No Fox In The Henhouse

Which means Mr. is out of state working for a couple of days and it's just us girls holding down the fort. Party at my house! And sadly, my ideal party nowadays would start off with something warm and chocolate covered, followed by something chilled and alcoholic. Then the assembled party group would all settle down and crack open their current book and get lost in their tale while the children are quietly occupied, of course. A couple of hours later we would refill our glasses and intellectually share an antidote of life, say goodnight- see ya next time. Ahhh, that would be nice. Calm and nice. What is actually going to happen is the kids will go to bed, I will fold laundry and go to bed. We will wake up much too early considering it is summer vacation and start another day of mess-making, cleaning and general loudness. And believe me, I do realize that someday I will be dreaming of these loud young childhood days and missing them. I already miss the rolly-polly wrinkled baby wrist days. Oh, to cradle a three month old- there is nothing like it. Hindsight is always 20/20 and it is for a reason. So anyway if anyone reading this is in the state of Connecticut, keep a look out for Eric, he is headed your way.

It's All Mine

No trespassing on my territory, buddy. No, I will not share, compromise or give in. Put me in the corner for time out, I don't care. I Will Not Stop being stubborn, rude and selfish. I am two and will live up to all that defines 'two'. I will take what I want, when I want it. I will throw it away when I'm done with it no matter how valuable it may be. Go ahead, sift through the garbage and look for it, I don't care. I think it is funny. Do it some more so that I might laugh harder. Also, I will pull all the hair I want because it brings me joy to see others in pain. Eye gauging, and stomach punching are not off limits either. So what if I have seen this episode of Dora 47 times already? I want it again. And turn up the volume. Also, bring me a snack, bitch. Make it sugary with a side of sippy cup filled to the brim. Don't even think of washing my blanky. Yes, I do think the 120 minutes it would take to clean and dry it is a lifetime so back off. I'm watching you. I'm always watching.

I'm A Dead Woman

But I can't help it, I miss you.

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Bittersweet

While I was rinsing my feet off from our beach day at my grandmother's, Baby picked these flowers. The older girls yelled at her, telling her that she shouldn't have picked them, but I said it was OK. Grandma wouldn't have minded. I can't even count how many times I looked behind me, expecting to see her looking down at us enjoying this beautiful day. I kept watching the windows of her house, fully waiting to see her smiling face looking out at us. Will I ever stop having these expectations? Do I want to stop having them?************

I just can't believe she is in third grade! She earned the New York State Police Leadership award today. According to her, only one child per grade received it. She couldn't have gotten better grades, and her teacher wrote her a sweet letter praising her and also wishing she could have her again next year. She excelled this year, and even the art-gym-music teachers wrote wonderful things on the report card about her. I am a proud mama!

Now this monkey will be headed off to kindergarten! I will miss her so much. She is my partner, my buddy, my daily comic relief. Wasn't she just learning how to walk? How is this possible!

Come September I will have one very lonely little girl. Her and Middle are best friends and after having the next two months with both of her sisters at her beckon call, she will be absolutely lost when school starts up again. *********

All in all, this was a fabulous way to start off the vacation: Good grades, great weather and high expections.

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Dinner!

His container was getting refreshed, and I found him on the dining room table waiting patiently.

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Groovy Eyed Deer

Captured this last night on the way home from tball. Three of them just let me click away on my camera with my window down while Middle was 'singing' to them. They were only about 50 feet from our driveway.

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Lunar Moth

This lunar moth attached itself to our bedroom screen last weekend. It was there for about a day and a half, and totally creeped me out. Why did it choose my bedroom window?

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"Do You Know How Long I've Waited For This?!!"

Two years ago, when her older sister got her first trophy, she knew what the main goal of her life was: to get one of those shiny plastic things of her own. The off- limits- to- her reminder sat perched on its place of honor in their shared room. She would gaze at it, and every once in a while say to me, 'I'm going to play tball and get a trophy some day'. She ached for a trophy. I almost bought one for her last year, when Miss than had TWO- but I didn't. The waiting is the hardest part, (just like Tom Petty says) but also it is what makes the prize so sweet. Well, tonight her long two year dream came to an end as she is now the proud owner of her very own tball trophy. Not only was her team the first in the lineup to receive trophies, Middle was the first player to be called up to accept one. Three seconds later Eric said, 'OK, we're done, lets go!'








Here she is with her best friend, the both of them in too much of a hurry to receive the talisman to stop and allow me to get a picture showing the front of their bodies. This is them run-walking to the field.

Oh, this is her dream! If only she could have stuffed a few of these bad boys down her skirt and up her shirt, she would have. Already she is planning for next year- after all, her sister has two....

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Happy Father's Day

To my husband, who comes in a close second to my father as 'Best Dad Ever'.

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Quote of the Week

Brought to you by Middle:

She was warming up with two boys on her team before tball, and after one threw the ball to her she says:

"Look me in the eye, brother! That was a BAD throw."

