How we saved about $100 and our sanity

Bullshark and I bought some fabric (Lightening McQueen!) on sale and made some darker curtains for Clownfish's windows.

Now he hopefully won't wake up with the sun and fight bedtime while its still bright out . . . as much.

I can't operate a sewing machine, but I am grateful that I married a man who can.

I can pin like nobody's business though.

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What's gonna work? Teamwork! (For the Mommies -- I hope the song is stuck in your head now!)

Tee-ball monster

Today was Clownfish's first tee-ball game (as opposed to practice):

• Player #9 tackling anyone trying to field the ball because he wanted to field it.
• Player #11 travelling from second to third stopped running to chase a ball that miraculously made it out of the infield.
• Player #8 hit the ball and ran toward third.
• Player #12 (Clownfish) bending down and playing with the infield dirt instead of watching where the hit ball went. . . and Player #1, who had just hit a nice shot up the third base line, left the baseline to join him instead of taking first.
• Player #9 moved to first base so he could be involved in every play without hurting others.
• Freaked out by the cheering for a decent hit, Player #13 running past first base screaming MOMMY, and right into his mother's knees.
• Player #9 chasing kids down the first base line and throwing balls at their heads while coaches scream "Just tag the bag!!"
• Player #9's mother pushing me out of the way so she could take a photo of her darling . . . just as he almost knocked over my kid.
• Player #12 (my boy) took to the plate for the third time, and the coach yelled "big hitter, look alive."
• Player #9's mother swearing at the coach for making her kid cry because he spoke to him sternly.
• Player #12's mother hip-checking Player #9's mother off the bleachers.
• Ok, no I didn't. I just thought about it.

At one point I would have sworn I was on a hidden camera show

9:00 AM Drive to state capital to go through library archives that were supposed to be ready by 10:30.

10:00 AM Park at the only place available that I could find with my limited knowledge of the capital -- a two hour meter four long blocks away. I was told to bring quarters, so I'm all set.

11:40 AM Archived materials finally arrive.

11:45 AM Head to plunk more quarters in the meter.

11:59 AM Arrive to see a $25 parking ticket on windshield, timed 11:58 AM. I guess I must have arrived at 9:57 AM. Contemplate lunch. After driving around unfamiliar roads, get a little lost and figure I'd better just go back the way I came. One way streets confound this effort. Park my car to now-available closer meter. Wonder if I can get the firm to pay for ticket. Figure maybe I can---if I had found a garage, it probably would have cost close to that. Maybe? Plunk in two hours worth of quarters.

12:30ish Begin working with records in earnest. Discover that I am definitely going to need another day because these records don't contain what the boxes say they do and the archives limited the number of boxes I could access. Discover the folder with the most promising title is actually empty. Work goes quickly.

2:15PM Driving a new way to firm since I normally don't come from the capital. Doing about 35 on one of those residential through streets on which people often do 50. Red and blue lights in the rear view. Get a written warning for speeding. My registration expired a week ago. Find out that since I mailed my registration renewal late, it hasn't hit the system yet. Get a $93 ticket for failure to renew my registration. Even though I did and have the check stub to prove it. Figure there is no way to pass this one onto the client.

2:30PM Report on the days research by email, seek guidance on return trip, and begin working on my other assignment. Get about halfway done, feeling good about it.

5:00PM Make a mistake with Worldox -- while trying to shut down one doc that seems frozen, somehow shut down all docs, including the one I was working on. Lose everything I had been working on.

7:30PM Arrive home after trying to recoup what I had lost. Discover Bullshark is not exactly sympathetic to my plight.

Today can only be better, right?

Woo?

Sooo . . . I just received an email announcing a listing of the Top 50 law school blogs. The first 13 on the list are the great professor blogs like Concurring Opinions and Volokh (oddly, Above the Law is there too). The next piece of the list is subject specific and includes the popular TaxProf blog, among others I have heard of. There are 10 official or semi-official law school specific blogs. There is a compilation of list blogs that list other law school blogs (yay Clever Wot, the first directory I ever found).

Then there are seven law students blogs. Wish I Would Have Known is there. And so is Divine Angst.

And so am I.

Woo. . . huh?

Here's the thing. I'm not going to link to the list. Why? Because its an advertising site for on-line college programs. Oh, its clever advertising -- having a blog that makes lists of blogs hoping those blogs will link to your blog and therefore generate traffic for the advertised sites. But it is just an ad gimmick in the end, looking for free publicity.

Then again, maybe I should link to her.

After all, she put in a lot more effort pulling together that list -- including little descriptions of each site that made it appear as if she poked around for at least a few minutes -- than my last advertising solicitation put in.

