Laundry

Ok, Ok...today is the day (even a bit late, at that!) for all the cute christmas pictures, the update on the toys that JAC got, the wonderful connections via phone to friends in Canada and here in the US. But instead I'm going to talk about Laundry, because I feel reflective. I'm a bit celebrated out, and still have tomorrow night at Vernie and Co. to survive.

Laundry - the bane and the bounty of my existence. In the house I live in, I'm in charge of laundry. I go through weird phases with my clothes (physically and emotionally) where I just want the same darned clothes to wear over and over, and I want them clean. I am quite fussy about wanting them clean. I like to WEAR my clothes. I use them as dish rags, snot rags, paint easels, spot cleaners, and various other tools. They get dirty, and I like that they get dirty. And I like that they clean up nicely. :D Favorite right now are some Talbots pants (black, smart casual), some Blue Fish shirts and one of their pants, and of course my ever fashionable Blue Canoe. Beats the Target brand, but until I get my body back, this is what is working. And wearing!

So off I trudge, down to the basement (where there is a nice little TV that only seems to work for dh!? Just a big fuzzy screen for me - not even any audio) and the cement floor in my inevitably bare feet, to move, sort, pile, fold, dry, hang and wash the endless stacks of laundry. Stacks, perhaps, gives the impression of order. No order. Not until it makes it into the piles. The piles take over the floor, but they get done pretty quickly - a day or two at most. Don't try getting into the deep freeze, playing ping pong, or otherwise trying to use that space while the piles are in motion, however. The piles take OVER that space. And then the piles are gone, schlepped upstairs to sit for days, even weeks (for stuff that is moving out of seasonal circulation, for example) at the end of the big parental bed. Both kids know where to find clean underwear. JAC seems to be the only one who doesn't. And then the stack builds up, and after a few days, new piles are formed - darks, blands, brights, whites. At the end of a very very long day, those baskets may be all I have to show for 7500 worth of calories expended solely within the house. The vacuuming, floor washing, bathroom cleaning, and various other adventures in mindful home management seem to make no impact. But the laundry - thank god! - provides me with a tangible and ever wonderful smelling (Sun laundry liquid is the BOMB for clothes!) PRODUCT at the end of the day.

It's also a never ending project that is often quite disgusting (given that O is just 'barely' out of diapers and makes frequent mistakes, and JAC himself, though not newly out of diapers, seems to be heading back into them some days! There are things I LOVE about the laundry - my mama pads made by Happy Mama, seeing Beca wear the clothing I choose with love for her, seeing Orin's happily painted upon t'shirts and JAC's dirty knee'd jeans from his weekend of working away around the house and yard. I do love these tiny symbols of the people I love more than anything, anyone in the entire world. But it's all with a grain of salt, people, because look - there goes a whole pile of stuff from B's weekend sleepover, right down the chute and onto what WAS a nice, small stack.

Oh this is SO cool!

This car is SO amazingly cool, and what really jazzes me is that it is like step two in the hybrid/electric car market! YAY!!! I am SO ready to dump the big $50 every week for gas Van (although I love it, too!) and find something like this Aptera that has a backseat for us. NOT a wagon, just something safe, fun, fuel efficient, and maybe electric/hybrid. I'd go w/ethanol but there doesn't seem to yet be a good source for ethanol on the East Coast, nor are there many places to fuel it up. So ... it'll be a while before we trade the van in, and Silver Star is a wonderful van for us right now! But some day in the not so distant future... Cool Ass Car, Here I Come!!! :D

Happy Birthday to Mary Ruth today, too! It's a warmer day today, we played outside all morning, then James and Laura and Ori and Beca all played here for the afternoon. Nice! I am happy that the kids have other nice kids to play with, right nearby. This is a very good thing. :D

Winter Solstice 2007

What a nice night! We celebrated Winter Solstice with a poem and candles, breaking a candy cane to share, and sharing gifts that we can all benefit from. Beca got a new Kodak Camera - lots of mega pixels, 3x optical zoom, it does everything! I think she will be very happy with it. Now to see that she doesn't lose it or break it! LOL!

JAC got a $50 gift card to a hardware store that is really amazing here, lots and lots of aisles, but it's NOT a big box chain store, so it felt good to support them. I think he'll find lots of yummy things there for himself. :D

Ori got an indoor swing and trapeze (that he isn't strong/big enough for yet, but he loooongs to do what his big sister can do on there!), that is TOTALLY fun and cool. It's a great indoor toy for these long cold days.

I got a new game, called Abounding River that is SO beautiful, I really can not wait to play it! I want to invite a special friend over to play. Maybe Lori would? She can be somewhat cynical, but I think she'd enjoy it. And it really IS beautiful! I also got an archiver machine to turn cassettes into MP3's. VERY excited about THAT!

I think it's time, now that the season is upon us, to get rid of the desktop computer (that doesn't work) and replace it with something smaller. What, exactly, is not a for sure, as so far nothing perfect has come to mind. A laptop is so easily damaged by these little demons, but a desktop is just more than we really need. So ... looking. Probably won't do anything till later this spring. Meantime, it would be nice to have the space here on the desk to do my archiving. ;-)

HAPPY SOLSTICE EVERYONE!!!



After our little celebration at home, we piled into the van and attended Beca's school Winter Concert. It was entirely bearable, and the kids had a fabulous time. After that, chinese food and some boob tube, with everyone eventually crashing out and me sneaking off to load the tree up with gifts. I LOVE the look of a fully loaded tree! :D

So more wrapping tomorrow, and finishing the sand paper letter blocks for Ori, and maybe a bit of out and about time for JAC if he has the motivation and energy. Otherwise a bit of chilling out at home time, with some tidying/laundry/dishes thrown in for good luck.

All is good. I am loved. Peace.

Morning Has Broken

Morning has broken ME. Getting up early has some benefits for me, like that by 7:30pm ds is so tired that he can't but fall asleep nicely. But for the most part, I am just not a morning person. I can't ever remember being a morning person, actually. I like sleeping in. I like the concept of sleeping in as much as I love the actual sleep part. There is something very luxurious about 'sleeping in', especially after years (and years!) of being awoken at godawful hours to nurse, rock, walk, soothe, and otherwise entertain little ones. So the extra sleep is really only a small piece of the 'sleeping in' luxury.

This morning, we slept in, Ori and I. It was well after 8am when we made our way downstairs, moved along the laundry and found goodies in the freezer for today (bread and stuff for a sausage and beef stew). We made scrambly eggs and toast together, which he barely ate any of, and then he proceeded to go into the play room and find scissors that his sister left out from her project making cards for her teachers and bus drivers. Then he cut the middle (very much all of the middle lol) of his knee hockey net. And two pieces of felt and several scraps of paper. He surely does like to make a mess! He did a fair job cleaning it up, too.

So having helped him clean up that room, he wanted to play his puter (first click leap pad). And he is actually DOING it. He's on level two of Nemo now. He sure seems to be more of a morning person than I am, at least as far as his productivity!

I burned it.

Not dinner, my enthusiasm. I was really looking forward to the winter vacation, because I love Beca, because I often miss her, because it's nice to have the kids play together. But today was a school closing day, and I gotta say I was SOOO happy when JAC came home. It was very icy out, too icy for me to feel good about driving since I haven't had the winter tires put on the van. So in we were. We did take a nice 1 hr. walk about the neighborhood, dropped off some goodies at a neighbors house, etc. But I TWICE went online looking for new ideas of things to do (and came up w/a few good ones, like sorting soup beans, and doing pin prick designs on black construction paper using a pattern and a tea towel)...just was feeling tapped out! Some days, I am sure I can do this, have lots of great ideas, and tons of energy to make forts, puppet shows, drawings, read to them, and find lots of fun things to do. Other days? I seriously wonder whether my kids got gypped. :/

Digging in the dirt...not literally

Getting into stuff with B these past few weeks, definitely me feeling hormonal, but also B going through a phase of sorts, out of sorts, needy and cuddly and simply forgetful, neglectful, remnants of her babyhood mixing with her bigger, more mature self that refuses things (like taking care of her stuff, picking up after herself, not showering when asked) and yet taking on a lot more responsibility with Ori and the neighborhood kids. I think she 'gets' that she is older than James and Laura and Ori, enough so to make it uncomfortable when stuff goes wrong. She's the ring leader (although I think Laura bullies her way into it occasionally), and in the final analysis, it's her decisions that carry the most weight.

