He's my Pride and Joy

If you haven’t already noticed, I like old cars. Now I’ve always been able to appreciate a cool looking car but they never sent me over the moon or anything. But it seems my inner-Detroiter has finally bloomed and I am now all about the cars. Don’t worry; I will never be a gear-head. It’s the chrome, the lines, those cool tail-lights and dials on the dash that get my engine running. (Sorry. I had to do it. It’s an illness.)

Anyways, last Saturday there was a Hot Rod show at the local bowling alley. And apparently I am now the kind of person that goes to car shows. Hey! Come back here! You’re cashing those checks every month – you will be my friend even if I start going to cat shows!! As I was saying, there was a car show so I grabbed my camera and I grabbed Kyle and off we went for some mother/son/camera bonding.

3 hours later, our memory cards full, we stumbled back in the door tired, thirsty and on the verge of collapse. Ok, maybe that was just me. It was hot. We forgot hats. I was wearing jeans because I knew I would be kneeling on asphalt. But it was all worth it – wait til you see the pictures! And you’ll have to wait because I’m about 3 weeks behind. And Chris is about to put a limit on my computer time. Big and mean I tell ya.

And Kyle – that little brat – has some great shots as always. But he spent the rest of the weekend cursing me for getting him into photography. Oh yeah, I’m wicked bad. Meanest mom ever if you’re going to believe the rumors. I’m so awful that after much pestering by Kyle, I spent my Monday afternoon setting him up with his own Flickr account.

So, go check out Kyle’s photos! And leave him a comment or two – it will make his day.

Enjoy!

As the Bean Turns

Ok then. Someone mentioned that I might have gone a little overboard on my last post. Hmm. I didn’t think anyone was reading this. However, I will put my ‘It’s my blog and I’ll rant if I want to!’ attitude aside and give you a happy, upbeat, tirade-free entry. Which means you’ll just have to wait to hear about the book on the CIA that I am reading. But believe me – you’ll hear about it!

twitch

That also means I can’t mention Kyle.

twitch twitch

What does that leave? ERIN! Or Rolie Polie Olie as the case may be.
Yes, the rolling from back to front has been perfected. And that girl is fast. She’s over in the blink of an eye. In the beginning she would roll over onto her stomach and then quickly become frustrated at being on her stomach. So, we would put her back on her back. She would immediately roll onto her stomach again. And then be pissed off about it. Again. I’m pretty sure this would have gone on indefinitely if we hadn’t gotten tired and strapped her back into her bouncy chair.

"What are you looking at?"

But apparently the view from ankle-level is pretty darn good and she is now more than happy to stay on her stomach. I guess she finally has the strength to hold up that large melon-head. She can now hold a perfect cobra pose for 5 complete breathes effortlessly. Which is probably more than can be said about me. Sigh.

Speaking of my little yoga-savant, when Erin is forced to spend time on her back she is in Ardha Ananda Balasana – Half Happy Baby Pose. Her left foot is her new best friend. And she’s got a death grip on it! And I’m sure it’s only a half pose because the other hand must be in her mouth for complete baby bliss.

Wait until she manages to get a foot to her mouth –oh the unbridled toe chewing joy. I’m sure that’s what she’s thinking when we catch her staring intently at one of those chubby little piggys. “Mmm foot…must taste.” What I don’t know is how she'll squeeze a foot into her mouth when she’s already got her whole fist shoved in there! And I’ve caught her on several occasions sneaking a thumb in there right next to the nipple when I’m giving her a bottle. And hey baby – it’s a little difficult to feed you when you’re trying to roll over on my lap! Eyes forward soldier. Jeez.

Erin has also discovered that all that time spent pumping her leg in the air like she was kick-starting a motorcycle was great practice for splashing in the bath. And she has recently begun swinging her arm down in a knee-slapping motion (if she can manage to time the arm motion with the leg-pump into a proper knee-slap, I’m going to ship her off to Tennessee. Yeehaw!). The point being we are going to have to find a new location for bath-time or our carpet is never going to dry.

