Zeno's Bar & Grill
Monday, October 31, 2005
Note to Self: Don’t Give Up Day Job
I volunteered to bring in a treat for my son’s Kindergarten Halloween Party today. Caving to the pressure of bringing in something homemade and creative, I decided to make a gelatin brain mold. I thought that I would add some Gummy Worms to make it even more Spooktacular. Unfortunately, as the picture below attests, my Artistic Dessert Creation missed the mark, even more than the
volcano cum doody cake in our book.
--Kelly
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Go Team Protestant
Our first novel features an…interesting…church fund raiser. Ever wondered how much the neighbors are donating or whether the Protestants or Catholics are more generous? In the course of our book research we found out the fascinating answers to these questions and more courtesy of The Barna Group, a Christian research and communications organization. According to an article on their website, the average individual (from a random phone survey of ~1000 people) gave away about 3% of their income in 2004. Protestants gave an average of $1304 and Catholics $547. The report did not mention whether any fundraising chairwomen have been known to engage in suspicious extracurricular activities like the ubermother in our book.
--Melanie & Kelly
Friday, October 28, 2005
Party Like It's 1917
Given that my love of parades is matched only by my excitement about the White Sox winning the World Series, let’s just say I was less than enthused about going downtown today. But my husband’s office was having a special trick or treat thing for the kids so I schlepped everybody into Chicago right in the middle of the White Sox victory parade. As it turned out, I am really glad that we didn’t miss it. The parade was an actual ticker tape parade, which I hadn’t realized actually existed outside of WW II homecoming footage. The last time the Sox won was in 1917 and who knows when it’ll happen again. There were so many people that the entire sidewalk was filled for as far as I could see. People were even squashed up against the doors so we couldn’t exit at the end of the kids’ party. Instead we stayed and watched the parade from the comfort of an 18th floor corner office. Go Sox!
--Kelly
What Do You Do All Day?
Right now I’m reading What Do You Do All Day, by Amy Scheibe, about the world of SAHMs in Manhattan. I’m enjoying the book, and although I know you can't judge a book by its cover, I loved the review discussing cover art at the Books Are Pretty blog.
--Melanie
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Diaper Couture
Our first novel explores one woman’s journey through the methods and madnesses of modern parenting. And, yes, we do touch on the raging cloth versus paper diaper controversy. Apparently, while we weren’t paying attention, someone actually raised the bar on cloth diapering even further. We are by no means knocking cloth dipes--in fact, one of us not only used cloth diapers, but washed them at home. The latest, however, is to take it to a whole new level by sewing your own. One enterprising mom has even created a successful business out of it. At Jessica Wiseman’s One Stop Diaper Shop, you can find all sorts of diaper patterns and fabrics from Hemp to Velour to cover your little one’s rump in style...along with links to the cloth side of the universe. And, finally, we just have to put in a plug for the (now-discontinued) diaper telemetry at the Trixie Update, which monitored each and every disposable diaper change for one baby’s first eighteen months.
Happy Diapering!
--Kelly and Melanie
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Reed College Rerun
Yesterday was the last day of my vacation in Portland, and I decided to take the kids over to my alma mater, Reed College, which is about three blocks from my parents’ house. The campus looked spectacular in fall colors. After unsuccessfully searching the bookstore for those cool griffin temporary tattoos they had at the last reunion, I took the kids to the Pa
radox Café for some loud eighties music, Cheez-Its and Zines. Could there be a better way to get ‘em in a college state of mind while they’re young? I shudder to think of the cost when they are ready for school, though, considering it’s $41,000 per year in today’s dollars. On the other hand, if they end up going to the UC system, it would be like winning the lottery by comparison.--Melanie
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Go Suckle Something
Youch! Being served drinks by a French maid onstage during an advertising industry Q & A session was okay, but apparently the comment about how women are “a group that will inevitably wimp out and go suckle something” was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s good to know there are some limits. Ad guru Neil French lost his job over this one.
