crazy for you

I am bursting my proverbial buttons because I did something totally domestic the other day.  Are you ready for this?  I.  painted.

I've painted my houses before - repeatedly, actually.  Our first house (and second, really) was a fixer-upper and we painted over half the rooms in the house - AND those infernal kitchen cabinets.  It was quite the education, and quite the undertaking.  But the other day as I was wandering around the house, stressing out about the state of things and if it was even possible to host 12 guests in here next week, I bemoaned the little dents and scratches that only children can inflict so perfectly on poor, painted walls.


So I grabbed some paint and a roller, no dropcloths or pans, and just started painting certain spots.  It looks fabulous!!  I OWN this house, man!  I don't know if I can adequately express why this makes me feel like  SuperWoman, but it totally does.

In other random news, I foolishly read a blog this evening written by a sweet mother of a little boy with a horrible disease that made any touch painful and dangerous, and eventually fatal, all before his 3rd birthday.  Oh, the tears, people.  I was laying here on my bed while the kids ate popcorn and watched an Elmo DVD (a daddy-has-church-meetings tradition we've had since before the Dude) and BAWLED my face off. You better believe the second Elmo was over I turned off the tube and snuggled those kids like my life depended on it.

I'm often surprised by how mind-blowingly infuriating parenting can be, and how euphoric it is the rest of the time, especially in parenting the Dude, who in a small way has the exact opposite physical condition, where I have to be constantly smushing, squishing and squeezing him.  He can be SO upset and crazed when he feels denied and confused, but the joy that comes out of this child is something I have never seen come from another soul.  And when he is chastised, he crumbles and begs forgiveness and that things be okay again in a wildly humble and earnest way that is positively Biblical.  Oh, my heart...


I adore my mini humans.  Have I mentioned this before?  Because they have me completely useless and besotted.  We all know I'm a terrible person, so you will not register any surprise when I say that I often pity parents of calm children.  Oh, I still want to bury my head in the sand almost every time I have to go out in public with them (the Dude's new thing is trying to stuff food into random vending machines he finds), but the kind of mad crazy love a completely psychotic child can give is ... well, I've never been on crack, but I hear it can be fantastic.  So we'll say it's like that.  Especially because parenting them has also made me look like a crack addict, so it's a perfect analogy.

354 162-165

I got all monochrome in these first 3 pictures.  I need to get some color up in here this week.

 6-23-12
It's remarkably difficult to take a picture like this of yourself without the remote.  I was too lazy to drag it out, and even though my focus is kind of wonky I had to go with this one because it's also remarkably difficult to pose your hand without it looking like a creepy claw.

 6-24-12
Don't you just love it when the husband makes a cameo?  Mad thanks to him for being willing to scrouch in a very uncomfortable position until I got the lighting right.

6-25-12
Feeling very alone.  Is it bad that I'm tempted to start an international incident that will bar my parents from entering China?

6-26-12
Now THERE'S the color!

365 days 159-161

6-20-12

Gone fishing in the dress up box.  It's so epic, it's actually two now.

 6-21-12
These are my roots, for now.  Can you believe this is categorized as blonde??  The darkest blonde there is, but it means I look weird going darker.  This aggravates me to no end.

6-22-12
I kind of dig how the focus in this picture goes in and out in places I wouldn't have predicted.  And that I'm wearing Kermit.

And for a small update to bring us to where I am right now, there are going to be a kajillion guests in my messy house in just over a week.  Like 16 or something.  DUDE.

offense, not defense

Oh, Facebook.  Today opened with one of those unbelievably adorable moments that you just have to share on B because 1. It's so flipping adorable and 2. given the ease of commenting, said post would get dozens of likes and "AWWWWW"s which are not a bad way to start a day.  This is one of the bright sides of social networking.


More in-depth awesome moments are to be blogged, though the payback is less.  I blog the good stuff because I cherish YOU, special reader.


Anywho, I had to post this bit this morning because of the shockingly high cute content:

"I left Phineas and Ferb on while I took a shower this morning and it switched to Little Einsteins. I know this because as I got out of the shower, I heard WG playing her violin along to the episode on the TV - the Moldau. In the right key. With low 2s and everything. Hot dang, she is definitely the husband's daughter!! Then she got out her old 10th size and gave the Dude a mini lesson. !!!"

