Friday, November 26, 2010

don't cry for me argentina

feasting
i woke up to tony singing this song to margo this morning. 


actually i woke up to margo and her 5 o'clock whimper except that she saved it for 6:30...she's a peach that one.
then i got 'don't cry for my turkey dinner' stuck in my head...









snow snow snow snow


and then i thought why would anyone cry for my turkey dinner? it wasn't what i have come to know but it was warm and homey and wonderful none the less.

sure there is snow and ice everywhere but it sure makes for pretty pictures. 

sure my little nadia has had the worst illness of her life, a cough that can shake the silly out of a girl who is the queen of silly, intermittent puking when the coughing just gets to be too much and a running low-grade fever that has kept her couch ridden for nearly a week, but she is on the mend and is quite possibly the sweetest sicky you will ever meet.  after you hold her hair and kiss her cheek and are ready to rinse the puke-bowl, she looks up at you, smiles, shakes her head and says thank you. every. single. time.

my husband is hot...
and he bakes...
don't be jealous.
sure we are under quarantine and couldn't spend the holiday with our family ...but they exchanged turkey and stuffing and sweet gingered potatoes and jalapeno cranberries and blue jello and whip cream and sweet-hot mustard and roasted pork for our bacon and blue cheese corn muffin pies, veggie and bacon-chedder dip, pumpkin dinner rolls, salad and apple crisp.  no tears necessary there...we are eating like kings.

nadia & aidan keeping busy while we cook
sure my living room is torn apart, our dining room table is now our entertainment center, so we had to improvise and eat on the island ...but that just means that i am getting the built in book cases and fireplace with floor to ceiling mantle and two little square window that should show the sparkle of the windmill lights at night that i wanted.





sit up straight please..
oh please...
nevermind.


sure dinner was quick (ok dinner was, but maybe i spent a little too much time taking pictures) but the clean up was quick too, which made time to go see harry potter.(sorry movie-goers, we tried to keep our distance and not infect any of you). what a sweet feeling to have my children's heads resting on each shoulder while their eyes are transfixed on the big screen.






seriously, just one more...i mean it, ok?


Wednesday, November 24, 2010

the thankful series part 4...season finale

there is so much left to say and only one day left until thanks-to-be-giving...
so...
i am thankful for grandparents. my kids really scored big in this department.  come to think of it, our extended family pretty much rocks.
    ...if we need a grandparent to fill in when we have a sicky, grammie is there bright and early.
    ...if we need a cousin to giggle with, draw with or create the next pokemon evolution with, we have them, lots of them of all age ranges to make you laugh till your ribs ache.
    ...if we need a tio mono famous high five (or one of those awesome rolls from his fav resturant), he will oblige.  and aunt debi is always thinking about you when she is out, you might just get new pants!
    ...if we need an aunt to rally in our corner, aunti m is going to be there, don't mess with her little people.
    ...if we need a grandpa or a papa to listen patiently about all the crazy plans a 9 year old dreams up, we have that covered, they are also here in a heartbeat if we need some hard labor done.
    ...if we need great grandparents to tell a scathing story about tony, they won't tell you anything because he was apparently a perfect angel, but they will tell you how much he is loved.

i am thankful for pictures. i have a terrible memory but i am thankful to have these snippets recorded to help me remember important and very ordinary moments we have had together.

i am thankful for donuts and cupcakes.   oooo and appetizers that include melty delicious cheeses.

i am thankful for the seat warmer in my car. toasty buns are a wonderful thing.

i am thankful for my job. not only do i have moments where those adolescent stinkers warm my heart on a pretty regular basis and a job that affords me loads of time home with my babies and i have made some good friendships with my coworkers, but i also have had the chance to learn every day...and see some pretty amazing  things.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

the thankful series part 3

i am thankful for friendship. 
.    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .        .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .

i am in awe, truely, to feel the love of those who choose to be around us. friends, and family who i am lucky enough to call friends too.  tony and i have some great ones, but our kids are blessed because they do too.
there are the ones who if a day goes by without talking, we feel an emptiness.
and there are the ones who we see every so often who leave us feeling recharged.
and there are the ones that we only see once or twice a year but it is like we have never left each others sides.
we have the best ones, and i can count them on my two hands and maybe a toe or two, but i know that it would be these select few who when we need a hand of support, some one to have your back, a bit of advice, a cleansing cry over some taco bell, 







or even just a good, from the depths of your toes and milk out your nose kind of laugh, will be there. 

lucky...
blessed...
fortunate...

thankful.

