Standing up for the Princess

Am I the worst mom in the world? I’ve been reading these tirades against “Princess Culture” on the DC Urban Mom’s listserv I’m on for the past several days and I just don’t get. I fully agree that the INDUSTRY is much more out of control than it was when I was a kid - you can’t even get past the dollar bins in Target without being bombarded by Disney doodads, but am I really skewing my 3 year old’s body image for life and teaching her that she needs to sit pretty and wait for a Prince to swoop in to save her by allowing her to watch The Little Mermaid, play with her new box set of 7 Disney Princesses (yes, 7 – she’s been asking for Barbie’s and to my eyes at least the diverse line up of Jasmine, Belle, Mulan, Ariel…was much preferable, but apparently not!), or put on a tiara from her chest of princess/fairy dress up clothes? Seriously?!

I fully understand the impressionability concerns and intend to do the best I can to foster a healthy body image, confidence and self reliance. But her overhearing me say, ugh, mom needs to exercise, my jeans are to tight one too many times is probably way more damaging than allowing her to comb Sleeping Beauty’s long blonde hair. Frankly, I grew up on the same Disney movies, granted w/o so many of the tie-in products, and I love re-experiencing them (over and over and over again) with Leila. Indeed, the bulk of her Christmas presents came straight out of my childhood – Colorforms, Tinker Toys and a Viewmaster Oh My! She plays with her dolls for a few minutes then asks me to get out Colorforms and help her create scenes. She also received her # 1 request: “a baby that pees.” It’s gross and ridiculous, but watching the way she nurtures her baby “Isabella” as a little mommy, it can’t be all bad for her development and imaginative play skills. She’s also just as likely to pick up her plastic sword and shield and pretend to be Peter from Narnia as she is to drift into Princess La La Land. Yes, I’ve also probably damaged her for letting her watch Narnia so young, but it inspired her to request the book – the same Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe book I was enthralled with as a somewhat older kid – and while she won’t sit through a chapter of my reading it yet, she walks around holding it and narrating stories about the few illustrations properly identifying the character names etc. Anyway, while I don’t dare jump into the flames of my listserv, I’d like to advocate as strongly as I can for letting kids be kids and embracing the Princess phase with all its satin and jewels for the short time it lasts.

Yeah, I miss those days when standing on Metro was fun...

Good pics from a school performance are always wishful thinking...

Wondering if letting her watch Narnia is such a wise idea...

Behold...

The perfect Christmakkuh gift for everyone on my list! The official U.S. Postal Service commemorative inaugural folio! I'm sure all my near and dear can wait until after January 20th to get their hands on this little piece of history. Next stop, stamp collecting!

TERRIBLE Blogger

Wow, this old blog really needs to be updated, huh? Anyone have anything to contribute??

OK, how about a few pictures just to look alive...
A slightly more Twin Peaks version of Bob & Edith's above.

Yeah, the Princess over PJs look is a great one.

I love you Denny Duqette

I do, I do, I really do! I mean, how could I not?:

But..... I think its time you rest in peace. Seriously. Then your loveliness can be free to haunt me from some other shows or movies. I mean, we all saw Ghost in 1990, and if we felt the need to see this:

again, we could just log straight on in to Netflix....

What I'm not ready to let rest in peace on Grey's is DoctorMajor Hunk, I mean Hunt! I know some aren't feeling him, but all of that pent up rage every now and again unleashed on Yang in the form of ravenous kissing.... Mmmmmmmm..... Now if we could only put him in a Lucius Vorenus toga!

History

There is nothing I can say today that hasn't already been more eloquently stated by someone else, but there was no better feeling than finally falling asleep last night with the assurance that all our daunting challenges have been passed on to the right hands, the comfort that my daughter's future is that much more secure, and the anticipation of reading about this huge moment with future grandchildren in their school textbooks.

Change we can believe in people!

I feel it my duty...

..to memorialize my cousin Cassidy's pumpkin artisty for Halloween!

Ready for Wicked?

Leila and I had our first musical theater adventure last Sunday. We invited Emily and Henry to join us for "Busy Town", based on the Richard Scarry books I still love as a 34 year old, at Imagination Stage in Bethesda. The outing was more of a success than I imagined it could be. Leila sat silent perched at the edge of her seat and turned back to smile at me periodically. I think Emily and I were just amused by how over the top prissy/whiny the actor playing Huckle cat was and we exchanged many eyerolls throughout. But for a kids' production, it was fun. I'd much rather go to shows like this that draw on the imagination and classic books than something like Doodlebops Live....

Hee Hee

You want to know why I don't have time to blog much anymore? I do nutty things like schedule myself for 2 doctors appointments and a flu shot on the Columbus Day holiday. Plus there's that hour + of daily exercise I have to squeeze in at either 5a.m. or 9p.m. to demonstrate my commitment to Cesar's crazy P90X fitness program. I think I'm now 21 days into my 90, but could be off a day or two either way. Anyway... this is not in the least bit interesting reading, but I'm still here and will one day get back on track!

Out of the mouths of babes...

As I'm getting my act together to get Leila in bed at the start of the VP debate last night, she says:

"I like the way Sarah Palin (which comes out Pay-yin, b/c her 'l's, particularly double 'll's often come out 'y's) talks."

Me (incredulously): "REALLY?!"

3 year old Leila: "Yes, she sounds silly."

Me: "BWAH HAH HA... indeed she does sweetie, indeed she does..."

Pics from Selma

Yes, I smirk, but for some reason I like that picture of me...Selma can be my official photographer from now on ; )

The little boo boo fiancees are too cute holding hands in Georgetown Park.

I imagine future teenage pictures of the girl will look a little like this...

The Tough Questions From The Mouth Of The 3 Year Old

From the profound:

"Are Oma and Opa going to go up to the sky to be with Papa Jesus soon?" Pause. " Is Missy going to go with them?"

Oma and Opa being my paternal grandparents and her great grandparents who are by no means ill or infirm. Missy being their dog.

To the ridiculous:

"When I grow up and have a baby in my tummy can I go to a Wiggles concert?"

Open to suggested responses on either!

Lesson Learned

1) When you call the gas company and say you smell gas leaking from your stove when you turn it on and as it heats up, they take you seriously and send a tech out right away, no matter the day or hour. In fact they take you so seriously that they won't even let you hang up your phone in fear that could cause a spark and they disconnect it for you remotely.

2) It probably would have been wiser to call last Thursday when I first noticed the smell instead of just turning the stove off, getting away with not cooking dinner and going about our business throughout the weekend.

3) If your immediate neighbor in attached housing is having their kitchen redone, including having new hardwood floors installed and finished, that "gas" smell emanating from your stove could very well be the chemicals from their work burning off through your gas line. Huh? Curious. At least the Washington Gas techs didn't treat me like I was a fool and reassured me that it's better to be safe than sorry (even 4 days later!)

Guess I have to come home to cook dinner again after back-to-school night tonight. Sigh...

Homeowner Woes

I love our house. I do. And people did warn me that as soon as we moved in shizz would start to happen and the repairs and maintenance would be on us, but there are some days I really do miss our nutty old property manager and being able to place the responsibility on her to get things done for us. This past weekend for example:

1) Our 2 year old roof leaked. Into Leila's bedroom. Causing plaster to fall down around the A/C vent in her ceiling. The plaster that is still barely hanging is now Duct taped up. Ghetto fabulous I tell you, but can't do much about fixing that until we tackle the source of the roof leak. That 2 year old roof is under warranty for issues of workmanship and materials found to be at fault of the roofers. They went out yesterday and whatever the issue it is apparently one that is not covered by warranty. They're probably shifting the blame to the air duct work. I don't really know, but the woman who answers the phone gives me 2 word answers and says they'll send me an estimate when the owner of the company gets back in town...

