Comments on MotherReader: Happy Festivus: The Airing of the Grievances

I just wish my two-year-old would stop sneaking cr...

2012-01-05T10:50:30.454-05:00

I just wish my two-year-old would stop sneaking crayons into the dryer. I like orange an purple, but not on my white shirts.

Thank you for Festivus. Amen to Saints and Sinners...

2011-12-25T10:39:42.541-05:00

Thank you for Festivus. Amen to Saints and Sinners for grievance on food.
Mine include:
The inability for Congress to get anything done.
My job always coming under fire in budget cuts discussions.

Having a project I've spent three weeks on be ...

2011-12-24T16:40:38.960-05:00

Having a project I've spent three weeks on be returned - a project which is pre-embryonic it's so early in the game, but which everyone expects me to be ecstatic over, even though it's a lot of work for so far no return...

Working so hard for the physique I want, and aching for it, and never having the pain bloom into something worthwhile...

Girlfriends who are so single focus that when they finally get a man in their life, they can't email, write, call, or keep in touch - because they're so into him. Somehow, I learned to deal with that in high school, but people, we're pushing forty pretty hard right about now... grow up and learn to be a friend...

My own awkwardness and lack of grace - could I maybe get over my own high school inanities by now???

Happy Festivus, luv, really glad you do this.

Publishers who don't include kill-fees in thei...

2011-12-24T12:02:51.180-05:00

Publishers who don't include kill-fees in their contracts.

Publishers who expect manuscripts to be handed in on time (rightly so), but then force writers to beg for their checks.

Editors who demand substantial changes after they've approved the outline.

Writers who hand in sloppy work.

So I have spent years reading all those studies th...

2011-12-24T09:22:05.071-05:00

So I have spent years reading all those studies that told me all the various ways that exercise is going to help me live longer and not die of some hideous long-term ailment, and I dutifully started an exercise regimen, which I've been keeping up for about a decade.

None of those studies told me the exercise would also eventually make me wake up with some kind of ache or pain every. single. day.

Also my 9-year-old cat has just this last month developed a fondness for chewing on electrical cords. That's what kittens are supposed to do, not cats that are officially now on senior food.

I could go on. A lot of what everyone else said also irritates me.

My grievance this year is typically movie-related:...

2011-12-24T08:16:22.440-05:00

My grievance this year is typically movie-related:

Studios: Stop trying to sell us on crappy 3D conversions. Yeah, someone like James Cameron might be able to pull it off (we'll see when "Titanic" comes out). But unless you're him — or maybe, MAYBE George Lucas — you have no business trying to pass of a crappy, rushed job as somehow "improving" a film. You want 3D? SHOOT IT in 3D!

And keep your damn hands off of "Avengers."

Here's mine. Those who talk loudly and often a...

2011-12-24T06:59:14.038-05:00

Here's mine. Those who talk loudly and often about the future of "books", when what they really are talking about is, at most, the future of business books or reference books. It's not the same as fiction or other nonfiction, so please, stop predicting the end of what you don't know much about.

Those who complain about "gatekeepers" keeping self published books out of the hands of readers. Guess what? Those gatekeepers get your books into the hands of readers, self pubbed or no. Call it whatever you want (gatekeeper, filter, etc) but with thousands of books on one side, one reader on the other.... yeah. Something has to be used so that reader finds the handful of books they want.

Finally, I'm peeved at the fact that I have about 15 pounds I want to lose, but I was born loving food and hating exercise. (I also was born without a trust fund. the injustice!!!!).

My MAJOR grievance right now is parents who use th...

2011-12-23T20:45:11.569-05:00

My MAJOR grievance right now is parents who use the library for free childcare, sending their 5th grade and middle school aged kids there for hours after school, telling them not to go anywhere else.

We are not after school care.
We are not babysitters.
We are not parents.
We are not in loco parentis, as are schools.

Grow up, make other arrangements for your kids, and do it fast because we have reached the end of our tethers and will be kicking your neglected, illiterate, rude, inappropriately dressed, and badly behaved brats out into the snow in the new year.

Yes! To the person who posted a year or two ago th...

2011-12-23T16:30:31.464-05:00

Yes! To the person who posted a year or two ago that "people who only eat five things should not then complain that they're served the same things all the time," I've remembered that. Your words resonated with me. My petty grievances, all food related, that distract me from the larger heartaches:

1. People who have a host of food intolerance issues who then show up to a party empty-handed and surprised that they can't eat anything served.

2. Grownups who act surprised each time a class of kids eat cookies and then soon after, the kids start crawling up the walls.

3. Kids who go, "Bleeeuggggh!" and spit out food noisily instead of quietly throwing the food away. (Kids, it's fine if you didn't like the cake. I am incredulous, but de gustibus non est disputandum and all that. I just don't want to see your tongues covered in crumbs.)

LOVE the idea of this blog. Can our Moms become f...

2011-12-23T15:56:16.333-05:00

LOVE the idea of this blog.

Can our Moms become friend?!