Love Thursday

Here's some love on Thursday. This was on the ferry from Tacoma to Vashon Island (which we took out and back, just because...) There was some tickling and lots of rain.

Here's the backstory: I read some mommy blogs. For a couple of years, I've read Dooce religiously. She's funny sometimes, and she takes good pictures and has cute pets and children. I know she gets alot of hate mail basically because she is so well-known and puts out so many opinions and often talks more about herself than some people really care to know. I am not emotionally invested in her blog, but I guess that many people are (for good or bad). Still - today she put up a link to all of the hate mail she gets and has blasted it with ads, in an effort to turn the hate into money. It's all just a little sad. I can't imagine getting all of the hate mail, but I also can't imagine putting it out there for all to see and to make money off of it. It's kind of an example of two wrongs not making a right.

On the flip side, I also read Chookooloonks. This is the blog of a woman/mom/wife/artist on a journey to bring more love, authenticism (is that a word?), beauty and truth into her life. Her blog is not read by as many people as Dooce, but she has fans - mostly those who also think that sharing and spreading love and beauty and truth are worthy goals. She is a lawyer turned artist, and she has some lovely thoughts. One of these is Love Thursday. When I checked her blog today, she had 24 Ways to Show Some Love in the next 24 Hours. I thought this was so much more the way I wanted my day to start off today, that I, too, decided to share a love photo and to maybe try one or two of the things she suggests. Sorry, Dooce.

Sunday Morning Quality Time

We are not a religious family. Jay and I both have a sense of wonder and awe when it comes to the world around us, but we have what seem to be similar skeptical views toward Religion and Church. We live in a county with LOTS of churches - especially the non-denominational Christian type that seem to be very into kids and reaching out to people in the community - even in the schools. I want my kids to be able to articulate their own philosophies regarding faith or whatever you want to call it, because I know that if we don't intentionally dig and then attempt to fill that hole in each girl, we will be leaving it up to the first friend they encounter at school who asks them to come along to church with them. We respect everyone's beliefs, but don't want to leave our kids' faith journeys in the hands of others - or leave those journeys up to chance.





So, this year, it is a goal of mine to figure out how we want to awaken their appreciation for the world around them, foster their sense of goodness, and define our Sunday mornings as time to spend happily and peacefully as a family. Maybe these mornings will someday involve some sort of something a little more structured, but for now, I like the idea of a walk in the woods, a spin on the merry-go-round and a stop to throw rocks into the Lewis River together.

Noggin, the Walla Walla Sweet

We're growing Walla Wallas this year in the garden. They are a yummy onion, and can get rather large. This particular specimen showed unusual promise - so much that we were tempted to enter it in the Clark County Fair. They have a category for "largest onion," but what with school and kids and kitchens, we just couldn't find a way to get over to the fairgrounds to enter it at the scheduled time. So, we left it in the garden. When we went to the fair, we made sure to see what the largest onion (not counting ours) looked like. I'm not lying - it looked like someone had gone to Freddie's, trolled the produce section, and grabbed any old onion. Sure, it was big like a sweet onion compared to say, a shallot. But, it was just an onion. Our onion was as big as a human head.

So, the other day, I left the children playing for five minutes and the next thing I knew, they had gone in the garden and yanked out at least half of our onions, including the Pride of Brush Prairie that you see above. So, when life gives you onions, what's a girl to do? The options are limited, so we named it Noggin and took some pictures. We haven't figured how we want to use it - I'm voting for cooking it up in some sauce and enjoying little Noggin bits every time we eat spaghetti for the next year.

Top Ten List - #4: Snowshoeing on Mt. Hood

This year, we decided to take advantage of the fact that my parents were here on New Year's Eve to actually go out and do something that required us to stay up until midnight. This is no small task for us - It had not been achieved or even "neared" since we became parents. For Christmas, I had asked Jay what kind of experiential gift he might like since neither of us could really think of another "thing" we needed. I don't know what kind of answer I expected, but the answer I got was, "I'd really like to go snow camping with you." Then, the love of my life went on to describe his prior snow camping experiences which included anecdotes like, "Yeah, one night Myles went too far off our beaten down area when he had to pee and he sunk in the snow up to his neck." And, "You know when you're snow camping, you can't build a fire because it will sink into the snow." I don't know where I fall on the general population's scale of cold tolerance, but I can tell you that upon first hearing the Robert Service poem The Cremation of Sam McGee, I felt like his kindred spirit. I like camping. I LOVE my husband. I am willing to try new things. But, I'm just, shall we say, "wary" about digging a snow cave and snuggling in for a sound night of sleep.

