Drive In!

Last night we were going to go to a Latino art and music festival but I got the date wrong--it's actually in July. So instead we went to a small town near Indianapolis to go to a drive in movie.

We took snacks, an ice chest with drinks, lawn chairs and blankets to sit on (we should have taken more blankets because it got really cold!). When we got there they had big band music playing on all the speakers and it was like a huge tailgate party while everyone waited for the Earth to rotate to a point where the movies could begin. Almost immediately the littles ran over to play on the playground they had set up below the screen.

We got to see a double feature--Evan Almighty and Shrek the Third. The only bad part of the whole deal was that the movies were both just absolutely dreadful. I mean, Evan Almighty might be the worst movie I've ever seen (leaving out movies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Coven, of course). There were huge problems with the plot, the jokes were beyond unfunny, and most of it had just been done to death and back again. If you've had the misfortune of seeing The Santa Clause or The Shaggy Dog, you've seen it all already. Jamie said for him, the pinacle of suckitude in Evan Almighty was at the very end (and yes, I'm going to tell you the end because I don't want you to see this movie)when Evan was summoned away from his family's picnic by God who was standing under a nearby tree and Evan excuses himself from the picnic and didn't bring his wife over to meet God. He was just, "uh, honey, would you fix me a sandwich and I'll be right back?". And then, troglodyte-like, he scurries over to have a Special Moment of alone time with God.

Jordan and I ended up falling asleep during Shrek but what I saw of it was the badness, and this was confirmed by Jamie and Claudia. Jamie said it was completely unfunny and wants to know what's up with all the unfunny comedies lately.

So, it was a super fun experience (but we're really tired this morning because we didn't get home until 2:00 am!).

Sprinkler!

I'm so excited! I went to the hardware store this week and bought a garden hose, a sprinkler and an adapter for our kitchen faucet that allows us to attach the garden hose there. It was all super cheap and it works! The little girls had a blast playing in the sprinkler at Grandma and Grandpa Rieger's house so that's the first thing we did when I brought it all home.

These were just about the last two one-piece swim suits they had at Target (too bad we didn't shop for them back in February when they started selling them)!

Tennis!

Sam, Jordan and Claudia are taking tennis lessons this summer, every Monday and Wednesday morning and then some Fridays they get to play matches. Jamie was on vacation this week and I was off work on Monday so we both got to watch their lessons (Jordan and Claudia are in the same class and Sam's is right after theirs).



Claudia's being taught to serve correctly and the little girls are starting off with a bounce serve.




This is Claudia laughing at a discussion she and Jamie were having while watching Sam's class.



Here's Claudia being annoyed by Jordan. This is a nice shot of her black nail polish!



Just a nice photo of Jordan (well, without the finger, that is).



Action shot of Sammy hitting the ball!



And I thought this was a nice photo of Sammy out on the court.

You're on Notice!

The Weekend

Friday night Jamie and I went to see Knocked Up. It was really well done--super funny and surprisingly affecting and we're still talking about it.

Saturday we drove to Ft. Wayne and had lunch with Beverly, Walter, Grandma and Grandpa and the girls. Beverly played the cd Sammy and Jordan made at the recording studio for us and it was a really nice time.

This morning we went to church and then after lunch the girls and I went shopping which gave Jamie time to take the cliched Father's Day Nap (try and find a Father's Day card that doesn't mention it). After that Jamie took Sammy and Jordan swimming while I made my Aunt Sandy's Mandarin Orange Cake (oh, so good!!)and then when they got back we had cake and presents before Sam went to her mom's house.

Tomorrow I'm off work for the day and Jamie has the week off and I have no idea what we're going to be doing.


This is Claudia watering Zoe's garden after church. Zoe is in Claudia's religious education class and she has bone cancer. Our church has a community garden and Zoe already had a spot in it when she was diagnosed, so lots of people are helping with it.


Sammy watering the garden.

After the girls watered the garden, I tried to get some nice photos of them because it was such a pretty spot.

Here's Claudia doing her "first grade smile" and Jordan doing the devil horn thing:



Here's Claudia shoving Jordan:



Here's Jordan doing the devil horns to Sam:



Almost a nice photo, but Claudia has her hand over her face.



And....good enough.

Me, again!

I'm feeling chatty today, apparently. I need to get off the computer and go practice my clarinet. I found out today that in addition to rehearsal of the full band, we also have sectionals. Damn. It's harder to blend in with the crowd in sectionals. One might even say, completely impossible.

The report from Ft. Wayne is that everyone's having a fabulous time and also--very well behaved! Jamie and I are going there tomorrow to fetch the girls home and to visit Jamie's grandparents.

