The dreaded Monday

I get so DOWN, during the Monday morning routine/commute. When I'm walking back out of the daycare after dropping off the kids, I sigh and feel a little sad. Driving to work I fret about facing a big, stupid to-do list of things I dislike. I typically feel okay about the work week by Tuesday, because it's just something I do, but on Mondays, ugh.

I know it's because we have the nicest weekends. This one was especially pleasant: both tantrum- and ear infection-free. I think part of that was the absence of my laptop. I left it in the car all weekend. Out of sight, out of AJ's mind, so there was no inquiry about "can I do my work?" nor subsequent whining when the Mean Old Parents responded, "Not right now." Surprisingly, there were also no naps -- but still no tantrums. He must be on his best behavior because he knows Santa is watching. MAN, I LOVE THAT GAG.

We decorated the house this weekend. Yesterday while I was winding garland around the stair rails on the front porch, I thought, "Who am I doing this for? The pizza guy and the UPS man." I would love to host parties... wait, no... one party would probably be enough... but our relatives are coming for the ACTUAL holiday, and that's probably all we can handle. It'd be nice to do impromptu entertaining. DH and I lament that our neighbor-relationships aren't like some, where you can pop in and enjoy each other's casual friendship. Maybe I could think of SOMEONE to have over for just a little dessert and hot cocoa. Because unless we spend atypical time with friends and family, why IS IT the "most wonderful time of the year?" It's NOT, in a word. It's the most stressful! You have to counterbalance that with something of hospitality and fun, I think. We should do it on a weeknight. Easy breezy. Cookies and candy canes.

And there, in three paragraphs, I have altered my mood somewhat, from frowny to hopeful. Time for warm oatmeal.

Good News Choir

By posting this I'm entering myself into a lovely giveaway at WorkIt Mom! You can, too. Click the link. But first, enjoy my good news!

Mantra

I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS. I WILL NOT GET STRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS.

NaHoBloPoMo FAIL

Tee hee. FAIL. I did not post every day in the end of November. Lucky for me no one but me was policing Nahoblopomo, so I still win. I've been just enjoying the time with my family, my kiddos, my cousins, and my parents' couch. Blogging takes a back seat to all of that, every time.

We watched "Sweeney Todd" last night from 10 to midnight; it seems staying up really late to watch a gory movie is becoming my weird Thanksgiving tradition. Johnny Depp definitely rocked it, as he is wont to do, but I'm sorry that my husband didn't enjoy our musical evening as much as I did. He doesn't do musicals.

Tomorrow morning we'll leave sunny (rainy) Florida, with our fingers crossed that traffic is kind to us. We'll re-enter Georgia with plans to decorate for Christmas, shopping to do, and new Thanksgiving memories to hang onto, until next year.

The Parade

I'm writing this on Wednesday, but when you read it, you may have already watched the parade! Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I'm thankful for you!


I have so many different memories of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's definitely one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. In fact, when I wake up before nine, I'm usually IMPATIENT for it to start. I hope I'll be able to convince AJ to turn off his DVD player, or whatever cartoons he's watching, and switch it to parade coverage. I heard this year they're going to have a Smurf balloon for the first time! They didn't ever have one in the '80s, how crazy is that? And they're having Buzz Lightyear, which I think is odd since he's so ten years ago. I didn't hear them say Barry Manilow is going to be there and that is just a shame.

A few of my memories:
-- watching with my Granny when she'd come to visit in Pensacola for Thanksgiving;
-- being in the musical "Here's Love," which is the musical version of Miracle on 34th Street, and singing about "the big calown (clown) balloons, just a-sauntering, 49 feet from the ground..."
-- watching in Thibodeaux while we all got dressed in our hotel rooms before Thanksgiving dinner at our cousins' house -- we'd go from our room to Aunt L's room to Nan L's room, and in every room, the parade was on. :)

Crazy Eights

Thank you, Mandy!

8 Things I'm looking forward to

1. Eating fried turkey and sausage dressing and cranberry sauce. Forkfuls (forks ful?) with a bit of each of those things = heaven!
2. Watching everyone marvel over how big KT has gotten.
3. Hugs and smiles from my parents, cousins, aunts and uncles.
4. Finishing up all my files and reports and crap.
5. AJ getting past this latest whiny drama-fest stage and finding his happy face.
6. The next time I see my sister. I don't know when that will be, but I'm looking forward to it!
7. NOT driving to work on Thursday and Friday.
8. Disney's Animal Kingdom in February '09.

8 Things on my Wish List

1. Bath and Body Works Lotions (does that make me white-trashy? They're still my fave.)
2. iTunes giftcard.
3. Short or mid-length rain jacket.
4. New shoes.
5. Books by Philippa Gregory.
6. Someday, new kitchen cabinets, paint, and counter tops. And dishwasher and fridge, as long as I'm wishing.
7. Delicious chocolates.
8. A programmable crock pot.

8 TV Shows I Like To Watch

1. 30 Rock
2. Real Housewives
3. Project Runway
4. Amazing Race
5. Ace of Cakes
6. Dirty Jobs
7. Lost (come back!!)
8. Ghost Hunters (I hate having to admit this but these guys are so incredibly cheesy slash paranoid that I CAN'T. STOP. MYSELF.)

8 Things that Happened Yesterday

1. KT woke up at 5:40 am and wanted a bottle.
2. AJ ate all his breakfast, and even threw away his own trash afterwards!
3. I did some online window-shopping.
4. I ate Taco Hell for lunch and it was gross. (Avoid the "Spicy Chicken" burrito.)
5. Our doggie went to "camp" for the Thanksgiving holiday and I think it made my husband sad. :(
6. My neighbor asked to borrow a casserole dish and a shot of bourbon, for a recipe.
7. I briefly considered a shot of bourbon, myself.
8. We almost couldn't find the Elf on the Shelf, who is supposed to magically appear right after Thanksgiving. But we found him. Whew!

More drama and trauma

We haven't heard of any additional hitting/kicking/pushing at school. DH did talk with the teachers and they were less than 100% encouraging, but said they, too, had and would try to help AJ stand up for himself, and that they were obviously separating him from those who give him trouble. They did report that he's one of the most popular kids in the class, which is why the (bigger) girls want to hang on and hug him, and the boys all vie for his attention which leads to roughhousing. So I guess that's good?

Luckily a lot of kids are out this week so I think it's been a lot more quiet in the classroom.

Mandy asked a good question, about whether or not we've considered holding him back a year. ...It's been brought up. A friend of ours did that with his son and I think it piqued my husband's interest. ...I guess I'm proud, and think that he's too smart to be held back -- because he really is. His verbal skills have always been impressive and he's doing great with numbers and reading and all those academic things. But also? I can't afford to pay for another year of daycare. It is sucking us bone-dry. Yes, we plan to put him in Catholic school which isn't free, but a quick calculation says I'll save $4,000 by graduating him from dear old Kids R Kids. THANK GOD.

So. The bullying drama aside, we have time to talk about the tantrum drama.

I feel like we have tried every Correct Way To Punish and Disapprove of Unacceptable Behavior while still being Gentle and Calm, and those ways...? ...are bunk as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes kids are little shitheads. So last night AJ and I had a really big stupid fight about bedtime wherein I got hit with a flashlight. (Yeah. Ow.) So he got that flashlight taken away, and got put to bed, but then kicked and screamed like a banshee and thrashed around upstairs for a good long while, while I attempted to NOT ENGAGE THAT BEHAVIOR (See? Trying to do the right thing)... but then DH had to come in and referee because we kept ON not engaging each other for about 10 minutes, and also fighting and not staying in the bed or the room, and I don't LIKE that DH had to join in at ALL, much less punish his son's rear end four times, but that is the way it had to be, and everything ended swiftly after that. I'm counting on John Rosemond to back us up. It needed to be done.

We made up, all of us, but I hated every minute of it.

Flashback!

Here is a statement I recently made to my Mom about KT baby:

Ooh, she has another new trick! When I say, "Wanna play pat-a-cake?" she puts her two hands together in front of her! Soooo cute.

Flashback to 2004...*doodley music*... doodooloodoodooloodoodooloo:

I love that when I say, "AJ, wanna play patty cake?" he lights up. He knows words!! Other than Mama and Dada! (He's a genius.) And, unless I'm making this up, he gets his hands ready when I say that, too. So cute.

At least I learned to spell pat-a-cake in the 4 years since then.

Goals

...132 pounds, I'll go right ahead and tell you.

...Christmas shopping EEEEEEEEKs. Without breaking the stupid (government-pwned?) bank.

...Clean house on a regular basis?

...This time next year, be happy with my professional life. No, really. I'd like a calling to my next career. Could I just order one up? I want to be meant to do something.

...Raise respectful, hardworking kids.

...Laugh more often. Laugh every single day. Here, I'll start that off:


Knock, knock.


Who's there?


Mayonnaise.


....Mayonnaise who?




Man, 'eys a lotta work to be done!

(We love this one at our house.)

Saturday post!

(Yes, I totally set this to auto-post because AS IF Mommy gets a chance to compute on a Saturday. Ha. The MacBook is dedicated to Ben10 Alien Force as a general rule, on this day of the week. Or turned off. We are too busy playing!)

Do you know our county has the whole week off school next week? I think that's crazy. I guess maybe they've combined fall break with Thanksgiving or something? Which... hello, we didn't get Fall Break until I was in college. That was a fabricated vacation, in my day! Fall Break? Oh, that isn't real, there's only Spring Break. Anyway, so a lot of moms in my area are probably sighing into their coffee right now, thinking, "This is the -- you kids turn that &*!@^ing SpongeBob DOWN!! -- (sob!) first of NINE LONG DAYS."

