The funniest thing happened last night!

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell came to visit our house while we were sleeping! I think they must have been worried that I wasn't able to keep the secret about going to Disney World so they stopped by to drop off letters for Charlie and Grace. Tinkerbell told Gracie to ask her dad if she could come visit her at Disney this year. Justin wasn't so sure, so he had to measure Grace. Imagine his surprise when we discovered that Grace is tall enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain! Let the countdown begin!

Cinderella

Gracie has a strange Cinderella game going on right now. It involves her taking over the chores from me and finishing them despite my protests. Sweeping up the moonsand that is covering the porch floor being one example. I swept, went to dump the dust pan and came back to find her on her hands and knees under the table picking it up grain by tiny grain. And she insisted she was going to finish it.

I wondered what was going on until she piped up "Mommy, if you was a ugly stepsister, I would be really grumpy right now."

I hope she isn't grumpy when midnight comes around and she realizes Prince Charming isn't coming to rescue her.

The best laid plans of mice and men

Today was supposed to be a busy day, running tither and hither to one obligation after another. But then Grace got sick in the car on the way to school so now the day is not so busy. After several hours of Noggin and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she seems to be just fine.

Harry's tumors were benign. The kids still think he looks like a zombie and don't want to be anywhere near him.

Now that we booked the Disney trip, I don't want to wait until December to go.

Scrapbooking. I think I'm going to go do some of that now.

A good day, a very good day

First, because we booked a surprise trip to Disney at Christmas. Shhhh!!!! The kids think we won't go again until Grace turns 9. Justin and I are trying to decide whether to tell them ahead of time or just start driving and see how long it takes until they figure it out.

And then, because I just got an e-mail that Barack is coming to town on Friday. Rested and relaxed from his vacation... I am pretty stoked to go and hear him in person. I'm hoping to be able to take Charlie as well.

It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Twas the week before Easter

and all through my house...

was the sound of the carpet cleaner, vinegar squeaking on windows and the tiny screams of tiny spiders dislodged from the hidden corners on the sunporch in which they built webs during the winter. Sorry spiders.

It's been an emotional week. Harry (our pup) had surgery yesterday to remove two masses from his flank. We are still hopeful that they are just cysts. It was even more emotional when I got the bill for the surgery. But we love you anyway Harry.

And the speech. Of course I'm going to say something about Obama's speech. Because despite all the trivializing by the likes of Wolf Blitzer who says it's the same old politics, what I heard yesterday was the best speech given in my lifetime. Whatever happens to this man, in this election, I am proud that I was part of this moment in however small a way.

Spring came to visit

And I decided I would go up the mountain to visit the bog and see if it was waking up. I've visited the mountain in every season - deep winter, early spring and it's always been fine. But I've never attempted it in the midst of the freeze/thaw cycle and as I skidded and bounced along the unmaintained road through the state forest, I reconsidered the folly of not having told anyone where I was going. No guardrails, no other cars, no cell phone coverage - just my fingers gripped to the steering wheel creeping along at 2 miles per hour praying that the all wheel drive would keep me on the road.

Finally I was at the summit and could breathe again as I headed down the trail through the woods to the bog. At first the trail was a messy mix of a thin layer of snow interspersed with patches of deep mud and thick layers of rotting leaves. As it wove deeper into the forest, the snow pack deepened and soon the only sound I could hear was the crunch of my shoes breaking through the crust of the snow. There was one other set of old tracks heading in and every once in awhile, I could see where that person stepped off the trail and broke through the snow into a ditch filled with mucky, murky bog water. The walk did little to calm my nerves.

As I came to the platform leading out into the bog, my first reaction was absolute disappointment. Still asleep. Still frozen and silent. A pair of crows called to each other from the trees on the far edge of the water. I searched the sky in vain for the sight of a hawk and listened certain I would hear the songbirds chirping to each other in an early spring frenzy. Nothing but the repeated, obnoxious "caw caw" over and over again, causing my startled heart to begin pounding again with every discordant call. This was not peaceful or calming.

And then I forced myself to stop. To breathe. To just be in the place like I had been dozens of times before. It was then that I heard it. A creaking, distant cracking. The tiny gurgle of running water. The ice is melting. The bog is waking up. Spring is coming.

I took a gamble that the summit road would be better maintained from the logging trucks and state forest vehicles so I drove in that direction and was rewarded with clear roads the whole way to the highway. My car is completely covered in mud. But spring is coming to the mountain.

Time keeps moving on

I made this layout for my grandfather for Christmas. That's me up there on the tractor with him. In 34 years, I've never seen him react like he did when he opened this. I've not had a lot of success giving scrappy gifts to other people but this one was priceless.

