I Hate Tuesdays

Okay, maybe hate is a bit strong, but I was definitely ready for the day to be over yesterday. I don't know if it was my awesome scheduling abilities, or just the way the Universe lined up, but I somehow managed to schedule most all of my kids activities on the same day.

Most of the time it's okay, even with John out of town, but then there's the occasional item to throw everything off.

My normal Tuesday-
3:15-kids arrive home from school
3:30 take Zach to gymnastics
4:15 pick up Zach from gymnastics
4:45 every other week Madison has activity days. I carpool with a friend- she drops off.
5:30 drop Nick and Zach off for music lessons
5:45 every other week I pick up Madison and friend(s) and drop friend(s) off at homes.
6:00 drop Madison off at music lessons
6:00 pick up Nick from music lessons- take him home to change into scout uniform and get something to eat
7:00 drop Nick off at Scouts
7:00 pick up Zach and Maddie at music lessons.
8:30 pick up Nick from scouts

Yesterday was not an activity day for Madison, so I can thank my lucky stars for that. The special girl scout dinner was canceled, which was another big sigh of relief. However, Nick had roadshow practice at the church at 6:00, a Spring strings concert at the school at 6:30, and a Boy Scout Board of Review thingy at 7:00. I just called and flat out said he wouldn't be to the roadshow practice, we just barely made it to his strings concert on time, but he forgot his music, so I ran home, ransacked his backpack, jumped in my car, ran the stop sign at the end of my street right in front of a cop, who must have been too busy or too kind to deal with the likes of me because he just gave me a stern look and shook his head at me as I passed him (we were going opposite directions), pulled into the school parking lot, parked the car in the red zone and left it running with Christopher in the back seat while I ran inside to get Nick his music, wished him luck (I couldn't stay) ran out to the car to find another (I hope it was another- I saw a second cop car down the street and a couple firemen walking around a minute later-I have no idea what was going on) cop car parked behind me (in the red zone), but since I didn't see an actual cop in sight, I took off to pick up the kids from music lessons, race back home to pick up Nick, hand him his scout shirt and have him change while I drove him (15 minutes late) to his board of reviews. Left Madison home to babysit the younger boys while I went to pick him up at the church at 8:30, wandered around looking for him for several minutes, but he wasn't there, and I heard from someone that "he left with some guy". Apparently I was supposed to pick him up at 8:00, and they didn't want to leave him there alone to wait for me as now all of his leaders are keeping a close eye on him and any older boys who might want to stick his head in a toilet.

After all that, I came home, put all the kids to bed, then put on my favorite pajama pants and settled in to watch a couple episodes of my newest guilty pleasure- Bones.

And in a completely separate note, would you believe that when I hit the spell check button, it said "no misspellings found?" I think that's a record for me.

Speaking of Prom...

Nick says he can't wait to go.

He says he already knows what he is going to wear-

A RED Tuxedo.

I told him he needs to share this little bit of info with the special girl he is asking so that she can make an informed decision about whether or not to go with him, or at the very least so she can pick out a dress that won't clash.

I'm just glad I have 4-5 years to change his mind first.

Cheaper than Therapy

So it's that time of year again- Prom. The magical time of year when the wait time at the Olive Garden has doubled and you are left waiting for your table while you try to divert your eyes from girls in dresses who clearly who have no concept of what's flattering on their bodies.

A friend of mine posted her old prom pics a week or so ago, and those old "blasts from the past" are always good for a laugh. I left a comment warning her I might steal that idea, lamented the fact that John's old pictures were probably landfill years ago, and went and dug out my pictures out of a dusty old shoe box in the back of my closet. And then I tried to laugh, but somehow felt slightly nauseous instead.

And then as I started penning this post in my head, it became clear to even me that I still had some unresolved issues I never really got over. And what I had meant to be a funny, lighthearted post, wasn't so funny any more.

I figured I had three choices

1) do nothing. No pictures, no mention of prom, nothing. Find something else to talk about.

2) Post only the pictures, and maybe a comment or two, and that's it.

3) Let it all out.

I'd like to apologize in advance. I picked #3.

For several reasons. For starters I have nothing else to talk about. I have a self imposed quota of 20 posts a month, and with 4 days left in April, I am only at 18. Something really interesting better happen soon, or else I am going to be blogging about the bus we saw run off the side of the road (I have pictures) or my equally fabulous idea- "Ode to my pajama pants". (Just a warning, I still might do that one)

I could have picked #2, but editing is not one of my strong suits. I'm the Queen of the run-on sentence, the Duchess of "Leave no story left untold", The Goddess of "Too Much Information"...

