Kids do Say the Damndest Things!

The other day my eight-year-old twin girls were outside playing with the neighbor boy and his friend from school who had come over for the afternoon. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. At one point a girl came in to tell me that one of the boys was a prisoner and he had been "locked up" in their playhouse. It all sounded like so much fun, to be a kid out playing on a sunny day after school.

Fast forward to this morning. The child who was visiting the neighbor boy is the son of our school PTA president. She is a really great woman and I happened to see her while waiting in line to get my coffee. And, while trying to hold back laughter, she told me the following story about the playdate the other day.

She had picked her son up from his friend's house and she asked him what he had done. He replied, "We played with A and F (my daughters) with handcuffs." At this point his mother wanted to laugh aloud and her son mistook her moment of silence as some sort of judgement on his statement regarding their play. He immediately stated, "It was O.K., they brought the handcuffs." Still trying to hold back the giggles, his mother nodded her head to let him know that she was listening. "Really mom, they handcuffed the boys first and then we handcuffed them and we didn't do anything that they didn't want. Besides the handcuffs didn't even lock, I could have gotten out of them anytime if I had wanted to."

The handcuffs in question were found in a park by my husband and kids and "yes" they are play handcuffs and the children were playing a game of catch the bad guy, but the adult themed nuances really are quite funny.

Goodbye Summer?

Today is cloudy and cool. That was fine by me. Lately it has been hot. I had to be inside today. Of course, I had to be inside on the hot days also. I wonder if this means a farewell to summer. Maybe it is only temporary. It is challenging to predict the weather here. Mostly it tends to get hot after school starts. For us that will be on Monday, August 30th. It seems early. Definitely earlier than last year. Much earlier than the year before when our school district was on strike. I have mixed feelings about the start of school. No more sleeping in on weekdays. Not like we sleep in on that many of them. However, a lazy weekday will be unheard of once school begins. I will very likely be working full-time in the near future. The start of school will then mean less time at home for me. Activities start and the kids go here and there and everywhere. I am trying to keep up on my writing project. My friend that I am doing it with/for is counting on me. I like the project. It has been hard to fit it in during the summer. The school year has more structure. Will is be easier then? That remains to be seen? The weather is cooler...the leaves are not yet changing...I saw a strange sight today, I was driving in an older neighborhood in the city and all of the leaves from last Fall were still all over the sidewalks. It was an eerie sight, almost like the seeing a ghost of Falls past. I bet that we will still see sunny weather. I bet that the kids will start the school year in shorts. I bet that I will get organized, come this Fall.

Aches and Pains

Yesterday I had a freak accident. I was reaching with my right arm to hoist my rather heavy computer/writing bag from the driver's side to the passenger side of my car and with this action came the most significant pain in my scapula that I had ever felt. Seriously, this little movement handicapped me, I couldn't even breathe.

The kids were loaded in the car and I was taking them to camp at the church across the street. During this two minute drive I realized that I wouldn't be able to "tough it out" or "work through this pain" and I was going to have to call work for which I was already running quite late. I dropped the kids off and sat in the parking lot calling work in a barely audible breathy voice. It was just too much to explain the freakishness of this whole thing. As I sat I couldn't get comfortable in any position. I occurred to me that I probably wouldn't even be able to make the short drive across the street to home. I rang my husband fifteen times from my cell. I knew that he was home sleeping, how could he not hear a constantly ringing phone?

As I became increasingly more uncomfortable and sweaty from my labored breathing and the intensifying heat of the day, I had another realization, that I would need to drive myself home. I parked in front of our house and laid on the horn long and loud. My elderly neighbor later told me that she new that I was in distress and thought that surely my husband would have come out to get me, but no, the "log" snoozed on. I crawled, walked out of the car and pushed the doorbell long and hard and that finally got his attention.

The excuse? He didn't hear the phone, I guess that it wasn't ringing in the bedroom and he thought that all of that loud horn-honking was for the kids to get them out of the house to get going. Once I stumbled into the house, he became helpful. Out of guilt? Probably. Instead of spending the day writing and getting other things done, I spent the day going to the doctor and massage therapy so that I could move again.

The curative process worked and I am much better today, only a minor shoulder pain that I hope will go away soon. A weird, wacky day to be sure, not the kind of thing that I would like to experience again ever.