And speaking of time, I went school visiting this morning and think we've found a pre-K program for Grace next year. We have officially decided not to send her to kindergarten yet and this program will work very well in the transition. Charlie is the only one who is upset about the decision.

I'm off to take a nap. The time change is killing me.

This boy

woke up sick this morning. March is always the worst month for sickness around here and it's holding true to form this year. The crocuses finally decided to stick their little green shoots out of the ground though so that means spring is coming soon. I think I'll sit in the yard and wait until it gets here.

Old, new and blue

I really love my hobby.

Twilight

Where have I been? Why didn't I listen to anyone about these books? They are mushy, sappy, romantic, suspenseful and the most fun read I've had in a long while. I read all three of them since yesterday morning. Justin sniffed disdainfully a few times and I always replied with... "but Amazon says Twilight is the best book of the decade!" He is unimpressed.

So I obviously don't have much else to blog about since I've done nothing but read in the last two days. Go buy these books!

Please don't faint.

But I scrapbooked today. The layouts look nothing alike.

I can't figure out why the 2 pager is so small. It's Ghosthunters night so that means even more time to scrapbook after the kids go to bed.

It turns out that Gracie has strep throat. She's doing much better today after antibiotics. We all had to get new toothbrushes out of the deal so she's actually pretty happy.

My favorite scrapbook store is for sale. I'm very sad about it. I wish I lived closer so I could buy it. I wish I had enough money to buy it. I wish a lot of things.

Back to your regularly scheduled scrapping.

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Paula to post 7 random facts!

1. I studied abroad in Venezuela and rather than use my travel time to see the Amazon or Victoria Falls, I went to the beach.

2. My favorite color is purple because when I was in college, a dorm mate was washing her very purple sheets and they caught my attention and I realized that I had never considered purple before. Said dorm mate is now the angel in the Philly Cream Cheese commercials.

3. I watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy once a month. Star Wars original trilogy also. Pirates of the Carribbean trilogy also. I watch a lot of videos while I read or scrapbook.

4. I vacuum every day. Sometimes more than once a day. Dirty carpet makes me squirmy.

5. I read political autobiographies for fun.

6. I am afraid of the dark.

7. My kids have covered their car windows in the car with all the stickers from their trips to the doctor. I'm the mom that drives the car with stickers all over the windows. I never thought I would be that mom.

I'm supposed to tag 7 other people but Paula used up most of the people I would tag. So... if you are reading this AND you have a blog AND you haven't been tagged, consider yourself tagged. And leave me a comment so I can check it out!

It was very, very green

When I last did the grocery shopping, we were still planning to cook through Nigella and I bought accordingly. Last night's menu included the last of the recipes: broccoli soup. Sounds harmless enough. The recipe includes a goodly amount of Stilton cheese. We're fans of the blue cheese around here so I was optimistic.

Let me interrupt this story to tell you another one. A few weeks ago, Anthony Bourdain's travel channel show had him in Singapore happily munching away on various Singaporian cuisine. One of the foods that Anthony loved was made from these gigantic crabs that feed on the carcasses of the dead human bodies that are thrown into the river. You read that correctly. Anthony called it something like Spicy Crab or Chili Crab as he munched on it happily at a mall foodcourt. Even more delightful. Crab of the dead at the mall food court. My husband said it sounded delicious. And he would like to eat that. My husband would like to eat crab of the dead at the Singaporian mall food court - the man will eat just about anything.

Until it comes to Nigella's broccoli soup. He took one bite. Made a funny face. This caused Charlie great anxiety because Charlie doesn't like broccoli at all but he was making a valiant effort to eat this soup. Justin ate some bread and shot me a look across the table that caused me concern for my continued health. He took another bite. And then he quietly pushed the bowl away and said "please do not make another one of Nigella's recipes. Ever. Please." And then he at Amy's organic cheddar bunny crackers for dinner.

Personally, Gracie and I didn't think it was that bad.

Speaking of Gracie, she woke up yesterday with a bad cough that worried me but that I hoped was asthma. She woke this morning with a high fever and now I'm even more worried because while my kids are prone to the high fevers, they usually show up much later in the day. So we're going to spend the day watching videos and cuddling on the couch. And perhaps a little bit of time researching new cookbooks.

This is how things work at my house

Last night when we were deciding which movie to watch, Charlie made a strong argument for Lord of the Rings. And his argument was this: "but Mom, we haven't watched Lord of the Rings since January."

(I think he was wrong though. I think it's only been since the beginning of February.)

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The kids were misbehaving and I was getting grumpier by the minute so I loaded them in the car and we went sled riding at the park. After settling down for some pizza and Harry Potter tonight, Gracie declared it the best day of her entire life. She might be onto something.