not-so-sticky

"Daddy! Look! Someone took the ice cube!" Lil stared despondently into her purple cup as Seth began to snigger. "Ha! No, Lily, it melted..." "It melted ?"

The ride that once took you to the future now takes you to the past. I can't do this one anymore, though the Starship 2000, known in ancient times as the "Gravitron", was once my favorite ride. I could go on this over and over again, without feeling ill. I was proud of this. It had been such a mysterious ride. What would happen to you inside of there...? I'm firmly planting my feet in 2008. Since I value my life and these traveling rides are now antiques, I don't think I'm too disappointed about this.

I was tidying up the kitchen this morning when I felt Dad standing behind me. You would think I'd be used to this by now but I still find it a bit unsettling. Logistically, it's a challenge because I'm often running around the house between chores. Many times when I turn, I actually run into him physically. I know how much better it makes him to follow me around so I try not to get agitated with it. "Hello. I am standing right behind you. I am here," Dad announced. "And I am here!" "I just wanted you to know that," he continued. I laughed, "...Um, O.K., Dad. Thanks!" "I wanted to let you know that I'll be in this perimeter all day today." I knew I was in for a long day!

Less than a week ago, April 19, was my little sister's birthday. If she were still alive, she would have turned 25 this year. This is hard for me to wrap my head around because in my head, she's still this silly teenager. I can still see her sitting with her back to me, facing my computer, with her head phones blasting. She didn't know I had entered the room and was loudly singing in this god-awful voice that horrible "Genie in a Bottle" song. I couldn't stop laughing. Sometimes I 'google' her name to see if I can find someone who may have known her, someone who might be able to put some puzzle pieces together for me. I know that must sound ridiculous but there seems to be answer for everything else on the internet. What surprised me is that instead of finding someone who knew her, I found her directly - something silly and light-hearted she had written in a guest book as a teenager. The Geocities site didn't look active. I wondered how long I woul...

Lilith always manages to find a reason to get out of bed. Sometimes she simply wants Dana or me to pick her up like a baby and carry her back over to bed. She smiles blissfully as we tuck her in "nice and cozy"...again... Other nights, it's not so easy. Occasionally, she demands a snack - a bad habit she has picked up from her bad parents. Night time kitchen snacking has really become a nightly social event in our house. Dana, Seth, Lily and I often gather after retiring to bed about a half hour later to get a drink or a snack. Although the gathering part is always fun, it's just not a good idea to snack and then sleep. Sometimes, Lily feels compelled to get out of bed to brush her teeth again. It's hard to argue with that. I mean, what parent forbids a child from tooth brushing? Another excuse that a parent shouldn't ignore, even if there is suspicion that the excuse is bogus, is when your child expresses a need to go 'pee-pee'. This was Lily's cr...

While Dana and I were wrangling kids into the shower, Dad was sitting downstairs in the living room watching the news. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I only recently learned of the BBC America news channel. I've been subjecting dear old Dad to CNN for such a miserably long time. It may have irreparably harmed all of us in a subtle, unnoticeable yet mind-confusing, brain-washing way. I think there may be some immediate proof of this after an episode we had tonight. Dad often stands at the bottom of the staircase, waiting for someone to come out and see him. Most of the time he'll yell up, " Hello! I am here !" " And I am here !" I'll reply. This seems to make him feel better to run through this routine every so often throughout the day. It grounds us some place in reality; we grab it for just a moment. I have to beg Lily to please get out of the shower. She's very stubborn and so nonchalant about her belligerence that I sometimes find her ...

Aiming for 6:45 yoga, Kyrce and I woke up this morning at 7:20. I was originally planning on an entire day of nothing but yoga but Kyrce was going to Tai Chi at Geyer Hall. Since I've never done Tai Chi before and it seems like a sedate activity like yoga, I thought I would give it a try. Geyer Hall was the one I had been looking for the day before when I was lost. Kyrce took me out the back door of the dining lodge. I didn't even know there was a back door to the dining lodge. This is unfortunate because had I known the day before, I could have spared myself a long journey around the dining lodge only to get lost near the back of the dining hall and not realize I was at the back of the dining hall. Remember the big building I got lost behind that wasn't labeled? Well. That was the dining hall. I actually had been going in the right direction when I started questioning myself because it had seemed to be such a long walk - only it really hadn't been - it just seemed tha...

Choosing appropriate activities, given our broad range of household occupants, can be a somewhat arduous task. The activity has to be appealing yet not too high maintenance nor too expensive. Going out to eat as well as going to see a movie is pretty much out due to both the noise and the economic factor. While Spring is here, at last, it's still a bit too mucky and chilly to drag everyone through. Liam has no concept of avoiding mud and Lily actually targets it. The park is also a bit of a drag for Seth; it doesn't hold the same appeal it once did for him. He is functioning at a higher level than the rest of our family. Bowling seemed relatively harmless in comparison to some of our other options and it was one we could all participate in. Even Seth likes it! Plus Andrea and Andrew were coming with us, so we had extra hands on deck to help tend to the little people as well as dear old Dad. We needed two cars to transport all of us to Hoe Bowl on the Hill . We pulled out of the...

