Journey Cover Band, The Photo
Hey, how are you guys?
New wondertime columns are here and here. You will notice that there's a link there to family.com, where the column is also going to appear. If you comment over there--well. I'll owe you. Swistle, remember how you asked if it matters to be, about the commenting? It does matter! Next round's on me!
No more grapey outbursts from me this week, no more cannedventures. It's just back to business. You know, like plugging up the cracks in the beams whence tumble the varmint turds onto the children's bed. The usual. But I'll tell you this, if it's bats: I like the word "histoplasmosis" even less than I like the word "guano." Which isn't saying much. Not that I'm neurotic. Even if that's what someone wrote on Amazon. Which hurt my feelings despite the fact that it's in the actual book title. Sigh.
Ben looks SO much like you in that photo! Wow!
ReplyDeleteThey are adorable, you know.
Cute, cute picture. Your kids are growing like weeds. And such characters! Ben is so tall! OK, off to read the new columns!
ReplyDeleteIs Birdy playing a yo-yo?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love the hats. Also, one of the things I am jealous of (are we allowed to be jealous of other families?) is how naturally you have music in your family.
I guess I'm just saying, rock on, Journey Cover Band. And keep the hats.
Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI just left a comment for that loser over at Amazon. How dare she say your book is "exhausting!" The way she said, "neurotic", it makes it sound like it's a bad thing. The way it's used in the title it playful and not negative. I don't know if you'll read what I wrote, but the gist is that you're a great mother and your kids are happy and well adjusted and healthy and that you worry out of love and they'll never understand that kind of love. I also said that the book isn't right for them... it's too evolved. A little rough, but they were downright mean and I won't sit back and let them slam your book when it's one of my top 3 books of all time and I've read a lot of books!!! I know this seems a little stalkerish getting so upset on your behalf, but I really love your writing and for someone to spew such filth about it, makes me upset. It could deter someone from reading the best parenting book they ever could! So, hopefully people will disregard what they wrote and see all the other wonderful reviews that others wrote. I hope you don't take what idiots write to heart and realise they are in the extreme minority and you rock!!!!
Catheirne,
ReplyDeleteI just went back over to Amazon and left my own review so that's the first thing that will show up now. I addressed the stupid comment below and hopefully difused it a little. I know it's not a huge deal, but at least people won't see that mean comment first thing.
i don't think journey ever wore fuzzy hats.
ReplyDeleteI've actually seen a Journey cover band play at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. If it's any comfort, I didn't pay for the tickets.
OH ALL RIGHT I WILL.
ReplyDeleteI can refuse you nothing.
your kids are achingly beautiful! love ben's long hair!
ReplyDeleteYou DO have cute little munchkins.
ReplyDeleteVarmint turds! Excellent! We have wolf spiders who occasionally crawl into our beds and bite us, which is not AT ALL nightmarish.
Love the picture! So fun! It's the hats that make the band, right?
ReplyDeleteI tried to comment over at Family.com, and it too is a PAIN. And I am lazy. But since I now know it MATTERS! I will try again. I am devout.
Also, I'm glad you have a blog, because when I used to "lurk" over at babycenter, I felt like a stalker. I lurved you so much, and your column was, like, crack to me. I was creeping myself out, really. But now! I can comment! And it seems less shady.
Ya know?
I loved your book. I love your blog and I love your columns. AND I love that I am not the only one - it does make me feel like less of a stalker. I am not sure that I want to go to Amazon and read the nasty stuff - are there actually parents who are not neurotic? This is news to me.
ReplyDeleteI also have a cover band in my house that chooses silly hats and underwear as concert attire. The videos are going to be great blackmail in high school.
ReplyDelete"If I find out that you went to Jimmy's party when his parents were out of town, I am going to show up and pop THIS into the DVD."
I just went over to Amazon and read your "defenses." Of course every word they wrote about how fab you are is absolutely true. I was going to say something myself, but frankly didn't think I could do a better job.
