Ian story

So, Mom and I were talking in the kitchen and the conversation reached a little lull when we heard, clear as a bell, from the livingroom, "What the hell?!?"

We never did find out what was wrong in Ian's little world because we were choking ourselves trying not to laugh out loud. After all, it doesn't do to encourage the potty mouth.

It was just that he said it with such conviction, and with the perfect inflection that showed he really knew how to use that particular phrase...

Now, I'm not a betting woman, but I'd bet that he'll pop out with that little gem on family vacation at just the wrong time and in front of JUST the wrong person.

Stay tuned.

-k

Wii would like to play

Got my new Wii Fit, and I love it. There are a few quirks you ought to know about... first, when you get on it for the first time, you do this whole body test thing, and the machine isn't particularly nice about it. After that, it adjusts the look of your little character, called a Mii. Mine got made into a little roly poly me, which may be accurate but wasn't that nice. So, it's supposed to motivate you to want to get your Mii into shape, but I was already trying to do that.

The games are fun and it is a LOT more exercise than you realize. I have worked out every day, and at the end of the 20-30 minutes I've been doing at a time, I'm sore and I know I've worked out. Yet, it's also fun and entertaining. I admit it would be a lot more fun if my children weren't watching and making their little smarmy comments... but that may have more to do with my little monsters than anything else...

I think it's amazing that technology has come so far that we can do all these exercises with a computer. I think it's great that someone realized that you could get people to exercise like this if you just take the time to make it entertaining. A few years back there was a game in arcades with a mat that you stood on and a plastic gun, and if you wanted your character to crouch, you had to crouch, etc. I hope they come out with that for the Wii Fit mat, because that was wicked cool too!

For now, I'm going to watch a movie and crash... maybe not in that order, though...

-k

Three Good Quotes

Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person.
- Ethel Mumford

Men live in a fantasy world. I know this because I am one, and I actually receive my mail there. - Scott Adams

We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.
- Anais Nin

Katie - pictures tell the story

Mommy... why did you put me in baby jail?

It's okay. I forgive you.

In fact, I like it in here!

I can't top that.

-k

You Tube

Okay, so I'm a little late adopting this particular trend. And this is not yet the blog where I admit in great detail what the deal is with me and David Cook... but I will admit that he is the reason I finally ventured to you tube.

What I will say about it is actually an adorable Cory moment. Cory recently became aware that I have a past in Hollywood. He became aware that I made a conscious decision to walk away from what was a promising little career because as a single mother I had to do what was best for him. I decided that his childhood was more important than my personal success in the entertainment industry. And in order to stick to that and not get lured back in - because acting/singing/dancing was all I EVER WANTED TO DO WITH MY LIFE - I left Los Angeles completely to focus on Cory. He was stunned. He was horrified. He wants me to go back. RIGHT NOW.

Not gonna happen. For a lot of reasons. And this isn't the blog to get into all of that. All I can say is that when he realized that I am into You Tube now, here is what followed:

Cory: We should put videos of YOU on there. You'd get discovered and then you can still be famous.
Me: Oh, sweetheart, that's darling of you. But no.
Cory: Why not, Mom? You should be famous.
Me: Honey, you have no idea how many people have put videos on You Tube hoping for just the same thing. Hoping that somehow they will get discovered.
Cory: [totally sincere] Yes, but YOU are special.

That's darling. That melts your heart. And ironically, it is for exactly those reasons that I left Hollywood just when all my years of hard work WERE paying off. Just when I was reaching a point when acting was paying for itself and I was starting to get the little breaks that get you in front of the right people. Because someday I would have a sweet, wonderful teen-aged boy who would think that I am something special.

-k

Back!

Haven't blogged in forever... and at this moment, I'm not fired up with inspiration for a phenomenal catch-up blog. I'm watching Scooby Doo Pirates Ahoy with Ian while Katie takes a quick little morning nap.

I could blog about the near miss with getting a family dog but that's depressing actually.

I could blog about my extreme excitement about David Cook's American Idol win... but I'm mildly embarrassed about my love for someone 8 years younger than I am. Too many older women are completely in love with him for me to so vocally join their ranks. I'm a very happily married woman. Which makes my enormous crush on him all the more inappropriate. I can't promise NOT to write this blog... I can only promise not to write it immediately.

