When Daddy's Away: Two Vignettes

"Awwww, why are we having a normal dinner? When you go away, Mama, Daddy makes us special dinners. Hot dogs!"

"That's because I don't like hot dogs much, so Daddy serves them when I'm not around."

"So?!? Serve a special dinner that Daddy doesn't like, since he's not home."

"Daddy doesn't like fish."

"Thanks for making us pasta, Mama!"

===============================================

"You need to finish the bottom four questions on your homework and then I'll quiz you on your spelling."

"I never do the bottom four. Daddy doesn't make me."

"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure he'll ask you to do them from now on."

"No, I mean I never do them and he doesn't check!"

"Oh! He doesn't check because he trusts that you do all your homework. He'll be disappointed to learn that you need to be checked all the time."

"Mama! Just don't tell him! Why do you check? I don't want to do it! AND WE DON'T NEED TO WORK ON SPELLING. I CAN SPELL ALL THE WORDS."

"Fine, spell 'Indiana'."

"I-N-D-(pause)-... I-N-D-A-N-A."

"Missouri."

"M-I-S-U-R-I-E"

"Maryland."

"M-A-R-R-Y-L-A-N-D"

"Louisiana."

"L-O-I-S-I-E-A-N-A"

"Illinois."

"I-L-L-O-N-I-S"

"Sit. For the record? You're right. You sure can spell all the words...you just can't spell any of them correctly."

"WHEN will Daddy be home?"

"Tomorrow. You can mangle the other 45 states for him then."

===============================================

Perfect Weekend

I would never hope for better weather than we had this weekend - it was absolutely perfect! Sunny and just hot during the day, cool in the evenings but nothing you'd shiver in without a jacket.

On Saturday, Ross put new batteries in the old talkie-walkie set and then went adventuring with a friend. They discovered full communication between their houses using the talkie-walkies, so Sunday morning I woke to find Ross idly chatting with his friend via radio while playing xBox in their underwear (each in their respective houses). If you're planning to appear at my house on a non-school morning, consider yourself duly warned.

Lars spent Saturday morning asking when it would be time to go to his friend's birthday party and Saturday afternoon at the party. He had a fabulous time! The party was carnival themed and full of water balloons, games of chance with candy prizes, a bounce house, and a great climbing gym. The whole class had been invited and I couldn't help thinking how lucky the hosts were to have backyard weather for the festivities!

After Ross had gotten dressed and Lars had been adequately sugared up, we all piled in the car and headed for Chéz Stoll for an evening of great food and RockBand. I honestly can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday night and I hope we get to repeat it often (or at least enough for me to figure out how to use that damned blue fret button).

On Sunday, the kids played outside with friends from the neighborhood and called in a few spares. Chris and I cleaned a couple of bathrooms and made a big pot of chili in preparation for an invasion of overnight guests, including a pile of cousins and a friend from college.

Chris made breakfast for the army this morning, a great start with pancakes, eggs, fruit and good coffee, before we all split off on separate journeys to the elementary school, DC, SC, NYC, and Edison. An extra car in our driveway is the only sign of last night's festivities and our house seems so quiet with only us in it!

Take Your Child To Work Day

The fourth Thursday in April is National Take Your Child To Work Day, a program aimed at giving kids a chance to see how what they learn in school might be applied in the real world someday. For TYCTWD today, Lars ventured into the city with me to get a look at exactly what it is that I do when I'm not at home.

In an effort to make the day as authentic as possible, we started the day with a stop at Starbucks before the train. Then, in an effort to make the day as exciting as possible, I got rear-ended at a stoplight on the way to the train. Thankfully, my effort was pretty much used up by then, so the rest of the day was just fine.

Lars and I went to my office first, where he was introduced all around, did two small project take-offs and was scheduled to help in marketing after lunch. Then, I showed him a simple product kit and we took it to demonstrate to two specifiers - getting in a subway trip and a taxi ride for flavor. The second specifier's office was also participating in TYCTWD, so we had a business lunch out with all the Junior Associates. After lunch, per schedule, Lars helped our marketing department prepare for a two-day seminar (they were actually glad for extra hands, since most of the print materials for the inservice just showed up today!) and then we capped the day by attending the seminar's cocktail hour kickoff where Lars was lauded for his help and also enjoyed a lovely light dinner.

The biggest shock of the day for Lars, I think, was the discovery that I only play my DSi on the train. He seemed affronted by the lack of recess-like breaks and slightly confused when he learned, after some petitioning, that not everyone in my office has a DS and/or a World of Warcraft account. He clearly wondered just how they manage to live but was polite enough not to voice it.

