mile marker 16

I've always felt sorry for people whose birthdays were around Christmas. I mean, how could they possibly not feel gypped? But I've changed my mind since my children were born, as they all have birthdays basically during the holidays. Now I feel like we essentially have one unending party from the end of October (A.J.'s birthday, not Halloween) through the end of January. It's great fun, but it's also a bit of a marathon to plan and execute. I'm not complaining, as planning and organizing is what we OCD types love to do.


One of the events during party season is our annual "Bible Study Baking Extravaganza!" (Yes, that's its actual name. Don't ask me, I don't make this stuff up.) It was started by a dear friend who has since abandoned us for the midwest, but we're not bitter or anything. Baking Day has since evolved a bit, but I'm thankful that we always make the time for it. I'm also very thankful for my friends who are so patient and willing to work with my small(ish) children, even though I know it is not easy! (Have you ever tried cooking or baking with small children? If they don't drive you bananas asking every 3 minutes when it will be time to frost the cookies, then there's the mess.) But my friends are champs and good sports about the whole thing.


Speaking of bananas, as my mom always said, "what goes around comes around." The other night, after asking for a banana and eating half of it, Jared decided that the way I had peeled the bottom half of the banana was simply unacceptable. So he dropped it on the floor. And then, in the midst of his tantrum, I told him to pick up the banana and throw it in the garbage. When I looked back at him a moment later to ensure that he was doing as instructed (as there are three other children and this was not the only thing taking place at that time), I see him noticing a convenient banana-stashing nook under the hutch and beginning to take advantage of said nook. The following things flew through my head almost simultaneously, the last being the one that actually left my mouth:

- Ha! That's hilarious!*
- Where's the camera?
- Wow, it must be genetic or something.*
- Jared Robert! Pick up that banana right now!

*There may be an anecdote about Raj and me and a not-so-silent fruit consumption protest involving stashing a banana under a hotel room bed in India. First of all, it was hilarious, and second of all, I was not going to eat that banana.

Up next: a Clarice birthday party for Jadyn, who couldn't possibly be 4 already, as I'm certain Alaina just turned 4 the other day; a Christmas here and there; some family coming; other assorted events.

gonna walk all over you

"These slippers are made for walking, Mama. ... My slippers are made for walking."

So says Jadyn.

It's a wonder what 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep in one's own bed can do for a person...

a source of frustration eliminated

For a few years now, I have harbored a death wish towards my dishwasher. But it was just one of those things I accepted. It was getting old, it was installed when the house was built, and I didn't pick it out. (Implication: The person who did pick it out had inferior opinions.) However, when it started to not clean the dishes, that's when I wanted to throw it out the window.

If there is one thing I learned from my dad, it is the art of being patient. Though Joe may be snorting as he reads this, I really can be patient. I might be loud and opinionated while exercising said patience, but I can do it. So here's to the practice of patience:


Oh, yeah. I may have sold my soul to Samsung and/or Lowe's. What are you gonna do?

who knew?

It's actually possible there is one decent writer on the staff of SNL. This aired Saturday night, and oddly enough, was pulled from the official NBC SNL site...possibly because there's actual truth in it. But it's funny, so here you go (for as long as it manages to stay on youtube).

addicted

So we just spent the last 5 days without phone, tv, or internet.

It's brutal.

I didn't mind being without the phone; after all, that's what cell phones are for. And usually the phone only rings when telemarketers are calling, so it's not like I answer it anyway.

I sort of missed the tv. It was the first week of new shows, but there's not much worth watching anyway. There is something to be said about the utility of Nick Jr. in the morning, though.

I am completely addicted to the internet. I can't decide if this is a bad thing or not. Part of me doesn't care, even if it's not that healthy. But I felt completely cut off from the outside world, which I don't think is a good thing. Then again, maybe it's inevitable...I've been an internet junkie for nearly 15 years now.

why do they name hurricanes?

The answer we gave Alaina was that hurricanes had to have names to distinguish them. I'm beginning to wonder if it doesn't serve a secondary purpose of personifying them in order to facilitate hating them. Or perhaps, to be less hostile, they need names because they take on lives and personalities of their own.

Just for the record, I am very grateful to have had no damage from the hurricane. Nothing. I am also grateful that we had a place to go to, despite the fact that the hurricane was actually worse there and we should've stayed here. I am very impressed by the way the various governments handled this storm - the reality is that things went just about as smoothly as could be expected.

