Where the Emotionally Overwhelmed and Tragically Misunderstood Things Are

Okay, I'll admit it right up front... I don't think picture books should be made into movies. There isn't enough substance to fill a 90 minute film and something always has to be made up to fill space. However, making stuff up to fill in the gaps in literature is one of the main tasks of the reader. It's the mental activity that makes reading a more cerebral activity than watching TV, because active brain engagement is required. No active brain work is involved in watching a movie, in fact most movies are written to avoid any possibility of needing a brain... that's why they make the music so loud and the special effects so enormous and fast... so that any brains not turned off along with cell phones at the beginning of the movie will be caught up in the noise and flash and won't bother anyone with pesky logical analysis. So, now that you know my bias, feel free to stop reading if you loved the movie. If you are planning to see the movie perhaps you shouldn't read this either... just go see it and then come back to compare notes with me.

Where the Wild Things Are is one of my favorite picture books, although I did not read it as a young child, I actually read it in college as an assignment for a children's literature class and immediately fell in love. The reason I loved it was because I have two younger brothers, brothers who I was frequently responsible for when we were growing up, brothers who could easily have been Max. They built forts in their bedrooms, climbed on the roof, burned army men in the back yard, and had rock throwing contests using each other's heads as targets... basically they were walking nightmares for a teenaged sister to be stuck home with all summer. In other words, they were boys. In the book Max is a boy doing normal boy things and annoying the heck out of his mother. Eventually she loses her temper and she sends him to bed without supper, because the book was written in 1963 and sending a child to bed without supper was enlightened parenting, so much more civilized than slapping him silly or sending him out to cut switches to beat his own butt with. Max goes to bed and that night a forest grows in his room and he takes a trip to a place that most boys I have ever known would love... the land of the Wild Things. The land of Wild Things is a place where a boy can be king simply because he is able to stare down scary things, where he can rumpus without being told to stop howling or to get out of the trees, where teeth and claws don't need to be cleaned, and no one ever yells about grass stains on wolf suits. However, the real magic of the book isn't that Max has found the perfect place to be wild, or that, after all of that wild boy energy has been expended Max, worn out and a little crabby, sends his new monster friends off to bed without their supper. The real magic is an everyday miracle that turns the wildest boys into sweet cuddle monsters... it’s knowing that there is a place where he is loved best of all, and finding forgiveness waiting there for him. For me Where the Wild Things Are is a book about the insanity and joy of parenting boys, regular, normal, wild boys. The kind of boys who might make a normal Mom loses her cool sometimes but who are so adorable that we just can’t stay mad at them.

This is not what the movie is about. (Now, seriously, if you are planning to see the movie you really shouldn’t read this next part.) Where the Wild Things Are – The Movie, is updated for our post Ritalin world where children who aren’t perfect must have a good reason for their aberrant behavior. Max is an unhappy, lonely boy with an absent father, a distracted stressed-out mother, an older sister who lets her friends ruins his things, and a teacher who delights in scaring his students with tales of the end of the world. Max doesn’t smile, doesn’t seem to have any friends, and has a tendency to act out in violent and destructive ways. During a screaming fight with his mother which ends with her chasing him around the kitchen, as out of control as he is, Max bites her and then runs away in a rage. He ends up on the island where the Wild Things are. These wild things aren’t the innocent creatures from the book. They are complex characters with serious emotional issues and sociopathic tendencies. The lead monster is a bipolar bully who destroys anything that isn’t perfect and he decides that Max is going to be their king. Max, intimidated by monsters and frightened by the bones of former kings, lies to convince them that he is more than just a boy. He struggles to lead them but is overwhelmed by the unending dysfunctional battles they wage. Eventually he decides to go home. The movie was filled with amazing scenery, fantastic beasts, and really bizarre music that my daughter and her friends were still talking about two days later, but there was no resolution, no deeper understanding and, sadly, no magic at all.