One battle I've started to give up on recently is TV. I think that I will unblock the awful channels on our main tv, because I'm finding she's just going up or downstairs to watch the channels I can't block. Grrr. My attitude is that it's better to battle the known devil than the unknown. So I was swimming VERY much upstream with this, and then came across this gal who has this to say on the topic.



Dayna Martin seems to have her head wrapped around some stuff differently than I will/do, but all in all I think she's a good compromise between where I am and where Jerry is. So I'm going to go dig around in that stuff for a bit and see how I feel in a few weeks. We have a fairly long break coming up, so I may wait till after that to declare my major in the TV debate.

Communication

I am sometimes at such a loss, with JAC things are just rolling along great and then BAM! I've hit a wall. He and I can sometimes forget to talk to each other for days at a time (and actually the little stuff like Girl Scouts in the evening or a dentist appointment for him are not such an issue - it's the BIG stuff that tends to build up and then go kerplunk in a bit of a disaster), and then catch up is such a freaking bitch, it just feels like we've got chasms to leap and there's no other way across other than the leap of faith. And we've both been burned. Tonight I went to part I (of II) of a Non-Violent Communication workshop. The gals running it are fun and easy to listen to. The class was pretty packed, and it was terrific listening to people's comments. I got to ask a couple of key questions for me, and it was nice to have had time to listen and think before trying to problem solve the Beca/school project issue. People had some great ideas. Giving myself empathy was probably the most impactful suggestion made, for me. Amazing how infrequently I do this. Hopefully it will give me the power to look inward enough to not need her to deal with my own stuff, so I can deal with my own stuff and she can (maybe) deal with hers. ??? It's confusing, that's for SURE. I think in general I really need to focus on being responsible for my own feelings, and for giving other people information about me, rather than opinions/judgments. That, I think, is a good place to begin this part of the journey.

I don't know how to say it all

Last night I opened the puter late, around 11. I checked emails, I said hello to the wise women, then checked df. And there it was. A post from Jeni with an MDC link. I linked, and was toppled by what it said. I called that late, thinking that either it was a hoax and they'd think what a freak! Or it was true, and Larry would still be up. Probably most of the night. He was up. Probably most of the night. My friend Laura, 36 years old and otherwise healthy, is dead. She leaves a neigh turned 3yo and a special needs 5 yo, her husband, and her extended family and friends behind. To me, LAura was the epitome of female strength. She birthed 2 preemie babies, and was there, by their sides, every day for months. Longer for M than for K. She pumped milk for that baby for SEVEN freaking months, giving her the absolutely best food and love she could. Finally M took to the breast (and never looked back lol!). Laura lived through the Navy, through neglect in her childhood, and through a marriage full of all the foibles that every marriage encounters. And she faced it all with patience, love, grace, gratitude, and strength. She spent days on medications that incapacitated her, left her shaking and puking and unable to walk to the toilet - to keep her baby in a few more days. She patiently worked with K and the potty issues, with M and the nursing issues, with L and his own needs and issues. I don't know what he will do now - appreciate the amazing woman he married in a way we can't while our loved ones are still alive. But he will manage, perhaps become more of a man than he ever dreamed of becoming because of this. And the little ones, who will have little in the way of memories of their mama, it's just too horrible for me to think about. All the love and energy she poured into them, the consideration and thoughtfulness, the planning and mulling over of ideas and they will remember none of it. They are just too small. I don't know what to say to it all. I feel inadequate to the task of writing about someone I admired and loved this much, how big and full her life was of STUFF - coops and hs groups and play groups and therapy for K and her MW work and her night job and all the neighbors and people and family who each have their own memories of her. Laura will be dearly missed in her corporeal form, and so welcome and met with such gratitude in her spiritual one.

T-24hrs

T-giving, that is! Wed. morning before the storm. We are cleaning up for Ryan and
Catherine who are staying here tonight, while we zoom (hopefully) down to NYC. I would like to get going here with laundry and cooking so that I can do it before 4pm, but it's not looking real good. Sigh.

So I was thinking about why that BECAUSE I SAID SO video was so freaking popular - no less than 6 people sent it to me, and many others spoke of it to me in passing. UGH! And Here, Scott Noelle put is quite perfectly into words that work for me. It is too repetitive of the negative things I grew up with - having my power diminished by those bigger and more powerful, being told my intuition holds no water, given few choices and not liking the ones I got. In gerenal being treated as if my childhood were a disease I would eventually outgrow and I'd look back on it and see all the jell-o flavor colorings as the high points and those lows? Well, they just blend into the background of days and nights of unrequited love that turn into days and nights of unrequited love in my 20's. Different love, but that feeling of being lonely and somewhat at a loss is still there. And it's still sad.

Anyway, that being said, we are looking forward to getting away for a few days, even if to NYC (which is not where I'd personally pick to spend 4 or 5 days away from home lol), to seeing the Corns and having some FUN! If I try to make the holiday about gratitude, it just falls apart. So for me it's about family and fun and food and that's going to have to be enough.

Gratuitous picture of D'Ar and the kids to leave you with.

Knit it forward!

Pay it Forward with Stitches!!
I saw this on ChattyCat's blog, and I'm totally game for paying it forward!

Inspired by this. To participate, please leave me a note in the comments, and I'll craft something especially for you, the first three (only three?) respondents and post it out within the next 6 months. It could be knitted or it might be sewn. Depends who it's going to, if you see what I mean? Also, if you can, please consider doing the same yourself. I know a lot of knitters give a lot to charity, but this isn't charity. It isn't because there exists a need, or a void to be filled. It's because you'll make someone smile, and make the world a better place.

YIPPEE!!! Let's get stitching to make someone else smile!!!

What to say when it's all been said before...

I have been blog reading recently, people on Wwow, and other places I like to visit, uplift, share etc. I am constantly impressed that these mom's (mostly) have the time and clarity of thought to write such inspiring words! It's a wonderful thing to be able to read about someone's heart-crushing divorce, how they watched their partner (and his buddies) dismantle the home they shared for years, and somehow she will find the light coming through the clouds. It's so fabulous and warming to read about the daughter who was saved from toxic poisons (mostly through allopatric medical treatments like vaccines) and, though somewhat brain damaged, lives a whole and generously childish existence. Words of wisdom just escape me. I have none. I have moans about my period, and groans about teachers who give time outs. I have complaints about the mail system (where IS my ergo!?!) and ideas about what to do with a grumpy two year old. But mostly I just feel numb at the end of every day. I joined NaNoWriMo but I really haven't been able to write much more than my normal occasional spurt. It's too frustrating. Saturday is a meet up at Brugger's, and I want to go, and I do have 3 pages I can print and bring. I'm just not feeling very inspired. Blah. When it's all been said, the good, the bad, the inspirational, I feel like a bit of silence is perhaps golden.










Off to drink some beautiful moon time tea and meditate on the silence, I think. :D

I leave you with this image of youthful impishness.

Halloween Party 07

Well WHAT A BLAST this year's Halloween party was! Loads of people, fun games, good booze, and Beca and JAC's homemade cookies...how much better can it get? Aside from a ton of leftover food, which ok, that could be rectified next year with smaller size purchases and less in the way of snackies, I think it was just amazing. I was BODACIA, pirate of Delmar, and my husband, the wonderful Pirate JAC. Ori went as ori because he doesn't love his monkey costume, oh well, and Beca went as Princess Leia, until her headbanging coils fell out. again. HAHA! This is the only pic I have so far, from Tova and Daniel (awesome to meet him!).



It's the kids making a spider web (which Christopher tried to "land" in but that kid is HEAVY! He pulled a bunch of girls right over. I do admit that the circle was girl heavy, but they all had a blast doing it and Christopher got to be the center of attention - at least for a moment! All the kids loved the prizes and toys, such suckers! I think the best part was the trick or treating - 12 adults got brown paper bags with plastic bags inside. Half of them had tricks and half had treats. The tricks were pasta (cold and oily), olives, and jello. The treats were all manner of goodies (coin purses, mini-rubik's cubes, jack-o-lantern poppers, etc). The kids loved going from adult to adult trying out whether they had a trick or a treat, and I think the adults really enjoyed being able to do that, too! Deb and Chris were awesome magicians (top hats and all!) and Lynn and Dan came as Esmeralda and the hunchback! What a hoot!