I really did want to take the opportunity to do something fun outside in the snow, though. So, I started Googling and found an outfit out of Government Camp that does snowshoeing outings near Mt. Hood Skibowl. I arranged for us to take part in the New Year's Eve snowshoeing adventure, complete with a slopeside view of the fireworks over Skibowl. A four-hour outing start to finish, and then a warm night at the Resort at the Mountain down the hill in Welches.

We had gotten to the Columbia River when I realized I had forgotten my camera. I kicked myself for that. We had gotten to Gresham (about half an hour from home) when I realized I had forgotten my hiking boots. That one was kind of an insurmountable issue, so we made the trip back with me feeling like a complete idiot and with Jay not saying much to prove me otherwise. Fortunately, the evening was young, and we were able to make the trip back, get dinner at Edgefield, and head toward the mountain right as the snow started. By the time we reached our room, it was starting to accumulate. By the time we got to Government Camp, the snow was coming down hard, the revelers were coming out in force and we were starting to worry about how we'd get the truck back down to our hotel at 2 in the morning without killing ourselves or being killed by some drunken snowboarder in a Vanagon or something.

Opting to live in the moment, we found Mt. Hood Adventure and met up with our leader and group. There were around a dozen in our party, and we got into the untrodden snow behind skibowl at around 10:30 at night. It was pretty magical because the lights of Skibowl illuminated the sky enough so we weren't completely in the dark, but with the snow falling steadily and with the trees draped in heavy blankets of white, it wasw easy to imagine we were in a more remote location than we actually were. After an hour or so, we got to a spot where we were able to build a fire (in a wide-lipped metal bowl to prevent the sinking fire issue) and settle in for hot chocolate and fireworks in the snow. It was awesome! The walk back was much easier than the trip out since we had padded down a "sidewalk" that we just retraced. We did (slowly) make it back to the room in time to crash sometime before 3 AM. The resort's restaurant had a truly wonderful all-you-could-eat New Year's brunch for a reasonable price with bottomless mimosas included (!!) Since we'd been toasting with hot chocolate and Rice Krispy treats at midnight, we felt entitled to indulge with our blintzes and smoked salmon. Then, we headed toward home in heavy rain, making it just hours before a huge landslide blocked the main highway between Portland and the mountain for days. Yep, a new year's to remember for once. Let's hope the year itself is as good. Maybe snow camping will make it onto the calendar.

No, seriously - This is for real :)

So, Jay calls me on his way home last night and says that something happened at work that he needs to tell me about in person.

"Who got fired?"
"Nobody."
"Well, who was involved in the incident?"
"I was."
"Do you have any physical marks as a result of what happened?"
"No."
"But we're not going to have to sell the house and live out of the pick-up truck?"
"No."
"So, tell me!"
"You'll have to wait until I get home."

...time passes...

"Okay, you're home now. Spill it."
I'll paraphrase here: "I had a contract that had wallowed around on my desk because I didn't think it was a priority, and yesterday the CFO (- or CIO - or some important chief officer of some sort) finally sent out a message asking what the hell was going on and saying how the lack of response reflected poorly on the organization, yada, yada. So, I put everything else aside and worked on it for hours. Then, I went for a run at lunch and came back and there was an email from Cam (the bossman) asking to see me. So, I went to his office and he was busy, but he asked me to come back in half an hour."

...So, Jay steels himself for a beatin' for half an hour and goes back...

"When I got there, all of the senior executives were in Cam's office, and I'm freaking out a bit, but they tell me that I've been selected as the system office Employee of the Month."
"Are you serious?"
"Yep." (a silly little grin - with not even a hint of cynicism - splashes across my husband's face).
"No, really... because it's not like you're all that nice or anything."
"Well, apparently, some of the feedback on the nominations included something to the effect of 'he's pretty nice... for an attorney.'"

