Hi, I'm Meg.

Tuesday morning, I think

2011-08-23T08:36:00.003-05:00

AAUUGHH golly where has time gone? We've had an unusually eventful summer -- I made the Minnesota RollerGirls and am now an Atomic Bombshell; Lucy's swimming has really taken off (her late-teenage teacher said yesterday that her front- and back-crawl was probably stronger than his -- she, amazingly, remembers to kick; but the elementary backstroke is her arch-nemesis); both kids have, incredibly, been able to keep practicing piano with a minimum of crying (none of it from me); Joel and Ellen and my mom all did the St. Paul Triathlon last weekend; and there's more exciting stuff to come!

Lucy is having a birthday party next week, and she just came up to me and said "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NEXT WEEK! YOU'D BETTER TELL DADDY!" She was really surprised that he and I had already spoken about it. Ha!

Last night I was helping Eddie with piano (and let me tell you, adjusting to the different approaches to practicing required by my two very-different children is VERY TAXING) and he was working on a very-simplified "Ode to Joy" and he started bawling (of course) and he cried "I don't like this because Beethoven wrote it and I CAN'T PLAY IT!"

Saturday morning

2011-08-06T08:19:00.003-05:00

Hey there! Joel's playing softball in Duluth so I'm home with the kids this weekend. It makes for a very weird summer weekend: no schedule and very low expectations.

Yesterday (Friday) I had to go get some new cushions for my skate trucks. As the kids and I were tooling along 94 through downtown St. Paul on the way to Derby4All, I felt a loose thread on my tank top. I pulled it a little, then a little more -- and the spaghetti strap came completely detached from the fabric, exposing my entire left side. WHOA! Hauled the minivan off at the Dale exit and found Primp, a "cheap-chic" boutique I'd been eyeing for a while. It was busy, but the kids were angels and I found a fix for my wardrobe malfunction. As we were getting back in the car, both kids gently let me know that they really liked one of the other items I'd tried on -- a little ruffly cotton dress. I'm guessing it's not the last time I'll get fashion advice from them. They were so sincere and sweet about it -- "Momma, I wish you bought that pretty dress" -- that we jumped back out of the van and went back to get the dress. The saleslady told the kids they were hired. And I treated them to cinnamon rolls from Bars Bakery next door. Yummalicious.

Nothing like a little retail therapy to lift the mood! I've been feeling absolutely nauseated about the upcoming MNRG draft -- now that we're down to the final week of boot camp, it's the same feeling as the week before tryouts. The feeling that things are changing -- changing from something good, which is always scary.

Speaking of change, I cleaned out the garage on Thursday and WOW did that feel good! It wasn't a total disaster, but things had been strewn about and disorganized, and that needed to be rectified. I took a huge load of books and VHS tapes to Half Price Books, where they actually gave me $20 for the lot. And I found a diary that I kept for a short time in 1997-99. I read through it last night and it was a good reminder of how discontented and unsettled I'd been my last year of college. And how grateful I need to be now, for how truly happy I am with my current lot.

Last night I took the kids to Lake Elmo for picnic dinner (broaster chicken, watermelon, and the kids' respective favorite veggies: red bell pepper for Eddie; cherry tomatoes from our garden for Lu) and swimming. I love swimming with my kids -- Lucy is such a fish and Eddie is so silly -- and floating in the water felt lovely on my various derby-related aches and pains. As we were packing up, the Lucy and Ed were helping each other and and I overheard a nearby dad say to his kids: "Look, he's helping his sister instead of fighting with her. It is possible!" A proud mama moment for me.

Today's plan: clean up the house, then skating at the Oval (free), afternoon bowling (free coupons), dinner at Culver's (also heavily-couponed), and then up to see Ashland's production of Cats. Sounds like a perfect Saturday to me! When does Joel come home again?

It's hot. And derby.

2011-07-20T08:18:00.004-05:00

Joel and I are enjoying the most spectacularly hot week EVER (heat index supposed to be at 122 F today, I think? Dew points nearing the mid-80s?) in footloose and fancy-free fashion -- because my parents have the kids!

I'm guessing my folks are going crazy, because it's not much cooler in Chicago, and a mega heat wave is just as bad as below-zero when it comes to kids getting stir-crazy from being inside all day. But me? Living in the lap of luxury, particularly thanks to our new window-unit air conditioner in our upstairs bedroom. I can't believe we lived here for almost 10 years without it -- it is soooo nice and cozy up there now.

Joel and I caught an unbearably-hot Twins game on Monday (a makeup of an April 22 rainout, to which Jean and I wore SNOWPANTS). Then we met up with some derby friends for a bev or two. Tuesday I had to finish the August issue of the Forum (done!) and today I was supposed to volunteer to take some church kids to the pool, but the oppressive weather cancelled the trip. So I think Jean and I are going to catch lunch and a movie.

Last night I had a bootcamp practice. We aren't working off-skates anymore, and strangely I actually miss it. I carpool with 3 or 4 other gals from the east side (one of them is an MNRG veteran -- they're invited to join bootcamp for the free workout and to help us train), and we got there early enough that I could've done the PEP warmup, but I just got distracted and didn't do it. As we then started our skating warmup, my feet let me know they were cranky about my omission. I don't get cramps, exactly, but my feet feel kind of like those cheapo glowsticks that you have to bend and snap to get them to work. The tendons (or something) feel like they need to be cracked a bit to give them the pliability I need to skate the way I want to.

After a short warmup (made even shorter for me because I went to help set up some chairs for LJ, a bootcamper-cum-Deb who broke her leg in 2 places a couple weeks ago), we started with 30-60-90 squats. Yup, STARTED with them. I know I've mentioned these before, but they are absolutely my least-favorite drill. We sprint for a short amount of time (30 seconds? maybe less) and then squat (while still rolling) for 30 seconds. Then sprint, then squat-roll (but you can't move your feet, so when you roll to a stop, you stop) for 60 seconds. Then sprint, then 90 seconds. It is absolutely brutal (as evidenced by the super-crappy squat form we all have by the middle of the 60-second squat). It burns my thighs and usually makes my tailbone ache (though last night it was just the thighs).

The other thing I hate about this drill is that I have lousy bearings in my wheels, and when they tell us to squat, I quickly slow to a stop and everyone rolls right past me. I HATE BEING ROLLED PAST. Also the longer you can roll, the easier it is to shift your weight to ease some of the pressure on your leg-and-back muscles. Once you're stopped, you are stuck.

OK anyway, one crummy drill down. Next we repeated a drill we had done last week: 2 skaters line up on the jammer line, then sprint around the first turn, trying to do a crossover right at the apex (I am totally using terms that mean nothing to you, I can tell by the look in your eyebrows. Let me try to find a diagram).
Then you have to try to stop between the jammer and pivot lines (or, where they would be) on the opposite side of the track.

Now, I can totally do crossovers. I even learned a trick (thanks Wet Spot!) for when we skate as many laps as we can in 2 minutes (or when we skate 25 laps as quickly as we can -- basically the same drill, just measured differently) -- crossing over EXACTLY at the top and bottom of the track, to get the most efficiency out of the diamond.

(The "diamond" is the middle oval in that picture -- it's the most efficient, circular way to skate around the track)
But crossing over right at the apex? Another story.(The apex is about where the "15"s appear in the above picture. It's the spot where, if you're finishing going around the turn, your momentum takes you tangentially off the inside edge. Did I mention roller derby is run by nerds?)

For one, going with another girl means we're both fighting for that inside edge. And for two, JUST as I start to get some decent speed, we're at the turn and I have to scramble to keep my feet, and then there's no way I can get back to the inside line. But I guess that's why they're having us work on it -- it's hard.

So, we only went through that drill twice. I was still feeling like I wasn't getting it -- two crummy drills down.

Next, I think we went back to doing sternum hits. These, I feel OK doing -- when we did them last week (using blocking pads) all the trainers told me I was hitting well. Of course, doing them on a live person/teammate/friend/fellow mama whose children I do not want to leave motherless; that's a different story. I was paired with Jo Mauler, who was a Deb and is a fantastic skater and athlete. She is the one I am always gunning for -- can I keep up with her on the sprints? Can I start faster than she can? So it was good to be paired with her. Unfortunately for me on this drill, her body is even bonier than mine. We hit each other a bunch of times -- she nailed me in the chin, and I managed to knock her on her butt. It felt OK, but not as good as hitting the pads.

Then we worked on spread-eagles. THESE are my Achilles heel. See this picture?

Now imagine it rolling -- on skates. It's an effective trick of agility, to be able to sneak through people at this surprising angle; it's even more effective if you can then stick your bum out and bump somebody with it.
But there are problems:
1. Skates have wheels that can only roll forward or backward. Sooooo unless your feet are turned-out exactly 180 degrees, you are TOAST.
2. I can remember being 5 years old and not being able to turn my feet this way
3. I've been dancing for over 20 years now, lamenting my lack of turnout
4. Improving one's turnout, in ballet, takes a ton of careful practice, stretching, and training. It needs to come from the hip, not just the knees or feet. Forcing it risks injury.
5. Derby people just do it.

I actually have more points -- like, when we do 2nd-position plies in ballet (which is essentially what these are), teachers are very careful to never have us go too far down. And don't stick your butt out. ANYWAY! I am boring myself. Trust me when I tell you it is crazy hard. I wound up spinning myself around and falling down WAY more than I prefer... that said! I did actually get a couple pieces of awesome advice (feet farther apart; weight on one skate more than the other). It doesn't mean I'm EVER going to use it in a game, but it's nice to make progress.

So it was a semi-frustrating practice for me. And as the draft nears, tensions are bubbling a bit. With so few spots, and new transfers appearing every week, we can't help but try to gauge where we each stack up in comparison. And this is the blessing and curse of roller derby: there is no one "ideal" type. Big and tall is awesome, but can be a pitfall. Fast is great, but speed alone (without agility and stability) is worthless. Having a mind for the game is a fantastic asset, but not if you can't make your body do what it needs to. Having experience is awesome, but it might make someone harder to train. So it's definitely a "whole-package" deal, but who knows what pieces carry more weight?

Regardless, this continues to be an absolutely life-changing experience. At the moment, I absolutely have to shower.

Back in MN

2011-07-17T16:43:00.003-05:00

Hi there, quick welcome home note to myself. I told a couple of my cousins that I'd try harder to blog... so here I am!

And when was I speaking with my cousins, you may ask? Why, at the 37th annual Ryan Family Picnic, of course! Held every summer in Chicagoland, this was the first year without our beloved Nana, who died in May at the age of 95.

The picnic was hot but lovely. Eddie had a freakout when "his" helium balloon took off for the heavens. He was terrified it was going to go out to outer space, and later insisted that all balloons be destroyed in order to prevent this from ever. Happening. Again. It was his own personal balloon holocaust, and I'm still trying to figure it out.

Joel and I left the kids with my folks, and are going to really enjoy the quiet for the next four days. I'm going to start by going to roller derby practice this evening, then Joel's going to go to work in the morning and... oh that's right, so am I, editing the August issue of the Forum. Later in the week, I'm also going to get my eyebrows waxed. Whoa, too much excitement. Oh-- we're also catching a Twins game and I'm going to volunteer at church. Yep, it's a thrill-a-minute around here.

Last week the kids finished their session of swim lessons -- Lucy passed into the next level and Eddie *almost* did. :) Eddie also started piano last week, and I think it's good that he's with Grandma this week to encourage the practicing. It took me 9 months to get Lucy into the practicing rhythm (which is not bad -- I took for 5 years and never enjoyed it), and I can't get inside Eddie's head like I can with Lulu.

OK better go find a COOL outfit to wear to practice. The airco will not be on at the Roy, and it's 90 and muggy. Urgh.

Roller derby update

2011-07-06T21:56:00.003-05:00

Well I made it through tryouts (on June 12 and I realize that was weeks ago; don't judge me) and into bootcamp for the Minnesota Rollergirls (MNRG).

About 40-45 women tried out on June 12. Tryouts were 3-ish hours of skating skills and drills and tests-of-endurance, and it was difficult and awesome, often at the same time. Of the 40+, fourteen were chosen for boot camp. So it's definitely an honor to have been chosen.

Bootcamp is 8 weeks of 2-hour, 3-night-per-week practices. At the end (August 10), the four MNRG home teams (the Rockits, Dagger Dolls, Atomic Bombshells, and Garda Belts) draft whomever they wish, to fill holes in their respective rosters.

Typically the teams will choose from the boot campers; however, they also have the option to choose skaters transferring from other roller derby leagues.

Last year they drafted ... oh cripes I'm not sure. 14 or 16 maybe? This year: probably 8. Well, they have promised us no fewer than 8. Plus, there are 5 hopeful transfers who are coming in with more derby experience under their belts than we bootcampers. So of this year's 14 bootcampers, in a worst-case scenario, they'll take 3 of us. THREE. This is an enormous bummer, especially since 12 of us bootcampers have been on the Debu-Taunts rec league and have been skating together weekly (or more!) since last July.

But one can hope! And one can definitely have an awesome time practicing 3x per week, and get oneself in the verybest shape of one's life. And one can learn VOLUMES from the All-Stars and vets and refs who are helping train us.

So I'm keeping my chin up -- there's nothing else to be done, truly. Bootcamp is wild and wonderful -- we are in week 4 (holy cats -- is that possible? Already? Wow!) and they kill us with plyo (jumping exercises) and core (situps and pushups in zillions of permutations) and we are starting to work on pack skating (working together) and hitting. It's fantastic to be able to share this time with so many other exceptional skaters and athletes. It's exciting. And sweaty.

And right now, I need to go to bed.

Ending the school year with a bang (and a drill or two)

2011-06-14T15:10:00.004-05:00

Last day of school! Last day of school!

Today was the kids' last day. I think St. Paul is the only school district in the country that hasn't been out since last week. I think it's nice to end in the middle of the week -- makes a Tuesday seem like a Friday.

It's been an emotional and exciting week for all of us here in Gronauland. Lucy had her Kindergarten graduation last Friday. Many tears were shed as her cohort of 15 said goodbye to the teacher most of them had had for two years.

Golly, we love Ms. Kristie! She gave a lovely tear-jerking little talk about the class, and then as they got their "diplomas," Kristie announced what each child said he or she wanted to be when they grew up. Lucy said "a teacher." We watched a little slide show of the year, followed by cookies and juice. It was small and simple and touching and perfect.

Lucy's graduation dress (yay Valu Thrift!)

She REALLY wanted to wear my hat, but chickened out.

Our big brand-new first grader!

And here are a couple pics from her piano recital the weekend before:

Ms. Mary, a sweet and patient woman.

I did 2 duets with Lucy, and she played one piece on her own. Piano has been a struggle this year -- Lucy hasn't really enjoyed it, and it's been really hard making time to practice. But she enjoyed performing (surprise, surprise) and has been working much harder and more diligently on it the last couple of weeks, and we're all (by which I mean "I am") starting to get more disciplined about her practicing.

Also, we've been assembling a playset:
This is the kind of project that would take one full weekend if you had 2-4 grownups working all daylight hours. We, unfortunately, do not have that kind of free time, but we spent large chunks of 2 weekends putting this thing together. The picture above shows maybe 20% completion. It's now probably 90% completed (even the monster slide is fully assembled but just needs its bolts tightened and the whole thing needs to be attached to the fort) but finishing that last 10% is going to be tricky. The kids already are enjoying the swings and I'm excited to have people over when it's less of a safety hazard.

Oh golly there's so much more! But I have to go get the kids from the bus. I hope to find time in the next couple of days to let y'all know about roller derby tryouts. In the meantime, bon soir!

Wednesday night

2011-06-08T21:31:00.003-05:00

Stink! I SWORE I was going to write more as tryouts approached. Well, I'm a bit of a failure because tryouts are in 4 days. I suppose now is as good a time as any to do some processing. But first: what the devil have we been up to around here?

Lucy had her first piano recital last Saturday. Her teacher, Miss Mary, is an incredibly sweet and patient woman with an adorable South African accent. Lucy likes her but has not enjoyed piano for most of the school year. It's hard to find time to practice (and Mary only asks for 10-15 minutes per day)... and Lucy ALWAYS has something she'd rather be doing... and I'm not always home in the evening to sit with her... and Lucy has had other rehearsals stealing her time... anyway, it has been a struggle.

But just days before the recital, I finally happened to be at a lesson with Lucy and during a natural break in the action, I mentioned to Mary about the difficulty we'd been having, and Mary gently-but-firmly encouraged practicing immediately after school, before any other distractions could jump in. And I realized that our normal after-school routine had been extremely wishy-washy: all snick-snacking and shoe-tossing and backpack-unloading and completely unstructured. So, I thought, we could try some structure. I set a timer when the kids got home and let them know that they should grab something to eat right away, because snacktime was OVER when the buzzer buzzed. And I let Lucy know that at the buzzer, she'd start practicing piano. And you know what? Not a single complaint. They ate, they finished, and she practiced -- at least 15 minutes and sometimes more.

Now, it's only been a week (and we've had to mix it up a bit this week because I've been teaching at the kids' school... more on that later)... but today Lucy even had the forethought to practice BEFORE SCHOOL because she was having a playdate after school. What a kid! She played beautifully (I mean, for a 6-year-old who has been taking piano for only 9 months) at her recital on Saturday, and I'm just so proud of her. She's matured so much in the last few months, and while I mourn the loss of her babyhood, she is truly growing into a lovely young girl.

Eddie had a rough evening tonight. I'm guessing he had a nice morning with Grandpa Books (those two are like peas and carrots), and I think his school day was OK (albeit a little off-kilter; there was an assembly (more on that later)), but Lucy had a playdate after (that Ed wasn't invited to) and then we had to drop Grandpa off at the airport (Eddie says "I miss him already. He's my biggest fan."), then I dragged him to a roller derby store to get my wiggly plate looked at (the housing for my toestop has come unglued -- not a dealbreaker, but will need to be fixed soon). Then we had a loooong drive to McDonald's, then I took him to the Roseville Oval so I could skate a few laps, and he had no playmates and was booooooooored. And, I suspect, quite tired after an exciting week. We've had some unbearable heat here (today was lovely, but the last 2 days have been 100+ degrees) and I think Ed got a bit too hot Monday and is still recovering a bit. Anyway, he calmed down by bedtime and, I might add, passed out almost immediately.

For the last 5 school days I've been teaching a "High School Musical" camp at the kids' school. Every three years, Nokomis does an "Artist in Residence" program for their 4th, 5th, and 6th-graders. The students get to choose between 5 or 6 art programs and then spend 5 days participating in them. Ashland Productions arranged it for me (with only a bit of prodding from me) and I was honored and excited to get to teach at my kids' school.

The kids learned a 10-minute song-and-dance medley, and we played some theatre/acting games to break it up a bit. It was intense. For one, some of the kids didn't follow instructions and accidentally put the HSM camp down as their first choice. Ooops. And... remember that 100+ degree heat I mentioned? Yep, and I was in an upstairs, west-facing classroom with 25 kids and noooo air conditioning. It was brutal.

We made the best of it (and occasionally escaped to the much-cooler gym). And, as always happens, the show totally came together at the end. Over half the kids chose to sing solos, and with the wonder of modern sound amplification, you could actually hear them. At least six different teachers stopped me afterward and said they had been crying the whole performance -- evidently my group had a large number of children with various behavior and/or emotional problems. Some of the kids had NEVER gotten up to speak in front of their classes before... but they did a solo. Some of these kids aren't having much success in math... reading... any of the traditional school subjects... but they shone while performing. Some of the kids came in wanting nothing to do with singing and dancing, but I totally caught them having a good time and actually trying up there. It was a beautiful experience. Nokomis had to cut their music teacher a few years ago, and a bunch of the teachers said this experience was a perfect example of why music is absolutely necessary in school. I was astounded and humbled by the whole thing. It sure wasn't easy -- I came home completely wiped out those first 4 days. But I am so dang proud of those kids. I am so blessed to get to do what I do.

OK right, so I'm trying out for the Minnesota Rollergirls on Sunday. Tryouts start at 2pm and I ought to know by 6 or 6:30 whether I've been selected to attend this summer's boot camp. If I make it to boot camp, then we practice 3 days a week until the draft on August 11. I would be feeling pretty darn confident about the whole thing... except I think there are only 6 spots available. Aaaaannnd there are a couple of the girls on my Debs team with whom I cannot keep up. Aaaaand you never know what kind of transfers or other super-amazing girls might stroll in off the street. Aaaaaaand in some ways it's like a theatre audition -- they might be looking to draft only taller, larger girls (in dance, I am definitely taller and larger. Not so in derby). Or girls under age 30. Or -- God forbid! -- redheads. Anything is possible.

But I'm so grateful for how roller derby has impacted my life already. I am in better shape than ever. I get really sweaty on a regular basis, which makes me so happy (ask Joel). And when I really push myself and dig deep and try something new or hard (or new AND hard), I've had an amazing group of women standing right there, cheering me on until it's time for us to trade places. I've never experienced such support, such positivity, such great motivational mojo. And I've been in wonderful groups of people before. I've had life-changing experiences with awesome people when I was in West Side Story and Joseph. I've loved my softball and volleyball teams, and I'm grateful and fond of the relationships formed during those experiences. But to have 80 women working together encouraging each other, without a single stinker in the bunch... there's nothing like that power.

So, I'm going to rest and hydrate and hope for the best on Sunday. And I'll be honored if I make it, but still delighted just to continue with the Debs for another year if I don't. And I'll let you know, either way!

Thursday afternoon

2011-05-05T14:37:00.003-05:00

Tonight are my three final dance classes of the session at Maplewood. It's been a long session -- 14 weeks -- and it culminates in a dress rehearsal tomorrow night (Friday) followed by 2 blessedly brief recitals on Saturday.

This has been such a fun year, getting back into teaching again. Like anything, it gets SO much easier with practice. Just a few short months ago, I had a ginormous class (15 girls age 3-5) and it took every once of energy I had to keep it together. But a little experience goes a long way -- I'm learning how to enforce order right off the bat, which gives me much more leeway to be fun, later. Now I've got a class of 16 girls and -- gasp! -- I actually look forward to teaching it.

I just got back from a 33-minute jog around the neighborhood. I was dreading it, but it felt pretty awesome. My 'hood is a really nice amount of hilly, and quiet enough to be able to stay on city streets but not worry too much about having to break stride to wait for traffic. This was my 3rd run in the Vibrams -- I sure love how my body feels when I run in them (though this might more accurately be attributed to the other regular exercise I've been getting), but 50% of the time they have give me wicked blisters on my arch. (Is that the same thing as an instep? Well, whatever.)

