~ Chloe is walking all over the house these days which is more exciting than I can possibly describe. She also LOVES dancing to any form of music available (musical toys, commercials, etc.) but nothing makes her shake her little behind quite like Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” which we listen to gleefully at least 20 times a day. She likes the rest of MJ’s “Thriller” album [which I have on vinyl!] just okay, but when the “Mama-Se Mama-Sah, Mama Coo-Sahs” start, she starts clapping and shrieking like she knows she’s the happiest baby on the planet.

Also, she’s talking up a storm. Her best words are still “Mamamama” and “Dadadada” (respectively), but she’s also learned that ducks (“Dahs!”) say “Quack!” (“Kek! Kek! Kek!”) and that Benny (“Bee!”) is a cat (“Kah!”) and that my mother is “Granny” (“Gaan! Gaan!”) It’s all terribly exhilerating. She also babbles pretty much incessantly (“GoGah! Woodleweedlewoodle! Deedledoodle! Gaaahhdaaahh…Loodleloodleloodle” She’s getting to expert level on glottal sounds and we feel she may be a champion yodeler by the age of 3), but my mother says she only does this when I’m around and, when she’s left in the company of strangers, she’s mostly just silent and smiley.

~ On a whim, I ordered the “Ocean’s Twelve” soundtrack for supercheap at Amazon.com. Say what you will about the overzealously shameless “Oceans” movie franchise, I honestly think the soundtrack might be one of the most underrated compilations ever created. Seriously, tres cool.

~ My free trial week at WeightWatchers.com is over and, even though I totally screwed up the program for two days in a row, I still managed to weigh in 6 lbs. less than I did last week. Holy crap. That’s the kind of progress I can work with. (And yes, I’m shelling out enough dough for a three-month run.)

~ This morning I woke up at 7 a.m., fed the baby, got her ready for travel, slapped on some eye makeup, got together all my legal documents and excitedly hopped in my car to drive 20 minutes to the county seat and finally register for my small business license. Turns out today is the same national holiday they’ve celebrated on the Monday of every birthday week since I was born…

Hunh… Go figure.

~ I don’t know why I get all shaky and nervous when I submit fiction works to the 10-12 contests I enter annually, but I uber-courageously [insert eyeroll here] kicked off 2009 with my first two submissions last week. Suffice to say I was so anxious, I nearly dragged my keyboard under the desk to hide out when I hit the “Submit” button. Why can’t they award prizes for bravery, no matter how awful the fiction attempts may be?

~ Because I’m using WordPress format on this blog, I have the privilege of tracking who comes to read my scribblings here and I’m always amused at what sort of ridiculous searches bring readers to the site. Aside from Googling my name, it seems there are a ton of people searching for the keywords “Marilyn Monroe’s Chanel ad” (duh), “naked women” (also, duh), and, mostly, “naked feminists”…

…Wait, what?! There’s a market for that!?! Well, looks like I’ll have to go looking for photos of the days when Gloria Steinem was working undercover as a Playboy Bunny. We may be able to sell ads here with the sort of traffic that’ll garner.

(Mrs. Steinem, if, by some slim chance, you’re somehow lost on the Web and reading this, I’m kidding, of course. Although, for the record, I think your tirade against Playboy and Hefner in the 1970′s was a bit ridiculous and insulted the free will and intelligence of women more than it supported our protection. This being said, I still respect your work and appreciate that you’ve grown a sense of humor and a willingness to marry in your older age. From a next-generation neo-feminist, thank you for your efforts, angrily executed though they may have been.)

~ I’m so excited about the inauguration tomorrow I can’t even stand it. If the permeating excitement of November 5th wasn’t intoxicating enough, I have a feeling that tomorrow will be one giant global party and I’m looking forward to riding the worldwide energy all day. For my 26th birthday, I think I’m getting some patriotism for a change.