And so #3 it is.

Plus, it's cheaper than therapy.

This was the first dance I ever went to. I realize it wasn't exactly "Prom", but as the only dance I ever got asked to it needs to be mentioned. I have several comments about this picture- It was taken in my parents living room. They made us pose for pictures. I think the sippy cup lid on the floor is pretty funny. I just now noticed it. I must have been too distracted with my exquisitely lady like stance to have seen it before. And I have no words for those earrings, except maybe "Yikes".

My date happened to actually be my boyfriend at the time. We broke up a couple weeks later. He was a putz. (Other words come to mind, but I'm trying to keep it clean).

This next picture was actually Prom. The other girl in the picture is my BFF Jamie and her boyfriend at the time. She wanted to go to Prom, but wanted to go with a group. She and Whatshisname spent a lot of time together and so she felt that prom would be funner if they went with another couple. Enter me, The Best Friend, who can't say no. Only problem was, I didn't have a date. So she set me up. Honestly, it was a tad on the humiliating side. It didn't help that he was the only one NOT in a tux. He was doing Jamie a favor, and it wasn't his high school so it didn't matter to him that he totally stood out in his light colored suit.

So that's it. My entire high school dance history.

And yes, the argument could be said that there were plenty of Girl's Choice dances, but I have a somewhat lame excuse for that. There was this one time that I did ask someone. He was just a friend. Only he said no. He got another offer from a girl he liked a couple days later. And I couldn't really blame him. When I try to see it from his point of view - a 17 year old boy who has to choose between a friend and the girl he likes, it's kind of a no brainer. Still, I won't lie. It stung. I never asked anyone out again.

So I know this sounds all pathetic, and whiny, and wah-wah, and all that, and I know that I have since found my Prince Charming, and have my "Happily Ever After" and none of this actually matters any more, and maybe if we had gone to the same school and were "♥high school sweethearts♥" (cause we would have been) and I if felt possessed to post those retro pics, I would be making every one else a little nauseated with our teenage ooey-gooey, lovey-doveyness. So, really you can all thank your lucky stars that didn't happen.

"....And like this is me and John at Sadie Hawkins....and like, you know, this is like us at like Senior Ball and like I think my dress was like, you know, perfect....and ooooh! Like here we are at Winter Formal! (that was like the night I just like knew we were, gonna like, you know, B 2gether 4ever)..."

Death at my door

Okay, so it's not technically my door, it's actually my driveway, but still...

Every Spring, some poor little mama bird decides the ledge above my garage would be a lovely place to make a nest to lay an egg.

Shortly afterwards, a big gust of wind will send the whole thing crashing down on my driveway. Nest, egg, and all.

"Rock a bye birdy, on my roof top, when the wind blows, the nest will rock. When the wind blows your nest will fall, and down will come birdy, egg, and all."

(Ok, so I know I'm retarded and insensitive and lousy at making up songs)

But it doesn't stop there, I'm not sure if the same little mama bird is just really persistent, or if we're talking about different birds, but I get to walk outside to this scene several times a year.

Twice already this week.

Dear John,

I think you have some serious competition. There's another guy in my life.

You see, you travel so much and are gone so often, and well, he's always here. I have to admit to really enjoying spending so much time with him. He has these beautiful brown eyes, and a sweet smile. He makes me laugh and smile all day long, and I love the feeling of his hand in mine, and he likes to hold my hand wherever we go. And he gives the best hugs and kisses. He makes me feel like I am the most important person in his world.

We do all sorts of stuff together, go for long walks, go shopping, listen to music, read, watch TV... He hangs out with me and helps me do all the little mundane things like the laundry or the dishes or making the bed.

He crawls into bed with me in the wee hours of the mornings and we cuddle until we are fully awake and have the best, deepest, most thought provoking conversations while I hug him and squeeze him, and kiss him...

We talk about all sorts of stuff, cars, clothes, balls, his nose, his toes, thinking chairs... Okay, I admit maybe those aren't the deepest, most thought provoking conversations, but they mean the world to me right now.

