Month End

January is drawing to a close. It has been a blur. Is it just me? Back from the holidays and then BOOM! It's February. But it has also been productive. (You should see what my christmas gift label maker has been up to in my house! Spices! Laundry room bins! Next stop linen closet?!) To recap:

We were in Angel Fire. Here are the boys enjoying some NanaCakes baked in a VINTAGE easy bake oven.





Nbear went to ski school. Jbird got a taste of snow.



Watching the chair lifts at the ski slopes (I swear they were having more fun than me.)



A lesson of Near and Far... or The Holts, they are a squinty folk




We were in Longmont, CO, visiting Lisa & family. Here is Smith entertaining the children (he's the one in the blue tube...)



Here's J at the very end of his "going for a walk" rope



Foolin' with Lisa's macro lens, 'cause she's all camera-girl-geek now



Then there was a 5th birthday for Nbear. (photos of which are still on the camera.) And Aunt Alex & Uncle Thom came in from the windy city to enjoy our 30 degree weather. A refreshing change from the single digits they said...

I reorganized the laundry room (again) after the complete collapse of a shelving unit on one wall rendered the room an utter pit of despair beyond its usual status of utter pit of despair.

I bought some jeans. Write this one down folks as the last pair of jeans that I actually purchased (Sinda passing on jeans to me doesn't count) was 5 years ago, after Noah was born.

I have succumbed to Sinda's meal planning doctrine; where one actually plans the meals they are going to make BEFORE going to the store. It is changing my life.

And speaking of changing my life, I also reflected on the positive changes in my life from last year at this time. And it feels like most of those changes are going to stick. It's not just a fluke. (and that's good! except for the fact that zero christmas cards got sent. not even to my mother! yeesh.) 2008 has lots of room left for improvement! (someone nudge me in August to get on those Christmas cards. Honestly.)

Happy New Year! Poop!

Leave it to me to start my very first blog entry of 2008 with poop. I feel so dooce. (scroll down, she's got a category just for poop.)


Nbear has started a spanish class and it's one of those classes that is 40 minutes long - which I'm sure is just perfect scholastically, but logistically, it's a bit of a pain. As in, it is not long enough for me to actually GO anywhere and do something, nor am I at leisure to pack a book to entertain myself in the car as I have a 2 year old kicking the back of my seat and hollering.

Luckily, there is a playground nearby. So with some relief I released N to his class and wound my way out of the labyrinth of a building to find the playground. I spotted something that resembled a bathroom, but J was fighting me to get outside to the playground. So about 5 minutes in, I'm the park mom totally on the phone when Jmonkey gets "the look" and "the pose." Of course I have left his spares in the car. So we must walk forever back to the car. He waddles and complains.

At the car, I remember (with a smack to my head) that I have no plastic bags and no fresh underwear (that's another story there, but much less interesting.) Alas. At the very least, I have wipes and some pants. But then I take off his pants and his underwear and I'm trying to locate the poop before it falls on a vital part of the car and I can't find it. I'm shaking things and shaking things and nada. I even bother to look in his shoes.

"J? Where did your poop go?"

"The sidewalk."

ah. okay. The case of the mystery poop solved!

Of course, now I'm in a quandary. I have no idea WHERE and no means for removal. sigh. And then my 40 minutes are up and we retrieve Nbear who then must go explore the playground too. At the end of that, we hike back to the car, having almost forgotten the poop. Until. I spot a large object on the sidewalk and think it must be a big, muddy rock. And as I get closer, I realize, oh no, that's NOT a rock, that's THE poop. Which is then pointed out by my proud 2 year old.

It was HUGE. Grapefruit sized.

And all I could do is keep walking. Would someone else just assume it was dog poo or is there something that screams: "I came from a human!" about it? And does that make it worse? Is human poop on the sidewalk worse than dog poop? I want to say yes, but can't figure out why. So I just left it. And I have this feeling that karma will return the favor to me; but part of me (knowing just how much poop I've cleaned up in the last 5 years) wants to believe that I am just facilitating the karma for someone else. I sincerely hope that it's not any of you.