Rita Arens's Blog, page 41

The 2012 BlogHer Voices of the Year Anthology Is Here!

My absolute hands-down, favorite thing about BlogHer conferences is the Voices of the Year ceremony. This year was amazing -- every single one of the presenters seemed to also be a theater person, because there wasn't a disappointing presentation in the mix. Not everyone who was honored got to present, however (including yours truly), so I was thrilled in the year someone liked one of my posts that the powers that be decided to partner with Open Road to present the entire kit and kaboodle as...

Doing Some Remodeling of This Blog

I need to overhaul this blog. It's grown so cluttered. Everyone tells me I should migrate off Typepad to something else, and I really like Squarespace, which I used to build The Writers Place's new website, but the thought of spending all that time recreating something (not to mention I have zero funds for such an endeavor) is completely too intimidating. So I'm going to be hacking away here a little bit to see if I can dust off the spiderwebs.

When I started blogging, I knew about Internet p...

Big Bird & the Five Stages of Grief

I've got a bit of gallows humor when it comes to sudden and unexpected unemployment these days. I talked to Big Bird this morning to see how he was doing with Mitt Romney's threat to defund PBS, especially after he brought up Big Bird by name.

Me: How are you doing, buddy?

Big Bird: It's like it was personal! (sounds of sobbing, beak blowing and nest gnashing)

The Yellow One was too distraught to talk via phone, but he did email me this pictorial later this afternoon.

BIG BIRD'S
FIVE STAGES...

Easy Come, Easy Go

So the Arens family had some craptastic bad luck at the end of last week. And some really good luck at the beginning of this week, but the good luck isn't really good enough to offset the bad luck, it's just nice. And I don't really think it's time to talk about either one of these things that are all my mind can wrap itself around.

We could use prayers, mojo, fairy dust, vibes and whatever else you can throw at us right now.

Owning the Earnest

A few years ago, I first remember hearing it: the use of "earnest" as an insult.

ear·nest
1 [ur-nist] Show IPA adjective
1. serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous: an earnest worker.

2. showing depth and sincerity of feeling: earnest words; an earnest entreaty.

3. seriously important; demanding or receiving serious attention.

I remember feeling shocked, then flashing to embarrassed, because I am quite often seriously zealous.

Then the emotion turned to anger, and...

In Search of Sleep, Continued

Wow, thank you to everyone for your helpful ideas about getting to sleep. Isn't it funny how something so basic should be so difficult for so many of us to attain?

Ironically, since I wrote this post, she has slept through the night, though she still wakes up really early, in my opinion, for how late she goes to sleep. My husband only sleeps about five hours a night, though, so it's possible her natural needs are lower than those of other kids.

We have a routine, though it's been pushed back...

How Do You Get Grade-Schoolers Back to Sleep?

My daughter struggled with sleeping until she finally slept through the night for the first time at about four years old, shortly after we moved into Chateau Travolta. That whole period of zero-sleeping through the night is a giant haze and something I like to avoid thinking about, except to note she was cute and sweet even though she never slept.

Then she turned into this awesome sleeper who could sleep through military helicopters flying over the house and fireworks set off next door and ki...

Watch Something Beautiful

Ireland, by Peter Cox.

Don't We All Look Nice on Our Blogs?

Today's post was going to be a series of blurry photographs of Miss Elephant and her new outfits. Miss Elephant came from the circus, and her outfits came from the sewing scrap pile. Don't worry, they're still coming, but there's something else I realized I have to write first.

Two events came crashing together this morning, launched by another last night. I tell you this because sometimes I myself wonder how I got the idea to do something. One was the launch of the BlogHer Book Club discuss...

When You Realize You're Being Mean

So yesterday, I was having a day. I snatched the little angel right off the school bus and drove twenty miles to get her to a make-up ballet class, for which she was not dressed or hairdressed. We hit every red light in the Kansas City metro area, and while I was shoving her into her tights, I gave them a huge run. Then her hair wouldn't stay. She'd been crying most of the way to class because she didn't realize she'd have to go and was worried because she didn't know anyone there or the teac...