2) PESTS. Yes, it is a 50 + year old attached row house. Yes, I recognize we will have pests no matter how clean we keep the place. However, it seems that my pest issues are always just slightly more gruesome than most. Sunday, I'm sitting on the kitchen floor playing with Leila and her train tracks when something catches my eye hanging out of the bottom of the dishwasher. I catch Cesar coming up the stairs from the basement and say "look down there, does that look like a mouse's tail to you." He looks and says "yeah, no, I think it may be a cable..." but puts on a latex glove and gives it a tug and sure enough, a nice, dried, rotting tail snaps off between his fingers. We had no clue how to get into the bottom of the washer to access the rest of the corpse and I had to go in search of the Kenmore manual. Finally figured it out and it was clear to our noses that the little guy had been there a while. Accompanied by a fair smattering of droppings and cockroach carcasses. Thank god for the suction of my Dyson's hose b/c I'd be do squeamish to clean it out otherwise.

I've been wondering how long...

...it would take her to discover mom's lipstick.
The real deal. Not chapstick.

Well, as real of a deal as $3.95 Rimmel gloss from Target is.

Leila Takes Manhattan

Or not...
Granted, and lesson learned, that 45 minute drive from Hartford to New Haven and 2 hour Metro North ride to Grand Central is a long one.

And mom... is just a big old geek like always!

Wonderland Weekend

As my friend and former colleague Morgan, who is way younger than me, said in response to my telling her we were going to take Leila to Lancaster, PA to do Dutch Wonderland last weekend: "that didn't exist when I did that family trip." I was initially surprised to learn about this pleasantly refreshing amusement park too, but anyone who's on the DC area parents' blogs and listservs does know that it exists. Now I had plenty of fun back in the day at Kings Dominion as a tween and teener, but my perspective on amusement parks now (all those large, sweaty, sticky people in jean shorts and fannie packs crushed together in hours' long lines...) probably tends toward the negative. And that is why I refer to Dutch Wonderland as pleasantly refreshing. I'm glad we didn't take Leila at any younger than age 3, but I can see her enjoying it for another 5 years or so. The park is nicely contained and laid out with plenty of shady trees. We started on a miniature version of the Strasburg railroad that looped around the park so we could get an idea of where the rides, shows and concessions were laid out. Yeah, the map would have given us that too, but the train's the first thing you hit once you go through the castle walls to enter the park. It took Leila a little while to get her stride, and the Frog Hopper ride she next went on traumatized her a bit (think a mini-bungee effect.) She probably would have been fine had one of us been on it with her, but I didn't think the shoulder harness would clear my frame. She adamantly refused to get on many rides after that, but she came back around after seeing the "Frog Prince" show, which combines the typical Princess kisses the frog and breaks the spell story with some pretty spectacular (even to an adult) diving routines. Actually, she probably enjoyed the shows more than anything else, but we got her on the log flume with us after that, then the merry go round and the sky gondola thing that crosses the park etc... It was crowded, but we didn't wait more than 5 minutes in line for anything but the log flume, and that was only about 15. I had her bathing suit in a back pack, but we did not venture into the water park. Cesar and I didn't have our suits on, and I couldn't see her doing anything by herself aside from maybe standing in a fountain, and that just didn't seem worth the hassle.

We did spend the night there because I wanted to take her on the real Strasburg Railroad and see some countryside on Sunday, but the trip from DC and back could totally be managed in a (long) day. Especially with the GPS in the car - man I've learned to love that thing and follow it with blind faith in a very short time after denying Cesar one for years. We also wanted some time to hit the outlets. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites, literally across from the park and next to the Tanger outlets. It was more than we should spend on a weekend, but perfectly reasonable for 2 Queen beds and a living room suite. We wanted to watch the Olympics Saturday night, so I found us a sports bar in downtown Lancaster in an old tobacco warehouse that had individual TVs at each booth. For a sports bar, the food wasn't half bad. We shared fried mozzarella that was coated in pretzels instead of breadcrumbs and served w/ dijon mustard sauce and I had a "Pittsburgh Salad", which was greens topped with flank steak and french fries(!!) is that perfection on a plate, or what?

The only downer to the weekend was coming home Sunday when Leila finally announced to us at 2:30 that she was hungry for lunch (we'd downed a bag of kettle corn around 12:30) and it had to be McDonald's of course, so we stopped at one in Timonium, MD. MICE. MICE. MICE. In broad daylight in the indoor play area. Lord only knows what was in the kitchen, but it was about the grungiest McDs I've ever been in. I refused to take Leila in the bathroom. Thankfully, I didn't see the vermin, but trust Cesar's reporting. I'd already done my best to curb Leila's interst in the play area b/c those places just creep me out as a rule. Cesar took her in while I waited for the food to prove to her it was too dirty then came back to me to say he'd seen 3 or 4 mice peaking out of the equipment. EWWWWWWWWWW.

National Book Fair Sept. 27

Think that's the date at least, but due to my small brain content at this hour of night, I may be off a digit or two from the time I read Sunday's Book World (on Wednesday) to the time I got upstairs to write this. It's whatever the last Saturday in September is. I haven't yet been to this annual event, despite the fact that my adopted Godmother spearheaded it in its first two years, but this is the year. Here are just a few of the participants: Phillipa Gregory (gasp, sigh, gasp, mmmm... The Other Boleyn Girl), Geraldine Brooks (made the plague truly fascinating and March, about the absent dad in Little Women, amazing as well), Salman Rushdie (!!! Favorite. Author. Ever!!!) Neil Gaiman (and I'm not a comic geek, but loved the mythology of American Gods) David Maraniss (yeah, don't think I can claim to reading one of his full length books, but still..) Anyway... that is a pretty amazing lineup and yes, I'm a book geek, but I'll be begging my dad to go with me. In the meantime, Cesar is blaming me for encouraging librarian tendencies in 3 year old Leila by taking her to the library one night a week. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than Barnes & Noble I say!

A Husband Funny

Cesar looks at me at dinner last night while Leila's in the midst of a face turning purple temper tantrum b/c she was corrected for showing us the couscous on her tongue repeatedly and says for the 2nd time in as many days: "Babe, I think we need to go to church." And I say, "OK, we can check out St. Rita's sometime. They probably have a Sunday school." And he replies in all seriousness, " I think we need to go to church because she has a devil in her." Yep, and that devil is named "THREE." I'm totally open to visiting a church for the community and ritual of it, but for exorcising my normal (I think!) toddler, not so much!

This is What Happens When We Dog-Sit

The House

I guess I haven't reported all that much on our digs. I'm rather happy with our additional space and the location and I was pretty much able to move my Moroccan souk decor right in with nary a coat of paint. Our kitchen is fab, built-in bookshelves even faber. Basement play and rec room space is great and I don't even find it creepy to be down there alone at night watching the night before's Daily Show on the DVR (YES, I finally have DVR!) Our yard/patio is flowering, though the mosquitoes have pretty much kept me out of it. I can see myself taking more pleasure in it in the fall. But....

