Today at IzzyMom I’m discussing whether adults should try to force kids to be more group-oriented or whether it’s better to leave kids to their “best friend” relationships. As the mom of an almost 10 yr old, this is a very relevant topic in my life right now. What say you, brilliant and attractive reader? Drop by and share your thoughts.

If you ever wondered what really goes on inside my pretty little head, read my post over at IzzyMom.

It’s one I wrote about a year ago that was  well-received by readers but for some reason, had been unpublished. I have no idea why.

Today I got the coolest email from someone who had read that post and bookmarked it, only to find that it was no longer there. She inquired about it and asked if it was still available.

She paid me/my post some compliments that made me feel so good and I was so happy that something I had written had resonated to the degree that someone would ask about it in it’s absence.

I found the post in question. I read it.  It still felt real and true. I could still relate to it.

And suddenly I was inspired. I don’t want to just dump my disjointed thoughts into a text editor. I want to write again. Whether I will, I don’t know, but at least the flesh is willing…

I republished this post for Sarah and for me. And it was like coming home.

On Tuesday April 7th, the world unexpectedly lost a precious little girl named Maddie Spohr, age 17 months. I wrote about Maddie’s passing over on IzzyMom a couple days ago and my heart continues to ache for Maddie’s parents, Heather and Mike Spohr. I can’t even begin to imagine what they are going through right now.

In this dark and sad time, though, the kindness and generosity of people across the internet and around the world (most of whom didn’t know Maddie any more than I did) has been nothing short of awe-inspiring.

People have pulled together to help the Spohr’s web site remain up after being taken down for excessive traffic by the thoroughly uncompassionate Bluehost.

In less than three days, people have given upwards of $25,000 in donations to the March of Dimes, which Maddie’s mom requested in lieu of flowers.

People have come together to form teams to participate in the March of Dimes ‘March for Babies’ on April 25th and raise money in Maddie’s name.

People have put up web pages aggregating all the hundreds of posts about Maddie (scroll way down to see the list).

People have set up a donation site to help with Maddie’s funeral and memorial service costs (donations STILL needed! Details here)

People have spearheaded meal delivery campaigns for the Spohrs so that they don’t need to worry about cooking or grocery shopping.

I’m awed by all the good in the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all you wonderful people out there. You’ve all helped to make sure Maddie Spohr, the beloved little girl with the captivating smile and big blue-green eyes, will NEVER be forgotten.

If you want to help, there are many things you can do:

• Sponsor our Friends of Maddie “March for Babies” team or any of the dozens of other teams from around the country that are walking in Maddie’s name on April 25.

• Donate to help offset the cost of Maddie’s funeral expenses. This would help the Spohrs tremendously.

• Donate $5 towards a gift card for a restaurant in Mike and Heather’s area that delivers because eating is not optional. You gotta eat. Please email me (janet at greenmommedia dot com) OR direct message me on Twitter (@thecaffeinatrix) if you’d like to take part in this. I’ll send a card to them (with your name included) along with a restaurant gift card. I’m hoping to raise a minimum of $75 because everything is expensive in LA.

Also…

A P.O. Box has also been set up in Heather and Mike’s name for cards, gift certificates and the like. The box is located inside a UPS store so packages are accepted as well.

Mike & Heather Spohr
11870 Santa Monica Blvd. #106-514
West Los Angeles, CA 90025

Thank you for your kindness, compassion and generosity :)

Madeline Alice Spohr

I was going to do the obligatory post-conference recap but really, other than to say I had got loads of lovely sleep, froze my ass off, ate way too much meat, had a lot of fun with my peeps from the “bad” table and beyond, met an awesomelicious new friend, enjoyed all the panels and got some cool stuff, what else is there that would hold your interest for more than two nanoseconds after reading the words “BlissDom09 Conference“? I’m going to take a wild guess and say…not much…because if you were there, you already know it was a good time and if you weren’t, you don’t want to know what you missed and/or don’t care. Am I right?

The REAL unsung hero of Feb 5-8 is my husband. Seriously. Here’s why:

When I got home, my husband had the whole house clean. Like super clean.

And I was a cranky bitch. (in my defense, I started my period the next day)

Anyway, he gets total props because on Friday, he went to lock the door when leaving with the kids and the tumbler and associated screws, springs etc fell right out of the lock and onto the ground. This means he and the kids were locked out. Good times, right?

Before he could fix anything, he had to drop my daughter and son off at a friend’s house to play and then he had to go to Home Depot and get a new lock for the front door.

But before he could get back in the house, he had to break a lock on another door. Then he had to fix the front door lock and then go BACK to Home Depot to get a new (and MUCH BETTER) lock to replace the one he broke while breaking in and then come home and replace that one, too.