MNRG tryouts are now 1 month and 1 week away. We (the Debu-Taunts) had a good skating practice last Sunday on the concourse at Xcel again. This, of course, means that we didn't get to scrimmage... AGAIN... and it's now been SO long since we've scrimmaged that I would feel incredibly uncomfortable scrimmaging at the moment. Hah! Not that I ever felt comfortable scrimmaging! I cannot begin to describe to you the black hole that forms in my chest and stomach the instant someone says "scrimmage." Look, I just typed it 5 times and I think I need to head to the bathroom.

Wow, I think I really might be allergic to cheese.

Anyway, it was a really good practice. Led by our coachesWe did several warm-up laps, a group-stretch, then broke up into groups to work on skills. We did some whips (for the first time! ever!), which were surprisingly anti-climactic; some pacelines-with-weaving-and-butt-blocking; shopping carts; weaving-around-cones; hockey stops; sprinting relay races (my favorite!); and A Few Minutes of Hell, which basically means you sprint FOREVER until they tell you to stop. This is to help prepare us for tryouts, when they do 10 Minutes of Hell (which I'm guessing is longer than A Few Minutes). On Sunday they mixed it up a bit and had us sprint one lap, then skate one lap as fast as we could without lifting our skates off the floor (also known as "sticky skates"), then go back to sprinting, then back to sticky. I think we did it for 5 minutes. I was feeling OK and I think I kept pace with the fastest group.

Last Wednesday (now over a week ago) I hit Terrors practice again. We did some drills all together with the traveling team (my favorite of which involved fast-feet in place, then dropping to "sprawl" (laying flat on your stomach, usually in the puddle of sweat left behind by the guy in front of you) three times, then getting up and sprinting once around the track). When the traveling team split off, our group (all the girls in attendance, plus undrafted boys) asked Medusa and JukeBoxx (two supertalented MNRG All-Stars) to help us with footwork, so we practiced things like skating only on our front (or back) wheels, and only on our inside (or outside) wheels, etc. (remember, we're on quad skates). I had never tried this stuff before, and it was really fun and challenging -- great for core strength and balance, and good just to test our limits. We also did some backward skating with crossovers, and "spread eagle" (skating sideways, with both feet turned completely out). This last one is a major challenge for me -- my hips, legs, and feet naturally turn in. I fell over many times. Again, always good to stretch those boundaries.

OK, time to set a timer and do a little cleaning-tornado for about 25 minutes. Woo hoo!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T17:40:00.004-05:00

Last night Joel and I got a lovely night out with his family -- it was Donna's bday (and John's and her anniversary) on Friday night, so Joel's sister Julie and Kaz invited us over for a really lovely crab-and-steak dinner and then we all went to Jersey Boys together in Minneapolis. It was really wonderful to have an adultish night out. The food was great, and the show was very fun. In the Orpheum lobby I ran into Katie Allen, with whom I'd performed many years ago -- her boyfriend is playing Tommy DeVito, one of the Four Seasons. I'd only met him once, very briefly, but it was fun to have kind of a personal connection to the show.

Today the kids woke us up nice and early to look for their Easter eggs and baskets. It was a blast and they were just so cute. Joel's parents came over and we dressed for church -- Ed choosing the 3-piece suit he wore for Julie & Jeff's wedding exactly 1 year ago. Fortunately when I shortened his pants back then, I made it really easy for myself to let them back out again this morning. Lucy also wore her dress from that wedding.Eddie kept repeating, "Mr. President, may I have a word?"

(Right now Eddie is peeling himself a pink hardboiled egg and he just said, "I'm ALL about Easter. The whole darn thing.")

We hit church, then came home to do an outdoor egg hunt and eat brunch. I made a crockpot egg bake, some crockpot cheesy potatoes, some fruit, and Jane Peterson's sour cream coffee cake, and everything turned out swell.

After lunch I got a nice 20-minute nap out in the sun on the deck (until a bug flew into my ear). At 2pm it was time for my derby team's Easter Wall-Sit. Wherever we were at 2pm we were supposed to "sit" on a wall (back flat against the wall, knees bent at 90 degrees) and hold it as long as we could. I about died after 4 min, 30 seconds -- a couple gals were in the 10-minute range and one said she made 22 minutes! Jean came over and assured me that there are many ways to cheat at a wall sit... but I suspect I probably just stink at it.

This is at about 3:30 in (Lucy started bawling after 10 seconds, then came back on & off for a bit):

After the Gronaus left, Jean and Joel and I took the kids up to Lake Phalen -- Joel took the kids to the playground and Jean and I ran the 3.1-mile loop in about 28 minutes. It was only my second run in the Vibrams and I *think* I love them... I had none of the blister issues from the first run, and I felt fantastic the whole time. It helped that it was 60 degrees and sunny for the first time since September.

We practiced our cartwheels, answered several questions about my shoes, and mocked the bicyclist who complained about us jogging in the bike lane. (I was, like, You're not from this neighborhood, are you?) And now I'm chanking on a salad (I ended my no-desserts Lenten fast by eating many, many sugary things and now my tummy is feeling unfortunate) and threatening to throw the kids in the bathtub. Perfect ending ot a very happy Easter!

The hills are alive!

2011-04-21T22:08:00.003-05:00

Eddie and Joel got to watch about 10 minutes of Lucy's Sound of Music rehearsal tonight. Did I mention Lucy is in the The Sound of Music? Omigosh I don't think I did! OK Lucy is playing Gretl in a local community production. Oh here! I forget this isn't a facebook post and I can be verbose. It's up in White Bear Lake, through Lakeshore Players. Yes, WBL is a haul (25 minutes one way) -- though there are parents driving from the Highland neighborhood and Cottage Grove (each an extra 15 minutes) so I am not complaining.

I'm also not complaining because the rest of the cast is totally outstanding. They have double-cast the seven Von Trapp children so Lucy is in 8 of the 16 shows. (She is in the "Trapp" or "T" cast if you are looking to buy tickets.) Of the 13 other kids in the show, I'd worked with all but 3 or 4 and even those I'd heard good things about. Also one of my absolute favorite singers (and a very cool mom), Peggy Sutherland, is playing Maria. Lucy's first show is April 30! Can't wait!

Anyway! So Joel and Eddie got to watch the last 10 minutes of rehearsal, and as Lucy sang her solo last line of "So Long, Farewell..." Eddie jumped all over Joel and stage-whispered "That's MY SISTER!!!" He's so proud of her. Love it.

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

I had a pretty good derby practice on Sunday. We were on the concourse of the Xcel Energy Center, which is cool to get to skate in, but not an awesome practice space. We can't scrimmage there, but we do "stations" where three coaches each set up spots and we divide up and rotate. We did sprinting, stopping, falling, and turning relay races with Betty LaRude... Pacelines (skating fast in a long line) and shopping-carts (one skater pushing 2 girls in front of her), and sticky-skates (skating without taking your wheels off the floor) with Lydia Punch... and fast-feet and weaving drills with Wet Spot (our lone male, who cleans up spilt beer and water at the MNRG bouts; plus he runs the t-shirt cannon and knows gobs about gear).

On Wednesday I went to Terrors practice. The Twin Cities Terrors are our local men's derby league (they are sometimes referred to as MMRD -- Minnesota Mens Roller Derby). They practice at the "Terrordome," AKA the Minnesota National Guard Armory in St. Paul. They -- most generously -- open their practice to anybody in skating gear with $5. Sometimes we can practice with the guys the whole time, and sometimes they are prepping for a bout and we skate on the side (usually with the guys who have not yet been drafted to a team), but no matter what it's an amazing workout and learning experience.

Terrors practice is never the same place twice, which this variety-lovin' girl thinks is awesome. We've done 30-lap pacelines at nearly a full sprint... then done sprinting/turning/stopping drills. We practice going clockwise (typical derby direction is going counter-clockwise around the track, and once you've been building that muscle memory for a while, it's strange and scary going the "wrong way.") We've scrimmaged... then played roller-freeze-tag (which COMPLETELY ROCKS). We get to learn from other skaters who have different teaching styles and different ways of explaining things. I'm not self-motivated enough to enjoy skating at the rinks very much, so Terrors practice is kind of a perfect fit for me. Oh, except news flash: Boys smell dreadful.

MNRG Tryouts: 1 month and 29 days to go

2011-04-15T09:40:00.002-05:00

Hey there! I'm going to be trying out for the Minnesota Rollergirls (MNRG) on Sunday, June 12 -- and in the next almost-2-months I'd like to use this forum to document my training and prep for tryouts.

Background: last July I signed up for the recreation-and-training league of MNRG: the Debu-Taunts ("Debs" or DTs). I'd only ever been to one roller derby bout, but I knew I could skate OK, and after eschewing sport in favor of theatre/dance for the past 20 years, I was looking for a new athletic endeavor. DTs practice once a week, on Sunday nights, and I try to get in at least one other skate each week, so I'll let you know how those progress.

People always ask about injuries in roller derby, so I'll probably give you some injury updates as I go. Right now I've got the remainders of a really cute bruise (about 4" in diameter) on my right hip, from falling hard at practice 2 weeks ago. My wristguard took a bite out of my right arm last Sunday, so there's a tablespoon-sized donut-shaped bruise there. My arches each have a blister, from running in my new Vibram shoes 2 days ago. Other than that: pretty healthy.

More later!

Blown away

2011-04-01T10:31:00.002-05:00

Here's what I want: a Community Ed class on how to blow-dry your hair. OK -- my hair. I'm embarrassed even to say that it's only been in the past year or so that I am finally beginning to understand how much better hair can look when properly blow-dried. OK -- my hair. Like, it has fullness! Body! It doesn't need to lay limply on my head like overcooked spaghetti! AMAZING!

When I go get my hair cut (which -- OK fine -- I last did 7 months ago), the gal wields her fancy blowdryer with the precision of a surgeon. I get home and try to duplicate her efforts, and I can't even reach parts of my head... and how do you dry the underside without getting knots on top?... and how do you hold the dryer in one hand and a brush in the other? And never mind even attempting to switch hands to get the other side. My hair, in its natural state, is wavy when wet and crazy-frizzy-tangly when semi-dry. It's thick, and there's a lot of it. By the time I get a small section dried, the areas around it have woven themselves into a coarse mesh. When I try to comb out the mesh, my fingers get caught in the knots and I can feel the strands ripping and breaking. My arms fatigue and I start to sweat, which of course makes my hair wet again, and the cycle repeats, and more often than not I wind up chucking it all and pulling up a ponytail... which is how I end up with a pixie cut. Aaargh! It's hard being a girl.

Next week: bras.

Sunday night

2011-03-20T19:50:00.003-05:00

Joel's parents came in last night for a little visit. We sat and laughed and ate popcorn and played cards... some of my very favoritest things. Playing games late into the night always reminds me of my later adolescence. Memories stir of my parents and grandparents and sisters and Aunt Jan, playing cards or Pictionary or Dictionary, squealing with laughter: stomachs aching and faces spasming from grinning.

John and Donna brought Toby, Jamie's little shih-tzu doggie. Sweet little guy... but I just don't do dogs. He poops in the house if you leave him alone for more than 3 hours. We knew this ahead of time and I am thankful that poop is easy to clean off a hard floor... but still. Ugh.

We had a really nice visit with the Gronaus -- I do wish they'd come down more often.

AAAIIIEEEE!! Just found the Les Miz 25th anniversary special on PBS... AGAIN. And it happens to be RIGHT AT THE SPOT I LEFT IT last time it was on. Woohoo! It's been playing one one of our six PBS stations on and off for the last couple of weeks. I never, ever get sick of this show. It's brilliant. And I have a new crush on this Iranian guy (Ramin Karimloo) playing Enjolras. I never make it through "One Day More" without weeping.

Had a dryland roller derby practice this afternoon. "Dryland" just means we're not on skates. In summer we have dryland practices to prep us for skating, but now, in winter, it's when we can't have room to skate at our practice venue, the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. Dryland is very important, and usually awesome, but it's a giant bummer when we don't get to skate, and I think everyone was feeling that. We got to talk with Umpire Strikes Back, the MNRG head ref, and he's wonderful, but of course we'd all much rather actually be skating. We did a tiny bit of sprinting (always my favorite), some "plyo" (I don't really know what that means, but we did a few horrendous wall-sits, a bunch of 8-count burpees, line jumping), and then finished up with about 20 minutes of core (pushups, leg lifts, and every kind of sit-up known to man). It was OK. I miss skating.

YESS! My favorite Javert line: "The law is inside out, the world is upside down!" Uh, OK. One of many, many favorites.

Oh oh oh! And a moment of silence for "Bring Him Home."

Incroyable.

Saturdy early-afternoon

2011-03-19T13:23:00.002-05:00

Trying to buy Twins tickets via the internet... on the first day of public sale. Just. Sitting. I've been in an "electronic line" for 20 minutes without moving. The whole thing is very silly and if I didn't want it to be springtime (and thus baseball season) so badly, I probably would chuck the whole thing.

It's a beautiful Saturday here; sunny and warming up nicely. My teaching spring break is officially over -- I taught ballet/tap for 3-4-year-olds this morning, and in about 5 minutes I'm heading out for a Peter Pan musical theatre class for 3-6-year-olds. On days when I'm in even a halfway decent mood, which really is most days, I just love goofing around with the little ones (and getting paid for it!). This morning's class was great -- we started some new dances, which always rejuvenates a looooong session.

Joel is out puttering in the yard, which is still mostly snow-covered but melting quite well in spots. He moved our brown Christmas tree from the front yard, where it toppled during the warm spell a couple weeks ago, to the fire pit, and he finally unearthed the lightup reindeer from the deck. They did not make it through the rough winter so well -- alas.

Neverending 5th birthday

2011-03-17T08:35:00.005-05:00

Eddie has been turning 5 for like three weeks. We celebrated with Joel's parents after our vacation...

This is Lucy's "NOT FAIR!" face:

His Superman cake, which I must admit I whipped out of thin air in about 1 hour, PHEW:
My parents came up for a visit, and I didn't get any pictures, because I stink.
His Actual birthday, March 7 (just the 4 of us):
Friends party at Wooddale Fun Zone last night (check out my sweaty son; and how much does Evie look like Carol!?):
I have to say, he has chosen some REALLY cool friends.
I also want to highly recommend Wooddale Fun Zone for kids' bday parties. They have a great deal on Wed nights because they're only open for 2 hours (but really, who needs a party to go longer than that?). The kids got to play in the indoor playground, and skate, and got dinner, dessert, and prizes, and I didn't have to do ANYthing.
The Gronaustein Bears and Too Much Birthday
Just kidding; he's been an absolute darling through the whole convoluted affair.

Wednesday

2011-03-16T21:08:00.002-05:00

Just got home from Eddie's fourth and final 5th birthday party -- this was his "school friends" party. We went WAY out on a limb and had it at Wooddale Fun Zone, a skating rink that also has an indoor playground. Eddie had 4 little friends from school, plus the Dalys. It was an excellent deal... SUPER easy... and I think the kids had fun. And I didn't have to cook or clean.

I decided to try to give up sweets/desserts for Lent, and let me tell you that IT'S HARD. Especially when your kid's birthday parties fall in there! I did really well, though, and I have stuck to my rule -- basically, I only eat a dessert my kids have taken and then left unfinished. Fortunately one of Eddie's friends asked me to remove the frosted top of his cupcake SO HE COULD EAT THE BOTTOM. Jackpot. Benjamin, would you care to come over for dessert every night?

The biggest ramification of the no-sweets rule is finding other stuff to eat. I really like to graze, especially when I'm home for the day. Right now it's 9:15pm and I'm making a box of mac-n-cheese because I can't have another cupcake. See? This is not even good for my health. Grr.

Tomorrow's St. Patty's Day and I am THRILLED to get to eat corned beef together as a family. Relaxed family dinners are far too rare around here these days. This week is spring break for all my dance classes, and it could NOT have come at a better time, with Ed's bday party, my newspaper deadline, etc. all landing on this week. It's been a nice week off, and I'll be rejuvenated and ready to start up again on Saturday. And then MY kids' spring break starts, meaning it will be another unusual week next week. I crave change and upheaval, and these 2 weird weeks are good for me.

Gronau news

2011-03-15T18:59:00.003-05:00

Welcome back to me! Things have become a little wild around here. Last summer, with the kids starting school in September, I decided to start working again. I picked up about 8 hours per week teaching kids' dance through Mayer Arts. It was a blast, and manageable, so when Mayer went on maternity leave I picked up 3 more classes per week. Then I got excited about Ashland Productions' ACT program and demanded to direct a show. Then I saw an ad for Editor Wanted for a small community newspaper and thought I might as well apply. I didn't get the job... and then I did.

Meanwhile, way back last summer when I decided to pick up some more work? I also picked up roller derby. I'm playing on a rec league (the "Debu-Taunts") under the umbrelly of the Minnesota RollerGirls (MNRG). I am hoping to try out for real, live MNRG this spring.

So... this has all been amazing and wonderful and scary and stressful and I am JUST so delighted to get to do it all. I'm hoping to write more, if only to document the wild times we're having.

Eddie is in school afternoons this year, so he and I are getting some wonderful time together most mornings. He turned 5 -- FIVE -- last week and got to be "Star of the Week" this week at school. He adores his teacher, Ms. Ione, and wanted to invite her to his birthday party. He's starting to read, with maybe 15 sight-words under his belt. He recently discovered drawing -- not only is he making all the letters and numbers, but he comes home from school every day with 10-15 pages of drawings. Of monsters. And more monsters. And people getting eaten by monsters.

Lucy is also really blossoming. She's gotten mad-tall and not a small amount sassy. She works her way through problems, and I'm so proud of that. She has read (by her count) 11 "chapter books," most of which are the dreaded Junie B. Jones. Lucy will be playing Gretl in a local community production of The Sound of Music this spring -- in fact, she's at a rehearsal as I type. I'm so proud of her for going through the nervewracking audition/callback process, and continuing to review her lines, songs and dances outside of rehearsal. She is SO EXCITED to be on stage. She's still taking piano (about which she is NOT excited).

OK, well, I've got a couple extra minutes -- what else do you want to know about? Let's start with roller derby. I was looking for an athletic challenge outside of co-rec softball and B-league women's volleyball, and going for the occasional jog. My then-really-only-an-acquanitance-but-now-dear-friend Sherry told me (probably in jest, now that I think about it) that I should join her in this new rec/training league roller derby that was just starting up. Sure, I thought -- it was summer and I was itching for new activity -- Joel approved the purchase of new skates; I got great deals on the rest of my gear; I didn't die in the first couplea dryland practices. Anyway, the skating muscle-memory came right back (I'd rollerbladed a handful of times since college, and when I was about 7 I used to skate up-and-down the sidewalk lots), and it was FUN to go fast and fall down.

The rec league started with 40 skaters in September -- we practice once a week for 2 hours. Spring session has 80 skaters and, we hear, a waiting list in the multiple-dozens. That first hour is the scariest hour of my week (and that's including the hour I spend with 3-year-olds in tap shoes). I spend all of Sunday afternoon in the bathroom, in prep for DTs practice. At practice we do endurance drills, falling drills, sprinting drills, starting drills. Hitting drills, blocking drills, partner drills, stopping drills. And we get to play roller derby. No joke, it makes my tummy flip over just thinking about it. But it's awesome. I have never before tested my endurance, my physical fitness, my mental toughess, like this.

Well, would you look at the time! I hope to update more often now -- as sometimes happens, the busier I get, the better I am at actually accomplishing things. Cheers!

Amazing Roasted Tomato Sauce

2010-09-08T20:02:00.002-05:00

Hi gang!
Listen, I know Lucy turned 6 and I haven't posted, and Jean got married and I haven't posted... but I made this tomato dish tonight and NOW I AM POSTING. Make this, and you'll see why.
It's from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver -- I discovered it when our CSA (crazyboyfarm.com) posted it on their website.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

8 cups tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 cup onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic whole (I used minced)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (I used a diced jalapeno pepper)
1/2 cup olive oil

Mix together in shallow baking pan, and roast at 450 degrees for 35-40 minutes. As it cools mash with potato masher or fork and add 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil.

It honestly ought to have a warning attached -- you can go ahead and plan to freeze some for later, but it'll be really hard to keep it out of your mouth first.

I served this tonight over penne pasta and the kids devoured it. But my FAVORITE way to eat this is hot or cold, on top of a toasted slice of crusty bread. It's RIDICULOUS how good it is.

The blog is dead; long live the blog

2010-07-13T19:54:00.002-05:00

I just like saying that. Thank you to the four of you who continue to check this thing despite my completely sporadic postings.

First, business: Congratulations to my cousin Bridget, winner of a copy of The Weight of Shadows by Alison Strobel! Bree, your book will be in the mail. Eventually. Everyone else, thanks for your interest -- you can borrow my copy!

And a note from Alison:

Hey there! I just wanted to say thanks to my fine blog hostess and to her readers. I have been really excited to see how many people are thinking of picking up the book because of the reviews they read during the blog tour. And thank you to everyone who entered the contest! I'll be drawing a winner on July 18 and posting it on my blog. If you haven't stopped by my blog or website yet, I hope you'll pop over sometime and say hi in the comments or on the guest book. Also, if you're interested in hearing about my next releases and any other exciting news that happens to come up, please sign up to receive my announcements--the sign-up is on my website. I have another novel coming out in September, two more next year, and two children's books that my husband and I wrote (the first of which comes out August 1), so there will be plenty of news coming, and I try to host contests now and then on my blog, too.

Thanks again! And if you do decide to pick up The Weight of Shadows and give it a read, please come tell me what you thought of it. I mean it. :)

~Alison

Now back to the personal stuff. Our summer has been wonderful so far, if super-hectic. I'm happy to say it's... well, I was about to say "slowing down" but I'm not sure that's accurate. Today was a perfect, lovely day: got up early, walked with my mom, kissed her and Gpa Books goodbye after a great long visit, went rollerskating with the kids and my friend Sherry and her son Marty, kissed my kids goodbye as they went off to gymnastics class with the Dalys, taught a quick dance lesson, made my kids' lunch, took a teensy nap, mowed the lawn, washed the sheets, took the kids to the library/community garden/free snack at the rec center, then home for dinner, baths, and bedtime. And the All-Star game is on! Sorta a perfect day.

Except it fell on the heels of several heavy-exercise days, all coming on the tail end of an icky cough, so now I can neither walk nor swallow without 12 daily ibuprofen. I sure do like to walk and swallow. God bless ibuprofen.

