The Big Enough Umbrella

From the mess to the masses

2012-02-01T14:14:00.001-05:00

You probably weren't wondering what I am listening to these days but I'm going to tell you anyway. It's "Lisztomania" by Phoenix, which was a big favorite of mine about two years ago. I liked the original a lot, I liked the version that the kids from New York's PS22 Chorus did, and now I can't quit listening to this "Alex Metric Remix:"

It's super dancey, isn't it? I am a little disturbed by the video footage of the chickens, but I understand it is from the 1992 movie "Baraka," which I had never heard of but which plenty of people on the internet say changed their lives. So now it's on my list of movies to see.

Little off subject there. As I was saying, super dancey, isn't it?

I have almost finished the baby hat I am crocheting, and then I have to plop it on my friend's baby's head and see if it fits! I've also started crocheting a basic wrap sweater for myself. I have been using Pinterest for a little while now, and it has this way of making you feel like you could be a super crafter if you only had the time, hence the crocheting. I also have been pinning favorite music over there if you want to have a listen.

As for my reading progress, I was enjoying "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" so much, and then somehow I just quit reading for like two weeks. I don't really know what happened. I need to pick it back up again, because I have a ton of other books on the shelf that I need to get to this year as well.

Here's a gratuitous picture of Holly wearing her new Old Navy Valentine's dress:

Yes, it was taken with my phone using the "Retro Camera" app, which those of us who don't use Instagram, due to owning Android phones, use. I guess it's a little bit hipster of me, but it sure is cute, isn't it?

untitled in January

2012-01-27T21:47:00.000-05:00

We had a rare 60-degree January day today. It started off with a thunderstorm, even. If all winter was like this, aside from one or two snow days that keep me home from work, I would never have what they call "the winter doldrums" and what I call "gahhhh life sucks!!!!"

Following up from last week, my haircut experience went well. I'm pleased with how it turned out, although it does require a little more styling, "encouragement," shall we say, since I've got long bangs now. Bangs have traditionally been a problem for me. They just don't behave like bangs should. (In high school I used a curling iron to make them into a big pouf, like Charlie Brown's sister Sally, that I don't think was EVER stylish.) The bangs I have now are meant to be swept to the side, which means the hair dryer and/or the curling iron have to be briefly applied.

Here is the before

And here is the after

When I look at pictures of myself I always think I need to wear lipstick. But when I look at myself in the mirror with lipstick on, I think I look ridiculous.

Thea enjoyed skiing last week. Faith didn't enjoy it as much but she still had a fun trip and said she's willing to give it another try sometime.

I took up crocheting again last month, basically for the first time since I was in high school. I've been easing back in with simple stuff like potholders/coasters

and granny squares.

The granny squares were from this pattern and the coasters from this one. I do a couple of granny squares a week, and I figure at some point I'll have enough to sew them together and make a blanket. Neato! Now I'm ready to tackle a real project -- a little hat for my friend's baby.

New pictures, from our trip to Six Flags America (back in August, yes I'm behind on posting pictures), are up here. Enjoy!

Slumber party

2012-01-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

I'm having a slumber party tonight with my favorite five-year-old.

We watched "Tangled", played a princess matching game (I lost three games in a row), and now she's zonked out in my bed. Tomorrow we will probably use her free birthday meal certificate at Bob Evans.

I just talked to Thea and Faith on Oovoo. They are in Pennsylvania with two friends and Dan (who is earning so many brownie points this weekend). Tomorrow morning bright and early they'll be heading to Jack Frost for their first time skiing.

Thursday thinking

2012-01-19T22:18:00.003-05:00

I still miss Augie a lot. I thought I heard him meow the other day, and I keep expecting to see him laying on the dog's bed or to come climb in my lap while I'm sitting on the floor. Our other elderly cat, Spot, is turning 18 in April. For now he is in decent health. He notices Augie's absence, though. The first night Augie was gone, Spot wandered through the house all night meowing. They used to sleep together on the dog's bed.

Aside from Spotty we have two other cats, Emily and Benny, who are about 2.5 and 3 years old, respectively. Then there's good old Chester, the dog, who we guess to be about 9. I do love a house full of pets, despite the cost, the mess, the work, and the inevitable heartache that comes along with it.

Augie and Spotty enjoying a sunny spot at the back door. Nov 2011

Thea and Faith are going skiing for the first time this weekend. I've never really had an interest in skiing, but I'm happy they're going to have the opportunity to try it. They are excited. Holly and I are staying home by ourselves. I told her it was going to be a special Holly-and-Mommy night. Her eyes got wide and she said, "Let's have a movie night! With EATING!" So, movies and eating it will be.

I'm getting a haircut tomorrow. This is only news because I don't get my hair cut often, and when I do, it's usually just a trim. This time I really am looking for a new style (if you can call the shapeless mess I have now a "style"). It remains to be seen whether I can communicate my wishes to the stylist, whether she can cut it that way, whether my hair will actually do what the girl's hair in the picture is doing, and then whether I can actually pull it off myself at home.

Augie

2012-01-16T20:31:00.000-05:00

Today we had to say goodbye to Augie, our oldest cat. You never think of this moment... when you are holding the tiny kitten in the palm of your hand; when he is chasing a string you are dragging around the house; when he is tumbling on the carpet with his adopted sister; when he is snuggled next to you in bed purring; when he is rubbing his head on your chin; when he is meowing for his dinner; when he realizes you are sad and climbs into your lap to comfort you... You never think of this moment that you will have to say goodbye. This is the crappy side of pet ownership.

Augie was only about 8 weeks old when we brought him home from the pound. He was indeed small enough to sit in the palm of Rick's hand. Over the years he moved with us to three more houses, saw many adopted brothers and sisters come and go, and saw three rambunctious children added to the mix. Augie accepted the kids with grace -- he never scratched or bit them, although he stayed well out of their way when he didn't feel like dealing with them.

Augie lived nearly 19 years with us. He was a good friend. He was a good cat. The doctor and techs at Arbutus Veterinary Hospital helped him complete his life's journey with peace and dignity, and I held him at the end and thanked him for everything and told him how much I love him.

Rest now in peace, Augie. 1993-2012

Augie performing his trademark forehead-bump on his first day home from the pound. 1993

Tiny Augie 1993

Augie and Allie the day they knocked a bag of flour off the top of the refrigerator and made little white footprints all over the apartment. 1994

My first babies. 1994

Augie watching over me and just-born Holly. 2006

Just this past summer, Augie relaxing on Holly's bed. 2011

The Lady

2012-01-11T09:34:00.001-05:00

Holly found a picture similar to this in a book about cats -- Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman

She brought it to me and said, "Look Mom, is this Lady Gaga?"

New Pictures

2012-01-10T21:49:00.001-05:00

Despite the fact that it is a kind of arduous process to manually crop, size, place and caption pictures in my current photo album setup, I am still doing it until I work up the time and commitment to look for another option. And because of that arduous process, I'm about five months behind in posting pictures. Here are the links to see pictures from August 2011 -- page one and page two. Soon there will be a third page of pictures from our trips to Six Flags America in August.

A little taste of what is there:

Enjoy!!

Reading in 2012

2012-01-10T13:40:00.002-05:00

I surpassed my 2011 book-reading goal -- my goal was 18 books and I read 34. I usually have a huge surge in the summer and early fall, and then tail off through the last two months. That was how it was this year. I finished reading the 32nd book in early October. Anyway, you can see the list here if you are interested. By and large it was a good bunch of books.

This year's goal is 20 books. I have about that many waiting on the shelf to be read. I'm starting off this year with 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winner The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I'm about a quarter of the way through, and let me say that it is definitely a crushing novel for a wanna-be novelist to read. The story is awesome so far, and yet I have to keep stopping and reading back over paragraphs just for sheer enjoyment of the way the sentences are crafted.

