Category: General News

March 7: Right around this time of year I get a ache in my heart for green.  Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that St. Patrick’s Day is my favorite (aside from Christmas) holiday.  You pour on the green and rainbows and silliness just when I need it most.
It’s been above freezing and/or raining for the last couple days, and the thick piles of snow are shrinking.  As I walked Andrew to preschool yesterday, the water pouring down the street into the storm drains sounded like a mountain stream burbling, gurgling and splashing.  The kids and I pulled our stroller up from the basement yesterday, and we inaugurated the season of going for walks by heading straight to Java Cat for a cake batter gelato.

It’s still going to be a few weeks until there’s much hope of bulbs emerging from the frozen ground (see pics from Jessica’s garden on March 31 last year), and I need flowers now.
So last week the kids and I went to Jung’s Garden Center to see out hope. We came back home with a pot of hyacinths, just coming out of the dirt.  It’s been wonderful to watch them come alive and bloom on my kitchen table.
And the smell…oh the sent of spring!  It’s enough to make me wiggle like my dearly departed dog, April would when she saw someone she loved.  Head to toe glee.  Bryan got me some perfume for Valentine’s Day this year.  It’s call Shedonism by Origins, and to me, it smells like spring.  I’ve been putting it on before bed every night to give me good dreams.
Since computer smell-o-vision hasn’t been developed yet, you’ll have to use your imagination, but I hope these photos helps bring thoughts of spring a bit closer to you too. Here’s a high resolution version of the above photo for you to use on your desktop or anywhere it might make you happy.

March 5: Here are a few things that make me happy:

• SmartWool socks.  All day, every day.  Thin ones, thick ones…  They keep me warm and they are made of magic.  My SmartWool long underwear is my new favorite piece of clothing.  I wear it nearly every day.  And at last, it’s winter and I’m warm!
• Kosher salt.  I have mine in a bowl on the counter, and I love being able to reach in and grab a pinch to season food.  I like the tactile nature of it; the way it makes cooking feel.  When I boil pasta, I grab a spoon and scoop out a generous spoonful to salt the water.  Makes my pasta taste oh, so good.
• Homemade vanilla lattes.  I don’t get to coffee shops much at all anymore (sniff), but most mornings, I make myself a latte with my Areolatte milk frother and some vanilla syrup.
• Netflix.
  Bryan and I don’t have cable, and we watch TV almost only for football (Bryan) and red carpet events (me).  However, we do watch a lot of shows with Netflix. We just finished a couple seasons of Lost, and next we’re going to watch Battlestar Galactica.  I think another Deadwood has been released, and we’re really enjoyed some of the Masterpiece Theater BBC shows.
• The NieNie blog.
  I ran across this blog several months ago.  It’s written by a woman…a great writer…with four small children.  She’d been big in the blogosphere for quite some time, writing about the magic of life and the wonderful in the ordinary.  Then she and her husband were in a plane crash that killed the pilot and burned something like 80% of her body.  She’s recovered enough to begin posting again, and I find her story so compelling.  It makes me appreciate life a little more.  Today’s post made me cry.
• Talking with friends on the phone.  Jessica called as I was writing this post, and my face now has a big smile on it, and I feel good from laughing.  I’m so very glad to have friends!

Sylvie took a long, long nap this morning (2 hours, baby!!).  That also makes me really happy.  She’s making stirring noises right now.  Here I come, my love!

So now tell me, what are some of your favorite things?

March 4: Sylvie came down with a fever.  She was cranky yesterday…I thought teething.  But last night she was up a lot, and this morning she was warm.  So I took her temperature, and it was a bit over 100 degrees.  I’m bracing for another stuffy nose cold.  We’ve been disease-free for nearly a month.  One glorious month of not wiping noses or rocking sick kids through the night.  Now, I’m ready to dive back in.  I’m ready.  I’m ready.
While Miss Sylvia takes a much-needed nap (good gracious was she in an angry mood), Andrew has been writing in a workbook.  He’s so excited to trace words and do mazes and read a little.
On one page of the writing workbook, there was a picture of a skunk.  Andrew didn’t know how to spell skunk, so he went into this room, and he found his animal bingo game.  He brought it out to the living room, and pulled out the chips until he found the skunk.  Then he carefully copied down the word “skunk” into his workbook with a pink marker.  That kid never ceases to amaze.

Last night I did a seasonal decoration change.  All the snowmen and polar bears and snowflakes have returned to the basement.  In their place, I have my almost-spring decorations…St. Patrick’s Day, picture frames, and colorful boxes.
I’ve got really old pictures in some of the frames, and I think I’m going to try to pick some more recent pics to replace them.

Hark!  I hear a cardinal singing his spring song!  That’s a sound that brings a smile to my face.

Have a great day!

March 4: I just uploaded a couple weeks worth of pictures.  For your viewing pleasure, these photos include:

• Andrew, Alivia, and Sylvia in costumes
• Sylvia standing unaided (then falling)
• Sylvie’s great new eggplant hat made by Heather
• Andrew and his snowman
• Tom playing with the kids
• A wintry outing to Olbrich

March 3: We’re back home after a nice, long weekend at Jack’s.  Our group was diminished this year.  Maretta and Kyle were supposed to join us, but Kyle broke his leg a couple weeks ago.  Poor guy slipped on the ice and broke his leg. He had surgery last Wednesday.  So we missed Merry and Kyle, but we all had a nice time.
Pictures are in the gallery.

