Woo-hoo!

And the winner is.... Amber!

That's right, her first Haiku of her LIFE wins the random integer generator's love and affection. Congratulations, Amber!

Let the prize shopping commence! So say we all.

Daily rotation

Today KT's entertainment devices will include the A-Number-1 Bouncy Seat, the Exciting Exersaucer of Fun, the Blue High Chair, hopefully a nap in the Sleepy Swing, and... the Afghan on the Floor, while I attempt to log 8 hours or so. Haaaaaaar.

When not working, I have been Facebooking like crazy, y'all. And some interesting friends are finding me. Have had a GREAT conversation with one of my girlfriends from the dorm, freshman year. I haven't talked to her since THEN, probably. Because sophomore year, we all found our "thing," and made interest-based friends; we moved on from needing the security of location-based friends. I missed them but was too caught up in all the sophomore year stuff (including some dumb boy). Anyway, it's been super fun.

Know what else is super fun?? Winning a contest! Today's the last day to enter, so get your Haiku pen and go to it! I can't wait to shop for some lucky commenter.

Adding lots of new words to this page while I eat lunch*

*coherence is not guaranteed

You guys, the coffee poetry is SO FUN! Thanks for indulging me and not scoffing at my silly whim. Here is my contribution:

Despair. Home brewed stuff.
No Latte for me today:
We're pinching pennies.

My Starbucks and fish tacos had to be skipped today, since we're trying to end the month on a banking high note with no unnecessary expenditures. Sigh. I say Starbucks IS necessary, but some might disagree. (I mean, I joke that it's necessary. I know that it's not. It hit home last night at dinner when we pulled the old tried-n-true "there are starving kids" argument for AJ, to get him to eat his mashed potatoes, and I had to tell him that EVERY DAY, we have enough to eat. MORE than enough, even. And some people don't so we have to be thankful and enjoy our food and not waste it.) Blah-buh-dee money cakes. Next topic!

KT baby is teething. I can feel the first little sharp puppy-tooth on the bottom gum. It's so cool! I had the same feeling about discovering her new tooth as I have about the very first hint of a pregnancy. All, "Ooh, congratulations, a new LIFE! A tiny little BUD inside you! And, WOW, I can't believe it. *big eyed wonder*" And then, as she proceeded through the day refusing to be put down, I was not AS charmed. It was a long one. It definitely made me want to consider 5 days of daycare for her, instead of just three, which made me sad re: paragraph 2 and the money cakes. AND losing those 2 days working at home with her, of course.

Last night I got all motivated and filled several plastic bins with either "12 month" or "6 to 9 months" clothes, instead of leaving them all strewn down at the bottom of the basement stairs. It felt good. I swear, that is one of the things no one tells you to work into your new Mommy schedule: switching out clothes. ARGH! They go through them sooooo fast during this first year. I am JUST getting her 3-month stuff rotated in, and it's almost time (she's 5 months) to rotate it back out! Also, she is in the 50-75th percentile for height and weight, whereas AJ is in the 5-10th, so I have to change my mindset a little bit, and rotate things in AHEAD rather than BEHIND her actual age. So! Keep up, Mama!

Hey, to go with our coffee theme, I present to you: "If Donuts Could Talk:"

- Move over, creampuff.
- Bite me.
- Coffee goes right through me!
- Don't mind him, he's Danish.
- There's nothing cruller than being all boxed in like this.
- Shut your hole.
- What's the glazed look on her?

BWWAAAAHAHAHAHA. (Credit goes to the genius at Carlton Cards who created my birthday greeting card "From the Office" this year. You know, one of those with a little "thought balloon" for each donut in the photo, to represent that there are many office-mates.) I've kept it around since June because it still makes me laugh.

I just ate the juiciest nectarine. It was slightly chilled, but not too much, and the perfect level of sweetness. YUM.

To cure your case of the Mondays: my PiF contest

You know, for a long time when KT baby was born, we were getting fun things in the mail to welcome her. And then it was our anniversary, then mother's day, my birthday, father's day, and AJ's birthday... but then all THAT ended, and we've had a week or two where all we've gotten is FLIERS and BILLS. Boooo-riiing!

