Monday, April 28, 2008

Helping Out the Neighbors

Our nextdoor neighbors have put their house on the market and had an open house yesterday afternoon. Right as the event was starting, I was out on the porch cleaning up and I heard the boys out back. Theo was asking if he should shoot his new squirt gun at the 'go-passers'. I intervened and asked him his intentions- he wanted to squirt passing cars, which I nixed. So they went back to happily trying to anilihate each other. I wandered inside and shortly heard a doorbell ring. Thinking it was my boys locked out back, I yelled (very) loudly: 'Come on in you hooligans!!!!'. When no one came in, I went to get the back door. It was unlocked, but sure enough, there were the boys. I asked them why they rang the bell when it was unlocked and they assured me they had not been ringing any bell. So sheepishly I went to the front door and opened it to find an open-house-goer. She and her family were interested in the house, but were not excited about the one car garage and were wondering how much it cost to excavate our 2-car space. I told her we didn't know because we had just done the deck. Then I started babbling to cover my embarrassment about calling her a hooligan earlier. I told her that we loved our deck and we were out there alllllll the time. The boys, who were charmingly standing behind me, fully armed, seconded this. Eli added, "You may have seen us out there leaning over the fence squirting...." She assured us she had. She didn't hear Eli say that they were just trying to give a rabbit in the neighbor's yard a drink of water.... I don't think we did the neighbors any favors. We'll have to get our act together for the next open house.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

T-5 Days to the end of the Compact

So we are in the last week of our year on the compact. It looked like the oven was going to poop out just before we reached the finish line, but I used a little black magic, and it's back in action. This year has been a big one for breakdowns, including, but not limited to: the dishwasher, the food processor, 5 blinds, many glasses, and a few plates. Luckily, we have been able to replace everything through personal contacts (thanks Jean and Rodg!) or Craigslist. Or not replace them at all and just dwindle dwindle down toward eating right off of the table and only drinking from re-used jelly jars.

After the recent local press coverage, we've had a few people ask us what we are itching to buy when May 1 dawns. Surprisingly, I have to think quite a while before I come up with an item. Of course, the light fixture in the dining room is horrendous, but has been so for our entire life in this house and will in all probability grace the room for years to come. I think my number one desire is a good digital camera. Ours sucks. The battery lasts for .5 of a minute at a time and the shutter speed is so slow that it only captures 1/3 of Theo no matter what we do to tie him down. He moves faster than that camera can manage. Buying a used camera has me a little leary- but I may still get over that.
What I am most pleased about is that yesterday, when the kids put on their thinking caps about a present for a friend's birthday party, their first thought was to go to a used book store. They did, and came home excited to introduce their friend to two books they have loved. Then today they spent about 1 hour working (sweetly) together to create this sheild out of cardboard for their pal:

They are (rightly) proud of their effort and full of anticipation for Leland's reaction to this gift. This is so different from years past when I would be sent out to Creative Kidstuff to find something that might please the birthday child because my kids couldn't put their finger on anything particular a friend might want. When the choices are endless, it is hard to come up with something. The compact has helped immensly with this. I can only hope that we keep our compacting ways into the future. But from the looks of this picture, it seems that it is time to invest in a hairbrush.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

One thing I love about Theo

The kid has enthusiasm. Really for just about anything. The other day I happened by the bathroom just as he was finishing up his business. He saw me walk past and yelled (enthusiastically): "Mom!! You're just in time!!!!!" From the excitement in his voice, I thought he might have spotted a double rainbow, or maybe the northern lights. But no, all I got was: "You can wipe my butt!!"

