Dog Gone It

So, I have been meaning to post. Yesterday I left up about 6 tabs of news links I was going to comment on, but I am just too damn busy.

However, I will use my special internet powers to just bitch a little to you.

MY GOD DAMN DOG PISSED ON MY BRAND NEW BED.

Parents and others with soft hearts, I warn you: don't do it. DO NOT give into your little one's pleas for pets. Don't let the misguided memory of your friend that had such a great relationship with his dog or your aunts cute little mutt fool you. Just say no.

Night by Elie Weisel

I am a little disturbed for some reason the last few books I have read have all had Oprah's Book Club Stickers on them. I don't know why that bothers me but it does. She seems to have good taste.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I picked up the novel Night by Elie Weisel from the Goodwill Store.

It was good. It kept me up very late the two nights it took me to read it. It was short- but good. A good reminder for us all about the horrors of the Holocaust, especially in these fucked up times when it seems that denial of the holocaust is permeating the walls of humanity. This would be a good book to read in high school. A friend of mine is actually planning on teaching it next year.

I do have one criticism - albeit a small one but it has bugged me over and over again. In the translation process (I hope) the word "homosexual" is used in a way that should have been "pedophile." The paragraph it was used in was explicitly about guards having sex with children.

It will be awhile I think before I am posting about the feats of reading an entire novel while parenting a toddler. I am once again embarking on the challenge of reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I am 1/10 of the way finished- and I WILL finish this time. Since I have now set aside time to read everyday again- it will happen, but damn that is one long book!

I can finally answer with a resounding yes! yes!

Since the day I announced that I was pregnant, everyone has said to me how lucky I was to have my mother in law living here. How helpful she would be. And as the baby grew, almost weekly someone said, "Oh- I am sure Grandma helps out so much with him!" or "I bet she never lets him touch the floor!"

So, through gritted teeth I usually answered something like, "she sure loves him." Which was absolutely true. But in reality- for the last 17 months- my mother in law hasn't really been that helpful. In fact- she often has a natural proclivity towards waking him up just when I spent an hour getting him to sleep, or smiling obliviously when it just isn't the right time to smile at me.

That sounds pretty awful of me to say I am sure. The smiling part anyway always makes me feel especially guilty.


And I don't blame my mother in law for being less than helpful this last year or so. She lives with us for a reason, and that reason is that she couldn't live by herself anymore. This is not obvious to everyone. She seems on the outside to be of very good health. She is a smart and beautiful lady. It is her mind that fails her -and- at just the wrong moments. And the knowledge of that makes her scared to offer help with something as fragile as a baby.

But, I am elated to share with the entire world that this is no longer so. My beautiful mother in law can help in a way that is so special, and perhaps only understood by fellow parents who know what it si like to just need 5 minutes here and there.

My son now loves to play in Grandma's bedroom. Without me. He visits her when I am busy with something. He visits her just for the fun of it. And sometimes now,I can even squeeze in a shower if I don't get one before Adam leaves.

So now when the well meaning person wants to bestow on me the glories of having your mother in law live with you, I can honestly answer, "Yes! It has its upsides!"

Visiting Grandma is a beautiful thing.

What did you do today?

So, this is probably a boring post subject. You have been warned.



Still here?

Well- this is what I did today. It was a really good day. Restful and completely unexciting, but good. The kind of good a person needs once in awhile.

5:30: Woke up with a crazy baby. Read Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See over and over and over and played a little b ball. Mostly sat on the computer though while Desi played.

7:30: Adam got up, he walked the dogs and then I got some child care relief.

9:30: Went to church. Taught a lesson on the Chinese New Year to my one and only Religious Education student- my own son. It was fun. I was kind of glad for the shitty weather and some time alone with Isaiah. We made truly awesome paper dragon puppets that I wanted to take a picture of but the flash broke on my piece of shit camera that is only 2 years old. I am so sick of stupid crap. everything is shit now.

11:15: Drank lots of coffee and had fun talking about interesting non parenting things [such as Zora Neale Hurston, The Queen of England, Casablanca (the movie), The Big Chill (the movie), Johnny Depp's movie choices, Jack Kerouac, and going to movies even if there is nothing good to see] with other adults during coffee hour at church.

1:15: Read in bed, followed by a nap and good dreams

3:15: got up, put baby down for nap. Had some quality time with Adam :)

4:15 Went to goodwill, kmart, and liquor store where I bought some cheap wine.

5:30: came home and cleaned bath room. low point of day.

6:30: ate frozen pizza and edamame. the good news- I didn't make any of it so who cares if it was all frozen to start with.

7:00: Did more arts and crafts with kids. Isaiah was really into this Chinese New Year theme and chose doing that over board games. We made paper lanterns and decorated the house. I wanted to take pictures again- but again- the crappy camera. Desi just did stickers and markers but he went to town with the marker. I could scan that- so I did.


Okay, actually- I was able to lighten up this picture so you can kind of see it now:




















8:30: put baby to bed

9:30: wrote this to you, was interrupted many times.

9:53: Hit Publish and plan to spend some more time with Adam.

Nice and relaxing. What about you? Good day?

He was going for best dressed...

Well, Parade.com has named the world's worst dictator for the year and the big winner is Omar al-Bashir from Sudan. I can get on board with that decision.

