Thanksgiving prep day

I reveled in today. *I* woke up with smiles (the rest of my house didn't).

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. This goes back to when I was a kid. The first memory I have of Thanksgiving is probably from when I was about 6. I looked forward to wearing my long skirt and baking with my mom. She always made fresh bread and pies on Thanksgiving.

Dinner was always at my grandmother's house with games afterwards. We had to cross the North Platte river to get there and I envisioned myself a pioneer girl crossing the river while I sang "over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go". There wasn't any through the woods though. In fact it was more like, down the street, over the river and down the street again. She lived about a mile away as the crow flew. By the time I finished my song, we were there.

I loved the smell of baking bread and my mom always gave me little bits of dough to shape and bake in my own little pans.

That year I was so excited to be baking with my mom that when the neighborhood boys came and inquired as to if I wanted to go sledding, I turned them down. I remember my mom saying I could go if I wanted to, she could get things done without me, my only hope was that she didn't MAKE me go sledding. I loved sledding, and the neighborhood boys were nice enough. But cooking on Thanksgiving happened only once a year. And at least in Central Wyoming, snow happened all the time.

My first year in grad school we didn't go back to Colorado. Instead we had a few people up to our place in Reno. I think that was the year my sister flew in, JB (AB's best friend) came over the hill from San Fran as did Brian and maybe Josh too. I am even thinking JB's sister came out too. Our turkey was late. (The plastic popper thing never popped.) I discovered AB really didn't like mayo, it wasn't just his imagination. I tried to convince him it was yogurt in the spinach dip - he replied, "well I guess I don't like yogurt either" - it was a year or so before I could convince him to try yogurt again. We had mashed potatoes, lumpy gravy and not much else.

My first Thanksgiving was a real learning experience.

My second Thanksgiving though was different since I had a little cooking experience under me with a real professionally trained chef. My stepbrother cooked the rehearsal dinner for 50 people as his gift to my other stepbrother on the eve of his wedding day. I was thrilled to act as his sous chef. I am not sure I have ever learned so much on one topic in 48 hours. I still apply all that knowledge I learned that summer in any large dinner I cook.

I bought my last minute groceries this morning and picked up some different cheeses. In preparation for the games on Friday I bought a couple six packs of beer which resulted in a marriage proposal from the guy bagging my groceries. (Apparently his ex-wife never brought beer home and the fact that I did just made me the ultimate potential wife to him.) Ok, it made me smile. (He said nothing of the wines I happened to score... so much for him.)

Today I made the turkey broth/drippings for the gravy - all that needs to be done tomorrow is the roux base and mix it together. The cinnamon rolls are done and doing the final rise in the fridge. The components of the dressing done and ready to be combined and baked. The pumpkin pie is baked.

Tomorrow I will do my mushroom soup, make mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and act as bartender while AB smokes the turkey and makes his yam and apple gallete with pomegranite reduction.

---------------------------

I picked Leif up from daycare and his mood was vastly improved. I am wondering if it has to do with the fact I let him haul HIS blankey in. I fear this is going to be a routine now. My little Linus dragged his blanket in and out of preschool today with a smile on his face. I had a blankey too.

Leif has AB's speech patterns down to a science. This morning he was watching Skadi play and he said to me, "did you see what your daughter just did". It was all I could do not to just completely bust up laughing at him.

Oh and speaking of my daughter. Three forward crawl steps today. She has yet to reproduce it, but I fear my days are numbered!

Two days down

So today wasn't nearly as productive as yesterday. It also didn't start out well. Skadi didn't sleep as well as the night before. I KNEW I shouldn't have blogged about her great sleep. Then Leif woke up screaming this morning and was stuck to my side all.morning.long. He had to eat breakfast on my lap and then sobbed when I wasn't going to spend the entire morning sitting on the couch with him on my lap watching Curious George and letting Skadi cry in the bedroom. Misery.

What finally cured him? I should have known. He is behaving just like his father lately, striving to talk like him and such. A hot shower. He took about a 30 minute hot shower and was cured.

This morning I spent about 20 minutes conversing with his teacher about behavior issues. For once even though she said that he has been a challenge in class, she added on the phrase, "but no worse than any of the other kids this week, it's a tough week all around for some reason". She even told me that her granddaughter - also 3, has been exhibiting some "rather bizarre" behavior. I felt better.

Since I didn't care to hang out in my house while my housecleaner cleaned, I headed to Walmart for a few things with Skadi after the preschool dropoff. Then to the mall for a couple presents. I got home and was somewhat happy to see our housecleaner was gone. Partly because I looked forward to not having to hear about her wacky family, but the flip side was that she had only been there 2.5 hours. 2.5 hours and I pay her how much? House better be sparkling.

We got in and I went to go feed the fish. The temp on the tank was down. (Goldfish) It doesn't matter so much because these fish could survive the apocalypse. But I do have a plecostomas and it is getting to that time of year when they go belly up as the temp starts dropping. However, not to 66F. Dang. Killed another pleco.

66F? I have never seen the temp that low. I went to the house thermostat and it read 64F. No wonder we were cold. But I reset the thermostat yesterday knowing I was going to be home all week. It should be a balmy 72F.

Gurr. I made the call.

One way to warm up the house is to bake. Or maybe I just cannot stand to have a clean kitchen. It must just be subliminal. I made the fixings for five Thai chicken pizzas a la K&V and froze them. The fixings, not K&V. Then I also made these ginger cookies. Yum. The texture is amazing.

So I didn't get a jump on my Thanksgiving cooking. And I didn't finish up my photo albums. And I didn't sew curtains.

I did keep my daughter warm until the HVAC people could get there ($251 later and we have heat again). We also have yummy ginger cookies.

Part 3

We did the typical lab partner blah blah blah. Anyone who has taken a college science lab knows the drill. You are partnered with this person and good or bad, you get to know them very well as you hang out and watch water boil for four hours (minimum) per week.

I found out he was a chemical engineering major from Anchorage, Alaska. Sound familiar? I asked him if he knew my other ChemE friend from our PChem class. Sure enough... turns out their dads worked in the same industry (banking) growing up and they were acquaintances. He also told me the guy was "quite well known" in the engineering department as being a lady's man. I left it at that.

I started going to football games with two of my geek-boy friends. They were fun enough and taught me the rules... "if the ball is moving, no talking".

A few weeks go by and aside from the weird purple pants episode, my lab partner was growing on me. He was good looking and he was smart. He was entertaining to talk to. He was athletic and also enjoyed my favorite sport, volleyball, though he professed a real love for water polo. We talked about our past loves. He was newly out of a relationship and not looking for anything. It had been a year and a half since my last serious relationship (the guy I moved from Fort Collins with) and I was ready. We talked about the upcoming football game and I asked him if I could join him.

He seemed perplexed that I asked if I could watch the game with him but agreed upon a place to meet. He told me he had reserved tickets, but there was always plenty of room to squish in. I looked forward to squishing up next to him.

I bailed on the geek-boys. I showed up and met his engineering buddies and pretended to understand the game in front of me. I even picked up one of the free pom poms on my way in as an effort to show my interest. He was a sweet guy who was thoughtful of me, but darn it, was not showing ANY interest!

I started scooting closer to him in lab classes. Sitting next to him in our associated lecture. Letting my hand linger in pointing out something in his lab notebook. I would stress about what to wear when we would get together to work on our reports. (Would he notice my new Mary Jane Doc Martins? Would he like this brown sweater with a deep V in the front?) I found myself lingering and chatting after working on our reports, dreading the time he would say he either had to do rounds (he was an RA in the dorms) or needed to go to bed. You would have thought *I* never needed to sleep.

He continued to include me in his football plans with his engineering cronies and on away Saturdays I would miss him.

Then finally... one night after working on our lab reports he asked me if I wanted to walk over and get a beer at the bar across the street. I was amped! We went to the bar that was then quiet on that weeknight. The movie Better Off Dead was playing. I knew we were meant to be as we both knew all the lines. ("I want my $2!" ... "He puts his testicles all over me!" She said. "I don't think that word means what you think it means," he would say. ... "This is PURE snow man!")

That night after the beer we walked back to his dorm room in the lightly falling snow. I went to retrieve my lab report materials from his dorm room, and it happened. He kissed me.

I was elated.

To be continued...

(P.S. Purple pants... AB now he professes that he couldn't come to lab in shorts and for some reason had a pair of purple fleece long johns in his bag and put them on under his shorts instead of walking back to his dorm room... makes sense now. I suppose.)

Insanity for the OCD afflicted

What does it say about my son that he cannot put his reward stickers in the boxes of his reward chart? Nope, stickers stuck all over the chart, none in the boxes. Because that would be too ordinary? Expected?

What does it say about me that it is driving me absolutely insane to have stickers all over the chart and none in my very neat, perfectly square, constructed boxes? Insane, positively, absolutely insane.

He does this on purpose, I know.

One mental health day down

I kept Skadi home, but dropped Leif at daycare today.

