tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57459932009-12-22T23:03:44.949-08:00A Writer Surviving Mommyhood One Tantrum At A TimeLeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.comBlogger309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-9847948961827141122009-12-22T22:49:00.000-08:002009-12-22T23:03:44.959-08:00

Hey folks! If you've received a non-authorized code on Privyet, our apologies. We've restricted access to the blog, going forward, as it seems the sensible thing to do. If you'd still like to follow the blog, drop us an e-mail to lfemmemonkita@gmail.com and we'll sign you up. We've appreciated the many readers who have followed the blog before, during, and after our adoption and we thank you

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-77643060518197932712009-10-21T11:25:00.000-07:002009-10-23T21:49:27.194-07:00

I left Seattle during a torrential rainstorm on Saturday morning only to emerge from the Powell Street BART Station to gloriously blue skies and temperatures in the high 60s. It wasn't a bad way to start off the weekend, and I was glad I listened to my instincts and packed summer running gear for the race.The entire city buzzed with marathon fever, with Union Square serving as ground zero. Huge

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-44026450696660150682009-10-16T10:37:00.000-07:002009-10-16T11:08:07.425-07:00

It's been three weeks today since mom died. I will admit, it does get a little easier each day--especially with the enormous amount of daily noise that comes from two kids. I think having to be "on" all the time has created a natural diversion to feeling sad all the time. When I'm alone, I think more about her death though even then, I'm deeply sad but not in some sort of deep state of

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-11222817641996761812009-10-07T10:40:00.000-07:002009-10-07T11:21:28.242-07:00

Part of my long, drawn-out silence here is due to my mother's sudden passing. She died on September 25, unexpectedly, of a hemorrhage in her lower GI tract. It was an awful way for her to die and, judging by the way she left the world, she wasn't expecting it either. She had been reading in bed around midnight, munching on some butter cookies, when, I imagine, she felt the urge to use the

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-81143930111314817202009-06-28T09:18:00.000-07:002009-06-28T20:07:07.471-07:00

I wasn't sure what to expect for this race. I mean, it seemed like the folks who put on these Rock 'n Roll marathons nationwide would be a lot more organized and well-prepared than the previous Seafair marathons. But I couldn't imagine how tough it'd be to close down several major thoroughfares--not only downtown, but the Viaduct that runs north and south, along the waterfront--on a Saturday,

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-2364231211053951132009-06-26T07:44:00.001-07:002009-06-26T08:04:29.928-07:00

Tomorrow is the Inaugural Seattle Rock 'n Roll Marathon -- a race in which 25,000 participants will fill the streets of Tukwila and Seattle, running either 13.1 or 26.2 miles.I'll be a pacer for the half marathon, which essentially means that I'll be carrying a sign and running at a steady pace and finishing at a set time. For those who have a goal to finish at that same time, they'll see me and

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-43325769797763270622009-06-25T12:25:00.000-07:002009-06-25T16:49:00.673-07:00

When NPR posted a link to the infamous "Neda" video on You Tube, my stomach twisted. I saw the still of Neda's fixed gaze and a halo of blood pooling around her, and I couldn't believe they would actually provide a post of the video. Initially, I was outraged by the audacity of such a wonderful, CREDIBLE news organization to stoop so low as to link to one of the most horrifying videos

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-88984679508822822962009-04-27T14:47:00.001-07:002009-04-27T15:26:43.343-07:00

I always find it fascinating to see how readers come to find my blog. And thanks to my handy, dandy site meter, not only can I see not where people come from, but what they searched for before clicking on to my site.There are days when a number of people search for Sporticus and come here. Then, there are those who search for LOL Cats and come here. And lately, many have searched for a picture

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-46480749182680860952009-04-23T09:49:00.000-07:002009-04-23T14:16:16.617-07:00

Though Easter was a few weeks ago, our dining room table is still cluttered with Easter baskets, boxes of stale Peeps, and plastic eggs.We're not big on religion. In fact, we celebrate more for the candy than anything else. It also gives us an excuse to dress up in our best pastels.I never really questioned the correlation between Easter and rabbits. I just took for granted they always lived

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-59063784349969701752009-04-20T14:24:00.000-07:002009-04-22T13:35:20.293-07:00

I've been going to the same hairdresser now for 12 years and while I only see her (I shall call her "Dee") every eight weeks for 2.5 hours at a time, I consider Dee to be one of my dearest friends. Those 2.5 hours are spent kvetching about dogs, kids, people, men...you name it. We've been through a lot of changes together, too. From marriages to divorces to trying to get pregnant to adopting

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-54572729937182676012009-04-09T14:01:00.000-07:002009-04-09T15:19:14.244-07:00

On March 30, the City of Seattle added a mandatory food waste program to their weekly trash collection service. This means that all food scraps cannot be placed into a garbage can. Instead, food items must be thrown into a yard waste can, where it commingles with grass clippings and leaves. Before, our trash collectors picked up yard waste every other week, but with the new program, yard/food

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-82980692059579133032009-04-02T16:30:00.000-07:002009-04-02T19:52:42.097-07:00

I'm not much of a fan of TV these days. I mean, there are some shows I absolutely must watch, like Lost, Mad Men, Greys Anatomy (don't laugh), Dexter, The Tudors, 30 Rock, and Weeds; but everything else, I can live without, except, maybe Jon Stewart. I love watching The Daily Show but if I let it accumulate on my DVR, I just delete it because it's old news. But I digress. I'm quite happy with

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-13501362441073296412009-03-29T10:07:00.000-07:002009-03-30T13:28:10.898-07:00

