Poor Impulse Control

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68028582010-04-25T22:30:16.107-04:00Poor Impulse ControlTarget shootin' with the Gun Moll of the RevolutionTatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.comBlogger1625125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-33306638240264317812010-04-25T21:02:00.005-04:002010-04-25T22:30:16.134-04:00I Gave You A Long Look

On Tuesday night, I got an odd email from a person I didn't know. It said simply, "We'll be shelving tomorrow night at 7:30. Hope to see you there." Because I work in a library and have no intention of freelancing, I wrote back to ask who the writer was, shelving what and where - and I didn't use the word fucking even once. The Mystery Writer responded that the food pantry blocks from my house

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-6672986893661751082010-04-23T08:17:00.003-04:002010-04-23T08:43:01.466-04:00Everything I Have In My Hand

Waiting...waiting...trying to cut down...On 1 May, Blogger's cutting me off. Poor Impulse Control, such as it is, will become a static museum of swearing, stylish footwear, bad behavior and do-goodery almost exactly six years after Paulie Gonzalez pushed me at the laptop and pointed the way. Sure, it's traumatic for me, but what fresh start isn't? Siobhan's been working on the technical aspects

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-35807228797824010692010-04-18T18:42:00.002-04:002010-04-18T20:25:11.922-04:00And Around Me Waist A Belt

Behold: tiny Drusy, nestled into a pale blue microfleece, patiently enduring the usual adoration. She is used to having us go all googly when she does something small, like rest her cheek against Pete's or curl up in my arms like an infant. It's not easy to be so beautiful, but Drusy never complains. Here, we have exhausted her with tuna treats, playing with the gray mousie finger puppet and our

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-50633960886607696032010-04-16T20:57:00.002-04:002010-04-16T21:20:27.241-04:00Just Keep Right On Dancing

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-53254735836364007992010-04-14T20:34:00.003-04:002010-04-14T22:12:33.256-04:00As Weapons Sharper Than Knives

A very strange little article turned up in the Huffington Post today. It's AP sourced, which is bad blog juju. Go ahead. Read the article. It's ten sentences in six teeny paragraphs. Let's review. NYC is charging rent for space in homeless shelters. Advocates for the homeless say this is the craziest shit ever. NYC officials say giving poor people stuff sucks because they're - like - icky. This

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-63913430541354527362010-04-13T19:58:00.004-04:002010-04-13T20:46:03.128-04:00After Night No Questions Asked

Panky perks up after a foiled escape attempt, already planning to blast his way out next time or as soon as he can pronounce that.Pete and I cleaned and scoured and vacuumed and mopped and laundered for a week before Miss Sasha, Mr. Sasha and Panky arrived for a sleep over. The cats made themselves scarce. Five people, one of whom has not developed an inside voice, put up a racket. Every so often

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-53161461187619409422010-04-11T21:31:00.008-04:002010-04-12T11:06:31.111-04:00You Say Rolls I Say Royce

This morning, Pete and I went out for a bike ride up and down hills, through a park, across a campus, over a bridge, back through a park. We probably rode about 11 miles, stopping twice for water. Generally, half an hour of exercise buys me two hours of minimal hip pain, so I felt pretty good when we got into the car to trace the path of our hometown food bank's fundraising bike ride. The ride

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-25751052240979083182010-04-10T23:04:00.003-04:002010-04-10T23:13:16.404-04:00Quiet Nights On the Back Porch

Panky visited my house, pushed over my washboard a couple of times and sat on the stairs in time out. At 27 months, he is already trying out impossible alibis. For instance, when we saw him knock down the baby gate, he blamed it on Sweetpea. Miss Sasha said, "I now understand why you could always tell when I was lying."Too exhausted to declare myself crosseyed. I'll work up to it tomorrow.

