WTF — Jenny True: An Excruciatingly Personal Mommy Blog

Chocolate ganache tart and WTF 2021

I spent most of 2021 hawking my book, You Look Tired: An Excruciatingly Honest Guide to I Don’t Even Remember Right Now. Some cool shit happened:

I got paid $70,000.
Badass writers Jancee Dunn, Bunmi Laditan, and Meaghan O’Connell blurbed it.
Badass writer Beth Spotswood at the San Francisco Chronicle did a Q&A with me that ran in the Datebook section (the storied Sunday “Pink Pages”).
Some very cool radio stations and blogs had me on as a guest and interviewed me (thank you, every single one of you content creators and art lovers!!! Except the prime-time Republican with the sound effects who tried to get me to talk about how much “we” hate women who “lose all the baby weight”).

4 yearsJenny PritchettDecember 30, 2021Chocolate, Tart, Dessert, 2021, WTF Comment

Brown sugar cookies and WTF crashing a stranger’s memorial service whoops sorry

We met Kathy in the parking lot and wandered into the nursery, where, lo and behold, for the first time ever, I saw a crowd! It was happening! There was the live music, just on a break: A group of musicians wearing face paint and gold lamé chatted on the stage beneath a pavilion. A little girl with long brown hair held an orange chicken to her chest. I noticed that everyone seemed to be talking in groups and appeared to know each other. I also noticed that some of these groups turned to look at us and didn’t smile, but this happens often enough in the NIMBY Bay Area that it didn’t tip me off. Remember: BAY NATIVES TOLD ME THERE WOULD BE OYSTERS.

Chicken cacciatora and WTF

I’ve known for months that something has to give. In just over a week I’ll be 45, and if I don’t slow down, stop fighting every fight, stop working so much, stop eschewing leisure time and exercise I am doing to DIE. So I have become even more lax in responding to email, fallen off social media, and stopped promoting my book (well, not completely BUY MY BOOK FOR GOD’S SAKE I’LL HAVE A HEART ATTACK IF YOU DON’T). I also have been taking advantage of my new hours at my new job to take morning walks at Heron’s Head Park, where every day I can see seals, puppies, and an incredible variety of birds.

Speaking of jobs, I sent this letter to my former employer this morning: …

Plantains with almonds and ginger and WTF walk in the woods

A few days ago I texted my guru, the writer and artist Janet Manley (who has a newsletter that is the smartest, funniest, most original thing on the internet right now, plus she will write your living obituary):

Somehow, amid the everything, I get this nagging feeling that I'm not doing enough, that I could be working harder. WTF is that?

Notwithstanding a pandemic, two full-time jobs between me and SJ, one 3-year-old at home, one 11-year-old at home half the time and attending school remotely, 12 meals a day, a young cat who pees inside the house, a dying dog who pees inside the house, a house, a car, and a minivan in and on which things often break or malfunction and which mostly are dirty and untidy, plus an advice column, a blog, and another Large Project I will announce soon (MARCH 15!!!), I have the gnawing sense that I'm not working hard enough.

As Janet responded: WTF IS THAT I have it too!!

3 yearsJenny PritchettFebruary 21, 2021Plantains, Almonds, Ginger, Tick, WTF Comments

Banana, peanut butter, yogurt smoothie and WTF surgery

Three weeks ago Wednesday, I went in for routine surgery to remove a large dermoid cyst from my ovary. BA DUM CHING.

18-24 mos.Jenny TrueMarch 12, 2019Smoothie, Surgery, WTF Comments

Cornmeal pancakes and WTF 2018

Destructibaby is 17 months old. When he cries, his sweet mouth widens to a warbling rectangle and tears leak down his cheeks, and he stands with his arms at his sides, chin up, crying out, “Hon-eeeee! Hon-eeeee!”

12-18 mos.Jenny TrueJanuary 15, 20192019, Breastfeeding, Cornmeal, Destructibaby, Lists, Pancakes, WTF Comments

Boxed wine and WTF tumor

On Friday, a doctor said something to me no woman wants to hear: “You have a mass on your ovary, and it could be benign!”

12-18 mos.Jenny TrueDecember 5, 2018Cancer, Tumor, Wine, WTF Comments

Turmeric latte and having a kid makes me think about death so here's how I deal with it

On Monday, a co-worker asked how my Thanksgiving was.

"Horrible," I said. "I slept on the floor because my son wouldn't sleep in the Pack 'n Play. How was yours?"

