Happily With Guests

I love having house guests.  We've had a good day.

This morning after a little bit of playing with Cormac, he and his mother napped and we had school (to the chagrin of the children).  After lunch and Costco, Melanee and I did yoga (and she didn't even laugh at me) and we went to Mukilteo beach. 

The boys climbed.

Emma read.

And I took pictures of Cormac and Melanee.

It was a lovely way to spend the day.

After our working men came home, we tried to go to the Tin Fish which had the audacity to be closed on a Monday. Instead, we drowned our sorrows at a Mexican restaurant (which isn't a bad way to go) and home for ice cream.

And this I know:

Cormac

He lives up to his billing.

Springing Forward

It was bound to happen eventually.  We forgot to spring forward and were late for church (and we would have been early if the time hadn't changed!).  I was walking around changing clocks and Mark wanted to know what it was all about.

I explained it to him.

He stopped in the middle of the room and stared at me as he is wont to do when puzzled.

I explained it again.

"So time speeded up?"

I explained it again.

"So we are living in the future?"

I gave up explaining and let him go with that.

Mark said, "We are living in the future!  Braeden, come here!  We're in the future and I want to see if you have a mustache."

For Mark, the future is one of facial hair.  Which is a little puzzling.

Unless you remember who his uncles are.

I have no good explanation...

  

I guess contemplating future mustaches is valid.

What I Don't Like About My Nieces and Nephews

They live too far away.

I miss out on their birthdays, milestones and growing taller.  I don't get to be a part of their daily lives.

And I'm tired of it.

What makes me exquisitely happy is that this charming little man, Cormac, is coming to visit me in a few days:

Can you believe those eyelashes?

(He didn't inherit them from me.)

I have a box of soft chewy toys all ready for Cormac.  I intend to play with him and cuddle him and stare into those brown brown eyes.

(If any of my other nieces or nephews want to follow Cormac's stellar example, I have lots of boxes of toys.)

Although I haven't even met Cormac yet, I already know I love him. 

(For one thing, he's bringing his parents with him.)

Someone Somewhere

This afternoon it was raining lightly outside but inside our house real storms were brewing. 

For one thing, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I'm sufficiently better that I should stop whining but I still feel like whining.  Because I'm not all the way better.

Then there was the clutter.

My children leave the books they're reading (Braeden) and writing (Emma) everywhere.  Then I saw the book I'm reading on the table and Adam's scriptures too.  We're all a mess.

Then the shoes.  I reprimanded my kids for their shoes that were flung hither and yon by the front door then I hoped they wouldn't notice my shoes that weren't put away either.

It's really hard to get your kids to be perfect when you're not.

But I still try.

And I don't even want to go into the piano books or Legos.

I was increasingly cranky and increasingly telling children with my hoarse voice to pick that up!  Now pick that up!

Then the phone rang and it was my sister's voice, chipper and buoyant.  She was calling me from a beach in Mexico.

She said, "How ARE you?"

I said, "Cranky.  And Miserable."

She said, "Maybe I don't want to talk to you."

I said, "Probably not."  But she was undeterred and soon enough had me cheered up because you can't be uncheered by an Olivia.  I was pulling laundry out of the dryer while we chatted and one of my sheets was in shreds.  Shreds.  The inside of my dryer doesn't have fangs or claws.  I checked.  I don't know what happened to my sheets.

But I started grumbling all over again as I tried to untangle and make sense of the twisted mess of laundry.

Olivia said, "This isn't your day."

I said, "No.  But you're on a beach in Mexico."  She'd told me all about taking a glorious nap on the beach and of the magnificent shrimp she'd eaten...the best of her life.

I said, "I'm glad that someone somewhere is having a wonderful day."

And I really meant it.  Because there are wonderful days in the world and just because for me, today wasn't one of them, I know that one will come back around.

They always do.

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations.  They presented him the words:  "And this, too, shall pass away."  How much it expresses!  How chastening in the hour of pride.  How consoling in the depths of affliction.

Abraham Lincoln

True Grit

John Wayne movies were part of the scenery when I was growing up.  And that kind of scenery has a way of seeping into your psyche whether you like it or not.

For this reason, I know a lot of quotes from John Wayne movies.