That's why I was so excited Friday to receive my Pay It Forward prize from Nicole! Totally made my day.


Gorgeous red things! My favorite color! There's a great red pen, nail polish, beautiful cards with my initial on them, MORE beautiful cards that say, "Merci beaucoup," and a very beautiful Target gift card that she specified was JUST FOR ME. :) Thank you, Nicole!

And now it is my turn to totally make YOUR day! Enter my contest here, by leaving a comment on THIS POST, before 5pm on Thursday 7/24. I will choose one lucky winner by random number generator. I haven't decided what kind of pay I will be forwarding, but it will be FUN to think of something!

Be prepared: If you win, you have to have your OWN Pay It Forward contest! That's the rules.

The comment topic is this: HAIKU about coffee! Go! (Oh, come on, you can TOO think of something!)

We have rollover!

Forgot to document that we are officially mobile, i.e., KT baby rolled over, back to front, on Sunday, July 13, 2008, two days before her 5-month birthday. :)

Diet update: A shocking (boring) revelation

Hey, guess what? I eat badly when I'm stressed. Monday I was trucking along, having my bran muffin for breakfast, my little salad with grilled chicken and Lite Italian for lunch.... and then the fever began and I had to start rescheduling everything.

Well, instead of having 1 demure little cup of pasta and 1/2 cup of sauce for dinner, I had a plateful and 2 slices of garlic toast (it was lite, okay!), and found myself finishing off a small bag of semi-sweet morsels while I finished up my work on the laptop around 10 pm.

And yesterday I couldn't control myself AGAIN -- made a big, fat burrito with cheese for lunch (COM.FORT.FOOD), had a "100 calorie" pack of Chips Ahoy! crisps in the afternoon even though I didn't have the 100 cals to spare, and 4 pieces of chocolate from AJ's candy stash, for dessert. We had grilled chicken and veggies for dinner, but I ate more than 4 oz of meat, for sure. I like how I'm able to justify eating too much, because it's "good things" like grilled chicken and "100-cal" cookies. HA.

The whole time I was aware of what I was doing -- emotional eating -- but didn't want to stop. I've never noticed it so acutely before; I guess that's a step forward, just noticing.

Anyway, the diet stalled for a day or two. Thank goodness AJ seemed fine this morning.

No time for crying!

Well, folks, my pity party had to end abruptly because AJ is sporting the same fever virus that KT had last week. He's zonked out on the couch now and I've come home for an afternoon of working from home, again. Which, can I just say it is ANNOYING that teleworking options even exist in this case, because ten years ago it would have been an actual "sick day" for whichever parent stayed home, not an "OMG trying furiously to squeeze in work when I'm not administering Tylenol day." I make no excuses if I can't get to everything on my To-Do list today, but DANG it'd be nice to be able to devote 100% of my energy to either the kids or the job, GAAAHHWWWD.

It's also annoying that we might have to figure out our work schedule again tomorrow, due to that pesky 24-hour daycare rule. I guess it will be me, again, working from home. And rearranging an appointment (wherein I was hoping to impress a potential associate, there goes THAT), and not having access to all the company's servers, etc. etc. blah blah frustrating blah.

I guess I am grateful that I won't necessarily get canned for being absent too much. I guess.

I did buy one new bra and some underwear today. (Howdy, perv Googlers! Sorry, No P*R*0*N here.) I'm sure it will make me feel better as you all suggested, and I'm also sure you're SO GLAD that YOU KNOW. Heh. I am good entertainment.

I am so over it.

I am so over our bank account feeling pinched.

I am so over both of us working so hard, every day, but never feeling like we are getting or will get ahead.

I am so over both of us doing jobs we don't love, for pay we don't love, and feeling like there's no real way out of that.

I am so over hating the clothes I have, but feeling like I just don't have any extra to spend on something new.

I am so over having a long list of new things I actually NEED, but won't buy: bras, workout clothes, pretty work clothes, underwear, good athletic shoes.

I am so over Marshall's, Target, and Ross.

I am so over my savings accounts losing money with this crappy market, even for mutual funds, and even for IRAs and long-term investments which you're not supposed to worry about because "eventually they'll bounce back."