I guess maybe you really don't have to worry too much, I know it can't last like this forever. One day he'll go off to kindergarten and leave me behind. One day he'll be too cool to hold my hand when we cross the street. And truth be told I'm getting in all the hugs and kisses in while I can, because I know that one day will come, hopefully not too soon, where he won't let me smother his little face in kisses. And when that day comes, I think I'll cry.

(stinker- 30 pictures and NOT ONE of them is he looking at the camera)

Facebook- pros vs. cons

I like my facebook membership, I really do. I've reconnected with several friends I have lost touch with over the years. I check it out at least a couple times a day to see what's going on in the lives of some of my friends. (It only takes a couple of minutes).

It's fun to see pictures people might post, and I like reading up about what is going on in their lives. Some people share every little detail of their day, and others just share the more interesting/sad/funny/exciting details of their lives. Through facebook I learned a friend of mine is joining the Peace Corps and moving to Timbuktu this summer. One friend is running for Mayor of West Valley City, Utah. One was agonizing over the decision to move her family to China for the next several years. Others share the exciting news of their pregnancies/births of new babies, or the loss of loved ones in their lives.

That's the stuff I enjoy the most, taking a moment to read the little details people want to share with me (and the rest of their friends on facebook). I don't share a whole lot- I still use blogger as my major medium to share the details of my life. I tend to be very long winded, and the things I have to say might fit into the "unabridged" category while facebook tends to be the "readers digest" super condensed version. My philosophy tends to lean towards, Why say in one sentence when you can devote several paragraphs to the topic? Besides that, the little box where you update your status on facebook used to say "What are you doing right now?" And I had to resist the urge to write "Kirsten Hall Berrett is obviously wasting time on facebook" because that's what I was doing at that moment. "Avoiding doing housework" is another favorite. (and I feel dumb repeating myself, and I'd like to come up with something more creative to say, but the reality is, that is what I am doing. I am sitting at the computer, because I am procrastinating doing the laundry or the dishes or whatever)

Of course there's a million ways you can waste time on facebook- there are like a bazillion quizzes to take in which you can find out useless things like what kind of shoe you are, or what 80's song you are, or what color your aura is, or what kind of car you are, or what kind of cereal you are. And no I am not kidding or exaggerating in any way. I took the "what kind of chocolate are you?" one, a long time ago, and it asks you a series of dumb questions about your personality, then matches you with a candy bar. Just in case anyone is wondering I am a Snicker's bar. Oh, and I'm also a superhero I never heard of (Melt?) I was hoping to be Wonder Woman, or Super Girl, they rock.

A new trend I've been noticing is to become a fan of stuff. That isn't really a real time waster, but it can get a little bit ridiculous. I am a fan of Jane Austen, Les Miserables, Wicked, Manchester United, Thomas S. Monson, the Mesa Temple, Sunshine, and Laughing (and probably a few others).

