Saturday, October 14, 2006

It's The Great Pumpkin!

Well, here we are, picking out the perfect pumpkins to decorate our lovely home. The boys were so very excited about the 'pumpkin patch'. (Really just an older couple set up in the parking lot of the grocery store with their RV. No actual patch to walk though... but they did set up nice little picture taking opportunities all over the place.) Eli picked two mini pumpkins, Daddy picked the big one, Kaj got dibs on a nice little one, and of course I mostly just manned the camera.
The weather has been so utterly beautiful here, though perhaps a bit cold in the mornings. Lousy cold and damp this morning for my 16 mile run. Every Saturday morning that I get up early to basically torture myself by running about three mile further than my body wants me to go, I think... My God I must really have lost it. This is the value of training for marathons in groups. My teammates are keeping me honest. With six weeks left the end is in sight, so if I can just keep from injuring myself... St. Jude Marathon here I come! I don't mean to sound down about the training, because it really is going well. I'm getting really excited about the race. I'm just a little worried about my left leg... it's stiffened up alarmingly. Perhaps a good night's sleep will do the trick. And no running tommorrow. Sixteen miles is enough for this weekend I think.

Friday, October 13, 2006

A Day In The Life...

Most afternoons, I'm sprawled out with these two, taking a much needed nap. When I'm not, it's because I had to go to class... boring, useless, not worth the credit I need anyway class. I've passed through several hoops for school, still a few more to go, but I'm starting to feel confident I'm really going to make it to Nursing school on January second.


Here's a good one of the boys and my grandma and I reading. This is something we make a serious effort to do every night. My mom always read to me, and now I almost always read to the boys. The only nights they don't get stories from me is when daddy reads to them instead. Little Mushroom is more into eating books than listening to them yet, but sometimes he likes to sit with us anyway, and just stare raptly at his brother faces. He is growing and maturing amazingly fast, as most babies do.


Little mushroom (not so little anymore) has a definite preference for the meal time. He takes the usual amount of pleasure from grabbing the spoon and smearing rice cereal through his hair, on his ears, and anywhere else he can reach. And, if you've never had the distinct pleasure of trying to get baby rice cereal out of your eyebrows and arm hairs... well you really just haven't lived. What you can't get off immediately hangs around, showing up later looking for all the world like some kind of degenerative skin disease.

I'm going to have to cut this post lamentably short. Duty calls, Children are crying.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

My Gentle Readers

My most sincere apologies for the length of time between posts. I've been... drained. Running, taking one class, working, trying to make sure that all things are in line for me to start Full time school in January, waking up every two hours with baby Mushroom (who is apparently teething, and not happy about it), trying to work on the myriad of knitting projects I've taken up. If I sit still for long enough, I just fall asleep. I very rarely fall asleep with the TV on, too much noise... last week I fell asleep watching TV twice, and the other nights I was trying to get homework done. Ah, well. I love everything I'm doing too much to give any of it up, so I perservere. Marathon training is going well. I ran a four mile race last night, in the hippy section of town. It was a very fun race, and I had a PR time of 38:53. Of course for my age group that is ridiculously slow. Luckily, I'm not in it to win. As I told my four-year old, I run because I like the sense of accomplishment I get when I finish a race, not to win. He, in typical four-year old fashion interpreted that into "Mommy's a loser". Well, we never can win them all, can we?

Monday, August 28, 2006

Lucky Me

I'm feeling euphoric tonight. Probably it's just the endorphins from my run, but I take what I can get. Actually, before my run I was in a terrible mood. I'd just gone to the first Parent Association meeting of the year. What a fiasco. Forty-five minutes of "Wouldn't it be cool if... but I'm not volunteering to do that, maybe some of the stay-at-home moms or dads could..." Blah Blah Blah. "I'm so busy and important; you can't expect me to actually do any of the things I'd like to see done" Self-important twits. Immediately following the meeting, I drove home and went on a run. I feel Fabulous, and I'm nearly ready for bed. I think I may end up volunteering for a technology commitee and maybe help maintain or moderate a parent-teacher blog or something. I could do that, with the weird hours I keep... but helping at the more traditional bake-sale type thing, or organizing the fundraising events sounds like hell on earth for me. Funny, I love to bake... it must be the people I hate dealing with.