Those poor, poor souls.

Very current topic! Get it while it's hot!

I need your help with something, Internets, and rather than wait until next week (would you believe I have posts LINED UP in draft for Saturday through MONDAY? I am rocking NaHoBloPoMo!) I have to toss something up right now and then go combing through Ask Moxie shortly thereafter. (And do my boatload of work. Sigh.)

So. Ever since AJ was a tiny baby, Husband and I have differed on him, hitting. Not about our son starting a fight -- we've always told him NOT to hit other people/pets/etc. But if he gets hit first by another kid. My instruction has been to tell the other kid to Stop, and Get Away from him/her. Hubby is more along the lines of "he needs to stand up for himself -- hit 'em back."

I know that it's different for little boys (isn't it?), and Daddies want their boys to grow up tough, and I'm okay with that. *I* was never taught by my parents that hitting back is okay. Even when my cousin (a girl) would hit my sister regularly, HARD, we were not instructed that it was okay to hurt her just as much in return.

But I also don't want my kid getting beaten up, which he has been, apparently, in school lately. Some of the bigger, wilder kids do push him, and even kick him. He doesn't know what to do in reaction, and as a result he's acting out at other times of the day, throwing toys, knocking down their blocks, etc. He's clearly frustrated by the situation. He's told me he doesn't know what to do.

DH thinks we've taught him to be a pushover. Here's my response to that, sent in an email ten minutes ago:

...we have told him to be nice, and I STILL SAY that's the right thing to teach a kid. You don't teach your kid to NOT be nice. You have to lay the foundation for moral goodness and in simple terms, that equals "be nice to your friends." At the same time, you're right, I have probably hindered our being able to teach him to stand up for himself because I didn't want him to be the bully. And I completely agree with you that now he needs to know how to do that. (I don't think that before his age, you can teach kids the concept "stand up for yourself." It's too gray when they're toddlers what's real hitting/being mean, and what's just another kid losing control of his arms/legs/balance.) At age four, obviously, there are some kids who are trying to take advantage of their size [big] and of his [small]. And I don't want that to happen. I think the 1, 2, 3 approach is a good one -- Tell the person to Stop, Tell a teacher, and then "do what you gotta do."

You better believe I will be posting/asking/searching about this on the blogs....

I just want to know what you think should be done. Not a "who's right and who's wrong" commentary, but how do we navigate the tricky balance? We're having talks with the teacher today, and of course with each other, trying to come to agreement about this -- and I think we mostly are in agreement -- mostly -- I just feel like I want your experience/opinion on the matter.

7 Quick Takes, à la Jen

Head over to Conversion Diary to meet Jen. She's fab. :)

---1---

You should SEE the number of leaves in our yard. We have giant poplar and sycamore trees all over our property and DANG but they produce a mess in the fall. My dear husband plans to tackle that tomorrow (with the mulch setting on the mower), bless his soul. I'm sorry, honey. I'll keep the Gatorade coming.

---2---

I finally figured out who Kristen Stewart is. You know, the one who looks all nonplussed but is supposedly burning-hot-in-love with the vampire guy? ...The movie? The current hype-machine? Oh, if you don't know, Google it... I've been seeing the commercials and thinking she was vaguely familiar... but she's the sister from Zathura! Lisa! Somehow AJ watched that movie on TV a year or so ago, and because it had one scene with a maniacal, giant robot, he declared it "his robot movie" And then somehow it ended up in our DVD collection. Hmm. Anyway, she is LISA to me. My husband has heard me talk about how everyone's reading the Twilight series, and he doesn't understand why I'm not interested. ...I just don't get the vampire genre. (He should know that by seeing also: BLADE.) I tried to read an Anne Rice novel once and never could get into it. I saw the Tom Cruise movie... total snore.

---3---

Today I'm missing AJ's Thanksgiving Day Pre-K luncheon, and that is sucky. DH gets to go, since he works close by. In the olden days when I could work from home.... oh, sorry. I'm not going to get all negative right here on Pre-K Thanksgiving. I made my Granny's "Waldorf Salad" for AJ's contribution. It's a time-honored tradition on my Dad's side of the family... and also a bit of a family joke. I think everyone must have one of these recipes: Great-Aunt Someone's Jello Mold, Mrs. X's soupy Squash Cassrole... right? Ours is Waldorf Salad, made with apples, celery, nuts, a mayonnaise dressing, and mini-marshmallows. Yeah. My dear Uncle proudly carries on his mother's tradition and makes a big bowl of it every year, and it usually goes home with him, largely untouched. So sad. (I plan to eat a big serving this year, if just to make him feel good.) Anyway, I made it for AJ with the tiniest amount of mayo, extra marshmallows, and no celery or nuts. He did some quality assurance with me this morning and declared it GREAT. :)

---4---

30Rock30Rock30Rock30Rock30Rock. It's the only fun thing on television anymore. Even The Office is getting less funny to me, in comparison. (I HATE when Michael's mean to Toby. I like poor Toby.) But 30 Rock. I have the biggest TV-show-crush on that show. I want to kiss is and MARRY it.

---5---

Here's a funny little anecdote. KT is crawling, right? And she's gotten really good at it. When her Daddy gets home, she gets that motor running, to get to him as fast as she can! So cute! Well, located in that same area where DH enters the house every afternoon are Napoleon's food and water. Today I set KT up on the living room floor, turned my back for 30 seconds to start putting my lunch in a bag, and next thing you know I heard crunching. "KT!" I called, "Where are you, baby?" ...Of course. She was eating dog food. Had a piece in her mouth and didn't even look like she was going to spit it out, like she does Cheerios. Ha hahahahahahaaha no. Ew.

---6---

Anybody know if Starbucks is losing money yet? Everywhere, I read of people giving up their daily Sbux. Tightening of the belts, and all. I have, too. (Mine wasn't daily, but still.) I'm so curious if they're noticing, behind the cappucino machine.

---7---

Just about everyone at work has decided to take off the rest of this month. Our company has an assinine "use 'em or lose 'em" vacation days policy. (I, of course, used all of mine for maternity leave earlier this year.) Yesterday was skeletal crew, today looks to also be skeletal crew, and next week, I may well be the only one here at all. At least that's what it feels like. Guess I'll get to choose what music is blasting from my computer. Maybe choral. Maybe I'll sing along. It might be awesome.

L is for Love Thursday

Is there anything cuter than an alphabet lesson in jammies? (Okay, maybe it'd be cuter without the garbage can in the background...)

Happy Love Thursday, people!

A diversion

Are You There, God? It's Me, Lee. Could you possibly DIAL DOWN the sick just a little bit? It's been, let me think... I guess about 6 weeks of an unwell KT now. There was ear infection #1, then ear infection #2, probably a little teething in between, and now The Great Tummy and Cold Virus of Late '08 (never mind my own cold, it barely counts), complete with mucus drainage and the terrible horking of large volumes of warm formula ON MOMMY'S PRETTY NEW SWEATER LAST NIGHT OMG.. Oh. My... was I shouting just there? Sorry about that, God. Just... consider my request. Mkay? Thanks. Later.

************

I have been thinking that all my (4) lovely readers are probably staying occupied during this drought in my own posting by the wonderful people who've signed up for NaBloPoMo. Right? (Is anyone we know doing NaBloPoMo?) And then I was thinking, it's obviously too late for me to sign up for that gig, but I have half a month I could use to kick-start myself back into blogging gear. And I think that'd be good. I do miss having something to say. So I think I'm going to institute Na-HO-BloPoMo (Nat'l HALF-OF Blog Post Month) here on my own site and try to post once a day 'til December first. Surprise! I once declared I'd never ever sign up for something like this, and that was probably wise since this time of year is STRESS-TASTIC for me, but... never mind that. I'm going to do it, and it's going to be fun, and WHEEE! Here we go!

I'm excited about Thanksgiving, are you? Mostly because.... drumroll, please... I have made it to my goal pre-pregnancy weight! Nine months on, nine months off, just like They said! Wooo hooo! Yee-haw! I haven't been exercising the last 2 weeks (SHAME), but I also haven't been eating a lot (see above: SICK), but whatever. My scale says 1-mrfljsomething-2, and that's what I've wanted it to say since February. Now for these last ten pounds... Right after turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce and PIE. I plan to enjoy Thanksgiving in a reasonable way (sort of reasonable), and then right back on track through December.

Maryb and I were chatting about PIE last night. I love neither pumpkin nor pecan. My Aunt, however, is making both for our Thanksgiving dessert table. My Mom makes a pumpkin creme pie, which I like better, but what about the glories of cherry pie? Chocolate pie?! And also, hail our American Excess! We hardly need three pies for the group of 9 of us, two of which -- my two kids -- don't even EAT pie. The greatness of our nation, right there.

Meh. (No really, it's about "Meh.")

Did you hear that "Meh" made the dictionary?

Heh. (They considered 'Heh,' too.)

Others

So I see everyone's getting in on the gratitude deal! (Not that I invented it or anything. I haven't even done it in forever.) It's a good economy for counting your blessings. I've been feeling better about things the last couple of days, and trying to be more grateful, too.

I have also been considering, in a very self-help-book kind of way, that to focus on OTHERS rather than oneself is probably a good way to get out of the self-centered funk. Another reason I've felt like blogging is too much for me at the moment -- it's keeping me too focused on ME (hello, self!). Been trying to think more of the kids, my family, and each person I see. Fellow journey-ers, all in this together, that kind of schlock thing.