Lately I've been seeing things crop up like Saturdays, Sleeping, and this morning I saw Barack's watch. Yes, folks, you too can be a fan of Obama's watch. Really? Who wastes their time coming up with this stuff? It looks like a normal watch to me. Sure it only takes a second for me to click on "become a fan of sleeping!", but who felt a need to create a page and fan club dedicated to sleeping? And once I get started on that train of thought, I start wondering who comes up with the quizzes? And how do they come up with those questions and decide that winter being your favorite season means that if you were a car you'd be a Volvo? And then I realized I've just wasted five minutes pondering the quizzes on facebook, and I still don't even know what kind of car I am.

~~~

and on a totally unrelated note, the other day I realized I had posted like 5 things to my blog, but not one single picture- so I went back and added some to the previous two posts, just in case anyone is interested you can scroll down and check em out- which is also why I reposted the picture of me in my super girl outfit- that and as it is the only piece of evidence I own proving I had flat abs at one point in my life, I need to get as much mileage out of it as I can. Maybe I should use it as my facebook profile pic- my current one is another fave from my childhood.

Wizards, Werewolves, and Vampires Oh My!

On a scale of one to ten, I'd probably rate myself a four when it comes to Twilight Obsession. I know there are others out there (John) who would put that number higher, but I've seen a lot more dedicated fans out there. For starters, I don't even think I've read the whole series more than three times. I don't have a website dedicated to Twilight, I haven't written any fanfic on the Twilight books, or any fan letters for that matter, I've never really considered attending one of the many Twilight conventions, or any of the movie sets to try and catch a glimpse of the actors. I have yet to purchase any Twilight apparel, (although admittedly it's not out of the realm of possibility) and I certainly haven't formed any rock bands dedicated to the world of Twilight either.

That being said, I have gone to a Midnight release party for one of the books, had Stephenie sign some books, and I do have my favorite websites dedicated to the Twilight Universe that I like to visit from time to time. The other night I was spending my time in just such a worth while manner, and Madison came up and started asking me what I was looking at.

"Who's that?"
"Edward."
"Oh. Who's that?"
"Alice."
"Who's Alice?"
"Edward's sister."
"Oh. Which one is the girl he loves?"
"You mean Bella? That's her right there."

Then I proceeded to give her a run down of the different characters in the pictures- "Edward, Edward, Edward, Bella, Edward, Jacob, Alice, Edward, Emmett, Jacob, Bella, Edward, Jacob..."

"Who's Jacob?"
"He's a werewolf."
"And werewolves and vampires are enemies?"
"Yep."
"What are these pictures of?"
"These are pictures from the new movie they are making- New Moon."
"They're making another Twilight movie?"
"Yep."
"When can I watch the first one?"
"After you read the books."
"When can I read the books?"
"After you read all the Harry Potter books."
"You're so mean! I hate Harry Potter!"

I put that little stipulation out there for two reasons- first as much as I enjoy the Twilight books, I think she's a bit too young to read them. I think I'd like to hold her off for a few years first. Maybe when she's 13, or 14. Or 15. Secondly, she can't be a child of mine and not love Harry Potter. It really bugs me that she won't give it a chance.

I finally convinced her to give the books a shot. She didn't like the movies, and I think she was slightly prejudiced against them anyway because Nick loves them, so reason dictates that if he loves them, she will hate them. And everyone knows, 9 times out of 10, books are gonna be better than movies. You can't really judge a book based on it's movie. For the most part, the movies are supplemental. They're fun. They help provide images and give faces to characters. And the longer the book, the more they have to cut out of the movie to make it fit into an allotted time slot. But to judge a book like Harry Potter based on the movies, is downright criminal.

We compromised though- She would give the books a shot, but I'm the one doing all the reading.

By the end of the first chapter she was totally hooked. (Weren't we all, though?) She would beg for another chapter, and has talked her way into staying up an hour past her bed time while I read to her for the last three nights in a row.

I love that she's getting so enthusiastic about it, but at this rate I am worried we will be finished with all the books by the end of the summer, at which point I will have to figure out another way to delay her interest in Twilight. I'm worried that among other things, I will have to take an "out of sight, out of mind" approach to it and hide my obsession from her view. That will get difficult as the release of New Moon gets closer and closer.

(BTW the new trailers out for HP6 are totally freaking awesome. I'm getting really excited.)

Barenaked Ladies

Music has always been an important part of my life, but my guess is that most everybody can say that. I know it's nothing unique to me. The only thing that is unique (about any of us) are the memories, experiences, people, and emotions that are associated with so much of the music we listen to. The music that makes us laugh or cry, or reminds us of a certain time or place, or someone that may or may not still be a part of our lives.

