Tom and I with our coffee cups. Besides the fact that this exteremely lifelike in the representation of our real lives where we tote around our morning beverages, it makes my heart skip a beat when I notice she’s added steam to the tops of our cups.
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Brunch Club
Once upon a time there was this group of happening single folks who spent their weekends getting completely schnockered and staying out late and seeing movies and then slept in the next morning. Now the same group of friends is all juggling babies and new jobs and new relationships, and it’s way more difficult to get together.
We try really hard, and this month was Brunch Club. I meant to take all these great photos, but came home with five crappy ones. But maybe what that means is that I was having such a great time chit-chatting that I totally forgot to take photos. But then that makes it sound like when I go places and take lots of photos that I’m having a crappy time. And that’s not true, either.
Oh, well. In this case, good food, good company, crappy photos.
Then I went home and begun the Big Dig, in which we unearth the remains of the house post-Ellery invasion and see if we can rebuild a civilized society.
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Sunny side
I have no pictures for the day. It was one of those days to just leave the camera at home and enjoy the day. I took Neko to Saturday Art with Ellery and Tom took Shep on an outing.
The boys headed out to pick up some new shoes (I love that the boys went shoe shopping), and then to the guitar store. Shep adores the guitar store, running around and testing out all the instruments. When they came home they fixed the strap on both Shep’s guitars, and he hasn’t stopped talking since about how there’s a guitar strap. Around his neck. See? Dad fixed it. Fixed the strap. Around his neck. This one. Right here. Wanna try? The strap? Around your neck? (You get the picture.)
After art class (and an extended wading session in the reflecting pool) we headed to the coffee shop. They have this Disney chess set that Neko covets. One set of pieces is all the “good” characters and the other set is all the “bad” characters. We spent a long time having a discussion about the “bad” characters. I maintained that maybe they’re just grouchy and they didn’t get enough sleep or something. She conceded that this might be true, but still decided that they were the bad guys. Oh, well. Disney wins.
As I had this conversation, I sat and thought for a minute. Across from me was this calm, thoughtful kid. There was no one running amok. No one shoving things off shelves. No sudden loss of control, throwing her body to the ground sobbing. She even took her trash to the can and opened the door for me as we left.
We still have our challenges, but I really feel like we’ve turned a corner recently. I think I’m gonna like walking down this street.
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Picture of the Day
I think that’s a picture of me, but it’s also a picture of a cat with a very wiggly tail. And grass. I love that we’re starting to get a ground line.
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Rocket takes off
A few months ago, Neko started talking about something she wanted to spend her allowance on. I can’t remember what it was, but I suspect it involved inappropriately big boobs or something similar that makes me break out in hives. Anyway, I was suddenly on a mission to divert. I’ll put my foot down if I have to, but if I can redirect Neko’s interest, that’s way easier.
As I was strolling the aisles of Target one day, and stumbled upon the new line of Little Einstein’s toys. Now, I’m not a big fan of bringing more plastic into our house, much less plastic that makes a whole lot of noise, but I do kind of like what those Little Einsteins are trying to do and they don’t have breasts. So I snapped a picture on my iPhone, and so our journey began.
When she saw the picture, Neko got tunnel-vision. She would have that rocket. It would be hers. But at $4 a week, it was going to take 10 weeks to save up enough to buy the $40 rocket. We had forgotten to give her allowance for the past two weeks, so she started a little ahead, but for two months she has dutifully been checking off boxes, never once considering spending her money on something else. Today we hit the magic number.
I should take a moment here to Pat-Pat-Pat myself on the back (Little Einstein’s humor) for having the forethought to buy Rocket a few days after I saw him, since the shelves have been bare since then and they’re going for double the retail price on eBay. Yay, me!
Back to the story, I wish I had video of the moment. I’m not sure Neko was even this excited on Christmas morning. Bouncing and dancing and gripping her scissors to help Tom open the package. I have a feeling life is going to be rather Rocket-acular for a while.