What are you reading this year, or what did you love last year? I would love to hear your recommendations.

Close of the Year

2011-12-27T20:23:00.001-05:00

Some randomnity...

A few days before her birthday, I told Holly about the night she was born. When I got to the part about giving her her name, she frowned and said, "But I didn't want my name to be Holly! I wanted it to be Rapunzel."

I gave Thea the Hunger Games trilogy for Christmas. She read the first book in 24 hours. Then she read the second book in the next 24 hours. I'm so happy to have her reading and being excited about a book, but it seems like kind of a waste if she's going to "use up" this Christmas present in three days.

Tonight I had to deal with a puking incident and a disgustingly clogged sink (not related) at the same time. Kind of an overload of Ick.

My great-grandmother taught me to crochet when I was a kid. I haven't done it in years, but in just the past couple of weeks I've picked it back up again. It is so satisfying to sit with the needle and yarn and a mug of coffee and some music playing. It feels very grounding and at the same time brings back fond memories. So far I've made a bunch of coasters/potholders, and one head wrap with a flower on it that is not very attractive. The coasters are kind of rough but I'm still enjoying using things I made. And I think with the right yarn, the head wrap could be really pretty.

Today there was only one radio station left, that I could find, still playing all Christmas music. (101.9 FM) As much as I wanted to avoid that grating music all of December... today I found myself listening to that station, and actually singing along.

I'm glad that Christmas is over, and look forward to a brand new year, but boy do I dislike the winter. I don't like January or February and thinking of all those gray days stretching ahead of me makes me want to hunker down in bed (in my new flannel sheets -- Christmas presents!)

Pez candy: Nasty. Did I actually like that stuff, as a kid, or was it just fun playing with the dispensers?

Mind? Blown!

2011-11-07T09:36:00.001-05:00

Holly: Mommy, are skunks real?
Me: Yes.
Holly: Oh. My. GOSH!

Party aftermath

2011-10-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

Before I forget, here is what went wrong, and what went right, for the girls' party (a long woohoo-dammit, of sorts :) ). Pictures at the bottom of the page.

WRONG: Had to move the party completely indoors thanks to frigid temperatures, drizzle and mud. Most of my games and activities were subsequently cut from the agenda.
RIGHT: Let the kids turn on the Wii and play "Just Dance." That game never fails to entertain. Even boys and parents were dancing.
RIGHT: Ghost cookies -- these were knockoff Nutter Butters dipped in melted white candy chips, with black sprinkles for eyes -- and witch hat cookies -- knockoff Keebler Fudge Stripes, turned upside down, with Hershey Kisses secured to them with a line of orange icing. Kids loved them.
RIGHT: Frozen party-size macaroni and cheese. I only got one of these, on a whim, and when it came down from the oven it disappeared in record time.
WRONG: The mummy dogs -- hot dogs wrapped in strips of refrigerated crescent roll dough -- didn't look like mummies at all.
WRONG: Also baking the first batch of mummy dogs on top of waxed paper was a bad idea since the paper melted and stuck to the dogs. (This was an accident, not something I did on purpose.)
RIGHT: Despite the mummy dogs' disappointing appearance, they were gobbled up -- waxed paper and all.
WRONG: Eyeball sandwiches -- two meatballs on a dinner roll, with sliced olives attached to look like the pupils of the eyeballs -- were a pain to assemble, and didn't really get eaten.
WRONG: "Pin the heart on the skeleton" game wasn't really fair since I attached to the wall a poseable cardboard skeleton and thus the blindfolded kids just had to quickly feel him up to locate where his heart should go. Only the two youngest kids missed by placing their hearts on the elbow and in the pelvis.
WRONG and RIGHT: Bobbing for donuts -- donuts tied with twine to the bottom of the ceiling light fixture -- was messy and wasteful. I ran this in three heats of four each, and the kids had to hold their hands behind their backs and try to be the first to finish eating their donuts without them falling onto the floor. The powdered donuts made a huge mess on faces and the carpet, and most kids' donuts fell onto the floor only half eaten. However, not surprisingly, this game was a huge hit.
RIGHT: Black punch in a plastic cauldron I got at Walmart hours before the party. The punch was two packages of Koolaid (two different colors that would be dark and muddy when mixed together) with the appropriate amount of sugar and water, plus two liters of ginger ale. Tasty.
WRONG: The ice hands floating in the punch did not work well. I froze water in rinsed plastic gloves, and it should have been great, but the fingers kept falling off (one of my floating hands was doing the sign of the devil) and the plastic was difficult to remove. I found a couple small pieces of plastic floating in the punch. I think using a different kind of glove would have worked better.
RIGHT: The three fog machines excited the kids and would have been very cool if we could have kept them running on their intermittent timers, but...
WRONG: The fog set off my smoke alarm twice, which is wired into the alarm system at the house and so the potential for the fire department showing up was high. So we had to set the fog machines on manual and an adult had to go flick them on from time to time.
WRONG and RIGHT: I forgot to set out the Goldfish crackers and the cheese cubes and crackers that I had gotten. However we had so freaking much food left over, it was just as well.
RIGHT and WRONG: We made these adorable Tootsie Pop spiders to be party favors. Then I forgot them in a box in my room until after all the kids had gone home.

Tootsie Pop spiders

Ghost cookies

Witch hat cookies

Cupcakes decorated by the birthday girls

Me and my daughter's "BFF"

The "haunted hallway". Fog came out of the skull's mouth.

I explain the rules of bobbing for donuts.

And they're off!

Pretty fun to watch!


Thea opening presents

The last lonely ghost cookie left on the plate.

Partying!

Party time, excellent

2011-10-28T19:44:00.001-04:00

Woohoo, the temperatures have been in the 60s and the 70s all month, which was great because I was planning a bunch of outdoor activities for the girls' birthday/Halloween party tomorrow night. Well guess what? Tomorrow, temperatures are not even supposed to reach 50 degrees. There is a 100% chance of rain during the day. At night, temperatures will dip into the 30s, and there is a 70% chance of SNOW. Dammit!!!

I am not sure now what I am going to do with nearly 20 kids stuck in my house.

I have a "haunted hallway" getting set up with black lights and fog machines. I have glow-in-the-dark bugs to put all over, and I found this cool idea online and did it -- printed out antique-looking photos and touched them up with a yellow highlighter to look creepier under the black light. For future reference, the best photos were the ones that had a lot of white space on them to begin with, as that glows better and the yellow highlighter shows up extremely well. The darker photos make it harder to see my embellishments. The best photo of all was this one --

it printed out pretty creepy-looking on its own. I colored in the guy's eyes with the highlighter and he is impressive.

I have a bunch of food I have to make tomorrow, mostly ideas I collected on Pinterest -- Nutter Butter ghosts, decorated cupcakes and brownies, witch hat cookies, mummy hot dogs, eyeball (meatball) sandwiches, and a veggie tray with dip that is coming out of a sick-looking jack o'lantern's mouth. Hehehe. Oh and a black punch with a floating ice hand in it. Can't wait to see how that turns out!

I was going to play pin-the-heart-on-the-skeleton outside, as well as have a balloon stomp (balloons tied with a length of yarn to the kids' feet -- the object is to stomp on other people's balloons while protecting your own), a balloon-ghost popping relay race, and a treat hunt through the yard. Those ideas are all way up in the air now. I don't have a room large enough for 20 kids stomping on balloons, or a room long enough for a relay race. Maybe I can still pull off the skeleton. More likely the kids will just run wild through the house. Or worse, sit around bored!

