Life can take such unexpected turns. I’d never intended to marry, and BAM, now I’m a double divorcée. On Friday J and I found out that our divorce had been finalized. Turns out the judge signed off on it on the 14th, Valentine’s Day. I’d only filed on the 8th so I’m chalking that up to a twisted sense of humor. It is good to have closure (we even had “closure cupcakes“) though there was an unfortunate side effect. The immediate cancellation of my health insurance, and the little man’s. I rushed over to the courthouse this morning to get a certified copy of the divorce decree - to send along with the enrollment forms for our new health insurance. That’s all been faxed over and will hopefully be sorted soon. I hate being in panic mode. So how about five good things instead?

• Picked up the boxed set of The Spiderwick Chronicles which I’ve begun reading to the little man, one chapter at a time, at bedtime.
• We made it out to the last day of the Art Shanties 2008 and it was amazing! We both loved the shanties and the collaborative art vibe and the weather was perfect. Definitely returning next year.
• Anna’s Heart Tune-Up Benefit Show had a decent turnout, and hanging out with friends was fabulous. Especially the bit where two of them sang The Greatest American Hero (Believe it Or Not) theme song together, and then decided they should form a band called The Prom Memories. Though their first name choice - Bionic Lady Parts - was even better.
• A new, totally nerdy hobby, just in time for Spring…letterboxing.
• Speaking of Spring, the poor kid is missing warm weather in such a bad way I’ve been letting him blow bubbles in the kitchen. Sad.

Bonus: Star Wars Episode IV according to a 3 year-old.
Plus: R2D2 beanie!
And: Non-Star Wars related, but squid-related…today Animals of the Ocean, in Particular the Giant Squid arrived, from the good folks at BuyOlympia.com.

The little man attends a charter school. This one has worked well for us. Because of its emphasis on inclusion of students with special needs, the small class sizes and the year-round schedule it’s been worth the extra commuting time. Today, though, I found a letter in the little man’s backpack. Informing me that the school’s lease is not being renewed, as I’d feared, and the search is on for a new site. Four areas are being considered - two of which would work really well for us and two that would not. At all. And there was no indication when this will all be settled. I find this feeling of transiency disturbing. Especially with my background. I grew up in the very same house my Dad was raised in and had the same bedroom for the first eighteen years of my life. I attended the same schools my Dad did and even shared some teachers (who all remembered him fondly). I walked to school until the eleventh grade, at which point I was finally offered bus service, but by then I mostly drove or caught a ride with a friend. My son has no classmates in our neighborhood. Heck, there are only a few in our city. And if the school is moved even further away? I’m not sure what we’ll do. But I’m going to have to put together a backup plan, stat.

Bonus: That note on my hand? I stopped by the library this afternoon to pick up Lanark: A Life in Four Books. Got the idea from my pal hoveringdog. Planning to curl up with it after I put the powerbook away.
Strong: Santogold was interviewed yesterday on BBC radio.
And: Meant to post this last week…a behind the scenes video made by Bre at etsy labs, a How-To for Gocco printing. I’d always wondered what magic was behind that. Neat.

A PSA for today. A lovely lady named Anna needs to have heart surgery, due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and has organized a benefit show to help cover her out of pocket expenses. Good times for a good cause!

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23RD @ The Turf Club 9 pm
To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie
Les Ourses
Skoal Kodiak
Building Better Bombs

There are a million shows going on that night, and a lot of other happenings happening this weekend, but this is the one I’m most excited about.

Bonus: I’ve only just discovered Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, thanks to The Fabulist. So so good. Thou Shalt Always Kill may be old news for some but it’s made my day.
Plus: Cupcake Saturday…now on Fridays too! At a different location, St. Paul’s Golden Fig on Grand.
And: I am unintentionally eating from Evergreen twice today. I’d already had plans to meet friends there for dinner, but an impromptu lunch order coalesced, and I couldn’t turn down a little veggie wonton soup. For $2? Can’t go wrong.

Our cat Freddy really is the great destroyer. Yesterday he chewed through another pair of my headphones (just crappy ipod earbuds, but still). Yet he can’t be blamed for everything. Doesn’t stop the little man from trying. Lately the boy has taken to smearing toothpaste on the bathroom mirror. Tonight he claimed the cat did it. Now that would be something to see, Freddy getting his little paws all up in the silly strawberry. The scary thing though? Someday the little man might actually become adept at lying to me. Le sigh.

