Wednesday, May 31, 2006

words and phrases

there are some things that both of my kids say or have said that i love. no, not just love, but rather, LOVE. words that make me happy b/c of the sweetness of them. no, not I Love You, Mama (though those are my very favorite words, and make me melt). these are the words and phrases that the kids have made up themselves. some are new words altogether, some are phrases put together in a new way. i'm hoping i remember most of them so i can post them here.

my new favorite one from rhys is:

peek - as in, Mama, can i please peek my shoes on? or, let's peek it here. i don't want to take it to school. you know, PEEK! as in KEEEEEEP :)

'you make me sad AGAIN!' said to me or rob whenever we say no to something he really wants, but doesn't get to have. and it's usually quite tearful.

'my nastics' = my gymnastics

"i'm so glad of you!" - i love this phrase of rhys'. it just says it all.

deeveeoh = dvd

kaidohdee = coyote. when we lived in our rental house just after moving here, we could hear coyotes ALL THE TIME. it was wondeful. we had 2 families of 4 living behind us. i know some people do not like coyotes b/c they eat cats (among other things), but, the poor coyotes. we are SO TOTALLY encroaching on their space. they are really beautiful and i love listening to them sing. we don't hear them quite as much here in our new house.**thank you to debR for jogging my memory**

'Don't Say About It, Mama' said in a very serious voice. sometimes it was 'Don't Even Say About It, Mama' when it was something to be emphasized. again, it was often said when he was getting told no. or we were going somewhere he didn't want to go. sadly, this phrase has gone by the wayside...but some of my friends and i still use it.

smoooooky = spoooooky (another word that is gone *sob*)

'luhvoooo' oh woe is me. rhys can now happily say i love you clearly...

pip - used to describe ketchup or most any other sauce - but mostly it's ketchup (i can't believe i almost forgot that one!) there have been a few times that he's used the correct word - dip, or ketchup, or whatever...and i think NOOOOOOOOO!!!! it's PIP!

beebees and keekees - what rhys used to call his baby and blankie. it was always both - beebees and keekees is? now beebees is baby and keekees is blankies. blankies is always plural. and is a girl. rhys refers to her as she. it's pretty funny. blankies is VERY necessary for good sleeps to happen. and yes, sleeps is plural too.

"_____ is???" - this was used to find out where someone or something was. he doesn't do that either. but it would be like this "mama is?" "renebean is?" "tchuck is?"

tchash tchuck - trash truck. jones and driver make the trash truck do what it needs to do. rhys decided that indiana jones worked on the trash truck b/c one of the guys that used to come to our rental had, what rhys felt was, a jones hat.

renebean - Irene. i'll be very sad when this one goes - but i think that she'll always be renebean.

there are more....i need to think and will add more -- hopefully rob will help me too.

some of irene's words and phrases:

chother - i'm SO sad this one is gone. it's what she said for "each other" but also seemed to be like him or her self. there were several phrases of chothers. their chother, our chother, your chother, his chother, her chother, my chother. i said something the other day and used it in front of irene. the response i got was: "It's EACH other, mama." waaaaaaah! i let her know that up until she turned 6, she would say their chother. "when i was a baby first talking?" no, honey, like just a few months ago... "oh."

polem - when she was almost 4, irene recited a poem. i still have it, just need to find it. but this is what she said to me, "mama, i have a polem, can you write it down?" and so i did. it was called All To Me. a polem by irene. :) she knows they are poems now.

kidding beans - kidney beans

Finding Lemo - it doesn't seem to matter that we've told her he's NEMO, she insists, STILL, that it's Lemo. *smile*

**thanks to rob for the memory jogs**

Irene's first sentences were:
"Mo' miout peas" (more milk please - used when she wanted to nurse) and "Mo' boot peas" (more book please)

Rhys would say "Mo mulk peas" for more milk please - also referring to rhys. it later became 'can i nuhse you' and 'can i nuhse bed?' heh heh.

'Feel me better' (also feel you better) used by Irene after any physical or emotional injury.

there are more....just wish i could think of them right now.


Sunday, May 28, 2006

which x-man are you and other stuff

I got this from DebR

You Are Cyclops

Dedicated and responsible, you will always remain loyal to your cause.
You are a commanding leader - after all, you can kill someone just by looking at them.

Power: force beams from your eyes


i really like x-men. my brother, jeremy, collected the comic books when i was in high school (and beyond). i really enjoyed them. and, i suppose that cyclops is okay - but dude, i love LOVE rogue. THAT is who i want to be. i suppose that by not saying that powers have ruined my life i doomed myself to being NOT rogue. ah well.

so, yesterday, it snowed here in our fair city of Sparks, NV. did you read that? SNOWED! we went to a birthday party for one of irene's classmates and the plan was BIG WATER FIGHT, WATER BALLOONS, get the picture? BIG OUTDOOR FUN....it snowed. crazy. and it was beautiful with no cluds an hour or so ago, but now i see big, dark, black, scary clouds in the sky. yeesh.

today we're going to our friends' house for a late lunch/early dinner. we're working on cultivating our friendships. we don't have many friends here yet. maybe when i get back into school, i'll make more friends. i've made some friends of the parents in irene's classroom, but next year we will be attending a different school, and i'll be back at square one. oh to have the ability that children do of just being friends w/someone minutes after meeting. not having any awkwardness, just being friends. ah well. it will happen. just slowly. i used to be super socially competent. i'm not quite there anymore. it's odd to have spent most of ones life as an extrovert only to become a bit more introverted...

and b/c i apparently just sort of write in a stream of conciousness format, i'll just move along :). today i have 2 very good friends celebrating birthdays. TANYA and CHRISTY. HAPPPPPY BIRTHDAY, my friends!! Christy now lives Far Far Away in wisconsin and Tanya lives in the bay area. we used to get together at least every 2 weeks, but usually weekly. our girls all loved playing with each other. they still do, it's just a little more difficult to get together.

today is also the birthday of one of irene's friends at school, and one of her friends in petaluma. boy oh boy it's a busy day! and just in case her mama or daddy sees this blog, we'll holler a big HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY, HANNAH!!!!!!

june is a big month for us birthday wise - and anniversary too.

