catch my tune

Last night was not unlike most for moms like me. You know, stay up too late trying to catch up. Then you finally drag yourself to bed when you realize the date has changed only to get sucked in (pardon the pun) by the latest Edward Cullen adventure.

The kids were up late, you rationalize. They'll sleep in...there's no school tomorrow...I've got a good six hours coming to me. Famous last thoughts. Number two had a nightmare, number one got thirsty, number two crawled in the big bed and then proceeded to scream random thoughts in her sleep at a pitch I'm surprised didn't wake the neighbors. "Strawberry Shortcake!" "I want chocolate milk!" Random. Annoying.

So, needless to say, I'm laying there wide awake at 3:00am, exhausted and longing for sleep but wait, it gets better. I cannot sleep. All I can do is sing this song in my head. Over and over and over again. So I figured the best thing I could do tonight, as I struggle to keep my head squarely over my neck, was share the pain. Cause guess what? They didn't sleep in. Not even close. But somewhere, I'm sure of it, there's a Party in the USA.

the girl in the mirror

Do most children sit and taunt themselves in the mirror like mine and exactly what does this say about her? No smiles, no silly faces, no admiration. She stood there for several long minutes and stuck her tongue out at herself. Then she just silently stared herself down..

facing the facts

I've been contending with problem skin for most of my adult life. I do a great job hiding my stress and frustration but unfortunately, my face does not. I've got the best esthetician, the best dermatologist & a newly acquired homeopath that I am crossing fingers will be the best as well since my last one up and ran away. Anyway, point is, I'm doing all I really can. But there are always people that want to help... because what worked for them will definitely work for me. Yeah, not so much. Trust me. And bless their hearts it's for the right reasons but sometimes I just can't help but giggle.

My sweet friend Mary is an acupuncturist and she provided me with a great worksheet with all types of natural remedies ranging from rubbing watermelon rind, yogurt and/or raspberries on my face to drinking dandelion and beet top or carrot top tea. Yuuummm. Then, at the bottom of the sheet there is a brief list of foods to avoid. And this, my friends, is when the real belly laugh happened...

"fried foods, fatty foods, spicy foods, oily foods, coffee, alcohol, sugar, smoking, stress, constipation, make-up, washing with chemicals or soap, chocolate, ice cream, soft drinks, dairy foods, emotional stress, red meat, shellfish, bamboo shoots, white mushrooms"

Shit. I guess better cut down on those damn bamboo shoots.

new moon and a trundle bed

Can someone please explain why my dear son is the one who is afraid to sleep in his room when it is I that goes to bed with visions of vampires & werewolves in my head? (Yes, I managed to complete New Moon last night, just in time for the release of the movie at midnight tonight...which I will probably never see...certainly not at midnight tonight...but that's not really the point. Or is it?)

Back to the boy. So, did you happen to catch my last post? Yes, that one about how I journeyed out to the East Bay over the mile long white knuckle bridge, schlepped through the township that is Ikea, loaded a desk and drawers onto my cart (no easy feat when there are no locks on the wheels) AND managed to assemble the damn thing before the sun went down. Well guess where the snores are coming from tonight? Um, yeah. Two nights in his own room and he's back in his sister's trundle. Go figure.

I was too tired to put up much of a fight.
"But Gage, what about your new grown up room?"
"Well I still like to play in it but I just don't want to sleep in it yet."

Great.

He wants a bunk bed. I've got a few hours to assemble one tomorrow between ballet & school pick-up. Whatcha think?

Kidding.

I think.

in my room...

I'm not sure exactly when it happened. Or why even. But one day, not so long ago, Gage became terrified of his room. He started asking me to pick out his clothes and then he started sleeping in his little sister's trundle bed. I never really argued or questioned it. (Heck, him sleeping in his sister's room actually made her stay in bed all night rather than running to me at 4am.) The sad thing was, really, that Gage has the best room in the house. His sister's room is a shoebox next to his so why was it sitting there virtually unused... and what could I do about it?

We talked about it occasionally but still, I never pushed. Then, when the time was right, I made an offer. A desk. Any desk he wanted. (See, this killed two big fat crows with one itty bitty stone because the desk would also serve to relieve the constantly growing piles of books & journals overtaking the dining room table). He seemed to like the idea so I ran with it.

I printed a half a dozen tear sheets from various websites with prices ranging from $107 to over a grand. I put them in front of him. He chose the $107 desk. We were on a roll!

I hightailed it to Ikea this morning and purchased the desk, complete with a swivel chair, book holders, picture frame & lamp. I thought he was going to be over the moon when he came home from school and saw the boxes. Yeah, not so much. The Nintendo was pretty enticing though.

Fast forward five hours. It's bed time and I can't get him to leave the desk. He is in his room ALONE writing math problems in a sketch book. Everything is arranged perfectly. He has already organized four of the five drawers and he has grand ideas for how he will use the new environment. He even asked to sleep in his own bed tonight. Would have worked too if the dog hadn't peed in it moments earlier. So he said goodnight to the desk (yes, he really did) and headed once again to his sister's trundle with visions of homework dancing in his head.

