Aside from doing the weekly grocery shopping, straightening up the house, and cooking dinner for eight people Saturday, I also:

• Updated the AAJA-D.C. home page Friday night, including doing some design work.
  
• Showed my mother-in-law this morning how to register a Webkinz toy so she can play with A.J. and me.
  
• Reviewed A.J.’s progress on his book report, which is due at the end of this month.
  
• Finished and e-filed my 2010 federal and state taxes today. (For the first time since college, I don’t owe anything – amazing!)
  
• Took my mother-in-law to the art supply store and the mall, where I bought A.J. a new sweatshirt, a pair of jeans, and some Easter stuff. My mother-in-law and I also did a little shopping for ourselves (hee hee!).
  
• Cooked dinner for five people tonight.

Now I’m trying to finish writing up the minutes of a meeting the AAJA-D.C. board had last weekend and prepare A.J.’s school bag for tomorrow morning. I also need to edit a travel essay my dad sent me a few weeks ago, put together a newsletter listing upcoming AAJA-D.C. events, and do more work on the AAJA-D.C. page, but that’s not happening tonight.

Who was it who said “nature abhors a vacuum”? I seem to have a knack for always finding things to keep me busy!

Go, moderates!

Some of the things taxes pay for

More things taxes pay for

The guest performances were great — Father Guido Sarducci gave an entertaining “benediction,” the Mythbusters did some crowd experiments, Yusuf (better known as Cat Stevens) and Ozzy Osborne had a musical battle, and much more. But my favorite part was Jon Stewart’s closing speech, which you can watch below:

Incidentally, we did have A.J. with us, but he basically played with his DSi and ate snacks throughout the whole rally. Ah well; at least he was well-behaved. Perhaps he’ll appreciate these events more when he’s older.

Some of my cousin Tina's homemade cards

After I got back from the craft show, I played a game on the computer for a while, then sat on the futon in the sunroom to sort through a backlog of mail and … fell asleep!

What a relaxing day!

In addition to this gift card campaign, the school is asking kids to sell “Hallmark Entertainment” books of coupons for local stores and restaurants. Each book costs $30. I suppose if you eat out a lot — and remember to carry your coupons with you — it’s a good deal. Personally, I’m not a coupon-clipping kind of person.

I’m not much of a fundraising one, either. Life was so much simpler before A.J. started public school ….

Clever ad, but I work for the U.S. Department of State. If my job moved to Shanghai, I would consider it a fun opportunity.

As I was busy dodging outstretched arms, I noticed a woman with a cane. Rather than ignoring the protesters as I did, she walked up to one of them and began to scold him, and he started to argue back. As I got on the escalator down to the subway, I heard their voices getting louder and louder. Suddenly I heard a “thwack!” followed by a loud yelp.

I’m not entirely sure what happened, but I think that woman got the last word.

I’m a mom, a blogger, and a Ph.D. student, and I need your help. I’m doing a study about why women blog, and you have been selected at random to participate in a short survey about what motivates you to blog and what you get out of blogging.

Here is the link: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/231228/women-bloggers

Thanks in advance for your help. Feel free to contact me at gmmasull@syr.edu if you have any questions.

Gina Chen
Ph.D. student
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University

More info from America.gov (a State Department Web site):
President Obama Urges Americans to Donate Assistance for Haiti

The cul-de-sac at 5:45 a.m.

A.J.’s school is opening two hours late this morning due to the one inch of snow we have on the ground this morning. Work is, of course, opening on time. Good thing Chris is off today.