For no good reason whatsoever

I stuck the red felt on there at the end because it felt empty and I was tired of messing around with it. I'll probably change it. I don't have a reason or a story why I made this layout, I just did.

Day six of when will everyone in our family be healthy again?

I ought to write a comic strip.

In the meantime, here is a funny Charlie story. The background is that my great grandmother (whom I adored and named my daughter after) had a lovely lilac talc that she scented her girlish things with. I don't find things with that particular scent often but when I do, it makes me very happy.

So I bought the kids some new Winnie the Pooh shampoo/bodywash last week and one morning shortly after his shower, I was snuggling Charlie and sniffed his hair. "I said mmm.... your hair smells very nice this morning." And he replied "yeah mom, I smell like old people. Not regular old people but really old people." I'm left wondering when he's been sniffing really old people.

Hillary Clinton on assassination and why do we run for President this way?

I'm going to take a break from your regularly scheduled banal blog posting and take a point of personal privilege to talk about politics for a moment.


As people bicker over whether she is really contemplating Obama’s death as justification for continuing in the race or whether the analogies were historically accurate, I’m going to propose a different theory. She initially made the statement way back in March when Mark Penn still held full sway over the campaign and every soundbite was triangulated and tested and polled. I suspect that they first trotted out this analogy for two reasons - both to argue that the nomination has lasted through June before and to plant the question in the minds of super delegates as to whether they really want to endorse a candidate who just might be killed before the convention.

Since she used the analogy twice afterwards but eliminated the assassination reference, my suspicion is that within the campaign they decided it wasn’t the right message, or it didn’t end up testing well or it was too risky to use more than once. But now months later she’s exhausted, she’s answering the same questions for the hundredth time and the first message came out of her mouth. Not with malice aforethought, not as an indication that her soul is dark and contemplating all of the possibilities, but as an honest mistaken reference back to the Kennedy analogy that for whatever reason had previously been abandoned.

Which brings me to my larger question which is why do we tolerate politics the way it’s run today? Because when you get down the question she was asked about why people want her to quit the race, her basic response was that she didn’t know, she finds it curious, she doesn’t understand, blah blah blah, keep talking, say stupid thing, blah blah blah. But none of it is the truth. She knows exactly why people want her to get out of the race and she doesn’t find it curious, she just disagrees. She can’t say that though because for some reason, we don’t tolerate the truth in politics today.

Take Obama’s response as another example - he takes her at her word that she meant no offense, he’s not bothered by it, move on. None of that is the truth either. He knows exactly why she said it, I guarantee that if he’s not bothered by it, his wife sure is, and you can bet that there were a few moments of glee in the Obama headquarters when they realized how much damage this story was going to do to her campaign. But he can’t say any of that either.

When you take a good look at what any of the candidates are saying on any given day, it’s clear that they aren’t saying much of anything they actually believe. When Senator McCain sarcastically says he admires what Senator Obama has accomplished for being such a young man, what he really means is that he can’t stand the guy and yes, the dislike is very personal. Why can’t he just say that, that in their personal dealings, he found him untrustworthy and not genuine and that’s his honest opinion. Why pretend affinity that doesn’t exist?

I know this is the way politics has always been played but with the 24 news media and the pundit class, somehow it seems all the worse because now we have an entire industry that exists for nothing more than to blather and analyze the nonsense that comes out of the candidates’ mouths. In the meantime, there are actually really important issues that will affect all of us that no one seems to have any interest in talking about. Maybe they’ll get around to those issues when the election is over.

A sign that your children might be watching too much tv

So we're all sick now. And the tv has been on, um, a lot over the last two days.

As I was cleaning up from lunch, Grace came into the kitchen and said she wanted a space bag. I asked her what a space bag is. "It wocks out bugs, dirt and mooster." "Moisture?" "Yeah, dat." "What are you talking about Grace?" "Mommy, it fits under da bed and you vacuum it up and you put your sweaters in it and it's good cause there is no bugs in it." Okay then.

A new lens

It's going to take some getting used to but I'm excited to play.

I'm sick. And sick and tired of the rain. The weatherman says that it's going to be nice any minute now. But I'm sick. So the level of my caring is not what it once was.

A Grace anecdote might brighten the day. She went to bed. She called me to her room. She always calls me to her room. It's a source of great tension. This time she wanted MooMoo. I said I would bring MooMoo if I found her. Grace said she would go look. I said no, I would go look. Grace said she would go look. I said no, I would go look. And then I closed the door. Grace said she would go look. I said nothing. Then I heard "ha ha, I said it last, I winned." I fell for the bait. "No, you did not win. I will always win, I am the mom. Saying it last does not mean you win." Her muttered reply? "Well what do you think it means then?"

