Gulf Carts

That is what the sign says in front of the RV shop on the way to Montpelier. It makes my eye twitch every time I see it. I thought, okay, maybe it's a type of cart that I am unaware of. Certainly possible. However, there are several golf carts lined up behind it.

Unfortunately, it is on a busy narrow road, so I have no picture to share.

Drying Out

Before.


After.

We got pummeled with even more pounding rain last night, but today, the sun finally seems to be out. The ground is still squishy wet and everything is still very, very wet. Our yard is shady, so it will be a while before everything dries out. The concrete in the backyard is becoming a green carpet of algae. Actually, maybe it's moss. We have a lot of moss.

Even the daisies are flat.

Our little bean tepee with morning glories! Alas, the moonflower got dug up by something. We'll pretend this would have been the first summer it would have bloomed before it got too cold. Actually, most of the morning glories got dug up, too. And something is eating the leaves off of the beans. I suspect deer.

Just for fun, here are some of the zinnias. Slugs have claimed about half of them. Slugs may also keep us from growing a pumpkin. They keep eating the blossoms. That orange dish you see in the back is a beer trap for the slugs. It works very well, but there are just too many slugs. Plus, I drink most of the beer before I can dole it out into the traps.

When Calvin and Hobbes is Your Summer Reading

So Fiona calls from the kitchen, "Mom? Can we go out for pizza tonight?" I say, "Noooo...we aren't going out tonight and I made pizza for lunch." She starts trying to say "So, mom, what you're saying is you'd rather stay home and cook and clean rather than spend a few bucks for dinner?" Only she gets maybe 2 of the words out and starts laughing. She spurts out the rest of the words with considerable effort. I paraphrase here. I know exactly which Calvin and Hobbes strip she is talking about.

She is still laughing.

Here is the strip.

Brunching

So we went to The Main Street Grill for brunch last Sunday. Usually the brunch is an outlet for the students to make cool little delicacies like pork rillette, head cheese, pates, mousses, and salads--not to mention a selection of hot dishes, omelettes and waffles cooked to order, and an ice sculpture. Hopefully, the students get this experience at the campus in Essex their second year, because now the brunch is no longer a buffet, it is a prix fixe menu/a la carte. The menu is perfectly fine (I had a very nice crab and corn cake and a cheese platter) but it's noticeably lacking in the cool funky French preparations. There is still a nice dessert buffet table, however. The kids menu (and the kids eat free in July if you order the prix fixe brunch) is quite simple, however. It's fine if your kids want just a regular breakfast: eggs, pancakes, waffles (i.e. if your child is not my 3 year old Sophia). If your child wants pasta, however, they will make what they have...but you must pay for it. It seemed a little off key considering it was brunch. The total bill from our trip was another reason that this will be a once in a while trip. One nice change is that the brunch is on Saturday now, too, instead of just Sunday.

Taking Sophia somewhere like this is always a risk as she does not want to sit still for long. Anywhere. She is someone who needs to be on the move. Guess who wanted nothing on the menu? (Hence the pasta). And did not eat it? Well, it is the first time we have taken her to The Fancy Brunch.

I do recommend the lemon drop martini.

Blathering

I hate to complain about rain when so many places need it so badly and...you know, at least it's not a hurricane. But damn. We've had enough. The yard is so buggy and the basement is so stinky and we want to play outside in the sun. That thing we don't see so much of in the winter, right? /Rant off.

Fiona did very well as a sailor in her play H.M.S. Pinafore. Video taping the play and getting Sophia to sit in one place was not an easy task, however. That added some special interest to the video, I'm sure. The auditorium was stifling hot (I can't imagine how it must have been on stage) so Sophia was even more wiggly than usual. Everyone in the play did an amazing job, especially considering they had only been working on it for two weeks. Alas, I do not have pictures, only video. Doug was in Oregon at the time, which is why I was solo.

We've dropped the chess for Frog Juice for the moment. Fiona was getting too frustrated at not winning every game now that her parents are remembering how to play. However, Frog Juice is very cool. I recommend it. Made by the same people who make Sleeping Queens, also fun.

The swimming lessons, despite my pessimistic moaning (sometimes I have to roll my eyes at myself), actually went very well. It did not rain (for a change!). The water temperature was bearable. The kids, of course, had a fabulous time.

I think we may actually have a firewood source. Our second source called back and said, "Oops. Sorry. We have too many customers and not enough wood. Bye." (Really, I feel quite privileged that we got a phone call at all). Our first source is not returning my calls. However! We have Third Source. Third Source is very much on the ball and has given me an actual delivery date. Has actually asked WHERE they should drop off the wood and where they can pick up the check if I am not around when they drop off the wood (only in Vermont, I think, would this not sound suspicious...but I will still be here when they come with the wood). So. I know it's not that exciting, but believe me, it will be very exciting for us to have wood this winter.

