oh my

is what DD3 said when watching the Wizard of Oz for the first time & the flying monkey scene came on. "Oh my!!!" It's also what I said when I realized I haven't posted in so long. It's not that I don't want to. You see, I've had this problem with getting sucked into the internet abyss when I log on. I've been avoiding the computer & voila! a huge improvement in production in the rest of my life. That being said, I now realize why it is that I relish my time lost in the void: With no escape, my day is neverending from the time I get up until I drop in the wee hours. I'm talking non-stop house & kid type work. It's menial. It's maddening. It's Exhausting. I NEED the escape that the computer/internet provides. I'd surely go 'round the bend w/o it. Not to say that I wasn't already there to begin w/. But you see what I mean. I can't get AWAY literally. So I have to get away while still being present enough to prevent catasrophes in my home. And it's as close as I get to adult "conversation" for many days. Sad but true. I mean, other than conversations w/ G which center mostly around kids, sports, t.v. & occasional politics (when we don't discuss party matters). The internet provides at the least SOME kind of stimulation for the gray matter.

Speaking of catastrophes here comes a crying DD3 after screams emmanate from the t.v. room. She tries to explain what's wrong between sobs while I hold her. BUT in her peripheral vision she spies something out of the ordinary on the table. Tears are instantly stopped as she cranes her head around as far as is humanly possible to see what that could be.... Down she slides & runs asap to to climb in the chair & play w/ COOKIE CUTTERS! It's the simple things in life. And see, here I was on the computer, present yet distracted & still able to prevent a melt down.

Now if I could only find a happy medium b/t time spent online & time to get everything else done. I've never been good @ that. It's all or nothing. I can become completely absorbed by a book & do nothing else until it's finished. Lately it's been xmas preparations. Next month G's parents are visiting from RI. Maybe I'll be consumed by a cleaning frenzy. Or not.

And now the kids have all realized that I am on the computer. My "secret" hiding spot is not so secret anymore. I like to pretend like DD4 does that when I can't see them, they can't see me. Well, I've been seen (not hard to miss in the middle of the reading room) & now they are clamboring for my attention. I think the computer is like the telephone in that respect. Or even like cooking. Or like anything that occupies my time that is not attention paid directly at the kids. The can't leave me alone for 2 minutes. They must climb in my lap hang on my leg ask a kazillion questions pull my arm mommy mommy mommy mommy. Fine. Xmas prep is calling from the next room too. FINE. I guess it was time to say adieu anyway. Ah, that happy medium b/t time spent online & time spent in reality.

let the countdown continue

the George Dubya countdown clock is back...thank you thank you thank you ;)

sadness...

my Bush countdown clock isn't working @ the bottom of the page :( I'll have to suffice w/ an occasional joke instead:

Taking Up a Collection for the President
A lobbyist, on his way home from work in Washington, D.C., came to a dead halt in traffic and thought to himself, "Wow, this seems worse than usual."

He noticed a police officer walking between the lines of stopped cars, so he rolled down his window and asked, "Officer, what's the hold-up?"

The officer replied, "The President is depressed, so he stopped his motorcade and is threatening to douse himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. He says no one believes his stories about why we went to war in Iraq, or the connection between Saddam and al-Qaeda, or that his tax cuts will help anyone except his wealthy friends; the press called him on the lie about Iraq trying to buy uranium from Niger, and now Campbell Brown is threatening to sue him for a sexual innuendo he made at a recent press conference. So we're taking up a collection for him."

The lobbyist asks, "How much have you got so far?"

The officer replies, "About 14 gallons, but a lot of folks are still siphoning."

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Day

Remember, O most gracious Virgin of Guadalupe, that in your apparitions on Mount Tepeyac you promised to show pity and compassion to all who, loving and trusting you, seek your help and protection.Accordingly, listen now to our supplications and grant us consolation and relief. We are full of hope that, relying on your help, nothing can trouble or affect us. As you have remained with us through your admirable image, so now obtain for us the graces we need. Amen.

the more things change...

