I’m done.

I’ve annoyed you all with my flip-flopping over whether or not to close down my blog.  So this is it.  I’m closing up shop.

My blog never shaped up to what I had originally imagined two years ago, and frankly, I just don’t have the interest nor the patience to keep it up.

What helped me make this decision?  I watched my good friend state an opinion, just to get torn to pieces by comments.  You can read the madness here.  Please do it…it’s eye-opening.

This is not something I want to be involved in any longer.  I’m just not very good at following the flock.  Seems that’s what you have to do, you know?  To feel like what you are writing is worth a darn.

This social media thing just sucks you in.   I need to unplug some of these cords and be more connected to the real world.

I’ll miss the “friends” I’ve made here, you really were the only reason I kept this blog going.  And if we really are friends, you already know how to reach me

I just nabbed this meme from Building a Bakery, simply because it made me laugh. It probably won’t make you laugh, but… whatevs.

Here you go:

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names):

Edian Richard

2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad):

George Dick

(That’s either a comedian, or a really cranky old man)

3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name):

Bymarc

(For the record, I like this version of the Star Wars name better: First three letters of your first name, last two letters of your last name; and then, first two letters of your mother’s maiden name, first three letters of the city where you were born. CONFUSED YET? Anyway… here is that result:)

Marnd Vapor

4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal):

Lavender Chia Pet

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live):

Lynn Sin City

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add “THE” to the beginning):

The Pink Gin and her sidekick Tonic

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name):

Mand

8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie):

Rocky Road Dough

(I don’t like cookies *as much* as I love DOUGH)

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name):

Sammie Burensburg

10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on):

Bunky Shamrock

This is Gorillabuns. Otherwise known as Shana. I think many of you read her already.

I think she is a fantastic person. Shana has two darling daughters, and excellent taste in music. She has a great sense of humor to which I totally relate. I aspire to be very much like her.

Shana is due *very shortly* with a brand new baby, and we’re throwing her a BIG! VIRTUAL! BABY SHOWER! (Read HERE for all the details and FABULOUS shower photos!!!)

You can take part!  There is no need to measure anyone’s belly or inspect melted chocolate in a diaper to figure out which candy bar is melted inside.  All you need to do is visit the following fine blogs that are all participating in this collective tribute to Shana!

I have always adored Russian dolls.

I always wanted one.

I have never owned one.

I like to look, touch, dissect, inspect, imagine, reassemble.

That pretty sums me up.

Fond memories came rushing back while viewing this video from old school Sesame Street.

I now know where my Russian doll fixation was born.

I want to thank Kim for sending this to me.

Proof that she digs me like I dig Russian dolls.

I couldn’t wait to be old enough to vote.

I turned 18 in 1992, and I was OVER THE MOON that I could vote for a President in my very first election.

One of my first days at University of Washington, I was approached by a volunteer who registered me to vote. I was thrilled to be registered, yet crushed because I could not declare my party. I wanted to register as a Democrat, because DAMMIT! I was a Democrat and I wanted the world to know.

November 1992, I rolled my bones out of bed in absolute agony — I was suffering from a horrendous flu and utter homesickness — and I walked through bone-chilling cold, and my lungs burned,  for eight blocks to the polls. I voted, and the feeling was everything I had hoped for.

Spring 1995, I was finishing a full year of political science classes. I was a double-major — Political Science and English.  I was taking courses from important political educators, all very liberal, at a very liberal university, and I WAS COMPLETELY TURNED-OFF. The veneer of the left-wing lost its gloss for me. I was feeling uncomfortable. I was realizing I wasn’t the Democrat as I once thought.

I was becoming…a *gasp* REPUBLICAN. I was becoming my father.

November 1996 I cast my vote again, for someone I knew wasn’t going to win. Whereas four years earlier I truly felt like I was part of a big movement, this particular election year I felt like my vote didn’t mean anything.

November 2000, I lived in California. And while my vote wasn’t going to change the enormous state’s electoral count, I felt the same way I did at 18… I was part of something big.

November 2004, I lived in Nevada. Though a very small state, Nevada’s population was growing, and along with it, its importance in the electoral world. Again, I felt like my vote meant something. When I voted for my unpopular candidate, I knew that the liberal media hadn’t swayed my political beliefs, and I knew that there were other people like me who weren’t swayed either.

Today, I voted again. I had a choice between two major candidates, both of whom I just couldn’t back 100%.  In these past 16 years, as my political views have evolved I have learned:

I am financially conservative.

I am socially liberal.

I believe that everyone should be allowed to marry.

I do not believe in over-taxing people who work very hard for their money.

I think abortion is hideous, but it is not my place to tell someone they cannot seek one. And I do not believe there is any way to put allowances on it — rape/incest, birth defects, risk to mother — if the right exists, it must exist for all women.

I do not favor big government.

I believe we need to support our troops, and open our eyes to the good those men and women are doing not only for our country, but for the citizens in the lands our troops occupy. (PLEASE, turn off your television and talk to someone who has served recently. Let THEM tell you what they did everyday in Iraq. And I promise you, the answer is not “Bomb the shit out the locals.”)

I believe Iraq, with their thriving economy, should monetarily repay us for our efforts.

I do not agree with the “religious right.”

I do not support the redistribution of wealth.