I'm not Christian and nor was my family growing up, but we always observed Easter. 'Observation' might not be the right word. Really, it served as an excuse to eat a big dinner and celebrate the coming of pastel-colored candy. Being that we didn't go to church on any Sunday, let alone Easter Sunday, I never quite grasped the concept of 'Easter' clothes. Attire on Easter Sunday didn't differ from any other day of the year. It was just one of the days of the year that we ate a whole lot of food. Seth as the Easter Bunny...Easter 2007 Easter, to me, didn't have a 'Christian' meaning. I had no concept of Easter having a meaning at all. This is sad. Even though I'm not a Christian, I think it's important that my children understand that there is meaning behind Easter (and other holidays) so that they aren't equating Easter with Peeps . Of course, I still want my children to grow up with holidays to which they can look forward to celebrat...

Our mattress was scheduled to be delivered between 12 and 4 p.m. It arrived at 12:04 PM - just in time for an afternoon nap. Have you ever noticed how delivery men either show up at the very beginning or at the very end of the range - never in the middle? I was glad to be at the beginning, but I've more than not been on the other end. The worst for untimely visits is Mid-Hudson Time Warner Cable. Without fail, they show a half hour after the window has closed and are generally obnoxious. I even had a Time Warner contractor hit on me once in my own home...and I was five months pregnant... The delivery men gone, I ripped off the plastic and flopped on the mattress. Lily gave it a try, too, and jumped in the air a number of times, landing on her bottom triumphantly. I love it. That's about all I could think as I drifted off to sleep. I am in love with my mattress.

I refuse to be a slave to telephone. The telephone exists as a convenience to me. I can call someone if the need arises. But just because the phone is ringing does not mean that I have to answer it. These are the precepts I want to practice at all times. Some of you know that Dana likes to call me until I answer my cell phone, and generally, I give in and answer it at some point. He's alway leaving me these voice mails that go something like, "I don't know why the hell you have a cell phone if you never answer it! What's the point of having it if it's not turned on!?" Barbara used to feel this same way about my father. My Dad didn't want to scratch his cell phone. So, to preserve its longevity, he wrapped it up in an old white tube sock with a rubber band around it. It was difficult to reach him because of this. Inevitably, calling Dad on his cell always meant calling his voice mail. I wonder now if this was genius excuse Dad developed to keep from being e...

What follows here is a conversation I had with Dad this morning. I think I may send it in as an idea for a commercial - but I'm not sure if I should send it to Guinness or to Raisin Bran . Commercial Idea #1: 'Best served chilled' featuring Bob. Alex wanders into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee with her eyes half open. Bob follows her in the hopes she'll feed him. Alex: "Would you like a bowl of Raisin Bran?" Bob: (clapping his hands together in front of his chest) "Would I? You mean, you got some of that?" Alex: (pouring coffee) "Yeah." Bob: (eyebrow raised) "Well, if you have it, where is it then?" Alex: "It's in the pantry." Bob: (suspicious) "In the pantry!... Are you kidding me?" Alex walks over to the pantry, slurping coffee on the way. With her right hand, she reaches in and pulls out a box of Raisin Bran. Bob: "Wow! Great! I can't believe you have this supply of Raisin Bran in ...

Lily's discovery of the chocolate in Seth's room led me to my own discovery. First of all, Seth had never put his Christmas stocking into the attic when we put away the rest of the Christmas decorations. This was the first of many violations. I scanned the room to see if mischievous hands had broken into anything else. I found that it was difficult to tell if anything had been manhandled. This was because there did not appear to be any order to this room. Truly the black hole that is Seth's closet is growing in mass and expanding its chaos to take over the entire room. Of further interest was the randomness of the disorder. It was as if the disorder itself was planned. It seemed too disorderly to not be concocted. Dana began to laugh, "and Seth told me he brought all of the cups out of his room!" Sometimes there is a shortage of cups in the kitchen cabinet. Most often these cups can be found in Seth's room. I could easily see how Seth could miss some of these ...

We were gathered at the dinner table this evening, minus one. Lily was attending a birthday party with Auntie Em . Around the table we sat - Liam, Grandpa Bob, Seth, Dana and me - enjoying the dinner Dana had prepared for us. Happily for me, Dana tends to most of the meal cooking in our home. It was then I noticed something eerie. Something not quite right. The house was unusually quiet. The house seemed still. The volume of ambient noise in our house had dropped from its normally high decibel level. Now what do you think could be the cause of that? :)

This morning Liam and I let Lily and Dana sleep in...not there is much sleeping in involved in 'sleeping in'... Generally, sleeping in as defined by our household means that you get to sleep until 7 instead of 5:30. Liam and I came downstairs this morning, where we were greeted with my Dad standing at the bottom of the staircase. Nothing unusual about that. Dad generally ends up sitting in the living room half way through the night. I suspect he leaves his bedroom to go to the bathroom, and just can't find his way back to his bedroom. Anytime he hears someone coming down the staircase, he jumps up from his spot on the couch to see who it is. This used to be unsettling to me when he first moved in with us because I would not be expecting him to be sitting there by himself in the dark. In my half conscious state to fetch a bottle from the fridge, he would often scare the hell out of me by emerging from the living room just as I was passing by. Of course, this was less unsettl...