.... It wouldn't be Lisa's house w/o some little disturbances starting to make themselves evident. I'm home today waiting out the plumber's 4 hour window. Also took the opportunity to go to the Dr. to get some drugs to alleviate my sinus infection's pressure. We have a leaky bathtub faucet. Leaky to the point that a bucket is full in an hour and the entire tub full in 8. Didn't want to wait until the water started pouring through the lovely recessed lighting in the kitchen. Let me back up to critters for a second b/c this all sort of ties in. Last year at this time we were dealing with mouse genocide and water bugs at our rental. Part of what geared me up to move and enter the housing market. Which is sort of counter intuitive I guess, because now the pests are all my own to deal with w/o a property manager in between. Anyway... We have German cockroaches in this house, which I haven't been too freaked out about b/c I've tended to find them dead or dying from commercial bait discs. The former owners treated for them last summer and we'll do the same if necessary, but still, I've been kind of OK with them b/c they're itty bitty compared to the big narsty water bugs I'm used to - the kind I'd spray half a bottle of raid on, then if I had to, crush with my swiffer b/c I can't stand any closer contact. So, I'm handling the occasional bug, but not nearly ready to face mice again. Saturday night, after getting Leila to bed at 10:00, I'm walking downstairs, look back up towards her room for a sec and spy a mouse dropping at my eye level on the landing under the stair rail. Ok, mouse dropping in a utilities closet in the basement... wouldn't be happy with it, but might be able to put it out of mind for a bit. Mouse dropping on the 2nd floor where we sleep at night across from my daughter's doorway, pest control will be getting a call sooner rather than later. Even still, the occasional dropping I might be able to push back and convince myself that the critter/s have since slunked away into a neighbors unit if I don't see them again. It's when the bodies start showing up in traps that I get more than a little freaked. So, back to the plumbing. When we got home last night Cesar went up to fiddle with the tub to see if there was any self remedy before I scheduled the plumber. He opened up the square board outside the bathroom that conceals the pipes and started fiddling about - in the course of which he reversed the hot and cold water - a repair the former owners made before we moved in - and in shining his flashlight around discovered... that's right, a dead mouse on a trap. Now that victim could have been there for a while, who knows, but the fact that there was a trap in there that we did not set only verifies that there have been vermin problems here in the past. While all this is going on, Leila is dancing around me chirping read me Angelina Ballerina and thankfully not making the association b/t the rigid little thing in the trap she'd asked to see and the little dancing mousies in her book.

And in closing, just for that icing on the cake effect, I was out on the front stoop with Leila while she ate her freezer ice at 7:30 - I'm about to go get one of those myself as I don't think the sinus pressure on my jaw will allow me to bite much - when Cesar comes out, looks down into the grass and says oh my god, look, a baby snake! By the time we looked and he looked back down, whatever he saw was gone, but he's beyond observant so if he claims to have seen a baby snake, he probably saw a baby snake. Yay, Lisa's animal farm begins anew!

Understatement of the Year

The kid looks up at me from the bath the other night and says: "I say a lot of good words" - pause - "I talk a lot." Bwah ha ha ha... Yes, sweetie, you do. And that contributes to 99.9% of mom's exhaustion at the end of the day.

You know the part in Tom Perotta's Little Children...

... book or movie adaptation - when the Kate Winslet character, Sarah, I believe her name was though it's been some years since I've read the book, is caught on the playground unprepared with a snack for her little moppet and one of those playground mom's makes a big overproduction of having her child share her goldfish? If you're a mom, you probably get the general scenario if not the direct reference. I had one of those Kate Winslet/Sarah moments last night. Took Leila to the library for our weekly book and DVD exchange just before 7. Noted a dad bringing his daughter in wearing her PJs and thought, wow, what's their secret for getting the kid all ready for bed before a library dash at 7:00. Then we hit the kids' section and lo and behold, more kids in PJs - indeed, about a dozen of them - gearing up for story night. Didn't get the memo! Will my kid be scarred for being the only one of her peers remaining in her day clothes?? I did encourage her to go into the reading room to participate and after some hesitation and looking around every 30 seconds to be sure I was planted in my spot outside the glass door, she seemed to have a blast. Though I did get a firm, "NEXT time! I'm going to wear my pea-jamas (as she pronounces it)" as we left. At 7:30. At which point she had yet to be fed dinner. Oh, bad mom I am. So she got spaghettios as soon as we got home. Again, bad mom of processed food products on emergency reserve in the pantry!!

3 is the new 2

Please. I beg of you. Believe any parent of a 3 year old when they tell you the above. The "terrible twos" is such a crock. Firstly, because they begin at 18 months (kind of like that pregnancy is 9 months misnomer thing - 40 weeks, does not 9 months make my friends - it's a lot closer ten!) And secondly, if our case is any reflection of the norm, the calendar 2 year was not so bad. Maybe it's just because each new challenge just builds on the last and we're due to be adapting to them until the kid is at least 21, but 3... is tiring. Don't get me wrong. The kid is still a great kid and provides us endless (its that endless thing that's so exhausting) entertainment and surprises day in and out, but as soon as she hit 3, she just became THAT much more sure of of herself, THAT much more a daredevil, THAT much more demanding, THAT much more vocal, THAT much more cognizant of what buttons she could push, THAT much more able to turn on the crocodile tears in a split second with very little prompting, etc... etc...

We've been faced with huge bedtime challenges since we moved (as in the kind of challenges that don't allow mom to sit down w/ her nightly glass/es of wine until well after 10 many nights - OK, not even sit down with a glass, but start the dishes, lunches etc...over a glass, which does NOT a happy Lisa make) mostly of our own making, yes! I was so focused on getting her to sleep in her new room, in her big-girl bed, that I was willing to lay down with her for "just two more" Princess ballads, which translated to I'm going to keep a death lock on your finger and if you try to slip out before I've fallen and been asleep for a minimum of 20 minutes I will throw the tantrum to end all tantrums. I'm proud to report, however, that bribery does seem to work. We established a sticker calendar and each morning after she's fallen asleep by herself (after those 2 and only 2 Princess ballads with mom) she gets to pick a sticker to put on the calendar. Once we hit 10, she gets to pick out a new small toy, book or DVD. I have no qualms about this bribery thing if it gets me to my vino in the 9:00 hour! We're at 8 stickers as of today. The next round will be to get 10 CONSECUTIVE stickers. We had a few slips, but we're getting back on track!

I'm about to order these stickers...

... and some in 4x6 version. Just for your information.

Blah...

I've had so little of blogworthiness going on. Right, there was a vacation a week ago, but now that it's over, I'm just trying to deny that we have no more fun travel planned. South Padre was fun. Probably not a place that would have been on my radar screen for a destination had we not been meeting my siblings-in-law, but the weather was great and all that our days required of us was getting the kids to the beach and pool. And that mandatory midday margarita or two as well. We mostly ate and drank in (who wants the hassle and expense of schlepping a crew of 10 out daily), but did sunset drinks at a huge bar with a bad Jimmy Buffet cover band one night (I pictured it with the Spring Break masses and cringed - my how mature I've grown), went to see WALL-e with the kids one night - Leila slept through 2/3rds of it and I enjoyed it more than I probably should admit too - I mean it's no Kung Fu Panda (about that mature comment...), but the message puts it above the average kid flick, and had mediocre overpriced seafood out the last night. Now I need to get on the ball and plan some weekenders before the rest of summer escapes me. Anyone want to meet up at Dutch Wonderland? I'm contemplating staying at the Red Caboose Motel, though thinking it could be too much kitsch even for me.

The 'Hood

Our new neighborhood is a funny place. We're half a mile or less from million + dollar old Alexandria houses and half a mile or less from Central America or San Salvador (and I write that with all fondness and respect for Central America, have never been to Salvador...) That contrast and mix is precisely what I like about it. Seriously, my Spanish would probably improve tenfold if I removed my iPod from my ears just one morning a week on the bus. I have experienced my moments of where in the world are we, like at Foodway Supermarket Saturday, where there were men in full Bolivian (??) cowboy attire and flies swarming around a tank of hungry tilapia and a basket of live crabs. We ran in to grab milk, potato chips and wine, and I daresay that's about all I'd buy there, but it did save us from going a couple miles out of our way to Giant. And the store appeared to be run by Koreans, just to make it an even more global experience.