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Sk8 kids
We’ve lived in this town for a while now, and I’m always amazed when we discover something new to do.
Today’s playgroup met at the playground near the community center since it was going to be hot and that location offers some shelter from the sun. As they were kicking balls around, someone mentioned how fun it would be to roll the balls down the ramp in the skate park next to us. And all of a sudden, it was a mad rush to the skate park. Since it was school time, there wasn’t a single skater, so preschoolers ruled the roost.
I don’t know why we never thought of this. The kids ran up the ramps and slid down on their bottoms. They jumped off platforms and balanced on rails. They rolled balls down ramps and watched how far they would roll back up. Best of all, what damage could they possibly do that could be worse than a teenager with a skateboard?
Huge naps from both kids. This one will definitely be a repeat activity.
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For loan or short-term lease
Boy, 2.5 years, 36 inches, ridiculously cute, slightly used.
Will gladly accept return when he stops hitting, kicking, shoving, pushing, and stealing toys and thinks all of the above is top-notch comedy. Return also contingent on understanding concept of “time out” and not thinking it’s just a fun place to hang out, sing, and plan next act of defiance.
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Happy blog-iversary
Somehow, my one year blog-iversary slipped by me. I started this particular blog last year on August 29th. And I’m pretty proud I’ve kept it up. My laundry is piling up and I don’t want to even discuss how messy the kitchen is, but the blog? Up to date!
I actually started this whole blog thing ages ago when Neko was just a baby, but I was doing all the page creation on my own instead of using a blog site. So it was incredibly cumbersome. And then there was my brief stint over at LiveJournal, but that was spotty at best. Some day I’ll fold it all together and make it one tidy blog.
But until then, I give you the above photo, which is actually of Neko on the day of my very, very first blog entry, June 1, 2003, at a little over two months old.
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Happy birthdays
(Money plants—birthday gifts for two people who claimed they wanted nothing, but deserve more than a little something.)
Today is my mom’s birthday. Friday was my aunt’s birthday. If you had asked any of us early in our lives if we would have ended up in a rural town in the middle of nowhere, we all probably would have scoffed at the question and pointed toward the metropolitan cities of our dreams.Because of a job for my father, our family moved here. And then, some years later, my aunt moved here as well. And then I went away to college and my young life. But now I’m back.
I’ve thought loads about where we’ve chosen to live. I always pictured myself somewhere like Boulder, a liberal town teeming with progressive schools, immersed in art, culture, and nature. But what I ultimately came to is that I’d be sitting on my porch, surrounded by a beautiful view and my amazing town, but desperately missing my family.
So we are here. It’s not necessarily the town of my dreams, but there are lots of good things brewing. The community park is getting better each day. The arts center is gaining momentum. The food co-op is getting closer to a storefront, and in the meantime, the farmer’s market offers french pastries and good folks. Our friends Ben and Kate talk about the idea that if you can’t find the community you want to live in, you should build it yourself. So I’ve made it my mission to think about a few small things I can do to make this town a place I’m proud to call home. I know I can’t do too much right now, since I have very little free time, but there must be a few balls I can set in motion.
But in the meantime, I’m thankful I don’t have to rely on FTD to deliver my birthday well wishes. I can just walk down the driveway and celebrate the birthdays of two of the people I love most.
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Hangin’
My aunt took Neko and Shep this morning. As we surveyed the wreckage from the week, our first impulse was to clean the house and catch up on the laundry. But then we threw all sense and reason to the wind and decided to work on our photo wall instead.
Clearly, sometimes you have to make a choice. You can either have a clean house or you can get a big project done. It does not seem possible to get both things accomplished without some sort of time travel.
Unfortunately, we got about halfway done and then we realized that half the frames are in one of the 86 boxes in the basement. But the 60% we got up? They look fabulous. That is, if you can see past the clutter and mounds of laundry.
Photos of the photos to be posted when the project is complete.