I used to state that I didn't know what the Terrible Two's were all about. Nope, we didn't have the Terrible Two's in our house. We do, however, have the Terrible Three's. So not a fun experience. I am lucky, he is a great kid, he is a smart kid. But wow, he is exerting his will right now. And he is willful about everything. Everything is a battle lately. From sitting down to dinner, to what shirt he wants to wear, to pooping in the potty (again).

I selfishly kept him in preschool this week while Skadi and I took the week off. I want to give Skadi some one on one time with me. I want to live by her schedule for a few days. I want to not endure screaming at the mere suggestion of naptime.

Oh wait. I forgot... must maintain my facade that my child is an angel. Let me think of something funny or cute he has done lately...

Really, there should be something to write here...

Thinking...

Ok, well the one thing that really cracks AB and I up lately is that his speech patterns are uniquely AB's. I asked AB the other day what it feels like hearing your own voice and sentiments echoed back at you. Because I find it frankly hilarious hearing AB's speech patterns come out of this little 34 lb beanpole walking around my house. "Probably", "actually", "why don't we do this", "how about we..." and any combination of these phrases.

I am being selfish leaving Leif in preschool. And I am working on not feeling guilty about it.

Skadi fell asleep last night at 7pm and woke at 4:28am for a quick nurse and then back to her marathon sleep until 6:48am. That child can snooze when there isn't anything popping up in her way (teeth).

We took Leif to school and then ran to the bank. It was closed and since I wasn't going to take her out of her carseat and schlep her up to the foyer ATM, the banking will wait.

We headed to Winco for groceries. I debated Albertsons vs. Winco. Albertsons and the convenience, the nice store, the one stop shopping beckoned me. But the vast money savings of Winco won me over. Skadi is a most excellent shopping assistant and didn't make a peep the entire time, even while I bagged my own groceries (hate that).

We headed home where she went immediately down for a nap. I put the groceries away and had time for a quick e-mail check before she was back up again. Not surprising given the sleep previously.

We played around the house. She watched me hang the pictures that have been begging for places on the walls. She worked on her crawling (backwards still and that is oh so very frustrating to her). We ate some lunch, turned on Days of Our Lives and folded laundry. At 1:30 she was back down for her afternoon nap.

Wow did I score with the afternoon nap. 2.5 hours to pick up the house, make my Cranberry Zinfandel sauce and start on my photo albums. I was productive there. At 4pm she started making peeps and we packed up to go assuage my guilt and retrieve the boy child a little early.

I looked at my Monday list. I accomplished about half of it. The other half remained untouched, or changed. So "Go get bearhands" changed to "See if Leif's old Bearhands will fit Skadi and call the shoe store and see if they have Bearhands this year". (They do.) I will run Leif down sometime this weekend to pick some out - he wants yellow... they don't show yellow as an option on the website. Why oh why do they not make yellow when they make every.single.other.color. Mentally preparing myself now. "Oh look Leif, they have ORANGE! Isn't ORANGE your favorite color? ORANGE will match your olive green and blue coat SOO well!"

I didn't get out to pick up one of AB's presents. But I will do that tomorrow while my housecleaner is here. Since I don't want to be here while she is here - yap yap yap. (Must remember to pack up the stroller tomorrow morning.)

My list was optimistic. I knew this. But what is really important to me is to have the time with Skadi. What I get done while she sleeps is just my extra bonus.

(Will get more down on my how I started dating my husband post tomorrow.)

Part 2

So NOW my husband has become interested in reading my blog...

-------------------

That fall I looked forward to a year by myself, exploring the options, dating, or not! I was determined to find out what *I* liked.

It was my year to take Physical Chemistry, which was either going to rescue me as a Chemistry major or be my deciding factor to dump this major too since I loathed Organic Chemistry. I sat in about the third row in the deep pit of a lecture auditorium so I was strategically placed at my professor's eye level.

I was one of "those" students, the ones that always sat in the front.

I was raised that if I wasn't 15 minutes early, I was late. (Imagine how horrifying this is when you are 14 and there is a junior high dance to attend??)

This 9am class was my first of the day and I always arrived early before the doors were opened. A chemical engineer I didn't know always arrived early too. He had an 8am biochemistry class prior to this one and so he was always pretty punctual. We would politely acknowledge each other, but never really say a whole lot as we stood outside the JILA tower auditorium. He was immediately recognizable with his port wine stain on one side of his face. I had noted he was also in my Greek Mythology class and so we would make small talk about that class. Within minutes the people I knew from other classes would arrive, my conversations would switch elsewhere with my friends. The professor would come and open the door and we would file in.

The geek-boy friends I knew sat directly behind me. And nearly everyday, I sat next to the chemical engineer who told me his family was from Anchorage, Alaska. We would smile at each other and one day he asked me out. We dated off and on that year. Then he quit calling which was fine since I got tired of not being good enough or pretty enough or always sticking my foot in my mouth. We did maintain a polite friendship though. He continued sitting beside me... though now I wonder why? Was he copying off me in exams?

The following year when school was getting ready to start and football tickets were on sale I thought maybe I hadn't given him enough of a chance. I decided I was ready for a relationship, and well, he was good looking and nice enough.

I called him and since I knew he would be getting football tickets asked him if he would get mine too. (I had never gotten football tickets before, but thought it was a good excuse to touch base with him again.) He agreed and even rode his bike to my apartment to get my check and information from me. I thought things may be off and running with him again. I was hopeful at least after a year of being single and random dates.

The next Monday morning he gave me my football tickets. One set of general admission student tickets.

Umm what? General admission?

Oh, I thought you could get reserved seating, I mentioned to him.

He informed me that had I wanted reserved I would have had to go and pick out for myself where I wanted to sit. Apparently sitting next to him wasn't going to happen.

I was done.

Classes started my senior year in 1993. I was unsure what life held in front of me as I had just decided I didn't want to go to medical school. I surely didn't have the abilities to do grad school and here I was nearly finished with a degree in chemistry (I had loved Physical Chem by the way).

It was the first day of Physical Chemistry Lab and our TA, Scott, told us to partner up. I looked around dismayed to see my usual lab partners with each other.

You know that slight panic when you realize you are left out? I look over and saw the guy - the chemical engineer - from my PChem 1 class... the one with the port wine stain, who always stood outside the auditorium doors with me, not the one I used to sit by thank goodness.

We kind of nodded at each other, shrugged at each other and wa-la, we were lab partners.

Part 1

Fourteen years ago I started dating my husband to be. I look back now and think about that kid I used to flirt with, how I spelled his last name wrong on our first lab report and he corrected me. How I now spell that same last name for people who are tripped up by the one surprising letter in my otherwise simple last name.

I was a senior in high school bound and determined to leave Colorado for college. I wanted out and wanted to see something new. Despite the advice of my advisor and my mom, I applied only to out of state colleges, UC San Jose, UC Irvine and UC San Francisco. (I could have really used help in picking schools... Irvine is acceptable, of course, but the others? What was I thinking - other than Northern California sounded cool.)

At the last minute I decided I didn't want to leave Colorado.

I panicked and went to my advisor who made two phone calls. One to the admissions department at CU (50 miles down the road) and one to CSU - the college across the street from my high school. CU would give me a place in their music department and I could change majors after that.

What? Sure, 9 years of piano lessons as a kid, but I was not a musician. (I didn't understand colleges so well at 18.) They told me I didn't have to take music classes... but I went with the other option, Colorado State. I was in and good to go in the fall.

Fall arrived.

I dumped my high school boyfriend (who was a year behind me) early that first semester for a guy about 6 years older who I met at my job. We were both at school at CSU and he lived with his parents off campus. Coincidentally I had gone to high school with his little brother too.

Looking back I am not sure what I saw in him. He taught me a lot and I do admit that we had a good time together and he taught me about enjoying good food, he thought he knew a thing or two about wine and started me on the road to enjoying the beverage. He also pushed me over that first hurdle to becoming not so picky anymore. But a romantic relationship wasn't what I needed at that time. I needed to learn how to be by myself. I knew this in the back of my head, but it was a scary thing. So I ignored it.

(But I did like his family a lot! I still wonder how they are.)

One day he told me that he had been thinking... he said he was 24 years old and didn't want to live in his parent's basement and go to school there anymore. He wanted a better business school and was planning to go to CU.

I was upset he had just made the decision without asking me what I wanted. After a long discussion with him, thinking by myself and a talk with my mom I decided I too would switch to CU after my first year. I am not a person that takes change lightly. I knew that CU was where I really wanted to be, it was a better school for my major and a "cooler" town than the one I grew up in (which town isn't cooler than the one you grew up in?) and my mom encouraged me to go there, to expand my horizons, but I was still scared. (And I was going to move to California the year before??)

We up and moved. We had a townhouse together, two bedrooms I insisted and he was fine with that. (What kind of college relationship has two bedrooms where you actually stay in the seperate rooms?) I should have known this relationship wasn't for me when we were setting out to decide what we wanted for a place to live. Hindsite is 20-20.

About four months later, it was over. We resumed being friends, which was what we always should have been. And since neither of us could afford to move, or keep the townhouse by ourselves, we existed peacefully until our first years at CU were over. That spring my mom came down to help me find a one bedroom apartment and I set out to be single for one year. I was determined to find out who I was and to focus on school.

To be continued...