I really enjoyed this party, once again, and am already looking forward to next year!

Tibetan Test for you!

Hopefully 22 people will look at this between now and tomorrow night...

choices

Oh my, what a life it would be if we ran right out of choices??? My friend's giving her dd the choice, this morning, between the beach and the aquarium. WOW! I wish I had those choices today. But today our choice will be to walk to the po using the stroller (but not taking the dog) or to drive to the po and then go to the park. It sure would be nice to meet up w/Tova there, but I don't remember her phone #. Maybe it's still in my bag?

We need to do a food shop today, tomorrow is help with pizza day at B's school. Should really go to the coop and ask K or J if there is anything I can do for them this month - running out of time and I need about 8 hrs! I'm sure they'll have some choices for me. Otherwise? I sign up for bag straightening! lol!

Choices for dinner, choices for breakfast. Today I chose the beautiful ham steak and I'll make a lovely little spinach quiche to go with it, and the frozen flax waffles. For me. O gets a bagel and we'll share some cantaloupe. After he finally TRIED it yesterday, he ate a LOT of it! Funny boy.

choices about how we FEEL are so much harder for me. When I'm feeling frustrated, it's VERY hard to open the door on well-being and invite more in. MORE isn't what I need, ANY is what I need! I'm really enjoying the Scott Noelle emails (find them here) and also the Abraham daily quotes. Getting both feels like overkill some mornings, so I don't open whichever one doesn't call to me. Today, Scott Noelle led me here, though, and it really resonated with me. I think the thing that has helped the MOST in that respect, that find your happy place when you are feeling like kicking in the door place, is the little waterfall in the LR. I love the couch that is in front of it, I love the tinkle of the water, I love the curtains and the watery light that comes through to that space. I can feel peaceful in just a very short time, if I can get there, sit quietly, not be a human jungle gym or smell anything burning or know that the children are killing each other. In 4 or 5 minutes I come away a new woman! It's awesome. Nothing else works that fast for me, although kava has it's advantages. ;-)

What kind of hippie AM I?

What type of hippie are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as One Intelectual Individual You're a thinker. You see things from a very different prospective than the rest of the world, and probably find release and self-expression in music, painting, scalpting, or any other form of art. People see you as a deep person, full of knowledge that they don't understand. People are attracted to that, but there's a good chance you don't care. Original Hippie 100% One Intelectual Individual 100% Pothead 75% Earth-Child 75% New Age Hippie 75% Not a Hippie 50%

Reading List

These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users (as of today). I've doubled **'d those I've read, with an * following if I've read that title more than once. I've italicized those I started but couldn’t finish.

**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
**Anna Karenina
**Crime and Punishment
**Catch-22*
One Hundred Years of Solitude
**Wuthering Heights
**The Silmarillion*
**Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
**Don Quixote*
Moby Dick
**Ulysses*
**The Odyssey*
**Pride and Prejudice
**Jane Eyre
**A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov*
**Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
**War and Peace
Vanity Fair
**The Time Traveler’s Wife
**The Iliad*
Emma
Mrs. Dalloway
**Great Expectations
American Gods
**Atlas Shrugged
**Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books
**Memoirs of a Geisha
**Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
**The Canterbury Tales
The Historian: a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
**Love in the Time of Cholera
**Brave New World
**The Fountainhead*
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
**Frankenstein*
**The Count of Monte Cristo
**Dracula*
**A Clockwork Orange*
**Anansi Boys
**The Once and Future King*
**The Grapes of Wrath
**The Poisonwood Bible: a novel
**1984*
Angels & Demons
**The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
**Sense and Sensibility
**The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
**One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest*
To the Lighthouse
**Tess of the D’Urbervilles*
**Oliver Twist*
**Gulliver’s Travels*
**Les Misérables
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
**The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Dune
**The Prince (in French and English - does that count as multiple readings?)
The Sound and the Fury
**Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
**A Confederacy of Dunces
**A Short History of Nearly Everything
**Dubliners
**The Unbearable Lightness of Being
**Beloved*
**Slaughterhouse-Five
**The Scarlet Letter
**Eats, Shoots & Leaves
**The Mists of Avalon*
Oryx and Crake: a novel
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
**Lolita
**Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
**The Catcher in the Rye
**On the Road*
**The Hunchback of Notre Dame
**Freakonomics: a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
**Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an Inquiry into Values*
The Aeneid
**Watership Down*
**Gravity’s Rainbow
**The Hobbit*
White Teeth
**Treasure Island
**David Copperfield
**The Three Musketeers*

Other books I think are fabulous and should be on your to read list, if you haven't read them already:

The Glass Castle
Cry, The Beloved Country
Hamlet
Romeo and Juliet
The Namesake
The Stone Diaries
Stones from the River
A Sand Country Almanac
White Oleander
Night
Midwives
The Book of Abraham

I like a lot more than that, but those are ones I've read many times, now. And will read again! I confess that several of these I listened to on my ipod, which were unabridged editions, and many (even ones I've read multiple times) I may not have read for 10-20 years! Some more than that! And I do NOT consider myself old...isn't that interesting! lol

Thanks Aviva!

Priceless

Yesterday (Monday) Ori twice came to me and told me he had 'to go' and was wearing either a trainer or a diaper. WOW! SO impressed with the little smudge. Today? Peed in his pants. Granted we were out and about, and in the pet store, which is very distracting. But it is so wonderful that he is heading up and over the hump of diapers! I'm selling off what I have, and really am very happy about that. YAY!!!

The Bethlehem Families Coop has busted a big move this week. We are splitting off into 3 groups, one is transitory, the other two are evolved. Well, one is evolved, the other evolving. The new group will be made up of people from the old group and new families. The old group will be made up from only the old families who are ready to retire from the social commitments that necessitate bringing in new families. Hopefully all will go well, and new life will be breathed into the coop! YAY!

Sunday, while I was helping with and watching Birth, JAC took the kids over the the Fall Family Fun Day at the school. Ok, I'm all for fundraisers. I'm all for FUN fundraisers. And tbh, I'm not even against fish. Wondering where this is going? Well, Beca played some game so many times, she came home with NINE koi fish. So we are now the proud owners of a 10 gallon fish tank, 2 fake plants, a filter, a can of fish food, and a jar of dechlorinator. Total on Visa = $70. Watching them watch our very own fish? Priceless.

Rise! to the defense of CHOICE!

Yesterday, after spending about 4 hrs. setting up the silent auction, running errands, and generally being a happy little involved gofer, not to mention baking for the cast and crew, I watched Karen Brody's play BIRTH. Although I LOVED it, every wonderful feminine, rebellious minute of it, there were things I didn't like, or at least didn't love. I don't love that it is ok for a woman to be a chicken shit about her birth. It's not safer to have a c-section. It's not better for her, or her baby. And it's not ok to cost the system ten thousand extra dollars simply because people have scared you into it. NOT ok. Otoh, I do respect the many many women who carry and birth their babies under difficult medical circumstances, and who need the opportunity to do this in the safest possible way. These women are a seerious MINORITY, not 30% of all women birthing in the USA today! That's the c-section rate, currently. Nationally. Globally it's a different story. This is what you get when you search the WHO's database on international or global c-section rates. Bah.

Then today I read this article. I recognize it's on a save home birthing website. Possibly because it's completely about home birth? NO! Because it's another piece of a mother's choice that is being taken from her by a government less interested in the benefits to a mother than in the long term politics of medicine and pharmaceuticals. The amount of money they have been losing because Amish and Plain women nearly ALWAYS birth at home is really pretty small. But now studies are coming out showing that homebirth is often safer for low risk women and their babies. Now the UK mandates to permit homebirth as a viable option to all low risk pregnant women, making the US look like a great big boobie since much of Canada (though not all) has already passed this legislation. So Big Boobie that we are, we'll back up our hard nosed position to the Nth, and make it impossible for even religiously exempted women to birth their babies at home. What a bunch of tools! If the legislators were affected themselves (for example, legislation were passed to mandate vasectomies for all men over 40, or how about no beer sold on days when the NFL, AFL, NBL, ABL or NHL were playing? Oh I like that one!) perhaps they would wake the fuck up and quit pushing people around. Perhaps one of their daughters will catch Hep B from a hospital she was FORCED to birth in because even though she is young and healthy and unafraid of the pain of labor and birth, she is not ALLOWED by LAW to birth in the comfort of her own bed, where the sheets carry only her own germs, and she can eat scrambled eggs at 8cm.