Well, Simba tells me it's time to go to bed. Simba is my slightly Hitler-like cat (and I stole that from here...) who allows me and Daddy Mushroom to sometimes share his bed. He is staring at me from his perch above my head on the back of the recliner I am awkwardly nesting in. He obviously can't understand why I would sit here typing when I could be stroking his soft fur, and cuddling with him in his queen size. I can't resist sharing this one last picture. He will surely be embarassed to know that he is now captured for posterity actually cuddling with one of the dogs. That's what he gets for taking possession of the bed...

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Yes, Eleven Miles is a Long Way

I made it though. I felt great until starting into the eighth mile. Mile eight was still okay, mile nine was not bad, mile ten was tough... finishing was rough. Mostly it was the heat that was getting to me at the end. We started at a little after 6 am, and finished at about 9. Two hours and thirty-five, forty minutes. I forgot my watch, so I'm not exactly sure. I think we did about eleven minute miles to start and slowed gradually to 12 or 13 minutes (which, for the uninitiated is really slow, pretty much a fast walking pace). But the point was just to finish the distance, not to set any records. I have the feeling I'm going to be pretty sore the rest of today and most of tommorrow. Next week; 12 miles!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

St. Jude Marathon Update

On a different subject, I'm up for a challenge this weekend. I'm supposed to do 11 miles with my running group (the Memphis Running Beans... cute name huh?) I've never done a distance like that. I've been barely working out... three miles here and there. Yesterday I did five. I feel good, but... This is what I get for setting a lifetime goal of running a marathon. Anyway, please check out my fundraising page because the marathon I'm going to run in benefits St. Jude, and all the money I collect goes straight to them and the very worthy cause of saving children's lives. Did you know that no child is turned away because of financial reasons? They take rich, poor, uninsured, whatever. So every dollar I raise goes to helping some child get treatment that his/her parents can't afford.

HA!

My apologies to the men reading my blog... but honestly, it's about time men start feeling some of the 'perfect body' pressure. Daddy mushroom and I were watching this reality crap show the other day about some pro-football teams' cheerleader selection. Neither of us could believe the standard for 'too fat'... one woman was told that she'd have to loose five to ten pounds (and several inches from her waist) in a week. Not only was she totally good looking, and probably already normal to underweight, but how disgustingly irresponsible of the women in charge to tell a girl to lose that much weight that fast. It makes me glad I have boys, not girls. No matter what this article says, I just can't believe that the pressure men feel to look good will equal the pressure on women in my lifetime.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Usually I wouldn't cry and carry on about such little thing, but the thought has been much on my mind lately. Why can't people just respect one another? Seriously, why do people have such a hard time realizing that the person that takes our money at the grocery is a real, thinking, feeling human being? I work a meaningless, mind-numbing retail job. Maybe 1 in 10 actually look me in the eye, even fewer look at me as though I might actually have a brain cell or two. (I'm thinking of starting a count... The empirical scientist in me is crying out) Daddy Mushroom said to me today, "You know, the hardest part of any job is trying to explain it to outsiders." This is exactly what set me off today. A regular customer asked me (rhetorically, of course - he didn't really want to know the answer) why we didn't have another register open, because he had to wait (all of an extra thirty seconds) to pay. He was very confrontational, very rude, and it hurt my feelings because this is someone I've talked to, chatted with, and always given the best service possible. My first thought was, well now let's see what kind of service I give him next time. Then I realized that then I would be giving in to the meanies, and treating him with the same disrespect that he showed me. So, now matter how temporarily good it might make me feel, I will not be making any snide remarks, frowning, or glaring. I'll make excuses for him... He was just having a bad day. I'm just sad he decided he'd take it out on me. And that is where my point comes in. Some people are so arrogant as to think that they must know the best way to do anything, even if they have no experience with the subject at hand. And why is that? It's all a basic lack of respect. An "I'm smarter than you are" attitude. So just because I work a register, I'm too dumb to know how to do anything else, and too incompetent to know my own job well enough to do it right. If I've learned nothing else from five years behind a counter, I've learned not to judge, not to assume, and always to tip well. So, here's my picture... my boys trying on someone else's shoes, to remind me to always try to do the same.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I'm In!