Ah, thunder! Perhaps another day where the electricity goes out for hours. We've had some high (for here) wind storms this summer and the trees just keep coming down. Not ours yet, thank goodness. It's fun for a while with the kids when there is no electricity. The fun does not last as long as you think it would, though. Oh, no. No it does not.

I hope those in the path of Dolly come out safe and sound today.

Chess

Fiona has been learning chess (I think she was inspired by my Foxtrot comic book--the dad loves chess and is always hounding his family to play with him). She just came to us and said she wanted to learn chess. She is doing really well. She and Doug play every day and she writes little notes about how much she loves chess.

Despite repeated correction, however, she keeps calling the bishop piece "The Butcher".

We're going to brunch this morning--kids eat free in July! Woot! It's the NECI restaurant, so there should be yummy nibblies like pate, rillette, cheeses, and salads. Including the usual brunch fare. There may or may not be adult beverages involved. Depends on the kids.

Time for a Bracing Two Weeks

So today starts two weeks of swimming lessons for the girls and music theater camp for Fiona in the afternoon. Hopefully, Fiona will enjoy the camp and I won't turn into ice during the lessons. See, because Sophia is a "Tiny Tot" until she turns 5 (meaning I'll be doing this next summer as well, I'll wager), I get to go in the water with her. The water is always bitter cold. It's not necessarily warm during the summer here. It rains quite often (but the lessons go on). Oh well, it will probably wake me up. I haven't been sleeping well (except for last night, thank goodness). Insomnia and wakeful creatures who need you in the night seem to go hand in hand to exasperate the problem.

Yesterday, we tried to finally get Sophia her own bicycle, but she now just wants her tricycle and not one "pink like Fiona's". We tried to get Fiona a bike helmet and she doesn't like the strap under her chin (I was exasperated and sympathetic at the same time...I hate things around my neck or under my chin). So I guess we'll be getting our exercise by swimming and, hopefully, hiking this summer. Both girls are getting the cutest freckles. I'll try to get close ups soon. They are getting tan lines despite copious amounts of sunscreen that says it protects against UVA and UVB rays.

I have, for the first time since we moved into our house, actually been trying to get firewood for next winter. It's been like trying to get a carpenter or contractor to work on your house. No one returns my calls. If you talk to a person, they say they will call later. And don't. There are the few who are exceptions and it is work to find them. Because of this, I have somehow made 2 orders for 2 cords of wood each (I thought one guy was a flake and wasn't going to call me back). We're going to wait until we have an enormous pile o' wood in the driveway before I cancel the other one. We don't need 4 cords of wood (I hope), but we sure do need wood. After our last heating oil bill, I wonder if we will be sleeping in front of our tiny wood stove next winter.

Fiona just came down the stairs. I thought she had fallen back asleep (feel free to laugh at me here). She just spent about an hour silently in her room reading a Calvin and Hobbes book she found hiding in her room. It was hiding in her bookcase, you see. You see that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Pass the Tissues

Well, Ellen Aim wasn't impressed, and I can see what she means, but I enjoyed Wall*E. It's true the message was about as subtle as Kool Aid, but it was entertaining. Plus, who can resist mushy robots and cute cockroches? Okay, then.

Sophia didn't like it. She thought the robots were scary. I am not sure this is an age thing (although she is not quite 4 yet), I think in this case, it is a personality thing. Fiona did like it, which does not surprise me. It was fun to see her face change throughout the movie. So I cuddled Sophia and ate her popcorn (I promise it was okay with her). I only blubbed a little bit during the movie, but I blub at everything. It helps that I am not taking Lexapro anymore, however. But even then I still get teary. I mean, I totally bawled at Fiona's kindergarten graduation (they even have 8th grade graduation now??). Why? No one else was. Did I bring tissues? Of course not. I got to be a slimy mess during my child's graduation. Oh well, I'm sure they all think I'm bizarre anyway. Now they think I am unstable and bizarre, I am sure.

Recently, Doug told me he was driving the kids home the other week and he looked back in the mirror at the kids and Fiona was silently crying. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. They had just passed a dead fox, and she was sad.

At times like this, I am pretty sure she will use her powers for good.

A Neat Little Commercial

I had to share.