So I'm glad my office is going to spearhead some social activism after all these years. I'm eager to get involved but I'm one of those terrible people who needs someone else to organize it for me. Tell me when and where, and I'll (try to) show up. Ask me to initiate the service project? You might have to wait a long time. So anyway, we're doing a food drive which is awesome. :) I'm glad to go shopping and buy some "most needed" Mac and cheese dinners. And I hope we can help with a Habitat House or something hands-on, too. They were even talking about taking a half-day to do such things sometimes, as a group. It'll be interesting (read: surprising) to see if the corporate higher-ups approve that.

We're also doing Operation Christmas Child for PSR/Sunday School. One year I was lucky enough to join a friend (an Organizer) at one of the warehouses/drop-off locations. It's an enormous charity effort, and we volunteered for a shift of sorting the boxes, stacking, I don't remember now what-all. But I was glad I did it (glad my friend planned it!). Such fun to see the inner workings of an animal that large! I enjoy putting together the shoebox gifts, and AJ seems excited about it, too, which is good -- it balances out the fact that we had him make out his own Christmas wish list tonight. Y'know, to "practice" for writing a letter to Santa. Hee. What can I say, we're victims of early holiday marketing. Victims!

A few items of note

1. Lag Liv passed the Bar! Woooo! It made me say YAY! out loud to my computer screen.
2. Paying for daycare sucks. Especially when the admins can't get their sh*t together and give us a consistent charge. How are we supposed to budget? I never quite know what I'm paying for with them, I just keep handing over lots of dollars. Today they tell me AJ's been eating breakfast since August. TODAY. ...I haven't been paying for breakfast. I've also been feeding AJ breakfast before we leave every morning. It was hard to tell him, "Honey, you can't have breakfast at school, okay? You eat your breakfast at home." Most of the other kids are eating at that time. It's just $1.05 a day, but still. The cereal and Gogurt in my pantry are not cheap, either.
   
3. Fridays are not good days for a client visiting the office AND a big sales demo/conference call. On Fridays I want to do mindless things slash NOTHING.
4. I'm becoming sensitive to the aftertaste (and duringtaste) of Splenda. It's too bad, I love using it in place of sugar and feeling virtuous and saving calories. But I made these little no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies? And they taste aspertamey. I'm trying to decide if I'll keep them or throw them out. Probably throw out.
5. My dieting efforts faltered during Halloween/PMS Week but I'm going back on the wagon today. I had been doing well and feeling good about it before all that candy entered the picture. Oh, and the oatmeal things mentioned above were supposed to be for my healthful chocolate fix - only 70 cals each.
   
6. I very much dislike what I'm being asked to do at work right now. I feel guilty about it. My feelings about it are why I'm posting little of substance right now. My emotions are swirly but it's not stuff I can talk about online.
7. Thanks be, we've been having fun PLAYING lately! Partly because AJ will play once he gets started, without more prompting from us. He's making up stories and scenes, setting up "classrooms" for his dinosaurs, mixing Transformers with Ben 10 characters, and having the bad guys eat/blow up/crash into the good guys, all on his own. Meanwhile KT baby steals his Hot Wheels cars and tries to pull up on the furniture. It's been fun. I'm excited about what to get her for Christmas (girly things like "My First Purse") but also because as a little girl myself, I always LOVED playing with my cousin's Hot Wheels.
8. I'm proud of us because so far, KT has not watched a single Baby Einstein video. She's nearly 9 months old! Of course, she watches her share of Ninja Turtles and Ben 10, but still.
   
9. We've been trying to use Baby Signs with her but she hasn't started signing back to us yet. I forget when that starts to happen.
10. She now has FIVE teeth! Two on the bottom, and three up top! It shows what little time I get to spend... exploring her mouth... because I just discovered this last night. But exploring your kid's mouth isn't necessarily quality time, I suppose. She GRINDS her teeth constantly and it drives me batty. I hate to rely on the pacifier and I dread when it's time to wean her from it, but I RELY on the pacifier.
    

Knob

The knob on my crockpot has broken off! We resorted to using needle-nose pliers this morning, because I am making this for dinner.

Pliers just Will Not Do, now that I have discovered that site, and now that I'm working outside the home 5 days/week. I need a new crockpot! Who's excited for Christmas?!

Tuesday, Tuesday!

Trader Recipe is below! (sort-of lame) Broccoli-Rice Casserole.


We did all those things on my list from last weekend, and they were all great. Trick or treating was fun! AJ stayed out 2 hours or more with his Daddy, and was excited to run up to each and every house and ring the bell (if it was his turn). It was nice for us parents to have a different neighborhood to walk around in. I was bored with our neighborhood, so we went to our friends' house. They had a great party, actually -- witches' brew punch for us, plenty of cookies and candy, and a big bowl of chili for dinner. Awe.Some.

Lunch with my friend was nice! She was super sweet and I felt bad for saying something mean about her. Our haircuts: great! Except our stylist knows us too well and Talked My Ear Off. Sometimes I don't like a stylist to Talk so much. But whatever, it was fine and at least she didn't scalp me. :)

Of course I have a new to-do list now, but things are okay this week. So far. I voted, and only had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes. I'm determined to get the house clean this week, with Hubby's help. The kids are healthy and sweet.

Last night we had the most boring dinner ever!

Ham steaks (which DH really dislikes, but eats anyway)
Green beans (from a can!)
Rice with butter, and S&P

Isn't that LAME?! But it's easy, and that's what I was going for. C'mon, it was MONDAY. I tried to think of ways to jazz up the rice, but other than Ro-Tel, which is too spicy for AJ, I couldn't come up with anything. What do you do with rice?

Here's a rice recipe I want to try (because it looks easy). From All Recipes.

INGREDIENTS
* 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
* 1 cup cooked long-grain rice
* 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
* 1 1/2 cups cubed process American cheese

DIRECTIONS
Cook broccoli according to package directions; drain. Stir in rice and celery salt. Stir in cheese until melted. Serve immediately.

Howdy-do

I'm enjoying my "oap-meal" on this chilly morning. That's what AJ calls it. He eats it nearly every day and now, so do I! I call it "cholesterol-begone" and I'm just about sick of it already. But guess what? I'm down a pound and a half this week! So rock on, Mr. Quaker.

I really need to be calling a client about his Domain Keys and SPF record, and sending a couple of jobs over to production for some (more) color correction, but... eh. Not interested.

My babies are all dressed up and ready to participate in the Halloween parade at school (KT) and the pre-K field trip to a retirement home (AJ). They'll sing Halloween songs and everything! DH is curious what kind of candy he'll bring home from there. Ha. We made Cocoa Krispies Treats for his class party.

The big news around here is that yesterday, KT crawled for real, for the first time. :) She had become a master scooter/roller but now she has the knees coordinated. We are mobile! Amazing how an antibiotic turns her around immediately, too. She's like a different child now that she's on the mend from this cold/ear infection.

I haven't voted yet, and I'm dreading it. The lines for early voting -- I pass an early-voting place on my way to work every day -- have been out the door and around the block. People are parking a half-mile away and walking uphill to stand in those lines for hours. The thought of doing that to check one tiny box and Christmas-tree the rest of the ballot makes me want to gouge my eyes. I guess I have to, though. (I won't really Christmas-tree it.)

I'm feeling more optimistic than earlier in the week, but still a little bit in a funk. The Office and 30 Rock helped some. Things I'm looking forward to this weekend:

• obviously, trick or treating tonight in our friends' neighborhood


• going through the candy bucket after a certain someone has gone to bed


• lunch Saturday at Einstein's Bagels with a friend (I'm happier about the lunch than the friend, but still)


• haircuts for me and for AJ


• menu planning and grocery shopping (does that make me weird?)


• finishing my book... I hope


• dinner out somewhere, perhaps, if the kids are in a good mood

What about you?

Hamster wheel

Lately it feels like we're just being chewed on by this never-ending machine -- DH and I, the parents. We clock in, 5:30 am, and get to pounding out our day. Feed kids, feed dog, dress kids, dress selves, gather up stuff, forget stuff, pound, pound, pound, out the door, drive. Kids: school. Barely time to ponder on that fact, just set them down and GO, on to the next classroom. Drive, drive, drive. Fill up with gas. Work. Drive again. Dinner. TV. Drinks. Napkins. Oh, don't forget to hug the kids once in a while, or engage with them once in a while (now I'm tearing up as I type). Eat. Plead with kid to eat. Bath. Bed. Make bottles. Start over. Even the weekends sometimes feel this hurried. Even when we sit on the couch, we know it's just another half-hour until we have to go somewhere or feed someone.

Do we communicate? Yeah, but not well. I'm snippy and defensive. He's quiet. We coo at the baby and hope some of the love for her and her brother (when he's being sweet) runs off the sides and seeps into each other, too. We gripe at him for being four, and so, so trying. The hamster wheel spits us out, creaks a little back and forth while we sleep, then sucks us back in for another round, another day.

Blah-gging (Edited)

We had a busy, busy weekend. You?

Ours included the school's Fall Festival, a trip to the nursery for our pumpkin (which rolled around in the backseat of my car during the commute this morning -- greaaaat), a Publix run for essentials (formula, baby food, oatmeal, bananas, and Pop Tarts), and a Sunday School lesson in which I failed to even mention All Saints' Day, but did engage the kids with a rousing game of "Dear St. Anthony, please look around...", with a chocolate prize of course.

I'm really trying to be attentive and grateful about everything - each moment, each memory. It's a little hard. I feel like I've been in a bad mood for 3 weeks.

My feelings about blogging, especially, have been up and down all last week and over the weekend. I know we all get this way from time to time. Feeling that it's trite and narciss, narcisiss- terribly selfish to Whine Online (™! I just coined that!) when there are people in the world out there actually suffering. Feeling that I can't possibly say anything here that hasn't already been said by someone else, and better. Blah, blah, blah. (Aside: AJ has taken to saying "Blah, blah, blah," while he's performing little tasks like cleaning up, or if he's telling himself a story, and it cracks me up.) So anyway, forgive me if posting is dry around here for a while. I'm just in the funk.