We figured that with all the Latin markets (tiendas Latinas to impress with that Spanish of mine) and food vendors within a stones' throw we'd have no problems finding yummy yummy pastries a la quesito or pastel de guayaba, but we haven't succeeded yet. We haven't given it a fair shot though, so I'm not giving up yet, and in reading this article
(http://www.mybakerycafe.com/AlexandriaTimes.PDF), it appears that I need to give the one establishment we tried a second chance. I found my cheese empanada not all that satisfying, but really just couldn't get over the fact that "My Bakery & Cafe, Inc." doubled as a night club and lounge. That seriously struck my humor, as I really can't imagine calling Massi, say, and suggesting "hey, let's meet up at My Bakery at 11 for Mojitos and take it from there..." But the Alexandria Times gave it props a year ago, and the owner did go to my high school, so again, we'll give it that second chance the seafood section at Foodway will not be getting any time soon.

Something else to sap up our limited funds...

So if you have a kid, or know anything about kids these days, you know that they stay strapped into some kind of car seat or booster seat until the day you drop them off at college. I exaggerate only a little. Long gone are the days when I was told at about age 3 to sit on my knees in the back seat so I could pass as full sized passenger so an adult could drive in the HOV lane. And I'm still nostalgic for the "way back." Which leaves me researching car seats and boosters again. And trying to figure out how to scrape together approximately $200 (x 2) again. The kiddo's not at the Roundabout's limits yet, but just looks like she'd be so much more comfortable in somewhat more of a big-girl seat. I think I'm settling on the Graco Nautilis. Everything I read says they really should be in a 5-point harness until they are AT LEAST 4 and 40 pounds. This one then converts to a high-backed booster and then just the seat booster. And Graco promises it will be the last car seat I'll ever need, so I guess if $175 and change will cover those remaining 15 years we'll need the seat, I'm OK with that.

???

I had something to blog today, but it has escaped me, so now I think I will make a break for it as the weather doesn't look quite so terrifying. If it comes back to me and IF the kid is asleep before 10:00 I'll log back in, but those are pretty big ifs...

Wednesday Wonderings

If the strawberries I'm eating right now are bigger than the average plum are they some kind of scarily genetically modified fruits? Oh, but I can only imagine how much chocolate fondue one could hold. Mmmm....

Also, when did "The New Scooby Doo" come out? Leila picked out a DVD at the library last night and I was thinking I was in for a throw-back treat (my favorite part of being a mother is getting to revisit snippets of my childhood through her) until I noticed that what would have been a guest-spot by a cartoonified Sonny and Cher or Don Knotts had been filled by the band A Simple Plan (who?)

Back at you.

As has probably been apparent from my silence, we are MOVED. That is not to say we are fully unpacked, but I'm still alive on the other side. We're about 70% there. Not including the 3rd bedroom, which will be a chaos of boxes and suitcases for some time to come until I can figure out where to store (or as would be my preference, GET RID OF) things. I have about 6 boxes of books, art and nick knacks left to find homes for against a living room wall and just might be able to get some things hung on the walls this weekend. Once the living space is appropriately tidied and presentable, I'll get some pictures posted. The house is great. The basement makes a HUGE difference in our lives of course. I've managed the first 2 mortgage payments so far. And it's super to be able to stroll down the hill to Del Ray - walking down to yoga Saturday morning instead of driving and fighting for parking just made it all the more relaxing - and Leila's psyched about the playgrounds and library in foot's reach. And best of all, no need to worry about driving home after a Super Margarita (or 2) at Los Tios! Because I have to have an it's a small world coincidence as well, our neighbor Darcy was in my class at William & Mary. She has 4 and 2 year old girls and Leila is very tentatively showing an interest in befriending them, so that's nice. We apparently have issues with our DSL freezing up in the house, so can't promise I'll be back to posting routinely, but will do my best to get back into the groove.

p.s.: It is Thursday and I miss LOST!!

Ack! Will be moved one week from today....

... and not at all ready!! Got the contents of the attic out on Sunday and about 20 or so boxes packed, but how on eartch did we come to possess so much STUFF??? And I can't get ANYTHING done during the week because the daughter's all of a sudden decided she can't tolerate her crib (she gets her big girl bed/room when we move, but it's apparently not soon enough) and is "co-sleeping" with us at age 3 on the crib mattress on the floor next to our bed. This would be OK for a week if I could put her down and leave the room, but anytime I try to sneak out to pack lunch or do dishes or glance at Sunday's (yeah, Sunday's) paper, she pops up. So here I am at 9:42 in the dark listening to a Disney Princess CD....HELP!!!

The D List

So the "celebrity" sightings in Miami this weekend included "Prancer" from VH1's Flavor of Love 8, or whatever season we are in, and Yoshi from Miami Ink (is that his name, or did I just inadvertently stereotype Japanese?) We saw the Prancer chick at the table next to us in Wet Willie's (yea - alcoholic slurpees!) and didn't know precisely who she was at the time, but I looked at Cesar and said she looks like a blond version of "New York." Last night he called me downstairs all excitedly and said "look, that's the girl!" and sure enough, there she was skating around Flavor Flav in a pair of wheelies like an 8 year old. Yoshi we saw at the Miami Ink store (and yeah, I bought Leila and I Ami James coi printed tee-shirts) because I am just that dork to seek it out and photograph myself in front of it. He was asleep on a bench inside. If you actually want ink by one of that crew, the tattoos are done two doors down now in the "Love Hate Choppers" storefront. We saw one couple try to schedule an appointment and they were all "weeelll, we might just be able to squeeze you in tomorrow, but you need to give us your phone number and don't call us, we'll call you if we can work something in..." The weekend was fun, but too fast. Leila had a blast with her 4 cousins, collectively referred to by her as "boys" and individually as "boy" (4 boys b/t 10 and 1.5 with two-part hispanic names, so I don't really blame her.) Now I'm back here looking at empty moving boxes, paralyzed over where to start. In exactly 2 weeks from today our possessions will be in our new house!! And it is about time, because we have apparently returned to a zoo - literally and figuratively. Two weeks ago we had a repeat raccoon visitor and last night I discovered that we have baby opossums on our patio. Seriously. At least two of them. They're kind of cute head on until you see that ratty tail. Eww.

Ooops...

Just got on here and realized it's been over a week since I've posted anything, but I'm probably going to have to be resigned to being a mute blogger until after June 1 or so. Think I've just now recovered from Leila's birthday and now dad's 35th is Thursday. We're headed for Miami that night for a quick long weekend celebration, which is exactly what one should be doing when one is scheduled to move in under a month! And, hooray, we just found out last night that we can actually start that move that has been two months in the making on Memorial Day! I'm calling tomorrow to confirm movers for Tuesday the 27th and we figure we can take the holiday Monday to take carloads over, get the kitchen set up etc... making a first mortgage payment plus a last rent payment last week was an ummm... eye opener. So that's about that in our chaotic lives. I'll try to get some fun Miami pics up early next week and if I don't sign on again before Sunday, Happy Mother's Day all!

Two Sides to Every Story

Mommy's Birthday Princess:
Hi, I'm 3 today. Welcome to your next year of challenge...

The RARE movie review.