I could blog about my recent ink acquisition. I'm very happy about that one. But it's also a controversial love affair and I'm not ready to dive into that discussion lightly. It deserves a serious blog about why I love tattoos, what they mean to me, how I come to the very serious decision to get another one and how long I take to make the decision, a discussion about what they mean in modern society and the prejudices that still exist against them and what level of importance I assign to that when reaching my decisions about them. There's a lot in there - so I would have to write all that out clearly. That's a good blog - but not for my first one back in ten days.

I could talk about my Association weekend. It was EXTREMELY inspiring. It was educational. It was everything you want from Association. It was also a rare to chance to spend three days with my sister in law, Rebecca. We got to spend more time together than we have in years and talk about all kinds of things which is always fascinating and illuminating. I also got to see my brother, Matt, and get caught up with him.

I could talk about our upcoming Harrison family vacation.

So instead, I will write this lame blog about all the things I could be blogging about while not actually blogging about much of anything.

Sigh.

The best intentions...

-k

Trip Prep

I'm preparing to go away for three days by myself.

While that conjures up images of me shoving things hurriedly into a suitcase and making a run for Canada to start over as a waitress... actually, this is a planned trip and I'm not going totally by myself. My sister-in-love Rebecca is coming with me, or I'm going with her... however you want to slice that particular loaf of bread.

It's my annual Association with my Christian Science teacher. It's my once a year opportunity to recharge my spiritual batteries, to renew my energy, and to reconnect with my faith in a very tangible way. I wouldn't miss it for anything.

As if THAT wasn't wonderful enough by itself, this is the first time I will have any time to myself since Katie was born. And I almost can't believe it.

Part of me feels guilty even just thinking about that much time to myself. Part of me is extremely worried that Katie will be miserable and make everyone else miserable while I'm gone. I've talked to Michael about that very real possibility and he's made me SWEAR that the moment I leave for the airport, I will let go and accept the gift of these three days without wasting them worrying about how things are going back at home. I was willing to promise that once I got on the airplane, I would do it. I'm sure the drive to the airport will be one long freak out. Now, it will be a little muffled by the fact that we have to leave for the airport at FIVE IN THE DAMN MORNING. Yes, FIVE. I'll be too busy attempting to remain conscious to freak out too much about anything else. I'm often up by then with Katie - but not up, dressed, and ready to greet the world with my teeth brushed and my zipper all the way up. In fact, I can't in all honesty promise I'll accomplish that much before I head to the airport...

-k

LOVE LOVE LOVE the bed

Makes me love my wonderful handy husband even more.

I didn't think that was possible.

-k

Now we've done it

We broke the bed.

Now before you cue the seventies "bom chicka wow wow" music and get that knowing smirk on your face... we weren't doing anything extracurricular at the time. In fact, we'd just gotten up with Katie and were settling back into bed, hoping to catch another hour of sleep with her drinking a morning bottle and snuggling.

KABOOM... or KARUNCH... and the bed crumpled down as the wooden supports underneath buckled.

Not good.

Especially when you realize that Michael's laptop was underneath the bed.

And so was my keyboard.

However, we were extremely fortunate that the remaining supports held, and nothing underneath was crunched. No one was hurt... although we were all startled.

Not the least of which was Mom. Whose bedroom is directly below ours.

She must have thought the roof was coming in on her any second.

So, today we are finally doing the bedframe project we have wanted to do since we moved here, and altering the bedframe from a four poster canopy bed down to a more manageable size, and we'll be rebuilding the supports. It's about time, really.

Ironically, not three minutes before The Event we were talking about just doing the project today anyway. I guess the bed heard... was offended... and crumpled in protest. OR it heard us, knew we meant well but would never get around to it, and decided to motivate us further. Regardless, it's a done deal now.

We've sawed off the top canopy, cut down the four posts to the heights we wanted, and after a quick shower to be presentable to the community at large (or at least at Home Depot/Lowe's), we'll head out to buy the support pieces and the corner toppers.

It's going to make this room appear MUCH larger - which is lovely. Now I'll be dying to get the one wall painted like I wanted.

All in all, not the peaceful relaxing morning off we were hoping for... but a fantastic productive one that I'm going to be SO glad we did.

How's your weekend going?

-k

Relativity

Sometimes time just DOESN'T pass.

