Ahem.

So, I changed my blog.  It's a work in progress, since I'm on a sloooooooow PC, but it will come together--maybe.  It's still not really a mommy blog, and it's not a scrapbook paradise, and I will probably never give away cool free stuff that I make in my free time (1.  because my cool stuff is pretty rudimentary--hey, look!  a piece of paper glued to a popsicle stick!, and 2.  I have no free time.)

We leave for Europe in ONE month, so it's time to step up and share a little more. 

Today I'd  like to share that after a month in Washington state, and a week in Utah, I am tired of living out of suitcases.  That is all.

We're leaving!

We are pulling out of the campground and heading out. It's been a great experience--we all learned a lot about unselfishness, love, and seizing the day. Next item on the agenda--pulling a camper trailer from one coast to the other. It's going to be a great week!

(Is starting the trip with a speeding ticket a bad omen? Naah.)

Georgetown

A rainy weekday afternoon in Georgetown

The street is full of well-dressed women

clip-clopping to and fro.
I am a thrown-together woman
with no particular place to go.

I have a few hours free

from children's quarrels and ABCs,
And find myself in the enchanted halls
where merchants serve liberal proclivity.

Stiletto shoes with Italian names,
Parfum from France, and lace from Spain:
A patina of gorgeous from each arcade.
No rinky-dink bargains. Nothing mundane.

The well-dressed women race in the streets:
They have no dilly-dally time today.
They have careers and social obligations:
Theirs is not to seize the day.

I find a treasure for my beloved
and touch and smell and look my all.

I imagine myself a well-dressed woman

-pleasant, but fruitless after all.

I seize the day and seize some more
when I return from my afternoon stroll.
Children caper at the door:
Miraculous. Glorious. Wonderful.

I am a thrown-together woman.
Yells and smells of moppet and mite,

pose my hows and compose my whys.
Carpe diem, joyful soul, grasp the day while there's yet light.

Kristin H. Kent
March 2010

Olympics

This appears to be a slightly different kind of biathlon.

Today was a good day

Today was a good day. Oh, sure nothing went as planned and some things went wildly wrong, but it was still a joyful day. I woke up with a glad heart and kept it all day, despite:

~calling for a doctor's appointment at 6:00 am.
~walking into the doctor's office at 10:00 am (with six kids) to find out why no one had called back about my "urgent" condition.
~discovering that the appointment line had not yet passed on any urgent care notes.
~walking back to the car to discover that it wouldn't start.
~discovering that the essential battery ($4.95 for two) in the key fob was dead, thereby setting off the silent alarm in the van, and keeping me from starting the car.
~after a friend in the area took off from work and helped us out (including a jaunt to the BX which was out of batteries and another jaunt to Walmart, which was not close) discovering that the silent alarm had drained the car battery--so now we also needed a jump start.
~having six kids crowd the doctor during my appointment (true fact: even very professional people have a hard time thinking on their feet when confronted by so many little people)
~the computer system was down, so I had to return to the doctor's office and get a paper prescription (they were very fast and kind.)
~grocery shopping with six kids who were, by this time, starving and stir crazy
~and last, but not least, standing on the doctor's scale and staring at the ugly (but truthful) numbers.

also today:
~I held Briellen and Brigham's little hands as we walked down a snowy hill in the stillness of an early morning.
~I carried Vilate in a pack and could feel her warming my back.
~Mirielle's fears of turning into a personage of "bones, skin, and spirit" (her words) never materialized (she's afraid of starving to death. But not afraid enough to actually eat the food I cook. True quote from Tuesday night: "Mom, that's the first thing you ever cooked that I liked!")
~Sarai got her very first pocket knife. (But she hasn't yet earned her tote and chip card, so she doesn't yet have actual possession of the knife.)
~Analise's cat and Sarai's fox got married, in a very elaborate ceremony (complete with a rabbit throwing real rose petals, Mendelssohn's Wedding March, and a ring bearer holding two tiny hair elastics) . They also had a child. (Q: Analise, how long have they been married? (since time is flexible in these sorts of situations, y'know) A: About an hour. Q: Then how do they have a child? A: Mirielle gave it to them as a wedding present.) Excellent.

It has been a great day.

Blizzarding and Milestones

So, we've had a lot of blizzardish type weather, and with it has come a realization of several advantages to our living situation (only four weeks left, by the way! Hurray!)

1. We have a backup generator, which kicks in if the power goes out--so while 200,000 people lost heat and power, we continued to be cozy and warm and play Rat-a-Tat Cat. We, alas, did not have enough power to watch the Super Bowl. Wait, that's a lie. We lacked the desire to watch or care about the Super Bowl.

2. We have great neighbors, who shoveled out our van in the midst of a blizzard for an ER trip. (Because there's no better time than the middle of the worst snowstorm in 100 years to run a 105 degree temperature).

3. There's not enough room in our fridge for more than one gallon of milk, but we can leave a gallon or two right outside the front door, and the snow insulates it perfectly. It stays the perfect temperature without freezing. (I did have to dig it out under ten inches of snow, though.)

One milestone that we reached this week was that The Boy became our second child to (sorry for the indelicacy) pee standing up (but only the first one to be encouraged to do so.) Exciting times!

Celebrity endorsements

So, I am offering a new feature on my blog, where I will share with you my endorsement of whatever random oddities that I stumbled upon. My promise to you--I will only endorse products that are pure awesomeness. I don't promise that you, too will love the products--after all, they may be a bit odd. But you may . . .



Mmmm. Delicious--not at all bitter, very smooth with a perfect bite, even if it is a PROCESSED cheese (how did I miss that when I bought it?!--at least it's not a processed cheese-food. But seriously, yum.) The kids liked it until they started to feel the heat from the horseradish kick in.

You can buy this at Petco, but it's not just for cats . . .
This size bottle works better than the large gallon size.