Stealing Time

June has been my month for stealing time, for myself that is. I have purposely said 'no' to most things not already on my calendar unless it was something really, really desirable like going to see the Sex and the City 2 movie at 10:00pm last night. That may sound frivolous, but Sex and the City has always been a frivolous indulgence of mine. I got addicted to the series re-runs soon after the birth of my twins, frankly I needed to get lost in a reality that wasn't mine. Reviews aside, there were definitely some aspects of this second movie that I liked better than the first one, namely that the characters in version two were all at a place that I could relate to either presently or at some time in the not-so-distant past.

In addition, June has also been the month for some get-up-and-go in the writing department. I would love dearly to share my recent writings on my blog, but I am currently helping a friend piece together a memoir about her crazy life this last year and the information is a wee bit too personal to throw out to the public at this point. Just today I thought of two writing exercises that would help me blow some more creativity into this project, now if I can just accomplish one of those, maybe I will post it.

Exercise is going well. I am on a new program and trying to quit snacking and eating things that shouldn't go into my mouth. Cutting down on alcohol consumption and getting more sleep (baring last night's adventure) have also been high on my list of "to dos" as part of this summer kick-off.

School is out. This means that mom's taxi service will be taking a break and maybe we can even spend some afternoons at home! How blessed is that proposition! I have some vacation time coming up and we are planning to go on a ramble with not clear destination in mind. Frankly I am tired of planning my life and managing schedules for everyone else in my household. It will be fun, at least that is what I keep telling myself.

The best thing of all-I finally completed all of the yard work that I had set out to do this spring. Now maybe, just maybe if the weather quits with this rain with sun breaks the weeds won't come back.

Deep Thoughts on this, The Last Day of May

May has been quite a month. Here I sit on the last day of it, the end of a long holiday weekend to boot, recovering from illness. Although this has been a holiday weekend, the weather has been quite rainy. I remember camping in relatively fair weather at this time last year, I am glad that we didn't make similar plans for this year as we would have been rained-sicked out.

In reviewing my month, I must admit that my time spent writing has been almost non-existent. I have wanted to write, I just haven't quite figured out how to piece bouts of writing into a schedule that has me running here, there, and everywhere. That will change in June, I am keeping my fingers crossed!

On the upside, I have started the hiking season early. A huge thanks and much love to Megs, her much welcome visit from Oz helped to launch me into a series of early albeit short hikes. Hopefully the weather will clear and there is the promise of the upcoming summer for longer hiking adventures.

During May and despite the rather exhausting schedule of my three offspring, I have managed to read three books, "East of the Sun" by Julia Gregson, "The Sorrows of an American" by Siri Hustvedt, and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by, Stieg Larsson. I have also managed to see a few films and get regularly intoxicated with close friends. June needs to be a more serious month in terms of gym attendance, although part of me thinks that must have been how I acquired this nasty bug.

Another May is gone. I am not a big lover of Spring, Fall is my preferred season, but May is just so beautiful with the flowers and blossoms and sometimes warmer weather. June around these parts seems to always start out rainy, it might be a good time to head out of state once the kids are done with school. I should probably get started with planning that, but first I have to rest and get 100% of my sapped energy back.

Keeping a Happy Outlook

The kids have been on spring break this week and I have actually had some time to read the paper. Often reading the paper can be a real downer for me, it always seems that most of the news is so negative. I have decided to focus on the positive this week and here are a few positive things that I have learned while reading the news:

1) Over 7,000 acres along the Hoh River in the Olympic Rain Forest have been preserved as wilderness, a place where the trees will be allowed to grow "huge," much like other areas in the rain forest that haven't been logged. This will ensure a local wilderness and waterway for future generations.
2) A crusty ex-serviceman and ex-child crimes detective legally adopted a former victim. The child is now 19 years of age and is blind, quadriplegic, and severely brain-damaged from abuse sustained at the hands of his mother's boyfriend when he was a toddler. This family-less detective was planning to use his retirement funds to travel. He had re-connected with this boy as a teenager, saw how he never got better, forged a bond with him, and decided to legally become his parent instead of travelling the globe alone.
3) A cop went undercover, posing as a pedophile father of two daughters ages 11 and 13. He developed an on-line relationship with the pedophile he was investigating and managed to secure enough evidence to put this guy away for life. People like to say that the Internet is the new playground for pedophiles and I think that is true. It is a real joy to see it working against them.

Tucked in between the real big stories are always those little events, a child promoting a charity, people lost to one another reconnecting, a new service invented by someone creative. If I really try to be less of a cynic, the positive news is out there, it just sometimes seems to get lost in all of the badness of the world.

Spring is Here! It Makes me Think of .....