Nah . . .

Doc review woo!

No, not really.

But I am taking a sojourn into the state archives this week to look at some land records. You know, provided I don't end up on a panel today . . . jury duty.

Woo!


Edited to add: No panel!! Woo!!

Lawyer Hair Part II

Ok ladies, since everyone seemed to sympathize with the last hair post, a commenter or two asked for product recommendations.

I just went looking for a new shampoo and conditioner because I have wicked fly-aways and a classmate told me a better shampoo might help. Since I was seriously using 99 cent V05, it really wouldn't be hard to upgrade the shampoo/conditioner. I settled on Pantene -- the green one for straightening and flyaways or something. I'll keep you posted.

Two weeks ago, I bought a blow-dryer round-brush combo for straightening, hence the 15 minutes and not over 30. Short hair, yes, but thick. I have an inexpensive drug-store flat iron which would probably fry my ends if I used it regularly, but I don't have the wherewithal to use it often. I occasionally use it on the back bottom layer which really likes to curl a bit at the ends, and on the front pieces closest to my face. Otherwise, the blow drying alone seems to work well enough.

So, girls who straighten and girls with curls... what do you use?

In other news, summer job starts tomorrow. I really think I'll like this place, and would want to work there post-grad. So keep your fingers crossed and pray for a low-humidity day.

MILS #47: School's out for summer!

Welcome to the Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup. It is hosted on a rotating basis between PT-LawMom and A Little Fish in Law School blogs. We aim for Sunday posts. Next week, it'll be back at PT-LawMom's place. I think. I'll keep you posted.

Stay tuned for an announcement following the round-up.

So how are the MILS taking on summer?

Still in classes -- damn quarter system. Lag Liv
Taking classes. Pt-Lawmom
Finishing up. Law school mom

Yacking One New Duck.
No really, yacking 3L Wannabe.

Easing into it Dakota.
Co-parenting Proto-attorney
Selling books Tranny Head
Casing astrobitch Starting to Melt.

Thinking about the Bar. Magic Cookie
Beginning the bar prep Peanut Butter Burrito

Rounding up the year and coming out of retirement. Saramel

MILS ROUND-UP ANNOUNCEMENT:

Possible changes coming to the MILS Round-up. We might finally have found our third blogger. More to come on that next week, we expect. And we're thinking of expanding beyond MILS to Moms in the Legal Profession (Would that make us MILPs? We also considered Moms in the Legal Field, but I'm not sure everyone is comfortable with the connotations).

Why? Well, it hurt a lot to drop Zuska and mommy lawyers from the round-up post-bar last year, though I coundn't resist including the occasional post. And now about half the blogroll is graduating. We'll still probably highlight the law students separately somehow.

So stay tuned.

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If you’d like to have your blog added to the MILS blogroll for weekly review or would like us to consider a specific post, drop the hostess(es) an email or leave a comment at our sites.Expecting Moms in Law School are welcome! Hat tip as always to the “original” Roundup — Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground and Divine Angst. And of course, to the founder of this round-up, Saramel (retired).

Lawyer hair

It took me fifteen minutes to blow dry my hair today. That was after I towel-dried it and left it in a towel for at least 20 minutes while making lunch, etc.

Fifteen minutes in the bathroom running a hairblower while Clownfish played with dinosaurs. I timed it. That's really a very long time.

I did the same thing on Monday -- I am practicing my hair styling technique so I'll look more lawyer-y for my summer job. I have a nice hair cut, chin length all around, a little layering near the face. No bangs. When its blown straight, its sleek and neat and, well, lawyer-y.

But I never style my hair. I'm a wash-and-wear kind of person -- and I was that way long before I had a child. If I were going somewhere special, I'd take advantage of the natural wave and curl of my hair -- I throw in some product, blast it with heat for about two minutes, and go. That's the extent of my styling. It sometimes landed curly-cute, sometimes landed wavy-frizzy, and I really didn't care much either way.

But it doesn't look "professional" unless I make it straight. I've been told that if I work it consistently, it will go faster . . . hence my starting a week early.

Ms. JD had a recent discussion on hair length -- I had already decided to go shorter because it suits me, it suits my age, and it does look professional. But none of the commenters talked about the timing of hair styling. The assumption is shorter hair, less time. But unless you go pixie short (which would be disasterous on my big square head), that logic doens't fly. It doesn't take that long to put long hair into a professional-looking twist or braid.

Fifteen minutes seems like a looooooong time to spend pulling and combing and blowing for the sake of looking more professional.

