So, this past weekend we went to Ohio. Because, what's high in the middle and round on both ends? O-high-o! AKA, the place where it takes 9 1/2 hours to get there and then takes 45 minutes to get anywhere else (to my grandma’s, to my aunt and uncle’s, to my great aunt’s, to buy kids’ toothpaste). But seriously, I love Ohio. Because it translates to "summer vacation." And while it sort of sucked when we were kids and we had to sleep in my grandparents' house that was in southern Ohio and had no air conditioning, it now translates to sleeping in air-conditioned hotels and drinking my dad's wine every night and eating like a glutton with my parents. Oh, and my Ohio kinfolk is awesome.
We visited with my grandma, first and foremost, but we also saw my Great Aunt Jean (who is awesome) and my Aunt Kish and Uncle Mike (who are awesome) and we drove A LOT and hung out with my parents a lot and DRANK A LOT OF GOOD WINE.
Greta did a lot of this.
And my mom entertained Greta endlessly.
And to my grandma's delight, Pat used his "magic eye" at my grandma's apartment.
This is the one family portrait you'll get for the year.
Greta was getting slightly punchy the sencond day we visited my grandma. My favorite quote from Usual Suspects is when Benicio Del Toro said, "Flip you. Flip ya for real." That reminds me of this.
And this.
Also, on the way to Ohio, we watched Fanstatic Mr. Fox. It was awesome. First of all, I didn't realize it's not a "kids' movie." Not in the Funky Beat Band kind of way and not in any other kind of way. It's sort of a kids' movie in the way that Lock, Stock and Two Barrels is a kids' movie, but it's great and Wes Anderson directed it (I <3 him) and Greta and I loved it. And it's great. Put it in your Netflix queue now. And if you're too intellectual for Fantastic Mr. Fox, get Frost/Nixon. That was good too.
I also did other things the last couple/few weeks, and I wanted to document the scene. This is just showing a hair clip my hair dresser made that is awesome. Greta wants to wear it everyday.
Andhere's a recent picutre of Greta and Oliver the Great with a purple tongue. Random, but I like it.
Oh! Also, I got Pat and Wii for Father's Day. I'm awesome!
Working from home, I typically hear the ice cream truck driving by in the afternoon, after school is out but before Pat and Greta are home. I somehow manage to restrain myself from hopping out of my computer chair and grabbing my wallet to get something icy cold and delicious. For one, I've been ridiculously busy with work and taking a break for ice cream is not foremost in my mind. For another, we always have some sort of iced confection in our freezer this time of year. Finally, I'm a 33-year-old woman; I can show some self-control in the face of ice cream.
Last night, after dinner, we heard the familiar bell of the Scoops truck*. Moments after the bell was first audible, many thoughts went through my mind: Ice cream! Greta would like ice cream. If we got Greta ice cream tonight, would she beg us for ice cream the next hundred times we heard the ice cream truck? Greta basically just ate corn and nothing else for dinner. Can I really condone dessert? Hmm, that ice cream costs money. We have ice cream in the freezer. I'm tired and this chair is mighty comfortable...
But lucky for everyone, Pat got a very excited look in his eye and he popped up, grabbed Greta under her arms, and yelled, "Ice cream truck!"
They quickly put their shoes on and ran outside just in time to get some ice cream. Greta chose Scooby Doo; Pat chose SpongeBob; and Pat knows me well, so he got me one of those sugar cones with vanilla ice cream, chocolate shell, and chopped nuts on top.
After a pretty crappy day - nay, week - this was awesome:
I love my family, my totally valid reason for overpriced ice cream on a Friday night.
Is it me, or does Pat's SpongeBob SquarePants look more like SpongeBob FangFace?
* PnF fun fact: In the summer of 1999, we were living in a cruddy apartment on Rutgers Street. Our friend Vienneau was living in town for the summer, working for Scoops, and he struck a deal to room in our attic apartment, in this mini half-room that was really just a dormer. He would pay for the utilities and bring each of the four roommates (Pat; this kid named Jason, who fell of the face of the earth; Jason's girlfriend at the time, Colleen; and me) our favorite ice cream every night he worked during the summer. He always brought me home my favorite: a sugar cone with vanilla ice cream, chocolate shell, and chopped nuts. :)
Yes!!! Comments in the double digits for the last post. Thanks, dudes! Keep 'em coming!