Here's a bit of the actual text that went out in a system-wide email today:

Congratulations to Jay O... our October 2008 System Office NOVA Award Winner! Here are what WINNER'S customers had to say:

"In our fast paced world of health care supply chain dynamics, Jay, the juggler (smile) takes the "extra" lead when things become critical. We've worked together on many strategic agreements saving the health system significant money, protecting the organization's interest/policy, and ensuring patient safety & physician satisfaction. Jay has the big picture of our behind the scenes initiatives. I like how he answers his own calls most of the time. As intimidating the title of "legal counsel" can be; Jay is approachable and willing to teach. "


"Not only protecting our organization's interest, Jay is professional in his workmanship and responses. He has complete trust of my department in what he does & provides. His expertise and viewpoint is valued as I discuss negotiation points with vendors with Jay as a key part of the team. "


In addition to the warm congratulations from the Legal Department and the NOVA Award certificate, Jay will be able to park in the Employee of the Month Spot in the 1919 lot for the month of October. He will also receive a jacket with the Legacy Logo and System Office Employee of the Month.

Did you read that? I thought maybe he'd score a measley extra week of vacation time or something... but a jacket? Wow. Jackets are for keeps.

Wine and Crap in the Tub

Here's the part of the post that makes it look like we actually get to savor our wine: We've decided to expand our horizons into Riesling, which we formerly assumed was just a sicky sweet wine for losers. When we went wine tasting way back when, we found a dry riesling at Erath (one of our favorite spots) and brought it home. A few weeks ago, Katherine Cole (a wine writer for the Oregonian) who seems pretty cool and unassuming wrote this article about "Why Riesling Rocks," and we decided to leave all the kids' toys scattered on the floor and spend some quality time by uncorking the bottle we had. We loved it, and of course since we decided right away to buy more, it's sold out wherever we look. BUT, having opened our door to riesling, we decided to sample a few others. I found this dry riesling from Chateau Ste Michelle (which actually owns Erath these days, I believe), and we liked that one, too.

Here's the part of the post that reveals what life is really like at our house: Last night, we tried a bottle from the same winery that I'd found on the cheap at Costco. It wasn't labeled "dry" but when I got home from Jazzercise, Jay needed a drink and I was happy to oblige and this bottle was cold. We also enjoyed it - it was the perfect wine to sip while recovering from a good workout and listening to Jay's horror story about bathing the girls while I was gone. Jay never enjoys bathing both girls, but he had volunteered to go for it while I was at class. Apparently, he had left the two girls alone in the tub for a bit when a dripping wet Maggie came to get him to tell him that Ellie had "pooped in the tub." Indeed, she had, and according to Jay, it was an admirable effort. Disgusted, he removed the girls from the tub and marched their little naked dripping bodies into our shower. While they were in there, he went back into Ellie's bathroom to fish turds out of the water and somehow sanitize the tub. While he was doing that, he heard Maggie yell, "NO, ELLIE!! DON'T PICK THAT UP!!" He figured that exclamation did not bode well for what he was about to encounter in our bathroom, and he was right. It seems he got in there in time to find Ellie running from the room with two fistsful of crap. Needless to say, when I got home from class, he looked a bit spent and shell-shocked and needed a glass of wine (or a whole bottle).

I hope that someday he will be able to look back and laugh because it was pretty hysterical listening to him tell the story and using the word "shit" literally: "...so I'm thinking to myself, 'How the hell am I going to clean all this shit up?'"

Papa, do I look pretty?

Last year we got Mags a pink sparkly dress for her birthday/Halloween. She became so obsessed with it and started acting like such an evil princess in it that we took it and hid it in the garage. But, she found it there. So, we hid it in the trunk of Jay's car. It stayed there, quietly strengthening its vortex of power so that when Jay cleaned out his car and put it in a box in the garage again, it took mere days for Maggie to be sucked into the garage, forced to pry open a random box and compelled to pull the gauzy sheath from its confines.

"Mamaaaaaaa, what's THIS?????"
"I don't know, Mags. Have you seen your father?"
"Mamaaaaaaaaa, it's BEAUTIFUL! How did it get in this box????"
"I have no idea. Are you hungry?"
"Can I put it on?"
(crap) "Yes, darling, I suppose so."

And once again, the dress has begun to work its magic on my daughter. This time, it hasn't been all that bad - yet. We have an arrangement where she cannot wear the dress to KinderCare or sleep in it. She can come home and put it on for the afternoon, but she cannot ride any type of wheeled toy in it. (She learned this yesterday when it got a bit tangled up in the wheels of the tricycle.)

