International travel

Hubby is going to Italy in June. I want to go with him, but we just checked the airfare yesterday and while he can use frequent flier miles to buy his trip, he doesn’t have enough to buy mine. The current cost for a round trip to just about anywhere in Europe is around $1600, give or take. This is absolutely outrageous. I don’t remember what I paid for my airfare for London last year, but it was something along the lines of $800 less than two weeks in advance.
The other problem is right now Hubby isn’t getting paid and we’re living on savings. Even if our airfare was covered, it is still going to be close to $2000 in expenses, I’m guessing, while we’re there. I don’t know exactly what hotels and things will cost, but I imagine they’re not giving that stuff away.

Sigh. So I don’t know what to do. Put ourselves even more deeply in debt and go, or send him to this conference alone. I really would like to go with him…

One of the things I felt the need to document that probably hasn’t been before… I noticed the other day some artwork that Thing 1 scratched into the paint job of the Passat a year or so ago. She had a little rock with a sharp end to it, and while I was out in the back doing some yardwork, and I thought she was just puttering around the garage… she decided the paint job of the Passat was boring and needed some dolling up. So she scratched a little design behind the passenger door on both sides. There are also what look like initials scratched into the paint on the back, on the trunk. I heard suspicious noises coming from the garage, finally, and of course found her busily scratching away at the paint. She wasn’t very old… probably 4 or so, but she should have known better. Obviously she didn’t remember the reprimand she received after scratching the hood with a rock while we were in Jackson Hole two years before. And to think my father was worried that he put a long straight scratch on each back passenger door once with the handle of a mop thing he was using to clean the inside of the windshield when I opened the doors to do some vacuuming or something in back… Sigh. Just thought I should write that down for future reference.


Thing 2 has developed a new friend from school – Maxine, whom she plays with every week or so. Thing 1 and Sophia Blue have really become good friends. For the past several months we’ve swapped every Wednesday afternoon, with Sophia coming here one week and Thing 1 going there the next. But her mother picked up a new Wednesday shift at the restaurant she part times at, so now we take Sophia on Wednesdays and Thing 1 goes over there either Monday or Wednesday.

Thing 1 has her 2nd cavity appointment next week. I don’t know where these are coming from, I swear I brush her teeth fairly religiously at night and we picked up morning brushing too after the first cavity, which was only six months or so ago. Her teeth must be made of some sort of chalky substance.

I was released from my church calling as Enrichment Leader, and put in as the 1st counselor in the Primary. All in all, I’m pretty okay with this as I was getting burned out with Enrichment. We’ll see how long I last in the primary. I suspect they’re grooming me for primary president, just like happened when they moved me onto the Enrichment committee. They just don’t have enough moms to fill all the spots in the Primary, and I know that logically I just make a lot of sense. However, I’ve found my lack of honest religious devotion getting in the way of some things. How do I ramble on about my testimony when I am not comfortable doing that? My kids don’t say their prayers at night, let alone have any idea who President Hinkley is, we don’t read scriptures at all, let alone daily. Sigh. I’m afraid my private neglect of their religious edification is going to become public.

Vacations

I can pretend my life is about me... but it's really about them. That's okay, they're more entertaining anyway. So I guess I'll just dive right in. This is a photo that they took of Thing 1 at school, and I really like it.

We spent two weeks in Oceanside with my folks this year, and had a fabulous time. One of the really great things was we didn't get robbed while we were there.

We had quite a bit of time to relax and play on the beach, which the girls really enjoyed. Of course in February the weather was a little cold, but we did have a couple of really good days and it seems like we were able to get out to the beach almost every day. Thing 1 and Hubby tried to build some sand castles, but Thing 2 was the professional destruction force that knocked them down as fast as they were built. They had a marvelous time running away from the waves, screaming a lot, and digging in the sand. They loved burying things and digging them back up, making lines in the sand, and crawling around. We also went to both the zoo and Wild Animal park and had really nice times there. Our memberships were good from last year, and so we went as much as we could... though I think we should have gone another day or two anyway.