Leif's Playlist

After the trek home tonight where Leif whined for "the Curious George song" (Jack Johnson's Upside Down) nearly half the way I decided we need an acceptable cd for the car. He is none too enthused about my XM Radio selections. And the child, for some reason, despises KT Tunstall (one of the child acceptable cds in my car).

So tonight after dinner we sat down for our occasional YouTube session. Upside Down was the first request:




I can't argue with Leif there. He likes the monkey... and well, I just like Jack. Yummy. (Want more of Jack, put your cursor at the bottom of the video... the video for Taylor cracked me up. LOVE Ben Stiller.)

We hit "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" again. Then hit our new favorite Sesame Street. Maybe AB has a point with liking Bert... I find him quite humorous in this clip. "Ernie! Those sheep are tap dancing!"



We got Leif to bed and I finally had time to sit down and burn a cd for us to listen to in the car, that is a set of songs that I am assured that Leif and I will both like... right?

Steal My Kisses - Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Swinging On A Star - Bing Crosby
Superman's Song - Crash Test Dummies
Upside Down - Jack Johnson
People Watching - Jack Johnson
We're Going to Be Friends - Jack Johnson (Love this one.)
3 Rs - Jack Johnson
Talk of the Town - Jack Johnson & Kawika Kahiapo
Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats (AB balked at the inclusion of this, but Leif likes it!)
Heavy Things - Phish
Peaches - The Presidents of the United States of America
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) - Simon & Garfunkel
Walkin' On the Sun - Smash Mouth
Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
Particle Man - They Might Be Giants (My other nickname for AB...)

Man, I should have been a deejay. I think I missed my calling. My favorite song ever? Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, followed a close second by Persuassion and Beeswing.

Swimming, not just for summer anymore!

News flash to clothing stores!

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I couldn't find Skadi a bathing suit the past two weeks given Leslie's difficulties back on August 1. I truly just do not get it. I mean, August 1 was still the height of summer here. I realize it is early November, but is this attitude the reason there is no full scale, open year round, public pool facility here?

I went to the mall after swimming on Saturday and ran to each of the kid's clothing stores in search of a 12-18 month swim suit for Skadi. No, she doesn't *need* a swimming suit, *I* am the one that needs her to have a swimming suit. She grew out of her cute little green bikini... the top at least, I am still putting her in the bottom and she is enjoying the water a la Brazilian style with no top.

The straw that broke the camel's back was when Gymboree, unlike the other stores who gave a polite apology, "nope, I am sorry, no swim suits", gave me a full on laugh with an "oh God no, it's cold outside!" response.

I haven't been impressed with the store even though I am a Gymboree fan. They carry only select items routinely, things are hard to sort through and they say and ask stupid things. Example, I am carrying my new baby girl at about 2-3 weeks old. The sales woman (who is the manager) oogles at her and asks HER name etc. Then asks me why I am returning a little blue boy's sweater. My response was, "well like you said, she is a girl".

I was annoyed. I responded, "it may be cold outside, but there are swimming lessons, swimming pools in health clubs and people do vacation in warm places with their kids". She suggested I try online. Yes, I know the online store far too well.

And you know, I think I will keep my Gymboree purchases to online only and will start entering the store only to return my online purchases that don't work.

Insert title here

I have no words for a title. Because right now I am just mad. I am ticked and I am hurt.

I got an e-mail from my sister in law saying that they don't like materialism and being that it "isn't fair" that we all have to buy for each of their three kids, they don't want it to continue this way. They have set up a new gift exchange routine that is just plain complicated, but essentially says who we will buy for with a strict amount. No draw. Oh and we will all buy for AB's sister... the one who the last two of the three years of the exchanges hasn't actually participated for some unknown reason. (She had AB each time, so I know this for certain.) But since she has no kids we are to shower her with gifts instead. How nice for her.

I hate that my kids don't know their cousins. But this is just another way to drive a wedge between already very distant cousins. "Sorry Leif, we aren't buying for those cousins. Oh and the one we are buying for, you won't receive anything from." No, I wouldn't say that. But do the kids all understand the dynamics of the exchanges? I am not sure I understand them.

As usual, I am the big stick in the mud that sent a big stick in the mud e-mail. I am on the bottom rung of daughter in laws, there is no place further to fall. I may as well tick off my mother in laws "best friend" (my SIL, aka the perfect mother).

Part of my job as a parent is to counter materialism with real parenting. It is also to teach my child that Christmas is not just about receiving, but it is also about giving and choosing items for people that are what THEY would like, and not what my son would like. And when receiving is involved since that is an inevitability (a joyous unevitibility for all kids out there) how to be a gracious recipient and to politely acknowledge the gift and the generosity of the giver.

On Thursday on the way home Leif told me he wanted to get N a surprise. We talked about this since his first suggestion was that he wanted to buy her Colorado. (Wondering if it is really... color yellow?) We decided after we talked about the logistics of "giving" Colorado, that he would give N a book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". It is his favorite book and we just so happened to have a spare copy put up on a shelf as a Christmas gift for someone else (oh maybe a cousin I am no longer supposed to buy for?) He very excitedly picked out a gift bag and a big green bow to put on it. He was proud to take it to her. She said thank you and Leif was happy. He talked about giving her the book a few times this evening.

Then tonight we went to sit down to read books before bed. I asked Leif if he wanted to read the Pigeon book. He told me, "but I gave my favorite book to N", in an almost matter of fact way.

"No Leif," I told him, "you gave her a copy of the same book. See you still have the book too! You didn't give her your book." I pulled out his copy to his complete astonishment.

"Oh!" he told me excitedly. "Then let's read that one and probably N's mommy is reading her the pigeon book too right now."

I had tears in my eyes. I was so proud of him. My son did that well all the time thinking he was giving the one and only copy of his favorite book away. Even when it was time to read it, he accepted he had gifted it to someone else very matter of fact.

I do believe *I* am doing the right thing with my son.

October is over!

The doom and gloom month at work is gone. It is too bad it is October, because this is a month I normally really enjoy. But I suppose maybe it is good it is not a month that I really dislike... like February.

Things are looking up. Suddenly I am feeling more optimistic about my future at my company and those recent dips in my bobber I threw out into the pond seem a whole lot less lucrative. During last month one of the only things that kept me from telling AB we needed to throw in the towel here was first that he actually has a job he likes, second my 5 years of service with my company (which translates into 4 weeks vacation a year), third my flexibility with my job. Being able to take a morning off to chaperone a field trip, or run out early to get a sick kid without anyone questioning my motives, is huge. So while I am a cappy by nature, a goat that seeks to climb the ranks professionally, I also need to look at the needs of my family and the type of mother I strive to be and find balance.

And maybe this doesn't mean packing my family up, moving to the city to pursue life an industry career.

Anyways, this past week I had a number of proposal meetings. I had lunch with one of the higher up scientists who I really look up to both profesionally and on a personal level. It was an impromptu lunch where we discussed a proposal call and I also bounced off an idea on him and received an affirmative answer back on feasibility and desire to be involved. Which for a scientist his level means, "you can put my name on your proposal to add strength and viability".

Then on Friday I got word from my manager that one of my concepts was accepted for full proposal! Yay me!

November is at least starting out in a positive manner.

Things he says

Riding home in the car the other day:

NM: "Leif are you happy?"

Leif: "Yes, I am happy and cute too!"

----------------------

Leif getting his flu shot said to the nurse:

Leif: "Ouch, she poked me! You NEED to say you are sorry!"

---------------------

Thursday morning I was nursing Skadi on the bed before we left for work. Leif asked if he could turn on the TV in our room (that seriously probably hasn't been turned on in years) and "watch the news". I told him he could. The TV is on the National Geographic channel and it is one of the umpteen million shows about researchers searching for shipwrecks on the ocean floors - which I actually do find interesting sometimes.

NM: "Leif I can change the channel to Sesame Street if you hand me that remote over there."

Leif: "No, I am very curious about that boat."

He sits and watches for a few minutes.

Leif: "Wow, that is a beautiful boat." (Verbatim from AB, identical voice inflection and everything."

NM: "That is a neat boat."

Leif: "My grandpa builds boats."

NM: "Your great great grandpa was a boat builder, your great grandpa built boats for fun and he built the boat that you and daddy use at the cabin."

Leif: "Daddy is a good boat driver. Daddy and I are going to build a boat."

(Of course this has conversation and subsequent conversation later in the day with AB about the show has prompted AB to return his thoughts to boat building...)

A look ahead

I am already relishing the fact that I have only one week left until I am gone baby gone for one full week. Ok, not really "gone", but just not at work. Leif will stay in daycare Monday and Tuesday and likely Wednesday. I would normally keep him out Wednesday, but truth be told I think he will have a better time at preschool than home with Skadi and me. Additionally I want to give Skadi some much needed one on one time. And selfish me - I won't have to deal with getting him down for nap.

So here is my list of planned events...

Prior to the big event (i.e., the week off):
-3. Upload all recent photos and order prints.

-2. Confirm guest list for Thanksgiving day.

-1. Sit down with AB and create menu and compile grocery list.

On my list (priority items):
1. Put all photos in photo album.

