Hello Day 20

I'm not going to force it. Here's what I was thinking about today...

1 Week to Ethiopia

I'm headed to Ethiopia next Friday. My inlaws are not buying the stated business purpose of the trip. Yes, I really am attending a conference, not picking up an additional grandchild.

"Right," they wink slyly, "sure it's a conference. We'll pick you up at the airport with a carseat. Just in case. Have fun at your 'conference', wink wink."

So no. Really. It's not a trip for adoption #2 but I am hugely looking forward to it. There is, of course, this little big problem of being away from Misho for 9 days. No worries. I have multiple strategies in development for keeping Misho in my camp. I've been speaking with the folks at Hasbro about some Mama action figures. With kung-fu grip no less. Or maybe big life size photos of Mama to hang over his crib like a big Mama mobile. And then to cap it off, a sizeable donation to Misho's therapy jar!

I'll have more tidbits of the methods for keeping Mama on Misho's mind in the days ahead. Have to spread out the blog content - only 11 more days to reach the finish line for the NoBlowhatever it is.

The conference is called Children's Rights at a Crossroads, sponsored by UNICEF and a host of others. The purpose is to develop recommendations for future policies, programming, and outreach to vulnerable children and youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Supposedly, and fingers crossed, there will be direct participation of children and youth in the conference and the final product. The way it should be.

Here are some some of the folks we'll be talking about:

Sexiest Man Alive

It's that time of year again, and as usual, I've been thinking: who is the sexiest man alive?

Okay, J. Depp. I get it. I'm with it. You're pretty, you have hats, you live in France. But I think there is a segment of sexiness not acknowledged or frankly understood by People magazine.

I'm at a different, more coherent place in my life now. Sexy means something different. Or maybe not. Maybe this is what I've always wanted. What was always missing from my life. Maybe now, I know the truth.

Telly Monster, in my libro, you are the sexiest man alive.







Congratulations.

Total Eclipse

Today took my brain away. Alot of multiple multitasking. Multiple work schtuff. Multiple preparations for Ethiopia trip next week. A board meeting where I skillfully muted the background sounds of joy from Mr. M - mouth to butt.

I need a lite blog entry. Someone needs to do the heavy work today...someone like:

Kiki.

Handsome Boy Mondays

I've named it - the next boy band.



And I'm calling it: Misho is Justin (the dude they've selected for the solo career once the boys break up).

The First Read

Finally home and safe from Canadian angst. Spent most of the day re-meshing and kissing up on Mr. M. Got some new books and DVDs. The Xmas faves are out already, so the household is now studying the dance moves of Sir Heat and Cold Miser.

Little guy also enjoyed his first read of Where the Wild Things Are. Seemed quite smitten. You could smell the soup and sandwich coming off the last page.

Momma just returned from a similar location, where she was wildly rumped and sent to bed without supper.

Viva la resistance, Max!

Rotary Whacked

Wow, angry Rotarians are a lethal force. Presentation (to those of you that know what I'm talking about) went great. But the dinner was nasty. Canadian nasty, so not really nasty. Not Texas nasty, which is a whole other ball of nasty wax. And mind you, it was actually an American in the group that really led the nasty charge. They were pissed off at the Foundation, I was wearing the Foundation mask, so became the obvious target. I think I involuntarily put my head down on the dinner table at one point. I don't hide disgust very well - though I did take it for the team. Felt like I worked for the IRS. What can you do? Put on the armor and plan for the future.

For those of you who don't know what I do or talking about, here it is in a nutshell: I'm the economic and community development specialist for The Rotary Foundation - yeah that Rotary, Rotary clubs, polio Rotary, your father's Rotary. The Rotary Foundation is trying to revamp its grant structure and fund larger more sustainable projects in specific areas of focus, one of those is economic and community development. Microfinance was the theme of this conference. I talked about how the Foundation will fund microfinance and other economic activities in our new grant structure. Some loved it, some thought it sucked. I ducked when the latter group took aim and barfed out their grief on me. At some point, someone put a glass of wine in front of me, I don't know who, but clearly a kind Canadian comrade. Now I'm back at the hotel, and I think safe. I may need armed escort to leave the country. Who knew I could cause such scandel in such a seemingly kindhearted place. It's like I pissed off Hello Kitty.

Here is my Canadian-played evil avatar for the night. "And strategic partners will cost.......$1 million dollars...wahhha.wwaaahwhaaaaaaa....(evil laughter continues on). This is clearly an inside joke for my Rotary comrades.



And Abby, if you're out there, I received the "back rub." Ewww.