She is an expert, in her own mind.


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Obviously, I'm Home All Day Without Much To Do

We have:

1. watched one episode of Dora
2. played with leapfrog learning desks
3. laundry
4. gone outside
5. made cupcakes

Now, what to do with the other nine waking hours of the day?

Don't be surprised if I post again.

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Now it is 4pm, we have:

1. played 40 minutes worth of go fish
2. Baby has napped
3. Miss is now home
4. spent 20 minutes cruising Facebook
5. help me
   

Frussssstration

An author I really like, Alice Hoffman, is going to be a stones throw away from me on Monday signing books, and I can't go- unless someone out there wants to watch three kids for me? And go to a reading awards ceremony? And a kindergarten meeting? And get them all ready for a tball closing ceremony that evening? Anyone? Hello....? Anyone want to live my life for 12 hours Monday? Dang, that's what I thought.

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eat, pray, love

I am half-way, or so, thru this book, and it is still very good. I'm going to quote a small part of the book here:

We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy's fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, begging for pennies from every passerby, unaware that his fortune was right under him the whole time. Your treasure-your perfection- is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart. The supreme energy of the divine will take you there.

Easier said than done, but how beautiful to think that the key to your happiness is always with you and only you can find it. (With Gods help, natch.) No one else can show it to you, give it to you, you can't buy it, you can't squash it- it is there, patiently waiting for you. That reassures me somehow.

My choice for book club was chosen as our read this month. The Time Travelers Wife, which is coming out in the theaters this summer too, so maybe I can convince some members to go on a field trip. I mean, Eric Bana is the lead, so how can you go wrong? Talk about happiness!


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Book Club

Tonight is my book club meeting, our nights are out of whack due to everyones crazy spring time schedule, but we should straighten out now. We read Out of the Silent Planet, by CS Lewis. Not my favorite- not into sci-fi- but on my own I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. She wrote about her year long travel thru Italy, India and Indonesia after a bad divorce. It is pretty good and I'm only about a third of the way finished. I'm hoping we have a good selection for this month's read but I have no idea whose turn it is to pick.

Boys and Their Toys

For the first time since right around when Miss was born, we have an amp in the house again. Eric sold his when we moved but he kept the electric guitars for another year or so before selling them also. I tell him this is his mid-life crisis, but instead of having an affair or buying a sports car he is going back to his roots as a musician and the loudness an amp can bring. Oh, if only I had a dollar for every time some guy would come up to me during high school and go on and on about how awesome my boyfriend was on a guitar! Their eyes would dance and their hands would start strumming an air guitar as if they could repeat his magic. I would just roll my eyes and walk away- didn't they see how silly they were? Didn't they know that I already knew my boyfriend was the best? Of course, after their little display I knew why he wasn't home when I called him the night before, he was at another party somewhere and got lost in making music. When Eric moved to Arkansas he continued playing, but not as much because this pesky little thing called work got in the way. Then we had a baby, and needed room and quiet.





Last week UPS delivered his new baby- an Ibanez, which he played in high school, in the same fluorescent yellow his high school guitar was. He is thinking about painting it (of course) but he is very happy. Miss is starting to play her mini acoustic and has mastered Mary Has A Little Lamb. If she keeps it up, I predict duets in a few years.
I have to admit, it is nice to hear him playing again. It makes him so happy. Some guys like power tools, or fast cars, some football, others fishing. My man writes me music, than plays it for me-loudly.

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This Bitch Is Back

So much has happened in the past two weeks or so since I last had a working computer. Many emotional things like, my dog going deaf, Middle graduating from preschool, and today I gave her and Baby a haircut. This was Baby's first haircut and I've been waiting two years to give it to her. I've just been waiting for her hair to grow. I was still premature in doing it today, she looks a little like a Dutchman now, but she needed something. Her wisps were cra-zay-zay. I just keep saying to her 'Wow, look at the princess!' because the princess phase is stronger than ever people. She now vetoes outfits because 'That no pincess! That monster, I need pincess!' I shit you not.



Anyway, something that happened recently is Baby grew a goatee.




Miss had a lemonade stand at our cousins yard sale and made $35.71 selling 10 cent lemonade. Apparently no one can resist a little blond girl sitting out in the sun.



We went to the park on a preschool outing. There is no way I could ride one of these anymore, I would puke.

We went to a shitactular zoo, with preschool also.

And finally today, the after shot of Middles 'do. She has only been begging me for a haircut since Valentine's Day.

This is Baby 2 minutes before I started cutting.

This is her 10 seconds later. I'm telling you, she has about 36 strands of hair on her head. Can we all pray she starts growing more, please?

Daddy has not seen this yet, I hope he is kind....

I will talk tomorrow, or maybe later today, you can never tell now that I'm back!

End of the Tunnel?

I might have a computer tomorrow, and could possible be back to my old tricks by Sunday night or Monday. Yay!