I am so over my Publix not ever having the brand and size of formula that I buy.

I am so over myself thinking, "Self, if you were nursing you wouldn't have that problem, and besides, nursing is FREE."

I am so over my just-married sister-in-law, age 20-something, saying that when she has a baby she wants to stay home with it or she'll "just murder someone." The hell? Also: get over yourself and enjoy those mortgage payments; hope it works out for ya. Also: saying that to me feels a little like a slap in the face, like my lifestyle isn't good enough for you.

I am so over wanting to stay at home. Or doing that math loop where I work part-time so we'd save on gas and "business clothing" (HAR) but still be paying SOME daycare and Catholic school, and therefore, it equals a zero benefit.

I am so over wishing to win the lottery, when I DON'T EVEN PLAY THE DAMN LOTTERY.

Leave me hanging

I often fail to update the ol' blog properly. Looking back over the archives, I see the following topics that need closure:

1. Dinnertime. We're doing pretty well. Someone suggested gently that I might have been trying to tackle too many problems at once, with my new rules. But it's worked for the most part. AJ knows that he only gets three warnings for good behavior, and if he uses them all up he generally gets down from the table without a fuss. He sometimes asks to watch TV at those times and fusses about being told no, but usually moves on. I don't know if he's eating more or less food -- I'm not supposed to be counting bites, remember? Just letting him determine if he's had enough. But I'm giving him dessert as part of his meal, whenever he's done.
2. Health kick. I am happy to report that after vacation, I began a diet in earnest. After 1 week of consuming 500 fewer calories than I burned, each day (exercising 3 days) I've lost 1 pound. It doesn't seem like much, but it is the right way to lose weight (slowly), and I'm trying to make these changes real habits, without depriving myself too much. I really vary what I'm eating, and how the calories go in -- for example, on Tuesday I might have a planned lunch where I know I'm going to eat more, and therefore my calories may be more around 16- or 1700, then the next day I will pull it back and maybe only have 1400 calories. I wish my tummy would just magically flatten, but I know that's not realistic. Slow and steady wins the race. My parents are trying NutriSystems, so we're having fun keeping each other updated.
3. Working part-time. My last Friday off (maternity leave) is this week. Then it is back to full-time, all the time for me, despite my continuous talk-talk-talky-talk about part-time. ...the crappy economy, hello. I feel like we need to stockpile more money right now, instead of earning less. AND I learned this morning on NPR just how firmly I/we sit in the middle-middle-class, earnings-wise. I'll still keep KT Baby with me on my work-from-home days and hope that our work slow-down continues enough that I don't have to feel guilty for only putting in about 5 real hours of work on those days. (*praying my manager has lost or forgotten this blog address, which I accidentally revealed to him recently*)
   
4. KT baby. At her four month check-up, she was 14 pounds. She has not yet rolled over, but often tries. She is now taking around 6 ounces at each feeding, and we have tried rice cereal a few times. I'm excited about baby food. :) Hee hee. I still do not have a Bumbo seat and wonder EVERY time I go to Target if I should just fork out the 40 bucks, already, because she does like to sit upright. It's almost time to get out the exersaucer. She has discovered board books and really likes to chew on them. I'm going to really try to incorporate a bedtime routine with her, starting next week.
   

LMNOP

Nicole, my new best friend, tagged me for this meme long ago while I was on vaca. Since it's an alphabet meme, I have to first share this snippet from the life of AJ: he really did think "LMNOP" was one letter. We were talking about "M" the other day, and he said, "Mommy, but there isn't any 'M' in the alphabet." He was serious, too, even though that kid is super smart. Funny.


A. Attached or Single? Quite Attached.

B. Best Friend? Well, I'd get in trouble for not saying my Darling Husband, and it's true. But for girl-best-friends-who-aren't-blood-relatives, you all should know by now it's maryb.

C. Cake or pie? Pie. I prefer the "icebox" variety to warm apple or warm peach. Give me key lime, chocolate silk, cherry-chocolate, peanut-butter pie... the list goes on.