I'm slightly jealous of other's music abilities. I figure my job is to appreciate other's talents. Somebody needs to be in the audience. I don't sing, couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, never played an instrument, there was never a piano in our home growing up, so no piano lessons. (sometimes I do think about breaking out my kid's lesson books, but I'm not sure I want to go down that road yet) I briefly was interested in playing the violin was I was in 5th grade, but my dad wasn't interested in listening to me practice, so that was a "no." By the 6th grade I was glad, because all my friends had to practice their instruments and do their chores before they could play, but I only had chores to do, so that was a bonus. My little brother did have the opportunity to play the trumpet. He was awesome. I was so proud of him. He was always first chair. He had a real talent for it. In college he had to pick between that and swimming and he chose swimming (he got a full ride scholarship for swimming, so it was understandable) but it broke my heart. As someone with no music talent whatsoever, it kills me to see someone waste it like that.

I grew up listening to oldies- 50's and 60's stuff- Beatles, Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, Peter Paul and Mary, Rolling Stones... to name a few. I didn't know there was anything else out there- it's just what my dad listened to. The radio in the living room belonged to him, and you didn't touch it if you valued your life. (same with the car) I still have a huge soft spot for this music. Always will. ( I spent a good portion of the 80's thinking I was born in the wrong decade, but have since learned to appreciate much of what I missed out on music-wise)

When I finally got a clock radio and realized that there were musicians out there still making music, I was floored. "We built this city (on rock and roll)" was the first song I heard, and I was in love. I mean, you know, wow. I'm just flipping through the channels and there it is. A city built on rock and roll. What a concept. In the 5th and 6th grades my bff Michelle was madly in love with one of the members of A-ha. She had all his Teen Beat and Bop magazine posters taped all over her room. She made me sing back up to her "Take on me" rendition. I still think of her every time that song comes on the radio. Those were my first memories of "experimenting" with music.

I got the best job ever (even if the pay was lousy) working in the music section at a Media Play my senior year in high school. Loved that job. Spending hours surrounded by music, and talking about music and being introduced to new types of music and being influenced by all of it. Eye opening experiences in more ways than I can count. (mostly good, but admittedly some not so) I was sad when I had to quit to move away to college, but when they opened up a new Media Play in the same town as my college, I jumped at the opportunity. (Good thing too, because that's where I met John.♥)

So suffice it to say, as a parent it's been important to me to pass along that love of music to my kids. I make them take piano lessons. And when Nick said he wanted to play the viola, I let him. And one of my dearest desires is that one of my kids will be the next Harry Connick, jr. But being the music snob that I am, I try to guide their music tastes (Beatles, Depeche Mode, Phantom of the Opera = Good; Rap and Country = Bad).

When Nick got his first stereo, I set out to buy him some CD's. That was more difficult than I expected. There's so much junk out there. I ended up in the soundtrack section and bought him the scores to Harry Potter and Star Wars, and just for fun, the Shrek soundtracks. They seemed harmless enough.

I didn't realize that some of those Shrek songs were going to give me so much grief. His three favorite songs quickly became "La Vida Loca" (Ricky Martin? Really???) "Funky Town" (disco? Are you kidding me?!?!) and "Holding Out For a Hero" (not as bad as the others, unless he ever decides he wants to belt it out in public -"...I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night, He's gotta be strong, And he's gotta be fast, And he's gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero...").

So when the Easter Bunny brought the kids itunes gift cards instead of a bunch of junk, (which I thought was pretty clever of the Easter bunny, but Madison wasn't so thrilled- she wanted a puppy) Nick looked at me and said "I still have my gift card from Santa. I just don't know what to buy."

Conundrum. He's just not that in to mainstream music (for which I am grateful- there's a lot of trash out there) I already own a bunch of more appropriate CD's I'd gladly share with him, but his tastes tend to lean a little towards the clean, upbeat, but quirky, (my music library is lacking in the quirky) and as someone who once earned a (very meager) living helping people find music, I felt a little responsible (and maybe a little OCD) about helping Nick find some new music we could both be happy about.

And then it hit me! Barenaked Ladies! (Nick was very wary about the name- I had to assure him that I, personally, had never found anything really offensive about the group or music- but I've never really looked either)

So we downloaded a few songs, and he loved them so much (especially "If I had a million dollars") that I am now totally sick of it. (Really, how many times can one listen to the same song in a row?)

(Just in case anyone is wondering, Madison is a completely different story. She's all about Hannah Montana, Jonas Bros, or basically anything with the Disney stamp on it- I am afraid to say that she most likely would have been an NKOTB fan if she had gone to jr high 20 years ago- and I was NOT!, but I encourage her anyway, because like I said, there's a lot of trash out there)

lame excuses.