I come back here from time to time

2011-10-17T14:46:00.000-04:00

picture from http://rebeccasower.typepad.com/

October... It's my absolute favorite time of year. Colors, warmth and chill, orange sunshine, the smell of wet earth and leaves.

On Saturday, after showering and dressing, I stood out on the back porch and let the sun and the wind dry my hair. Being as that I live in the middle of the city, I'm sure there were traffic noises and train whistles, but I didn't hear any of that. I heard birds, and I heard the wind in the trees, and I remembered other October days when I thought to myself, "This is my absolute favorite time of year."

It was one of those quiet wistful moments in time that you feel like you might remember forever, but you know it'll more likely be forgotten in a matter of days. If you're lucky, though, the elusive feeling will return to you in another time and place.

This was the song playing through my head on Saturday, and it captures that wistful, warm feeling of October sun and childhood memories. Gosh, I love this band.

Scattered Black and Whites by Elbow...

Halloween fixins

2011-10-12T21:31:00.000-04:00

Work continues on the girls' Halloween costumes. My time frame has been cut short by the fact that they want to wear these costumes to a party at Thea's old school, this weekend. So I have two whole less weeks than originally thought.At the moment Faith's is closest to being done, followed by Holly's. Thea's costume... I don't know what I'll do about it.

Updated costs:

Faith	Thea	Holly
Gown: 3.99 Turtleneck: 2.49 Earmuffs: 1.99 Gun: 0.99 Belt: 2.90	Boots: 7.90 Gloves: 2.99 Skirt: 1.99 Wings: 1.99 Sheer material: 8.39 Pleather: 3.37 Tulle: .23	Orange felt: 2.99 Other felt: 1.50 T-shirt: 1.99
$12.36	$26.86	$6.48

But at least tonight we finished up the invitations to their Halloween/birthday party. The girls did most of the work themselves -- Thea made the ribbon bats, while Faith cut all the paper and glued it together. I had to come along behind them and re-glue the eyes on the bats and the bats to the invitations, since the "Tacky Glue" that Thea had used was failing to hold very well. I ended up using hot glue. They turned out pretty cute!

Spam and Fall

2011-10-11T15:42:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed that when you visit your Gmail spam folder, the Google-generated ads that appear at the top of the screen usually involve recipes using Spam? Is Google just trying to be funny? Because they're supposed to know all about me, and that makes me think their algorithms are crap. I already know that Facebook doesn't really know me.

Faith's and Holly's Halloween costumes will be done soon and I'll post pictures.

Check out this flashback. Seven years ago this weekend, a friend and I took our girls camping. Thea was 5, Faith was 3, and Paige, my friend's daughter, was 4. It was a very cold and rainy weekend, and would have been miserable except for the fact that we allowed ourselves to gripe and laugh about the situation and in turn be more patient with the unhappy kids. In particular I remember that we said "oh well" and let the girls play on a drenched playground in the rain, not worrying about the fact that they were getting soaked.

Anyway, we visited that same park this past weekend, and took a picture of the same three girls along a trail. Now ages 12, 10 and 11, my how they have changed!

In October 2004

In October 2011

Weekend wrapup

2011-10-02T21:31:00.004-04:00

House News

We had no landline phone service for two days, and no one would have noticed except that the alarm system control panel started beeping because it recognized it had no connection to the alarm company. The problem was somewhere between the main road and the telephone pole across the street from my house, meaning it was NOT MY FAULT and I didn't have to pay Verizon to fix it. HA. Actually now my phone line sounds better than it has in years. It was so staticky that you couldn't really talk to anyone. Maybe now I'll actually answer the phone when someone calls. Yeah.... probably not.

It was chilly in the house today so I turned on the heat, mainly just as a test to make sure it was going to come on when I REALLY needed it. The boiler lit right up. I am glad.

Neighbor News

Apparently one of the neighbor ladies has a live-in boyfriend. Well, HAD, because tonight Dan heard her yelling at him and telling him he had to move out. What? I never saw this guy before this weekend. How long did he live there, 24 hours?

Halloween Costumes Update

My friend Carrie went shopping with me this weekend and we knocked out most of Faith's costume. We have a few pieces of Thea's costume, although she is much more difficult because she is trying to exactly match a picture of a costume she found on the internet. We have zero pieces of Holly's costume.

Faith	Thea	Holly
Gown: 3.99 Turtleneck: 2.49 Earmuffs: 1.99 Gun: 0.99 Belt: 2.90	Boots: 7.90 Gloves: 2.99 Skirt: 1.99 Wings: 1.99
$12.36	$14.87

Holly Art

Holly drew some surprisingly recognizable pictures tonight.

This is a dog.

This is a cat. It is either in tall grass or in a cage... I'm not sure which.

Photo Alert

New pictures up, from our recent trip to Rehoboth Beach. See them here!

Hollyisms

2011-09-30T21:16:00.000-04:00

This pleasant exchange took place at dinner:

Holly: There are bad people in the world.
Me: But I'm not a bad person, right?
Holly: You're fat.
Thea busts out laughing, so Holly looks to her.
Holly, to Thea: And you're lazy.
Me: And what is Faith?
Holly thinks for a minute.
Holly: A crybaby.
Thea: And what about Dan?
Holly: He's a fart machine.

Unfortunately she probably nailed all of us...

Another night we were having tortellini for dinner, and Holly gushed, "I love tortellini! But I hate Tokyo!" It took me a few minutes to realize that the last time we had tortellini for dinner, we also had gnocchi. Not Tokyo.

Sometimes you feel like a nut

2011-09-29T20:55:00.004-04:00

In honor of National Coffee Day I am having a cup at 8:30 pm. In it I put my new favorite creamer:

International Delight Almond Joy. Yeee-umm!

Going to try to post more regularly in October, practice using my words in anticipation of NaNoWriMo in November. Although I have hardly been writing, I have been reading a lot this year, 31 books so far.

Random pictures

2011-08-03T16:07:00.006-04:00

Trying to organize and archive some old pictures I took with my phone, two or three phones ago.

(Did I mention I got a new phone? I moved into the Technology Age in July with a bona fide smart phone, the Samsung Gravity. As hard as I resisted, I have to say, I really love this phone.)

So as I was saying, here are a few pictures I took with previous phones for various reasons:

May 2010 -- label-making fail, at the library of all places

April 2010 -- Holly having some private time

April 2010 -- My Explorer hit a milestone. It lasted almost another year before the transmission went kaput and I had to say goodbye.

More pictures later...

Office mates

2011-07-25T13:20:00.001-04:00

Faith, in my office at work: Mom, who had this office before you?
Me: I don't remember.
Faith: I think it was someone named Herman Miller.

Ouch

2011-07-21T16:00:00.004-04:00

Seriously, really??

Pinktastic!

2011-07-08T22:58:00.006-04:00

If you are disturbed or annoyed by large amounts of pink, don't look at these pictures of Holly's room re-do.

For many months now Holly has been saying she wants a pink room. More often than not she uses it in her arsenal of sleep-avoiding tactics -- "I can't sleep in a room that isn't pink!" Well, when she gets home, she won't have that excuse anymore.

First some before pictures:

^ The wall by the door, her cluttered-up dresser, her bed pushed into the corner.

The wall to the left of the door, with a gross stain on the floor that was hidden by a toy chest we had already moved before taking this picture.

^ Furniture moved to the center of the room, walls primed!

^ The first coat of pink is on and drying.

^ And this is the finished product!

^ I wanted to paint the toy chest white and get some pink cushions for it, but I didn't get around to that. Maybe later.

^ Love this cute pink tree! It is a removable static-cling type wall decoration. It came in about 105 pieces. I'm wondering how long before Holly picks at it and starts peeling it off.

^ Window and radiator. I didn't get new curtains, but I painted the cornice and hung the little wooden "H".

