I've been lifting the logos at the top of this blog off our Evites. Now that we are going to be world famous, I think it's time to come up with something a little more original.
I want it to be simple, and cute, but professionalish. I am going to start doing some web design stuff in the next couple months and would like to have a logo by May at the latest. I am thinking about maybe doing something scrolled and remniscent of a fancy restaurant menu. But I don't want it to be too over the top. If we go with a fancy text, I would like there to be something we can pull out of it to make a tiny logo, even if it is just a scripted WS.

Any ideas?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Is there anyone out there who might be interested in being the official graphic designer? The pay will most likely suck, but you will be able to put it on your resume and I'll cook you a kick-ass non-spaghetti meal with drinks included for every job you do. I'm going to be working with Dave to get this incorporated, and I plan to get it as close to being as official as humanly possible by mid-March.

The Bylaws are done, or close to it. The Articles of Incorporation are in the works.

step one

www.wednesdayspaghetti.org

It's a start!

Do-gooding

When I started Wednesday Spaghetti, I wanted it to be huge. Just want to let you guys know that I had a talk with Dave last night at the bar about gaining non-profit status. He knows how to do it in Jersey, so hopefully Pennsylvania isn't that much different.

You ladies, you original WedSpaggers, were chosen because you are mothers, step-mothers, teachers, social workers, care givers, community organizers, and generally good people. You aren't here by mistake, my friends. I'm totally using you for your virtues. Sorry. But it's not my fault you are such wonderful people.

My vision is to work with local community centers and social service agencies to promote women and families coming together over dinner. It rarely happens but it does a world of good when it does. Ideally, packages or baskets of noodles, sauce, and cheese would be handed out along with some literature about engaging families and friends at mealtime. We'll see.

I figure it is a good concept, and the whole basket of dinner wouldn't cost more than $10 to put together. Even less if we can get the cooperation of local grocers and I know a few people who do brochure printing. I've given $10 a million times over (well... maybe not a million) to people to put towards the charity of his or her choice. Lord knows I've pissed away $10 a thousand times over on booze and coffee and junk food and I can only imagine what else. I'm sure you have too and you'll do it again.

Right?

Right?

Is this thing on?

Now, just because I said this doesn't mean I'm rushing into it. So don't push me. I hope to be a non-profit by the end of 2009 and go from there. I'll keep you posted on my progress here.

Who's in?

biters

Oh my god. I think I'm going to throw up. Look what I found when I was googling us.

I thought we were the only ones.

I thought we were special.

I wanted to get that dammed url.

please help me understand

I am writing this here because I don't have my own blog and I think you are all intelligent women with lots of life experience. My husband is really smart, he has his MBA, he has run his own department at a major corporation and has kind of a fancy job. Why is it that when he puts my laundry away, he puts everything in a single drawer, socks, underwear, shirts, pajamas and exercise gear? He is welcome to leave it in the basket where it has been sitting for the past week which is what makes his motivation more confusing. Why is it that when he has to take a child somewhere without me, he must call me 5-8 times to confirm the where, when, why, how, even if directions are printed clearly on a piece of bright yellow paper? It wasn't always this way, he was once very competent on the home front. I love this man but this stuff amazes me.

On another note, the blog I posted here last week, I also emailed to all of my friends. A bunch of them donated a toy that their child/children never opened and would never notice it's absence. We were able to give 6 gifts to each child in a family of 5! Those who didn't donate toys, donated money and we were able to donate to another family living in a domestic violence shelter. It makes me really happy that we were able to do this but it is a bit shocking to see that our kids have such an overabundance of crap that their leftovers made another family's holiday. Social working forces me to see how lucky my family is, daily. I thought I'd share this with you in case you were feeling bad about the fact that the stores are all sold out of that thing your kid so desperately "needs". And I will now stop feeling bad about my stupid husband.

Do-gooding

If any of you are coming for spag tonight and read this before and have a few bucks to spare and haven't already donated your time, energy, money are looking to get into heaven (or wherever you want to go), I am looking for donations for a family I work with. I am a social worker at a school and we get tons of donations for holiday gifts and one of the families started school here after all of the holiday programs dried up. There are 5 children, boys 12, 9, 4 and 3 and a 2 year old girl. If you are rotten like Lora and have new gifts that you never let your kid have, bring them. If not, $5 will do.