Three cheers for me! I've been accepted into the accelerated nursing program at God's Own Personal University... hereinafter GOPU. I'm so excited/relieved/tense. It'll be one heck of a busy year starting in January. This will mean living solely off DM's income while I get educated (again). My heart is pounding in my throat, wondering how much further into debt we are going to get before I'm done. We're already pretty far down the slippery slope. But in 18 months, diploma in hand I'll be infinitely more employable, and I'll be making 2 gazillion times more money than I do now (yes, that's an exact calculation). Shovel in hand, I will bury this debt-hole we've sunk into... debt consolidation be-damned, I'm going to pay it all off on my own! So much for my claim of being ambitionless. Now to find the money to pay the deposits...

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Some Pictures, Some Thoughts


Pictures of Madi


Mom and baby are doing just fine. I've been bragging all day about what a beautiful baby niece I have. Don't you love the four generations picture?

My own little angel is crying, I must go help get him to bed.

Monday, August 14, 2006

She's Here!

Welcome to the world Madi! My niece was born today. Nineteen inches, 6 pounds 3 ounces. For those with no source of reference, that's pretty teeny tiny. I must say she is the fourth cutest baby, and the sweetest looking little baby girl I ever saw. I only got to see her a short time tonight. I had to come back to put my own baby mushrooms to bed. My sister said she thought she was going to die, but she managed to get through it. She got an epidural, and strangely enough it made her itchy, so they had to give her Benedryl. Beside the fact that she hadn't slept for thirty six hours or more, the drugs were making her even loopier. Poor kid also hadn't eaten in twenty four hours either. All I can say is that it's an amazingly good piece of engineering that the same hormones that induce labor inhibit memory, or no woman would do this to herself more than once. Even more clever is that the gush of hormones that come with breastfeeding and other baby-bonding make such a nice high, that you actually find yourself wanting to do it again. Nature knows what she's doing.

Pictures to follow.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Confessions, Obsessions, and the Like

I may never grow up.

I am so jealous of my sister. Yes, she's a high school dropout. Yes, she's barely twenty and already fulfilling the 'barefoot and pregnant' part of southern living. But she does it all with grace and beauty and lightness of heart. She is sweetness and light itself. She thinks charitably, speaks kindly, acts respectfully. This and she's beautiful, and weighs less than me despite being 9 months pregnant and six inches taller than me. Any questions?

Going against what I've said in previous posts, I do (almost constantly) think about having that fourth baby. Not to have that much anticipated girl baby, just because I love having babies. The fabled 'they' always say, stick to what your good at. Well, I'm good at babies, good at children. I've never had much ambition for career/business success. All I ever hoped for was a job that I could stand that would make enough money to support myself and my various obsessions. I love unequivically being a mother. The best present I've ever received (to date) is the mother's day card this year from my four-year-old. He signed it himself! It is my most precious artifact, my first sample of his handwriting. Nothing fulfills me like my family life. To misquote 'Jerry Maguire', "They complete me".

Despite what I've just written, I do not find my children endlessly, eternally diverting. In fact, I tend to ignore all but the biggest catastrophes. I play with them until I'm disinterested, or I remember something else I'm supposed to be doing. I prefer to let the older boys play their own games and work out their own problems. The baby I hand off at every available opportunity. I love breastfeeding, I love cuddling and napping with them. But about fifteen minutes of "Thomas the Train" or five minutes of dangling one of those Lamaze baby toys, and I'm about played out.

I am absolutely incapable of lying when it matters. Oh, I can fib about things that don't matter, to people I don't know. But don't ask me to dissemble to someone I know. Especially not if it's important. I know this sounds like a good thing. But think about it for a moment; there are many occassions for which a little white lying is preferable to brutal truth telling. Ugly craft hand-made for me? Disgusting split-pea soup cooked with love? Even when I try to lie, the truth is written on my face. According to my closest family members and friends, I have one of the most readable faces ever seen. If I don't like something, I can't hide it. If I don't believe you, don't like you, get bored... well, you'll know it.

I am lazy. There are few things I like as well as sitting, or laying down with either my laptop or a good book. Yes, I'm training for a marathon, and I love soccer... but give me a few spare minutes and you'll find me curled up in a cushy chair, doing nothing. I hate the process of keeping my house clean and tidy, though I love having a neat and tidy house. However...

