Yes, I’m really doing this.

Yes, I’m really doing this..

Yes, I’m really doing this.

Proud owner of this t-shirt.

I know I’ve threatened a reboot before but I really mean it this time. Here’s what’s currently zipping around my head:

1. I saw a Gandalf garden statuary at Gethsemane over the weekend. Must have it. And everything else in the damn place. #Nerd #Sowhat
2. My worlds are colliding! The new Mockingjay 2 trailer has a new character…Brienne!!!
3. My daughter told me she crossed me off her birthday party list for next year. Well shit.
4. Sunday’s GoT episode was epic. It made me nostalgic for The Neverending Story. Turns out I wasn’t the only one.
5. My dear Hawks, stop this shit right now. Get it together by tomorrow night. And stop blaming Crow.
6. I’ve always thought meditation was bull caca. Nope, tried it. Liked it. Not going to be an everyday thing for me but I bought an app that lets me do 10 minute sessions while seated at work. It’s called Salute the Desk. I immediately relax as soon as the Australian lady tells me to breathe.
7. I saw/heard Neil DeGrasse Tyson speak at SXSW a few years back. Love him. Bought the t-shirt.
8. I embraced Snapchat. Snap me: katiemacshow. I will snap you back.
9. Playing with Periscope. More on that later.
10. Feeling grateful for my crazy but healthy family. Gonna go ahead and pat myself on the back for marrying well.

Do you want more of this? Engage. Interact. Let me know you’re there.

Have a great week!

Katie Mac

Do I Stay or Do I Go?

Is this the best place for my new and improved blog? We’ll see.

In the meantime, here are ten things floating around my head in no particular order:

1. Silicon Valley: Funniest show on TV. I HEART Jared. “You can SWOT a concept, a department, or a new initiative. You can even SWOT a person, although you have to be careful. They might SWOT you back.”

2. Game of Thrones: I have not read the books and love the show. Should I read said books? Will it ruin it? Sunday night is heaven.

3. Am I too old for Snapchat? I’m going to do it anyway.

4. I do not know how to teach my daughter to memorize math equations and I wish I knew more about early education. Numbers just pop in my head, I can’t explain how to make them pop into hers. Kindergarten is kicking my ass.

5. Smashbox long-wear lip lacquers are a gift from the gods. This stuff stays on forever and does not dry out my lips. Seriously. I’m not getting paid for this.

6. I’m listening to a new podcast: What the Grok. Check it out.

7. I was a cord cutter and will become one again once hockey season is over. Cable is STUPID and ripping me off. HBO NOW.

8. Let’s Go Hawks!!! Tonight’s 8:00 start guarantees OT. Please Crow, let’s do this.

9. Need new music. Suggestions please. May want to make my own. Not sure. May feel a creative streak coming on…

10. Is it December 18 yet?

Adios 2012

Adios 2012.

Greetings!

I’m irritated with WordPress but I’m going to blog anyway.

2012 came and went.  Yeah yeah yeah, I didn’t blog much. And the podcast didn’t quite evolve. But, I thought we were going go move 6 months ago and we’d have room for a studio. And that hasn’t happened. Looks like we’ll move in the spring and then we can get the show on the road, or at least online.

So, the biggest change in 2012 was my daughter’s entrance into preschool. That is, if you call 4 months of crying, begging and screaming to not go to school, an entrance. The principal walks her to class each morning and I’ve been banned from drop off duty.  It’s getting better but it was a rough Fall.

The kid actually likes school but refuses to admit it. She pretends to be a teacher  ALL THE TIME.  She “reads” to us, takes our attendance, leads nature walks and tells us when to line up. She also insists on wearing a scarf to bed. The little twirp gave me a peace sign charm for Christmas.  “It’s to remind you to be quiet, Mama.”

What else happened in 2012? I don’t know.  It’s Friday night and I need to catch up on Dowton Abbey.  LOVE that show.

Until we meet again…

 

 

Adios 2012

New mics, mixer and software ordered

It’s coming.  Soon.

Where did January go?

I was going to write a post over Christmas break but I was having too much fun.  Somehow, the month of January flew by and here I am.  It’s Saturday night, Freddie has a gig and my Tivo is full of Fringe and Doc Martin, but I’m writing this.  You’re welcome!