"Hi. My name is Erin. I'm 4 1/2 months old and an Aries. I like long walks in my stroller and being held high in the air by my daddy. My hobbies include drooling, puking on my mommy, and watching TV with my big brother. My dislikes are mean people and wet diapers."

The Bean’s life is good.

The Surreal Life

Kyle started 5th grade today. And for the first time I did not take him to school. Weird.

~

Our friend Jen watches Erin while I’m at work. And it seems to be working out just fine. Erin is getting loved on by Jen, her 15 month old granddaughter Isabella and a puppy. Not a bad way to spend the day.

I tend to hang out for awhile at Jen’s before taking Erin home. Why not eh? It’s a nice way to shift from work-mode to Mom and the couches are comfortable. And Jen is a hoot! The only kink in the happiness chain is the TV. When I get there, it’s usually around 2:15 and the Gilmore Girls are on. oh my god. Have you seen this show? I want to hurt those people! I’m not sure what it is – the writing? the actors? the small town lunacy? a bad combination of all of the above? but it makes me twitch. And not in a good way. I want to grab these people by the hair and knock their heads together! Ugh. Does this show affect others this way? Is that the point? I know there are people out there that loved this show. Please tell me why. It has actually caused me to have a very violent dream involving a potato peeler!

So, I hang out with Jen until those crazy Gilmore Girls drive me out the door. And after half a dozen weeks of being back at work, I find myself knowing far too much about the Gilmore’s world. I want to ignore it but it’s like a car crash – I’m fascinated and repulsed at the same time.

But what’s really disconcerting is that when I drop Erin off in the morning – the same Gilmore Girls episode I saw the previous afternoon is on the TV!!! Invariably at the point in the show that sent my on my agitated way the day before! It's some sort of weird Gilmore time warp from hell! And that’s no way to start your day.

I’m worried about Jen in her 24/7 Gilmore world. She might need to get out more.

Heart Shrine Relic Tour and a BBQ

Well, after 2 weekends of far too much driving and not enough fun (especially for Chris) we decide to stay home this past weekend. Actually, I told Chris we weren't going out of town again until Labor Day weekend. He whimpered a bit but I put my foot down, spoke my peace and counted to three.* And surprisingly enough we survived - although it was touch and go for me on Saturday night when a migraine swooped down and tried to kill me in my sleep. It was big, it was bad, it was ugly. But I don't blame Sharon one bit. Even though we had gone to a BBQ at her house earlier in the day. (Hi Sharon - great party!) I really don't think she was trying to off me so she could have my job again. No. She would never do such a thing. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't. Would she?! Hmm. Maybe she has also been reading about overthrowing governments and other covert actions. Good thing I didn't drink the kool-aid.

Fortunately by noon on Sunday I was feeling semi-human again so Chris, Erin and I took a drive up to Auburn to see the Heart Shrine Relic Tour.

"A precious collection of sacred relics of the Buddha and many other Buddhist masters is currently touring the world.

This is a rare opportunity to view these relics, which were found among the cremation ashes of Buddhist masters. They resemble beautiful, pearl-like crystals. Buddhists believe relics embody the master’s spiritual qualities of compassion and wisdom and are deliberately produced by the master at his death.

The relics are clearly visible inside display cases that encircle a life-size, golden statue of the Maitreya Buddha. Visitors may participate in a Blessing Ceremony where the relics of the Buddha are gently placed on the crown of the visitor’s head as a personal blessing."

There were gorgeous Thangkas hanging all around the hall.


I know it's out of focus - I was trying to not use the flash.




We circumambulated. We got blessed. And my head felt better. That is until I had to coordinate the Kyle transfer with the ex. He was harshin' my blessing buzz hard man.

For more information visit the Maitreya Project.

It's all about the loving-kindness baby!
Om Mani Padme Hum



*Bonus blessings if you know what movie that is from.
Here's another clue: "My hair!"
swoon...

4 months of pure immeasurable…

…spit up.

Erin is 4 months old today. She’s weighing in at 15 lbs 3 oz and is 24” long. And to my surprise her head is not off the charts big but only in the 75 percentile on the growth chart. How could that be? I think the doctor would have re-measured had he seen this picture -


Damn. That’s a big head. You should see what it looks like printed as an 8x10 glossy. Click on the photo to see for yourself!