So anyway, last 2 weeks Lucy participated in Ashland's theatre camp -- they put on a production of Tom Sawyer. LUCY LOVED IT. And it was a great experience for her. She got to be at camp all day, got to practice eating lunch with other kids. And she got to be ON STAGE. Which she loves. The grandparents and aunties all made it out to see her and it meant the world to her. She has not stopped singing the songs, and she KEEPS ASKING ME when she can be in another show.

Yesterday my friend Rob and I auditioned for "Joseph" at the Ordway (the biggest pro theatre in St. Paul). We learned a difficult but fun dance combo, and we both were asked to stay and sing ... we sang... then they asked us to stay again(!) and then we learned another, more difficult (but also more fun) dance combo. Then they sent everyone home so it seemed like they just really wanted to give us a superlong, free, mostly awesome dance class. Which it was!

So also, yes, I am in a recreational roller derby group. I do not have a fancy name, and I've only been on my skates once, but I think it's going to be super fun.

I am also going to be in a Minnesota Fringe Festival show! Every summer the Fringe Festival is a massive bunch of short theatre pieces that are ... well ... on the "fringe" of mainstream theatre. I'm dancing in the opening act of "Kathy Jensen is Pretty" (a one-woman show about an LA nude model). So that's in August.

And I'm going to be teaching dance again in the fall -- young kids' pre-ballet and musical-theatre dance in Maplewood, Inver Grove and Shoreview. I'm excited to have a paycheck again! Gotta support the new derby habit -- skates are spendy.

Off to check the All-Star score. Later!

Win a copy of Alison Strobel's "The Weight of Shadows"!

2010-06-25T00:04:00.005-05:00

You've maybably heard me mention my friend Alison, who I met back in high school and who has gone on to become a fabulous published author.

Here she is:

Alison has been a Christian since she was a little kid -- her dad was a journalist, and then a pastor (and is now a very well-established author himself). Alison was the first Christian I'd ever met who had a personal relationship with Jesus. My family had always gone to church, and I went to Catholic school for 8 years, but I was intrigued about this different kind of spirituality. After college, I read her dad's first couple of books and they really blew my mind. (I recommend those to you, as well -- but I digress.)

Alison is the author of novels Worlds Collide and Violette Between, and has written a children's book, That's Where God Is, with her husband Dan.

Her latest book, The Weight of Shadows, has just come out, and I devoured it in just a couple days -- and mind you, I am a sloooooow reader. The tagline goes like this:

Kim finally found a release for her guilt--but is her penance more important than her daughter's life?

Sounds a bit melodramatic, but it's totally not. Which doesn't mean it's not gripping! Because it totally is! Argh, I am the worst book-reviewer ever. Anyway, I read a review of "The Weight of Shadows" that called it "an important book" and I totally agree. I read about domestic abuse in the papers all the time... yet how is it that I've never before read a novel about it? Alison intertwines a small handful of storylines involving very real, sympathetic, flawed characters. And the Christianness of the book is so natural, so integrated, that I hesitate even to call it a "Christian" book. It's just a book about people -- some of them know Jesus, some don't, some find Him, some don't.

The way Alison writes it is very realistic, I think -- sometimes some of the characters burst into prayer. (People mock musicals because, they say, "People don't just burst into song!" But I assure you: They Do. Same thing with prayer.) Reading the book, it struck me how little faith of any kind is portrayed in most of the books we read. Why is that, do you think? I mean, I know in lots of books the characters dash off a quick prayer before heading into one dramatic situation or another -- but rarely do you read real characters, of ANY faith, actively practicing that faith. OK anyway. The Weight of Shadows is not just a character study, although the characters are indeed compelling. I grew to love the characters in all their damaged humanity; I cried in several spots. And the storyline is also fascinating and engaging. It's a very well-written book that I highly recommend, and it's my birthday and I'm tired so I'm just going to leave it at that!

And TWO Contests!

First, from me (Meg):

If you comment on this post (below), I will send you a FREE copy of The Weight of Shadows. Seriously! And I know I'll get, like, one or two comments so your chances of winning are exceedingly high. Comment!

And second, from Alison:

On July 18th, which is one week after the close of the tour*, I'll choose one commentor from a randomly selected blog to receive either autographed copies of my first three books or a gift card to their favorite bookstore.

*Meg again: I didn't do a good job of explaining that I'm part of a "blog tour" Alison has put together to get the word out about her book. Basically lots of other bloggers are also writing about The Weight of Shadows. Who? Why, funny you should ask -- click the "Who else is blogging..." link below.

So there you have it. It's a great book, and you can get it for free. Comment now!

LINKS:
Alison's website
Who else is blogging about this book?
The Weight of Shadows at Amazon
The Weight of Shadows at Christianbook.com

Eating... GOOD

2010-06-23T15:49:00.002-05:00

Hey there! Got back from out 10-year anniversary trip to Holland and Belgium and it was awesome! All my pics are on facebook -- I'm hoping to put my journal up on here but I can't really see that happening any time soon. It was a great trip -- loved experiencing how they do things across the pond, loved the challenges and surprises of travelling.

Joel and I brought home about 5 pounds of cheese: Gouda, Emmenthaler, and some delicious, mild variety that was served every morning in our B&Bs. What a difference REAL cheese makes! Wow. Anyway, we also got our first box of organic produce from our CSA: mustard greens, pac choy, mint, rhubarb, and a couple kinds of spinach. And it, also, is awesome.

AND we've been getting farm-fresh eggs for the last couple months. I think they're from part-time free-range hens. And Cameron bought me some wild rice! ANNNNND being gone for a week earned us a couple extra bucks in our grocery budget, which I'm hoping to put toward the occasional grass-fed-beef and free-range-chicken purchase. Joel likes to have meat every day for dinner, and even though the food experts say meat is one thing that it's really important to buy organically, it is truly prohibitively expensive. I mean, I can get 90%-lean ground beef at Aldi for $2.99/lb. or I can spend almost three times that on the good stuff. So I don't know. I think we can do the occasional splurge, especially if I can cut back on the meat -- like, for example, I made spaghetti last night and just didn't put the sausage in (all right, if you're really curious, I forgot to defrost it) and the kids actually preferred it that way. Incroyable! Of course, tonight I made a fab egg bake (with wild rice and mustard greens sauteed in soy sauce) and the kids hated it. Win some, lose some.

Hey, I turn 34 tomorrow at 8:47 am. Watch this space early-morning June 25 for my review of Alison's book (and a chance to win free books! Plural!).

Soupy-cute-a-saurus!

2010-05-25T22:39:00.004-05:00

Tonight, Lucy and I had our dress rehearsal for our dance recital this week. I'd gotten my costumes ahead of time, but I hadn't even seen Lucy's yet. And, I'll be honest, I was thinking, hmm, little girls in dinosaur costumes -- how will this work?

But, can I just say, she has The Cutest costume in maybe the whole show.

They're dinosaurs!

Rrrraaawwrrrr!!
The tail is totally the best part.

The face of a Gronau; the shoulders of her mama.

Tomorrow, we add makeup. Craaaazy fun!

Hmmm.

2010-05-25T15:58:00.003-05:00

Lucy came home from school today with a book from her class library, entitled:

Yes... that's right. I mean, really. I believe someone at Rigby publications is having a BIT too much fun choosing their titles.

More teasing about Alison's book

2010-05-22T19:36:00.002-05:00

Watch the trailer for The Weight of Shadows by clicking here.

Or going here:
http://www.alisonstrobel.com/trailers/

Teaser! Win a free book (for serious!)!

2010-05-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

Way way back in 1990, my freshman year of high school, I met my friend Alison Strobel. Skip ahead 20 years and she's a published author! Her third novel, The Weight of Shadows, has just been released, and I am part of Alison's "blog tour" to help promote this latest offering.

So... WATCH THIS SPACE on Friday, June 25 for my review and your chance to win a free copy of The Weight of Shadows, delivered to your very door. You'll have to figure out how to leave a comment here in order to enter the drawing for the free book, so if that's been difficult for you, I suggest you practice. Like, starting now.

Happy Friday!

Rain, rain go away

2010-05-13T13:18:00.000-05:00

...come again periodically throughout the rest of the summer, even once a week would be great, mostly overnight and early mornings, but once or twice on a sleepy afternoon wouldn't be so bad, either.

Or, as I sang in elementary school:

Rain rain go away; come again another day
If you don't, I don't care, stick it in your underwear.

This is sort of what it has come to -- Dear Rain, you may STICK IT IN YOUR UNDERWEAR. I said last Friday that I felt I would never be warm and dry again... and it's nearly a full week later. Still soaking wet and freezing cold.

But still, is this worse than hot and windy? I can't decide.

Our school-year activities are all dropping off, one by one. Yesterday was Lucy's last dance class; this morning was our last Bible study. Next week is the end of gymnastics and swimming (well, except for a makeup for last week's puke-in-the-pool cancellation). It's all sorta weird because Nokomis and ECFE still have four weeks left. I know it'll be a busy time, regardless -- I've still got 6 dates down at Hastings, plus Lucy's and my recital, and prepping for our June vacation... not to mention all the end-of-the-year picnics, meetings, field trips etc.

Huh, I guess this might be a short update. Ummm, let's see. Well yesterday I found out that not only does Ed know most of his letters, but he also knows the sounds a lot of them make! Lucy was playing on pbskids.org but had to leave for school, so Ed got a chance to use it, solo, for the first time. I was really surprised by how much he knew -- he was choosing the right letters for words like sled, big, and wag. Really fun. He's starting to get excited for school in the fall, too -- he asks all the time if he's still four and when he'll be turning five, and I'm taking him in today to get his registration completed for Nokomis.

Sample conversation with Eddie:

Ed: "Can I watch a movie?"

Me: "No."

Ed: "AAAUUUGH! No! I decided to watch a movie! Mom! I DECIDED TO WATCH A MOVIE!"

And yesterday he asked me what "migration" meant, and I told him, and this morning he explained to Joel that lots of animals migrate, birds and sharks and dinosaurs, and that it means to move around to get more food. And then he yelled "THEY'RE HERBIVORES!!!" completely out of context.

OK I have to go read him a book to get him to stop asking about the movie.

Well, THAT didn't go so well

2010-04-18T21:36:00.000-05:00

Alas, I guess 2 hours of writing per week is more than I can currently handle! In my defense, Joel's sister Julie is getting married next weekend and Joel, Lucy and I are standing up in it... plus Jean and I are doing the ceremony music. I'm a bit consumed. I remember planning my own wedding and being super-grateful for my lackadaisical office job (online editing for Consumers Digest; don't bother to look, because the web site is basically a 2-page advert for the magazine, which is NOT A REAL MAGAZINE but possibly some sort of Mafia shell organization -- anyway, the work my cohorts and I did there is looooong gone), which allowed me to give the appearance of doing work while, in reality, spending hours each day on theknot.com.

I love weddings -- I love the pageantry, the drama. I love dressing up. I'm a completely hopeless romantic, which really surprises me because I'm not the sort to moon over Joel, posting sappy things on Facebook or writing lengthy tributes to him on Father's Day. Maybe I just love the idea of true love, and the overwhelming optimism of a wedding. In a weird way, it's the same feeling I got when I saw the baby trees lined up along 3rd Street, waiting to be planted to replace the tall, shady ash trees that they chopped down last month. "Hope springs eternal" is the phrase that popped into my head when I saw the baby trees. I feel the same way at a wedding, and it's a comforting, warm feeling, like stepping out into the sunshine on a spring day.

Speaking of sunshine, what a lovely weekend we had! Joel and the kids and I got quite a bit of yard-readiness stuff done -- weeding the strawberries (that I SWEAR never turned brown or hibernated over the winter -- is that even possible?), planting the measly remains of last year's seed packets, mowing the lawn, busting out some of our homegrown compost, etc. Joel is, I'd say, completely sold on the composting -- thanks to our 2 heaps, we've got so many worms in our garden that he and the kids are skipping with glee (and I grit my teeth and try to grin; Lordy, do I hate creepy-crawly things). Joel's thinking he *might* even try to convince his parents, the staunch non-recycling plastic-burners, that they ought to compost up at the lake. There would be SO many advantages for them: for one, it'd be WAY less garbage they'd have to haul back to Monti every Sunday; for two, they'd have a neverending supply of worms to fish with. The number of eggshells, fruit rinds, and coffee grounds alone would make a huge difference. But it's so hard to change people's minds -- and I know they're worried about raccoons. Any ideas, blogosphere?

On Saturday Lucy and I had a really lovely Girls' Day together. We hit the post office, a couple garage sales (I scored a pair of hockey skates for JG for $5), then Herberger's, to try to find a better-fitting suit for Eddie for the wedding (Donna bought him a suit set at TJMaxx for $30, hard to beat, but the jacket, shirt, and tie are all a teeeensy bit too small). Well, all Herberger's had was CK jackets for... egads!... $78. They did have some super-adorable boys' ties that zip instead of clip... but not practical enough for this Mama. Lucy did get a dress for $15; I got a training bra for $12, and we knocked off a needed birthday gift as well. We roamed the mall for about 20 minutes (I may be able to have remarkably grown-up conversations with the little lade, but we're still dealing with that 5.5-year-old attention span), then hit McDonald's so we could redeem her coupon for a free Happy Meal for reading 10 books all on her own. Her teacher has a "book bag" program for students starting to read, where she gives them a little tote with a book in it and a log for me to sign after Lucy reads it. The books are VERY simple (I pack my bag. I put in my shirt. I put in my socks. I put in my pants. I zip my bag.) but, ladies and gentlemen, the girl is READING. It's just the coolest thing. I'm so proud of how hard she works, sounding things out and flipping through her "sight words" (the teacher also sends home a ring of flashcards with words on it that Lucy doesn't need to sound-out but can recognize on sight, like "as," "was," "in," "were," and so on). She made it part-way through Goodnight Moon this morning, and it's really interesting reading it through her eyes -- I would have though that was the simplest book ever, and yet words like "telephone" and "mouse" that we just KNOW, she has to really work through.

Sidetracked! OK so then Lucy and I went to SuperTarget -- NOT the place to go when you only need 4 things, let me tell you. We got into a very in-depth discussion about why white tights would look better with her white-and-red flower girl dress (with red shoes) than pink tights. She almost won, too -- I'm usually the first to remind dancers how pink tights are generally more flattering than white. After our shopping trip (and subsequent nap), Jean came over and she and I went for a run before practicing our songs for Julie's shindig. I believe we are ready... I believe we're going to sound fine (if not maybe even pretty good in spots!)... but that's not going to stop my bowels from loosing themselves this coming Saturday. Must remember to stay hydrated.

Lucy and I then caught the evening performance of Willy Wonka at Ashland. I think she totally loved it (with candy as the subject matter, I'm not surprised), and it was so great to see so many people I know on stage and in the audience. Can't believe how much some of the kids have grown... their bodies along with their talent!

Going backward, I spent Friday night babysitting for a dear ECFE friend who had not had a date with her husband in... well, it sorta sounded like forever. They have 2 kids, age 4.5 and 1.5, and it was really fun seeing another family's bedtime routine. Plus it was nice to get some time alone to myself, with no guilt about housework. Plus they have cable so I got to watch the Twins game! Plus Laska and I got to talk (very briefly) about writing. Good stuff.

This week I'm starting my spring gig choreographing for Hastings HS's spring choir concert. Today I choreo'd "Da Doo Ron Ron" for the sophomore girls' group -- I teach it Tuesday. It's a nice, simple one to start with -- not like getting tossed right in with the 200+ boys like I was the first year! The boys, btw, are doing "Seize the Day" from Newsies, plus a Bon Jovi medley. There's so much pressure for the boys' group to be the highlight of the evening -- and I'm under strict instructions to keep their movement MANLY, plus their director is the main director, Lin Warren. He's been getting quite a bit of press following the success of Hastings varsity show choir, Riverside Company, and of course because of the size of Hastings' choir department. Anyway, Newsies will be fun but a serious challenge (I want the dancing to be especially athletic, but we're limited on time), and I'm guessing it'd be gauche to steal the Bon Jovi choreo (not mine) from the Hastings show 2 years ago. Though it totally rocked. So I have my work cut out for me.

Well, my hour is up! See ya!

Flashdance!

2010-04-16T17:27:00.001-05:00

For those of you on the moon, I got to be in a flash mob yesterday morning. I stink at posting videos, so here are a couple links.

Supershort clip (but this site will have a fully-edited, "super cool" clip on Monday, so check back: http://www.youtube.com/meetminneapolis

The FULL video (including 2.5 intro minutes of "crowd milling about," featuring me (in orangey pants and a navy Mauer t-shirt, carrying a big red bag) attempting (desperately, unattractively, and in vain), to untuck my undershirt from my underpants. Also you can see me during the dancing:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2010/04/flash_mob_at_the_twins_game.shtml?refid=0

I'm told this one is of better quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDQPPtIS6-0

I'd read about auditions for the flash mob (which were not true auditions -- they took everyone, I believe) online and I went, tried out, and went back for 2 rehearsals, then just showed up on the plaza at Target Field for a quick rehearsal (at 8am Thursday... groan...) and then wandered around for 90 minutes until they started playing the music. I dunno... what else do you want to know? It was crazy fun, I got crazy nervous, and I met a whole bunch of crazy-cool people. Many of whom are working actors here in the Cities, so it was great making some connections.

One hour of writing

2010-04-12T07:24:00.000-05:00

Well, here I am lying in bed at 6:25 AM -- and if you're reading this you know me well enough to know that I am not typically up at this hour. But after a dayful of dance rehearsals yesterday, and putting the kids down at 6:45 last night... well, I zonked out at 9:30 and then I was wide-awake at 5:30 this morning. I'm guessing this is part of aging. I hate it. I'll probably never get to sleep until 10AM ever, ever again and I miss it already!

We've been able to sleep with the windows open the last several nights, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever. Except the birds are LOUD at 6AM! We've got this massive, gorgeous pine tree outside our bedroom window (it would make a really lovely municipal Christmas tree) and there have got to be dozens of birds trying to mate in there, not to mention a mess of squirrels, too. The cacophony is really quite beautiful; I'm not complaining. I wish I knew bird-calls better -- or could even explain them better -- there's one song I've recognized since I was a kid but I don't know which bird makes it. It's 2 very clear notes, the first one higher than the second. Then there's a return-call that's 2 notes lower. I know, super-descriptive, right? If I could play it on the piano it would ... well, I'd have to get up and go to the piano to work that out for you, and I'm tucked REAL snuggly into bed... plus Joel just brought me a steaming cup of coffee, so you'll have to wait.

So a couple days ago at breakfast Lucy said "Mama I had a dream," and I encouraged her to talk about it, and she replied that she wouldn't, because then it wouldn't come true. Which means the dream was definitely about her becoming a princess and wearing the same dress every day with no shorts underneath, and then getting candy for breakfast and never having to brush her hair ever again, and also about finally being able to swallow her toothpaste. Anyway, Cinderella, the old '50s Disney cartoon version, is to blame for this notion of "Your wish won't come true if you tell people about it," And (and this just occurred to me the other day as I was talking with Lucy) it's HORRIBLE! If you have a wish you want to come true, you must TELL AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE, because A) They can help hold you accountable, and B) You never know when someone will be able to help you achieve your dream. I remember watching Cinderella as a kid, and I remember that line, where Cinderella won't tell her little bird-friends about her dream. And I swear this is why I never dated in high school -- I honestly thought if I kept my hopes and wishes to myself, they were more likely to come true. Ah, the wasted time! Of course, for Cinderella, wonderful things magically came to her, but this is not realistic. We must share our goals, our hopes, our dreams. So we can work toward them, allowing others to support and guide us on our path.

OK so this is part of the reason I'm here writing at 6:47 AM -- my life coach is encouraging me to do more writing, so Step 1 of that is, strangely enough, Doing More Writing. Because I've always thought I could be A Writer, and I know I need to write to make that happen, and I haven't been writing. She's holding me to 2 hours per week of writing and I need to get it done by Tuesday and here it is Monday morning and it was a crazy weekend so now I need to find another 90 minutes to write before 10AM Tuesday. I work well under deadlines, but I've got meetings and rehearsals and phone calls and grocery shopping to do, and I'm starting to panic. Just a little.

The good news is, it was a remarkably productive weekend, and because this blog is not only a way for me to Do Some Writing but also a journal-of-sorts, I ought to record here what a FABULOUS spring we're having. Not a flake of snow in March, for the first time since 1878 (and March is typically our second-snowiest month). We haven't had wintry weather to speak of since late February, and that, my friends, is simply delightful. It's done wonderful things for my mood, AND my green onions are already more bountiful than I know what to do with. At the rate we're going, we'll have rhubarb pie before May. Mmmmm!

Joel went on a spring-cleaning rampage the last couple of days. He emptied out much of the garage, mowed some of the lawn, put some fencing up around the garden, and tidied up the entire main level of our house. I hemmed my dress for Julie's wedding, took up the straps on Lucy's dress (and tacked the front so it lays flat), cut Ed's hair, and tried curling Lucy's hair (it REALLY doesn't want to curl, and she REALLY doesn't care to sit for the curling process, so I think it's just going to be straight for the wedding, which is just fine by me). We got a bit of laundry done -- I even dried some stuff on the clothesline (in April! Wheee!), and we also had Jean and the Dalys over for dinner-and-margaritas-on-the-deck. I'm SO glad we get to do that kind of thing with people we love. Jean and I got to practice the music for Julie's wedding -- less than 2 weeks to go! My stomach churns at the thought. Today, my goal is to get Eddie to try on his wedding outfit. That might not sound too challenging, but I promise you it will be a feat of epic psychological warfare.

I just suggested to Joel that perhaps, once in a while, we could have a supper entree that didn't include meat, and by the scoff he produced you would think I had suggested we forego food entirely for a week. I mean really! A nice eggplant parmigiana... perhaps some gooey portobello mushroom burgers... a lovely channa masala I've been DYING to try making... seriously? Nothing? I might as well serve some wadded-up notebook paper with gravy. Evidently it's bad enough that I serve vegetables on the side; heaven forbid they're the main dish! The humanity!

Well, the sun is rising over the drug-dealer's house, which means the kids will be up soon and my window for taking a shower will be slammed shut. This has been fun! I'll try to do it again before Tuesday.

Anybody local want any green onions? Give me a holla!

Hey Grampa Books!

2010-03-30T09:24:00.002-05:00

Dad, did you teach Eddie to say "Fee, Fi, Foe, Fummin', I smell the blood of an EnglishWOMAN!"

... because it's hilarious!

In which I atone for my absence

2010-03-28T17:50:00.000-05:00

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Wow, it's been so long since I wrote -- three weeks!! -- that "blogger.com" doesn't even pop up in my navigation bar when I start typing. That, my friends, is what you call "sloth."