^ Her bed, with Faith's old comforter and her own collection of pillows.

^ And the crowning piece, a 3 ft by 4 ft mirror for her to dance and preen in front of!

^ With rope lighting! How cool is that!

^ Pretty fun nighttime effect. The rope lights are LED so they won't waste a lot of energy.

I think the little girl is going to be pretty excited!!

By the way, Thea, if you read this, don't you dare tell her!

Summer

2011-06-28T09:57:00.002-04:00

Faith comes home tomorrow from spending five weeks with her dad. I can't wait to see my sweet girl get off the plane. Just under two weeks to go and I will get my other girls back as well!

If you didn't even realize they were gone, it's because I meant to post here about a hundred times and never did. I had lots of other stuff to talk about... my gardening, our new cat, redoing Holly's room, the U2 concert I went to, etc etc. But even though the day-to-day responsibility of three kids was removed, somehow I filled up the time with other stuff and squeezed out time for just goofing off, reading or updating this journal. Not sure how I managed that exactly.

Dig - Incubus

2011-05-17T14:39:00.003-04:00

This song is several years old but I have recently rediscovered it. Previously "Wish You Were Here" had been my favorite Incubus song, but I think it has just lost its title, as I can't stop playing and replaying "Dig".

This song is awesome -- all the instruments have strong and interweaving parts (listen for the bass, it's stirring), and Brandon Boyd's emotional vocals elevate it to something really moving. I love the lyrics, which suggest to me a commitment to remember and look for a friend's or lover's true person, underneath the changes and facades that we all go through or take on over time.

"If I turn into another, dig me out from under what is covering the better part of me..."

Spacey

2011-05-16T10:49:00.005-04:00

I don't have a "bucket list" or anything, but one of the things I always wanted to do was see a space shuttle launch in person. From the first launch I watched on TV as a child to the one I just watched a few minutes ago (Endeavour), I have been excited and moved by the power and the spectacle of lift-off every time.

I guess I never considered that one day the shuttles would be retired, or maybe I didn't realize that so much time had actually passed. With the last shuttle launch taking place next month, turns out I'll never get to cross that item off my mental to-do list.

I'm not crying about it or anything, but just now I found myself thinking about what this means. There are plenty of other things that I intend to get around to doing someday -- some long-term goals, but also things that I could easily do today that I just put off -- and for each of these things there will come a day when it's too late. It will sneak up on me, just like the final space shuttle launch did, whether it takes a day or two weeks or (unbelievable!) 30 years.

Turns out I need to get busy living!

Tea for Two?

2011-04-27T11:30:00.007-04:00

I still remember my mom waking me up super early to watch the Royal Wedding in 1981. I remember that she told me to nap during the "boring" parts and that she would wake me up in time to see Diana arrive in her carriage -- and she did. I can remember laying on the couch watching the wedding on our tiny television set.

I intend to watch the upcoming Royal Wedding as well, but for a while my daughters have been saying they don't want to be woken up to watch with me. Finally just this morning Thea said I can wake her up, and Holly immediately said she wants to watch too. Waiting on Faith...

I was only 7 in 1981. I don't expect Holly to remember this but I hope it will be a fun memory for Thea. I think I'll get some cinnamon rolls to have with tea or coffee -- I think that scones would be a more proper food but let's stick to what I know everyone will like.

By the way, I love T-Mobile's "Royal Wedding Dance" -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kav0FEhtLug

Decaffeinated

2011-04-26T10:06:00.004-04:00

Ah Diet Pepsi, how I miss you. I've been on a crusade to reduce my intake of diet sodas (sodas in general) and increase my intake of water. In the past week, I have had two cans of Diet Pepsi and one fountain drink of Diet Mountain Dew -- this is quite a feat!

I haven't noticed any physical effects except that I seem to be thirstier now that I'm drinking water, thus having to pee more. It's more the psychological. I like to sit at my desk with a fizzing can of Diet Pepsi in front of me. It just FEELS right.

I'm not saying I'm giving up sodas all together, but if drinking more water becomes a new norm, that can only be good.

Slow

2011-04-14T10:28:00.001-04:00

It does not inspire confidence in Verizon, my internet service provider, that the Verizon website is the slowest website I ever have to access.

Spicy

2011-04-11T15:39:00.001-04:00

I have been remiss in recording Holly's gems these days, so here's one from yesterday.

Holly, after eating a bunch of highly seasoned French fries: Mommy, my butt hurts.
Me: Why does your butt hurt, honey?
Holly: It's full of spices.

Inquiring Minds

2011-03-10T21:46:00.002-05:00

Faith would like to know: Why is there a light in the refrigerator, but no light in the freezer?

I assumed it has to do with the frequency with which you would open the refrigerator in the dark as opposed to the freezer. But really... does anyone know?

Mirrorball

2011-02-07T10:42:00.001-05:00

I was so hypnotized by this song on the radio yesterday afternoon as I was driving that I nearly missed my exit.

Give it a few listens and then check out this live orchestral version. It brought tears to my eyes, which I know sounds cheesy, but it's the truth. How can you not sigh over these lines of how love transforms and enriches the ordinary:

You make the moon our mirrorball
The street's an empty stage
The city's sirens, violins
Everything has changed

(the song is "Mirrorball" by Elbow -- all the lyrics are beautiful)

Just Voicing Her Opinion...

2011-02-06T18:23:00.002-05:00

Holly, watching Christina Aguilera sing the National Anthem at the Superbowl: "That singing is not beautiful."

Microwave Cake

2011-01-31T21:12:00.002-05:00

I am eating one of those "5 Minute Mug Chocolate Cakes", made from this recipe: http://i.imgur.com/6edYs.png. The texture is gummy and dense, very eggy, maybe because there's an entire egg in it. I cringed as I mixed the ingredients.

It tastes OK. Very mild. Nicely chocolatey where the chocolate chips are, only vaguely chocolatey elsewhere. I drank a lot of milk with it and I can't finish the last 1/4 or so of the cake, so the dog will probably get it.

I suppose it hit the spot.

Pests

2011-01-19T19:45:00.003-05:00

I am pleased to report that spricket sightings have dropped dramatically since we added Emily the cat to our family. I don't know exactly what she did to make such a difference -- I wouldn't think that one little kitty could take down that population. But maybe she knocked out the breeders and then the older sprickets just died off? Whatever she did, she's worth her weight in Meow Mix. Augie and Spot, the elderly man cats, just didn't care about hunting.

Something very disconcerting, though, is that from time to time I discover little mouse droppings in the kitchen cabinets. I haven't actually SEEN a mouse in years, and Emily The Huntress is never interested in prowling the kitchen (except in search of people food), so if they're in there, she doesn't hear or smell them.

A Whole New Year

2011-01-02T14:54:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year a bit late! I intended to do some resolutions/goals in the first week, but apparently I can't even maintain weekly goals. Oh well! My goals for 2011 are pretty much the same as always -- watch my weight, maybe lose some; enjoy time with my family and loved ones; simplify my life. Oh and keep on top of my voicemail messages. My home voicemail was rejecting new messages for two months because I couldn't bring myself to listen to the 30-some odd messages that had filled the box up.

Since I have nothing more to say on that, here are some super flattering pictures that my ex-cellphone took. It was already well-used (read: beat up) when I got it, and I never really figured it out. Somehow the camera would turn on, and then while I was trying to figure out how to turn the camera off to do something useful like make a call, it would snap a picture of me. I think it may have been hacked into and programmed to do this. Maybe by the government.

