Space Available; Inquire Within

This will serve as my official last post here on blogger. It's been good to me, getting me started in this crazy writing adventure I've grown to love so much. But the shiny Typepad blogs made me want more, and so:

http://heyyall.typepad.com/hey_yall/

I have moved. Join me over there for Comfort Food Saturday, won't you

If you've got this blog bookmarked (thank you!), please don't forget to change it to the new address.

Well what are you waiting for? Let's go! See ya there.

Nothing out of the ordinary

We have had a very ordinary week here in Lane Land. I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I'm kind of tired and ready for the weekend already. I'm also amazed at how anti-climactic the week leading up to my birthday has been. I usually get much more excited. I guess 32 is kind of an anti-climactic age--no new privileges, no new decade, no double numbers, just a 3 and a 2. On Friday (the actual day of birth--love it when it's Friday the 13th!), my Auntie M and our friend Loretta (or Roletta) are taking me to lunch. Marcus, Dean and I are going out to dinner that night, then coming home to chill out and watch a movie, probably LOVE ACTUALLY so we can quote it as we watch. (after Dean goes to bed, of course) Marcus has scholarship auditions on Saturday, so Dean and I will surely find something to fill our time while he's gone.

Dean's 4th tooth popped through yesterday. It terrified our manny, BJ, who thought something was terribly wrong. Dean always runs a very low-grade fever when he's cutting a tooth and acts really lethargic and cranky. Poor BJ was sure he was sick and that he would shrivel up and blow away because he didn't want much lunch. Once we inspected his gums, we gave him a little Tylenol and a cold chew toy and he was good to go. He did wake up FREAKING OUT twice during the night, though. Poor little guy. I'm going to make him a grilled cheese for lunch. Toast feels good to baby gums, I hear.

There's a new art gallery in Montevallo! It's called the Blue Phrog. We met the owner last night at Eclipse, our coffee and book store. I'm hoping to get in touch with him this week to ask about bringing my class to the gallery for a field trip. It would be nice for them to talk to a manager of an arts organization that isn't performance-based.

In other news, I really need to get cracking on the workshops I'll be presenting next month at the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Last year, Marcus, our friend Scott and I did one on moving to NYC. It was so well received that this year we've broken it into two different workshops, one on moving to NYC, the other on networking in NYC, and added a fourth panelist. I think this will be the last year we present this one, since we've been gone from the city for close to a year and are already losing touch with the way things are there. I'm also presenting a workshop on stage managing outdoor drama. Should be fun. I'm looking forward to the conference. It's always fun to see old friends and make new connections. Since I'm not job-hunting or hiring this year, I'll be spending my days presenting or attending workshops, going to meetings for my new position with Alabama Conference of Theatres and finding other opportunities to get involved. There is an interest group for people who would like to write for Southern Theatre, our quarterly magazine. I'm going to attend that and pitch an idea: I think we should start a Southern Theatre blog. It's an idea I've been playing around with for a while and I think it would be a great informational and networking tool for our region. I would happily serve as "blogmaster" and be responsible for finding content to post 2-3 times a week. I'd like to do one interview with someone working in professional theatre each week, then a feature about new products, new plays, new programs, etc. I'm reading Blogging for Dummies right now to teach myself a little more about the wonderful, mysterious blogosphere.

How's YOUR week going?

PS:

I am TOTALLY a rockstar!

RIP, little Gateway

I knew this day was coming. When I bought my cheapo Gateway laptop almost three years ago, it was intended to be something I could use in my freelance work. I wanted a cheap computer that would let me do my word processing and internetting and a little Kodak Easy-Sharing. I also wanted something that I could hand over to my assistant(s) and not worry about it, or drop down the stairs and not worry about it. Ye Olde Gateway, she has served her time and served it well. But her time is up. A few weeks ago, my wireless card just up and died. I bought one of those external wireless sticks that goes into your USB port, and Dean decided he loooooooooved it. He would grab it every time he passed by my computer. Apparently his love for the wireless stick bent my USB port because yesterday the computer stopped recognizing our wireless network. That is not a good thing for an internet addict like myself, as I'm sure many of you understand. Anywho, Marcus offered to take me to Best Buy today to see if we could affordably upgrade. I found myself a Toshiba and brought it home. And let me tell you, it is a sexy thang! It's so fast and so cool! I'm still figuring out Vista, but I'll get there. The Geek Squad dude assured us that Windows is coming out with Windows 7 this summer and that it's much, much better than Vista. We shall see.