On a more positive note, I think this is the best thing the WHO is working on right now - it should be HUUUUGE and it isn't, but it's a better effort than no effort at all!

Somewhat disturbing news

Today I got an email from a gal who said - "...hey, go check this out! It's SO COOL! I could like totally play this on a permanent loop at my house lol!" I hesitate even to post it here, because, well, it means generating more hits for the author. But I will, and then you can see if you agree with my further musings.




Before I rant on about what bothers me, I'll go on record saying I do like a bunch of it. I think I like best that she has brought into the rant her love for children, and her ability to pick out the stuff that really drives mom's crazy. I can clearly remember my mom having flip outs over the mess in my room...and occasionally I really hate walking into Beca's room to read to her at night. In fact, we are to the point where I don't go in there on purpose, even though it makes me feel bad. I leave her laundry outside the door, I don't go in to tuck her in to sleep. I just hate the mess! In many ways, it reminds me of the millions of seconds, hundreds of thousands of minutes, thousands of hours, hundreds of days I have spent looking for: homework, books, keys, other people's stuff, wallets, glasses, bras, clean clothes in general, dirty clothes clean enough to wear, paperwork sent to me by doctors and dentists, schools, camps and lessons of various kinds, bills, flashlights, software, glasses of water, and a lot (I mean a LOT) of other stuff that just gets sucked into the void of THE MESS. So I see her in the same place, and I'm having a very hard time embracing it. I'm having a hard time embracing a lot of things about poor B at this moment, but this one is a biggee.

So - most of the vid is fine, and I can appreciate why she did it and that it's almost sort of funny. But the whole ending really pisses me off. A lot. I just don't like that she has taken this mainstream bs and a) feels it's ok b) moves it on into the slipstream of youtube watchers as RIGHT somehow, and c) that this woman, the one I got the email from, whom I truly admire for her homeschooling patience and knowledge, her wisdom in all things gifted for children, and on several other fronts where she reaches heights in volunteerism, and here she is PROMOTING this crap! This is disturbing to me because I have always been so freaking BLACK AND WHITE about these issues (which I'm working on) and I just have too hard a time separating the stuff I love about her from the stuff I really despise about her. Yesterday I didn't despise anything about her, today, I despise that she finds this funny, useful and applicable to her own life.

Ok - I'm going to be zen here and say maybe this is all a bit of a joke, and she doesn't REALLY have any of the bad stuff going on in her own home (because I'm THE MOMMY, THAT'S why) - she's just poking fun at mainstream parents? Maybe I'm overthinking it. But it is disturbing to me, and I hope that if you have gone and listened to it, that you do NOT go back and listen again. It isn't worth it.

Day 4

Well, day 4 of potty learning was...interesting. He made a total of FIVE poops, four in the potty and one in trainers. Of COURSE he poops in the trainers w/out the snaps. I wasn't expecting it at 3pm - usually he's an AM and late afternoon pooper. Yesterday we had the leftover lasagne from last weekend. I think we got the dairy one, because he had super runny poop (even in the potty), and he had the tell tale red ring. :-( Well, better to know! Beca can finish it! So pretty much every time we had trainers on, he peed in them. All of his pees at home (save one while he was playing with water in the kitchen sink) were in the potty, but here he goes nakey butt. So: while nakey butt, he has a great than 90% rate. With trainers on that drops precipitously to about 25%. Out and about he is batting 0, but most of our trips out have been short and sweet - under 1hr., and in those situations he's been FINE. It's all rather ... puzzling. I suppose there are just some humps we'll have to hurdle as we get better at learning what he's capable of doing. He's only once or twice looked at me and said he needs to go potty. Mostly he walks himself over to the potty and sits and goes. Otherwise he says he wet himself. Those seem to be our options. But the once or twice he's said something first, he's made it to the potty in time, and he's been very proud of himself. :D YAY LITTLE DUDE!!!

JAC is still ill, but no longer puking - this is GOOD!

Ori decided he hates the kid corner for good and real. I'm giving it one more good week, and then I'm getting my $$ back. It's so not worth it. I'd rather get up early or go in the evening when JAC is around and I can drive over to Planet Fitness or something. It'll save us about 900$, so I'm not going to complain! It would be NICE if the kid would figure out how to chill out in the kiddie section of life though. They have a TON of great toys, the place is new, so it's clean and the carpets are nice. There are tumbling mats and a slide and tunnel - really it's VERY nice! Hopefully he'll get better about being there, but so far he hasn't given me any real time to work out unless Beca is in there with him (which is against the rules).

Ken and Di are off on their mini-vaca to Long Beach today! Have fun guys!!!

Ori'isms

While I can remember some of these...
In honor of him learning to use the potty: "Mama - I have to poopie and I needs a magzine."

(Looking at an anthill) "That not my house." (now points to his house) "THAT my house!"

(Rubbing my back while sharing my chair at the computer) "Mama's big butt back."

(while recovering from whacking the dog on his noggin, shaking out his hand) "No I don't hit!"

(morning ritual) Beca school, Daddy Work, Ori house, Zami House, Mama Ori Zami. (Somehow I understand this - everyone is where they belong.)

"Mama, Ori not go sleep, I too small."

If I think of more I'll add them...he's had some spectacular moments these last few weeks. Tonight he was having a hard time falling asleep (napping from 4-6pm will do that!), so he got himself up, went into the bathroom, poured a cup of water, brought it back to his bedroom (I caught up with him on his way into the hall from the bathroom), had a good long draught, licked his lips and sighed, placed it on the bedside table and climbed into bed. "Not thirsty now mama" he says, and purses his lips for a night night kiss. Again.

Today was his first real day wearing trainers. He mostly went nakey butt while we were at home. No accidents at home, but he did wet 2 pr. of trainers (no big deal!). While we were out walking Zami this afternoon, we stopped in to tell Nesh the BIG NEWS, and he says to her "I got big pants on!" and she looks, and he has his little jeans shorts on, nothing unusual. So I suggested he show her what's underneath (bing! she got it at that point) but he crosses his arms over his chest and walks away saying "I too big in big boy pants!"

I am so lucky to have his spirit in my world!!! I am feeling very grateful...

Poor JAC isn't - he's been feeling puky since about 1pm. So we had to say no to hosting a Hatian boy from the boys Choir who are visiting WHMS for the night/day tomorrow. Hopefully they have a great time and everyone does fine w/out our extra bed. It did get me to clean up the house, today, though!

Sleeping through a milestone

Last night, Theresa and Dave took Ori and Beca (along with 5 of their 6 kids) for a slumber party. WOW! JAC and I went out to dinner (Carrabbas) and spent THREE HOURS drinking wine and eating Calamari and good Italian food. We came home and watched the end of a GREAT Yankees game, walked Zami, and slept soundly until 9am. Holy Moly! We are like different people this morning! What a lovely lovely thing to give to someone - so a great big THANK YOU to Theresa and Dave (and Christopher who gave up his bed for Ori), and now the search is on... for whom do we pay it forward??? Several families come to mind... :D This is BETTER than a babysitting coop! Theresa said he cried for a very short time, maybe 2-3 min., and she went upstairs to pat his back. He cried that he didn't want to lie down, and she said he could just sit up. So he did. She suggested that he be very quiet so that Joey (HIS Joey!) didn't wake up, and he quieted right down. The next she saw or heard from him was 6:30am! Wow! What a great leap for him!

