Pinterexia Nervosa: A Diagnostic Guide.

Pinterexia Nervosa, A Diagnostic Guide


Pinterexia Nervosa
is a body/home image disorder in which people have an intense anxiety over ensuring that their life is completely pinnable at any moment. This disease is most often diagnosed in women and most prevalent post-childbirth, as the quantity of contractible symptoms grow when children are involved.

What are the Symptoms of Pinterexia Nervosa?

  • An inability to pass a home improvement store without peeking around back to forage for used pallets to knock one more item off of that “50+ Wooden Pallet Projects” to-do list.
  • Rainbow-Color-Order Ombre hair. Especially when matched with an ombre dress, shoes, or purse.
  • Having different yet detailed scenes or patterns painted on each fingernail, and changing out said scenes more than two times per week.
    (Toenail or fingernail monograms are a sign of Advanced Pinterexia. Seek medical help immediately.)
  • Housing more than five burlap and/or chevron projects per room.
  • The inability to eat a meal, a sweet, or a saltine cracker without taking a picture of it, then adding three filters in at least two different apps.
    (Note: This may also be a sign of Instagrammia – talk to your doctor to understand the differences.)
  • A canvas-mounted photograph larger than two feet wide of your four children all wearing white linen and lying on top of each other in a “sleeping” heap.
  • More than five different homemade concoctions for washing your hair, your laundry, your colon, or your Shih Tzu.
  • Getting a tattoo just so that you can photograph and pin it.
    (Note: Stage Two Pinterexia can create the need to photograph and pin said tattoo before the redness and swelling subside. Stage Three Pinterexia may compel you to photograph and pin your tattoo before even wiping the the blood away. Although rare, Stage Three Pinterexia is documented, but the images are too violent to share even in a medical setting.)
  • Spending over $5,000 on your child’s first birthday party, and/or spending over 72 (wo)man-hours making Pinterest-Ready party favors, cakes, petit fours, kiddie cocktails, and bunting.
  • Narrating your morning makeup routine as if you were making a how-to video. Daily.
  • Divorcing and marrying the same man again just so that you can create a Post-Pinterest-Age wedding.
    (The early stages of Pinterexia can be detected in the creation of a “If I Were to Get Married Again” Pinterest Board.)
  • Addressing your utility bill payments in silver-inked horizontal calligraphy.
  • Pinning this post without even reading it.

What causes Pinterexia Nervosa?

  • Clearly, the main cause of Pinterexia is prolonged exposure to Pinterest itself. But, like many carcinogens, it is still legal in most states. Petitions are being sent daily to the Surgeon General requesting he review the hazards.
  • Pinterest apps, especially when placed on the first page of one’s phone, can greatly enhance the risk of Pinterexia.
  • Other people in your family or timeline having a Pinterest Disorder, such as Pinaholism or PCD (Pinterest-Compulsive Disorder.)
  • Having a job that requires the gathering of ideas from Pinterest. Contraction of Pinterexia in these cases is nearly 100%. If this sounds like your occupation, make sure that your employee has comprehensive worker’s compensation with a psychiatric umbrella clause.

How is Pinterexia Nervosa Diagnosed?

If your doctor thinks that you may have a Pinterest Disorder, he or she may compare your outfit, hairstyle, house décor, and closet organization to that of a normal person of your age and Natural DIY Tendency. Your doctor may also investigate your children to ensure that no more than 30% of their wardrobe is upcycled from your old clothing and no less than 60% of the items in their bedroom are actually toys and not untouchable art pieces. They may also quiz them to make sure they are aware that fruit does not have to be eaten only in rainbow-order kabob form, that clothing doesn’t grow on trees already monogrammed and smocked, and that crayons are for coloring, not melting.

How is Pinterexia Nervosa Treated?

All people suffering from Pinterexia need treatment. Even if you, your friend, or (heaven forbid) your husband have only a couple of the signs of a Pinterest Disorder, seek professional help immdiately. Early treatment offers the best chance of overcoming Pinterexia.

Treatment will most likely include a deleting of the Pinterest app on all of your devices and contacting your ISP provider to block any attempts at visiting Pinterest’s website. For advanced stages of the disease, blocking of Facebook and Twitter may also be necessary, as certain enabling people tend to double-post their pins to these social networks. In extreme cases, your house may also have to be treated, de-organized, and sanitized from all Pinnable Projects.