I'm about to start applying for grants to help me get to BlogHer this summer. Marcus and I have been talking about it and I think I can pitch it as a creative writing endeavor. I've been wanting to upgrade this blog for a while, but I feel like I need some more information before I make the big leap. I'm chatting with the TypePad community manager about some questions I have and about what I should be learning before I move over there. I also just became an officer for our state's Theatre Conference, and a part of my mission is to improve networking for theatre students and early career professionals. I think blogging may be a good way to do that. As a stage manager, I'm always shocked at how few networking opportunities there are for us. I'm thinking of starting a blog for stage managers to help with networking, sharing paperwork and ideas, and maybe interviewing a professional stage manager each week. Marcus and I are also interested in starting a blog to use as a recruitment tool for the theatre department at the University where we teach. If I could get some grant money, I could attend BlogHer, maybe even the Business Conference, and get all these ideas rolling! Plus, I could meet my blog friends in person. I think we all know that's the main reason I want to go! If you'll be there, let me know and let's hang out.

Delurkerday!

Happy Delurker Day! If you don't know what "Delurking" is, it's coming out of hiding and commenting for the first time. I don't know if I have any readers who don't comment, but if you're there, why not say hi!

I head back to work tomorrow and I'm very excited. Dean's pretty jazzed about his Manny coming to play. Marcus started teaching today.

I have to go now. Marcus and I are frantically watching re-runs of LOST from last season so we'll be caught up for hte January 21st premier event!!!!

To upgrade or not to upgrade?

First of all, let me commend all of you on your FUNNY captions yesterday! I think I'll make this a weekly thing. I even got all creative yesterday and got some PRIZES donated! Look at me go. From now on, if you leave a caption, you'll be entered in a random drawing (translation: Marcus will draw a name out of a hat) to win the coveted prize.
This week, however, I have to declare a winner based on what I found to be the funniest comment. And the winner is.....Eva at Surprised Suburban Wife! Her comment really captured our family's sense of humor. I laughed out loud. Really hard. My husband, who claims he doesn't read my blog OR laugh out loud, was sitting at his computer and started to giggle. I looked at him, shocked, and he said "This is the comment that should win."
So congrats, Eva! Email me your address--I've got a little happy for you and Megan!


Ok, enough with the italics already. I really got into reading blogs while I was pregnant. A few of my friends kept them before that and I started mine a couple of years ago as a way for friends to keep up with Marcus and me while we were in WV for the summer, but I didn't become the blog freak that I am today until I discovered the wonderful ones on Parents.com while gestating. Those led me to a few of their bloggers' personal sites, which led me to others through the comments section, and so on. For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to Typepad. I'd like to ask for that to be a Christmas gift from Marcus (it's a paid service). The features are attractive to me and I feel like it might help me generate more traffic and give my blog a little more personality. I also want to ditch the "marcusandjenlane" part of my blog address, since I've done an overhaul and made this blog my own, rather than just a family record. I'd love to have "heyyall.com" be my address. I have considered doing Typepad's free 14 day trial, but it seems like a real hassle to direct everyone over there, then possibly back over here if I end up not being happy with it. Plus, I'm no internet whiz (shocking, I know!), so 14 days is probably not long enough for me to get everything situated like I'd want to.

Anyone out there use Typepad? Do you love it? Give me some feedback. Others who are on Blogger, are there features I am not using to the best of my abilities? Should I stick around here?

Hope everyone has a peachy weekend! I will be leaving in a few hours with Heather and Auntie M for a GIRLS' DAY! Oh, Lord, how I need a girls' day...

Let's give this a whirl!