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-56965135314773848942010-04-09T06:20:00.001-04:002010-04-09T09:47:36.803-04:00To Come Is A Verb Intransitive

What, was yesterday April Fool's Day again?I'm sure I'm not the only girl who enjoyed playing this imaginary game [dressing up like a bride - ed.]. Unfortunately no one ever warned me that reaching my childhood fantasy was much easier said than done.Let's take this one slowly. In the Huffington Post, where one assumes grownups may be talking, this young woman complained that childhood fantasies

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-55744708990477039942010-04-07T20:55:00.003-04:002010-04-07T21:28:42.312-04:00We Can Dance If We Want To

Fucking Blogger, which has often sucked like a giant thing that sucks giantly, has decided to cut me off because this blog uses FTP. Here, enjoy this bedtime story:FTP publishing will no longer be available after May 1, 2010You currently have blogs that are published using FTP. You must migrate your blogs to a new custom domain URL or a blogspot URL.Yay! The bum's rush it is! Clean cup! Clean cup

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-85690388204542984972010-04-06T21:38:00.005-04:002010-04-06T22:16:51.416-04:00Thinking Anything If You're Thinking

Miss Sasha, Mr. Sasha and Panky will be staying overnight with us on Friday. We keep our house as clean as two people with multiple jobs can, which is to say that it's tidy with cat fur tumbleweeds. That's fine for us, but when we started thinking about what a two-year-old might pick up and sample for flavor, out came rubber gloves and the shop vac. Tonight, Pete boiled the bathroom. Tomorrow,

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-83839758248712232532010-04-05T21:43:00.004-04:002010-04-06T13:43:14.011-04:00It Rains You're Here

Today, it was finally warm enough to leave the car at home and bicycle to work again. Last year, I rode around with a basket hooked to my handlebars, but everything I dragged back and forth made steering feel I was riding a two-wheel Titanic. Pete decided he hated his matching panniers, which are like skinny backpacks that snap onto a frame screwed onto the back tire hub, so he removed them from

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-43692054947548290612010-04-04T19:49:00.007-04:002010-04-04T21:15:18.332-04:00The Road That They Walk On

About a week ago, seed potatoes from Seeds of Change arrived, so we were waiting for a sunny weekend day and today was one! It was one of those breathtaking early spring mornings as we drove out to Lowe's for vermiculite and organic garden soil. A light muddy smell on the breeze along the river reminded us of the recent rains. The ground hasn't dried out yet and probably won't until later this

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-38434859502867010262010-04-03T21:33:00.007-04:002010-04-03T23:34:19.601-04:00In A Whirl 'Cause She's Not

A bazillion years ago in blog years, our delightful friend Georg convinced me to make my own ricotta and on this very blog, I documented my cheesy experiments. I didn't really think it would work because Georg can do anything and I can't add and subtract, but I followed her instructions and - BLAMMO! cheese! I did have to think about the cost effectiveness of the process, though: one gallon of

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-35440346808088281682010-04-02T09:01:00.003-04:002010-04-02T12:08:27.844-04:00The Highway Is Alive Tonight

This is a guest post by Barbara O'Brien of Mahablog.Health Care Reform: The Morning AfterMany politicians and pundits warned us that the health care reform (HCR) legislation that just became law will destroy America. Government bureaucrats will take over health care decisions, we were told. The old and infirm would be hauled away by death panels. Everything about the way we receive our medical

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-76996145727158273942010-03-31T20:31:00.006-04:002010-03-31T21:52:04.602-04:00So Wonderfully Wonderfully Wonderfully

The seed potatoes arrived. Hooray! Pete's off researching how to plant them just in case "place compost in bag, place seeds on compost, cover with four inches of compost, moisten and wait" isn't everything a prospective potato farmer needs to know. Upstairs somewhere, I hear him shouting on the phone to his father, who grew up on a farm in Ohio. At least, I hope that's they're talking about. When

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-73728490778086164732010-03-30T20:42:00.007-04:002010-03-31T11:14:55.923-04:00He's Never Seen Trees

This morning, I drove into the parking deck, went up a flight and parked. As I gathered my book bag and umbrella, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a parade of underdressed ROTC students exit the stairwell, drop to their hands on tar covered with motor oil, chewed gum and broken glass and do pushups. I slammed my car door and they got up and ran off. It happened so fast, I didn't have time to

