Never throw anything away

Saddest cute thing happened at work today.

First, we've had this bottle of vegetable oil lingering around our supplies.  No one knows where it came from. We finally decided we'd throw it out at the end of the school day.

Also, while the Middle Schoolers are my responsibility, things come up during the day and we all pitch in no matter our original assignments.

Mid morning, a teacher brings in the sweetest little kindergarten boy who wasn't feeling so hot.  So we had him lay down in our "sick child" area with a pillow and blanket.  This space is right next to the cart full of outdoor toys and other recess equipment.

When his teacher comes to check on him, he sheepishly and tearfully shows us his problem.  He has fingers from BOTH HANDS wedged tight into a whiffle ball!

Those tiny digits were swollen and painful.

I took one look and said "Where's that vegetable oil!".

We parked him over the garbage can and poured about 1 cup of the grease over his hands, mine, and the ball. While big fat tears rolled down his face I tugged those tiny fingers from their plastic prison.

Right then we declared "We are NOT throwing out the vegetable oil!"

A beautiful concert

Twin #1 sings in the High School choir, and they performed their winter concert last night. It was so amazingly beautiful.

First off, they hold the service at Skinner Chapel at Carleton College which lends an Old World air to the service. Photo at left.

Second, the High School choral director is quite a talented young man and makes the most professional choices, and works with this group like they are a college choir. He perfectly showcases all that talent. They sang "My Dancing Day" and "Sussex Carol" and a modern poem rewritten in Latin. Most of it acapella. I'm a huge fan of choral music, and this was a real treat.

Twin #2 also has a lovely voice, but she wanted to take a break from choir. After the Fall concert, she realized this was not a good decision but can't get back into the program until next Fall. Oh, if only they'd listen to their mother!

Merry Christmas!!!

Wall-E was good!

Took the youngest to see Disney's newest feature last night - it was surprisingly good!! Lots of social commentary - even had my 9-year-old considering her habits and America's trends. From the mega-giant entertainment complex that is Disney, I can't believe they let this script go by. Either someone there has a soul, or someone was asleep at the wheel.

Poor little Wall-e is a humanoid trash compactor who lives on in a desolate abandoned trash filled future city that was completely controlled by a large corporation named BnL, short for Buy-n-Large. BnL has sent all remaining humans into orbit where they grow fat and lazy buying evermore BnL products.

This movie was so much better than I expected - excellent adult humor, like when the President tells the obviously dying future citizenry to "stay the course". Again, can't believe this got by the Disney censors. Kids love it too, but I wouldn't take anyone under 8 - there are some sad situations, and certainly the prospect of a trash filled, ecologically mangled earth unable to sustain human life would scare the bejeesus out of younger kids.

Yes, there are cutsey Disney moments but all in all a fabulous movie right down to the Van Gogh styled art in the ending credits. So find a kid to take or just go on your own. I'll watch for your opinion.

Happy Birthday Dear Youngest!

Our youngest turned 9 yesterday! This photo was taken at about 2-years after her older sisters had worked their magic with face paint.

Our tradition on birthdays is to eat out, and for the past 3 years that's always been at Buca de Beppo. We love Buca - the crazy pope statues, the Italian family photos, etc. But what really brings us back is their fried calamari. I'm sure it comes in giant freezer packs and all their kitchen staff do is toss it in the hot oil but we just don't care. We could eat barrels of it.

All week she'd been asking for burgers on the campfire for her birthday. I was all good to go with that plan, even after a very long day at work. Let me tell you, my dogs were barkin! At the last minute she changed her mind and wanted Buca. I almost snapped her in two with my hug. I would have let Dick Cheney cook our food, I was so tired.

So we ate our fill of calamari, and linguine with seafood, and Penne Arabiatta. And finished with another family favorite - the Buca Birthday Cake. It's a giant slice of red velvet cake as big as our toaster oven. It would be hard to choose between the calamari and the cake if forced to pick a winner. All around another great family birthday. The best part? Buca leftovers for supper tonight!

A Good Saturday Visit from MG

Our good friend MG and his partner attended my 14-year-old's volleyball game and we were so pleased! They arrived just in time on Saturday afternoon. We had a longish break between games so MG, Curt, and I headed to the nearby Asian buffet with the completely forgettable name. They had a large buffet with many traditional Asian choices such as red jello, tarter sauce, tiramisu, soft serve ice cream, and creamed spinach. They also had some lovely breaded shrimp, honey glazed chicken, fried rice, and crab legs. For $10 each we were mighty satisfied.
It was great to see them - they are just the best folks and I wish they lived right next door. Mostly so I could shamelessly steal their perennials when they garden, and have my screaming kids throw balls in their yard while they are enjoying their beautiful terrace.