Well, howdy, everyone! Deano the Bambino here. I discovered the other day that some of my mom's blog friends have babies my age (or younger! Gasp!) who have already done guest spots on their blogs, so I figure it's high time I write my first guest post!
Yesterday was a very peculiar day. When I woke up, Mommy and Daddy gave me this pumpkin (which I'd already found and played with last week, but they don't need to know that!)















They kept telling me to look inside, but I was a little leery...

Finally, I gave in.














And scored myself a brand new book! (I can turn pages, you know.)














After a nice day of napping, playing in the yard and visiting my cool Halloween decorations,














Mommy said it was time to pick up Daddy and go tricker treating. (am I spelling that right??????? I'm just a baby...)














My friend Kate brought her Mama and Papa and we hit downtown Montevallo, where all the businesses were passing out treats. Mommy and Daddy said it was a perfect reminder why we moved back to the south. (Where were we before? Did I miss something? I have a very short-term memory...)



















Isn't Kate soooooooooooo pretty in her Tinkerbell costume?



















I do love the older women...

We scored lots of neat treats, like cookies, candy and freezie pops. I don't really go for freezie pops, so Kate ate mine.



















She even color-coordinated them with her outfit!

After dinner, we headed to Auntie M's and saw Chase in his Viking costume.




















Back at home, some kids in costumes knocked on our door and Mommy gave them candy. It only took her three times to figure out that she needed to take me to the door with her so I wouldn't COMPLETELY FREAK OUT. You know, because if she leaves my sight for a second she might never come back oh my gooooooooooooooooooosh, where's my mommyyyyyyyyy?????????? :)
I proceeded to pass out around 7:30 from all the excitement.

But the excitement didn't end there! When we woke up this morning, Daddy went outside and discovered that someone had decorated our trees!














Wasn't that nice of them!?!? They must know we're new to the neighborhood...

All in all, I enjoyed my first Halloween, but I hope Mommy doesn't try to dress me up like a monkey again today. It's awful hot in that costume.
Later, peeps!

****************************************************************
PS from Jen L.:
Hey, y'all! Hope you enjoyed Dean's first guest post. I fear there will be more in our future.
I wanted to let everyone know that I'll be participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), which means I'll be posting a blog each day in November. Be sure to check back often!

I've obviously inhaled too many Clorox fumes today..and why rose-colored glasses should be taken off the shelves

Look at this hilarious website I found: www.yearbookyourself.com. You put in a picture of yourself and it turns you into a yearbook photo for every even-numbered year from 1950-2000! This was my favorite, from 1988.



















The ones of Marcus from the 80s were surprisingly accurate, according to his REAL yearbook photos!



















And we learned that Dean would look hot with an afro!




















Ok, enough goofiness.
We have spent today cleaning like mad people and putting a few finishing touches on the house. It's nowhere near finished, but we do have towel bars now. (How did I not notice in our walk-through that there were no towel bars or toilet paper holders!?!? My word, that would've been a deal breaker! Ok, that's not true.) Anyway, we're pooped now. Dean had to go to the doctor yesterday for an ear infection and is now taking amoxil, which makes him sleepy, so we got a lot done while he napped today. Poor guy.

I've started an entry for today about 11 times and deleted it each time. I know what I want to say, but am not sure how to A. make it brief enough for my blog and B. start writing on this topic. So, I'll just dive right in. A little backstory first, so you know where this is coming from. I read a lot of blogs. By a lot, I mean that I religiously follow about 6 and I have 3 or 4 others that I check pretty regularly. If folks leave me a comment on my blog, I visit theirs and try to reciprocate, especially if their blog is about something that interests me. I enjoy reading about other folks with kids. I also often visit the blogs of folks who leave interesting comments on the other blogs I read. (Here I go again, saying BLOG a lot...) ANYWHO, just this week on three of the blogs I follow closely, the authors have felt as though they needed to apologize for something they were saying or were scolded by readers for their content. One of the blogs I like a lot on Parents.com, "Not That You Asked," is written by a woman named Emily who has a toddler and one on the way. What I like about her writing is that she is a REAL person talking about REAL things that happen in the life of a parent. A reader left the first comment on a post of hers recently scolding her for "complaining" so much in her blog and telling her she should suck it up and stop taking her life for granted. This led to her loyal readers sounding off about why they like her blog (for the reasons I explained above) and telling her not to change a thing. On my very favorite blog, Parental Discretion Advised, Bree, the author, revealed that she's having a little boy. We were all thrilled, but one reader felt the need to immediately hop on the soapbox about "genital integrity" while another made a snarky comment about her grammar. Amalah, whose son struggles with some social issues, felt like she needed to preface her blog about her son's breakthrough at school with an apology. These women are all strong, independent, hard-working moms who should not have to apologize for what they write ON THEIR BLOGS. Who would want to read about your wonderful life with your precious, perfect, clean children who frolic in meadows and never throw sweet potatoes in your hair and your immaculate house and wonderful husband every single day!?!? Life is sticky and stinky and downright funky sometimes, folks, and what I like about blogs like these is that they remind me I'm not the only one out there spending half her day helping an 8 month old blow his nose.