I'm trying to re-commit myself to going to the gym every single day this week. Well, starting yesterday, I mean. Seeing as it is now 1:30 and the kids will be home in an hour and a half, the odds are getting slimmer I will make it out the door in the next ten minutes. I'm pretty good at coming up with excuses why I can't make it to the gym. Some are valid, some not so.

It's too early/late.
It'll be too crowded now, I'll wait until later.
I'm too hungry/full to work out
I'm too hot/cold.
My gym clothes are dirty.
I need a shower, so I can't go out in public until after I take one, but I don't want to take two showers in one day, because it will dry out my skin, and I don't have that much time anyway.
(Insert name of kid here) is home sick today.
I think (insert name of kid) might be getting sick, I better not chance it.
I think I might be coming down with something.
I feel yucky.
I'm too tired.
I don't have time because (pick one or more) a) I need to clean my house b) go shopping c) make dinner/dessert d) catch up on blogging, etc.
It's raining.
I have a headache.
I couldn't possibly put down this book!
I've been neglecting my house/kids etc when I spent the last two days reading.
I hurt my (insert body part here) and therefore couldn't possibly exercise. (note: this excuse works best when it's on the lower half of my body- knee, ankle, toe. Using a paper cut on my finger doesn't work so well)

I'm sure this isn't an exhaustive list, but I'm just hoping that by writing them down, it will highlight the absurdities of some of them, and shame me into going. Unfortunately I started this list a little late in the day, I've already used several of them today and now I think it really is too late.

I'll do better. Starting tomorrow....

Oh, Moe!

You know you live in a desert when....

When it actually does rain (and when it rains, it pours!) you have to locate and figure out how to use the windshield wiper controls on a car you've driven almost every day for over four years...

When you finally figure out that your almost-three-year-old's repeated exclamations of "Oh, moe!" (Oh, no!) from the back seat of the car are directly related to every movement of said windshield wipers...

Swish, swish "Oh, moe!"....Swish, swish "Oh, moe!"...Swish, swish "Oh, moe!..."

so much to learn...

Zach: "There's lots of things I need to learn about before I grow up."

Me: "Yep."

Zach "Like my woods."

Me: "Like your what?"

Zach: "My woods. You know, like maple wood, pine wood, tree wood..."

idol comments

I just informed Madison that Scott got voted off American Idol last week. (She had a bunch of homework and didn't get to watch the results show last week) She was devastated. He was her favorite. I personally like Danny. He looks like a younger Robert Downey jr.-btw, I had a huge crush on him back in the day

Anyway, along with her friend, Marissa, they penned a letter to Simon Cowell expressing their displeasure at the turn of events.

The Post Script Madison added at the end of the letter made me laugh out loud though-

"PS - Simon I think your cuuuuuuuuuuute!"

(I'm sorry Madison, but I think he's a little too old for you)

John's latest trip

Despite his best efforts to get out of it, John found himself on board ChinaAir headed to Malaysia with a quick layover in Taiwan this last week. I wasn't that upset about not going.

We picked him up from the airport this morning and he had a few interesting stories to tell, but overall he'd rather have just stayed home. He said he ended up traveling over 19,000 miles in four days.

He said it reminded him of Hawaii, but Hawaii is so much more prettier and closer. There's a huge Muslim population there, and they didn't like having their picture taken, so he'd get yelled at any time he'd try and take a picture of anything.

Hands down the funniest/saddest thing to happen was when he was in a little shop picking out some souvenirs. The conversation with the shop girl went something like this-

"You American?"

"Yes."

"You take me to America. I be your wife!"

"Um, no thanks. I already have one."

"That's okay. You have two. You take me to America!"

I'm sure he let her down as politely as he could, but I have to wonder what her life was like to beg some random stranger to take her away from the only home and she has ever known.

I keep mulling over the possibilities of another "wife". I'd let her do all the cleaning.

Blogger's Block

I don't know what my deal is this week, but I don't seem to be able (or have the desire) to write anything.

I generally go through periods like this when I am a) tired, b) angry, or c) all of the above.

This week the correct answer is C.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, but I am trying not to blog about (and spew venom all over the place) my frustration and irritation with both my oldest son's grades and one of his teachers. We'll call her Mrs. B. Her last name starts with B, but I probably wouldn't defend her honor if anyone were to say that B stood for something else. I truly think she dislikes my kid. I don't think he does much to help his situation, but I'd swear she has it out for him. That's all I'm going to say on the matter. We're counting down the days until school is over though.

Now that I got that out of the way, I'll try and think of something positive.

I love my neighborhood.

Within the first few weeks of moving into this house 5 years ago, I found a note taped to the door inviting us to a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt organized by a couple of moms in the neighborhood. 5 years later, one of those moms (whom I am now happy to call my good friend) still goes out of her way to do this kind of stuff. She says she does it for her kids, but we all benefit, and I am grateful.