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-62145013233213155252010-03-29T20:54:00.003-04:002010-03-29T21:54:32.881-04:00I Would Buy Myself A Gray Guitar

Pete took this picture in the park yesterday. It rained all today and we're expecting tomorrow a big storm or rain event, as the hysterical weather schnooks now say. I'd taken a vacation day to get tomato seeds into starter trays, but that didn't happen. Instead, to cheer myself up, I took down the weighty winter drapes; then laundered, fluffed and hung the light summer sheers. They're fresh and

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-5491681528875629202010-03-28T21:52:00.004-04:002010-03-28T23:00:16.366-04:00Hills To Fly Them On Except

Pete and I walked around Princeton in a spitting rain, looking for a pair of black shoes to replace scuffs I'd worn to shreds over the winter. We'd already been through shoe stores every weekend for a month and I was a little testy about it, so today, we went straight to what we knew would be an expensive source. Four stores later, we were about to give up again when The Walking Store lay between

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-67292706289195721822010-03-27T21:24:00.006-04:002010-03-27T22:53:25.812-04:00Take the Short Road To the Answer

Things were different when we were kids. Everyone had to entertain him- or herself.Pete: Remember that decorative brick wall in my house growing up? Tata: Huh. Yes, I do.Pete: My parents put it up one brick at a time. They made the bricks themselves. It took forever. Then some lunatic gave me a hammer.Tata: Really?Pete: Yeah, Ricky, the kid down the street gave me a toolbox with real tools for my

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-85406865197855036012010-03-24T20:34:00.004-04:002010-03-24T21:55:59.575-04:00Smile In Your Face All the Time They Want

Salon:In the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon, Obama signed an executive order imposing restrictions on abortion funding in the new healthcare reform law. In contrast to the swarm of people in the East Room on Tuesday, this time it was just Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who led the fight over abortion language in the legislation, along with some of their allies. The only record of the event allowed

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-9402255361257080472010-03-23T20:24:00.008-04:002010-03-25T08:19:51.978-04:00Still At Last Your Love

Sweetpea, self-plated.On Sunday, my brother Todd ran the L.A. Marathon. This is really annoying. What about my needs, hmm? I had no idea he could run a marathon. Neither did he: it was 14 miles farther than he'd trained. You're supposed to run 26 miles at least once before you line up at the starting line. Also really annoying: Daria's high school cross country buddies talked her into doing a

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-12061274866287860942010-03-22T21:25:00.006-04:002010-03-23T13:37:08.092-04:00My Little Home On the Hundredth Floor

Take it from a mean old bat: some of the coolest words in the English language are My sisters have a toy store! Pete loves the Angry Little Girl dolls and adds them to all the displays. We now have an Angry Kim doll in our living room Pete swears he hears running around at night. I sit on the toy store floor and read the books. When I find five or six I love, I pop them into an envelope and mail

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-76705765936402398482010-03-21T21:33:00.004-04:002010-03-21T22:48:45.596-04:00To Be One Of the Beautiful

Pete and I spent much of the morning in the backyard cleaning out garden containers we will reuse this season. Pete took a pitchfork to the leaf pile and trucked the leaves, now mulch, to a garden bed planted with ornamental trees while I stacked pots and organized the little greenhouse. Later, I planted lettuces, herbs, fennel, pak choi and tomatillos in starter trays. Just before noon, Pete

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6802858.post-81307073481863306342010-03-20T22:05:00.003-04:002010-03-20T22:15:03.971-04:00You Spill Up My Back

Tonight, we went to see our lovely niece Lois's high school performance of Bye Bye Birdie, in which Lois played the ingenue Kim. Before you get nervous: Lois has the high, clear voice her whole family shares and it was a delight to listen to her sing. The plays gender politics utterly blow, but the kids did a great job with the big musical numbers. Two of dozens could dance. Did I mention they

Tatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639571609720073406noreply@blogger.com0