Rodg tries to cast a spell on my oven

This morning I made up some delicious muffin batter- my mouth was watering as I went to put them in the oven. Imagine my rage when I found the oven cold as can be. (Are you wondering if I wanted to punch someone in the face, Amy?) It appeared as if the oven had up and died. I called my parents to see if Rodg might have any hints up his sleeve on how to jumpstart an oven, and Jean said, "Ha, that's funny, Rodg just mentioned on Saturday that you will be needing a new oven soon." What? Rodg has been casting a little witch doctory voodoo on my oven? Is he jealous of my bread making skills? My cookie making? And he stooped to this level, rather than just asking for some hints and help? Rather low of my father, but the damage was done. So the boys and I settled for cereal and toast and then I ushered them off to school. A while later I went to the Y to ride one of the dang bikes since the rain was keeping me off the roads. As I tossed my bag into a locker I noticed out of the corner of my eye that I was going to get to bike next to a pretty foxy guy. I saddled up on the bike and looked again- lo and behold, the foxy guy was my husband! Our workouts overlapped by 25 minutes and we had an actual conversation. It was thrilling. And in the middle of it I mentioned the dead oven. I did say that the conversation was thrilling- didn't I? Anyway, I saw Jon reaching back into the very dusty corners of his brain, and he pulled out a life saver- or a muffin saver- a little memory of a slip of paper that was taped to the stovetop the day we moved into our house over five years ago. "Wasn't there some note about certain timing levers having to be pushed in or pulled out or something?" Yes! I rushed home and found three very very dusty little levers over in the corner of the 'control panel' on the stove. I would like to note that none of these timers actually work to time anything, but apparently they serve a higher function. After trying every last permutation of pushing in and pulling out, one finally worked and the oven popped back into action. So HA Dad- your little trick did not work! I rescued the muffin batter from the fridge and baked them right up. The boys came home from school and we pigged out. Sorry we didn't save any for you, Rodg!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Amish Envy

We had the second meeting of the Amish Envy club this past Saturday- at our house. It was beyond wonderful. Eight adults and nine children came together to play, and to paint a good 1/2 of our interior. In one day. It would have taken Jon and I eons to get the same amount of work done and the whole time the kids would have been whining about wanting to do this or that and we would have had to stop with our hands full of paint to get them a snack or wipe a bottom... But with this plan, we moved out the furniture Friday night and had the rooms completely livable again by Sunday. And the kids had a blast. So did I to tell the truth. Once again, the Amish club forced me to go use my inhaler to recover from a laughing fit. My favorite time, however, was when the work was done and we all gathered around the table to share a leisurely meal. I look forward to the next meeting- to tackle landscaping at the Neskemoen's. It's a good thing to be looking forward to helping out your neighbors.
Pictures of the new non-yellow house will be posted soon. We have now, five years after moving into this house, covered the last of the five shades of yellow that used to grace these walls.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Vulcans

Last night we went to the science museum to see the movie 'Everest'. I am not climbing that. At least not without oxygen. Anyway, on the way home we went by a bar with the old Vulcan firetruck outside of it and a lot of people milling around. Eli apparently has some faint, fearful, memories of Vulcans at parades. Theo has yet to encounter them. We answered their questions about the who/why of the Vulcans, although answers are hard to come by on this particular topic. WHY are there vulcans anyway? I told them that they harass people at parades and write big greasy black V's on cheeks. I think I coined a new term, to be Vulcanised, to describe this action. In my mind it carries a similar, somewhat sinister connotation as the Balkanization of nearby nation-states....whatever that may mean. Then Jon and I got talking about something else. A couple minutes later I heard Eli telling Theo: 'Well, I used to be kind of scared of them, and then I ran into them at a playground, and I had my slingshot and I hit one of them and then they ran away, so I'm not scared of them anymore..." I asked who he was talking about and he answered with a shy giggle, "The Vulcans." So he has apparently vanquished them in his imagination. We got home and tossed them into bed (the boys, not the Vulcans). Theo was all riled up from the long evening and I went to settle him down a little bit. I lay next to him in bed while he chattered away. When I focused in on what he was saying, this is what I heard: "I told Eli I thought he should get a really really really long blue marker. Then he could stand a long way away and reach out and write a big blue E on the vulcan's cars. He could say he had 'Eli-i-tized' them! But he should probably only try to do this with a big group of friends. Not alone." It's true. If there's one thing that is certain in this life, never approach a group of vulcans alone. And always carry a long long long blue marker.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

April Snow

I was just on a fieldtrip with Theo's kindergarten class to a ballet. It was a hoot. Anyway, on the way home I heard Sue, and paraprofessional in the class, say that if it started to snow she was going to go right home and eat her weight in brownies. I love her way of coping with this craptacular weather. I'm off to start the oven because as I walked home from Expo the rain that was belting me in the face was definitely that weighty kind of rain that leaves an impact (on the spirit as well as the body) and will be snow soon. Spring will truly be delightful, if it ever arrives.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The healing power of boys