D. Day of choice? Fri-day! Fri-day!

E. Essential item? Afghan. (Or burp cloth. But I could use the afghan for that in a pinch.)

F. Favorite color? Red

G. Gummy bears or worms? Gummi Bearen. The worms get too sticky and are too big for my mouth.

H. Home town? Pensacola, FL

I. Favorite indulgence? Coffee ice cream with cherry preserves on top. Sounds weird but is divine.

J. January or July? Dude, making me choose between the month of my husband's birth, and that of my son? Not cool. Those 2 days aside, I'd say January, because of the fresh beginning and all.

K. Kids? 2 preciouses.

L. Life isn’t complete without? Faith and chocolate.

M. Marriage date? April 28, 2001.

N. Number of brothers and sisters? One wonderful sister.

O. Oranges or Apples? Apples.

P. Phobias? Can't say I have a real phobia. But for fun: I'll say these: Rhytiphobia (fear of getting wrinkles), Zemmiphobia (rats), Automatonophobia (wax statues). What? Go look them up!

Q. Quotes? "Are you talking?" --Richard, from Tommy Boy

R. Reasons to smile? too numerous to count

S. Season of choice? Fall

T. Tag 5 people: Make me.

U. Unknown fact about me? My two favorite activities at Camp Fire Girls' summer camp were archery and riflery. And I was pretty good at riflery.

V. Vegetable? This is going to sound crazy but I actually think it is lettuce. Or, "mixed greens." I mean, a salad is just sometimes the very best meal.

W. Worst habit? Picking at my poor, dry heels.

X. Xray or Ultrasound? Ultrasounds are a whole lot more fun, within the contexts I've enjoyed.

Y. Your favorite food? ...this is not really a "Y" item, people. "Y" should be "yo-yo?" as in, do you? I do not. My favorite foods are too numerous to mention (and I'm on a diet, Yo. Hey -- YO!)

Z. Zodiac sign? Gemini.

On the eve of turning four

This weekend we packed up a cooler and took it to our favorite local playground and park. AJ was eager to feed the ducks, after he'd seen Daddy fold up the almost-finished bag of Sunbeam Sandwich White. My sister is with us; we wanted an "outing." We got to the park and thus began the BEST DAY OF AJ'S LIFE! Oh, he was up, he was down, he slid and he climbed. He was BRAVE! (He's never been brave at the park. Never.) We fed ducks for a while, and then playgrounded for a while. He tried new things, and then he tried them again ALL BY HIMSELF. He was obviously showing off a bit for his aunt. He got a sweaty little-boy head and showed us big smiles and happy feet. His Dad and I were so excited to see him having that much fun.

Then, it started to look cloudy. Dark, even. We had seen the weather report, that indicated a thirty percent chance, but decided to have our picnic anyway. ...Mayyyybe should have reconsidered that choice, but I was convinced it wouldn't be that bad.

...It was. Thunder, SERIOUS lightning, very close by, even a couple of pellets of hail, and nothing between us and it but a wooden pavilion. And my little boy, all of him, climbed up onto me and curled around me and buried that sweaty little brave head, and held on tight.

It was so perfectly four -- a teetering balance beam between being big and being little.

Happy Birthday, little man. I will walk this way with you.

Le Random*

*Totally stole this term from Skiplovey, and it made me wonder: Why am I not using more franglais in my life/blog? (Heh, life/blog! As if the two were ONE.) I was a French major, after all; and my kid's favorite word is l'oreille. He even pronounces it correctement!

-- How many working bras should a girl have? At least one for each day of the week, right (I mean, n'est-ce pas)? Right now I'm down to 5, I think. And two of them are black, naturally, which can't be worn under everything. Why are good bras so expensive? Grr.

-- The Fridge Situation only cost us $336.19. And by "only," I mean, "Crap. Three hundred bucks."

-- How many of you think we're seriously headed for another Great Depression? Raise your hands..... yeah. Me, too. I think about how I look in drab brown and gray, because that is the color of a Depressed Economy, in my mind.

