not-so-sticky

This morning we were wrangling kids early, trying to get the kids ready for the Farmer's Market in Uptown Kingston. Dana, Lily, Liam and I were wandering around the bedroom, passing each other in circles, as we tried to pull ourselves together. I was looking for my missing Teva; the kids only ever move one on me...Dana was rifling through his top dresser drawer, searching for I don't know what? Lil was tucking her Tigger into bed and Liam was looking for a button to push. Liam doesn't have a chance with Lil around. She will tell on him at every opportunity. Neither Dana nor I had noticed that Liam had gotten a hold of Dana's cell phone and was busily pushing buttons. He's an avid button pusher. It's irresistible to him. He didn't have long to push buttons, though, before Lil blew his cover. From the other side of the bedroom, she yelled, " Quick! Get him! He's calling the cops! " Not something I expected to hear my not-quite-three year old dau...

The last time I recall playing a board game was the last time we lost electricity. I think it was Payday ? There's something about a storm that brings all of the family out of their corners and into one room together. Without anything digital. While Seth is far past any childhood fear of storms, the thought of being de-digitalized makes him tremble. The storm didn't blow in until after dinner. And so even Seth, who rarely leaves the sanctuary of his bedroom after the dinner hour, made his way downstairs to wait for the storm. There's nothing like a good storm to bring a family together. We could hear the thunder in the distance but no one seemed impressed by it. It was clearly too dark for 6:30. There was a wind picking up so I thought I'd take the plants off the porch. I thought twice after I opened the door and caught glimpse of the sky. I rather it be my dahlias (which appear to be duds anyway) than me. My obsessive compulsive nature led me to The Weather Channel . I...

Kyrce often entertains me during the commute to work with stories of her WoW adventures. Recently, she's become a 'guild leader' and most of our dialogues have been about the previous night's WoW raids with her online comrades. This is endlessly fascinating to me on so many levels. First of all, it seems like an awful lot of project management work, just trying to organize a guild to the point where you can plan a raid. I need my down time to be down time. Secondly, it's such a weird paradigm shift; my own mother's generation did needlepoint, talked soap operas and sold Tupperware. Though I could be guilty of stereo-typing... I don't recall my Mom doing much else? Actually, she didn't even sell Tupperware; she was just a consumer of it. Now Moms are playing WoW. Grandpas are playing WoW. Kyrce even knows of an adult father and son team. And of course, kids play WoW so Seth thinks Kyrce is just awesome. They speak the same nerdy language. Game speak. Gam...

Seth passed me in the upstairs hall as I carried Liam to our bedroom with Grandpa Bob in tow a few feet behind me. "Are you putting the kids down?" he asked, trying to suppress a giggle. Even though his voice has matured, he still giggles. He thinks this a very clever thing to say because of the connotation of putting someone 'down'; it's become part of our evening ritual. A darker version of the The Walton's ... It's true; I'll admit it - we are a weird family with an odd sense of humor. Liam had been getting punchy downstairs, beating up on things randomly and generally tackling anything in his path. Most often, his focus was sister, Lily. I recognized these as symptoms of being overtired because I often experience them myself - the exception here being that my target is usually their father, Dana, and not my daughter, Lily... 'Putting the children down' is not a simple task. It seems like it should be. Tired children should quietly drift of...

Success means having a strategy in play at all times. If I were really good, I would have a better system in play. I actually do have a lot of ideas for systems but I haven't had enough time to put them into play. Obviously, it's not that I'm totally without personal time. But this very blog itself is a representation of wasted time. I guess that depends on the vantage point which is always changing, anyway. It's tricky to stay on top. And I'm not trying to stay on top so much as I am trying to survive. Children can be vicious creatures. Don't let their charming smiles delude you. I haven't found a good way to make others adhere to my strategy. In fact, there are interlopers living amongst us. Surely, this would explain what Dad did with his flashlight. Trolls that work against us by moving things out of its 'home' place. I believe in a place for everything. Every thing has a place. It removes the thinking out of the action so that the thinking can ...

From Left to Right: Lilith's, Dana's, Liam's, Seth's. There's nothing better than hand-picked flowers for mum! I remember stealing into my neighbor's flower garden when I was about 5 to pick my own mom some of the her magnificent magnolias! On a separate occasion, I picked her goldenrod and made her quite ill with a hay fever... These flowers are perfect and far better than anything from a flower shop. Seth says his are the best because, being sticks, they will never whither nor die.

If you can believe it, I'm so white noise dependent that I actually brought a portable fan with me to turn on at night so I could get to sleep. Unfortunately, it isn't the fan I ordinarily use at home so I didn't know until bed time last night that it rattles when it's running. Also, it only had two speeds and even the low seemed high to me. Between the rattling and the high fan speed, it was immediately apparent it wasn't going to help anyone sleep and likely might keep our neighbors awake. Surprisingly, I fell asleep and slept relatively well. I awoke during the night to the sound of the rain tapping down against the metal pans on the roof. I found it comforting. I am probably much more aware of the metal roofs here than anyone else. I cannot look at them without thinking of Dana. For years, Frost Valley has only meant one thing to me - a faraway place in which Dana works on roofs. In fact, I promised to take lots of photographs of his roofs if he would be so kin...

A mattress pad doesn't cost much, but I honestly thought for a few minutes after we bought the new mattress whether or not I really needed this. I knew that I did need one, but I tossed it around in my head before I bought one. It's such a boring way to spend money. You can't see it. It doesn't actually do anything. Nothing fun, anyway...I thought of all of the cups of coffee I could buy if I didn't buy the mattress pad. Last night, something was up with Lil. Even though she's mostly verbal now, she tends to regress in moments of anxiety which makes it even more difficult because she really needs something but you can't quite figure out what that something might be. This was the case tonight. She was whimpering and whining quite a bit more than usual and I kept reminding her to use words but that wasn't helping. I was desperate to understand her. She kept touching her tongue and poking at her teeth. It was a lot like playing charades. I thought perhaps...

stupid html tables!

I had enough of trying to buy mattresses online. It was impossible. The only distinguishable difference seemed to be the price tag. Today was the day we would go in person to test out the mattresses. I felt a bit guilty because I knew unless someone offered me an amazing deal, there was no way I was actually going to buy the mattress at the physical store. I really only wanted to determine what was comfortable and then apply that knowledge to an online purchase where I knew I could get a better deal and in which all of the shipping would be thought-free for me. Of course, we were accosted the moment we walked into Sleepy's. There were 5 sales people - 4 men and 1 woman - in the store altogether and not a customer in sight. We were obviously the next victims. I think they sicced the newest one on us because we came in with a million kids. Who in their right mind would spend a lot of money on a mattress with a million kids? I felt guilty because I knew I was wasting their time. At th...

Liam slept in this morning; he didn't wake up until nearly 6:30. By this time, our pillows had been confiscated by the interloping children who were all sleeping horizontally instead of vertically, leaving little room for either Dana or me. I was only half asleep when Liam leaned over and kissed my head. Then he flopped his head back down on the pillow, smiling, his fuzzy hair frizzy from sleep. I was peeking at him, my eyes half open. Perhaps he'd go back to sleep? Liam sat up again and kissed me again with his sloppy drool mouth. Then he flopped back on the pillow again. It was cute. I heard the hall creek in the way it does when Grandpa Bob is wandering in it. It's funny how when you have lived with someone for awhile, you learn to know the sound their steps make. Dana and Lily were sound asleep still. Liam was ready to go. I can't think of anything sexier than when someone lets me sleep in...the only thing that comes close is watching men vacuum. That is very sexy....