Except I haven't been slothing! I swear! I got sick right before Ed's birthday and I feel like it's been an uphill battle since then. Add in Joel going on two separate trips, plus 2 more b-day parties for Eddie, plus 2 wedding showers for Julie, and I feel like I've been running on fumes for all of March. Which is a shame, because it's been a particularly lovely March, weather-wise: sometimes chilly but often quite fantastic. I've been able to snuggle Eddie into several wonderful afternoon naps, even though he hasn't napped regularly for at least 6 months. And I've been remarkably un-busy in the dance-teaching department. This was by choice, for Lucy's first year in school. It's been a successful experiment on some level -- there have been Zero afternoons of flying around like crazy chickens, trying to arrange childcare and choreography at the last moment -- but we have been missing the money, and I'm also missing the work. I'm looking forward to diving back in ... maybe in a couple years. I would love to be able to honor Ed's first year in school (this fall! Already!) in the same way, but 1. I don't see myself sitting idle every afternoon, and 2. I'm just getting a little... itchy. A few stay-home moms I know are taking a "Year Of Mom" for their youngest child's first year in full day Kindergarten (which is all that's offered here in St. Paul, and which would be the 2011-12 school year for me). Basically, trying not to overcommit during that first year when I'd have an Entire 7-Hour Stretch All To Myself Every Weekday. I kind of can't even imagine the freedom.

I've been meeting with a Life Coach lately -- she's a doll and is supposed to help me figure out what I really want to be when I grow up. So far we've figured out that I love change/variety, deadline/project-oriented work, and teaching/service/helping others. Fortunately, that lines up well with itinerant dance-teaching. Another thing that popped up is becoming a doula -- an assistant to an expectant mother during labor. I'm doing some research, and I'm blessed with some wonderful doula friends who are happy to share their knowledge and experiences. Joel and I rented "Up in the Air" last night -- loved it!! The movie makes the point, along its way, that life is too short not to do what you love. I've heard the phrase "Do what you love, and the money will follow" -- it kinda sounds way too good to be true, but part of the faith journey I've been going on in my Bible study this year has also led me to the same conclusion. What if the reason a super-steady, stable, boring office job feels so wrong to me is that it's not what I'm meant to be doing? What if there really is a bigger plan -- some work I'm meant to do that can make a difference? Well I dunno. I'm working on it.

Kids have been SUPER cute lately. I drove Eddie into the Subway parking lot to check out prices on their loooong party subs (astronomical, btw), and Ed took one look at the storefront and said, "Mama, is this Five Dollar Foot Longs?" and then when I got back in the car he muttered "Subway. Eat fresh!" Take heed, marketing people -- whoever's doing Subway's ads is a GENIUS.

Lucy asked me the other day if she could make something "All by myself, with no recipe." Here's what I do know was in it: cheddar cheese, mustard, mayo, fennel, cinnamon (lots of cinnamon), salt, chicken bouillon, green food coloring, and an egg. She did microwave it long enough to cook the egg, but HOLY HECK was it uneatable. She tasted some, offered me some (I did try it), and then insisted we save the rest so Daddy could join in the feast when he got home.

Last night we convinced Ed and Lucy to TRY ONE BITE of the spinach/walnut/craisin/bleu cheese salad I made. We told them it was just like in Ratatouille, when the rat eats a bite of cheese along with a strawberry, and the flavors mix together and make something wonderful. They both ate more than one bite (wahoo!!) and Eddie said "I think I'm getting a flavor.... Hmmm. It makes my shoulders go up, and I shiver." Score one for bleu cheese.

And: you know your kid is reading too many books about sea animals when you're eating shrimp for supper and your son asks you to "Pass the krill." Also the other day Ed hugged me and said "Think big, Mama, and you can do great things!" And also, Lucy has been using "whom" correctly. As I said in my Facebook post documenting some of these, I'm pretty sure God has given me exactly the right kids.

And, sorry, one more random reflection: I know I've said this before, but as I suck down the final dregs of a Cherry Coke (and oh, how delicious it was!), I'm reminded how healthy eating begets healthy eating, and unhealthy-vice-versa. I had a couple handfuls of Cheez-its this afternoon and I immediately craved a Coke. How terrible is that!? If I could've left the Cheez-its alone, I would have been soooo happy with water and some avocado slices... but noooo, I had to go and Cheez it up. Grrrr! Anyway, if anybody's having trouble making healthy food choices this early spring (with Easter candy rearing its ugly head, and farm-fresh produce still a few months out), Take Heart! Be Strong! You aren't alone.

And, OK, listen, I'm really sorry, but here are some Facebook statuses I've been posting which I now would like to document in some format I am hoping I'll actually be able to print out someday. You know, for posterity. Anyway:

1. My dance teacher told me I have "great feet for yoga." By which I'm pretty sure she means "chimpanzee feet."

Yeah, see, some of these things are better with the comments that get added. For example, my friend Sherry (a yoga teacher) explained that "your toes have some separation, and they support your feet on 'all four corners,' as we yogis say."

2. Things I'd Never Imagine Would Come Out of My Mouth #416: "Lucy doesn't mean "a boyfriend," she means "a boy toy."

OK, now this one, people laughed but nobody asked for an explanation! And so I give it here, where you are captive. So, you know how little kids anthropomorphize their toys and call them their "friends"? I assure you, they do. Lucy was talking about how Eddie has boy "friends," while she prefers girl "friends." Lucy then added "Someday, when I have a boy friend..." and Joel shot her A LOOK from across the room, and I jumped in, trying to clarify, by saying "She doesn't mean 'a boy friend,' she means 'a boy toy.'" Which, as you can see, actually sounds much worse.

All right, I'm outta here.

Happy 4th birthday Eddo!

2010-03-07T17:17:00.000-06:00

Something about the late-afternoon sunshine streaming into my kitchen window brings on waves of introspection and nostalgia for me. And if that late-afternoon sunshine is accompanied by any sort of public radio programming -- Prairie Home Companion, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me... even All Things Considered (the theme music for which is inextricably linked (within my brain) with the sound and smell of Italian sausage cooking) -- my wiping and bustling and swishing and chopping can be brought to a complete standstill. And sometimes I even cry.

I have a long and varied relationship with late-afternoon sunshine. As a pre-teen I recall the first of many migraines exacerbated by the unremitting bore of late-afternoon sunshine. I have other memories of watching dust float through the sunbeams in one living room or another... of pre-dinner TV shows like I Dream of Jeannie or The Andy Griffith Show (if the Cubs game had ended but Mom hadn't yet come in to switch off the tube).

When I stop to think about it (as I now have), that kind of sun, that specific angle, happens at very different times throughout the year. Now, March 7 in the Twin Cities, 4:30 PM is exactly the right time. But around Christmastime, it's pitch-black at 4:30. And this kind of sunlight comes looong after dinnertime, maybe even 7:30 or 8 PM, at the height of summer. It's one of the wonderful, interesting, and ever-changing things I love about Minnesota weather.

I feel like I'm still shaking off the cobwebs in my brain and body after the last three days. On Wednesday, Joel went to Jamaica for his soon-to-be-brother-in-law Jeff's bachelor party, and my dad came in for a visit... and I promptly came down with the most debilitating fever-thing I have EVER had. Honestly, I could not prepare myself a Neti Pot on Thursday without having to sit and rest for several minutes in between steps. It was brutal. I missed dance class, a funeral, Bible study (including a fellowship session I was FINALLY going to get to attend since my dad was in to babysit), morning workout, volleyball, lunch with a friend-from-out-of-town... and my poor 68-year-old dad took the brunt of the childcare responsibilities for nearly three days. AND I was pretty much a zombie when my mom came in and we took Jean shopping for wedding stuff (she bought a dress!! eeeeeek!) and for Julie's bachelorette party. UGH. And I have been up coughing the last 2 nights, after being up the previous 2 nights with dreadful body aches. I am a sad, sad panda -- who also happens to be extremely grateful for my wonderful support network, especially my super-dad.

And today... TOOO-DAAAAY... Eddie turned 4! My little baby. He's as tall as Lucy was at 4.5 -- and Lucy herself has grown, I swear, even since we measured her on her half-birthday 5 days ago. Ed asked for Bakugans and "fighting guys" for his birthday and got both (among assorted other treasures), much to his adorable little-boy delight. He's been playing by himself and with Lucy nonstop, narrating little dramas and negotiating conflicts like the mostly-sweet soul he is. Jean's fiance Cameron also made Ed his requested "brown -- I mean chocolate -- Nemo cake." And it was adorable and delicious, which is why Cameron's so right for this family.

I have to go prepare a meal, solo -- first time in several days. The freedom is bewildering.

Parents make the difference... again

2010-02-24T13:21:00.000-06:00

Went to a really cool presentation last night given by a local organization called Doing Good Together, through ECFE. It was called Raising Compassionate Children and talked about the why, how, and obstacles of raising children who have empathy and who care for other people.

One statistic she quoted was that volunteering is just as good for your overall well-being as quitting smoking. That was amazing to me... and THEN she added that volunteering is actually BETTER for you, physically and mentally, than exercising 4 times per week. That really blew me away.

Just somethin' to think about. Happy Wednesday!

Thank the Lord for the WiFi

2010-02-14T23:40:00.000-06:00

... to paraphrase Neil Diamond.

I'm totally obsessed with the Olympics -- I get SO EXCITED every 2 years, and last night during Apolo Ohno's silver-medal win Joel thought I was being attacked by bears or something -- evidently I was making very strange, urgent-sounding noises. Anyway, except I have a hard time focusing because I've got sisters getting married (wheeee!) and trips to the Dells and Amsterdam (WHEEEE!!) on the horizon. All of which involve silly amounts of time on the computer. Also Joel and I keep on trying to squeeze in viewings of Flight of the Conchords Season 2 and The Tudors Season 2 from Netflix. Basically we all stay up very late and my computer is about to catch on fire.

Had a really lovely Valentine's Day weekend -- I just have to say, having kids makes holidays WAY SO MUCH FUN. The kids and I toured Lucy's school on Friday (mostly because Ed is going there next year too, and PreK and K share a classroom, so we have to make a decision on whether the kids will be in the same class, only I hadn't met the other PreK/K teacher yet, nor seen her in action, so I kinda wanted to kill all those birds, plus I hadn't spent too much time getting to know the principal, so I got to do that, too) and the Entire Student Body was crazy-keyed-up for the V-Day celebrations. Every teacher apologized for the wildness of the students, but it was very cute. The other tidbit I got out of the visit is that 6th-graders are GINORMOUS.

Oh, so Valentine's Day! Right, so Lucy was BEYOND excited to give and get Valentines at school. Plus she had 2.5 playdates with friends on Friday, and Eddie got pizza and playdates too... plus the Dalys came over for dinner, and Jean too... and the Olympics started... it's a wonder we didn't all start crying. Oh, wait, we did -- that Morgan Freeman Visa commercial about the Moms would have been the last straw, if it hadn't already been for that video of the luger who was killed. I'm glad NBC isn't showing the video anymore, and yet I am glad I got to see it. Don't get me wrong, it was totally horrible -- but in some respect I feel like I understand more about how quick and terrible it actually was, because I saw it. I don't want to be a gawker -- I can't stand the braking and rubbernecking when there's an accident on the highway, for example -- but seeing the video made me understand the weight of it, more. It made me FEEL more. Well anyway, I think feeling things is good for me.

OK so Valentine's Day. On Saturday Joel took the kids to Menards and then sledding, so I could have some non-child-time. Also good for me. I seriously just need to recharge my batteries -- unglue the kids from my legs, demagnetize their hands from my arms -- by the time the weekend comes around. I got to do that Saturday -- got caught up on BSF, got to go grocery shopping, got to make dinner and an AMAZING blackberry/lime cheesecake (if I do say so, myself). Sunday I was treated to breakfast in bed by my darling husband and sweet, adorable children (who took turns sneaking upstairs to see whether I was awake yet, then padding back down declaring "She's stirring!" -- So. Cute.). We had french toast, nummy coffee, the newspaper, and a grand opening of Valentine cards and gifts from the Bookses. It was glorious. We actually went to church (at St. Pascal's up the street), then hit the mall where I got my makeup done (by MAC -- then I spent an icky amount of money on cosmetics, I think much of it's going back, though I did look good. *shrug* Kids and I rode the Maplewood Mall carousel, then the four of us got linner (late lunch/counts as dinner) at Red Lobster. It was quite affordable; we had a coupon -- and the kids got their crab-leg fix (Lucy has been asking for crab legs every three days since her birthday IN SEPTEMBER). We were able to give our extra coupon to an adorable, ancient couple at the next table, who then complimented us on how well our kids were behaved during the meal. Yessss!! The firstborn in me CRAVES pleasing the elderly.

Joel bought me a generic-brand snuggie as a gift, which I always thought was stupid until I got one and realized how terribly cozy it is. The kids and I like to all cuddle up under it and read books. I'm not completely ready to believe it's anything more than a larger, less-flattering robe, but I sure do like it. He also had the kids buy me some Peeps. I always feel guilty because I'm not so good at buying gifts. I wrote Lucy, Ed and Joel each a lovely long love note, and I told Joel to get another month's membership at the Y... and there was the cheesecake... but I still feel a little like I didn't quite do my part.

I'm pretty sure it's almost midnight, and I've got an early playdate in the AM. Plus it's going to take me a week to wash off all this eye makeup. Good night... go USA!

Violating copyrights for fun and... well, just for fun I guess.

2010-02-08T22:36:00.000-06:00

I just joined the FB group "Growing up in Rolling Meadows" and found this awesome ad for homes. I'm SURE "the Whites" was an actual name of an actual family... I sure hope.
Click to enlarge (again... I hope)

I gotta get video of Lucy singing "Don't Stop Believin'"

2010-02-08T20:01:00.000-06:00

Convos with the kids:

SCENE 1

Joel (after dinner): "Eddie, wow, you must be full! Your belly is so big!"

Eddie: "DON'T CRITICIZE ME!!"

Also, along with the rest of the free world, we went to a Superbowl Party on Sunday. We actually had Lucy convinced it was a "Soup or Bowl" party, to which she replied, "Well then I'll take the bowl." Smart girl.

SCENE 2

Joel (to the kids, on the way home from the party): "Wasn't that fun? Lots of kids, good food, and Eddie got to hold the baby!"

Lucy (and I wish I could fully convey her sincerity in delivering these lines): "WWAAAAAAA! Sad -- SO SAD! IT AIN'T FAIR!!"

And just this morning, over breakfast:

SCENE 3

Lucy: Mommy I want an egg in a hole.

Me (in a quite relaxed and casual way): Hon, I just made you the smoothie you asked for, and you haven't even started eating it yet. If you're still hungry when it's gone, then I will make you an egg.

Lucy: Mommy CALM DOWN.

Perfect gift

2010-02-07T21:44:00.000-06:00

It's funny, because I often disparage the time I spent working in a cubicle -- I say how it sucked the life out of me... I say how wrong I was for that kind of life.

But sometimes magic comes from there.

When I was last full-time-employed, I worked with a gal named Renie Howard. She died last month of cancer. She was a proofreader in our office... but her title really ought to have been Beautiful Soul; Gentle Presence. Renie was what Joel would affectionately refer to as "fruity" -- linen-wearin', peace-talkin', natural eatin', makeup-eschewin'. My friend (and former coworker) Michelle sent me this poem Renie wrote, and I share it with you, because it is magic.

Perfect Gift

Go naked
before God.
Stop looking in the mirror
and messing with your hair.
Don't worry
what everyone else
is wearing
or whether you look fat.

Go naked
to the Beloved
in full daylight.
Make a love-offering
of your
entire
roly-poly
self.
It's the only thing you have
to give
so give it joyfully.

Hold nothing back.
Place the whole absurd
and precious package
in the palm of the
Divine
where Love will receive it
with infinite
tenderness
and delight.
Sweetheart
don't you know?

You are the perfect gift.
-Renie Rae Howard

BNL and TTT

2010-02-03T23:21:00.000-06:00

Anybody know the Barenaked Ladies' song "Grade 9"? There's a chunk of it that goes:

They called me fatso, they called me chicken-legs
They called me 4-eyes, they called me Buckwheat
They called me Eddie.

And it sounds just like The Ting Tings' song "That's Not My Name." Did one of these come from the other -- or just a coinkidink? Help me out; it's really bugging me.

Just trying to kill some time before my dryer buzzes -- it's 11:12pm (wait you can tell that from the time stamp) and I'm still a little wired after dance class (we're dancing to Dianne Reeves' "Endangered Species" and it's SWEET!). I have to get up eaaaarrrrlllyy (5:45, I know, it's criminal!) to go work out and then bust into my busy Thursday (Bible study - Lucy to school - entertain Ed - make dinner - volleyball - drinks - rehearse with Jean). Hmmm, it doesn't really sound that busy when I write it all down. Making dinner -- it's making dinner that's the killer. I've gotten so unbelievably lazy, I know, but for some reason I always wind up with gobs of leftovers and, well, they DO need to be eaten... it just means I haven't cooked much at all in the last couple weeks. This cold weather really slows me down and kills my motivation. Example: I was supposed to make white chicken chili today, and instead it was ham/bean leftover soup from the freezer. It's REALLY GOOD but everybody hates it except me. How did I wind up in a family of soup-haters?!

I feel like my metabolism is sllloowwwing down too. As I am sitting here I gaze down at what could easily pass for a four-months-pregnant belly. It's just super-hard to lay off the white-chocolate/macadamia cookies... and the Cheez-Its... and the chocolate-chip/orange cake.

BUZZZZ! OK gots to run.

Do I drive you CRAAAAAA-ZY!?

2010-02-02T20:22:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, I'm like eight years behind the times -- I realize that was a hit song, oh, four years ago. Please remember I have been raising babies for the last 5.5 years and my brain is absolute mush. Delicious, white-chocolate/macadamia mush. Next thing I know you'll be telling me I can purchase music online. Horrors!

So I was talking to my mom today and I realized I've seen an obscene number of movies lately, and so I review them for you.

Avatar
Revolutionary Road
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Inglorious Basterds
Gone Baby Gone
District 9
Le Danse
Duplicity

Wait, I just remembered that the only ones who read this are my parents, and I just reviewed all these for my mom on the phone. OK, so I can still review 'em for you, but let me know which one you want to hear about, OK?

Also I am excited to tell you about this life coach I've been working with. She's a friend-of-a-friend and she's in training, so she is Free To Me which (and this should come as no surprise to you) is the only way I could afford such a luxury. And I assure you that having someone, a completely objective, out-of-the-loop someone, come over once a week and chat for 45 minutes about ME and MY DREAMS and MY IDEAS is a fabulous luxury. Anyway she's a doll and she's helping me figure out what I want to be when I grow up, oh wait I'm 33. I do know that once the kids are both in school, I really want to continue teaching dance/choreographing. I'd also eventually like to be paid to write something. I'm exploring, I guess. I'm the kinda gal who sort of just likes to be told what to do -- I'm the first-born, the people-pleaser -- so having to start up something on my own is extremely daunting.

Lucy decided today that she wants to make a movie, so she and I developed a script (I use "we" loosely -- she talked and I wrote it down) and now we just need to organize ourselves (meaning I need to charge the video camera) and we can start shooting. I think it might be a cult classic; just wait 'til you hear her rousing rendition of "kleenex on the ground." She has several scenes where we "all go together" someplace (like, to the swimming pool in the living room, or driving to Monticello in the love seat) and she's really concerned about who's going to press Record if we ALL need to be in the scene. I'm going to bust out my tripod and blow her mind.

Lucy is also very distressed about Eddie's upcoming birthday: "Why can't MY birthday be in March!?? What if our birthdays were BOTH in March?!? What if Eddie doesn't want to invite ANYBODY?!?!" She's also starting the guest list for her own birthday, which -- need I remind you? -- is still 8 months away. She wants to invite One Boy. From Her Class. I'm hoping none of you know who it is: Nolan. Except she says it "NOHHH-lan." I wanna know the deal; guess I'd better volunteer in class more.

Ed's a riot too -- last night Joel and I were at his Annual Work Party and Jean was babysitting and she says Ed sprinted into the kitchen hollering: "I'M GOING TO HOLLYWOOD!!!!" Stinker.

Some pictures for you... and sneaking in some verses, MUAhahaha...

2010-01-26T16:21:00.000-06:00

Lucy in my wedding veil and high school show choir dress.

Never, ever does Lucy look more like Joel's sister Julie than when they're crying!

(Here, Lucy is doing so because her "tiger face" was getting washed off before school. Her choice to wash it off -- but she REALLY wanted Daddy to see it.)

He's three!

Ed loves himself some Dollar Store.

Just a regular ol' Daly day.

Working on my Bible study today, I came across Mark 8:38 ("If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes"), which emboldened me and prompted me to share this other verse that really struck me:

John 12:36
"Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light."
Today reading this, it reminds me of the ups and downs of believing in Jesus. We all have good days and bad days -- good and bad hours and minutes, even! Today, to me, this verse means: Trust and believe when you are moved to do so, during the good, happy times. Go with it, embrace the love of God, and live in that moment. Then some other time, when you are feeling dark and despairing, remember (and lean upon!) that faith you had in that happy moment. It'll buoy you even when your faith is shaken, or when you're not feeling the love you should.

OK and because I'm on a roll:

Galatians 2:21 "If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Such a relief, isn't it? Takes off all that blasted pressure to be a good person.

Call yo'self a cool cat?

2010-01-13T22:16:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsv2LrdXf1Y

You just gotta watch. Oh, you already saw it? Watch it again, it'll make your day. AGAIN.

Ham Ring!

2010-01-10T18:53:00.000-06:00

My mom's been making this recipe since I was a kid. It's yummy and super-easy, and sorta fancy-looking.

Broccoli-Swiss Ham Ring

A pile of cooked ham, cubed (maybe 1/2 or 3/4 lb?)
A pile shredded Swiss cheese (about 4 oz?)
A pile of diced broccoli (about the same size pile as the other two)
About 1/4 cup mayonnaise
A squirtle (maybe 1 Tb? 2?) yellow mustard
1 package refrigerated crescent rolls (I recently successfully subbed a pre-made pie crust; I bet you could also use pizza dough).

