The Penguin Papers

I'm not in a good space today. Maybe it's just hormones; I never know when the old period is going to show up. Anyway, I feel sad, irritated, and bitchy. I hate feeling this way even when I feel the reasons behind it are justified. So, Jim now has a blog. My discovering this was actually somewhat of an event. A few nights ago he was typing away at something which in and of itself is not unusual. He's always got a post in his head for the Salon, the email list he started many years ago, or something related to work. I'm used to waking up in the morning hearing his keyboard clacking away. I asked him if he was posting in his blog, just jokingly and he said no. I didn't think anything else about it until later when I found an email in my inbox entitled "I lied". Apparently he's had the blog for 2 months and I never knew. The content of it is not an issue; he's been writing about faith-based issues that he has and how he is working through them. The is...

I'm not sure who originally wrote this, but it was posted on my fave message board and I found it to be a rather timely piece and quite funny, considering my mood of late. Dear Mr. Thatcher, I have been a loyal user of your Always maxi pads for over 20 years, and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or Salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your Revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants. Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from "the curse"? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my "time of the month" is starting right now. As I type, I can al...

So, it's just over a year late and I finally decided to change the color of this silly thing to blue instead of pink. I didn't end up participating in the 3-day last year for various reasons, mostly because I chose to go back to work because now the goal is to get our debt paid down so that I can..... (drum roll, please......) Go back to school. Yep, I've decided to launch myself into academia once again and finally (FINALLY!) finish where I left off in pursuing my RN after I had to quit when pregnant with Jon and Gloria. Other than that, life is continuing to roll along. We're heading right into birthday season with the twins on March 18 then Morgann on the 27th. Big one for Morgie this year - 21! She's had sort of a bum year with lack of employment and now a lack of vehicle but hopefully her 22nd year will hold better things for her. I can't say I think all of her choices so far in adulthood have been good ones, but I'm proud of her for hanging in there an...

So, one of the fun things about setting up a blog is finding all the different templates that are available. I thought, since this is about training for the 3-Day that I would choose something with a pink theme. I hadn't bargained, however, on Pepto-Bismol pink. I'll keep it for a while, just for giggles, though. Damn, though - it's PINK! So, yeah - I'm going to take a 60-mile walk over a 3-day period in September of this year in St. Paul, MN to raise bucks for Breast Cancer. I hadn't know about the 3-Day until I met a great gal who had participated before while researching the Walk for a news article (Hi reporterbabe!). After reading what reporterbabe had to say about the Walk and her enthusiasm for it, I let her know that if she wanted to try it again I was game for doing it with her. It wasn't too long before we were scheming to recruit more team members from the parenting board we belong to (www.Sybermoms.com), hoping to get a few more people involved. It sn...