We all have colds; KT baby's must be related to teething, but I'm hoping she doesn't develop her 2nd ear infection. Oog. A friend just had tubes put in his son's ears and I know that helps kids but I really don't want to have to go down that road. (See? You can tell I'm all negative right now, that I'm already diagnosing her with chronic ear infections.)

Traffic was really crappy this morning.

The Fall Festival was really fun, I think, for AJ. I forgot to say that. He and his daddy stayed for "Movie Night Under the Stars." It was too cold for that event, of course, but I know AJ had a good time. Oh, also, I was "asked out" by one of the other moms! Well, not really -- but AJ was invited to a playdate. I thought it was sweet because the mom specified that her son is an only child. Like she needed to justify asking AJ over. I was all, "You're the first person in HISTORY to invite us to a real playdate, I love you." Heh. Hope I didn't scare her away.

EDITED TO ADD: Not 30 minutes after hitting publish, I got my sorry butt up off my chair and took a 25-min walk down the long, winding drive on which sits my gray cinder-block of an office building. It was actually quite pretty (trees alongside the road, enormous blue sky above), and envigorating, what with the 20-mile-an-hour gusts we're having here today. And guess what? I felt better.

I was going to wait a whole week to post that, but I thought you should know in case you're feeling the blahs: Take a walk.

Dispatch from trenches

Several things I'm fretting over -- no good time to reflect or even type nice sentences.

Baskets to be auctioned for this weekend's Fall Festival at school. Try on and alter Halloween costumes. Iron a shirt that's been in laundry room for 2 weeks so I have something to wear tomorrow (5 days a week = need more clothes all of a sudden). Retreive winter clothes from basement and pray they fit.

Watch what I eat. Figure out when, each day, to fit in exercise. (I so don't want to have to regiment my week this way but I feel like it's the only way I'll stick to it.)

Figure out when and where to vote, early if possible. Don't want to wait 'til Nov 4th but the way it's looking with 2-hour LINES for early voting, Nov 4th might actually be a breeze. Find time to read about all the local candidates... ha, yeah right...

Pay bills some night this week after dinner? Also, do laundry (load of towels is critical). Maybe clean a bathroom. Oh, the kids' bath toys and KT's humidifier NEED to be rinsed/sanitized. Oogh.

Figure out if we're going to fly, drive, or rent a car for our Disney trip in February '09. Figure out what parks we want to visit and how to celebrate KT baby's 1st birthday while we're there! Yipes. Had totally forgotten about this. Excited about the trip, though.

Christmas shopping, holy mike.

Finish the two Mommy Club books I'm now behind on, and get ready for my turn to host next month. (It's not really "Book Club" any more, who are we kidding?) Figure out what to serve. (Had so much nice conversation last night with my girlfriends.)

Try not to worry about... lots of stuff. Good gracious, I'm grateful for a husband who's helpful, kind, and here in town. I don't know how you guys with traveling husbands do it.

That is all.

Tuesday Trade: Useful Tips

In lieu of a recipe today (I am running out of recipes!), I thought I would share a few ideas for making things last longer.

...when I make tacos using 1 lb of ground beef: We never eat all the beef. Nor do we finish all the tiny bits of tomato that I painstakingly dice up for garnish. AND, taco shells don't reheat, so I try not to bake more than I need for that night. So I take the leftover fillings (minus lettuce) and make simple burritos to freeze -- meat, cheese, salsa, tomato. They're great to take for lunch at the office. (Tortillas are something I always keep on hand; don't you?)

...when I make a casserole: I will put 1 or 2 lunches worth in the fridge as leftovers, but who are we kidding? We're not going to eat this 4 days in a row. Make it a habit to freeze at least half of your leftovers immediately, in single-serv portions if you can. Reheat for lunch. You'll throw away less.

...when I drink Crystal Light: I always dilute mine by half, with water. We go through a metric ton of Crystal Light peach tea mix around here, and that stuff is not cheap. I feel like I can sacrifice half the flavor, no biggie, to make it last a little longer.

...when we make anything rice-y, from a box or otherwise (as we do quite often), we've started using additional plain rice to stretch it out. This also helps us feed the picky boy-child, who prefers more rice than flavor anyway, and it usually means we get 2 leftover lunches out of the meal instead of just one. OBVS I'll be making brown rice now since I Have High Cholesterol, Woe Is Me... ;)

...when we buy deli meat for sandwiches: We have to USE that stuff or it goes bad every time. We had sandwiches one night last week for dinner. I did them "roll-up" style (tortillas, again!). I just don't want to throw out that ham and turkey, which is what we've historically had to do. Sandwiches for lunch every day is okay in theory, but in practice we just don't like them enough to have them every day. But dinner sammies seem... I don't know, youthful or bohemian or something.

...when I make coffee: I've started putting just a splash of flavored creamer in, and using milk to get it to my desired creaminess. Not that milk is cheap, but it's probably cheaper than flavored creamer! Also, I don't want to throw out expensive milk, which sometimes goes bad at our house because we're not milk lovers.

This isn't for cooking, but ...when I run the dishwasher: I resist the temptation to put detergent in the "optional" open cup, too. You know, how the dishwasher has one cup with a little "door" and another cup for if you want to begin the soaping with the first rinse? Just resist! You double the life of your bottle/box of detergent. One soap cycle is plenty in a good dishwasher!

If you have any good tips like these, please share. Maybe this stuff is obvious but I think we're being much more conscientious lately.

Sorry

I'm feeling bad for getting so potty mouthed emotional in my previous post, but you guys are great, making me feel better.

But I swear, sitting there, the tech handing me a paper with my numbers written on it (because of privacy, you know, she couldn't say them out loud).... it felt like getting back an important exam with a big fat (har) D- on the top.

And one thing I could never handle in school (and am not used to) was bad grades. I know I'm not in excellent shape, I've known I was a little overweight, and that I'm genetically predisposed... but I didn't think my actual health was in "danger" yet. And high numbers before 35 feels like danger.

Anyway, it's not as terrible as I'd made it out to be, I guess. My Mom suggested fish oil capsules, I'll eat some oatmeal, get exercising (I was going to have to re-figure that schedule, anyway, for work), and get better numbers next year.

Heart-y congratulations to me. Not.

This morning is good news/bad news about my health and weight-loss efforts.

My pleasant little bathroom scale at home, at 5:49 am, told me, "Congratulations, el-e-e! You are whipping your butt into shape one little baby step at a time. Down a half-pound! Good on you! Now get out there and face your day. You're doing it the right way."

I like that scale. He's friendly.

Then I came to the office, where Concentra Medical Services is conducting Health Screenings today so that we can tell the insurance people that we're aware we ... have health. Or something. The screenings have nothing to do with much of anything, but we get a pre-determined dollar amount "knocked off our premium" if we fill in these numbers: height, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

I should have made up numbers. The ones I got were not friendly.

I usually skate by in the cholesterol department with a 175-ish total score. Not today.

You know what? I am going to tell you my numbers. I am going to be brave.

My LDL.... 125 (should be under 100!)
My HDL.... 38 (should be at least 50, ideally greater than 60!)
My total cholesterol... 196 (under 200 is okay)
My triglycerides... 196 (should be 50 to 150!)
My BP... somewhat high today at 124/82

GOOD G*DAMN.

I'm sorry but that is the ONLY word that comes to mind. I *NEVER* have high blood pressure. In fact, doctors are usually amazed at how GOOD my BP is. What. Thehell. I am wondering how much of this is fluke-y and how much is real. Oh, who am I kidding, it's likely all real. Some of it might be genes -- my little 92-pound grandmother had cholesterol over 200, I think -- but a lot of it is BUTTER. And CHEDDAR. And WHITE BREAD and BACON.

So. Let me just say again... Damn.

Jillian Michaels, here I come.
New supportive shoes, here I come.
5:15 am, here I effing come.
Mister Quaker Oatmeal guy, here I come.
V-8 low-sodium (gag), here I come.
Pickles and water, here I come. (little joke with my Mom)
WeightWatchers vegetable soup, here I come.
Skinny latte (tall), here I come. Once in a blue moon as a much-needed treat.

Goodbye, 1 piece of chocolate after dinner. (Okay, 2.)
Goodbye, ice cream.
Goodbye, cheddar cheese.
Goodbye, sour cream (lite).
Goodbye, Squeeze Parkay convenience.
Goodbye, cookies.
Goodbye, regular pasta.
Goodbye, loaded potato soup.
Goodbye, white rice all the time because it's economical -- too bad!

Should be loads of fun. I can't wait to get down to business. <--- (sarcasm.)

Quelque fois (Sometimes)

Jess asked yesterday, "What goes through your head sometimes?"

And I thought, The House on Southwestern.

No one will understand that but my Mom and my Sis, but I'll explain for you.

When I was about 11, my parents were considering a big move from our small town in Texas to someplace larger. It might have been Dallas -- my grandparents lived there. It ended up being Florida, but in the meantime we casually drooled over walked through a couple of houses in University Park*, right near Grandmother and Granddaddy's. There was one, on Southwestern Boulevard, that I LOVED. I guess I'd never looked at an empty, brand-new house before, with any kind of idea that I might move into it. This one had a pretty staircase in the foyer -- something our house, a ranch-style, didn't have. It had a big "multi-purpose" room upstairs, and a cedar linen closet. It had a tiny backyard, but a bright kitchen with white cabinets. I remember how the light felt in that kitchen, that day. We might have walked through it twice. I think it had just been built and therefore wasn't locked, but I may be wrong about that. I don't remember any realtor taking us there.