Wow, it felt really good to say all that, and I hope you followed at least some of it! If you know me, you know I'm an over-achiever and I try to be the best all the time. I will now admit that there are days when motherhood is kicking my tail. I love it so much, even more than I could have ever imagined, but y'all, some days I would give anything to be able to take a shower whenever the desire hit me. I adore my little family and am extremely thankful that Marcus and I were able to have a baby so quickly and that he's so amazing, but I don't ever want to sugar-coat my life for my blog.
I'll give you the good and the bad, because sometimes at the end of MY day, reading about YOUR kid throwing a tantrum in McDonald's makes me feel just a little more normal.

So write on, fellow bloggers, and have a great weekend!

Mama's got a brand new blog!

Here it is folks, what we've all been waiting for...the unveiling of Jen's new and improved blog!!! (C'mon, you know you wanna leave a comment!!) I've been wanting to go in a different direction for a while, especially since Marcus neither posts on nor reads our "family" blog. I've been trying to figure out the perfect, clever name, which wasn't happening. (Thanks to Mom, though, for suggesting "Inside Jen's Brain." At least we got a good laugh out of it, right?) Anyway, today I was inspired by myself. :) Those of you who know me personally, what's the first thing I say upon entering a room? "Hey y'all." So there we go. Up here in NYC, my southernness has set me apart, made me somewhat interesting and always fun to mock. But now, this greeting is going to become a part of everyday life again, something my son will say, something people will say back to us. Because, everybody, we are moving back home. It's true. Marcus has accepted a position at the University of Montevallo in Alabama (just south of Birmingham) and we will relocate there permanently in August, after our summer gig in WV is over. That means when we leave NYC in May, we're not coming back as residents.

We have mixed emotions as we prepare to leave the Big Apple. Before moving here, I don't think either of us ever pictured ourselves living in this city. I expected to spend my life and career at universities and regional theatres. But one thing led to another and this is where we landed. The opportunities we've had here have been incredible. I realized dreams I never knew I had and made them come true. I never in a million years dreamed I'd work on Broadway, yet I've done two shows there now. Marucs never saw himself as the coordinator of a theatre department, yet that's exactly what he's been doing the last couple of years. We got engagaed in New York, lived together as a married couple here, had our baby here. It will always hold a very special place in our hearts, but it's time to move. Anyone who knows us will not be surprised by this news. We have always known we'd leave NY some day and since finding out Dean was on the way, the clock has been ticking. Neither of us wants to raise kids here. It's not that it's an awful place for children (though we would have to declare bankruptcy if we wanted to send Deano to private school), it's just not what we know. We both grew up with backyards in subdivisions where you could ride your bike, where you ate lunch at whomever's house you were at around lunchtime, where you didn't have to take the subway everywhere. Of course the world has changed since the 70's (haha, Marcus is old!) and 80's when we were kids, but we know what kind of life we want to provide for our family and a childhood in NYC is not it.

