three day blog

Poor Anthony has the stomach flu. Let me tell you a little something about our Anthony.  He hates to vomit...he even banned me from saying the word, he hates it so much.  He gets it from me.  I haven't done any of...you know what since 2001.  Yes I am proud of that.  Irene took after Edgard and is the "anything to make you feel better" camp of thinking.   But back to Anthony....  Edgard and I thought we would give him some activated charcoal to help him along, considering he is literally willing himself not to upchuck. We had to break the pill open in water because he doesn't do the whole pill swallowing thing well either. He took one gulp and it grossed him out so much he vomi...well... let's just say it was a very successful venture.  He successed and successed.  He successed into the garbage and successed into the toilet.  Anthony is now clutching his gatorade to his chest as we wanders around the house humming. He feels ...

It's that time.. . again!   Christmas knitting time.  In fact, I am a little late in starting.  I have one husband, two kids, a mom and dad, two sisters, a niece and two friends to knit for... Ok now I am tired. Yikes.  I really have no idea what to make for all those people.  It would be easier to offend them and make them go away.   Don't worry... I'd say sorry January first.   Probably not a good idea. Oh well. At least I know what to do for my dad...I will just finish the scarf I started knitting for him last Christmas.  Won't he be surprised.... ....that I finished it.  In my defense it is 21,000 monotonous stitches.  It is a pattern from WWI. The kind of pattern you knitted and then sent to your men at the front.  It was part of that whole " knit your bit " campaign started in WWI and made popular in WWII.  The pattern calls for wool but I am doing superwash merino wool which means that there is no shrinky or ...

It is Irene's 4th birthday today.   So far she is still cute so that is good.   I suspect that one of these birthday we will wake up to realize she is all arms and legs and very klutzy like her mom.   But for now she is still cute---so we celebrate.

Just in case you were all in doubt about the level to which we have twisted our children.... I offer you Anthony's homemade thanksgiving day card... So have a happy Thancksgiving and remember to be thanck full because you never know what is lurking right behind you.

I am taking the opportunity to show off the kiddos in their Halloween costumes because they rarely look this cute on a daily basis. *sigh* As you can see Anthony is taking his roll as knight, and protector of princess Irene, very seriously. Well--he started taking it more seriously after I told him to stop slaying his sister with his sword. Irene was protecting herself of course, but it was still disconcerting to see such a sweet princess cold cocking a knight... After that little interlude, we went to our church's harvest party and the kids had too much candy--and it instantly put them to sleep like sugar always does... er wait...? The reality was that after they got home they bounced around like mexican jumping beans---not as high as daddy though, because they are only half mexican but still enough to drive us both crazy. I hope you all had a great Halloween and I hope you are %100 more ready than I am for the upcoming holidays.

See my water rats? When you live in rainy Oregon where you get nine months of rain...you just have to make do. I remember my days as a puddle jumper. Those were the best times to play. Heck with those boring sunny days...

My newest addiction is my mother's fault...she sent me the link to the Pirates of the Caribbean online game . I have to say, I enjoyed the movies tolerably well...and I am not wholly unaware of national talk like a pirate day... ...but, all in all, pirates aren't my thing. Wellllll ... weren't my thing. Now ....I am Rachel Bluemorrigan---captain of my own ships...a light sloop named Scarlet Rogue, and a galleon , the Red Queen. I am also a sometimes crew member on other people's ships as well as skillful with the sword and pistol. ....also, I'm a complete nerd.

So I am doing this whole homeschool thing and I am really thinking... what's the big deal??? This is so easy. I don't get all the stress and complaining that I am hearing from other homeschool moms. This is a piece of cake! So I'll let you know how day two goes.

So what do you do on a Saturday, home alone with the kids, with nothing but a cellphone camera and some imagination? You take some pictures..... ...send them to your husband, and make him think that you plunked down his hard earned money on some unneeded and expensive new toy for the children. It is at this point, around the third frantic interrogation text message, that you can start laughing...and I don't mean your everyday laughter... this is where you can pull out the evil villainous laughter you have been practicing since 5th grade. Go ahead....you've earned it.

I was trying to figure out which part of my thrilling Dr.'s visit I should tell you about. Maybe the part where every time I had to use the elevator---6 times---I ended up being trapped in there with someone who smelled badly...really badly. And as if that weren't punishment enough, they always got off before I did and there I was... left in in this funky elevator looking highly embarrassed and very guilty. I obviously could have skipped the shower and no one would have been any the wiser. Then there was the part where I saw John Travolta's character from Love Song for Bobby Long in the waiting room. Well at about age 35 but he looked about as healthy as Bobby Long. Or there was the fun moment after being jabbed and x-rayed and the waiting.... all the flipping waiting... I was told that, after being in bed since Saturday, I was going to get the bonus of five more days of bed rest. Yipee! I truly hope the sarcasm hits you right between the eyes in that last exclama...

