Absolutely Bananas: Seattle mom blog

The Great Interview experiment

Written by bananas on February 4, 2008 – 8:00 am -

There’s this guy at Citizen of the Month who thinks that everyone is interesting and worthy of an interview (crazy, huh?). Lately I’ve been seeing these interviews cropping up and you know, they ARE interesting. So I decided to participate (and you should too!).

Andrea from Fretting the Small Stuff is my interviewer… and I have to thank her profusely for coming up with such excellent thoughtful questions!

I’ve been perusing your about page, reading your popular posts, and trying to get an idea about who Jenny Blackburn is. You have a great sense of humor, is there anything that is off limits as far as injecting humor is concerned?
I am hyper-cautious about what I post regarding family and friends and even acquaintances. Because I have an “open” blog, my policy is to EXPECT that the person I’m writing about will find and read it. I’m more cautious in what I write than I am about what I say in real life. It’s one thing to rib someone verbally, when they can see the twinkle in your eye and make some smart-aleck remark back at you. But things that go over ok in real life can cause offense when written and published for everyone to see. So I tend to stay away from writing anything less than flattering about the people in my life.

Occasionally I’ll write a post that walks the line and I’ll make Jay read it. A couple of times he told me no, don’t publish it, even though I thought it was ok. Later I went back and re-read it, and I was glad I didn’t publish it.

As much as I enjoy blogging and telling a good story, I believe that maintaining relationships and respecting people’s dignity is the most important thing. Unless it’s MY dignity. That went out the window AGES ago.

You founded Seattle Mom blogs. What was the impetus for creating this new website?
After going to BlogHer last year I was struck by how well I connected with other bloggers. Finally I had found a whole bunch of people JUST LIKE ME! Unfortunately many of them were spread around the country and not exactly next door for hanging out after dinner. So me and Kathryn and Eve (while standing in line for the ferris wheel) got to talking about HOW COOL it would be to get to know bloggers in our area. And how we could support each other. And have fun parties. And so we did it.

Do you see yourself reentering the workforce when C.J. enters school? If you plan to work, what would you like to do?
Someone else asked me this the other day and it was funny because I hadn’t even thought about it. Even though it’s coming up fast, it somehow still seems far away. Anything is possible.

I need to ask some cheesy questions too because I’m cheesy sometimes. If you could pick a theme song for your life, what would it be and why?
Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, by Jefferson Starship. (you know, from the movie Mannequin. Talk about CHEESY!)
But seriously, I’m a big believer in the power of positive thinking. I believe that good things are just waiting to happen. AND I believe that I can do whatever I truly set my mind to. My life has been so rich and so full … I can’t WAIT to see what’s next!

Where is your favorite place to go on vacation and why?
Europe. Although I’ve seen relatively little of it, every time I go I am overwhelmed by the oldness of it. I love the European lifestyle – it always makes me come home committed to living my life more fully. Plus the shopping is to die for.

If you had to vote today in the presidential election, out of all of the candidates left in the primaries for whom would you vote?
Honestly I don’t know. Maybe I’ll write in Bossy. I think she’d be good.

You wrote that when you were a kid, you filled up notebooks with stories. I have to admit I did the same thing but my stories were pretty silly. What types of themes did you have?
Now I’m going to have to dig up my stories and re-read them! I was very into fantasy as a kid… I wrote about children traveling to magical lands and meeting magical people and doing magical things. My very first story was called THE BLACK EASTER EGG. And now I’m totally going to dig it up and publish it on my blog. You’ve inspired me!

I’m sort of stealing from Red Red Whine and going to ask a battery of questions. What is your favorite:
FAVORITES ARE SO HARD!!! HOW DO YOU PICK JUST ONE?!?! It’s mean to make me pick just one!
(a) restaurant; Daniel’s Broiler. We went there for my birthday and I had the BEST STEAK EVER.
(b) author; Impossible to choose. I really like Jan Burke for your basic thrilling can’t-put-the-book-down-till-it’s-finished type story.
(c) blog; http://www.iambossy.com/
(d) sandwich; egg salad with dill.
(e) color; green
(f) shoes; I’m torn between comfort and style. Oh, who am I kidding, I’ll go with comfort any day. My new size eleven tennis shoes! YEAH!
(g) animal; CJ (obviously)
(h) television show; Lost
(i) style of interior decoration (i.e. modern, classic, whatever I can afford - that’s me!); Hmmm, I don’t know what you’d call it. Probably classically modern? HA!
(j) form of exercise; Is blogging a form of exercise? Ok, ok, I’ll pick yoga.
(k) philosopher; CJ. Seriously… kids have such a great take on the world.