Plus I'm probably going to have to start wearing make-up.

Yeesh.

Search me

Tranny Head (formerly known as Law Student Hot Mama) posted about the searches that bring people to her site. So I checked my analytics for the first time in months, and discovered:

47 visitors found my blog searching for singhiozzerebbe, and dozens of others found it via some variation of "superbingo" and "scrabulous." Sorry, folks, I've yet to accomplish this feat.

50+ visitors found my blog searching for "law review write on" or some such variation. Advice: buy Volokh's book or click this link for tips from Academic Legal Writing. Read it. Done.

That is the bulk of my search traffic. For some reason, I find that sort of sad.

Other notables:

1 "law school night before exam I can't sleep." Join the club.

1 for: "can I write a law review note in one day." Answer, yes. I suggest that once you run out of stuff to say, pad it by quoting extensively from, for example, Clinton's whitewater deposition. Don't worry. No one reads law reviews any more.

1 for "blinking in toddlers." Yes, they blink. If he or she is not blinking, he or she is an alien. Run.

1 for "jumping bullshark lyrics." If anyone knows what song this person was really searching for, please comment -- I think I might need to own it.

1 of each: "blew torts exam," "bombed law school exams," "where do people who fail out of law school go?" As its too early to have grades yet, I'd say take a deep breath and wait until you actually HAVE the soul crushing grades before you allow your soul to be crushed. Then lick your wounds and make a new plan for yourself -- now that the biglaw stars are knocked out of your eyes, you might something else enjoyable in the practice of law.

I also received a bunch of odd p0rn-type searches that end up linking to this post or this one. These people are invariably disappointed.

MILS #46

Its up. PtLawmom's place.

Back here next week

Updates

Movie update: Hubby and I actually watched movies this week! We finally saw Juno. I liked the movie, but so many people had raved about it, I was expecting something . . . more . . . I guess. Enjoyable, and I recommend it. But I'm not going to gush over it. I had wanted to see Dan in Real Life and finally got to do that too. I am a fan of Steve Carrell, and it delivered some good moments. Not a movie I would watch again, but fun.

Clownfish update: Tiger Woods, watch out. The kid can mini-golf!

Externship update: finished. I guess that's all I've got to say about that.

Job update: I have a week off before I start. I have to get some clothes and shoes this week. I went and looked for some shoes recommended by a fellow blogger. I expected them to be pricey -- and to me, pricey shoes are $60-$75. Yeah. The ones recommended cost at least double that. So. . . still looking.

Transcript update: depressing. There is only one grade on it and its the bad one. It needs some company, preferably company that brings some cachet to the party . . . like an A. That would be sweet.

Ok, that's it.

These small hours

This weekend, Clownfish, Bullshark, and I went to one of those Japanese steak houses where they cook the food right in front of you. It was my first time and I enjoyed the show -- spinning eggs, flying cutlery, volcanic onions and all. It was neat and the food was good. But Clownfish was awed. He used the words "amazing" "exciting" "excellent" "fabulous" and "scrumptious" all in one night. Pretty good for a three year old.

Today he learned a new word as I gave the little rascal a new new nickname -- he likes sneaking into the bathroom to switch off the lights when I am in the shower, closing the front door on me, hiding his shoes, and other "tricks" on mommy.

Today when I came home I asked him to tell Bullshark about his little tricks.

"Papa, I've been mischievous."

Clownfish has decided he hatched an invisible egg. Inside the invisible egg was a baby kangaroo, called Kang-ee. Kang-ee the imaginary baby kangaroo sleeps in the living room now because Clownfish bumped his head in bed twice last night because "Kang-ee was jumping on the bed." Tonight when I put him to bed, he reminded me to keep the television low so as not to disturb the invisible imaginary kangaroo.

Parenthood causes one to have the most amazing conversations sometimes.

Like this one:

Clownfish and Bullshark were playing recently with Bullshark's old Lincoln logs mixed with the ones Clownfish received for his third birthday.

CF: "Look Mommy! Papa is letting me use his Link-in longs!"
Me: "That's great! Did you know Papa was your age when he played with these?"
CF: "And that was when I was not here yet I was in your tummy right?"
Me: "Ummm . . . no, Papa was very young, so you weren't even in my tummy yet."
CF: "Oh, that's because God was still making me."

Since U Been Gone

Yes I just made a Kelly Clarkson song my post title. What of it?