I mentioned below somewhere that Erin started rolling over a couple weeks ago. Well, this morning on the exam table we noticed that she has begun to pull herself forward by little smidges. Now I’ve seen how fast smidges can grow and I’ve got to tell you - we are scared. The Dr says she looks and behaves like a 6 month old. At her 2 month visit he said she looked and acted like a 4 month old so we are obviously in trouble here.

And speaking of big kids in trouble – Kyle starts school next week. And he is looking forward to it! I give those positive school feelings a week at best. (remember - he was bored with summer vacation by day 3) But this year he’ll be in 5 grade. Top dog at the elementary school since 6th grade is at the middle school. And 9th will be in High School. Does that seem wrong to anyone else? Are all school systems like this now?

But what he’s really looking forward to is that this year he’ll get to ride his bike to school. Except on band days when he’ll have a big ol’ case to lug around. Oh yeah, he no longer wants to play the saxophone. He wants to play the bass. Not the stand up bass - the electric bass. I know, WTF? How is that they have no string instruments in the band but offer the electric bass? Another thing I just don’t get. And can you rent a bass? Of course not. We have to buy a bass and a small amplifier. And I do want Kyle to play in the band but this is edging it into uncomfortable territory for me. He is already telling me about his friend who plays the guitar and wants Kyle to join his band! I’ve been there and seen that. And I want to scream NoNoNo forget it. No music for you! Of any kind. Danger Danger Will Robinson. But stopping him from playing an instrument in school is not going to stop him from playing in a rock band later is that’s what he really wants to do.

So what can I do? Buy him a bass and hope for the best? Amplify my acoustic and ask to sit in with his band? Hmm...not a bad idea. That should burst his rock-n-roll dreams-

"...and on rhythm guitar - my mom"

The UTATAN

Well, if I didn't have 16 chairs to put together I could work on a proper post. Tell you about our speed run up to Fort Bragg and that the baby is rolling over now. But all that will have to wait. Hey now, don't look so disappointed - I have something special for you to do while you wait. Check out this year's big project from Utata:




There are so many great photographs - enjoy! But don't blame me if you get in trouble because you suppose to be working - I'm innocently unpacking boxes in the back room and will deny everything.

Brazen Self Promotion

Oh, I'm not above it.

See those 2 new badges to the right? I have submitted those photos to JPG Magazine. And if my photos were to get enough votes, they would be published in the next issue. How cool would that be?!

So click on those pictures and vote vote vote! I’ll lower taxes. I’ll fix Social Security. I’ll balance the budget. I am not a crook.


Update Aug 9th: Voting has now closed so I've removed the badges. Thanks for your support!

Counterbalance

After the last post I feel I owe you something sweet. So, because I care...

Photos from Grandma!

My teeth hurt.

Despotism, Godless Terrorism and Love

There are some books that should be banned. From me. I’m reading Overthrow – America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. You know this can't be good for me. It’s all I can do to not get out of bed each night and bang my head against the wall. oh. my. god. the stupid is frightening. And I’m only as far as Nixon and Chile. And did you know that just one man was responsible for the events in Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam and Chile? One completely insane man. But it’s easy to get a lot done when you are the Secretary of State and your brother runs the CIA!

The worst part of this is that it is ruining NPR for me. I can no longer listen blithely as I drive to and fro. Not any more. Now my brain screams “Liars!” “Don’t believe the hype” etc. to every story out of Washington. It’s kind of annoying. Yes brain, I know, now please use your inside-my-head voice.

I only picked up this book because the one I wanted on the history of the CIA won’t be published until next month. By the time I finish that book I should be certifiable. This is the kind of stuff that will push me right over the edge. Soon I’ll be roaming the streets babbling to myself. Hmm, I’ll need to relocate to Santa Cruz – they embrace the weird and might not even notice me. And I’ve got a place to stay there. Hey, I might be willing to stand on a corner bad mouthing the government by day but I’m not going to give up a comfy bed at night – I ain’t that crazy.