Lars was also a bit surprised that we didn't see his classmate, who'd gone to work with his father in NYC today. "They are In The City, Mama. So are we!" As if we would, of course, run into everyone who was In The City. Don't you? Thinking I might try to fix something up last minute, I asked Lars where the other child's father worked. Lars gave a very tiny, exasperated pose, glanced to the sky and said, "Mama, I just told you - he works in New York." Well, there's always next year...

Post-season Haircut

With hockey season behind him, Ross declared he no longer needed helmet hair and asked if I'd cut it off. Behold, before:











It is cool to stick your tongue out in photos these days.

And after:











Unfortunately, the '80s skater haircut only lasted one day. Ross asked me to cut it all off when he got home from school - he was a little annoyed that nobody had noticed his haircut and a little annoyed by the bangs in his face. Too bad - I thought it was really cute!

That Was Just The Kick-in-the-Pants I Needed, Thanks.

What, Amelia? It's been how many months since I posted? Who?

*vigorous head shake*

Really? Wow.

Sooooo...what's been going on since I dropped off the writing side of the planet back in, oh, November? A lot. There are a myriad of reasons why I stopped blogging for the while - computer problems, hockey season, winter blues, overwork, guilt (I never did post the "TA-DA" pictures or video of our new kitchen...or the pics from holidays or birthdays), holidays, birthdays, coping with a kid who doesn't see a need for school or homework (no idea where THAT comes from...*innocent fidget*), and on top of all this, I took a new job. It's a great new job, to be sure, but it has me out of the house more often on a daily basis and I've also had to travel quite a bit for it recently. Good news, though, as I will be able to work from home more often once I'm settled in and travel is only an occasional duty.

With all this going on at once, blogging was forgotten. I've been reading other people's blogs when I can, although I haven't been commenting much and have missed the fun of following comment conversations. I did feel small pangs of guilt each time I'd read someone else's, "I'm going to stop blogging for a while," post, thinking perhaps I should put up my own...but sitting down to write an "I'm going to stop writing," post seemed silly, especially after a few months had gone by - if you all hadn't figured out I was on break, my telling you wasn't going to help.

Things are evening out and I'd like to start posting again. I'm settling in to my new job, the house is not a complete disaster, we have established a sort of framework for the summer, the cats are getting along, we've pretty much recovered from the kitchen renovation.

I'll leave you, for now, with a pictorial highlight from March. This is just about as happy as my family gets:

A Little Haircut

Lars, before. The pictures are as clear as pictures of a kinetic eight-year-old can be - these are the best of about 40 attempts:


Lars, after. He stood the stillest while holding the cat:


The tongue thing is his own idea. He was trying to get Kippah to do it, too, but she wouldn't cooperate.

Merry Christmas!

When we started the kitchen, we knew it would limit what we could do this year for Christmas. Then the economy started it's abysmal decline and we found ourselves not alone in planning a smaller-scale celebration. I had a few worries that the kids would question the differences this year but I shouldn't have stressed - the boys are delighted with all we've done so far and were beside themselves with excitement about opening presents. Santa brought the REAL basketball hoop the boys have been after and a Star Wars game for DS to share, too. Some new Webkinz have joined our menagerie and Chris is industriously helping assemble the new Lego kit.

Chris and I exchanged repeat gifts this year. I gave him the title to the car he got four years ago (paid off early!), a gift certificate to get it hand-detailed so it'll be like new again and a new travel mug - stainless steel so he can't break it this time. He had loose stones in my engagement ring and a pendant he gave me when we were in college reset and got me a GPS so I can stop getting lost trying to find hockey rinks. He also got me the soundtrack to Dr. Horrible and there's a hint that the DVD will be here for Christmas Round 2 with Momo & Opa later this week!

We're all camped in the living room, with STNG reruns on SciFi (we're taping A Christmas Story for later). I'm enjoying my new laptop desk from the boys, Ross is eating a pear, Chris has made popcorn, Lars is running the new DS game. Later, we'll put the basketball hoop together and have tacos for dinner. Not exactly traditional but it's what the boys wanted (we'll have our formal dinner when MoPa are here) and our plan for today is to hang out with each other. I hope all your Christmases are as merry!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I celebrated my birthday on Tuesday - the first numbered year that's actually given me pause - I can't possibly be this old, can I? The feeling shook off quickly though and I enjoyed the rest of my day, including some wonderful presents.