Taking on Big Problems

I want to thank fellow blogger Snowflake for her latest post on how no one has the market cornered on problems. I will be the first to admit that it takes me a while to actually talk about my problems unless they are relatively minor and have to do with some day-to-day complaint. Usually my husband is an easy target, especially when he is acting like my supposedly non-existent fourth child, but so I digress. This last year has been a challenging one in our community and 2010, in many ways, does not seem to be off to a better start for some. In and amidst all of these goings on, we somehow manage to stay on course. Nothing big has plagued our family, thank God and I really have more than my share to be thankful for. It does not mean that I do not have problems. Just because they aren't big doesn't mean that they aren't there. I think that it is easy in the midst of big problems to talk about them with people that you might feel are not experiencing this depth of problem themselves. Gee, I hope that made sense. Probably this is a good idea since talking about them with someone who has the similar depth of problems may lead to wallowing and one upmanship and could just get downright uncomfortable.

This last year has taught me much about myself and how I handle and react to problems and stress in the lives of others. Often I can be a very good listener and I hope an understanding one, because I have learned how to take care of me. If I forget what I need I can quickly feel overburdened. I used to think that I could actually help people solve their problems and help them find a plan. In this last year, many of the problems that I have faced with friends have been so monumentally big and so impossible to solve that I have learned that one doesn't always need a plan. In fact, a plan might often not be forthcoming for months or even years in some cases.

If there is one thing that I want to be remembered for at the end of my life it is that I was a good friend. Sometimes I realize that I am not and no one ever is, there are limitations. I can listen, I can support, I don't need to internalize everything, I can take a breather and still be a good friend. This is the best that I can offer and in the end, most of the time, it is probably enough.

What's Wrong with those Lyrics?

Actually my daughter didn't ask that (What's wrong with those lyrics?) when we had the discussion tonight about how pretty much none of Lady GaGa's song lyrics are appropriate for a school talent show or for anyone under about high school age for that matter. Like most children in elementary school, my daughter has been exposed to some of Lady GaGa's less obvious tunes, minus that little diddy about the sick beat and riding on a disco stick of course. Part of the reason she has heard some of the music is that it has been played for her in the homes of other children. She has, thankfully, missed the inappropriate message in "Let's Dance." You know the "hidden" message about being drunk out of one's mind and barely able to stumble around the dance floor. It is too bad that the song is about drunkenness and dance floor sex because the beat is incredible and really does make you want to dance. I told her that I was really sorry that "Let's Dance" is about being drunk and "Paparazzi" is about a stalker and neither would probably pass muster with the school as talent show dance material. She is beginning to think that my idea of sticking with "old tunes" from the 70's (like she did last year) may not be such a bad idea after all.

Television Series Addiction

Yes, it is true, I am officially addicted to the BBC Dr. Who telly series. THANK YOU MEG! I can blame her all I want, but I am addicted to the story line. I am not typically much of a science fiction fan, but I buy into the fantasy elements of the story lines in Dr. Who so it works for me. Sadly, this duo, David Tennant and Billie Piper will be replaced in this new season (actually Billie Piper has been off the show for a while now). I will miss them, but I have no doubt that I can probably get used to the replacements. It seems somewhat odd to be addicted to a television series again. I used to have my line up of shows and then the screen writers strike came (yes, I know that was a long time ago) and there was nothing new on for a very long time and I just lost interest in my old favorites. This is a fairly common cycle with me and television though, on and off again addictions. Sometimes I just prefer to read or futz around on the computer or talk to my family (what a novel idea!).

At any rate, I was going to post a rant today about how I have been needing to do everyone elses jobs for them all morning. There are some low hanging power lines that cross the PUBLIC street in front of our house. The garbage service is refusing to pick up our trash and after two hours on the phone with a number of different possible power line sources, nobody wanted to take responsibility for the problem. I was actually forced to call the city, which is not something that I ever like to do. Aside from taking the power lines down myself and re-setting them I was really out of options. It felt much better talking about the joys of Dr. Who. I think that I will just reflect on that right now and take three deep breaths.