In all fairness I need to say that my fifth grade daughter and her friends thoroughly enjoyed the movie... but I did not. It was the most depressing movie I have seen this year. The best thing I can say about it is that it was so far removed from the original story that it didn’t ruin the book for me. I reread it several times before sitting down to write this and I still stand by my original understanding of the story. Beautiful in it's simplicity, eloquent in just ten sentences, no extra drama was necessary.

Menu Plan Monday

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of Bob's accident and, while we didn't actually celebrate it, I do feel as though we have good reason to acknowledge the passing of time. Bob is doing well. He found out Friday that he probably won't need to have surgery on his knee. A year ago we honestly didn't have any idea how extensive his injuries were or how long it would take him to heal but it's obvious now that this was truly a life changing event. However, we try to see this as positive, I think we are benefiting from the stark reality of how precious and fragile our lives are, and how lucky we are to have each other. We have also seen the truth of how hard life is when one partner is hobbled with pain and we both are trying to take better care of ourselves so that we can actually enjoy being old together rather than spend our retirement dragging each other to the doctor. So we are eating healthier, driving more carefully, riding our bikes more often... little changes that will hopefully help a lot. Now I'm sounding like an infomercial...

On to the menu!

In our CSA box this week we have:

1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
2# slicing tomatoes
2# fingerling potatoes (Austrian Crescent)
1 rutabaga
1 head broccoli
1 bunch pink beauty radishes
1 bunch carrots
1 shallot
1 bunch rainbow chard
1 bunch arugula
1# Liberty apples
1# Asian pears

I have to admit I am happy that we didn't get any green beans this week. I have found that I would rather eat Kale than green beans lately... it's very weird to see what happens when you have a surplus of fresh vegetables! The Rutabaga will be a challenge though.

Monday - Tortilla Casserole with Rainbow Chard, Fajita Beef, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Guacamole
Tuesday - Spaghetti, Meatballs or Beanballs, Broccoli
Wednesday - Shredded Beef Soup, Bean Chili, Tortillas, Corn and Avocado Salsa
Thursday - Baked Chicken or Chik'n, Roasted Root Vegetables, Biscuits
Friday - Timberline Football - Sandwiches or Hot Dogs
Saturday - Make your own Pizza
Sunday - Teriyaki Beef or Tofu Skewers, Rice, Steamed Carrots, Asian Pickle

The weather man is saying that today our lovely sunshiny fall weather will end as a rainy system blows down from Alaska. I'm going to miss the sun! I'm also going to have to figure out what to do with the hundreds of green sungold tomatoes in my backyard. I've only managed to harvest a couple of pints and now it's going to freeze before the majority of the fruit is ripe. Darn it! Lessons for next year I guess... I probably won't plant tomatoes again.

For more menu ideas check out the list at www.orgjunkie.com . Have a good week!

Too Late Tuesday...

Where did Monday go? I know it was just here. Maybe it's hiding behind that huge stack of paperwork that the schools NEED me to fill out again this year even though it's the same stack I filled out last year, and the year before, and the year before.. and nothing has changed? Oh well. Anyway... I guess I've lost Monday so today will have to be Menu Plan Tuesday. It doesn't matter much though because last week I failed to cook even one meal on my list. Honestly, I only cooked three meals all week! It was that kind of week... and then it got worse. This week will have to be better.

Our CSA share this week...

1# green beans

3 ears of sweet corn

1 bunch white carrots

1# slicing tomatoes

2# red potatoes

1 fennel bulb (plus two more that I snagged from the give away box... apparently some people really don't like fennel)

1# tomatillos

1 onion

1 cucumber

2 peppers (1 green and 1 sweet Kappelo)

6 jalapenos

1 bunch arugula

1 bunch cilantro

1 bag basil

• Monday - Spicy Tofu or Beef, Mung Bean Noodles and Vegetables


• Tuesday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches, TVP Sloppy Joes, Waffle Fries, Tomatoes and Cucumbers


• Wednesday - Chicken and Fennel made with Chicken or Quorn Chik'n and Couscous


• Thursday - Lasagna - Back to School night at the high school so this will be in the oven


• Friday - I will be at the Portland Bead Fest so it's leftovers, sandwiches or pizza


• Saturday - Shrimp Tacos, Pink Beans, Sauteed Peppers, Guacamole, Tortillas


• Sunday - Bob grills something

Today is apparently the first day of Autumn but we have absolutely gorgeous weather so I'm going to stick the pork in the crockpot and then get on my bike and go for a ride. Have a great week everyone!