Mix the first 5 ingredients (everything except the crescent rolls) in a mixing bowl. Make sure everything's well-distributed; set aside.
Unroll the crescent rolls and separate so you have 8 odd-shaped triangles. Arrange the crescent triangles, overlapping, in a ring-shape on a cookie sheet (I use nonstick -- you might want to use parchment or cooking spray). The triangle bases will overlap in the center, and the points to the outside. (This is the tricky part -- I can't exactly describe how to do it. I muck it up every time but it CAN be done beautifully with a bit of patience.) There should be about a 3-inch diameter circle in center. Spoon the ham-broccoli-cheese mixture evenly over the crescent rolls (so the filling will also be in the shape of a ring). NOW, gather up the points of the triangles over the filling and tuck under base at center. The filling will not be completely covered.
Bake according to the directions on the package of crescent rolls, or until nice and golden brown.

Now here's what I've noticed with this recipe -- it would be a LOT easier to assemble the sucker if you use 2 packages of crescent rolls. However, I find that the buttery-goodness of the crescent rolls is really overwhelming -- as it is, I usually want less crescent-roll and more filling. But do what you wish!

You're not lost!

2010-01-03T20:32:00.001-06:00

I tried changing my blog skin, but I completely stink at it. Anyway, you're not in the wrong place.
-Me

Joy, gratitude, hope and energy for every day of this new year!

2010-01-03T10:56:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year, gang! I know 2009 was a rough year for lots of people. I can't personally concur with that -- Joel, so far, remains employed; I have managed to keep the children alive for another year; and we have received many, many blessings. But I hope for better things in 2010. Back in September or October I was moved to write down these 4 words as a reminder to myself: "Be a safe haven." And I hope to continue that in this new year. I want to be a better mother, wife, friend, daughter, sister, citizen. I want to be a "happy place" whenever I can; I want to be a comfort, a balm, a joyful presence. In 2010 I pray for my words and actions to heal, not hurt. I won't succeed; I'm human, after all, and what a flawed, imperfect, fallible thing to be. But I can try.

We spent New Year's Eve at Aaron & Kary's new house in Minneapolis, near Tricia's old neighborhood, with much of our coed softball team. It was great to catch up with everyone, though I'm really aging out of late-late parties. Highlights for me were chatting with a first-time-pregnant teammate, hanging with Julie Gronau's German friends, Chelsie's Buffalo Wing dip and passing Chelsie's extremely rigorous are-you-sober-enough-to-drive-home test.

Friday night Stu and Julie (with Wini, Dash, and Rufus the Good Dog Who Makes Poor Choices in tow) swung by on their way home from Monticello, and we had a lovely visit with them on Saturday. Stu helped me back up the photo and music files I had stored on my computer, and we solved most of the world's problems while subsisting on coffee, leftovers, and Christmas cookies. We miss them.

Last night Joel and the kids and I were invited to my friend-from-ECFE Priya's apartment for an Indian Programme. One of the moms is a classically-trained Indian dancer and she's been working with a group of seven young girls on an Indian dance. The girls all wore traditional dresses and jewelry and they did a fantastic job! A couple older kids played the piano, and one of the dads played some traditional Indian songs on the violin. Then we all had Indian potluck and chatted (and Joel and I scored an open-door invitation to stay with Priya's parents the next time we're in southern India -- Priya said it was because her dad thinks I'm pretty), and the kids ran around like recently-uncaged animals. It was a really wonderful and unique experience for a crazy-cold evening.

Each year Joel's mom gifts me a "Daily Guideposts" book with a short inspirational essay to read to start each day. (I typically peter out in March, pick it back up around my birthday in June, then skip to the holidays when I sporadically pick it back up again. *shrug*) I really liked the January 1 message, which included a quote from Dr. Lew Smedes:

"...Be blessed with
Joys deeper than any sadness,
Gratitude happier than any regrets,
Hopes brighter than the shadows of any discouragement,
and the vitality to make of every day what God on Christmas Day made
for all days."

Warm wishes for this chilly start of 2010!

Oh Christmas cookies Oh Christmas cookies, how yummy in my tummy

2009-12-16T22:19:00.004-06:00

Quick note while my Yogi Bedtime tea is brewing. This tea, btw, is THE MOST AWESOME TEA EVER. Aunt Jan used to have it and the flavor really is something fabulous. I am going to take my tea and some Christmas Chex Mix up to bed and I am going to read a bit of the last Twilight book before retiring for the evening. And because I REALLY want to drink my tea in bed, I am bringing up with me my floss, toothbrush, toothpaste, cup, pitcher of water (would that be a "ewer"? I really want it to be), and something to spit in. I have grown tired of having no running water on the level where I sleep, so how does that saying go -- if the mountain won't come to Mohammed then Mohammed must go to the mountain? I'm not sure whether I'm the mountain or Mohammed in that analogy; all I know is, tonight I'm eating bedtime snack IN BED. And then NOT GETTING OUT OF IT.

Cute Eddie story I already Facebooked but still must share:

I'm standing, looking at a random piece of paper that mentions "Beauty and the Beast" -- no pictures, just the typed words. Ed can't even SEE it from his angle. Then out of nowhere Eddie sings: "Beauty and the beast..." Me: Why did you sing that? Ed: "I heard it in my heart."

So weird.

Both kids are crazy-excited about Christmas. Lucy has, since the start of school, learned this school-age-kid THING where she hears something she likes and starts jumping up and down and screaming. This is SO something she has learned from other kids -- I can totally picture groups of little kids doing it. She does it any time we talk about Christmas coming soon.

Ed is quick to remind us that "It's not Christmas YET!" which is so Roman Catholic of him -- I totally remember singing "O Come O Come Emmanuel" right up into Christmas Eve and then only getting to sing "Silent Night," "Angels We Have Heard On High," etc AFTER the birth. Mom always got really annoyed by that, for one because "O Come Emmanuel" is little more than a dirge, and B. it's a total waste of all the gorgeous Christmas songs out there. I completely agree with her.

My cards are written, stuffed, and addressed (just awaiting stamps, which are awaiting purchase following Friday's payday). No letter this year -- I might write a little ditty on here closer to Christmas. Most of my presents are bought (though I totally dropped the ball on ECFE and dance-teacher gifts, and I only have a couple more days to work on Lucy's teacher-gift. I'm new at this!!). Lucy's class is making faux-gingerbread houses on Friday, with which I'm excited to help. Joel and I are taking the kids to a Santa breakfast up at the rec center on Saturday, and Joel's family is doing a pre-Christmas Christmas party on Sunday... and then Christmas break is underway! Lucy actually has school Mon and Tues next week, but all other activities are on hold until the new year. It will be nice... but what the heck are we going to DO for 2 weeks!?!?

OK my tea is ready. Good night!

Radio love

2009-12-07T22:09:00.002-06:00

Joel just spent about an hour installing our (my) new under-cabinet radio. (Our old one has been slowly giving up the ghost for the past year or so... the volume would cut in and out... then it wouldn't play CDs... it started roaring during All Things Considered... next, the clock broke... it forgot its preset stations... then the static became unbearable. It was a very long and painful death.)

The new one plays no CDs which is OK since I am mostly switched to iPod. On that note, anybody know the best way to back up iTunes? A couple of my favorite RMHS alumni have recently lost all their iTunes and I'd like to avoid that.

So Joel drilled and twisted and knocked and screwed and now I have a functioning soundmaker to cook and blog to. And believe me, I NEED noise to cook to -- I recently wrote a love letter to NPR extolling how I do not care to cook unless NPR is on in the background. Since Joel and the kids care very much to eat, a radio was required.

Anyway, when I plugged in the iPod, the very first song it played was the song Joel and I used for our first dance at our wedding, Lyle Lovett's "She's No Lady." All together now: awwwwww!!!

I think I need to get on Twitter.

2009-12-03T16:08:00.002-06:00

1. What is it about a dumped cup of milk that makes little kids just sit and stare at it, making no noise or movement that would indicate they cared whatsoever that their laps, the table, the chair and floor are FULL OF MILK???

2. I'm trying to upload pics to Shutterfly -- I think I always used Snapfish in the past but I'm switching -- does it really take 2 hours to upload 200 pics?

3. Here's Eddie's lunch order, every day, for the last three months: "Cinnamon on bread wiff no crust and no top and peanut butter on the side and honey on the peanut butter."

Translation: Cut the crust off a piece of toast, sprinkle it with cinnamon, put a glob of PB on the plate and squirt a bit of honey on the PB. ("No top" simply means "open-faced") Eddie says his phrase superfast, with a nice dramatic, sing-songy ritard for the last 4 words. It's adorable.

Advent wreath

2009-12-03T14:49:00.003-06:00

I'd decided I wanted to do some more spiritually-based Christmas traditions this year with the kiddos, so I went out looking for Advent wreaths and calendars to try to get a start.

Well, it turns out an Advent wreath can take many forms besides the three-purple-candles-and-a-pink-one I'd remembered from St. Colette. I was going to try to make one out of pine cones but couldn't locate the spool of florist-wire we used to make the bouquets for our wedding (imagine that: I couldn't find something I hadn't used in 9.5 years!)

Anyway, short story long, I didn't want to spend hours of assembly time, but I still liked the idea and decided to make it as simple as possible. And I found this website which not only explains the purpose of the tradition (mainly, just to visually count down the weeks until Christmas) but also gave a really neat way to celebrate it around our dinner table. It also incorporates readings from Isaiah, which I'd wanted to include but didn't think the kids would maintain interest in it through all 66 chapters (plus, have you READ Isaiah? The first half is exceptionally and graphically depressing). In my typical cheapskate way, I dug out one of our Christmas plates and the candles we'd used in the jack o'lanterns.

Anyway here goes: it's meant to be a jumping-off point for families/groups to "make it their own" but this is pretty much exactly what we're doing:

On the first Sunday in Advent

Light one purple candle (ours will be red and white, that's what we have)
Read Isaiah 60:2-3
Pray something like this:
Lord God, we light this candle to thank you for your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world. We who have sat in darkness have seen a great light, the light of Jesus Christ, our salvation. We give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name, because he lives and reigns with you in your glory, and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

On the second Sunday in Advent

Light two candles
Read Mark 1:4
Pray something like this:
Lord God, we light this candle to thank you for your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who is the way. We who like sheep have gone astray have found the way to you through Jesus Christ. We give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name, because he lives and reigns with you in your glory, and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

On the third Sunday in Advent

Light three candles
Read Isaiah 35:10
Pray something like this:
Lord God, we light this candle to thank you for your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who brings us great joy. We who have walked in the shadow of the valley of death have found life in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name, because he lives and reigns with you in your glory, and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

On the fourth Sunday in Advent

Light 4 candles
Read Isaiah 9:6-7
Pray something like this:
Lord God, we light this candle to thank you for your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who is the Prince of Peace. We who live in discord and strife have found peace in the promise of eternal life, through Jesus Christ. We give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name, because he lives and reigns with you in your glory, and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

On Christmas Eve after sundown or on Christmas Day
(if you have a fifth white candle in the center)

Light all the purple candles and the white candle
Read Luke 1:68-79 and Luke 2:1-20
Pray something like this:
We praise you, Lord God, because on this day, your Word became flesh in our Savior Jesus Christ, was born of a woman, and walked among us as a man. Help us to imitate your incarnation, by manifesting our faith in our conduct as well as in our speech. To you, O Lord, we give our honor, praise, worship, and love, in the most holy and precious name of the One who is born today; because He lives and reigns with you in your glory, and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Killing the earth through dishes

2009-12-01T19:28:00.003-06:00

Hey, who was with me on my earlier dishwashing-detergent discussion?
I've only owned a dishwasher for 23 months but I started using Electrasol (AKA "Finish") and then started trying the more earth-friendly brands. Unfortunately the earth-friendly detergents are LOUSY.

I had a couple people recommend Seventh Generation and I'm dreadfully sorry but it is no better than the rest. I've heard Method is great but I cannot justify the cost -- it's like six times as much! Two days back on the Finish train and I'm happy as a clam, with the cleanest dishes in town.

A nice quote from Mary Hunt, author of "Everyday Cheapskate"

2009-12-01T17:12:00.004-06:00

"The wild accumulation of things creates an endless urge to have more.

For those searching for contentment in status symbols and stuff, enough is never enough. The "have-nots" want some; the "have-enoughs" want more; even the "have-too-muches" want more still.

...Having too many things dilutes quality of life and ... having it all is highly overrated."

I just pulled about 50 CDs out of the garage that I completely forgot I even had. (50 is all I could carry -- I bet there are 50+ still in there.) Some of it is junk, like the CD from Dennis & Sally's wedding... some of it is really good music I'd just forgotten about. The point being: it's been YEARS, maybe 3 years, and I didn't miss it. At all. Well, OK, I missed my Oasis CD and that's what I was doing out there. But seriously, I need to clear this kind of clutter out of my life.

Ooops!

2009-11-30T21:30:00.003-06:00

I forgot to mention, Monday Nov 30 is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary! Love you lots, Mom and Dad -- thanks for marrying each other!

(This is as close as I could get to a recent photo of them together. Sorry)

Here's what I know about their courtship: they met sometime in the winter of 1973-74 in the American Airlines employee parking lot -- Mom (who also worked for AA at the time) was supposed to catch a ride home with someone whose car wouldn't start, and Dad stopped by to see what the trouble was, and they pulled tennis racquets out of the trunk and hit around a little while waiting for a tow. Later that winter they wound up on the same ski trip out west... and they were married that November, 1974.

They always maintain that Dad never asked Mom to marry him; I think sometime in late summer 1974, Nana (Dad's mom) asked them when they were getting married and they chose November. Mom wore Dad's brother (my uncle) Tom's then-wife's wedding dress and Dad wore a blue ruffly shirt with a tuxedo and Dad's brother Jack and Mom's sister Jan stood up for them and they had a small reception at one of Mom's aunt's or grandma's houses in Chicago.

Happy Anniversary you guys!!

Thankful. (Oh but don't expect a whole mooshy post about that)

2009-11-29T21:48:00.004-06:00

Hello my darlings!
Long time no post, I know. And look, this one will be a total waste of your time.

We had a really wonderful Thanksgiving with Joel's parents in Monti (including a WAY fun ride on the new Northstar Lightrail -- highly recommend it!) and then got to meet Alley Joel and Cara's new baby, Elizabeth, and then drove down to Rolling Meadows for some post-Thanksgiving family time. Jean flew in, too, and Ellen and her boyfriend came out from the city, and it was so great to all get together. On the way home we stopped briefly in Milwaukee to catch up with Peg and John and Jack and there's nothing like old friends you can just pick right back up with.

I'm super-psyched about the Christmas season this year -- we've got a nice mix of family, adult, and girls-only parties; some old traditions to carry on... and some new ones to start. I am bummed that the Anita Kerr Singers' 1969 album "Spend this Holiday with Me" isn't available except on vinyl, but I DID get to hear it once, to kick my season off right. And my dad made it up to me by handing over one of Grandma Jake's Jane Monheit CDs. Happiness!

Tomorrow night I meet my Wilder Foundation Neighborhood Leadership Program coachee (this is the program I participated in last year; this year, despite my utter lack of experience, I am a "coach") -- she's a young woman from Liberia (and I'm a little embarrassed to admit I just Googled that to see where it was -- and to save you the trouble, it's on the west coast of Africa) who sounds super energetic and enthusiastic (from what I can tell from her 4-page questionnaire). I'm excited to meet her, but nervous because I have to essentially sit down and interview her for maybe 30 minutes. I hope she picks up on our shared enthusiasm and doesn't mind my spazzy ignorance. If she's looking for a cheerleader we'll be a good fit; if she's looking for a wealth of contacts and resources, well... perhaps I can show her how to work the Internets.

OK anyway! The kids were total angels all weekend -- golly do I adore them. And now I must hit the sack -- a great big month is looming.

"Being a part of something special MAKES you special." -- Rachel Berry, Glee

2009-11-12T08:28:00.003-06:00

Hey there, just a quick Thursday morning update --
Joel, the kids and I have spent much of the week battling various coughs, fevers, and colds -- the kids had fevers earlier this week and last night coughed a lot throughout the night (but still slept okay, I think)... Joel was feeling yucky for a couple days... and I have been hanging in there but this morning woke up stuffy and migrainey. Ugh! We've been SO lucky the past several years that I guess it's just our turn to go through this massive yuckiness.

Annie has been going just great -- we've had several sold-out houses, and this weekend we have 4 performances, 3 of which are already sold out. It's SO exciting to be part of something like this. I feel like every time I do a big show (which I haven't, now, for 4.5 years!), I come away with some awesome new friends. It's a wonderful and exhausting experience.

Meanwhile, our yard is absolutely blanketed with oak leaves. It's been gorgeous here the last 5 days but a cloudy front has moved in and it really looks like November today. Every once in a while little mini-tornadoes of leaves pick up and spin a little bit. I remember one day last fall (it was a nice day -- the windows were open in the car) I stopped at a stop sign down the block. And a little mini-leaf-tornado started coming at our car, and a bunch of teenagers on the corner started hollering as though they thought it was going to carry them away. It blew right through the car and honestly it was a teeny bit scary! I much prefer to watch it from inside my cozy home.

It's 8:37 AM and Eddie's still sleeping, though I can hear him coughing so I bet he's waking up. I called us in sick to Bible study this morning, which is a bummer, but I would really prefer that Lucy save her energy for school this afternoon. Also we have conferences with her teacher this evening -- very exciting, can't wait! And I've got a show tonight so I'm going to try to get the house in decent order for the weekend and then relax a bit. Possibly snuggling with my Neti Pot, some kleenexes, and several tubes of Airborne and Zicam.

We recently had some family pics done -- please drop me a line if you want to see them.

Bollywood!

2009-11-03T14:41:00.002-06:00

Hey there! That bollywood wedding dance I choreo-ed is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdW0iPBbUTo

I'm so proud! But such is the plight of the choreographer: now I really want to perform it myself. :)

Halloweenie

2009-10-30T12:11:00.006-05:00

Our darling neighbors, the Alleys, moved last week and they got the MOST AWESOME TRUCK.
We carved pumpkins 2 weeks early. We ended up with 5 pumpkins out of our garden (#6 got harvested and then I knocked it off the retaining wall with the van -- it exploded upon impact).
We let Lucy draw the faces on the pumpkins with marker, and then Joel and I took some artistic liberties with her vision (with steak knives). If you click on the photo below to enlarge, you can see that the pumpkin on the right has 2 top choppers to represent Ed's missing ones, and the pumpkin on the left has 1 lower tooth, for Lucy's (oh, whoops, upon inspection the Lucy-tooth one is not pictured here -- sorry!). The squirrels have since done some pretty severe damage.
Here are the kids dressed for tumbling this morning:
People ask Ed whether he's a pirate, a warrior, a knight, a soldier... and he always responds "I'm a HERO." And I can't even tell you how many times I had to answer "Mama, where is my Sword of Truth?" this morning. Lots.
Aaaaand... Lucy waiting for the bus.
Joel helped her look up "Flappers" on the internet and everything.

At her school, they let the teachers choose whether or not to celebrate, and I'm surprised how delighted I am that Lucy's class is having a party. I don't really have strong feelings about Halloween (neither for nor against -- though I sure like candy! and dressing up!), but I was a bit appalled when I heard last year that some schools were prohibiting kids from dressing up at all... to the point where they said that kids with any sort of color in their hair would be sent home. I mean, it's a public school and presumably kids would be allowed to have different-colored hair any other day of the school year, but not on Halloween? At some point I feel like that's starting to infringe on civil liberties... but I also think it's a mistake to think that being respectful of diverse cultures means we don't celebrate anything. I mean, how else are we supposed to understand each other and get along in this crazy world, if we don't acknowledge what different cultures get excited about, and why? Plus I usually think more parties is generally a good thing.

It's a new week, thank goodness

2009-10-26T11:34:00.004-05:00

Last week was not a good week for us -- I came down with some dreadful fever/achey thing on Thurs and was pretty much in a tunnel until Sunday. Thank goodness my dad was here to help with the kids and make me tea and buy me Jarlsberg and ginger snaps and caramel-coffee ice cream.
Ed has grown another inch since September. This pic is from their first tumbling class, about a month ago.

Beautiful princesses:

Update

2009-10-19T10:14:00.001-05:00

Connor passed away yesterday afternoon -- the update is on the caringbridge site.

No Bad News

2009-10-19T09:09:00.002-05:00

"No Bad News" is the title of a song I was choreographing last night, for Hastings HS's women's show choir. It's a fun gospel-y type piece, from The Wiz. You can YouTube it for some entertainment.

Unfortunately, that hasn't been the theme around here lately. We found out last week that one of my aunts is very, very sick.

We also found out that our 4-year-old neighbor boy, Connor, has been in an intentional, medically-induced coma for the last 7 weeks as he awaits a heart transplant. He's had 3 open heart surgeries in his life and his family's health insurance has been completely exhausted. They are a sweet, quiet family who would love to be able to see their little boy open his eyes and smile again.

And I opened up the paper today to find the obit of Josh Moon, a 13-year-old boy who'd been really involved in Ashland in the last few years. If you saw Guys & Dolls, the Ashland teens' 2008 summer camp show, he played Lieutenant Brannigan. That kid worked SO HARD to get that Irish accent right, and we were all so proud of him. He had a brain tumor.

Anyway, so my heart has been torn in two these last few days. Of course I'm so grateful for Lucy and Ed and Joel -- we carved pumpkins yesterday and I will post pics later. But I'm also really thankful for the Bible study I've been going to the last few weeks. It's really easy to get mired down in the WHY and the HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN of bad news, and I know I'm not strong enough to tough it all out on my own. Not only that, but I'm often hit with this feeling that I want to DO something to help, but haven't been able to figure it out. Through the study I've been able to pray and open myself up to God's wishes -- one of our actual prayers last week was simply, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" -- and I'm not joking, He gave me some great ideas. How about the timing on THAT! Awesome!

Anyway, one teeny little thing I can do is post some more info on Connor. If you are a bajillionaire looking for a cause, here you go:

Fundraiser for Connor
Saturday, November 7
Casa Vieja Mexican Grill
2176 West 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55116
$10 All-You-Can-Eat Taco Bar from 1:00-6:00 PM
Raffle - silent auction - petting zoo - games - music

Donations may be sent to:
Highgrove Community Federal Credit Union
1804 7th St. W.
St. Paul, MN 55116
attn: Love for Connor Benefit

More information:
Local news story, KSTP
Connor's CaringBridge site

The tooth is out!

2009-10-14T22:57:00.004-05:00

Lucy lost her first tooth today. I wish I'd videotaped her phone calls to both sets of grandparents, and three of her aunts.

"My tooth is loose. No, it's gone. It's out. I lost it in dance class. It fell onto my TONGUE! It's sooooo small! I can't even believe how small it is. I want to keep it one more night so I can look at it tomorrow. I love you too, do you want to talk to your sister/brother/daughter/son?"