We had the backsplash tile installed in the kitchen! It looks even better than I'd hoped it would and makes me very happy to see.

Chris got me a new pair of my favorite slippers - a perfect gift for the time of year and very much appreciated since my last pair were being held together with DigiComp tape.

Lars gave me a Brown Cow Webkinz. I'm planning to name her How Now.

Ross was going to give me his first school choral concert but he wound up staying home sick from school. I got hugs instead and a wonderful feeling of relief when his fever broke and he stopped puking.

My mom knitted a beautiful hat and scarf for me. I wore the scarf today and got several compliments!

My in-laws sent a perfect bracelet with hammered silver links and a bit of olive jade that will go very nicely with a lot of my wardrobe.

My best friend called and we got to spend an hour chatting away with minimal distractions, something we get three times a year - my birthday, her birthday, and WTHS. (WTHS. *longing sigh*)

Chris also ordered a raspberry tart from Wegmans and I enjoyed opening cards from far-flung friends and family. All in all, a very good day in spite of that pesky number, which must be wrong.

Breaking In The Kitchen

Chris set up the automatic coffeemaker, so we'd have fresh coffee awaiting us for our first morning in the new kitchen. The house smelled wonderful when we woke up! I marvelled at how funny my brain was, thinking that coffee from the same pot could smell so much better in the new room, especially when the coffeemaker is much farther from the stairs than it used to be. Then, I heard the startled gasp Chris made as he hit the kitchen and I flew downstairs. It turned out that Chris had celebrated the return of the dishwasher by washing the coffeepot...and then forgot to put the pot in the coffeemaker. We had eight cups of coffee all over the counter and about two tablespoons of coffee on the floor. Only two tablespoons hit the floor! Our new counters are LEVEL, baby.

A day or two later, I accidentally tested an oven rack with my finger while stirring dinner. I have a great blister to prove that the new oven gets REALLY HOT.

Yesterday, I dropped one of a pair of small china vases while unwrapping things to restore the china cupboard. It hit the porcelain tile and converted into shards. If I hadn't wrapped it with its' mate, I might never have deduced what all those tiny pieces had once been. Boy, oh boy, there is no give to porcelain tile. Gardiner told me that and he is absolutely right. Tonight, Chris shattered a jar of sesame seeds. That new floor has been vacuumed almost more often in the first two weeks than the last floor was in four years! Maye when we drop some jelly, we'll mop.

I'd say we're doing a pretty good job with breaking in the kitchen...good thing we're also getting some great food out of it, too!

Tournament Wrap-up

Seven games in two days; one amazing win, six hard-fought losses. Our kids, defeated in the first moments after the game, are joyful now - playing knee hockey in the hotel hallway with their friends. A lot of our families are staying tonight to let the kids celebrate being together and detox in the pool. The parents are already swapping stories from the games and reliving great moments, of which there were many. We'll remember having a great time at this tournament - a memory win, game scores and all.

What's More, There's A Floor

And so it was that the tile guys came to lay the floor on Thursday, while I was in the City and Chris ran around with the kids, who were off school because it's November. We'd left instructions for the floor tiles to be set randomly but when I came home, I found them carefully arranged in a checkerboard - not exactly what I'd had in mind when we discussed random placement! I blinked several times and asked Chris if I was being difficult but he agreed, the tiles did, in fact, look like a checkerboard.

I immediately messaged our project manager, to ask if they could be rearranged. No, he said, by morning they will have set up; prying the tiles off the cement would probably crack them. He said there was a chance they could be pried up right away, washed and left until morning...so Chris and I went in. We managed to rearrange enough tiles to take away the checkerboard feeling without damaging any and the guys showed up to install the grout this afternoon. By Monday, we'll have a real floor! Week 8 pics in my Flickr.

Kitchen Update - Week 8

Late this afternoon, we heard heavy footsteps on the back deck heralding the arrival of boxes of floor tile which will be installed tomorrow! They'll grout on Friday and it will cure over the weekend. Counters are expected Monday and everything can finish in a hurry, once the counters are installed.

We are, finally, at the edge of our tolerance for microwave and toaster oven meals. I've worked an additional take-out meal into our weeks, hoping to reach the new kitchen without snapping completely, and am trying not to count the hours until we'll have a real kitchen again.

Floor tomorrow!