June first is the birthday of rob's middle oldest sister, melissa, who owns Ann's Pet Arcade. it's also my cousin's oldest son's birthday (so cal cousin). garrett will be 8. Max (son of Alaska and Chris) will be 10! and it's my very good friends' Anna and Scott's TENTH anniversary! Ten years! YEA!!!!!!!
if new baby nephew, simon, hasn't decided to enter the world by the 31st of may, he will arrive on the 1st!!
nephew ben is on the 2nd (he'll be 19! gah! how did that HAPPEN??)
june 3 is Judy's birthday (she's in some of the disneyland pictures on our website )
june 8 is Lydia's birthday (and we'll be flying to see her that day!!!)
june 9, baby cameron is 1 (nor cal cousin's baby boy)
june 14 is Anna's b-day (same anna as the anniversary anna)
june 16 is Gramma Lala's b-day
june 17 is Rebecca's b-day and we'll celebrate irene's 6 1/2 b-day (more on 1/2 birthdays later)
june 18 is niece Alana's b-day (she'll be 16!!)
june 24 is mom and ken's anniversary and we'll also celebrate rhys' 3rd b-day
june 27 is Rhys' b-day as well as my nephew jake's 13th b-day (he's ben's brother) and rhys' b-day buddy Andrew's 3rd b-day
june 30 is FIL, Bob's b-day!
july 1 is mom's b-day as well as Miss Rose's 6th b-day -- it keeps going on from there. oh my!

gets a bit overwhelming when i write it all down like that...

okay. it's taken me more than an hour to get this done (with refereeing happening in between). so off i go

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Thank you, Deirdre!

Yea! :) Deirdre sent me the html for the wordplay image! so i'm official now!

Hooray!

meanwhile, debR just posted her J wordplay list! she's a quick one, that deb. and for those of you that don't know, her blog is called Red Shoe Ramblings. AND she has the most wonderful quilt (well, she has LOTS of amazingly wonderful quilts, actually) called REDISCOVERING JOY...A Self Portrait in Red that is one of my favorite quilts that she's made. you should check her site out. i have one of the tequila sunrise pictures (it's also on the shoe page) and she made irene the most amazing portrait quilt that you can see here.

EEK! gotta run! am working the next 2 days for irene's teacher.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

and on another cool note

also on KTVU...
my little town of Hercules (not so little that it once was -- even when i lived there) is claiming imminent domain and not going to allow Evil Wal*Mart to come in. i REALLLLLLY hope this stays and that wal*mart goes somewhere else. my family and i are continuing our boycot of walmart. i think that some of the moms at irene's school think i'm a little crazy. ah well. it's just the way it is. for christmas, my dear friend, Anna, gave me Nickel and Dimed...on (NOT) getting by in America. one of the parts of the book talked about the author getting a job at walmart. very interesting. pretty much confirmed much of what i'd felt about it.

okay - off to bed now...

small world!

so, this is kind of crazy...we were watching KTVU (bay area news station) tonight and i was barely watching it. suddenly, i heard a name and looked up -- thank the gods for TIVO! Jennifer Sandkuhler, a good friend of mine with whom i've sadly lost touch, was there, ON THE TV! i've been searching on GOOGLE for her for a while. In 2004, she was the asst general manager for The Natural Grocery Company in the east bay!

so, i've sent a note on the "contact us" page saying how i know it's crazy, but could they please forward Jennifer my contact info. we'll see what happens.

Jenn is a sorority sister and was (and i'm sure *is* still) an amazing woman and good friend. i don't know exactly how we lost touch. so, i'm hopeful that we'll connect again, somehow.

Monday, May 22, 2006

D is for...

I'm still trying to catch up to DebR and other folks doing Laume's WordPlay (when Laume gets back, i'm hoping to get one of those groovy little wordplay icon jobbies. of course, i'll probably need DebR or Deirdre to tell me how to put it into my blog...anyway, come on and play! it's fun! i love seeing what other people have in their own personal dictionary.

David (Eddings)
- I have greatly enjoyed his books (of course, it has come out that his wife, Leigh, co-wrote several if not all of the Belgariad and Mallorian books not sure about the others)– The Belgariad, The Mallorean, The Tamuli, hmm – there are more and I’m blanking. but, fun fantasy novels. fun characters. the Belgariad and Mallorian are 5 books each. I’ve read them numerous times and I’m sure I’ll read them numerous more times. his NON fantasy books are, in my opinion, pretty much carpe carp!

(the) Daily Show – Jon Stewart – LOVE LOVE LOVE him! it is surprising how many people underestimate how smart Jon Stewart is. he’s brilliant and funny and makes me very happy.

diversity – thank the gods we’ve got diversity. I wish that more people were okay with diversity of all kinds. truly, why can’t we all just get along? at least on the basic level of “dude, we’re all people”

daddy – I love hearing my kids call rob daddy. I can’t remember when I last called my dad “daddy” my mom still refers to her father as daddy. he died when I was 6, I think. rob is an amazing daddy and balances me as a mama and as a person. when I’m frustrated, he steps in and can often diffuse the situation in moments.

dinosaur – the older rhys gets the more I learn about dinosaurs. irene enjoys dinosaurs, but rhys is LOVING dinosaurs.

Dagobah – the planet where luke meets yoda and truly begins his training as a jedi. an interseting bit of trivia that I didn’t know (but rob undoubtedly does) The word Dagobah comes from a term for a Buddhist stupa, or reliquary monument.