--Kelly & Melanie
--Kelly & Melanie
Brain Dump
I had quite the literary day yesterday. Jennifer Weiner in the morning and my book club at night. Our latest selection was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. It was a good book, but I wish the club would choose something a bit more controversial that would facilitate a good discussion about life, or politics, or religion, or sex. By the way, why is it that the most fascinating subjects are the ones we aren’t supposed to talk about? No wonder people watch TV, because then you can talk about those things in the context of what other people are doing. Anyway, our next selection will have some sex in it, I suppose: it is Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novel, by Arthur Golden. I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie when I went to see In Her Shoes, and it looked really good, but I am really a sucker for trailers. The people who create those are true artists (unfortunately sometimes con-artists!) But, seriously, I saw a documentary about producing trailers, and it is like making a mini movie. Well, that was quite a tangent. I better get over to Amazon and order Memoirs before all the good quality used copies are gone!
--Kelly
--Kelly
Monday, October 24, 2005
I’ll See Your Agent and Raise You a Galley Copy
I had such high hopes for today: Jennifer Weiner did a reading at a book store near me, and I was hoping to get some face time with her. My best case scenario had Jennifer saying “Oh, I’ve seen your website! It’s great, you deserve a great book deal.” And the good news is that it actually happened…to the woman in front of me. There I was holding two of Jennifer’s books (thinking maybe having two would get me an extra couple of seconds in front of her), and clutching my business card in my sweaty palm, waiting for my turn. I was practicing my opening, (“Hi Jennifer, I’m a writer too, my agent is sending my manuscript to Greer this week”) when the woman in front of me pulls out a galley copy of her book, saying that Jennifer inspired her to write it, and so on. Then Jennifer looks at the name, and says, “Oh you’re Jennsylvania! I read your blog.” Sigh. Anyway, Jennifer was really nice and took my card, asked what the book was about, said it sounded great, etc. I can only hope that the next time we meet, maybe she'll have heard of me, too.
--Kelly
--Kelly
Spa-licious
I’m currently on vacation in Portland, and yesterday my sister treated me to a facial at Dosha SalonSpa for my birthday. It was amazing. The spa has a very peaceful, zen-like atmosphere, with black stone floors and minimalist décor. After our Aveda aromatherapy facials, we relaxed in the hot tub, which we had all to ourselves. Finally, we peeled ourselves away from the spa and hit Imelda’s (a great shoe store) and American Apparel next door. I could definitely get used to this!
--Melanie
--Melanie
Sunday, October 23, 2005
The Best Rock Show EVER!
I went to see My Morning Jacket at The Vic in Chicago last night, and I was blown away. They began on a dark stage with the Reggae-esque bass of “Wordless Chorus”, the first song from their new CD. As the second song, “It Beats 4 U” started, purple orbs of light began pulsating over the band and seemed to caress the audience, drawing us in as the song built with its almost tribal beats.
Tribal is the way the music made me feel--like I should be dancing around a huge fire trying to curry favor with the gods. MMJ gave off such amazing energy that I was alternately sitting on my hands, leaning forward to soak in every line from Jim James’ mouth and leaping to my feet, arms in the air, cheering along with the crowd at their extended jams.
At twenty dollars a ticket, the show was a complete bargain, even when you factor in the cost of babysitting, which cost over four times the amount of the ticket.
--Kelly
Tribal is the way the music made me feel--like I should be dancing around a huge fire trying to curry favor with the gods. MMJ gave off such amazing energy that I was alternately sitting on my hands, leaning forward to soak in every line from Jim James’ mouth and leaping to my feet, arms in the air, cheering along with the crowd at their extended jams.
At twenty dollars a ticket, the show was a complete bargain, even when you factor in the cost of babysitting, which cost over four times the amount of the ticket.
--Kelly
Friday, October 21, 2005
A Little Something Extra in Your Child's Lunch
As I was editing the newsletter for my son’s elementary school, a notice from the principal caught my eye. The Center for Environmental Health has filed suit against makers and retailers of vinyl lunchboxes. It turns out the lunchboxes contain lead. Apparently, in some countries vinyl is made using a lead-based stabilizer. In others the lead has been replaced with tin or calcium. An inexpensive test can be purchased online to check your child’s lunchbox.
