I'm Like a Weeble!

We spent the weekend in Phoenix helping Monkey Man's cousin celebrate her 30th birthday. Her house is always a big hit with the 4 year old because she has a Wii. And really? What could be more wonderful to a preschooler already addicted to video games and obsessed with sports?

And she lets him drink Coke. It's kiddie heaven.

So she got the Wii Fit thingie for her birthday and much fun was had laughing at the adults who were often much worse at the activities than Quake. For those of you who haven't seen it in action, when you first get started it measures your "Wii age" based on some combination of your height, weight and balance ability on a quick succession of tests. Everyone else got ages 20 and 30 years above their real age. I managed to get a 37, only 1 year, actually 6 months, more than I currently am.

Losers! I may be fat, but I'm agile, damn it!

My mother will be so proud to know that all that money she spent on dance lessons finally paid off...

Did I Forget Something?

Today was parent-teacher conferences at Quake's new preschool. I admit that I was on my knees crying, "Why, God, Why?" when I found out that he wouldn't be going to school for two days, but then my babysitter called and said she had the week off too. See? God really does answer prayers.

Anyway, I left Quake at home. Yes, alone. He's already 4 for crying out loud. Oh right, I already mentioned the babysitter. Nevermind. But I took Cha Cha with me because Cha Cha? No so big on the whole being left with strangers thing. A category which includes his own father. To be fair, I sometimes like to pretend Monkey Man is a stranger too...

Was I in the middle of telling a story?

I'm listening to David Sedaris in the car (Books on CD from the library are my salvation. Amen.) so I'm snorting and wiping tears away when I pull up to the school. I manage to pull myself together by the time I get to Quake's classroom where I stop. Thinking. Something. Something. Something is missing...

Oh, right! The baby! Cha Cha was still snoozing peacefully when I got back to the car. And I'm officially a dumb-ass.

Stupid Baby Tricks

I discovered a new way to soothe a cranky baby last night.

Bacon.

Hoes Are Garden Tools...

Holy crapola! How did it get to be October?

Have you tried Pandora? It's this great internet radio site where you create your own station by telling the system which artists and songs you like. I've discovered that my musical tastes are just as schizoid as my choice in magazines. I've had to create a number of stations because it just can't seem to figure out any underlying theme to the songs I like. (note to Pandora developers: it's the lyrics, and yes, I know I'm strange)

The best part for me, because I'm admittedly not much of a music person (no one in my household owns an MP3 player or even sees the need for one), is getting to listen to really different music. Bust has great music reviews, and I've managed to find quite a few of the artists on the site. WooHoo, broadening my horizons!

So I'm enjoying some... sex-positive lyrics from Khia, when Monkey Man mentions that I might want to change the station. I turn down the volume to ask why (gonna give him a piece of my mind for not liking my new music) and realize that Quake is singing a line from the chorus. Pretty sure that language isn't acceptable at preschool...

Well I guess everyone is getting broadened horizons today!

Not So Good With The Chores...

Quake, my 4 year old, put on a pair of boxer shorts to wear as underwear yesterday. He usually wears them as pjs (just add a t-shirt too small to wear in public and you too can have cheap kid's pjs!), but it's not completely bizarre to see him dig out a pair for day-wear. So today I finally started the laundry from our trip to San Diego. Because we've been back for a week now. And I suppose that's long enough.

My child had no. clean. underwear. Bad Mommy! Bad!

Bad news: I'm a bad mommy and my son doesn't want to tell me I'm slackin'.
Good news: My 4 year old is a creative problem solver!

Do you think when he's older I can convince him that I taught by example and not by desperate need?

Glossy Obsessed

I have a wee bit of an obsession with magazines. I'm an avid reader in general, and I just can't resist the snack-sized tidbits in a monthly (or less, I'm not that picky) publication. I also love eye candy. I can go a little crazy at the bookstore, especially when I'm stressed out. This weekend I managed to leave Borders with this pile and $30 less in my pocket.

Does this selection make me look a bit schizoid?

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Why doesn't that crazy woman buy a couple of subscriptions and stop wasting her money at the bookstore?" Or maybe you were thinking about chocolate. Like me. I actually do have a few subscriptions, but I don't always buy the same magazines every month. Not that I do this every month. Not usually.

Having noted that though, I must admit that a few of these titles have been coming home with me on a pretty regular basis. I should fill out those annoying little subscription cards for those. That will free up some precious bookstore time to look for new favorites.

Do you read magazines? Which are your favorites? Are there some you like for a few months and then get bored with? Are there defunct magazines you still miss (I have a gift, a gift, for finding fabulous, new magazines that then go under)? Do you have subscriptions or do you buy at the store? Do you think your choices say anything about your personality (I never buy fashion magazines...)? How long do you keep a magazine? Do you store your favorites, throw all issues away, tear out or mark ideas and stories and pictures you like?

And to think, I haven't even started on the joys of a local resale bookstore that sells used magazines for cheap! A good $30 in there would get me a stack too heavy to carry. My husband would probably make me keep them in the garage.

It's All The Same To Me

I did it! While I was away I carved out time in my schedule to start writing and devoting myself more often to craft projects. I'm also training for a marathon and applying to grad school. And of course we won the lottery too.

Ok, maybe not.

Actually I've spent the last month singing the same refrain as my last post, barely getting through many of my days. But the family has had some milestones. Quake took his first round of swimming lessons and did...swimmingly. He also finished his first year of preschool. Cha Cha started crawling (now I have another reason to get nothing done) and eating solids. My parents drove all the way across Texas and New Mexico to visit us for 3 days, spending more days travelling than visiting but they're weird like that.

I also managed to make doctor's appointments, get the boys' vaccinations up to date (now that was fun!), and start an exercise plan. Which does not include running a marathon just in case you thought I had actually gone off the deep end completely. And I've almost finished the first layout for that scrapbook class I'm taking! Of course today is the start of week 6...

Did I mention here yet that I'm attempting to get through the summer without using my oven? Ok, I've already failed since we had frozen pizza for dinner last night. So I'm trying to get through the summer using my oven very infrequently. I asked my mom for her no-bake cookie recipe because exercise or no, I'll be damned if I'm giving up cookies just because I don't want to turn on the oven. I started to stir them up this morning (when you get up at 4:30 - damn that sweet little Cha Cha - you have all sorts of time to do weird things) but they didn't look like I remembered. Then I tasted them, and I was 7 years old again. Does your mouth have a better memory than your eyes?