In other news - Ori is really getting the potty thing now. If he has any kind of pants on, he will still pee in them, but nakey butt he's doing everything in the potty - or outside. So long as the weather holds I'm happy leaving him naked and playing outside - but I think next week it's supposed to get colder again, and I'm not sure whether the house will, in general, be warm enough for him naked (with a shirt)... we'll see. He used diapers at Theresa and Dave's, and was happy to do so. But I'm really REALLY ready for him to be DONE with diapers. Then we sell off the lot of what we have, and that will pay for the NEW ERGO I've ordered!!! I'm SO THRILLED that I could figure out a way to get it from Europe! David Lee is helping, and hopefully it comes SOON! I definitely think it's the right thing to do. I do not want to stop wearing him anytime soon, but he's getting too big for the mei tai if I have any distance to walk. It's a beautiful green color, and is made from organic cotton. I'm much happier with it than with the non-organic one with the cool retro print. I just LOVE the green! Here's a picture from their website. I do actually really like that chocolate brown, too, but the GREEN! Wow - it's just like jade green, which is my very favorite green. And totally neutral, so easy for resale. I'm just THRILLED! I guess it'll be closer to a month before we see it, but I am very very looking forward to using it!

Feel GOOD!

Yk, we have been listening to this CD in the car for months and months now - and only today (listening to it yet again!) did I really hear the words - it's all about mainfesting whatever world you WANT! What an incredible message for children!

Here's the video for the main title song (Upside Down) which is the song I love the MOST on the album (and so does Ori!), but other songs on the album also speak to creating and co-creating whatever you want to with your life.



Enjoy!

How the heck did I do that?

I somehow double posted??? But nothing came through on thisone, and now I don't know how to delete it! Interesting ... something new to figure out!

King size kick ass questions

Watching the presidential delegate debates, it's so clear to me that we have more words than we have potential for reconciliation...why? There is such a disconnect, the players don't have a sense of ... connectedness to anything, it's all about I'm this and he's that and she doesn't have this ... it seems like there isn't a way for them to move forward without having a negative spin. :-( On the flip side, I think they are basically a bright, motivated bunch of people, and, when one of them becomes presidential candidate, we'll see if they have integrity, too. I don't hold out a LOT of hope, but I won't give up all hope, either.

So here are some new pictures I've been able to upload today - LOVE having the mac back...



Poppy and Beca in the Shakespear Garden in Central Park



Beca at Belvedere Castle in Central Park



Ori in the library garden. Pretty mums, huh?


Mary and Beca at the Coney Island Aquarium.

Mac's Back!!

It is SO nice to have the mac back home - they re-replaced the superdrive, the logic board, the plug ins...it was a fairly large job ($ wise, anyway - boy am I glad I got the mac care extended warrantee, but I gotta say - spend this much on a machine, it SHOULD be fixed for free! It BROKE didn't it!). Sooo nice.

I've been keeping up with most stuff on JAC's pc, which I must admit has been worry free and easy. One thing that came up was iLeonardo.com which is a totally cool search engine that lets you share notebooks of saved (bookmarked) sites with others online! Wow! Go try it!

I finally got to upload the pictures from my new Cannon Elph SD1000, which is such a fun little camera! I haven't really played around with the settings too much yet, but it sure is FUN!

Here's one from the first 2 days while in NYC:



Dad and Ori having lunch in Bryant Park



Ori on the Merry Go Round... that's about as as happy as he got...




Beca on the train.

Wanting to renew things

I renewed my YMCA membership last week. I've been once. He hated it. Well, he liked it for about 1/2 hr. then he hated it. I sure hope he likes it more this week! My goal: 2-3 times every week, for at least an hour. Also walking 2-3 times a week on alternate days with the weights.

When we go down to FLA in Feb., JAC and I want to renew our vows. I've found someone who can do it, and will do it OUR way, which is very cool. If Heidi has someone she really loves, we would be fine using them, too. I am thinking I will order cake (dairy free, small), flowers (small), and maybe a photographer. Again, if Heidi knows people who want to do these things, I would be happy to support them in the pursuit of their interests!

Now...I'd love to find THIS dress in my size somewhere...I wonder if I can figure out where she got it?



In the meantime, Beca's year has kicked off nicely. Will I revisit the band scene? She has decided she'd like to play the flute. Because it's easy to stick in a backpack. Hmmmmm...

JAC is in full fall swing at the office, wrapping up the summer projects, crunching data, and starting to figure out where the next round of $$ will come from.

We are in Girl Scout heaven, well, I am in Girl Scout heaven, not having to lead meetings or organize anything! YAY!!! I will organize the spring campout, although not sure whether this will be just our troop - all 4th grade troops - the SU197...lots of options. So still thinking that one through.

And Ori starts his classes this week to! Revisiting the library tots program is wild for me. I'm looking forward to it! This time around he's with me in the little room. In Jan, he'll maybe be able to go by himself! WOW! His first real experience all by himself with other kids. Should be interesting!

Time to revisit lunch here, before my little fella gets too cranky. :D

9/11 again

Six years ago, little girl of 3 thought Grandma and Poppy's apartment was burning in New York City...but it wasn't their apartment. It was our invulnerability. And since then?

This nearly left me blubbering (I definitely cried!), and this was beautiful and frightening and poetic.

I don't want to harp, because I don't think it will help me, or you. But I don't feel we've done the right thing. I don't feel we are any safer now than we were. I don't feel we are fair or just, and I think we are making the situation worse in places like Iraq. I don't think there is much love lost between many nations and our own, because we are so damned sure that we are RIGHT...or is that righteous... I am only afraid that 9/11 will occur again because we don't send out love, we send out control.

I keep forgetting

Today was one of those days... Things were just happening in my head so fast! I had the whole morning with Ori to clean out the downstairs toys (YAY!) and do laundry - ALL the laundry. I'm one big load (or two smaller) short of finishing, but I did a LOT of laundry!

I had ideas today - ideas about my book, ideas about JAC's new manifesting job, ideas about cameras, ideas! I felt overwhelmed, a few times, 'cause I just don't have an outlet for this much energy! I can't get online often enough for me, and it's all too often for my kids, and ... well, ... finding that balance is hard.

So although I got a lot done today (house power washed, laundry, cleaning out the toys, breakfast, lunch, two snacks, and dinner made, photos taken, photos printed, finished edits, titled, and sent in my Nut. Ed. article for the Coop Scoop in Oct., picked up JAC and took him to the dentist, got the # for the endodontist to make appt. for him, arranged for drop off for me tomorrow so JAC can pick up Ori at WHMS and be home in time to get Beca etc.) - I still don't feel like anything really got DONE. Plus, the house is just trashed. And tomorrow AM is shopping day (coop and PC) and I still need to get printer ink and a chair mat at staples. Sigh.

Also can't find the Y swim class at a time that is just PERFECT.

I did get a bit of reading done while B was at class...and my Love and Tea came today! My moon time tea is Ahhhhhhhbsolutely Vunderful, Dahling! Really, it makes me just feel better. And I had a nice 30 min chat with Nicholas' mom in class today - which is nice. Boy, is she a smart cookie!

Ok, so all in all a good day, with a lot of energy floating around, and I'm not real really glad, because it's all good! But it'd be nice to understand it more too. ;-0

Just in case you needed a pick me up!

Read this.

Read through it. Amazing amazing story. If it's fiction, it's award winning. It's too freaky to be true, though. HA!

Totally stumped

I have gotten so far and not an inch further with my knitting. I am trying a simple (lol!) top down hoodie for Orin (smartly I chose size 4!). I got the first bit done, the hood. But to expand the neck, I need to add stitches. But the next step in the directions is SO complicated!!! It's knit 2 pm k5 pm k33 pm etc. So ... I have to now go and actually count the # of stitches they want me to make, and figure out how many MORE I need to do, and then bring that to Lynn and figure out with her how to get the extra stitches onto the needle in the right places, so that the markers (for shoulder, v neck etc.) are all in the right place. Simple, huh?

A whole nuther year gone by

Well, first day of school has come and whomped me upside the head, again! Holy Cow!!! how did I get to be the mama of such a big girl??? Where did that little curly headed creature who wore shiney purple sneakers and munched on banana chips go??? Where is my little barefoot angel, the one who stripped off her swim suit so that she could FEEL THE WAHTA MAMA! She has blossomed into a child of imagination and swirling emotions, of ethics and dominion over her own self. Wow. So she has begun the journey into upper elementary, and I watch from even further up the bleachers...happy to watch and not cry, most of the time. This may be the last september I ever get to have a little one around my ankles all day long, though I'm not making any bets on that!

Six Flags New England Pics

Christopher and Beca




WINNINGS!!!




Beca is on there - she's in the front row, sitting by herself. She's INSANE!!!



It was a full moon, a very full moon.



It's all ajumble - what a long strange trip, huh!

