Now I am international

Apparently someone from Australia has checked out the blog.

Cool!

Can't get to sleep

I tried to be smart and go to bed at a decent hour, seeing as I was feeling pretty tired and everyone else was already asleep.

Unfortunately once the light was out and my head was on the pillow I went from drowsy to "Oh shit, how long am I going to lay here before I fall asleep?" After nearly an hour I gave up and here I am.

I HATE that.

I am guessing this is a result of the "medicinal" cherry coke I consumed mostly between 9-10 this evening. (Had an ugly headache, advil not doing the trick, so consumed a caffeinated beverage. Works almost every time. This one included.)

Question: Why is it that a mere week after I have switched out the summer clothes for fall/winter we get temps in the 90's again? Every damn time.

But on to bigger news. I have nearly finished my first crochet project. It is a belt. I just need to finish it off, find and sew on the beads. It doesn't look too shabby for a first ever project. Not sure what I am going to do with it because I don't care to wear belts much. All this down time at reahearsal helped me to get going with it. Now I am working on a bikini top. That will definitely be going to someone else because despite a drop in jeans size...I will not be appearing in a bikini ever. It is a fairly simple project stitch wise, and thus my reason for doing it.

We are about a week and a half away from the big TV broadcast of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Those of you who have ever been part of a production know that this is the point where things get stressful and people get bitchy. I don't much care for that. The show is definitely coming together and I think it will be OK. A lot of seasoned actors in this one. Be sure to tune in at 8:00 PM on KTWU (channel 11 here in T-town) or AM 1440 if you prefer to have the "real" radio show experience on Wed Oct 11. Don't blink if you choose to watch, as you could miss me.

Ok.. am feeling v. tired now. I think I will try to go to sleep now. Nighty night.

So little time..so little to say

I have been woefully neglectful you my faithful 7 readers. I can say 7 readers with confidence now!

I have added a little stat counter thingy which tells me all sorts of information. My favorite bit of info is the city and state my readers hail from. Apparently folks from as far away as Atlanta, GA and somewheres in Washington have stopped by. How exciting! Feel free to speak up and say who you are if you feel like it!

Rehearsals are on the increase..the show is coming together. I am going to try not to go crazy as I am onstage for all of about 10 minutes total, however unlike a "regular" show I can not hang out backstage during my off time, I have to stay onstage the entire time. B-O-R-I-N-G. I am hoping the director will let me crochet. Ladies in the 40's would have done that in their spare time. I doubt I will get to though. Bummer.

We did the Supper Thyme thing over the weekend and so far so good. The kids had great time helping us assemble the meals and what we have had so far has been right tasty. So easy too. Just throw it in the oven and VOILA! Dinner is served. I LOVE IT.

Y'know what else I love?? The cleaning fairies. They will be coming to my house soon. I am nearly giddy with excitement.

You know what else makes me giddy and nearly weepy? Going to buy jeans and having to by TWO SIZES SMALLER THAN I USUALLY GET BABY!!!!!

It may be a brand fluke, but I don't give a flying rat's ass. I'm going back to buy more next paycheck.

I nearly wept in the middle of Target people. Seriously.

Pirate for a day

Today as you may or may not know is National Talk Like a Pirate Day.

My place of employment decided to celebrate this important notsomuch a holiday by having a secret pirate...thingy.

Here is what happened. Three pirates were identified at each building. Employees ask other employees, "Are you the (insert my place of employment here) Pirate?"

If like ME you were the pirate, then you gave that person a $5 gift card to a local establishment and a badge saying they found the pirate. Then I got to put a badge on my door telling everyone that I was a pirate.

Kinda dorky, okay really dorky but it was fun, and the person who found me was very excited and happy to have won the gift card.

Always nice to improve another person's day don't you think?

Ask and ye shall receive

Ali asked for it and I have decided to deliver.

Things I am not particularly good at:

1. Tap Dancing
2. Crochet
3. Singing
4. Being pleasant in the morning.
5. Any thing that remotely resembles math.
6. Leaving messages on answering machines.
7. Thinking on my feet.
8. Taking tests.
9. Improvisational acting.
10. Impersonating Wolfman Jack.
11. Looking at people I don't like when I have to talk to them.
12. Drawing anything besides stick people.
13 .Photography.
14. Remembering to correspond with friends and loved ones who live far away.
15. Being nurturing at 2:00 AM when #2 has awakened me because she had a scary dream. Especially when that scary dream was she lost a marble and couldn't find it.
16. Being patient.
17. Following a budget.
18. Not procrastinating.
19. Debating.
20. Making fluted edges on a pie crust.
21. Solving riddles and brain teasers.
22. Anything that involves good spatial skills.
23. Saying no when asked to do something I don't want to do without providing an excuse.
24. Writing interesting, thought provoking, or creative blog posts.

