Feeling Slightly F-ed

Okay, it doesn't help that I got my period this morning (sorry all you male readers) or that it's been frigidly cold for months or that work is incredibly busy and stressful right now and will continue to be that way until the end of May or that I feel guilty about being a working mom or, okay, never mind, I'll just stop kevtching right now. Sunday nights are generally difficult for me since I can remember.

But even though I'm feeling bummed out right now, it was a good weekend. Friday night I got to go into the city and have a grown-up dinner with my realtor turned friend. And the nice thing about having a realtor who is a "friend" is that she usually ends up paying and reminds me "if you ever hear of anyone who's looking for a house... ". Well, sure! So if any of you are looking for a house in Chicago, Ramona is your gal! Afterwards we went to a lounge, listened to hip-hop music, marveled at the unique fashion sense of male Chicago hipsters and were even hit on by some single men (it must have been pretty dark in there!).

Saturday night, Kaveh and Nina went to the Suzy Snowflake dance. This is an annual ball put on by the local Girl Scouts. Sadly I didn't get any photos of Daddy, but here's some from the gala event.

Here's Nina and her friend Maya getting ready for the big event:


Some bald daddies at the ball:



I guess Nina danced with her friends more than her dad. Typical.


Other weekend highlights included a mommy-son play date last night and dim sum today to celebrate Chinese New Year. We're not Chinese, but after living in SF for 12 years, I definitely appreciate the culture, and the food!

But now I must get back to feeling sorry for myself. My bloated, stressed, chapped-lipped, tired, Sunday night blah-ed self. Oh, the suffering.

In Hibernation

I'm not sure what's been wrong with me this last week. I just can't think of anything thrilling to write about. We're definitely in the deep trenches of winter and for people who work in the school system, this is the time of year when the shit hits the fan. Intense work followed by intense meetings after school. Couple that with raising two kids and dealing with blizzards every other day - well, there you have my life these days. But, in the optimistic spirit of Cute and Evil, here are some recent highlights of my life lately:
* I am an aunt (again)! Kaveh's brother and wife just had a baby! My little nephew Samuel was a whopping 9.4 pounds. But the sad news is that they live in the OC so I won't be able to see him in all his cute newborness.
* Kaveh and I actually got to go out on a date. Our fake cousin, Cassidy, babysat and we went to see Milk. Okay, not the most romantic movie for a date but inspiring nonetheless. Can you believe Dan White only got 5 years prison time for a double murder of two public officials?
* I've been cooking more Persian food. Since we're stuck at home a lot and my kids absolutely love the food their grandparents make them, I've been upping my cooking skills and the dishes, while extremely time consuming, are turning out to be pretty decent. I'm still working on perfecting my tadiq.
* I made Niko a headboard. Well, Kaveh helped me but this is the second headboard I've made and it's a fun, fairly easy project. Plus it saves you a hecka lot of money. I'll post pictures later.


That's all I can think of that could possibly interest you. Oh wait, I forgot the best news - I'm getting an intern tomorrow!! Free exploitative labor, here I come! No, just kidding Brittany. But having a helper twice a week is hopefully going to add a few years to my life and maybe help me sleep a little better until April.

And speaking of sleep, must go get some cuz I got me one hella of a busy week! And what a great week it will be - goodbye scary Mr. Bush! The nightmare may not be over, but at least Freddy Kruger has left the building.

Shattered Dream

My mom recently told me about HGTV's Dream Home giveaway. It's a beautiful house in Sonoma and you can enter once a day until the contest is over. I immediately went to the website and started entering myself and Kaveh each day for the last week. My mind spun out of control planning how we would move, when I would quit my job, how it would be so great to be near my CA friends and family again and how we would throw big parties in our huge, beautiful house and we would grow our own grapes and fresh veggies and I wonder how the schools are there and on and on my mind raced. This is typically how I think - I'm always 10 steps ahead of the present. So anyway, then I started to wonder about the hidden costs of this so-called "giveaway". I went to look at the fine print of the contest and it says you receive a 1099 for the over $2 million dollar value of the prizes. That's right, you have to pay income taxes on it. Then I did some more digging and found out that only one out of 10 families who have won the dream home have actually lived in it, and the one family who did move in went bankrupt from trying to pay the $500k mortgage and just the general cost of maintaining the giant house. You can read the sad tale here.

So now my bubble has been burst and it's back to life in my little, but cute, house. I think I'll still keep entering, though. I'll just start a new fantasy of how we'll move in, start our own wine label, write a hit song that the royalties will pay the taxes... .

Love Song

Here's a tender and romantic song to get you ready for Valentine's Day:

How Juice Can Save the World

To ride on the coattails of my brilliant sister Maggie, I too have a green tip for the new year. My sister is a big practitioner of the FIO (that would be fuck it off) lifestyle. Did she invent this concept? Not sure, but maybe. The FIO philosophy involves the notion that doing things with the least amount of effort yields great results. Here here! And more recently she related how doing things in an eco-friendly manner also are in line with the FIO way. You know, like not using wrapping paper for gifts, not bathing as often or not flying to visit family over the holidays.

I'd like to add that being eco-friendly can also coexist with being cheap. Sure, organic products, hybrid cars, solar panels, etc. are all pretty pricey ways to go green, but there are ways to turn your naturally cheap self into a trendy green earth-friendly person. Take, for instance my recent discovery - frozen juice from concentrate. I'm in love with the stuff! Not only is there far less packaging and you can buy it in plastic-free containers, but it is ass cheap! While one bottle of apple juice may put you out $4.00, you could be buying 2 cans of frozen from concentrate for the same price. Buy a cute vintage glass bottle at a thrift store and voila! Refreshing beverage you can feel good about.

Of course others might say that kids shouldn't be drinking juice at all but that's another post. Cheers!

Back to Reality and A Family Plug

Well, happy new year to all! I've had a jam-packed vacation with lots of celebrating and a 9-day visit with our favorite cousins from the Bay Area. It was so wonderful to spend time with Sahra who is 19 and blossoming into quite a beautiful woman. I'll post some pictures this week but right now I've got to buckle down and get a writing assignment done.

In the meantime, you can feast your ears on this fierce dance tune composed by my very own father, Howard Bassen, and includes vocals by yours truly. I started writing this song a while back, sent my dad some vocals but never really finished it. My dear old dad took what I gave him and came up with this club remix. Way to go, Pop. And since Tuesday will be his birthday, I'll give you the link to his website where you can hear many other of his musical creations. Happy Birthday, Dad!! Not bad for a 65 year-old!