Menu Plan Monday

Another Monday morning and I'm struggling to commit to a menu for the week. I'm torn between my need to use up all of the vegetables in my refrigerator and our unbelievably busy schedule this week. This is the first full week back to school and we have two band meetings (elementary and high school), two gymnastics lessons, tennis team every day, two (I think) tennis matches, and Pep band at the football game. Plus, knowing how last minute the high school planning is, I expect the kids to come home today with a notice that back to school night will be Thursday. It would be easiest to have fast food a couple of times this coming week but I simply can't do that to my kids. It's been so long since McDonalds was a regular supplier of meals to my family that everyone got sick the last time we ate there. In a weird way this is very good news.


Our CSA box this week looked like this:


3# Purple Majesty potatoes
1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
1# slicing tomatoes
1 eggplant
2# green beans
3 green peppers
1 bunch carrots
5 cucumbers
1 bunch cipollini onions
1 onion
1 bag basil
1. 5# Asian pears


Now I have to admit that my family really does not like the Purple Potatoes. They taste pretty much like regular potatoes but the color just freaks everyone out. So far the only thing they have liked were purple waffle fries. This week I'm going to try hiding them in a spicy stew and then hiding the stew in tortillas! My other admission is that I've never cooked eggplant and I'm a little afraid of it. So I'm going to be bad and start with a fairly high fat recipe that looks really tasty. My theory is that if I can get the kids hooked on something extra yummy with eggplant then they may be willing to try something a little more simplistic with eggplant the next time. We will see... So the menu, so far, looks like this. Wish me luck.

• Monday - Asian Grilled Pork Chops, Spicy Tofu, Rice Noodles and Vegetable Stirfry
  


• Tuesday - Eggplant Lasagna Tart, Italian Sausage, Pasta Marinara
  


• Wednesday - Turkey or TVP Gyros, Pita Bread, Cucumber Tomato Salad
  


• Thursday - Shredded Beef and Purple Potato Soup, Pink Beans, Tortillas, Shredded Cheddar and Salad
  


• Friday - Leftovers or Sandwiches
  


• Saturday - Make your own Pizza
  


• Sunday - Roast Beef, Lentil Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

I hope everyone has a great week! For more menus check out http://www.orgjunkie.com/.

The first day of school

Today was my last first day.

For sixteen years I have enjoyed the excitement of the first day of elementary school. I love watching it all.. from confident sixth graders strutting on to the playground, reveling in the role of the oldest kids in school, to the timid first graders who light up when they see friends from last year. It's great to see the familiar faces in the crowd and the mothers of kindergarteners hiding their tears. But this is my last year. Next year my baby will move on to Middle School.

Who would have thought sixteen years could go so fast?

Angry bananas

For the last few months my doctor and I have been on a quest for the ideal way to control my blood pressure. This is not as easy as it sounds because apparently my body is a bit weird (like I didn't already know that?) and can be counted on to react negatively to most drugs. If the possible side effects of a drug are something like rash, dizziness, and night sweats, I am sure to develop all of them.. and invent a few new ones too. So far the various drugs have made my lips and tongue swell, given me multiple rashes, and caused severe joint pain.. and none of them have made any difference in my blood pressure readings.