Pounding on the Ridge

Lots of fun at the Pound Ridge camp out this year! It's so nice to get together with such a diverse crowd! Well, ok, reasonably diverse! Certainly as varried as my life in Delmar...

The girls (and there were SEVEN nine year olds) had a blast, and the littles (5 of those) had fun too. Ori was the youngest by a couple of years, but everyone really dug having him around. :D Ain't that nice!?

We did some pleasant hikes,

the weather was awesome -

all in all a fabu weekend!

Some other fun stuff from recent days:



Shimmy shimmy cocoa bob



Rice Ball Fixings

Thanks Jeni!

I found this on a friend's blog (well, the link to the thread it's in anyway!) and honestly LOL!



There are other funny ones on this link, too. What a hoot!

Ag AG AGAWAM!

Oh WOW did Beca and I ever have a GREAT day today! We met Sheri and Christopher at Six Flags New England at 10:30 (bit before, actually - we were both early!) and played played played all day! Aside from gas on the debit card, everything was within budget, and we really had a great bonding time. We played TONS in the water park (about 4 1/2 hrs.) and rode on a zillion rides. We won basketballs and stuffed animals, enjoyed decent food, and really had a ball together. It was nice to share half the day with our friends, and nice to have some time just for us, too. :D Pics to follow!

There's something wrong with this picture!

There is something seriously wrong with a species who routinely does this to (and laughs at) their own doing this kind of stuff. We watched Bush's brain, and I gotta say, it is something that Karl would seriously enjoy. BLEH!

Beca has a busy week this week (which means so does Taxi Mom). Tennis camp all week in the mornings. Then:

Monday playdate with Merishka
Tuesday dentist
Wednesday Playdate with Katherine
Thursday I can't remember but there's something...
Friday Playdate with Maria and then Party at Zero Gravity (please let Jeremy's birhtday gift come in the mail SOON!)

Meanwhile, I have a bunch of girl scout stuff to do, including talk with Michou and Pam about Beca. :( Not looking forward to that. A 5pm mtg on Wed. (probably with kids) and Thursday is writing group at the library. Would be nicer if I had some writing material to share. :( LAME. I will have to come up with something and just wing it when I get there, rather than getting really good comments. Sigh.

But hey - life is cheap, right? write about it, get a laugh out of it, it's all good.

We knew them first.

I asked Beca today why she thought that the US has Thanksgiving celebration 3 weeks after Canada. Here's her answer.

Well, when the white men first came to the US, they met Native Americans. When the Canadians decided to have their Thanksgiving, it was after us, because it took a while for them to meet the Native Americans, since they're not in America.

Hmmmm...

Home!

LOTS of catch up to do on here - I'm still working on the pictures (wheedling it down to manageable numbers, cropping, etc.). My trusty Fuji has almost kicked the bucket, so many of them are not in great shape (the pictures, that is). So soon...

Meanwhile, here's a fun thing to do!

Lastly, it is GREAT being home. Now I just need to put myself to bed at a more reasonable time! These 1-2am bedtimes are going to wipe this old lady out! :D

We MADE IT!

Gathering ofthe vibes... kind of mixed vibes, people! The music and scene and people were awesome as ALWAYS. The food was maybe not quite as good. There were showers (long line) and toilets (eh) and family camping, which was shady and treed. IF we'd been able to car camp, we'd have had a hammock, table and chairs, stove, food, coolers, etc. Buuuuuut...we couldn't. We didn't know until we arrived that we'd have to schlep every item we wanted at camp onto a school bus (20 min ride each way unless your driver stops for coffee and donuts in the sizzling mid day heat for an extra 10 min.), and over a MILE from car to camp total. That's a mile of schlepping, not including the bus ride. TOTALLY lame. I was so very disapointed. We literally had to throw every single thing into JAC's pack that we wanted, consolidate our huge cooler into Jackie and Mike's smaller one, which was ok, but we lost about $50 worth of food that spoiled in the car, while we spent $200 on MORE food (ok, food, hats, crystals, hair wraps, beer, etc.). So overall? VERY mixed feelings. The music wasn't knock my socks off wonderful, but just getting together with the hippies is always such a lot of fun. Maybe I'm getting too old to appreciate it like I did when I was 20? Well, that could be. I ain't twice twenty for nothing!

We Need VIBES!!!

We're at the Holiday Inn in Danbury CT now, we drove here in time to order Chinese Food (yummy) and go for a swim. But it's 60F and rainy all day, so nix the swim, and double the chinese food. Ori is still bouncing around, he slept in the car from 5pm till 6:45pm. Yikes! Beca has been puking since about 5:30, she's puked out the window of the car, into plastic bags, into the toilet, and once into the ice bucket. Think we can take that with us when we leave? What about the puked on towel from the HI bathroom? Ugly... Hopefully when she wakes in the AM shes feeling a ton better. Hold thumbs!

Future post to detail the family reunion, the rest of the trip home, and the amazing beach days in Canada! I'll try to get some pics up, but first I have to upload them onto Flickr and then move them around. Sigh. Nothing's easy.

Bad news? Our trusty Fuji Camera is busted. It's not unsuable ... yet ... but it's hard to turn on/off and the focus is rotten. So hopefully I'll find 1500 and go get myself a nice new DSLR. Maybe when I talk to Mark Farley he'll tell me we just won the jackpot at Home Depot? HA! Hey, a girl's gotta try.

In themeantime, send us your vibes that she makes a full recovery by tomorrow. Otherwise we're Albany bound in the AM, not Bridgeport bound. :D

Sand-us-key!

Ok, on the shores of Lake Erie, it's SO amazing here! The sun today was bright and warm, but not hot, and there was a good breeze all day. We left home yesterday around 11am, and around 1:30 we had a nice big flat tire. Ouch! So we got that changed up, and smooched along the highway a bit, and drank a beer, and the kids were stuck in the van, and then onward to the campground for the night. Nice enough place, though off the beaten track by 45 minutes or so! It's about 25 min from Alfred, which is about 20 min from anything lol! Beautiful if harsh country. Lovely hills and the Allegheny Plateau makes for lots of varied ecosystems there. A few dead Elms, lots of nice people, and some very poor towns...I wanted badly to stop and take pictures, but there is NO way we'd make camp that night before dinner if I got to do that! So I settled for reading most of the new Harry Potter book, instead. THAT was a fun read! Anyway, we made a nice camp last night, had some fried chicken and turkey sausage with garlic french beans and salad for supper, and a nice kip for the night.

This morning we were on the road by 10:30, which made a huge difference. We traveled about 40 miles less today, but got here 2 hrs. earlier. Same 1 hr. for lunch, 2 fuel stops, (getting about 200+/- mptank or about 10mpg hauling this thing!), but that extra hour in the AM made a huge difference. Ori has napped both days, which is pleasant. Beca, as usual, is an AWESOME traveler! She is fun and high spirited and cuddly and easy to be around. I am really enjoying her, and enjoying being with her.

The campground here is fine - easy to get to, lots of kids, pool, games, close to town and amusement park/water park. We're hooked into water, sewer and electric, so it's really just like home. YAY!

Tomorrow we are off to the rollercoasters! So hopefully more to report after ... if we all survive!

Deathly Tired

Well, we finally got our copy of the book - it looks like 759 fabulous pages! Well, long ones, anyway! I'm PSYCHED! We had a great time, Beca and I, at the line up at I Love Books here in town. The local drama group from the HS did improv and Beca got to do some with them! She LOVED it! We did most of the wait with both Ceillie and her Dad Mike (Mom Karen reading magazines with Zeph conked in the van), and Dan and Julia (Fiona and Lynn wen thome about 11:30 for some much needed sleeeeeeeeeep). So now I am going to go read the very first chapter, move the laundry yet again (at least all the diapers are washed!), and hit the hay. JAC goes to Saratoga very early, but that means he may make it back for a bit of our afternoon frenzy. Getting ready for this big trip is a TRIP! I will certainly have earned a vacation after all the washing and prepping, moving of foods and household items etc. to get the trailer really ready. Ori's stuff is all ready (I think! Come to think of it, his toothbrushing stuff isn't in there yet, but ok, that'll come on Sun. AM), and probably enough food stuff that we wouldn't have to get too much more. But it'd be nice to have some breakfast cereal, honey and condiments, too. ;-)

Our itinerary:

1st stop in W. NY (Breezy Point)
nights 2,3 and 4 at Cedar Point/Sandusky
night 5 in Bay City Michigan
Nights 6,7, and 8 at St. Ignace/Mackinaw Island
Nights 9 and 10 in Terrance Bay on Lake Superior )Neys Provincial Park_
Nights 11 and 12 in North Western Ontario (Aaron Provincial Park)
13 and 14 are at the family reunion in Portage La Prairie
15 is in St. Cloud Minnesota
16 is in Northern Illinois
17 is near Sandusky again, right on the lake
and 18 and 19 are HOME!!! It'll be nice to sleep in our own beds for a change!
20 is in Bridgeport at the Gathering of the Vibes
And that's all she wrote for our vacation this year! I'm REALLY excited about it - I think it'll be lots to do and see and lots of chill time too. :D YAY!