Monday, November 22, 2010

we interupte this regularly scheduled mini series

to bring you this public service announcement.
do your best to not have the croupdideedo when it is dumping truckloads of snow and the transportation gods have granted you a two hour delay.

croup- 7:30 am november 22

already over the croup- 7:30 am november 22



brought to you by mother nature.

the thankful series part 2

you know i am all kinds of thankful for these two.
I love them more than life itself.



he teaches me to watch my words and practice what i preach. he is sure to call you on it. being held to the letter of the law for 9 years tends to make you super sensitive to hypocrites and fairness for all living things. he makes me a more thoughtful person, weighing the outcome of my decisions, a trait that i hope he continues to internalize.







she reminds me to enjoy the silly side of life. never would i dream of dawncing in public (it is dawncing with a long drawn out daw, not dancing, when it is in public because it would be just too ordinary to dance). with a twinkle of her eye and a song on her lips all of my inhibitions are cast aside. i relish that feeling. i hope that she carries it with her, or she has someone to remind her like i do. 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

thankful...a mini series

a wise woman told me how lovely it was to hear someone count thier blessings. it is even lovelier to record them for those days when it is hard to find them bumping around in your head. 

i am thankful for my husband. he is exactly what i need and everything i want.
i am thankful for the dad he is. i am thankful for his indulgenses...like not rolling his eyes too much when i take surprise pictures of him and putting up with my cats and my shoes and my helpful suggestions when he is in the middle of a project. i am thankful that he is willing to give and take and to share and listen.  i am thankful that after sixteen years we are still each others top pick for company.

i am thankful he loves me like no other.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

camilla

so i was just sitting there, hunkered up on the couch with seven kinds of guilt, as tony works his hinny off in the friggin cold, when i start blubbering over the end of little miss sunshine.
and then my little sparkalicious meows at me. 

he does this you see to ask me if i am ok. 
no really. 
he will meow at me from across the room and i say, "come 'ere camilla" and he comes running and i give him some lovins and all is right with the world.
but back to the meowing...
and the worry...
he has been listening to my hacktastic cough and is just worried sick over me.  i have been to the doctor, read an entire book, ate my chicken noodle soup and channel surfed through some chick flix.
i have a mini-me sicky companion too.  i cough. she coughs. i moan. she groans. she dozes and i space.
and my mind wandered through this little scenario only to stop on camilla. 
what is with that?
sure it is a nice name, but not one in my world. i don't know anyone named camilla. i don't have a favored character named camilla. and he is a he, not a she. but he responds so naturally to it.
maybe it is the tail. 
a tail like his needs a name with some flourish.  i tried to dress up his aidan-given name spark by adding some liciousness and even a little licious ding dog sometimes, but maybe he was meant to be a camilla.

and maybe my sleep deprived and cough pounded head just needs a little nap.

Friday, November 12, 2010

wouldn't have it any other way

there are days when i find a jolly rancher wrapper tucked betwixt the couch cushions and i feel like i literally could come unhinged
and when i say literally,
i mean that i am going to steam so
my blood vessels in my neck will burst
and my neck will explode and my head will fall back
from the sheer force of my pent up scream
unhinged...literally, if only there were hinges instead of muscle and tissue and such.
figuratively unhinged is what i really mean because i know that my vessels will not burst from frustration but it feels like they might.

but then there are days when i find a guitar pick sticking out of a picture frame
and i melt.
i leave it there and dust around it.
and when i walk into the kaleidoscope of color littering nadia's bedroom floor and am not as bothered that sara saw it this way just the day before.
when i think about how silly it was that i was embarrassed that she must have noticed the dog slobber on the railing i just shake my head. so what if she did? so what if she thinks i am the worst housekeeper known to human kind. 
she doesn't, she told me so this morning.
but it wouldn't really matter if she did.
the messes that are made around here
messes of doll clothes
and chess games
and trails of dirt brought in from making a worm sanctuary
 

















are messes i wouldn't trade for anything.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

don't be jealous of my luscious lips




i know you want to smooch them.
 at least wipe off the screen when you are done.