New Toys

I finally got a wireless card thingy for my new/old laptop, so I can type this from the comfort of the living room couch instead of being plugged into the computer downstairs in the cold cold basement.

Todd set it up for me tonight after dinner, and all night I've been playing with my new toy. This was his declaration two minutes ago:

"Good night, sweetie. I'm going to bed. Don't stay up to late. And don't bring your laptop up to bed."

I was just going to see if the router worked all the way up there.

Honest.

I smiled at him with sheepishness. He knows me too well.

Lasik

To have or not to have?

Discuss. What are the success/horror stories?

While we were falling asleep last night, Todd suggested out of the blue that I do it. And truthfully, the thought of living in a world of no glasses or contacts even if it's just for a few years is amazing to consider.

But I need some wonderful testimonials from people I know before I even make a consultation appointment.

I'm needy like that.

It Sleeps With the Fishes

My clothes dryer. 9/01-2/09

So very sad. But not as sad as the ENORMOUS mountain of laundry which is accumulating.

Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Kid Quotes

"Mama, can I blow up the microwave when we get home?" - Nathaniel

"Mom, when you die, your heart bursts out of your body." -Caleb

I have some seriously creepy kids.

Neighborhood Weirdos

It is rather commonly known that I would spend all of my life in my comfiest PJs if I could. On Sundays I change into them as soon as we get home from church, so from 2pm on, I am in my happy pjs. In college, I used to change into them immediately upon returning to my dorm room between classes. On Tuesdays, (my blessed day of nothingness) I don't change out of them until around 11am, and that's only because I have to get Nathaniel to afternoon Kindergarten.

The night of the Super Bowl, I had to go out to the van to get something around 5pm. It was still light enough to see. And since it was a Sunday afternoon, I was already in my PJs. Also, Todd had parked the van in the street that day. I briefly considered donning a trenchcoat over my red be-penguined fleecy footsie pjs, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. And who was going to be outside during the Super Bowl anyway? Instead I slipped on my black and white polka dot rubber rain boots and headed down the driveway.

I had just reached the van when my neighbor across the street stepped out of his house wearing an enormous head lamp and carrying several light bulbs in his hands. He has a thing for flashlights and lanterns. He owns them in all shapes and sizes. Maybe it's because we're both from NJ, where a different level of quirkiness is embraced, or maybe it's becuase we were able to gaze across the street that night and recognize a common bond in one another.

We are both weirdos. We nodded at one another, not saying anything about our respective get-ups and continued on with what we were doing.

Really, everyone is a weirdo. Everyone has something that seems completely normal and rational to them but is viewed as a little absurd by everyone else.

Some people are just better about playing close to the vest with their inner weirdo.

My neighbor and me, not so much.

Musical Monday

And now we will dive into that wonderful world of "creepy yet catchy educational musicals".  It is vast and amazing.  Embrace it.

And sing it. All. Day. Long.

Blogging Mom Fail

This was a fabulous weekend for my kids.

J was absolutely fantastic in his school's production of Hello Dolly! He really has an amazing presence on stage and puts himself entirely into it. I was very proud to point him out to people who said, "And who are you here to see?"

See the fabulous one? Yeah. He's mine.

Then, there was the Primary Children's Talent Show. Which was awesome. 30 kids performed. Each performance was roughly 30 seconds long. And there were cookies. Seriously, it doesn't get better than that.

Adults, take note. This is how a talent show should be run.

Nathaniel played "Merrily We Roll Along" on the piano. (The traditional version, not the Sondheim version. Which I love.)

Then he and Benjamin did a skit inspired by Calvin and Hobbes. It was great and well received by the audience. Mostly because it wasn't another piano solo. Even at 30 seconds each, they get a little monotonous.

Guess how many pictures I took of these events!!!

None. Niete. Zilch. Zero.

I even had my camera with me.

You may need to revoke my "Mothers Who Blog" card.

I'll try to be better next time, though. Really. I will.

Happiness is...

Throwing pies in your little brother's face!!

Plane Flier Guy

Caleb: Mom.  Look at me!  I am one of those plane flier guys!

Me:  An Aviator?

Caleb:  No!  A plane flier guy!  See!  See my goggles and my scarf?!  I fly old planes!  I am a plane flier guy!

Me:  Old Plane Flier Guys are also called aviators.  Or pilots.

Caleb: Oh.  Yeah.  I'm that.

Laundry

Oh, how I wish this was another post featuring a clever song sung at a laundromat. Sadly, it's far more mundane that that.

Tell me, oh wise ones, is it even possible that the fact that my dryer won't actually dry anything unless it's set all the way up to the "towel" setting (and I still have to run it two or three times at that) isn't going to be a Very Expensive Problem?