2. Finish Leif's curtains for his room.

3. Grocery shop for T-day.

4. Prep what I can ahead of time (that list will come a little later).

After the above "need to do" list is done we move onto:
5. Sort through the bags and bags of baby/kid clothes. What can be donated/sold? What do I really want to keep?

6. Figure out where Christmas village is going and set it up since it is stored in the garage (and I don't need my husband to get it out).
6a. Take a trip to Macy's and Michaels with Skadi to get some "extras" for the village. I want my village to rock this year. Ok, maybe it will rock in a few years...
6b. A proper outline must have two subtopics... it bugs me when they don't.

7. Christmas photo of the kids dressed in Christmas clothes.
7a. Decide on card photo/photos
7b. Order cards.

Further down my list, filed under "wishful thinking":
8. Clean out Leif's closet and get it in order for him to use.
8a. But that will require having a place to put all.that.stuff. (What do you do with your wedding dress, for example?)
8b. Garage sale fodder? (NOT the wedding dress.)

9. Finish organizing our closet - go through and get rid of clothes unworn.

And under "if time should stand still while I remain in motion":
10. A trip to Joanne's for fabric and cute patterns.
10a. Look up pillowcase dresses, get the materials for one, and find/borrow from any number of princesses around, white wings. And Skadi will also need a halo... My Christmas Angel.
10b. For complete hokiness factor make Leif be a shepherd...

And under "if money suddenly becomes no object":
11. I really want a new outfit for the holidays. Maybe two. Maybe I just want new clothes. Whatever it is, shop for clothes for ME and not the kids. Sure Skadi could use a few more things but not one more item can fit into Leif's dresser. No way no how.

Paper thin walls

The office next to me was vacated a few weeks ago. Offices don't stay empty for long around here. I waited anxiously to see who would occupy it. Would it be one of my buddies from my former building who are all seeking offices before their building is demolished? (Please oh please let them find offices - I don't want to share.)

Or my former manager.

Though I AM having one humongous heyday remembering the very ironic conversation I had with him 3.5 years ago about office hierarchy. Or maybe it is really more of an issue that deposed managers fall so far in ranking that he now must live with the common folk.

Mental note to self... remember the walls are paper thin.

Making Christmas, Making Christmas.

The shopping bug? It has hit.

Just over two years ago I bought on clearance some wonderful Pottery Barn silver garland. All five feet of one strand.

My tree is nine feet tall. (Yes, I like Christmas THAT much. AB is not sure he likes Christmas that much... all 200 lbs and three boxes of tree.)

Five feet of garland, nine foot tree. Five feet of garland, nine foot tree.

See where I am going here? Great, you are smarter than I was.

I love my pretty silver berry garland. I am tired of my Crate and Barrel star garland.

The last two years I have waited for someone to make a knock off (hello Target), but no one has.
I now like eBay too and look forward to receiving my additional 3 strands of garland so I can kick the star stuff to the street... well at least to the garage sale pile. (Where I can hopefully also convince AB to kick the icicle lights that are so 90's in exchange for something a little more classy. Since we will be home and all for Christmas this year.)

PB got the best of me

No. I didn't succumb to the $68 Christmas gingham dress.

But Skadi needed a Christmas stocking for this year. Which meant that in the name of matching, Leif probably needed one as well. And I am a sucker for Christmas stuff. And personalized Christmas merchendise? Well resistance was futile.

I am telling myself that there is no way Target would have had these adorable stockings and that $19 and free shipping each wasn't bad. (Ok, $25 each once you include the personalization.) Note to self to check back after Christmas to get a couple on sale for AB and I. We can live for another year with stockings that only match each others (and Winny's).

Oh and since I was there... and I am a sucker for buying early... way early. Leif and Skadi also got Easter baskets. For $5.99 they were practically paying me to take them.

And then the real reason I went back to the site? Standing in the shower this morning it dawned on me that I COULD buy that cute spring time PB Baby dress on clearance for $12.99 and Skadi can wear it for Easter this year. I couldn't even get an Easter dress for from Target for $12.99... and it is so freakin' cute. I did skip the monogramming though.

Step away from the PB Baby website

What has this girl child done to me?

While I would like to say how easy I *know* it would be to make this dress over Thanksgiving... I also remember the cute lemon fabric and sundress and bonnet patterns sitting on my sewing machine from this past summer. Untouched.

So I will repeat until it sinks in:

I could not would not make the dress.
I will not will not buy the dress.
Not in my shopping cart
Not on my machine
Pottery Barn, you let me be!
I do not like cute gingham dresses.
I do not like them PB Kids.

(Of course there is the taunting voice I hear...

You do not like them so you say,
Try them try them and you may,
You may I say.)

An evening of mourning

Last night AB and Leif went out onto the porch with a big knife and the trash can. They hacked my giant pumpkin to pieces. Ok, AB did the hacking, Leif tossed the pieces in the trash can.

I went out to check on them and was nearly choked up at seeing the demise of my giant.

"It's so sad Mommy," Leif said with a big grin on his face as he tossed chunks into the can.

"It is sad," I told him.

Somehow a big sendoff seemed more fitting. But what do you do when you have 140 lbs of one pumpkin to send off?

AB said he was a little concerned about the trash can. A total of 210 lbs of pumpkin on top of our regular trash might give the garbage truck a run for its money.

Long weekend wrap up

I walked into work this morning on time. This is a noteworthy achievement. One that may be repeated tomorrow morning and maybe even Wednesday morning. However, by week's end, I fully expect the kids to be settled into the time change and we will resume the 5-30 minutes late "normal" schedule. Time change? Loathe it. My kids are happily ingrained in a schedule and I have yet to see why we must go about fiddling with the time. Pick a time and stick with it already.

Ok, now that I have that off my chest.

We had a lot going on this weekend. A long weekend for us all. My FIL and his girlfriend arrived Thursday night. Leif, despite our insistence that "grandpa from Alaska" was coming to visit us and not Bompa from Colorado, was hugely disappointed when our expected visitors weren't who he was expecting. He took me into the kitchen and asked that I tell them to leave. Now.

That didn't happen obviously. Instead Leif grew to appreciate their presence after realizing that grandpa came with pool access. And Friday morning at the Holiday Inn Express afforded us the luxury of an entire pool and hot tub just for us. We had lunch at a local winery/bistro where Leif was able to eat cracker straws and salami and run around scuffling in the leaves while we enjoyed the fall air and a nice Gewurztraminer.

Dinner also took Leif by surprise. We had talked for days of Miss K coming over on Friday night. Well, then the strep struck her. (Or flakiness struck her, I never know which.) I had to scramble at the last minute. I made a quick call to Skadi's teacher and we had a new sitter. One who Leif didn't know (despite our insistence that she knows him VERY well) and certainly wasn't going to roll around on the floor with him. I have seen Miss K... I know exactly why Leif wants to roll around the floor with her...

He was apparently quite subdued the whole night. But upon Miss R's arrival to the house, Skadi was thrilled. She bounced and giggled when Miss R walked in the door. Bonded. I know this made Miss R's day.

Dinner that night at the other winery was fantastic. There had been discussions of slow service, but everything that night was on cue if not too fast. I was a little worried we would go home and Leif would still be awake. Believe me, if I am paying a sitter, I want a sleeping child when I get home!

I handed Miss R a wad of cash. I did my calculation. According to my coworkers, if your babysitter is a professional, you never pay less than minimum wage. And what is minimum wage? $9/hour or so. Truth be told, I have no idea. I rounded up given that I have two kids. We were gone 2.5 hours. Wa-la... a reasonable payment for a night out and about what I pay Miss K or A. Miss R took the $5, handed me the $20 back. Insisted. Ok, I KNOW babysitters make more than $2 an hour. I protested. Then she insisted I put my $20 away. Just wait until Christmas.

Saturday morning Leif had swimming lessons, which he excelled at. Then AB and I got our suits on. AB went into the pool and played around with Leif while I went and did parent tot lessons with Skadi. I had been worried about timing with nap - though not the stress level that I did at that age with Leif. Skadi loved it.

After swim lessons it dawned on us that we had already had a full weekend it seemed, yet it was only Saturday morning. We headed to Target for a few things and well, also because I like new stores. Nevermind that the "old" Target is very close to the health club. Leif and Skadi each had $20 gift cards from grandma for Halloween. Leif can count to 20 and so I hoped to use this time as a learning experience for him as well. We need to find out how much something costs and if it is lower than 20, then you can get it.

How naive I am.

It turned into a lesson of, "you can't just have everything you can grab". I truly think to this point he was fairly oblivious to the toy aisles. Though we did have a shot at working on one of the more important lessons, "you can have X or Y but not both" where X was a Spiderman and Y was a Buzz Lightyear. That slowed him down.

Buzz was the verdict after much deliberation.

Saturday afternoon AB wanted a trip back to the apple orchard to pick more apples. Because when you don't have massive quantities of fruit to process, cook or preserve, you just apparently become almost bored. (Eye rolling? Naw, not here.) You know you live in a small town when you get to the orchard. They are closed. But you call them and they come right down to help you with all the supplies. We hurried in our apple picking since we didn't want to completely inconvenience the owners. Though I expect it was probably the easiest $20 they made in a long time. 20 lbs of apples later...

