Sitting Still

confession

 Hi there.  Long time no talk. I'd love to make excuses, but the truth is that I've been cheating on you again.

About three weeks ago I was hired as a "city expert" for SavvySource, a preschool resource guide rolling out city-specific blogs for parents of young children.  About two weeks ago I got the list of 15 topic assignments that had to go live last Monday, at which point I started staying up far too late and praying to meet deadline.  Now, I'm at Being Savvy Charleston, writing about getting out and about with preschool-aged children in my fair city.  Check out the list of cities on board -- there are others blogging in 20+ cities across the U.S., with more to come in the next month or so.

Now I'm busy scoping out the best free and low-cost summer enrichment fun for the short crowd and calling it "work."  Sweet.

Come and see:

• Who I think I am to be called a "city expert"
• How we like to enjoy the South Carolina Aquarium (stay for the joke at the end)
• My half-day walking tour suggestion for a kid-focused visit of downtown

I hope you'll say hello to me at the new place.

Now that I'm up and running over there, I hope to be back here more often as well.  (Trust me, the gym membership alone has given me more blog fodder than I could have ever hoped for.)

P.S. This blog was sort of broken for a period as well.  The good folks of Typepad fixed it. For the friends who frantically e-mailed me, please note: a disappeared blog doesn't mean that I've died, promise.  Heck, I blogged from the delivery room, so I'd probably do it on my deathbed as well.

site updates

I know the geekiness behind the blog is only interesting to some of you, but I'm working on some updates. The "About Me" link to the right now works, and has a fun new photo taken of the four of us as well as an up-to-date bio, if you're interested. The books listed are actually the books on my nightstand currently, and I'm hoping to throw in some book reviews here and there just because it'll be proof that I read something other than websites.

I need some help with the blogroll.  I have my old favorites, of course, but I also want to try to link everyone who has linked me (and isn't afraid to 'fess up!). If you want to be listed on that page, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail, will ya? Don't be shy.

I also decided to drink the 140-characters-or-less Kool-Aid and signed up for Twitter.  I don't know exactly what I'm doing there, but my username is sittingstill if you want to be my buddy.

Rock on. Dork out. Good night.

newsflash: I'm the ideal woman, mostly

I have this whole post with pictures and reminiscing and a whole lotta "where did the time go?" mama angst written in my head regarding Claire's 4th birthday on Tuesday, but it ain't going to get out tonight.  Nope.  I'm keeping it locked up in the name of sleep and sanity.

In the meantime...

I surf through a lot of news sources for story ideas for my new gig. This one caught my eye. 

"For most men the ideal woman to come home to would be a pretty 5ft 8in blue-eyed blonde - who is good in bed and doesn't earn too much."

I'm about an inch short, and more green-eyed than blue. "Pretty" may be a stretch, but I'd call myself "cute" on a good day. My paycheck is small. And as for the other, you'll just have to take my word for it.

pinching myself

Posting has been light around here, and it turns out it's not just because I have a newborn.

Today I started a new job.  A new job writing.  I still don't believe it myself, but you're looking at one of the new contributors to ParentDish.

Come say hello to me there!

picture this

We're contemplating the purchase of a new digital camera, as my Christmas gift as well as an investment for taking pictures of the kiddos.  (Kiddos.  Plural.  31 days to go.  Holy crap.)  My biggest complaint about my current point-and-shoot, a Kodak EasyShare, is the delay.  It takes WAY too long to take a picture and even longer to take another.   It was fine when Claire would sit still.  Those days are long gone.

The Nikon D-series that seem to be ever popular with bloggers are out of our budget.  I'm thinking about a Canon Rebel, but just starting to do some real research.

Anybody got any opinions/resources to share?

if this blog's a rockin'...

When you're all pissy about things not under your control, but upon which you'd like to exert control, it's helpful to hear (again and again and again!) that people like you.

My friend Jamie, who rocks the tankini over at Blonde Mom Blog, and my fellow knocked-up sistah Colleen, of The Delaney Diaries (you gonna change that name in December, hon?) have both bestowed upon me an award.  I'm officially a Rockin' Girl Blogger.

And of course, I'd like nothing more than to spread the love.  If you want to read some more rockin' stories and tidbits, stop by and say hi to Jamie and Colleen, then go see these other gals:

There's no hiding my love for RBelle and the whole Belle family.  Have you seen her other blog at News for Women on the Fly?

Mrs. Welby is a fairly newbie blogger and a friend of mine from Nashville.  We've both left that one-horse town and have husbands in fellowship training.   She's funny.

Stew is actually not a man, as the name would imply, but rather my long-lost-kind-of-sort-of-cousin-in-law.  She gardens, she birdwatches, and she talks a lot about food.

Do you know Mindy?   She's pregnant with her first baby and uber-cute.  Watch the transformation from hip chic to mommyblogger at her place.

Mari and Morag are the MomAgenda coven, in addition to the above-mentioned Mrs. Welby.   You want wise (ass) advice and commentary?  Check them out.

And honestly, if you are not reading my friend Elaine at Wannabe Hippie, you're missing the fun.  She's one of the brilliant minds behind Mama Says Om, along with webmistress Krystyn and the gorgeous and creative Christina.

being barefoot

Somewhere along the line, someone coined the phrase "being naked" in regards to the way we interact online.  There certainly is something about posting personal essays, tidbits, photos and the like that gives a sense of transparency.  Many of you know what I look like, where I live.  Better, you know that I've considered buying jock itch cream, I have a dance for every song, and that I am particular about interactions at Starbucks.  There are details here that you certainly wouldn't get from me if you bumped into me on the street.  You might not even get some of them, ever, unless you got me inebriated.