As I mentioned, Christmas was fun.  Best Christmas EVER.  Abbie was totally into it this year and we all got a big kick out of it.  Christmas is AWESOME with a kid!!! I also had a long break off of work and I had a chance to catch up with a lot of friends.  I didn’t realize how long it had been or how much I missed them.  The great holiday plus friends and time off has resulted in me feeling somewhat Zen.  ME?! Ms. neurotic and high-strung is feeling Zen?! Yep. I don’t know if it will last but I hope so.  Steph noticed today, she said “are you OK?  You’re so calm and relaxed.” OK, so I’d just had a mani/pedi, but she meant recently, not just today. 🙂

Something devastating happened despite all the tranquility I’m exuding.  Abbie threw my entire make-up collection into the toilet. All of it.  My Trish McEvoy brushes ($$$), and  my designer pencils and shadows, all of which had been picked out for me by Ms. Amy (the best make-up artist EVER.) Amy almost killed me when I told her I threw it all away without writing down the names of the colors, or numbers of the brushes.  My only defense is that I was despondent. We have to start from scratch. Abbie, you’re lucky I’m nuts about you.

This month marks the 12 year anniversary of me and Freddie being together.  I think it’s a bigger deal than our wedding anniversary. Your wedding is just the day that you make your relationship official.  This anniversary commemorates falling in love. OK, that’s enough mushy stuff.

Last Friday I was sent home from work due to the snow storm.  Later that evening, the fam hopped into Curvey (the CRV) and went to Montrose Harbor to go sledding.  There’s a great hill and I rode in a sled with Abbie for the first time.  We both screamed with delight as we zoomed down the hill.  The city looked amazing with a new blanket of snow and the moon illuminated several shades of gray and black in the sky.  Abbie’s cheeks were pink from the wind and cold and she was thrilled to be out for a night on the town with us.  It was the perfect night and all the colors from that evening have stuck with me.

This is by far the sappiest thing I’ve ever written but I don’t care cuz I’m Zen, dammit!

Until next time, have  a great week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Christmas Tree

I think some of Abbie’s first memories were created yesterday.  It started with us cutting down our own Christmas tree and ended with Abbie in the ER at Children’s Hospital.

Let’ start at the beginning. Last week, a friend at work mentioned she and her husband always drive out to a farm and cut down their own tree.  I was intrigued for two reasons.  One, I remember doing that with my family as a kid and two, this is the first year Abbie somewhat understands Christmas and she’s been talking about a tree for weeks.  So we skipped the neighborhood tree vendor and hopped in our new Honda CRV for a road trip.  From now on, the car will be referred to as Curvey.  And yes, she’s female.  

Before I delve into the tree trip you should know something.  My husband’s an idiot.  I love him with all my heart but he already efed up the new car.  Since we had Abbie, he’s developed a new hobby/obsession: Bikes.  Not motorcycles.  Bicycles.  Trust me, there’s sure to be plenty of posts about the ceaseless bike habit. So, not surprisingly, Freddie insisted on a rack for the roof of the car and a bike rack extension.  I indulged him as he negotiated a great price for Curvey and what the heck, it was a drop in the bucket at this point.

On Saturday morning, he went through a McDonald’s drive thru, one with a height limit, and forgot about the bike.  Unfortunately the bike is fine. My roof, however, is dented. We haven’t even made a payment on the car yet.  We didn’t even have the license plates yet.  He jacked up the new car I’ve barely had a chance to drive!

I tried to get over his idioticness as we left the city and drove west for a few hours.  I fell asleep on the way there, as did Abbie. and when we got there, we were ready to find our tree.

It was muddy but the rain had stopped and it wasn’t too cold.  We rode a tractor pull out to the fields and found the perfect Tannenbaum.  Freddie cut it down, threw it on the tractor and we were good to go. He mentioned that it was a good thing that we had a rack on the car for the tree. That’s right, remind me of the rack, great idea.