What I said before Ike hit still stands: hurricanes are like high school girls - all drama.

I have experienced a fair amount of weather phenomenon in my life: ice storms, blizzards, tornado warnings (though no actual tornadoes), tropical depressions, and now a hurricane. Hands down, hurricanes are the worst. I could give you all the reasons why, but I won't. Suffice it to say, the weather on the Gulf coast bites, and hurricanes are merely the epitome of the truly awful weather.

By the way, someone please connect the dots for me, because I can't. Obama canceled his appearance on Saturday Night Live last Saturday because of the hurricane. Uh....? Not like 99% of the people affected by the hurricane could watch SNL on Saturday night anyway...

if you're interested...

One of the most well written articles about Sarah Palin and why she is important to this election and to conservatives as a whole comes from, of all places, the Times of London. If you're interested in reading some of the real story as opposed to the absolutely biased drivel (at best) and downright lies (at worst) of the mainstream media, you can find it here.

Why you should vote for John McCain...

2 words:

Sarah Palin.

I hate summer. Have I mentioned that before? Well, I do. I didn't used to. I used to love summer, but that's another story. Mind you, there isn't really a season that I do like in this climate, but I really hate summer. Any guess what the temperature was at 11am this morning? 103. That's right, 103. And that doesn't account for the humidity and therefore the heat index, that was just the temperature. You can't even placate me with the knowledge that September and theoretically fall are on the way. It's a lie. Not the September part, the fall part. Why? Because there is literally no chance that the weather will become bearable, even temporarily, until late October at best. No, the reality is we will still be running the air conditioner in December.

I'm done complaining now. (To be fair, it is my blog.)

In other news, Jared figured out how to turn on the tv in the kitchen with the remote the other day. He thought it was basically the coolest trick ever, giggling all the way into the living room, where, sadly, the same trick didn't work on the tv there...

Alaina has decided she wants to be in a choir, which is, of course cool with me. Anyone know of a children's choir around here? She's also decided she wants to learn to play guitar and be in a band. That may have been slightly influenced by watching us play Guitar Hero...but I still told her to talk to Uncle Raj about it next time she sees him... (Yes, Guitar Hero. Yes, we are nerds. Our children had no chance.)

The Great Toy Standoff of '08 was merely the opening skirmish. It is, in fact, a war...of wills, of stubbornness, of control, of something. But it is decidedly a war. Jadyn literally fell asleep on the bench in the playroom last night because she refused to pick up toys and I refused to let her go to bed or do anything else until she picked them up. The sobering part is that I know this is not really about toys and that I have to win this particular war, for her sake. This parenthood thing is bar none the hardest thing I will ever do in my life.

getting there

This summer has been rough for me. So it is with a sense of relief that I welcome the month of August. I used to love summer. Of course, that was when I lived in a climate where summer was just another season rather than the prevailing weather pattern.

I will give that it could be entirely psychosomatic (August means summer will be ending and therefore things will be changing), but it's getting a little easier to do things. Doing small housework tasks no longer seem comparable to scaling a cliff. I still have next to no desire to cook anything, but I don't really expect that to resolve itself until November. (Nothing like Thanksgiving and the thought of pumpkin dessert month to motivate the cook/baker in me!)

I even feel like I'm getting a handle on the homeschooling thing. I didn't exactly jump into this particular pool completely unaware of the depth, but this has definitely been one of the bigger challenges I have ever taken on. The whole idea of no boundaries and no guidelines is a bit of a double-edged sword. The past nine months have definitely tested my perspective on the philosophy of learning in general.

All I can hope is that this breathing space lasts for a little while. I know it's going to come crashing down soon, but if I could have a couple of months to get things together, I would be doing really well.

love for my bro

My brother Ravi has started a blog. It has taken much persuasion and cajoling, but you should go visit it. Ravi has an interesting perspective on life...you won't be disappointed.

is this what it's going to be like?

Last week, Jadyn spent the better part of 2 days gated in her room. (I let her out to eat, of course.) Ashlee called it the "Great Toy Standoff of '08." The disagreement was about picking up toys in her room - I told her she must, and she refused. So after trying a number of disciplinary methods, I finally told her that she wasn't leaving her room until she picked up her toys. Thus the standoff. She had started to pick up her toys by late afternoon of the 2nd day, but the standoff ended when Joe came home and took matters into his own hands.