ReplyDeleteI have said it before...you're a rock star!
You and Beck are scaring me! Bats, wolf spiders. Oh my.
ReplyDeleteI am so behind over at Wondertime...at least three columns - but I do try to comment on every one I read because you ask so nicely!
I promise to catch up and comment soon.
The kids are so big, I can barely comment on it really because it makes me a bit forlorn...if your kids are that big and our kids are the same age...then my kids are that big too.
Actually, your neurosis is one of your most endearing qualities! We all love a little neurosis in our funny writing mother friends.
ReplyDeleteIt is very unlikely that you will get histoplasmosis!
ReplyDelete(Thanks for updating the blog. It was making me rather neurotic seeing my quote up there for so long!)
For the record I just tried to add a review at Amazon, but since I haven't purchases the book there they would not let me! I promise I tried!
ReplyDeleteWe had bats in our attic for years, a fact that I talked myself out of, despite their immediate, swooping debut each time dusk hit. I could no longer deny the truth when a bat flapping around my room woke me from a summer slumber. The Nice Bat Removal Man came and installed one way doors for the bats encouraging them to find somewhere else to live. My husband, who grew up on a farm, constantly reminds me that the bats were our own little mosquito-eating machines. So, now, rather than obsessing about guano and histoplasmosis spores, I worry about West Nile virus.
ReplyDeleteI heart neurosis.
Wait a minute...the bat droppings were brought up and no one has mentioned Rabies??? (Because that is what I'd be thinking- but maybe that's just me) OK. Deep breath. Change the subject....The kids look so amazingly bohemian and yes, grown up, too. I love your kitchen! I want to have a spice rack like that. It would make me WANT to cook, perhaps. One last thing-I am hoping that commenting over at the family website is easier than at wondertime. Heck, if it will help you and it works, count me in!
ReplyDeleteOh, come on, hon. Obviously someone suffering from brain-eating amoebas. The pink-haters probably put her up to that review. Shake her off.
ReplyDeleteWait. That sounds kinda dirty. Don't do that.
xo
I also had to go comment at Amazon. Which, incidentally, I should have done years ago (sorry!) I loved your book, I love your columns, and I appreciate how you keep me from feeling completely crazy by writing about EXACTLY what I'm struggling with. I pity the losers who don't understand the beauty of being neurotic.. I wonder what it's like to have no sense of humor - sigh.
ReplyDeletePics are adorable - glad to see the Journey legacy will follow another generation. I need to get my kids busy!
I registered over at family.com and look forward to exploring that site, so thank you! Thank you so much for the enrichment you bring to us mothers, I even rave about you on my myspace page under the "books" section!
ReplyDeleteThe kids? Sure, they're cute. The kitchen? Waaaaant it.
ReplyDelete[Of course they're deadly adorable.]
I did my duty over at family.com - they sure don't make it easy tho!
ReplyDeleteCatherine-
ReplyDeleteI look forward to Mondays to read your blog at Wondertime, and I read "Waiting for Birdy" just after I had my first baby, and I loved it! I, too, am somewhat of a neurotic...it's nice to know there are others like me out there!
I also live in your area...my husband just took me to Thai Garden in Noho. Have you ever had the pleasure of tasting anything finer than Thai Iced Tea? Mmm. Are you over your end-of-summer melancholy? Because it's a gorgeous fall weekend here, no? We're bringing our 10-month-old to pick pumpkins for the first time today! I hope you, Michael, and your gorgeous and sweet kids have a fine New England weekend, too!
I love your blog. Thanks!