Sunday was grocery morning where we spent loads on food. We spent a fair portion on foods aimed at establishing a more "Meditteranean Diet". I am actually doing pretty good at losing the pregnancy weight (thank you breastfeeding). All of my pre-Skadi pants are fitting me. (Pre-Leif pants will take a little more work.) But AB and I are foodies enough to know that we will never be able to go with a Nutrisystem or prepackaged foods diet without approaching depression. We also know that as we approach our late 30's (only approaching here... I have another 2 months at 35) that we need to change our daily diet even more so that we don't continue to gain weight. Incorporating excercise would be ideal, but aside from our evening walks and weekend madness, we just aren't there yet. Though we will get there. But until then, Meditteranean dieting we will do.

Sunday afternoon Leif, Skadi and I were playing in the backyard. I happened to note that the double wagon had seatbelts. Hmmm. Sure enough I could secure Skadi in the wagon and entice Leif to join her. Since AB was plastered to the TV screen watching either the Seahawks and Browns or the Colts and the Pats, we headed out onto the walking path. A half hour later Leif was crying, "I don't want to go back home", but Skadi was looking a touch chilly, and I was huffing and puffing from hauling them down the path and back. AB? Never even noticed we were all absent from the backyard for that 30 minutes. And the double wagon? Amazing! Skadi loved being a big kid, and Leif loved entertaining her. Winny just loved getting out. I did not think I would be out on a walk with both kids and the dog by myself.

Dinner was easy last night as I had put hamhocks and beans on earlier in the day. Comfort food at its best. My grandfather made this and I chowed it from the time I was Leif's age. Leif wasn't so interested though. That's ok. More for me.

This is Halloween

A tiger and a ladybug - a ladybug that really wants to crawl.

It's the Great pumpkins!

Heading out for tricks and treats! There was a major haul by the end of the night in our house.

And this is par for the night with Bean the Ladybug. Fussy, fussy. But at least she was cute...

End of an era... at least a little era

I packed up my Medela Lactina yesterday. Sigh. If you don't know what that is. You probably don't really want to know.

One benefit - and truly, no tongue in cheek here, it is a benefit - of working where I work is that if you are a woman, after you have a baby, you get the use of a hospital grade breast pump for 6 months. Really, really nice benefit since you also get the kit that goes with it.

I love the Lactinas. I really, really do. Last year after I finagled an extra month of use out of the one I had on loan I looked at purchasing one on eBay. They ran about $800. After gasping a little, I decided at that point to buy a new PIS-A instead, which I used for that last 5 months.

So comparison now that I have experienced both... the Lactina is worlds above the PIS-A. There is a reason for the price discrepancy. I can expect my supply now to take a dip. Which is fine as I near these last 4.5 months of pumping daily. AB is probably hoping it does dip since we truly have no more room in the freezer.

(Which by the way, I was told there was a special on Dateline about donating breastmilk internationally, anyone have the info? I exhausted all avenues regarding local donation "just in case" I really ended up with that much. See I am an over producer. Massive, massive over producer. Like 13 gallons in my freezer over producer. You really wanted to know that didn't you? And no, I am not going to make soap, or cheese.)

This time I didn't need to finagle another month. When I got the e-mail saying "bring it down tomorrow", I could do it. Which by the way, how about a little reminder. Something like "just a hint from benefits... your child is now 6 months... you know what that means!" It would probably minimize those number of panicked e-mails back from moms saying "Wait! It can't be! I still need it!"

It's my second run with the big blue box. Kind of sad to think about hauling it in. But I will head down to hand it over to a brand new mom with a brand new itty bitty baby of her own.

Mine? Not so bitty anymore. All 23 pounds of her courtesy of mama milk.

Catching up, taking a breather

It seems as though the past week has been a whirlwind of activity. All good. But it isn't slowing down.

We carved the pumpkins tonight. Then after bath and I got Skadi down I sat down with Leif to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". I have always been a huge Charlie Brown fan, related well with him for some reason, and was very excited this year that Leif is to the age that he will also enjoy it. I was bummed that it didn't come on though until the night before Halloween. And since we were pushing the bedtime deadline, I didn't even have the luxury of Tivo'ing it to fast forward through commercials. Wow are commercials brutally painful when you haven't watched them for a few years.

Oh and then there was one that was just so highly inappropriate during a kid's show that I am thinking about contacting the TV station. It was about meth recovery and a woman who lost her child and would sit in front of his school at 9pm strung out. Oh but all is better now and she has custody of him. I sat there saying, "what the?" to AB and he yells back from the kitchen, "during a kid's show?" Umm yeah. Leif is also not to keen on commercials. Every time one came on he said, "I want to watch it again!" Referring to the movie, not the commercial.

There have been a whole slew of funny comments the past few days. I asked him if he wanted me to wash his hair tonight since he was floating on his back in the tub and he told me, "no, we don't have time for that tonight".

He has a few favorite songs lately, but unfortunately XM radio is also not like Tivo and I can't just rewind. He is fond of the two Cars songs, "Life is a Highway" and the one by Sheryl Crow. I can hum and mumble most of the songs, but come up with a name? Got me. The one that was nearly Leif's breaking point the other day though was Jack Johnson's "Upside Down". There were tears over not being able to listen to the Curious George song again. Must make a cd. And another new development? My son has fine tuned his hearing and realizing mom really does suck at singing. He now politely requests that I not sing along with the songs.

Oh then there was the funny one that came out of our friend's son and not Leif. We have been suspicious that J is the other child who is not napping at daycare. School has mentioned in passing "there is another child with a napping problem like Leif". The mom mentioned to the dad within earshot of J, "so evidently there is another child that doesn't nap with Leif". And J piped up, "oh that's me!"

They are so honest. I am loving this stage where I can ask Leif, "did you have a time out at school" and he will answer me honestly. If it is yes, he usually follows up with "But but..." or "Because cause..." and he goes on to explain his case. Which is never one-sided at all. Ever.

He has had a chocolate fixation lately. According to the teachers, so has the rest of the class. He got in the car the other day and told me, "mommy, you need to tell Ms. R about chocolate. She doesn't know about it." They made an effort to remedy the situation by giving the kids hot cocoa for snack that day. When I asked Leif about it he said "no, we had lattes".

So tomorrow is Halloween and I think I have Leif thoroughly amped about it. When cutting the pumpkins open the other day Leif told me, "oh mommy, I bet there is a camera inside!" He has been talking about asking Santa for a camera like N's that is "blue and not pink". Because you know Santa might make a mistake and all. Evidently Leif is stuck somewhere between Halloweenland and Christmasland. He hasn't really sorted out the two holidays and I am sure The Great Pumpkin didn't help tonight!

Tomorrow night AB will take Leif trick or treating while I stay home with the Beaner in her ladybug costume and hand out candy. Protecting my giant jack-o-lanterns and all. (Thanks to all our friends who have helped with lifting and moving them. Please help me to reign in my husband who is threatening to sabotage my plants next year!)

Thursday AB's dad and girlfriend arrive. Friday we are taking off and running around with them. They are wine fans, so we have a few wineries on the list, but not too many so as to bore the kids to death. They will stick around for swimming lessons on Saturday morning and then head back over the hill for my FIL's reunion.

Things start to calm down after that and my countdown begins. Countdown to my full week off over Thanksgiving. Every year I save my personal holiday days and revel in an entire week off. I usually leave Leif in daycare for much of it so I can get things done. This year in the name of saving money and to afford me some one on one time with Beaner, she is staying home with me all week. I am starting my list of things I hope to accomplish.

Skadi is nearly on the move and isn't scared of falling on her face in her attempts to crawl. I keep thinking her movement is just around the corner.

AB has succumbed to my Jedi mind powers just the last month or so after working on him for the past year and has said we can get a kitten in December. I nearly had one fall in my lap and all. I am 90% commited to taking one providing I can get a female and they are healthy and not wild things. And the coworker who has them gets over herself and her fear of children and let's me bring Leif over to see them soon. They just opened their eyes.

So my Christmas present is a kitten. Cheap present until you talk about the automatic litter box, a new carrier (because Calley's old carrier won't do), two vet appointments at 8 and 11 weeks, spaying and declawing. AB is reconsidering his reluctant yes after I called the vet and priced this all out. But he knows he really can't recant it now. We have been talking about names with Leif.

Only one name works for him. Sophia. Also the name of my mom's cat. And he knows this. We need a Sophia too. He told me last night we could name it something else but he was calling it Sophia. Sigh. I asked him if there wasn't any other name he liked. He told me "Brown Ghost" is ok.

Double sigh.

Who is that man over there?

For those of you who don't live here, and therefore have not seen AB... he shaved his beard off.

The best we can figure is that he has had it for 12 years. It has been a permanent fixture our 5.5 years here. He never shaved it off while living in Reno. Which takes us back Colorado and college. He thinks he shaved it off while working on the Slope (aka in Prudhoe Bay). He hasn't worked there in 12 years we calculate.

He waited until he had an evening where Leif could watch. We thought it would be less shocking to him to see if come off.

