Bettie Bookish

In My Head Forever

After a long day at work, after driving 45 minutes (!) home, after supper, after two girls jumping all over me - literally and figuratively - about playing on the swingset, after giving in, we went outside. I pushed the two girls not quite as well as their Dad would have. But he was inside not feeling well.

They giggled and soared.

Bee found a red leaf - proof positive that autumn is unfolding.

Bee will start K4 next week. It's a new development, and I'll be working a bit at the school, as well. I'm going to teach them to blog. Seriously.

So Bee found a leaf, and held it out to me to show me that fall is here, and thus the "you're going to school this fall" should turn into "you're going to school now."

The sun set behind the still-green horizon of Panther Mountain, behind our house, and we all walked into the house.

Bee turned to me with her grown-up little hand gesture. "this song has been in my head forever..."

"What song honey?"

She hum/whistled something I did not recognize.

"And there's a man carrying a baby in a basket," she continued, as though she had seen it in a movie.

"A man had a baby in a basket?"

"Yes. He had a baby in a basket and then he turned like" she cartoonishly turned quickly and looked over her shoulder "to see if there was a car.... Maybe that all came from my mind. It's been in my head forever."

She hummed the song happily. "The man was whistling the song," she said.

A man was whistling. He carried a baby in a basket. He was looking over his shoulder for cars.

It has been in her head forever.

In cyberspace, no one has to shave their beards

I find this to be hilarious.

This week, I had another follow-up to check all my lady parts.I am 3 years post-diagnosis.

Everything llooks great, he said. (blush.)

These appointments are always a little hard. Leading up to them, it's impossible not to think - at least fleetingly - of all the stories people tell of their Aunt So-and-So, who thought she had beat breast cancer, then BAM, it slithered into her room one night and strangled her in her sleep. A lot.

I don't think too much about those things, but it's impossible not to let some trace of worry seep in. Especially when - like old hens at a baby shower trading labor horror stories - people seem COMPELLED to share those stories when they learn that you had cancer, and are doing very well now. I guess it's important to have something to say.

But then, after a good check-up, I'm thrown into a different type of anxiety. Why did Aunt So-and-So get fingered for death, and I get a pass? What have I done with that pass? It's three years, folks, and I haven't made my second chance count nearly enough.

I know. Irrational. Silly. And - I'm guessing here - not uncommon.

Branded, Personally

I've been doing a lot of work for a marketing firm, and what with looking forward to my study of marketing and business, I've been reading up on all the trends.

My favorite has got to be personal branding.

Of course that's my favorite, because it brings the whole academic study back to ME. The funniest part is that I may be simultaneously the most self-conscious, and yet least conscious-of-self person you could ever meet. If I saw myself across a crowded plaza, I may not recognize myself.

I honestly cannot tell you what color my hair is at this moment. Oh, sure, I can tell you what the box said when I bought the hair color a couple months ago, but I do not know what I look like today. I can't even remember what I wore to work today.

I am Laura Bennett's worst nightmare.

But no more. Starting today, I am revamping Brand Me. It's an all new era. Here are the taglines I'm pitching myself:

Bettie Bookish - HysteRectified

It's All About Giving a Crap!

Hip

Hip-Deep in Self-Loathing

More Sober Than Lohan

Who left a potato under the sofa? (This may actually be more of a positioning statement than a tagline, but whatevs.)

jsfnv ,.m  cmm  b (Posey likes to type when I walk away from the computer!)

Ann Taylor Is My Co-Pilot