I grew up in a neighborhood where the neighbors occasionally got together and did things and I was so excited to live in a place where people were actually interested in getting to know their neighbors and were willing to go out of their way to organize these kinds of things.

I got my hair cut and colored this week.

I love, love, love it. It's pretty much the same as last time (6 months ago? longer?) I even bought a nifty straightener thingy. It makes my hair smooth and pretty. Unfortunately John likes it long, blond, and curly, but now it's shorter (a little longer than shoulder length) and I like it straight, but I did get some blond highlights put in. (I'm really bad at maintenance when it comes to my hair, so to go much blonder would mean really bad roots.)

So that's my week.

Frequent Flyer

Just for fun, we started collecting postcards last May of all the different places John travels to- I got to thinking today that it's almost been a year since we started keeping track, and in almost one year's time he will have been to

32 different states (33 including AZ)

and

8 different foreign countries.

That's on average over 3 different places a month not counting repeats. (Some states he visits pretty frequently)

Dang. That's a lot. Good thing I'm fairly independent. (and I have a good security system!)

6th grade Honors Orchestra

Nick had the opportunity to perform this weekend in the school district's honors orchestra performance. He was so excited. He's been playing the viola for two years now and loves it, and when the opportunity came to try out for this orchestra, he couldn't pass it up.

On the day of the try-outs he was pretty nervous, and thought the sight reading was really hard, and for the rest of the day while waiting for the results to be posted on-line, he was completely worthless. I tried to get him to focus all that nervous energy on housework, and told him time would pass quicker if he was busy, and I think he believed me, but I still didn't get much work out of him.

He made it, of course (I doubt I'd be blogging about it otherwise, unless some fantastic lesson was learned in the process) and was one of only 2 kids in his whole school to make the orchestra. (There were a small handful that made the honors band as well.)

So for the past few weeks he has been practicing, and I have been driving him to and from practice sessions at a high school several miles away, and finally the big day came last Saturday.

They were pretty fantastic. It was exponentially better than some of the other elementary school orchestra concerts I've sat through in the past couple of years. (sorry, Nick, but it's true- listening to kids who've only been playing those instruments for only the past few weeks or even months, can at times, be downright painful)

It's nice to see a measure of success on his part, especially since only 4 months ago his viola teacher was threatening to drop him as a student for lack of any effort from him.

Oh Tay!

I've chronicled before my attempts at trying to teach my child some manners. He might not talk much, but baby sign language isn't that difficult, and I happily accept anything that remotely sounds like "please" (tee) or "thank you" (day-choo). (He's really good about thanking you for everything- "day-choo! day-choo!")

Lately though, I am wondering who is teaching who. With his conversational skills at a minimum he just comes and fetches me whenever he wants anything: turn on the TV, get him something to eat, etc. He comes running up to me and grabs my hand to lead me somewhere and I look at him and remind him gently, "Please", and he breaks into a big grin and says "Oh Tay!"

Then I am left wondering, did he just grant me permission to do his bidding? (The problem is, he's so cute about it, I can't argue)

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(I tried to take some new pictures of Christopher to post, but a) the lighting was terrible and b)the subject was uncooperative, also his shirt and face were really dirty, but that's my fault, so we're just not gonna mention it)

anything is blog material.

I know, it's terrible but there are times when I use my blog as a medium to get back at my kids. Sometimes just the threat that I might blog about something is enough. Once I took a picture of Nick sitting in his pigsty of a bedroom, and I said "clean it, or I'm posting it on my blog." I think he cleaned it in record time.

So today when I found my daughter sobbing on the couch, and John handed me this note to read, did I run to my distraught little girl and comfort her? no! I ran to the scanner to copy that handmade card so that everyone might see what terrible parents we are.

Let me rewind-

When John goes out of town he occasionally picks up the kids "a little something" as a present for them when he comes home. Time, availability, length of trip, location, etc., are all factors in what type of present (if any) he might come home with. More often than not, it's just a candy bar purchased at the airport. However, a trip overseas for several days warrants something a little better (although he still came home with some candy bars-no complaints though, chocolate is always appreciated in this house).

Because we have 3 boys and 1 girl, there are times that he ends up getting the boys all the same thing, and then maybe something different for Madison, (of course spending about the same amount on each).

For instance, the boys got windmills from Holland (it's a land of tulips, the souvenirs were pretty girly in general)

and Madison got a cute little Dutch Girl, which John carefully picked out for her.
In London the boys got little models of Big Ben and the Tower Bridge,