So I have really been thinking a lot about the whole working mother/stay at home mother "feud." Just lately I have taken a part time job as an administrative assistant. It is a two days a week job that is supposed to last through the summer. My mother babysits half the time and the teenage sister of my boss babysits the other. What has gotten me aggravated though, are all the well-intentioned people that are saying "oh, it is so good for you to get away from your children." I probably wouldn't get quite as annoyed if they were saying that it is good for me to get out into adult interaction... this is very true... ....but they always, without fail, say: "away from my children." I know I am a bit biased, but my kids are really great and I don't have any desire to get away from them . Whenever I need a break, my husband will stay with them or even takes them out so I can have the house to myself (where I usually indulge in wild house cle...

Since I missed a good opportunity to post on Mother's day....I will inflict a post on you now. This didn't happen on Mother's day but it is about my mother. I know... I don't even make sense to myself. The other day my mother and I were having a deep, earth changing conversation when it suddenly turned to poetry. I won't say that my mom changed the subject to poetry so that she could share her own poems but when she said "hey, let's talk about poetry...want to hear mine?" ...the conversation naturally drifted there. I was a bit hesitant to listen, so I tried to hint as gently as I could with: "mom please don't read me any of your poetry...you know I hate that crap." My mom, who always tried to teach me perseverance, replied "you are my daughter so you have to listen to it...in fact if you don't, I may just read you some of my short stories as well." So as she started in on the first poem I tried to be a gracious listener....

My son Anthony , it turns out, is a genius. It is always comfortable to have at least one of these in the family. And since it very apparently wasn't going to be me---I am glad that one of my children is. I have for you exhibit A: At first glance it appears to be the typical scrawl of an average 6 year old. Not so, though. Take a second look and the genius of it gradually comes into focus. First you have the main part of the picture which shows a painter--as evidenced by the objects I have pointed out. Here I have circled the easel as to draw your attention to the fact the painter is at work on a self portrait. In this other circle, which is rather difficult to see, there is a second painter painting his own self portrait. Now he is dealing with the subject of infinity... I know, right? And if you notice on this last circle...all this genius can be had for a mere one dollar! I bet you were thinking he wouldn't charge me, his own mother. But if you know Anthony then ...

Two weeks ago I had an open house. It was wildly successful. Well... it was successful if you expect no one to actually buy your home... We did get quite a few people, though....and I am not even counting the neighbors or previous owners . We had a Realtor tell us that ours was the best home he had been in all day. My thought at that moment was "good thing he doesn't know that on any given day this house is typically held together by spilled cheerios and dirty laundry ." I also would bet good money that it was the smallest house that he had been in all day, as well. I thought it would be a swell idea to make my mom bake some cookies and brownies and offer coffee to lure in the suck---er I mean possible buyers. It worked like a charm. By the time that my mom and I had finished the last of the goodies--we were both committed to buying the house. So since it was such a blast I am doing it again...this Saturday. Anyone want any cookies? They are free....

Here is why I required corn tor n tillas ....... I don't know which was better...the tacos or the sweet taste of success, cooking an authentic Mexican meal.... it was delicious... One out of 300 ain't bad, right?

Edgard: Hi...so I am getting out of here. I'm on my way home. Me: okay...hey can you stop by the store and get tortillas? I would have picked them up but I thought we had some in the freezer....they must not have made it through the great freezer debacle of '07. * Edgard: Sure, I can get some corn torntillas. Me: What did you say? Edgard: Tor n tillas. Me: I thought so. Edgard: hee hee hee * The great Freezer Debacle of '07: in which Edgard, in a fit of organization, threw out everything that was good in the freezer and left all the bad stuff.

I tried braids in Irene's hair and found that I don't need the wire for the Pippi Longstocking look. ...mugging for the camera...

I am now aged and decrepit. Today I turn 30. I remember after my dad turned thirty, my mom would say that it was harder for him to get drumming jobs because he was too old. I am...now...too old to get drumming jobs. I don't play, but still...there is something that sucks about knowing you are too old to do something. In actuality I do know how young thirty is. It just will take some getting used to...this knowledge that I sound old to anyone still in their 20's. Young punks! My mom got me one of those booklets that showed me what was going on the year I was born. I don't know about you, but my birth year (1978) was a bit hazy to me. She all but ripped the booklet out of my hands and kept saying "oh yeah, do you remember that?" ...no mom, actually I don't remember that...I was to busy processing milk that year. What they really need for those booklets is to go by decades. I needed a do you remember the 80's ... That I remember all too pla...

So it is the husband's birthday today. I mean my husband, of course. He will be the ripe old age of 33. He acts a lot younger though...like at least 31. I have tried all my feminine wiles on him to try to get him to stay home from work on his birthday. He really wants to, but he has a really good work ethic. It must be his advanced age that makes him this mature. I have a bad work ethic. But I am very good at procrastination. For example, the fact that I don't have a gift for my husband yet. Maybe I can make him a homemade card. He always seems really excited when the kids make those for him. I should be able to get away with that too, right? Well whatever happens for his birthday I just want to say: Feliz Cumpleaños y gracias por compartir un año mas conmigo. ¡Te amo!

I don't think there is ever a good time to hear your 6 year old son, piping up from the backseat of the car: "I'm going to be a father soon."