Posts from the “Portlandia” Category

#OMSI pinkwashes science and I am #NotBuyingIt

Posted on June 15th, 2013

I was appalled when I saw the pinkwashing of Wonder Woman at Target. “The real Wonder Woman does not wear pink,” I told Pea. Case closed. #NotBuyingIt There is one place in Portland where I (thought I could) count on taking Pea to learn about science without even thinking about gender stereotyping: the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. We’re there a lot. One of my proudest moments as a mother was the first time she put on goggles and we did a chemistry experiment together. Yesterday we watched a new planetarium show. We ate at Theory. We played in the science playground, futzed around Life Sciences, and then, on our way out, went into the store. The store had changed. OMSI went pink.…

Categories: Epiphanies, Portlandia, Too much to ask?, WTF

You should go: Tomorrow at Powell’s (Cedar Crossing)

Posted on May 13th, 2013

Alert for those of you on the west side! (Oh, even if you’re on the east side of town, too. Hop the MAX.) Tomorrow evening at 7 PM at Powell’s Cedar Crossing, Robyn Parnell will be reading from her brand new, being-released-tomorrow middle-grade novel The Mighty Quinn. Really, you should go. Not only because of the new book (just being released tomorrow), but because Robyn is hilarious and it’s bound to be a good time. Plus, Pea and I will be there with hats on. And if you can’t make it, then order the book, anyway!

Categories: Portlandia, Reading

Ms. Pea goes to law school

Posted on May 7th, 2013

After her piano lesson, instead of hitting OMSI like we usually do, I took Pea to the state park by the law school. It was a lovely day, and after three days of not going anywhere, I wanted to be OUT. (Also, because of the condo painting schedule, I’m stuck home waiting for someone to paint our door…and they gave a two-day window, for Wednesday and Thursday. Really, couldn’t nail that down?) So we were going to enjoy nature today, damn it. It was a good hike for her. Getting there was a lot of up and down hiking in lush forest, for about 1.20 miles. We saw three banana slugs, which prompted no screaming (two flies and a spider, on the other hand,…

Categories: Good day, Law, Portlandia

Gallbladders and Gardens

Posted on April 24th, 2013

Another day, another doctor’s appointment. Today it was mine, to get an order for a HIDA scan of my Schrodinger’s gallbladder (when scanned, it always looks normal). Since any dairy or animal fat right now makes me incredibly queasy, I’m subsisting on rye crackers and Lilly’s Smoked Tomato & Basil hummus.* (This is a perfect meal, but I suspect that I might get tired of it after a year or two.) I would really like to have my gallbladder out. It would be one less body part betraying me. We’d hoped to go to the zoo after the appointment, but there was no parking to be had at 10:30. Instead, I threw caution to the wind and took Pea to the Japanese Garden. It…

Categories: General Parenting, Good day, Portlandia

M’s latest project, or: M gets called Sir.

Posted on April 1st, 2013

We live in a condo surrounded by old people. This is fine, so long as we accept we may see/hear EMTs at any hour of the day or night and we must remember that many of our neighbors seem to have aged out of their sense of humor. (Fortunately, most of them love M. They aren’t sure what to make of me, but they love M. This may be because the population is overwhelmingly female.) But…we are renters. Our landlords, however, control the HOA. Because of the scope of M’s latest project and the concern of one elderly neighbor, he thought it was a good idea to keep our landlords apprised of his progress. This project is a marvel of engineering, and frankly, anything…

Categories: Portlandia, Too much to ask?

The Find

Posted on March 27th, 2013

This week, a friend from the east coast made his annual pilgrimage to Portland. Part of the pilgrimage ritual is a stop at Powell’s, because, well. Powell’s. As far as I’m concerned, if you come to Portland and skip Powell’s, there is something wrong with you. (Also, watching the cashier’s face when our friend checks out is awesome. Because, well. Four figures. And they’ll ship it all for something like $11.) Since we used to live so close to Powell’s (10 minute walk), and because Pea’s tolerance for browsing in sections other than children’s quickly devolves into her pulling books out and saying, “Here’s one for you,” I’ve gotten used to either browsing online, buying the book(s) I want and trudging up to the…

Categories: Epiphanies, Portlandia, Reading, Writing

What a week.

Posted on March 22nd, 2013

Monday was ordinary enough: piano lessons, a haircut (Pea’s), some shopping. Then, WHAM. Pea’s Monday sniffles turned into a household of coughing, sneezing, miserable folks. It was like a freight train: Tuesday morning I was okay and by Tuesday evening I waned to crawl in bed and stay there. I cranked the heater in my office up to 74 (I usually am more a 67 type), had on a cashmere sweater, and I was still freezing. I don’t remember Wednesday. I am pretty sure I played Civ IV and dozed. Thursday I dragged myself to the neurologist for Botox injections. She upped the dose past FDA recommended amounts (whee) but I have little injection bruises, and for a few hours, my forehead looked like…

Categories: Portlandia, Sick kid, Sick Mom

Aristophanes

Posted on January 16th, 2013

In the afternoons, it’s up to me to provide enrichment for Pea. Today we went to Audubon, and were pleased the raven Aristophanes was in the cage accessible to the public (sometimes he’s in the back and out of commission).

Pea and I have always talked to Ari when he’s out. We tell him how clever he is, how lovely he is, and we’ve always gotten a cocked head and some interest when we’ve spoken. But nothing like today.

Today, he played a game with us. He hopped right up to the ground, picked up a piece of a stick, then pushed it through to our side. Then he waited. I put the stick back in the cage, and he’d catch it or pick it up, then push it back out at us. We played the game for about 15 minutes (before my feet froze!) and it was absolutely delightful.

Such a clever, handsome bird. Amazingly, we did not get scolded by volunteers (I told Pea to not say anything, but like THAT works). They all thought it was cool.

Categories: Good day, Portlandia

Alas and Alack

Posted on December 6th, 2012

Here’s something you don’t want to hear when you’re driving your kid through a sketchy neighborhood on the way to school (also in a sketchy area): “Hey, Mama, that guy had a gun.” (Even accepting that Pea’s vision is much better than mine and she isn’t focused on driving, I’m pretty sure there were no cops around.) “Are you sure? Maybe it was a toy.” “No, it was a big gun. I’ve seen it in books and on shows.” Fantastic. I’ll add “men with automatic weapons” to the list of people to avoid when driving (along with bicyclists and suicidal pedestrians). And maybe this explains the new presence of uniformed police at the coffee shop where I wait out the morning kindergarten session. In…

Categories: Hard days, Not crazy...yet, Portlandia

Bagpipes and Perfume Bonuses and Santa(r)

Posted on November 24th, 2012

Pea and I were downtown today, and it was crazy. The crowds were typical for this time of year, but the street musicians and performers were everywhere. (Sometimes two jammed together on the same corner.) And there were pipes. “Let’s go listen to the pipes,” I said to Pea, who has — and this is the important part — been taking Highland dancing lessons for months. We get to the corner with the piper. I look at Pea… …and she has her hands over her ears. Huh. We have some desensitization to do, I think. So we moved on. I’ve been out of my favorite perfume for a while (money) and had previously only been able to find it at Nordstrom, but on the…

Categories: General Parenting, Portlandia, Weird day