On a more happy healthy hale and hardy* note – yesterday was my wedding anniversary. Chris and I have been married 2 (insert “wonderful” or the synonym of your choice here) years. Now others might get all lovey dovey and tell you how wonderful their husband is and how much they love him and can’t imagine life without him blah blah blah. But not me. I don’t do sappy. As true as it all is, putting it into eloquent words with violins playing softly in the background is just… icky. Chris knows how I feel about him. And I know how he feels about me when he makes me go to sleep at a reasonable hour every night completely against my will. So, no cards, no flowers, no trips to Hallmark – maker of fine holidays everywhere. You know, if Hallmark had better lobbyists, they could get Sweetest Day declared a national holiday and sell more cards on the west coast.

See? No good can come from reading.

Now I’ve got to go and practice snapping my fingers.



* this is the standard answer you’ll get from my dad when asked how he is. As Chris says – I didn’t have a chance.

If you ain’t first – you’re last

First –

It is with a very sad heart that I inform you that I have returned to work. Yes, it’s true. None of my whining or complaining could prevent the inevitable. But I sure tried. So now I’m back. And I don’t like it. Nothing is as I left it! While I was gone my Canadian company was bought by a nice big American company. Now this does have its benefits (Yay! State taxes are being withheld from my paychecks!) but it also means that I don’t know who does what in the corporate office anymore – especially since there are now at least 3 of them! We had 2 new regional managers join our team. Plus our office expanded into the suite next door to make room for a new training center. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem except my desk has been moved and I lost my window! The view to the outside world that I have fought tooth and nail to keep for over 7 years? Gone. Damn.

And it is hard to get back into the rhythm of an office. My brain hasn’t had to function in this way for over 4 months. Trying to do more than one thing at a time - hey what’s the hurry? Trying to make sense of the 10 things the boss just asked me to do - I have no idea what he is talking about. Trying to remember how to put someone into our voicemail system - sure, that doesn’t sound difficult to you but you haven’t met our mailbox system. It entails hitting at least 23 buttons in a very specific order! Thank god Sharon was there to talk me through it. She basically has had to retrain me. Well at least tell me where everything has been moved to. I still haven't seen my utility knife. And I might need it if I decide to stage a bloody coup to get a window.

Last –

Kyle is now half way through the first week of his annual 2 week southern California vacation. He is currently camping at Lake San Antoine and wake boarding every day. Next week he’ll go down to Oxnard for a few days and then on to Calabasas in the hills above Malibu. I’m sure I have mentioned before how he suffers. He’ll suffer riding the horses. Suffer cruising around on the quad or driving the golf cart. And don’t forget the surfing! How could life be so cruel?!! Poor baby.

But I had better stop thinking about him lest I begin to suffer. Moving on.

Last –

Tomorrow – Friday the 13th! – Erin will be 3 months old.* She has changed so much. Not only is she huge, she’s funny. (Lookin') She’s smiling and laughing all the time now (especially for her daddy). And she tells the most amusing stories! She’s also learning to use her hands as something other than little flying fists of fury. She now will grab hold of what ever happens to cross her open palm. And half the time the seized object will make it to her mouth. This child is truly amazing.

But her first love is still the ceiling fans, especially the one above our bed that she flirts with every night. She’ll notice it and a huge smile spreads across her face and she’ll coo. Then she’ll turn her head and give “fanny” a sideways glace and a cheeky smile. It’s big love I tell ya'.

Last –

Man, I already feel like I’m falling behind on everything. I have a million and two photos to upload to Flickr. I haven’t told you about Eric’s visit. Hmm, I think I’ll save that for one of my famous photo-heavy entries. There. Now you have a reason to get up in the morning. I also have photos that need to be printed, matted and framed. So much to do! And we are going to Santa Cruz this weekend, which will put me even farther behind. I could use a vacation!


* Chris made a point of mentioning that the van is 4 months old today since we got it one month and one day before Erin was born. Geek.