Dahl, RoaldCharlie and the Chocolate Factory was the first book I read by Mr Dahl. There is not a single book of his that I have read that has been a disappointment to me. I read many of them to irene last year. Some of them were probably a bit over her head, but it was a good laying of groundwork.

dance – I LOVE to dance. to say I love to dance really doesn’t get to the reality of it. if there is dancing to be had, I’m there having it. I get sweaty, I use the whole floor. I LOVE LOVE LOVE dancing. I used to go dancing in The City (see the letter C for The City) at least once/week, sometimes twice. Thursdays and Sundays. At The X (good to know it's still there). Sometimes at other clubs, but the X was our favorite. The X was *first* called 15 minutes, i believe. Maybe my friend, Cindy, can correct me if i'm wrong about that. I was 18 and 19 when we went there with regularity. Freshman and Sophomore years of college. I also danced at any and all school/sorority dances. when I was in 7th grade, I asked Doug Orr to dance. He was my first slow dance with a boy. and 2 years later, he was my first boyfriend, but not my first kiss. and hmmm, come to think of it Doug begins with D too. but back to dancing. my poor rob, who is a very good dancer, is not as enamored of dancing as I am. but, he gets dragggggged to the dance floor with me when I want to dance with someone. at our wedding, we were the last people to leave. Rob’s best man, Dave, and his wife, Eileen, took us back to the hotel. The dancing hadn’t ended until just before and we were dancing up until the end. _She goes on_ by crowded house was our first song. _Have I told you lately that I love you_ by Van Morrison was the last song.

drugs – I am one of the few people I know that hasn’t smoked pot. I’ve gotten a contact high, but that’s about it. the only drug I’ve done is alcohol. I am TERRIFIED of the drugs that are out there now. how do I keep them from my children? if it were only pot, I’d be less frantic – but there are things like date rape drugs, ecstasy, lots of meth, and crazy things like the compressed air that can kill a kid the first time b/c it freezes the lungs. ACK! SO SO scary.

Dutch – Rob’s dad is of dutch descent. our last name, in dutch, means The Rooster (we found out on our Honeymoon that in arabic, it means The Painter and is, apparently, a prominent name. at least that’s what the bellhop said).

dark chocolate – my favorite kind. in spain, Arín (he was one of my roommates - er, piso mates?) and I used to get a reallllly good dark chocolate that was almost bittersweet. it was softer than chocolate I’ve had here.

data — my gramma told me the word is DAYTUH, not daahtuh b/c wouldn’t everyone rather go on a date? this is what she learned when she was in high school. she graduated in 1933, I think.

daunting – sometimes being a parent is a daunting task. I work hard at it and sometimes I fail miserably.

dawn and dusk – I love the colors at those times of day. and the peace and serenity.

daycare – toddler classes and preschools are NOT daycare. toddler and preschool teachers were darn hard to give the children some instruction and fun and allow them to create and be toddlers while learning social skills and pre-reading skills (like learning shapes). I loved being a toddler teacher, but it frustrated me very much when people felt like my job was just a glorified babysitter. hell, I’d have been paid more as a babysitter!!

Dead Again – the first movie I saw with Rob. it is still among my favorites. it makes me a little sad to watch now b/c kenneth branagh and emma thompson are now divorced, but the movie is very good and interesting and has suspense and fun. go see it!

deaf – DEAF is the word. not death. yeesh. death is how many kids hear the word and a surprising amount of adults as well. my gramma (moni’s mom) is deaf. she had a tumor the size of a grapefruit removed from her brain! she’d had a smaller one removed 20 years before. when she had the first one removed (when moni was in high school, I believe), just about every side effect happened. she didn’t want anyone to know she had this one. she was probably lip reading for a good year or so before the family caught on. she had surgery when I was in 7th grade. the surgery went REALLY well. of course, I knew it would b/c it was a sunny day (superstitious much?). I’d told her she would be fine. my poor cousin, Nisa, had read everything that could go wrong and she was a wreck. we were called in one at a time from our math class to speak w/the principal after the surgery. why we couldn’t be called in together when it was good news, I just don’t know. anyway, my mother is a teacher of the deaf. I’ve been signing for many many years. when I sub in her class, my signing gets better. I don’t sign in ASL – I’m more of a S.E.E signer – conceptual signing. mom used sign language w/my brother, jeremy, when he was wee bitty. it was so cool to see him signing before he could speak. I always knew I’d use it when I had kids. BEFORE it became en vogue. Irene had more than 100 signs. no, it didn’t interfere w/her language at all. rhys didn’t have near that amount of signs. partly, I think, b/c of irene helping him communicate. but he still uses the sign for please as he says it :)

(The) Delta – the sacramento delta is very serene. Rob’s parents used to have a sailboat (sueños) I don’t remember how big it was – but big. we’d go up there during the summer periodically when his folks were there and spend the weekend. it was so fun to listen to the bullfrogs – I love the sound of bullfrogs. it would be super hot and the water was on the chilly side, so you could jump into the water and just totally enjoy it! They now have a houseboat. it’s nice too, but we haven’t been able to go on it quite as often as we did when they had sueños and we didn’t have kids *smile* There is just something special about the delta. there’s delta time and it’s just reallllly relaxing.

degree — I have two degrees. one in spanish and one in psychology. emphases in spanish literature and culture and research psychology.

DNA – it is really amazing how the DNA chain (ladder) looks. so complex.

dependable – a word that has been used to describe me as a friend

dessert – it’s stressed spelled backwards, as every dessertaholic will tell you. oh, what? what’s that you say? how do I know that?? er, um....well....yeah

dough – my favorite form of cookie

designer clothes — I’ve never cared. if it fits, grand. I don’t need the name to tell me I’m cool *smile*

detective stories – the spenser novels are among my favorite, but I enjoy others as well. the kinsey millhone stories (a is for allibi, etc) were fun too.

diabetes – my dad has adult onset diabetes. it worries me.

digital camera – it makes me happy to take pictures. I often have my camera on the action setting b/c it also enables me to take a million pictures in a row. rob thinks this is silly. or, perhaps, he thinks the pictures aren’t as crisp. but w/fast moving children, taking a lot of pictures *usually* ensures that at least one shows happy children who appear to love theirchother (what irene used to say for each other).

digger – one of many trucks with which I have become acquainted since having rhys. diggers, dozers, diggah-dozahs, dumpahs, just a few of the D trucks. can’t believe I didn’t have cement mixer on there — maybe I was waiting for M so I could write “ment mixer”

digital video – rob’s forté. he can do amazing things with digital video. truly.

