Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Baby Names

We decided a while ago that we aren't having kids. We just don't want them, but my friends and family members just keep reproducing! I suppose that we need them to do so in order to go on, etc. I do have a point here. The point is that the sad, oddly disappointing, I don't really know thing about not having kids is letting go of the names I had picked out so long ago.

My two best friends are preggo and I was knocking around online looking for middle names for the upcoming girly, and it really is fun to do. It's not that it's really sad, because I really don't want kids at all. I guess it is just a form of vanity- you think that the names you have are so cool and your children will bear them with grace and dignity and the glory of your wise choice. I guess I'll have to stick with witty names for dachshunds.

In related news, we visited family this past weekend- there are 12 kids involved in that venture, including one who was only born last Wednesday. Mind you, these are all excellent kids, cool kids, fun to be around in short bursts, but they just confirm our decisions over and over again.

It's like I'm already 80 years old when a bunch of them are together. "No, you cannot climb on me." "No, I don't want to play. I'll watch." I feel a great freedom in being able to say 'no' because I don't have to prove anything. I'm not nannying these kids, they aren't students of mine, and everyone knows I'm a mean non-breeder, so I can let the "not good with kids" misconception fly.

Of course, my husband plays the Fun Uncle/Cousin card and runs around, yells, lets them climb on him, even attempts board games. This way, I'm sure there are knowing glances and conversations along the lines of, "Oh, he would be such a good daddy!" and then I'm the mean one hoarding her uterus and not letting my boy thrive, etc, whatever.

Basically, since women are "supposed" to want to have children, I am usually the focus of all conversations of the "Are you sure?" type and regrets and junk. It's like my husband had nothing to say in the matter, and I wrestled him down one night and snipped the giblets, cackling maniacally the whole time about the demise of the family name.

Have I blabbed on enough? I suppose so.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Back to it.

Well, it has been over a year, and a lot has changed.
First things first: last night's episode of Will and Grace was just about the worst episode ever.
Many people have been bashing the show for a few seasons, but I have stuck by it, but last night was truly a stinker.

Anywhoodle. I'm out of the horrible, no good, very bad job that I had before. In fact, I'm out of the state. We have moved to sunny California where it is currently 54 degrees and raining.
My best friend thinks that my life is somehow more interesting or worthy of chronicling because I've moved, drive around on a scooter, and pet dogs in my spare time. Maybe it is.

I'm not working, which is awesome, so I'm trying very hard to be a good "homemaker". Thankfully, my husband has deliciously low standards. I feed him from time to time and, a trick I learned from a friend, run the vacuum so that it appears that more has been done than is true.

I jest. I'm definitely not as industrious as my mom would like, but things are in very good shape if you compare them to the entirety of our marriage, or even my own personal cleaning history.

So, how does a girl like me fritter away the day? Do I workout, tutor the homeless, raise children, or learn Finnish? Nope. I read. A lot. To tell you the truth, I mostly read romance novels right now. I know, it's sad. But they're entertaining and I can tear right through them.
I do believe that it's a phase, though. Maybe. Perhaps I will exclusively read romance novels and children's books from now on. We'll see how my vocabulary expands then.

Aside from reading and the occasional domestic chore, I do, in fact, pet dogs. There is a training school for service dogs nearby and I help out a few hours a week with phones and also playing with dogs. It's a rough life, I tell you. The sad part is, I've become so accustomed to my hermit lifestyle that I often resent the two whole hours per week that I have to go. Sometimes, I'm sad.

To my 3 readers, ta ta for now. I'm sure that I'll be back with more inanities within a few days.
(Who are my 3 readers? you ask. Well, I know of 2 people who have happened by at least once, and my best friend has read when I sent her the link. Next step, Oprah's Book Club!)