My dryer is 8 years old. Dryers can last longer than that, right?

Right?!

I'm a little afraid to call a repairman right now.  Give me courage.

Musical Monday

This weekend J will be performing in his school's production of "Hello, Dolly". This was one of my favorites growing up. I only just realized that this is early Michael Crawford. At the time it was Barbra Streisand I thought was most wonderful. Thanks to this show, I've always had a special place in my heart for Yonkers, NY.

This is a long clip, but it's catchy and you'll find yourself singing about Sunday clothes for the rest of the week. Trust me.

Wikit

Nathaniel informed me the other day that he's learned all the Kindergarten stuff, so it's time for him to go to first grade now.  With this in mind, I share a few stories.

1.  Nathaniel spent the first three months of school complaining to me that his name was too long to write all the time.  (I admit that I wasn't considering this when I named him.)  His teacher is cool enough that she was fine with him writing his initials on his paper as long as he practiced his name at home.  That worked for awhile.  But Nathaniel realized he was able to write longer than initials, just not all NINE letters of his name.  So, he changed it to "Wikit".  (That's an Ewok name for all you non-Star Wars geeks out there...though, it may not be spelled that way.  I'm not enough of a geek to have the Star Wars lexicon as part of my spell check package.)  That was good for a couple of months.  Lately, he's changed it again.  Now he signs his papers "DS6".  He tells me that's his code name for a game he plays with his brothers.  I thoroughly appreciate his amazing teacher who rolls with Nathaniel on this one and hasn't turned writing into a power struggle.  She is fabulous.  Nathaniel did write his name on ALL of his class Valentines yesterday, though, so I'm hoping that by next year he might be more comfortable with it on a regular basis.

2.  Nathaniel brought home from school a watercolor painting the title of which was "I Like My Face".  

3.  Nathaniel brought home the following worksheet from school that he had completed:

"Words in the -et family:

1. jet

2. bet

3. met

4. set

5. fetarashun"

 (that's "federation", in case you don't read Kindergarten-ese)

Man, I love that kid.

Crushes, the college years, addendum

I can't believe I forgot Naveen Andrews on this list.  Yes, back in college, I became a little obsessed with him after watching "The English Patient".  I was alone in my apartment in Princeton one weekend and devoured every minute of it.  (In fact, we could have skipped the whole story with Ralph Fiennes and what's-her-name, and just focused on Naveen Andrews and Juliet Binochet's characters, if you ask me.)  This was long before the days of imdb.com and Netflix, so I couldn't immediately run out and watch every other movie he'd ever been in.  But when "Lost" premiered a few years ago, I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw him walk on to the screen.

Here he is from "The English Patient":

Nice.

Snide Remarks

For Twilight Fans and/or Eric Snider Fans everywhere.

http://www.ericdsnider.com/snide/my-rejected-twilight-screenplay/

At the end of this one there is a link to his script of the Titanic.  Just in case you missed it 12 years ago, you should catch up on it now.

A letter to Barack Obama

Dear Mr. President,

Look.  I like you.  I voted for you.  Most of my friends voted for you.  I'm a fan.  Really.

But, I am NOT amused that you are keeping me from my weekly date with Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard (hereafter referred to as Pretty Boy).  Can't you have your press conferences during working hours?!!  Have them while my kids are awake and I'm driving all over creation to pick them up and drop them off and listening to NPR as I go!!  

At the end of the day, once they are all in bed, I want to put on my pjs (the fleecy footsie ones), brew a cup of herbal tea, pull out a yummy biscotti and relax in front of the television for one hour.  

One.

That's all I'm asking.  I don't think it's too much.  This is relaxation time.  The time when I can turn off my brain and enjoy the wit of Dr. House and the prettiness of Pretty Boy.  Even my husband pencils in my weekly date with Hugh and Pretty Boy so he knows to plan a little alone time.  I am displeased.

Why don't you interrupt American Idol or something?!   

Sincerely,

Someone who will remember this during the next election!

Musical Monday

A little "Bride and Prejudice", anyone?  Ah, all the wonderful musical entertainment that Bollywood has given us over the years.  The film studios of all countries should follow suit!



I enjoyed this almost as much I am certain I will enjoy this! (Even though it's not a musical, I MUST HAVE IT!!)

One wonders if Miss Austen does regret.

Bread!!

Wow.

Wouldn't it be awesome if we lived in a world where I could teach people how to play this:

And be paid with this:

Caleb boldly snitching while I was taking pictures of the lovely bread!

What I discovered when I turned the bread around. Apparently, everyone had been snitching.

Every week.

Of course, the IRS frowns upon that sort of bartering, so I wouldn't dream of doing it with one of the awesome Book Group Broads at all.

