Sunday, May 04, 2014

Telling Our Stories

Wow, time flies when you can't decide what to do about a broken oven!  Currently, I've decided that all electric stoves turn out to be pieces of crap, so I'm going to go for it and put in a gas stove.  Unfortunately, this decision changes every 5 minutes or so.  That is, every time I remember that extending the gas line to the kitchen will double the cost of the appliance...

I hate this.

Anywhoo, in between changing my mind about stove purchases, I went to see/hear Listen To Your Mother today.  I couldn't get anyone to go with me, as my blogging friends live far away and my non-blogging friends are all "Huh?" when I mention it.  So I had to sit by myself and make it look as though I really enjoyed going alone, while all around me pairs and groups of people chattered excitedly.  I'm not sure whether or not I really pulled that one off.

The show was wonderful as usual, BUT I did mind the fact that not one of the speakers had a child older than 11.  That may be due to the make-up of the audition pool and of the general mommy-blogging population in general, I'm aware of that.  Still, it bothered me.  And not just because I auditioned for this particular show and didn't make it.  An introvert like myself shouldn't really be standing on stage in front of a couple of hundred people, anyway.  I know that. Which of course didn't stop me from writing next year's audition piece in my head as I drove home from the show.

Being on stage would feel like this, only scarier

Just channeling my inner Walter Mitty, I guess...



[Walter Mitty image: GoldDerby]

12 comments:

  1. I do love my gas stove. When the power goes out I can light the burners with a match. I always worry about things like that.

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  2. The best thing would be to have an electric oven and gas burners for stove-top cooking. I doubt anybody makes such a thing. I sometimes dream of having a gas stove, but the cost of installing a gas line ends that dream quickly.

    I have children older than 11 and I blog. But I would also find it difficult to stand up in front of hundreds of people and talk. Maybe the show should be titled "Listen to Your Extrovert Mother".

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    1. They DO make a range with gas burners and an electric oven! Cost prevented me from buying one when I built the house, but it was plumbed for a gas range already, so I could have. My brother ADORES his. If you can possibly afford it, SC, put in a gas line. You're going to be cooking on it a long time and if you ever sell, buyers want it.

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  3. Dang. In our show last year a bunch of us had old kids! I'm going to the "new" show this week. I'll let you know if it's changed! And yes, you will audition next year!!

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  4. It's positively criminal that you didn't make it into the show. Must be rigged. I get a little tired of the whole baby/preschooler schtick myself. There's so much comic tragedy to be mined from older kids!

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    1. Well, they did have a lot of people auditioning. And I think they try to make the stories have a sort of central theme, so I can see how my talking about how my grown son left the toilet seat up while visiting may not have fit in well anywhere.

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  5. For those of us who have had the sons return home, the ones who learned to put the toilet seat down, I feel your audition may have just struck to close to a nerve. For me, it wasn't my sons, but one of the soon to be daughter-in-laws. I guess the fact that she had only one brother numbed her to the open toilet. :-)

    My daughter, on the other hand, has managed to train her husband to put it down, so I find some comfort in knowing she will work equally hard at this with her own sons someday.

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  6. Oh I'll go with you next year! I live close to DC. (And I have older kids! And, I considered auditioning for about 7 seconds, but didn't due to the fact that I can't speak in front of a group larger than one.)

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    1. Oh, you should definitely audition next year - there are only 2 people listening, so it is good practice. And, as I said, they may be lacking moms with older kids in the audition pool.

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  7. I've never heard of that but sounds interesting (the show). Since my youngest is 11 I totally get where you are coming from. Talking about baby spit up and dirty diapers isn't as interesting to me anymore. The deep down hard stuff your older children put you through is where I'm at.

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  8. I have a gas pipe story!

    I'm sorry, but you don't even know that much about mothering if your oldest kid isn't over 11. They'd be lucky to have a veteran such as yourself in the mix!

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