Anyway, images of being in this house pop into my mind all the time lately, and have done so, as long as I can remember since then. Just the tiniest, fleeting thoughts, while I'm bathing the kids, or driving to work. I don't dwell on them; I just think, "Oh, the house on Southwestern," and continue doing whatever I'm doing. It's not like I am really sad that we didn't get to move there -- I'm not. It really wasn't even a significant possibility, I don't think -- we mostly looked at houses in Dallas for fun, I think. (I remember The House on Colgate, too.) But I wonder why being in that house made such an indelible impression on my mind? What about it has caused it to stay with me all these years?

*Mom, Sis, and anyone -- have you played with Google Maps lately? Check out Street View! You can actually WALK down the street that you search. I found my own house, Grandmother's old house right there in Dallas, DH parents' house...I tried to find the actual House on S'western, but didn't see one that looked familiar. Just search any address. Super fun. Not every address has a "street view" yet, but I'm sure they're working on it!

Quelque choses (Some things)

I haven't had a good blog-thought in ages. Thank goodness for the Tuesday recipes thing and for my little job thing or I'd have been a blank page for 2 weeks straight. ENTER: The Six Random Things Meme. Woo hoo! Everybody's doing it, most recently Mandy, who tagged you, me and everyone.

I am supposed to share 6 random things about myself that I have never shared before, which is funny because I've done variations of this meme about eleventy times already. Never mind... Here you are:


1. I do that thing where I twist my body around both ways to crack my spine at least once a day, if not more. I especially like it when they tell me to do this in yoga cool-down sessions, because it makes me feel like it won't actually cause arthritis. Like it may even be GOOD for me. I also crack my toes.

2. Every "month" I get one zit. Usually a prominent place on my forehead or face. It's just delightful. This week, for some other, unknown reason, I have three. GAWD. (You're welcome!)

3. I'm definitely a design snob, having been in the design/print industry this many years. My favorite fonts are sans-serif ones like Helvetica Condensed, Arial Narrow, Gil Sans Light, Tahoma. I really dislike serif fonts. Especially on blogs. (Except on yours... On yours they're pretty.)

4. We had tuna casserole for dinner last night. Mmmm. One of my favorites.

5. Yesterday at work, I was supposed to make a phone call to someone my coworkers and I would like to meet/work with. This person is sort-of a rock star in his field (at least I think of him as one -- entrepreneur, very smart, finger on the pulse, etc.). I emailed him first, then waited and waited before I placed the call... because I was hoping my manager would leave for the day and NOT HEAR ME make the call. We all share this office space and I don't know, I just didn't want him listening in.

6. I am the "stereotypical male" in our household; I often leave my nightshirt/underwear on the floor of the bathroom after I shower and get dressed. Isn't that HORRIBLE? I was reading a blog the other day wherein the wife wrote a letter to her husband saying "COULD YOU PLEASE just pick up your underwear? Is that so hard??" ...and I was mortified. Sorry, DH. I can't BELIEVE I've done this for so long. I'll try to do better.

Tuesday Trade: more from Pancho (or someone similarly named)

I have been loving Maryb's "Pancho's Chicken." I've made it twice now. Yum! Last night I gorged myself. All within my daily calorie limit, I think, but MAN, was I full afterwards. I guess I ate slowly enough to really feel the Full.

Here's my recipe for today, and it's for the crock pot. It's from this cook book, for which I refuse to type the title here on my (perfect) blog, because it is grammatically incorrect. (FEWER!!) Also, it's not a classic "throw everything in and turn it on" crock-pot recipe. You have to use the stove. I know! THE HORRIBLE STOVE! But it's not too hard.

Tamale Casserole

1 lb. lean ground beef (sorry, Sis!)
1 c. chopped onion
1 can (14.5 oz) chunky tomatoes, drained
1 can (4 oz) diced/chopped green chiles
8 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas
2 cups (8 oz) Cheddar cheese, shredded

Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Add tomatoes and green chiles and heat through.

Tear 4 of the tortillas into bite-size pieces and place in a sprayed slow cooker. Add half of the meat mixture; then sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat, ending with cheese. Cover and cook on LOW 2 to 2.5 hours. Makes 4 generous servings. Garnish with salsa and serve* with some sort of vegetable/salad. Seriously, you need your vegetables, people.


*I made a note in the margin: Add salt.

So, looking straight ahead

The meeting was not, as I'd feared, about my performance or about any sort of layoff. Whew. Thanks for your votes of confidence. It was about shifting my responsibilities (again) within the company, which is never really a *bad* thing, just a *different* thing. It's going to mean, in the short-term (I'm covering an additional position that Corporate won't let us fill in These Uncertain Economic Times), that I won't get to work from home anymore. Sigh. This is a bummer. Thankfully it's not a deal-breaker, since the kids are both in daycare 5 days a week already. Those 2 days at home have been a real convenience and blessing to me, allowing me to actually DO laundry or take a 15 minute vacuuming break, but they aren't critical to our family operations or bottom line. Helpful, yes. Green, yes. (Hello, company, I'll be pumping 2 more days' worth of junk into the area's smog, thanks.) Critical? I guess not. My manager says it's a temporary thing. I'm not sure I believe him on that.

I'm still ironing out a few details of how it's all going to work, and honestly, additional responsibility makes me more marketable for the next time they might call an unexpected meeting, the outcome of which might not be so good. Blah blah glass half full. We never know in this job market, and it's best to be prepared. I have mixed feelings overall, but am glad to still have a paycheck. Perhaps with this extra stuff I can more easily lobby to increase said paycheck at my next review.

Don't look down

I've been concentrating an awful lot on our floors lately, since I seem to spend a lot of time down there. It's the easiest place to go when AJ wants to play something, usually "Alien Creation Chamber," and KT wants to practice her army crawl. I pour out some soft blocks on one side of me and some alien parts on the other side, and let the kids go to work.

Safe to say I will never be like someone I know who amazes me by vacuuming every day, or at least every other day. But I would LIKE to have floors that clean, seeing as how we roll around on them so much. I just vacuumed but it won't last long.

*****WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST to announce... my manager just asked me to meet with him tomorrow morning 30 minutes before our regular weekly staff meeting. He "has something he wants to discuss with me." Panic panic panic WHAT COULD IT BE?? Am I in trouble? Will I be extremely nervous and worry about this all day? Will I lose my job less than 24 hours from now? Will I be privy to some top-secret work-related information? What could take 30 minutes to discuss? Will I be given a very substantial and unexpected raise and promotion?? Tune in tomorrow... cue the foreboding and dread*****

Giving the economy a caboost

Nobody's sick at my house, whew. My DH jokingly accused me of wishing sickness upon us in that last post. Not so... I'm just feeling nervous/stressy about a lot of things and Baby catching a dread disease was one of them, yesterday.

Retail therapy helps. I found some BARGAINS at The Children's Place today, and went ahead and did my civic duty, injecting forty-one whole dollars into our economy. You're welcome. Got this cute dress:
... and this one,
both for less than $7.00 which feels extremely good to me. Also found some other small things like long-sleeve t-shirts and one shirt for AJ. (He's plenty clothed, as you know, with hand-me-downs from cousin Grant, who has impeccable taste and an eye for fashion.)

Also did $75-worth of destressing at Snapfish's gift shop. Boosted the economy AND got some Christmas gifts taken care of... double win!

The library was equally fun. I think I made a good suggestion for Book Club -- something different from our normal fare -- and I'm jazzed about libraries in general again. I've got to get AJ over there with me at some point. Maybe when we take these back -- I got him a few new picture books, too, of course. I think his class goes on a field trip there sometime during the school year, but I want him to go there with Mama and hold my hand while he discovers the treasures of so many (free) books. We have really enjoyed some new books my Mom sent this week, especially a Halloween I Spy picture book. It's given us 2 half-hour sessions of focused, fun family time, and we're only 2/3 finished with it! LOVE.

I don't have anything profound to share. I feel like I should. I also feel like I should be watching the news all the time, when I'm not wringing my hands about the news. That's why it was nice to watch Project Runway last night, and why I'd like to watch Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend (can you believe I still haven't seen all of #2, or any of #3?). Something completely unrelated to the election or the economy, and completely frivolous.

Refreshingly...

...politics free today. (Like Swistle!)

I will say this, as my only report on last night's debate: I fell asleep.

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Tomorrow I'm planning to go to the library to pick up Madeleine L'Engle's The Small Rain for Book Club. I'm not buying it. Books have come off the "essential purchase" list, and even the "it's okay, books are small" justification list. Fourteen dollars is more money than it used to be, at least when it's still inside my wallet.

I am excited - I haven't been to a library in a long time.

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The pediatrician's office is falling in love with us because we give them 25 dollars two, maybe three times a week these days. Just for fun! Last week it was for the privilege of sitting in their exam room for 45 minutes so the doctor could come in right before 5:00 to declare KT baby ear-infection-free. He breezed in and out of there so fast I barely saw his face. At that point she WAS still coughing and had a very runny nose -- I wanted to ask him a few questions -- but he disappeared before I could. I took him at his word and left with my fingers crossed. (I think she's getting better. I think.)

Who knew I'd be back there 4 days later for darling AJ's adventure of the week: sticking something in his ear "just to see what would happen." He saw what happened, alright. A nice metal forceps AND a warm earwash later, and I don't think he'll be sticking paper OR crumbs anywhere but his pockets from now on (he'd better not)! Poor kid screamed his little head off during the ear wash. I couldn't blame him -- when I go swimming and my ear fills with water accidentally, I jump around and shake my head and jiggle my BRAIN until that water drips back out. I HATE having water in my ears.