The Strawberry Post

I actually (by "actually", I mean, I took them ALONE) took the girls strawberry picking on Thursday. We went to Legare Farm in Calais, which was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure they aren't organic because I didn't see any signs saying it was organic, but I could be wrong. At least they are local, and they are definitely delicious. Not only was the farm very kid friendly, my kids actually did very well! Strawberries were not stepped on! Strawberries were not eaten until washed at home (however, fingers were licked)! They both took to the task like naturals. I guess they knew it was a good cause. Fiona did not find it "boring" or "too hard" nor got "too tired" and Sophia got her little concentrated look on her face and picked, picked, picked. On the way out, Sophia accused some kids of slurping on the strawberries while their mom picked away. Mom looked a little guilty. Sophia was confused. I felt like Overprotective Mom. Ah, the baggage we carry as parents. Anyway, I just distracted Sophia and it was all good. So, I don't think the farm really cares if the kids eat the berries.

We picked about 11 pounds? of strawberries I think. So far, I have made jam, a crostada, ice cream, strawberry shortcake and syrup. I'll make floats with the ice cream and the syrup. If we don't eat all the ice cream.





Legare also has excellent creemies. Fiona had a fresh strawberry one and Sophia had maple. Sophia seems to be insulted by the idea of using strawberries in anything. Fiona and I were talking about all the things we would do with the berries and Sophia wailed "No, NO, NO!!!". Sophia didn't eat the crostada (just a free form tart, like a galette), didn't eat the strawberry shortcake, and didn't eat the ice cream (much). However, every time I go to take berries from the sheet pan in the fridge, some of the berries have huge bites out of them. I am pretty sure this is Sophia. I really hope it is. Sophia loves strawberries to pieces (unadorned, as I said). She really prefers to just take one big bite and move on. I imagine this huge tray of strawberries in the fridge is just too tempting. It must seem enormous to her (it is to me, so how does it look to a three year old who adores them?). The only way around this is to cut the leaves off and give them to her. She will eat bowls of them plain.

The only exception to this is jam. Jam is okay. Even homemade jam. Fiona declared the homemade jam the best ever and said she now hated the store bought jam. I don't believe that for a second, but I did let her have more.

Well, there's the usual things: flowers... chocolates... promises you don't intend to keep...

Okay, forget that promise. I will write when I can. Sorry.

I don't seem to be doing too well with reaching my goals these days...

So Fiona's last day of Kindergarten was yesterday. We won't find out who her new teacher is until mid to late summer. She already really misses her teacher and the familiarity of Kindergarten. In her journal she wrote: "In Kindergarten, I am happy. In first grade, I am sad". Sniff.



I wish these things would get sorted out before summer vacation (they do in some schools). Less anxiety for both child and parents. I have heard the Kindergarten teachers are the best teachers in the whole school. That was great for this year, but now I hope it's an exaggeration. There are three first grade teachers. One was a music teacher and is fairly new, one I know nothing about and was new last year, and one has been there for years, has a good reputation, apparently has a bias for science, and is the grandmother of one of her classmates (in fact, the first boy she was crazy about this year. Right now, it's actually still J). You can probably guess which one I have my fingers crossed for. (The science teacher!!)



Six teeth are missing. She pulls them out. Twists them. Asks her dad to help. She knows better than to ask me now. I am feeling faint just writing this out.



Sophia has been going to a nature preschool camp this week at the North Branch Nature Center. This meant dropping her off for a couple of hours and leaving with Fiona. I expected the worst, but it went very well. The counselors there are also very sweet and Sophia just dived right in. Her devotion to wearing dresses, however, is strong enough that she will not consider wearing shorts or pants...even to nature camp. At least she wears her "running shoes", or tennis shoes (That is what she calls them, and it is very accurate. She runs everywhere. Or skips. She doesn't really ever seem to walk). Fiona and I had rare time alone together. Many, many stops have been made to Gesine (the divine coffee/pastry shop from earlier posts). And today is pie day, so I'm afraid we may end up there again. We will hopefully go for a hike today if we don't get more thunderstorms.

Speaking of thunderstorms, we have had some real storms lately. One even came with a tornado watch (Nooooo, nooooo, listen, weather, I don't DO tornadoes anymore. K?) I heard there was a funnel cloud spotted over UVM (in Burlington) but I refuse to believe it. I did buy batteries for our radio (and it didn't work...sigh) because I just knew the power would go out. And it did. Luckily, we just had lots of branches in the streets and nothing more. At least we have basements up here.

Both girls participated in a dance recital this year. It was actually extremely cute. Sophia only did one performance (hopefully, that is the one on the DVD they sell...you aren't allowed to videotape the show), and that was enough.







