Sunday, February 27, 2011

one of those posts that drones on and on and on

about nothing really...

just updates of what we have been up to.

things like work and school and grocery shopping and laundry...
the youshg (that's short for usual. i use it because i am super busy and super cool and no i am not trying too hard...).

there were homework meltdowns.
there were smiles in the morning.
there were fah-rezz-zzz-ing temperatures accompanied by frozen nose-holes and chattering teeth and warming by the fire.

there was a mommy-part surgery (margo's not mine...eww). i am strangely sad that i won't hear the pitter patter (more like thumpity thump) of a bunch of lil' margolitas. 


there was a birthday celebration.  happiest birthdays mom!  there was dinner, dessert and presents...














followed by a shelter in place reenactment when spark dropped a bomb. sorry mom.  but look at how she rocks that riverhawks shirt!


ahh...i embarrassed him.





















there was a girl scout thinking day with a dramatic reading given by troop 3554.

note the looks of dutifulness, concentration, dedication.......
and then the look of la-la-land on the end. 

her job was to tease the lion.
for her the best part was spending time with one of her besties. 



 
there was a 24 hour fever for a mr. aidan. there is some serious stuff going around. we missed uncle jamie and cooper at my mom's celebration because of bronchitis. there were earaches-a-plenty with friends.  my whole school is out of kleenex! 
i do hate it when my lovies are sick. i not-so-secretly love it a little too because he asks me to snuggle with him.  well, me and his pet gecko, razor. i hope my snuggles are a little better than hers. 
  












huh. and we wonder why men are such babies when they get sick. i know i am teaching this one to be. it is the only time i get to baby him.

AND i can't forget...
there was dinner with friends and fantastic food and great conversation with hopes to do it again soon when all our peeps are healthy.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

have you ever?

hidden in your garage?
in your car?
from your own children?
just to have a quiet conversation with your lovey?

Friday, February 18, 2011

dear margo,

dear sweet slobbery margo,

can i ask you something?  how many licks does it take to work the latches on your crate free?  have you worked it down to a science? does it take a great deal of patience? i'm only asking because while you have an abnormally large pink tongue and you are down right swash-buckling in lubrecating drool, i would think it would take some dedication and commitment to wriggle those little sliding latches free.  especially when i have to push my whole body weight against the door to get it all to line up, you know, since you so kindly molded the wire door to your barrel of a chest when you squeezed through the last time.  and that's another thing.  how exactly do you pry the door open to roughly the space of a loaf of bread and then squeeze through?  nevermind.  i don't think i really want to know.  nor do i want to know about the dexterity of your floppy, sloppy tongue.  just forget i asked.  i wish i could.

love the wife of your beloved tony...

the scratcher of your belly...

the mother to the children you so enjoy sniffing from one end to the other...

and not to forget, the wearer of all of the shoes you have so tenderly destroyed.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

i've been contemplating...

many many things.

life didn't stop while i pondered.
it just kept marching on as i worry about the state of egypt. the state of the world. the state of my laundry room. double meanings and science fairs.

baby adoptions were finalized. families were celebrated. new beginnings and new adventures lay ahead.






 

i wonder if i am doing enough, if we are doing enough. or are we doing too much? i wonder about bright yellow paint and this here blog. i wondered about time management and conservation and being pushy to the point of preachy.

aidan's kitty fell ill. she's been quarantined. i have try to prepare for what i am certain the vet will tell us. and then back, selfishly, to my kitty-fied carpet. then back to aidan's big mossy green eyes welling up with tears. i tuck all of that away because it is just too much.

my thoughts rove to far away places and little farmhouses, new languages and new customs.  and then thoughts of could we? should we? then back to here where i have projects teetering on projects and am itching for more.

children read. literacy, hurray!
and ayellivee found her way home to her mother thanks to some cute creatures, including my little dancing monkey. 

and yet i analyze the loveliness that i am sure is individualized herbed cheese souffles.  and brightly colored lamps.  and words of wisdom. and whether or not real grown up women sit on their counters while their husbands cook up some zuppa. 


meetings were held, papers were graded, emails returned.  there was some ho-humm-ness and some furiously busy-ness.  and there was some endless paper shuffling and thoughts of scaling back. 
again. 

all the while there is a whole other conversation happening somewhere in the back corners of my mind. 
one that includes sunshine, and little hikes, and bonfires, and little gardens and just being.
something more. 
or maybe just something different. 
or maybe just more of the same,
just with a little more of my attention. 
and at a slower pace. 

my brain hurts from all of this happiness,
this worry,
this joy, 
this confusion,
this decision-making stuff.  

Friday, February 4, 2011

ahh come on!

let me tell you something about the youth of america...

they pretty much kicked my self-esteem-teeth all week.

first there was the kid who made me a puzzle out of index cards...
   but when i put it together it said 'mrs. bachart is ugly'.  it was brightly colored so that was nice.

then there was the super cute seven year old who asked me why i was wearing that when i opened the door for her after school.

     apparently wearing a wazzu sweatshirt and yoga pants to school to celebrate college day was not a good look for me and so not appreciated by my noni. it was probably not appreciated by the dude who took my picture for an award i won a while back either.

then there was the boy (a boy i do not know mind you) who asked me if i had any kids.
    when i said yes, he asked if they were in college.  exactly how old do i look these days?  wait, don't answer that...someone else already did.

and then there was the kid who said i should go down to enter in the best dressed for senior citizen day. i was so confused because i wasn't dressed up.
       but he seriously thought i was.

but because i am an optimist i have to focu on the good of the children of this world. 
(this is where i chant serenity now over and over and over again in case you were wondering.) 
after all it is not their fault that their frontal lobes are not entirely developed. 

     nadia did tell me that one of the luckiest things in her world is waking up to my face.  so that was obligatorily sweet.
  
     there is a boy who asked me if he could resume my life if i die (another story, another time).  umm ok, i guess that has to mean i am doing something right?  or maybe it means i should call the counselor?
  
     then there was the boy who drew a line through ugly and wrote 'really pretty' in tiny block letters on my puzzle and then taped it to the fridge of my classroom.  a titch awkward but after the pummeling i got this week i figured,
                                                                ehhh.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

i did not make my husband tear apart our living room to match my cat...

once upon a time there was a strategically placed hole in a red wall in a pale yellow room with a big stuffy couch shaped like an l. 

then there was a big black dog with drooly jowls who ate a hole in the big stuffy couch.  even though the couch finally matched the red wall with the big weird waiting hole, the lady of the house was not impressed. 


she dreamed of liquid-white built-ins and a floor to ceiling liquid-white mantle that framed an actual fireplace instead of a hole.  that dream held two matchy match couches set to inspire conversation with a bright mod rug stretching between the two.  she dreamed of crisp black and white photos of her family and friends. oooooo and she dreamed of quaint, square, craftsman windows. 



while she knew the man of the house could and would make her dreams come true with his trusty table saw and paint sprayer, she struggled to find a color or two that would bring her soft & light happiness when she entered her room. 


but then there was a cat with the bushy tail of a squirrel and an overbite.  this cat was a thick dark gray and a snowy white. one day the lady held the bushy tailed and buck toothed cat up to the wall and her mind was made up.  


gray and white.  why had she not thought of it before.  gray and white with splashes of yellow, orange and red.  

happy and light. 

but, no, i did not make tony tear down perfectly good dry wall, knock two holes in a two year old wall to add windows, replace functioning bookcases with built ins, add to an already beautiful mantle, put up slightly furry wallpaper and buy new couches all to match my kitty cat...