Comments for Hippie Cool Chick

Comment on That’s more like it by Joanna

Joanna — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:48:13 +0000

So nice to learn of your peaceful, delicious, music and friendship-filled channukah/shabbat weekend. xxoo

Comment on All the rage by wonderboys

wonderboys — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:15:17 +0000

Yup. Gideon knows not just the F word, but how to use it in various colorful combinations… Aren’t I just a paragon?

Comment on All the rage by Karen

Karen — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:20:55 +0000

{{HUGS}}
I once yelled “EAT THE FUCKING YOGURT ALREADY!” at my then-toddler daughter.

Comment on Paradise Lost by wonderboys

wonderboys — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:08:18 +0000

I get what you’re saying, and in some ways I’m on board. Chanuka is not a big holiday at all, but I do enjoy the latke parties and especially the traveling to visit family. It’s often the only time that my whole family is together, and last year when we couldn’t afford to fly and hadn’t yet discovered the courage to drive all night, it broke my heart.

I used to enjoy giving gifts, though. Not just for holidays and birthdays but just because it was a pleasure for me to see something that was so right for someone and be able to give it.

Forgoing gifts with two small children — now that’s something I’d need a lot of chutzpah to pull off!

Comment on Paradise Lost by Kelly KH

Kelly KH — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:06:09 +0000

I hear you. In my first marriage, we had plenty. We could easily afford our bills and had plenty for the kids to do whatever they wanted and to buy them (within reason) all the cool toys.

Since David got sick and we divorced and I remarried, I have lived under the poverty level. We don’t have enough money for our bills or even groceries a lot of the time, and it sucks. But it has made me so grateful for little things like $5 for Starbucks once in a while, and made me so grateful for those friends in my life who see the reality and reach out in profoundly simple ways that recognize our struggle and respectfully and lovingly give us help sometimes.

I’m sorry that this holiday season is so difficult. I cringe everytime Jude asks for me Christmas gifts this year. There is NO money for anything and the credit cards are maxed out. So I am here with you in solidarity and trying to find a meaningful way to celebrate the holidays without buying stuff . And to make that palatable to a 5 yo (and 10 and 13 and 3 yo’s too).

Many hugs coming your way. Know that you have friends who love you and won’t tell you about that trip to Cancun!

Comment on Paradise Lost by Karen

Karen — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:04:34 +0000

Blah, I hear you. My favorite is when people tell me what I “should” do, as in “You should redo your kitchen!” (or install a real shower, or rip out those awful bushes, or do an overnight getaway with Andy) to which I always want to respond, “You’re right, and YOU should pay for it!”

Comment on Paradise Lost by Idealistic Pragmatist

Idealistic Pragmatist — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:38:53 +0000

I can get a litte proselytize-y about this, so forgive me in advance. But about ten years ago, I stopped participating in “the holiday season.” I don’t visit family, I don’t go to holiday parties, I don’t exchange gifts, I don’t bake, I don’t make special dinners, I don’t travel if I can at all help it. And then something changed in me. I stopped tolerating the holiday season and started loving it.

Not for the holiday season, mind–for the lack of it. Or more specifically, for the lack of anything. See, it’s the only time of the year that practically everybody in the whole world has obligations, which means that as someone who’s chosen to opt out, I have absolutely none. It’s hard to describe what this feels like, but it’s a sort of incredible sense of peace and quiet, right down to my bones. Like the Anti-Stress. I value it incredibly. If Christmas somehow magically got skipped some year, I would miss it like crazy.

And I look at all the Scrooges of the season–you know, the ones who are constantly complaining about rampant commercialism and overcommitment and presents they don’t really want and parties they don’t feel like attending–and I just feel sad for them. I want to take them all under my wing and whisper at them about the sheer joy of just…stopping.

Comment on Lost by HmDean

HmDean — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:32:04 +0000

I hear you, sister. And I think, as much as periods like this are not fun, there is value in slogging through them so you can pick up what they have to teach you. Hopefully, you get to learn about where you belong by finding out where you don’t belong. Of course, it’s possible that you only get to learn that sometimes, nothing is right for long stretches, and you just have to take as many baths and walks as possible until it passes. Which is useful information to have for next time.

Sometimes, as much as it pains me to admit it, watching long stretches of “America’s Next Top Model” kicks me out of a funk. But other times, there’s nothing to be done. Like I said, I hear you on this one, loud and clear.

Sorry about the alto thing, kid. Sheesh.

Comment on Long time, no me by HmDean

HmDean — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:23:38 +0000

I know for a fact that my mom was extremely stressed when we were growing up — from her marriage to my dad, from the divorce, from going back to school and then working multiple jobs to support us. You know what I remember? Taco night. Playing with my model horses. Walking to the ice cream store. Most of what I know about the rest of it came from her, decades after the fact.

Fear not, my friend; the blissfully self-absorbed nature of children has many, many purposes.

Comment on Long time, no me by wonderboys

wonderboys — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:17:32 +0000

Thanks, Ayala. I’m not always sure of that but right now it doesn’t seem to fit. When we were really down in the dumps about all the major changes, my therapist asked me the screening questions, and I flunked the test! I do think I’m not great at multitasking, and also not great at self-discipline. (Read: too much time on the computer, but not actually writing.)