I was pretty happy when this month's experiment in modern chemistry actually started working. Within a few days of starting the new medication my blood pressure was completely normal. But, of course, everything good comes with a price and in this case the price seems to be my body's store of potassium. I asked the dr. if I couldn't just eat a few bananas but apparently that wouldn't do. Instead she prescribed huge, banana yellow, tablets. Great, now I'm on a medication to fix the problems that the medication that's supposed to make me well is causing. What's worse? The potassium supplement makes me nauseous and I'm miserable all day. So for the last few days I've taken the medication at night... which has created a whole new interesting symptom... vivid angry dreams. Night after night I've been fighting with my children and friends in my dreams and waking up in the middle of the night upset and unable to go back to sleep. But as unpleasant as it has been for me I think it's been worse for my poor husband who is trying to sleep next to me while I battle my way through the night. This morning I actually HIT him while dreaming! Not just thrashed about and knocked into him.. no.. I punched him and then woke up when he said "OW!"

I guess it's time to call the dr. again.

Menu Plan Monday

School starts Wednesday and I think we are just about ready. Bob will be out of town so this week will be mostly vegetarian and fairly easy. Tonight, however, we are celebrating the end of summer with a mexican fiesta.

Here's the list of goodies that were in our CSA share on Thursday.


1. 5# Asian pears
1# slicing tomatoes
1 pin Sungold cherry tomatoes
1# Roma beans
1. 5# red potatoes
1# summer squash
1 bunch carrots
2 green peppers
2 cucumbers
2 onions
1# tomatillos
2 jalapenos
1 bunch cilantro
1 bag basil

And this is what we'll be making with them!


Monday - Chile Verde, Tortillas, Beans, sauteed peppers and onions, salad

Tuesday - Potato soup, and Grilled Cheese. I'm debating about this recipe.. it's potato, pear and pecorino cheese. Sounds yummy but will the kids eat it?

Wednesday - Spaghetti with Sungold Tomatoes, french bread

Thursday - Omelets, Country potatoes, Pancakes

Friday - Make your own pizza

Saturday - Maybe a movie and dinner out.. or something easy

Sunday - Bob grills something


For more menus visit www.orgjunkie.com.

Menu Plan Monday

Oh no! Monday is over and I'm already behind! The laundry is piled up, the dishwasher is full, the refrigerator needs to be cleaned out... and I don't want to do any of it.

My menu really fell apart at the end of last week. Friday I took the girls out to a movie and stopped at the store on the way home for a junk food feast instead of cooking pizza. Saturday we were busy all day and ended up just grabbing McDonalds on the way home. Sunday Taylor fell down the stairs and split her chin open. It took five hours to get her stitched up and the poor girl just wanted mashed potatoes for dinner.. so that's what I cooked. Hopefully this week will be better although we aren't off to a great start. Dinner tonight was at the Japanese steakhouse.

Tomorrow I'd better get back to cooking.

Our CSA share for this week contained:

4 ears sweet corn
1# Roma beans
1½# German Butterball potatoes
1# summer squash
1# slicing tomatoes
1# tomatillos
1 red onion
1 sweet onion
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch rainbow chard
2 cucumbers
2 jalapenos
1 head garlic
1 lettuce
1 bunch chives
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch flowers

I used the tomatillos and jalapenos for chile verde. Everything else will be pretty easy to use up.. nothing too weird this week.

Monday - dinner out
Tuesday - Rainbow Chard Tacos with Caramelized Onion and Fresh Cheese, Pink Beans
Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff, Vegetable Stroganoff, Potato and Cheese Pierogis
Thursday - Spaghetti and Meat or Bean Balls, Salad, Garlic Bread
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Make your own Pizza
Sunday - Bob grills something yummy

For more weekly menus visit www.orgjunkie.com. Have a great week everyone!

Six impossible things before breakfast

At 5am my son woke me up asking me to drive him to work because his ride didn't show up. I hate 5am but I got up, got dressed, got on the freeway, and got him to work on time. Then I came home and couldn't go back to sleep so I gave up and just got busy. Ok, maybe I didn't do six impossible things but I did discover that getting up extra early definitely improves my productivity.

I had onions, garlic, jalepenos, anaheims, tomatillos and cilantro to use so I made a pretty arrangement with them.