--Kelly
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
There’s Something About Birth Order
I think I finally believe in the whole birth order thing. Today, my two-year-old cleared her breakfast dishes to the sink without being asked. It never would have even crossed my mind to ask my oldest to do something like that, much less hers! Apparently the little ones really do watch and listen and learn. Looks like we can expect a banner year for potty training if all continues to go well.
--Melanie
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Taking Moving Pictures to the Next Limit
And winning the award in the Media Format Designed for the Shortest Attention Span Category: Mobisodes - The new one minute series episodes designed to be downloaded onto mobile phones. Intriguing idea, but the name they’ve chosen for this format seems a bit clunky. I’m sure somebody paid for a fortune in marketing research, but couldn’t they have called them something a little more fun and creative, like “microminiseries”?
--Melanie & Kelly
Sunday, October 16, 2005
We All Meet in Downward Dog
I have recently started doing yoga regularly. I’ve done it before of course--I think there is law in California that says you have to--but never on a regular basis. I love it! I feel so strong and also calmer. If I don’t get to a class at least once a week, I feel like something is missing. My three year old daughter is also fascinated, and we are going to start doing a mom and tot yoga class together once a week. Though the class does sound a bit like something out of our book, it would be great if this were something that she and I continued throughout her life.
Namaste
--Kelly
Saturday, October 15, 2005
The Cool One
I’m sooooo flattered. My eleven-year-old nephew invited me to his “Friends and Family Day” at middle school. That must mean that I’ve finally reached some modicum of coolness. Or maybe it just means that no one else could go. I was also invited to my other nephew’s 2nd grade class for the same kind of event, and luckily, I will be able to attend that one…and very much looking forward to it.
--Melanie
--Melanie
Friday, October 14, 2005
Scary Norka Dogs
Is there something wrong with me that I just couldn’t resist buying this Pillsbury cookbook? I am 100% serious: I plan to make these little mummies. And if I’m feeling feisty, I might just whip up a batch of “Goblin Good Gorp” while I’m at it. In Kelly’s family they call this dish Norka Dogs (they’re not usually made to look like bandaged corpses, of course). We made a tasty batch together a couple Thanksgivings ago. Long live gourmet cooking.
--Melanie
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Book 1 Update: Out into the Wild Blue Yonder
We received an email from our agent, and she gave our latest revisions the thumbs up. She is going to start shopping it to publishers. We hope they like it. This waiting part is really the hardest. Much, much, harder than writing the book, actually.
--Kelly and Melanie
--Kelly and Melanie
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The Trouble with Alison
Here’s a story that combines, art, women and controversy, some of our favorite subjects. It also caught our eye because one of the commentators was Allison Pearson, author of I Don’t Know How She Does It. According to Monday’s New York Times “Alison Lapper Pregnant” by Marc Quinn is causing quite a stir. The 11 ½ foot statue of a pregnant woman born without arms and with foreshortened legs is being displayed in London’s Trafalgar square. The square was built to commemorate Admiral Nelson, and the other statues in the square are also of military leaders. The outcry has largely focused on the fact that Ms. Lapper is not a war hero. In 2007 it will be replaced by Thomas Schütte’s “Hotel for the Birds” (pictured below) Since that statue also doesn’t honor any war dead, it will be interesting to see if it causes the same controversy as a statue of a naked, disabled pregnant woman.
--Kelly and Melanie
--Kelly and MelanieMonday, October 10, 2005
Creative Uses for Kitchenware
We’re currently reading Jennifer Weiner’s Goodnight Nobody, about a crime-solving Mom in suburban Connecticut, and one of the funny things she mentions is a Super Mom who doesn’t allow her child to wear diapers and instead has trained him to eliminate over an adaptively reused salad bowl. At first, we thought this had to be the realm of imagination taking over, but lo…Sunday’s New York Times featured an article on "infant potty training", complete with a picture of a 7 month old (A. Seven. Month. Old!!!!) perched on the toilet. And the article mentions using other containers, such as a sink or pot. Wow. Truth really is stranger than fiction.
--Melanie & Kelly
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Why Doesn't She Just Take a Nap?