Now I sit here wondering what to do when Zuzu asks to sleep in Gage's room tomorrow night or where in the world the desk will go in her little shoebox...

germ-phob

Tonight Zuzu and I were acting out Little Mermaid. She was the princess (as usual) and I was the bad witch Ursula (don't read too much into that, it was necessary for the scene). We were doing the part where Ursula steals Ariel's voice, mostly because Zu likes to sing the "ah, ah, ah..." part and is quite good at it. Anyway, once she finishes her number I cackle wickedly and reach out to *steal her voice* with my hands. Zuzu stomps one foot, as three year old girls do so well, and announces that I can not steal her voice with my hand because it has germs. I must do it properly and capture her voice in my shell so that I don't spread my germs. Excuse me? Exactly who is hacking up a lung in bed right now? Certainly not me...

a week in the life of gage

Here we go, time to turn on the excuses and stop everyone from wondering where the heck I've been lately. But I bet I can impress you just a little bit tonight. Well, maybe. Settle in. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

I suppose it all began with the arrival of the first grandparent. Then there were the annual school fundraiser and a first grade field trip. Two days apart and both in need of parental volunteers. Good times.

Here's Gage running his little heart out for his school. (I could begin to explain how grossly underfunded California schools are and how fortunate we are that the parents in our public school system are able to fund the music, art & dance programs, pay for the teacher aides, computers and possibly even the toilet paper. But I'll save that for another night when I need some material.)


The next two grandparents arrived in town just in time for the final soccer match of the season. (If you've done the math correctly you'll now see that we are up to three grandparents. Impressed yet?) There was lots of celebrating, far too many chest bumps, a few hundred photographs taken and of course...a little soccer...




Then, we rolled right into birthday number six. Yup. Our baby boy turned six. I'm still in denial. For managing to muddle through the terrible year that was #5, he was awarded a full weekend of presents, parties and yes, more soccer.

First up? The new bike...



Now enter grandparent number four. Yes, we are now fully stocked. (Please understand as you four lovely relatives read this that I write this completely in jest and only to substantiate my underlying argument that I have been far too busy to blog for two weeks.)

As I was saying.
Presents...


Parties, and more soccer...





Oh yeah. There were water guns too. Big water guns...




Of course, as it always seems to be, all of this happened before Gage's actual birth day. So then there was the obligatory family restaurant meal. (Yes, that's me. Those sneaky grandparents occasionally get me in a shot or two.)



Exhausted yet? No time. No time at all. Halloween is right on our tails!
Remember the post I wrote back here about Gage's GI Joe and Zuzu's Little Red Riding Hood Costumes? Yeah, well I do. Now tell me if you see either of those beloved costumes here. Humph. Not so much.










What? You're having trouble figuring out Zuzu's costumes? No. Let me assist you. She was a ladybug at her school, (No choice there, they were all ladybugs. Even the boys.) she was a Florida Gator cheerleader at Gage's school, and she was a Snow Princess Kitty Cat Devil Fashion Girl to trick or treat. And yes, I just capitalized every word in that description because it turns out that it is a very important title.

As I close let me first apologize for the fifteen minutes of your time I have just stolen. And then let me give one more excuse as I plug my teeny tiny little business.

My new website is up. Woo-hoo!! Check me out at zuzu girl handmade. Trust me. It's worth another fifteen minutes of your time.

Hugs...

the dark ages

This morning I flipped on the TV for the kids so I could spend 10 minutes getting ready in peace. (HA!) For whatever reason, Lassie was on. I briefly explained the premise to the kids... that the dog was named Lassie and that she was a rescue dog. As I scooted away I mentioned that it was a show from when I was a little girl. Gage shouts back, "then why isn't it in black and white?" Nice.

happily ever after

Well, we finally did it. Disney on Ice. Never thought it would happen. Never really wanted it to. And then something unexplainable took over and I was online purchasing tickets. The things we do for our beloved children.

This was not just Disney on Ice. This was Disney Princesses on Ice. And it was adorable. They told six princess stories, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, Mulan, Snow White & Beauty and the Beast. Most of the stories left out the scary factor with the exception of Ursula the Sea Witch who had quite a presence. They gave us the majority of the story, minus the ending one after the other. Then, as Zuzu is screaming "Where is Cinderella??!!", they all rejoined us on the ice for simultaneous happy endings. It was very sweet yet also so very ridiculous as, one after another, all of the beautiful girl gets kissed by their prince and awake from a deep sleep to skate off in his arms. Just a slight enhancement of the lack of creativity present in these fairy tales.

They then announced an intermission. That kind of sucked. We'd been there 90 minutes already, we all had to pee (but not bad enough to brave the crowds), it was lunch time, the only act left was Cinderella and Gage was done by Mulan. But I suppose they needed to sell some more $20 wands and $15 programs so we went with it.

Fortunately, the Cinderella story was actually quite beautiful. They opened with a troop of skating soldiers, most of them kids, as they waited for everyone to re-enter the room. Cinderella had three costume changes and both the step-sisters and the mice were quite entertaining. There was a lousy lesson in arithmetic as the fairy godmother announces the coach with four white horses...and then only three horses appear...but I'm quite sure neither of our children noticed.

All in all, I would recommend the show. But I have a few words of wisdom. Bring cash if you want to spoil your kids. There are loads of vendors trolling the aisles with trinkets (much easier than waiting in line for them outside) but they are terribly expensive and they only take cash. Fortunately Gage didn't want anything and we had just enough for a light up wand for Zuzu. Phew.

And most of all, pick your date and time carefully. The show is over two hours long. I can't imagine bringing kids to a 7pm show. We made the mistake of going to a Sunday morning show, at a venue that shares a parking lot with the Oakland Raiders Football Stadium. On game day. Yeah, not good.

This is what your typical Disney on Ice ticket holders looks like...



And your typical Oakland Raider fans...



Made for a very interesting combination in the parking lot. And far more traffic than anyone should endure. Ever.

Here are just a few of our favorite moments from the show for your viewing pleasure...