So for your viewing pleasure:

Bullets

2010-11-02T20:43:00.004-04:00

I'm ashamed to admit I've been wearing the same socks for the past three days because I hadn't done any laundry. And yeah... here at the end of the third day, it's obvious.
I've got laundry running RIGHT NOW.
In line to vote, there were two women wearing the same boots. They were separated by a couple of people in line, but they ended up right next to each other at the voting booths and so it was very obvious. Awk-ward!
I pulled off a beautiful parallel parking job there in front of the elementary school.
On the drive home we passed an overturned vehicle in the median, which completely amazed Holly.
My parent-teacher conference was very short since the teacher had no problems to report about my girls and their grades are good.
I wrote all of 550 words yesterday for the first day of Nanowrimo. All 550 were crap. But as my friend Tracie says, that is the true spirit of Nano.

New Pictures

2010-10-06T10:05:00.003-04:00

For dinner last night I ate over half of a pineapple and then washed it down with a cup of coffee. Unsurprisingly I have a belly-ache this morning.

I put up new pictures from the summer in our photo section: start with July and August here, including our trip to Rehoboth, and be sure to click through to see our summer boating trip to Lake Moomaw in Virginia. Here's a little preview:

Books

2010-09-29T11:55:00.005-04:00

Over the summer I got into a reading groove and was tossing books down like tequila shots. I got all the way to 26 for the year (see the list) and then ground to a halt two or three weeks ago.

I don't know what changed -- was it my attitude? stress level? did I just pick some dud books?

I tried reading In The Skin Of A Lion by Michael Ondaatje. I don't know where I got the idea I should read this -- maybe because he wrote several award-winning books, including The English Patient which was then made into an award-winning movie -- but I couldn't get very far. It was like slogging through deep snow.

Next I tried Water Bound by Christine Feehan. After (guiltily) enjoying a romance novel earlier in the summer, I thought I'd go for another one, and this one got good reviews somewhere. I wish I could remember where that "somewhere" was, because I'm not going to trust it again. Only made it two chapters into this one before all my eye-rolling was hurting my head. I skipped ahead to the first sex scene and then called it quits.

Most recently I've been trying to read The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I picked this from Amazon.com recommendations after I so enjoyed The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Unfortunately this book is just not doing it for me. I only kind of want to know what happens, and I don't feel like dealing with the minorly annoying writing style to find out. I think I'm going to give this up too.

Many of my favorite reads have actually come from NPR recommendations, especially Nancy Pearl's lists. Guess I'll be returning to her...

Why So Serious?

2010-09-28T10:15:00.006-04:00

Rain and traffic that make for over a two hour commute on a Monday morning... not a good way to start the week off.

Waking up to find your three-year-old looking like the Joker is not a good way to start Sunday morning off either. She got into her sister's purse.

It may have been mixed messages for me to take her picture and then scold her and send her to her room...

And here is a random picture of the dog wearing Minnie Mouse ears. Enjoy!

Happy Sabbath

2010-09-27T14:48:00.005-04:00

At my little church it is tradition near the beginning of the service for the congregation (as they are able) to get up out of the pews, move around the sanctuary and greet fellow members and visitors alike with a smile and handshake or often a hug. The phrase you will hear repeated is "Happy Sabbath!"

It was a happy Sabbath for me indeed this week as both Thea and Faith were baptized. What a feeling of pride and joy for me to see my daughters declare their faith in Jesus! Their grandparents (my parents) and their dad were able to make it to the service. The pastor asked their family to stand up, so we did, and then he asked their friends in the church to stand in support of them, and I felt so blessed and loved to see basically the entire church come to its feet. I can only imagine that Thea and Faith felt the same.

The baptism was originally scheduled for later in the year, but with some other family goings-on we needed to move the date forward quickly. Because of this we weren't able to get the word out to everybody that we would have liked to have invited to the service, or plan a party for later in the day that I would have liked to have had. But I think the church members who were there really came through in making it a very Happy Sabbath.

Sunny days

2010-09-20T23:50:00.003-04:00

We went to Centennial Park on Sabbath for a picnic with some people from church. Beautiful day. I do realize I'm way behind in getting pictures up -- I've only done through June. Sometime I'll sit down and work on getting July posted. July was the week-long camping trip, and I have between 200 and 300 pictures to go through... a daunting task.

Emily -- "Not a Kitten, Not Yet a Queen" -- became suddenly affectionate last week and we all thought, well isn't this nice! Until she began yowling and behaving obscenely and we realized she was in heat. It's not fun, and less fun is going to be the vet bill for having her spayed.

Today I am very taken with this song: "Laughing With a Mouth Of Blood" by St Vincent. Don't be put off -- the name sounds more Goth than it really is.

Becky's Top 40

2010-09-08T22:46:00.002-04:00

I'm told I'm picky about music. This is ~~probably~~ true. The thing is, I love music, lots of different kinds of music, but I tend to form strong opinions for sometimes random reasons. I have completely arbitrary rules about what we can listen to in the car on the way to school. Thea likes to flip the radio channels and choose music, but she has to abide by my rules.

For instance, no Katy Perry. Because once she was a guest judge on American Idol and I couldn't stand her, plus I hate "California Gurls" because I think the lyrics are stupid. So, I decreed No More Katy Perry.

Also, I don't like songs in which the singer announces his name (I'm looking at you, Jason Derulo, and also at the three of you, Jay Sean, Sean Paul, and Lil Jon) because for one, it's arrogant, and for two, if you sound so much like a hundred other artists that you have to remind the listener who you are, why do we need you cluttering up the airwaves? Hence, No Saying Your Name.

I don't like Buckcherry's "All Night Long" because it has no hook, no musical piece of interest at all, it's just non-stop caterwauling. It's like hearing my kids whining and wailing at me for four minutes or whatever. Also, pretty much anything by Avenged Sevenfold. Tiresome. It sucks that I used to be into 98 Rock-type rock music, but now much of what they play seems just like a bunch of noise. Great! I'm officially old! No Buckcherry or Avenged Sevenfold.

But lest I (and you) think I'm just the grouch that hates all the kids' music these days, now and then something truly interesting and original will come on the radio and I'll perk up. Here are two things that caught my ear this past week:

"Believe" by The Bravery -- This is a unique sound, leans to the alternative... but still you can turn it way up with the windows down on a late summer night and rock out as you drive.

"100 Yard Dash" by Raphael Saadiq -- Do yourself a favor and check this out. The video is cool too. Very retro and fresh, makes your hips want to move.

Suddenly Last Summer

2010-08-31T21:53:00.004-04:00

We went to Rehoboth Beach last weekend with friends and had a good time. I can't believe it was the only beach trip we've made yet this year. I hope to also go once to Ocean City after Labor Day, after the prices drop, but before it gets too cold to go in the water.

I don't have pictures from the July camping trip up yet, let alone beach pictures, but here is a picture of tonight's injury:

See my purple toe, second from the left? Tomorrow morning we'll see if I can move it, because tonight I can't and it hurts like #$^@.

I'm up to 23 books read for the year, which is the most since 2007. It feels good to be reading a lot and I hope it will get me in the mood to write some, myself, for Nanowrimo in November.

2010-08-24T16:00:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I just want to tell people to put on their big girl (or boy) panties and get over themselves.

In other news, yesterday Holly asked me, "Does Jesus have a phone?"

Three-year-old Movie Critic: Despicable Me

2010-08-16T21:25:00.002-04:00

Becky: What did you see today?
Holly: Spickle!
B: What was it about?
H: A bad guy.
B: What did he do?
H: He was mean. And there were yellow things. What were they?
B: I don't know!
H: Thea, what were the yellow things?
Thea: Minions.
H: Yes!
B: Then what happened?
H: There were girls, and they were good. And they went like this: [makes frowny face]
B: That's all?
H: Yep.

Facebook Fail

2010-08-11T11:10:00.003-04:00

For all this personal data Facebook is supposed to be collecting and learning about me, they're doing a crappy job putting it together. First there was this:

I think even people who pass me on the street know my opinion of Nickelback.