12-18 mos.Jenny TrueNovember 28, 2018death, latte, turmeric, WTF Comments

Open-face cucumber sandwiches and WTF first steps

The Barnacle, aka Crusty One-Eye, aka Gordo, aka my son, is 11 months old, and we are counting down the days until he turns one.

6-12 mos.Jenny TrueJuly 9, 2018Cream cheese, Cucumber, First steps, Sandwiches, WTF Comments

Avocado toasts and WTF sleep

The Barnacle, my sweet, sweet boy, is nine months old tomorrow. He assaults anyone who will hold him by throwing his brick of a forehead against their face.

6-12 mos.Jenny TrueApril 24, 2018Avocado, Sleep, Toast, WTF Comments

Dad's toast points and WTF pumping

I've been back at work for two months. This is what people say:

IT GETS EASIER.

This is what really happens:

IT GETS HARDER.

6-12 mos., Most PopularJenny TrueMarch 12, 2018Pumping, Toast, WTF Comments

Steamed mussels and WTF back to work

I started off Sunday morning cupping my hand so my son could vomit into it.

A few minutes later, back in fine spirits, he gazed at his father in the kitchen whisking batter for crepes.

"It's a high-whisk activity," SJ confided to him. "I like whisk-y business."

0-6 mos.Jenny TrueJanuary 15, 2018Dinner, Mussels, Seafood, Work, WTF Comment

Ginger fruit bowl and fuck your baby advice

SOMETHING MY HUSBAND SAID RECENTLY THAT MAYBE HE SHOULDN'T HAVE:

"I feel great! I got twelve hours of sleep last night!"

0-6 mos., Most PopularJenny TrueOctober 20, 2017Aches and pains, Baby advice, Breakfast, Ginger, WTF Comments

Chewy coconut cookies and WTF baby blues

Two weeks ago I moved in with SJ. Hired three guys to load all my stuff, including my coffee table (SJ does not believe in coffee tables -- he calls them "shinbangers" -- so when we want to watch 30 Rock instead of talking to each other, we eat dinner on a piano bench, like highly educated vagrants …

PregnancyJenny TrueApril 17, 2017Baby blues, Coconut, Cookies, Lists, WTF Comments

Saturday morning crepes and WTF second trimester

A couple Sundays ago, I lay on my back on SJ's bed (fully clothed -- it's not that kind of a transition) and pressed a stethoscope against my belly -- and the baby kicked the stethoscope!

PregnancyJenny TrueMarch 21, 2017Breakfast, Crepes, Pregnancy, Second trimester, WTF Comments

Linguine with clams and WTF PREGNANCY MARRIAGE MOVING

I am running on fumes. FUMES, I TELL YOU. In addition to having a full-time job, a part-time job, and a daily commute, this is what I've been doing instead of blogging about millennials, bonding with the heirloom tomato in my uterus, and getting my head around the fact that IN TWENTY-ONE WEEKS I WILL HAVE A SON.

Pregnancy, Most PopularJenny TrueMarch 2, 2017Dinner, Lists, Pasta, Pregnancy, WTF Comments

Sweet potato salad and WTF Week 13

And just like that, I'm in the last week of my first trimester.

No more nausea, no more exhaustion. And last week I got great news: The baby is at low risk for major chromosomal defects (which means the baby is at low risk for ABORTION -- lucky baby!), and ... it's a boy!

PregnancyJenny TrueJanuary 17, 2017Dinner, Pregnancy, Salads, WTF Comments

No-knead bread and WTF first trimester

Last Sunday, Strong Jawline and I Skyped my parents in Evanston, Illinois, to announce that he had successfully impregnated me.

PregnancyJenny TrueDecember 29, 2016Bread, Pregnancy, Rose and Dave, Sex, WTFComment

Latkes and WTF I'm pregnant

This is what I was doing when I found out I was pregnant: DRINKING WINE. This is why: I like wine.

Pregnancy, Most PopularJenny TrueDecember 23, 2016Dinner, Potatoes, Pregnancy, WTF Comments

Perfect fried egg and WTF online dating trolls

I have something to confess: I'm happy and in a relationship. I KNOW. I HATE ME, TOO. It's the fucking death knell of a snarky blog about online dating.

DatingJenny TrueNovember 21, 2016Eggs, Online dating, WTF Comment

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© Jenny Pritchett, 2022