I am a spendthrift. I cannot stomach the idea of spending money on something my husband or I can do ourselves. Hire a maid? Are you kidding? (Which reminds me, I am obsessed with DIY shows). Buying things at full price makes me intensely nervous. That being said...

I'm a sucker for clearance racks and special sales.

I'm obsessed with avocado, spinach, and garlic salt. There is never enough garlic salt.

I hate to get boring. That's enough for one post.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Life's a Beach

Well, the vacation's over, and it's back to the real world, so to speak. We had a really wonderful, family bonding experience. Every day was about 95% good behavior from the kids. I was pleasantly suprised. I got the benefits of gossip from the high school reunion without actually having to go. We visited family on our way from one place to another. We spent 3 days on the beach with no major sunburns. The whole vacation was a rousing success. The DM and I discussed making camping trips be a yearly event, and dreamed of someday RV'ing around the country. We experienced major attacks of "the grass is greener" all week, as I touched on in my last post. We saw some beautiful houses on lakefront property. The lake is so big, looking out on it is the same effect as looking at the ocean. We drooled. We dreamed. I was meant to be a beach girl. But speaking practically I've never wanted to live near the ocean, California has the earthquake issue, the Gulf and Southern East Coasts have hurricanes, and further north is too cold. (As an aside I do currently live on the New Madrid fault, which I hope to rectify before the big one) So we dreamed. How can you say no to the view, the water gently lapping against the shore, the gentle breezes, even the spectacular thunderstorms? Then we came home, and my pragmatic mother told me all about houses falling into the lake due to erosion, and the lack of good jobs in little tourist towns, and reminded me how very very cold it gets in the winter. She's always waking me from my best daydreams. I suppose everyone needs someone like that... Someone to keep you solidly grounded in reality.I need all the help I can get. Flights of fancy are my specialty.
On our last night in the tent, one of those spectacular thunderstorms blew in from over the lake. It was amazing. I was sure I was going to die. I love thunderstorms from the relative safety of my house. Listening to the thunder, and feeling it shake the ground while in a tent is a completely different matter. Lightning was striking all around us. The boys slept through it like it was nothing. Only mama mushroom laid awake, counting seconds between flashes and thunder, and trying to remember that the likelihood of getting hit by lightning is very low. It took a concentrated effort not to run for the truck. It helps to have someone (or in this case some three) to be brave for. That, and I knew that daddy mushroom would just laugh at me. Fear of looking foolish wins out over mortal peril.
I have some scrapbooks to compile, and if I had anything important to say, I've forgotten what it might have been. So long, good night, enjoy the pictures, and thanks for all the fish.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

A Vacation for Five

Yesterday was our first full day of vacation. The boys are loving it, as are mommy and daddy mushroom. Friday was a driving day, and as far as such things go it was excellent. We had the truck rigged up so that we could power the iBook, and the boys could watch movies (mostly they slept). We had a leisurely stop for lunch, and I chased the boys around the rest area. I think one of the best parts of having children is the excuse to act foolish in public. So we arrived, 12 hours later, in relatively good spirits. Yesterday we went to the local park, and rode the mini train... twice. We played on the playgrounds (there are several, separated into age-appropriate play areas for toddlers, preschoolers, 6-9 year olds and so on, up to teens). We checked out the local pool, and promised to return. We went to a street fest in glorious downtown.
Today we had breakfast and playtime at an old friends' parents house, and then spent hours at the new pool where we lamented the lack of similar entertainment in Memphis. We had also been lamenting the way that Memphis is dying downtown, and you can't walk anywhere. Here downtown is thriving, being renovated and renewed. If you live in the older sections of town, you can walk to the parks, to the library, to the stores. What you can't easily walk to, the bus line take care of suitably well. Yes, I miss small town living. But now the boys are fast asleep after a hard day at play. Last night they didn't fall asleep until 1 am, and they woke up happy as can be by 8 am. Nice long naps after lots of play, fun with mom and dad, life doesn't get much better. All vacations should be so nice. Mom and Dad pick the place, the boys set the schedule. Why not? Really, who likes spending hours in museums so that in the end you can feel cultured? Tommorrow we are off to the lake. It's up in the air, literally, how long we'll get to stay. It may be too hot, too rainy... never know. But we've got high hopes. Daddy is envisioning nights by the fire, Mommy just wants to laze about on the beach. Some of the campsites have wireless... could be another update tommorrow.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Remembering to Breathe

Tomorrow is my interview with the admissions committee for my continuing adventure in education. I must say that going to school the second time (or now the third time) has been a much more fulfilling experience. I'm able to concentrate entirely on classes, and not on the parties planned for the weekend, or who's sleeping around with who. Maybe it's not as much fun... but definitely a more educational experience. Not that my social calander is empty, mind you. I've got playdates and doctor's appointments, upset tummies and school socials. Being a mother, if nothing else, teaches one amazing time management and organization skills. No longer is one allowed to be flighty or forgetful.