Hee!! So Cesar and I snuck out of Leila's school auction (for which I'd put in about 80+ volunteer hours) at 9:30 Saturday night to catch a 9:40 show of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Loves it! Seriously. I guess I finally need to give in and start watching How I Met Your Mother, for a regular dose of Jason Segal.
Huge Crush! And that in spite of his routine nekkidness in this film. Likewise crushing on Russell Brand as Liam/NoelGallagerchannelingMichaelHutchins - or rather Aldous Snow. Aldous...what a great name. Aldous Abarca anyone? And yeah...Paul Rudd - that is just unspoken right there. Even working with the short-term memory (/drug addledness) of Dory the fish in Finding Nemo...HAWTNESS. Jonah Hill's the only not hotness in the movie, but hello hilarious. And Mila Kunis - hi, girl crush. Never got into That 70s Show, but she is gorgeous - I've never seen bigger eyes. I don't know, my crush may just be on Judd Apatow and his way of bringing the improv style laughs, but I've laughed harder and harder with each film of his I've seen. Heartbreak, naked boys, Hawaiian seascapes and Dracula musicals in one film = priceless/

Decisive Much?

So the theme for the 3 year old's birthday party next weekend, for which we're likely spending a good $800 when all is said and done, is...DoraElmoShrekCarebears... Dora invites. Elmo pinata. Shrek cake. And Care Bears decorations/paper products. Something for everyone I suppose!!

Not quite ready for this one...

So the kid looks at me as I think she's falling asleep tonight and says through her laughter: "Cale (a school/ neighborhood friend) was singing a Hannah Montana song today!" OK, Cale has sisters who are about 7 and 5, but am I ready for my not even 3 year old kid to know the first thing about Hannah Montana?! Nope. I guess it won't be long before the two of us are appreciating Zac Efron's purdyness together!

Do I have any problem brainwashing her into liking Bob Dylan, Outkast, the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash...? Again, negative, but I'd like to skip over Tweendom if I could...Alas, she very dismissively takes my In Rainbows disc out of the player and says "I don't like Radiohead!" Then replaces it with Ricky Martin. I can take a little Ricky here and there and Shrek 2 managed to turn her onto "Living La Vida Loca." Big time. It is pretty darn hilarious to watch her shake her little hips as she sings in very clear miming "she'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain..." I do admit.

Getting ready to play the Birchmere...?

A Pull Up Free Home??

Can I really plunk that $30 or so a week back into our non-existent entertainment budget? Not sure I'm ready to give away our collection of nighttime Pull Ups just yet, but for the past 2 nights, Leila has insisted on sleeping in underwear and has woken up DRY! She has also woken up at some point between the hours of 12:30 and 4:00 those nights and would only go back to sleep in our bed, which is a whole 'nother matter to take on this weekend...Thursday morning I was told that she was awake crying for me at 4:00 because "the mean lady from the dog movie (i.e.: Cruella from 101 Dalmatians) was in my room trying to unzip my pyjamas." Have yet to be given an explanation for last night, but if it happens again, I'm sure to face eviction from my husband - her forcing herself nearly horizontal between us don't so much work in the full bed! The only downside to our (/her and her teacher's - we get get about 2% of the credit) potty training success is that bedtime is now stretching to 9:30 with the "but I have to get out of bed and go to the potty..."s and, I probably sound like Rainman in my paranoia over accidents any time we're out when I'm going "wanna go potty? wanna go potty? wanna go potty?" every 5 seconds.

Still waiting for my gold star...

... for "sleeping" on an air mattress all last week. My neck and back is somewhat recovered. The in laws were lovely and Leila was thrilled to have them here, but it is nice to be able to get her to bed before 11:00 (11:00!) and to be able to walk in the house w/o tripping on people and/or suitcases. That 3rd room and basement in the new house should make all the difference for future inn-keeping.

And speaking of the new house, we did survive settlement on Friday - I have a lovely bottle of Signature Mortgage label Cabernet to commemorate our closing costs and cramped hands from the hundreds of signatures. We possess a key, but chances that the sellers are out before the remaining 56 days of our rent-back agreement have passed are about -0. Their 1st choice purchase is a short sale, with a backup contract on a for sale by owner... seems a bit nuts to me, but whatev... That puts us in the last week of May and I have enough to tackle in April/May w/ Leila's school auction, her birthday, then Cesar's 35th birthday... yeah, and all the organizing and purging and packing and furniture ordering that needs to be done.

And the kid - who is now about 3 weeks shy of 3 - CRACKS ME UP like always. She's always spoken at a somewhat - not to brag - advanced level, but the words coming out of her mouth these days are unreal. I thought her use of "actually" was impressive for a while, but the most recent one she's tossing off, in proper context no less, is "otherwise." Otherwise? For reals? I don't think I even use otherwise in my routine parlance and here she is stating "Mom! I need to go potty, otherwise I am going to wet my underwear..." etc... It is something. Last night, in lieu of her book before bed, we were occupied with a "celebration." "Mom, sit down over here, we're having a celebration for Ella's (a school friend) birthday...mom, we have cupcakes for the celebration...mom, what else did you bring for the celebration?...no, you can't clean up these yet, we haven't used them for the celebration..."

Further to last post...

...I've a nice fat red zit on my left cheekbone. It accompanies the bags under my eyes rather well I think! But I really have no grounds to complain about this in-law visit 'cept for the fact that we're still in our tiny old rental - an aerial photo of Cesar, Leila and I sleeping in the kid's room may be in order. That it stretches over weekdays makes it pretty darn easy on me because, hey, I'm at work the vast majority of the day. Leila staying home with them makes my mornings less hectic and I can get to the office around 8:00 (and I need that extra hour to stay on top of things right now.)

So I had this revelation last night - if you for some strange reason ever want to know what the heaviest part of your body is, "sleep" on an air mattress (and I put "sleep" in quotes, because if anyone can actually sleep soundly through the night on one, I'd like the recipe for doing so.) The one I'm bunked on in Leila's room appears so nice, tall and firm - it even has some kind of spring construction inside - but when I laid on my back on it last night, I realized that my upper torso and legs were level, while my rear sunk down towards the floor - seriously, as if on a hammock! Yikes, I think some stairclimbing could be in my future.

Stresssssssssssss......

The in-laws arrive tonight. I can probably leave this post as that. My entire body aches from spending the past two days cleaning. Happy Easter! Sleeping on an air mattress on Leila's floor for the next 5 nights probably won't do much to ease my aches. Perhaps wine will. Or yoga if I had the time to practice. And, we close on our house purchase Friday. I've been on the phone with bank managers pleading with them to release the holds on our deposits so they'll be ready to withdraw Friday. And work is kicking my butt right now, yes, my public servant work. In a good way it's keeping me on my toes, but I'm really feeling the race against the deadline clock these days. AND I have to find some time to write the descriptions for Leila's school auction catalogue this week. Sigh... if only stress had the power to keep me skinny as it did in college - I'm unlikely to pick up the coffee and cigarette habits that helped in those days, and yet also unlikely to give up my current Cadbury mini egg habit...What can you do?

The Hubby Dear

So here's a query I get upon coming home last night: "What happened to your hair?... It looks good."

Yeah, because taking the pains to wake up an extra 15 minutes early to have a date with the blow dryer and round brush and smoothing milk just 'happens'!

But a compliment is a compliment I suppose...

Weekend Pics

She looks just precious at bedtime showing her friends Elmo and Shrek the love, no?
Except for the fact that mommie feels just about as grouchy and ogreish as Shrek when the child is up until 9:30/10:00 at night leaving her NO downtime.
Well, at least she was down at 8:40 tonight/Sunday. Sleeping in until 8:30 on the weekend is some consolation, but I want at least 1 hr me time/night!!
Yeah, I did get a little me time in Luigi's chair Friday night, but it's still not enough!

