on my first trip overseas–two weeks just the two of us in England and Wales.

My grandmother wasn’t a warm, plump, cookie-baking grandma with a bun.  She always had a cigarette in her hand, more shoes than Imelda Markos and never went without her lipstick, but she loved me in her own way.

And she certainly never really judged.

Don’t get me wrong.  She was very certain about some of her beliefs–no matter how much she contradicted herself, but well…

She went along with Aunt Bev and I when we got our tattoos and even joked with the artist–this behemoth of a man–that she had each one of her wrinkles tattooed on.

She bragged to everyone who’d listen that I had a job in Washington, DC with NARAL while in the same breath telling me how “pro-life” she was.

Or my favorite conversation sitting around my aunt and uncle’s dining room table with her and my mom.  She just blurted out over the table of broken lobster carcasses “Amie, have you ever smoked marijuana?”

I was 25 and felt like it was safe to be honest.  “Yeah grandma, I have.”

She looked me right in the eye and said “you know I used to grow it, right?”

I had no idea what to say.  I looked around the table at her two daughters.  My mom scoffed thinking maybe she was losing her crackers, but my aunt just laughed with a knowing smile.

“Oh yeah!  Remember that great bay window I had in the old house?  It got the best light.  I used to grow it on that windowsill in with all my other plants.”

I saw my grandmother in a completely different way that night.

She was young once.  She had loves (she was growing it for her boyfriend at the time–and I’m not making this up–his name was John Paradise.  He was 5′ 3″ with his platforms on.  He had a big mustache, wore polyester shirts open to his navel with big gold chains).  She didn’t stop living just because my grandfather died.

In reflecting on my grandma, I’m now aware of the tenacity required for her to keep going.  She could have retreated, lived through her grandchildren and no one would have questioned it, but she didn’t.  She didn’t give up.  The woman wore skin-tight satin pants into her 60’s.  And she looked good!

My grandmother gave me the two women who have had the biggest impact on my life–her daughters Bev and my amazing mom Jean–but she gave me so much more too.

I’m grateful I had this opportunity to understand that.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.This Explains My Posture

September 10th, 2010 — 1:48pm


Join *8Things
Decided to scroll through my blog reader before hitting the hay last night.  Stumbled upon this post from the lovely Magpie Girl.  She likes to make lists of *8Things.

When do I feel powerful?

I think I’m a pretty powerful person.  When I read the post title I was sure I’d have nothing to learn from the list.

Ummmm…

Thinking I might only be a bitch have a powerful personality.

I mulled over Rachelle’s list for a while.  I thought about when I feel powerful.  I stared a little more and decided it was time to lay down.

Once in the horizontal position settled in under my comfy, soft blanket, I took up the list again.

When do I feel powerful?

Next thing I knew it was morning.

Clearly it was easier to fall asleep than determine my power positions.  Seriously?!  I’ve always been the “stand-on-your-own-two feet-girls-can-do-anything-boys-can-do-I’m-fine” kinda girl.

So here I am determined to come up with 8 ways in which I feel powerful.  Dammit!

Here’s what my list would have been twenty years ago.

1. With a microphone in my hand.

2. Smashing a tennis ball.

3.  Driving a stick shift.

4.  Wearing my cowboy boots.

5. Navigating train schedules in Europe.

6. Sitting on the top of the cigarette machine surveying the crowd at my favorite college haunt.

7. Hailing a cab in any city.

8. Kissing

Today I feel powerful when:

(cue montage of Amie sitting at her desk contemplating her life for an hour)

1. Giving birth.  Nothing more powerful than creating a life using nothing but your own body.

2. Beautiful blooms and tasty vegetables appear in my yard. (see a pattern here?)

(cue next montage of Amie cracking open a diet coke, getting a snack and thinking some more)

3. Wearing my cowboy boots–oh and they do rock.

4. Finishing a workout (why don’t I do this more often?)

5. Introducing myself to someone new.  Shaking hands using good eye contact.

(another musical interlude:  Amie sits with chin propped on left hand staring into space)

6. Explaining the infield fly rule.

7.  Creating something out of parts (knitting a blanket, baking a delicious pie).

8.  Kissing (I’m a very good kisser).

What makes you feel powerful?  If you write about it on your blog, let me know, let Rachelle know, or leave a comment below.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.It’s True, I am a Stalker

September 2nd, 2010 — 10:55pm

The target of my current obsession?

CRAFT BLOGS! (seriously this link will blow your mind–unless you’re not at all tempted by office supplies or crafts and then it’ll probably bore you to death and I should probably send you here instead.  And if that doesn’t make you laugh, well then you clearly have no sense of humor.)

I want to be mad for Modge Podge.

Color creeps into my cranium.

I yearn to wrangle yarn.

Pretty paper pleads to perform in my hands.

And yet?