How did your friends and family react when they found out you started blogging?
You know, to be honest, most people kind of blew it off. Still it’s only a handful of my friends and family who read my blog. I think they aren’t sure what to make of it. Fortunately I DON’T CARE what anyone else thinks! When I’m wildly famous and popular and wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, THEY WILL RUE THE DAY they blew off my little “blopping” habit. (EVIL LAUGH) Ok I’m kidding. Really.

How did Jay propose (or how did you get engaged)?
It was Valentine’s Day, if you can believe it. And he got all weird and sweaty and nervous and I just knew. And that made me weird and sweaty and nervous. And so we sweated and nervously were weird together until he gave me THE RING and then we went to dinner and ate away our nervousness. It was the beginning of a long, weird and sweaty marriage. But not nervous… we got over the nervous.

What are the most valuable things, tangible or intangible, that you gained from starting Absolutely Bananas?
PERSPECTIVE. Seriously, writing gives me perspective on life that running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off just can’t offer.

If you could give any advice to newish bloggers, what would it be?
Blogging is awesome. It’s fun. It can be maddening. It can be inspiring. It’s also addictive. No matter why you’re blogging, be sure to keep it in its place. When it starts to take over your life (as it inevitably will), take a forced break for a few days or a week so you can get your balance back.

Finally, I’ve noticed a lot of mommy bloggers write about the birth of their first, second, fifteenth child. I hate to say that I didn’t got through all of your archives to find it. Have you shared on your blog and if not, would you ever?
Hmmm… I typically do my HORROR STORIES at Halloween. Kidding… sort of. No, I haven’t written up my birth story. But that doesn’t mean I WON’T! Be afraid… be VERY AFRAID…

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©2008 Absolutely Bananas. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in up close and personal | 17 Comments »

Bananas Year in Review

Written by bananas on January 2, 2008 – 4:30 am -

Being a fan of self-reflection and all, I thought it only appropriate that I spend some time documenting the highs and lows of 2007… you know, for posterity.

I did THIS for the first time ever…

Started, and refused to ever stop, blogging.

Yoga

Became a stay-at-home mom

Washed my kitchen floor. (it was the first and LAST time! ewww!

I stopped doing this…

Working

I fell in love with…

Roomba

My inner child

I had brushes with adventure and death-defying excitement when…

I narrowly escaped a falling box of condoms

And ran my car into our other car.

And jumped into an ice-cold lake to save CJ.

I’m pretty sure I made some waves when…

I took The Beast on tour at the Seattle private school circuit

I crowned myself Wonder Woman and Miss America.

I failed to…

Get elected president

Get all strong and toned

But it’s ok because I pulled off THESE major milestones…

Successfully potty-training CJ

Celebrating our 10 year anniversary

Starting up Seattle Mom Blogs with Kathryn and Eve.

Re-siding our house (well, it’s mostly done)

Yep, all in all I’m calling it a GREAT YEAR!

Thanks for being part of it!

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Posted in year in review | 16 Comments »

Kamikaze Me

Written by bananas on June 13, 2007 – 10:14 pm -

Today was One Of Those Days. One Of Those Days where I seem to be ALL left feet and elbows; no grace and even less balance.

Have you ever had One Of Those Days?

It started when I fell down our stairs. I was heading down on my way out to pick up CJ at preschool… humm dee humm dee humm… and WHOOPS! I somehow think I’m at the BOTTOM when, in fact, I have about 4 steps to go. Wham Bam SMACK! One knee is bent at a highly unnatural angle, my elbow is throbbing, and my pride is seriously injured. It’s a good thing I’ve been doing all that yoga, otherwise I’d surely be in a hospital somewhere fighting for my life (or my leg bone).

But it’s just a few bruises, scrapes, etc., so I shake myself off and think, “self, this just shows that you need to pay more attention.” Duly noted, and I’m on my way.

After picking up CJ at preschool, we stop at the grocery store. I have no idea how I managed this, but somehow in picking up a frozen dinner from the cold storage section, I rap my knuckles across the metal shelf… causing me to shout out something very unladylike. CJ says, “what mom?” and I mumble something unintelligible. Strike two. And by “strike” I mean the kind that HURTS.

And adding insult to injury (there couldn’t BE a more appropriate expression), I am telling a friend about my morning… describing my unbelievable klutziness when - IN MID-SENTENCE- I somehow manage to dump half my iced coffee down my shoulder, back, and leg. I don’t know how! I don’t even remember having my arm up there (although it must have been).

That’s it. It is indisputably proven beyond a shadow of a doubt… I should never have gotten out of bed this morning. The gods are angry, the universe is against me, and somewhere in the great beyond a voice is howling, “JENNY NEEDS TO TAKE THE DAY OFF!”

WHY didn’t I listen?

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Posted in slice of life, unbelievable but believable, up close and personal | 6 Comments »

Where does my time go?