Dobby the house elf – hee hee! he’s very funny. ILM worked hard on dobby and I think they did a very good job.

Dr Dorian — I LOVE scrubs. we’ve been watching it since the first show. it just doesn’t disappoint me at all. there were rumors that this might be the last season. I dearly hope that is not so – especially since they had a cliffhanger at the end of this season. I think the whole cast is just perfect and fun. haven’t seen it? you should!

dungbeetle – rhys calls them poop beetles. I think his sister helped with this moniker (sp?)

dorm – I lived in the dorms my first year at SSU. they were pretty fancy for 1988. more suite-like than dormlike. there were 2 of us per room and 6 in our suite. the next year I lived in the on campus apartments. they were quite swanky. all of the dorms and apartments were types of wines. I lived in Barbera the first year and Gamay the 2nd.

down – I have a goose down pillow from my gramma. it has the same down that my great grandmother (Irene) used. gramma had th eticking redone. I love it b/c it’s very squishy.

dragons – such magical and mystical beings.

dragonfly – I love watching dragonflies. they are so cool to watch as they hover and zoom

drama – I was in drama my senior year. I was in the musicals the previous 2 years. I miss being in musicals and performing.

drive – I enjoy driving. I miss having stick shift. rob now has a hybrid (toyota prius). I have a dodge caravan. it was new to us when it had 100K on it. it still drives fine. some day I’ll get something swanky in the van world – like an odyssey. I got my license when I was 17. my first car when I was 22.

designated driver – I was often the DD. these are very VERY important to have and my friends and I were always sure we had one. ALWAYS. b/c drunk driving is bad and wrong and dangerous and killed my stepdad’s brother. DO NOT DRIVE DRUNK!!! and if you’ve had too much to drink, get a taxi, satay the night w/your friends, whatever. DO NOT DRIVE DRUNK! that’s what I say...sorry for the soapboxishness...

drum (bass) - I played the bass drum in 5th and 6th grade b/c I could keep a beat, read music, and they needed someone.

dry skin – I am the queen of dry skin. I have some shea butter – pure, organic, fair trade shea butter. it doesn’t smell wonderful, but it helps. when I remember to use it.

done for now :)

(will add more links as i have time - need to get rhys down for a possible nap)

Friday, May 19, 2006

interesting

Jo Beth Williams is Charlie and Don Epps mother. What??? you don't know about what i am talking? that would be my friday night fun -- NUMB3RS.

jo beth williams is kind of like andie mcdowell (sp?) for me. i like some things she's in, other things, she does nothing for me. BUT - she is in one of my most favorite movies (ack! i don't have that one in my fave movies part of my profile...) American Dreamer.

ugh! and i forgot to put Cary Grant into my C list. When he died, i felt crushed. I love his movies.

and cary laird - my bigtime crush in high school.

i should be in bed.

heavy duty frustration...


mother fucker. how does one GET a picture onto the profile?? i've been trying for the past hour. i'm not happy (can you tell?).

rob couldn't do it either w/the picture i'd chosen and was trying to use...but he DID link up a different picture.

the profile picture is of us on our 10th anniversary.

the picture above is from when rhys was 2 months old at the Rib Fest.

The Name of My Blog - and OF COURSE it's rambly

So, just in case anyone's wondering about the name of my blog....I wanted something unique and special with some meaning to it. Rhys' name means Ardent. Irene's means Peace. One of her middle names is also Peace. And, I would MUCH rather the world just got along and we HAD lots of peace. I'm even ardent about it. and yes. i did say ONE of her middle names when referring to Irene. both of our kids have four names. i have had 4 names since getting married. i just added on rob's last name. didn't hyphenate, didn't combine, just added. Irene is a family name. it's my middle name (which is why my login name is kristenirene - there were LOTS of kristens when i was first internetting, but no kristenirenes), it's my mom and her cousin's middle name. All of us have it b/c of my maternal great grandmother - Irene Peace Romig. Irene's first middle name is Rebecca. That is my stepmom's middle name.
Rhys' middle names are Nicholas (my dad's first name) and Penn (rob's middle name and his mother's maiden name). Rhys is welsh b/c his mom is of welsh descent. Until one week before I had Rhys, the boy name was Lukas (rob's dad is of dutch descent - ergo the spelling) Eric (my dad's middle name) Penn. Rob came home from work one day and through out Rhys Nicholas Penn and it just really flowed. Yes, as a teacher, i know i've sort of screwed my poor boy by giving him a name that has, as its only vowel, a Y....and most people see it and say RICE? and then we say no, it's REEEEEEEEESE :).

so...is this more than anyone wanted to know? ah well.

when irene is getting talked to in a most serious way, all 4 names are used. rhys usually gets RHYS NICHOLAS. and mostly it's said in a really low tone. when dad and moni were visiting at one point, dad talked to rhys and let him know that he didn't like hearing his name said in such a way quite so often - heh heh. i use rhys nicholas when i'm just calling to him also, so it's not always when he's doing something less than wonderful.

well, irene's half day is almost up...sort of pointless to go to school for a mere 1 1/2 hours on the minimum days, but there you go...

It's Friday, I'm in Love

Oh my gosh! how did i forget to add THE CURE to my C list??? gah!

and, can any of you tell me why Safari doesn't let me see these fabulous things that are on the blogger page like the quick and easy Bold and italics and the quick linky thing and the quote-y thing and the COLORS? and and and and?? all i have on safari is the spell check and picture doo dah. bastards. (how did i not add bastards/bastardos to my B list? i LOVE that outburst word).

maybe it's b/c i don't have tiger installed - i'm only on panther. maybe i don't have the newest version of safari. i just don't know. but it's just plain wrong, i tell you. wrong wrong wrong.

but back to the friday i'm in love bit...i love the song, it's a pretty happy one considering it's the cure and all that. and my fabulous husband is just fabulous. not for any reason in particular. he just is. *beam*

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

C is for...