The other night, Jared decided he didn't want to eat the last half of his banana and promptly deposited it on the floor. This being an unacceptable behavioral choice, I told him to pick up the banana. As this was not on his list of things to do, he and I disagreed for the next two hours about the placement of the banana. The banana standoff finally ended when I decided that he was far too happy to just play in the 4 square feet of the kitchen to which he was confined and that he would probably fall asleep on the kitchen floor before he would willingly pick up the banana. So I had to make him pick up the banana and throw it away.

I never really saw myself as a stubborn person. I mean, I know that I have my opinions and that I'm pretty certain of the way that I do things, but I never really felt like I'm the type of person who is just stubborn for the sake of stubbornness. And I'm sure if Jadyn or Jared could articulate their motivations, they wouldn't categorize themselves as simply stubborn either. I'm just getting the feeling that this is what it's going to be like - navigating very strong personalities and figuring out how to guide them.

And so it has begun. Sleeping in a chair is bittersweet; while I do appreciate being able to walk when I get up in the morning, it is just not the same as sleeping in a bed.

I have noticed that driving around in a big city late at night is very lonely. Not because there aren't any cars around, rather, because there are a lot of cars around. I understand that this seems counterintuitive, but in my reality, no one is supposed to be out at 11 o'clock at night. (Except, of course, for me and the few other people like me who don't know enough to go to bed.) But in a big city, there are a lot of people driving around, and the city accommodates that; the stoplights and whatnot behaving as they do all day long, with no comprehension of the hour. In a smaller place, on the contrary, people do actually go to bed (or at least have the sense not to leave the house). And the city infrastructure changes in understanding. There's something friendly about the stoplights blinking yellow on my way home, as if to say, "Hey! Goodnight! I'm taking a break too. Go on through, there's no traffic." I suppose this feeling of loneliness is not far removed from the mild depression I feel when the weather fails to consult the calendar, e.g. when I'm running the air conditioner in December.

my poor neglected blog

In order to appease the angry masses as a result of my shameful, though temporary, abandonment of my blog, I submit a cute picture of small children. (Hey, what's the use in having children if you can't use them as cannon fodder every once in a while? Seriously, calm down, it's a joke.)



Every so often I feel like I need to draw back, regroup, take a mental vacation, something. I'm not terribly proud of it, and I'm sure it's an attitude problem more than anything. I just sometimes get sick of all the things that I "have" to do, so I do nothing.

favorite things

It's interesting how different things can trigger memories. Yesterday the small children and I shared a cantaloupe (yes, between us we ate the entire thing) that was really good. I couldn't cut the thing fast enough to keep up with the speed at which they were shoveling the fruit into their mouths. But this cantaloupe was very good - it tasted just like the ones we used to eat at Grandma Jackie's house during the Fourth of July in Iowa (where it's not a little sketchy to buy produce from the farmers selling on the side of the road out of their pickup trucks). I so want to take my kids to small town Iowa for the small town Fourth of July celebrations, which aren't that much to speak of, but they also aren't put on for the show. It's not like I have memories of days that were without their share of drama. I remember it was always either ridiculously hot or raining, and I have no doubt that we were usually a chore to entertain. But I also remember how much fun it was to watch the fireworks, play bingo, watch the parade, and how good the cantaloupe and the watermelon tasted, and how the adults in my family didn't try and entertain us at every moment with this plan or that but let us figure things out for ourselves.

I haven't been to Yale, Iowa, for the Fourth of July celebration in a really long time. I'm sure things have changed, and I'm sure there are plenty of not-delightful things I would notice about small towns and their residents were I to return. But that doesn't change my desire to go back.