But he deserved it.

Today there's a sign on the Infant 2 door saying "A case of hand-foot-mouth disease has been reported in this classroom," so I'm expecting to see my darling pediatrician again real soon despite wiping KT baby down every time I get a chance. I know they'll swoon when I walk in the door. Easy money, baby.

Not saying anything one way or the other

I keep searching online, wanting to know what people thought about the VP debate. I've read a few articles, blog posts. Probably what I really want to determine, though, is what *I* thought about the debate. It was historic for me, but only because I managed to watch the entire thing and not fall asleep (for longer than 5 minutes during the Sudan/Afghanistan part). Ha. Mostly I thought it was the same old typical political schlock, with a bit of "I'll charm 'em" talk thrown in from Palin, which is her deal. I didn't think either one of them said anything we hadn't heard before, and both of them likely spoke some untruths.

I found it funny the couple of times they "agreed" on something -- the gay marriage issue, when Ifill said "Good, you agree." and the sworn-to-silence audience couldn't help laughing. And then that they "both love Israel." Heh. And I liked when Biden said "I love him," referring to McCain. I, myself, loved Palin's suit and the highlights in her hair. And I hope no one will take that as me bashing her OR being a dumb-ass who is voting for or against gender alone. Because I'm not, I'm just observing.

(Here's stating the obvious:) If we could have Tivo'd it, watched about 10 minutes, and then rewound to start over, we would have made it a drinking game. Anytime Palin said the word, "Maverick..." or mispronounced "Nu-cue-lar..."

DRINK!

(What is it with that word, by the way?!? NUCLEAR. New-Clear. How hard is it? Aaaghggh.)

Anytime Biden started his answer with the word "Look," or added a superfluous "fundamental..."

DRINK!

It could go on and on and we'd all have been completely wasted by the end.

I thought the NBC commentator got it just right, though, that both of them exceeded expectations. Palin spoke to the people, as one of the (lowly) people, and that was what she needed to do, not let herself get ruffled as she has by the bright lights and fast-talking, hard-pressing media. And I actually think Biden did well on that front, too, aligning himself with regular people who've had hardship in their lives. I thought he was well spoken and I think others have said this, HE might appeal to more people as the Presidential nominee than smooth-talker Barack. (And I'm sorry, yes, he's a GOOD speaker, but he's also Reeeeel Smmoooth. Trained in speaking is what I mean.)

Anyway, I'm pretty much your classic swing-voter according to this, and although my mom and dad will cringe to hear it, I'm still not absolutely sure whom to vote for. I'm pretty sure, but not absolutely. I'm not convinced my vote will even matter in Georgia, although this year we might have a more interesting electorate than we usually do.

I don't know. I never know about politics. Moving on.

Since it's October, we finally opened the Halloween CD my Mom brought a couple of weeks ago, and AJ's taken it to school 2 days in a row (they listen to music while eating breakfast and at the end of the day). He LOVES the songs "Ghostbusters," and "I Want Candy," which are, of course, fun for us grownups too. And he LIKES, but gets SCARED, listening to the "Spooky Sounds" portion of the CD. It has tracks like "Evening in the Dark Forest," "Midnight at a Cemetery," and "Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory," complete with creaky door effects, hooting owls, and faraway bell-tolling. Spooooooky. He wants me to play those tracks, but then 30 seconds into them, he says, "Turn it off, Mommy! I'm scared!" Hee hee hee. I think he really LIKES getting scared like that, you know, the thrill we all have about non-threatening scary things. :)


(Someone's going to see that last sentence as a subtle reference, since everyone's referring to either Palin or Obama as "scary" in the political rhetoric going around. But it was just coincidence that I wrote about both those things today... really.)

Scent of a woman

I pulled out the remainder of my Bath and Body Works "Sensual Amber" lotion a few weeks ago, because it's a "fall" scent in my mind. And I slathered it on this morning, because boy, have my arms and elbows been dry.

So I smell nice today. Of course, KT zinged me right before we left the house, so every once in a while, I get a little whiff of eau de baby spit-up from my right shoulder.

Excellent mix.

Trader Tuesdays: Healthy Chocolate Candy Bites

My Mom and Dad showed up 2 weekends ago with a little Ziploc baggie of these awesome chocolate bites. My TOTAL DIET WEAKNESS is wanting just a bite (or 4) of something sweet after a meal. These make me feel better because they have cholesterol-lowering Cheerios, anti-oxidants-rich dark chocolate, and protein-filled walnuts! And fruit! They're like, the perfect food!


Healthy Chocolate Candy Bites

15 oz dark chocolate for baking/candy-making (NOT semi-sweet choc chips, I tried them and they're not as good. Go for Ghiardelli or something similar)

1.5 C. Cheerios

1/2 C. chopped walnuts

1 C. dried cherries


Melt chocolate over low heat, or in a double-boiler. Add other ingredients and stir to coat. Drop by small spoonfuls onto wax paper and let cool. Store in airtight container -- in the fridge works best. Can also freeze them to save for later.

Thanks, Mom! Hope you don't mind I shared!

Walk in the forest

Sundays are good days for walking, and so yesterday afternoon, we did. We gathered up nothing but ourselves -- the baby had just been fed and changed, and AJ was raring to go so I didn't even think to get sunscreen, water bottles, or any other superfluous thing that we millenial moms always pack up when we leave the house. I just grabbed my phone in case we got lost or hurt, my camera, and the stroller. We took DH's car because (AJ wanted to, for some reason, and) it's the most fuel-efficient. Since DH had spent both Saturday and Sunday mornings in line for gas before dawn, this was important. Freaking gas shortage. Crazy.

Anyway, all free-wheedlin' and sans accoutrements, we drove the 3 miles to the trail, and then we walked! Once again I was reminded: We live less than 3 miles from a National Park! How cool is that? I was thinking we'd only be out 20 minutes or so, but we ended up doing nearly the whole loop, I think - closer to an hour. Sometimes AJ ran ahead, sometimes he fell behind and shouted, "Hey guys, wait up!" He fell once and lamented that he probably wouldn't be able to play his Hulk Smash board game now, with this owwie (a tiny scrape in the middle of his palm). KT endured the roots and rocks and sand without so much as a whimper -- such a bumpy path would have made me grouchy, I think, if I'd been riding. But she's more agreeable than I. We even took a picture or two.





It was warmer than I'd hoped, but I am so, so glad we did that. There's nothing quite like the companionable "silence" of tall trees, grassy fields, and a chatty preschooler to make you feel contented.

Stream of Consciousness

KT baby may not have this year's most up-do-date baby clothes, I guess, but between hand-me-downs and gifts, she's got a lot of nice things to wear. Will soon need more shoes as it gets cool, and hadn't realized that little girls need more than 2 pairs, unlike little boys. Good news: Saw a bunch at Marshall's for cheap. Also Need: long-sleeve dresses. All I have is summer dresses. People didn't count out the months when they gave us these 9-month sizes.

Marshall's. Shopped last Tuesday in desperate attempt to put something in *my* closet that I like. Paid with cash to alleviate my poor, overused debit card. Came away with three nice tops, and have a little more I can spend. Not sure where.

I owe my neighbor some banana bread. Borrowed 1 egg from them last week, in order to make Loaf #1. Promised to bring them some, but then.... we ate it all. Heh. Went to store, got own eggs, made Loaf #2. Now should really share that. I am not really good at being "neighborly." They're always bringing us some of what they bake. I have to say, their kids are being taught very well how to share with friends. They always say, "Kelsey wanted AJ to have some brownies." So nice.

DH did a great job grocery shopping for me last week. Only bad thing is I forgot to tell him to get milk, and cheese (cheddar, mozz). How can I stretch groceries for 2 weeks without milk and cheese? Esp cheese: no lasagna, no pizza, no enchiladas, quesadillas -- all my go-to meals. Funny; I didn't realize that. Maybe I need some new go-to meals. ("Yes," says my diet.) Maybe black bean chili. Oh, fajitas don't require cheese. We've already baked and grilled chicken breasts twice this week, that always works... will continue to ponder. AJ not eating dinner again. So frustrating. Need to remember to ask his teacher if he really eats his lunch, drinks his milk, at school.

We took kids to Waffle House Monday morning for breakfast, before my parents left to go back home. I loved it. Breakfast out is such a treat. We rarely do it, but SHOULD. (We do donuts, but it's not the same as 2 eggs, grits, bacon and coffee for $4.99!) There used to be a little girl in AJ's class who had b'fast with her daddy every Wednesday, at Waffle House. I think that's really cool. Think it would be a good way to give each kid some individual time with Mommy or Daddy, maybe once a month. Too bad there's not a bagel place up here in the 'burbs, though. Too much W.H. not good for the waistline!

I am blessed with shelter, food, clothing, a little savings (not much, but a little), beautiful kids, kind, funny and handsome husband, family in all corners of the world who love us, a job... so many things. I've been reminding myself of all these, all week.

Thinking a lot about economy, though. Wonder if our kids will have the habits that older generations sometimes have, like saving/reusing things, because our grandparents grew up in Depression era, you know? Will our kids say, "We didn't have much, growing up, but we had everything we needed." Not a bad thing to have to say, really, but I wonder if they'll be aware of it -- if they'll gain "character" because of it (ha). I wonder how long it will all last?

Work's been a combo of some mindless things, and some hard things this week. I guess that's good. Am trying to be proactive and good, and not put things off. Difficult when everyone I need to talk with is out of town at annual conference.

Holy cow, are you still reading this? I don't think I could BE more boring.

We have to enjoy the gorgeous weather this weekend (sorry, MB). No sitting around inside the house all day! We should find a new park/playground. I'm kinda done with the regular one and it's always so crowded. Maybe dinner al fresco (even at our own house would be fun).

