Obama Grafitti in Atlanta today...

New Rules...

Not too long ago I decided that... I am NOT A HOUSEWIFE!


I am a stay-at-home-mom, which is NOT the same thing.


In case you are an absolute moron and don't know the difference...


Moms: Educate, cuddle, feed, clothe, talk to, entertain, enjoy, sing with, bathe, and reprimand (among other things), their KIDS. Moms are busy building human beings. Which is a full time job.


Housewives: Well, you figure it out. House+wife=woman defined by a building and a man.


Screw THAT!


Light dusting, ironing?


SCREW THAT!


If a woman (or man) spends too many hours worrying the dishes and mopping and whatnot, they do not have time for important things like reading with their kids, playing with playdough, smearing glitter glue around.


And if I happen to be the person around the house during the day, maybe it makes sense that I do some cooking, a little laundry, maybe the shopping. But I am not a MAID! It is not my JOB to make sure the house is neat. If the house is neat, I'm doing a favor to the other people in the house, and they should say, (as I would say to them if they cleaned) THANK YOU! If the house is not neat it is everyone's fault.


And since I embraced this realization I have been a happier Laurel. Much. One day I didn't make dinner but DID bake cookies. Another day I refused to make the beds. I've been singing more, playing more, tickling more.


And the mess?


It turns out I was the only one who cared anyway.


Figures...

Know thyself...

If, on a regular basis, you're rubbing your kid down with hand sanitizer, you are:


a. too lazy to wash
b. a neurotic freakshow
c. both


In any case, you're driving me kinda nuts.

There is glue...

And there is glitter...

Let's not forget...

... that "haha" is always a part of brouhaha...

Super Tuesday in Atlanta...

So...


I went to vote yesterday, in Georgia, in my largely African-American precinct. In GEORGIA! Super Tuesday.


Usually the folks working the polls are little old (I mean OLD) church ladies in big hats. And things feel sad, empty, bleak. I do not live in an area with a lot of political activism or energy.


But yesterday they were all kinds of folks-- middle aged dad types and young college students, sitting beside the hat-ladies.


And turnout was INSANE and wonderful. No place to park. The whole world turned out. Neighbors I didn't know I had.


And when I got inside, there was this amazing energy. It was palpable. There was, I swear to god, hope everywhere.


I will admit now that I was still on the fence when I arrived. I was still not sure who I wanted to vote for... I thought I knew, but...


But then I arrived, and looked around, and realized that I HAD to vote for Barack. How could I not?


I live in a neighborhood in Atlanta, in Georgia, where many of my neighbors marched and sat-in and were arrested in the Civil Rights Movement. I live in an area bounded by streets called MLK and Abernathy.


I live in an area where sometimes you can't tell...


But here in East Atlanta, yesterday, history was being made. In the land of lunchcounter sit-ins, and lynchings... where the Battle of Atlanta was fought during the Civil War. Here, there was a groundswell. Everyone was smiling.


I had a chance to join a movement for a minute. To support my neighbors in what must have felt like a miracle. In what felt to me like a miracle.


I cannot imagine what the hat-ladies were feeling. I cannot presume to imagine...


But I cannot imagine having voted against them.


I cried a little in the parking lot, and then last night I took Mose to Manuel's Tavern to watch the returns come in. Because it was a moment. Something not to be missed. Screaming and shouting and lights and tv cameras and music and beer.


Mose just stared.


And I didn't even need to watch. Because I knew-- we all knew-- what had happened in Georgia. We could feel it. People were running in the streets.


Whatever happens in November, we won yesterday.


GEORGIA NOMINATED A BLACK MAN! Georgia voted, in overwhleming numbers, against the worst part of its own identity. Georgia overcame, in some small way, a few dark chapters of its history.


And it felt like magic, a tide turning. I felt really young. See... this was the first election since my childhood that felt like democracy to me. That felt like the people were making something happen, and that the energy was feeding itself. Not even because we were winning, but because we were caring, trying...


Laugh if you want at my innocence, but it felt really alive.

Until March 3...

I'm not likely to be blogging much at all. I have a BIG deadline looming, and then a smaller deadline looming, and then... oh, yeah... I have two kids.


Speaking of which, Lew is crawling and pulling up and starting to cruise. So life has gotten hectic (but cute as hell). The other day I turned around and he'd gone to the bathroom, pulled up on the edge of the tub, and was splashing in the running water I had going for Mose's bath.


Meanwhile, Mose is gbetting into cooking. He can crack an egg without getting shells into the mix, and he can pick up a full measuring cup and pour it into the bowl without spilling. Pretty awesome. While I've not been cooking much lately, I will say that we often have prefab Betty Crocker muffins around as a result. So come on over. Blueberry or coffeecake flavor? I got it all!


In other news, I'm sad I didn't go to AWP, but it was the right thing to do. I couldn't afford the $$$ and while I was NOT there I had a pretty awesome breakthrough on my book, so I hacked away 90 pages of deadweight and got to work. I think that I did this because deep down I needed something good to come of the choice... so that I wouldn't sit around thinking about all the fun I was NOT having.


Was it fun?