Ok, seriously, going to go read Ch. 1. I just can't wait a moment longer!!!

First words of the new book: "The two men appeared out of nowhere...".

Order...order!

Oh my how it gets chaotic so QUICKLY! The house just seems so FULL ... of crap ... laundry piled up downstairs, toys piled up on the main floor (although there is only supposed to be one room with toys in them), we leave in ONE WEEK and have to have clothes packed for both the trip (1 weeks worth plus spares) AND GOTV for the weekend after. YIKES! So I guess that's priority #1. Priority #2? Get the trailer up and going. I have stuff coming in from Sheri and Lisa, and have most of the rest of it here or there already, I just feel so UNready! I guess to some degree it'll just be that Saturday - assuming we have laundry done - that we have to move stuff like blankets and pillows, pots and pans etc., because I'm just not going to buy all that over again. Using all our own stuff is a really nice way to do it, but it's a bit more hassle, more chaos. Gessh.

We did manage to get Nesh here for a few hrs. on Frieday night (after rescuing Boo!) and we went to see Order of the Phoenix at the Jericho Drive-In. WHEEEEE! I enjoyed it a ton! Mostly I enjoyed full hrs. of my honey all to myself. :D T'was awesome. The movie? T'was good. Not awesome. But good. Maybe the HBP will be better...

We have reservations for the first week of our trip - I still need to book resvs for the LAST week - the week inbetween? Mostly in Canada, at the reunion, etc. So I'm much less worried. We'll find a nice lake somewhere - by the time we get that far we're nearly there! Well, nearly. ;-)

So a storm came through, not the worst, but quite a few trees came down, and WHAMMIE! The power is gone for 20+ hours. How lame! Well, it made for a few good pictures. And some nice family time. Beca and I did knitting and played some games, and Ori danced through the sprinkler a lot. And we got our errands done - the ones where the shops were open! Quite a few were shut down because they didn't have power either. Oh well. Ya do what you can!


Trucks in action - the town had to clear the really bad stuff this morning.


Detour at the undamaged end of the street.


Detour at the damaged end. That tree just folded under the wind.


Whoops! That's bad.


A lot of trucks, but it still took over 20 hours to get power back on pretty much all over the capital district (more than 15 towns w/out power). Jason said they didn't lose power last night, but they did late this morning. Lucky we got power back - he's bringing Boo over tomorrow!

Tonight B starts back at Aikido. I think she actually missed it! That's a GREAT sign!

Russ is likely to be in Ithaca by now - he left this morning (and who wouldn't, given that he doesn't have to hang out here w/no AC, 90F heat, high humidity, 2 crazy kids,and no power!). Enjoy the rest of your vacation Russ, and I hope your foot is better soon!

Just Passing Through...

Jerry is on the Wet Coast, hopefully his passport is DONE. He sure went READY, everything tickity boo, signed, sealed and just had to be delivered! He said everyone at the Surry office was super nice and worked with him as much as they possibly could have. So ... fingers crossed ... this morning he walked outta there with his new passport! I wont mention what the rest of his day was like, just in case he didn't get his luggage delivered and you happen to be sitting next to him just now... but it couldn't have been less than STRESSFUL!

MEantime, it's super quiet here. Me, Russ and Ori. And Zami. Hardly deserves a mention, except that Russ has damaged his carpels somehow and is going to the foot doctor tomorrow afternoon, instead of taking a train down to NYC. Poor Russ. He's getting some good reading done, though!

Camp

Yesterday I took Beca to camp. Sleepaway camp. Away for a whole week, camp. I feel like she might not come home till Winter Vacation, or she'll reemerge a butterfly, or perhaps she'll come home and think me extraneous, roll her eyes more often. Ori is outside stringing noodles, but it was only last weekend, or maaaaybe the weekend before that, when it was his sister sitting outside, stringing noodles. Coloring paper plates. Painting with shaving cream. Now she is off to camp, where I can't kiss her owies or help her to sleep. Where someone might make fun of her hair or her t-shirt and she'll have to absorb it, where she can't talk to me about the girl who budged in line or stole her toothpaste. My own fears, completely. I'm SURE that she will find ways of telling girls that do mean things that she doesn't like it. And that she'll find lots of kids who are consistently kind. And who love her jokes. I'll just sit home and worry.

I listened to This American Life's prose on Camp - boy did it SUCK. I think they did a good job portreying the kinds of camps that - I believe it was Joyce - was talking about, full of competition and kissing and popularity. I'm just so glad that something else was available. :D Thank goodness for smart people who like to do fun stuff with their kids...this camp was actually started as a family camp, and then they added a few weeks of kids only camp. It still has family camp, but only a week or so in August, now. It's a wonderful, small camp on a beautiful lake in the westermost Adirondack Park. The tall trees are shady, the cabins are log and sturdy. The trails are brown earth, the woods teem with life. It is a vibrant place with friendly people and interesting challenging things for the kids to do.

As I burrow my toes into the belly of my dog, who lounges under the computer table while I type, I am thinking about bug juice and color wars and war canoes and date night. I only hope that she survives childhood without them. Actually, the bug juice at Camp Unirondack was pretty tasty!

I owe I owe...

Ok, I know it. I owe a LOT of posts here. Life got BUSY! Hot hot hot and busy busy busy!

In the next week, JAC leaves for Vancouver and passport renewal and job interview in Victoria. Hopefully he comes back on Friday! Beca leaves Sunday for CAMP! SLEEPAWAY camp (www.unirondack.org)! It's scary, but she seems very ready for it. I think, if she can make a pal of 2 there, that she'll have a BLAST! If she doesn't, it's potential for disaster. So we'll see. Hopefully she gets a wonderful counselor!

Wednesday is the 4th of July, Russ will come back into town then and we'll (he, me and Ori) go to the fireworks downtown. FUN!

Yes, Russ Bonney is in town! Hard to believe, but it's great to see him. He seems to have mellowed a bit. I think Jan really spoiled him, and Donna helped him to see that. And he also had a run of crap luck at GE, so he's job searching. But honestly, he's one of THE most employable men I've ever met! So I don't think that'll be an issue. So he will go fishing sometime this week, and maybe Mary and Bob will help him out with a place to stay for a night or two later in the week.

Then we pick up Beca on Saturday, and Sunday we get Russ, and Monday it all starts again!!! Then it's one week till BLAST OFF!

We found out we CAN'T take Terry to the GOTV w/out an RV pass (which we COULD HAVE but DIDN'T purchase when we got our tix). So we'll have to make it from Regina/Winnipeg to HOME in 4 days, and then Friday or Sat. head over to GOTV. Not sure what's up w/Jackie and Mike as far as the tickets go...maybe we can't get in till Saturday??? Still to work all that out.

Beca's birthday was loooong, but FUN! We did a class celebration before the end of school which was fun - we got a cookie cake - same as for my birthday - and the kids really enjoyed that. Ori was a DOLL. Then her graduation - he gave her a rose in front of EVERYONE! I was SO impressed! He did great, and she looked stunning. Radiant. She makes me proud! Then her birthday party for the neighborhood kids - James and Merishka, Laura and Natalie. It was sweet. Liana came the next day with Jackie (SURPRISE!) and we met Sarah and Bridge at the chinese food place in Hanaford plaza, although Bridge (who bought a new house! YAY!!!) didn't stay, and then went to see Nancy Drew. It was FUN! Dropped off Sarah, had a sleepover. And Beca's Birthday was finally, truly over. PHEW! Actually, we had Bella over later that week - Thursday and Friday actually - so the party didn't truly end till THEN. My kid sure knows how to manifest a LOOOONG Birthday Celebration!