It looked nice but was a little too green for my decor so I roasted them all.



and made a couple quarts of chile verde salsa.

Then I took a nap!

That'll do pig

I have refrained from commenting on the healthcare debate this summer because most of you know my position on the subject anyway. Some of you agree while others disagree, which is perfectly fine, but, on this issue, I have found myself unable to simply ignore those who disagree with me. I want to argue with them, and arguing isn't something I do well. Additionally, arguing with people who dismiss what I have to say simply because they have decided I'm liberal does bad things to my blood pressure. I'm trying to keep my blood pressure down so that it doesn't increase my insurance premiums. So, with that in mind, I decided I would not rant about healthcare... and I'm trying very hard to keep that promise even though I do occassionaly scream at the television.

However, I really want to share this vlog of John Green's because it's a rational, well balanced and comical look at the issue. I hope you enjoy it.

"What do you do when you have a pig that's so big he can't walk? You either kill him, put him on a diet, or keep feeding him.. which is more or less what the healthcare debate boils down to." John Green




Oh... and a bit of good healthcare news. After more than six months of conversation with my insurance company and a formal request for reevaluation, that did not inclue this blog post but did include several of the pictures, our insurance company finally agreed to pay for the ambulance transport from helipad to hospital. Hurray!

Menu Plan Monday

Summer is almost over and my house is starting to buzz with the excitement and anxiety of a new school year. I love this feeling of anticipation, of a fresh start coming up, it makes me want to start over too. So it's time to get myself organized... again!



This summer we joined a CSA (that's community supported agriculture) and have really enjoyed getting a weekly box of vegetables from a local organic farm. However, it has been a bit of a challenge to learn how to use them all, especially the kale and kohlrabi. I did find a fantastic recipe for kale tacos that my family will eat but so far the kohlrabi has been a dismal failure. Fortunately this week we don't have either vegetable in our box.

We have:

1 pint Sungold cherry tomatoes
1½# slicing tomatoes
1½# Roma beans
1½# all-purple potatoes
2 fennel bulbs
1# summer squash
1½# tomatillos
1 bunch carrots
1 cucumber
1 sweet fresh onion
2 jalapeno peppers
1 head garlic
1 red butter head lettuce
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch chives

Most of the vegetable will be used in our meals but I'm also going to make a chile verde salsa with the tomatillos, jalapenos, and cilantro. I love the fact that an abundance of vegetables has pushed me to build vegetarian menus with meat on the side instead of meat based menus with adjustments for our vegetarians.

• Monday - Patty Pan Squash with eggs, purple potato galette, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers
• Tuesday - Spanish Rice, Nachos with beans, Salad
• Wednesday - Roasted Vegetables with Polenta , turkey sausage, french bread
• Thursday - Chicken and Fennel made with chicken and Chick'n Cutlets, golden couscous
• Friday - Make your own pizzas
• Saturday - Community Garage Sale - Sandwiches or Leftovers
• Sunday - Bob grills something yummy

Thanks to Laura at www.orgjunkie.com for hosting Menu Plan Monday. Check out her blog for more great ideas!

Sunday Evening

Life is good.

Blueberry Preserves

Friday morning we picked blueberries. She set out across the field to find the best berries, alone, but soon scurried back to me because wild animals were making noise in the brush beyond the fence. She told me knock knock jokes, stories of being a child, dreams of being grown, and we picked buckets full of berries.

Perfectly Ten she balances between sweet childhood and tart teen and I wish I could save this moment for the future. To savor. Like the blueberry jam that will remind us of summer on cold winter mornings.

Reeling and Writhing

Once upon a time there was a boy named Zane.

When Zane was eight he loved puzzles, mazes, taking things apart, and the food channel. He had a wicked sense of humor and a hilariously accurate Swedish accent. He was patient. He was kind to his younger sisters and cousins. He was a happy, quiet kid who was well liked by his teachers and helpful in the classroom. There was just one problem... Zane's teachers said he couldn't read or write.