Leif, not so thrilled. Skadi was intrigued - though I think it was the shaving cream on the face that amazed her. Leif reminds AB daily he doesn't have hair on his face anymore. Then tells him to grow it back now.

Don't worry Leif... daddy is already working on that!

He had to shave it for work to get fit tested for a resp mask. The condition of him growing it back is that he has to maintain shaving implements at work. Done.

AB tells me that the biggest problem he has is that his face looks old. The last time he has seen his lower jaw he was much younger. Seeing his face age so substantially in a matter of minutes was disturbing to him.

I still turn around and nearly jump seeing a guy I don't know. Some people don't look *that* different with and without facial hair. Not AB. Most everyone we know is surprised by the transformation.

Busting myths across the parking lot.

A few weeks my good friend, V, picked up her work phone and called me to share the scoop.

Mythbusters.

Here.

Next Wednesday!

The myth is would a cockroach survive a nuclear attack, would bugs really inherit the earth?

I immediately had serious envy. I was suddenly kicking myself for jumping from the nuclear group nearly three years ago. Three years of working in a group where I didn't fit to meet the Mythbusters in person? It could have been done!

Then she tells me it is the second stringers though. I like them, Cari, Grant and Tory. But they aren't Adam and Jamie. So when my attempts to have some reason to visit (legitimately or not) the building across the parking lot last Wednesday failed, I didn't sob too hard. Had it been Adam and Jamie... there might have been a mob of science women outside the gate screaming and fainting. And I just might have been right in the midst.

I AM, however, seriously anxious to see the show when it airs in February.

My pumpkins

Official weights... 22 and 32 lbs.

Oh yeah, official pumpkin as in fruit's weights... 71 and 141 lbs.

I have saved seeds from the large one. Should anyone desire Giant Atlantic pumpkin seeds, let me know.

Meet Bob

Leif has renamed our housecleaner. She is no longer Wanda (name changed to protect the oblivious), she is now Bob.

About six months ago he started calling her "boy" as in "whatcha doin' boy?" This was on those rare occasions when she would clean our house and we would be around (normally just briefly since Leif has an obsession with her vacuum cleaner we try to get out of there quick - oh and because I do not really care to listen to her dysfuntional family stories that.never.end).

When my mom visited after Skadi's birth we both had giggling fits over this. And even now if one of us wants to elicit quick giggles we just have to say, "whatcha doin' boy?"

Leif never called other people "boy", so I don't know where this came from.

This morning Wanda was in our house getting started as we were running a few minutes late in getting out the door thanks to Leif deciding he wanted to try for a gummy worm by going poop since his simply asking for one resulted in a "no". Ok, so I don't give a prize all the time for a poop, in fact recently it has been rare. But since the last few days we have had a return to poopy underwear I will do what I need to.

Leif heard a noise and I told him Wanda was here. He walked out and saw her vacuum cleaner and immediately went over to admire it. He heard a noise in the bathroom and I told him that Wanda was in the bathroom cleaning.

We get out to the car and start pulling out of the garage and he says, "that's Bob's car".

"The white car?" I asked him. He confirmed.

"No," I told him, "that's Wanda's car."

"No mommy, his name is Bob." I am giggling at this point.

"Bob is cleaning our house today," he tells me.

Ok, at this point I am dying.

Oh and in no way does our housecleaner represent a man. She is a small, red headed, woman.

One of the weirdest things I think I have ever seen.

Go ahead and click on it, nothing vulgar and nothing will scare you. Well at least nothing is going to pop out at you.


And if anyone wants to offer up ideas on what exactly this is, comment away!

Glue Sticks!

Glue sticks, glue sticks, glue sticks.

No more bottles of glue.

I am seriously tired of having construction paper sitting around on every flat surface with piles of glue and various thingymabops of all types in it drying. Drying.for.days.

Oh and so far... these works of art are ALL for grandma and Bompa, or so I am told.

Maybe just a little obsessive

I had a rare glimpse into my son's daily grind the other day. I arrived 5 minutes early to chaperone the pumpkin patch field trip. The bus was then 20 minutes late. So I stood off to the side to observe the kids (really though, mostly my son).

My son's "work" he was doing was a tracing activity. He had various templates and colored pencils and squares of paper and was tracing them. It took him awhile to do one, but he was excited by this.

Very excited apparently.

Has got to be excited everyday about this.

Because his little folder where he puts his tracings after he finishes with them was THICK. The other kids had 4-5 in their work folder. Leif's was bulging. 30-40 in his case.

And note to self... really do encourage the picking up at home. When finished he put every single thing away. He CAN do this.

Oh and next the amazing thing... getting 19 children to all go potty, wash hands and get coats on in the 10 minutes before the bus came. I just stood and watched in amazement.

Making the list, checking it twice, and shopping on the internet

The holiday season is just around the corner. And I am dragging my feet. I have bookmarked and bookmarked until I am blue in the fingertips. Now I just need to convince myself to hit "buy".

I am an internet shopper. I might even be a little obsessive about it. I love the deals. I love the selection. Both things that living in a relatively small town are rare.

I have my list for Little AB fairly well rounded out. A Fisher Price camera from mom and dad. A Buzz Lightyear action figure from Santa. A nice wooden Melissa and Doug calendar that we can set up each month. A book about telling time (since he is showing interest in learning this concept) and a few other things I will find along the way I am sure.

Bean will get a baby doll and some Little People. And we will be taking advantage of the fact that she will only be 9 months and therefore really doesn't need much.

I have a few ideas for AB, but nothing overly concrete other than another pair of gloves... I have a few things picked out on his Amazon wish list (that I made for him). But no real great ideas yet. (Ideas? Anyone?) (I actually do have a few other ideas, but am not going into depths because even though he says he doesn't read my blogs... you just never know!)

I have a long list of things I want or need. It nearly kills AB that near the top of my list is new oven mits. Yes, I want new oven mits. Mine are just plain nasty from a few years of being hauled outside (and left outside) for BBQ'ing.

The one thing I actually did accomplish and not just put in shopping carts, is that my kids are outfitted for Christmas. Matching pajamas (courtesy of Old Navy $10 each... nice on the budget). Skadi got the white Hanna Andersson dress with the red snowflake on the front. (Ok, so she also got the tights... I don't even spend $18 on tights for me... what has this girl child done to me?) I did go on the cheap and buy the red shoes with white snowflakes from Old Navy though, yay me.

And in the name of matching for photos, Leif will be donning a red sweater with white Fair Isles print a la Old Navy. I know, I went on the cheap for him. But he won't wear it outside of holiday functions. And it matched Skadi's outfit. And she is the girl child.

I am quite pleased I accomplished the clothing shopping. I know the next step is the actual present ordering. But since I am abiding by my new rule of paying an equivelent amount on my credit cards (thank you free online banking) everytime I make an online purchase, I am waiting till the end of the month.

The pumpkin patch

Leifisms

I just got through reading one of Leif's favorite books to him, "Leif the Lucky". It is about the Vikings, Erik the Red, the colonization of Greenland and the Vikings arrival in North America. It amazes me this is one of his favorite books. (Snore...) You see Rockergirl for Christmas and Leif's birthday recently sent books with her boy's names in the titles. I thought it was a great idea, went searching for a book with Leif's name in the title and sure enough, found one (and only one). It is a fantastic book really. And he loves it. But wow is it long. (I am thinking we have a show and tell candidate for Thursday.)

Ok, now I have waken up I think. We have had a day of hilarity. Really, Leif keeps me in stitches.

----------------------

First we went for a walk tonight after dinner. It was a little cold. Skadi was bundled and cute, but I was getting cold and I feared the wind whipping in Skadi's little hood. AB told Leif we were going to turn around.

AB: "Mommy's cold and so is Skadi. Are you cold Leif?"

Leif: "Not so much Daddy."

He IS AB's mini-me. Leif has picked up AB's speech patterns freakishly well.

----------------------

Leif has had a thing with cleanliness since he was about one year old and entered his daycare where it is actually not only encouraged, but required that the kids clean up after themselves. Leif was obsessive about sweeping and wiping the counters off. Obsessive. His teachers used to joke that they wanted to see my house, I had to keep the cleanest house ever.

I don't.

I usually responded that Leif was going to be in therapy in 18 years saying, "my parent's house was so messy, I was forced to do the cleaning since I was one year old!"

Leif loves to vacuum. On days like today where there are bits and pieces on the floor, I give in and pull the vacuum out and hand him the wand.

We were all tired of the roar of the vacuum and Leif had gone over the kitchen floor twice. I turned it off and said, "that's enough".

Leif screams, NO! Then this came out of his mouth:

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?"

I had to turn my head and laugh for about 30 seconds before I could look back at him and tell him that he was not allowed to yell at me and next offense was a time out.

----------------------

More vacuum stories?

AB was attempting to teach Leif the finer points of football the other night. For example, you hold the football and run while being chased through the house. I know, not safe... but it was funny watching him set off running squeal and ditch the football in less than three seconds.

In some attempt to teach his son football, AB stuck the football under his arm and told Leif to chase him. He did for about 30 seconds, before his little red pretend DustDevil vacuum caught his eye. Roar, the things came on and Leif is chasing AB with the vacuum.