But I've gotten distracted... my point was that tommorrow decides my fate. I'm just trying to remember to breathe...

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Couch Mushrooms

Today's post will be short, because I am very tired. Here are my darling couch mushrooms. We start them young... Actually, I try not to let them watch much TV, but it's so ungodly hot here that even when they want to play outside it's about two minutes before they are back inside, asking for water and saying it's too hot. Obviously I don't even think about taking the baby out.

We did some hot gardening work today. Kaj is really trying to be as helpful as possible. I wish I'd taken a picture of the boys when they were done helping with the mulching. They were like the 101 dalmations who rolled in the soot to look like labradors... black mulch dust from head to toe. But I was in too much of a hurry to get them in the tub... Here's a nice picture of one of the few Gazanias to survive my pitiful attempts at gardening.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Twenty-Eight and Feeling Great

Due to some sort of genetic abnormality (I'm sure), I Ioathe the part of my birthday where people ask me what I want. Even if I had just been thinking five minutes earlier how much I would like item X, when asked I can only stare blankly, as if I had temporarily forgotten the English language. The best I could do this year? A vacuum. I honestly asked for a new vacuum for my birthday. And I got one... a sexy red thing that looks more like a rocket than an implement for cleaning floors. Boy does it suck!

I suppose this reflects a return of my ability to think of things other than the baby. Good timing, since tomorrow I go back to work. Three months off made a nice little vacation, but I really can't say I'm looking forward to returning to the drudgery that is customer service. I can't express how determined I am to really finish school this time, and actually find a job that uses my education, and pays enough for it to matter whether I work or not.

One of the biggest disappointments in my life has been that not only did college not give me all the answers, it really didn't prepare me for real life either. When you are young, you think that college is going to provide you not only with all the knowledge you need to succeed in the business world, but also all the life experience to propel you into that mystical realm called 'adulthood'. As if when you receive your diploma, the Almighty will flip the cosmic switch in your brain from 'adolescent' to 'adult' settings. Well, if it happened for anyone else, it sure didn't happen for me. I'm still the same, hopelessly inept, impractical dreamer with maybe a bit more self-esteem.

I have trouble thinking of myself as a married, twenty-eight year old mother of three. Sometimes I think I might go to sleep and wake up ten years ago, and all of this has been a dream. Ahhh... the things I would do differently. Like that particular pick-up soccer game during which I blew out my knee and spent basically a year in pain... I think I'd skip that, given the chance. I'd also go straight for the nursing degree, and leave out the six years of customer service. (though my short stint at the zoo was fun)

Anyway, here's the latest cute baby picture. Saul gets cuter every day. He's started to play. He regularly finds his fingers and gets them to his mouth, and he shows increasing interest in reaching out to grab toys or faces that get within his arms' reach... even pulled my hair the other day.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

A Serious Honor

I have been entrusted with my father's transitional object, otherwise known as his blankie. His grandmother knit it for him when he was born. He's had with him his whole life, even took it to college. It has, predictably, begun to unravel. For some reason he has entrusted the intimidating honor of repairing his 'precious' to me. Apparently he thinks my mom might just throw the old thing out... he could be right, except that a debilitating disease called packratitis afflicts my family, it could also be called throwitoutophobia - fear of throwing anything away, ever. So whatever the reason, I now have in my possession a great treasure in need of repair.

It's a nice blankie. I hope I can do it justice.