Friday night update

2009-10-09T21:48:00.002-05:00

Hey gang, sorry I've been real lazy. Just thought I would check in to say hello... Hello! Things are good.

Real quick:

Lucy is enjoying school (she cannot WAIT to get on that bus every day, and gets off it with a giant smile at 4pm) although every day she comes home and says she has a bad day. This mostly seems to be due to her not being able to use the computer in the room. I have no idea what the deal is with computer use -- when they get to use it and how turns are determined -- but I do know that girl loves computer time.

Ed and I are adjusting to our afternoons alone. I usually try to schedule grocery trips during the afternoons now, and Ed is only sometimes reluctant to be dragged about town. Generally he's a trooper, loving anything he can "help" with. Like holding the Cub Foods ad after I have torn all the good coupons out of it. Ed hasn't been napping since mid-summer, but he passed right out yesterday afternoon at around 3pm. I thought he was just playing in his bed, but next thing you know it's 3:30 and I'm dragging him out of a surprisingly deep slumber. Then tonight after I put him to bed, he was playing with some plastic animals while lying on his back in bed, and dropped one of the animals on his face. It hurt quite a bit (judging from the tears). Silly little man.

Oh! I should also mention, a couple weeks ago I was babysitting for a friend's 2 kids, age 4 and 1, in the afternoon. The baby was napping and Ed and Henry were playing on the main level when Ed knocked his face on a doorknob. His first breath, understandably, was just a wail -- but in his second breath, mid-cry, he whimpered "I woke up the baaaaaabbby!!!" My sweet guy.

Jean and her boyf Cameron ran the Twin Cities Marathon last Sunday and Jean kicked some serious butt, finishing under 4 hours, 15 minutes. Cameron finished too -- quite a feat considering his bum knee. Joel's sister Julie and her fiance Jeff ran the 10-mile and we got to see them, too -- I'm so proud of all 4 of them! We had a really lovely, albeit brief, visit with Joel's parents, Cameron's parents, MY parents, Ellen, and Jean's friends Rhi, Rachel and Carolyn.

Lucy's loose bottom teeth are REALLY loose and I can see one of her permanent teeth poking through already. I also think one of her top front teeth might be loose. The wiggling and subsequent pain is really bugging her, and her whining is really bugging me. Though I completely understand -- I have dreams about loose teeth and it's no fun!

My various activities (ECFE, rollerblading, volleyball, Annie, Bible study, dance classes -- to name a few) are keeping me hoppin' and keeping my house a cluttery mess. I've found some help in FlyLady.net -- she advocates not "trying to catch up" with regards to housework, but starting where you are and just cleaning for 10- or 15-minute bursts. It's helped me out a lot; though I keep falling off the wagon, the good news is the wagon is willing to stop and wait for me to get back on.

The other day Ed was talking to himself and I heard him say "Just, ahh, walk around, enjoy the fun!" He has a great future ahead of him on a theme park welcoming committee.

Today I was telling Lucy how Julie was going to drive Lu and Ed up to Monti this weekend to see Joel's parents. Lucy asked me to make sure I packed some snacks for the drive, because "Julie doesn't know that we get cranky when we don't get snacks." I do appreciate her forethought.

He makes a point

2009-09-29T09:26:00.002-05:00

Ed: Mama what are you drinking?

Me: Coffee. Do you want some?

Ed: NO! It's STINKY!

Me: Well, you're stinky, and I keep you around.

Ed: But do you drink me?

Daddy, pass me a crab leg!

2009-09-20T20:25:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to make this all long-winded and mushy -- not because I'm not good at getting all long-winded and mushy, because I assure you I am -- but because it's late-ish Sunday night and I've got some massive reading to dive into and also the chair at my computer is incredibly uncomfortable. But:

Happy 35th Birthday Joel!

Yes, early in the morning on Monday, 9/21, Joel turns 35. Hard to believe I've been a part of 1/3 of his life. Lots of people go on about having married their Best Friend and how their spouse is the Most Amazing this or that, and while I do have a penchant for hyperbole I'm just going to say, Boofer, I love you very very much and I am so grateful for who you are. I keep finding myself delighted to share our journey, our home, and our kids... and maybe this year you could work on those windowsills in the kitchen?

Some sadness, a little nostalgia

2009-09-18T09:53:00.004-05:00

Posting from tumbling class!
The kids are starting tumbling today -- I know, total overkill on the enrichment activities this fall. I think the class is only 6 or 7 weeks though. And it sure is nice to get a break!

So I've been crazy-emotional the last couple weeks -- first with all of Lucy's big milestones, and then with the deaths of Patrick Swayze and Mary Travers, and the scare with Garrison Keillor. I was talking to Jean last night and I realized that all three of them are icons in, respectively, dance, music and writing -- three huge influences in my life. I've never been a huge celebrity-follower (I remember being in 7th grade and cutting out a picture of Christian Slater to hang on my mirror, just because it seemed like the thing for a 13-year-old girl to do, not because I actually cared much about him) but I really admire all three of them and, without being conscious of it, had hoped to meet them or otherwise experience them in person one day. I guess there's still hope for Mr. Keillor, especially since he lives in my city, though I'm sure his fan mail bag is overflowing at the moment.

In an additional blow to my own immortality, last night was our final softball doubleheader of the year. I hate the offseason -- it's long and cold and miserable. Our team is really close-knit -- a lot of the guys have known each other since elementary school -- and we have been playing together for the last 3 years. It's the best softball team I've ever been on. I genuinely like every single person on the team, and they're all nice people and, as a bonus, solid ballplayers. One of our girls badly sprained her ankle earlier in the season, and while she was replaced by an equally-solid, equally-nice gal, it made me realize that now that we're all nearing (or well-past) 30, it only takes one silly play with one silly injury to make it someone's last game. It might have been the 2 beers I drank, but I was hit with how young and strong and beautiful we all are, and how fleeting is this moment of our lives.

Lu and Ed just took turns on the balance beam. I remember them learning to walk on the kitchen floor, watching as their little 14-month-old inner ears caught and corrected their balance. They're so stinkin' BIG now.

Lucy seems to be enjoying school -- she's always excited to get on the bus, smiling when she hops off, and has dived right into the elementary-school culture of trading (in her case, giving away colorful tattoos in exchange for a napkin/string/paperclip parachute, a purple pencil, red marker, and a cardboard princess purse). I'm really ambivalent about the trading. I'm glad she's interacting socially with other kids, but I just hope the older kids on the bus aren't manipulating her. She told me yesterday that she gave away one of her necklaces (which is FINE, she's got a mazillion) in exchange for what looked like a flash drive. I'm sure it was someone's garbage, but it weirded me out a little -- what if someone's mom is looking for it? Also, Lucy told me the girl told her not to tell anyone, which I HATE, and we had a nice discussion about that. Lu then said that they were planning to trade back, which I okayed. I just don't know.

Today is her first show-and-tell. Each kid brings something that starts with the letter of the week -- this week it's A. Lucy eschewed her Ariel doll and the apple and avocado I offered, and instead drew a picture of an apple, cut it out, taped it to the front of one of her homemade books (several pieces of paper stapled together), and wrote "APPLE BY LUCY GRONAU" on the front. I'm so very proud.

Lucy also had her first dance class this week. The girls are adorable in their matching black leos and pink tights, and I always enjoy meeting other crazy mamas.

And my dad was in town this week to help Jean do a 24-mile training run. Marathon's in 15 days!

Wha wha wha WHAAAAT?

2009-09-13T19:57:00.003-05:00

Holy moses, Lucy has TWO LOOSE TEETH. Her bottom middle two -- which makes me think this is actually happening.

Seriously, did she have to get TWO loose teeth only 4 days after starting school, which was only 8 days after turning 5?? Not fair to emotional, prone-to-tears Mama.

Also, a blog I read had "Funny things Mamas catch themselves saying" the other day, and this was my own personal contribution:

"Where are your pants and underwear? Did you say "they're tinkled"? Please show me where you tinkled. No, I mean, I see that you tinkled in your pants and underwear, but where were you STANDING when you tinkled? Please help me follow this trail of wet footprints. Thank you for showing me. Now please go get a rag so we can mop it up."

Also I forgot to mention that the day Lucy left for preschool, Eddie kept walking around the house singing the part of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" where Timon sings "I can see what's happening... And they don't have a clue... (etc...) Our trio's down to two." It made me cry even harder.

In fun news, Joel's sister Julie got her wedding dress! And also chose the bridesmaid dresses, and I am just delighted!

Echoing the sentiments of most Minnesotans

2009-09-11T13:28:00.004-05:00

Conversation with Eddie this morning. He had picked up the Vikings section of the PiPress and was entranced by the large, artsy illustration of Brett Favre paddling (I think what he's technically doing is "punting," but given the football connotation I think that would confuse) a Viking boat, wearing a cheesehead with Viking horns coming out of it.

Ed: What's in that cheese?

Me: Brett Favre's head.

Ed: Cheese on his HEAD!? And HORNS!? Get that cheese off of his HEAD!

Oh, little Ed, in time you will learn: you can never fully excise the cheese.

First Day of School!

2009-09-10T22:56:00.005-05:00

Blogger won't let me post video and Facebook won't give me photos, so here's our Lucy's first day of school! In photos!

If you want the video, join FB.

OK sorry this will be so short, but it's sooo late...

Joel made cake-cakes for the kids this morning. With blueberry syrup, nummmm...

Lucy, workin' on a puzzle just to pass the morning away. My beautiful big little girl.

The bus isn't coming for 20 minutes but we are rarin' to go. Van is parked out front, ready for Eddie and me to jump in just as soon as Lucy gets on her bus!

The kids had a conniption when I asked them to stand by the flowers. "Too many BUGS!" So.. how about by the tomatoes? "Tooo WET!!" Grrrr.

This is her bus! Doesn't she look elated?

As soon as Lucy got on the bus, Eddie started hollering "HURRY MOM!!" and we did have to make tracks to beat the bus back to school (Lucy is the last pickup and the first drop-off, which is a GIANT relief for Mom). We joined some other parents-with-cameras, one of whom had actually attempted to ride the bus, too. Ummm, no, that would be against the rules, hello!

Walking from the bus into school

First day at Nokomis! Ed wanted to go in, and then wanted to play on the playground (with about a thousand other enormous children). Instead, we had ice cream cones on the deck. I only cried a little.

Waiting at the stop 2/3 of a block up the street.

Off the bus came the Girl Of Seventy Birthdays! She said school was fine -- bits and pieces of the story have been dribbling out all night.
Mostly they sat on the rug.
Bu they did go play outside and it was REALLY hot and sweaty.
They played musical instruments.
When LUCY is a teacher, SHE is going to make sure NOBODY is talking when she is talking.
There were 2 Ethans in class and one got a time-out. The other one got his musical instrument taken away.
Lucy got tired and wanted to take a nap.
She got to lead the line.
There is NO TALKING AT ALL IN THE HALL which Lu isn't real happy about.
But she saw her friend Lily twice in the hall.
Lots of kids were wearing gym shoes.

...And she gets to go back tomorrow!

Cranberries not done yet, singer says

2009-09-07T20:04:00.002-05:00

Well it's Ed's half-birthday today which officially makes my babies 3.5 and 5, respectively! And I, miraculously, remain the same charming 29 I was when Lu was born. Incredible!

The other day Joel looked at the wall where we measure the kids' heights every 6 months, and he pointed to the highest line and (without stooping and squinting to read the name) asked, "Who is this?" and, need I remind you, we only HAVE 2 kids so it's pretty hard to lose track of them, but I also squidged up my nose and cocked my head and looked at the line, joining Joel in disbelief that we could POSSIBLY have a child as tall as that top line.

Which, for the record, is just under 45" off the ground, which isn't all that tall for a person but is a MONSTROUS GIANT for someone who emerged from my womb a mere 5 years ago, 19" long and 8.5 lbs.

Anyway, so Lucy the 5 Year Old Wonder is beginning PreK on Thursday -- but a LOT of stuff has to happen before then: tomorrow AM I have to get 2 cavities filled; we have a conference with Lucy's teacher (during which I will be drooling out the side of my numbed-up face, HURRAY), then in the evening I have to teach the first of my Bollywood dance lessons, followed by one more dance lesson. Wednesday is ECFE registration day -- I volunteer -- and I *think* my rehearsals for Annie start that night as well. Thursday morning I'm supposed to get up at 6 to go rollerblading with some other mamas, and that afternoon is Lucy's first day!! Egads!!

Next week I start Bible study and the kids start tumbling, and Lucy is also taking dance (don't let me forget to register her!). And Joel and I are still playing softball for the next few weeks. So this next month is going to be a massive wake-up call for our lackadaisical, don't-bother-putting-my-contacts-in-until-11-AM, gee-I-guess-I-can-throw-dinner-together-at-the-last-second, sure-you-can-change-into-your-jammies-at-2pm summer schedules.

Today was a wonderful sendoff to our Summer O Fun -- we hit the State Fair (which, for you non-Minnesotans, is a BIG DEAL) yesterday with Joel's p's, they spent the night, and we woke up with a fabulous egg-and-sausage smorgasbord. After they took off, Joel and the kids and I hit our park up the road, armed with gardening gloves, trash bags, and a broom -- and we weeded the sand, broomed the sidewalks, and picked up candy wrappers, cigarette butts, broken glass and popsicle sticks until the place looked like a nice, well-kept city park again. We also met a nice gal who works in the theatre department at Central High School and who knows a gal who was in my Wilder NLP group last year*. Anyway.

After that we were hungry and hot, so we packed some lunches and hit the beach at Lake Phalen, where we met another Nokomis family (Joel and the dad had been in Daddy ECFE together last year*).

*This is how you can tell my kids are hitting school-age; I've started referring to "years" in terms of the school years. I stopped doing this when I graduated college in 1998 and it was a shock then, as much as it is now to be switching back.

The beach was great and perfect and lovely, and we got some ice cream and a pound of free grapes at Cub afterward. Joel SWEARS the kids picked Peppermint Bon-Bon -- his FAVORITE -- themselves. They didn't disagree.

We went home, I started making up the Bollywood dance, and Joel and the kids watched a movie in the basement. Then we grilled up some steaks and almost-the-last of our summer veggies (cherry tomatoes, green peps, and zukes from our garden, plus store-bought onions and mushrooms, grilled with Italian dressing -- holy Moses, it's the best treat ever). The sun set on our summer and I can tell from the 10-day forecast that fall is imminent, and even though we're going to have great pumpkins this year, and even though the trick-or-treat bag Lucy was making today is super-cute... I'm just not quite ready to let go. Well, wish me luck with the fillings.

Twitter for morons stuck in 2005

2009-09-04T19:56:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking, I should TOTALLY get on Twitter, because my life is SO FASCINATING. Like, I would have tweeted all these things today:

Whatever that water is? that collects inside pumpkin vines? smells EXACTLY like baby puke.

Mmmm... homemade bruschetta....

Crockpot recipes! Need your crockpot recipes!

Right, it's such a shame that my cell phone is so old it doesn't even have a camera. And has to be charged by plugging it into a potato.

Happy 5th Birthday Lucy!

2009-09-04T16:16:00.006-05:00

Yup, Lucy is 5 as of September 2 at 3:34 AM, and this marks about 5 years of this blog! So crazy. Lucy's had an incredibly exciting and exhausting week, beginning with auditions for Annie on Monday, middling with a visit from Grampa Books, a trip to her new dance studio, and a couple bday parties, and starting to wind down with meeting her teacher, Ms. Kristie, at Nokomis last night.

A couple pictures from birthday stuff (chronologically backwards, because Blogger is as disturbingly silly as naked clowns playing string instruments):

Princess Dresses! (From Valu Thrift! Thank you Valu Thrift -- got the following 4 dresses + 2 really nice books for the same price as one lone Target fairy costume)

Lucy requested crab legs for dinner. Ed realllly liked the ice cream cake:

Chicken hat from Jean, Barbie house (with toilet and functioning washing machine) from the Books!

They don't make Dairy Queen ice cream cake like they used to. But it still tastes OK.

And one more princess dress from Auntie Ellen!

Aaaaaand.... the other day I found this COMPLETELY REVOLTING thing on my bell pepper plant. Check it out (IRL it was about 1 inch long):

Upon discovery, I was able to stop screaming long enough to tell Joel to go out and take care of it; when he did, he found that it was a dried-up, empty shell, all split up its back. I cannot imagine the horrible, disgusting changeling that emerged from this atrocity. OK, I CAN imagine. And it goes something like this:

stuff

2009-08-20T15:30:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting here wondering why I have this crazy sense of deja-vu and I realize: http://lucypants.blogspot.com/2007/08/ramalama-bang-bang.html I LIVED THIS SAME DAY TWO YEARS AGO!!

Yes, that's right, it's the end-of-August, where Joel gets to go on a 3-day golf trip and I get to stay home and care for our progeny IN THE RAIN. I get to look forward to softball and Jamie babysitting, only to have it RAINED OUT. I do suppose this year there's much less poop. Phew.

Other news: our pumpkins are ginormous; we've got a couple that are maybe nearly 2 feet in diameter. We also have zucchini (finally!) and tomatoes coming out of our ears, so slide me any great recipes you've got. And it turns out that my 3 green pepper plants might actually produce colored peppers as well! I left a bunch on the plants, to see how big they'd get, and lo and behold some are turning reddish. So that's kind of fun.

Garden update

2009-08-05T13:33:00.005-05:00

My friend Peg asked for this, and just in case there's even one single other person who might be interested...

OK, taking a walk around the garden, starting with the main patch:

Facing south. Far left is rhubarb, now spent for the year (much to Joel's delighted relief... did I tell you, last time I made a rhubarb pie, Joel said "Rhubarb AGAIN!?!" I mean, really, Joel, your wife is BAKING A PIE and you are complaining. Sheesh).

On the right of the above photo, and on the left of the one below, we have raspberries. Mostly eaten by the gol-blum Japanese beetles. To the right of this shot are the strawberries, finally weeded (phew).

Below we have a super-diverse section of the garden: from left to right there are strawberries, snap or snow peas (I don't know the difference and I don't know what the seed packets said), spinach (now mostly gone), the crazy walking onion and crazy dill, followed by more peas and then the watermelons and the pumpkins on the far upper-right of the shot.

Close-up of the pumpkins -- we've got maybe 5 pumpkins, and this one is the size of a basketball already.

Watermelons; we planted 2 different kinds and this one has a few little melons -- the biggest (shown here) is maybe the size of my hand?

Still walking in a counterclockwise circle -- this is a better shot of the peas in the foreground

Still walking... the crazy onion is in the middle:

Above is one of three green pepper plants. We've eaten about 3 peppers so far... so good!

Below we have three-plus zucchini plants and the sunflower.

The zukes have been slow to grow. I picked one the other day and this seems to be the next one coming below (attached to the flower)

Our tomato patch (4 plants), with basil in the front.

Close-up of our 2 early-growing tomato plants; a cherry and an early-girl. The basil is flowering and I'm trying to pinch off the flowers but it might be too late.

Ranting and raving

2009-08-05T13:10:00.004-05:00

So, something that crossed my mind today is: is it really my purpose in life (at the moment) to be my children's slave? Because it just kind of really feels like it today.

Mama? Can I wear this?
Mama? Can I eat something?
Mama? Can you open this for me?
Mama? Can you get the tape out of the VCR?
Mama? Can I put my pajamas back on?
Mama? What are we doing tomorrow?
Mama? Can I have a playdate?
Mama? Can you clean up this spill?
Mama? Can you help me get my pajamas off?
Mama? Can you wipe my popo bottom?

Like, do I just happily address all these requests? Because sometimes my own needs (to finish a task, to eat something, to go to the bathroom, fer pete's sakes) conflict with theirs. And I get sooooo sick of the cadence of the "Mama?" It starts to grate on my soul.

Also, last week when my kids were napping like the dickens, I had several people tell me they hoped I was "taking some time for yourself." I do not know what that means. Like, "time for myself," ideally, would mean complete freedom to schedule my days as I wish... and would also necessarily have to include some form of financial freedom as well. The kids napping (or quietly watching a movie, which is officially replacing Naptime because if the kids nap they are awake until 10pm) just means I get a chance to clean up after a meal... or start prepping for the next meal... or clean up all the teensy little messes my kids have made... or throw in a load of laundry... or swish-n-swipe the bathroom...

Now, I DO make time for myself throughout the day to read snippets of the newspaper, do a crossword (or Sudoku! my new obsession! I know I'm like five years late to the Sudoku! party, sorry), and check email. But those feel like supershort bursts of absolutely necessary decompression-time, not exactly "time for myself." To me, "time for myself" would feel more like a week at a spa.

OK sorry! The real reason for this post is some pictures.

Eddie's angry about something; possibly me noticing his mismatched, flood-pants pajamas... and the slippers... and the helmet...

My cousin Bridget and her hub Dan and their kiddos came for a visit. Supercuteness ensued...

Ohh, these Twins are breaking my heart...

2009-07-31T22:03:00.003-05:00

I'm listening to the Twins game on the radio, and it's in extra innings, which is sort of annoying because I think once it's over I'll actually go to bed, but in a way it's a good thing because I get to sit on my duff and write to you all! And also I like to listen to baseball.

Whoa, this is starting out really stupid. OK. Joel is in Duluth this weekend, playing softball with lots of boys, and I'm here with the kids, hopinghopinghoping I don't go crazy.

I got in a run this morning and I weeded the garden (well, weeded maybe 1/6 of the garden -- the grass growing in there is some crazy mutant variety which grows in massive clumps bigger than my entire torso, I am not exaggerating) AND all the dishes got done, plus it looks like a major thunderstorm is a-brewin', so I'm off to a good start!

Donna my fabulous mother-in-law drove down Wednesday night (oh! I didn't even tell you about our visit with my cousin Bridget and how we went to the Twins-Sox game and how superfun it was!) and she played Mary Poppins all Thursday morning and into the afternoon -- I'm not joking, she and the kids cleaned the whole basement AND the kids' room, and the kids LOVED IT -- and I got to take a lovely bike ride over to Dayton's Bluff proper and get some errands done.

Timeout: it literally has not rained here all summer so I'm sitting here with the windows open, enjoying the rain and the wind and then realized I'm sitting here with the windows open. Oops. Got to go mop up a big corner of the living room.