"What?" AB yells, "There's no vacuuming in football!"

----------------------

Leif is at that age where playdates are the "in" thing. He decides who he is going to invite and we figure it out, most of the time with success. He hadn't quite gotten to the point that his friend, J, has though. J used to ask his mom if he could go to Leif's house, but was met with answers like, "it's 9pm Leif is in bed and you should be too" or "I will see if Leif's mommy wants to set something up".

J has resorted to cutting the middleman (or middlemommy) out of the loop and has started coming directly to me for the straight up answer. Certainly my answer will always be "yes", won't it? Unfortunately the answers he gets from me are a lot on the same lines, "well I will see what we can work out with your mommy or daddy" or "no Leif needs to go home and eat supper right now".

I guess I wasn't too surprised that Leif took the reigns then and tried to arrange his own playdate. Though I was a little surprised it was with another adult.

"What," I thought, "am I not fun enough for you?"

But only for a second. Because when the adult he invites also happens to drive the coolest bus with the zip line, the balance beams, spring board and mats in it, who can really blame him?

Coach informed me though that his answer to Leif was "oh that would be fun! You can call my mommy and see if she will let me".

Leif said he would, but Coach's mommy has yet to receive a call.

Viva la difference!

Growing up I didn't think my sister and I were that different. She was more outgoing then I was. Cuter than I was. And more popular than I was. Things that as the oldest child made me proud of her. I hoped that she had somehow learned from me. Because from the time she was born I wanted to mother her. I wanted to help with everything and teach her everything. If it were up to me she would have been learning long division at age 4. (And we all wonder why she rebelled against math so much...)

Truth be told we were actually very different. And now? We are worlds apart. This isn't bad at all. But since having Skadi, I have been examining more of the dynamics of my own relationship with my sister as I watch Leif and Skadi. Drawing comparisons is nearly impossible though. Leif and Skadi are 2 years 8 months apart (my sister and I, 3 years 7 months). I had been home with my mom since birth up until kindergarten. Leif is well socialized at daycare. The differences between Leif and I are vast.

But even at Skadi's young age the differences between she and Leif are amazing too. Intellectually, you know that they are different people, even though she occasionally catches me out of the corner of my eye with a smile that I would swear was worn by her brother. Oh and I never call her Leif... ever... ;-)

One of the biggest differences I have noted about Leif and Skadi are what the engage in. Leif would sit in a high chair when we went out to eat smiling at everyone around us. He engaged people. He drew so much attention AB and I used to talk about not eating out because of all the attention he garnered - on his own accord. At Skadi's age he could care less about toys. Giving him a toy usually resulted in it being chucked... and he didn't want it back. He never held toys in the car, and he still doesn't. No toys kept his attention and AB and I began to question buying more toys. I pegged him as a people person and that has stuck. He still is.

Skadi on the other hand is a toy fiend. I almost felt bad a few months ago when I handed her a toy and her eyes lit up and she rolled it back and forth, mouthed it and examined the details for 20 minutes. Then onto the next toy. According to her daycare teachers, she likes specific colored toys too - yellow toys are good. The child plays with toys in her carseat and becomes very upset should she accidentally drop one - which she actually doesn't do often.

Other differences? Leif wasn't a sleeper and Skadi is. Leif was a napper (WAS) and Skadi isn't.
Leif was more of a smiler than Skadi is. She is also a touch fussier, particularly with daycare, than Leif was. She has two teeth that were through at 6 months. Leif didn't get teeth until 9 months. Skadi has hair, Leif none until 18 months.

Leif of course, lately is very fond of pointing out exactly the difference between he and Skadi. Which would be why he is called a "boy" and she is called a "girl".

Weekend wrap up

We had a good weekend, though it is seeming like a blur at 9pm on Sunday. We joked about eating out on Friday. How tempting, yet how stupid of an idea that is after last week's debacle. Instead we ordered out Thai and were less than impressed with our normal take out place. They have major swings that last typically about 6 months. We have concluded that one couple runs it for 6 months. They are the nice ones that can cook and present you with nice sized portions. Then 6 months later the bad cooks take over who give you miniature sized everything. The bad ones have just taken over.


Saturday was swimming lessons, a little shopping after swimming. We looked at kittens at PetSmart. Long enough to put in daddy's head that having a kitten might actually be fun. We have recently had some new kittens very nearly "fall in our lap". (I use this term because AB told me the only way he wanted another cat was if one "fell in our lap". They were born two days ago to a coworker of mine. The cat she adopted as a stray turned up pregnant when she took her to the vet for shots and an exam. I told her maybe in December when the kittens are the requisite 8 weeks old. I think I can go back and give her a yes in December. Vargasgirrl assures me that the automatic litterbox is heaven sent.


We went and picked apples on Saturday afternoon. Leif had a great time. Skadi slept in the car. We got a box of fujis that are really fantastic.

Sunday we started out the morning with sourdough apple pancakes. Leif loves pancakes, he loves apples, but apples in pancakes was a no go. He ate oatmeal instead. Silly child. (But as someone with texture issues, I do get his aversion.)

Two days, no naps. During Leif's Sunday supposed nap (Skadi's real naps were exactly opposite Leif's "nap time". We got no breaks this weekend.), Skadi and I played with the camera some.

After the supposed nap on Sunday we had C and N and their parents and C's grandparents over for a pumpkin picking party. The pumpkin is out! Both are actually. We are giving thought to how to get an actual weight on the big one. One suggestion is to take the car to Earthworks and have it weighed, with and without the pumpkin. Very good idea and plausible.

AB has become more curious on the weight of the pumpkin when the second one repeatedly weight 720 lbs on our scale! Ok, decimel point wasn't as visible as it should have been... it was 72.0 lbs. (AB kept asking what "error 720" was since he was sure the scale didn't go past "350 or so". Then he noted the decimel point.) He felt that the big one was more than twice that. (Statistical estimates were 135-160 lbs a month or so ago - and it hasn't grown in that time).

My son is the best

So we have been having a few minor issues at daycare with behavior. Nothing major really. Well magnitude depends on which of the four teachers you talk to. There is the "alarmist" who catches me on the way out and cites "disturbing behavior", there is the "annoyed one" who is warming up, but I get the feeling my son just annoys her - and well, I know my husband does. The other two are just "warm fuzzy one" and "tell it like it is" - and they both say my son is a typical three year old boy.

Even given the later, when someone says there is a problem, we strive to address it and take it seriously.

As incentive to correct his behavior I have told him that if he naps, follows the rules (no spitting, no growling, no yelling and no taking his penis out of his pants at dinner) he will get a special reward. I don't say what the reward is, but last night it was an extra 10 minutes of Marble Race action with daddy while mommy and Skadi watched intently. Today while getting milk at Safeway I decided it was a small bag of Oreo cookies.

I got the word from the teachers in form of secret note that he had a great day and pulled out the reward. Leif was thrilled. He ate the cookies on the way home and thanked me twice for the special cookies. We were nearly home when he told me:

"Mommy, I liked those cookies, but I like the pumpkin bread you baked a lot better."

Aww!

For those of you who MySpace it

I haven't decided if I will cancel my account altogether, or just pare down my already minimalistic account to the bare minimum. I like the social aspect of being able to find people and be found by others. Plus, it is the only place where I maintain an albeit light connection with some people from my past.

But here is where my concern lies. I am a parent.

There is a website out there that apparently cites freedom of information and creates profiles for people. They claim to be akin to the white pages. But the white pages don't post a picture of my son next to my name and city and state. From everything I can tell, this information was taken from MySpace. And frankly, I see a huge difference between my putting a picture of my son and I on my profile and someone taking my picture from my profile and putting it on a website I have not authorized. (Freedom of information my ass.)

Curious? Want to see what your profile shows? Check out peek you dot com with no space between peek and you. You can "opt out" and remove your profile. Check out their privacy page for information on how to do this. (I did this using my spam account because I have no delusion that they will actually do this, nor that they won't then use my e-mail account for who knows what.)

I contacted the local news and have asked them to look into this and have also been looking into the legality of this. It is probably legit. And I probably wouldn't have flipped had my son's smiling face not been there on some unfamiliar website. But the security of MySpace - the reason my company banned it - is a concern, at least to me.

Adding to my blogs list

I am so thrilled that my best friend from high school has joined the Blogger-sphere! As a long time MySpacer, she blogged there. Now she is here. Yay, something else to occupy myself with when I need a break at work.

We met each other in junior high shortly after I moved to Colorado and were decent enough friends for a few years. I think it was about our junior year when we really started doing a lot together. We dated best friends (both were mistakes we can laugh about now) that year.

After graduation we drifted apart, both doing our own thing. Then one day in grad school about 1998 I looked on the internet for her. Found her just a few weeks before her planned exodus to a new city. We did some traveling together, she came to visit us in Reno lots, we went to see her in Colorado far less (sorry about that). We went to San Francisco and Napa. (Met up with Rockergirrl for the first time in San Fran). We ran Bay to Breakers. She was my bridesmaid.