When she puts it on, she is transformed into a princess. We drew a picture of a crown on the driveway with chalk, and she will stoop down, pretend to pick it up and place it ever-so-regally on her blonde head. She walks with a certain grace - straight shoulders, controlled pace - but also with a bounce in her step that I interpret as her outward expression of pure joy... She even dares to dance and hold out her pretty skirts when in the driveway of our good neighbor whose presence usually causes her to hide behind a tree. So, maybe when you're almost 4 it's not so bad to pretend you're a princess.



















The first day she put the dress on, I stayed in the garage. She went into the house where Jay was. He said that as soon as she put it on, she went up to him and cautiously (but hopefully) asked, "Papa, do I look pretty?" He, being the good Papa that he is, told her she looked beautiful - and that she always looked beautiful. Over a glass of wine the next day, Jay and I were talking about the conversation. His mind went instantly to an article about a documentary about the objectification of women and kids' poor self-esteem he had just read in the Columbian. (The documentary features kids at a local school.) Yeah, that's some heavy stuff, but do you want to know where my mind went when he told me about his little exchange with Princess Mags? (Sappiness Alert. Turn away if you can't handle it...) I thought of her wedding day, and how beautiful she'll look and how at some point she'll look at Jay and ask, "Papa, do I look pretty?" Then, he'll get a tear in his eye - and there you have it. A country song just waiting to happen.

That Looks Like My Papa!!!

I have discovered a fundamental difference between Jay and me. I would be happy with a finite and easily-accessible music library - for example, an iTunes library that I can view and navigate without a hassle - or even - although I know how archaic this sounds - a bunch of CD's located in one place in their cases so I can see what I've got and browse the whole thing just by looking. Based on my observations, Jay is out to be master of a much larger chunk of the musical universe than I am. In his quest, I guess he asked his dad to bring down a large portion of his classical musical library for Jay to borrow/copy to wherever it is that we save such things.

So, Joe brought down boxes of CD's. Jay sorted them into piles of wheat and chaff - and then didn't think to put the chaff pile out of Maggie's reach. At the top of the pile was one "Please Play a Polka" by The Magic Organ. Although The Magic Organ could be a name for an edgy alternative band, there is not actually meant to be any phallic undertone here. No, this CD was produced by "Ranwood Records, Inc. - A Welk Record Group Company." As in Lawrence Welk.

Maggie saw that CD, swooped it up, and exclaimed: "That Looks Like My Papa! Look, Mama!" Sometimes it's twisted and fun to see an actual image that illustrates just how our children view us. Hopefully, if Jay ever loses her in a mall or something, she'll find a friendly security guard and describe her father as a cheerful pink-belted pirate with a puffy shirt who enjoys a good organ polka. Shouldn't be hard at all to track him down that way.

In case you've ever wondered: Organ polkas + Young children = Hours of fun.

The Manliest of Mantools

For the modest sum of $80, my husband was able to spend two days burning off his excess testosterone with an impressive piece of equipment dubbed the Billy Goat Outback Brush Cutter (check out the video on "mowing obstacles" on the website). He could have rented it for a few hours or even just for one day, but he went for the whole weekend adventure. Thankfully, we do not have a small yard, or we would probably have no standing vegetation left.

He was able to carve out a "campsite" in the big trees which I am especially psyched about - somehow satisfying a childhood desire I never knew I had to be able to camp in my own yard. Then, he took out the blackberries between the trees out back - and I'm not sure what all else. I know that the neighbor-men were sufficiently impressed and it was enjoyable enough that we have begun envisioning an annual "Billy Goat Weekend." The thing's got too much potential for destruction to consider having it on the property more frequently than once a year.

Where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and the children are above-average.

This week:

• I have moved up to my 7-pound weights (well, at least my 6's with the occasional foray into 7-land). Tonight, if it is as hot as I think it's going to be in that blessed oven, I mean grange hall, I may do without weights all together.
• Jay is getting used to either biking to work (no small feat) or running at lunchtime combined with a sensible Subway lunch (a la Jared). He has trimmed off 7 pounds so far. (Although since the weather is over 100 at the moment, he may have lost another 5 in water weight just sitting in traffic on the I-5 bridge this afternoon).
• The girls have successfully moved up to their respective new classes at KinderCare. Ellie hit her new teacher the moment I handed her over the first day, but she came home with a groovy new hairdo that involved EIGHT ponytail holders and a zigzag part down the back of her scalp that afternoon, so it was pretty clear that she and Ms Renae had had some real quality time. Maggie keeps asking, "What class do I have to go to TODAY?" And when I say, "Pre-K, Mags. That's where your cubby is now." She just says, "A-gain?!"