Overall the weekend was most awesome. I started things off right with the Super Furry Animals in-store performance. It was just 2/5 of SFA, but Gruff Rhys and Huw Bunford were super freaking adorable. Afterwards Pizza Luce dinner was had over at J’s.

Saturday night the little man stayed over with his grandparents, at The Depot downtown Minneapolis. He told me he went down the waterslide a zillion times! Awesome. I was ever-so-slightly jealous, but I took some time to myself, to take care of mundane details, enjoy a grown-up dinner out, and to attend the best ten person party ever. Wish I could’ve squeezed in a movie too, but otherwise, no complaints.

Today? A lazy Sunday of oversleeping, Scrabulous, some laundry-doing, and dinner over at J’s, yet again. Tomorrow we won’t be leaving the house, thanks to some dead presidents.

Bonus: Introducing your new vibrating vinyl friend - Barry the Beaver!
Plus: The Fabulist has been redesigned and their new digs are just lovely.
And: A couple of peeps sent me the link to this article I love you, but you love meat. Oh yes, I can relate.

Things are coming together, tripwise. I’ve got a house-sitter lined up and yesterday I booked our flight (into Seattle instead of Portland because it is way WAY cheaper, and then we can take a short scenic drive into Portland). Lodging-wise I scored us a room at the Kennedy School, a former elementary school that’s been converted into a hotel. So excited! It looks super awesome, and it’s well-reviewed. Sadly we’ll just miss the Portland Saturday Market but there’s still so much to do.

• Powell’s Books, of course.
• We’ll be staying in the Alberta neighborhood.
• We could visit a volcano! Plus many other area parks.
• I’m planning to stroll through the Portland Classical Chinese Gardens.
• There are so many vegan-friendly restaurants to choose from!
• The People’s Coop looks neat.
• Crafty Wonderland, if they’ve got something happening while we’re there.

The only minor hitch? We’ll be leaving two days after I get my next tattoo, which means I’ll be traveling while peeling and itchy. Oh wells.

Bonus: I had a tremendously awesome Valentine’s Day. Highlights: lunch at Obento-Ya with Sheela, with bonus gift of her amazing cookies! Then a matinee of The Spiderwick Chronicles with the little man. It would’ve been neat to top things off with How Fucking Romantic, but I was content to turn in early.
Plus: Just watched the trailer for Stephen Chow’s upcoming CJ7. I was thinking the little man would be old enough to enjoy it, but, sadly, only if it were dubbed. Subtitles would be too much of a challenge.
And: Years ago I contributed to a zine called My Baby Rides the Short Bus. Now? There’s a book in the works! I need to write and submit a new essay, but don’t even know where to begin.

I haven’t had anything much to look forward to, other than more of the same, for some time now. But today I noticed the little man’s school calendar. Spring break is right around the corner. Sure, I could shell out for the childcare and go to work as usual or…I could put that childcare money towards a trip instead. The lad would like to go back to L.A. but I’m opting for something more mellow. Involving, say, a Food Fight! And Voodoo Doughnuts. Yes, I think it’s time we ventured to Portland for a week of lounging and eating good vegan grub and visiting with the many former Minnesotan friends we have who’ve relocated there.

Traveling can be touch and go with an autistic kid (heck, with any kid for all I know) so I have to remember not to overdo it with the little man. I’ve been waffling on whether or not to rent a car. If it was just me then sure, I’d have no problem using public transit and I love to walk. But the little man? He is a foot dragger of the first degree. So getting a centrally located hotel will be crucial. I was considering this hipster hotspot,
The Jupiter, because it’s both cheap and neat-looking (and next door to the Doug Fir Lounge), but the dreadful tripadvisor reviews are turning me off. It might just be a more generic Holiday Inn for us.

Feel free to comment or email with your Portland opinions. Thanks!

Bonus: Super Furry Animals are playing an in-store at Electric Fetus this Friday at 3pm.
Plus: The book Jumper, and its sequel, Reflex, were both good fun. I’ve got free passes to a sneak screening of the film adaptation for Wednesday, but I’ve got such a busy week ahead of me and the movie looks cheeeeeeeesy. Still, that could be a good time. I am on the fence.
And: Six Organs of Admittance has been playing with Mick Turner, of Dirty Three. I didn’t get to the show last night, but a friend went…and took some lovely photos.

It’s been a relatively low-key weekend. Friday night I had my hairs cut. Then we popped by the library (where I paid off all my overdue fees - doh!) and I spent the evening engrossed in Beauty by Robin McKinley. Saturday was our usual cupcake social hour, followed by indoor swimming instead of outdoor sledding. Today I’d planned to hit up the gym for a workout, but the wind chill warning is scaring me away. Too bad The Handmaiden’s Art Fair is also going on right now. Doh.