-- Dudes, I love all the contests! I returned from vacation to all this posting about them and to be honest, it kind-of overwhelmed my sun-dried little brain. But I did want to tell some blog-friends hello, and when I did, it entered me in their contests, which I was HAPPY to do! Now, I won one! Nicole's, to be exact. Thanks, Nicole! And thanks, Random Number Generator! The good news for all of MY readers is that there will be another contest to enter shortly, right here on this blog. I believe the rules state I'm supposed to receive my prize, photograph it, and then begin MY Pay-it-Forward Extravaganza. Fun!

Not my life, but.... my life

Poor TLC. Trying so hard to reclaim the audience of us women who used to watch A Baby Story every day.

You know what? Jon & Kate Plus 8 just doesn't do it for me. They seem very nice. But I think they're a little boring. Their commentary, I mean. They just sit on that brown couch and narrate every little incident with the same non-plussed pitch in their voices, and they hardly ever smile. I'm like, "Yeah, no kidding: three-year-olds."

Not that I don't enjoy hearing about other people's kids, or think that since I've been there, done that, it isn't interesting... it's just... I don't think their particular daily story, aside from the fact that they have 8 kids under age 7, is all that compelling. Gimme more wit. A crazy but smart way of handling that many kids. Or at least fun personalities SLASH amazing attitudes about having multiple Multiples. Quirkiness, maybe. (Ahem, Duggars!) Give me something.

OBVIOUSLY I don't have 8 kids and never will. But on the other hand, as far as the TV show goes, it's not that much different from my life. They have trouble getting them dressed. They take the kids to the dentist, and the kids scream. The parents are tired by 3:00 pm at an amusement park. Check, check, annnnd check. Of course, I don't envy them or think I could do it. I actually think their parenting style is kinda similar to mine. I guess that means I would not watch MY life on TV, either. Heh.

Now if they were fishing on the Bering Sea, all 10 of 'em? I'd probably watch that.

OHHAI!

I'm back! I'm at work! My sister's coming to visit Saturday! And my fridge is trying to die!

That's the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. (hat tip: Tessie.)

There's a lot I could tell you about our vacation, but on the other hand, you can probably picture it. A nice condo, white sand beaches, good friends and family around, and Texas brisket. (What? You don't eat brisket when you go to the beach?) For some darling photos, See Here. Hat tip: MB. Thanks to my Mom and Dad babysitting KT, we got plenty of time poolside. She enjoyed only fifteen minutes at the pool because her naptime always coincided with our being ready to head out. I know next year will be fun for her at 16 months, though.

I actually read a WHOLE BOOK! It was Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole, and it was just gripping. Really, it stayed in my mind for days after I finished it. I love books like that. Maybe I'll do a more in-depth review one day.

Noting one AJ-ism that repeatedly made me smile: In the pool, when he wanted help getting out, he'd say, "Mommy, give me a caboost." :)

My Google Reader says "1000+" y'all. Holy Moses. I am going to be playing ketchup for the next three weeks. Not to mention work is pretty busy, not to mention the aforementioned appliance situation. AND a 4-year-old's birthday to plan AND I need to have my neighbors over for dinner to thank them for collecting our mail while we were gone, etc. etc.

This post sounds a lot like the 2nd half of 2007, where I was stressed out all the time and never seemed to clear off the to-do list. What is UP, June through December?

Wish you were here

We are having a fabulous time at the beach. Man, do I love vacation. Coffee in the morning, salt water in the afternoon, beer at 5:00 pm!

For the first time, AJ is truly swimming (with floaties), and enjoying his time in the pool. The last three years he has been too scared, poor thing. Not this time. He's brave and wet. :) We even got him into the Gulf to "bounce" with the waves. "Whooooooaaaaa!" he'd say, gliding over every one. He and his Daddy built a well-fortified sand castle, while Mommy looked out over the water and felt a comfortable, warm breeze. KT baby is getting to know her grandparents and sleeping well every night under salty air and ceiling fan.

It is wonderful, in a word. Talk to you again in three or four days. :)

Some little junk and nonsense (and one sweet story)

- Yesterday, I hated my hair. Hated. It was sitting like a mushroom cap on the top of my stupid head, and there was a lot of stupid gray peeking out through my "natural color" (not), making my part look thin and old woman-like. Also, helmet head. TODAY, however, my hair looks great. Healthy, tamed, styled just the way I like it so it appears casual and yet has some shape. What's with that??