Carle (eric) - author of many of our favorite books. One that I can recite by heart is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I can sign it as well as recite it.

Chrysanthemum – another children’s book. This one is by Kevin Henkes. It’s about a sweet little mouse with a very VERY long name and after some not very nice girl mice tease her, she rediscovers just how wonderful and unique and perfectly perfect a name it is.

chrysanthemum – the flower. they’re purty. not my favorite flower, but they flower very nicely.

(la) Coru̱a and (Santiago de) Compostela Рtwo wonderful cities in Galicia (the northern part of Spain). One of my roommates took me to La Coru̱a over the christmas holidays when I lived in Spain. My other roommate took me to Santiago de Compostela over a weekend so I could see it and so he could visit his girlfriend. Both cities were wonderful and beautiful.

City – I LOVED living in Madrid, which is a HUGE city. I loved that I could walk just about anywhere – or take the bus or the metro. SO easy to do. it was wonderful for watching people. I also worked for several years in the financial district of San Francisco. I loved that too. again, huge, great people watching, easy to walk around. At one point, I was working in the financial district, and Rob worked for KRON (BayTV) on Van Ness and I would walk from Montgomery to Van Ness. It was quite a walk. I was always happy to get to Levenworth b/c it was pretty much downhill from there. I got to walk by the tenderloin as well. it was only scary the time that I decided to do the walk after dark. not really the brightest thing for me to do. I have loved visiting New York City the 2 times I’ve been there. it was a meeting point for my then boyfriend and I when I was in Spain. the 2nd time I went was w/my sister to cheer on Mom and Ken as they ran the New York City Marathon. WAY fun! Jolie had lived there for a semester and knew all the cool places — like Serendipity! Yummmmm!

Country – as much as I loved living in the city, I think the country is also beautiful and serene and as long as I wasn’t TOOOOOO far out there, I think I could easily live in the country. I like open space.

(The) City – not Frisco, not San Fran. The City or San Francisco. Really. Trust me!

Crowded House – this was one of my insta-connects with rob. crowded house is what happened to part of Split Enz. our first dance song was “She Goes On” by crowded house. the first verse of the song was so close to our first date. anyway, not many people know who Split Enz are. People sometimes know crowded house because of “something so strong” and "don't dream it's over."

Cusack – John and Joan. I think I have seen almost everything that John Cusack has been in.Better Off Dead is one of my favorite movies. I just love it. all of it. I can quote several lines and sometimes, it just takes a few words and I’m gigging. and the scene in Broadcast News with Joan scrambling to get the tape where it needed to be? PERFECT!

cinnamon – love it.
cominos (cumin) - mexican rice is not mexican rice w/o it

Christine – a name people often call me. also one of many stephen king novels that just got TOTALLY HISHED when they decided to make it into a movie. oh my DOG that is a bad movie. the book was SO much better.

CARP! - yes, it’s a fish. but it’s what I say in place of CRAP! around my kids. sometimes it turns into carpe diem, which means something entirely different, but there you have it.

Carpe Diem! - really, we must, right? I don’t always remember, but I do TRY to sieze the day. and I’m trying to help my children do it too

children – hard to imagine what life would be without mine.

colors – the world would be awfully boring if it were all black and white

crush – that crush-y feeling is a good one. but I was mostly “one of the boys” and in the cyrano de bergerac (sp?) role WAY too many times b/c the boy I was crushing on liked my cousin – or my friends

CHOCOLATE – dark, thank you. triple chocolate bundt cake? divine!

Cake – I’ll repeat it...Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake. DELICIOUS!!!! Mom would sometimes make it for me for my birthday. YUMMMMM.

¡coño! – my favorite spanish swear word — followed quickly by ¡joder!

common sense – as in “Don’t you have any COMMON SENSE?” I hope to NEVER EVER utter those words to my children. I heard it more than once over things that didn’t make sense to me. but it was one of those deep down hurts.

career – it’s funny how life twists and turns...while in college, I was sure I was going to get my PhD and be a child psychologist. then when I applied, I tried for a specialty in education psychology. didn’t get into grad school. quit working in The City, took quite the pay cut and started working for Head Start.

college – I went to Sonoma State University. Loved it. when I was growing up (the child of, essentially, 4 teacher parents and grands that were also teachrs), I never knew that people did NOT go to college. it was always phrased as “when you go to college...” I thought that was genius.

Clo the Cow – part of the final little piece that made me know for certain that I should go to SSU. I was on 37 just before Lakeville Highway and saw a sign that saidTip Clo through your Two Lips (it’s under 1989, but the billboard was up in 1988 on highway 37). that sealed the deal. I’d never seen the clo billboards. I still love them. they still make me giggle.

Clover Stornetta Milk and other products – no GMOs. Local. Good. Makes me happy. I felt good giving it to my kids. here, we have Model Dairy. It doesn’t say antyhing about rBST being added or not or if they give GMOs. I miss my local dairy.

County – Sonoma. Home. the smell of the mustard, the smell of the dew in the morning, the fog over the fields, the cows, the sheepies. the wine :) not quite the same as sparks. though there are some cows here too *smile*

camera – I love taking pictures. I like our digital and I like my regular film SLR. both are canons. I take a LOT of pictures...i need a WHOLE lot of time sans children and husband to get the non digital pictures into albums and organizing the digital pictures as well.

clingy – rhys is sometimes very clingy...i just got through putting him down for the night...it took a long time. a. long. time... *weary smile*

i will fix links and add more later - gotta run to school now

coconut -- YUM! i LOVE coconut. coconut cream pie? FABULOSO! coconut meat? delicious! thai anything w/coconut milk? DIVINE!

coconut oil - did you know this is much better than canola oil?? as long as it's not the super processed stuff, it is. let me find you a little link or two about coconut oil's benefits and this link is about the not so greatness of canola oil. yeah, canola oil. the stuff that we were all told was so fabulous for us. EVER so much better than most everything else...the unrefined organic coconut oil definitely has a slight coconut taste. the refined organic coconut oil does not taste like coconut. it doesn't have quite as many benefits as the unrefined, but it is still better than canola oil.


much later -- i've been trying to publish this but it's been giving me hassles...