“Pregnancy won’t stop ‘Alias” star from being adventurous, even sexy, according to the NY Times. Geez, it was hard enough for us to just stay awake long enough to catch the five o’clock news each night when we were pregnant. Apparently, Jennifer Garner will continue to pummel bad guys and generally keep up her C.I.A. activities in the coming season. Guess secret Superagent Sydney Bristow will really have some good stories for junior’s baby book.
--Melanie and Kelly
Friday, October 07, 2005
That Which Cannot be Agreed Upon
We confess to more than a few rookie mistakes when we first started writing together. Since then, we’ve read a lot of books on usage, grammar and punctuation. In Thursday’s On Language column in the Chicago Tribune, Nathan Bierma writes about the upcoming illustrated version of William Strunk and E. B. White’s Elements of Style. Bierma writes that the co-author of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Geoffrey Pullum, disagrees with many of their rules, including the prohibition against ending a sentence with a preposition (he actually calls their book a “pox-ridden little pocketbook of pointless pontifications” on www.languagelog.org ). Winston Churchill, for one, agreed, “This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.” His exact quote is another academic controversy altogether. (See the link at www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html). Goes to show that even the experts disagree and maybe there is hope for the rest of us occasional rule-breakers after all.
--Kelly & Melanie
--Kelly & Melanie
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Not a Volcano Cake, But...
We've posted some over-the-top volcano cakes here before to illustrate the type of Perfect Mom feat that nearly drives the heroine of our first book over the edge. Well, this weekend I had my own Perfect Cake experience, and it felt damn good. All these years, I had been using the el cheapo pans that you buy in the supermarket, which resulted in puffy, bubbly layers that didn’t fit together like they do on the Duncan Hines box. Somewhere along the line, I acquired two Nordic Ware heavy duty, non-stick, circular pans. On Saturday afternoon, I was shocked to see my cake layers emerge from the oven, perfectly flat and ready for assembly. To think it would have been this simple all along if I’d only known. And here it is...
--Melanie
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Book 2 Update
We’ve been working on the first three chapters and outline of our second novel. We now know that you can’t plan the entire book ahead of time and expect to stick to it 100%. The characters sometimes just…do things. On the other hand, we’ve also learned that you can’t just start writing with no idea where things are headed or why anyone is doing anything. All we need now is a fun, fantasy ending and we’ll be in business.
--Melanie & Kelly
--Melanie & Kelly
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
No Really, the Cat Peed on My Choir Bag
For three days, I couldn’t figure out why my car reeked. In fact, I was seriously starting to wonder if someone had stuffed some fish tacos under my seat (read our first book and you’ll get it). I tried everything from cleaning all the kids’ car seat covers (the world’s most miserable chore) to sniffing the rugs. Turns out it was my daughter’s choir bag. Gracie, our Russian Blue, was the culprit. Go figure.
--Melanie
Monday, October 03, 2005
Me and Larry David
Okay, I’ll admit it…I have a TV Guy. I didn’t even know what a TV Guy was until a year ago when I came across the term while watching Curb Your Enthusiasm. We’ve reached a critical mass of add-ons to our set (Tivo, HDTV digital cable box, and surround sound), and now there are so many different wires, plugs, and cables involved that a mere layman could never possibly figure out how to set up the whole mess. Last week alone I had two visits from my TV Guy because my digital sound wasn’t working. He even wrote out a little matrix so that we can remember which audio control goes with which video control. Luckily, I can still hook up and run our toaster oven, but I wonder for how much longer…
--Kelly
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Hello, My Name is Mr. Smith
Today I was bored and surfing the web and took this personality test where you answer a bunch of questions and it tells you which classic movie is your match. And I think this is extremely weird, because it is true what it says at the bottom. At least, that's how I would describe myself.
--Melanie
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Men Feel the Pain, Too
In Thursday’s Style section of the New York Times (which I am just now getting around to reading) there were two articles that gave hope to women everywhere for some justice in the world. At least in terms of suffering for fashion. Two new trends will have men feeling a little bit of our pain. The first is laser hair removal. Men are getting their beards shaped up with lasers so they can effortlessly get that two day growth look without crossing that fine line to Neanderthal City. The second are pointy-toed shoes so men can also experience the joy of cramped toes. Now if we could only convince them to buy stilettos.