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Hurry

Being without a computer sucks! I never realized how much I needed it, not just played on it. Weather? Oh, no can't check online must watch the news. That ingredient I'm missing? Nope, not in my old fashioned cookbooks. Blogging, nope. Email, nope. Facebook, nope. Can't even update my Netflix! The horror! Any way, the kids are healthy again but the dog is deaf. Yep, my dog went deaf seemingly overnight. Very strange, and we thought she was 'fooling' us so we tested her. Yeah, we have too much free time. She can't hear her favorite word which is Cookie. She doesn't hear the bus, and she loves chasing after the bus. She is deaf. I'm sad. She was the one that was always home waiting for me to come back from the hospital with each baby. She calmly (unlike the other dogs) sniffed their baby heads while they were sprawled out on the floor. She looked up at me each time as if asking me, " Are you keeping it? Do I have to share my bowl with it?" As they grew up, she loved them for their sloppy eating habits and their generosity with giving out belly rubs. I'm sad to realize she is old now.
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How do you know you're married to a redneck?
When you take your daughter to get her prescription filled, she wants you to ask the pharmacist if they can flavor her medicine 'Slim Jim flavor.'
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Middle graduates preschool on Friday night. I can't talk about that any more. Between her leaving preschool, the dogs deafness, my computer outage.....I'm a mess.


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Virus

It seems the computer is following our lead in getting sick. We are going to have to take it to get a virus cleaned off, if we can, or we will have to get a new computer. I'm shocked I can even get on here long enought to type this. See you soon, I hope....

R

It's Officially Our Unofficial Song

Crystal Digging in Arkansas, 1992

Tesla- What You Give

Who's the one that makes you happy?

Or maybe, who's the one always on your mind?

And who is the reason you're living for?

Who's the reason for your smile?

I feel so lonely and I know I'm not the only one

To ever feel this way

I love you so much that I think I'm goin' insane

I'm goin' crazy, Outta my head

Goin' crazy, Outta my head

Can't think about nothin' but your good, good love

And what you give

Everyone needs somebody

And you know

Everybody needs someone

Well then I guess it's true

Everybody needs a special kind of love

And you're the only one I'm thinking of

You mean the world to me

You are my only

I feel so lonely and I know I'm not the only one

To carry on this way

I love you so much I lose track of time

Lose track of the days

I'm goin' outta my head

Goin' crazy, Outta my head

Can't think about nothin' but your good, good love

And what you give

It's not what you got,

It's what you give

It ain't the life you choose, it's the life you live

It's only what you give

It's not what you got

But the life you live

It's the life you live

And you're the one that makes me happy

Oh yeah baby

And you're the one always on my mind

Well then I guess it's true

You are my reason

My one and only

That I've been living for

Why can't forever be

Forever and nothing more?

I feel so lonely and I know I'm not the only one

To ever feel this way

I love you so much I lose track of time

Lose track of the days

I'm goin' outta my head

Goin' crazy,

Outta my head

Can't think about nothin' but your good, sweet love

And what you give

It's not what you got,

It's what you give

It ain't the life you choose,

It's the life you live

It's not what you got,

It's what you give

And it ain't what it's not,

But what it is

Only what you give

It's not what you got,

But what you give

Only what you give

It's only what you give, yeah

Can't get enough girl, of that sweet lovin' baby

What you give

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We didn't have the typical wedding with things like guests, or cake or limos or even fancy dresses. I went to Sears one day in between appointments and bought my dress for 44.95. I'm proud to say that. We went to a Justice of the Peace, and she gave a quick 10 minute ceremony that Saturday morning which started off rainy. But like the weather always does in Arkansas, it changed to a fuzzy sunshine by the time we left her house, and we even saw a rainbow on our drive back to our house. Awwww, how cheesy right? There was also a unicorn frolicking in the meadow by our house and then a leprechaun... OK, but the rainbow was very special to us and we looked lovingly at each other in our cherry red Mustang when we saw it. Our friend Mike was our witness which we felt was very fitting because he was the one to officially introduce us to each other in the school library back in late fall 1989. He was the man that day, with good intentions of taking pictures and calling a nice steak house and making reservations for us. Then we got love happy and also slightly drunk and started calling everyone to tell them we got married (this was an elopement, did I mention that?) and before we knew it people were crammed inside our tiny 800 square foot rental house. Mike called the restaurant back to change the reservation number. He was our 'chauffeur' that night and everyone there had a great time. We all drank, ate delicious steak and drank some more. Mike got the tab and I'm sure that was several hundred dollars. I'm hoping in retrospect that our friends threw him a few bucks, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. I think Eric and I spent about 150 dollars for the entire wedding (my dress, new pants/shirt for him, our license fee and the JP fee). I have all the feelings of that day deep within my heart and I honestly feel like I had as much of a special day as the brides that spend thousands, wear the princess gown, and invite half the town they live in. Like our song says:

It's not what you got,

It's what you give,

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