P.S. Just kidding about Lora, I think it is nicer to give to kids in need than to give to our spoiled rotten brats.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of the holiday, a little Charlie Brown. Enjoy! These shows always make me warm and fuzzy...I can't wait for Sam to be old enough to share my excitement and popcorn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnohHTLMs3Q

BTW, I am not savvy enough on blogger to figure out how to post this as a nice little screen that you click play on. And, with a one year old, I have no time to try and figure it out.

FYI

1. For the record, I totally endorse quitting life and moving to foreign countries. I merely suggested that there may be some road blocks along the way (AKA baby daddies). Whenever you are ready Lora, call me.

2. While I love my sapphire engagement ring, I do not recommend one. It is smashed to pieces because I don't know how to act. I bartended the first 5 years I owned this lovely piece of jewelry and now that I am on the other side of the bar, I frequently challenge my fellow slobs to arm wrestling matches. I am pretty sure those of you frequenting this blog are not very delicate, scrappy girls should stick with diamonds.

3. I am outraged by the fact that Lora has 7-8 days off days off from Jake. I really don't know how to make this happen in my life. What makes matters worse is that I am booked solid for this entire week so I can't even get a piece of the action.

Cats (update)

Well, after much debate and opinions sought, I decided to adopt this sweet, little kitty.

Her name is Ethel (we'll change that). She is about 9 weeks old. She's not officially mine yet, but I am approved for adoption.

Thanks to everyone who gave input!

Diane, Samantha, and I had a baby free WedSpag last night, and let me tell you- it was delicious. The baby free part. The Trader Joe's gnocchi were good, but not as good as the 99cent Anna ones you can find in your grocer's freezer. Diane came through with the TJ's meatless meatballs and we each had a couple cans of Miller Lite (in beer cozies because it was just too damn cold in my house to touch the can with your bare hands) and ate on the couch instead of at the table (on account of not having to set an example for anyone) and talked about important things like which Aveda shampoo is best and why Americans traditionally chose diamonds in their engagement rings even though sapphires and emeralds are ten times more beautiful (so they don't crack and chip because we are damned brutes who can't take care of our stuff) and why it probably isn't a good idea to drop out of life and run away to foreign countries.

You know, important things.

Cats

Fellow Wed-Spag Ladies, I need advice.

I am considering getting a second cat. I know many of you are "cat people," so I was hoping you could help me make a decision.

My current cat--also known as princess--is very sweet and loves to play, but I'm not sure how she'd feel about another critter in the house. Sometimes she seems lonely (like when I'm ignoring her to do dishes or something), and I think: "she needs a friend."

I love cats. More is always better. Well, maybe not MORE litter boxes and vet bills.

What to do? What to do?

vote

I propose to make it official. The third Wednesday of every month is Miercoles Chili night.

All in favor?

PubSpag

Last Wednesday all us girls got together for the first time since forever. As in, it is probably the first time Luisa, Heather, Nicole, Tavia, Annie, MIkey, and I have been in a room together. We all worked at the same bar around the same time but Luisa jumped ship to Ireland soon after I started, Annie jumped ship to Devon, Heather moved to San Diego, Nicole had Kennedy, Mikey and I got a big girl jobs, Tavia got suburban, and we all grew up somewheres along the way. And managed to spit out eight babies between the lot of us. Who would've guessed that the original fatgirls could grow up to be fatladies?

I love you girls. We didn't know each other as children but we shared that weird transition period between college and adulthood, and I consider you my sisters.

Whose idea was it to try to put these kids on the steps and get their picture? I didn't get any of Keira. Putting a six week old on the third step didn't seem safe, but she is awfully adorable.





Next time we'll get Lynn and Christa and Kat in the mix and we'll leave the babies with the daddies.
Trouble and mayhem will ensue

I was unner dare

In my own house. I was unner 8000 blocks, 600 pieces of crayon, 58 pictures of trains and a fountain of chocolate milk courtesy of JT while I sorted the "trash" and "keep" piles of half eaten books and ripped pictures which he thought was the funniest thing in the world.

I pretended the 3 Tyson chicken nuggets and plate of pineapple was some sort of noodley pasta concoction but it didn't come close. Neither did my desire to cook anything else so I ate JT's supper.

u unner dare?

If you weren't there last night, you missed out. We ate a lot of noodles and bread and cheese and oil and Trader Joe's meatless balls and built a fort using a blanket and my kitchen table and we all hung out under there for a good while.