- I had never eaten Lucky Charms until this week. Today I decided that a healthy and enjoyable breakfast might include a serving of Lucky Charms, dry, and my coffee. Because I really HATE having cereal with milk, AND coffee (with milk) in the same meal. It's too much milk. Oh, and Lucky Charms ARE magically delicious!

- I still always THINK about making healthy choices (like limited milk), and about heart disease and high cholesterol and my family history of dread diseases, even while I am eating cake twice a day, and buying things like Pringles. I'm blaming hormones but it's incredibly annoying and makes me feel like a stupid-head, and makes me worry that I'm just going to get fatter and fatter if I can't learn to NOT EAT CRAP.

- This is totally what I meant last week when I took a short blogging break. Man, do I love Mrs. Flinger.

- When are we going to get tomatoes back? I tried growing them last year and it was a sad, sad affair.

- Ways My Husband is a Great Dad, #1: Last Thursday night, I took AJ out on the back porch to watch fireflies. It's one of the sweetest things about summer, to me, because they're so quiet and magical, and because we didn't have them in any of the places where I grew up. The next night, Husband took AJ out to the yard with a jar and they collected fireflies. I never would have done that. Even though I know children DO catch fireflies in jars, AJ was already pajama'd and bathed. And I never collected them as a kid, myself. But Hubby did, at his grandparents'. And he knew it was Something A Boy Needs To Do. AJ kept those 5 lightning bugs in the jar by his bed that night (husband was kind enough to tape it shut for my peace of mind), and was SO excited every time they blinked. He gave them names, and was smart enough to put some leaves in there in case they "got hungry for breakfast." Husband told AJ that we'd have to let them go the next morning. In fact, he used Finding Nemo as an analogy to explain how much they'd miss their moms and dads if we kept them forever! So AJ was happy to oblige the next morning, and we opened the jar and wished them well as they took off, one by one. (Thankfully they were all still able to fly away; I was nervous they might be "taking REALLY long naps.") The whole thing was a sweet summer interlude.

= Cute!

I've been wanting to do a post with photos of ALL the cute outfits that KT has been wearing, thank you sdw, mom, mom-in-law, Lara, and Carter's, but haven't had enough time to do ALL of them. Here are a few, though, of the aforementioned summertime things I'm taking to Destin:

Seahorses! Notice it's a "Taggies" item? Brilliant.

The perennial favorite watermelon outfit. SQUEE, ruffles on the widdle boddoms!

I get all giggly over a tiny baby in DENIM. And, it's a one-piece. But also a Dress.

Oops, how'd that one get in here? ;)

Beach hat. Polky-dots. Bloomers!! Now we are all sticky with the goo of cute, n'est-ce pas?? Get in line people. She'll let ya hold her if you're reeeeal nice...

Development & destruction

KT baby is growing by leaps and bounds. Her daycare teacher says, every Tuesday, "She grew over the weekend!" And I believe her! I'm anxious for our 4 month appointment on Friday, to see exactly how much. I'm watching for milestones, especially rolling over, since Owen's already performed in that area, and he is just a couple of weeks older than KT. But Every Baby Develops Differently. :) I think she wants to roll over. When she's on her back, she arches it to reach for something, and knows to draw her knees up so she can inch a little closer to what she wants. Working that abdominal wall, baby.

MY abdominal wall, on the other hand, is more of a fort built with cushions or something. Pfft.

We have SO many adorable outfits for our beach trip next week -- I mean, specifically FOR the beach, as in, they have starfish or seahorses on them, and sundress-like straps instead of sleeves -- that I had to do 2 loads of laundry to prepare, and she's going to have to change clothes thrice a day in order to wear them all. I can't wait to do that much changing. :) Playing dress-up doll WAS always a favorite pastime of mine.