November: A Month of Many, Many, Posts

I've never been tempted to participate in NaBloPoMo. I write this blog for my own amusement and to give far-away family and friends a peek at our actions. While it feels as if I've always got something to blog about, there are days when I just don't feel like doing it. Since writing when I don't feel like it takes all the fun away, forcing myself to do it would probably result in uninspired posts. So, to spare you all the boredom of posts lacking inspiration, I am not participating in the month-long effort this year, either. I am, however, going to contribute to the Worst. Mama. Ever NaBloPoMo effort (I'm Thursdays). If you don't find a new post here on a day, you might click through to support Joy of Joy in Chaos and Heather at Screw Perfection who are giving it a go.

Chris and I are going to a get-to-know-you dinner with the Squirt B parents tonight. Rob agreed to come down and stay with the kids while we go, proving either that moving to NJ really was a sign of increased dementia or that he was still drunk from Vegas when I asked.

Spookfest 2008

Halloween here follows a loose pattern, speckled with rituals from which none of us will deviate without a fight:

• Momo makes the kids' costumes. They arrive a week or two before the event and there is huge celebration and a lot of trying on and wearing the outfits to practice because we all know a person just can't put on, say, a ninja outfit and suddenly BE a ninja...ninjas must be secretive and highly trained.

• Chris and I always go up for the Halloween Parade at school. While there, we cement plans with other parents about where and when to meet up later since we know there won't be any chance of talking at the bus stop because the kids will all be psychotic.

• Dinner is always Messy Mac & Peas (translation: frozen mac & cheese with frozen peas, both of which require minimal involvement to prepare. If we happen to eat this for dinner in March, it is still called 'Halloween Dinner'). While dinner is making, I roast pumpkin seeds to snack on. Ross is very fond of hot, crunchy, salty pumpkin seeds - he doesn't need the pumpkin carved into any shapes (although that's fun, too).
• Lars always asks for his face to be painted but gets impatient and only has a little makeup put on. Ross always stands still longer, dictating more impressive scars be added here, better gashes there. He always starts off very smug about his better paint job but gets his comeuppance when it takes four times as long to wash the stuff off his face than it takes to clean up Lars.
• The Dads take the kids around and the Moms hand out candy. Because our 'hood involves a lot of walking and the kids are all still pretty young, the Dads usually have a fleet of wagons (one of which is a beer cooler, atop which one kid can ride...) and the Moms often consolidate their efforts on porches here and there, to maximize social time and lessen the acreage the Dads have to cover.
• As the hordes lessen and the children begin to drag, friends gather to wind down and share stories from the evening before heading to their own houses where candy will be admired and sorted.

These are the things we do every year, things that define Halloween here, things the kids talk about sporadically throughout the year as they dream fondly of the next October.

This year, though, we did some stuff off the plan:

• Ross got invited to trick-or-treat with friends in a nearby neighborhood, so he cooked up a plan to go out early in our road and then have me drive him over to be with his friends. In this way, he managed to canvas two neighborhoods and now has enough candy to fuel his hockey team for a week.
• We did not carve the pumpkin. The thought of attempting to wash the seeds without a colander in a sink that barely fits a coffee mug was just too daunting and besides, I don't have an oven to roast them in, unless I'm prepared to do tiny batches in the toaster oven (which I was apparently not). Also, it's amusing to watch the kitten try to figure the pumpkin out.

It felt a little odd not to have a jack-o-lantern out and I missed both the pumpkin seeds and Ross in the evening but everyone had a great time...and that's really what Halloween is all about.

Three Things About Today

1. I won a Scribbit giveaway! Michelle Mitchell writes about motherhood in Alaska at Scribbit and often hosts giveaways. Last week's was for a set of personalized cards from karen cole PAPER, a shop with some totally adorable graphics for notecards, announcements, or invitations. It took me a few turns at browsing the site before I settled on a set of notecards with this cute, pink & green dress graphic.



2. It snowed. About two inches landed, looked pretty for a while, and then turned to slush. The weird thing is that it's been in the 40's all day - chilly but not really cold enough to snow. I popped up the local school closing advisory sites and waited for a call but the district surprised me and kept the kids all day, in spite of the snow.



3. I am historically good at growing mold. Chris was impressed early on by my vast display of colors and textures but it's been my ability to grow mold on things he didn't know would mold that has kept his attention all these years. I fondly remember the first time he saw mold on coffee...the look of horror on my own face when I found some on chocolate...and - Mom - remember the vibrant greens and blues from that bologna sandwich from my desk in third grade? This morning, we discovered I've outdone myself in this arena yet again - I grew a very pretty white mold on hard-boiled eggs. Kind of looks like snow, doesn't it?