Grandma-time

and the livin’ is easy

Paula’s visit was great (although too short). And she came packin’ the lastest issue of Cooks Illustrated with the intent to make us blueberry scones. Being an Italian mother, P’s philosophy is “Food is love”. Well. Love is many things but it ain’t food. Food is fuel. Love is a many splendor thing. Love makes the world go round. Love will keep us together. Love will tear us apart. Love hurts. All you need is love. Modern love. Tainted love. Chains of love. Love me tender. Love potion #9. Love is in the air. Love is a battlefield. Love is like oxygen. Higher love. Endless Love. Crazy little thing called love. See? Not one word about food.

But do you want to know what I love? Those blueberry scones! Oh my god they were good. So good that it might just be worth the time and mess to make a batch myself. Especially since you can make them beforehand, toss ‘em in the freezer and then put them in the oven on a Sunday morning while the coffee is still brewing. Hmm, might be a project for tomorrow.

What else do I love? Cooks Illustrated!!* Do you know about this magazine?! It’s fantastic. Not only does it tell you what and how to do things, it also tells you what not to do. As in: don’t try doing it this way - we did and it sucked. Now that’s handy. And tips like: freeze the stick of butter and then grate it with a cheese grater. Who would have thought of that? (All Executive Chiefs are requested to keep their mouths shut!) Chris actually got the issues from ’05 and ’06 hardbound from his mom for Christmas. But it wasn’t until this week that I pulled them out and looked through them. Oh the scientific kitchen joy. Tuesday night I made their pan-roasted potatoes to have with our White Sea bass**. Again – oh my god they were good.

Tonight I made Pasta Caprese. I don’t want to keep repeating myself, so I’ll just say it was delicious. And easy! The trick? Freeze the mozzarella for 10 minutes before adding it to the pasta. No more rubbery inedible cheese. It was perfect. I’m hooked.

I would type out the recipe for you a la Bad Home Cooking, but you’ll have to leave a comment and ask for it. I’ve only got one more week of maternity leave and someone has got to save Zelda!



*I know, you told me about it first Sain’t – and you were right. It is perfect for Chris. And it turns out that it’s perfect for me too! (Chris says I have an engineer’s brain. I’m not sure how I feel about that)

** Chris has a recipe for WSB that is called Sex Sauce. And yes, it is worthy of the name. Let me know if you want that recipe too.

Big Brother

And I’m not talking about the George Orwell kind of Big Brother. Although I can see that baby monitor with video being very useful in the years to come.

Kyle has turned out to be a great big brother. Man does he love and fuss over Erin. He has even changed diapers without being asked! He’s been lucky so far and has only opened wet diapers. I’m afraid his first encounter with the other kind will make him gun shy about the solo changes. (Notice that I’m not mentioning poop directly. This ain’t that kind of blog)

Siblings-a-gogo (or should that be gah gah?)



And of course there are more at Flickr. Lots more. In fact I had a hard time limiting myself to the dozen I added. Those kids are cute!

Man, I need to get out of town again. But not this weekend. Tomorrow we are finally going to have that abalone I've been requesting the last 2 months. Jeez. And as a special bonus - my friend Eric is in town!!!

While the cat's away...

…the mouse won’t have enough good sense to go to bed at a reasonable hour causing her bio-rhythms to be screwed up for days.

It’s that time of year again – Chris’ annual spearfishing trip in SoCal. He leaves tonight after a work function downtown and will be gone until Monday morning around 5am. Until then it’s just me and the kids.

Pray for us.

And pray for fish! White Sea Bass and Yellowtail – yum.

Actually, the 4 days without Chris shouldn’t be too awful* – his mom is coming up for a few days to help out and this is Kyle’s weekend at his dads. The only tough part will be taking care of the baby solo at night. Although… if I have to go downstairs to get the bottle, I won’t be left upstairs with the screaming baby as I usually am. That might not be so bad. Erin is going to cry whether I am there or not – why should I suffer too?! Hmm… I just might talk to Chris about switching jobs when he gets back. I’ll go get the bottle while he changes Erin and then tries in vain to comfort her until the bottle is in her mouth and all is right with the world again.