December 1995: DD1 is 7 years old: "Joy to the world, Barney's dead. We barbequed his head. Don't worry 'bout the body, we flushed it down the potty. Round & round it goes, round & round it goes, round & round & round it goes"

Fastforward 10 years: DD2 is 7 years old: "Joy to the world, Barney's dead...."

And yes, kids are STILL singing "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...." Amazing how this stuff passes down through generations.

DD3's very first real cephalopod

Little kids' drawings are so spontaneous. So real. So honest. It's a work of art w/o even trying. When exactly does convention set in? Do you know what I mean? At what age does societal pressure to conform make kids question their own authenticity and abilities to create ART? Why can't we all draw like that -like before society took hold of our self perceptions -like it's just a natural occurance, a natural outpouring of self on the page. Nine simple strokes of marker on printer paper. ART

joke I got from my mom today (funnier if you're from PA)

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days.
Eventually, Michael the Archangel found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired of God. "Where have you been?"
God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."
Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?"
"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."
"Balance?" Inquired Michael, still confused.
God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth but cold and harsh, while southern Europe is going to be poor but sunny and pleasant. "I have made some lands abundant in water and other lands parched deserts.
This one will be extremely hot and while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."
The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land mass and said "What's that one?"
"Ah," said God. "That's Pennsylvania -- the most glorious place on earth.
There are beautiful mountains, streams, hills, and forests.
The people from Pennsylvania are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace."
Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance!"
God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the idiots I put in Harrisburg.

help me! I've fallen & I can't get up!

I saw DD4 face down on the floor. At first I thought she had fallen down & couldn't get up ala "A Christmas Story". Or was she super tired? Then I realized she was trying to pick up her penny off the floor w/ her mouth b/c the mittens were in the way of her hands. Too funny!

things I miss about Pittsburgh

a comprehensive list which may be appended as neccesary

• friends -(Chris, Denise, Angela, Joe & Kim, Sean)(forgive me if I'm forgetting anyone)
• friends' families
• the Steelers
• the Pirates
• the Pens
• Primanti's
• Mineo's pizza
• O cheese fries
• King's hot roast beef sandwich & fries w/ gravy
• Eat 'n Park smiley face cookies
• Chi Chi's fried ice cream
• Moio's (I can't find a decent Italian bakery out here for the life of me)
• that unique PGH accent and all the peculiar, particular idioms
• the occasional smell of bacon on the North Side emanating from Heinz
• the Strip -Wholey's & Sunseri's in particular
• Chief's for people watching
• Dee's for people watching
• ice skating @ Schenley Park
• the Point in summer
• Carnegie Science Center (best kids' museum I've been to)
• South Side
• Mt Washington
• Gus and Yiayia's Ice Balls
• Walnut Street
• Candy Rama
• shopping downtown during xmas season
• the Gateway Clipper
• riding the Duquesne incline
• the Allegheny River (yeah I have a favorite)
• puff pastry from the Verona Giant Eagle
• how Denise's parents' house always smells like yummy cake goodness & her mom's delicious cakes!!
• University of PGH...go Pitt!

random blog happiness/homesickness reminder

http://benroethlisberger.typepad.com/roethlisberger/ I just happened across this blog. Yay!

she's a believer

Happy St. Nicholas Day!



So I was inspired to write about our St. Nicholas experience this year. Thanks to This Full House for sharing your day (12.06.05)(see: "blogs I like" links) .

DD2 consistently writes notes to any magical beings who may or may not pay a visit. This includes the tooth fairy, santa, the easter bunny, & now St. Nicholas too. I think she does this to verify said creature's existence (or non-existence, as it were, if there was no response to read in the morning).

"Dear St. Nicholas, why do you use shoes? Aren't they stinky?...."

How to answer? How to answer? check out http://www.stnicholascenter.org/ for all your (or your child's) St. Nicholas questions.