and Madison got a stinking cute t-shirt, which I was really bummed they didn't make it in my size. (she won't look at the camera because she knows I'm taking the picture to blog about her brattiness)
So... Daddy gets home and the little vultures swoop in, "What did you bring us? What did you bring us?" (Really that was just Maddie and Zach, Nick was subdued, but still pretty interested to see what, if anything, besides dirty laundry would emerge from the suitcase.)

By the time it is all said and done, Maddie is pouting because a) she didn't get a windmill, and b) she only got 2 presents and the boys got 3.

Any way, John and I were discussing what a little brat she was being (truth be told, I think he spent the most on her, even though he tries to be fair, but had to get that shirt for her, cause he knew she would love it.)

So we came to the conclusion that next time he'd just get four of everything. It would be faster and easier anyway, and he'd stop treating her like the "little princess" and just treat her like a "regular child". And so we apologized for treating her any different (at least when it came to souvenir's) and promised not to make that mistake again. She'd get what the boys got.

Apparently she didn't like that idea after all. I think they made up though.

Hair Tip

I know, it's weird getting a hair tip from me of all people. I'm one of those people who likes to think as little of their hair as possible. But I got a good tip I just had to share.

Today I had 5 things on my agenda-

Find Snickerdoodle recipe,
Make Snickerdoodles,
Take shower and wash hair,
Prepare Art Masterpiece lesson,
Teach Art Masterpiece.

First thing you should know, I generally put off taking a shower until later in the day in case I actually make it to the gym, so I will take it afterwards, which is why I didn't do it first.

So besides getting the cookies made, and the lesson prepared, I spent the day being distracted by other things such as other people's blogs, John's Europe pictures, phone calls, e-mails, crying kids, etc, and all the while having a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I was forgetting something.

What exactly was bugging me I couldn't quite put my finger on until I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I had forgotten to wash my hair! It was bad enough that the brush just left "trenches" in it's wake as it passed through.

I couldn't go out in public like that! How could I forget?!? And I didn't have time for even a quick shampoo, I had to leave in 5 minutes if I was going to be on time. A hat was out of the question because they don't allow them in schools and then I started to panic until I remembered a comment made by a friend awhile ago.

She was telling me how sometimes when in that predicament, she uses baby powder in her hair, and it absorbs all the oil and she can go on with her day, with no one else the wiser.

I figured anything was worth a shot. I couldn't look worse. And you know what? It totally worked! I'm not saying it's As Good As washing your hair, but the trenches disappeared, and the shininess from the oil went away. I was actually kind of impressed.

So just thought I'd pass that on in case anyone else out there (and I am sure no one else has ever had this problem) needs to come up with a quick solution for their "It's-been-too-long-since-I-last-washed-my-hair-and-I-really-don't-have-time-right-now" issues.

John's trip

Before I begin, John had strict instructions to "take lots of pictures". I wanted to feel like I was there because I had looked at so many pictures. I gave him my camera (which I appropriated when my other one died- RIP) and deleted a lot of the garbagey pictures off the memory card so he had over a Gig of memory to work with, and then repeated myself several times- "LOTS OF PICTURES". He took 57 (I counted) I was a little bit disappointed, but it could have been a lot worse.

Also I would just like to put it out there that no, John did not visit the very famous Red Light District, or purchase anything from a "Coffee Shop". Some lady at work yesterday actually threw something at John when he told her that he did not partake in "the best parts" of Amsterdam.

He did however, take some pictures of Tulips, (they are in the peak of their season right now, and one of my very favorite flowers)

Travel the city by boat on the many canals,
Take pictures of a "typical scene in Amsterdam"
Eat fries with mayo,Visit the Anne Frank House, he doesn't have a picture of that, but this is the church bell tower she could hear outside her room-Toured the Rijksmuseum (national museum featuring Rembrandt) and tried to visit the Van Gogh museum but it was closed. From there he went to London where John went some time shopping at Harrods-
Saw the Princess Diana memorial-
found a replacement for the Foosball table we threw out a few months ago. Yes, that's a Swarovski Football table for 80,000 British pounds. (Roughly $100,000 USD)
bought me some chocolate,
teased me with the front window display of a pastry shop,
Took pictures of places he wouldn't mind visiting should he ever return like The Natural History Museum-
And the guy who Founded Boy Scouts-
Then went and caught a really nasty cold while waiting outside to get into Wembley Stadium (A big Soccer Stadium, or as the rest of the world calls it- Football)
He was hoping to catch a Manchester United game (his favorite team) but they were having the preliminaries for the World Cup, so he just had to watch England beat Croatia. (He did get to see his favorite player from Manchester United score two goals, and David Beckham had a "really awesome assist")

Then just because he was having too much fun, he ended the trip by getting lost in the streets of London for over an hour. (But obviously made it home okay)