Kyle has camp again tomorrow so I was going to try and get back to the gym (I’ve gone twice now -yeah me!) but I just got a call from my doctor’s office and now I have an appointment at noon. Fun for me. I’ll guess the gym will just have to wait until Friday. Bummer.

Speaking of bummers – and this is a big one - I just looked at a calendar. Oh my god. I only have 2½ weeks left of maternity leave! That’s not enough time! I don’t want to go back to work. I’ve got things to do! I haven’t played ANY Zelda yet. My canvas sits untouched. I still can’t fit into my clothes – I’ll have nothing to wear! I am not happy. Now we must pray for a miracle. Forget the brownies - send lotto tickets!

*besides missing the hell out of him. And that whole staying up too late each night while he is gone thing. And then there is the small problem of not wanting to share the bed again when he gets back. It really doesn’t take long to get use to sleeping in the middle of the bed does it?

Conspiracy Theory

2 months ago I had a baby. Today a migraine tried to kill me. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I’ve had migraines since I was a kid, but they were thankfully infrequent. One, maybe two a year. However, after Kyle was born I became the migraine queen! It was bad. Really bad. Headaches would pursue me for days on end until I was searching the house for a gun bad. Although they got better after I left the ex. Imagine that.

Alas (Alas?! yep, that is the cue for you to start feeling bad for me) over the last couple weeks I’ve been getting reacquainted with my old friend Maxalt the Migraine Medicine. Regrettably, after 9 months of not being able to take any (and luckily not really needing to) I have gotten out of the habit of carrying a pill in my purse, one in the car, and one taped to my forehead at all times! So today, by the time I got home from taking Kyle to his first day of STAR Summer Camp, getting an estimate on my car (another story for another time) and taking Erin to her 2 month check-up, well…I was screwed. I had missed the window for maximum Maxalt effectiveness. I didn’t start to feel better until around dinnertime. Which is far too long a stay in headache hell. (Thank you again Chris for picking up Kyle and going to the grocery store. You rock! Hey – Chris Rock. Ha. Wait. I was picturing Chris Tucker. He’s the one I like - especially in The Fifth Element. I can always watch that movie. There really is nothing I like better than hearing a grown man scream like a little girl! What? …I’m rambling? …sorry)

The point was that I’m finally feeling semi-human again. And that Erin is 2 months old. And she weighs 12 pounds! And she is perfect. (We though so, but its nice to have medical validation no?) And that I’m pretty sure my children are trying to kill me. And after all I’ve done for them what with the gift of life and all. How rude.

So I’ll call in a refill on my prescription and start stashing pills around town again. Moving on.

As promised: Back in Black


And who needs cable when there is a sleeping baby to watch?!

Fascinating.

What do you do with a crashed out baby in a car seat?

This:
And this:
And even a little of this!

Don't look at me like that (HA!)- you know that's funny. I especially like the middle one! Go ahead, scroll back up, I'll wait. Hehe... Yup. I'm feeling better.
Now before you get your knickers in a twist – remember that I am the meanest mom ever. And that these kids (together with my hormones) are conspiring against me. And that paybacks are a bitch. Especially when you have a digital camera and an internet connection.

Bangin'

When thrifty pays off - a love story.

3 weeks ago I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Lightroom. I was immediately smitten with the software and knew I had to have it. Unfortunately I had just missed the introductory price of $199 by a week. I would have to pay $299 when my 30 day trial was up. Bummer. So with 8 days left I decided to make my purchase this morning. And low and behold the software is still only $199 on Amazon! Nice. And with the monitor calibration system ($20 off) and a Canon Fine Art Paper Variety Pack (50% off) already in my shopping cart, plus 2nd day shipping, I was still able to get out the door so to speak for $292.95 – Happy Hump Day to me!!

Later this afternoon I will go to Staples and get a $16 ink cartridge for my printer for $1 thanks to the coupon for $15 off any $15 or above purchase. Man, I am cleaning up today. I might even go back in after the grocery store for another cartridge with the second coupon they sent me.