Ok, so now I'm pretty caught up and it's time for me to go WRITE. I have about an hour left of ME time. Russ and Jerry are watching the kids, and fiing Russ's Volks, and who knows what all else, and hopefully Beca is cleaning her room (the pit of no return!). I really do NOT want to look at it the way it is for a week w/out her being around to hollar at! HAHA!

No pics for the moment, but I'll try later to add some. Or maybe during the week...

May MBOY

YAY!!! Lots of excitement about the Mboy arriving! The post carrier actually rang our bell! He was as excited as I was lol! I admit to hounding him just a little lol! The Mboy included beautiful chocolate brown yarn, lots of pretty stationary, a matching pen, a matching metal box (read: new manifesting box!), essential oil, soap, and cream all of lavender. :D I am SO SPOILED!









And here's Ori with his new animals:


THANK YOU RACHEL!!!

1. What must you accomplish in this lifetime so that you will consider your life well lived?
Write one book that gets published by a professional outfit. Earn some money. Live well, be free to choose directions.

2. What are the top projects or goals you’d like to put in action through the coaching process?
Write write write write write. And look into jobs that pay. Eventually.

3. What’s in your way? Where are you stuck?
Time. Confidence. Time.

4. What two steps could you take right now that would make the biggest difference in your life?
Use time more wisely. Be more efficient. Reduce clutter.

5. If you could change the world (and you can) what needs in the world are you moved to meet?
Increase the # of people who have received and GET the LOA message.

6. What special skills, knowledge or experience do you have?
I understand LOA, I like to write, I think I can tag good writing when I see it - even my own.

7. What traits and skills do people acknowledge you for?
Manifestation, clarity, calmness.

8. What skills or knowledge would you like to acquire?
Strength, confidence, organization.

9. What are your top five values, or qualities of being, without which you wouldn't be you?
Spiritual, connected, happy, calm, positive.

10. When you are stuck, frustrated, discouraged, or in resistance, what do you usually do?
Breathe, listen to stories, try to be quiet.

11.If you trusted me and could tell me how to manage you most effectively, what tips would you give?
keep me in line, help me get organized, strengthen my skills to STAY where I love being - confident, organized, etc.

12. What don’t you want your me to know about you?
I'm not confident.

13. What’s missing in your life? Where do you want to stretch?
Self esteem. Income.

14. What role does spirituality or religion play in your life?
HUGE. HUUUUUGE! Everything for me is about being connected to Universal energy. Everything - you, me, the dog, the car, the house, the dirt, the worm in the dirt, the star shining down on the worm - we are ALL made from that energy.

15. Is there anything else?
Much, MUCH more.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!

Oh my - I downloaded over 100 pics from my camera tonight (teaches me to lose that USB cord!), and there is just a TON to catch up on here!

Firstly, tonight was the bridging ceremony for our Service Unit. Karen and Geryldene did an awesome job on it - the kids all felt really wonderful and it went very smoothly! I didn't get a lot of great pics, but I did get this one of Beca, taken actually after the event (and the ice cream is down by her feet lol!). Our littl ebrownie is now a JUNIOR Scout, all in green. ;)



Next, WE GOT THE TRAILER! I gotta say, this is the biggest thing (after Africa) I've ever consciously manifested. I know that I did this one, I was VERY specific about what we needed and what we could pay. This fell right into our lap, I'm happy to say!





And still to report on is Beca's new bike! She actually won this is a raffle drawing at the Tulip Festival. It's too small for her, really. We ordered a 26" bike, and somehow a 20" arrived, but she loves it just the same. :D That's my kiddo! She is so awesome that way - that kinda stuff just does NOT bother her. YAY!





Lastly, for this post, THE PARADE! Well, the story behind the parade is this:

I rode my bike there, Ori in the seat on the back. He was a GREAT passenger. He was into the parade. We manifested some bubbles, which kept him well entertained for the 20 min. or so before the parade actually arrived. We were about 1/2 way along the route. We shared a nice shady square of grass along Adams Place with two other young families. Lots of little kids. Two girls to our left, two boys to our right. NICE! The parade came. Lots of marchers, music, and a bit of mayhem. It came in fits and starts, which was a bit discombobulating. Hard to know how fast to take pictures! Ori was in total awe. I tried to put him into the ergo on my back, but he'd have none of it. He was standing nicely, so I didn't push it.

JAC and Beca came marching by, and by the time I got my camera up and on, they had marched right past! I dashed up a few families to snap a shot, which I got lol!, and zipped right back to the sidelines. Ori. Was. Gone. My vision blurred. It was a mad dash into and through the parade looking with mama-ray vision. No Ori. I snagged Jerry, and he came back with me. We both looked, he on one side, me on the other. No Ori. I ran up to the corner to the cop there, the goofball in the neon orange vest, I should say, and told him I'd lost my toddler. His jaw dropped. His eyes popped. He didn't know WHAT to say! Just that moment, a nice daddy looking guy came waltzing over with....ORI!!! He was FINE. Not a tear in site, the kid was just FINE. I cried. I sobbed. I downright blubbered. JAC steered me away from the parade, and the cop, and I blubbered in peace. It was, otherwise, an awesome parade.

Some gratuitous pics for you:







So that gets me nearly up to date! Whoohoo!

Spoons

So I'm thinking about how good I've been feeling, how easy it will be to lose some weight and feel even better, how lucky I am to have healthy children, how JAC and I are reasonably healthy and vital and how easy it is for us to decide to go on a vacation or clean the siding on the house or...

And then I found this. And it smacked me right in the face. This is what my brother has. He has RA right now, but has tested + for Lupus. So he wakes up, and I'm guessing a lot of days he doesn't even know how many spoons he will have. Some days might get better as they go on, some won't. And Annie has Sjorgren's, as does my Dad. They might know how many spoons they have, but not how fast they'll get taken away during the day.

Please - I don't even want to think about whether this is going to hit me, or my kids, or anyone else. Ever. This is the hardest part about making parental decisions. Knowing that the repercussions are permanent, that they will forever affect their lives. And that if I had done one thing differently, it might not ever have happened.

Another week!

Another week has come and gone...amazing! The dog walking thing (on a leash) is becoming more normal, but it still sucks. It makes me feel I'm breaking my intuitive balance with the pet world. :( But he's behaving on the leash much better, I gotta say, and no issues with anyone around the 'hood.

BBQ is ripping, and it is time for me to go make food. more later...

Wow - how did 2 weeks go by without a post from me?! Amazing.

Well, things here have been pretty busy - last weekend was the Brownie overnight at Camp Is-sho-da, which was really fun! It rained a lot on Sat., and was pretty ugly out there, wet and muddy. The girls went on a 1 hr. adventure to find marshmallow sticks, but otherwise we did indoor games and activities. We painted our nails, played games, and finally got ready for dinner. The circle games were a hoot - assassin, telephone etc. They really brought back memories for me of camp and scouts and fun times. some fun pics of the gals:



Having just arrived, in the rain, the girls did lots of activities together. For some, they had just met, and the got along famously!



That evening we had LOTS of songs and stories. Mary shared LOADS with us - what a wonderful camper mom!



MARSHMALLOWS!!!



Beca in her new kerchif - curtesy of troop 554!



The girls all helped out a ton - here they are happily washing dishes (truly!).

The girls went for a nice long hike in the morning. Here they are down by the lake.



We decided to build an inuksuk to leave behind for future campers at the cabin. An inuksuk is a small shrine made from rocks. It is meant to look like a little person. Our body rock was pretty fat- our person has a little weight loss challenge ahead of them! But there are two little round feet, a body (that is generally flat) and then a round stop on top. The gap between the body and the ground, made by the feet, is a perfect little spot to squirrel away messages. It is a traditional landmark made by people in the far north (arctic circle) and it translates as "something that acts as a human", meaning something (a landmark) that offers humans both direction and messages. Here's a BIG one from Rankin Inlet in Nunavut



and here's ours that the girls made:



Maybe not so impressive, but the girls did carry the rocks a mile or so, which were heavy and it was hard work for them. For a bunch of kids, they did a great job!