For Jess and Torsten

Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking
together in the same direction.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I wish you a magnificent wedding, plenty of laughter, the faith to keep going even when it's tiring, and above all, lots and lots of happiness. To Jess Loolu and her groom-to-be!

Limitations and the pity thereof

I'm chatting with my sister in Facebook right now, as I type this. Isn't chat so fun? I LURVH it. I chat on AIM/iChat, Facebook, and gChat. I remember telnet-ing back in the olden days of 1995, though, on a blue screen and all. I used it to talk with Maryb, and she talked to her future husband, so far away was he, at the Citadel. I even think the three of us chatted together sometimes. Hee hee!! MEMMMM-REES.

So my week has been an EPIC FAIL in the area of healthy eating. EPIC. I can't say that enough. EP.IC. FAIL. I ate Fairy Tale Brownies, MB's Apple Cake via my neighbors who visited an apple farm, banana bread (I had to make it so as not to waste the bananas, dontchaknow), and what else? Chips and salsa. And, oh right, we went out for Mexican last Sunday and I practically licked the cheese enchilada platter clean. I hate myself for doing that kind of crap, and sabotaging any efforts at weight loss thus far (I've gained back 2.5 pounds of the six I had lost since having KT baby), but I swear. I feel like especially in lean economic times it's so MEAN to ourselves to limit everything damn thing. Limit spending. Limit fat. Limit sugar. Limit white bread products. Limit REAL COCA-COLA. I hate it! I would like to just live normally, please. (What's that? Broccoli is normal? NOT IN MY BOOK.) It's so hard to resist the easy, yummiest foods.

And yet I have done Jillian Michaels' workout #1 twice this week, which kicks my bootie in a good way and makes me kinda want to do it again, and more. (Totally jumped on the bandwagon there, as everyone -- well, Sundry -- was talking about J.M. I'm a follower ... of good suggestions.) I guess I'm breaking even health-wise, although it doesn't feel that way. It feels like I'm not doing it well at all.

Working out makes my knees really hurt. I don't know if I'm just old and need to continue working to build up my thigh muscles to protect the knees, or if I need to buy some shoe inserts, or if I really should go see a doctor. My knees hurt when I try to run in place, for example. Jumping jacks? Fine. Running? OW.

And my FEET hurt. Holy cowsicles, when I wake up in the morning it's as if I've had them bound all night. They work themselves out after a time, but I walk like concrete at 5:45 am. I realized the other day that I'm very bad to stand on the sides of my feet, especially the right foot, instead of distributing weight evenly in the middle. That's a habit that I think started during childhood. So I've been trying to be aware of that and fix it. I've also been avoiding high heels for 2 weeks to see if that helps, but come on. LIMIT PRETTY SHOES, TOO?

A meditative (?) $115

Thoughts during a haircut & color, Sept. 16, 2008:

Ahh, the Aveda store. Love this place. Love that they do my color in a more quiet area of the salon, so I can read. READING MY BOOK NOW! WOO! When do I ever get to read my book? Never, that's when! I am going to read it the entire time they slop bleachy-smelling stuff on my head.

Wow, that really smells bleachy. Ick. I do feel sort-of like a turkey being basted. Boy, it's hard to concentrate on this book. But isn't this a nice way to spend an hour? Hope Hubby's doing okay with the 2 kids. Hope AJ's eating his dinner. Surely he is. Pizza. Surely he'll eat pizza. Hope KT baby isn't really sick. It has to be teething, right? Her scratchy little voice has been so sad! Okay, okay... back to my book.

Glad I found a color I like. Too bad I don't love the stylist, but she's alright... I do wish they'd be quiet, though -- I've read this paragraph about 4 times... "I was so horrified by the whale's deliberate charge that I could not move. Then my own name flew up from below like a spear: "Una!" Giles' voice broke my trance, and I scrambled down the rigging. No sooner did my foot touch the deck than there was such a lurch that I fell to my face. I heard and felt the boards break below the waterline, the copper sheathing nothing but decorative foil..." wait. What? "I heard and felt the boards break below the waterline, the copper sheathing nothing but decorative foil..." I wish THAT one with the dark hair was my stylist. She seems sweeter than K. And she isn't so full of herself.... Mmmm, they're talking about Cold Stone Creamery. Should I add something, participate in the conversation? Does it make me seem weird that I'd rather read? "I heard and felt the boards break below the waterline, the copper sheathing nothing but decorative foil..." Oh, that stylist's getting married in December. Then taking 2 weeks off. Lucky duck! Wish I had 2 weeks off. "...nothing but decorative foil..." This part is boring. When will she get off this boat and go back to her family??... Ooh, a Vertical Horizon song! Been ages since I heard this one...

oh, okay, here they come to rinse me. Yay, I love the rinse process. Yes, cover me up with that lovely, heavy velvet blanket, thank you! Divine. Water temp... perfect. Aveda shampoo? Smells good. Okay self, ennnjooyyy this moment alone... close your eyes, feeeeeel the soft blanke... Whoa! OW! Apprentice dude, not so ROUGH. Damn! ...You have a little more to learn, I guess! And quit talking, I'm trying to relax.... okay. Relax. I don't do this very often, and I deserrrrrrve this. Oh, yeah, massage time. I have a crick in my... OW! Dammit! That's entirely too hard. But of course I'm not going to say anything. Meek little el-e-e. I should tell him to ease up. He needs to learn. But no. I'll take it and keep quiet. Just hurry up to the warm towel wrap.... *eyebrows raised* Make that a HOT towel. Gees, ow! Okay, now go away for a minute.

Isn't it wonderful to enjoy this little tiny bit of pampering? ....We totally can't afford this pampering... shut up, self, enjoy it already; you work, you can pay for this... shouldn't be paying for this, isn't that what Clairol is for?... I definitely won't put it on the debit card. Credit. So glad we've paid some of our cards all the way off. I should cut them up. Wonder if credit will cease to exist due to this economic crisis we're in? Hmm. That could be bad.... don't want to think about that....

Time for my haircut. I guess I have to put down my book and talk to the stylist... Or, listen to HER talk.... "Mmm-hmmm." "Yeah, I totally agree..." "Oh, noooo, that's terrible..." (I care less and less about this conversation...) Okay shut up about your divorce, I GET IT. You can't afford your house now because you bought it on 2 incomes. I UNDERSTAND.... be kind, self, be a good listener... Sigh... somehow I think she's trying to get me to tip her real big because she KEEPS talking about how little money she makes. Way to be subtle, lady.... of course I never know what's the appropriate tip amount anyway... awkward! Does she remember what I tipped last time? Was it a lot, I don't remember. If so, did that set a precedent and now I have to tip her a lot every time? Hate this issue. Makes me uncomfortable.

And now this lady in front of me won't hurry up at the cash register. I'll just go over here and scope out the products some more... Did she just add a $30 tip?? She did. Well, great. I was going to tip $20. Is that too little? Does it depend on my total? I will NOT tip $30. That's too much. I appreciate your service, but it's your job. I refuse. ...No way, did I hear that right? ...$115 total? YIPES. I was only expecting about $80. Sigh. Forking over the card. "Would you like to add anything to this, ma'am?" ...."$25.00" Super.

Trader Tuesdays: Pasta with Lemon Juice

1 box pasta - bowtie or rotini work well
juice of 4 fresh lemons
about 12 oz fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
3-4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
5-6 (or to taste) leaves fresh basil, torn or julienned

Grilled chicken (optional)
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
garlic salt
lemon pepper

******

Cook pasta as directed on box. While pasta cooks, make sauce in the bottom of a large serving bowl: juice lemons, add 8 oz. cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper, and stir with a whisk. (Save some cheese for garnish.) If using chicken, grill it while pasta cooks (we use the George Foreman grill).

Drain pasta and fold into the sauce. (Add chicken, sliced up pretty.) Garnish with extra cheese and basil leaves.

Supper is served!


This is one of my go-to recipes, and it's satisfying with or without the chicken. I've substituted the heck out of it over the years, too -- don't have shredded cheese? Grated (from the can) is fine. Don't have fresh lemons? You can get by with Real Lemon. Out of fresh basil? Dried will work (but not as yummy).

Bribery, Hairdressery

Sunday School was great, if a little messy. And by that I don't necessarily mean the sandbox of buried Treasures of the Earth; I mean the poor little girl who couldn't stop crying, whose Daddy had to stay with her the whole time. They sat in the back and tried not to be distracting for the rest of the class. By the veeeeery end, she came up front with everyone and was smiling and talking about what stuffed animal she'd bring next week, for the "God Gives us Plants and Animals" chapter. Poor thing. I really sympathized with that Dad.

I'm enjoying the "teacher" aspect of this project. It reminds me of being a kid, playing school. No kidding! I have some techniques I need to improve, like saying, "Guys! Guys!" instead of a more polite, "Boys and Girls." I have to watch myself from looking at the other teacher when one kid -- 5-year-olds, you understand -- stands up to ramble about something completely off-topic and/or weird; my gut reaction is a knowing smile and raised eyebrows, as if to say, "Are you believing this?!" That's probably not protocol. But it's pretty fun to stand up in front like I know something. To call on the kids when it's their turn. It's easy to get 5yos to like you, but... I think they like us/me. And that feels good.

AJ did well in his class, too. I peeked in on him toward the end of the hour, and his teacher was showing them the Sign of the Cross. Their lesson was "Our Hands." So cute. Our hand are for eating. Playing. Clapping. Praying. (Hmmmm. Perhaps we need to be doing a little more praying with OUR students, heh, whoops.) Anyway, he said he'll totally go again, especially if I buy him another prize of a Ben 10 alien action figure. Yes, "another." I bribed him.