And a Charlie story just for equal measure. He got the Diary of a Wimpy Kid (or something like that) at the bookfair on Tuesday. He finished it by Wednesday morning. His dad brought him home the next one and he started reading it last evening. He went to bed at the regular time but several hours later I had to put something away in his room, went in and discovered the lights on, him reading away. I turned the lights off, told him to go to sleep and thought that was the end of it. This morning he woke up with bags under his eyes down to his chin. And admitted that after we went to bed, he got back up and finished reading the book. I still haven't decided whether I can actually punish him for reading.

The laziest week of my life

I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I was a slug this week. Maybe it was the gloomy, cold, rainy weather, maybe I just reached my breaking point. The fact that the sun just finally burst through the clouds and I found the inspiration to blog about it is probably a hint. I hope it stays out long enough tomorrow so I can start to get the house back in order.

That's it. That's all the energy I can muster. I'm like a depleted solar panel.

Edited to add: The weatherman confirmed it - it has been gray and rainy for 15 of the 16 days in May so far. The weekend forecast? Gray and rainy. I think I need to buy a sun lamp.

Happy Mother's Day!

We're having a quiet, lowkey day as we try to beat a stomach bug that's been hanging around all weekend. It's grey and rainy and the perfect day to sit inside, watch Indiana Jones and scrapbook. Enjoy your day!

A recap

Grace started out the school year wearing 24 month clothing. That lasted only a few weeks when she moved to 2T. That lasted only a few months more when around Christmas she moved to 3T. I just spent a small fortune buying her summer clothes in 4T. And yes, you guessed it, they just barely fit. This is our first growth spurt (slow and steady is the rule around here) and my wallet is not too pleased about it.

Happy day after National Scrapbooking Day!

Working through some leftover fall pictures. I love fall pictures.

I was very excited to win a free registration for Debbie Hodge's Scrap Your Events class. I've downloaded the first two lessons and hope to get to that this afternoon. Scrapping events like Christmas and birthdays is challenging so this class will be very helpful!

We took the first step away from "our house looks like college kids live here" this afternoon. We bought Charlie a complete set of bedroom furniture. Until now, we've been hodge podge purchasers, a little something on clearance here, a little hand me down from someone there. Nothing flows and really, it just looks bad. Justin and I are very slow with decision making; in fact, we picked out Charlie's furniture a year ago and just never returned to purchase it. And then when we finally went to get it this week, discovered that it had been discontinued so we had to start the process all over again. But we've been talking about remodeling and redecorating for months now and this was the first step. Next step - repainting and new floors? Check back in a year and see how far we've gotten with those decisions. It's painful I tell you.

A turning point?

This morning did not start out very well. Justin's car wouldn't start and after trying for an hour to charge his battery, he gave up, took my car and headed off to work. My AAA membership expired on April 30 - but it turns out they have a grace period. Eventually they showed up and figured out what the problem was and we headed off to the kids' schools, only about 45 minutes behind schedule.

But... and here is the turning point part... it was my intention to run today after dropping Grace off, and then come home and do all the stuff around the house that has to be done. So I was 45 minutes late, giving me time to either run or come home - not both. And then, when I got to the park, I couldn't get the ipod to turn on. So short on time, no music. But I ran anyway. Yes I did! 1/2 mile more than Wednesday in fact.

Tonight I have to go to the funeral home for a viewing for a friend's father who passed away unexpectedly. We are too young to be losing our parents. This friend has now lost both parents and 2 sisters. It seems to me some families get more than their share of tragedy. I hope I can think of the right words to say to him.

Happy May Day!

Yes, I am gleeful that the month of April is over. I've never felt that way about April before but this one kicked my butt. So even though I backed into someone's car in a parking lot today, I am confident that good things are going to happen in May! (And that's not just because I have a birthday this month.)

My little man had a birthday last week. He likes birthdays but he is not very happy about getting older. Transitions are always a little bit difficult for him and this one has been no exception. He threw a temper tantrum yesterday (probably only the 3rd temper tantrum in his entire life) and was so mad that he tried to make his head explode. He squeezed his eyes and his shoulders, his face turned purple and he started shaking from the exertion. And he almost succeeded - he broke most of the blood vessels around his eyes. He might be the very first kid to get two black eyes from screaming. The source of the temper tantrum? He was mad at himself for doing something mean to his sister.

He has found a best friend over the last few weeks and was devastated that his black eyes meant he would not be able to ride the bus home with her after school tomorrow. This led to another round of teeth gnashing anxiety. I am still looking for the manual that came with him.