Life, the Universe, and Everything

Wrong

What the hell is this? Fucking snow? In March? It's spring, dammit! 5 inches. We hardly even got 5 inches the whole rest of the winter. Well, I guess we're not going outside to play today. It's going to be a long Sunday. Fuck. Today's gonna suck

 

 

Even 5 inches of snow can't keep you in a bad mood while running around the yard listening to your kids yell "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" at the top of their lungs. Unlike the rest of the winter, this snow was wet and packable. (I swear we couldn't make a snowman to save our lives this winter) It was 40 degrees out and the snow was melted by 3:00 in the afternoon.

I was SO glad to be wrong.

For the record, I have much better aim than they do. :)

     

Brief

Rob had surgery yesterday. Bilateral inguinal hernias. Not large, and who knows how long they've been there, but they became apparent recently when he had the cold/cough of death. The fact that he's lost 25 pounds might have just allowed us to finally notice them. {shrug} So anyway. He's been in some pain. I've been managing the kids. And trying to help hm as much as he'll let me. Anya's been a brat beyond usual measure. She breaks down into tears at the slightest provocation. I've been on a hair-trigger myself

So, if you don't have anything nice to say...

Near Riot Over Girl Scout Cookies*

The cookies had been delievered early that morning, and boxes upon boxes of the famous girl scout cookies were piled high. After weeks of viewing advertisements claiming the girl scouts would be "selling girl scout cookies in the lobby on Friday, March 20 from 10:00pm - 4:00pm," a crowd of employees gathered in anticipation of the sweet sugar rush. But 10:00 came and went without any girl scouts present. The crowd began to murmer their disapproval.

	"I wonder if we could just leave the money? We know how much they cost." wondered one employee.
	"It just isn't right," complained another. "They can't just not show up!"

By 10:15, more employees had joined the emotional mob. It was rumored that some of the women were even PMS-ing. The guards began calling for reinforcements. They could see the danger brewing. This was after all, a state government building. And there was a reason the term "state ass" was created - and it ain't because state workers eat so many carrots.

Soon the grumbling worsened. People began to try to jockey toward the front of the crowd. The girl scouts would come soon, and no one wanted to go back to work empty handed. It was nearing the end of their scheduled break time, and tempers were flaring. Friendly co-workers who had come to the sale together were suddenly calling names and fighting over who would get the first box of Thin Mints. Weights were discussed. It was getting ugly. Just then the shrill shriek of the phone pierced through the crowd's roar. They quieted.

	"That was the troop leader. The girls scouts will be here at noon!" announced the guard with obvious relief.

And just as quickly as the situation began to spiral out of control, it resolved itself. The mob broke up as the employees disbursed. Rude comments about weight were forgiven in the thankfulness that the cookies would be available in just 2 short hours. Employees returned to their desks and their work. The guards breathed a sigh of relief. But they learned their lesson. At noon, they would definitely have crowd control ready, just in case.

*based in part on a true story.

Is it just me?

Lil Rounds picked a horrible song for her on American Idol last night (March 17). i think it's just because she doesn't know any country music. Is it just me, or does anyone else think she should have picked a Reba song? Like maybe Fancy or something.

Give a little whistle

I had to get this on video. Ally has learned to "whistle." It cracks me up everytime.

Whistle from Katie on Vimeo.

Still picking out her own clothes

 

And also...

Spring is coming*

We spent most of the day Saturday outside. I let the kids skip nap because there was a St Patrick's Day Parade downtown. We sat in the sun and just soaked up the warmth. The girls even got a little sun on their cheeks. It was glorious. And then, we followed it up by sitting out on the sidewalk eating ice cream. We walked back to the car and never shivered once. I hate winter. Anya got so worn out that she went up to her bedroom around 4:30 ("I'm going to go hide in my bedroom" thump, thump, thump, thump, SLAM) and apparently decided to take a nap all on her own. When I went to check on her 20 minutes later, she was fast asleep on her bed.