Nonetheless, I take issue with the idea of being nude on the internet (and not in that way -- you folks can do as you please, but I'm not visiting).  I like to trust that most people are honest, good folks -- that no one would use the information here against me or my family.  The truth is, most are.  However, it is hard to know who to trust and with what information.  Once you hit publish, it's out there.  Even if you don't make it obviously available, someone can find it, even if it takes a subpoena to do so.  And, as a friend rightly pointed out, what you say (or blog) can and will be used against you.

I consider pretty carefully what I write here, with the best intentions of keeping my family and my life safe from the weirdos.  The community I've found online is a part of my life.  I have friends here, and I don't want to hide myself so much that I come across lacking authenticity.  There is a person behind this blog, and she's pretty cool, but she's not naked.  There are stories that will never find their way to the page, out of respect for my family, my career, and myself.  For every post someone reads here, there are hundreds of others that exist only in my head.  That's just the way it has to be.

For me, this is the compromise: I'm going barefoot.  This space hosts me, in jeans and a T-shirt, with my shoes kicked off relaxing at the end of the day.  I'm still vulnerable -- to callouses, thorns and prickers, chigger bites.  But while a misstep may leave me wounded temporarily, it will not affect the rest of what I hold dear.

That's it.  Barefoot.  If you want naked, you're going to have to come here and seduce me yourself.

spring cleaning

In preparation for selling our house, I am running around like an idiot, shouting, "DECLUTTER!"  and "This house is a product to SELL!"  Last night I packed up a box of framed photographs and cookbooks and rearranged one side of the built-in bookcase using all those handy staging tips y'all pointed me toward.  I am also sewing again after a long break, making curtains -- excuse me, window treatments -- for the kitchen and maybe the office.  I am Martha Stewart, on crack.*

When I get in this mode of organizing and cleaning, it's hard to know when to stop.  As a result, after I tired of cleaning the house yesterday, I decided to clean up my blog.  Welcome to the new decluttered and wishing-for-spring version of Sitting Still.   

(If you don't see anything new, hit Refresh in your browser.)

(And if you are reading on a feed, click over, you lazy bum.)

I'm still working on a couple of the pages, and the About and Blogroll links don't work just yet.  My blogroll is enormous, but I love it and use it, so it's just getting reassigned to it's new space.  In addition, I've added a cool widget thing (technical terms) from Google reader that lets me highlight the posts I'm reading from y'all that make me smile.

*hattip: RB

Sharing the Love

Today is my two year blogiversary.  And, as with any anniversary, I am looking through the old photo albums -- err, archives -- and reminiscing.

I still remember finding this crazyass world.  I'd been participating on an iVillage board and someone posted a link to her blog.  From there, I clicked and clicked and clicked some more.  Then I opened up shop here at Sitting Still and the rest, as they say, is history.

Last year around this time I was struggling with blog identity, searching for a better voice, or a theme, or something that would pull all of this together.  It hasn't happened.  This is me.  I'm still searching, but it's not for my voice.  I think I've found it, and now I just intend to keep singing.

(Not literally.  I promise not to post any audioblogs of that.  Oh dear, no.)

(And I might change my mind about that last statement, too.  You never know.  I'm wildly unpredictable like that.)

I remember starting out.  I still feel that certain zing! you get when someone comments.  I still blush when I click over for the first time to a new site and find myself linked there.  It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's so fun.  Isn't it?

In the spirit of that, here are just a few of the people I've discovered:

Slick Sum Bich delurked this month and wins the prize of "Most Unlikely Reader EVER".

Shawnee recently introduced herself and is a new crush of mine.  She reminds me of me, pre-kid, which should automatically make her run scared.  And?  She's in the midst of moving hell.  Misery loves company, my dear.

Jaxter has enough pets for all of us.  I'm loving this new find.

Shelly at Adventures of a Breastfeeding Mother is fabulous.  Go say hi.

The Mrs. M recently joined debutantes R*Belle, Jamie and Charla in the category of "People who help me better understand the South."

KelliBelly came back to us from a long blog break.  So did Chicken Flicken.  Welcome back!

Amanda sent me an e-mail when she started her blog saying I was "one of her favorite bloggers."  (NOTE: Flattery will get you everywhere around here.)  For months I tried to figure out if she was really that nice or just faking it.  So far, I'm still going with the former.

If I lived closer to Mari, we could be running partners in real life and open a successful bookstore together.  If I lived closer to Nat, I would get to feel really tall all the time.   And if I lived closer to Elaine, I might finally get to make out with her, as I've threatened so many times.

But I live in Nashville, where there is this wonderful if wacky local blogging community.  Nashville is Talking has pointed me in the direction of quite a number of lovely bloggers, including  JAG, Linda,  Shauna, Malia, and Aunt B.

THANKS.  Thanks to everyone who reads and comments and lurks.  Thanks to those who click over from random Google searches for no apparent good reason.  Thanks to those experiences that remind me that there is a dark side, and to be careful.  Thanks to my husband and daughter and friends for making me think and making me laugh and letting me tell the whole world about it.

This blogging gig?  It's still fun.

delurk!

YOOOOOU WHOOOOOO!

Hi!  Hi there!  I see you, lurking in the shadows, peeking into the windows of my soul without bothering to introduce yourselves.  It's okay, really.  I understand.  If I were you, I might be a little scared of me too.

However, in honor of National Delurking Week, I'm encouraging you to say hello.  Leave me a comment and I promise to send you back an e-mail that tells you how pretty you are.