No. 1

Omar al-Bashir
Sudan.
Age 63.
In power since 1989.
Last year’s rank: 1

Omar al-Bashir retains his position as the worst dictator because of his ongoing deadly human-rights abuses in the Darfur region of Sudan. Over the last four years, at least 200,000 people there have been killed by pro-Bashir forces. Nationwide, 5.3 million have been driven from their homes, and more than 700,000 have fled the country. But at the UN last September, Bashir blamed international aid groups for exaggerating the problems as a ploy to raise money for their organizations. And in November, he argued that war-related deaths in Darfur were less than 9,000. Despite agreeing to a 60-day ceasefire last month, he has been accused by his people of ordering troops to continue their attacks.

Unitarian Universalism and Myspace

I kept wanting to blog today, and tell everyone to say happy birthday to Charles Darwin! However, I spent all morning getting two crowns put in my mouth (yuck!), and the the second half of the day creating a myspace page for my church.

I really think that this is going to be effective at bringing in some new people. Ultra liberal people often don't read the local papers, especially if they are young.

Does anybody else think this is a great idea? A mediocre one? A waste of my time?

I am pretty proud of the preliminary page, although I think it will change over time.

Anyone want to check it out and give me some tips?

Mt. Vernon Unitarian Universalist Myspace Page

celebrate the whole boy

A couple of years ago I saw this poster in a teacher catalog and loved it.

It pretty much sums up what I feel about being a mom to boys and a teacher of children.

sickeningly sweet bedtime moment

At a loss of what else to share with you all, I will make you want to vomit from shear baby cuteness overload.

Last night, as Adam and I were putting our love child to bed, said love child did not want to sleep.

Instead, he wanted to laugh, cuddle, and roll all over us. We were telling him we love him, and doing the "I" [point to self] "love" [hand over heart] "you" [point to baby] thing. I did it, then Adam did it.

THEN Desi did it too, in his own little way of course. He said I love you to us, smiled a sweet as hell little bashful smile laid his head on his daddy's chest.

my heart cried tears of joy. it was so okay that he didn't fall asleep until almost an hour later.

My God is in My Soul

It is getting more and more difficult for me to find the time and inclination to write a decent blog entry- but that doesn't stop me from thinking of things I want to write about.

In fact, I am starting to worry about myself in regards to this blog. I think about it, and the other blogs I read A LOT. Like, when I am cleaning house or lying with the baby at nap time, or driving, or walking....It reminds me of when I was kid playing Tetris too much and the game would be on auto-play every night when I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

But anyway, back to quality control.

By the time I know what I want to write about everyday, this little love-child of mine is tugging at my sleeves wanting to play or dance. A treasure that is way more important than this blog.

So, today I will leave the internet behind and rock out with my baby who is seriously groovin to Widespread Panic's Ain't life Grand album over a bowl of Purely O's.

But I won't leave you without the links to some things that if I was a prolific and funny writer I would say something funny about.

If I had the time or the will I would title it something great about Religion and Kids and the fucked up world we live in.

I would say something snide about Rev. Haggard being cured of his gayness.

I would include a snippet about the time Isaiah got "saved" at school and felt an overwhelming sense joy as he apologized to god for all of his sins. (The things some kids will do to rebel) Somewhere in that story I would link you to this column and tell you how I could relate to that mom.

And I would try and tie it all in to this little ditty from the guy who tried to get the phrase "under god" removed from the pledge. (I really do think it is worth your time to give that a listen to. or is it too? My god, I went to college- why can't I figure that out...more coffee)

But instead of doing all of that I am going to shut this damn box off and PLAY.

See ya.

Risk Taking

I feel like I am taking a big risk here. I like to post new blogs on Mondays. It feels like a good way to start the week.

Occasionally, my child falls asleep on the couch unexpectedly. This gives me time to just relax and chill, read up on all my favorite blogs and newspapers and message boards. It is a huge waste of time, but sinfully enjoyable.

The risk is posting at all. The click of the keys could wake him up any moment- probably in a moment of actually thinking of something to say- so, I'll try and make it quick while I tap on the keys ever so lightly (aack, he flinched right then.)

Here is what I want to say:

1. After being sick as hell for a week, I actually graced the treadmill with my presence this morning. Congratulate me, Pat me on the back. (however, I followed it up by eating left over little smokies from the super bowl "party" I had for my kids last night. I am ashamed on two fronts there- watching the super bowl at all, and preparing little smokies for the kidlets.)
2. My Langston Hughes service was really well received and I feel really proud of it. Doing research all week for the music was a blast as well.
   
3. Today I really am cleaning off my desk and making a master "to do" list for the week. I have GOT to get organized; I can't function like this.
   
4. I finished another great book. I don't know if I am just making reading more of a priority or it really is easy to read when your kid passes that first year. It was so good, I want to make a post about it all of its own, but I'll drop the title here just in case that item doesn't make my master list.

Bitterness: A Novel by Malama Katulwende

I highly recommend this book. It has a few faults in style and editing, but its virtues far surpass its weaknesses.

Happy Friday with Dizzy & Louis

Enjoy some Umbrella Man!

In February of 1991 I was well into my freshman year of high school. I honestly remember very few details of the time, but I know I was very into my friends.

About 3 hours south of me, something was happening that would have a deeply profound effect on my life and I did not even know it was happening.

Chelsea, my step daughter was born 16 years ago today. I wish I could express in words how amazing she is, and how proud I am of her. How lucky I feel to know her. How inspired I am by her creativity.

Things have not always been easy in our relationship. There were a couple of years that I think she barely even spoke to me, and I know she didn't like me much at all.

Sometimes I am still not sure how she feels about me, but I know how I feel about her. She is truly brilliant and I believe with all of my heart that the world will see great and wonderful things from her. I hope so much as she grows older, that the strangeness of being a step family wears away and we can cross the bridge as great friends.

(I think all of my pictures of us have red eyes. grr)