When I was seven, I tried convincing my neighborhood friends that I had been invited onto the Mickey Mouse Club to dance and play piano. I borrowed an ugly pair of white, patent-leather shoes from my sister and I gave them a show in our foyer. Then, I led them to our piano where I played Fur Elise.My friends, much to their credit, were not convinced. Even as I tried to "prove" my lie by

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-33245032874274409282009-03-26T11:42:00.000-07:002009-03-26T12:03:47.059-07:00

I was pretty eager to get out of bed this morning and go for a run. I hadn't run since the Mercer Island half marathon on Sunday, and I was ready to jump back into the saddle. I'm hoping to be able to pace the inaugural Seattle Rock 'n Roll Marathon, but that's entirely up to this guy. Since it's a new race and he's dealing with a new organizer and their pacing structure is vastly different

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-7107656347119173292009-03-11T13:49:00.000-07:002009-03-25T14:43:28.403-07:00

Growing up, I lived on a cul-de-sac located in what my parents referred to as "the development". It was about as vanilla as it sounds, with 50 colonial-style, split-level homes built in 1970, each sitting on a half acre of land. Despite its mundane, tract housing features, growing up in the "development" did have some advantages. The biggest one was that there was only one way in and out of the

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-59922705626996002802008-12-23T00:14:00.000-08:002008-12-23T00:53:07.318-08:00

I'm not complaining, really. I love my children dearly. Given that I've traveled halfway around the world to find them, I'd say I pretty much wanted kids.It's just that, at the end of the day, I'm usually so friggin' exhausted, I hardly remember what it feels like for my head to hit the pillow. I'm not exaggerating, either. I went from having difficulty with getting more than 6 hours a night

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-26788377276337806412008-10-28T20:19:00.000-07:002008-10-28T20:46:23.487-07:00

I'm proud to say I share the same birth year with George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. It's a classic that I love watching year after year--mostly because it's one of two movies that still scare the bejeezus out of me (the second being The Exorcist). What could be more frightening than going to a graveyard and getting grabbed by the undead--only to find out the whole world's been turned

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-68213564077411489032008-09-06T21:55:00.001-07:002008-09-06T22:58:31.920-07:00

This is my 12th year in Seattle, and as such, I've become all-too-familiar with the gloomy weather that casts its net over the Puget Sound sometime around mid-October and doesn't leave until the following Fourth of July. It messes with my psyche, which is why I think I enjoy running so much. A good hit of endorphins three days a week keeps the blues from the blah weather away.It's funny, too,

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-82159987774670282762008-09-03T21:40:00.000-07:002008-09-03T21:51:44.236-07:00

I'm amazed that it's 9:40 p.m. and I'm still awake. Ever since I got home from Ukraine, I've been asleep by 10. I'm no longer the night owl. Now I get up at 6 just so I have enough time to make and drink coffee before the little buggers get up.Life's been grand since we've been back. I'm finally fully recovered from the Ukrainian Super Flu or whatever it was that knocked me flat on my ass.

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-58791046180150529752008-07-15T20:37:00.000-07:002008-07-15T21:00:13.888-07:00

I don't know what the hell's the matter with me, but I've become a total klutz. I can only chalk it up to being utterly distracted by everything else going on...either that or I'm getting fuzzy in my old age. Hmmm...Anyway, I got this bad boy on my arm the other night and I can't explain exactly HOW it happened. Isn't it pretty? One minute, I was in the den, holding the central vac hose with

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-81392944713887489042008-07-12T13:38:00.000-07:002008-07-12T14:02:12.146-07:00

Man oh man, I had a shitty morning. 99.999% of it is because of our trip. You can read all about that on Privyet.I did, however, push myself out the door for a run and I've got to say, it helped tremendously. The run, itself, wasn't all that great (it was hot, too late in the morning, I missed my running group, and I was a sluggish) but mentally, it did wonders.As I rounded the Montlake Cut

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-41522088107728524832008-07-09T20:41:00.001-07:002008-07-09T21:14:00.587-07:00

Last year, we bought Mr. Na a sporty little Trek bike with the hope that it'd last him a few years. It will, too, because it's just a hair too big for him right now. When we bought it, we opted to put training wheels on it because of the size; but during the few rides we'd taken so far this summer, Na's been balancing all on his own. I think riding a Razor scooter to school every day had a

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-1898129163461733542008-07-09T09:04:00.000-07:002008-07-09T09:12:38.180-07:00

Ok, so the wonderful folks at Today.com aren't willing to comply with my request to filter ads for my family blog...so I've taken the liberty of changing the adoption blog to here:Privyet!It's unfortunate that I have to pull the blog from Today, but it's highly embarrassing to have inappropriate advertising featured across the top banner of a blog that covers our family's adoption journey. I

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-83845065914025289752008-07-08T23:04:00.000-07:002008-07-08T23:24:01.766-07:00

Well, despite my freaking out over our trip being less than two weeks away, I'm enjoying the Seattle summer sunshine with Mr. Na (and I've got quite the sunburn to prove it!)We took the dogs to an awesome off-leash area today (Magnuson) which also has a "dog" beach off of Lake Washington. Mr. Na, being 6 and all, went right in with the dogs, and all I could do was stand there and cringe,

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745993.post-10332335674668354072008-07-05T10:13:00.000-07:002008-07-05T11:33:06.501-07:00

Source: Seattle P-IDuring our morning run yesterday, Scout and I were heading toward Gas Works Park when I saw this gigantic Statue of Liberty head situated on the edge of Lake Union. Underneath the ridiculousness of it, there was something about it that creeped me out. Call me warped, I dunno, but rather than feeling all patriotic and gung-ho for the Fourth, it instantly reminded me of the

LeFemmeMonkitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01476943662697213985noreply@blogger.com0