Two videos in a row? Fucking cop-out, man. But I thought some of you -- particularly those of you who declared Noah some kind of musical prodigy a couple weeks back -- might be interested in Noah's opinion of the new Britney Spears single? I mean, everybody's got an opinion on her comeback chances, but WHAT DO THE TODDLERS THINK? Personally (and provided that Death Is Not An Option), I prefer Gimme More, but Noah seems to dig Cold As Fire. Noah and Brit Brit from amalah and Vimeo. It's got a better beat than the Wiggles, I'll give it that. (Have a great holiday weekend, peeps. Don't sprain anything while busting moves at da clubs.) Read more →

Okay, now that I think we've got everything working with the new design, and now that my designer is off to Ecuador, thus fleeing the country and my emails, let me see if I can completely blow it the fuck up by posting a video window that will probably be too wide for the margins. Come on, it'll be fun! It seems like people are still questioning the proper pronunciation of "Amalah." AIM-a-la. Like how you pronounce Amy? AIM-ee? Oh, whatever, here's me having a conversation with my dog about it. AIM-a-la from amalah and Vimeo. I probably should have enunciated Ceiba's name a little better too, now that I think about it. Her name is SAY-bah. Again, whatever, I don't even correct our vet anymore. Just be happy I didn't name my kid D'Artagnaienalyah or something. Because you know it was on our short list. Speaking of Noah, hey! Remember that time we qualified for free speech therapy? Our first session is on Tuesday morning. He's made some progress in the past few weeks, although nothing to suggest that a true language explosion is right around the corner -- he's still gaining language right in step with a five-... Read more →

Uh. Surprise! (Hit refresh if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Should I have said something? Given you a heads up that omffffg, the site is going to look all different tomorrow? I actually meant to, but then I forgot. Also am ovulating, and thus very busy. Anyway, yes. Site done got all redesigned all good and fancy like. Obviously, not by me, since I coded the last design, which I am pretty sure was held together with duct tape and DOS. Sean Slinsky did this one for me. (Sean is actually Nothing But Bonfires' Holly's Sean, which I'm sure he appreciates being called.) I'm sure he also appreciated my input and instructions, which consisted of me saying things like: I don't want the site to be so damn pink anymore, but I want you to still use the same picture, which is damn pink, but you know, make it less damn pink. And then I emailed him a photo of Jason's boxers. I am a joy. But! As you can see, he did a totally kick ass job and I love love looooove it. He made Typepad do things that Typepad doesn't really like to do, and Typepad... Read more →

So the first thing you need to know about going to see Rent on Broadway is that there is a crazy line before the show. It snakes around the block. It crowds the sidewalk and yes, all those people have tickets. As I mentioned on Friday, we actually saw Rent before, ages and ages ago. Probably the first cast after the original cast left. It was good. We clapped and I cried and then we got on with our lives. I don't believe there was a line. As we approached the theater Jason went pale. Jason hates lines. He hates anything remotely resembling a line. "We have tickets, right?" he asked, "That's just the line for those cheap tickets, right?" I glanced at my watched and shook my head. "The lottery already happened." We wandered through the crowd towards Will Call -- past many people fanning themselves with Ticketmaster printouts -- and I tried to figure out what I was missing here. There was no line at Will Call. We all had assigned seats. They never start the show until everybody is seated. I collected our tickets from Will Call and joined what turned out to be a secondary line... Read more →

Real entry coming, just as soon as I figure out the best way to make gentle fun of these people without them hunting me down and killing me. Or hunting me down and explaining the show's rich history and synopsis and lyrics to me. In painstaking, breathless detail. Again. (Guess where our seats were! Guess!) (sticks index finger in mouth, pulls thumb trigger) In the meantime, tell me if this is not the most exquisite bedhead you have ever seen in your life. Read more →