MG blogs very well about creepy Mom's from the other team at the volleyball game. MG was horrified at the things they were saying "You can do it girls, they aren't very quick!" Some parents have big issues with their kids' sports events. The worst woman looked like a mean gym teacher and was wearing a sweatshirt from my Alma Mater, the University of Iowa! Only nice people are from Iowa, and she didn't deserve to wear those colors. She had practical helmet hair and ugly glasses - so THERE!

How Come?

Often, I ponder. . . . .

1. How come the ranch dressing in restaurants tastes so much better than anything I can get at the grocery store?

2. Why does red licorice give me heartburn?

3. Why can't my family see the stuff piled up on the stairs?

4. Why does everything at the Minnesota State Fair cost $20?


5. Why am I always at the 4-way stop with the teenager who doesn't understand 4-way stops?

6. Why do I always ruin every nice shirt with one little spot of olive oil?

7. Why doesn't the government provide grants for kids' sports equipment and fees?

8. How come missing just one freakin day of flossing, and my gums go to pot?

9. Why does everyone eat in the living room, when the rule is NO eating in the living room?

10. How come American actors are drop dead beautiful while British actors are just so-so? For the record, I prefer the British ones - they're funnier.

11. I'm 46, and still have acne and oily skin. At what age, exactly, will I "grow out of it"?

12. When will Spring get here?

My Life as a Sitcom

Ever take a step back and realize your life is like a comedy, but without the laugh track? So I just provide an internal laugh track and chuckle my way through.

1. The CD/Radio in my van is stuck ON. There is no way on God's Green Earth I can turn that sucker off short of ripping it out of the dashboard. And the volume control has gone down too, so it's just loud enough to be annoying but not loud enough to actually HEAR what's being said. And we don't have the money right now to fix or replace it. I've discovered that if I put in a blank CD, at least it's silent.

2. Half of the dashboard lights in the same van have gone down. Think there's a connection? But I can still see most of the speedometer. And we've decided a pen light duct taped to the steering column will do when the whole enchilada breaks. No way will we pay someone to tear out the dashboard for diagnostics on a van with 130,000 miles on it.

3. One of my twins has become like the Tide stain commercial. I'm trying to tell her something and she's interrupting because she's 14 and therefore knows it ALL. Then 3 minutes later she's asking "when are we leaving?", "how do I do this?", and the whirlpool starts again.

4. Today I put in my first contact lens at exactly the same moment an undried soap bubble entered my eye socket. Much cursing ensued.

5. We own three cats, and I'm a dog person. And lately a stray has been hanging around who looks like Mao Tse Tung, so we call him Chairman Mao and the kids hiss at him.

Tempus Fugit

Time certainly flies, doesn't it?

I went to the grocery store today, and as I walked in I saw a Mom with two wee girls in tow. Those little ones were talking a mile a minute and pulling on Mom's coat while she wrestled them into the cart.

And there I was with my lovely long spring coat but no little hands tugging at the seams. My reading glasses were perched on my head so I could read the price labels. I pushed my cart all alone while browsing at my leisure. I held my remarkably small purse that didn't contain one diaper, one sippy cup, nor any pacifiers.

When did I become an old Mom? Yesterday I was taking little ones to preschool, buying wet wipes, and wrestling my own small girls into the grocery cart. Funny thing is I thought those days would never end. I thought I'd never drink an entire cup of hot coffee nor shop leisurely for groceries on my own. But suddenly those days are gone.

Don't get me wrong, there are many aspects of those days that I most certainly will NOT miss. Trying to control a toddler tantrum AND get the fixings for a few meals simultaneously is not something I wish to repeat. And believe me, being able to read the newspaper AND drink an entire cup of coffee is a treat I relish.

I just get wistful for my little girls.

SLAP on the forehead

My kids have the uncanny ability to suck me into activities I just KNOW I'll regret in some way.

Today for instance.

I'm returning to the land of the living after a nasty cold, the sun is shining, and the temps are rather pleasant. My older kids and the 8-year-old BEG me to take them hiking at the Carleton College Arboretum. It's one of my all-time-favorites haunts so I'm happy to oblige.