Terry, Tom, Michael, Lisa, and I drove out on Thursday night.  On Friday, we drove to McGregor, Iowa to have lunch and do a little shopping at some sweet shops they have there.  Paper Moon is a great store…be sure to stop by it if you’re ever in the area.

Bryan drove out on Saturday morning, just in time for breakfast.  We headed up to the woods on Jack’s land and burned one of the many brush piles that Jack has created while doing land restoration work.  Andrew had fun sliding down a hill on his bottom…over and over and over!  Later in the day, Andrew and Bryan had a great time playing outdoors.  When Andrew came in, his cheeks were so red, it looked like he had applied rouge 🙂

We enjoyed celebrating Sylvia’s first birthday (Feb. 11) yet again with a delicious cake.  She likes people singing to her!

Over the course of the weekend, we played several games of Trivial Pursuit.  When we played with a more recent set of cards, some of the “youngsters” shone…particularly Bryan and Michael.  Thanks to Bryan’s great contributions, the Jack/Bryan/Tom team won on Saturday evening.

Overall, it was a great weekend.  The kids had a nice time, I had a nice time.  I’m already looking forward to going back this summer!

March 2: It’s cold outside!  Playing outdoors is less than fun when it’s below freezing, so we decided to have a little silly fun today.  I got a pudding cup and some brushes, got the kids undressed, and they painted the tub.  It was Sylvia’s first time “painting.”  She now thinks that paint is delicious!  Cute and silly photos are in the gallery.  We ended our painting session with a bath to wash off all the pudding and then another bubble bath with me blowing bubbles at the kids just for fun!

I wonder if the sap is stirring yet,
If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate,
If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun
And crocus fires are kindling one by one:
Sing robin, sing:
I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring.

~ Christina Rossetti

Feb. 23:  I love watching the Oscars.  And usually I have a party or at least a friend over to watch it with me.  Back in the 90s, Mom and Maretta and I would watch together.  Oh, how I love the dresses.  I haven’t seen any of the movies, but for me, it’s not about the movies (except to know what to add to my Netflix que).  It’s about the fashion.  (See here for some favorite dresses from the past.)
So last night was a little bit sad because Oscar night totally snuck up on me and I had no plans.  Grace informed me of the impending glamor the night before while we were chatting on Facebook.  Bryan sat near me and played chess online while I watched, but it’s just not the same as having girlfriends to dish with.
So here are some of my thoughts on this year’s Oscars…

First off, I think Hugh Jackman did a great job hosting.  I loved his opening number!  You can catch it here.

Second, I thought that the re-do of the theater was beautiful…it really looked special.  I didn’t like, though, how they had the band playing while the presenters were talking.  It was distracting for both the speakers and the audience.

Third, I am a fan of the new thing they tried this year where past actors offer a personal tribute to the acting nominees.  It seemed like a lovely way to honor all the nominees in a way that was really very meaningful to them.  And several times it made me cry, which I consider a big plus.

I was hoping to post some of my favorite and least favorite dresses, but I’ve got a request to play. That’s more important! You can see some of the pictures here.

Feb. 22: The kids and I have been listening to Mary Poppins a lot recently.  I just love that movie.  And I also love to laugh.

Today I enjoyed a few quite moments with my favorite magazine: Wondertime.  One of their contributing writers, Catherine Newman often has the ability to totally crack me up.  And this month’s article really tickled my funny bone.  I always like to share good writing, so I encourage you to check out the following article on The Birds and the Bees.

By the way, to my great sadness, Wondertime is going under.  March is going to be the last issue.  I really appreciate blogs, magazines, and other resources that celebrate the magic and challenges of parenting.  Hopefully when the economy recovers, Wondertime will make a re-appearance.

Feb. 21: There’s a recent wave of news from Joe while on his study abroad program in Sri Lanka.  He called me early last week, and we had a great 15 minute chat.  Sounds like he’s doing really well.  It was fun to hear his voice and to hear him relate some stories.  He got to hear Sylvia screech at him from across the world.  She wanted to hold the phone.
Joe has several blog posts that I have copies below.  See the originals here.  He’s planning to reply to comments, so if you’d like to leave him a little howdy-do note, you can do so here.
Joe just completed the first session of the program, and the ISLE program website has been updated with lots of nice pictures of the students and descriptions of their activities.  There’s also another page of pictures for those who just can’t get enough.
Also, for those of you who aren’t up on your world events (I’m raising my hand here, I only get my news on my 8 minute drive to Curves in the morning), there’s been some intense changes to Sri Lanka’s civil war.  The Tamil Tigers have been fighting the Sri Lankan government since the 1970s.  Fighting has escalated since 2005, and in the last week, the Sri Lankan government announced that they captured some important territories in the Tamil Tiger area.  The fighting…and there’s lots of it…has been limited to the northern edge of the island – about 150 miles from where Joe is staying in Kandy.  The BBC has some good info on this conflict if you’d like to learn more.

Continue reading “The skinny from Sri Lanka”