Sunday was pretty much a repeat in terms of weather. I got up early to take the kids to buy a birdseed thingy to go in a birdfeeder we got for Christmas. I failed. See, it's really small. And the lid pops up like food goes in the top, but it would all just fall out if it was loose, so I'm guessing I need some kind of suet-y thing, but they're all square. And nothing else would fit. Maybe I'll go to the petstore. For now, I just put some loose seed in the bottom. (Here, see? Am I wrong? Is it a birdhouse instead?) Anyway... Ally didn't want to go with me, because she remembered that the birdhouse came with paint. So naturally, we had to paint it. She stayed home and got her apron out in preparation. So out we went to the driveway loaded up with just about every paint we own. The girls quickly tired of painting the birdhouse, and moved on to the sidewalk paints. I was more than happy, because it goes a lot faster with a can of spray paint.

After nap, Ally hijacked a neighbor walking down the sidewalk and found out there's a 5 year old girl just down the street. Which is really weird, because we have NEVER seen her (We moved in exactly 1 year ago) and we've been looking for young kids (that sounds kinda creepy, but you know what I mean). We knocked on her door, but she wasn't home. Her next-door neighbor told us that they never go outside. He hardly ever sees them. BUT! A family moved in the other direction, down the street in late fall, and with the frigid temps, we hadn't gotten around to meeting them yet. We knew they had kids, and they were running around in their driveway, so we headed off to introduce ourselves. And Ally made a friend. They have a little girl who is 4 and a little boy who is almost 3. The kids hit it off instantly, and the adults were friendly too. Last night, the little girl came to our house to ride up and down the sidewalk on her bike with my kids. Love it.

It's going to be 70 today, and I'm sure we'll be back outside. The house isn't getting any cleaner, but who cares. Bring on spring! Long live the sun!

 

*"Spring! That means there is only 274 days left till winter" Anyone know this one? No googling.

Similes are hard

Ally: And when my cousins come over, I will lay on Marisa like... like... like a kid.

Anya: A-ha-ha-haha

Ally: I will lay on her like... like... like she's milk.

Anya: A-ha-ha-haha

Ally: I will lay on her like... like... like... like she's a bed.

Anya: A-ha-ha-haha 

Ally: I really will. Just like she's a bed. Totally.

A new chapter

I've been getting lazy about the kids' bedtime stories. I hate to say it, but I'm just bored to tears with reading to them. It got to where I'd put them to bed a little bit late just so I could tell them "we don't have time to read tonight." And I realized how unfair it is to them. Any alikes reading jsut as much as Ally does, but she's getting the short end of the stick because she's the second child. And Ally is getting closer to reading on her own every day, and I should be encouraging that more. So I made a promise to myself that I would make sure they got at least one story at bedtime (Ally used to get 3) more often than not. I'm trying for every night.  

And it was great to start with. But Ally knows most of the words in the books that we have. We either have to read the simplistic earlier-reader stories, or books she's read a thousand times before. And the simplistic ones are great for helping her learn, but they just aren't that engrossing. So I decided to start reading her more entertaining stories. We stopped at Barnes & Noble one night to let her pick out her first chapter book. Marley was really interested in Junie B Jones and Magic Schoolbus when she started this stage, so that's where I headed. Ally had other ideas though, because right next to them, were the new Disney Fairies series. Of course, Ally liked the TinkerBell movie, so she made up her mind instantly, and we became the proud new owners of the first 4 books in the series. That night we The Trouble with Tink. I've promised her a chapter a night.

She is LOVING it.

Friday night we started with Chapter one, and Ally was engrossed. The next day we went to Rob's dad's house and both kids fell asleep on the way home and we threw them right into bed. Saturday morning, Ally woke me up at 6:00 AM to tell me that we forgot to read her chapter 2. "Uh, yeah, I know. go back to sleep." Every night, she runs into her room and finds the right place in the book for us to start, while I read Anya's story. Each book has 10 chapters, so we're good for a couple months, but then I think we're giong to have to hit the library.

And of course, we had the talk about how to close up the book so that you don't break the binding. Because that is an important life lesson. I learned it young, and I'm proud to pass that down to my kids.