Petunia Town Girl is becoming my OLD site and will be archived here.

A Frugal Heart will be my main blog.

I will also continue with The Icicle–my blog about Iowa City. And Hot Pants College II, my stupid tumblr thing where I collect quotes and schtuff I like.

Finally, most things Alison Coffey can be found at AlisonCoffey.com.

It has been lots of years, hasn’t it? It has been real. It has been fun. It has been boring. It has been stupid. It has been depressing. It has been whiney. It has been goofy. It has been my ups and downs and all arounds. It has been the birth of my child, 3 cats, two dogs, and many moves. It has been my friend and my enemy. It has been my home and my pest. But all and all, it has been good. Goodbye Petunia Town Girl!

tired of this site. just go here instead. perhaps it will be better.

Yo.

1. Sew
2. Knit
3. Furniture upholstery
4. website coding and design
5. singing
6. drawing
8. cake decorating
9. the splits
10. jog
11. go to a beautiful beachside resort in Mexico
12. speak another language
13. math
14. grammar rules
15. read Ulysses
16. make a perfect over medium fried egg
17. grow vegetables and flowers
18. keep plants alive
19. make a bed as neatly as Martha Stewart would like
20. budget

we stay up late
one of us worries about work, and also, works
we visit parents
and we stay home
and we visit brothers
and we go to museums
most of that is to come
right now we stay up late and watch television and eat poorly
and one of us complains that she’s bored because there is not enough friend time to fill her void. She’s social.
unlike her introvert parents
who can spend hours alone
or alone with each other
on the laptops
in front of the television
doing laundry
we daydream
we procrastinate
we window shop online
we pull our hair out
and complain about the heat
and eat the sweet corn our parents made and wonder why we don’t make our own sweet corn (how hard could it be?)

I wonder what is going on with me. These past couple of days my trichotillomania has been out of control. I don’t know what happens at certain times to make me do more hair pulling than normal (for me). Is it stress? Is it summer? Is it lack of some vitamin? I have a feeling that is the great divide between things I should be doing and things I’m doing. And the nagging feeling that I need to be getting more done. Perhaps.

But it kinda hurts my shoulders and adds to my feelings of self-loathing (which aren’t really that big, I swear). The vicious circle!

Visiting my hometown for a few days because I’ve got the week off from work, Dulcie has the week off from camp, and Mark could use a break from all the ladies.

The weather has been more spring (or fall) than summer. Cool with a touch of gloom. We have been indoors a lot. We have watched movies and cartoons (Dulcie), read (me), played DS (Dulcie), and napped (me). I guess we’ve done the right things for vacation activities. We can’t go snorkeling. It’s not warm, there is nowhere to snorkel, and I don’t have the gear. I take two hour naps and my mom says she’s worried about me. I don’t see what the world has against napping.

Here is me being meta:

And here is the kid at the garden store we visited. It is full of whimsy and magic. Dulcie likes it.

I need a new site design. I’m tired of looking at this generic theme. If only, if only. The husband is busy. He’s always busy!

People don’t pay attention. They don’t pay attention to each other. They don’t pay attention to the world. They, like me, walk around in wrinkly clothes and stuff their mouths full of garbage.

I’m saying this because I’ve eaten a lot of crap today and I feel kinda shitty about it.

I’m detached. From my body, from my health, from my food.

blah blah blah blah.

Memorial Day Weekend in Rolla, MO. Dulcie is crazy happy to be hanging out with her cuz, Henry, and I’m eating ding dongs and dipping Fritos into a jar of queso. Someday I’ll really be that healthy, fit woman who doesn’t pull out her hair, right?

I’m glad summer is here. Well, not technically, but you know. School is out in a week, the weather is warmer, the mosquitos have started to bite. I’m hoping I’ll drink margaritas and learn how to grill. I’m hoping Dulcie will have lemonade stands and the dog and I will take long walks and perhaps we will get out of town here and there. It will go fast, I know that for sure.

Dr. Drew needs a talking to.

I can’t help feeling this despite its ugliness: I’m glad Osama is dead. I don’t believe in capital punishment but I always answer yes to those questions: what would you do if you could kill someone you knew would be responsible for mass destruction? Like Christopher Walken in Dead Zone. He was a guy that is better off dead. I won’t chant in the streets or pump my fist or write untoward things on twitter, but I support Obama’s initiative. Go in there and kill him.

It is my birthday week. I’m trying very hard to feel neutral. Just another year, lots of time left to get those things done. Those big things. Life is good. Keep on trucking. Cool cool.

Lip gloss never stays on my lips for more than 3 minutes. Is there a point to it?

In Madison. Our hotel is right by the capital so we hear lots of honking cars–somehow related to the protesting. This Wisconsin Film Fest has become an annual trip and I love it because I love to be here. Madison has so many cool folks, and freaks, and oddballs, and film lovers, and food lovers. The best of everything.