The other thing that has stirred memories lately has been a return to using matches. I think I really prefer matches over a firestick. Yes, a firestick may be easier, but there's nothing remarkable about it. Matches have an instantaneous, unmistakable smell associated with lighting them that just reminds me of afternoons after school, going downstairs to do my homework and lighting either a candle or incense from India. Even accounting for the homework, it's a pleasant memory.

so tired

I realized something depressing the other day. I probably won't be able to get back to Omaha until next May or June. That will make it a full year and a half between visits. I know that I probably sound crazy in my inexplicable attachment to a place, but it is what it is. Everything just feels different there. And there are some people who will point out that the drought between visits is largely my own fault, which I acknowledge but reject as a valid argument. :)

Anyway, so a few weeks ago, when my mom was here, I offhandedly remarked that I wanted fried ravioli from Malara's. It's one of those funky little restaurants in the middle of a neighborhood that is just barely converted from a house itself. One of the things this restaurant is famous for is its fried ravioli. It really is amazing. So when we were in Target today trying to figure out what to get for lunch, I stumbled upon a box of frozen fried ravioli. Attempting to contain my excitement, I decided neither the price nor the ingredient list were too appalling and subsequently had fried ravioli for lunch. It didn't even remotely resemble the fried ravioli from Malara's, but it was decent enough, particularly because I have never seen fried ravioli in another restaurant, much less a grocery store.

By way of update, my new washer is amazing. The clothes are actually cleaner, which I had hoped for but never really expected. Things like children's socks, for which there is little hope anyway, have returned to a state of actual whiteness. It is truly a wonder. And so the list of appliances which need to break is down by one...

for the record

I'm just going on record to say that I did not kill the washer. I have wished it dead for some time now, but I did not kill it. However, that does not change the fact that it is dead, which does not bode well for the clothing situation.

I made an amazing discovery the last time I went to the grocery store. Whole Foods has organic tater tots! I know this probably does not seem all that amazing, but really it is. I had some for lunch, with cheese on top, and it was yummy.

conquered! (almost)

I can't say it's been completely conquered until I have successfully done it more than once, but this afternoon I made a really good smoothie, and it made me happy! :) I would even dare to say that it was as good as the one I got from Smoothie King last week.

Just a little update for everyone who I know was very concerned about me and my smoothies.

83

Yes, that is the number of this post. Pathetic, compared to Ashlee's 403. I guess it means that Ashlee is 4 times cooler at blogging than I am.

Does anyone know how to make smoothies? I'm terrible at it, and I really want one. There is a Smoothie King right by my house, but $6 for a smoothie is a little more than I'm willing to pay (unless I'm desperate).

One of the great things about my mom being here was that she just took care of things for me. Like making breakfast for me. I know, it sounds pathetic, but I have been making my own breakfast basically since I was old enough to pour milk. So today when I really wanted eggs but didn't have the stomach to make them myself, there was no one here to make them for me. (Yes, I'm just whining, but it's my blog, so deal with it.)

There's something wrong with my dumb cats. They have never, ever fought with each other. But for some unknown reason, this morning they've decided they don't like each other. It's been the whole thing - growling, hissing, weird cat moaning. I'm thoroughly annoyed. The thing they don't know is that if they start injuring each other, they're both done for. I really do love my cats, but not when they're acting so bizarrely and unpredictably.

happy birthday to me!

Today is my birthday. Is it okay that I don't feel like I'm 29 or act like it seems someone almost 30 should act?

This morning, while waiting for everyone to get their acts together so we could go downstairs for breakfast, Jadyn looked out the window in my room.

"The moon is out! Oh gravy!"

wahooo!

"So many things I see remind me of what I've read in a book...when, shouldn't it be the other way around?" Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail

A movie I haven't thought about in a while has resurfaced in the past week. The other night, after all of the children were in bed, I came downstairs to see if there was anything on tv and just not think for a while. To my delight, I found the movie I.Q., in HD and widescreen beauty. So I quickly determined that it was on again during the middle of the night and set the DVR to record it. Then I proceeded to watch the first hour and was reminded of why and how much I do love this movie.

This weekend, Joe took the small children outside to enjoy the very nice and not very frequent weather we've had. Yesterday, just before time to go in, Joe was throwing a beach ball into the air, where, of course, it got stuck in a tree. If you have ever seen I.Q., you will understand why we both started laughing. If you haven't, there is a scene early in the movie where Einstein's 3 scientist friends are playing badminton and get a birdie stuck in the tree. And these brilliant scientists, who between them "can't change a lightbulb," send this mechanic into the tree to help with their "gravity problem." Maybe you have to be a nerd, but Joe throwing the soccer ball to try and get the beach ball was hilarious in its similarity. And the reenactment was complete when he had to climb the tree to get the ball. (He didn't fall out.)

"We threw the racket up to get the birdie."
"We threw Godel's cane up to get the racket."
"We were going to throw Godel up next!"

dangerously close to a month

I didn't intend to not blog for so long...it just happens somehow.