I think that is enough. I begin to depress myself.

On Food and Feeding

It has been awhile since I have talked about food around here.

So let's talk about it tonight.

I love to cook. Really.

However in the 8.5 years that children have lived in our house, cooking sadly, and wrongly has been one of the things that seems to have moved way down on the priority list. When I speak of cooking I am referring to the preparation of meals that involves more than heating the oven, boling water in which to cook frozen processed ready to eat type foods. I'm talking chopping, marinating, and the like.

There are a few reasons we have let "real" cooking go.

1. We both work full time and are just damn tired when we get home.
2. We want to spend actual time interacting with our children, when one gets home at 5:00 or later and one's children go to bed at 8:30, time is limited.
3. Did I mention the damn tired bit?

Our decision has had some unhappy consequences:

1. Expanded waistines for the adults.
2. Children who have a very limited repetoire of foods they will consume.
3. Whining and rude comments when a meal is presented that does not fall on the very short list of foods the children will consume.
4. Once the whining and rude comments issue was taken care of it was replaced by silly and annoying behavior during meals that children won't eat due to the above mentioned list.
5. Our list of quickly prepared meals is small and we get bored, which leads to more decisions to eat out because we don't want or are sick of what is on the menu.

We eat out WAY too much and that has created the idea for my children that they should always get to eat what they like because that is how it is at restaurants. When I cook meals at home they do not always contain foods on the short list, and our rule is no special meals, you eat what is prepared or you wait until the next opportunity to eat. My children are nothing if not stubborn and regularly choose not to eat. We can't get past this because we are just not consistent enough with eating at home. It will take a long time of consistency in this area to effect change.

I have been on a quest to eat out less and cook at home more for the majority of these past 8.5 years and have never found any solution that seems to work. I haven't given up trying to find new ways to combat this problem.

So here is my latest solution.

I read about it in the paper, checked out the website and those of some similar places around here, discussed it with beloved and decided to give it a go. Our first session is in about two weeks. I will consider this a success if we can keep eating out down to once a week. It will be a roaring success if my children eventually increase their repetoire of foods they will consume. (I don't expect that for a long time to come however.) It addresses a few of our trouble areas in particular... ease of preparation, and variety. Overall the pricing was not terrible I did not think and I am pretty sure we will get at least two meals out of most of those available. Even when it is something they like, my kids aren't big eaters and the adults are being portion conscious around here. I am not opposed to paying a bit extra for convenience either.

So here's hoping. Rest assured I will be keeping you posted.

If this does not have the desired results........rest assured I will be asking for ideas.

The Best

Watching your veryown children get excited and enthusiastic about creating something with their own two hands and imagination.

To me it doesn't get much better than that.

Busy and plain ol' tired

I was doing better there for a while with keeping up on the posts, but I seem to have fallen off once again. Probably won't be much improvement for the next month or so, as my time spent in rehearsal increases as the weeks go by...and evenings are the only time I gots to do the blog thang.

Life is busy busy at chez us. Beloved has held auditions for his first show at the new school. Good turnout and he seems to be excited. He is still crazy busy with work. That will not be improving any time soon with the advent of rehearsals next week.

#1 has begun orchestra at school. She will be following in her mother's footsteps by playing the violin. (I tried hard to encourage the viola or cello, but it was a no go.) She is exercising her creative writing skills with amusing stories about grandma and grandpa's new kittens that include some darn impressive vocabulary words.

#2 is way pumped and ready to become a girl scout. Guess who is going to be an assistant girl scout leader? Yes...moi. When they asked at the informational meeting if there were any parents interested in being leaders #2 clutched my arm and looked at me pleadingly with those big ole green eyes and the deal was sealed. Because I don't have enough to occupy my time right now.

Moi...I rehearse for my 10 minutes (maybe) of stage time. Having fun working on the accent. Director is very pleased with my efforts so far, I am not sure why..still sounds off to me. Started my tap dancing class this week. I am not naturally gifted in this area it would seem. I will just add it to the list of activities that I am not particularly good at. I think I am old enough now and had enough experience for that list to actually be a long scroll. Had fun though.