Here's one other thing I did this weekend, and I'm sorry in advance for the puddle of "awwww" you're about to become, and also for bragging about how cute my kid is, but believe me. Introducing.... barrettes:


After one time, I couldn't stop. I put one in her hair for Saturday Mass. For sitting around our house Sunday afternoon. For dinner last night. I chose yellow this morning and I'm nearly certain it will be missing after a day in the Infant 2 room, but truly: HOW COULD I NOT??

And then I'll draw on the chalkboard for 47 minutes

This Sunday, we'll be learning about Land, Water, Earth and Sky in the St. Joseph's Kindergarten classroom. I'm excited because I think it's going to be a fun-filled hour. Now that we're getting to know the kidlets, and they us, there's less fumbling around and we can do more actual learning. Thankfully, we also have great BOOKS to spoon-feed us ideas, since we are volunteers, after all, and not trained in education. However, I think I have some decent ideas for my portion of the lesson:

- Our weekly read-aloud story (which I read ahead of time!) has the word "rain" about seventeen times, so I'm going to have the kids make a "rain" sign/motion every time they hear it. I wanted to bring a rain stick, too, but alas, I don't have one. Also, I hate rain sticks.

- OBVS we're going to be singing You Are My Sunshine and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Anyone know a good "Moon" song? .... me, either. I'm also predicting that songs are going to be my default activity. Get used to it, kids. ;)

- We're doing a "buried treasure" thing for the land/earth portion. A plastic bin, a bag of sand, and "treasures" of rocks, sticks, and shells. Heh Heh. "Here, kids! Have some yard detritus!" I think they're going to go bananas over it. I'll be toting my dustbuster.

Oh, and P.S., I'll also be toting my kid. He promised me that he'd try Sunday School one more time, after flat refusing to attend last weekend. It's going to somewhat tick me off if he decides he doesn't like it. But since the diocese doesn't require it for his age, I'm not requiring it, either. If he doesn't like it after this week, I'll let it go. Too bad I signed up to do this for together-time, church-focused, WITH HIM. Sigh. Oh well. I am sure I'm benefiting, anyway.

At Least this Fresca is Yummy (Black Cherry)

I am in a bit of a work-induced MOOD today, so how about a bulleted list of items of intrigue? HOW 'BOUT.

1. Does anyone actually BUY the pizza-flavored Goldfish? I ask rhetorically but also, seriously... do you buy them? ...would I like them? I'm kind-of embarrassed to admit that I'm curious. Of course I've already tried the pretzel ones, and they are beyond dry. They're so dry, "I'd have to pry myself to SPIT." (hattip: Texas, the musical).

2. JUST when I feel like I'm all synced up, work is clicking, I have just the right number of extra-curricular activities that I feel fulfilled but not busy, and calm enough that I start contemplating Having People Over for Dinner -- not planning, just thinking, "Hey, we're in a good rhythm, I bet we could manage it one weekend soon..." BLAM. That freelance project I thought was dead in the water resurfaces, the Archdiocesan Choir sends out next season's rehearsal schedule (do I want to participate or don't I?), and I see Halloween candy in the front of Publix. HALLOWEEN, Y'ALL. We have to start preparing for THAT again.

3. Project Runway is definitely a good show. Even when it's pretty pathetic, LIKE THIS SEASON, it's still good. But last night was just pure schlock. Bringing back the Auf'd contestants? LAME. The badly lit planetarium where we, the viewers, couldn't even SEE the garments? LAME-O. Terry's and Keith's cat-fighting? SO LAME. I'll tell you, she has had some great confessional one-liners, but last night I couldn't believe her attitude. Grow up, girl. Ditto Kenely.

Well, this has quickly devolved into a bitch-fest of my own. I thought doing yoga a little while ago had cleared my whine, but apparently not.

Trader Tuesdays: Peanut Butter Pie

I'm not at home and don't have my very own recipe book with me, from which I could choose something delectable and special to share. But the recipe posts are going up here, there, and everywhere, and I just can't be left out of all the fun.

So without further adieu, I give you my official excuse for a trade (I make a version of this):

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peanut-Butter-Pie-XII/Detail.aspx

Mmmmm. Pie.

Confession

Darn those Gosselins, anyway. Good for laundry-folding, of which I had plenty last night, and lo! A J&K+8 marathon! I've now seen Kate smile at least twice. And I will admit, I do find it funny when she's railing on Jon, and he just sits there, unflinching, giving the camera a look like, "She's railing on me again, viewer, but I COULD CARE. *eyeroll*"

I'm confessing. It's only right that you know.

Vanity

I liked that picture enough to make it my profile pic. Have been nursing a love-hate relationship with photos of myself lately, changing my Facebook profile picture again and again, but also wanting more pictures of me with the kids (seems I'm always behind the camera instead of in front). Not to mention pics of me with the Hubs -- oh, when you're first together and don't have kids, you snap, snap, snap love-dove pictures of yourselves. "Cute couple," people say. Yeah. Well, THAT goes out the window once you have the cuddly little people around! I would really like someone to take pictures of me and DH together, smiling. To remind me that we DO SMILE TOGETHER once in a while. Perhaps with some half-empty beer bottles in the foreground? :)

The end of this week has kind-of kicked my butt in the parenting department; nothing huge, just the typical boundary struggles with a four-year-old. He doens't WANT to wear socks. He doens't WANT to turn off the TV. He doens't WANT a story. No WAIT, REEEEEEAD STOOOOORIES, WAAAAAH. (I'm spelling "doesn't" wrong because that is exactly how he pronounces it. Dun-sent.) The whole thing makes me mentally tired; I'd like to run away to a quiet corner of the bookstore. I would even take DH with me; he's quiet. We could sit criss-cross-applesauce on the floor and flip through books and magazines until closing time. Doesn't that sound divine? Hm, where's the babysitter's number?

I have to talk (vainly) about my hair. For one thing, I have finally decided I like the cut. It's a bit longer than I usually wear it. I've gotten some compliments lately and that always helps, but for ONCE in the last few years, it seems to be cut really well, where it falls correctly. Yes, I have to blow it dry, which seems to take too long for a busy working mom. But when I do, it lays perfectly straight and even 'swings' a little bit, making me feel somewhat sassy. I like feeling sassy. The one complaint I have about my hair is that it feels coarser to me. Is that a factor of getting old, or just from frying it with all-over-color?

I plan to haul a bunch of junk to the Goodwill drop-off location this weekend (including maternity clothes and AJ's crib bedding). Or wait: should I save it for my sister-in-law, who keeps saying she wants to be pregnant within a year? Well, crap, there goes that. So now what should I do this weekend? What're you doing?

Slingy sling sling!

Maaaaaajor shout out to Nicole, who reminded me recently in a comment or a Tweet or something, that the sling is my friend. The hip-carry has become my very best friend for that magical hour from 5:30 pm 'til dinner is on the table. I love that KT baby likes riding around the kitchen with me. I wish I'd had one of these when AJ was little.
Shut up, yes I was wearing a competing floral print with my paisley pink sling! Eek! I am a fashion don't!

Nothing to report, really

Today I don't really have anything earth-shattering to tell (do I ever?), but I think some of my better posts are the ones where I just type for a while and see what materializes. Free-form blogging, as it were. You've been warned.

My mind has been trying to wrap itself around the elections the last week or so, like most people. I don't like watching either convention, because it's all just a lot of scripted cheerleading and Other-Party-Bashing, and I don't like that. There's little of substance. But I have peeked in on each convention and you know what I've noticed the most? The sets. Like, behind the DNC podium one day last week they had a couple of huge window panels, right? Those were pretty, with the beige carpet-y looking surroundings. I don't know if that was the stage all the way through. Like I said, I try not to watch. Last night I wasn't as fond of the large black and white images behind the RNC podium, because I thought it took away from being able to see the person who was speaking. I did think Laura Bush looked lovely in red, and behind her they had a giant, soft image of an American flag -- that was nice.

You see how much I pay attention to the content, though. Not much. The debates? I will watch. The tickets this year make the race really fascinating (I = Master of Obvious) and I want to hear what everyone has to say about how they will lead this country. Even the debates, though, can't be trusted. Politicians will SAY whatever they have to say; whether or not they follow through on "promises" is certainly a toss-up. I do hate all the meanness that comes with politics, though, and I wonder if we'll EVER move away from the either-or mentality of a two-party system.

BUT! I don't want to talk politics with my friends. It's impolite.

Speaking of impolite -- one of AJ's favorite stories lately is "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby." We have it in an illustrated children's literature anthology, as well as a Little Golden Book handed down from DH's childhood collection. Do you read this story to your kids? It was a favorite of mine, too, when I was small. Of course there's the dialect. Brer Rabbit says to the Tar Baby: "Ain't you goin' to say 'Howdy?' Ain't you goin' to be PER-LITE?" And I read it in dialect because that's the way it's meant to be read -- it's part of our country's literary tradition. But it makes me feel a little funny. I worry that, in one edition, they repeat the phrase, "And the Tar Baby, he say nothin'," over and over again. AJ quoted it back to me yesterday. "Mommy, I like the part where the Tar Baby he say nothin'." Eeek. "He doesn't say anything, son. Anything." Just what I need is to raise a boy who thinks "ain't" really is a word. Maybe I'll suggest "Make Way For Ducklings" tonight instead.

And speaking of dialect! (Wow, the segues are just perfect this morning!) I heard a radio interview with someone from Montague, LA, where the reporter kept saying "Hurricane GOOSE-tahv," like we've all been saying. The Montague resident, however, said, "Gus-TAHV," with his French-Cajun accent. How I love that sound. It made me smile.