Hey Catherine -- this has nothing to do with Journey, but I just read your column about Ben loving pink in a Brooklyn family magazine and I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for saying out loud what we all know: it's about homophobia!! No one ever admits that, and I loved the way you not only said it out loud, but declared to the world that it would be perfectly fine with you if Ben (and Birdy, I can only assume) turns out to be gay. As the lesbian mom of 2 extremely boyish boys, though, I have to add that I think a lot of it also is about the devaluing of the feminine. Somehow it's an insult to call a boy a girl, as if being a girl is something highly undesirable. And the kids get that, and sooo early. My 3-year-old told me the other day he didn't want me to tie the string on his shorts in a bow, because "bows are for girls." Where does he get that idea from at the age of 3? Not from his moms, that's for sure. Anyway, thank you as usual for your honesty and outspokenness, and I'm so glad you're writing for my local mag!
ReplyDeleteBah!! I got so mad at those crabs I'm sure I spelled a bunch of things wrong. But, I too would hate for some one to miss out on your book because of some anal-retentive person's bad review. And I do feel a little stalkerish now, but oh well.
ReplyDeleteI read a lot of blogs now, but your journal on parent center was the first I'd ever read, and still remains, by far, the best. I love your writing, and your amazing ability to make me laugh out loud, every single time I read.
ReplyDeleteWorth looking at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.annetaintor.com/magnets1.html
And worth a read:
"Mommies Who Drink" by Brett Paesel
Forgive me if your humor is not as...ummm...cracked as mine. I shall remain anonymous just in case :)
"...Just a smalltown girl - living in a lonely world..."
ReplyDeleteRock on, Birdy.
I will try to comment at Family Thingy - but they want a username and password too, and aaack, it's just a pain in the patootey sometimes.
Hey, Catherine,
ReplyDeleteJust so you know (and this is actually a conincidence as I did it right before I read this blog), I just successfully commented at Wondertime for the first time! Not sure exactly how it helps but I believe you and might even post another at family.com just to make you happy. :) It's the least I can do to thank you for the big laugh today re: the aggression column. I tell ya, I think the neatest thing about reading your columns is how they make me think so immediately about how much I love my kids.
Love to you too,
Hadley
Can I just say that yes...your book is exhausting....if exhausting means you read it over and over again when you should be sleeping, or doing something mildly important like housework. Which I um...don't do. Ok, I do. It makes me laugh every time.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture of B&B
Girl, seriously, we're ALL neurotic. Evidence: your adoring readers growling protectively and snarling over that poor idiotic reviewer who was incapable of absorbing your brilliance, when of course not everyone is going to get it. Your gazillion fans who are borderline stalkers because they love you so much (like me) and who envy and are addicted to your ability to capture some weird essence of the motherhood thing in words (and who admittedly also envy, like, your kitchen and occasionally your spouse) can't handle the idea that not everyone will feel the same. It's so silly. Of course not. And it's only one.
ReplyDeleteBut our neuroses are part of our charm, no?
OK, Beck over at Frog and Toad has inspired me to delurk here, also. Used to comment fairly regularly but I went through a shy phase and didn't feel like I had anything to add to the discussion, but if it makes you happy I'll start putting in my two cents worth more regularly. Oh, and I'll try to comment at Wondertime and Family too, but I don't know if I can muster the patience to actually follow through. What is it with Disney sites that they just can't seem to get it right?????
ReplyDeleteDon't stop believing... Hold on to that fee-ee-laaaan!
ReplyDeleteFYI, everybody, you can use the same username/password at Family.com as you use at Wondertime. Since they are both Disney sites, you don't have to re-register.
And Catherine? If you weren't a little neurotic, you would not make all of us neurotic mamas feel like we are not alone. I'm sure you would still be an engaging and funny writer, but that "thank you for being brave enough to say publicly what I thought nobody but me was going through" element would be gone.
Please don't stop.
Bats are not good in your house... but I've heard they are very good to have around, so build a bat-house in the backyard! They'll nest in there instead of with your family! Good luck...
ReplyDeletePS... You're no more neurotic than the rest of us working Moms. "Phooey" on that commenter!
This photo made me all gooey, mixing the memories of my youth, hamming it up with my sister and the memories that my own children are creating every day. Wonderful!
ReplyDelete