Today after dinner I was done in. It had been a long, challenging day at work, dinner started late and ended with Jon running out to a meeting. I dreaded the mess in the kitchen and felt totally out of steam to parent. So I did what any self-respecting mom would do- I curled up in my nice fluffy comforter and let the boys run wild. Only they didn't. Theo came in right away to join me. He snuggled under the covers and then popped back out to bring in an assortment of damp washclothes and q-tips and other wonders of his imaginative world of 'medicine'. Then Eli happened by and snuggled in. He talked to me for a brief minute and then put his head under and I heard him doing some weird breathing thing. Turns out he was trying out the 'mindful minute' that he learned from his art teacher. Then he showed me some pressure point techniques which we all practiced, including the ever popular eye pressure point developed on the fly by Theo. Don't try it. But it was all in all a delightful half an hour and I emerged from my cocoon with enough energy to clean the kitchen. They are truly the best medicine. I admit I'm still a bit leary of the eye pressure point technique. It involved damp q-tips and Theo's never-so-calculated pressure applications. Could lose an eye that way.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Snapshot of a Minnesota April

This is what was in the back of my car the other day:
Eli's bike
Theo's visor
Suntan lotion
A sled
Theo's gloves

And we had used them all within 48 hours of each other. On Tuesday of last week we spent a glorious couple hours on the 'slopes' of the Highland golf course sledding and snowballing with friends. Or at least they were friends until Eli pegged them with snowball #357. Then, by Thursday, my mom and I were soaking up the sun on her driveway while the boys biked pell mell around us. For a typical April week in Minnesota you have to be prepared for all types of scenarios. And I am. That is much more about laziness than about being prepared, however. Because another truism about Spring in the north parts- as the sun comes out longer, and stronger, and more often, the law of inertia is quite applicable to me. When this body is at rest, it tends to stay at rest! I don't have time to clean out my car because I'm far too busy sitting in a swinging chair on the deck soaking up the sun. Unfortunately, it looks like were looking at a few more days that might call for the sled, rather than the lotion and visor.....

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Reading Fool(s)

Every night for the past week Eli has approached bedtime with the same question: Which book should I read tonight? This is because over the spring break, he finished a chapter book a day. Long books. Sometimes two in a day. So today around 3pm I decided to head off the problem by taking him to the library and getting him 5 books. I thought it would get us through a week or so. It is 8pm and he is currently reading the third book he brought home. And the intervening 5 hours included dinner, an evening of playing games, and a bath. But somehow he managed to polish off two whole books and is on page 57 of the next one. Apparently we will be going back to the library by Tuesday. Yikes.

In related news- I was watching Theo page through a book earlier this evening and he was really spending time puzzling over each word. He caught me looking at him and said, "I can't help it, I'm just really really interested in reading right now." So we got out an easy reader and sure enough, he read it! He is off and running and I think he will be as voracious as his brother before we can blink our eyes. We will have to take trips to the library with empty crates to carry home our load of books. Daily.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Spring...

On our last official day of spring break we got lucky- one of those perfect spring days. It's probably close to 60, the sun is shining and my boys have been outside from 10 am until....? Who knows when they will come back in. And what's more, they have been getting along! It really makes me wonder how we survived the winter indoors.

I really want to share a little story from yesterday, but my mother is censoring me. Perhaps she will have a different attitude in a week or two. It's a good one but it will have to wait. One thing I will share: We were up at my parents' house yesterday, enjoying the sun. We got to talking about the old story of my parents leaving me at a rest stop when I was 10...and then again when I was 13.... and we dug out the 20 year old tape of my mom on the show Twin Cities Live. They had an episode devoted to 'travel horror stories' and somehow my mom got duped in to being a guest and sharing these tales with a tv audience. Anyway, the tape was hilarious and very 1987, all the guests had very 80's hairdo's and the 'host' was wearing a wonderful cream colored double breasted suit. We were all looking so good back then. My mom watched the tape for a while and fessed up to still owning that dress. And those earrings. Then: "Heck, I probably still have the same bra and underwear!" This set Eli into a fit of giggling. But I'm sure it is true!