Then, same day, he had to pick up the kids, feed them dinner, bundle them up again and take my daughter to a Brownie meeting.

The next day he fixed the dryer which was broken and destined for the curb when I left. I was all ready to begrudgingly throw down for a new one but after some fiddling and general asspainery, he fixed it…for THIRTY BUCKS.

And then he cleaned the house so I wouldn’t have to come home to a disaster.

He dealt with all of that lock business without losing his shit AND fixed my dryer AND cleaned the house AND both kids were in tip top shape…no limbs missing or stitches or anything.

My husband rocks.

Thanks babe, just in case you’re reading this (even though you know you’re not allowed to read my blog :)

Tuesday was my husband’s 40th birthday. We were supposed to throw a big party this weekend but I’ll tell you a little secret… *stage whispers* I really don’t want to have a party. That means we would have to fix our stupid  low-flow toilet which will cost a small fortune, so we just…haven’t. That’s  kind of a dealbreaker if you’re gonna have a ton of potentially drunk people at your house, right? I mean there’s no way a drunk person could remember to flush the toilet, like,  four times. And frankly, I don’t need to be judged on my toilet issues right now. Or ever.

Also, I would have to clean extensively. I think I’ve already established in previous posts that I will do no such thing —especially since I’d have to clean it all AGAIN the next day. And? I never have fun at parties I’m hosting. NEVER.

I’m thinking since the Superbowl is this weekend, we’ll probably have a get-together out someplace that has a properly functioning toilet. Or two. This will probably happen after BlissDom which is next weekend. (Yes, despite the fact that I am neither blissful nor domestic, I’m going. Please find me and introduce yourself. I don’t bite but I might lick you if you smell really good. Whaaa? Is that a problem?)

So anyway, thinking that I would be expending tons of money and time on a party for the huz, I didn’t go ALL OUT for the huz’s birthday but it was nice… I made a kick-ass dinner (rare around here), baked an awesome triple chocolate cake and got him a few nifty things…one of which is this t-shirt. It’s so him.

I also got us him a French Press. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me how much BETTER coffee tastes when you make it in one those? Really, internet…I thought we were sympatico, that you would never keep such important things from me. You disappoint me *sigh*

Tagline. Notice I don’t have one. I mean it’s not like a requirement or anything but sometimes it can help illuminate a bit about the author.

So…in keeping with the caffeine/coffee/I-stay-up-way-too-late thing that is the inspiration for this blog’s name, I started mentally toying with taglines.

Best one yet:

Always Up. Always Hot.

lololololol

I crack myself up.

What? Think you can do better?

Last night, as I was searching in vain for a Twitter app for Facebook that actually works worth a crap (because NONE of them do) I came across someone gushing about Twitter and how it has rendered blogs all stone-agey and shit and how we don’t need them anymore because Twitter gives us, apparently, the ability to both express ourselves AND learn to be masters of brevity who don’t ramble or compose those self indulgent run-on sentences that people are so prone to in blogging. Ahem.

I didn’t think about it much at the time other than to figuratively throw my head back and laugh at the foolishness but this morning, as I was waking up ‘ye olde electronic box to which I am sadly addicted’, I was struck with fear…

What if that person was right? Are blogs now obsolete? When I consider how much time some people spend on Twitter (not me, of course) and what a huge steaming pile of entertaining timesuck it is, it does make this idea of writing actual paragraphs seem, I don’t know…a little quaint.

Oh, oh—and what about all the times you were going to blog about something but you went ahead and blew your fodder wad on Twitter instead? I’m NOT the only one who’s done that, right?

Yeah, you save up all these “very important thoughts” in that section of your brain reserved for potential blog compositions and then whamm-o! You’re suddenly struck with some nasty Twitterrhea of the keyboard and before you know it, you’ve totally liquidated your assets, opting for quick links and throwaway quips in 140 characters or less.

But then when  it’s over? You feel like you just rolled in from a one-night stand, reeking of regret for having chosen the cheap thrills and immediate gratification of Twitter and wishing you’d saved it for your faithful old blog that you’re not quite ready to quit yet. *sigh*

Discuss.

I’ve done this enough times to already know the first post is always the hardest. The first post? Is the one that will define you for the rest of your natural born life and so it BETTER be good, dammit! However, seeing as it’s just a post on a blog that maybe fifteen people will be reading, the pressure is minimal.

And really, I could be regaling you with this list of obscure sexual terms/definitions that I very innocently stumbled across the other day. Seriously NASTY stuff on that list… You just think about that before you judge too harshly, k?