May 2004 Archives

New drawings are posted in John's Drawings (five) to your right. Click if you dare.

Sophie keeps asking me if she can paint and I keep putting her off. She makes a mess and we've been busy and I forget and so on. Today she found one of the many hidden art sets in the boys' room and painted this picture. She didn't get any paint anywhere except on the paper and her leg and arm. I love the finished work and feel so much like a heel for not letting her paint when she asked in the past that I think I'll get her an easel for her birthday. She'll like that.

Last year I sent an email to a major clothing chain to see if they still made the style of jeans that I was quickly wearing out because they actually fit me. (Big deal when you are 5' tall, let me tell you.) They didn't. So, last night I looked on ebay. Four different pair in my size for $8 each. I put in bids for three pair. And, I was happy happy. Tonight I decided to poke around some more, so I looked up "JJill." Nearly 1,000 matches. Yikes! And Anthropologie, 1880. I am in so much trouble.

I bought a new can opener. It's very sleek and I think I love it.

I have only left the kids to go on a trip one time, and that was last year when we took a short (Friday thru Sunday) road trip to Portland. Willow was barely even past her due date so of course she came along. She will this time, too, when we go to Toronto. I am happy to be going, but sad to be leaving the big kids behind. Not that I exactly want to take them, either. But they don't understand why they can't come and it's so far away and all that. They aren't too thrilled with the idea of staying with their dad for such a long stretch. That's all I'll say about that. What restraint I've learned lately.

I promised to bring them presents. Lexy is excited about maple syrup and a hockey team tshirt. Nate wants toys. I hope they do okay while we're gone. Being a worrier is such a curse. But it worries me not to worry, so I just worry so I don't have to worry about not worrying. Someday before too long, John and I will take a trip all our own. Maybe somewhere quiet, like the treehouse place in North Carolina, or somewhere neither of us has visited, like Costa Rica. I've never been to New York (or Paris, but we'll have to do that trip way down the road after I've saved up thousands and thousands of dollars to shop with!) or Yosemite. We talk about Vancouver or even just a beach house twenty or so miles from home. Willow is learning to walk and talk and before we know it we'll be planning our trip. Maybe Tahiti. . .

I totally sliced open my finger on a can lid today, partly because of my foolishness, and partly because the can openers we have don't work properly. SO, I'm going to go order a new can opener and get that shopping bug out of my system. I'll be using my Amex card, too, so it's really the same as cash. It's just next month's cash.

Willow has all sorts of teeth poking through and keeping her up, so here we are. Today (well Tuesday today, not Wednesday) she walked more than one or two steps in a row. We were in Lex's classroom and she took off. A slow and wobbly take off, but it was walking. Then later at the last day of rock climbing class (thankyouthankyouthankyou) she enjoyed the wide open cushy floor.

And Sophie wore underpants for most of the day and peed in the little potty. It has its own tp roll and a place to store books (Dora the Explorer and a Mister Rogers potty tome). Best of all, she won't fall in again. That slowed our progress a bit.

Lexy has a science project to cart to school tomorrow. My mom will be cussing me out under her breath tomorrow morning though as she tries to carry a fish tank half full of water from the car to the class. It's a long walk even when your hands are empty. We made a home barometer so of course the weather did not change for 8 days. It sort of made it a boring *but easy!* project.

John came home with Return of the King and Bubba HoTep, neither of which I've seen. I heart Joe Landsdale (he wrote Bubba HoTep), sick and twisted though he is. Who knows when I will see either? Not because I'm too busy (though I am), or because I have to spend my time without the big kids this week with the kids and their dad and his girlfriend at the science fair (yay, me!), but because Willow, of all people, got ahold of the dvd remote and messed that shit up! I thought I had figured it out a few times, but we just cannot get picture to go with the audio.

Yeah, I tried that.
That, too.

I unplugged the thing, hoping it would reset itself. No dice. I've checked the wires and run through all the stuff I could think of. Our Willow, little Dickens in the making.

I recently ordered a gift for my brother's birthday in July and some party favors for Soph's bash and a couple of gifts and some fabric. Because I am not using my credit cards. Right. Everything was super cheap, and mostly necessary. The fabric is to alter some 501's I got for free so I'll have something new (and something that fits) to wear when we go to Toronto. I have never left the US. About time.

I think John is home, so it must be late. Or early, depending on how you look at that sort of thing.