You know there havent' been that many times in my life when I've seen something and just totally fell in love with it and felt like I had to have it. I mean, really, just a handful of times. So odd that it's happened to me twice in the last week. Some of the things in the past were the Blenko art glass pitcher (that I still don't have and I don't know why because they're not that expensive),



the Ann Taylor charcoal gray wool interview suit that was twice what I wanted to spend (but I bought it anyway), the black suede pumps. So anyway, the other day when we were walking back to our car from the Pride Parade, we stopped in a little fair trade shop and there was this handbag, pale, pale aqua silk with 1/2 inch round gray mother of pearl buttons sewn all over it and I just feel like I have to have it. But it's soooo not in the budget. But I realized that handbag was one of my handful of items the other day when I found myself at my desk at work thinking about it and that one I Love Lucy episode popped into my head--the one where Lucy exceeds her dress allowance so she charges all her friends' groceries on Ricky's charge account and then her friends pay her cash. And of course, with the cash she buys this "darling" dress that she just had to have. Anyway, I thought that was funny, and no, this doesn't mean that we have a Lucy/Ricky relationship--we're very equal in everything. actually, I'm the boss. shhhh!!!! Don't tell Jamie!

Oh, and the other thing that I saw recently, that I completely fell in love with were these potholders Melissa posted on her blog. Now I'm going to have to learn to quilt. Thanks a lot, Melissa!!!

Oh, drat! The husband's going to be home any minute and I haven't even started dinner! LUUUUCCCCYYYYY!!!!

Friday

I'm off work today and so I met my friend, Kelly, this morning to get my camera from her (wooo, Kelly for rescuing my camera!), and then I took Jamie lunch and then I spent a lot of time getting the girls' Father's Day package to their dad ready (copying photos to send, etc.) and then I went to Wild Oats (which is a not-as-good version of Whole Foods Market) to get some good salmon for dinner tonight. I'm making roasted salmon (I got atlantic for tonight, but wonder if I should have stayed with the sockeye), red potatoes sauteed in butter with garlic, shallots and fresh basil (with just a tiny bit of olive oil to keep the butter from burning) and steamed broccoli. Then we're going to see that Knocked Up movie. I thought it looked dreadful, Jamie assures me the reviews are good and it's supposed to be *very* funny. So, yay, I like funny movies! Last night when I asked him where he was taking me for our big date night he said, "well, first, I'll take you to a convenience store where we'll buy candy to smuggle into the theater....." Schmauncy!!


Sammy at the picnic we went to on Memorial Day.

Photos from Ft. Wayne

Sounds like the girls are having a super fun time in Ft. Wayne!

Here are photos of when Beverly took them into the recording studio today.





Can't wait to hear what they recorded. They also went to golf lessons today and we hear that was very fun. Tomorrow is the zoo and more golf lessons.

I'm so happy they're having a great time, but I miss them so much!

Thursday

So the Indianapolis Star astoundingly did not really cover the Pride Parade. This is what they printed:

"More than 30,000 people gathered Downtown under sunny skies and 80-degree temperatures for the fifth annual Indianapolis Pride Parade and Festival on Saturday.

The parade went on for 55 minutes, up from last year's 40 minutes, according to police, who handled security. The parade started at the corner of College and Massachusetts avenues, went down Vermont Street and ended at University Park, where the festival was held. If the event continues to grow next year, police officers said, more traffic rerouting will be needed."

But, oh, well. It was an amazing experience and we're so happy we took the girls. They marched the entire route and handed out candy along the way and they were just beaming. We were worried about it being not family friendly in a too-racy sort of way, but it totally wasn't a problem. It was pretty mainstream corporate as far as the booths went and even Lily had a large group of scientists there marching in the parade. We're definitely going to go again next year.

I went to my first band rehearsal Tuesday night. Not remembering the fingerings for all the notes is kind of a problem, especially since the music is super hard! But it was really fun, I laughed a lot, my first challenging thing was the freaking warm-up (B flat concert scale! I don't remember what that is!) and everyone was really nice and didn't seem to mind my questions. We have a concert in an Indianapolis Park at the end of July. Ack! But I can do this! I used to be first chair, goddammit! (and I think, so did everyone else there--they're all really good!)

Last night Beverly and Walter picked up all three girls and took them to Ft. Wayne for several days and then we'll go and pick them up on Saturday. It sounds like they're going to have a fabulous time there. I think Beverly's taking them to the recording studio, they're going to have golf lessons and they might go to the zoo. About a minute after they left we headed out the door to go out to dinner. I haven't been out without children in about six months, and while I adore my children, this was long overdue. We went to a place out in Zionsville and had a really beautiful meal. Definitely the best food and coolest restaurant we've experienced since I moved to this godforsaken place. And it was especially nice because it was free! (My boss gave me a pretty generous gift card a while back. My boss is so awesome!).

Miscellaneous

I only have about two seconds, but look at the band I just joined! I'm so very excited! I start rehearsing with them tomorrow night.

We had an awesome time at the Gay Pride Parade this weekend. I'll post more about it tonight. I still don't have my camera back but I took some photos with a disposable and I'll post those when I get them back. I could link to photos in the Indianapolis Star, but annoyingly, I don't think there are any. There were about 30,000 people there this year and it got about one paragraphy on page two of the metro section.

Jordan, Sammy and Claudia all started tennis today. Claudia didn't revolt so it's a Good Thing.

More later!