Sophia will start at the The Child's Garden Waldorf school next year. We've met the new teacher (all these new teachers!) and we feel pretty good about this. She will go in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She already loves the space there and every one loves their playground. The real question is: what do I DO on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings?

Hello Once Again

I have to apologize for the unintended long break and just jump in again here.

What's been happening?



Fiona just finished performing in her school play, The Jungle Book. She was a monkey. She was a totally cute monkey. She had the greatest facial expressions. The little monkeys were made up of Kindergarten and 1st grade students. The first night of the performance, she forgot which way to run off the stage after Shere-Khan (the scary tiger) walked in. After being confused for a minute, she bolted off the stage the right away after a bit of help from some flowers. It got such a laugh, that apparently her music teacher asked her to do it again for the performance the next night.

In February, I went in to see my doctor about my SAD and the Lexapro (fine) and mentioned a lump I had found on my breast. After feeling the lump, he had me set up an appointment with a surgeon (just in case, so we had the ball rolling) and get an ultrasound and a mammogram. Long story short, my lump was just a galactocele . I don't even need to have an annual mammogram at this point (I will, of course, do so when I turn 40). Oh, and by the way, the mammogram is so not a big deal. I had the digital mammogram, and while it is certainly quite awkward to get yer boobs totally sandwiched and handled by a stranger (the tech was very nice, however, and did a great job), it was not at all painful. I couldn't actually look at my boobs being flattened, but as long as I didn't look, it was okay. So not a big deal. Needle biopsy was much worse. Worth it, but painful. The worst thing about the surgery was the recovery from the anesthesia. So that's that. It probably will not happen again and I certainly don't plan on lactating again at this point (not that I wouldn't breastfeed because of this, mind you). I had the surgery because they couldn't tell what it was from the tests and I did have some atypical cells (not malignant, but could possibly lead to malignant cells).

So, anyway, I got to spend a full week in Texas at the end of April and I had the most amazing time. I got to see my family in little D and go to the Spring Fling (okay, okay, the Jazz Festival). Then my sisters Alex and Ellen Aim and I drove down to the fabulous city of Austin to see Triana and her hubby and their adorable cats Harlow and Clover. Triana's new house is totally fab. I have finally been to the legendary Alamo Theater, where we saw Big Man Japan. I just loved the movie (maybe just one time, though). I had a yummy Guinness milkshake, which certainly added to the enjoyment of the film. Those candy coated sunflower seeds seem to be the hot new thing...they are everywhere now and I had green ones on the top of my milkshake. Nice touch. I want every theater to be an Alamo Theater.



More about my Texas trip later. There is just a lot to write about with pictures and links. Fiona has lost a top front tooth, which gives her that typical endearing smile you see on kids this age. Both Fiona and Sophia are in a dance recital this week. We'll see how that goes, but their costumes are very cute. They are supposed to wear make up, which I am not wild about, and no underwear. I'm sure that's so you don't see underwear peeking out, but it seems a little over the top for kids this age.

The top picture was taken of a sign to the back room. While I was away (did I mention I went alone?), Doug took the week off from work and watched the girls. Fiona also had the week off from school and there were no activities that week (well, except for the last two days of my trip). They not only had a fabulous time, but the house was clean! Projects were done! Laundry was done! I am not worthy. However, I am extremely lucky.

When Doug goes away on work trips, I can assure you all the house is not clean when he returns.

More trip details to come. Really.

More Pictures

The birthday girl with our present.

Bug cakes! Triana sent the Nordic Ware pan to me for my birthday.





My party pictures are dark and blurry. I think Sobo got better pictures.

Six!

Fiona turns six today. We had a bash with a mix of her friends. We made fairy baskets--little homes for the fairies that we also made. I'll post pics of those later. We had a unicorn cake and bug cakes (thanks to Triana for the excellent bug pan!). I think she had a good time and it was over way too soon for her. I made her a fresh flower wreath. Which she promptly gave to one of her friends. Sigh.

I have pictures of the cute bug cakes, but blogger is having trouble loading pictures and I'll have to add them later.

The Whining Post

Sophia is totally healthy and Fiona has a trace of a cough left, but I feel like I've been knocked on my ass. I have that headache you get right behind your eyeballs, my whole body aches, my throat hurts, I have that knarly cough that sounds like horrible things reside within your lungs, I feel totally weak and to top it all off, my monthly affliction has arrived.

Oh, and the driveway is solid ice and there is no school today. Doug got down the driveway and safely off to work, but the car doesn't go back up the driveway.

Thankfully, Sobo is here. Otherwise I think I would leave the TV on all day and throw candy down the stairs.