We got a tankless water heater today. (Yay for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009!) It was an all-day process, and the guys didn't tell me before they turned the water off for more than three hours. It really caught me off guard when I used the bathroom and then went to wash my hands and no water came out of the facet. I was really distressed. I ended up soaping up my hands and then used my glass of drinking water to rinse my hands. Why am I telling you this? Well, I'd rather be dehydrated than have dirty hands. Now you know. Although the chances of me actually getting dehydrated were pretty low, while the chances of me getting my dirty hands on my laptop were extremely high.
After the recent dreams about the old house and the new owners, I've continued having distressing dreams. I had two dreams that my old company asked me to come in and do some consulting for them. In both dreams, I went in, ready to help them solve some type of problem, and both times I got completely shut down by the people who are still working there, and I left in tears. Hmm, I really don't feel bitter toward them. In fact, in real life, I recently went there and had lunch with my former boss and a couple coworkers. They bought me lunch and gave me a copy of the last book I copy edited for them, which was really super-duper nice. But apparently my subconscious is still a little ticked off. Oh, so there were those two dreams, and then I had a dream I got laid off from my new job. I really don't feel all that stressed out in my waking hours, but these dreams must be a manifestation of something, right? Me thinks it's time to go back to the acupuncturist.
Saturday night, Pat announced that he was taking Greta to see Shrek in 3D. He asked if I wanted to come and I said no and that I didn't think he should take her to a 3D movie. My reasons? Because it's expensive and because Howard Stern said he thinks that 3D movies mess with kids' vision and brains. Howard Stern and I have no evidence to back this up, but it might be true. (And Howard Stern and I aren't alone!) After I said my reasons I felt silly but had to stand my ground because I'm stubborn and because I had a vision of me with two hours of free time. Both of those reasons seemed like good ones to let those guys go off and have some daddy-daughter time. I'm glad I did because I used the time wisely and put a fresh coat of paint on my childhood vanity. Plus, I got to witness Greta running in the house after the movie with her 3D glasses on, smiling ear to ear, and then listen to her talk a mile a minute about what happened in the movie. It was a pretty awesome evening for all.
Ooh, more about my vanity. It was a Christmas gift from my parents when I was maybe twelve. My dad spent a lot of time painting it and assembling it in the basement before Christmas. I remember being completely disappointed when I saw it, and I'm sure I was not at all good at hiding my disappointment. But as I got older, I spent more and more time sitting in front of it. It was white with bronze hardware and a bench that had a fuzzy, cream seat cushion. It was so very girly. When we moved to this house, I asked my parents if I could have it back. It has seen a lot of wear and tear over the years, and at some point in college I put a bunch of stickers all around the mirror part. It's still a work in progress, but I cleaned it up, painted it black, reupholstered the bench cushion with a black and cream damask pattern (leftover fabric from my dining room chair project), and, in honor of its original girliness, I got pink glass knobs and a pink and white handle to replace the brass hardware. Hopefully I can finish it soon so I can show some before and after pictures here. It goes with nothing else in my house, but I love it.
Sunday we met up with some friends we hadn't seen in years. They have a daughter who is just a couple months older than Greta. We met up with them at Wild Wings (the facility in Mendon Ponds that cares for injured birds of prey, not the gross restaurant). We saw the birds, which was very cool, and then we took a hike. The girls were very good, aside from being a bit competitive and turning the hike into a race. Here they are walking with Pat, or who our little friend Hanley nicknamed, "the kid master."
In conclusion, speaking of cute things kids say, tonight I was reading Greta a book called I Love You, Every Little Bit. On one page, it says, "I love your cheeks, round and sweet..." and Greta cut me off to say, "My cheeks aren't sweet, they're evil!" It was funny at the time. Hopefully it's not foreshadowing.
Even though I hate being in the car for any extended amount of time, I spent a good portion of Mother's Day this year and last year in the car. Last year we were driving home from NOVA after our friends Pete and Rachel's wedding. (Happy one-year anniversary, P & R!) This year we were driving home from Massachusetts after visiting our friends Kensey, Tim, and Maren and seeing Dan Zanes perform. Thankfully for me, I really like all of those people, so being in the car that long after seeing them seemed totally worth it.
A month or so ago we found out Dan Zanes would be performing in Northampton, MA, less than a week before Kensey was due to be induced with baby #2. I really didn't think they'd want guests the weekend before their baby would be coming (and, really, babies can come whenever the heck they want - they're rude like that), but they were game. I'm not sure I would have been open to the idea if our roles were switched, but luckily they're cooler than me. And what I didn't really realize at the time was that the Northampton tour date was on Mother's Day, but honestly I couldn't think of anything I'd like to do more on Mother's Day than take my kid to see her favorite performer. Aren't I selfless? (Oh, don't worry, I've read too much Ayn Rand to actually think that's true.)