Awake @ 6am & bounding down the steps to see what was in her shoe. Chocolates, candy cane, orange, small gift. Yikes! And didn't I forgot to write a response to her?!? I ran downstairs to retrieve the note from the t.v. room where I had left it the night b4 whilst wrapping; shoved it in my pocket; sprinted out the door to drive DD1 to the bus station. Whew. She didn't see it BUT she also didn't ask (nor did she have time as I whizzed by).

I asked DD1 to write the response so as to disguise the handwriting. Then I had a brilliant idea: write in German so as to further authenticate the note! Thank god my mom was home when DD1 called (no DD1 did not remember from 3 years of German how to translate what I wanted the note to say).

Home again, I handed DD2 the note, "Look what I found outside".
"Mom, it's in cursive. You read it to me"
"It's not cursive, it's a different language. I think it's German!"
Silence as she contemplates this turn of events.

While she's eating breakfast, I see her copying the response to her note. She wanted to take it to school to show her class. She didn't want to take the original in case it might be lost! Love it!!!!! (also cute -listening to her "read" the note, trying to pronounce German words that she's never seen nor heard).

Still a believer :) Yay!

question: why do I blog in the wee hours of the night?

answer: when the girls are quiet, I know it's b/c they're asleep & not emptying my buckwheat hull filled meditation pillow.

I was online trying to win the range rover from american express (yeah, G, I KNOW I'd look good in one, but would I really want another gas hog?). Thought I'd have a quick read through some blogs. HA! I didn't win. And I walked downstairs to find some kind of brown-I-don't-know-what pellets all over the floor. Try getting those hulls in a pile to scoop back into pillow. Nigh impossible. Sad pillow will never be the same.

bad dog again :(

So we have discovered that our beloved freely giving kisses dog has a taste for bathroom garbage -the stinky kind; you know, diapers & pads. Damn damn damn damn damn. Damn. Glad I found it b4 I went to sleep and didn't just wander into the bathroom disaster area in the dark. Blech. Double blech. The stench was the worst. I'm talking gag unless the mouth & nose are covered stench. All that from one diaper. Why oh why. It couldn't have been one of those just a little mess diapers. Nooooooooooo. It had to be the WORST diaper in what must be 3 years. Now we have to shut the bathroom doors from toddlers & dog. Ah they're pretty much the same anyway. If I'm not cleaning up after one, I'm cleaning up after the other.

the new me

So, I've just had my hair bleached. I hated it dark. I've had highlights for forever. I got tired of that & had it dyed closer to my natural color. It was okay at first. Then it just made me look tired & old all the time. I started FEELING old & tired. Ugh. Enough of that already. I'm too young to feel/look that way! So the real me, the "old" (DD2 holds up & scrunches the 1st two fingers of both hands ) me is baaaaaack!

Good grief it was aging, that dark hair on me. Hmmmm, I suppose some of it has to do w/ these kids aaaargh who don't sleep through the night regularly or who wake up at the friggin' crack. Didn't need to LOOK like I felt, though. What an eye opener. yeah, that & seeing this couple @ DD2's school performance -the husband looked abt 10 years younger than the wife. I'm sure not b/c he was, but b/c she's the one getting up w/ the kids & not getting enough exercise or time for herself. I thought to myself that I never want to LOOK older than G, at least. So I woke up on Friday w/ the solution. Go back to blonde. Shocking but effective. I still look twice when I walk past a mirror hahahaha. Now to make time for myself. Challenging new years resolution.

DD2 fall '05 school pic

xmas is upon us

We have snow! Not much and it'll be gone in a couple days. But at least it feels like the wreath actually belongs in the door now.