It's really hard to climb out of that kind of fort when you are a grown-up. I still haven't fully recovered.

I shoulda brought the camera in. Maybe next time, but I just don't think it will be the same.

housekeeping

Hello all!

Today is Lauren M's birthday, so be sure to gush all about it all day long! Nothing is as sacred as the day you were born, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Also, holy crap! Can you believe that the holidays are practically tomorrow? Dave and I were at Lowe's over the weekend and the Christmas trees were on display. Luckily I didn't see anything that I liked better than the one I bought at Target, and the one I wanted from Lowe's last year but they were out of wasn't there again this year. Maybe it was a fire hazard or something and the universe has once again saved me from going down in a firey inferno.

Anyway, the holidays are coming and I would like to do something fun with you guys. I'm closing WedSpag to the public on October 29th because my fat girls from the Pub will be in town and we are "habbing private pardy" that day.

On November 5th, please bring all your leftover Halloween candy and we can play trick-or-treats hide-and-seek with the kiddies. We will sit and they will scamper around looking for hidden treats. Like an Easter Egg Hunt but different. If the costumes are still intact, maybe we can let them dress up one last time. Thoughts?

For the week of November 26th I'm closing the doors on the outliers again, this time my friends I met on the internet are coming over and we are going to talk about how normal it is to feel so alone and scared when you are pregnant that you stalk people online and make them be your best friends.

We will resume some sort of normalcy on December 3rd, for a couple weeks at least. I'm assuming no one will be interested in coming over on Christmas Eve, but if you find yourself with nothing to do, I'm quite sure I will have a houseful of revelers. I usually do.

Oh! Angela accidentally won the honor of naming the official winter drink of WedSpag! Hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps. Delish. We will be serving ours beginning December 1st. If you are good, I'll make you REAL hot chocolate. You'll at least get brandnamed packets of the stuff if nothing else. Because I'm the boss, I'm naming hot cider and whiskey as the official drink of autumn. It's getting a little too brisk for our gin&lemonade with a cuke garnish.

Hope to see you at the table tonight. If not, let me know what kind of pasta you made at your house.

I eat WedSpag leftovers for breakfast on Friday morning. Don't judge. Cold spaghetti is amazing, and once we eat it for dinner on Wednesday and Jake gets it for lunch on Thursday and Friday, there is a perfect amount left for me to enjoy with my coffee on Friday at 8am.

But, ohgod the heartburn.

I can't quit coffee and I don't want to quit spaghetti.

Getting old is the pits.

My meager offering

serious problem

I need to find a good clothing store. Any suggestions? I'm having a hard time finding pants that fit. Poor me, right? Like I'm the only one with this problem.

Pants for girls tend to be cut for girls with relatively narrow hips and those weird thighs that stick out on the sides. I don't have those. You don't have those. Who has those? Oh, wait. Most of the girls at my office.

Whatever. What about MY needs? Where do you buy your pants?

I used to be able to go to the Gap or Old Navy, but now everything at ON has ultra low waistbands and I have an ultra high muffin top when I wear them. The Gap only caters to wide hour glass people or thin string bean people. I can't win for losing there.

I like (love) Lucky, but a girl can only have so many pairs of $125 pants until her electric bill stops getting paid. Any time I buy something from there I don't buy lunch for a month, and I like lunch too much to give it up. Express is too slutty. The Limited is too much for people in their 40's. I'm too old for H&M, and I can't stand to buy one more pair of chintzy cheap pants from Mandees, Fashion Bug, etc. because I end up with 3 pairs of $30 pants that fall apart or stretch sideways or something in a month's time and then I'm $90 in the hole where I should have just bought one pair of $90 pants that last for 3 years.

Oh, I'm not above wearing the same pair of pants every day for two weeks. Or more. My kid is constantly pissing himself so it's not like I'm not doing tons of laundry four times a week.

That's enough for now, I'll complain about shirts another time.

Lying to children

Working for the world's largest-museum complex makes for great people watching. At lunchtime, I often sit outside on a wrought iron bench in the Castle's perfectly manicured gardens, just watching hordes of tourists go by and making observations.

Today a man, woman and two children walked by holding hands. The little girl looked trustingly at the man--I'll call him her father, for the sake of argument--and asked, "When did they come up with the idea to make the Smithsonian." Without blinking an eye, her father responded, "1874."