Father's Day

Sunday had been set aside for outbuilding floor installation, so we celebrated Father's Day on Saturday at Marshall Community Park (or as Mags calls it, "the park with the wood chips") in Vancouver. (On the last picture, be sure to follow Ellie's gaze over to the double slide...)

I sure am glad he's my kids' dad...(even if he doesn't always do things just like I would). And here's part of how I know he's a good dad - feedback from Mags:

"Mom, I want you to make my oatmeal like Papa does. He makes good oatmeal!"

"Mama, that's just the same as Papa hugs me when he puts me to bed!"

"Mama, I want you to sing me the song that Papa sings..."

For the record, here's Easter at our house...

Here is video of those rare moments when the entire family is happily engaged in a common activity! Ellie picked up on the whole "hunt for the plastic things" idea immediately. Mags let Ellie find eggs without ripping them from her little fingers and claiming them for herself. Jay got involved with the hunt, which probably seemed hokey to him, but he played along. Very sweet all around.

Pictures:

Easter loot - Yes, I did give my children toothbrushes and dental floss instead of chocolate bunnies, and they were psyched, by the way.

Ellie and a little stuffed lamb. I am so glad that little things make her so happy.

Mags wearing ribbons down her back - much like Irene Malloy from Hello, Dolly. And don't even think that isn't why I bought them or that the similarity was lost on Maggie for one nanosecond. (Also note that Maggie has started dressing herself, thus the pink rainboots and ballerina skirt.)

Jay eating the blueberry bran muffins that Mags and I made for breakfast. This is the first picture that Mags took of him that day. And next, you'll see the 17th picture she took of him about 5 minutes later.

Spring Fourth!

Before I go about hard-boiling eggs for the weekend's festivities, I may blow off some valuable work time today trying to balance them on one end in celebration of the vernal equinox and coming of spring. Spring! Glass half-full: warmth, flowers, longer days. Glass half-empty: 3 more months of daily rainfall.

Today is also our 4-year anniversary! Yay for us, Spunk! Time flies when you're having kids, I mean fun. Time flies when you're having fun!

A Mighty Wind

With our flight less than 24 hours away, why is Jay obsessed with watching this over and over? For God's sake.

Everything's Better with Ketchup?

Last night was one of those "what can I make for dinner that does not involve stopping at the store with the kids on the way home from KinderCare" nights. I dug deep and found that I had both a package of ground turkey and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Believe me when I tell you that when you put those two things in a frying pan and heat them up, magic happens. No really. My mom and dad would say it needs to be hamburger, but it doesn't. Put that steaming gunk over some brown rice or mashed potatoes and mmm mmm! (It can't be grilled salmon and steamed broccoli every night...)

I left for class before Maggie settled in to eat. (We really have to start getting everyone to the table at the same time. I watched a bit of SuperNanny last night, and I know she would agree on that point...) But, I trusted Jay to get her to eat something. When we chatted at the bathroom sink as we brushed our teeth before bed, I asked about Maggie's dinner. He said something like,
"She loved that stuff - just had to add some ketchup and she scarfed it down!"
"You added ketchup to what? Please wait - don't say what I think you're about to say - NOOOO!"
But yes, my daughter ate brown rice, ground turkey, cream of mushroom soup and KETCHUP for dinner. And loved it.

Singing Cupcake-Grams and Homemade Valentines

I came thisclose to having a tray of cupcakes delivered to Jay's office by someone belting out "How Sweet it is to be Loved by You." Truth is, I love the cupcakes from this place, and I personally would enjoy the grand/ridiculous gesture. However, nobody delivers anything out where we live, and Jay would never see the value in doing something like that. Funny how we both tend to get/consider getting each other gifts that we actually would prefer ourselves (case in point, the pair of Carhartt overalls I got for my first Mother's Day).

Anyway, he is not an easy man to shop for. But, Mags and I did take some time before KinderCare this morning to make him some lovely homemade Valentines. These will be the sweetest gifts of all, I'm sure.

The Famn Damily

Here's the center of my universe, for future reference. Maggie's the one dressed for a tea party (no, not a burlesque show), Ellie and Jay are in the snow.