Tag: woman

Sassy Lady Bloggers

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Jennifer Wolfe

I have made some very sassy blogger friends in the last few months. Fortunately, when you’re a grown woman being sassy doesn’t have the same negative connotation as when you were a kid and your mother sent you to your room for being fresh, impertinent or impudent (not that MY mother ever did that).

Grown woman sassy, in my opinion, is a very good thing. To me, grown woman sassy is a lady who knows what she thinks and isn’t afraid to say it. And mean it. Articulately. Persuasively. Maybe that’s why so many sassy women are bloggers. Sassy bloggers speak their minds in a bold and smart way, and readers can’t help but cheer them on.

One of my favorite sassy bloggers is Caffeinated OC Mommy. This woman uses language like a lethal weapon, and certainly has won my respect. Apparently I’ve won hers, too – she bestowed upon me the “Tell Me About Yourself” blog award. As sassy as she is, she’s making me follow her rules of acceptance:

I must tell 7 things about myself
I must pass it on to other deserving bloggers

Here goes:

* I like to drive. Before I had kids, I once considered being a big rig driver-it sounds so cool to drive across the country, pull over and sleep right in your cab, and hit the road again. Maybe someday when I’m done driving my kids all over California I’ll consider this as a new career.

* I’m only 5’2″. That might come as a surprise to some of my students, since hardly a day goes by when I’m not wearing heels. Not stilettos, mind you. I teach junior high. But a nice 2-3 inch wedge or platform puts me at least at eye level with most of my pupils, and that’s a very nice place to be. On those days when I just can’t wear them I stand on an upturned milk crate for most of my lesson.

* I’m addicted to “Diners, Drive Ins and Dives”. I love eating at low key, local joints whenever I go somewhere. In fact, I have an app on my phone that will show me wherever Guy Fieri has visited in any city. I make a point to check them out, and so far I haven’t been disappointed.

* I’m raising two billingual kids. Sometimes making amends through our children for a life-not-lived is a positive thing. Going to an immersion school and speaking fluent Spanish isn’t a choice they got to make, but I know they’ll
thank me for it someday.

* I’m a bibliophage. That’s new word I learned that means ‘an ardent reader or bookworm’. One of the smarter moves I ever made was to be an English major-what could be better for a bibliophage than to get to read great books, write and talk about them for two years straight? I always have a book to escape into-lately it’s been historical fiction that I read late at night.

* I’m a good northern California girl. I recycle, ride my bike, drive a hybrid, dislike mall shopping, eat organic produce and vote in every election.

* I once met Joan Collins on the set of “Dynasty”. She was sassy, skinny, and seriously made up. I still have the 8×10 black and white glossy she signed with a Sharpie. I might just have to sell it on eBay one of these days.

And yes, I’m sassy too. I can’t help it. Maybe that’s why you read my blog.

So please take a moment and show some respect to these fellow bloggers-what goes around, comes around.

Funny The World
The Contemplative Cat
Insignificant At Best
My Dishwasher’s Possessed
Too Timid and Squeamish
Heal Now And Forever
Sooo Big
Mental Chew
The Crazy Life of a Writing Mom

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

Monkey Mind

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Jennifer Wolfe

There she goes again. That chatter. That voice in my head that directs me like a traffic cop. That sound of my non-existent older sister or nagging mother-in-law that won’t stop offering advice about what to do, how to act, where to be, and when to sleep. She just won’t shut up. From the moment I rise to the moment I rest she is there, nestling on my shoulder, whispering in my ear. Do. More. Better.

http://masonimages.com/

And yes, she is a figment of my imagination. I’m not experiencing any psychological disorder or seeing things that aren’t real. But she feels real, and she makes me feel things I don’t always want to think about. Or shouldn’t really think about. She’s my monkey mind, and she just won’t shut up. And she whispers…Be. More. Faster.

Thoughts spin around my brain when I’m alone and when no children are needing me, no husband is nearby, and for that one split second it appears no outside demands are asking to suck me dry. But that’s where Miss Monkey fits in. She reminds me of the to do list, the to don’t list, and everything in between. She moves me from the kitchen to the laundry room to the bedrooms and back. She sits me down at the computer to write, then nudges me up to move the clothes to the dryer-oh wait-don’t forget to change the air filter and water the plants. The dog needs a walk-gotta do that. Maybe I can stop at the bank…ACK! The tomato sauce is boiling over and now sticks solid on the bottom of the pan. Another tick on the to do list gets added. Back to the computer-DING! The dryer is finished and as I walk to the laundry room she reminds me that the packages need mailing and the garbage cans are still on the curb. Then grade the papers. Kids have homework. Practice. Lessons. Would that telephone please ring at a more convenient time; I don’t need to talk to a telemarketer EVER again. The dog barks for his walk. And she yells…Do. More. Now.

Seriously? I’m so young! I’m just a mom, a wife, a worker, a writer, a….woman. Why won’t Miss Monkey just shut up and let me think? I could get it done if she. just. would. stop. that. incessant. chatter. that. reminds. me. I. am. human? And she screams…Do. It. NOW!

She makes me think. She makes me think I should trust her, not my gut. Wait-who is she? How dare she leave me thinking like this. Making me feel upset, and vulnerable, and sometimes very alone. She makes me forget where I started, and where I’m going. She spins me around until I f.a.l.l.

But I’m not really, alone, am I? You hear her too…don’t you?

Jennifer Wolfe

Friday Photo: What a Woman

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Jennifer Wolfe

Sometimes as I’m moving around in my day, an image gets stuck in my head that I can’t shake. Sometimes it conjures up a memory, a feeling, or provides an impulse to do something. Often, though, I just see something that I want to capture in my mind for no particular reason-it just speaks to me. I’d like to offer these images up for ‘thought contributions’-as a way to generate a community of ideas together.

Today’s Friday Photo was taken a few weeks ago on Treasure Island. Look at her! Look at the balance, the coordination. Look at the lines of her body. The steel of her frame. The transparency of her skin. The muscles of her legs. The sway of her hips, and the grace of her hands. She is larger than life, dwarfing all those around her. Look at the peacefulness of her face, thoughts kept deep within. Look at Her! What a Woman!

What do you see?