I thought I was done. No more presents, no more shopping. I could go on to plan Christmas dinner. And clean the house. And do the laundry. And get a new couch. Donate the old one. Decorate the house. Plant the dying pansies waiting in the driveway. Call my grand-parents. And my dad. And my mom. And my sister. Wrap the damn presents. And write cards. But no. Nonono. I forgot one. One. And I have to go back to the source of all evil. I'm pretty sure they spawn orcs in that place. Either that or they have a black hole in the middle.
I absolutely refuse to to go to more Emergency Rooms until next year. Note that I'm not asking for too much here. After all, next year is in what? A little more than 2 weeks? After Mr T.'s fracture on the arm it was Miss A's turn this week. She fell from the bars at Gymnastic and fell on her finger. It probably wouldn't have done anything to it if it had not been in an awkward position. But the end result is the same. Or about. One doctor thinks it's broken and the other thinks it's a big sprain. Again the same anyway: her finger is black and blue and puffy from top to bottom. She's got to wear a metal thing to keep it straight while it heals. We have to unwrap the finger and wrap it again every day. Ouch. This can leads to some thoughts on how differently people behave when they are hurt. My son flats out refuses to be cuddled. Well, a little bit maybe but you know, not to the extent that you could tell him that maybe sword play might not be recommended right now. You know. My daughter on the other hand. Dear god. I really think she should enroll in drama. We have gone back to the days of toddler hood people. Now, understandably, it hurts and obviously it is difficult to use the right hand for just about anything right. And so I've been playing the role of Mary Poppins ( who really, I mean, it's just not fair, she just sings and everything goes right; I sing and the cat wants to get out). And that's fine. I was happy to do it. Except. Except. That I think I've been duped. Because when she is wrestling with her brother on the floor she has no problem whatsoever to use her right hand. None. And her brother with the broken arm is flailing about like nothing ever happened. Like a broken arm.
Most people don't think very hard before choosing which side of the bed they sleep on. Seems like a pretty straightforward decision after all.
If you have children, this is a big mistake.
Because when it is Saturday morning ( the first Saturday morning in months that you can sleep in because soccer season is finally over and so there is no game) and it is 7am and one of your children comes in because they went to the bathroom. And they say to the parent closest to the door:
"There is a huge trail of ants going from the front door to the shower in the bathroom."
And you are so so glad that you are not that parent.
I know I said I'd do a post about the rewarding things but that's too funny and I'm afraid I'm going to forget so here it is ( actually it is one of rewarding things of the week anyway ):
This past week was the teacher/parents conference week. That's when every family meets the teacher who is at that time going to give you a report card and talk about the past trimester.
Mister T. and his parents are waiting for their turn at the door. They were actually on time. Nothing short of a miracle. The teacher is late. Huhuhuhu. Laurienna thinks that well, being a supportive parent and all we need to have a discussion about the important event that's about to unfold. Notice that at this time, we should already be in. Mister T. shuffles. He grunts. Then in a very low voice says: " I don't think I'm any good at Algebra." Parents looks at each other. "Well, the grades we have seen seem to indicate that you are actually doing pretty well. Of course the last paper you showed us was, hum, 1 1/2 months ago....?" Mister T. "No, I'm telling you, I make tons of mistakes it's terrible." The parents are still utterly unconcerned. It might seem bizarre maybe but the thing you don't know is that this child has never, never, ever had less than a 3 ( maximum is 4) on a report card. And so far as we have seen ( and we pay attention more than it seems) this year seems to be the same. Laurienna has the final word, something really intelligent, like : " we'll talk to the teacher about it." And in we go. We all settle down after warm greetings. This is the same teacher that mister T. had back in 3rd grade. And we love her. After looking at mister T. with a fondness in her eyes she deploys the report cards. 4,4,4, 3+, 4,4,4. And in other disciplines things like, oh, "outstanding". Parents and teacher are grinning. Mister T. relaxes a notch but I can see that in spite of all 4s in all mathematical areas he is still concerned. I tell the teacher about it. She turns to mister T. astonished and says: " Thomas, you are the top student in the class. You cannot get a 4 in algebra at your age without being actually really good at it!" Then a lengthy discussion follows on the whys and hows he thinks he is not good at it. It turns out it's only really when he is doing his homework that he has difficulties and it frustrates him a lot. How strange. A few days pass. One afternoon, Laurienna is doing laundry and enters the room of mister T. He is doing his homework. Algebra it turns out. He is also watching a music video on You Tube. The sound level would rival the best clubs. He is also talking ( screaming to be heard above the music) to his best buddy on the phone.
I gave him a few hints as to why he might be making mistakes on his algebra. He vigorously denied that any of the above could possibly impair his mathematical thinking and that I was just trying to ruin all the fun in his life.