One experimental therapy (only available in Mexico) is Normal Life Reentry Therapy (NLRT), where you are forced to wear only solid beiges, blacks and whites, only served ugly foods (goulash and curry are generally recommended with Monkey Bread for dessert), are required to have your kid’s birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese, and are not allowed to be anywhere near mod podge, stencils, balloons, edible paints, scrapbook paper, or the letters D, I, and Y.

What is the prognosis for Pinterexia?

Long-Term recovery from the disease is rare, and when achieved, is typically promptly followed by a relapse when the patient feels the need to pin an infographic on the steps they took to overcome their Pinterexia.

Remember: early detection is crucial. Know the signs. Perform self-checks regularly. And talk to your doctor about any symptoms or concerns.

Rambling Round-Up.

Chris and I were having a discussion the other night. The kind where I thought we should do one thing, and he thought we should do another.

(I take full responsibility for this sort of discussion as I was quite difficult to live with last week, thanks to Pink Eye, a painful reaction to the steroids, multiple mouth ulcers, and general malaise.)

But we weren’t making much progress in our discussion, so Ali ran in, handed Chris a note, then ran out.

Do Wot Mommy Ses

Clearly we need to discuss the hierarchy of authority up in these parts.

I’ve been seeing some fascinating things on Pinterest lately.

Like these rings, for instance.

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Any girl old enough to understand them should be too old to want them, and any girl who’s young enough to want them is also young enough to be Jonathan’s daughter.

(Seriously. I checked – he’s 44.)

(Which means that Adele is young enough to be his daughter.)

(Chew on that for a minute while you twist your rings.)

I’ve also seen some evidence as to why men should not be on Pinterest:

Busts

But then again, I drink Dr Pepper TEN and it’s for men, so who am I to judge.

Also. You might have picked up on the fact that I find back pockets to be very crucial to denim success.

However. If you find your back pockets to not quite be what they should be, this is not the way to fix them.

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If you’re getting ready for summer celebrations, Zulily has some fantastic Independence Day looks.

Because you can never go too literal with the Fourth of July.

IMG_9967

But if you’re feeling more morose about freedom, you can always go with this outfit.

IMG_9970

Or if you’d rather just blend into the crowd, then camo is your friend.

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Ali and I borrowed a children’s poetry book from the library.

It was a cheery collection.

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I quite randomly stumbled onto a post on Babble where Ali-as-a-toddler had been named in a list of “25 Adorable Hairstyles for Toddler Girls.” Who knew?

Toddler Hairstyles

I scrolled down, excited to see how everyone fawned over my precious daughter in the comments section…

Hairstyles Comments

Speaking of comments gone wrong, this priceless thread has popped up somewhere deep in the middle of my Inconvenient Gap of Truth post comments. I love that they are all a month apart, from four different women, and they will surely never come back to see the conversation they sparked.

Jeans Gone Wrong

Who knew? Only strippers need good jeans.

And yet, they don’t.

Sometimes I get questionable PR Pitches, especially in the form of Twitter and Facebook Parties.

This one just…doesn’t seem like too jubilant of a party.

Bad Facebook Party copy

And this one could have used a bit more hashtag analysis.

Bad Twitter Party copy

(Note to PR people everywhere: a focus group of over-observant bloggers can go a long way to help prevent embarrassing hashtag oopsies.)

I cannot pass a Tom Thumb gas station without picturing a partially sunburned man in tighty-whities. Can you?

Tom Thumb

And with much thanks to my friend Debbie for this last one, who saw this beautiful sign at the mall and took a picture just for me. And you.

Mother Sign

So there you go. Don’t be afraid of hand-holding during movements, ladies. If it’s important enough for a ceramic placard, it’s important enough for me.

Now Hiring: Mom Caddie.

Hey! So I have pink eye. Actually, a more accurate diagnosis would be that I have pink eyes. Which means that it hurts too much to look at this computer screen. However, I’m in luck – last week, I ran across this post that I wrote in 2010 and set it aside to re-share. I can’t believe that it is now halfway through 2013 and I have yet to figure out how to fill this position. Because I NEED it. Especially when my eyes don’t work.