Fast forward 3 or 4 hours to us putting up the tree at home.  Freddie made a big fuss over having cut the tree and dragging it up three flights of stairs.  He was too tired to help with the lights and decorations, but not too tired to criticize the way I was doing it. At some point I looked over at Abbie and saw that she had a package of tiny replacement light bulbs for the star (our new tree topper).  The package was open and one of the bulbs had been pulled apart.  The glass part of the bulb was missing.  I panicked and grabbed her, something was in her mouth.  She assured me she hadn’t swallowed the bulb and began to cry.  I asked her  a few more times over the course of the evening and she repeatedly denied swallowing the bulb.  Except for the last time I asked right after she crawled into bed.  I called the pediatrician who said it could puncture an organ so off to the hospital we went.

After three hours and a couple of x-rays, Abbie got a clean bill of health.  But not until after she called the operator from the phone in the exam room while I was next door in the bathroom.  I walked in and heard Abbie say “I got a Christmas tree.  I picked it and Daddy cut it down”.

If Abbie swallowed the bulb, it didn’t do any harm.  I guess I’ll never know if she actually swallowed it or not. For the record, Abbie stopped putting random crap in her mouth over a year ago, I thought we were over this phase.

 I decided to sleep in her bed with her just to make sure she was OK.  She kicked me out at 4am for coughing.  “Get out Mama”.  

If Abbie doesn’t remember all of this, I will remind her every year at Christmas time for the rest of her life. But I have a feeling some long-term memories were made.

Oh, and today Freddie cracked me up when he said: “I have a special relationship with this tree.”  He’s already watered it 4 times.

Katie Mac is back

Greetings.

Katie Mac is back.  Kind of.  The show is on an indefinite hiatus.  But I have things to say, so here’s my new blog.

In April 2009 I had a baby girl, Abbie, and our Katie Mac studio turned into an nursery.  This was not a quick process as Freddie took a long time giving up his man cave. He said “Why does such a little baby need so much space?” 4 months after she was born he gave in, moved his stuff to the dining room and painted Abbie’s room pink.

Why live in a 3rd floor condo with only one bathroom and no laundry? We  planned on selling our condo after our daughter was born but the economy tanked during the pregnancy. So we’re still here.

View From the Last Row: Do you really think I’ve seen any movies lately? Ha!  I have a toddler.  I’ve seen Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinder 6 times this week.  I also saw the first 45 minutes of the new Muppet movie – Abbie couldn’t stay in her seat so we bailed. Here comes my first unsolicited opinion:  How the ef can you charge me 10 bucks for a movie and then have 30+ minutes of previews?  10 previews!  Do you know how long 30 minutes is in toddler time?  We left just before Miss Piggy made her entrance.  I sulked the whole way home.  I love Miss Piggy.  When I was 5 years old, I called a 1-900 number several dozen times just to talk to her.  A recording with Kermit’s voice answered and I kept calling back hoping Miss P. would answer.  My parents received quite the phone bill. And Miss Piggy never answered.

That brings me to the watch.  One of the muppets wore a Kermit the Frog watch in the movie.  I bet they’re selling them.  I told Freddie that I hoped they’re selling a Miss Piggy watch too.  He said we didn’t need one because Abbie can’t tell time.  There was judgement in his face when I explained that I wanted the watch for ME.

Lipgloss Lounge: I have a new gig and started wearing make-up on a semi-regular basis again. My makeup artist (OK, she’s not MY makeup artist, but she’s a professional) told me about Blinc eyelash conditioner.  It’s revolutionized my lashes and is totally worth the extra step if I bother to make an effort at 6:30 am.

Fitness: LMAO.  That’s not going to be a real topic on this blog. However, I love Zumba.  I do it during lunch at work which is the only way I can fit it into my schedule. For real, I love Zumba.

Terrible Twos: Terrible doesn’t begin to describe it.  Exhausting, degrading, ready-to-jump-off-a-cliff twos is more like it.

By the way, I don’t think it’s cute when people tell me age three is even worse. Shut it.

Disclaimer: Of course there are amazing moments that make it all worth it, like when Abbie says “I love you mama crocodile” or she “tap dances”.  She’s too cute for her own good.

I need to wrap this up. Hope it wasn’t disappointing to the die hard Katie Mac fans.  I can’t believe half of this post is about Miss Piggy.