In retrospect

Almost everything I do/say is really embarrassing. Fortunately I don't realize it until days or sometimes years later. I am the Queen of dissecting every little thing I've done/said, but it often takes me a while before I have the time for such things anymore. When I analyze my actions immediately I get much less sleep than is desirable.

During my school years I had a teacher who had us read from various famous poems that he had compiled for that purpose. When my turn came up I was thrilled to see that I drew "Oh Captain, My Captain" a long time favorite (also I had been dreading being stuck with Chaucer, along with everyone else in the room. The evil instructor waited until the end of class to tell us he wouldn't make anyone read that excerpt, instead we would discuss it as a class). Anyway- I read my poem and the teacher made some little quip about the mood of the class being brought down or some such. I realize now that he was making fun of me for being overly dramatic. I can see me now doing my best Anne Shirley impression thinking I could bring the room to tears with my beautifully wretched recitation! Aaach, I want to run to a corner and hide. It's been years, I can safely say none of those people remember me nor do I precisely remember any of them. I think I would feel a little better about my behavior if this happened in elementary school or even junior high. Alas, it was a COLLEGE humanities course.

Isn't it funny how something so little can make me feel so insecure YEARS later! It's much easier than thinking about the thing I did last month which rivals those bad dreams that involve nakedness in public. Speaking of nakedness in public... I was conducting the music at church yesterday. That can be embarrassing enough on it's own but apparently the light pink shirt I was wearing under my navy spaghetti strapped dress didn't show up in the back of the room. I think I'm going to go console myself with some cookie dough.

Leo Sayer & the muppets - You make me feel like dancing

Okay, honestly this is a pretty silly song. Maybe that's why I liked the version with the muppets the best. The point is sometimes silliness is called for- especially since this song REALLY does make me feel like dancing. My girls and I dance around the kitchen like crazy fools when it comes on (Yes, it is on my ipod. My old roommates included it on a dance mix that we made courtesy the Charlies Angels soundtrack and it makes me so happy I just couldn't leave it out.)

To do additions

#58 Learn how to assemble/restore bicycles. I Love old bikes and this goal sounds easier than tackling a car engine. Besides, I don't think my husband has the patience to teach me.
#59 Plant a small wooden boat with flowers (geraniums and Indian peas as a nod to Robert McCloskey) in my yard. I'm thinking either I will wait to do this when I am an old lady and the neighbors will say, "that crazy old lady and her boat!", or I'll plant it in the backyard. This comes a long with a pledge that I will NEVER do the same thing with an old toilet or an old bathtub.

Still inching my way toward 100.

If I Ran the Zoo, etc.

This is a fun story about what would happen if young Gerald McGrew ran the zoo. Of course HE knows where to find the most interesting animals as opposed to the boring everyday animals you would find at most zoos (such as a lion!!!) We read this on our way to the Denver Zoo this morning. My kids were under no illusions. When asked if they thought they would see any of THOSE animals they both said no.
Although we did not see any of the Seuss variations we saw more animals than I have ever seen in one day. I am still proud of our humble Hogle Zoo but it didn't fare well in comparison. We spent 6 1/2 hours at the zoo. My feet are tired.


This is probably our most read of the Seuss books. I guess my kids love a good tongue-twister, or watching their mom attempting them. This book comes with a warning: as all of the best books should. Warning: expect lots of laughing, lots of absurdity (of course, it IS Dr. Seuss) and do some tongue exercises before attempting (possibly practice it in private first). I Love the rhythm mixed with the tongue twisting which inevitably happens in many of his books. This is my favorite line, "When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles and the bottle's on a poodle and the poodle's eating noodles. . . they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle." Sheer perfection.


This has never been one of my favorites. I'm not sure why. Possibly it's due to my aversion towards indoor messes? I LOVE outdoor messiness. I did see a plaque in a friends home recently which made me realize I need to relax a tidge. It went something like this, "Please excuse our mess, my kids are making memories".
Anyhow- this was one of my daughters favorites a few years back and I learned to really enjoy reading it out loud. Seuss almost always (including this book) uses anapestic tetrameter which is made up of four rhythmic units, or anapests, which contain two weak beats and then a strong beat with variations that omit the first weak beat or add a weak beat at the end. If that doesn't make sense what it really means is an awful lot of fun for someone to read out loud. I find myself getting carried away by the rhythm when I read Seuss to my kids to the point that I don't notice the words as words some of the time but as fun sounds that work well together.

Sam I am

The luck of the Irish was with me when I chose Dr. Seuss For the author of the month. It was super convenient to tie in a reading of "Green Eggs and Ham" with our breakfast this morning. We had the title breakfast along with green milk and green butter on toast.
I had one squeamish child (it's bound to happen with 7 around). The great thing about "Green Eggs and Ham" is that it convinced her to give the eggs a try... and then the milk. The toast was a no go. I had gotten a bit too much dye in the butter anyway. Those who ate it were much more green-tinged about the mouth than the ones who went with out.
Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!!!

Cleanliness/Godliness

Q: How do you go about cleaning a house after being sick for over a week?
A: One room at a time.
Yep, over the weekend I picked up here a little and there a little. By Tuesday I felt completely depressed. The house was still a wreck. A little less of a wreck, but so what? A wreck nonetheless. So I cleaned the kitchen. I mean DEEP cleaned the kitchen. It felt awesome!!! There was one clean room among the several not-so-tidy rooms. You might ask if it is still clean as of breakfast ending this morning... it is not. BUT it is significantly better than it was yesterday and I feel much better about not tackling the rest of the house 'til the weekend (or at least until the laundry is done).

Goal: Come Sunday morning a sparkling house! (Sparkling may be asking a bit much but you get the idea). I'm planning to start painting Monday and I can't begin that kind of project without a clean house. I'll definitely post some before and afters.

KEANE- Somewhere Only We Know (LIVE)

So, I've been really sick this week. While my house has been a disaster and the kids have been roaming free of parental supervision I HAVE felt well enough to use YouTube. This has allowed me to renew my crush on the band "Keane". Sorry, I don't have much parenting/homemaking advice to impart. It would feel pretty hypocritical at this point.
I LOVE this song. I love all things British, really. Literature, music, comedy, architecture, history, accents, fashion (what can I say? I'm a sucker for a pea coat and scarf, now if I can just lose a little weight and get back into my old clothes and have a style again).