Written by bananas on June 8, 2007 – 7:30 am -

A funny thing happened to me the other evening. Well, not really funny, but interesting.

I was at a charity dinner with many of my ex-colleagues, having a rather lovely time. It’s great to get together with people when there’s no politics involved. Hello Mr. Senior Vice President, that’s really a very ugly tie you’re wearing and, oh my, what IS that big black thing between your teeth? By the way, have you put on weight…?

Yessiree, not only to you get to treat people in accordance to their PERSONALITY and BASIC HUMAN CHARACTER rather than silly stupid things like title and WHETHER THEY’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR RAISE, but additionally you learn who your true friends are. But I digress.

I chatted and gabbed and hugged and schmoozed, and in all this socializing I quickly recognized a pattern. Everyone wanted to know what I was doing with my time now that I’ve quit my job. And oh, by the way, was I bored yet?

Call it irony, or fate, or just happenstance (now THERE’S a word I’ve always wanted to use), but whatever you call it… today I am being asked THE SAME QUESTION again. But this time with the allure of cash and glamour at the end (see contest details below).

So, here goes. What HAVE I been doing with my time? Where DOES it go?

If only I knew. Maybe it would be easiest for me to start with where my time DOESN’T go.

I do NOT spend my time:
1) working or earning money in any way
2) cleaning house
3) cooking healthy and delicious Martha Stewartesque meals
4) organizing fabulous dinner parties
5) traveling, modeling, hanging out with celebrities, or curing diseases

Wow. How depressing. I’ll bet you’re REALLY wondering now, aren’t you?

What DO I spend my time on? It’s hard to say really. Back at the dinner, I found that I struggled to respond. All I could do was come up with what I’d done THAT DAY. Because it varies. And some days, I really don’t accomplish much at all, while others I’m a whirlwind of effective efficiency (but usually the former).

And in the spirit of confessions (I’m not sure why I’m in that spirit, but I’ll go with it), I will tell you that USUALLY when someone asks me this, I try to put myself in the best light. “Oh, nothing really, just little things like reading important biographies, cooking nutritious meals, practicing my yoga, and providing a nurturing and highly educational environment for my son.” But because YOU are my dear friends who I love deeply (along with assorted spammers, stalkers and plagiarists), I will be honest and open to the point of nausea. You can thank me later.

So here’s a random sampling of some of the ways I’ve spent my time:

• downloading new music
• creating new playlists based on the new music I purchased with the money I don’t make
• playing the new playlists with said new music while dancing wildly with son through the house I didn’t clean
• photoshopping my head onto strangely formed figures
• spending inordinate amounts of time pondering the search terms that led people to my blog.
• running my car into our other car
• calling insurance to fix damage from above incident
• reading books about 1) harems, 2) how to get rich*, and 3) ghosts.
  *One thing I learned from the book about how to get rich is that it’s best NOT to run your car into your other car. And if you insist on engaging in this behavior, it’s best NOT to drive a BMW. There you go, some free advice for the day.
• Exploring the glorious beaches, parks, playgrounds, zoos, museums etc. that Seattle has to offer.
• Picnics at the drop of a hat
• etc.

In response to Daring Young Mom’s question as to what’s on my resume (great post, by the way)… just see above. Wouldn’t YOU want to hire me?! (DON’T ANSWER THAT!)

So here’s my takeaway. Since quitting my job, I am hands-down less efficient. I am hands-up (?) more happy. And really, isn’t that what matters?

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This is an entry into a contest to have BlogHer conference fees paid courtesy of the Parent Bloggers Network and Light Iris. For more contest details, see here (hurry, because you have to post TODAY to enter!)

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Posted in another contest?, up close and personal, way more than you wanted to know | 14 Comments »

If you’re happy and you know it… list 10 things

Written by bananas on May 25, 2007 – 3:34 pm -

Lene at Families are Like Fudge tagged me to list out 10 things that make me happy. I decided this would be a good exercise for me today, since it seems like this is a week of people who DO NOT make me happy. But that’s another post for another day.

1. Sunny days



2. Bubblegum
3. Sand between my toes
4. Yoga
5. Photoshopping my head onto other people’s bodies
6. Paris Hilton in jail (petty, I know, but what can I say? It makes me happy!)
7. Seeing that someone voted for me at the Blogger’s Choice Awards… so come on, make my day already!
8. CJ telling me that he thinks I’m beautiful. Awwwww….
9. A good foot rub
10. All the very amazing people who leave such kind, funny, and thoughtful comments on my blog… making me aware that I’m not alone and I’m not (entirely) crazy.

Oh… and if you’re linked in #10, consider yourself tagged (evil laugh). And I guess that’s #11… tagging unsuspecting innocents.

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Posted in meme, misc. | 10 Comments »