Close, but no cigar. The correct answer is 1846.

Parent's lying to children is not uncommon around here. In fact, The Washington Post wrote an article, "Father Knows Best?", earlier this year about parent's making up information in response to their kids' questions about objects on display at the Air and Space Museum.

I wonder how many lies my own parents told me. I never believed in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus, but that's probably because I'm Jewish. I do however recall being told things like, "Quit making that face or it will get stuck that way" and "don't swallow your gum or it will stick to your insides."

What lies do you remember being told? Do you lie to your kids? Do you plan to lie when the "where do babies come from" question pops up?

lemginumber

Ladies, WedSpag has an official spokesdrink.

Thanks to my and Samantha's love of gin (because we think it is 1923) and Amy Jo's suggestion that the incredible organic lemonade from Whole Foods (or the cheap crap from the Chinese store on my corner) tastes even more incredibler with gin, and Sara's urban garden that produces cucumbers we found it.

Now it needs a name.

What do you call a lemonade with a healthy dose of gin and a garnish of cuke? I'm sure that it already has a name. Something so delicious has to already been invented but we can call it what we want. Anyone feeling creative this morning?

Oh, and by the way, no. No it doesn't taste so good with spaghetti, but it sure does taste good before spaghetti. I'll never drink another gin and tonic as long as we both shall live.

8.27

We had a baby free WedSpag last night! I'm not sure where Sam and Amy were (most likely guarding their crops) but Diane and Lily had to take their poor dog Jessie to the vet ER because Jessie was sick. She was diagnosed with Lyme's Disease. All the more reminder to check yerself before you wreck yerself. Parasites scare me.
Jake decided he couldn't stay in our house without his dad so he went our for some man time.
Lauren got in a car wreck but is doing pretty well save for a few bumps and bruises.
Melanie had to go to a dinner at the restaurant she used to work at, so she and Jules were MIA too. Leigh Anne was at the park, I think, enjoying the second-to-last free concert in Rittenhouse before the season ends and I have no idea where the hell Hope was. Probably slaving for the devil, as she always is. Rich people blow.

So, it was just me, Samantha, and Kate and we got to talk about boys and sex and periods and stuff. Good times.

Speaking of periods, I am on my first pack of Yaz. You know, the birth control pill for the mentally unstable? We'll see how I do this month. What do you use to stop babies from growing all up in your guts?

Help to Maintain My Sanity

I have some road rage. And some idiot rage. And a scosh of irritation rage. Basically if you are driving like a fool, inconsiderate of other people on the road, act like an idiot on a regular basis (and not just randomly because we all do that), or you are a flat our irritating person (i.e., my brother's wife, the woman at work whose laugh sounds like she just swallowed broken glass, or the girl at work who can't seem to form a complete sentence) you tend to frustrate/irritate me a bit.

Now, I try and let this not get to me. Noting that they are not doing it to me, but are just being themselves and it is me that is allowing them to have control over me by allowing it to irritate me. So, obviously I was listening in my psychology/sociology classes.

But here is the rub. I am pregnant. At least as far as I know. We have a Dr. appt. on September 4th. Hope to hear the heartbeat so I can put my mind at ease. As a pregnant woman, apparently my hormones are doing double duty.

For those of you that have a sweeter disposition than I....any suggestions for how to calm the F* down? I am open to anything. I haven't ever been much of a Yoga person, but will give it a shot if someone swears by it. Any ideas ladies?

Hope your spaghetti was exceptionally yummy last night!
Thanks in advance, and the Austin area thanks you too. And possibly my husband too.

Help! I'm a frizzy mess.

I'd like to ask you lovely ladies for some hair care advice.

When I came home from the salon last week, my hair was smooth and shiny. My newly cut layers fell around my face in a sultry, Victoria's Secret Angels kind of way. I tried to preserve this look as long as posisble, but eventually I had to wash my hair. (I won't tell you how many days I waited.)

Thanks to my serious lack of styling skills, my beautiful haircut is now a dull, flat, frizzy mess. Ok, it's not that bad. But I definitley need help.

I suck at blowing my hair out and need any tips you can offer. I think I need a new brush. I use the cheapest mousse I can find for blowdrying and Pantene heat protectant for flat ironing. I am considering buying curlers, but I don't know how to use them.