Yes, I am pleased with myself. But I deserve it. I’ve been working very hard around the house. I finally had to take matters into my own hands and clear off the desk and table in our office area. It was a mess! Now I am just waiting on Chris to go through the 6 piles of paperwork I put on the couch. Sooner or later that fat cat is gonna jump up there and start a landslide. Then Chris needs to go through the filing cabinets and move all the old files to our new storage unit. He can’t go out and play* again until all his work is done!

I’ve also been going through my boxes in the garage. I’ve taken a trunk load of stuff to Goodwill and have sent 4 boxes to storage. I am on an organization roll. This is almost as bad as all the time I’ve spent in the kitchen recently!

But soon we will have a nice neat place to work upstairs and a garage with space enough to get to the climbing wall and use the weights and bench that we just got from Chris’s brother (Hi Paul!). I can’t take the baby to the gym with me until she’s 6 months old. Which sucks. Cause I really need to start working out again. My clothes miss me.

In other happy news, I finally got my hair done yesterday. Not only did I get the color touched up, I had Tami chop all my hair off. Well a good 4 inches anyway. And she added layers, lots of layers. And – you guessed it – bangs!

* we have a freezer full of fish from Chris' speed run to Carmel last Friday. Yum!! And I’m pretty sure I can get him to make some abalone this weekend. Who’s coming?

Et tu, Bodhi?

All My Children

The little one is fine. She’s getting cuter every day. But the eat, poop, sleep routine is not were the action is. If you want real drama you go to the 4th grade!

Kyle’s classroom should be located in 90210!

Here is how it all went down: Cole was going out with Marina (I mean really, could you get more soap opera-y?!). But then one of Marina’s friends told Kyle that Marina liked him. So Cole asked Marina if she wanted to break-up and she said no. Kyle told Cole that he wasn’t interested and was staying out of it while they tried to work things out. Well it seems that their love had run its course so Cole dared Kyle to ask Marina out. And he did. Now Kyle and Marina are going out*. Kyle assured me that things between him and Cole are fine. Although Wyatt has turned into a lousy friend since Charisse broke up with him. According to Kyle he’s changed. Well that’s what a broken heart will do to ya right?

Upon hearing all this, I immediately pulled out Kyle’s class picture to check out the legendary Marina. She’s cute. And then last Thursday night at the open house/band concert we saw her! Though there was disappointingly little interaction between her and Kyle that we witnessed. Kyle was playing it cool in front of the ‘rents. Of course we are teasing him about this. Not too much. But enough to keep us entertained.

But all this was last week. Who knows what today will bring. Will Kyle and Marina still be together? Has Cole come to regret his decision to let her go? Will Wyatt get over his heartbreak or has young love scarred him forever?

Man, I’ve never been so anxious for Kyle to get home from school before!

* This apparently means hanging out together at school. I couldn’t get confirmation or denial on the kissing part. I think Kyle mentioned a cheek. I was the one singing about sitting in a tree…

Stay tuned... HA!

Oh, it’s a look all right

And we have not yet begun to embarrass you little girl. Or ourselves.
Or each other as the case may be.

Exhibit A:

And yes there is an explanation for this. Or at least I can tell you how this fashion statement came to be. It all started last year when Chris got this free blue camo baseball cap and a t-shirt (a disappointing solid navy) from a free-diving magazine. Then early this year we ran across this SkipHop diaper bag that came in blue camo. Now this was a diaper bag a man wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen carrying. At least not my man. So I bought it for him. He was already quite pleased with his matching hat and bag, but then I saw this blue camo onsie for $3.99. Oh there was no way that I was not going to buy this for him. It even had matching booties! And Chris was happy. I would catch him giggling to himself with gleeful satisfaction, just waiting for the day he could spring this daddy/daughter abomination on the world!

And that fateful day was Wednesday May 16th. The day Chris took Erin to her first dive club meeting.

“This guy is nuts”

“Hey lady, why don’t you put down that camera and help me?!”

"I am not a boy"

Next week, I’m going to dress the baby in black! Mommy-style.

Q: Where am I? What is this strange place?

A: The kitchen!

Oh dear. Is this some uncommon side-effect of postpartum depression? Has being at home the past 2 months finally pushed me over the edge? This is not normal behavior. Clearly this is a cry for help!