We have maintained our friendship over the past 5 years since I graduated and AB and I moved to a much smaller, more slow paced town and then joined the not so secret society of parents. As with all friendships, they ebb and flow. And though we haven't kept in contact as good as we did in our 20's and early 30's, it's all still good.

I love when my friends have blogs. I don't feel quite so exposed I guess - or at least they are as exposed as I am and we can all just stand there and gawk at each other. Now the rest of my friends need to go write blogs! Now!

------------

Speaking of blogs - I am going to be updating my list when I get time. Tonight I don't have time as I have other blogging to do. But just a heads up that I am going to pull some of the never updated blogs. Love the people, I really do, but I need fresh reading material!

I also have a few to add that I have been reading pretty regularly. (And as always, don't worry I won't be adding the real personal ones particularly of close friends with real names for privacy reasons unless you give me the go ahead. In fact, I won't even ask.) So anyways, keep an eye on the sidebars this weekend.

Garden picture

Request...

Here is a picture of our vegetable garden. I knew this picture that Leif requested I take "standing over by the tree" would come in handy someday.

We have 10 tomato plants along the west (sunny side) of the fence. In front of those you can see the three brussel sprout plants. Next is where the cabbage used to be that was taken over by cucumbers and pumpkins.

In the front are chives gone to seed and the pumpkins. The carrots are also in front of the pumpkins. Behind the pumpkins are three broccoli plants. Behind those, sunflowers.

On the south side of the fence is cabernet sauvignon grapes. (West fence holds merlot grapes.)

The south side of the garden is mostly pumpkin plant, but you will also find swiss chard in there too.

I do a "zen gardening" approach. I have basically figured out where things grow best and what needs sun, what doesn't. We mix in steer manure every year and then lay down garden fabric. I use a ton of fabric staples to keep it all down. I do a combination of planting from seed and from starters. Once everything is planted, AB starts piling on the grass clippings. Clippings do an amazing job at keeping the weeds out without the use of chemicals.

At the end of the year we compost what we can on top of the garden fabric and toss the fabric and start new each year.

My green thumb extends only to my vegetable garden. My flowers don't do half bad each year - pots I should just not do as I forget to water them. But indoor plants? I don't do them at all. They make messes (yes, I do have a big hairy dog, but she gives love back) and I never water. Though the bamboo in the guest room has survived nearly four years.

Fall has arrived/garden recap

It's fall. I made my first big batch of chili and double batch of pumpkin bread today. Fall food. (As well as thoroughly enjoying long sleeves and winter clothes.)

The highs are in the upper 60's and the mornings are crisp. Jacket weather, but warm enough in the afternoon that inevitably, jackets are then forgotten at school.

In some hopes that I won't get overzealous next spring with the garden I am going to compile my garden notes.

Vegetables:

Brussel sprouts and broccoli - both did amazing, are still doing amazing, and are adored as food staples by nearly everyone. Must do again.

Leeks - Just starting to gain some girth, still too soon to tell. Though I hope they are cold hardy enough to have some time to gain more girth.

Tomatoes - Do not do 10 plants. Five is REALLY sufficient for our needs.

Cucumbers - They do really well, but AB needs to make pickles more consistently throughout the summer.

Swiss Chard - Always does well, it's a keeper.

Spinach - Plant it. We always like it, it does well, but it should actually be placed in the ground somehow.

Watermelons - Also require being placed IN the ground to grow.

Basil: Love it, but it likes water. Remember to water it.

Pumpkins - Devote at least half of the garden AND hand pollinate for early starts.

Fruit trees:

Grapes: Do not let AB massacre the vines again in a willy nilly fashion.

Plums: Heaven help us if we get as many next year as we did last year.

Cherries: Cherry wood anyone?

Nectarines: Work hard, yet again, to convince AB to pick back early.

Raspberries: Keep on as is.

My daughter, the enabler

We went to the brand new Kohl's today.

You know, had she ever voiced any discontent at shopping for over an hour, we would have been out of there.

But she didn't. She smiled at passersby. She touched the glittery, the soft, the shiny as we passed. She coo'd her approval when I tried on a few pairs of pants. And a few shirts.

Leif would have never shopped that long. He had about a 30 minute window of shopping regardless of it being clothes or groceries at that age. I raced whenever shopping with him. After that it was misery for nearly everyone involved.

Not Skadi. I have a new shopping partner for the forseeable future.

No, I am not turning my son into a transvestite, really.

We went to Children's Place to check out the three in one jackets since Leif is in dire need of a new winter coat.

AB: "Well it seems like a good jacket, well made, versatile."

NM: "Yes, oh look, it has a snow skirt too. Leif come here and try this on."

Leif: "BUT I DON'T WANT TO WEAR A SKIRT!! DON'T MAKE ME WEAR A SKIRT!"

AB: "No Leif, there is no skirt, mommy wasn't serious."

Leif: "I NO WEAR A SKIRT!"

AB: "Leif I need you to try on this coat, do you want a time out?"

Leif: " YES. Then I don't have to wear skirt!"

So apparently a time out is better than being forced to cross dress. Who knew?

Weekend wrap up

I am 2/3 of the way through my weekend as I type this. Three day weekend thanks to Skadi's daycare being closed for Columbus Day. I wasn't disappointed to hear this, in fact, I have had this day on my schedule marked off in eager anticipation for awhile now. A day home with Skadi, just the two of us. Our big plans? Encouraging extra good naps that enable me to clean out her bedroom to be/guest room since we will have guests at the end of the month. Also on the docket is a trip to our brand new Kohls! So exciting!

Friday night something came over me and I decided we needed to venture OUT for dinner. Stupidest idea on the face of the planet. Ever.

We went to a very family friendly Italian place where toddlers get salads of shredded cheese, olives and crackers as adults are served their salads. Toddler friendly, but you can still order a half liter of Valpolicella.

Leif on his own, was the best he has ever been in a restaurant, especially considering we had a 15 minute wait to start and the food didn't arrive with any expediency. He sat and ate and only visited the restroom three times. Skadi was not thrilled to be there. But she wasn't awful either. What was difficult was having only one set of hands for each child. Had it been dining with just Leif we would have had a downright great night. Just Skadi and we would have passed her back and forth to keep the faces as fresh as possible (ok, I know, like I had a fresh face at 6:30pm on Friday night...). But put them together and it made for a dinner that will not be attempted again for another six months or so. At least.

With the new PF Changs going in (1.5 miles from the house) I have a feeling our babysitter expenses are going to rise.

Saturday was swimming then a train ride and play in the afternoon with C and N (N being the newest friend - a 3.5 year old girl adopted from India by our friends). The kids played in the park afterwards. We got home late enough that our plans for burgers went on hold realizing we still needed a grocery store trip. We ordered pizza.

Saturday night was spent fixing the dishwasher/disposal (yes, dang Insinkerator) pipes. Fun. But then again I don't have to call a plumber tomorrow. Instead I can spend the money at Kohls.

Today we got up and had crepes (and Leif was quite thrilled about rolling his own). Skadi and I went and got groceries mid-morning and had a blast. She giggled her way through the grocery store. Then this afternoon J and his mom and sister came over for a visit. Skadi was nearly as thrilled to see her friend from daycare as Leif was to see J. The kids both had a great afternoon that ended with actual burgers on the grill.

Infinity

The concept of infinity for a three year old.

Leif: "To infinity and beyond!" (He screams as he is jumping off the couch for the 784th time today.)

NM: "Leif do you know what infinity is?"

Leif: "Yes."

NM: "What is it?"

Leif: "It's in Portland."

Vindication!

So I can't find if I actually posted this summer about my quandry with Leif's school and his clothes. I probably just whined to V about it. But the jist is they kept putting notes he needed clothes in his box. I kept bringing them in. None of them were coming home. He would need changes of clothes and they would send him home in oddball "extra" items from the classroom. When I brought it up, they denied that they had any extra clothes of his.

I was at my wits end. It was financially a hard time for us with AB being out of work and I couldn't just afford to keep losing clothes. It frustrated me and annoyed me.

Yesterday. Sitting in his box. Two bags with:

7 pairs of underwear
4 t-shirts
3 pairs of shorts
2 pairs of underwear that weren't his
1 pair of panties that were definitely not his

I am vindicated. Yes, they did have a ton of his clothing there.

Do I feel better? Not hugely since these were t-shirts and shorts that were out of commission the entire summer and won't fit him next summer most likely.

It also makes a case for having cheap clothes only go to school. AB noted (amazingly enough) that two of the t-shirts were even his nicer Gymborree t-shirts and not the cheap Old Navy or Target ones. Note to self... don't be lazy in the future. Send the crappy clothes as extras.

Definition of brutal

... 6 hours in the ever-shrinking Toyota 4Runner with 3 year old, 6 month old, and a panting/hyperventilating very large dog.

... Toy Story playing non-stop (AB swears he will not be able to watch anything with Tom Hanks in it for possibly the next five years).

... Screaming 6 month old every time 3 year old makes a peep.

... Four stops.

... Pouring rain. (For four.days.straight.)

... One husband dead set on "pushing on through".

... One mom "recovering" from the stomach flu. (Recovering = no longer puking.)

... Finally arriving home at 10pm.

Brutal.