Sammy's Ice Skating Party!

I have to say I'm quite impressed with Jamie and Susanne. We threw together a very respectable ice skating party at the last minute for Sam's Birthday (it was last night), complete with friends, treat bags, pizza and cake with her favorite cream cheese icing. It was really fun, the kids had a blast and by the end of it, they were all skating a lot better than when they arrived. Jamie took next week off work for Spring Break and instead of heading to Ft. Lauderdale where college co-eds are going wild, he's going to stay put in suburban Indiana and entertain the kids, which will now include taking them ice skating.

40 Things

When my friend, Melissa, turned 40 a couple of years ago, she set a goal to do 40 things she'd never done before and do them before turning 41. I thought it was such a cool idea, I've decided to do it, too.

Making the list has been interesting and more difficult than I thought it would be. Everything seems to be falling into one of four categories:

1. things that go on the list;
2. things that can't go on the list because I've already done it (I've done way more things than I thought!);
3. things that won't go on the list because there's just no way in hell I would ever do it (i.e., I'm not jumping out of a plane); and
4. things that can't go on the list because it's just not possible to do in the next year (Pompeii's going to have to wait).

So here I am, two weeks past my birthday, and I still don't have 40 things on my list. So I'm soliciting suggestions.

Here's my list so far:

1. go to Canada
2. audition for an amateur symphony
3. throw a Texas Independence Day party
4. start a novel
5. learn to blow glass
6. go sailing
7. go snow skiing
8. meet Marinda
9. find an on-line photo group and post a new photo once a week
10. go camping in a tent
11. learn to make croissants
12. learn to knit
13. go to kentucky
14. take a dance class with Jamie
15. take a cooking class
16. perform random acts of kindness once a week
17. learn to make one spectacular meal that would be appropriate if
Jamie brings Mr. Tate and some clients home for dinner
18. serve it at a grown up dinner party
19. go to Iowa
20. go to Wisconsin
21. go to Minnesota (I don't want to, but I *need* items!)
22. learn a song on the guitar
23. cook a real meal on a campfire
24. attend a greek orthodox liturgy

So, all my home slices out there (I can pass for 21, can't I?!?)! Send me suggestions, please!

The Weekend

We had *such* a great weekend. The weather was beautiful, we got *almost* enough quality time with the kids, and we made tremendous progress in the little girls' room. We even hung up an (incredibly cute, if I do say so) curtain we made in the middle of the room, giving them each their very own room! Sort of! Anyway, they're excited about it. We are too, because now they each have a designated spot to clean! And also, you know, happy girls.

Saturday morning Jamie had to work and Jordan, Sammy and I sold Girl Scout cookies at our troop's cookie booth at the Do It Center (yes, really, it's a hardware store and you are 12-years-old!!) which turned out to be a nice experience. It was people-watching on another level and everyone was really nice to the girls. After that we came home and I made jalapeno potato salad and a chocolate spice cake to take to a cook out some friends invited us to for Saturday night. The cookout was fun and the people were interesting. Then that night Jamie, Claudia and Sammy went for a long walk (Jordan was having an allergy attack from the cats at the cookout) and then after the littles were in bed, we watched Saturday Night Live with Claudia. Peyton Manning hosted it and he was actually pretty funny.

Sunday we went to church where we learned how to build our own theology, the littles learned about all the different spring myths and Claudia's class made micro loans. The money for that came from a musician in our congregation who gave each kid in Claudia's religious education class $20.00 to invest in micro loans (or keep, which one of the girls actually did!). They pooled all of their money (except the one) and chose three people living in the third world to loan money to for seed money to start businesses. They'll track the loans online.

After church we worked on the bedrooms and the girls played with their new friend, Jen, who lives almost next door. Then Jamie took Sam to her mom's house, took Claudia for a drive (for some reason, Claudia wanted to go for a drive) and then after they were all in bed, Jamie and I watched most of the first season of The Office (American version). The Office was a lot more painful to watch in the first season, than it is, now, because it stayed really close to the BBC version.

Sammy's Birthday

Here are some photos of Sammy's birthday! Even though Sammy was feeling a little under the weather, she, and all of we, had a great time! We had dinner, opened presents, went to the pet store so she could pick out a bird (she named it Neonia because it's neon green) and then back home for cake and ice cream. Claudia made her a Happy Birthday sign on the chalkboard and a really cool card, which I thought was very sweet. I know, the cake looks kinda weird, but we had technical difficulties with the frosting. But it was good!