AND speaking of playing, GOOD GRIEF but AJ is playing a lot lately. Imaginative play. And wanting ME to play with him. Have I blogged about this before? I just don't feel very adept at thinking up good guy/bad guy scenarios for us to act out. To be honest, I just don't feel like "acting" at all, really, but it is what it is, and I'm super glad that he HAS an imagination. We're a little concerned that it's always "attacking" and "fighting" and "roaring like a really bad monster" lately, but that is normal for little boys right? Even Thomas and Percy, the loveable choo-choo trains, to fight and destroy each other... that's normal right? Of course we feel guilt for letting him watch maybe a bit too much Spiderman and Batman, with their rather dark themes and adult issues (they BOTH need therapy, really)... but boys this age -- almost 4 -- are GOING to want to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and OMG, Ben 10 Alien Force, right? Our fathers played cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians. Our brothers played Star Wars.

You can see this is something I want your feedback on, RIGHT?

Save me a seat

You feel like you're going to lose something -- seniority? place in line? -- if you don't post very regularly. Or your parents and relatives are going to wonder if you're okay. So somebody save me a seat; I just don't seem to have much to say lately. Nothing wrong, just out there living, trying to beat the HEAT. Gah. Still reading all of you clever people, of course.

We'll return to our regular programming... sometime. :)

Happy birthday to me!

A series of possible blog topics have come into my head this week, and then promptly gone right back out, so for now we're stuck with just the random thoughts I can gather on this, my thirty-fourth birthday. Thirty four! One last year of being marketed to, and then I might as well just curl up on the couch and read dusty old library books or something, because things like the funny Budweiser commercials, new electronic gadgets, and great TV shows...? NO LONGER FOR ME. Sob!

I did get a really cool present from my husband-o: A digital piano! What came with it? A STARTLING revelation that I am NO GOOD at piano any more! I have concentrated on singing much too long -- and only one note at a time. All this "two hands, ten fingers together" nonsense is far, far too much to keep up with. I have just realized this is why I seem GOOD at singing, sight-reading, and rhythm when I'm in a chorus. IT'S EASIER, EINSTEIN!!

Rather than clunk around every time I sit down at my new favorite gadget, I have chosen three songs to begin practicing on the piano, until I get them down. I took piano lessons for 10 years, for crying out loud -- it is so embarrassing to only have the capacity to perform "Big Chief Indian" and "Spinning Song." The songs are "Fur Elise," because, as I told DH, every twelve-year-old in town can already play it; and two nice Wesleyan hymns, because hymns are relatively easy -- just your basic 4-part chords and a few progressive notes in-between. (Right? Don't we call those "progressive notes?" Oh, gees, I can't remember ANYTHING.)

The idea, of course, is for AJ and KT to have a piano around to get interested in, so that I can thereby introduce the concept of Piano Lessons without any fuss. Brilliant, no? At first I was thinking, "I can even teach AJ a kind-of 'pre-lessons' before he starts with a real teacher." But... perhaps not. Even if he WERE to listen to me, which he won't, since I'm his PARENT and that automatically knocks down his level of respect for me versus a stranger, I probably shouldn't teach him much more than Middle C. I can't even do scales properly, people. Whew. It's been a tough birthday for more reasons than getting OLD.

Speaking of respecting his parents... Sigh. We're having Dinner Table Issues, again. It seems we just get this situation licked, then whammo, he comes up with something new. I won't go into the gory details, but if you're interested in sharing your Dinnertime Rules for Happiness, Toddler/Preschooler Edition, go ahead. Last night Husband and I had to DISCUSS what our new plan of attack is going to be, because what we've been doing is simply not working. That new plan is detailed below:

1. No more snack after school. (We get home around 5:15; dinner's no later than 6:30.) He can have a yummy drink, but no food. My giving him snacks is totally sabotaging dinner. I admit: I've been a dumbass about this repeatedly.

2. He'll get Three Chances to behave at the table. After that, dinner will be over. He may go play (but not watch TV).

3. A small dessert will be placed on the table at the beginning of the meal and he can eat it at the end of his meal. He should eat as much dinner as he wants but we will not specify how much. If he thinks he's eaten enough, he may eat dessert and then get down. (We will not say, "You can't have dessert if you don't eat your dinner." We will not say, "Eat three more bites and then you may get down.")

THE END.

I think those are simple enough rules for a nearly 4-year-old, do you?