(Come Up and See Me) Make Me Smile - the duran duran version. i really love the live version of this song by duran duran. Interestingly, i have just discovered that the original song is by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel - and how did i not remember that Erasure also covered it? hmmm, look for Erasure during E week.

Monday, May 15, 2006

It's Monday

today is my volunteer day at Irene's school. rhys comes with me and sometimes does great, and sometimes needs lots of redirection. we'll see how today goes. i can't tell if irene is fighting some allergies, or a possible cold. she's slightly stuffed up, but not streaming snot, so she'll go to school.

we might need to start putting clothes out at night instead of deciding in the morning. some mornings neither of us are up to the challenge and end up in a great and fun power struggle. neat.

and, irene told me the other day, "i don't like wearing dresses as much, anymore, mama. i like wearing my pants, shirts, and shorts" ::SOB!:: the pants are stretch pants. i'v'e spent oodles on pants at various times and she's very particular about what she'll wear and not wear. what's comfy and what's not comfy...it just about kills me. she's wearing a size 8 b/c she doesn't like the way the size 7 feels. she TOTALLY fits CORRECTLY into a size 7. it's crazy. she's 48" tall or so and about 50 pounds. size 8 is big on her. and prior to this year, she would almost exclusively wear dresses. so, we have a mizillion dresses for her. her favorite pants are the ones from target. they were 5.00. the gymboree ones she does not enjoy wearing. i have no idea why. happily, i pretty much ONLY buy from gymboree when they are on sale. but still. it baffles me.

with rhys, i'm VERY lucky b/c we get a WHOLE lot of hand me arounds from my nephew and cousin's kids. i didn't have that with irene b/c i was one of the first of my friends to have babies. happily, i've been able to share irene's clothes with her bestest friend, rose (who is 5 months younger) and from Rose, they've gone on to karly (my niece).

boy, this is all pretty rambly, isn't it? oh well. it's how i am. rambly.

i'm hoping to find out the name of my girlfriend's new baby boy today or tomorrow so i can finish the top of the blessing quilt. then i can sandwich, quilt, and bind it. then on to chrissy it will go and hopefully it will be signed by friends and family in the spaces i've provided. here is an example of one of the blessing quilts i've done. this one is cameron's (my cousin's second son) (the first 3 pictures).

well, it's time for me to go upstairs and get myself dressed. and rhysie too.

tata

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Happy Mother's Day!

Went to bed too late last night. Kids woke up too early. Surprising? not really. Rob wanted to sort of try out the "it's light outside, the kids are playing outside, let's see if they sleep longer b/c they played longer" theory. went about the way we expected *smile*

so, at about 6:40 or so, i had the gifts showered upon me -- at school last week, we parents were banned from the room and the kids created and created! Irene made me a very very sweet card that is a flower pot w/a flower that you pull up and it says: My love for you grows and grows. very very sweet. have you seen the commercials that show the adults showing the cards they made for their mom's when they were in kindergarten? that's how this is. *beam* if i knew what the commercial was actually promoting, i'd link it b/c they are sweet. not as sweet as my card though. she also made me a votive candle holder complete w/candle. the glass holder has lots of little tissue paper squares glued onto it. Mrs Romaggi was wonderful helping them to make such wonderful gifts.

mom helped Irene make a flower pressed fabric painting. you get flower petals and leaves, design them however you wish, put the fabric on top and then pound w/a hammer. when you are done, you outline with a very fine sharpie or other ultra fine pen. it's really beautiful. it is framed nicely and will go in our room.

rob (the kids) gave me a framed picture of rhys and irene looking darling and happy to be siblings. crumbs. i thought i had the picture on our website, but i don't. when i do, i can link it -- or maybe even put it *IN* the blog?!? maybe??

at 8:30 we were out the door for breakfast at A. Paris Café et Crêperie. according to the website, they are open at 8:30 on sundays. according to their actual business, they open at 9:30. that was a big time bummer. but the food was worth it. it's a crêperie. the kids had nutella crepes with chantilly lace whipped cream and nutella snakes (drizzled nutella). I had a nutella and banana crepe, rob had a bananas foster crepe. i had a stunningly delicious bananas foster latte, rob had a mocha. it was all very yummy.

mom gave me our old wood holder (wrought iron that goes by the fireplace) filled with flowers - very groovy! the kids and i went over and took her the vase we'd bought filled w/some flowers -- and cilantro from our garden :) it looked purty. the kids then planted their seedlings and tomato plant into their giant garden pot.

rhys is now asleep, and irene is lounging. i'm typing and rob's computering too.

hamburgers are on the agenda for dinner tonight.

happy mother's day everyone, and again, thank you, lydia, for making my blog look so much better! you're the best ever!

LOOK AT WHAT LYDIA MADE ME!!!

Do you SEEEEEEEE????

Lydia made my new header!!!

to say i love it would be a drastic understatement.


i am a very very lucky girl :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH, LYDIA!!!!

i will write about mother's day next

Friday, May 12, 2006

eeek!

fly by posting here

people are coming over -- adults w/kids. just a few kids. but, i'm not the best housecleaner. and these are sort of new people. they don't know me. i feel they will judge. i know i shouldn't let it worry me, but it's been hard making friends. i'd like to make a good first impression.

so, i need to finish cleaning.