Oynek and Hipponopomonuses

Children always learn some words a little wrong. At breakfast today Eli the endless eater asked for a second helping of 'your-gut', by which we knew that he wanted more peach yogurt. It reminded Daddy Mushroom that Kaj used to ask for 'oynek' to refer to the same. Then we were off and running, remembering the other funny pronunciations we've heard. Kaj preferred hipponopomonus, while Eli likes hoop-pomunus. Kaj is getting frickles on his nose. Eli worries about us, and tells us to be care-fee-ul. Someday he would like to ride in an our-plane or an hekolopter. Our dogs named Disney and Lyra by DM and I, have been re-named Dizzy and Leerla. And the best to date: Eli loves to eat phoney and slimy, even though his vegetarian mother strongly disapproves. (bologna and salami)

And now for something completely different...

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Potty Time!

It's time to wean Eli from the diaper, and no one is quite as excited about that as I am. I hope the excitement holds. We've been going at it in fits and starts. I know that's all wrong... consistency is the key. Just try to be consistent with two perpetual motion machines, and one perpetual eating machine. So, I do my best. Eli is running about pant-less, and it's a bit like having a puppy. He's very cute, and every once in a while he makes a disgusting mess. Then there's the times when he tells me, "Mommy, I have to go potty," but he's already peeing by the time he says 'go'. Of course when he does make it to the potty, it's a major celebration complete with clapping, jumping, and even a little squealing. He really wants to be a big boy, complete with Spiderman undies like Kaj's. Unfortunately, if anything is on his bottom he goes with impunity. I've never seen a kid less concerned with wet pants. I don't remember Kaj being so hard to train. Then again I don't remember how painful childbirth is either, which probably explains why I was willing to do it three times in four years. When I get too tired of cleaning up messes I'll strap a diaper back on his bottom for a while until I can stand it again.

He is actually getting much better about avoiding accidents. It's just unfortunate that anytime we go out, or the entire week we were on vacation we had to put potty training on hold. It has helped somewhat to have older brother as a good example, but also hindered because we can't focus just on Eli. That, I imagine, is the plight of the middle child forever and always. Neither my husband or I would really know, since we are both oldest siblings.

Something funny about having three boys. Everyone asks if we're trying again for a girl. First of all, that's a great way to end up with a starring role in 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'. I really don't think that 'I want a girl' is a good reason to keep having more and more children. I wanted two things when we started our family: healthy, happy children, and more than one child. So far so good. For a while I wanted four children. Now that I have three... well, it's hard to say for certain in the aftermath of birth, because the very idea of getting pregnant again gives me the shudders, but I think three is company, four's a crowd.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Summertime Blues







Here's another cute picture of Eli being silly and trying on the baby's hat. He looks quite dashing, I think.









And here's one of the boys having fun at the park today.









It's hot and humid tonight (of course, that's like saying there's ice in Antartica). My garden looks absolutely pathetic. I am an uninspired gardener, and an apathetic housekeeper. I start ambitious projects, and never finish them. I'm sure that the neighborhood whatchacallit is a step away from calling the city. My yard will never be voted yard of the month, and my house... well, it looks like two whirlwind preschoolers have control. I'm almost sad about that. Actually, what is sad is how nice the house and yard can look when I have an afternoon to spend on it. I have to keep reminding myself that now, as the mother of three boys under five years old I need to lower my standards. An entire day can go by when all I accomplish is getting them dressed and fed, keeping their faces and butts clean, and maybe putting a load of laundry in or sweeping the floor. Getting them ready to go somewhere and actually leaving the house is a two hour adventure. With time frames like that, I somehow expect to have time to weed the garden, workout, read a book, wash the dogs? I suppose there are women out there who can do it all. I'm just not one of them. I keep saying, maybe when the baby is older. But really, how long can you go without vacuuming?

Monday, July 10, 2006

Some Thoughts on Sports



World Cup Disappointment

I've been watching as many of the World Cup games as I can. Since I refuse to pay for TV there have not been that many games, soccer being the under-appreciated game that it is in the US. I did get to watch the final games, Germany's resounding win over Portugal, and the Italian triumph over France. And up until the final minutes of the final game, it was a satisfying tournament. If you haven't heard, then you probably don't care. But it was in those final minutes that Zinedine Zidane brought home to me exactly why I don't want my boys to idolize sports figures. After some comment by an Italian player (apparently known for being nasty) Zidane turned around and head-butted the player in the chest. I thought I was shocked and disappointed then. This morning I read that not only has he been welcomed home as a hero (not terribly suprising, a country generally protects its' own) but he has also been awarded the Golden Boot by FIFA. Disturbing. Here we are, holding up a man as an example to children around the world and rewarding him as top player in the world. He attacked another player. It is really depressing, the people we hold up as examples. I want my boys to play sports. I want them to play well, maybe even good enough for scholarships. I just hope there are better men to show them. DM never fought on the court. Goodness knows he gets pushed around enough. One night he came home with his shorts half ripped off. Some hack tried to stop him by grabbing his shorts. But that's church leagues... anyone can play. You'd hope that the pros could be a little more in control.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Late Night