Child is wandering around in a droopy diaper and oh look, a box of playing cards, how fun will that be to clean up, but yes. We are still alive. Jason may or may not come back tonight, thanks to the crazy weather in Chicago. *sticks fingers in ears, lalalalalalalaaaaaa* We're actually supposed to go to New York tomorrow and see a show. A very expensive show that we can't really afford, but that's what happens when you stumble across Rent on HBO right during Seasons of Love and decide that your life will not be complete until you see the show on Broadway, possibly forgetting THAT YOU ALREADY SAW IT ON BROADWAY. Your life will not be complete until you see it AGAIN, is my point, and anyway, it was very late and seemed like a good idea at the time. Right now it's not looking good, unless I go by myself. Which we all know is probably a bad idea, what with the trains and the likelihood of me getting on the wrong train and ending up in say, CHICAGO. But again, we are still alive. I actually do kind of enjoy having the place to myself sometimes.... Read more →

Jason is in Chicago for the rest of the week. A last-minute business trip. I am not a fan of the last-minute business trip. I am a fan of my husband coming home at a reasonable hour, preferably right before the hour when I lose my flipping mind over being cooped up in the house all day with only a toddler for company, a toddler who is pulling out the measuring cups and spoons for the millionth time and yeah, it was cute this morning but it is NOT CUTE ANYMORE ARGH STOP WHINING STOP CLIMBING ON ME STOP HEAD BUTTING ME WITH YOUR GIGANTIC HEAD ARGH OH LOOK IT'S DADDY HOW WAS YOUR DAY, DEAR? WHAT? SORRY, I CAN'T HEAR YOU I AM ALREADY UPSTAIRS CURLED UP IN MY CLOSET AND HAVING A NICE CONVERSATION WITH MY SHOES. (Yes. He really does sort them out like that.) The god's honest truth is that by 6 pm or thereabouts, my patience is pretty much tapped out. Noah's running around like a spaz, hollering for DADA DADA DADA DADA and there are chicken nuggets in the microwave that I know he won't eat and I'm rubbing my temples while spooning applesauce... Read more →

Uh, sorry about not posting yesterday. Technical issues, you see. You wouldn't understand. I barely understand. I have been completely unable to access Typepad or any Typepad-run sites (like....THIS ONE and THIS ONE and THIS ONE), and after spending several hours assuming that it was some kind of massive platform-down-kabloom thing, I finally figured out that no, it was just me. Sad, technically-challenged and smelly me. Amy: w w w dot amalah dot com. Internet: loading loading loading loading loading Internet: *gasps, wheezes, gives up* Amy: What up, Typepad? Typepad: We're just fine over here, actually. Are you sure you are connected to the Internet? Is your computer plugged in? Is it on? Is it, in fact, actually a computer or are you trying to surf the web via a cardboard box again? Amy: JASON! HALP! Jason: Uh. Try unplugging things. I tried unplugging things ("power cycling!") and rebooting and even attempted to compose an entry on the iPhone before I finally just gave up and started scouring the web for Flight of the Conchords MP3s. I am more than a little pleased that I finally figured out what the problem was, especially since the problem was coming from our... Read more →

But not as much as her kid, who is clearly ready to cut a demo. Twinkle twinkle...sort of from amalah and Vimeo. (Please note that you should never put your barely suppressed stage mother tendencies ahead of your child's physical safety. Wow. That's some gooooood parenting right there.) (Also good parenting: the absolute and very last diaper in the entire house is the one currently on my sleeping child's butt. That's gonna be a FANTASTIC post-nap jaunt to the store, let me tell you.) Read more →

For all the self-professed appliance whores in our audience, here is a picture of our new dishwasher. Isn't it great? I'm sooo glad we sprung for the stainless steel. I just love the way it reflects the light from the inside of the cardboard box. *head explodes* Yeah. So of all the home improvement projects we've taken on since moving -- electrical panels! hardwood floors! windows! identifying the 17 various shades of yellowish-beige paint in various finishes! -- I really didn't think a new goddamn DISHWASHER was going to be the most angst-ridden or the one that would set off a chain reaction of other issues and expenses and OH HAI, IM IN UR BASEMENT, LEEKING RUSTY WATUR ALL TEH FUCK OVER. *bloody headless neck stump explodes* I don't even know. It's a valve thing. Apparently, in addition to fancying himself some kind of an electrician who installed all the light switches in the house backwards and upside down, and who hooked the ceiling fan up to a switch in the freaking attic, the previous owner also did his own plumbing. Using parts he found in the street. And gum. Anyway, I am kind of...dealing with this today, which in... Read more →