Emily and I took the munchkins to Horton Hears a Who today and it was actually pretty fun. I was expecting disaster since each of them have only been to one movie in the theater in their lifetime and neither lasted through it. I'm sure we enjoyed the movie more than they did, but I'm pleased that I actually got to watch most of it. Leila talked a little here and there. Ate an entire box of Gummi bears w/in 10 minutes. And got out of her chair to stand in front of me a few times, but for the most part was calm and well behaved. Saw the preview for Speedracer and I am so there!

This kid...

... cracks me up. She looks at me tonight and says "are we going to school tomorrow?" I reply "yes sweetie" and she ever so pensively says "but...when are we going to take a break from school?" Oh kiddo, how about when you're 22 and graduating from college?

Here's the clever little one with the cuteness that is Eamonn Lawlor a couple weekends ago. I've got her hooked up with the older (Henry Jones) and younger boys, so we cover all the bases whatever her taste may be ; )

And check this out... What would that be that she's wearing? Neither a diaper nor a pull-up methinks! We are SO close on the potty training (and check that sneer too! Girl's got her no paparazzo attitude on!)
And I can take NO credit for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you room 3 teachers and older room 3 classmates for putting the princess underwear peer pressure on! I'm still the lazy bum who thinks oh, lets just put a pull-up on and go take care of business/pleasure outside the house for four hours, but her new found interest in staying clean and dry is bringing me around.

Anyone who knows...

...our current rental house would know that we should NOT be going out to buy ginormous pieces of furniture until after we me move. So what did we do this weekend? Went to World Market and bought a ginormous TV armoire. But it was pretty and reasonable (relatively) and their stock changes so fast and though it takes up a fourth of the room, I'm thrilled at not having to look at all the cords and spilling over DVDs our old $20 stand from Target revealed! However, the challenge now is that Cesar is expressing desire for a larger screen to fill it. I think our 32 incher new at Xmas looks just fine with a little open space around it.

So I guess that Obama tee-shirt I wear every other day was a freebie...

If anyone is concerned that Obama is not 1000% committed to not taking any money from "special interests", here's a little tale. In my former job that I left January 19 I was registered to lobby for a couple of our clients. A couple weeks before Super Tuesday I went online to Obama's campaign store to order my Tee. I paid $31.40 justifying it as a contribution, but not really thinking of it as a contribution contribution. Today I get a check in the mail for $31.40 with a lovely letter from a compliance officer notifying me that they are so pleased that I am committed to stand for change, but that records show I am registered to lobby the federal government and Obama is committed to take no money from special interests. We're talking $31.40, for which I received merchandise in exchange! You go boy. Hillary had no problem taking a small amount of my money to attend a rally very early in the campaign. I do plan to call the compliance officer to let her know I am now a civil servant again and the lobbying reports filed January 31st should no longer show my name! So now I figure I can justify at least a $50 contribution before we start paying our mortgage....

Maximum Overdrive

Remember that bad 1986 Emilio Estevez movie adapted from Stephen King's Trucks? Yeah, probably not, but I feel like I'm on maximum overdrive these days. Between pulling the paperwork together for the new house, the new job - who knew what a juggling act it was to actually work someplace with deadlines and shifting priorities and the need for time management skills (Perez and Trent, I miss you boys, but I do enjoy feeling productive)?! - and the sick kid (two days out this week with Strep), and the usual household responsibilities, which, aside from getting food in our tummies, are the last thing to be attended too....

Anywhooo...I don't have much to say here. Just checking in. I sadly reported to Leila when I woke her up this morning that Obama lost to Hillary yesterday and she responded with a simple "oh." But we maintain hope. Will wash my lucky tee before the next primary Saturday. I know I got on here to write something of some import, but I can't for the life of me think of what it was now. Oh, whatever you do, please, I beg of you, do not decide that you need to pen a response to the Postmaster General's form letter on Identity Theft that you should have received with all Postal customers early last week. I've been swimming through thousands upon thousands of "Dear John, This is all well and good, but if you could teach my carrier to read and deliver my mail to the right box we may not have this problem... or Dear John, If we got rid of all the immigrants and reclaimed America..." letters all week. Right. Going to get on Metro now for my 20 minutes daily downtime to regrettably slowly read The Other Boleyn Girl. I guess the movie reviews sucked in general, but I'll be glad to see if Eric Bana betters Jonathan Rhys Myers as Henry on DVD.

Various

I'm tired of winter. We totally got cheated out of any good snow (glad we bought Leila those $70 Geoxx boots) and I can't take much more walking to the metro in blustery 23 degree mornings. I'm sick again/still as are my husband and daughter. About 2 weeks ago I commented that I'd been sick for 4 weeks and now I really have been.

On Lost. I've got nothing. But I am really enjoying the ride this season. I figured time travel would come back into play with Desmond, but the Faraday connection is interesting. And Penny's dad bidding on the log to the Black Rock at auction...hmm...

Trader Joes's tip of the day. Chicken Curry Tenders. Yum. They're in the fresh meat section packaged like the Pollo Asado. Same quantity/cut (all white tenders) as the Asado, but the curry flavor is super - a bite at first, then just a little bit sweet.

On the house. We locked into a 10 yr ARM Wednesday night because I needed to be able to sleep through the night. Of course Thursday morning rates on 30 yr were back down slightly. Typical. But I still think what we locked into is slightly favorable in terms of monthly payments.

Still a Bad Blogger

I'll use our home purchase as an excuse here as long as I can! Though there's really not all that much to report these days aside from that somewhat major event. Going to meet with our mortgage guy (who graduated from my highschool 5 years after I did!) tonight. Wish us luck! Maybe he can get through my thick skull what the heck points are. Will try to get some new pics of the kid up etc...this weekend.

And speaking of the house, I don't know that I've written up this funny little coincidence yet. The seller of the house we're buying's sister Joanna rented the house we're currently in previous to our 6 years occupying it. I knew her through Emily, and she's how we found our rental. Emily ran into her brother a couple weeks ago who told her he was selling his house. She looked it up online and called me to make sure I'd seen it, and low and behold it was the property we'd looked at least 3 times since December. So yeah, we're just following this pair of siblings around throughout their Alexandria residences. It's a small world after all.

Now back at the White House, I had this regular crazy correspondent and I'm kicking myself now because I'm blanking on his name and I thought it was one I'd never forget...It was Frank Porter Something Jr....He used to call all the time and say "Oh hi, can I speak to Lisa, Lisa Williams..." then write letters full of all sorts of conspiracies addressed to Lisa, Lisa Williams. I'm reminiscing about him now b/c I have a letter on my desk to respond to that reminds me of his tone. It reads "Dear Noble President: This is a letter of request that you use the compass of good faith above the square of reason and allow both to rest upon some facts which I am about to mention. The above address of a Post Office Box, I have had for the past 20 years is now up and to be renewed this January, which I would like to continue but I am having an update problem with our lady Postmaster who wishes to have all my Identification entered upon the Internet to the Postmaster General's Secretary. With all the Idenity Theft, the internet places me at risk being a former Security person. although nothing has changed except an address, therefore I hereby request that I be exempt from such, through your assistance."

That's all folks.

Bad Blogger

I fully recognize that I am not keeping up with my Bloggerly duties here. The new job keeps me consistently busy through the working hours, which is a great thing, we're trying to buy a house (STRESS!) and we're beyond lucky if our child is in bed/asleep at 9:00. So just a quick update here.

The Postal Service is great. Everyone is extremely helpful and collaborative (imagine that - such a low bar I'd set for workplaces after my last experience...) I'm constantly learning. Get to respond to such crazy cases as a woman who provided information to the inspection service leading to the arrest of a man who robbed a mail truck - was advanced $1,000 in reward money - then turned around and robbed a Post Office of $2,300 worth of stamps. Brilliant I tell you. Now she writes her Congressman for help securing the remaining $24,000 in reward money.