This is a picture from a year ago on our trip to the windy city, of Kaj and Eli. And here...


is the adorable baby mushroom, Saul. Saul seems to be feeling ill tonight. He's very fussy, which is why I'm still awake posting on my blog at 1 in the morning. Forgive me if I ramble.

Kaj and Eli are enjoying their summer. It's been pretty nice weather. We keep getting nice, cool weather blowing in from the north so temperatures haven't hit the ungodly highs we usually get. By this I mean that it's only been in the low nineties, with relatively low humidity. All through the summer, I dream of winter. Then it arrives, and I'm depressed by the grayness of Memphis.

In a few weeks I'll be returning to the Midwest. Ten years since high school. Can't say I miss it. I'm not going to the reunion. Only one person I care about will be there, and I've already arranged to meet her away from the 'party'. I'm really not bitter, though I'm sure I sound like I am. I just really don't care what happened to any of the people with whom I went to school (with the exception of one). I was one of those unfortunate girls in high school, too smart and independent for popularity. I spent all four miserable years certain that I was the only one with body odors, facial blemishes, an extra five pounds, and frizzy hair. I have since accepted all of these things about myself, but it was one of those journeys of self-discovery that I'd rather not repeat.

We'll be taking Saul on his first camping trip that week. There are so many things I want to teach my boys, and an appreciation for 'the great outdoors' is one. When they are older, I want to take them on the AT. I watched a PBS show once about people doing the whole AT, and while I thought they were pretty nuts I also remembered how amazing it was backpacking in the Andes. It was only for a week, but it was one of the best experiences of my life. I'll have to scan in some pictures, and tell the full story sometime.

Daddy Mushroom is going fishing tomorrow. He's fully embracing his inner redneck. He recently got a big ol' F-250 Diesel on lifts (which means that the runner to step into the truck is above my waist, and Eli can pretty much stand up under the truck). Some have even said he's trading in his 'furriner' accent from a southern one. I know I'm losing my Midwestern perfect diction for a nice little twang. My 'I' sounds like 'ah'... at least a little bit. But no worries, they haven't got me wearing makeup or shouting 'hallelujah' in the choir yet.

Ah... the baby has fallen asleep at long last. Off to bed with me.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

First Laugh

Baby Saul just laughed for the first time. What a wonderful sound!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

My Independence Day

I was decidedly un-American tonight. I skipped the fire works completely. I never liked them much, and the baby and Eli were frightened of the noise. In typical Eli fashion, he cried and begged to go out to see the fireworks then once he was out he cried at the noise and ran for the door again. Funny kid.

My marathon training should have begun this week. Unfortunately, I have been a slacker. Tomorrow I will start, and be more regular about it. Not that I haven't said that before.

I'm waiting impatiently for word about nursing school. Realistically it's far too soon, since the applications were due July 1 and it's been a holiday. I shouldn't expect anything for weeks. It's hard to wait when so much of my future hinges on the decision of people I've never met.

Friday, June 30, 2006

Keeping Up Appearances

I'm watching PBS tonight. Laimis and I often do, we enjoy the nature shows, and the English comedy, Keeping up Appearances.

Two days ago my mother and I took the boys out blueberry picking. It was too hot for the baby mushroom. The bigger mushrooms had fun. Eli put the berries straight from the bush to his mouth, when he wasn't busy stealing berries from our buckets. Kaj turned out to be quite the berry picker. He picked about half the berries I did. I was impressed. I'm looking forward to baking my first blueberry pie.

Today we tried the 'no nap' method to get the boys to bed earlier. I won't say it worked well, precisely... from about 3pm on it was a bit of a struggle. But, bedtime was quicker than ever. And now they are sleeping like the angels that they are.

Welcome


I have decided to find out what all the excitement about blogging is by starting my own site. So, here's one of my favorite pictures of the oldest mushroom children...