bloggity blog

i have been busy writing away over here for a bit now, come join me. dont worry, i have not given up on the tales of the short people in my life. i have just been concentrating on myself for a bit. i do have some posts stirring about in my head about family life, but have decided to wait until after this weekend when we handle the ashes of my MIL. thats bound to be good for a post, right?!

playground etiquette

we were having such a nice afternoon today, lunch at whole foods with m&k and granny, a tour of a possible neighborhood nearby for granny and pop to live in and a quick trip to a playground to let the boys run off some energy. that is, right up until two boys, about 4 years old, (who were already at the playground when we arrived) had some obvious issues with sharing. so that brings me to ask, how do you handle it at a public playground when other children are not playing nice.

these boys were complaining that they didnt want to share the playground equipment with my children. there were two big play structures, so to avoid a conflict we moved the boys to the other play structure. then the boys came over and said they couldnt play there either. so i replied something like, the playground equipment is for everyone and we were going to share today. the boys continued to complain, all while their mothers sat by idly chatting with one another. we continued to play for another few minutes, enduring the complaining and aggressive behavior of these boys without saying anything other than we were going to share, the equipment was for everyone.

and then it happened... k was attempting to climb a chain ladder and the boys were waiting at the top telling him he couldnt come up. i was standing close by because it was a pretty high climb, and frankly i didnt trust the boys on the top. then the boys, both of them, proceeded to spit on k. i yelled loud enough for their mothers to hear, "NO, do not spit on him!" finally the mothers got up and investigated. i overheard one of them scold the boys and tell him to apologize. she did walk him over to apologize, which he half-heartedly did. the other mother went to her car to get something and seemed unconcerned at all about the events occuring. the mother who did get involved did not make eye contact or say anything to me at all. i know in her position i would have been mortified, and probably would have said as much as i over-apologized for the disgusting behavior. i was pretty shocked that she said nothing at all to me. we left about two minutes later, because it was clear the boys were going to continue being bullies and the mother was not interested. what would you have done??

last night i fell in love

i remember the summer between senior year of high school and starting college fondly. looking back, one of the best parts of that summer is that i met one of my best friends. somehow the UofD just knew to put us together as freshman roommates, and we have been fast friends ever since. we laugh together, cry together and sometimes laugh so hard we start to cry. all good qualities in a best friend if you ask me. she later became my maid of honor and then she and her husband became the godparents of my first born. she is a great mom and wonderful friend and happens to have fantastic taste in music. throughout our friendship she has happily influenced my musical taste and that is one of the things i miss most about no longer sharing a house with her. about a year ago she introduced me to the old 97s and rhett miller. it was easily a crush at first listen.

a couple of months ago i got an email from my bestie saying that rhett miller was coming to play at a nearby club. i was instructed to attend the show in the email, immediately i replied and said that they needed to come down from ithaca and join us. moments later phone calls were made, tickets were purchased, babysitters were secured and an adult evening was planned. i was overjoyed as i waited for last night to arrive.

the venue is a small and intimate setting. we had pretty decent seats for what ended up being a sold out show. although the opening band was lackluster and very repetative, there was still a buzz in the air. the opening band announced they would play just two more songs before rhett came out and the audience began to sit a little taller in anticipation. when rhett came out on stage it wasnt long before i leaned over and whispered in the ear of my bestie that i had falled in love. the whole show was awesome - he is an amazing guitarist, wonderful songwriter, very funny and good looking to boot. i just about died and went to heaven when i got to meet him after the show and have him sign my newly purchased firefly shirt. when i recovered from getting my picture taking with a rock star and collected myself i realized he signed my shirt with a heart and i fell even harder. see for yourself...

4 months later

herein lies the post where i confess that i suck as a mom. nearly 4 months ago my baby boys turned 3. we did celebrate, fun was had, pictures were taken. HOWEVER, since then, the birthday candle has sat unlit in my dining room. at first i was waiting for m.'s black eye to go away. then i was waiting for the giant goose egg on m.'s head to go away. then i was waiting for m.'s new black eye to go away. then the snow came and we did nothing for weeks while we were trapped inside. then i was waiting for k. to grow out of wearing his wearing his baseball cap all hours of the day and night phase to end. eventually i realized that it was probably best to go ahead and capture the black eye phase and the hat wearing phase. and wouldnt you know it, my children are nearly 3 and a half! but nonetheless, sucky mom or not, here are a few of the birthday candle pics...