And now this. Really, Facebook?

Name calling

2010-08-02T21:13:00.003-04:00

Holly to her sisters: You're a butt crack! You're a peanut butter and jelly puncher!

Christmas In July

2010-07-26T21:34:00.002-04:00

Overheard Holly singing:

"Jingle bells
Frosty melts
Jingle all the way
Old MacDonald had a farm
And ...unintelligible..."

Unrelated, there are ants all over the counter and the sink in the kitchen. I keep wiping and wiping but the little pests aren't going away. Usually we have two rainy periods a year and ants appear in certain spots around the house, but it's sure not rainy now. Maybe they were driven inside by drought this time?

Summer Rain

2010-07-25T19:15:00.003-04:00

A summer rainstorm knocked the 100 degree temperature down into the 80s. Woohoo! It also soaked the load of laundry I had hanging on the clothesline. Dammit...

Today's Hollyism: "I need a Band-aid for my finger or it's going to bleed! Is that what you want?!"

17 books read this year and I'm more than halfway through the 18th. My goal for the year was 15. At least I am exceeding expectations at something!

Ugh

2010-07-06T21:48:00.002-04:00

It is hot.
My truck died.
I don't have anyone to watch my dog next week while I'm away.
It is hot.

Ulrich Schnauss - Between Us And Them

2010-06-23T14:04:00.003-04:00

One of my Pandora stations I've tuned to what I call my "Writing Music" (even though I haven't done any significant writing in a while). It's mostly instrumental, atmospheric, mood music. Music that makes me feel a variety of emotions, just listening to it.

Here's something that station has been playing me for a couple of years: "Between Us And Them" by German electronica musician Ulrich Schnauss. This is music that will really take you away.

Three-year-old Movie Critic: Toy Story 3

2010-06-21T10:08:00.002-04:00

This time, I only knew she had gone to see a movie, but I didn't know which one.

Becky: What movie did you see?
Holly: I don't know.
B: Well what was the movie about?
H: A bus!
B: A bus? What did it do?
H: It went to a scary place. There was fire.
B: There was fire in the scary place?
H: Yes!
B: (still no idea what movie this was) Were there any kids in the movie? Any girls or boys?
H: There was only one girl. And a cowboy.
B: A cowboy, huh? Was the cowboy's name Woody?
H: Yes!
B: Did you see Toy Story 3?
H: Yes!!!

A bus that went into a scary place with fire? I haven't seen "Toy Story 3" yet so I don't know what actually happened, but apparently this was the main plotline that stood out to Holly.

For the record, Tim Burton's recent "Alice In Wonderland" was described by Holly thusly: "A girl stabbed a dragon. That's all."

Three-year-old Movie Critic: The Karate Kid

2010-06-18T09:49:00.003-04:00

Holly went with her dad and sisters to see "The Karate Kid" (the 2010 version obviously) in the theater. Here is her take, in Q and A form.

Becky: What was the movie about?
Holly: The Karate Kid. (duh, Mom)
B: Oh? What did he do in the movie?
H: SHE. It was a SHE.
B: The Karate Kid was a girl?
H: Yes. SHE. (Sorry, Jaden Smith.)
B: All right. What did she do?
H: She kicked! (Kicks her own foot into the air.)
B: Oh yeah? Who did she kick?
H: She kicked the bad guys! They were being mean to her!

And there you have it, plot summary of "The Karate Kid." She kicked the bad guys.

Do the Dew

2010-06-16T09:52:00.006-04:00

I tried "Mtn Dew Distortion," one of the three test flavors of Mountain Dew. It's described as "lime blasted." It tasted similar to when I used to squeeze limes into my regular Mountain Dew. Which was super tasty when I did it myself, but strangely not exciting when it was coming from the bottle that way. It tasted a little bit like dish soap smells.

Sorry, I'm still loyal to good old classic Mountain Dew.

Emily

2010-06-15T23:21:00.003-04:00

This is Emily, the new member of the cat family. She's a lot of fun. :)

I have been working hard updating the photo albums on Zebranest, so check them out here: http://www.zebranest.net/photos. Lots of stuff up from the beginning of the year up to the end of May. Also, I'm looking to sail past my goal of 15 books read this year, since I'm already working on the 13th -- woohoo! You can see my reading list here. The older girls are supposed to be reading plenty this summer instead of rotting in front of the computer or Wii... you can check out their progress on their blog, Chickpeas.

2010-06-03T10:15:00.003-04:00

A US Census worker stopped by my house yesterday to get my census information. But why? I had dutifully mailed in my census form weeks ago, AND I already took a phone call from a census worker who got all the information again. If this continues it'll look like Baltimore City consists mainly of white single moms of a ton of middle-schoolers and preschoolers.

I got a summons for Jury Duty, again. I went 30-some-odd years without anyone wanting me to be a juror, but now that they know I'll actually show up, I'm getting called every year. Unfortunately the date of my summons is right during my vacation in July so I have to call up the court and ask them to change it.

We have a new member of the family -- Emily, a nine-month-old kitten that we took in when a friend couldn't keep her. She's solid dark grey and very impish. I'll put up some pictures when I get my camera working -- it's on the fritz.

Garden update

2010-05-24T22:23:00.002-04:00

In gardening news, we have eaten the first strawberries! Picked a small bowl -- maybe 15 -- on Friday. The patch is in bad shape, overgrown with weeds, and after this harvest I'm going to try and relocate the plants.

The blackberry bush has blossoms and some things I assume will turn into blackberries.

I planted bean seeds at least three weeks ago, but they never came up. I replanted them Saturday as well as put seven pepper seedlings into the ground. Tonight I put in seven cauliflower plants.

Left to plant -- tomatoes that are currently in paper cups, and cucumbers I was planning to seed directly in the ground. Had a little surprise -- I found some volunteer cucumber plants growing over where I had them last year! There are about five plants all clustered together. One of them in particular is very robust and I'll have to do the rest of the garden around it, apparently!

A Silly Tale

2010-05-20T09:35:00.005-04:00

So Thea and Faith (although mostly Thea) are obsessing over the new hottest thing: Silly Bandz. Basically these are like those jelly bracelets we used to wear in the 80s, except when taken off your wrist they take shapes -- animals, stars, letters, symbols, etc. I really don't understand what is so exciting about them, but they are being traded at school and I do remember what it was like to want desperately to be involved in the recess trading post (*cough* sticker albums *cough*). Anyway, the girls have been dying for their very own Silly Bandz for three weeks now but they're not easy to find since apparently every other middle schooler in the region is also dying for them.

Finally last night their dad took them to the mall and they found some at Claire's. These are in space shapes -- rocket ships, moons, planets -- and while they are definitely not the shapes my girls coveted, they glow in the dark! Ooooooooh! It was all Thea could talk about when I got home. Faith was similarly excited, but she was busy working on homework in her room.

I went up to see her and she had her 11 (she had given one of her 12 to Thea) Silly Bandz laid out on the floor while she was sitting on her bed doing her handwriting homework. I sat with her for a few minutes and talked to her. I dimly registered that the dog had followed me upstairs... you see where this is going, don't you.

The dog gobbled up all 11 of her Silly Bandz.

Yes... For Faith this was indeed a Woohoo Dammit moment (although since she's only 9 let's call it Yay Nuts) She finally got some Silly Bandz YAY! Not two hours later the dog ate them all NUTS!

Caught

2010-05-11T13:18:00.002-04:00

Trying to get a morning-after picture of Holly's new haircut, instead I captured Spot sneaking out the door...

In the Fridge

2010-05-10T21:17:00.000-04:00

Something smells bad in my refrigerator. Unfortunately I do not have the drive right now to play rotten-food hide-and-seek.