Random Thoughts on a February Morning

So here it is, almost halfway through the month of February and I have only one post for the month. A fairly good one, if I do say so myself, but only one nonetheless. It has been a busy month so far. My good friends and neighbors for the last several years moved out of their house last week. I miss them and our little lane does not quite seem the same. There are projects here and there, like scrapbooking, that I am trying to get caught up on. I am trying to fit in my writing, but have also had house guests and this has made that a challenge. In addition to the house guests and sudden neighbor/friend move and catching up on projects, I have been trying to catch up with old friends, read some books, and get over a nasty cold. Next week my kids are off from school. I have taken some time off of work and am hoping that we can have some fun together. The book I am currently reading is called "Home" by Marilynne Robinson. If you have never read her, don't be deceived by the slim size of most of her works. This woman makes every word count when she writes. She also teaches at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, perhaps that is why. I love her work, I just have to think in order to read it, probably a good exercise for me.

Weekending in August

Ladies enjoying the "Tiny Hat Orchestra" show at SoDo Showbox

Here are my fantastic blueberry pickers

Here are the blueberries that we picked

Here is the awesome pie that we made with the blueberries that were picked by the fantastic blueberry pickers

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

I watched this movie this weekend on the computer via Netflix and it was an unexpectedly awesome documentary. It chronicles the life of a flock of approximately 45 "wild" parrots who live near Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. They are being informally studied by a free spirited musician, Mark Bitner, who finds in them his passion and life's work. He also found his wife through the making of the film, she was the director. This is a touching and beautiful true life story about the interconnectedness of humans and animals in the most unlikely of places, the heart of a large city. In the end Mark must leave the cottage that he occupied rent free for three years, putting distance between himself and his beloved birds. The birds that were handicapped or sick who had been staying in Mark's home, were taken to the Parrot Oasis in Arizona. The rest were left to survive and thrive or perish in the "wilds" of San Francisco, the primary predators being hawks and humans. A slow-moving, but brilliantly done visual presentation.

Monsters vs Aliens Movie

So I finally took the kids to see the "Monsters vs Aliens" movie. One of my daughters has been pestering me to see this movie for sometime. We were able to catch it at a local discount theater, one of the last places that it seems to be available to us here on the big screen. The plot was typical and formulaic, the kids loved it. A twist is added to this movie, it is the girl monster who is the strongest one and ultimately able to save everyone almost all by herself. The guys seem to be otherwise occupied. I found that to be humorous from an adult perspective.

The very best part of the movie though was in the beginning, the wedding is about to take place, the pre-monster bride is exclaiming about how excited she is to be honeymooning in Paris. The groom comes out to talk to her and informs her that there has been a change in plans, no honeymoon in Paris. Instead they will be relocating to Fresno, they live in Modesto, because he has some awesome job interview to pursue. Less then thrilled, the bride reluctantly agrees to continue with the ceremony. That is until she gets hit by a meteor and grows into a huge woman. So I digress, the best part was during this scene when I leaned over to my almost ten-year-old daughter and told her that if a guy ever did that to her on her wedding day that she should cancel the wedding immediately. I told her that there would never be any trip to Paris and the bride wouldn't have any of her dreams come true with that groom. Guess what? That's right, the groom turned out to be an arse, only out for his own gain, and she dumps him in the end and my daughter got to think that I was really smart for the day. A win-win situation all the way around.

Trying to Diet, Maybe?

I have so many friends that are actively dieting or trying to diet right now that I almost think that I might have to join in. The best diet for me would be one in which I did not eat because it is once I start eating that the problems begin. I have one friend that is doing Weight Watchers, another that is going to try Nutrisystems, and several others who are just using portion control. I had to laugh when someone referred to potion control as eating like you used to eat. I used to eat a lot more than I eat now and I didn't pay much attention to portion control or what I ate either. Then I would go for a five mile run and I never gained weight. There were times, when I was in my twenties, that I could have been called underweight and as a teenager I definitely was underweight. Now I exercise, I am very consistent about this, and it doesn't really seem to make much of a difference. I do eat much less and watch what I eat more closely than I ever have before in my life and doing this and exercise doesn't seem to make a huge difference. I could cut out carbohydrates altogether, that might be the best thing. I am not sure what to replace them with though. So I am still in flux. Maybe I should just get on a diet plan, maybe I should just have more self control, maybe I should work out five times a week instead of three, maybe, maybe, maybe

Just For Today...

Just for today... I solemnly pledge to do the following...hopefully...