Men play golf.

(Some men, anyway – not my husband. And some women, I know. Forgive the generalization for a moment.)

And, men get caddies.

(Some men, anyway – surely not every man that plays golf can afford to have another man follow him around all day while he leisurely plays a game.)

But at any rate, from what I understand, these caddies carry around their golf luggage and offer intelligent suggestions as to what instrument they should use for various needs.

“I suggest a nine iron for this shot.”

And that sort of thing.

Well, if men get caddies for their play time, I’m thinking that Moms TOTALLY deserve caddies for their every day life.

ESPECIALLY considering the massive amounts of junk we have to carry around.

We have our purses. Our diaper bags. Our camera bags. Our portable high chairs. The stroller. The pack n’ play. The infant seat. The kid’s lunch boxes. Heck – we even have the kids themselves to carry around. There’s no way that one woman can manage to tote her entire expected load – simply impossible.

So – as I see it, a Mom Caddie’s job description would look something like this…

a. Offer the service of packhorse. They would follow us around, toting all of our Mommy Luggage, and finding that paci that managed to crawl to the very bottom of the diaper bag when we need it to quiet our screaming baby.

b. Offer their professional advice on what we need when. For instance…

  • Scenario A: Baby poops. Mom opens diaper, assesses the damage. Turns to caddie… “What would you suggest?” Possible answers might include…
    • “I think that one wipe will suffice for that situation. Hold on – I’ll get you a wipe and a fresh diaper – oh, and a bit of Desitin for that rash.”
    • “You’re going to need three wipes, a diaper, and probably a gas mask for that one. And I’ll go ahead and be ready with the Purell for after you close.”
    • “Oh – look there. There’s a bit of brown on the edge of that onesie. I’ll pull you out 10 wipes, a diaper, and would you prefer the blue or the green replacement onesie?”
    • “It looks like he’s in a screaming kind of mood. After I retrieve your necessary wipes and diapers, I’ll get out a toy and shake it around in his face so that you can do what you need to do without having to listen to that awful racket.”
  • Scenario B: Kid spills a bit of Chick-Fil-A Polynesian Sauce on their shirt. Family photos are in an hour. “Mom Caddie!! What is the best thing to take out this stain AND make sure it doesn’t leave a water mark for photos?”
  • Scenario C: Baby wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. Diaper rash. Always-at-the-ready Mom Caddie is ready and waiting at the bedroom door, holding the tube of Desitin, lest you, in your mostly-asleep state, accidentally pick up tube of toothpaste to slather on their butt.
  • Scenario D: Kid and baby are playing adorably together. Pictures must be taken. “Mom Caddie, would you suggest the point-and-shoot, the DSLR, or the Flip Video Camera for this particular event?”
  • Scenario E: Mom is by herself with the kids (and Mom Caddie, of course), and has an amazing moment of Mommish Victory of some sort. Normally, Mom would have to resort to texting Dad, tweeting or Facebooking about her amazing moment to get the accolades she deserves for her accomplishments. However, Mom Caddie is there. Mom Caddie is able to immediately affirm Mom with golf claps and congratulations on her amazing Mommy feats.
  • Scenario F: New baby is screaming it’s head off. “Mom Caddie, what do you think is the issue here?”
    • “That is definitely a gas scream. Hold on – I’ll grab the Mylicon for you.”
    • “Hold on – let me consult the tracking notebook. It’s been three hours and twenty eight minutes since you last nursed – I’m thinking baby is hungry. Oh – and the records show here that you only nursed on the left side last time, so I recommend starting with the right side.”

c. And, speaking of the tracking notebook, Mom Caddie would be responsible for keeping tedious baby records (with a little golf pencil, of course) of feedings, poos, naps, and bedtimes for reference. Because what Mom has time to do THAT?!?!

d. Checking and Replenishing stock of all Caddieable Items – never again will Mom find herself in a blowout situation with half a wipe and one diaper left that just so happens to be two sizes too small.

Come to think of it, I’m really not sure how I survived four (make that six and a half) years of motherhood without a Mom Caddie.

MomCaddie

I am now accepting applications.