Hey, so I've been in a foul mood for days and now I know why. I got the stomach flu. Yes, that's why. I heard you muttering in the back row. On the plus side, I've discovered how to shed all these extra pounds from Thanksgiving. I'll keep that in mind for the next few years. Eating half a banana and a spoonful of rice every day for a few days might seem a little severe but there is no question that it worked wonderfully. See, lucky. This is going to be a wonderful holiday season ( see, politically correct blog here. Ahem..), I can just feel it. Lot's of good stuff happened too though. Well, rewarding stuff mostly I should say but I don't have time to tell you anything about it now. Because it's the HOLIDAY SEASON. But no worry, I need an excuse to hide out this evening since my father in law decided to show up. I'm not even going to go into that. But anyway, I'll need an excuse to disappear, right?
The new policy states that all food and beverages that exceed standards for sugar and fat content may not be sold to students during the school day, but can be sold either 30 mns before or after school."
What about idiocy? Still sold in american schools?
Well, I took just a lil vacation here, ahem. We didn't go anywhere but I only used the computer for urgent work stuff and tried to do a lot of stuff that either needed to be done or that I had badly wanted to do for a long time and never took the time to actually do. Like,
- planting a winter vegetable garden for the first time.
- cooking and cooking for Thanksgiving. I don't know how people can eat that much food. But apparently it is possible.
- read a book. Yep, an entire one. - took long walks. In the hope of shedding the 10 pounds gained at Thanksgiving. - went out with a friend and ate a humongous piece of cake with 2 large coffees. I can't button my jeans anymore. - played with my camera. A lot. But I still can't take a decent picture of my jewelry and I don't know why and it's driving me nuts.
- played one of the most fun board game ever with the kids. It's hilarious and you cannot be worried about spending an entire day playing this. Seriously.
This game is based on the equally hilarious comic book:
- decided to make some of the presents for Christmas instead of buying them. - a gazillion trips to the craft store later, decided it was a bad idea. - but i said I would do it so I am. - Christmas is way over rated anyway. Right? - No, it's not. I love Christmas. - maybe everything will be better with a little eggnog. But, then will I still be able to cut straight lines? Need to try.
Kind of. The temperatures during the day are still reaching 83F (27 C.) in the afternoon making it a bit difficult to think about Christmas at all. And yet, I've got to move my butt to be on time to send packages to family in France. I'm trying to enjoy the weather with long walks with my camera. And the kids and the dogs. And now I've lost the thingy that goes on the lens to protect it. I've lost it in the house too. 2 weeks ago...I've even posted a reward, a generous one too. So far they have found my sunglasses that I lost 3 months ago, the little book where I put important phone numbers, lost 1 1/2 month ago and a pair of scissors that I didn't remember having. Do you think they still qualified as a lost/found object if I didn't know they existed?
These last 2 months have been very interesting. I really have a better sense now of human nature in general and my family in particular. It started well enough.
The Good
Mark was on TV because he was refeering a soccer game. I'm going to be in the paper because of the Jewelry Business. This prompted Mark to say: " Watch out Posh and Becks!" Hehe, he is cute.
There was Halloween.
My little sister is now officially qualified to take care of other people's children on top of her own. Congratulations Cilette!
That's it.
The Bad
3 weeks ago my son started to complain about his ankle and calf. Since it wasn't going away we took him to the doctor. It seems that there is a particular muscle there that can become a problem ( meaning it could come back again and again and again). So we gave him anti-inflamatory medication, iced the area after every effort and he tried to be careful. So, when he was trying to be careful he was rushing with his friends across the blacktop and, this is not very clear how exactly, managed to crash. He has now a bruise on his knee the size of a football, a bruise the size of the palm of my hand on his hip, his entire right elbow is one big bruise and so is the right temple. The most worrisome was of course the blow to his head since his eye was affected: he had a crescent of light on the side of his vision for a few minutes. His arm was also of concern since it could have been broken. So, emergency room. His arm is ok and his vision came back normal but the doc said to take him to the eye doctor for a check-up. However, mr T. reports that his ankle and calf are just fine now. Well, that's lucky.
And I have developed a strange thing with one of my eyes: it looks fine, it feels fine until I put my contacts on. Then it burns, water and become red if I rub. I changed contacts. Nada. The eye doctor thinks it's an allergy. I don't do allergy. I already never admit that I'm sick and to prove my point I work and cram more things than usual in my schedule because damnit, I'm not sick. So, an allergy? I don't think so. I think it's voodoo.