I’ve been in the kitchen for the past 2+ hours!

And just what have I been doing all afternoon? Prepping for tonight’s dinner! Which doesn’t involve the microwave, defrosting or the telephone. Something is definitely wrong with me.

It all started on Monday when I looked through a couple cookbooks, picked out a few recipes that didn’t look to daunting and added what I was missing to the grocery list. I should have known then that I was headed down a slippery slope.

Tonight I am going to make Pecan-encrusted Chicken. That’s right, I chopped pecans. And parsley. But here is the really sick part – the recipe called for fresh breadcrumbs. I have a container of breadcrumbs in the cupboard. And I didn’t use them. No I did not. I made toast. And then I crumbled that toast into little breadcrumby pieces. Yup, I made fresh breadcrumbs. (FYI, 3 pieces of toast yields 1-½ cups of breadcrumbs)

Who the hell am I?!

And since I was already in the kitchen, I figured I would prep the veggies for the side dish. Now, this was not part of the original try a couple recipes plan. Julie (my own Bad Home Cooking Kitchen Goddess) posted a recipe for Vegetable Couscous on Tuesday that she claims is a ‘sure thing’. And who doesn’t love a sure thing? Or couscous? I even had some in the pantry. In fact I had all the ingredients but the onion and zucchinis. And since I was going to the store again anyways, I figured I would give it a try. I’m clearly easily influenced in this unstable state.

So now I have my pecan-encrusted chicken chillin’ in the fridge. My vegetables are chopped, spices mixed and chickpeas rinsed and drained. When Chris gets home, all I’ll have to do is throw the chicken in the oven, cook the veggies and couscous and it’ll be Miller-time (except without the bad beer).

See?! I’m obviously sick. What’s next? Home-made cupcakes for Kyle’s class?
Oh crap – I already did that.

Promise me that if you see me in the grocery store with pearls around my neck and anything other than Crocs on my feet, you’ll ram me with your cart and drag me to the pharmacy for an emergency dose of some ‘Mother’s Little Helper’. Or Thorazine if the shoes have heels!!!

Last call!

Oh glorious day, the baby only woke up once last night! We fed her at 8:30pm and went to bed an hour later. Erin woke up at 2:00am* and then slept until 6:00am! Now that I can handle. What wasn’t so nice was Kyle knocking over my one and only cup of coffee! Luckily I was up and ready early enough to make a coffee stop before dropping Kyle off at school. So put those worry beads down, I’m caffeinated and ok.

I have to pack again today for Santa Cruz (I know, life is rough) but this time I’m not stressin’ it. Most of the stuff we need is either still in the bags or close by and ready to go. Now that we know what to bring and how to pack it – no worries – I only need to do a couple small loads of laundry and run the dishwasher. And this time I only have to over-pack for two! In fact, I just gave the Bean her bath and already have her clothes picked out.

Since Erin’s umbilical cord stump fell off last Sunday, we’ve been avoiding the onsies and dressing her in a t-shirt only to let her creeps-me-out belly button heal. This morning I put her in her first dress. Yes, I’ve gone all pink and girly. Don’t judge me.

I’m also going to try and get over to REI this afternoon. I have a 20% off coupon that expires this weekend and a need for shoes. Now before you go making any ‘what a girl- always buying shoes and bags’ assumptions, my Tevas broke last week while taking the baby for a walk. I am not happy. This was my second pair of Tevas that have broken in the exact same spot! Both pairs just over a year old! And I am not hard on my sandals. I walk in them. And since I am a girl and have shoe options, they aren’t the only pair I wear (unlike Chris who has had the same pair of Tevas since I met him and wore them continuously until the croc purchase of ’06! Again- don’t judge.) So, I’m gonna try on some Chacos. Tevas are dead to me.

Hopefully I’ll find a sandal replacement at REI and won’t have to spend all my Santa Cruz shopping time in the shoe stores. Danger Will Robinson Danger.


*For whatever twisted reason, when I looked at the clock and saw it was 2am, I imagined a large black woman stomping around in the baby’s head shouting “Last call!”