Bonus: Next Saturday is the 8th Annual Women’s Prison Book Project Pancake Breakfast. We’ll be breakfasting there, before heading to Cupcake Saturday. Mmmmm.
Plus: I wish I had one of these Tanuki suits to wear so I could go outside without worrying about the cold.
And: I have just a couple more weekends to haul my ass out to the Art Shanties on Medicine Lake. I really want to mail something from the postal shanty.

Mika was absolutely amazing. First Avenue made me check my camera, but it was so crowded that was likely for the best. I did manage a few crappy cameraphone pix. This weekend there will be a slew more of good shows happening (like Daniel Johnston!) but I will be going to none. Oh wells.

Five things that make me happy:

• The Southeast Library has re-opened.
• The little man was watching Muppets From Space recently. In one scene, Miss Piggy is fighting one of the men in black, who she karate chops in the crotch. The lad looked at that, laughed, and said “he got hit in the legpit!” Legpit is my new favorite word.
• Monsieur Mon Stir is a one-of-a-kind plush sculpture.
• We’ve lost several mugs, some to general wear and tear, but a couple due to the damned cat knocking them off the kitchen counter to the floor. I need to pick up some replacements and sort of want a whole bunch of these smiley face mugs.
• My friend Maley went to the Saintly City Cat Show a couple of weeks ago, and took these brilliant photos…of a mad little Burmese and a hairless cat.

Bonus: The book I stole the post title from.
Plus: The divorce papers have finally been signed, sealed and delivered. We’ll see how long this part of the process takes.
And: “Buddhist Kung-Fu Cops Fight Crime in 2012 London” - looks ridiculously campy, but could be fun.

I’m already tired of grumbling and grumping my way through this week and it’s only Tuesday. So I am forging ahead, in spite of irritating personal setbacks. One of which includes We The People not having their act together with my legal documents. I swear, the next time I get divorced I am totally not using them!

Five good things:

• A Silver Mt. Zion will be touring and one of their stops is in Minneapolis. Hooray!
• Arrested Development, the movie? Sounds like the cast is just as excited by the prospect as we die-hard fans are.
• Mr. Bacon vs. Monsieur Tofu - brilliant!
• It’s been good times around the office, playing with Carie’s Star Wars pop-up book and getting cozy in our new Clockwork branded hoodies.
• Sheela really turned my frown upside down when she suggested I join her for tomorrow night’s Mika show at First Avenue. The man has that infectious happy energy that makes me all smiley.

Liars played a show in Lawrence, KS last night. I wasn’t there. All day I was home, in a haze, stuck in limbo between sleep and wakefulness. Having the power randomly go out at our house? Didn’t help matters. But the little man and I did make it to a friend’s birthday party, and hung out with people we adore. And Friday night we had dinner with other friends at Midori’s Floating World Cafe. Just look at this giant plate of vegan sushi. Yum. Today? I’m going to try to get things done. Bills, cleaning, errand-running, paperwork finishing. Yes, the glamorous life.

Five good things:

• The Young @ Heart Chorus = happy making.
• I’ve been hearing the buzz for a while now, and I’ve finally been swayed. I am on board the Robyn train. The video for Handle Me is what did it for me. Zentai suits? Check. Oversized teddy bear humping? Check. Gotta love crazy Swedish pop stars. Konichiwa bitches!
• I enjoy the idea of a Drunken Spelling Bee at the 331 Club. Too bad I don’t qualify. Anyone attend?
• My RSS feeds seem to be fixed now, but I’m not entirely relieved. The redirect is set up from the old to the new, but I still had to unsubscribe in NetNewsWire and resubscribe before it worked again. Hmmm. I’ve also set up a new feed with FeedBurner. Any feedback is welcome.
• I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic action flicks, so yeah, I plan to see Doomsday.

Bonus: Cupcake Saturday returns next weekend (on the 9th). Until then, read about the couple behind Letterbox, the place that hosts our weekly ritual.
Plus: I’d love to caucus on Tuesday night, but would need a babysitter. There should be onsite childcare, provided by folks ineligible to caucus…like responsible 17 year-olds or something.
And: Writers’ strike progress? I didn’t watch much teevee anyhow, and most of it I watched online. Seems like that’s where the sticking point is (with internet residuals). But I do miss my Heroes.