A little from Column A, A little from Column B

A+) Nbear lost his two front teeth and just in time for Christmas! My, how many times have we heard that song? Not nearly enough! How often does that work out -- both front teeth AND Christmas?! It's like Jupiter & Venus aligning! (didn't ya'll see that?)

A-) When Nbear lost the first front tooth - it left the root bud behind. Firstly, I didn't realize just how absolutely positively squeamish I am about a loose tooth. I could barely look at him with it just dangling there. Then he lost the tooth, but the root was not quite ready so it left a "bloody stump" behind. Oh yeah. There were no night-time kisses for awhile. until it... just dissolved...



B+) Lisa came to visit for the grand spanking opening of Mr. Craig's latest adventure in well-tailored white pants! And I got to shake things up with Sinda and smack some things down with Dawn. No picture could capture the WHOMP! of that rolling pin crushing ice for drinks. It still scares me.




B-) I missed getting to go see the new Bond movie with Lisa (and the 18 other people who almost got kicked out the movie theatre because of those lovely white pants) as I was Blogging From Bed with the flu. Both Smith & I were kaput. The children however were fine. We woke up blearly and neither could summon the effort that it would take to get the children off to school and out of our hair. So they stayed home. Here's what I vaguely remember thinking that day:

- it's really really windy

- there sure are a lot of naked people selling stuff in dwell. it's a shelter magazine, does sex really sell everything?

- how much wind would it take to blow something off of the house

- spaced (the british TV series) is the best thing to watch while ill with the flu

- metal roofs are noisy

- i wish we could actually watch spaced but the children are around

- sesame sticks do not smell good on someone else's breath. ever.

thankfully the children, those self-sufficient marvels that they are, kept to themselves (for the most part, there was that run in with the sesame stick breath). They fed themselves and took every single multiple-pieced toy apart and played the heck out of it. missing (oh thank the heavens) was the flooding, the shampoo abuse, the toilet paper wasting and the rock writing on the car events of the last two months. There was one moment of silence though, it must have been 2 minutes long but Smith and I simultaneously popped our heads up listen. ??? and then back to playing it was. and to sleep. ah.



C+) Jbird wore this bucket on his head for an entire day. It fit him perfectly. I have no idea where it came from. On the other side, it read "Sol." N decided that J's face needed some extra flare with markers to finish the look. Who else looks this good with a bucket on their head?



C-) There is no minus to looking this cute with a bucket on your head.




D+) I got to see the babies! My beloved nieces and nephew are sofa king adorable. 7 lbers now too! How awesome is that?!

D-) I didn't actually get to touch the babies. I was over the flu, but was coming down with a cold. Drat! Uncle Tommy & Aunt Lynne were the best though - they loaded up and brought those little buggers over so we could at least peer at them through the back of the sneeze-guard back window. Did you know that 3 baby car seats can fit into the back of an extended cab Chevy pickup? Now you know. Jbird & Nbear got hoisted up into the bed of the truck to peer through at the sleeping wonders. J looks up with big eyes and proclaims: "WHOA! That's a lot of BABIES!" tail on the donkey that one.


E+) We sold our old house! Yeah! One less mortgage to pay. One less electric bill. One less everything! And new neighbors!

E-) They finally finished building the warehouse that backs up behind our fence at the new house. The parking lot lights are... how shall we say... flood-lighty?


F+) Thanksgiving!! One more year that I wasn't responsible for the bird. My dad, of course, as usual, was on the mark with the bird. I tried to help with the side dishes and the pie, but my mom is the master. I think I just got in the way. The best part of the Thanksgiving meal for me actually comes the next morning. I have pie for breakfast. And nobody tries to stop me!

My mom also sets a mean table.



I think my family is a tiny bit japanese.






F-) My dad gets jipped because his birthday is on Thanksgiving. So he bakes the bird and then has to blow out the candles (oh, and we didn't even have those) on the pumpkin pie. Sorry dad.


G+) I found Tina!
G-) I found her on Facebook.

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.

Goodbye Girl

I've been in denial for a long time this summer (it still is summer here by the way.)

Late last spring, Lisa announced that they would be moving. And it felt so far away at the time. NOT REAL AT ALL. I mean Lisa is my girl. she's the person I know I can call first thing in the morning to complain about the day already. the mom who I wished would make me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like that. the person who supplies me cashew crack at the playground. she understands when I call and say nothing because the scream-oning is sooooo loud. We had an understanding.

And I certainly didn't feel it on the "goodbye girl's weekend." We were having way too much fun at yoga. see the bliss?


followed by a looooong lunch with a bottle of proseco, mmmmmmm!





shopping. note the earrings!



and a night of giggly name-gaming



(all laughing here except Angela. "why can't this b*tch guess Patsy Cline! And what's her deal with Jane Eyre?! It's Jane Eyre!" Guess who got stuck sitting next to clueless me? Not pictured are the many pitchers of wonderful watermelon concoction. thanks jen!)



But NOW I'm feeling it. I'm not used to this. I'm usually the one doing the moving away!

Like when I'm driving around, I realize that I'm not going to see her driving (in the same car as mine, only white) down Koenig and I'll give her a call from across the intersection.

And when I call her house now, it's quiet in the background because her children are playing on another floor.

I'm not going to catch her at the grocery store. Meet up with her at Shipe. Laugh when we see my jogger.
We're not going to compare notes about what John Aielli played this morning.

BAH! I miss ya chick.