BUT

my girlfriend, who is an author and editor, just sent me a book. she got her author copies and sent me one! i stayed up until 3:00 am reading it! yeeesh! but it was a very fun book! it's by Virgin's Cheek books (i hope i have that right...i know it's virgin cheek for sure!). they are better than harlequin in the chick lit/erotica world. anyway, the BOOK! it is called Tiffany Twisted. It was a fun read. Quite sexy and really very fun. and, i will now admit to you (oh my lawd, how embarassing), that i did not REALIZE the words in Hotel California said "Her mind was Tiffany Twisted." *I* had always heard it as "her mind was definitely twisted" er, D'OH!!!

i will write more later.

oh! and my very wonderful friend is the amazing and lovely Ms. Alison Tyler. Alison has another book coming out soon With or Without You is due out in September.

timer rang, so my time is up.

i'm back - the playdate went well, the house was pretty clean, the kids played and played and had a really good time. yea *smile*

anyway, i'm very excited for alison and am hoping that MANY MANY MULTITUDES of people buy her book.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

B is for...


B is for......

-i really have to catch up! people like DebR are already on H!


breastfeeding -- between my two kids (so far) i've spent almost 5 years breastfeeding. Irene was 2 years 3 months when she stopped, Rhys is still nursing. granted, this is not newborn nursing anymore, this is anywhere from not at all in a day, to 3 times (morning, naptime, sleepytimes). I feel that breastfeeding is HUGELY important and i feel that you should do it. i do understand the extenuating circumstances, but i feel that it is do-able more often than not and that if your doc is telling you that your milk is no good, it's time to get a new doctor b/c that is 90% of the time, or more, a load of carpola. i used a shield w/both kids for 3 weeks w/#1, 6 weeks w/#2. need any support w/the nursing stuff? i'm your gal *beam*

brothers - i have 3. i'll do this chronologically - youngest first - Matthew, my baby brother, is, as of today, 27!! how did THAT happen? Matt lives in southern california, near my dad and stepmom. Jeremy is 30, and lives in the Denver area. Ted is 34 and lives in the bay area. i know that i tormented my little brother, jeremy, a bit. matthew was very fun b/c i was 9 and we had a mutual admiration society. i lived with him from the when i was almost 9 until i was almost 15 (when i moved to oakland to live w/mom and stepdad). i made costumes for him by the dozen. we still adore one another.

*beam* -- something i use a lot when i'm writing e-mail and am particularly pleased or blushing or complemented.

boistrous -- did i even spell that correctly? my children can sometimes be boistrous. wow. that looks wrong.

bilingual - something i am. my spanish is rusty, but i still know it and use it on occasion - not as much as when i worked for head start, or when i lived in spain, but still. i'm pseudo fluent in sign language (not ASL, but rather conceptual/s.e.e. sign).

breast cancer - my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer almost exactly 5 years ago. she had surgery right away (june 19, 2001) and has (KNOCK ON ALL THE WOOD THAT IS AROUND YOU) been free almost 5 years. In 2004, we did the Avon Breast Cancer Walk together. between us we raised 5,000.00 and it was an amazing thing to do together. 2 days of 13 mile walks (we didn't do the full marathon the first day - it's optional). i'm supposed to get a mamogram this year, but need to find a doc and see if it will be okay w/me still nursing the wee bit that i do). on my walking shirt, i had the names of many friends/family members and friends/family of those who donated $$ to our walk who were survivors and those who had died of it. DO YOUR MONTHLY BREAST EXAMINATIONS!! MEN AS WELL AS WOMEN!!

blueberries - my kids both love them. LOVE them. rhys especially, though irene loved them just like rhys does when she was younger. now she worries if they are the slightest big squishy. even when they are frozen. we do them frozen a LOT.

butter - yum.

blasphemy - yeah, i probably blaspheme a bit.

beloved - Rob

Barbi Lane - the street on which i lived with 3 of my sorority sisters in Rohnert Park. it was a fun house. one bathroom.

blackberries - I LOVE blackberries. it's worth having the cuts and scrapes from the bushes.

boring - what irene loves to tell me about all things she doesn't want to do in any particular moment

babies - i love them. i'm fairly certain we're done having them, but they smell *so* good

bubbles - a picture that i really love is one of irene blowing bubbles while on our backyard swing - i think mom called it "yoga bubbles" or smething like that.

backyard...haven't had a big one since our first house. mom made magic happen at our petaluma house, of course, that was when we were desperately trying to sell it....the backyard at our now house is small, but it's coming along.

believe - do YOU believe in fairies? you'd better! and if you don't, please don't SAY such a thing!!! i don't want any fairies dying on my watch!

boy - i've got one and MAN is he a darling and sweet and wonderful and goofy and silly

betending - what irene used to call pretending

berries - really berries of any sort are SO VERY YUMMY!

blood - i'm o+. irene is o+. rhys is o-. rob is o-. apparently, my grandfather was o-, so i've got a recessive negative rh factor in me. but it was still surprising to everyone, including my ob nurse.

blue/brown eyes - rob and i both have brown eyes. i was the first person in my mother's side of the family to have brown eyes back as far as my gramma can remember. gramma has amazing blue eyes. my dad has brown. rob and i had the potential to have blue eyed children. rob's dad has blue eyes, my mom has them. but instead we have two brown eyed kids. irene's eyes are a deeeeeep rich brown. rhys' were almost black at one point, now they are sort of mahogony. i love their eyes.

brown/blonde - my hair used to be more blondish than brownish. as i've gotten older, it's gotten more and more brown. rob's hair is auburn. i love it. i covet his auburn hair. he's very handsome, that husband of mine.

behind - i am often behind in so many things. procrastination is my second name.

beauty - often in the eye of the beholder

brownies - chocolate -- yummmmmmmmm

Brownies - i was a brownie when i lived in oakland. became a girl scout when i lived in redlands. there weren't any cadets at my junior high.

birds - i love watching the birds that live around us and there are some bird sounds that are almost like smell to me - they take me to a certain place. there's one bird that takes me to camping in Lake Perris. i'm happy that we have some birds at our new house. Quail are the state bird of california. i've seen more in our year 1/2 in nevada than i ever saw in california.