My mom sent me this email. Too funny:

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CONVENTION SCHEDULE
New York, NY

6:00 PM Opening Prayer led by the Reverend Jerry Fallwell

6:30 PM Pledge of Allegiance

6:35 PM Burning of Bill of Rights (excluding 2nd amendment)

6:45 PM Salute to the Coalition of the Willing

6:46 PM Seminar #1: Getting your Kid a Military Deferment

7:30 PM First Presidential Beer Bong

7:35 PM Serve Freedom Fries

7:40 PM EPA Address #1: Mercury, It's What's for Dinner

8:00 PM Vote on which country to invade next

8:10 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh

8:15 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: The Homos are after your Children

8:30 PM Round table discussion on reproductive rights (MEN only)

8:50 PM Seminar #2 Corporations: The Government of the Future

9:00 PM Condi Rice sings "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"

9:05 PM Second Presidential Beer Bong

9:10 PM EPA Address #2: Trees - The Real Cause of Forest Fires

9:30 PM Break for secret meetings

10:00 PM Second Prayer led by Cal Thomas

10:15 PM Lecture by Carl Rove: Doublespeak Made Easy

10:30 PM Rumsfeld demonstration of how to squint and talk macho

10:35 PM Bush demonstration of trademark "deer in headlights" stare.

10:40 PM John Ashcroft demonstrates new mandatory kevlar chastity belt

10:45 PM Clarence Thomas reads list of black republicans

10:46 PM Third Presidential Beer Bong

10:50 PM Seminar #3: Education - a Drain on our Nation's Economy.

11:10 PM Hilary Clinton Piñata

11:20 PM Second Lecture by John Ashcroft: Evolutionists - The Dangerous New Cult

11:30 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh again

11:35 PM Blame Clinton

11:40 PM Laura serves milk and cookies

11:50 PM Closing Prayer led by Jesus Himself

12:00 AM Nomination of George W. Bush as Holy Supreme Planetary Overlord

Isn't it sweet when you take your kids to the circus for the afternoon? You get them popcorn, cotton candy, sno cones, light up swords and little fiber optic flashlight thingies, a ride on a train and down a slide, a stint in the huge jump house and (after a few ((John, who dealt with this particular tantrum is praying that if what he dealt with was "few" he never ever sees "many")) tears) the purple unicorn "ballonie" in the concession area, and as you walk over to take them to the children's museum for even more child-centered fun, they melodically whine and moan and bitch and drag their feet all because of the goddamned cheap-ass two dollar ninja sword that you really just had to refuse them because it is just like the one that came with their Halloween outfit last year that, although it broke the very first time it felt the tender flesh of their younger sibling's arm, is still sitting at home, unused, except by Willow as a chew toy occasionally when she crawls into the boys' bedroom and gets to the dress up bin. And don't you feel good about your parenting as you try to decide if you should tell them to a) Please, honey, shut the fuck up about the ninja sword, or b) Shut the fuck up about the ninja sword RIGHT NOW?

So, you know, the circus was fun and the circus also was heinous. Ah, I see now that the circus itself was not hellacious, but rather some of the "boys and girls." The kicker was that not only did Soph bite a hole in the ballonie "ONA COIN" (that'd be unicorn), but after I fixed it and blew it back up she insisted on taking it with her to visit her father today and then when she came home she said, right to John's face, "I HATE THE COWBOY HORSE ONA COIN." And I was seriously thinking holy shit if I were him I think I'd take her out right now. Because he wasn't going to buy the ballonie thing, but she had one of the most spectacular fits ever and he was missing much of the circusness of the day, and I told him that hey, she's only three, not even three, and she is tired and she can't help it and I know how bad I want that ninety nine dollar shirt in the jjill catalogue, so maybe we should just get it for her because we're at the circus and it's supposed to be about fun and really, I think, about excess, SO WE REWARDED HER WITH WHAT SHE WANTED AND TAUGHT HER THAT THE BEST WAY IS TO RAISE A HUGE FUSS!!!!

But, most importantly, we got out of the damn circus alive. Barely.

That was only part of the day!

I just put away the laundry in our bedroom. No big deal, you think, so what?? Heh. The piles, if they were all on top of one another, could have easily almost touched the ceiling. . . of the Astrodome!! It took over an hour. Yikes. I'm so happy to have it done. I'd forgotten about some of the things I just hung up.

I also got to the post office today, so Elayne, watch your box!

Nate gets his stitches out tomorrow morning bright and early. Then in the afternoon Willow has a doctor visit. I really hope her doc isn't running two hours late as usual. I get tense just thinking about going. I just can't seem to catch up lately. Maybe I'll go get a few more things done before I go to sleep.

I haven't been on line much the past few days. I've been wanting to just sit up late and read blogs and put up millions of photos of my kids, but you know what the universe does when you have a plan.

Our yard sale was sort of enjoyable. We (meaning John) at least got the garage organized, though I still can't find lots of my books. Not too many people stopped by, but we sold a few things to the ones who did. On Saturday my friend KR is having a swap party at her house. Everyone comes with stuff to trade, and whatever is left over she will take to various charities. Plus there will be food and grown up beverages. Wanna come along?? I plan to bring the leftovers of our sale. Maybe I'll pick up a dresser for our room (wishful thinking) or a useful something or other.