Blogging at you from Uzbekistan, 1996

Our DSL is *still* down. They're saying it's some major *thing* in the road or something and we're not the only ones affected, as if I care about that even a little bit and they have *no idea* when it will be fixed and now we're on DIAL UP for the next however long.

Sammy's Birthday, Part I

I only have a second, but I wanted to say Sammy had a great 9th birthday on Monday! Thanks to everyone who sent her cards, presents and called her that day! She'll be working on thank you cards this weekend.

We'll blog about it and post pictures this weekend. Our dsl connection has been down for three days, now. They're working on it, but I'm getting annoyed!!

Someone is nine today

Happy birthday, Sammy!!

This weekend

Here are Sammy and Jordan wearin' the green to school on Friday. They were very concerned about getting pinched!




Friday night we went to the Family Fun Night at Sammy's school.

Here are Jamie, Jordan and Sammy doing the macarena.





And here they are doing the limbo.




After that was over, we dropped Sammy at her mom's house and when we got home it was bedtime for Jordan and Jamie and Claudia built our annual leprechaun trap. They got a little more elaborate this year and went beyond our traditional box-propped-up-with-a-stick contraption. Next year we may have all three girls each research, design and build their own trap.




Here's a video of Claudia demonstrating it (we'll right-side-up it soon):

Leprechaun trap.

But, as usual, the leprechaun took the coins we used for bait and left us with a bunch of chocolate coins. And he also turned our drinking water and the water in the girl's toilet green.



Sunday we went to church where Jordan learned about Joshua and the battle of Jericho and Claudia continued to work on her utopian society. The adult service centered around the death penalty and Jamie and I are wanting to get involved in that, but we're probably doing too much right now as it is. There are five issues we're particularly interested--homelessness, abolishing the death penalty, gay rights, abortion rights, sex education--and that's really a lot to work on all at once, especially with all the other stuff we have going on. So, we'll see. After church we went to Einstein's Bagels in the Broad Ripple district for lunch with a group of friends and that was really fun. There's a billboard across the street from the restaurant of eyeglasses made from a bunch of junk and it always reminds me of The Great Gatsby for some reason. I would go back and re-read it to find out, but I hate that book.

And now it's late Sunday night, Jamie and Claudia are out shopping--they're picking up a few things we missed off the grocery list this weekend and also searching for the new Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor, Steven Colbert's Americone Dream that Claudia is dying to find, and I'm making Sammy's birthday cake. She wants all home-cooked stuff instead of bakery/going out. For the cake she chose the cinnamon chocolate cake we always make but with vanilla cream cheese icing. Yum! And for dinner tomorrow night she wants roasted pork loin, rolls, "my" mashed potatoes (with roasted garlic) and steamed broccoli with butter.

Slow to blog as always

Happy birthday, honey! I love you.

My famous mother-in-law!

The Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette did a feature article on Beverly and her music entitled Folk Tales: Composer finds inspiration in Earth, heart, soul in this last Saturday's Life section.

Miscellaneous Recently

First things first--Happy Birthday to the awesome Jana who also turned 40 today!

So little time to blog lately! I worked until around 8:30 Thursday and Friday nights while Jamie did Brownie detail (we have girlscout cookies to deliver!) and pizza movie night.

Friday my office took me to the Aristocrats Pub for lunch to celebrate my birthday and that was a really nice time. I love my boss and coworkers--they're all super nice and interesting people.

Jamie and I have started a youth group for the 5th and 6th graders at church. They already have people covering their spiritual stuff and someone teaching them social justice stuff (and another person donated money to their class so they can do micro-loans! How seriously cool is that?!?) so we volunteered to handle the social portion of their religious education. Yesterday Jamie made a huge pot of chili and I made a cinnamon chocolate cake to take to a pitch-in (or pot luck, depending on where you're from) with a bunch of people at the church and after that, we had a lock in for the 5th and 6th graders. They've named themselves the MUUfins, btw, because recently in their sunday religious education class they've been designing a utopian society and something about aliens and muffins featured prominently, and since it seems that all Unitarian Universalist social groups that have a "U" in their name change it to "UU", they're the Muufins (pronounced moofins). Anyway, the lock-in went really well and all the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. We're planning on organizing something at least once a month from now on.