Weekend Update

Halloween news: Costumes are here! Both boys (and just about every other kid on our road) decided to be ninjas this year - a challenge Momo met with flair. Ross solemnly accepted the box from our mail carrier on Saturday, transporting it with reverence to the house where he and Lars attacked it with scissors. If I hadn't been choking between equally forceful desires to yell "STOP! YOU'LL CUT THE COSTUMES" and "WAIT! YOU'LL STAB YOUR BROTHER", I probably would have laughed. Luckily, nothing was cut, nobody was hurt, and everyone is excited about the fabulous ninja outfits.

Hockey news: Lars passed for two assists this morning! He also had a great shot on net from the point but it was stopped by the goalie. Ross shut everything down again, keeping the puck out of his net and helping his team win both games this weekend. We celebrated with dinner and ice cream out on the way home.

Kitchen news: Tile choice #3, different size tiles (bigger, we'll have them installed in a different pattern), different style (not tumbled), but still multi-colored slate. We think it will look great and we hope this place can deliver in the 7-10 days they say. We'll know for sure tomorrow, when they call to confirm. All crossed fingers appreciated!

Grrrr...

Tile place #2 called, cheerfully, to confirm our order and say they can ship for delivery in January. We will be sourcing tile place #3 tomorrow.

Week 6 Overslept

When last we met, the countertops had been templated, tile had been picked, and I was revved up for the finish of the kitchen renovation project! Then, we hit some snags.

After clearing the tile choice and installation plan with our contractor Friday and then spending Saturday ferrying the kids around to hockey and friends' houses, we went to buy the tile on Sunday. Problem - the tile we'd picked on Friday was no longer available as the company had gone out of business. I suppose it's good that we hadn't placed the order on Friday but it was annoying. We did find a very close substitute, though, and got it on order right away. It's doubtful that our PO will sustain a company but hopefully this one will stay solvent long enough to ship our tiles!

On Monday, we got shocking information about the cost of changing the color of our countertops. After a bit of hyperventilating, I did some research and sent counter information to our contractor, who did some research of his own and found that my hyperventilation was well-founded. It took a day and a half but we now have a reasonable change order. Also, it seems that despite the fabricator telling me it wasn't possible, a coved backsplash CAN be done in a kitchen and I will have one.

The electrician came over today and we sorted out the cabinet lighting so, despite the sleepy start to this week, a bit of forward progress has been made. Sadly, though, nothing to take pictures of.

We're Getting Close!

With the selection of these tumbled slate tiles to finish the counter backsplash and go behind the stove, we are all done choosing things for the kitchen! Everything is either here or on order; we're just waiting now for it all to be assembled and installed. I hope my patience holds out...

I've been having a hard time getting to sleep at night - I keep stopping in the kitchen on my way up to bed and, before I know it, I've spent a good half-hour planning where the dishes will go and imagining coming home from the grocery with different foods to put away or how the making dinner dance will go (pots here, spices there, food prep on this counter -ooh! a choice of counters!- etc...). I wonder how long it will take me to stop being excited about this kitchen?

Counter Templates and Box Fort City

They said the cabinets would be ready for counter templates to be done on Wednesday and, sure enough, the fabricator showed up early today. The contractors got the counter-relevant appliances into the kitchen, so the template could be fitted, so I got a peek at the new stove - six glorious burners and an oven large enough to easily fit a disobedient child!

Neither the wine fridge nor the cow made any difference to how the counters will be made, so I have to be happy with my imagination for now. Lars is happy to help me imagine every time he can sneak into the kitchen. I think he will be very disappointed when the actual appliances are filling their holes! I made baked ravioli in the toaster oven today, peeking in at my new stove now and then and wondering what we'll make for our First Meal In The New Kitchen.

Also, as I cooked, I watched the neighborhood kid-gang collect in our yard. Did you know that children are magnetically attracted to cardboard boxes? The more boxes you have, the more children will come. For those of you without a mountain of new kitchen boxes, I've recently discovered that Home Depot sells cardboard cartons for not much money. You, too, can get hours of barely supervised fun for a modest sum (and without weeks of contractors tromping around or making all your meals in a toaster oven).

It's fun to see how many different pretendings can happen at once. In this shot, the little girl is adding a turret to her castle, the little boy is defending base from aliens and Lars is sitting in the penalty box. He sat his first penalty ever last weekend and I gather he was not mentally prepared...so now he's practicing in case there's a next time!