One of the other highlights of the trip was three days in Disneyland. Like last year, the girls found a ride they liked and stuck with it. I think Thing 2 and I rode the Toon Town roller coaster no fewer than thirty times one evening. After the crowds leave if you ask them, they'll just let you go again and again if no one else is waiting to get on your car. Hubby got queasy after about the third time through and stuck it out to be a good sport, but Thing 2 and I could have gone all night. The girls were also more willing to pose with the characters this year. In the past they have been very shy of anyone in a big suit, but this year they were more willing to talk to and stand with the characters. They had especially good experiences with Mickey, who made a big fuss and spent a lot of time gesturing with them, and Tigger, who took one of their hands in each of his and hopped off with them. The rest of the crowd, including me and Hubby, followed like the pied piper's band. It was one of my favorite moments of our park visit.

I guess that's all for one night....

Memories

Since we've started talking about going to Oceanside Thing 2 has popped up with a memory from last year. Which is odd, considering she would have been 2.5 years old... it's kind of amazing she remembers much at all. Anyway, she talks about how Papa fell asleep outside on the chair. Apparently he was eating dry cereal, and he had some in his hand. Thing 2 remembers taking the cereal out of his limp hand and eating it, without waking him up. Which sounds completely plausible. When I asked her about this to demonstrate her amazing memory to Jeff, she added some richness and detail to the story that she hadn't before. All of which seemed to just verify the truth of it.


Both girls are so excited about going. They don't understand the concept of "we'll be going in a couple of weeks," they're ready to leave tomorrow. In fact several times they've suggested we leave later in the current day. When I picked Thing 2 up from school on Friday her teacher said goodbye a little more warmly than usual, then I guess saw me watching curiously so she explained that Thing 2 told her we were leaving for the beach. I had to explain to her that it will be two or three weeks before we go.

I've been on a vacuuming kick. Since I bought the Dyson I'm not just waiting to vacuum every month or so... I'm vacuuming several times a week. It's amazing... In fact I saw some stuff on the rug and I'd like to vacuum now... One of my problems is the girls usually have a mess all over the floor. This occurs even in their bedroom, despite the fact that almost all of the toys have been moved to the playroom now. So it means I vacuum upstairs one day, and downstairs the other. I probably vacuum each floor about every third day... downstairs, then upstairs and I sometimes even drag the Dyson up there, then I skip a day or two then start over. If I compare my PreDyson behavior with my Post Dyson behavior it is a truly dramatic change. Since I've been weighing the dirt I get out of the rug, I've been convinced that it is working. Either the thing isn't picking up as well or I am actually decreasing the amount of dirt in our house. I'm choosing to believe there's less dirt.

My life as a ticking bomb...

I am too tense.

I was on the phone with my folks, cleaning up the house so I could vacuum before the kids make so much of a mess I can no longer vacuum.
Suddenly they appear before me with a set of scrapbook paper doll things I must have got from Current a while back. Time to hang up the phone. I REALLY don’t want to do this paper doll thing, I want to vacuum and then start the laundry, and then get the kids dressed because I have to take them to the store and buy stuff to make for the cooking group tonight.
But that’s not going to happen. Suddenly we are going to have a scrapbook paperdoll making party. Did I say the girls are still in their pajamas? It’s 11:30…
My idea was that they could decorate a page and put a photo on it. So I’m trying to control what paper doll things get punched out, and find some photos to put on the pages, and about this time all HELL broke loose. Paper doll parts were being punched out with gay abandon whenever my back was turned, the photos that I laboriously found on the camera were printing in 45 inch format instead of 4 x 6, Thing 2 came in and wanted to play Nemo on the computer while I was trying to control the damage from the photo and the paper doll thing, and suddenly the printer is printing off a back log of pictures that Thing 2 apparently queued up last time she played Putt Putt. They can send dozens of pictures to the printer and we've talked about this before. I got upset and made both girls cry... and had to do an overly dramatic worshipful “I’m SO SORRY” thing to get them to calm down.
Trying to contain my tension, we finished the paper doll scrapbook page with NO PHOTOS, just the little paper dolls. Thing 1’s really does look darling, but she’s currently drawing all over the back of it right now. I just need to go rescue it before she starts coloring on the paper dolled part on the front…
Thing 2 is standing next to me begging to play on the computer. Just a minute honey…
She says “I want to play Putt Putt..”
I say “I know, honey,”
She roars “I’m not FINISHED!” and starts howling at jumping up and down crying. She had wanted to say "Putt Putt... Saves the Zoo" or "Putt Putt... Travels Through Time" or something, but I didn't realize this and interrupted her. This is a common problem… it takes her about ten minutes to formulate a sentence, usually it’s the same one she’s been chanting at me for the past ten minutes… but while she’s saying it this time, I have to sit quietly and not do anything but listen or she’ll get absolutely pissed off and yell at me, which happens about ten times every hour.