We are both incredibly proud to have called ourselves New Yorkers for the past few years. I for one am prouder than proud to have been able to make it here. I've never missed a rent payment. I haven't had to hock any family heirlooms at the pawn shop to make ends meet. I've worked in my field since I walked into town, only spending a day or two temping (Which sucked my soul out through my ear, by the way). These are big accomplishments and have been so important in making me the person I am today, a person I'm proud of, a person who can give my son better experiences and understanding of the world because of what I've been through.

I can't wait to get to Montevallo. We go down next month to look at houses for purchase (!!!!!), so look for upcoming blogs on the terror that is applying for a mortgage. Everyone we've told has asked "But what are you going to do down there???" I'm going to raise my son and take care of my husband and our house. And visit my family more often (they're only 3 hours away in Oxford, MS!!) And drink coffee. And probably find a way to spend some time working in the theatre department with Marcus. I will certainly find something to occupy myself, even if it's just sipping sweet tea and soaking up the warm weather. Now everyone go play "Sweet Home Alabama" and think of me. :)

My dad calls it "getting your neffers checked"

I had my first appointment with the nephrologist yesterday. (That's the kidney doctor) I liked him a lot. He put me on some blood pressure medication, which already seems to be working, and let me ask all my questions about polycystic kidney disease. I am in the very, very early stages of the disease and am overall very healthy. We talked about ways I can adjust my diet to help slow the progression of the disease and I got to ask my million-dollar question--will I be able to have another baby? I was expecting a hearty "NO!" but was told that it wasn't out of the question! :) Obviously, I would be a high-risk pregnancy, especially since I've had pre-eclampsia before, and my blood pressure would have to be very stable because you can't take BP medicine while you're pregnant. There are a lot of other factors Marcus and I will have to consider before we make the decision whether or not to expand our family in a few years, like can I handle having pre-eclampsia again, what will I do if I have to go on bed rest (especially since Dean would be 2 or 3 at the time we had another one), is it worth the strain it may put on my body to go through another pregnancy and is it worth potentially spreading this disease to a child. These are all huge things to think about, things that may very well lead us to the decision that Dean will be our only child, but hearing that having more kids is not totally out of the question made me feel really good. See, it's Dean's fault--if he wasn't so sweet and cute, I wouldn't want another one! haha

I've been thinking about taking this blog in a different direction and I'd like to hear your thoughts. Originally, we started it to keep a lot of people updated while we were out of town for the summer. While I was pregnant, though, I started reading some blogs on parents.com, which led me to a couple of other blogs, and now they are some of my favorite things to read. My absolute favorite blogger is taking some much-needed and deserved time away from her blog to devote to her darling daughter, who was born a couple of weeks before Dean. Her blog is so much fun and is like having a conversation, and it inspired me to start learning more about blogging. It's something I really enjoy doing, so I'm thinking of making this one more my own than just an "adventures of Marcus and Jen" kind of thing. I'd like to talk about some issues that are important to me and my family (which I already do to an extent) and get you, the readers, more involved in the way of comments and links. That said, I'm thinking of changing the name of the blog. Suggestions?

Maybe, baby?

Jen doesn't want to jinx it (so she will, therefore, refer to herself in third person), but could it be possible that her baby boy's colic has passed??? Oh, please, oh, please! He actually slept through a feeding the other night! We woke up at 5am to his little hungry whimper, looked at each other and asked "Did you feed him at 3?" Neither of us had. He went 5 hours without eating. And I felt like a new woman. A woman who had experienced REM sleep. YES!

Now if we could just get him to stop peeing on his changing table! He did this about 15 minutes before we were due to have company on Sunday. It ran all over the vinyl pad and onto his back and head. There was no time to drag out the baby tub. Fortunately, Marcus was in the shower, so I just handed the baby to him to hose off. Dean actually seemed to enjoy himself and looked quite cute wrapped up in his froggy hooded towel.

Next week, Deano and I head to Oxford for his first visit with Grammy and Papa! (My parents) Everyone's just a little excited. My mom and I have been making list after list of baby essentials. Her friends from church are giving them a grandparents' shower on Sunday! Dean will be in heaven for our 2 week visit.

Oh, by the way, I've changed the settings on here so that anyone can leave comments...you don't have to have a google account. So comment away!