First lie?

2010-05-03T10:01:00.001-04:00

Me: Holly, did you scribble in the library book?
Holly: No.
Me: Then who did it?
Holly: Um, a bad guy did!

April Flowers!

2010-04-28T15:00:00.004-04:00

April has been a good month for flowers. I missed getting a picture of the daffodils, which bloomed very early, but I only had a couple anyway.

But here are my tulips.

I swear I used to have several colors, but it seems I only have pink now, and only a few of them. But the irises:

The irises are spreading. They are from bulbs that sat in my shed for over a year before I finally got around to planting them. Hardy. This is the first flower.

The sprawling azalea that came with the house awes me every year. It is the most vibrant, stunning bush on the block. (Although it needs some pruning.)

I planted two new azaleas this year, and although I feared they wouldn't flower until next year, if they even survived, the purple one erupted about two weeks after the mature azalea bloomed.

It's small, just a tight mass of flowers. I love it.

I planted phlox last year under the mature azalea and although the plants lived, they didn't seem to be thriving. I was pleasantly surprised when they all bloomed this year -- little rugs of color.

And last but not least, my roses. The first flower came almost two weeks earlier this year than last year, I believe.

It has been open for about a week and already looks pretty rough, but it endured a couple of strong rain and wind storms. There are plenty more buds on the red rosebush, and the pink bush is budding too. The other two bushes are a little behind but I have faith in them.

Cloudy With a Chance Of...

2010-04-23T08:56:00.006-04:00

The little weather widget on my desktop shows a bleak weekend ahead.

Is it just me, or are we bracing for a cockroach invasion on Sunday?

Gardening update

2010-04-15T10:22:00.002-04:00

No pictures until I find my missing camera (grrr) but we did a lot of work over the weekend that I want recorded.

April 6 -- Replanted the bulbs I dug up from the front of the house. In related news, I have blooming tulips. :)
April 10 -- Weeded the rosebushes (which are growing excellently). Planted cauliflower, peppers and tomatoes in cups to sprout inside. Mowed the lawn. Put two new azaleas out front and made a nice mulched area bounded by old cut-up branches from the tree that fell in my yard two years ago.
April 11 -- Tilled the vegetable garden area and the flower garden area. Did a lot of other yard/outside work unrelated to garden.

Yard stuff

2010-04-06T15:31:00.002-04:00

Played in the dirt yesterday. First I planted a blackberry bush.

Then I dug up some unidentified bulbs from the front of the house. I plan to replant them over on the side, although if they don't survive it's not a tragedy since I'm not even sure what they are. In their place I'm going to put two new azaleas.

The other side of the front of the house has a lovely mature azalea already, but the patch of land in front of it looks terrible. I put phlox there last year and it is still there, but has barely grown at all. I don't know how long it takes to spread, if indeed it spreads. And it's not flowering.

The Price of Vanity

2010-04-02T10:56:00.004-04:00

It's a gorgeous day so I broke out the new heels. I love how they look but OUCH.

Spring in the air

2010-03-22T22:29:00.005-04:00

A two hour drive, all by yourself, on a sunny spring day, great music on the radio, sunglasses on, highway driving and no traffic problems -- priceless. I got two of those this weekend as I drove to and from a quiet girls' weekend "away from it all." Refreshing!

I hope the spring temperatures are here to stay. I'm hoping to get the garden area tilled next weekend, and I've got seeds that need to be started indoors. Trying not to be super ambitious this year with the garden, but I definitely want to do more than I managed the past couple of years. I'm planning to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and beans, plus lettuce and salad greens and then maybe one or two surprises. In addition I want to do some kind of landscaping in front of the house. That's definitely a big enough goal for this year.

Catchup (mmmmmmm ketchup)

2010-03-14T21:42:00.006-04:00

Some things that have been brewing in my head.

Things that are yummy:

Chocolate Pop-Tarts.

When you toast them, the warm gooey middle tastes just like licking brownie batter out of a mixing bowl. How can you go wrong? Yes this is my hand in the picture -- I am refraining from gobbling the rest of the pop-tart just long enough to snap this photo.

Also, the Mac Snack Wrap from McDonalds.

I could never get myself to eat the Big Mac, with its two all-beef patties, but the snack wrap goes down easy. Includes plenty of special sauce.

Songs I Like:

"The High Road" by Broken Bells

Heard this one last week and it's been playing in my head since.

Things People Shouldn't Say:

My friend Sarah last week bemoaned her colleague using the word "chillaxin'". I would like to add my disdain for my white peers who use the word "peeps" (and aren't talking about the marshmallow chickies that are in your neighborhood Walmart right now). I can't really speak to whether it's still OK for my black peers to say "peeps," but my gut says No, Not Really.

Home is wherever I'm with you

2010-03-03T10:59:00.003-05:00

Song of my day: Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

How catchy is this! Makes you want to run around in the sun with those you love. Now all I need is some sun...

Chickadee

2010-03-02T11:33:00.005-05:00

Here's a picture Thea took at school last week. :)

Hair

2010-02-22T11:27:00.005-05:00

Thea actually let me curl her hair on Valentine's Day. I did it with a thick iron and then pinned each curl with bobby pins and hair-sprayed the heck out of it. A few hours later we took it down and her hair floated in bouncy waves around her head.

Despite a lot more hairspray, the waves didn't survive more than a couple of hours. Thea's hair is bound and determined to be straight.

Appaloosa - The Day (We Fell In Love) (Ted & Francis Remix)

2010-02-17T09:20:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFJqESssWpY

I have this free sampler music CD and this is the last track on it -- it was on continuous replay on my drive to work.

Like.

2010-02-15T22:09:00.004-05:00

Poor kids... joke's on them. Their school decided to open, independent of the county closing. It's a private school and there are few enough kids that the teachers can call everyone to let them know, so they can do what they want.

It'll be good for the girls to get back to school.

Me, here at 10:15 pm on the eve of going back to work, I suddenly have a big list of things I want/need to do around the house. Why couldn't I have gotten these big ideas and accompanying energy when I was stuck here for a week? At least I got kind of caught up on sleep...

Noooooo

2010-02-15T19:05:00.003-05:00

The girls are off school again tomorrow! I have responded by giving up and letting them watch a lot of TV.

I will probably take them to my dad's tomorrow morning so I can go ahead and go to work. Not because I love work so much, but because I'm done with sitting around here.

It's in the letters

2010-02-14T09:52:00.004-05:00

Valentines for my sweethearts.

Warmth

2010-02-13T22:40:00.005-05:00

It was going to be a very cold weekend here, until a friend took the boiler apart and cleaned it, and apparently fixed it. 24 hours later it's still working properly. Looks like I will get to call BGE Home and cancel the repair appointment for Tuesday! It's nice to be warm.

We went to a car show in the city this afternoon. I sat in a bunch of minivans but wasn't absolutely wowed by any one. I think I liked the Honda Odyssey best, but honestly any one would do. Beggars can't be choosers.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. You could see this sight on the road five years or so from now.

You probably won't see my girls in a Miata though, unless some long-lost rich relative leaves me an inheritance.

Holly in some kind of Mazda.

Thea liked this Genesis coupe. It was pretty cute.

I always wanted a Corvette. This was my first time sitting in one and I have to say it felt awesome. Not sure it was $70,000 awesome. Where is that long-lost rich relative again?

Winter -- Do Not Like

2010-02-12T11:20:00.003-05:00

Woke up this morning, my first day having to go back to work in a week, to a chilly house. The thermostat reads 63 and that's upstairs -- downstairs is usually at least 5 degrees cooler. It appears my boiler is not working. Yay!

At least my state tax refund got deposited so I'll have something to pay the repairman with.