I feel about ready to pop sometimes…

Living up to a legend

We had a marvelous Christmas…

There are a couple of things I’ve been wanting to write since then… including one I wrote down and emailed myself that I may have to put in here later.
But right now…
I was playing Wii with Thing 1, and Thing 2 was on the computer playing putt-putt or something. Then I hear her going to the bathroom, which usually means she’s going to call me to come wipe her. But she doesn’t. Thing 2 comes in and announces proudly something about she only used a little paper, and she didn’t leave it on the floor. What does that mean? I do not know. She comes in and sits down to play with us. Sure honey, I hand her the contoller, and I go to do something (and find out what she means about the bathroom). She has pulled the toilet paper in a long streamer across the toilet, out the door, through the hall, and into the office.
I call her to find out what’s going on. When she come in she gets kind of vague. I ask her to help roll it back on the roll, since it’s all one big strip, and when she’s doing that I ask her again what happened, why she rolled out all that toilet paper. She starts talking about the time Thing 1 was a baby - crawling - and unrolled the toilet paper while I was in the shower, and when I got out of the shower and found toilet paper all over the bathroom and how I thought it was funny (and took a picture). We had been looking in one of our photo books and saw a picture of the bathroom after Baby Thing 1 had shredded a ton of toilet paper and spread it all over the bathroom.

She wanted to be just like Thing 1, I guess.

While I sleep in...

This is the sight that greets me nealy every weekend morning. I sleep in, and hubby comes downstairs and lays on the couch and snuggles the girls. They lay on him in various puppy pile positions. They all watch cartoons together.


When I get up with the girls and let hubby sleep in, I putter around the house, clean things up, start breakfast.

The girls MUCH prefer daddy to get up with them.

If you can't do it right...

Thing 1 has a perfectionist streak that scares me. She’ll be drawing a picture, or ask you to draw a picture, and if it doesn’t turn out perfect she flies into a rage and scribbles violently all over the paper. She was asking me to help her write I love you to a friend and got her “u” upside down. I probably shouldn’t have said anything. But she flew into a rage and wadded up the paper and started to sob. A few minutes earlier she came to me to ask me to draw a gingerbread man for her. I made a large head, arms, and legs, and when I went to join the lines at the top of his head where I had started, I kind of missed. So it looked like he had a beanie on or something. She flipped out and grabbed the marker and scribbled all over it telling me how terrible it was. When I tried to explain that she just needs to calm down and say “That’s good, let’s try it another way” she runs away crying.
Sigh.

The Christmas tree has become a compromise on more levels than I intended. Based on Thing 2’s dismay that there were no colors on the tree, I went out and bought some colored globe lights that I thought were pretty cool. Not just those little twinkling lights, some globes that were probably 1 ½ inches across. Then I plugged them in. And they flash. Sigh. Not what I was looking for. And they were expensive, too. 13 bucks for a string of 12. So I didn’t put them on the tree. I dragged the girls to Modern Display to see what they had. Of course, at one time they had what I was looking for, for 17 bucks a strand of 15 lights, so they were similarly priced. But they are all out of those by now. All they had was one color strings, no multicolor. Come to think of it… I wonder if they had 3 strings of red… That might have worked. But I had a hard time dividing my attention between two little girls running around the store so excited about everything, and the salespeople who were either standing in my way while they were helping someone else, or hovering over me and the girls worried they were going to break something.
So we bought some minor things, came home, and put the flashers on the tree. The kids seem happy with it, I think it looks sort of overwhelming. But it’s not about me anymore, not for a while, anyway. It’s about those kids.