First we drive north of town to my personal favorite Arb entrance. But alas it's still too icy - about 10 feet in we realized we wouldn't be coming out without a broken wrist or twisted ankle. So we drive back to town to the common entrance with it's nicely paved path. During this entire car trip the kids are fighting over literally everything - dog poop, whether or not the neighbor girl can be called "calm", how to pronounce Arboretum, god help me EVERYTHING! Perhaps I should have driven back home, but such was my mania to get outside and breathe air that wasn't tainted with cold germs and other people's recent exhalations.

The older kids walked well ahead - that's fine - I understand their need to distance themselves from a Mom who dares to wear layers and a HAT for god's sake. I also had on mismatched gloves which just enhanced my eccentric appearance and inflated the embarrassing Mom factor.

The 8-year-old bounded up the path with zeal, and of course stopping every five feet to examine something. I know this form of nature observance has it's merits but I just wanted to MOVE. She pleaded to wander up the earthen paths but I stated "no, it's too muddy, it'll tear up the paths and we don't have waterproof boots on and you'll be miserable" and blah blah blah blather blather blather. She threw caution to the wind and headed up the muddy inclines.

Within 10 minutes can you guess what I was hearing in a miserable whiny voice?
"My boots are muddy!"
"These boots are letting the water in!"
"I'm hungry!" (I offered lunch earlier, she refused)
"My legs are sooooooo tired!"
"If Daddy were here, he'd carry me!"

It was a very, very loooooonnngggg walk back to the car. Somethings just can't be thoroughly enjoyed by adults with kids in tow. And somehow I always forget this, and keep taking them on outings that make me want to drink heavily within an hour. Like our train trip to downtown Minneapolis last summer. But this is what good mothers do, right? RIGHT??!??!?!?!

A Beautiful Spring Day

It was a drop-dead beautiful day here in Minnesota. Temps in the 40s and lots of sunshine. It's weather like this that renews my faith in the Upper Midwest.


The sky was the most incredible blue, with big fluffy cumulus clouds on the eastern horizon about dinner time. We even got a little rain shower, which was downright cute.





The sunlight was streaming in our western facing screened porch, and the girls got the creative idea to pose behind the shades. Twin #2 is determined to be a photographer and I think she's got the eye.






We even made a "summery" meal that just enhanced the mood. We sliced up that big ol turkey and made the most incredible paninis. Mine included provolone cheese, pesto, roasted red peppers, and pepperoncini on plain old whole wheat - grill that sucker up and it was mighty tasty. We were so hungry that they didn't last long enough for a photo.


We also made some incredible salsas. Nothing gets me in the mood for Spring like chopping up a bunch of fresh cilantro. Lots of fresh garlic and green onion in there too, and I paid for it all night but it was well worth it. The salsa on the right is just your usual tomato variety with some chopped pineapple. The concoction on the left is BOOKCLUB BEAN SALSA. If anyone wants the recipe let me know.

Things I May Not Miss

When my children are grown and gone, I know I'll miss so many things - it will be a heartache for sure. But some things, not so much. Older parents out there - set me straight if need be.

1. Hair brushes, hair bands, ponytail holders, and all other hair products in every nook and cranny.
2. Slumber parties
3. "Can I have a playdate over?"
4. Being interrupted in the bathroom every single time
5. Dirty socks, taken off at random and left there
6. Disney Channel & Nickelodeon
7. Constant bickering
8. Kids who play in public restrooms - seriously - if there's foamy soap there it'll take us an extra 5 minutes.
9. Having my office supplies disappear. What is it with girls and tape, highlighters, scissors, and staplers. Don't even get me STARTED on the post-it notes. And it does absolutely NO GOOD to get them their own. They'll always prefer mine.
10. Dishing out cash.
11. "Quit playing with those crutches . . . because you don't NEED to play with those crutches . . . I mean it!! Put them back in the basement . . . RIGHT NOW! . . . DID YOU HEAR ME??! . . . PUT THOSE CRUTCHES BACK RIGHT NOW!!!!"
Repeat 10 times.
12. Candyland & Chutes and Ladders. My Bad Mom admission: when our youngest was 3, I threw them away. When the twins were little, I stacked the Candyland deck with all the double squares and threw out all the single square cards.
13. The end-of-the-year elementary school talent show.