There is a great speech about this in Deep Blue Sea given by Preacher played by L.L. Cool J.

And today is one of those times. I swear it's been the one o'clock hour for about three days. Part of it is that Katie won't nap today. Part of it is that we rented a movie from the library that is so scratched that it won't play but Ian doesn't want to give up on it... so we watched it stutter through until it finally ended. THAT stops time.

And I'm just grumpy today... and that makes time pass differently.

I need something to perk me up... retail therapy, or a wonderful snack, or some time doing crafts...

-k

Today... in bullet points

The things that sucked in no particular order:

* Ian proved my suspicion that he's been eating Hershey kisses upstairs when I moved the container, and he asked me where I moved it and why would I do that since he was trying to steal more at that very moment...

* Katie soaked so completely through her cheap store-brand diapers that she peed all over me while we were sitting out on the front porch...

* Several fireant bites on my feet from mowing yesterday itched so badly that they BURST...

* Michael was late getting home from work for the second time in a row on a day when he was originally scheduled to get home EARLY...

The things that made it all okay:

* I made my first few gorgeous cuff bracelets from felt and recycled water/tea bottles. For once, I found a project I wanted to do and FINISHED ONE IN A TIMELY FASHION. That is a damn miracle.

* I knitted over a foot on my rainbow scarf and I am so happy with how it is coming out.

* Katie now has TWO teeth showing... one on the top and one on the bottom. It's a milestone. Their whole face changes when they get their teeth. Their smile... what they can eat... it's just a huge moment. My little girl is growing up so fast... which should be a bummer thing except that I can report that she is now starting to sleep through the night. She wakes up a few times at night, but puts herself back to sleep. And THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL BLESSED AMAZING THING that you will never understand unless you have had a child that didn't sleep through the night for months and months and MONTHS and M.O.N.T.H.S. on end.

And I can't top that one... except by being grateful for the extra sleep by getting the hell IN bed.

-k

Katie update

Katie's finally cut that first tooth! Yesterday, she broke it in on a sliced banana and some peas. Today, she ate a bunch of little strawberry banana puffs. She's SO happy. She's been wanting table food, and now she's starting to finally get it.

She's still not walking - but she pulls up to standing every chance she gets. She is perfectly capable of crawling. She even understands how to do it. She's just not interested. She's planning to walk, and nothing can convince her otherwise.

Now here's the big one: she's started sleeping better. I was just about to try letting her scream it out when I think she sensed the change coming and started sleeping better on her own! Now, she sleeps from about midnight to about five in the morning! This may not seem like much when you would hope she'd sleep through the night completely by her age. You have to remember that until about a week ago, she didn't sleep more than 2-3 hours in a row EVER. I'm thrilled with it.

I would love to wrap this all up with something clever, but honestly... I'm just going to run to bed now while I can. I figure you all understand!

-k

Three Children and a WIP

First Child: Cory got his bottom braces on today. He can't stop messing with his lips, making faces, whistling between the brackets, and generally being a goober about it. This part will last all day. Then, right around bedtime, the whining will commence. For the next three to five days, he'll pout, complain, droop, wilt, and generally be a huge baby about it. Then, he'll recover and pretend it wasn't bad at all.

Second Child: Ian was playing quietly, and we all know what that means. I came to check on him to discover that he'd taken the liberty of selecting a tub of lip balm of mine and set to fixing the chapped lips... of the upstairs COUCH. Yes, you read that correctly. The upstairs COUCH needed lip stuff - to the tune of the ENTIRE little round tub of it. The only little break I got there was at least it was undyed lipstuff. I don't look forward to telling Michael about this one. It is his favorite couch. It's from the Riverhouse back when it was still a family friendly dwelling that welcomed children and made everyone feel at home.

Third Child: Katie Rose fed herself sliced banana and peas for lunch! She couldn't have been happier with the whole thing. Granted, I think about half of the peas got dropped at least once, but she was so pleased and proud to be feeding herself real food. It was too adorable and the start of a very promising, though messy, new era for her.

I'm cooking along with my first knitting project... shown as a WIP (Work-In-Progress) here.

When it's done it will be between 9-10 feet long and 9-10 colors... so that it can wrap once around my neck and dangle several feet in front and back. Yes, I DO realize that I live in Texas and it NEVER gets that cold. Humor me.