I believe the use alternative fuels is crucial to saving our planet. In the meantime, let’s wean ourselves off of foreign oil and limit our use of gas-guzzling SUVs.

I believe we are responsible for our own choices, and our own destiny.

*****

I STAND IN THE MIDDLE, and I cast my presidential vote for the fifth time. Once again, I was part of the larger goal… but when I tapped that touch screen, I felt like I was betraying one-half of my beliefs.

My hope is this: in the next election, we have at least one candidate who doesn’t pander to the far right, or the far left. Someone who can hold on to their integrity. Someone who understands that there might be more voters like me, who don’t buy into party politics.

Why, hello little blog! I pretty much forgot about you.  What, between managing my increasingly active daughters and mentoring fledgling marathoners for Team in Training… I neglected to carve out time for you.

My word, do I have any readers left?

This will be a combo post, folks.  Jessica tagged me for a Six Things Meme (and you know how I embrace The Meme, I probably wouldn’t have a blog without these lovely beings…)  Also, I’m leaving for Maui on Monday. Again.

So, I present to you…

Six Reasons Why My Husband and I Keep Going Back to the Same Place to Vacation. Meme.

1. Our little rental cottage above Wailea feels like home. The children of custom home builders, Andrew and I moved from house to house a great deal growing up.  Many people enjoy the comfort of returning to their childhood homes… not us, because we don’t have one childhood home.  By the time we were both 14, we had lived in 10 houses a piece. Our dads just kept on building houses, and kept moving their families around.  In addition, there was some turbulence and upheaval in my childhood, so I crave the security and comfort of the familiar.

2. When you know a place so well, there is no need to bust your balls to SEE and DO. While we do want to see The World in time, going to Maui is our time to turn off, tune out, and CHILL-AX.  This will be our fourth trip back to The Valley Isle, and we’ve done just about everything you can on the island.  We’ll be repeating a couple things we love, and trying a couple new things. But otherwise, we will spend nine glorious days just Being. Living. Absorbing. Centering. Enjoying.

3. It’s gorgeous.

4. Water and greenery. Two things that don’t occur naturally in the Las Vegas desert.

5. It is our favorite place on Earth. We love one particular beach so much, we named our firstborn after it.

6. Big skies, no smog, beautiful sunsets…

My friend Jill of GlossyVeneer fame is running her buns off in order to train for the San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon — her second marathon this year, mind you — and she’s training with Team in Training!  A group very dear to my heart!

Jill is *so close* to meeting her sponsorship minimum — money donated will help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society find a cure for Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma. In order to meet her goal, Jill is holding a drawing for a lovely piece of pottery from Bethany Actually’s fun creations! I’m so excited, I donated AGAIN to Jill’s campaign!  Please check it out, and donate whatever you can.

This is pretty much what my days are like with these two chicks…

(filmed with my new Flip)

Outnumbered from Marci B. on Vimeo.

(THE STUPID VIDEO WON’T POST! GRRR! Click the title “Outnumbered” to see it!)

I find myself with a very full plate… again.  Honestly, I like it when I have many irons in the fire, so to speak.  But as expected, it becomes too much.  I want to do it all, but I only have so much energy; so much time… not to mention I’m a full time mom during my family’s waking hours.  But to paraphrase my blog’s slogan… Do something new, it doesn’t hurt to try!

So what on Earth is on my plate now?

Marathon training

with my triathlon season wrapping up in a few weeks, I’m jumping into Team in Training once again!  I really do love that organization, and the cause touches me, my family, my friends.  The Southern Nevada organization is a tad rickety right now, so dearest Coach Chuck — who coached me during my tri training, and with whom I still train with on occasion — asked if I would consider mentoring members of the upcoming marathon team.

The goal race is P.F. Chang’s Rock & Roll Marathon in Phoenix on January 18, 2009.  Problem is… I don’t care for running that much.  I do it fine.  I like running 10Ks.  Heck, I’d even love to run a half marathon this winter.  But a whole 26.2 miles… meh.

Well, I decided to go for it.  Why not?  I have already amazed myself, pushed my body to achieve physically… in ways I never thought possible.  I know I can do it.  And, I look forward to the mental break from training for three sports in the wee hours of the morning.

Going back to work

I really want to go back to work next year, and put my teaching credential to good use (finally).  Both the girls will be in school, and I’m really craving the thought of having my own classroom.  A couple weeks ago, I finally added a grades 7-12 English credential to my teaching license, and I renewed the license which will be good for another six years.

Now, I need to further discuss the feasibility with my husband, my mom (who will help pick up the girls after school), and decide if I’m really ready for the distraction!  Meanwhile, I’m talking around to people I know, getting my feelers out for middle school English or Reading positions around the district.

Blissfully editing

I have a new gig as editor of the Blissful Buzz channel over at Blissfully Domestic.  That’s okay, I’ll pause a moment while you laugh that off… me… DOMESTIC… ???

So far, it has been fun gathering writers for Buzz, which covers celebrity news, pop culture, books, movies, goofy stuff.  It reminds me of when I was a copy editor way back in the day, and I enjoy hearing fresh ideas and reading the contributors’ posts.  (PSST!  If you’re interested in writing for Blissfully Domestic, let me know!  All channels, including mine, are still taking in writers.)

Hop on over to check it out, there are lots of goodies and information over there.  The site launched today, so it is still has a few hiccups.