In the third grade Zane was singled out because of his reading problems. Zane didn't like this extra attention and countered it with a new tactic. Silliness. His third grade teacher wasn't amused and decided that his problem was ADHD. Zane's mother didn't agree. She didn't believe that the boy who could work on complex puzzles for hours had an attention problem. She didn't believe the boy that would sit perfectly still in order to avoid disturbing the baby sister sleeping on his lap was hyperactive. She knew the teacher was wrong but the teacher had Zane six hours a day and, as the school year progressed, his confidence waned and his silliness increased. At the end of third grade the school said he was reading at a first grade, third month, level but they were sending him on to fourth grade with the warning that if he didn't catch up he might have to repeat the year. The district reading specialist suggested that the problem could be dyslexia but she was unable to provide assistance because Zane was less than 2 grades behind.

So Zane's parents made a radical choice. They decided to stop sending him to school.



When we decided to start homeschooling it was truly an act of desperation. We didn't know what we were doing.. we just knew that we couldn't face another year of watching Zane struggle. A neighboring school district had a charter school for homeschooling families and they happily accepted us into their program. The school supplied curriculum, a few enrichment classes, and an education coordinator.. a teacher who was available to give advice and guidance. Our education coordinator was also a reading specialist and she helped me to design a plan to help Zane. We turned every subject into a reading or writing exercise. I spent hours every night planning lessons.. dividing text into chunks for reading aloud and planning questions to enhance his comprehension. Every morning we sat down with a huge list of tasks, and a stack of worksheets, and dutifully plodded through fourth grade. Zane hated it. He would struggle to read aloud but after a while he would give up and just put his head on the table and refuse to even try.

One day he asked why he always had to read aloud when it was so much faster to read silently. I explained that all of the reading we were doing would help him read better and he protested that he could read just fine.. he just couldn't read aloud. Writing it out like this makes it all sound so polite and civilized but actually there was a lot of whining and growling in this conversation. I was annoyed, he was frustrated, we were both sick and tired of sitting at the dining room table day after day doing nothing but reading the most boring textbooks on the planet. So I got mad and decided I was going to prove to him how wrong he was. I slammed open the science book.. next on our list of tasks.. and told him to read a page silently. He said he was finished in just a few minutes, a fraction of the time it should have taken him to read a page at his 88wpm skill level, and then I started firing question at him about what he had supposedly just read... and he answered every one correctly.

For the rest of fourth grade and all of fifth grade Zane took charge of his schedule. I still made lists and worksheets and gave tests but I didn't teach him much. He learned by reading and he learned fast. He could zip through a day of work in just a few hours and spend the rest of the day doing more important things.

When the school invested in a program to test comprehension and reading speed we discovered that Zane was actually well above grade level. He still struggled with writing so our coordinator suggested that he learn how to type.. and before I knew it he was doing most of his work on the computer and writing funny stories and poetry too. One of his poems even won a state competition.

Zane went back to regular school in sixth grade and faced a new group of teachers who were convinced that they could fix his problem by forcing him to read aloud. But he was a more confident student who knew what he was capable of and teachers didn't seem to scare him anymore. He did what was asked of him and faced their concerns with good humor... and let his work speak for him.


Last week we were notified that Zane passed his high school exit exams with an "exceeds standard" score for reading and an amazing 23/24 score for writing. The next day we learned that he passed the college board AP World History exam and will be able to recieve college credit for the course. Zane just shrugged but I felt like dancing... I wanted to send copies of the tests to a few of his old teachers... I wanted to hug him and celebrate... but he's sixteen and cool so I just said "Good job!" and made him a mango smoothie.

The regular course was Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with; and then the different branches of Arithmetic - Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.

~Lewis Carroll

20 years ago

Today my first baby turned 20.