AI is horrible this year. I mean to folks at Vote for the Worst have been saying it for weeks, but really . . . its just bad. David Cook is far and away the best of what's left, but no matter how much Randy wants to believe he's one of the most "original ever, dog," he is just this year's angst rocker. Every season has had one -- he's just the first one good looking enough, consistent enough, with good enough song picks, and boring enough competitors to crack the top 3. I would have loved a Cook/Carly showdown in the finals.

Castro was begging to go home. May have been literally begging -- forgetting lyrics, messing with 'I shot the sheriff', and I think he mouthed to the camera 'don't vote.' I liked Syesha for about two weeks, right through Hollywood and in the Top 24 era. Then she began to bore me. Now she just makes me unreasonably angry and I really can't pinpoint why. Maybe its just that she's still there. And Archuletta ceased to be charming weeks and weeks ago.

*snooooze*

I now return you to your regularly scheduled law school angst.

Mother's day

What I am doing:

Slept late.

Chatted with my mom on the phone.

Called my sister, who recently announced she is pregnant with her second child. Talked about nausea and crackers.

Colored in a dinosaur coloring book, played with dinosaurs, and did a dinosaur puzzle with Clownfish.

Planning to play mini-golf this afternoon. At the place with dinosaurs.

What I am not doing:

Thinking about exams.

Thinking about law school.

Working on anything legally substative.

That can all wait til tomorrow, when I go to finish out my externship next week.

MILS #45: Mother's Day

Welcome to the Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup. It is hosted on a rotating basis between PT-LawMom and A Little Fish in Law School blogs. We aim for Sunday posts. Next week, it'll be back at PT-LawMom's place.

Mother's Day . . . the best gift: exams are over

• The first rule of exams... do NOT talk about the exam. Starting to Melt
• Reflections on being a MILS. Proto Attorney
• Signs of exam review insanity. PtLawmom
  

Gifts given by babies this week:

• Hickey Peanut Butter Burrito
• Walking LSHM
• Toned legs Lag Liv
• Discovering there is an adequate replacement for mommy Magic Cookie
• Poetry Merits of the Case (not by a baby but too good to miss)
  

__________________________
If you’d like to have your blog added to the MILS blogroll for weekly review or would like us to consider a specific post, drop the hostess(es) an email or leave a comment at our sites.Expecting Moms in Law School are welcome! Hat tip as always to the “original” Roundup — Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground and Divine Angst. And of course, to the founder of this round-up, Saramel (retired).

I have never been as tired as I am right now... I have never been less inclined to study than I am right now... and I have an exam tomorrow

I find my ability to really focus and learn and commit stuff to memory for my closed book exam the next day really improves from 10 PM - 2 AM the night before.

At least that's the way it worked for Trusts and Estates. Though because Clownfish woke me up early, I am pretty sure I cited cases on my exam this afternoon thusly: "hey, remember the one with the guy and the kerosene fish? this is like that one, but he's less crazy..."

Classmate after the exam: Did anyone else want to argue that the testator was under undue influence by the cat?

One more exam left.

Then . . . sleep.

How it goes

Classmate in lawbrary: Hey, Butterflyfish, how's admin treating you?

Me: Like a pimp treats his ho.

Also:

Got my Labor grade. Yeah, I know. The prof is a grading machine. Pounds it out in a few hours. Anyway, result: Worst. Grade. Ever.

Meh, can't say I didn't deserve it though.


Edit: Compare my reaction to a slightly higher grade, here. Yep. Times change I guess. Or to 1L exams while waiting for grades, here.

MILS #44

It is up at Pt-Lawmom.

Nothing shakes one's confidence like being completely and utterly wrong

I like my Admin prof. He gives classic issue-spotter exams and makes old exams available and even provides a short sketch of model answers -- they're not exhaustive, but they give you an idea of what he was expecting to see in the answers. It's a really helpful study tool for me.

Except when it induces panic.

How I spent the last hour of my life.

Open up a new practice exam question, sketch out an answer in about 30 minutes, feel pretty good about it. Non-delegation, intelligible principle, scope of review, a little bicameralism and presentment, a little Scalia humor for good measure (assessing whether commission described is "junior varsity congress"*).

Then hmmm . . . there are some sticking points in the analysis . . . there seems to be insufficient info. to come to a reasoned conclusion about some of these issues . . . and maybe I should have taken a harder look at standing instead of jumping straight to the delegation stuff . . . ah well, let's see the damage.

Open exam answer file.

WHAT THE HELL??????

This was 100% a justiciability question????

Standing, ripeness, finality, legal effects test . . .

That was it.

My issue-spotting radar is completely broken.

Then again, I am probably better at Admin than I am at taking a hiatus.

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* See Mistretta v U.S. (Scalia dissenting, naturally)