bugs - i like 'em. not a HUGE fan of ants up close and swarming around, but i do like bugs and enjoy showing them and sharing them with my kids. rob likes them too and points them out whenever he sees them too.

beetles - rhys' fave kind of bug. have you seen The Beetle Alphabet Book? it's SUCH a cool book!! hidden on almost every page (if not every single page) there is a hidden beatles song. and it's just a really cool book to boot.

babelfish - i'd love it if they were real.

barbie dolls - i am not a fan. i remember liking the skipper doll WAY more than barbie and ken. i don't think i had any barbie dolls until i was in 4th grade (living w/dad and stepmom). irene doesn't have any barbies. i just really am not a fan of the giant boobs and ridiculously tiny waist. i don't care if she plays with them elsewhere, just don't want them here. irene knows it and is okay with it.

baseball - rob's favorite game. i've become more of a fan since we started dating. opening day is a big deal in our house. since getting pregnant w/irene, i've gotten him some sort of children's baseball book for opening day. we have hot dogs/sausages bbq'd even if it's raining. i really enjoy seeing games live as opposed to on TV.

back later with more if i think of any more

Lydia Made Me Do It

So, a while ago (april 30, i think was the exact date), The Very Lovely Lydia told me i had to get a blog so that we could blog our May Meltdown. so i have a blog on xanga but so far, i can't figure out how anyone and everyone can comment w/o being a member. and here, on blogger, you *can* comment whether or not you're a member (gads, i hope i have the settings right for that....

so now i have to figure out some of the html carpola so i can do stuff. and it will take me a while, i'm sure, to figure out the whole picture thing. but i'll get there eventually.

and now -- onto WORDPLAY. Wordplay is this cool personal alphabet/dictionary doodah that Laume is hosting. hosting? i don't know what to call what she's doing, but she's doing it. if you want to know more about it click here. i'm way behind everyone, but it's fun. join in if you'd like.

A is for...

Absolutely — I find that I use this word a whole lot these days. and it’s almost always a CAPITALIZED word in my head when I say it.

Alcohol — I don’t drink it very often anymore. not that I ever drank it a whole lot. I was often the designated driver. this meant that when I *DID* want to drink, I absolutely got to :)

Antinori — the street on which we live now

Arrow Smith — the street on which we lived when we first moved to Nevada

Alma — the street on which we lived from 1998 – 2003. Our first house together that we owned. It was in Rohnert Park - The Friendly City. Very funky, we loved it.

Arizona and Alaska — two A states I’ve visited

Art — I’m pretty passionate about art, though it doesn’t always show through. I’m especially passionate about children’s art. I think that staying in the lines is NOT anything important. when you give a little kid, toddler or preschooler, googly eyes, they shouldn’t HAVE to put the eyes where they go. some of my favorite artworks were when my bitties and the toddlers I taught would put them everywhere. it was wonderful. I love the chicken that irene made that was totally different than the original idea. she and rhys both see things I don’t. hmm...okay, maybe I’ve spent a bit too long on this — time to move on :)

assenine — this can describe a lot of people. it can also describe a lot of people in our government

applause — doesn’t everyone like to get some of this?

awake — what I am more often than not

alive — it’s a good thing.

amor — is there anything better?

“again, mama” -- a sentence that is often said in my house

Alpha Xi Delta
— the sorority to which I belong. actually, it’s a Fraternity of Women and was founded in 1893. I was a member of the beta class at Sonoma State University (Theta Beta). Some of my best friends are from that group of women.

August 28, 1991 — the evening my life changed. I met Rob.

aware – it’s an amazing thing to see how aware my kids are...and then, some days, not so much *smile*

agile – me? not so much these days...but I’m working on it. Irene, however is VERY agile

angry – yeah, sometimes.

amazing grace — I really like this hymn. when played on a bagpipe, it can bring me, and my mom, and my gramma, etc. to tears

adventure — we like adventures here. sometimes an adventure is just going to the coffee store in our jams in order to get yummy coffee and hot chocolates. other times it’s doing things like we did this weekend...going geocache-ing (geocaching?) off road.

(the) Abyss – a movie I enjoyed. a word I like, but don’t ever want to fall into

abalone – when it’s cooked properly, it’s amazing!!! when I was in 4th grade, we went to see a play — it took place under the sea. the only thing I remember is that there was an abalone in it who often said “AAAAAAAAAAAAh, Baloney!”

amazing — another good word :)

Adam Sandler — omg, opera man? fabbo! loved him in the wedding singer too

abracadabra! -- we all need some magic in our lives

ants — I like them from afar. they make me itchy when they are in large numbers by my house. there are very odd black ants here in sparks, they are bigger than the normal black ants (or rather, the ones I’ve known all my life), and they don’t squish when stepped on – accidentally or not so much

asparagas — okay, I never noticed my pee smelled differently until rob and I were dating and had dinner w/friends. the friends and rob were mentioning it and I didn’t know what they were talking about...from that day on, I’ve noticed it. and I love asparagas

aubergine – yummmmmmm eggplant!!!

ardent – the meaning of Rhys’ name. he is indeed ardent, enthusiastic, passionate :)

atronomy – I love space and I love watching the stars and miss moon, and the planets.

Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo — I love mythology. I used to know so much about so many gods and goddesses. I need to re-read some of my books.

airplane — I used to fly from Ontario to Oakland once/month when my parents were newly remarried (to different people). after that, I flew once ever few months.

al dente – the way I like my pasta and my veggies

alphabet — where would I be w/o it? I love LOVE to read

Australia – a place I want to visit

avocado – one of my most favorite fruits. my gramma and uncle both have avocado trees. when I was pregnant w/rhys, my gramma sent up some avocados w/my dad and stepmom. I ate one every day until they were gone. dad gum were they GOOOOOD!!

artichoke - such a fun food to eat. and such a delicious heart!

*asterisk* - I like them. I use them. a lot

all done — for now *smile*