From the day he was born Ian was determined and self willed. He was three weeks late when they finally decided to do something about getting him out. There I was, lying in a hospital bed, upset that I was disappointing my natural childbirth instructor, while they pasted sensors on my belly and prepped me for induction, but before the nurse could even get the IV started Ian did a little flip and suddenly alarms were sounding. The umbilical cord was pinched and they couldn't find a heart beat. Within a minute my room was full of staff. I have a vivid memory of a harried, gray haired Asian nurse telling another nurse to stop messing with the monitor and get a doctor NOW. For the first time I really appreciated our HMO insurance that forced me to give birth at a huge teaching hospital rather than the newly remodeled birthing suite at the little local hospital... because there was an obstetrician on the floor and I was wheeled into surgery (as the bossy nurse cursed the new-fangled birthing bed that didn't roll fast enough) immediately. The last thing I remember was telling the surgeon "His name is Ian." as they knocked me out and delivered him... a mere six minutes after the alarms started going off. He was in amazingly good shape for a baby that required an emergency cesarean. I wasn't in such good shape but I survived. Everyone joked that Ian had decided he wasn't going to go through that labor crap and just found another exit... I wonder if we set the stage for a life of doing things his own way?

Nah.. he really was that determined.

Happy Birthday Ian!

Before and After

Before

After...

...six weeks of planning, rototilling, digging, and planting.

Two apple trees, one cherry tree, two blueberry bushes, one Japanese Maple, one quaking aspen, assorted flower plants, and SIXTY bags of cedar bark mulch...

I have learned that a garden is like a child.

You never feel like you've done enough

but when you aren't looking things start to bloom.

High School... here she comes!

A father... knows exactly what those boys at the mall have in their depraved little minds because he once owned such a depraved little mind himself. In fact, if he thinks enough about the plans that he used to have for young girls, the father not only will support his wife in keeping their daughter home but he might even run over to the mall and have a few of those boys arrested. ~Bill Cosby

On the first day of Jr. High I watched my suddenly grown up girl straighten her hair, put on make-up, and leave for school without me... for the first time ever... and I marveled at how fast baby girls grow up.

But on the night before the last day of Jr. High I realized just how fast they truly grow.

She has a brilliant mind, fantastic grades, great friends, and a delightful personality.

Her classmates voted her the class "Peacemaker".

She also has the proudest Mom around.

Still here STOP

No, I haven't fallen off of the earth... although I've been very close to the edge lately. So much has happened in the last few months, so many things I could have blogged about, and yet every time I sit down to write I have no words. I have always been a dysfunctional journalist... most girls who keep journals write down their deepest secrets, fondest hopes, and greatest emotional moments... My childhood journals were detailed accounts of days in which nothing happened. For the emotional times of my life... my parents divorcing, moving, all of Junior High... there is no record. I just couldn't write about things that really mattered to me. My friends and regular readers of this blog probably aren't surprised at all by this little revelation. If I stop talking or writing it usually means that something is going on and when I finally write about what's been happening in my life it's with the skill of a telegraph operator.

"Rain over working in the garden STOP worrying about job and money STOP Zane failing classes girlfriend a problem grounded STOP dining room my new office love it STOP girls growing up too fast STOP Ian and girlfriend fighting STOP girlfriend suicide threat STOP I visit scary apartment STOP More fighting STOP Ian moves home for awhile living in my office STOP dishwasher and computer die STOP Delaney's friends to new school next year STOP Taylor finishes jr hi looks like she's 20 at grad dance STOP Zane's grades up test scores amazing STOP now I have two kids in high school STOP I'm old STOP bought a new computer STOP"

There you go.. three months of blogging in one economical paragraph. Exciting isn't it? I will expand on some of this later but today I just need to break through my stage fright and get something posted to the blog!

Over and out.

April First

Oh April! The month of warm gentle rains and light winds fragrant with daffodils and cherry blossoms... I am the consumate April Fool.



The reward for my wishful thinking?

Today we have high winds, freezing rain, and snow showers.

Happy Spring!

Random Ramblings About Nothing Much

How do I explain why I've only written three posts in the last two months? I don't. Instead I give you a list of a bunch of junk that I didn't write about while I wasn't writing. Do with it what you wish. Just don't throw things at me. I'm delicate. Like a flower... a weedy little flower that just keeps coming back no matter how many times the lawn mower runs it over. Yeah, something like that..