OK I'm back. So I took my new $60 bike (thanks Dave and Nikki!) out for a spin and it is SO NICE to ride a nice bike -- gears that shift without popping the chain off... brakes that don't scream... fully-inflated tires. It was downright enjoyable. Anyway, I picked up a back issue of a local newspaper I'd written an article for (that Joel had tossed our home-delivered copy of before I even got to peek at it)... and I returned some books to the library... and then I screwed my courage to the sticking place and walked into Keyra's salon and asked if I could have my brows and mustache waxed.

You probably know I'm not a real high-maintenance kind of girl. I keep my pits shaved, as long as I'm planning on wearing sleeveless. I wash my hair about twice a week. I bite my nails and typically skip the blow-dryer. But I'd noticed my facial hair was getting a little out of control, and I thought a little $20 clean-up job would make me feel a little better. What I wasn't so sure about was the reputation of the salon (I've driven past it zillions of times but never stopped), nor my ability to communicate my wishes (that particular block of the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood is populated almost exclusively by Mexican restaurants and bodegas, quinceanera-dress shoppes, and other Spanish-signage spots).

Well anyway I walked in, and the place was deserted save three female workers. The gal who walked over had had her own personal eyebrows entirely removed, and penciled in in purple. This didn't do much to secure my confidence, but she was kind about my faltering, gesture-laden Spanish ("Puedes... err... waxar mis... err... como se dice 'eyebrows'? Y puedo pagar con credit card?") and she let me park my bike in the waiting area. She took me in the basement, which I have to say with the bright-yellow walls and fluorescent overhead lighting wasn't exactly what you'd call a soothing spa-like environment. But she did really lovely work, honestly. The mustache was easy -- even a girl who hasn't spent enough time in America to learn how to say "please" and "thank you" in English still knows that a 30-plus white woman wants that mustache GONE -- but the eyebrows took some negotiating.

Remember, this is all happening in Spanish:

Jasmin: How do you want your eyebrows shaped?

Me: I am sorry, I don't know, it's been 10 years. Or 11. Not too much.

Jasmin: So, not very delicate, not very fine.

Me: Right! Good! Not too delicate. NO.

Jasmin: Just nice and clean.

Me: Uh, more slowly, please? Oh yes! Clean! Good. Clean.

Jasmin: You have nice eyebrows, so I will keep them natural.

Me: Yes! I think so! Good! Natural! Very good! Thank you!

Throughout, she'd ask me if it hurt -- I mean, it does a little but it's brief and not the worst thing. I didn't say anything after she ripped the first strip off, but I gave her a little "Oooh!" after the second one -- I think she preferred a little emoting, so I tried to throw her a bone.

Then she started working on the top of my brow, and all I could think about was the admonition from the June 1992 issue of Seventeen NEVER TO PLUCK THE TOP OF YOUR BROW, but it didn't FEEL like she was taking off my whole eyebrow, and I knew we'd reached an understanding with the "natural" conversation. Anyway, my eyebrows look terrific, neat and clean and muy bonita. I even made a joke (in Spanish!) about mi esposo being muy feliz about the disappearance of the mustache. I read in someone's blog that husbands like that sort of thing. Anyway Jasmin laughed, and I enjoyed our moment.

So in a week when my mother in law conquered her fear of driving into the Big Bad City... I conquered my fear of Latin beauty salons! It's a good week altogether.

Tomorrow Alley Joel's going to work kid-breakfast duty and Cara and I are hitting the St. Paul farmer's market. I haven't been in months so I'm kind of really excited to buy some grass-fed meats or possibly some artisan breads (I hate the word artisan in that context). Then I kinda want to take the kids to that Disney Earth movie (starring the voice of James Earl Jones... yummy) -- it's at the $2 show -- and then we're checking out Ashland's high school summer camp version of Aladdin. Lucy and Eddie CANNOT WAIT.

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today

2009-07-28T13:03:00.003-05:00

It's 1:00pm and for the second time in 2 days, both my kids are tucked into beds (not their own, of course: Ed's in Lucy's bunk and Lucy is in the basement guest quarters) for naps! We've been eschewing naps a lot this summer, due to activities or pure laziness on my part (because it's WAY too much trouble to close the shades and read my kids 2 books and make sure they have blankies... I mean, really).

I've got a rhubarb pie in the oven even though Pat Watson says not to pick rhubarb after the 4th of July -- I chose the thinnest, reddest stalks and I really think it's going to be OK. My cousin Bridget and her fam are supposed to be coming to town tonight, but I honestly can't say what time they're coming. Well, we'll have burgers and pie for them upon arrival!

For lunch today, I scrambled myself 2 eggs with some (home-grown!) spinach and butter and garlic and cheese. I think this is better than skipping lunch entirely, which is what I did yesterday. Some days I just have no patience for lunch and the thought of PBJ or another turkey sammy makes me want to yak. The eggs today were tasty (Lucy probably ate 1/8 of my portion; that girl loves eggs and leafy greens!) but now I'm having some tummy twangs. Probably used too much butter, I'm guessing... or after a couple weeks of food-on-the-road my body is simply rejecting an Actual Meal. Or possibly I should have had some bread or something on the side.

Garden update! Only because I went into lots of detail about the planting, and then left you all hanging. Yeah, you all... both of you, Dad and Heather. :) :)

The Japanese beetles have been devouring anything with leaves, which includes our new apple tree leaves. I simply cannot keep up with these green bastards -- for one, I am SEVERELY eeeked out by them. And this is kind of a side note -- in my garden this year I find bugs BUZZING IN MY HAIR from time to time. Is it the yellow hair? Do they think I'm a flower? Anyway it's HORRIBLE and I really can't be bothered to hat up every time I go out to grab some beans. OK and for two, the beetles are EVERYWHERE and they seem to have wised to my scrape-'em-into-soapy-bucket trick. I miss at least 3 out of 4 tries and the buggers get away. I HATE THEM. You would not believe the swearing I am capable of when I find the beetles on my plants. I'm like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino -- GET OFF MY RASPBERRIES. But with more anger.

OK OK the garden. The apple trees seem to be still alive, but they don't really look like they're growing much, and I haven't been pruning them because honestly the only thing I think I ought to prune is the tall man in the middle, but that's the trunk of the tree! and I'm afraid of killing them.

Tomatoes are starting to ripen, hooray! Lucy remains my cherry-tomato hound -- she eats 'em like grapes and loves them. But calls them "potatoes." My basil is being pushed out by the crazy tomatoes but I think I will get some tomato-basil overlap which would be faaaaaabulous. The zucchini plants are full and flowery but not a single zucchini!! What gives?!? The sunflower is about 4 feet tall, hanging in there. Our pumpkins are once again totally out of control (I thought Joel'd pruned them into submission but he might actually have known what he was doing, after all -- and for those of you on facebook, I didn't actually overdraw checking after all so it winds up being a wash still! Hooray!) and the watermeon are starting to flower up as well. Our radishes have come and gone and I keep forgetting to plant a second round of radish seeds. The peas (which I keep calling green beans because I really think they're more similar than not) are also growing like crazy and they're delicious. I forgot we planted carrots and I wonder what ever happened to them? I've not been great about weeding, so entire sections of the garden have giant long grasses growing in them. I can't do it all, people!

The strawberries I think are done -- even if they weren't, the Japanese beetles are all over those buggers. We've gotten maybe 8 raspberries all year and again the beetles have eaten much of the leaves. I think I talked about the rhubarb already... we're getting tons of bell peppers which I'm super-excited about... spinach is on the tail end but still edible... oh, and our enormous walking onion is always good for a laugh, and tasty too. And we have dill for miles.

Growing this garden really reminds me of how people say "it takes a village to raise a child" -- and it's totally true about gardens and villages and so many other things. I feel like American culture has emphasized The Self-Reliant Individual, to the detriment of our "villages" and communities. I have an overabundance of peas and rhubarb -- but how would I find someone to trade for some potatoes*? I can't grow EVERYTHING; nobody can. Yet we're all expected to Rely On Ourselves and to Be Strong and stay in our little silos.

We all expect to have everything we need THIS INSTANT instead of learning to give and take and work together. Delayed gratification is such an important thing for children to learn -- but how many of us grownups have learned it?

I swear, I'm meant to live in a commune.

I started writing a wayyyy longer thing about all this, even bringing in a discussion of the breakdown of the institution of marriage in America, as a function of Americans needing to be instantly happy and valuing individual happiness over the potential for Greater Good. But I'm totally not going there now! I gots some hummus and hamburgers to make...

_____________________
*I use this as a theoretical, of course; I loathe potatoes!

One from Eddo

2009-07-27T09:34:00.004-05:00

In the house this morning; I'm trying to clear up the flotsam and jetsam of three vacations.

Eddie (clearly chewing something I have not fed him): I have to go potty.

Me: Eddie, what are you eating?

Ed (cheeks full): Nuffing.

Me: What do you have in your mouth?

Ed: I found it. On the floor.

Me: What is it?

Ed (brows furrowed): I don't know.

Me: What does it taste like?

Ed: It is a nut.

Must... finish... french fry... zzzzzz...

2009-07-24T14:59:00.002-05:00

You have to watch my friend Heather's video. Here.

For the internet-challenged: http://sweatpantsandaminivan.blogspot.com/2009/07/mustfinishfrench-fryzzzzzzz.html

Winona weekend!

2009-07-20T08:27:00.008-05:00

Hi gang! Just got back last night from a fun-packed weekend trip to Winona. Because the kids and I are leaving for another road trip in the morning and because today I've got to start laundry, grocery shop, hit the beach, and plan a couple dance lessons, this update will be brief and photo-filled.

We stopped at Lark Toys in Kellogg, Minn. The kids got to ride on the carousel and we marvelled at the July weather that would be with us for the next 36 hours: low 60s, cloudy and windy.

Upon arriving in Winona, we met up with the Vanornys (Stu, Julie, Winona, Dashiell and Tristan, Stu and Amber's nephew) and Cigelskes (Amber, James and Amelia) at beno's deli for lunch.

Naptime at the hotel consisted of chips & salsa, veggies and dip and a screening of Bolt, much to Eddie's elation.

We swam and hit Bub's for dinner, much to Lucy's dismay: "It's called BOOBS!?!? THAT'S not a restaurant!!!" And our kids were out like lights at 9:15:

Saturday morning brought more miserable weather -- thank goodness for the Riverport's indoor pool and our fabulous poolside rooms! Lucy learned to "dive" (bellyflop) from the top step, and Eddie did his best flailing dog-paddle to keep up with her.

Stu, Dash and Ed:

Tadpole #1 and 2:

Winona has had quite enough:

We finally ventured out around 6pm to visit the WSU Campus. The Shakespeare festival was going on and we didn't catch any theatre but we got to enjoy some live music.
Kids on the rocks:

Lucy: "These flowers match my skirt!!"

The obligatory dorm-pix:

After we parted ways on Sunday, we drove out to Jared's place. We pet Bullet the goat:

Despite my grunting and eyebrow-twitching, the kids drove the tractor:

And Jared took us up his folks' mountain in a weird little buggy and I thought for sure we would all die. No pix of that (too busy clinging to Lucy's bony body with one hand and a sawn-off piece of wood with another).

THEN we took the kids horseback riding!

Lucy and I rode Lucky -- Joel and Ed were on Ebony. The trail leaders chided us (a bit) for not letting Lucy ride her own pony. I thanked them for their suggestion and held her a little closer.

The kids got to pet a miniature horse named Marshmallow. Super-cute.

After the horses we went up to Garvin for our farewell panorama. We stopped at the Garvin Heights Vineyards for a brief wine-tasting and then took the Wisconsin route back on Hwy 35. I'd never gone that way before and it was lovely -- next time we'll build in more time to stop in some of the small towns along the way.

We finished the evening with dinner with the Watsons, whom we haven't seen in, like, forever. The kids ran around together like a horde of puppies and we adults enjoyed the Wats' lovely garden and some g & ts.

It's good to be home but laundry and the garden can no longer be neglected! And I've trips to pack for!

Help me tie these tap shoes and put on this fringey skirt, will ya?

2009-07-16T13:42:00.003-05:00

Lucy: We're going to the ball and we're going to find the most handsomest man to marry.

Me: Oh, like your daddy?

Lucy: No, someone else. A YOUNG guy.

Ouch, Joel.

I'm NOT your Eddie

2009-07-15T08:44:00.002-05:00

Ed is in this crazy-negative phase. He just handed me a CD and asked "What is this?" and I answered "It's called Paris Combo" and he just grunts and replies "It's NOT Paris Combo!" I don't get this 3-year-old stage.

He also makes a sound like a very angry cat when he's mad, and he's big into announcing "I DON'T LOVE YOU" every chance he gets.

Joel took us (me, Lucy, Ed and Jean) to the Science Museum for my birthday a few weeks ago, to see the Titanic artifacts exhibit. It was a lovely day and before we went into the exhibit, we took a couple minutes to explain the sinking of the Titanic to the kids. They were surprisingly enthralled with the story and if I can figure it out I'll post a video of Eddie's recap of the story. It goes something like "The boat CRASHED into the iceberg and it went up and up and then it CRACKED and then it went downdowndown." Which is actually pretty accurate.

I'm sorry, I have about 100 other things to mention, like the fact that earlier this week I accidentally bought 12 pints of blueberries at Aldi ... and that we're taking a little trip to Winona this weekend (and Lucy keeps asking "When are we going to your COLLEGE?!!" ... and that Joel and Jean did their triathlon last Saturday and totally rocked... and that my folks were up for the tri and helped us clean out our whole backyard, making it a really pleasant place to be (finally!)... and that we found ANOTHER awesome little beach in Woodbury ... but I've GOT to go shower and get the kids to the park before we all implode.

2 from Lu

2009-07-08T22:18:00.003-05:00

Lucy found my high school varsity letters (from choir, of course, because they totally give letters for choir!) and asked what it was and why it was laying on the floor of my room. I explained what it was and that it was on the floor because I was putting some of my high school pictures on Facebook and the letters fell out of my scrapbook.

And Lucy asked, "Is it because you want to remember your childhood?"

Well, golly, I guess it is.

Also last week we were at the Dari-ette, and I took Lu to the potty, and as she was sitting there she remarked "Every time I sit on the potty, I go potty!"

Me: "Yeah, I guess."

Lucy: "Typically, that's just how my life goes."

Anybody want a condo?

2009-07-05T21:30:00.003-05:00

My darling (I actually typed "daring" at first, which is not altogether inaccurate) sister is selling her condo. MLS # 3807174. It's in West Saint Paul, 3 BR/2 BA and it's a really nice place for $129K. Anyway... if you know anybody...

Lovely homes also still available in our neighborhood -- I think Alley Joel and Cara go on the market in the next few days here (*sob!*).

They found the kids

2009-07-02T21:46:00.002-05:00

Hey there, I completely forgot to post this and I know this is way-late, but they found Maya and Rojo Espinosa in North Dakota on June 6. I don't actually have any other details, but they are physically safe. Thanks everyone for your prayers and kind thoughts.

My I key keeps breaking, this is a problem.

2009-07-01T22:59:00.004-05:00

2 little Lucy things I forgot:

1. She is TOTALLY SWIMMING. 2 weekends ago we were at the lake. On Saturday she was laying in the water, "walking" her hands on the bottom and kicking her feet. On Sunday she was paddling with her hands and kicking, with a noodle around her middle. On Monday we went to the beach with the Watsons (and the Dalys, Hobdays, and Youngbergs) and Lucy saw Owen and Will swimming solo, and there were no noodles in sight, so she just up-n-started dog-paddling.

And to think I questioned Dan Fors when he said 6-year-olds could do actual strokes! Amazing!

Also, today in the bathroom at the Dari-ette, Lucy remarked on the fact that "Every time I sit on the potty, I go potty!" and I said, well, yeah, and then she added "Typically, my life goes like that."

Oh, and she saw a "No Parking" sign today on the way home from Jean's house, this one:

And she asked whether I'd seen "the R with the line through it" (I can see how she thought it was an R) and I said No, sorry, I missed it, and she said she'd keep it in her mind until we got home so she could draw it for me, and after we stopped at Aldi we got home and she grabbed paper and pencil and drew it for me, and I said Oh! and I explained that it meant No Parking, and she took that in and then commented, "Well, it would be nicer if they just said 'Please don't park here,'" and she totally has a point.

Carol remarked that we should have our government send 4-year-olds to all international negotiations, and things would probably go much more smoothly, and I can't argue.

Oh, and I'm sooooo excited about So You Think You Can Dance, and I adore Brandon and Janette and their cha-cha, and Philip and Jeanine were just MADE to do Nappy-Tab's choreography, and Melissa and Ade's ballet was gorgeous but completely unfair, no way did they pick that out of a hat unless it was a hatfull of ballet! and Evan and Randi's Sweet Charity number was also unfair in that it was choreographed by a six-foot-tall woman since E and R and both about Lucy's size, and I also loved Kupono and Kayla's vampire dance, and Vitolio and Karla, I like you too but that number just wasn't awesome, and I think Jason and Caitlin HAVE to go home this week because that B-Free Alien number was ridiculous, and not in the Mia-Michaels/Dan Karady way, but in the way that actually means "ridiculous."

Tuesday morning blues

2009-06-30T08:23:00.002-05:00

The "I" key is totally broken on my laptop, so this will be an interesting experiment. Oh look! Apparently I can just press the little button underneath. I don't hardly miss it!

Well I just can't figure out this crazy weather. It's 90 degrees with blinding sunshine for a full week, and now it's overcast and about 55 at 8:30 AM. I really admire Minnesotans who choose to put a permanent pool in their backyards -- those are just the kind of glass-is-half-full eternal optimists that this world probably needs more of.

Took Ed in for his 3-month checkup and he is most assuredly a three-year-old boy. He got a giant kick out of the hearing test -- "I hear it mommy! I hear it!"

Lucy is my resident grumpy stick-in-the-mud -- I made plans today to take the kids to the Minnesota Zoo: the expensive, nice, far-away zoo in the area. Lucy, upon hearing of these plans, made a face and said she didn't want to go. Well, I'm not going to twist her arm and drag her across the metro against her will. She wants to stay home so we can get the free lunch that the playground down the street serves every weekday. That girl is one cheap date.

Last Saturday, Joel and Jean and Cameron and the rest of the girls from our coed softball team all competed in the Tri-Loppet in Minneapolis: 11k canoe, 5k trail run, 15k mountain bike. It was HARD and kinda miserable, and it really illustrated for me what dreadful shape I am in. OK don't get me wrong: the literal shape of me is fine, but all my lovely muscles have converted into mooshy flesh and bone and I hate it. After watching "So You Think You Can Dance" last Wednesday, I made a new-year resolution (it was my birthday, so it's a new year for me!) to exercise more regularly. Jean and I went for a run last night along the river and it was really perfect. Running really isn't my thing, but I can do 30 minutes every now and then.ooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

OK I think I got the I key fixed. Gotta get moving on laundry and maybe organizing the kids' toys (again). Why is that such a nightmare?!?! I go to other people's houses and their kids' toys all seem to have places to be... not here! There's junk everywhere, nothing has all the pieces it came with, and nothing gets put away when it's done being played with.

Our neighbors' Hummer got towed at 11PM last night, which leaves soooo many unanswered questions: why in the middle of the night? Why were 3 cop cars necessary? What's the DEAL with that family? Why would anyone in this neighborhood even OWN a Hummer?? Their dog barked at me for the solid 20 minutes I spent weeding my garden yesterday afternoon, and I could hear people in the house talking, so I'm SURE they could hear their poor dog freaking out at me. Too bizarre.

I know I promised you a Seattle/Rolling Meadows recap, but I don't think anybody really cares, and I posted lots of pics on Facebook anyway. I've got to hit some laundry and dishes. Ciao!

Mama why is tomorrow only a day away?

2009-06-17T13:34:00.003-05:00

Something about our yard must make it look like an inviting place to take a stroll.

Once a year or so, I spy a random person walking from our street straight back through our yard toward the alley. They always stay on the sidewalk, and they typically walk with purpose. I think many of our neighbors have fences that make such cut-throughs impossible; also, we're on part of a big hill and I can see how cutting through our property can lop off a big downhill followed by a steep climb, if one were traveling a certain path.

So just now, as I sit at my computer looking out at the verdant jungle that is my backyard, I watched a gal walking up toward our garage. When she reached the alley she turned left and disappeared behind our garage, only to materialize moments later walking to the right. I then watched her stop, turn, and start to sprint back toward the left. The second she vanished (again) behind out garage, I saw a gigantic white truck ZOOMING toward her down the alley.

I never heard a crash or a scream so I assume she made it. If it had been a cartoon the timing would have been mildly amusing, and in real life it was just-- sorta-- interesting to watch.

Whatever, I gotta go pick some rhubarb. Anybody want any??

Home sweet Hades

2009-06-16T16:58:00.002-05:00

OK so life with a deck is pretty good! The kids and I have breakfasted out there both mornings we've been home, and I LOVE sipping coffee in the fresh air. I also like the built-in clock that is the sun rising over the neighbors' tree. When the rays hit Ed's eyes, it's time to pack up the cereal and tuck back into the house for the most-but-not-every-morning ritual of getting dressed and brushing teeth.

My guess is my kids can sense a thunderstorm, because they have been On Edge the last day or so and now we're amid a lovely late-spring shower and they are ripping each other's hair out, screaming, while I silently stare at the clouds, willing them to part and dry the grass so I can kick the kids out and bang my head on the floor in peace and quiet.

Fate has not been on the side of me getting my Seattle/Chicago pics up -- the camera is, as I type, in the glove box of the van, which is merrily parked in the garage which is, unfortunately, across the yard from my house. Last week Lucy drew a picture of our house, and then she smiled at me as she added a box on the side. "You know what this is attached to the house Mommy?" she says, "It's what you've always wanted... a garage!!" Indeed, my kingdom for an attached garage. Though as I told Carol yesterday, I'd totally settle for a bathroom on the same level as my bedroom.

Progress through participation

2009-06-10T22:52:00.002-05:00

I'm still in Rolling Meadows, posting from my parents' desktop that is starting to sound like it's going to self-destruct any second. Maybe look for new pics on Sunday or Monday, and notes from our adventures. In the meantime...

We were sitting at dinner, eating chicken fingers and zucchini-fries (SUPER yummy, BTW) and reliving funny moments with the kids. My dad mentions that while I was in Seattle, he took the kids into the yard to splash in the kiddie pool, and before he knew it Lucy had stripped down to her birthday suit and was running around in her me-oh-my.

Lucy, listening, shakes her head, smiling like a much-older person, and mutters "What will the neighbors think?"

OK OK and Eddie the other morning crawled into his chair at breakfast and declared "I'm a VERY busy woman!"

And if only I could capture the inflection in Ed's voice when he calls "Graaaaam-paw..." Sooo funny.