This will be long, so if you're inclined, here it is.

creation

competition

champion!

on the new (to us) playstructure

tomorrow. Busy dusting things off to sell. When I have time I'll put up some new pictures.

is about to turn three. I'm getting somewhat nostalgic for her babyness. She was such a sweet baby. She's still generally sweet, but she's not above hurling canned goods at my head or screaming at me, "YOU NEBBER IN YOU LIFE I NO MORE LIKING YOU BAD BABY MAMA POOPOO HEAD I NO NEBBER ANY AGAIN!!!!"

Yesterday she and Willow had the stomach flu. At three a.m. Soph needed some toast, so we camped out on the couch and watched Little Bill (which I can hardly stand to do because I just keep feeling sad that Gregory Hines died).

I have to go tidy up now that Sophie and Willow are in here helping me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO D!!!!!!

We don't have a mouse pad, though we need one, so I took the Crate and Barrel catalog off the bathroom floor and tried it out on the computer desk. It didn't work. I just wanted an excuse to keep looking at the photo of these bowls that I'm lusting after. I've been cooking a whole lot lately and I want all sorts of kitchen things. I would have loved this when I was making zucchini bread the other day. And, let's see, I want these to hang in the girls' room as a nightlight. In the not-too-distant past before I cut up all the credit cards, I'd have bought one or probably all of those things, along with these corn cob holders , these leftover containers, this syrup pitcher , and these cute cute fruit ice cubes. Someday when the kids are big and I have a job I will shop again. Carelessly.

I took the boys to their rock climbing class today. Last week Sophie came along, thus crediting my future time served in hell by at least three months. Oh. My. God. She was a NIGHTMARE. Of course that was the day the class went over by thirty five minutes. Today she went to the park with my wonderful friend KR, who also showed up at dinnertime last night with a little play structure that a neighbor was giving away. She knew I'd been wanting one, so she just put it in her truck and drove it over. It was a big hit after I cleaned it up and John helped me put it together. That reminds me. . .

John,
I tried to fix the bathroom sink. Thought I'd flip the washer over and see if that would stop the leaky drippiness. Guess what? There is NO washer on the hot water side. Hence, the drippiness. So, I just left the hot water off. If you need it and I'm not here, it's the handle on the left hand side in the cabinet under the sink. Turn it to the left a turn or two and you'll have hot water. Wanna go to the hardware store with me tomorrow night?? Oh no. You have a work meeting. Poo. Guess I'll just go with Willow. I promise not to buy lots of stuff. You know how I love the hardware store. See you later. I love you,
Jen

Tomorrow morning I am working at Nate's preschool. Sophie will go to KR's house and Willow will come with me. I hope Willow is a little less cranky. She's getting another molar and isn't so happy about it.

I should sleep.

But first, I'll finish my beer (!!!) and blog surf. Goodnight.

I'm tired out from having fun. We took Willow and John's mom to Hidden Villa's Mother's Day celebration. There was a Maypole, buttermaking, animal visiting, and a mud pie contest. John won the adult division. Photos to come soon! Willow was frightened by the pigs (the woman with the slop walked up to the pigs from behind us and I'm sure Willow thought that they thought that she was their meal) and by the goat who sneezed on her feet. She enjoyed the vegan solar oven baked cookies and the hike, though. I hit the little t-shirt stand and got new Hidden Villa tees for the kids and a couple of new tops for myself.

For Mother's Day Lexy gave me soap and a little pin that he made at school. Nathan made a sweet print of his little hands and stamped "Happ'y Mother's Da'y 2004" around it. The teacher laminated it, which was a swell idea. John gave me the newest Jolie Holland cd, escondida, which I'm listening to now. I really wish I could sing. I told him no presents since we just plunked down lots and lots of money to fix the air conditioner in the van and get airline tickets to Toronto, but he knew I really wanted this cd.

I talked to my mom and my grandmothers today. I wish there weren't so many miles between California and Texas.

And I wish there were more hours between bedtime and morning, but there aren't so I will go sleep.

Sophie is sleeping in the top half of her pegasus (or is it just a unicorn with wings?) costume and a diaper. She's sleeping which is all I care about.

Last night I had a dream that I was married to Tony Soprano and when his ex wife came to meet us for dinner I said, "Hi, Carm," and she said hello and gave me a look that conveyed how glad she was not to be married to him anymore.

I'm glad I'm not really married to him. But then I wouldn't feel cranky about not getting to watch the show.

I need to sleep. I was trying to explain to my kids that I'm weird because I'm sleep deprived, but they didn't get it.

