Media blitz
This week was swallowed up in a chaotic frenzy that started Monday morning when a photographer for a local Mormon-owned newspaper showed up to take a picture of me and the dogs to run with a story from the Wall Street Journal that they would be re-printing. The photo that they chose shows that all the work we've been doing with Coco is starting to pay off, and you can't look at her regal profile and not be totally confused about how something so dashing would be so willing to guzzle its own feces.
Also featured in the photograph: all the prints that are hanging in the wrong direction on my living room wall, and so I think this means I have to leave them this way. Not that I ever had any intention of correcting this wrong, but now there is this Official Picture of Heather B. Armstrong, Her Two Champion Canines, and Hard Physical Evidence that Prozac Changes Lives. If I moved the prints around now I'd be denying my true self, would be saying that I couldn't look at that wall one more second when in fact I could look at that wall all day long and not once have the urge to reach out and flip around a frame. This is why they need to change the literature on the side of certain anti-depressants to read: side effects may include finding yourself reacting to certain situations LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING.
Wednesday I was in an all-day meeting with two lovely people from a management agency in Hollywood, and the only detail I can really reveal about all that mess is that if we ever have to hold a casting for someone to play Jon, I'm totally gunning for John Larroquette.
Wednesday evening Jon and I participated in a round table discussion about blogging with a local ABC news journalist named Chris Vanocur. The program airs locally on Sunday morning at 10 AM on channel 30, but you can see it online now at the ABC 4 website. I'm also going to embed it here because the ad server on the ABC website keeps refreshing and restarting the video and HEY, ABC 4, CUT IT OUT.
(video removed because of a very annoying auto-start feature that was giving me and many others a migraine, sorry about that)
Just want to point out that I think Chris Vanocur has the hots for the other blogger on the show, Sarah Nielson, and at various points in the video you can see that his passionate crush is making him flustered. You'll see them exchanging loaded glances at each other, and there is this specific moment where he can't remember that the word he wants to use is "complimentary" because he's so focused on the alluring curve of Sarah's hair as it cascades down her bosom that both Jon and I suddenly felt like a third and fourth wheel.
(Also: how hot is my husband in that video? SIZZLING.)
Thursday a reporter for the local CBS affiliate visited the house and spent several hours interviewing me and Jon about what it's like to run this website. He and his camera crew startled Coco when they rang the doorbell, and she greeted them with enraged, raucous barking and by running head-first into the glass door. The reporter was concerned that Coco might have hurt herself and wondered if she temporarily blacked out, but I assured him that Coco had weathered far worse circumstances, like that one time she wouldn't stop barking at the garbage can so we threw her inside it and then tied it shut with a bungee cord. I think he took me seriously so I assured him that we only left her in there for three days.
The interview lasted all morning, and then they returned in the afternoon so that they could get footage of us hanging out with Leta. When we picked her up from school we told her that a photographer was coming over to take pictures and then spent the next hour saying, no, Leta, you cannot take off your pants. But she wanted to take off her pants, she always got to take her pants off after school, and I was all, I know, I hate wearing pants, too, but she was going to have to find the strength somewhere inside her to remain clothed for at least the next half hour. So she said, "If I leave my pants on can I have four treats?" And I was all, of course! I don't see anything wrong with rewarding such hard work.
We're not sure when that segment is airing, I'll certainly keep you posted, and I'm wondering if they're going to be able to use any of the footage they got of Leta because suddenly her vocabulary shrunk to three words: pee-pee, poo-poo, and POOOOOOOP. Because she wanted to stand out from all the other four-year-olds on earth.
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Jen said:
Who new that a little ol'Mormon girl from Utah could get famous without being kidnapped!
Well done and congrats.
04.18.08 - 11:42 AM / 1k-m-s said:
And that she does! Your whole family, in fact.
Thanks for always making us laugh!
04.18.08 - 11:43 AM / 2Alice said:
Um. Jon is so hot. (You too, Heather, obv.)
04.18.08 - 11:45 AM / 3Reggie said:
Great to finally hear the voice behind one of my one of my strongest addictions!
=D
04.18.08 - 11:45 AM / 4DM said:
I just wanted to say that I loved the hippo you got at Target and was thrilled to find it myself. I love your daily style, links and Chuck (and Coco as well).
Thanks for making things so entertaining, I love your style because you make parenting sound intriguing. Not enough to actually have a child but enough that I can actually handle being around small children for more than 5 minutes without screaming. My nephew thanks you for this as well.
04.18.08 - 11:46 AM / 5Tasty said:
So, if I leave MY pants on, can I get four treats, too? Because I might leave them on way more often if I can.
Keep up the good work, Dooce, you rockstar, you.
