I guess by now I should know enough about loss to realize that you never really stop missing someone – you just learn to live around the huge gaping hole of their absence.

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This morning, I watched Oliver walk into the bathroom, put some baby powder on his hand and then rub it on his head.

I’m pretty proud.

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softerworld:

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kaitmpayne:

My kid feels love. My kid knows love. If that weren’t true, then she wouldn’t even think to ask about it. I’m teaching her to be considerate and kind. I’m teaching her to be fair and honest. She was born hungry for knowledge. She’s obsessed with science. Nothing interests her more than bones and meteors and figuring out how things work. She’s been that way for as long as she could form words. I can’t pretend to have all the answers, but I’m not going to preach the teachings of an invisible and judgmental all knowing sky man. She’s asking about love because she’s naturally curious, she wants to know what it is that she’s feeling and why. She’s a girl who likes evidence and answers. If love wasn’t something real and present for her, she wouldn’t even inquire. I’m not going to teach her to believe something for the sake of believing it because that’s what your parents and your grandparents believe. However, I will absolutely teach her that it is never under any circumstance okay to criticize a fellow human on something as personal as the way they are raising their children, especially one who she has never met outside of the internet. I will never teach her to think it’s okay to be as self-righteous as you’d have to be to send an email like that. If that’s what being a godly woman is, I want her to remain as ungodly as possible. I’ll leave you with two quotes that demonstrate the kind of teachings I DO hope to pass on to her.

“When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that’s my religion.”
-Abraham Lincoln

“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”
— Lawrence Krauss

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I’m offering 50% OFF your purchase at Sweet Jane Vintage until Valentine’s Day- and then I will be closing up shop for a month or two to revamp the fuck out of e v e r y t h i n g. There are a lot of super awesome diddies in there now- so hurry and snag them! 

[click picture to go to store]

heyjulie asked: That's so great! I've always had nannying in the back of my mind. May I ask how you got into it? Through an agency or a different story? And any advice or words on it?

A friend of mine worked as a full time nanny for a family many, many years ago, and needed someone to fill in for her for a month while she took time off to have her daughter. I had just moved home from North Carolina and was more than happy to help her out. It turned out that that family was getting an addition put on their house and the man putting the addition on, was looking for a nanny… So, that’s how I started.

After I worked for that family, I went on to find a long term family on Craigslist. I just posted a little ad about myself, how I’m from a large family, how I babysat and helped out with my family, and then the previous two families were used as references. 

I recently used Craigslist again and found a great little family. It is much different to be hired as a single lady, and to be hired as a Momma, with my child in tow. You can say you’re as awesome as Mary Poppins [I call myself the modern day, heh..] but your child will prove your parenting/nannying skills all by him/herself with their behavior. 

My advice is be honest about everything. Don’t over exaggerate yourself to be this awesome caretaker, be real about what you’re willing to do as a nanny. Because kiddos will tell their parents everything you do, say, don’t do, don’t say. You have to REALLY be open to the idea of becoming apart of another family and be committed to helping shape the little people that are put in your life. It’s not just babysitting. Nannying is intimate, it’s really LOVING these other people just as much as you would love your own. 

talk to me.

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Snow gives me cabin fever. I am a creature of the sun, of heat, warmth. I’m pretty positive this is the fourth or fifth winter in a row I’ve vowed to be my last in Pennsylvania. Can I say this time— I really mean it? I think I’ll just sell most of what I own and take only what’s necessary. It’s just stuff, right? It can be replaced with more stuff.

I have a low tolerance for people who complain about their lives but don’t take action to change their circumstances. Myself included.

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(via jessiv)

heyjulie asked: What did you do (work wise) before Oliver?

I was a nanny! I’m still a nanny!

mamapost asked: What does yo SO do for a living? You've mentioned him being gone for long periods of time.

Mitch works as a tour manager for bands when they are out on the road touring. (I joke that he’s a glorified babysitter— but that’s really because of the attitude of the artists he’s worked for.) He manages their day to day while making sure each show runs smooth and that the band/artist is taken care of.

Eh- still sounds like a glorified babysitter to me.

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We’re having a snow day. Fort and movies included.

alalune:

Obama Blasts GOP Candidates on Booing of Gay Solider at Debate

I don’t really like to be publicly political, but this is something that deserves to be seen.

-A

(via danielleisdizzy)

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During a low point in my life, when I wasn’t feeling, acting or being the greatest that I could- I made a new friend. There isn’t any way possible my attitude and energy towards the world should have allowed me to draw in such an amazing person. Negativity and the lack of interest in everything had been ruling/ruining my life. Why or how Sybianna felt I was a worthwhile person- I still don’t know…

But she did.

This past week she flew here from the great land that is Texas, with her little man dime, and spent some real time with me and my weird little family. I’m still not the greatest person I can be, and I’m still attracting bad energy, but Sybi didn’t care. We had fun and we got serious and we made memories, and I realized how this ONE person has restored so much trust and confidence in me.

Thanks, Sybi. For stepping in when I was shoving others out.

lovies.

hitrecord:

WHY WE SHOULD BE SCARED OF SOPA:  THE MOVIE

Here’s a really easy-to-understand mini-doc about PIPA and SOPA from New Left Media.

Check it out.

(via merch)