Domestic Psychology

apologies to the Buggles

// April 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // blogging, media, music, newspapers, video

I read you in the bed on Sunday afternoons
Lying awake reading the day before’s news.
I should have known the stories had all changed by then.
Oh-a oh
They took the credit for your second symphony.
Rewritten by machine and new technology,
And now I understand the problems you can see.
Oh-a oh
I met your readers
Oh-a oh
What did you sell them?
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Bloggers came and broke your heart.
Oh-a-a-a oh
And now we read on our laptops and our cell phones.
We think of newsprint and it seems so long ago.
And you remember the ink smudged fingers, oh.
Oh-a oh
You were the first one.
Oh-a oh
You were the last one.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
In my home and in my car,
We can’t unplug we’ve gone to far
Oh-a-aho oh,
Oh-a-aho oh
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
In my home and in my car,
We can’t unplug we’ve gone to far.
Bloggers came and broke your heart,
Look I’ll read my Twitter feed.
You are a newspaper star.
You are a newspaper star.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.

bacon cupcakes

// April 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // food, local, people

I’m not sure if bacon cupcakes are brilliant marketing or extremely poor timing.

for Michael

Tommy says:

// April 28th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Uncategorized

“I feel like I’m always missing something. I know I can see and hear, but it just feels like everyone else understands what’s happening better than I do.”

Gay Street 2009

// April 28th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // flickr, local

24 hours from serious to silly

// April 27th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Doug, health, kid quotes, people, television

Doug: “There’s an ambulance at the retirement home.”
Me: “Seniors do like to visit Mexico.”
Doug: “Must be swine flu.”

K: cough-cough
T: “Got some swine flu K?”

Doug: “My head is splitting.”
Me: “Swine flu. Shouldn’t have gone to Market Square Friday night.”

Amy: “What’s swine?”
Me: “Pigs.”
Amy: “Why are the pigs sick?”

buy bread and milk

// April 26th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // health, people

H1N1 Swine Flu information or a reason to panic about other nasty cooties.
How Twitter users are preparing:
@Busymom Add eggs and beer.
@RussM Surgical masks and chocolate.
@raowen hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, bandaides and bottled water

Want to know if you have Swine Flu? Click here

Friday Night Pics

// April 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // flickr, life, local, music, people

signs of the times

// April 24th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // life, people

While we don’t have homeless people sleeping in our backyard, we do get a lot of door-to-door foot traffic. Usually, it’s just the pamphlet people. The pamphlet people are polite and sympathetic to my inability to stand on the porch chatting for 45 minutes. Lately, our visitors have been more frequent, less understanding and more perseverant. The door-to-door sales people don’t care if I am wearing a towel or am trying to bathe a dog who has been finger painted with toothpaste. They have a speech that they are required to say to each and every person they encounter. Honestly saying that I don’t have any money to buy whatever they are selling doesn’t send them on their way. They don’t accept no for an answer. I always end up feeling like I am being rude to the door-to-door sales people and I hate that feeling. The pamphlet people and sales people aren’t the ones who worry me.

Not a week goes by that there isn’t someone knocking on the door and offering to do “odd jobs for cash.” The odd jobbers are willing to try any chore, regardless of their existing skills or available tools. They will happily climb the dead tree and risk their lives topping it with tools they have never used before. I could ask them to paint my toenails and they would give it their best effort. The odd jobbers make me sad and uncomfortable at the same time. There is a desperation to the odd jobbers that is so palpable you can see, hear and feel it. The kind of desperation that leaves people on the edge of doing anything to survive. The kind of desperation that leads to bad choices. I know this and they know that I know it, but knowing doesn’t change it. I wish I could be one of those big hearted Depression-era women who could always provide a hot meal and a little pocket cash in exchange for a few hours of chores. I can’t. I am impotent. I can see it coming, but I can’t stop it.

“He’s a cool dude.”

// April 23rd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // kid quotes, life, me, people, preschoolers

Three-year-olds are a wonderful blend of toddler and child. Still baby enough to snuggle in your arms and fall asleep, but big enough to absorb everything the older children say and do. They will also lie about the melted chocolate on their hands and face (“Amy ate it.”) and be tactlessly honest in front of strangers (“That man is bald!”). Evan’s new ‘trick’ is pointing at brown skinned teen boys and young adults while announcing, “He’s a cool dude.” The very first time he did this, I reacted like a deer in headlights. Shock and denial. “Do we spend too much time at home?” Pain and guilt. “Should we move someplace more culturally diverse than Knoxville?” Anger and bargaining. “Children will say anything.” Depression. “Evan will spend his adolescence searching for a cool he can’t obtain.” Shift in perception. “Evan doesn’t just categorize people as adult or child.” Processing. “Evan is mature enough to tell me his likes and dislikes.” Finally, there was acceptance. “At least he doesn’t point at people and identify them by size like his sister did.”

Earth Day Evan

// April 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // flickr, preschoolers

Absolutely beautiful days are perfect for silly fun.