getting back to basics....

yesterday, we had the electric subpanel in our house updated (i have NO idea what that really means outside of electricianspeak)

but i can tell you what it means in 'zillaspeak... it mean no lights, no sesame street, no land before time dvds, no 9 fm, no microwaved organic chicken nuggets w/ organic veggies, no blogs, no voicemails, no chilled juices or waters, no washer or dryer, no clocks, well... you get my sans electricity drift...

and it was actually... ok.

paloma and i didn't die. (bring it on, colonial house!)
(wee-HA! we live to annoy you day after another day!)

except for paloma's nap (which was constantly interrupted by the drilling thru of impervious pink chicago brick and the extravagant demolition of the previous electric subpanel "hydra"), we kicked it old school... lucky for us it was also warm enough to swing and slide for hours in the backyard.

well... i'm officially "busy" now (trying to raise paloma, while still maintaining my alter alter egos of bridezilla and girlzilla, write a quarter of a phantom book to have ready for a residency and start a southside drawing club) and so i'm forced to revisit the original idea of mamazilla.

as a newbie 2003 mom, in my post partum glow, i experienced some tragicomic de ja vues. i called them my "then & nows". so, i started my blog by cataloging a handful of them in an effort to communicate with the living as well as stimulate what little creative process my mommy peabrain could muster.

back then, paloma's naps were frequent and unpredictable. now, paloma's moods, naps and meals are relatively easy to pre-determine. i was tearing my hair out then and i still tear my hair out now... (see... then and now...)

all of that coupled with the onset of spring (read: recent release from the 'zillas minimum security self-imposed winter prison) and my new ventures, i may have to resort to "then & nows" again. which does not mean "i'm taking a hiatus" - it means i have a two year old who can go outside for some supervised play now.... (awwww, maaaan...)

anyhoo... i thought up two "then & now"s this morning as i was flipping thru last week's time out chicago... one is totally unfit to print here - you'll get the other and like it:

binge drinking

then:
11 p.m. bar #1 - six shooter o' jack, two pints of black and tans.
2 a.m. bar #2 - three pints o' leinenkugels
5 a.m. bar #3 - don't remember but a legendary table dance, an elvis impersonator and a $20 cab tip should suffice for memory loss.

now:
all day; kitchen table, living room sofa, basement futon (rotating) - 2 - 15oz vitamin c drinks, a 8 oz cup of hot chocolate, a 10 oz mug of chamomile tea, a 12oz can ginger ale and 4 - 8 oz glasses of ice water.

whoa, nelly.

mo' lateah...