Linkety Dinkety Doo: Taking care of bidniss

I am taking care of all kinds of business today -- shuttling Lil E to and from co-op, where it seems the swift and icky stomach flu bug has finally dissipated, handling scads of financial headaches and making a plan for myself for the next few weeks. A good friend told me that when life becomes intensely emotional, it is good and healthy and productive to eliminate the feelings from certain aspects of each day, to designate what is just plain business. She also suggested I make a business plan for my life, which feels a bit daunting but is actually a sanctuary to emotional roller coaster of these last months. Numbers on a page and meetings in a calendar are tangible and real and unbiased. That's comforting.

That also means I am working more and reading more. While I hurry off to arrange an interview while I eat lunch and check in on a few blogs I've greatly missed, there's a bit of business for you to sink into with me. Join me over at Strollerderby, where we're in the conference room eating microwave popcorn, drinking Shasta and talking about:

The Seven REAL Signs Your Kid Loves You (and this isn't any warm-fuzzy flower-from-the-garden bullhockey, my friends).

Mario Lopez's ass. Yes, he is an ass, but also, we're ruminating on his booty. Oh, and Britney. Because all celeb stories eventually circle 'round to Brit Brit.

George Clooney's commitment. Not an ass, but again, having one.

The at-home dad convention. Also known as another attempt for the papas to be as BlogHer as possible. I'm kidding. I'm sure it is a lovely affair with spectacular crudites.

The kids of Hollywood power players. Also known as what happens when the characters from The OC grow up and have babies. Ewwww.

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Things I've Seen at Starbucks: Or at least heard

Please God, someone get Amy Winehouse's Rehab out of my head. And please, Starbucks corporate, take it out of rotation on the mix that plays over and over and freaking over while I am trying to make this place my warm, cozy fortress of solitude professional office environment. Well, an office environment where the people bring me samples of whipped creamy coffee drinks and little pieces of cut up walnut pumpkin muffins. It lacks the recap of Brothers & Sisters and Amazing Race, but I am learning to deal with that.

What I can't deal with is The Nose Picker. Oh, and the woman who must be some kind of administrator at the YMCA down the street and comes in for extended breaks, hones in on any seat within inches of me at my most studious moments and talks loud enough for the old ladies in swim caps doing modified breast stroke laps in the pool to hear her. I just do not need to know any more about the beautiful red and white wedding her husband planned in the mid-90s and why she doesn't really need him anymore. Rather, doesn't need him for anything except for [insert semi-whispered double entendre alluding to things you do not need to hear a former softball player in a denim skirt and low heels talking about]....nahnahnahnah [then insert covering ears and singing Rehab to myself for full-on avoidance of anything further]. I swear, if the Nose Picker and Y Lady ever come in at the same time and go to work on and with themselves, my little , fragile universe may just implode, leaving only droplets of Awake tea and shreds of Post-It notes from my denigrated laptop.

For now, I will just put my head down and try not to acknowledge my co-workers the patrons. I will order a yogurt parfait for lunch, bulldoze through some blogging and hope it doesn't come to that. No no no.

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You've got to meet this kid

Last month, I interviewed Cailey, a young woman with a very big life. She was born with a congenital heart disease and two years ago at the age of 13, had a very complicated heart surgery. Today, she is as I imagine she's always been -- bubbling with joy and laughter and introspection. As I spoke with her and her father, as I read her website, as I wrote a profile of her and even corresponded with her a bit by email, she inspired me.

In these tough weeks, Cailey's stayed with me. She doesn't settle into her difference or what she's survived. This is the life she is living and already, she is doing it fully. And that doesn't even include all the phenomenal dreams she's devising for herself.

There are people I get to write about who speak to my soul, even in a short hour on the phone. Cailey is one of those people and when you read just a bit about her, I think you will feel the same.

If you are the praying or good energy or warm thought or vibrations in the universe type of person, take this Sunday to send a bit of your own light up and out to Cailey.  Somewhere in Texas, I imagine, she's doing that for someone else, and wouldn't that make for a rich beginning to the week?

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