Today after getting all the kids up and fed, with the help of some other parents that stayed overnight with us, we all went to church. So tired!! At the end of it, just when I was wondering what we should do for lunch, Jamie told me he had arranged for our babysitter to be at our house at 1:30 because he got us tickets to hear this trio for my birthday. Sweet, no? and it made me all sort of verklempt. And for added birthday awesomeness, they played one of my favorite songs, Ashoken Farewell. After we got home from the concert, there were balloons and cake and Jamie had taken the girls out shopping and they all got me presents. So it was a really amazing birthday. I read on my sister's blog that Marinda says whatever you're doing on New Year's Day you'll be doing all year long. I always consider my birtday my own personal new year's day, so I hope she's right.

67 and 40!

I was born March 11, 1967, 27 years and one day after my father.



This is us in a photo booth in Dallas around 1969. Weren't we adorable?!?

Every year I tell my dad on his birthday that he's one year older and dragging me with him. But that's ok--we're both heading for 100 (my dad's mom is 99 as we speak).

So Happy Another Year Older to my dad, who along with my mother taught me all the most important lessons--how to love, how to care about some things and how to question others.

photos

My possibly favorite thing of Jamie's (writing that is)

When the string uncoils,
And the lattice cracks,
And the mountains run aside
Like wax,
I'll lash me to these wobbled bones,
And fill this tattered coat with stones.
I'll tie my skin where'er it slacks,
When the string uncoils
And the lattice cracks.

Let copper green
And silver black.
Let reason tilt
And logic tack.
We'll cut our lines, we'll cull our clutch.
I'll bring the dog inside the hutch.
We'll boil our blood and sieve it back,
Should copper green
And silver black.

And as the winds
Reclaim the land,
I'll trace the veins
Along your hands.
And when the howls
Are hushed by dawn,
We'll find some scraps
to rest upon.

Miscellaneous grown up stuff

We have a new babysitter who is awesome! She was here last night with Claudia and Jordan (although not *technically* Claudia's babysitter on account of Claudia's 12) so Jamie and I could go out for our anniversary. We had super fun! and ended the evening at the bookstore where we bought The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder so we can read about the start of Laura's marriage.

Several months ago I was telling Beverly it seemed like we could never find any time to volunteer, paint, write, play music, or read. But that phase seems to have come to an end and things really seem to be jelling around here all of a sudden. Well, not all of a sudden--we've worked our asses off for it for almost a year, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

So life is full in a very good way.

As for me, I've been working in a contract position since October and as of next week, I'll be a permanent employee and with a raise and vacation time and paid holidays!

And in addition to all the volunteer stuff we're doing, that I'm so happy about, I joined a book group and I'm really excited about it because they've been described as people who love to read who are very opinionated. That's just going to be so fun!

And finally, I'm back to playing my clarinet and I'm thinking about auditioning for some amateur symphonies/bands in this area. I've been going through new sheet music like mad and this weekend I bought Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and it's very hard but I'm having a blast with it. I'm sure our neighbors love us.

Jamie's joined a guitar circle, and is gearing up to start painting and writing again. I can't wait to see what he does! I miss reading him a lot. Also, he's planning on having some of his art up somewhere in the area by this fall and sending out some query letters to publishers pretty soon on some stuff he wrote a while back.

Last Week

Oy, what a week. We shared a car all week which meant 10+ hours a day at work for me and that Jamie was doing a lot of driving, so we were exhausted by the time Friday rolled around. We were so wiped out we didn't even go to our Democrat meeting or Social Justice meeting and we feel kind of bad about that.

Claudia had to choose her classes for seventh grade this week. She's staying in band (yay!) and her teachers chose her to take a language class next year. It's a high school honors class and it's supposed to be difficult, so I'm really proud of her. She had a choice of French, German and Spanish and she chose Spanish. So we're busy working on vocabulary and phrases and we've decided we'll all study it with her.

Friday night we did our traditional pizza movie night, sans Jamie (he met with his guitar group) and I had Greek food instead of pizza. Sammy and Jordan were really cute--they were calling it "girls night out" (no idea where they got that) and they brought a bunch of pillows and blankets up to one of the couches and got all snuggled in with the dog.