My ultimate search for the perfect umbrella stroller...

This all started when my lovely boyfriend and I went out for the day and he thought he could handle carrying our (at the time) 11 month old daughter around in her BABY carrier. I warned him it would put some serious strain on his back (which is already giving him trouble, he blames it on turning 28) and his shoulders. I explained I had taken her out with her carrier when she was 8 months old and she was already way too heavy for it. But he insisted and with all the macho-bravado he could muster he gave me his signature half-smile raised an eyebrow and said "c'mon, babe, I can handle it." Needless to say, we got two blocks from our building and he was already huffing and puffing all the while a string of giggles spilled out of our daughter's mouth with each bounce that resulted from her dad trying to re-adjust her into a comfortable position for him. When I saw him in distress I instantly started suggesting buying a cheap 99 cent store variety umbrella stroller. About four blocks from our building, he conceded. We stopped at a Shopper's World, spotted a Disney-princess themed super cheapo umbrella stroller and purchased it just to put my boyfriend out of his misery. It was supposed to be a temporary thing but now it's 4 months later and we're still using it.

This contraption has definitively become the BANE of my existence. I use it every morning to take my daughter to my mom's for the day while her dad and I go to work. And every day I struggle with it because it's so low that her JJ Cole Bundle Me automatically gets caught under the wheels. Her Bundle Me is constantly filthy, it's digusting and I'm so tired of it. Not to mention the flimsy canopy that has gotten all bent out of shape. The time has definitely come to invest in a better, sturdier umbrella stroller, especially since I'm walking in the March of Dimes March for Babies walk and the AIDS walk both in May.

So, for the past few weeks I've been researching better umbrella strollers on Babies R Us.com and Target.com to name a few. Thus far I really like The First Years Ignite Stroller (ranging from $38.99-$48.00 depending on the store and the theme of the stroller), Babies R Us' Butterfly stroller ($54.99) and the Maclaren Volo Stroller (a splurge at $98.00). My first two choices rank higher than the Maclaren because they take us parents into consideration in the form of a large parent console with the First Years Ignite stroller and a cup holder with the BRU Butterfly stroller. The Maclaren offers nothing for the parents other than a lower storage basket, though to be fair that's more than I can say for that disaster of an umbrella stroller that we're currently using.

All in all, I'm slowly but surely coming to the conclusion that the final decision can't be made by just perusing different strollers online, I have to go to the store and actually test them out!

Three Years Later...

Wow, it has been three years since I've posted a blog! It's not so much that I've had nothing to write about as much as it's I've had absolutely NO time to myself. You see, I've become a mommy, and as many mothers will tell you mommyhood is all-encompassing...

My daughter was born in 2009 and I feel as if I spent the whole of 2010 looking and feeling utterly bedraggled. The introduction of a baby into my life has provided me with endless experiences (funny and scary alike) that would amount to tons writing material but with zero time to actually put a pen to paper (or a finger to keyboard). The thing is, I strongly believe that to be a good mother you have to be dedicated and devote as much of your time and energy to your child possible. So, that's precisely what I did however, 2011 has signaled the arrival of a new revelation for me...dedication and devotion to your child does NOT mean letting yourself go to pot. I've dyed my hair and bought some new clothes and I'm not stopping there. I'm going to lose this baby weight if it's the last thing I do (you know, with 2012 around the corner it may very well be). Furthermore, I will make a strong and diligent effort to not let my brain detoriorate. I've been reading a lot more (something I never had the energy for during pregnancy or for the first year of my daughter's life) and now I'll be writing more too...the only difference is now I'll be writing from the point of view of my life as a mom. What am I ultimately but a writer who had a baby and became a mommy? Having my daughter hasn't made me any less of a writer and so I need to make serious changes in my life to improve it and ultimately to provide better for Isabella...ah, yes that's her name by the way. The absolute love of my life, Isabella Yamileth. Her birth story and naming story have already been written down, now let's move on to her LIFE and my life as her mom!

leprosy...

I was just thinking…well I wasn’t really thinking as much as I was browsing myspace and, you know…my sis and i are some SERIOUS outcasts in our neighborhood! Let me explain…

I was on a family member’s page simply because her status message intrigued me, so curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check if she had any new pics up. No, she had none but the pic she had as her default had been commented on by plenty of people. Including this girl in the neighborhood who is disabled… Anyhoosen! I went on her page…she has a substantial amount of friends. Including my family, of course!

And it just got me to thinking, of course this sounds cruel but it’s true damn it!, how much must everyone hate us that they actually accept and hang out with a little armless girl but not my sister and me?! I mean don’t get me wrong I think it’s great that people like her and hang out with her and they accept and hang out with that lesbodian that used to look at me funny (like she wanted to hump me) and they accept and hang out with that girl who is a closet lezzer (not only accept actually but one of the neighborhood dudes impregnated)!!!

I mean if life was a game of elementary school baseball you would think we’d get picked before them…but no. I mean at this point we might as well be lepers!

LOL…I have too much time on my hands…

Paris

I refuse to have another let's hit up a club birthday celebration.

I'm turning 25 in November and I want to celebrate it by going away. And I don't want to go somewhere local.

I want to go to PARIS. So I checked on Expedia what kind of cheap deal I could get there's a flight+hotel package for $785.00. And I'm gonna do it...I was talking to my best friend about it and it seems like she'd want to come along. but then she shitted on the whole thing because

A. there were a couple of bad reviews of the place (overall rating is a 3.2 out of 5 aka GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!)
and

B. by saying we should bring her friend along because she speaks french.

what am I? Like I didn't study french for 3 years at Hunter?!

ugh...what's up with people? always feeling the need to bring someone else along? if i'm asking you to come it's because I want to share the experience with you. NOT you+1.

for that matter, she just shouldn't come at all...