On the homefront, Valentine's day was Papajohn's pizza, breadsticks and cheap champagne... the usual. At least Lost was on. And as to Lost I'm simply befuddled as to the big picture here - WTF? But that's why I love it so. I couldn't help but thinking someone's been watching the Bourne movies during Sayid's flashforward. Loved his blown out hair - hee... and Ben. Ben, Ben, Ben...What are you up too? I guess I'm convinced now that the Oceanic Six are indeed Jack, Kate, Hurly, Sayid, Sun and Jin, but I think others made it off too like Desmond (yum!) who weren't on Oceanic to begin with.

And on that house purchase - stress! It's hard when you can already picture yourself in the property and people around you are (wisely) counseling you not to jump on a counter-offer.

Well aren't we just the cutest little...

.... civic minded family? The three of us went to the polls together early this morning. LOTS of people voting at our fire station with the lines only growing as we left. Hope that's a good thing. I let Leila cast my ballot - with close supervision of course - made sure that wheel was locked on my candidate before I let her fingers loose. When we were in line she asked if we were going to go back outside next and I said yes, after our turn, and she then whined "but I want to do the voting for Obama!" As I've said before, well trained!

Miscellany

So I'm probably not the first to discover this, but watching Lost with several glasses of wine in the system is kind of an ummm... lost cause. I came into it 10-15 minutes late, which is never a good idea, as catching up is near impossible, and with 4 new characters, with 4 new flashbacks (4!!! different individual's flashbacks in one episode...Ouch! My brain just exploded....) Oy! Bottom line is that I need to rewatch this weekend as reading the recaps reveal that I missed a whole heck of a lot.

Anyway... that wine consumption was on the occasion of meeting up with several old Morocco and White House friends. I try to corrall us quarterly or seasonally, but we're lucky if we all get together once or twice a year. We met at Proof at Gallery Place across from the Portrait Gallery and it was hopping - at least the bar was - the restaurant was relatively sparse. It's a cool space by Grizform Designs (my friend Mary's husband's firm) and though I can't speak for the food, it nicely emphasizes the beauty of the wine bottle. My friend Paul brought a surprise guest - his ex David. I adore them both and had not seen David in at least 4 years, and can I just say that I am envious of the path his life has taken? He currently lives in Hilo Hawaii and teaches at a yoga center. Periodically he takes off to India for months at a time to train and reach higher yogic levels. I told him I was reminded of him as I read Eat, Pray, Love and he said he was currently reading that himself. Seriously, if my one day of yoga a week would result in 1/10th of the air of peacefulness he carried about him and general look of fitness and well-being, I'd be in pretty good shape.

L'Enfant Plaza...

....is a curious place. My favorite curiosity being a store in "La Promenade" (their "La", not mine) by name of "Washington Shoes" that is indeed a sunglass shop. My other window shopping options include, "Shooz", which is a shoe store, "Washingtonian Male" and Dress Barn. My dining options include, McDonalds, Frank N' Stein, Potomac Food Court and Au Bon Pain. So yeah, it's been Au Bon Pain on Fridays when I've had enough of peanut butter sandwiches or yogurt from home.

Could it be...Murphy's Law?

Flooded a toilet last night. Loved the feeling of turning to the sink to wash my hands and having toilet water erupt onto my feet. Yep, it's time to move.

Also, I don't know why I even give any thought to what I'll wear to work, because by 9:30, I'm inevitably swathed in a blanket of Pashmina with hardly my fingers exposed to type. It's an odd 70 degrees outside and about 45 in here.

At least it's not mice...

... the heater conked out at 3:33 this morning. Further sign that it's time to leave our good old Amityville house o' horrors. I suppose if that's going to happen in February, it's good for it to happen on the 60+ degree days in February.

OK - I'm about ready to go home and put on my lucky Obama shirt and sweats and plop in front of MSNBC for the night.

It's February...

... a short month and our lease is up the last day of it. Ack! Stress time. Got forms to renew it over the weekend, which we are NOT doing (though may have to beg to stay and extra month) and they propose to raise the monthly payments by an additional $113. You have got to be kidding me after the year we had living with and massacring vermin. And where did they get the figure $113 anyway? It's kind of sad that we are just so over the property, because it really is (or could be with some upgrades) a great little townhouse for a singleton or couple and the location is simply unbeatable, but it's definitive, we are over it! We drove around Kingstown Saturday, and though the newer townhomes look lovely, it just feels like you may as well be in Reston to me. I know I may have to start looking outside the 1.5 mile radius in which I've been looking, but I'm not quite ready to concede. We're meeting with a realtor Wednesday night...

In other news. The Superbowl was last night, was it? Can't say I watched. Not even a commercial. I bought beer at the grocery store justifying the purchase and consumption of it with "it's Superbowl sunday," but I only laid my eyes on the TV for Tom Petty because my daughter and husband were doing a hilarious dance and air guitar along with him. I did FINALLY start watching The Tudors this weekend. It's not quite a substitute for Rome, but I will certainly take the eye candy. Haven't sucked Cesar into it completely yet, but I did get in trouble any time there was any form of sex or naked woman if I didn't call him.

Lost continued

Of course the more observant recappers picked up more than I did. Was that really Christian Shephard in Jacob's rocking chair? Why would Hurley see him or his ghost as the case may be? I also forgot to mention last night that I think Naomi's last words - "tell my sister I love her" - could be very significant. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if her sister turns out to be someone we've seen before - who exactly beats me. And that Mr. Abbadon guy who offered to upgrade Hurley's institutional digs was pretty creepy too. And the consensus seems to be that the Oceanic 6 are: Jack, Kate, Hurley, Jin, Sun and Sayid. Interesting. I'd assumed Kate referred to Sawyer when she said she had to get back to "him" at the end of last season, but others are speculating that could be her child, or Claire's child Aaron, but Desmond's vision of Charlie's death included Claire getting off the Island, so would they be part of the 6. Ack! My head spins, but in a very good way!

Well, wouldn't you know it...

... guess what night, of all nights, the kiddo would be throwing massive protest bed fits and the daddo would be losing his patience with her impeding mommie-o's ability to devote 100% of her brain cells to the premiere of Lost. Yep, I just answered that question. The night of the premiere of Lost - a night I have only been waiting a mere 9 MONTHS FOR.

But, whate'er... I think I got the gist of it. Sure I missed some clues and nuances, but I always do until I start reading recaps and message boards and co-opting the impressions reported therein as my own. Tonight was solid. Didn't leave me going OMFG-WHATINTHEHECKNOW... but it was an enjoyable way to ease back in and get reaquainted. Just a few quick sketchy observations follow:

• Flash-forward is post island/pre Jack's meltdown. Jack's l'il vodka orange pick me up suggests a path to Christian-dom, but how'd he know instantly that was Hurley on the Cops like TV coverage? I know his Camero was referenced last season in the Cheech Marin eps, but if I was pouring Vodka after escaping a madhouse Island, I don't know that '71 camero flashing on my TV would connect me to Hurley instantly.


• Perhaps it's because I just watched We Are Marshall, but Jack post Island - pre-beard joining Hurley for a round of Horse at the mental institute could have been assistant coach whatshisname.


• "The Oceanic 6" We've accounted for Jack, Kate and Hurley now off the island - the other 3?? Presumably one of those could now be in a coffin per season finale. And I suspected Sawyer was one last season when Kate left Jack saying he'll be waiting for me, but who knows. That was a very interesting shift of alliances when Sawyer went with Locke and told Kate he was doing so to 'keep survivin' like he always does.'


• Yeah, I sobbed AGAIN when our gang was notified of Charlie's demise. And yes, I jumped when he showed up to visit Hurley at the asylum.