It's so easy to think that life is just going to go along and that things will always be the way they are. But I don't know how to live thinking that things could be completely different tomorrow.

Alaina had her first softball practice last night. I felt a little out of place; it's kind of a club where everybody already knows what's going on. I don't think it's intentional or malicious, but I don't like feeling like I'm trying to catch up. It will be interesting to see how the season goes. Alaina was a little disappointed last night because she thought she was going to be playing softball "like Daddy does at church." We explained to her how she has practices and games and that seemed to be okay. She was so excited last night before practice, she could hardly stand it. It was pretty funny.

Why is it there is never enough time during the day?

5 years old

My little (or not so little) baby is 5 years old today. I don't even really believe it. I can't even pretend she's not a child yet. She hasn't been even a "preschooler" for quite some time, but somehow, saying she's 4 is much easier than saying she's 5. Honestly, it's hard for me to even remember her as a baby, except when I look at pictures. But I think that's okay. I don't want to ever hold any of my children back because they've grown up and I can't handle it.

One of the very important things I'm learning with her is how to love and parent her for who God made her to be, instead of who I would make her to be. When she was born, I had this mistaken notion that I had more influence over who she would turn out to be than I really do. God gave her her personality, and while that may be difficult for me at times, it's so much better that way for her and for me.

It's funny how 5 years is so very long and yet so very short all at the same time.

get this

So here's an article about how playing the Wii actually helps surgeons perform better. Specifically, games like Marble Mania, which apparently is all about precise controller movement. [Sidebar: I think I might have to look into getting that game - it's mazes with marbles!] The researchers are planning on developing a surgical training tool for the Wii, which could be used in developing countries to train surgeons.

Anyone who has played Wii knows how cool it is, and now it's socially-minded, too!

a funny

Either due to my lack of watching anything other than children's programming on tv, or the typical lack of political ads aired in Texas, I have not seen this political ad in Texas. So I'm sharing it with the vast readership of my blog because it is hilarious and because I have politics in my blood.

thanks

Thanks to everyone who has (knowingly or not) been helping to pull me out of my annual January funk. Lisa and Ashlee, who basically told me I could do whatever I wanted. My mom, who is coming down here for my birthday in March. Raj, who told me about Pandora internet radio, although Raj is on the bubble because I'm a little miffed he didn't tell me about it before. (Check it out, it's awesome.) For the record, I'm still sticking by my RSAD (reverse seasonal affective disorder) because though I may not be in a funk anymore, 80 degrees in January still hacks me off.

If anyone is keeping track, I did not find a VeggieTales calendar this year. I am fairly confident, through my exhaustive (not really) internet research, that there isn't one this year. So I went to Barnes & Noble and got an M.C. Escher calendar for half off.

Another reason to love Starbucks: I got free coffee last night in return for a promise to bring the baristas rice krispie treats next week.

And here's a picture from Christmas - the first time my babies have played in the snow. Alaina and Jadyn are making snow angels, and Jared is just trying to get around.

happy new year?

It's not a new year for me without a new VeggieTales calendar (which I don't have yet) and a new pillar added to my moral stance (about which you are soon to read). Sorry if you tuned in expecting a cute Christmas picture and/or nice Christmas vacation vignette...I'm aiming for that for the next post.

I returned to my normal routine this morning to find this story among the Relevant Magazine "slices" that I was catching up on. Basically, the RIAA is suing a man for ripping CDs that he purchased onto his computer for his own use.

The last grasping death throes and wheezes of an industry so out of touch with the people that it is marketing to are just pathetic.

Perhaps it seems odd that I would get worked up about something like this. I am a stauch supporter of artists getting paid for their work. I have long been opposed to the blatant copying and distribution of CDs, particularly over the internet with any and every random person. I would even rather have a physical CD than use iTunes or whatever to purchase music. But when the idiots of the RIAA, who have been completely bilking people on the price of CDs for a very long time, decide to tell me that I can't listen to music I have purchased in the format that I want, then I'm done.

Until something changes with the RIAA and their policies, I won't be buying any more CDs. I'll be buying all of my music online. I really like Amazon's mp3 website - DRM-free and cheaper than iTunes.

It's no wonder that so many bands are making a beeline for the exit when it comes to record companies.