Clear Your Mind

I went to yoga tonight. My instructor (aptly named Pretzel) said "empty your mind."

And I was like - are you kidding?

Birthday Secret

Today was Mia's birthday party. We rented a jumpy house, which turned out to be enormous and completely filled our little postage stamp of a city back yard. For some reason it made us feel a teensy bit white trash to have this giant Disney princess jumpy house taking over our back. All the neighbors could see Cinderella's castle towers.

But here's the wonderful thing about jumpy houses: the kids jump. And when everyone went home, my house wasn't trashed.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

On Saturday at the Randall Museum I ran into a friend who went to the same college and business school; now we are in the same book group. Another book clubber had told her about this blog, and she said I was a good writer. I swear it, she actually said the word "good." Out loud. And it made me feel, well, good...

As a stay at home Mom, I rarely hear the word "good" directed at me. Nobody has ever - nor are they likely to - said I'm a good Mom. And certainly I don't hear that I'm doing a terrific job with managing the kids' schedules. With grocery shopping. No one ever says, hey - you're a hell of a carpooler.

My friend Lisa said my haircut looked good. (Although she has a mission as my personal confidence booster - she always tells me I look good, so I don't really believe her.) And recently my husband asked me if my jeans were new -- he thought they looked good on me. They are actually two years old. It may be that he only takes a good look at me every couple of years, but at least he was nice when he did.

But it is not the same as hearing that something that you actually did was good.

So I felt good. And I was still feeling the good glow when we got home from the Randall Museum and found our letter from SF Unified telling us that once again we didn't get one of our kindergarten choices. And then I felt really bad.

We have a good school lined up, so we will be okay. But I do feel badly that the kindergarten Gods have continually said no, no, no, no to us. That they can't just once let us be the ones that make the choice.

So I had a good cry. And even Lisa couldn't have said I looked good.

Roughing It

Since we've been reading the "Little House" series I find myself constantly laughing at how reliant our family is on modern conveniences -- dishwasher, Internet, hair dryer, house cleaner.... Nevertheless, I'm still finding it quite inconvenient that we got a new cable box a month ago and Mike still has not hooked it up to the Tivo.

Imposters

For lunch today, Mia ate asparagas. And Miles asked Mike to take him out for sushi, where he gobbled teriaki chicken and edamame.

I want to send a message to the person who took my real children and replaced them with these look-alikes that are much more agreeable. "It's okay. You can keep them."

Planet Earth

We are so much enjoying these DVDs. The footage is amazing, my kids are rapt and so am I. They are a little disturbed by some of the scenes, but only a little. Mia begged to watch the scene of the wolf hunting down the baby caribou again...

Little House on the Prarie

Who would have ever thought it, but my son's new favorite author is Laura Ingalls Wilder. We recently finished "Little House on the Prarie" and yesterday I read a record TEN chapters of "On the Banks of Plum Creek."

I remembered the books as a bit more "girly". But I guess I should have figured they would be great for Miles. In "Little House" there's a whole chapter about building a log cabin. Another devoted to putting on the roof. Still another to building a door (without nails)! And one about building a fireplace. He LOVED it.

Not to mention the fact that Pa has a gun and frequently goes out hunting... now Miles is looking for hooks to mount the toy rifle we got him at Disney World over the door to his room.

Feeling Old Again

I had a great time at the grocery store this morning, but as I was humming my way through the produce section I realized the reason why. The proverbial "elevator music" piping down from the ceiling is now the music of my generation. I was reliving the eighties while shopping in the new millenium.

I've often mused in these pages about my sadness that I'm not an "expert" on anything, that I don't have any hobbies that my passion for consumes all of my free time. But I had an interesting realization over winter break. If I did have something that I was an expert on, it would probably be eighties music. After hearing the Band Aid "Feed The World" on the radio, I actually spent several hours on YouTube trying to identify the people behind the voices, and then reading about whatever happened to them on You Tube. Midge Ure. Paul Weller. Paul Young. Tony Hadley. And there was a surprising amount that I already knew.... so there's my useless knowledge!

They had some gems today at Tower Market. "Reap the Wild Wind" by Ultravox. "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins. Neither of which I've heard in probably twenty years. Both of which I enjoyed immensely.

So that's it. I'm old. I rock out in the grocery store. I don't think my neice ever reads this blog. But if she did, I wan't to tell her. Enjoy it! Today's Snow Patrol is tomorrow's Heaven 17.

The Pine Cone Feeder

Creative Mom Podcast - Episode 93

My Car is So Dirty That

It took three guys four hours to detail it. No kidding....

Moving On

Okay, I've finally moved past the melodrama stage of our kindergarten rejection. We are now focused on other things. Miles has a great new haircut. And I have an appointment in two weeks after which I am hoping to look like Natalie Portman on the cover of Elle.