Snow Days 5, 6, 7

2010-02-12T11:15:00.005-05:00

(tuesday)

Waited for snow to begin falling. It began falling. Made great use of Netflix streaming movies -- too bad the mail could not get through to bring the disk that would allow me to stream them straight to the TV via the game console. Had to rig up a monitor instead.

(wednesday)

Seriously? Did I sign up for this?

School system announces it will be closed all week. No one is surprised.

(thursday)

Dig out, again. More of the same. Days are melding together. Kids have played way too many video games. They play outside for as long as they can stand it and come inside with rosy cheeks.

My work announces it will open Friday. Huh??? Work? What's that?

Snow Day 4

2010-02-08T22:49:00.005-05:00

(monday)

The kids were off school and to my delight my work closed too. By mid-morning more neighbors down the road had gotten their butts in gear and cleared a path that four-wheel-drive vehicles, at least, could traverse. We took the opportunity to get out. First we went to CiCi's Pizza for lunch, and then we went to Costco to buy snacks to replenish the snack bar at work. (I am not generally a Costco shopper for my own household.) Back at home Holly went down for her nap and Thea and Faith had a prolonged snowball fight.

I woke Holly after two and a half hours because I really needed to get out to the store for groceries for the house. Since I didn't hit the stores before the storm, we were forced to "make do" with what we had in the house, meaning we ate some things that had been languishing in the cupboard for quite a while. And we had come to the end of even that, and there's this next storm looming on the horizon. So I left the older girls playing a game and bundled up Holly for the trip to the store, hoping to get out and back before the packed snow on the roads froze back over.

To my utter amazement Walmart was closed. Walmart was closed! That was almost more shocking than 30 inches of snow. I had to divert to Aldi, scrap half my grocery list and just pick up whatever I could find. I think we'll survive another couple of days now.

No school for the girls again tomorrow, and my work is closed again. I'm going to have to come up with some great ideas for keeping the peace, as the snow starts up again tomorrow afternoon and probably keeps us all snowbound for another two days.

Snowball fight!

Snow Day 3

2010-02-08T17:01:00.004-05:00

(sunday)

In which we shoveled and shoveled and shoveled but still could not get out. No snowplows came down my street, and neighbors collaborated on and off all day but could not make the road completely passable, so in the end we just settled back in to watch the Super Bowl.

Snow Day 2 Pt 2

2010-02-07T14:22:00.005-05:00

(saturday)

The view out the front door. I thought I'd better get out there and shovel a path up to my mailbox for the mailman... as if the mail truck will be able to get down my street anytime soon.

Holly's playhouse then ^ and now...

Late afternoon, the storm ended, and the sun actually broke through for a few minutes before it set.

Such a peaceful world, outside. Inside, we're trying to remain as peaceful as possible, with the potential for school to be out all week. I'm almost positive there will not be school Monday. Don't know about Tuesday, but then there's more snow in the forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday.

The girls played lots of video and computer games today and then watched "The Goonies" before bed. They enjoy that movie just as much as I did as a kid.

Snow Day 2

2010-02-06T12:35:00.007-05:00

(saturday)

It's a winter wonderland. The dog whines and hops in a circle before peeing right at the bottom of the back porch steps. The snow in my yard is thigh-high on me -- some drifts are up past my behind.

Views of the front ^ and back

Heading out into the snow!

My maple tree

Snowdrifts against my back fence. See the fence? Me neither.

Chester looking off the back porch.

Holly makes her way through shallower snow to a clear spot under the holly tree.

Faith and Thea, snow bunnies.

Snow Day 1

2010-02-06T12:27:00.006-05:00

(friday)

Oh, all right, I'll break my silence about the snow now that it's actually here.

Kids played video games Friday afternoon. In the evening we had lasagna and streamed a movie from Netflix, then they went off to bed excited about playing in the snow in the morning.

Late night on the front porch with a hot cup of coffee, very peaceful and quiet...

Flakes

2010-02-05T10:01:00.003-05:00

The only thing I'm going to say about the upcoming snowstorm is that I'm not going to say anything about it, because I am SO sick of everyone on the TV, the radio, and freaking Facebook talking about it.

However, Holly says, "Snow is my FRAVRITE!" She also says, "I fart at the world!"

Not to brag or anything, but both Thea and Faith got straight A's on their report cards. Don't hate me because of my brilliant children!

Three Year Old

2010-01-16T18:15:00.006-05:00

I thought we had left the days of Holly writing on herself with a marker behind. Here she is at about 16 months old:

But unfortunately here she is at three years old:

Baby wipes are pretty good at getting marker drawings, and even Sharpie scribblings, off skin. We made it to church with at least her face, if not her palms, a natural color.

All I Need

2010-01-14T16:47:00.005-05:00

Just sayin', if you ever come upon me and I'm listening to "All I Need" by Radiohead, it's a pretty safe bet that I'm under a dark cloud. It's my wallow song.

Now you know!

The Curious Case of the Tootsie Pops

2010-01-14T11:47:00.006-05:00

I co-operate a little snack bar at work. My colleague and I make a small amount of money from it -- enough to pay our ways to an annual girls' weekend -- but mainly it is a benevolent effort to provide caffeine, fat and sugar to diets that might otherwise be lacking. (If you already know I work in an IT office, then you know that's a joke.)

Men are the majority in my department, which is why I rolled my eyes when I noticed this:

My question is: Why don't men want to eat the pink Tootsie Pops?

Yeah It's Cold

2010-01-11T18:49:00.003-05:00

This morning when I got into the truck to take Thea to school, the temperature read 16 degrees. Great morning to forget my gloves! The heat did not kick in until we were nearly to school -- by then my fingers were numb. Mornings like these I do love the seat warmers. I let Thea sit up front so that she could enjoy it as well.

Faith was sick today so I stayed home with her and kept Holly home as well. It was a do-nothing kind of day. Faith's much better so I assume she'll go back tomorrow.

Geekout

2010-01-09T19:54:00.003-05:00

My friend gave me a gift subscription to Netflix for Christmas. I've been getting DVDs and streaming movies for two weeks. Just now I found I can stream episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000! I know what I'll be doing tonight.

2010-01-05T15:18:00.002-05:00

It's really freaking cold and I hate it.

New Decade

2010-01-03T21:52:00.002-05:00

Couple of changes for the new decade. I'm going to be moving my public posts over here to Blogger -- the new address is thebigenoughumbrella.blogspot.com -- and they will in turn feed over to my website. I'll keep friends-only posts at LiveJournal.

Here in Baltimore 2010 came in cold and has stayed cold. I love my heating system (radiators), but the house is so drafty that many areas just won't warm up. Over the weekend I put plastic up over one of the windows in the family room and it made quite a difference. I need to go to Home Depot or something to get more plastic for some of the other windows. I put towels down in front of the doors to try to stop the drafts coming under them, but a certain cat tends to pee on them. (Allie, our elderly lady cat.)

If you're friends with me on Facebook you may have seen this already, but here are me and the girls on Christmas Day:

Moving right along to goals for this year:

Don't gain any weight. It worked last year!
Read at least one book each month. I have no shortage of books waiting to be read. Follow the progress on my website, once I get the page set up.
Make headway on the biggest house project -- the torn up upstairs room. Once it was going to be a kitchen and dining room, but now my plan is to make it a master bedroom and master bath. Or at the very least, to make it a livable room of any kind. This hasn't been worked on in over three years.
Continue paring down my stuff (junk). It's a long road for me since I have packrat tendencies. So far in the three days of this year I got rid of two bags of clothing and a bag of toys. Gotta keep at it.
With the kids, laugh and hug more, and yell less. Not sure how to quantify or track this one, but it's a goal nonetheless.