So Saturday we took a leisurely drive to MA. We made pizzas, had some tasty Mass-brewed beers, and watched the girls play. Maren and Greta were so cute together, taking turns like champs and just generally being sweet. Greta loved Maren so much, and all day Sunday she was calling Maren her best friend. It warmed my heart so much.
Sunday, we headed to Northampton for a nice lunch before the show. Here is Greta eating my wonton soup. Selfless act #2.
The Dan Zanes show was a special one. He played solo for about half the show, and then he was joined by a children's chorus called Whole Children for another part and was also accompanied for some of the songs by a band called Kandoo Band. As a music therapist, Kensey has worked with both of the groups in some capacity, and it was awesome to see kids she's worked with performing.
Here's GB outside the church while we finished our coffees.
The show was in a gorgeous old church and we were (obviously) sitting in pews. It was a pretty low key, intimate show. Three things I feel the need to mention - because that's just how I am - are as follows:
It was Greta's first time in a church. That's sort of weird but true.
There was a lot of nose picking going on. I know the crowd was mostly under 10, but still. I was amazed by how many fingers I saw in noses. (Kids are gross.)
Greta got kicked in the face. The whole thing was actually pretty innocent. A little girl in front of us was a very, very active two year old who was trying to crawl over the pew behind her and she kicked Greta right in the face. There were tears and apologies. I mostly mention this because I have been kicked in the head at concerts my fair share of times, but I can't say I ever got kicked in the face while in a concert in a church, but Greta can. Kind of awesome.
Right after the show we headed home and we didn't get back to Rochester until after 10 PM. I feel like I am still recovering from the drive home. I can't wait to go to bed. Zzzz. I was so tired today I wore sweatpants to work for the first time ever. (For those of you who missed the memo before, I work from home now.) Wearing sweatpants to work is overrated, but it is nice to have the option.
Alternative titles for this post could have been "Mother's Day Is a Failure Unless I spend More than Five Hours in the Car" or "I Left the State Two Times in Less than a Month!" Sometimes I can't think of a single decent title, and sometimes I can think of three.
So, my mom always made my Easter dresses, and this is the one I wore in 1980, when I was 4 and a half.
I had the dress stored away and pulled it out today so I could take a picture of Greta in it. As soon as I pulled it out, I was like, "This is not going to be a dress on Greta; it's going to be a shirt." Check it.
Girl is so tall! Like, I realize I'm really shrimpy, but this shocked me. I love it, though, and I had to share.
Girl is also way, way, WAY sassier than I was at 4. (I love that too.)
It's a good thing I didn't wait another week for the photo shoot or the dress would probably have been a half shirt.
This past weekend we had Greta's family and friend-friend party. I'm not going to lie; I'm glad we don't need to host another party for many months. But we had a very nice time, particularly this past weekend. Greta loved having her favorite family members (minus a couple people who couldn't make it) and her best friends at her house. She got shy when she realized 15 or so people were all singing Happy Birthday to her, but she rallied to blow out her candles.
Greta got tons of loot, and her grandparents spoiled her, as usual. After the party, the Reeds stayed the night. We took a walk around the block, and Greta rode her new scooter. I didn't take many picture of the weekend, unfortunately, but here is one that cracks me up. There was a rogue sock on the ground, and the entire family was staring at it like it was something much more exciting than, say, a sock.
It was nice to hang out with the Reeds and stay up late with them chatting and watching guilty-pleasure TV. And that's all I got. Sorry, dudes.
March 17, 2006 - I thought she was pretty cute here.
March 17, 2010 - But she is way cuter here, opening up presents this morning with bed head.
We asked Greta what she wanted for her special birthday dinner, and she requested chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and corn on the cob. (I found fresh corn on the cob! It wasn't very good, but it was fresh.) She miiiiiight be white trash. Or she might be four. I was slightly bummed out she wanted chicken nuggets, since we've never had those in the house before, but then she only ate one. She also requested something called "Enchanted Unicorn Horns," from her Pink Princess Cookbook. They are basically ice cream cones, the tops of which are dipped in melted white chocolate and sprinkled with...sprinkles, and then, of course, filled with ice cream. The dessert was definitely the hit. Oh, the point of this story is that Greta likes things like steak and shrimp and couscous and artichokes, and she picked chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. Funny girl.
Tonight, as we were getting ready for bed, Greta asked, "Can I still be the baby?" Awww. That just melted my heart.