The End.

35

My youngest sister was trying to figure out how old I am today. She said, "Okay, you're thiiiiirty....OMG!!!1111"

OMG! indeed. Actually, I had a good laugh at this. So today me and my old lady self will get down with some raspberry mousse cake, some lovely little gifties from Doug and the girls, and maybe I'll have a bath later.

I mean, hey, if I can remember drinking soda in glass bottles and playing vinyl records (you know, we just called them records back then), I guess I must be pretty old.

Then the planning for the fairy bash is on. Fiona and I spent the night last night coughing, so hopefully that will stop soon.

I Like to Move It

Yes, the song by Reel 2 Real. I cringed typing that in. Okay, I know. It's not a great song. It couldn't be more silly. But it is a great song to work out to. It's one of my songs on my workout list on the iPod for the stationary bike.

Why am I telling you this? After volunteering in Fiona's class yesterday, I was helping Sophia get her coat and boots on. Fiona and her classmates were getting their backpacks, and snowpants, and boots on, and while they were doing this, several of them started singing "I LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT! I LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT! I LIKE TO MOOOOOVE IT!".

I died a little inside (Damn, I should listen to fucking Mozart when I work out!). They may not have gotten it from Fiona, but it wouldn't be the first time she's taught her friends a new song.

I'm in good company, though, because this makes me remember that her friend Ellie taught her "We Will Rock You" back in the preschool days. I thought it was so cool she would sing that in the car on the way home.

Feverish Ramblings

So while my children's brains are melting under the fevers and the constant Sesame Street, I found myself taking a shower. This sounds so simple, but a shower makes a big difference in how I feel during the day. Maybe it's the feeling of clean, maybe it's all those negative ions. Whatever (I can hear you rolling your eyes and thinking get a life, you know.) I'm in the downstairs bathroom, which only has a sample bottle of Happy Hippy shower gel from LUSH (grapefruit, very nice) and an ancient, nearly empty bottle of "Feelin' Really GRAPE" Suave conditioner for kids. Every time I open this bottle, it totally reminds me of the glass bottles of soda at my dad's work we would get when I got to visit. The grape one, of course. Yes, you read that right. Glass bottles.

Oh, so anyway, I'm reading the back of this grape shampoo and even the kids' shampoos now have this deal on the ingredients where they do this: Water (Aqua), Fragrance (Parfum). Everything else is some chemical (er, not that the "fragrance/parfum" isn't) and isn't translated. Nothing else is on the bottle. (So thank goodness they've translated "fragrance" and "water", and not say, "conditioner" and "hair"). Why is this the latest fad? To make it sound better? It's not like the rest of the bottle has anything else but English (sometimes questionable English, at that). So aqua is Latin and I guess parfum is...French? I can't figure this out.

Since the phrase "screen time" is obviously going to be something to embrace today and not, as is normally the case, whispered with a guilty hang of the head, as in: "She has already had one hour of screen time today; she can't possibly use the computer now. Maybe tomorrow if we don't watch any show.", I am sure we will be going here. Thanks to Unmitigated Bliss for the link. Doug looked at me last night and said, exasperated, now we will have four people fighting for the computer. Sophia is a wiz with the letters and, really, I just had to help her with the mouse. I think what makes this more exciting than usual is that it is something that usually only her sister can do. Ah, the milestones of today.

I Never Feel Like I Get Enough Bacon

Thanks to Triana for sharing what may possibly be a combination of the two most perfect foods ever. Bacon and Chocolate.


picture by Triana.

I can not be at peace until I have some.

The girls are home with fevers today. They are flushed...their cheeks are bright pink (actually, that was Sophia yesterday; she seems better today, but still a bit off). They both have a lack of appetite but still have plenty of energy. Hopefully, we'll be all better by next weekend!

BFF

So there is a new best buddy in town (I waited a few days to make sure before posting). We'll call him "J". Fiona and J are always coming out of the school together and she is always talking about him. We HAD to invite him to the party (he barely made the list in time!) I volunteer in her class on Thursdays and she just couldn't stay away from him. He doesn't seem to mind. Her teacher raised an eyebrow at me at one point and said, "this relationship sure seems to be blossoming". Apparently what happened was that her teacher switched everyone's place in the circle and Fiona found herself next to J. She hadn't really interacted much with him before this.

He came up to me at lunch and asked if Fiona had told me his phone number. No. So he told it to me (and I am very impressed he knows his phone number; I wish Fiona did).

Fiona tells me they are going to be best friends forever.

Oh, and I couldn't sit next to her at lunch! She wanted me to sit on the other side of the table.