...Cut down on my carb intake (Megs, you are a true inspiration here)
...Just don't swear at stupid drivers (is "stupid" a swear word? I thought not)...even, if only in my mind (I usually have kids in the car, so it is not often that I swear outloud)
...One glass of wine can be enough (unless it is really super good!)
...I can write for an hour a day (on my organzied weeks I do this)
...Feel good about myself when I walk by a mirror (OMG! where do the wrinkles come from and what is the deal with my midsection!)
...Use positive discipline techniques with my children (although I try and try yelling just doesn't work even though I did it just now. I have been up from the computer to run interference between my kids six times since I started writing this little post and I wonder why I can never get anything done!)
...Think more and talk less
...Go to bed when I am tired (hey! what a concept!)
...Learn how to do something new

Summer Reading

Lately I have been perusing blogs whereby the authors of said blogs are posting their summer reading lists. "I wish," I say to myself each time I run across one of these, "that I could be so organized." I mean, really, to actually know what I might want to read in advance! What a concept. I read all of the time. Really I do. More than once friends have asked (sometimes it is the same friend) "How do you find the time?" My question to myself is, "How do I not find the time?" Reading is a stress release for me. I can get lost in another world, other than my own. Maybe that is why I am so picky about it. I read based on feeling, "Let's see, what book in my numerous stacks by the bed and on the bookshelves, looks good today?" Then I pick it up and start it. I do this at the library as well. Last summer was a slew of surprises in reading, books that I never thought that I would pick up and good share of them out-of-print or hard to come by in this country to boot. I made my selections based primarily on how near they were to children's areas that my kids were perusing. How random is that? I would say it is fairly random, I broadened my literary scope greatly using this method I might add as well. Then there are the book clubs. Actually I should say book club. I used to belong to two, now Book Club Gone Bad appears to be on permanent hiatus so I am now down to one book club. I usually get around to reading the required reading. I usually get around to finishing it too, sometimes because I actually like the book, other times because I just can't stand to leave it unfinished unless it is really bad. I am thankful to say that no book club member has picked a really bad read yet, oh, yeah, there was one. It was so bad that I don't even remember the name, I struggled through that one, very poorly written. I can't stand it when something is poorly written. I would rather not understand what the hell the characters are doing half of the time than to read something poorly written. With that said, I will go forth and finish "The God of Small Things" which I have been meaning to read almost as long as it has been in print. Then it will be off of my "reading list," that would be the one that I will be developing as I go along. Happy summer reading.

Easter is Coming

It is that time of year again, Easter is upon us. I like Spring well enough, but not as much as I like Summer and Fall. Spring is less popular with me because of our yard. Things grow VERY rapidly here in the Pacific Northwest, especially the weeds and our yard is no exception. Not being overly fond of yardwork, I find it difficult to make time in the schedule to get out there and get it done. So far this year seems to be a little better. Last Fall we hired the "wonder crew" to prune, cut, rake and get everything ready for winter. Suffice it to say, they did an awesome job and the yard seems to be more manageable with the rain and sun combination that seems so hospitable to weed growth.

Easter is always busy for us. The kids like to do all of the fun traditions like dyeing eggs, egg hunts, and baskets. We have an annual party with friends, the church day seems longer, and then there is the Easter meal. I am so happy to have my in-laws here this year. They are so industrious and my mother-in-law loves to cook. She also loves to ski and we all went up for a family ski day yesterday. It was fun for the kids to ski with a grandparent, a good inspiration as well.

Tonight I am looking forward to going to the X concert with friends. I saw X last year and really enjoyed the show. Normally I don't see bands two times in a row, but seeing great bands up close for very little money has a strong appeal to me. Plus it is always more fun when to go with people who want to be there just as much as you do. Tonight I am not going to focus on how much the band has aged, I am going to focus on the great music and the enjoyment that goes with finanlly getting some time away from home.

Happy Easter!

Old Books

I have always had a passion for reading. When I was a child, I would frequently leave the room in the middle of a television program to finish reading a book. While I am not always that disciplined as an adult, I am still pretty much always in the process of reading a book. My eldest daughter seems to have inherited my love of books. Tonight, while we were unpacking from our short vacation, she happened to spy some old books propped up on the bookshelf in the room downstairs where our luggage is stored. She asked me if any of the books were for children. I had forgotten all about those old books, a couple of which I had read multiple times as a child. They were books from the childhoods of both of my parents and my grandmother. As we went through the volumes I started to remember reading those old books, my favorite two were "The Bobbsey Twins and Baby May" (1924) and "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch"(1901). On the first page of Mrs. Wiggs was a note written to me from my grandmother telling me about how she and her sisters had read this book, then my mom, and she hoped that I would enjoy it in turn. Flipping quickly through both of these volumes I could see that they are quite politically incorrect by today's standards, I am sure that my daughter and I will be discussing the differences between early last century and early this century. Meanwhile, I am pleased that she wants to continue the tradition