Friday Tapas: The Lite Edition

Nothing sidelines me faster than the fever, achiness, and general misery of the flu. Or at least a flu-like virus – like the one that hit me clear out of the blue Tuesday night, for instance.

Rather pitiful and wimpy when ill, I essentially turn into an adult version of my two-year-old. Which is to say I whine a lot, want to be waited on hand and foot, and can’t seem to focus on any task for more than a few minutes.

Everything around me becomes obsolete, from how many sick days at work I’ve already eaten this calendar year alone to the fact that I had a special celebrity-themed Friday Tapas planned this week in honor of the annual Apple Blossom Festival currently taking place in Winchester, Virginia. In fact, when the flu hits, all I really want to do is lie around, feel sorry for myself, and eat tapioca pudding.

So as another week draws (limps?) to an end, the only tapas I could muster the energy to prepare was a meager (but satisfying) helping of other people’s work – namely, posts I read and loved before I got sick and stopped caring about reading blog posts.

And that celebrity-themed post? It may or may not still happen on Monday. (Mmmm, tapioca…)

In the meantime, I hope you’ll pour a cup of hot tea and join me for this lite version of Friday Tapas.

I promise I didn’t breathe on them.

• For a poignant and compelling read about the creation of a non-traditional family, check out You Already Were by Kristin at Mondays With Mac. It’s a creatively-written and truly gorgeous piece from which love simply emanates.

• As bloggers, is there hypocrisy in not wanting our children to become addicted to the very same technology on which we are so dependent? (Because while I keep my alcohol intake fairly modest, don’t do drugs, and am entirely too tired to be addicted to sex, I fully acknowledge that this blogging/Internet thing is nothing short of a dependency – sometimes an unhealthy one.) And will exposure to such technology at an early age actually help kids better balance their online and offline lives in the long run? Such are the questions posed in Rage Against the iPad, a thought-provoking piece at That Unique Weblog. 

• In Extraordinarily Ordinary, Erin from Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms writes, “April [was] Autism Awareness Month. Many of us have an autism story to share. This is mine.” And share it she does in an inspiring post about the challenges – and triumphs – one faces when living with autism.

• One of my favorite new bloggers on the block is Julia from the lovely and awesomely-named Elated Exhaustion. (Seriously – do those two words combined not perfectly sum up parenthood?) Julia and I seem to have quite a bit in common, from our similar writing styles to the fact that she currently hails from my hometown of Richmond, VA. And then there are our precocious two-year-olds, who keep us on our toes with their incessant (and often amusing) chatter. Take, for instance, the hilarious conversation that occurred between Julia and her son in Life Lessons from the Toddler, which had me nodding along in familiar kinship – until said toddler began talking about penises, that is. Did you know you can apparently just pick one up at the store?

Sorry, Julia – I’m afraid you’re on your own with this one.

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So, now that you have your plans set for the weekend (penis shopping, anyone?), I do believe my work here is done.

Howevuh…

If you’d like to be featured in Monday’s celebrity-themed post that may or may not (but probably will) happen, then simply “Like” the What She Said Facebook page and tell me about your most memorable celebrity encounter. Don’t forget to leave the link to your blog!

Otherwise, have a happy (and healthy) weekend!

What’s on your mind today?