Happy Birthday, Isaac!

Happy Birthday, Isaac!

Happy Birthday, Isaac!

I'm surprised I'm surprised by this take on the Alec Baldwin recordings. Or perhaps I'm from topsy turvy town. Because I'd spank my child before calling them a "rude, thoughtless little pig." More realistically, my mother who has a talent for verbal evisceration would never do that. Not to her kids. Not without feeling it was done out of nothing but anger--and her intention when spanking was to never act out of pure anger.

Yeah. Our mothers sound similar, although my mother would get ranty (and sometimes loud), but she was never mean when she got ranty. It was more that she'd be telling me off for something I did, go into another room, and come back five minutes later with an, "And another thing..." sort of addition, and that was mostly when I was older.

The "pig" thing is what left me feeling the worst about Baldwin's tirade (well that, and that he didn't know his child's age). My mother spanked me sometimes (although not by the time I was the Baldwin kid's age), but never in an abusive way. I don't think she ever called me a name, and I don't think my grandmother ever called her children names, but I know she spanked her kids (although my mother was the baby and got off easy).

It's freaky, but she mentioned good for commuting.

OK, I'm going with freaky for that. But then, it's rare I'll even attempt to take off my coat while driving, much less change clothes.

Do tulips close up when there is no sun?

sara, I don't think they close when there is no sun.

But I'm totally open to being very wrong on that.

The funny thing about the lack of power, and the poor sound proofing of my 1920s house is that when the power went out, I could hear the neighbors outside (the ones who planted corn in their front yard) groan and talk about it.

Tulips are very sun-seeking, which is why I don't buy them any more. They'd all end up flopped over the lip of the vase trying to reach the window. Which, in my living room, good luck with it. It's dark in there and I like it.

No idea if they'll close, though.

WRT Alec Baldwin- my mom totally would have said that in a moment of anger. In fact I am pretty sure she called me a "selfish pig" several times in my life. I listened to that and it didn't really sound to bad to me, although I am pretty sure that I don't consider myself abused. Would I rather that she had more self control than to actually act as a pre-teen or teenager herself, well, yes, but I was pretty mean to her as well, and wouldn't want to be judged on that. Although now I am thinking of the time I called her a bitch and she actually washed my mouth out with soap-- I was fifteen so I didn't actually submit too easily and it was probably the only time our teenage angst became physical. Again, I wouldn't want to be judged on that...

I was wondering about the tulips because they are in full bloom right now (oh so pretty) and yesterday, some I passed were open, but today (cloudy) they were all teardrop-shaped. Now, they are in front of a mansion with fastidious gardners (seriously, as soon as something is thinking of going out of bloom, it is replaced with whatever is in bloom right.now, and this is just the space between the sidewalk and the street!) so for all I know, they replaced post-bloom with just-blooming.

Or maybe it is cause it is about to rain.

Tulips are very sun-seeking, which is why I don't buy them any more. They'd all end up flopped over the lip of the vase trying to reach the window.

I did learn on Martha Stewart how to keep cut tulips from opening and dropping pedals immediately. I think it was Marcia something Hayden who told Martha what to do (run a pin below the bloom to stop it from continued growth). I tried it with some tulips I had and it worked marvelously.

I should buy tulips today as the sweetpeas on the mantle have lost their blooms.

I don't like the Salon piece. She's being awfully blasé about verbal abuse, just because she doesn't feel like she's bearing any emotional scars.

And I dislike the insinuation that by not belitting our kids, we've allowed them to turn into violent little monsters.

Not every person is born with a thick skin--and not everyone can develop one. Sometimes, name-calling hurts and it's not necessary. It's bullying. And any kind of bullying sucks.