I had a great idea. I'm going to build cubbies for us. I'm no Carve Girl, but I think I remember enough from woodshop (twenty years ago. Gulp.) to make a basic sort of thing that John could paint. I picture six cubby holes, two on each level. It would be sort of tall and narrowish. We can each have a cubby to put backpacks and whatnot in. For instance, the kids could keep their backpacks there for school and if they needed to bring something to school the next day they could pop it into their cubby when they thought of it so they'd remember in the morning. On top we can keep the mail, and perhaps keys. Also a notebook and pencil to leave each other notes. I'm always half way to someone's house when I remember that I had wanted to return some tupperware or a video or a book to them. If I have a cubby I won't forget! At least, not quite so often, anyhow. Yay! It's the little things that get me all happy.

John's creepy drawings. Click on his photo albums on the right. More coming soon.

All throughout the day I find myself thinking, "I have to remember that so I can blog about it!" But, like walking into the record store makes you forget what bands you listen to, booting up the computer makes me forget my bloggable moments. I put some of the pictures from Capitola in a photo album (on the right hand side bar). The two girls are my friend K's daughters. And here is one more shareable photo (there on the left).

I'm ready for school to be over. I think that we missed the deadline for the science fair. Crap. I try to be on top of things, but I just need an assistant. With a cattle prod.

For Mother's day we are going to Hidden Villa for a little celebration hooha. John is going to volunteer to work for a short time and hopefully his mom will come with us. My mom will be away visiting her mother. I just realized that I won't get cards out in time. Where is my cattle prod weilding assistant??!

There is a community wide garage sale thing on the 15th of May. I'm trying to pull out things that we can sell. We need to get rid of some of the stuff around here. I think I may just put a 'free' sign on a lot of things. Some of it is stuff that friends or family passed along to us, so I'll keep that seperate and then surprise them with a little (very little) cash for it. The boys are jazzed, in theory, to sell some toys so that they can take the money and get new stuff. Of course, they have a strong attachment to every item littering their floor, so they may not make any profit. Lexy said, "Hey! I bet I could get ten bucks for the card table!!" It's not for sale, nor is it his, but he's always got a plan.

I have to go drop the kids off at their dad's house, but first I have to wash the rainbow colored ink off of Sophie. Nate swore he'd put it away after he was done stamping (because I told him he couldn't use it because I didn't want Sophie to get it. . . ) but, he forgot. I could go on, but instead I'll just go.

I had an icky dream last night. John dumped me for Darryl Hannah. I brought Willow from her room where we were sleeping and climbed into bed with him around 5 am to make sure he wasn't cosied up to Ms Hannah, but of course Sophie or someone woke up so I went and let him sleep. The day didn't improve much from there. I knew I was stressed when I got to the photo place one fraction of a second after they'd locked up and started to cry because I really wanted to pick up my pictures. Tomorrow. If the van is out of the shop. (I told you the day was icky.)

Today was one of those days where I had to get water to brew coffee from the hall bathroom because the kitchen sink is so full of dishes. I love that I'm cooking so often (let me toot my own horn here) and so well, but the dishes are overwhelming lately. Instead of being responsible and cleaning up, I took a loaf of French bread and cut it and drizzled olive oil and garlic on both sides of it and stacked some cheese and briney olives and roasted peppers on that. Then I wrapped it in foil and smashed it flat and we put it and Willow (the big kids are with their dad Sunday afternoons) and some other supplies in the car and drove to visit my friend K, who I love and never get to see. We sat on her deck and had iced coffee and fruit tarts while the kids played.

Then we all went to the beach at Capitola. Kind of a touristy place, but nice to be close to the bathrooms and parking and food places. To say Willow had a great time is a grand understatement. She ate sand and dug sand and crawled on sand and shared sand and ate more sand. I took a silly amount of photos that will most likely be developed tomorrow. I am feeling so much better than I would have if I'd hung out here in my pajamas all day trying to get the house clean. It is so hopeless sometimes.

Sitting on the beach makes me really really want to move closer to it. For me it is like getting a massage or doing yoga or meditating. It's a recharge. I think the kids would thrive near the ocean. I think John and I would, too. I think we'd always have a lot of dishes in the sink because we were running off to the beach instead of cleaning, but that's okay.

Nate woke up a few minutes ago, and we had a talk about the paucity of female superheroes. He was listing them for me, "Bat Woman, Wonder Woman, Hot Girl. . . " I asked who Hot Girl was and he told me that she's not really that powerful, she just has an electric wand. He told me what all the wand does, but I missed most of what he said since he's sleepy and mumbly. He is now trying to get into the loose copies of our wedding photos, and John is in line for computer time. You'd think it's the middle of the day around here or something.