I Dream of Todd

The "Y" on the mountain stands for "Yikes!".

I wrote this letter to Todd after I had a dream with him in it. I don't remember that dream now, I thought it was this one. Anyway, less than a year later and while I was dating two other men simultaneously (one per coast, thank you very much), I had this dream:

"I had a dream that I was complaining to my friend, Todd, about not knowing what to do with my life after graduation and so I jokingly asked him to marry me. Much to my surprise, he readily agreed, and we went to the temple right then. Next thing I knew, I was wandering around Provo trying to figure out how to support the two of us while he finished school. Then I found out that I was pregnant. What a nightmare!"

Seriously, I should've been a fortune teller. Why is prognostication not offered as a major?! Because that nightmare? That's pretty darn close to how it happened a year later!

But then it was dreams coming true.

(Except for the Provo part. That is my enduring nightmare. [creepy shivers up my spine])

Musical Monday

You will watch songs from "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog"!!



"With my freeze ray I will Stop! The world...."

The Saga Continues...

I know.

The story of me and Todd is taking way too long to tell. In my defense, we've known each other for most of our lives, so it's difficult to encapsulate it.

If you need/want to catch up, go here. If not, we'll jump right in:

Here was the letter I wrote to Todd in March of 1997. He'd been on a mission for two years, and had written to me. But I never wrote back.

"Dear Todd,

Okay, so it's been a few years since last we communicated, but you have been a very difficult person to reach. I won't say that I have tried my best to find you, but I certainly have tried. I received a letter from you when you were in the MTC. I was very excited to hear from you and wrote an immediate reply. Unfortunately, you had put your home address on the envelope, so the letter just sate there. A few months later, I was helping out at Region II Chorus Auditions and saw your brother. He admitted that he did not know your addressoff the top of his head, but he would send it to me. I then gave him my address and went away feeling that all was well.

He never sent it.

I then saw your mother two months later at the Region II concert and asked her for it. She didn't know it either, but promised to send it to me as well.

She never sent it.

I began to regard this as a conspiracy, and so I didnt' do anything about it for a while. When I would talk to friends at BYU I would ask them if they knew how to reach you, but nobody did.

[blah blah I go on to tell him I finally found someone who had it but then I got mono and was too sick to do anything, let alone write and send a letter, and then I realized that he was home from his two year long mission. Oops.]

So, that is the story, Todd Smith. It came to a head last night when you were in my dream. So, I am writing this missive which you should have received well over two years ago and with it I send apologies for not trying harder. I think it all comes from deep seeded guilt. I've been trained my whole life to write to missionaries and I have failed miserably with you. It would be nice to talk with you again, though. I want to know how the last two years have been for you.

I hope this letter finds you well. Please don't take as long to respond to this letter as I did in responding to yours."

And then I included my email address and we started emailing. Not a lot. Very casually. Mostly sending jokes back and forth from BYU to TCNJ with a few "hey, what's up with you?" thrown in. I was seriously dating some other guy at the time...well, as serious as you can be dating someone while simultaneously having several flings. But that's another story all together.

Tomorrow I will post the dream I referred to in the letter. It's very interesting, all things considered.

Pine Wood Derby 2009!!

(Caleb is thrilled and enthusiastic for every heat no matter where he places. Nathaniel does not like to "lose".)

Benjamin is not pictured here, even though it was his derby. We were having camera issues. I started with my phone as camera, but then it ran out of batteries. Todd ran home to get the camera which I used until IT ran out of batteries. Then we switched over to Todd's phone.

Oi. Who says modern convenience is convenient?

This year Todd and the boys spent about 1/8 of the time spent last year on derby cars. And all three placed better than ever. Go figure. Benjamin placed second in his den and 4th overall. I can't remember the other boys placements, though they both did well enough to surprise me.

It was good times all around. I got to hang with some of the Broads. We all got to cheer our boys. The boys got to play with their friends, run around the gym, and race cars. And Todd got to read up on his company's financial report during the heats that didn't involve our sons. Good times were had by all.

Snow.

Remember all that snow I wasn't too keen on receiving last week?

We got it. And lots of it. But it was undeniably lovely. And it was sort of fun getting all the ice off of my car. Sort of like peeling a hard boiled egg. Except I've never managed to cut myself on egg shells. Ice is now a different story.

Still, the sun came out and made all the ice and snow sparkle beautifully and I could pretend I was in some other world full of diamonds. Granted, I caught myself day dreaming more than once during the week about hanging out poolside with a book all summer, so I was still aware of reality to some extent.

Fellow Awesome Broads, Heather and Joan, were most helpful in preserving my sanity during the two days the kids had off from school. We swapped kids around and it made me happy and my kids happier.