I'll bring someone else or go by myself, fuck that shit.

never ever thought I would leave him alone but I let a dog roam now he wanna come home...

my boyfriend thinks I'm going to dump him on december 14th. pretty damn specific, eh? well he seems to have these pseudo psychic dreams. and in his most recent I broke up with him on his cousin's bday I gave no explanation other than to say "I have my reasons." in all honesty he's paranoid. paranoid about any lingering feelings I may still have for my ex. I don't really blame him, after all his previous girlfriends have left him for their exes at an alarming rate. the percentage is astounding, and gives him every reason to doubt my feelings. except I'm me. that's the difference...well then again that may make him think my sentiments dubious more than anything else. see, my ex..hmm...well I felt he was the one, you know the ONE, for years. I waited for him--he was my first and everything. my one and only, my love, my life, my soulmate. but he broke my heart too many damn times. and I had to let him go. like keyshia cole says "if he aint gonna love you the way he should, then let him go" and that's what I've done. however he recently contacted my sister to tell her that he still loves me. well what can I say but... "don't trust him, though I still love him no longer want him..."--there will always be a soft spot for him but I'm not IN love with him. he's just a bit of nostalgia. me and E we're in for the long run.

25 µm=a big deal

so i've made an arrangement with my boy JAY, that if i don't have a baby by age 30, i can have his sperm.

we won't be together but he'll play an active role in the kid's life. so it's all good.

my sister's biological clock is ticking, and it's a clock about the size of big ben. that pendulum is knocking her down right about now. it's a sad state to be in. and i wish i could do something to help, but in all honesty...i really can't. i don't think she's infertile. she tends to jump to the worst possible scenario, so she thinks she is. i think she'll be alright, all that's needed is a little patience...

and some sperm.

i'm the motherflippin'

so i've been up to a whole lotta nothing lately. as usual but i thought i'd update you all anyway! so here we go:
a while i thought i was being moved to a different desk in my office--well that never came to fruition...til now. luckily i'm not all the way in the back stuffed behind some filing cabinets and sandwiched between the restrooms. i'm only 3 desks behind my previous cubicle...(i heard someone say CUBICULO the other day, is that a word? because if so i love it and will start to use it on a regular basis) not as bad as it could've been but the sole purpose of moving me was because the receptionist and i talk too much, and so now we can't. mission accomplished. fuckers. they're so hypocritical (i saw hypercritical written in someone's blog recently and i got to thinking of what that would mean etymologically...then i got to wondering if it's an actual word...then i stopped wondering looked it up saw that it was a word and etymologically meant exactly what i thought it'd mean... fault-finding, finicky etc. where hypocritical obviously means dupilicitous, two-faced, phony. i think the person meant hypocritical. then i stopped thinking about the person's blog and started listening to Feist). anyway seriously everyone in that damn office is so chatty and it interferes with their work, but the receptionist and i, we keep up with our work!!! wackness...they only separated us because we're young and pretty...
E is in his motherland right now...and i'm wondering what he's up to. i was supposed to call him but i have severe phone phobia. i only have a cell to txt. i can't bring myself to purchase a calling card and dial 011...*shudder* i'd have to ask for him in SPANISH! and my spanish isn't formal enough i know i'd come off really rude...i just don't wanna put myself through that. nuh-uh. no thanks.
and i'm at work right now. back at the LIBRARY, yes indeed...being here is comparable to being in tartaros, i'm sure of it...worst of all their pay periods are all out of whack so even though i've been working since 9/1 i won't get my first check til 10/11. oh joy. the most interesting thing that has happened all day is that the cleaning lady found a Harry Potter book in the toilet in the men's room. Like literally in the BOWL, poor Harry...it's the first book too. how could someone chuck him in the loo so early on? you haven't even gotten to know him yet!!! but on a serious tip...that's mad senseless, what's the use in ruining a book like that? morons.
on another note... i'm in so much love with Flight of the Conchords right about now...(and i'd like to give a shout out to RA for that!)
so i'll end this blog how i began it with a touch of new zealand genius...
I'm the mother flippin' Rhymenocerous
My beats are fly and the birds are on my back
And I'm hornyI'm horny
If you choose to proceed you will indeed concede
Cos I hit you with my flow
The Wild Rhino Stampede.
I'm not just wild, I'm trained,Domesticated
I was raised by a rapper and rhino that dated
And subsequently procreated
That's how it goes
Here's the Hiphopopotamus
The hip hop hippo
They call me the Hiphopopotamus
My lyrics are bottomless






They call me the Hiphopopotamus
Flows that glow like phosphorous
Poppin' off the top of this esophagus
Rockin' this metropolis
I'm not a large water-dwelling mammal
Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?
Did Steve tell you that, perchance?
Steve.
My rhymes and records they don't get played
Because my records and rhymes they don't get made
And if you rap like me you don't get paid
And if you roll like me you don't get laid.
My rhymes are so potent that in this small segment
I made all of the ladies in the area pregnant
Yes, sometimes my lyrics are sexist
But you lovely bitches and hoes should know I'm trying to correct this.
Other rappers dis me
Say my rhymes are sissy.
Why? Why? Why?What?
Why exactly?What? Why?
Be more constructive with your feedback, please.
Why?Why?Why, because I rap about reality?
Like me and my grandma drinking a cup of tea?
There ain't no party like my nanna's tea party.
Hey! Ho!
I'm the motherflippin'
I'm the motherflippin'
I'm the motherflippin'
Who's the motherflippin?
I'm the motherflippin'
I'm the motherflippin'
I'm the motherflippin'
Motherflippin'