Midwest Nice

Well, I started typing out with a big rant about how rude people in the mid-west are (with the exceptions being Jamie's family, down to a person, and Adam and Melissa--even though I don't think Melissa is technically a midwesterner--all of whom have been beyond lovely) but I decided to save that for another day. And I should say, here, that I'm not a nicey-nice person (for instance if someone wets themselves trying to get over to me to chastise me for something I'm doing that they don't like, that has absolutely *nothing* to do with them, personally, and it's not harming or hampering anyone else in any way, like so often seems to happen here in Indiana, I'm probably going to tell them to fuck off).

Ok. So, my annoyance with Midwest Rude reached an all-new level this last Thursday afternoon when I got home from Claudia's awards ceremony right after Jamie and Sammy. They were already in the house and I stopped to wait for this older man to move so I could park next to Jamie. His car was stopped right behind Jamie's car and it looked like he was dropping an older lady off. And then I realized, no, he's not dropping her off, she's trying to peel Jamie's "Keep Abortion Legal" bumper sticker of the back of his car (did Claudia actually pay someone to do this to avert further morning school drop-off embarrassment? I don't think so!). So I threw my car in park, jumped out and told them to stop. He went into what seems to be standard midwesterner Chastise Mode and started angrily telling me I should be ashamed of myself for having that sticker on the back of my car. Oh, really. We Had Words and it ended with him calling me a fucking bitch and driving off.

Nice! You really taught me a lesson! Your anger and shaming techniques really made me change my mind.

Or, perhaps it spurred me to make a donation to planned parenthood.

Monday

Today Claudia had her sixth grade field trip to the Challenger Space Museum. It was supposed to be really cool (well, at least that was the assumption since the cost was $26.00 per child, which is pretty steep for a visit to a museum). Claudia reports that it was the opposite of cool and it was very boring but the bus ride was pretty fun.

As usual the school was up to its frequently usual "we don't care about working parents" tricks. They told us the trip was scheduled on either the 30th, 31st, 4th or 5th. Then they narrowed it down to the 5th. I took that afternoon off because they planned to bring them back too late to catch the bus and expected all parents to pick them up at the school parking lot at 4pm. Fine. In the meantime my coworker took the 4th off and then, of course, we get a note home saying the field trip is actually on the 4th. So Jamie had to drive to Fishers, pick her up, drop her at home and go back to work. Annoying!

Sometimes it's very good to have scientists in the familia. Jordan watched a "very scary" alien show on tv this weekend with Claudia and it scared her so tonight she wanted to call Jason and Leah to discuss the science of it. Jason sucessfully convinced her that it wasn't real! Thanks, Jason!! She's still scared, but it's more on the level of scary movie scared, now.

Sammy's last day of school was last Tuesday and she had her first tennis lesson of the summer today.

Our Green Household Blog

Here's the blog where we're chronicling the greening of our household.

Apropos of nothing

Mark Twain on Jane Austen (evidently not a fan):

I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

This Weekend

Mixed bag weekend! The girls watched movies, went to the library, scootered, painted, played tennis, the littles went horseback riding and planted seeds and plants on our back patio, and Claudia got a haircut. Jamie and I have both not been feeling so great so we skipped church today. But we did make homemade tortillas and salsa and made freaking fabulous tacos for dinner last night.

Geoffrey Chaucer hath a blog!

We've decided to chronicle our search for green-ness on another blog. We'll have a link up soon.

Women in Art

Jamie sent me this YouTube link:

500 years of western female portraits in 3 minutes. Viewing at Work Warning--there's music.

Friday

Jamie was off work yesterday to hang with Sam and I was off today to hang with Sam, who is out of school already while the other two have another week left. Sammy actually ended up going out of town with her mom's family late Thursday afternoon, but I got some stuff done around the house and took Jordan to the neurologist and got the results of her testing.

My camera is found! Now it's just a matter of connecting with the person who found it, which due to summer vacationey stuff is going to be dicey for a while.

If I had my camera I would show you our finished glass and tree branch sculpture thing. We're trying to figure out the best way to illuminate it. I'm also wanting to project an image on a wall, as art, and I'm being thwarted at every turn. I DO NOT LIKE TO BE THWARTED.

We're also trying to decide whether or not to take kids to the Gay Pride Parade we're marching in next weekend. Some friends have told us it's fine for kids, another couple we know told us they didn't think so (some of the floats being a tad suggestive.) We tend to lean towards not being too sheltery, and we think it's important for families to be there and hey, civil rights for everyone is a lesson we're teaching our children. So Jamie's thinking of calling the organizers to ask about it and mention to them that, you know, it would be in their best interests to be family friendly.

Up until recently, with the exception of the time around when Claudia was born when I was eco-friendliER, I've largely ignored environmental stuff. Recently we've been thinking more about making some changes around here and today Jason sent Jamie this article:

"A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of a plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility...and worse."





The article is suffiently upsetting to the extent that we're going to make some big changes in the way we live. I never thought about the fact that every piece of plastic ever produced is still in existence. And I hate being like that, my sensibilities always tend toward the moderate, but, seriously, ACK. I'm going to have to try to remember--what the hell did we do before ziplock bags?