Signs of Almost Spring:

Washington is not normal. In the last three days we have had bright sunny skies, torrential rain, hail, lightening, light snow, heavy snow, and fog. Often in the same hour. Despite the crazy weather I did find signs of spring when I went looking a little while ago. My yard is greening nicely as the moss creeps toward my front porch and on the back patio the algae is in bloom! I would take pictures but I don't want to make you all jealous.

My dogs are incapable of reproducing through normal means so they have conspired to create puppies out of their own shedding hair. Dust Bunnies are nothing! Despite daily vacuuming we are in danger of being over-run by litters of fur puppies. The weather simply makes things worse by being warm and sunny for three days, encouraging loose hairs to jump off the dogs in anticipation of summer, and then snowing for a week so that the dogs grow new fur to keep them warm.

Delaney's school has a yearly spring play. Traditionally it is an elaborate production with roles for a hundred kids plus at least one scene with teachers, principal, and occasionally the district superintendent. It's a spectacular show. This year, instead of using a purchased script the director and a few others actually wrote the show. Last week I joined two other Moms and the art teacher to turn pictures drawn by third graders into scenery for the show. We had a lot of fun painting rolling hills, squat hen houses, leaning skyscrapers, and a huge rainbow. I wish I could share pictures here but it's a SECRET. It's like Christmas morning and the theater is a big present in the hall closet. Parents aren't allowed in... and it's driving some of them insane! (and I do mean insane.. one of them had a fit yesterday when she was told she could not watch rehearsal) Opening night is Thursday!

Signs of the Apocalypse / Signs of Recovery:

It's hard not to shake in your boots when the stock for the company your livelihood depends on goes into a spiraling nosedive and loses half of it's value in the first two months of the year.. after losing two thirds of it's value in the last three months of the previous year... but the day that the closing price is 6.66 certainly feels like the end of the world. Of course, it's not. Although the rain, hail, snow, fog of the weekend didn't do much to relieve me... and the fur puppies were approaching the size of small horses... Oh! and the earthquake! Did I mention we had an earthquake too? It was just a tiny one. I'm sure there really isn't anything to worry about. However, if you hear that a volcano in Washington state has erupted without warning you might want to find your Bibles and start reading. Oh, and pray for my soul, because we are right in the path of the pyroclastic flow if Mt. Rainier blows.

Despite the moss, algae, dog hair, insane weather, and shadow of the volcano business, I really do love my home and my neighborhood. We live very close to the largest Army base in the country and a huge percentage of my neighbors are military. They are fantastic neighbors. However, when they are transferred they have to sell their houses and go, no matter how bad the economy is. Our neighborhood is large and the builders (three separate companies) are still building new homes. In January great big yellow AUCTION signs started appearing on the streets where the model homes are and the paper published an article about foreclosures in our neighborhood.. not on individual homes but on the builders lots and models. So I was feeling awfully bad for the four neighbors on my street trying to sell their houses in this mess. Then.. in the last two weeks the signs went away, the builders started three new houses, and all four of the houses on my street sold. I don't know if it is really a sign that things are getting better.. but I sure am glad that the bright yellow signs of despair have been taken down.

Signs of Change:

Bob left yesterday for his first business trip since the accident. It was hard for me to let him walk out the door and head for the airport but I am so glad that he is able to.

Ian called me on Saturday to ask for advice. He wasn't sure if he should pay $16 a week for health insurance through his new job. I'm so happy that he's going to have insurance and even happier that he has worked at a company long enough to qualify for it.

Signs that it's time to stop rambling:

It's 1:30 and I've got to vacuum and get dinner started before heading to the theater for a dress rehearsal. If you made it this far, thank you! You are a true and wonderful friend for still being around to read my ramblings even though I just abandoned you for a few months. I promise to be a better blogger in the future... at least as long as that volcano stays dormant!