I have not the original idea to make a dent in my stash.  I’m so in awe of these incredible crafters, and imitation seems less a form of flattery and more well…like stalking.  Hope they don’t mind.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.It Might Be too Much

August 25th, 2010 — 10:40pm

I appreciate anyone who is here taking time out of their day to see what has dribbled from my brain.  I appreciate it even more after listening to a story on NPR yesterday about Digital Overload.

According to the story, we are taking in three times the information our grandparents were when they were my age in the 60’s.

That’s a lot of information and really, how much of it is necessary?  Ironically, the more information we take in, the more difficult it is for us to filter out the irrelevant drivel.

I hit a wall with TV a few years back–probably around the time I had kids–where I just couldn’t sit down for long periods of time surfing channels they way I could in my teens and 20’s.  And I was a champion channel surfer!  Maybe it was all the time these little people demanded.  Maybe it was the advent of the web and the surfing I could do there.  Whatever it was, I became more selective in what I watched.  I couldn’t tolerate the sitcoms that all of the sudden seemed inane.  I COULD NOT tolerate the “reality” TV shows that gave fame to people who did nothing to deserve my attention except to act like assholes in front of the nation.  (I know. I know.  Everyone loves Dancing with the Stars and the Real Housewives.  Trust me it stinks to have no way to take part in a conversation when it turns to these.)

Was my brain doing me a favor?  Was it crying enough?

As time went on, my free time became focused on the internet where I noticed the cycle repeating itself.  First, the stupid chain emails made my eyeballs itch.  Then the social media “experts” that we all had to read because they were so brilliant?  I stopped noticing anything new.  The viral videos that spread like wildfire?  Those are minutes (only a few at a time I realize) that I will never get back.

I hunger for substance.  I hunger for connection.  I hunger for community.  I have gotten that at times online, but I wonder if all the noise isn’t a bit too much to make it worthwhile.

What will happen to us if we subsist on nothing but the sugary carbs that parts of the Internet and social media worlds have become?

Has this happened to you?  What have you done to combat your own digital overload?

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Just Writing

August 23rd, 2010 — 11:27pm

I have had nothing and so much to say over the past month.  The ideas come as I’m falling asleep.  The post titles are brilliant–and gone when I wake up in the morning.

There’s been travel.  There’s been death.  There’s been family fun and obligations.

I realized I’m holding my breath today waiting for a particular shoe to drop.  It could be I’m waiting for nothing.  I didn’t even know I was anticipating something.  I said my fear out loud to a few people.  Doesn’t it flit away once you utter it out loud?  No?  Well crap.

The coming start of school and change of season has me wanting to rid my life of clutter–to make room for more thoughts, more creativity.  Okay, just a clean house for more than five minutes.

It’s hard to be in touch with your creativity and motherhood and your professional career and a ridiculous sense of snark.  I make comments about things I’m very serious about and then immediately harsh on myself for the “deep” thoughts I just had.

But today–today I wrote.   It might not mean anything, but I got the words out there.

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Cache directory "/home7/mammalov/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.Summer Lovin’: Books Edition

July 21st, 2010 — 12:33pm

Something about the summer winds that give my nose the itch to be buried in a good book (or pressed up against the screen of my trusty Kindle who I adore but have yet to name.  Ideas?).

I’ve had a phenomenal run of books so far this summer that are taking me all around the world.

First stop was England and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson Though it’s been hot outside, this book was like a warm cozy sweater that allowed me to curl up in its pages.

Next I spent some time in Sweden with Stieg Larsson and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and the rest of the trilogy).  I read these books so fast.  I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.  So sad the author is no longer here to share more of his stories with us.  These books are the epitome of good summer reads.

Back home to the States next to spend time with the Richards family showcased in The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall.  I was suspicious at first that this novel was playing off the popularity of the show Big Love, but THIS is a phenomenal book.  Believe the hype.  Funny and poignant are often over-used to describe books, but in this case they both apply.

And that lands me now in Ethiopia where I am getting to know the Praise Twins in Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  This title is on my book club list for the upcoming year and so I thought I’d dive in.  No way did I think I’d be lucky enough to read six good books in a row, but holy cow this is good.  I’m just about half way through and I already know these will be characters I’ll miss for a long time.

I have no idea what I’m going to read next.  I don’t even want to hope for seven in a row.

Here’s the list my book club voted on for the next year.  Have you read any of these titles?  Which one do you think I should tackle next?

Do you have a book club list or reading list you want to share?  Send me a link, and I’ll be happy to do a wrap up of all the posts.

A Reliable Wife Robert Goolrick
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender
The Lonely Polygamist Brady Udall
We The Living Ayn Rand
Crazy for the Storm Norman Ollestead
The Power of One Bryce Courtenay
Where’s My Wand? Eric Poole
My Name Is Mary Sutter Robin Oliviera
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane Katherine Howe
The Red Thread Ann Hood
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon David Grann

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