I don't know as many as some of my family members though.  My dad and Tabor will banter back and forth and then it will finally dawn on me that they're quoting a movie.

And usually it's True Grit.

Yesterday Adam told me that the Coen brothers, who I rather like as movie makers, are remaking True Grit.

If I knew their address I would write a letter to humbly advise them that I know two people that would be naturals in the movie.

Mattie Ross: They say he has grit. I wanted a man with grit.

Rooster Cogburn: Well if I had a big horse pistol like that I wouldn't be scared of no "boogerman".
 

Mattie Ross: Trust you to buy another tall horse.

Rooster Cogburn: Baby sister, I was born game and I intend to go out that way.   

Rooster Cogburn: Well, sister, the time has come for me to ride hard and fast.

Rooster Cogburn:  Young fella, if you're looking for trouble, I'll accommodate you. Otherwise, leave it alone.

It seems the cast is already set for the True Grit remake but these two will always be the stars of my show.

Perfection

Last night, after our kids were in bed, Adam and I lay side by side in our bed.  Staring drearily at the ceiling.  Feeling sick.  (Don't be jealous, I know, we have an extremely exciting life.) I asked Adam if he'd read my latest blog post and fulfilling his husbandly duty, he pulled his laptop out of its nearby bag.  He read my blog then we ventured over to his blog.

With the laptop balanced on our knees we read and I laughed.  He's a really funny man.

Since I don't have anything remotely witty of my own this morning, here 's what I stole from Adam's blog.

So, I should have figured that something would come along and try to spoil my fun now that I'm a full three days into this vacation.  It happened tonight.  I saw hell.  It looks like a rain forest, the food is overpriced and the waiters are dressed in khaki.  Thankfully, I managed to buy my escape for $65 plus tip.

The Rainforest Cafe may seem like a nice place to eat, but I've said the same thing about KFC on occasion.  That doesn't make it right.  The food was OK.  I had a mild paella with mussells, calamari, shrimp and andouille sausage.  Unfortunately, I was sitting across from a pair of animatronic elephants that had the uncanny habit of trumpeting every time the waiter talked to me.  Do you have any idea the level of auditory distortion that creates?

"Welcome to the Rainforest Cafe.  Have you been here before?"

"Diet Coke."

Besides, it's impossible to enjoy your meal when a robotic elephant keeps giving you the evil eye.

Thankfully, Providence doesn't dish out opposition in equal measure.  By and large, today was another fabulous day.  Disneyland on your birthday with your family at your side and a pocket full of fast pass tickets for bypassing the lines.  What's not to love.

Then there was this:

It's just my luck that I would pick tomorrow, the day the earth is going to implode, to take my first real vacation in who knows how long. Check out the headlines.

• Fingers Crossed, Physicists Are Ready for Collider to Roll
• Worst Case: Collider Spawns Planet-Devouring Black Hole
• Researchers Set To Recreate Big Bang
• Scientists hope to find 'God particle' in mini Big Bang
• Will the Large Hadron Collider Destroy Earth?
• Scientists hope for surprises in Big Bang experiment

They're doing WHAT!

Anytime the world's top physicists feel the need to collectively cross their fingers, I start to get worried. What has physicists going to these extraordinary measures?

At roughly 3:30 a.m. Eastern time, scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, say they will try to send the first beam of protons around a 17-mile-long racetrack known as the Large Hadron Collider, 300 feet underneath the Swiss-French border outside Geneva. (more)

The point of this 14 year and $8 billion experiment is to recreate the conditions that existed one trillionth of second after the Big Bang. For $8 billion, who wouldn't want to know. But here's the rub. Some people fear it may actually create a black hole that would swallow the universe.

Now, I've managed a few projects in my time. Some of them even had a decent amount of risk. But none of them threatened to end life as we know it if something went wrong. I mean, what do the project meetings sound like at CERN? Can you imagine being in the room when this came up?

Jean-Luc: The project is going well, André. Even after our last wine and cheese night, we've only spent $5 billion of our budget.

André: C'est fabuleux, Jean-Luc. How are the preparations for the experiment?

Jean-Luc: Il y a un petit problème. There is a small chance that we might destroy the earth.

André: Will our insurance cover it?

Jean-Luc: We're looking into that. If not, there is something else we can try. Emelyne over in particle relations thinks crossing our fingers might help.