But more importantly Brittney had her baby..maybe. Whitney Houston is getting separated....Jennifer Aniston is the best-dressed...Patrick Dempsey is going to be a father again...Diddy is having twins. I just don't know where to stop! Luckily my fatigue and schedule have not affected my ability to keep up on celebrity gossip. That would be a travesty.

Love your word choice! 100% A+

8/25/06

Dear Plouto,

I am sorry you aren't a planet anymore. You must feel dejected. I still belive you are a planet, no matter what scientests say. I think its kind of silly. Not to mention unkind. Xina should be a planet to. How is Charon? I believe he is a planet to. These scientests are driving me crazy. Oh, Jupiter and Saturn the kittens like you. Your Friend,
#1

Plouto and Charon and Xina are

(insert drawings of planets here)

PLANETS TO ME!!

(Letter written by #1 at school to Pluto regarding her feelings on Pluto's new status.)

The pile grows and my glass is half empty this weekend. I should probably fill it with bourbon.

Yes our pile of crap from this long holiday weekend has and continues to grow.

So to add to the list:

• Beloved Husband spent $116 on donuts yesterday morning. That'd be $5 for the donuts and $111 for the ticket he got for making a bad left turn. (He turned into the right hand lane instead of the left lane (like most people do.) That horrendously dangerous move is apparently worth $111 to our city's finest. I guess they do need extra money right now to cover all these bad guys they have to shoot and kill. (I might be less antagonistic on a better day.)
• #2 knocked a nearly full syrup bottle off a shelf in the pantry and it broke spilling syrup all over the floor. I was less than nurturing and kind about the whole deal.
• Our washing machine is now leaking a pretty decent amount of water on the floor.
• We got sunburns at Worlds of Fun.
• Got our new dryer today, but had to dismantle parts of our basement to get it down there. (Took off two doors, and a ledge then the guys had to to carry it off the side of the stairs instead of going all the way to the bottom.)
• I spent 30 minutes waiting for $23 hotdogs/hamburger at Worlds of Fun.
• I had Republicans at my house.
• Two of the three stands I tried to purchase ice cream from at Worlds of Fun did not have the standard flavors one usually looks for when buying ice cream, then when we did find one we got surly wait staff who instead of asking what I would like just stared at me until I spoke up. This was after I watched one person take and fill the order of the person in front of me while another person stood and stared.
• It would appear that the DVD player we have downstairs (the one we use while we exercise) is crapping out now.
• My throat is starting to hurt, thus leading me to believe that I am starting to catch the yuck that Beloved has had all weekend.
• Once again the check engine light is on in my car because the gas cap refuses to stay tight despite the fact that I turn it the required number of times AND the gas cap has been replaced.

I think that about covers it.

I am actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow. Although I am afeared that this trail of crap is going to follow me in to my work week.

Here's hoping.

This is some crap I tell ya!

I feel it is my duty to warn you that the following entry will contain mass quantities of whining.

I am not sure what it is about this family and the long holiday weekends lately but we seem to be having a run of not so great luck on those precious occasions.

The last holiday weeked was spent traveling to attend a funeral.

This one is not quite as depressing, but irksome none the less.

So far:

• Beloved husband is ill with some vile cold - like illness, and we had plans to go to Worlds of Fun tomorrow.
• Our clothes dryer bit the dust last night and we spent this morning laying down some serious money to replace it.
• We had to replace our DVD player today because IT shot crap about two weeks ago.
• I had to drag two loads of wet laundry over to the in-laws because our new dryer won't be here until Monday. (Of course I did not discover the dryer issue until I innocently went down last night to change the laundry only to find that the clothes in the dryer were just as wet as they were when I started the thing.)
• My clever planning that was going to leave me a household chore free Monday has totally been blown to bits by all of this. I may have fewer chores howeever if Beloved is too ill to traipse all over WOF tomorrow, but I will still have to do laundry because of the stinkin' dryer situation.

I would really like to know how our major appliances and other expensive items seem to know when we get some extra money. I promise you every time that happens to us...something breaks down. Of course we always say, "Thank goodness we had that extra money to deal with the situation." But Damn! I would like to use that extra money for other planned things like....oh say... paying off debt, or doing something fun. Don't seem to work that way for us lately. I'm thinking we need to figure out a way to build up some excess good Karma or something.

On a better note, while we were handing out money by the fistfulls today we did purdhase Season 3 of Arrested Development. Perhaps roaring laughter will help ease our woes.

I did get a darn nice dryer though. Of course now I want the matching fancy washer too. I will live without it however.

Maybe for Thanksgiving. I think that is the next holiday weekend.