Please help!

Lora,

I'm sure I speak for the entire Wednesday Spaghetti crew when I say thank you for creating this blog. You are always so thoughtful!

Charm City

This weekend I discovered a fabulous little Italian deli in my neighborhood, and thanks to Di Pascale’s plump meatballs and garlicky gravy, I am finally ready to accept “Charm City” as my home.

When I first made the “big move” two years ago, I drove back to Philly almost every weekend. But, as gas prices started going up, my trips became less and less frequent.

At first, I desperately missed Philadelphia. I missed the way Philadelphia’s pedestrians politely ignore one another when passing on the street. I paid a couple of hefty traffic tickets for turning left on red and nearly caused accidents doing the “south Philly slide” through stop signs in Baltimore. Store clerks glared at me when I refused to engage in small talk. I cringed each time I heard a Baltimorean say “Bawdmore” or “Warsh.” I longed for hoagies with “gabagool” and “prociutt’” on fresh baked bread from Dinardo’s and hand-made “muzzarel” braids from Mancuso’s. Ahhh....

While I still have a special place in my heart for Philly, I think I am finally beginning to “adjust” to my new life in Bmore. I have learned to give a “nod” when I walk past someone on the street and to comment on the weather while the convenient store clerk rings up my purchase. I’ve really begun to appreciate Baltimore’s “small town, regular person” feel, and I love how unpretentious Baltimore’s nightlife scene is. (Even our martini bars aren’t snooty :) And, now that I’ve found Di Pascale’s Italian deli, I feel complete again. Funny how something so simple can make a person feel at home.

Meatballs and Cat Pee

How about that for a blog post title? Since I live in Texas, and am unable to participate in Spaghetti Wednesdays the least I can do is post an obscure blog about nonsense and such.
Last things first. My 16 year old cat has decided that she is anti litter box and has started to relieve herself on the rug underneath our kitchen table. So much so that I am taking it to be professionally cleaned immediately tomorrow in hopes of saving it. But how to make her stop? No idea.

In nicer thoughts.....I have a recipe for meatballs that is to die for. So, here is the recipe for the sinful meatballs, if you ever choose to add them to your noodles and sauce.
Pre-heat oven to 325.
mix 1 lb. lean ground beef with the following:
1 egg
1.5 packets of dry spaghetti sauce mix
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

mush together, forms balls, put on a flat apparatus and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
Place in sauce and allow all to warm and mix together into a glorious package.

And if, while making this scrumptious addition to your Spaghetti Wednesdays, you can come up with a solution to our cat problem. It would be much appreciated.

Second Time Around...

Jake taught Sam the ins and outs of baseball. Sam seems to be destined for hockey, though. Jake kept asking me to pitch to him, but when it was Sam's turn he would put the ball on the ground and take a slap shot.

Does it make me an unfit mother that I was taking photos on the drive home? I didn't actually look into the shutter. I just held the camera up on the dash and clicked away. The sunset was crazy, and this photo doesn't do it justice.

See you next time!

Sam & Jake

We have only attended Spaghetti Wednesday once, but we're planning on going again and again. But it's not just the good food and fun lady friends that have got me yearning to parallel park my uber-suburban station wagon somewheres in south Philly.

No, it's these two boys. Sam & Jake. Jake & Sam.

For almost three days after our first Spaghetti Wednesday adventure Sam would ask to go to 'new Jake's home' relentlessly. (He has a third cousin twice removed named Jake who has also made quite an impression on him. Therefore this Jake is 'new' Jake.) They are totally going to be bffs if their mamas have any say in it. I'm guessing we do, because until they are like, 17 or something we'll be the ones hauling their little asses around.

Only when he's 17 I'll make him do the parallel parking. It'll be good practice for his driver's exam.

hello!

Because I feel the need to have a blog for everything, I thought maybe this would be one more way to keep in touch. Anyone can join, just so long as they are part of the Secret Spaghetti Society. Maybe this would be a good place to post questions and answers and tips and tricks about everything we talk about at WedSpag. Books, boys, booze, kids, neighbors, friends, food, pets, periods, parents, crappy girls who would never be invited to join, crappy housework that has to get done or else people will thing we are gross, and anything else that happens to come up.

Most WedSpaggers live pretty far away from the home office here in Philly, but they shouldn't be punished by missing out on the good stuff.