Which brings to:
The Ugly
Big fight with my mother in law. I used to not be a patient person at all and I've gotten a lot better over the years. And then, after meeting Mark's family I devellopped A LOT of patience. Apparently there must have been a quota. And it was reached. Maybe she is doing the voodoo thing. In the meantime, we won't be seeing them for Thanksgiving and it sucks for the kids since they are the only family that we've got on this side of the pond with Mark's sister and her fiance who are going with the fiance's family this year as it was already planned. Me, however, I'm feeling lighter and relieved. Go figure.
I hope you are all having a great time out there. My crew is gone with various friends doing their tricks, leaving me to the hard work of opening the door to cute little children,
Alrighty. There are several ways of doing advertisement for someone and so I have been thinking about this post all day long. How should I go about it? Let's see...I don't do that often you know..
Jack is an incredible photographer. Yep, and you don't have to trust me on that, look ( click on the pictures to make them bigger):
The light, the composition, the way the pictures pull you in...remarkable. And it is so difficult to achieve photography at that level.
Ok, and on top of that, Jack's current horrible job is preventing him from blogging. The horror. I want Jack back on the net. So go buy his artwork here so that he can make a living with what he actually loves to do. There are plenty more outstanding photographs on this site: http://www.redbubble.com/people/intimatestrangers/art . Actually, there wasn't one that I didn't like.
Can you imagine what a great Christmas present these would make...mmmm Mark? Darling I want the 3 top ones for sure. And don't forget that it takes time for the shipping etc...you know, I m just saying.
Well, well, well. It has been a while. Way too long I'd say and I've missed writing in this blog. So much things have happened and at the same time it's same old, same old. Mark and I have had a surge in work and so did the kids . Mister T. was doing a powerpoint presentation and was hogging the computer, hehe, and then both kids got sick with a strange stomach ailment that was going around the school, then it was a big cold for mister T. ( of course I got both). Then I had a huge fight with my mother-in-law and now something is wrong with one of my eyes: it is puffy, red and itchy. And it burns. Lovely. But lots of good things also happened and these I'll go in more details tomorrow. And tonight is a stormy night and I love stormy nights. I hope you are all well.
I worked particularly hard this summer and was very well payed for it. So, I decided that the house needed a little sprucing up and I started thinking. We need very badly a new sofa, several lamps, a rug and new cushions. And, hopefully one day we'll get all of that.
But for now, I went for the refined and understated for which I'm so well known for.
And, plus, everybody needs a gargoyle, right?
So, without further ado, I present to you Edgar The Gargoyle:
Isn't he cute? My son thinks I have a really warped sense of what cute is. He doesn't know what he is talking about. Actually, Edgar looks quite a bit like Piper when you wake her up in the morning ;).
6 pm, It's time for dinner. Get up from the desk, stretch and turn off the music. Piper does the same, she knows what comes next. Legolas trails us wagging its tail and yawning. Miss A. arrives and ask what's for dinner mama? Let's go see... She grabs a bowl and the kitchen scissors and off we go. The air is warm with just a hint of coolness, just so that we don't forget it's October. We get into the vegetable garden...what looks good today? Tomatoes, eggplants, celery, oregano and thyme. Perfect! Add an onion, make the sauce and put it on the gnocchi I bought yesterday. Back to the kitchen, everything is bubbling happily and it's smelling wonderful. Especially with Irish soda bread cooking in the oven. Even the dogs come and try to peak at the oven door. I get the two packages of gnocchi from the cupboard and start opening them.
What's that in the front of the package?
"Made with real potatoes."
How funny.
What do they mean exactly?
I mean, it was not on the package I bought last week with another brand.
Does it mean the gnocchi from last week were not made with real potatoes?
Or does it mean that the gnocchi from tonight used to be made from not real potatoes and now they are?
Or does it mean that some potatoes are real and some are not?
Mutant potatoes?
Bleh.
What if it looks like a potato but it's not.
But if the other potatoes are not real potatoes then what are they?
Maybe I could google it.
No, I don't think I really want to know.
" Mama, I'm hungry."
....Fine, let's put the stuff in the water....
Was I feeling ok when I ate the other gnocchi last week? Shoot, I can't remember.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm SURE I was feeling queasy.
Oh god, maybe I poisoned my family with mutant potatoes.
Later, at dinner:
Mark: " You're not eating much, you are not hungry?"
Me: "Heh, not that much no. Could you give me some wine?"
The plan was to do a nice long post but time is running out today. Are you like me? Do you have lists? I never put them down on paper but they are in my head swirling around. All the things I need, have to or want to do this day/week/month. And it's just the list in the list. The big list of the stuff I want to learn or do before I die. You know, The Big List. But there is so much, too much! And everyday I add something: wouldn't it be neat if I could...?