• How great was it when Ben calmly said "with your permission Jack, I'd like to go with Locke"?


• So Hurley and Jack (in the time it took to grow his beard) do come to decide they need to go back to the Island to help those left behind.
  
• Jack all shifty asking Hurley if you told them what we did??? Is what we did just leaving the rest behind, or something more sinister?


• The cabin w/ rocking chair guy/Jacob and the whisperers fuh-reaks me out! Was that Locke's eye Hurley saw or some one else inside? It was Locke who heard "Jacob"(who still reminds me of Voldemort when he's first regaining his physical presence) say "help me" at the end of last season right? What's that picture on the wall that reminds me of those dogs playing poker paintings??

Lost, Lost, Lost, Lost...

...Lost, Lost, Lost, Lost. Yeah, that's about all I can think about today!

Introducing...my new niece!

D-D-D-D-D-Dora! The dog, not the Explorer. Yeah, Dani and Pepe (aka: Carter) may not be quite there on the kid front, but they are now the proudest of parents to doggie Dora. Leila's first maternal cousin - yea!
No one's quite sure her breed, but research suggests she's at least part Louisiana's state dog, the Catahoula hound (or the Cousawatcha hound as I continue to call her) and she's cute and good natured as can be 5 days into her adoption.)
And for the record, if one ever wants to have movie star blue eyes - simply use the red-eye reduction feature on their camera software! Neither Dani, nor Pepe have baby blues and yet, behold:
It's miraculous!

Yes, We Can!

Guess what tee-shirt I was wearing all day today? Oh, yeah, Obama '08 baby. I know it was simply a bedtime delay tactic, but my daughter just stayed up to watch his speech. We were on my bed with the lights out - both in our pjs (did I ever have a life?) - she had a book in her lap and a few minutes in she held it over her head and started shaking it. Took me a second to figure out why she was doing that, then I realized she was shaking it in concert with Obama's supporters waving their change signs. Love it. I've said before that we Williams' train 'em young. She then pointed out another book to me and said "get it, get your sign". I started to wave it and she said "no, put it in your lap until Obama says it again." She also clapped along and chanted "yes, we can" when appropriate. Ugh - Hillary's coming on now - that's my cue to go put on an episode of the Tudor's.

Bear with me!

I'm having to multi-task and blog at 10:39 p.m. here while watching Nip/Tuck and listening to the hubby toss and turn in bed waiting for me to turn off the multiple screens.


First day on the new job was fine - as well as 4 hours of watching ethics and your benefits and you videos can go...followed by a couple hours reading annual reports etc. b/c I won't have a computer for a week - welcome (back) to the government! My cubical does have a lovely video of the Capitol dome though! That's something...


Weekend was fine - nice to have the 3 days certainly. Got my Yoga buzz on Saturday morning then met Faith, Mary and baby Campbell for lunch. Looked at houses and took the kiddo for a haircut Sunday. Dined w/ the refreshed from their week in Antigua parents Sunday night. Groceried, got ready for the new week/job/life, and Taqueria Poblano'd it for dinner with Dani and Pepe (aka Danielle and Carter) Monday and that was about that.


And just for the record - unflattering picture of me, but whatev' - this is still where I stand politics-wise:

I'm way too angry and frustrated with the Clintons for further commentary - you know, "a picture speaks..."


And finally, OMG!!! Heath Ledger is DEAD??!! I'm a dozen so years removed to have that River Phoenix devastation, but what a shocker. He was awfully talented. And hot. And young. And poor baby Mathilda!


Right, going to sleep right about nows...

This is KILLING me...Bwah!HaHa!!!!!

I can't figure out how to embed it, but OMG, too funny! Probably had to watch the original on Gawker yesterday (or on the Abrams report or probably any other entertainment media in the past 24 hours...) but splicing in Will Smith with those facial expressions = GENIUS.

http://www.iklipz.com/MovieDetail.aspx?MovieID=095ee98e-24d3-4d48-bcff-8ecf45fabca8

House Hunt

OK, now that the job transitioning is actually taking place, we have exactly 6 weeks to find ourselves a new roof for our heads. And I think I have just about determined that I am not a big fan of major adult decisions - specifically, do we take the plunge into home ownership? I kind of like signing away my monthly rent check and being able to call someone to take care of repairs, pests (oh, the pests! I think I might be able to handle anything after the past year's mouse genocide at 800 Bashford Lane. Anything but spiders. Or cockroaches/waterbugs...Or house centipedes...Or Sprickets - commonly known as cave crickets, but we always called them Sprickets growing up for spider/crickets...), etc. but I know full well that there is no return on continuing to do that in the long run.

So I finally did contact a loan officer this week to at least have some sense of what we qualify for, and the good news is that we do indeed qualify. Said lender graduated from my high school 5 years after I did, reminding me, as I'm too frequently reminded, that I am old, and probably should have some equity by now! And the connection with him was made because the realtor we hope to deal with if we do grow up and decide to buy is my old high school gym teacher. It's a small world after all! I'd forgotten she was doing real estate part time now, and we ran into her at an open house just before Christmas.

The loan we're qualified for would cover a small three bedroom row house in the Warwick Village section of Del Ray with a finished basement and smallish patio/yard. I'm not looking for much more (though that would limit our offspring to 2 for certain) - just begging to have a living room of my own - I know the toys would migrate, but if their primary home was a nice basement, I'd be ever so thrilled. Could probably get slightly more bang for the buck further out in Fairfax, but we really want to stay in the City of Alexandria. I was assured that we were actually well qualified for a higher loan, but the mortgage then creeps toward unmanageable. Under these terms, we're looking at $1,000 more than we pay in monthly rent, which we may be able to do w/ our salary increases, but there would go what little entertainment budget we have. Sparing the change for my wine and Starbucks addictions may just tilt me back to renting...

Miscellany

So I've been on this major high from cleaning out my office for the past week or so. There was just something very rewarding about tossing entire drawers worth of paper into a dumpster with the promise of starting something fresh ahead. Now I am looking at one banker's box - just one sole box of work product I thought might be worth archiving - on top of an empty filing cabinet. One box contains 6 & 1/2 years worth of work. Is that kind of pathetic? Not really. It actually just kind of provides me with a great visual for why I'm moving on!

Yoga. Do people really value it enough? After nearly 3 years, since just before Leila's birth (could be why she's such a flexible little thing), I returned to a general class at Yoga in Daily Life Saturday morning. And man was it amazing. Probably because it was just 90 straight minutes for ME without a chatterbox toddler or a grouchy husband hanging on. But it really is amazing to take that time to form a consciousness with each and every part of your body. Just that short time one day a week really makes me feel like I am walking out of there taller and straighter and more aware of all the abuses I put my body through the remainder of the time. Now if only I could follow through on my promise to wake up to do pilates a couple days a week I just might get back into my R&R jeans by springtime. Of course, when I returned home after 2 hours, Cesar took off to play golf for 5 because that is just totally the fair thing to do in our domestic breakdown!

Other weekend highlights included Henry Jones' 4th Birthday party Saturday afternoon - Leila can still hold her own with the big boys and had a blast treasure hunting. She wisely stayed out of Henry and Rowan's epic dart gun battle, however! Saturday night Cesar and I watched We Are Marshall, which is a lovely little three hankie film. I rented it for the Matthews (McConaughey & Fox), figuring if anyone could get me into a football genre film it would be those two together, but it really was quite a sentimental little film. Yesterday we house hunted, which was...depressing. Anyone have $749,000 to spare for our dream house? I'm trading messages with a mortgage guy now because we need to determine whether we can even buy anything. And if not, we need something new to rent by March 1st. Tick tock, tick tock.