Some of my favorite xmas season things:

*eggnog in my coffee instead of milk

*eggnog and spiced rum

*smell of pine (I took that smell for granted all those years in western PA)

*Griswald-like light displays (except not on MY house)

*peppermint candy canes

*St. Nicholas tradition passed down to my own kids

*baking cookies & stollen

*actually having an opportunity to wear long sleeves

*midnight mass

*advent calendar (the kind w/ chocolate)(or the kind you hang in the window & the sun shines through the tissue paper behind the little doors)

*crushing thin, brittle layers of ice on the street or sidewalk

*snow that looks like cookie dough -not too dirty, neither too wet nor too dry

*ice on tree branches & snow sparkling in predawn headlights

another blog opinion re: kids gone wild

In response to the NYTimes article by Judith Warner http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/weekinreview/27warner.html? Having read her book "Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety", I wondered what her most recent opinion is regarding parenting.

I was quite excited to read her book; there was a wonderful write up in Parenting magazine which led me to believe Ms. Warner would prove to be an insightful observer of parenting in the US compared to parenting in Europe (France, in particular). What a shame her opinions are primarily based on "mom as victim of society" mentality. Hell, I could've written a book in friggin' h.s. if all it took was idealistic, utopian solutions for an epidemic mindset that plagues our society and a lot of fingerpointing at the government. I mean, if you feel like a taken for granted cab driver b/c you drive your kids to 15 different activites everyweek, don't enroll them in 15 activities. If you're exhausted at the end of the day b/c you've made yourself the indispensible entertainment for your child, please direct the blame inwardly. Don't teach your kids that there's nothing more to life than competition. If you don't like the rat race, get off the wheel already. It's that simple. I do believe the basic premise of republicanism is privitization of anything related to social service. Ideally, if you want government to take care of your social needs, move to a socialist country. Don't expect compassion from a US government whose main concern is military and big business. But don't get me started.

So then I read the article. I tried to not have any expectations as to good, bad or otherwise. Same drivel, really. Kids are rude b/c their parents are overworked and too tired to reprimand them. Kids are rude b/c they're just so precious to mid-life parents and god forbid those precious kids should be hurt by expectations of better behavior. Get over it already. Kids are rude b/c parents are indulgent. Kids are rude b/c parents don't DEMAND better behavior. Kids are rude b/c parents are too self-absorbed to give a damn or even be aware of what said kids are doing/saying. Lets get to the point here. Rude people will inevitably reproduce rude children.

As a child, I knew indulgent parents of friends. I also knew of punitive parents. These different parenting styles will beget different personalities in children. I may be tired & overworked, but it's still my responsibility to raise my children to be kind, generous, mannerful people.

It's the rudeness we're talking abt. I just don't remember such rude behavior from ADULTS. Road rage. Name calling. Fist fights at youth sport games. Everyone out for themselves. Not only is chivalry dead. So is common courtesy, it seems. There is a decorum of civility missing from our lives these days that I remember from my childhood.

I partially blame the media; you know, t.v. is evil. But the responsibility ultimately lies within. Blurring the line between fiction on the tube and the reality of life is a choice. The decision to be rude to one person makes the next rude act that much easier, etc etc until it becomes habit. It takes conscious effort to not allow another person's rude behavior towards me influence my behavior towards others.

Personally, I believe that unless my life or property are in danger, I'm not wasting my time & energy honking at a rude driver who is obviously oblivious anyway. Seriously, the only person who can hear one cursing at another driver is the passenger in one's car. Life is too short to waste being retributive. Karma is real. What goes around comes around. I just need to sit back and let it happen. No action necessary from me.

Hopefully my own children will learn to give the benefit of the doubt. (Maybe that speeding, weaving motorist is rushing to the hospital. Maybe that angry man has some issues at home to deal w/. And you know that being mean is not okay?) And they'll learn to let another motorist in front. And they won't be rude to salespeople, nurses, teachers: I demand that they be kind to others. (are mine the only toddlers who say please & thank-you & you're welcome to each other unbidden?!). My kids will have learned that it's okay to admit being wrong. And saying sorry is not an option. I have reprimanded other people's kids, and will continue to do so as the need arises.

So don't tell me that children are ruder than in the past. It's adults who are ruder and who teach children to be so or not.