Joel and Jean will be joining us at my folks' tomorrow, and we'll be at the Twins/Cubs game Friday afternoon! I'm afraid I missed my peonies blooming this year, which makes me very sad. Joel promises there's "stuff" growing in the garden but I am skeptical and trying desperately to keep my curiosity at bay, until we get back.

My folks are rock-stars for putting up with me and these crazy kids.

Posting from Rolling Meadows

2009-06-03T22:37:00.003-05:00

Joel and I had a fabulous trip to Seattle -- it's really a fantastic city.

Pix and full synopsis to follow (I didn't bring the camera cord and I don't think my folks' computer has the right software, anyway).

Anyway, so now I'm in Chicagoland for the next 10 days, without much in the way of plans. Nice way to start the summer...

Sooo THAT'S why they call it "sod-busting"

2009-05-18T19:45:00.004-05:00

I'm a sod-buster!! I feel like that is how my last three days (oops, I started writing this post on Monday night, I think, and only just now have found time to finish it) have been spent -- turning Joel's idea of a paltry 10' x 8' "garden" into the horticultural wonderland that's going to be my yard, if everything lives and if I remember to water and if I ever figure out "pruning" and if I know when-the-heck to harvest.

I have to get Carol to draw me a map of my yard so I can show you. I expanded last year's plot into hmmm, well I'm not super-good at estimating... maybe 15' x 12'? Which encompasses our existing rhubarb, raspberries, strawberries, bell peppers, spinach, the "walking onion" which I still don't fully understand, 2 kinds of peas, carrots, radishes, and ending with 2 kinds of watermelon, and pumpkins.

The space we had the African Killer Sunflowers last year (which is the little strip of dirt between the parking pad and the fire pit) are getting a new crop of ECFE sunflowers -- five seedlings made it out of the milk-carton containers and into the ground. And I read you can do squash near sunflowers (and also I misplaced my zucchini seeds for a few days, so they didn't make it into the Master Plot), so I put in seeds for three zuke bushes in that strip as well.

Tomatoes and basil went in the tomatoes' usual home, up against the garage. And I dug out a 2' strip on either side of our front steps, in an attempt to prettify the front yard (which is TOTALLY pointless since we never use the front of our house, but it remains the front of our house and it is pretty sad-looking) by planting some begonias and rudbeckia there.

Joel also (last weekend) managed to plant my new (used) clothesline poles, found on Craigslist of course, and lovingly retrieved by Joel via 2 trips to Cottage Grove (about 15 minutes south of here). The gal who had them at her house is about 12 months pregnant so I'm going to cut her some slack for not being able to describe the poles over the phone to me AT ALL. I asked her the approximate 1. size... 2. color... 3. material... and 4. weight of the poles, and she said she didn't really know... which is totally ridiculous, since I took one glance at the poles (really T-bars) and could see that the appropriate answers would have been "1. enormous, you'll need a truck; 2. white with rusty spots; 3. metal with the concrete still attached to the bottom from the previous planting; and 4. approximately six tons each. Instead I sent Joel down to CG the first time with the notion that he might be dealing with some PVC pipe that could easily stash in the minivan. Ooops.

JG also poured the 6 cement footings for our deck!! I am trying not to get too excited about the deck, but it's going to be really nice to have it.

Anyway, Sunday night we all sat down for dinner and Joel and I tucked into the meal like 2 farmhands. Being bone-tired and crazy-hungry felt unusual and interesting. And good.

Monday I did heaps more planting (which I'm SURE is all for naught after this crazy last 2 days of 90-degree-weather and godawful winds -- I haven't been able to keep ANYTHING watered for more than three minutes, and I bet all the seeds have eigher washed away or been devoured by the squirrel infestation in our yard. Seriously, I have NEVER seen so many squirrels. Eddie was chasing them around yesterday like a crazed spaniel. He names them all "Jumpy" and calls them "squee-yos" or "chick-munks" if he forgets.

Some will win, some will lose... some're born to sing the blues

Honestly, I want to blog about AI and Glee (MY NEW FAVORITE SHOW, cannot WAIT for fall!!) but the heat & wind combo today has sapped all my creative energy. No really, I feel completely beaten. I do want to note (re: Glee) that I about freaked when I heard they named their show choir "New Directions." (That was the name of my HS show choir, in case anybody besides my parents are reading this.) And I also want to note that I've read in several places that critics are worried that Glee will be disappointing to their "target market" of 11-17 year olds. I'm sure the 11-17 niche is more desirable than I am, but I AM THE TARGET MARKET FOR THIS SHOW. Whether or not that means it will be a successful series, I do not care to speculate.

Oh! Another marketing note. When I take dance classes, I do so at Phil Alesso's Dance Spectrum studio on Grand Ave (or maybe technically Chatsworth St?) in St. Paul. I take lessons for a few weeks, then life intervenes but I always go back. Anyway, they are just darlings there, and the studio is non-competitive, and if you are looking for a place to take dance lessons (ballet-tap-jazz for kids thru grownups) I cannot speak too highly of them. I think they could really use some new, enthusiastic students, so consider going, OK? Summer classes restart June 15, I think. I may also have Lucy start lessons there in the fall.

I also was reading some letter-to-the-editor in the PiPress today, criticizing Minn. Governor Tim Pawlenty's anti-tax statement that "Everybody is struggling." I will paraphrase, but the letter reminded readers that NOT everybody is struggling. Many, many people still have jobs. And to some degree, the still-employed have a responsibility to keep this economy plugging along. So I'm not saying we should all go into sloppy, unbounded debt, but for me it was something to think about.

Daddy's little girl

2009-05-14T22:49:00.002-05:00

Joel and Lucy and their matching knee-scrapes, with the additional bonus of their matching FACES. Totally not staged (the faces, I mean).

Joel is going to freak out that he's not wearing a shirt. Oooops.

Close-up on the owwies. Joel's is from softball -- Lucy's is from running out the door too fast after ECFE while wearing a dress, and taking a giant digger on the sidewalk. Lots of blood, lots of hollering.

AI Top Three

2009-05-13T08:48:00.001-05:00

Sorry, you'll have to link to my friend Heather's blog for a recap. My recap is in her comments. Too sleepy last night!

Give yo' mama a big hug (and offer to rub her achy hammies)

2009-05-09T22:04:00.002-05:00

Well after another marathon week (Grandpa visit, dance lesson, ECFE, dance lesson, dance lesson, drawing class, hailstorm, dance lesson, dance lesson, ECFE, ECFE, softball (a victory!), volleyball, dance lesson, doctor appointment, dance lesson, plant sale), I can put another class in the history books -- my preschool dance classes are finito for the school year.

This coming week will be much like the last, with added craziness on Thursday because Lucy has to register for preschool. In the immortal words of Charlie Brown: "AAAUUUGGGHHH!!"

Things begin to thin out quickly, though, as Memorial Day approaches: my various dance-teaching gigs are all totally done by May 27, and then I leave for Seattle (by way of Chicago) on May 29 or 30.

And since we won't be back until June 13 or 14, we miss the end of the school year and, to my dismay, a couple important ECFE parties. When we come back it'll be summer and I don't have a single thing to do until Lucy starts school on Sept. 10. WOW.

Back to the present, tho: About the instant the weather changed on Friday evening (from relatively summery, to rainy and cool), all the muscles in the back of my body (calves, hamstrings, back) cramped up, but other than that I woke up rarin' to go Saturday morning. As soon as Joel took off with the kids, I made an orderly, prioritized list and actually tackled most of the more important things on it: laundry, cleaning the kitchen sink and the bathroom (I used bleach; I know, I KNOW it's bad but I scarcely could stand to sit on my own toilet or turn on the faucet with my bare hands, it was so germy-gross), mowing the lawn, planning the week's meals*, harvesting my already-gone-to-seed rhubarb and then baking 2 pies and a cobbler out of the less-woody bits.

I was sighing to Joel about how happy I was with my accomplishments, when he gave me A Look and remarked that he was glad I'd gotten something done, because he mostly felt like he was just wrangling the kids all day, which he totally was, escorting them to theatre class and Menards and home and through lunch and into their post-lunch movie and into the bath. Joel is mostly a rock star.

We got the movie Ray from Netflix -- we'd never seen it. It was excellent!

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mamas, and everyone who's ever had a mama, out there.

*For the record, this week we're planning to eat:

1. Chicken-with-almonds-and-apples (actually this was tonight), baked in foil

2. Swedish meatballs (I'm really hoping I have all the ingredients for this) with noodles and canned cranberry sauce

3. Creole pork chops with potatoes and possibly a green salad, which might just mean romaine with ranch dipdip

4. Broccoli-rice-chicken bake

5. Leftover ham/bean soup

6. Pork chops with sauerkraut

7. Salmon ... somehow.

2009-05-06T19:32:00.002-05:00

At some point all my stories just build up and build up and then I forget everything and have to start over.

Which is part of the reason I blog -- to keep the stories written down somewhere before they vanish forever. Unfortunately I think I just had a memory-erase sometime today, so you just get a couple highlights.

1.
Lucy (starting to get worked up and angry about something I won't let her do, or possibly something I'm asking her to do):
"I don't want to be part of this family anymore! I don't want to be your daughter anymore! You're ugly! You're GARBAGE!"

Ed (who has been silent through the whole rampage, but has apparently reached his limit): "She's not garbage." (teeny pause)
"She's NOT ugly." (teeny pause)
"She's BEAUTIFUL!""

2.
Ed and I are driving in the car. I am turning from 61 onto Shepard Road, and in lieu of the typical "Merge" sign you might see at this type of intersection, there is a "Yield" sign there. Meaning, if there are cars coming, you stop and wait and YIELD until there's an open spot. Which is the opposite of MERGE, which means "speed up to highway velocity and find a hole."

So there are tons of cars coming, so I stop. The big truck behind me does not like this, and starts to honk, so I address him out loud: "It says Yield; whaddaya want me to frickin' do?"

To which Eddie replies: "What's frickin doo?"

So now "frickin-doo" is the latest funny thing to say around the house. Rats.

Ed is definitely in the super-fun-to-talk-to stage that Lucy's been in for the last couple years. Lu, on the other hand, has been challenging at best recently. She's been crabby, rude, bossy, moody, and a bully, at sometimes-overlapping turns. More and more I see how similar she and I are -- a battle that's just beginning, I know. But she's also very loving and sweet and so curious about so many things.

OK OK dishes and laundry are calling...

Won't you be my neighbor?

2009-04-27T14:21:00.002-05:00

I just read in the East Side Review that the government, along with the Pohlad foundation, is offering some serious incentives (up to $30,000 if you're a veteran/civil servant + first-time homebuyer) for people looking to buy houses in our ZIP code, 55106.

Apparently, 55106, along with a North Minneapolis ZIP code, have been the hardest hit by foreclosures.

Know anybody looking for a house? I know several on the market in our area. The east side of St. Paul, as I've mentioned, gets a bad rap -- but we've been here for 7.5 years and are delighted to call it home. Come live here so I can borrow sugar from you!

Little shop o' terrors

2009-04-27T14:04:00.003-05:00

OK so this is the pink!

It *does* look a little sprayed-on, mostly because of my superdark roots, and the fact that it really doesn't take on hair that's not bleached almost-white.

Another busy week this week, but it's mostly under control.

Watch Oprah this Thursday (April 30, with Kirstie Alley) and look for me and my friends in the front row! Well some of us are in, like, the 4th row. I'm in the front, blonde hair, reddish-orange jacket over black, next to my friend Carol (short red hair over purple shirt).

Pink hair, flat tire

2009-04-25T14:56:00.003-05:00

Hm. Well, I guess there's nothing more to say.

I did change the tire All By Myself (including jumping on the tire iron, trying to unscrew the bolts -- thank goodness I still have that extra 5 lb. of winter weight!), and that was a first, so that's something!

And I can't find my camera, so the hair documentation will have to wait.

Oh, and yes I did go see a taping of Oprah last weekend (Fri the 17th, it would have been) and we sat in the front row and the show airs Wed., May 6. And then I stayed out until 5 in the morning and yes it took me six whole days to recover.

And I must be going for some kind of choreography record: 16 different numbers, made up and taught in about 2 weeks. Where'd I put that margarita?

'Tis burnt!

2009-04-22T06:55:00.003-05:00

I'm having a really rough week so I connect you with my sister's AI review, which hits all the main points for me and, once again, our rankings are identical:

http://andsoisallthemeat.blogspot.com/

A.I. 4/14/09 -- Top 7

2009-04-15T08:02:00.003-05:00

Music from the Movies? Another super-generic genre, not that I'm complaining -- remember the disasters that Billy Joel Night and Rod Stewart Night produce?

But I don't fully understand why Quentin Tarantino is giving musical advice... err, "performance tips" is how he phrased it. It sounded like his credentials are that he loves music. I mean, I love strawberries but you don't see me dispensing gardening advice to aspiring professional gardeners.

I do want to talk a little about how much I love my bed. I love sheets and blankets and pillows. I love my bare, achy feet between cool, clean sheets. I love a fluffy comforter. I love being nestled after a long day of walking the zoo, chauffeuring the children, teaching the dance lessons, drinking with the friends, and roaming downtown St. Paul with the fairly-confident hope that I'm not going to get mugged. Mmmmm, bed. Today's reviews will be colored by how much I love my bed.

Allison -- I don't want to miss a thing by Aerosmith from Armageddon
I wish I could remember correct AP style for movie/song titles and band names. Prepare for some random italics and underlining. Ugh, Allison, the OUTFIT. And the HAIR. I get that you're working a look, but it just looks the Same. Every. Week. I don't think you can wear hair like that every week -- I want to see a color change, or different extensions, or something. Her singing, I guess, kinda rocked, but truly I was bored and I hate writing that but it's the middle of the competition and it's true. The song was so short and all the cuts are distracting. One of the great things about that song is how it builds and builds and explodes at the end, but when you only have 30 seconds to perform, it just comes across as blah and totally forgettable. Think back to past years of Idol -- there are some performances you remember, and then a whole mess of others that just all blend together. This was definitely the latter, though I do think it's good enough to keep her around another week.

Anoop -- Everything I do, I do it for you by Bryan Adams from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
This was a VERY polished, good performance from Anoop. Ditto the last 2 sentences of Allison's review, though. Do you think the people who made this movie thought there were going to be sequels, and that's the reason for the colonic title? Or was it just early-'90s hubris?

Adam -- Born to be wild (no idea on the artist or movie)
ARGH! I'm accustomed to seeing him last! I'm mentally unprepared for sheer awesomeness!! Listen, this guy is Not Normal. But he's so EXCITING to watch! JG and I think Simon's crabby comments are just meant to keep the show interesting -- Simon knows what makes good TV and Adam being Pure Genius every week is getting repetetive (not for me, mind you! but for the average teenage viewer). I'm once again astounded that Adam can take a song I loathe and actually make me want to buy it. Bravo, Adam.

Matt -- Tell me have you ever really, really really ever loved a woman? by Bryan Adams from Don Juan deMarco
Honestly, Bryan must have lost some kind of bet when he was writing this song. A sampling of the lyrics:

If you love a woman, tell her that she's really woman.
If you love a woman, tell her that sheeeeee's a woman!
She needs somebody to tell her that it's gonna laaaaaaast forever (I love the implication that it doesn't actually need to last forever, she just needs to hear that it will?)
So tell me have you ever really, really really ever ever really ever looooved a woman.

That said, I do enjoy harmonizing with along with Bryan Adams songs -- this one and Anoop's, anyway.

Danny -- Endless Love by Lionel Ritchie from Endless Love
The harp sounds really bad here. The whole thing feels like it ought to happen at a super-cheesy (albeit very expensive) wedding. Paula uses the word tambre and I have to look it up and apparently it's a commune in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about 80 km north of Venice. Sounds like a lovely spot for a super-cheesy (albeit very expensive) wedding.

Kris -- Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from Once
I know I try to sound all callous and detached from this show; sarcastic and smarmy like a good blogger. But I hear that Kris is singing this song and I gasp, nearly choking on my mouthful of SmartStart Antioxidants cereal. You all know how much I love this song, and this movie, right? And let it be known that I am a bit peeved they didn't mention the singers/songwriter -- hello, the song won an Oscar last year.
Joel made some comment before I knew what the song was, like, "You're going to want to see this one" as though I was in any danger of ffwding through Kris' entire section. But I love that he knows I'm going to get excited about this song.
OK OK back to Kris. I think he made a BIG mistake not using the guitar. The song is MADE for guitar -- the guitar is practically a character in the movie! Without a guitar, a singer is apt to do show-choiry hand motions like raise one hand and clasp it into a fist. The guitar makes the song more real. Also, Kris made some pitch choices that I wouldn't have thought of. Some of them may have been unfortunate.

Lil -- The Rose -- Bette Midler
*Sigh* Lil, you are off-key everywhar. You don't hit the riffs/runs/whatever the right way, and it is making me sad. But the pity boat has sailed and you aren't on it. It's time to go home.

Rockstar:
Adam

Passable:
Anoop
Danny
Allison
Matt/Kris (I tied them because I disliked their performances for completely different reasons)

Lousy:
Lil

Finding time to go to the bathroom

2009-04-14T15:11:00.002-05:00

OK so, right, just as I decide I'm going to slow things down, it turns out several things I'd already committed to start heating up all at once.

Starting next week I'm back at Hastings HS working with their many choirs (though not the show choir) on their spring choral concert. This is the group with 600 kids onstage for the final number. I have 12 different songs to choreograph for them. I'm SCARED.

I'm also volunteering with Ashland's production of Seussical -- using my rope-pulling and leaf-retrieving skills backstage. Or, side-stage. I think I also get to run a spotlight. Yeepers.

Ashland is also staging Seussical at a local Math & Science high school and I have to learn a bunch of choreography well enough to teach it. My first rehearsal is tomorrow evening and I'm actually thinking it will be all right.

I also am teaching Latin dance one night a week, to a group of condo-owners downtown St. Paul. This is a very fun gig, with a great group of people. But I always get nervous teaching grownups!

In addition to all this craziness (and in addition to the creative movement classes I teach that Lu and Ed also attend), the kids have started drawing and theatre classes. As much as I don't advocate getting kids toooo involved toooo young, I do kind of feel like my kids are seeking more structure. And both of these classes are very limited commitment, which is nice.

Aaaaaaannnnnd... I'm going to see Oprah on Friday! I know, this sounds completely out of left field, and it is, but my book club girls have been looking forward to this for YEARS and some tickets became available, and they snatched them right up. I'm not exactly sure how I'm getting to Chicago yet... or where we're staying... and the girls are having a heated email exchange about what to wear. It's really fascinating and I'm looking forward to it. I've seen snippets of Oprah's show but I'm sure I've never actually sat down to watch it. I do really respect Oprah and all she's accomplished and it will be so cool to do something spontaneous, for a change, in this lifetime. OK OK I know I colored my hair yellow and stuff, so I think what I mean by spontaneous is actually more like "somewhat complicated." I was going to add not-very-well-thought-out but that applies to SO much of my life already.

Hey, so the Watsons' old house across the street has been fixed up and is once again for sale. I can't find the price online yet, but if anybody wants to be our neighbor, there are 3 houses right on our block, all up for the taking -- and all seem to be recently relatively well-taken-care-of.

I MUST go throw in some laundry.

And Easter Miracle

2009-04-12T21:20:00.002-05:00

OK so we're at the Gronaus this afternoon, and since it was 5:30PM and I'd decided to completely give up any attempt whatsoever at eating healthily today (I had already chowed on lots of jelly beans and Peeps and a bit of Caramello and a Coke and nice portions of the ham-cheezypotatoes-butteredroll-blueberrycheesecake melee that was lunch)... I was looking for food.

Just kind of sniffing around. I didn't want candy, but probably something sweet (because I always want something sweet). But maybe also salty, and a little crunchy? Asking a lot, I know.

Donna and I were chatting idly -- I think she was making mac-n-cheese for Lucy.

I started imagining Puppy Chow (you know, the chex/peanutbutter/chocolate/powderedsugar mess people toss together and serve at parties?). And how good some Puppy Chow might taste. And I glanced over at the corner of the kitchen where Donna keeps her toaster, because that happens to also be where she keeps any homemade or bakery treats that don't require refrigeration.

And there, in the corner, next to the toaster with its darling quilted, ruffled, dandelion-yellow cover, was a round, covered, Tupperware container.

I moseyed over.

I laid my hand on the lid.

I contemplated not saying the following out loud, because it would sound ridiculous coming out of my mouth, for one, and then I'd have to explain the disappointment that was sure to follow. But I said it anyway:

"I really want this to be Puppy Chow."

In the split instant that followed, I caught the first glimmerings of a strange expression come across Donna's face, but before I could even begin to read it, I opened the lid and IT WAS PUPPY CHOW.

Donna burst into laughter at the expression of shocked delight on my face. I threw my arms high over my head, hollered "JESUS LIVES!! IT'S AN EASTER MIRACLE!!" and then we all whooped for about 20 minutes at this completely trivial prayer, serendipitously and bizarrely answered. Well, others whooped as I stuffed my face. Mmmmm, puppy chow.

It turns out, Donna doesn't even LIKE puppy chow, but she'd made it for book club and there were leftovers, so she sent it home with me. And now, in addition to the Easter Bunny's sugary detritus, I also have leftover puppy chow.

OK OK 2 more quick stories: the kids checked out an old Peanuts book from ECFE about the Easter Beagle. I believe it's called "It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!" It's, you know, one long Peanuts strip in book form. It's not really that funny and I didn't really like it or get it, but the kids made me read it a lot before I wised up and took it back to ECFE.

Anyway, this morning Joel and I awoke to the pitter-patter of little feet, followed by hollering: "The EASTER BEAGLE CAME!!! There's eggs EVERYWHERE!!"

Bet we're the only house in St. Paul celebrating Easter with a mythical Beagle.

Finally, on Saturday, Darling Joel took me out on an awesome date, to see Medea Medea performed by dancers from Shapiro & Smith, at the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis. Yup, modern dance, yup, it's sooooo weeeeird, but I really loved it and I so admire the performers and choreographers. Supercool, and I didn't have to plan it at all! Thanks Boofer!

Rats! One more thing, then I swear I'm going to bed: shout-out to Mom & Dad Ryan, AKA Grampa & Gramma Books, thanks for the visit! We had such a wonderful, lovely time with them. Mom, Lu loves the new shoes and doesn't regret the Princesses-over-Hannah Montana decision one bit, PHEW.

Joel's come down with a stinker of a cold, or allergies, so I'd better get up there and see what I can do to help. Happy Easter, everyone...