04.18.08 - 11:49 AM / 6Larissa said:
You really need your own reality show.
I agree with Reggie - it's nice to finally put a voice with you and your personality. I think I just fell in love with you a little bit more.
Also as a long-time reader and first time commenter, I just want you to know, Dooce always brightens my day. Seriously.
04.18.08 - 11:51 AM / 7Christine said:
What an amazing time for you guys! It's almost surreal.
04.18.08 - 11:52 AM / 8Shelly said:
Well crap...If I knew I got FOUR treats I'd have put my pants on before 5pm yesterday.
04.18.08 - 11:53 AM / 9jon deal said:
All three of you did really well.
And Vanocur OBVIOUSLY has a crush on Sarah.
04.18.08 - 11:54 AM / 10Anonymous said:
I'm proud of you girl.
04.18.08 - 11:54 AM / 11elisabeth said:
You are AWESOME. Congrats on this success. You inspire me not only to write more, but to teach my dog to balance things on his head.
04.18.08 - 11:54 AM / 12Jennifer said:
Wow...Jon's Hot.
There, I said it.
Uses his hands WAY too much when he talks, but I can totally overlook that.
04.18.08 - 11:55 AM / 13Sarah said:
I think this is the first time ANYONE has referenced my alleged bosom. My mother would be so proud.
04.18.08 - 11:57 AM / 14Dale Cruse said:
First time I've ever heard Jon speak.
Heather, your accent isn't that bad this time. Of course you probably didn't say "crayon!"
04.18.08 - 12:00 PM / 15tracy said:
I'm curious what it is about children & the need to take off their clothes, and I'm really curious if my child will have the same affinity towards nakedness.
congrats on all your media coverage ~ well deserved!
04.18.08 - 12:01 PM / 16Enjolie said:
just wanted to send you some love, Heather! I'm actually in tax class right now (oops), but can't wait to get out and watch the video!
<3
enjolie
04.18.08 - 12:02 PM / 17Ginger said:
Thanks for all the laughs. My fave was the racoon series of pics and of course, everything Chuck. Leta has reconciled me to the realities of the world of a 4-year-old. It's good to know what's coming when mine turn 4...
The message from your Mum on the answering machine made me cry with laughter and those Leta Princess Song videos just made me cry. I guess what I'm trying to say in a characteristically eloquent style is - I love dooce.com and I feel my butt growing! ;)
Hugs across the globe and keep it up. ~ Love, Ginger
04.18.08 - 12:03 PM / 18Kara said:
Um, I'd like to suggest John Corbett (Aidan from SATC) to play Jon. Same name (sorta), same overall dashing and cuddly aesthetic. Ok? Ok.
04.18.08 - 12:03 PM / 19Jenn D said:
I just have to say it. I absolutely ADORE your accent. I'm going to spend the rest of my day trying to talk just like you. Well, not really, but it's a creepy thought, ain't it?
04.18.08 - 12:03 PM / 20Anonymous said:
Did anybody else tell you that you look like Reese Witherspoon? It never occurred to me before from your pictures but on video, you definitely look like her.
04.18.08 - 12:03 PM / 21Tootsie Farklepants said:
NOW I know why you haven't Twittered in days! You're busy rockin' the super star thang! Congrats to you!
**currently wearing pants**
04.18.08 - 12:04 PM / 22Tara's Mom said:
I think I am responsible for at least a MILLION of your web hits. My 11 year old daughter is now also a Dooce "addict" and is really impressed with Chuck. She likes to replicate Chucks photo accomplishments with her Guinea Pigs...sooooo funny, yet almost torturous.
Love you!
04.18.08 - 12:05 PM / 23Petunia Face said:
I agree with the John Corbett casting with maybe a little David Duchovny thrown in.
04.18.08 - 12:06 PM / 24Petunia Face said:
I agree with the John Corbett casting with maybe a little David Duchovny thrown in.
04.18.08 - 12:06 PM / 25Sara said:
the part about leta wanting take off her pants almost made me cry i was laughing so hard!
I can't wait to here what you guys are meeting with hollywood producers for!
04.18.08 - 12:06 PM / 26Lauren said:
I could see Chris Vanocur's mind boner from here! Shudder.
04.18.08 - 12:07 PM / 27Shala said:
WOW! What a week for you and your family. You really deserve the recognition.
04.18.08 - 12:07 PM / 28PaintingChef said:
And here I'd been rewarding my husband for taking his pants OFF. Good god I've got it backwards!
Thanks for clearing that one up...
04.18.08 - 12:07 PM / 29Knaphrodesiac said:
Well done, Leta. As for me, the moment I grace the tube for the first time when I become famous I, too will say "Poop", "pee-pee", and probably also "fart".
04.18.08 - 12:08 PM / 30