-k

Pouting and Dealing

My inner material girl is sulking. There are so many things that I would like to have or do. There are things I want for my house, my yard, my children, my husband, my crafts projects, and myself. I realize these things aren't truly needs... it's more of a quality of life issue. But it's incredibly frustrating.

The American Dream is supposed to be that if you are a good person with good work ethic and you are willing to work hard doing something people need or want, you can have your own business that will allow you to be financially successful so that you can have a house of your own with a white picket fence for your family and your family dog. Well, we are both good people with great work ethic and we've worked our BUTTS off at two businesses, one that was things people want and one that was a service people need... and although we are barely able to keep our heads above water on that house we love (not a picket fence, but a lovely privacy fence I need to stain), there's certainly not what I would call financial success... and the dog is a whole NOTHER issue.

I have always said that for me financial success means being able to go to WalMart and put whatever I want in the cart without worrying about it. I don't want to shop at Neiman Marcus (Needless Mark-up) or Saks Fifth Avenue (Smacks your Pocketbook). I like being a WalMart girl. I just want to be able to walk through with confidence and add some items we just want... not walk through with the mental calculator and walk past all kinds of things I want because it would mean skipping a utility payment... which... they frown on.

And I realize that if I DO go back to work, which is an intensely real possibility at the moment, I would be able to breathe a little easier on groceries... but I still won't be doing any shopping just cuz I wanna any time soon, you know?

I'm a good person. I don't smoke or drink. I put my children first 99 times out of 100 (hey, a girl has to insist on a tubbie to herself once in a while!). I mow my lawn, recycle and compost, and carpool whenever I can.

So Universe, if You're listening, I'd like some of that positive karma to come back around...

Deal?

-k

Michael Moment

One of Michael's absolute favorite things in the universe, and his favorite part about having children is when his babies sleep on his chest and he gets to drift off to sleep with them in his arms. It started with Cory. Cory was a problem sleeper - which is saying something considering the troubles I've had with the other two sleeping through the night. Cory, however, didn't like to go to sleep PERIOD. He didn't take naps. He didn't go to sleep without a fight. He didn't stay asleep. Not a sleeper.

Sometimes when I would have just reached my limit, Michael would take over, rock and cuddle him, and get him to sleep snuggled on his chest. And ever since, Michael has been hooked.

He was snuggled up just like that downstairs earlier today, Katie tucked up in a little ball on his chest. And he had a look on his face. A look that said he realized how short this time is, and how fast she'll be too big to do that, too old to want to... and he was cherishing the moment.

Then it dawned on him that the next time he got to do that activity would be when he had grandchildren. Which was both a wonderful and tremendously scary idea.

I thought it was adorable. The idea of Michael as a grandfather. ME as a grandmother. Life is too cool.

-k

My world today

As every parent of small children knows, quiet is terrifying. When you can hear the noises of your children playing, squabbling, and running around, you know where they are and what they are up to. When you can't... it almost NEVER means something good.

So, A Bug's Life ended (Yes, we just watched it AGAIN) and Ian wandered away. Katie was taking a lovely, though brief nap, in order to recharge her batteries to exhaust me all over again. I was checking my email and looking for bracelet/wristband ideas on the internet when I suddenly realized it was quiet.

I immediately looked for Ian. And found him drawing on the windowsill with green crayon. There were several stickers stuck to the window above it.

We discussed how much of a good idea that WASN'T.

Ian announces, "I'm going to kill you, Mom."

My reply?

"Oh son, you ARE."

-k

Strange Aging Milestone

Listening to Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits cd again while doing some word processing for the mail center, I was struck by the lyrics... and the fact that Neil was a racy devil! I knew all the words completely by heart, but mostly phonetically. I knew the words, I knew what they meant, but I had never stopped to contemplate what they MEANT.

Now, as an adult listening, I heard not only the sound of his incredible singing voice. I also heard the tone of his voice.

"Hello Again" has always been one of my favorite songs, but several of the other songs took on a deeper meaning for me now, and I don't look at him quite the same way I did before. Before, I loved him because my mother loved him and as a singer, I appreciated the quality of his voice and performances. Now, I appreciate those things as much as I always did - but add in the adult life experience I have, and I can see how much he meant to his fan base. No wonder they are thrilled that he has a new album coming out Tuesday.

I may even get it.

And buy the album too.

-k