I'd like to believe there is no need to worry. I want to trust in science. It's the modern thing to do.  After all, the director general of CERN insists in a press release that "any suggestion that [the collider] might present a risk is pure fiction."

But there must be something to it. CERN had an independent safety report prepared and checked out by a panel including Nobel laureates. Even physics supernova Stephen Hawking is only willing to put $100 on the experiment succeeding.

That gives me confidence. I just put down $100 on a half-day jet ski rental for Thursday. I guess Steve and I have the same level of risk tolerance. 

He makes me laugh.  I love words and he's good with words.  He's also kinder to me than I deserve.


He wrote this:

 Thelma wondered how the two of us managed to get together considering my perfectionist tendencies and her penchant for impatience.

"My choice was easy," I insisted, "because I was looking for perfection and there you were."

"Well," she replied, "I could have found the perfect husband, but who has that kind of time."

She got the last laugh, but at least I got the girl. 

I am impatient and I do sort of repel perfectionism but I must maintain that when it came to my husband, I didn't settle for anything less than my heart's desire.

Lego Star Wars for Moms

Now I understand why all Mark wanted to do was play Lego Star Wars all day.  If he felt like I feel (like a truck hit me, then backed up and ran back over me a second time), then I can see the charms of the red chair.

When you're the mom, things are never that simple (take my cousin Hannah for example...she has pneumonia and three babies to take care of...sending love and chicken soup wishes your way Hannah!).

Rather than Lego Star Wars, yesterday was filled with teaching my children, visiting teaching, Costco, lunch for ravenous off spring, taking Emma to the orthodontist for three impressions of her teeth.  Emma and impressions.  Not for the weak at heart.

After folding laundry, I was spent.  Too tired to contemplate the rest of my to do list.

Laying on my bed (amidst the folded laundry piles) my eye caught my blue notebook.  It's the notebook I started in 1999.  I have written things about my children in it...very intermittently.  It's my collection of the ways they've entertained me over the years.

I'm glad children are entertaining.  It makes up for them giving you their germs then expecting you to continue to mother them.

I pulled out my notebook and was entertained anew by my children.  It was every bit as good as Lego Star Wars. 

It's become clear that Braeden has been making me laugh for a long time.

Some of my favorites:

January 2000

Braeden said the blessing on the food for dinner and said:  Thank you that I don't have to eat these peas.

February 2000

We went on a trip to Nevada but left Emma's Winnie the Pooh behind.  We borrowed Marianne's Winnie the Pooh puppet while we were in Nevada.

When we got the original Pooh back, Braeden said, "Who found Pooh's legs?"

June 2000

Braeden had some dirt behind his ear.  Adam was trying to clean it and Braeden said, "It's just part of me Dad.  Like those sharpies on your face."

October 2000

At dinner Braeden sighed and said, "Mom, you are a lot to listen to."  (He still feels this way about me.)

Braeden was chasing Emma around and said, "I'm going to kill you!"  I told him I didn't like him saying things like that.  A few minutes later he said, "Mom, is 'I'm going to blow your head off' better?"

November 2003

Braeden said, "Mom when are you going to learn that things that look dangerous are fun?"

December 2004

We were listening to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."  Braeden said, "Mom and Dad, I feel sorry for you if this is the rock music you had to listen to when you were teenagers."

April 2005  

Braeden and I read a poem for school.  I asked him how he liked it; he said, "It's short."

May 2006

Braeden said, "Dad, you know the flying monkeys on The Wizard of Oz?  I think I could take one of them down."



Gone are the days that Braeden unintentionally made me laugh.  Now he makes me laugh quite on purpose.

The other day he told me he wanted his own room.  I told him something along the lines of "too bad so sad" and he said, "Why can't Emma and Mark share a room?"

Emma said smugly, "I can't share a room with Mark.  I'm the only girl so I can't share a room."

Braeden said, "Emma, you can do anything you want if you just believe in yourself."

Words to live by.

Now juice.  Sudafed.  Onward. (Plus Mark told me that he's SO sorry I'm sick and he will be my server today.)



This has nothing to do with anything but this is a picture from my darling little sister's blog.  She's in Mexico right now.  (She's the tall whitey in the middle.)  I think I'm going to paint my entire house that shade of blue.  I'm in love with it.