I am not and will not gloat because I know this is all her freakish brains, and I also know a good portion of those brains did not come from my DNA - AND I also know she was lucky enough to be born to a Suzuki teacher so she could learn how to use that freakish memory of hers as it connects to the musics.  But I CAN stand back and say "WHOA, lookit the awesome on that kid!"  Which is exactly what I did.


But the dark side of social networking is the ease of lobbing opinions around.  You want an example?  Just check out anything the husband posts - he has a few people who argue everything until the cows come home.  It's surprisingly predictable.  So to the awesomeness I posted about WG's ears, and the myriad of fabulous responses from friends, I got a lone comment about how terrible Phineas and Ferb is.


Several things went through my brain.  Such as whoa - point missed. I actually was wary about it until I watched it, and found it is smart and high-larious.  "Do you collect coins just in case / vending machines become the dominant race?"  - this is WG's and my favorite line from the Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd Dimension movie which we could watch, like every day.  Plus it has Slash in it, for goodness sake!  WG is currently sporting a Perry the Platypus nightgown.  And I'm picky too - I hate the Fresh Beat Band and Barbie and Tinkerbell and... well, the list goes on.  And then there is the one thought - yes, I let my child rot their brains on TV, and yet my 5 year old just played the theme to Smetanas's Moldau by ear - so watching Phineas and Ferb hasn't totally ruined her yet.


This sounds defensive, but I promise my brain scrolled through these within a few seconds, then came up with the conclusion that clarification was pointless and to ignore it, like I do with most things.  I'm really not as annoyed as this sounds, but I felt it important to note to other parents out there who may have issues with my choices that yes, we watch TV in this house, make poor decisions, but every once in a while do something halfway right.  So here, as a gift to you, are other idiotic things I do as a parent:


Change the kid's diapers in the middle of the living room without a changing mat (the only time this was ever a problem was when I was changing the Dude at Heidi's place and assured her he was totally fine.  Then he peed on her wall)
Have extra lollipops in my bag as a nuclear option if shopping trips go south
Watch hours of mindless television
Allow the Dude's face to get super filthy sometimes just because it's easier to deep wipe it once than catch a squirming Dude 27 times in one hour
I have not even attempted broccoli with the Dude
Both my kids can correctly identify Homer Simpson in a line-up
Ramen is a perfectly acceptable lunch over here


This is just a short list.  But for right now, I think they're surviving.  They're actually on the couch, eating their body weight in pretzels and reading a cartoon novel about the Muppets.  I'm totally okay with that.

365 days 155-158

 6-16-12
Demolition derby!  As husband said, "one of these things is NOT like the other..." We do not resemple the locals.  There was a kid behind us talking loudly about Lynrd Skynrd forever, tractors and how he needed a shirt that said "Country Boy."  I felt the urge to turn around and tell him the shirt was unnecessary, but I (for once) kept my trap shut.  I got ice cream on the way home as a reward.

 6-17-12
Doing some light painting in the basement for Father's Day.  I could have moved the guitar in the corner, but it fits the dad in this house perfectly.  I used a flashlight, and I'm planning on going berzerk with this technique on the 4th of July with sparklers.  Family, you've been warned.

 6-18-12
Trying that crazy fad, planking.  And then I realized I couldn't get up.  I know why the youths are into this.  They're lazy.  Does this mean I'm hip now?

6-19-12
Putting on a happy face.

I'm having trouble with this lately.   There's the letdown from feeling like me again last week, then coming back to real life.  It's a good life, but it's work.  I need to fake it until I make it, but it's still a challenge.  No one wants to hear me whine about this, including me.  So for now I'm putting all my efforts into rocking this summer.  Library, parks, playing in the backyard, playdates, the new bakery that opened up downtown (woot!) and using the Dude's naptime to get WG reading and violining and pianoing.  It's like I've become a slightly less cool version of my mom.

365 day 154

6-15
I'm halfway done today!!  I think... I started January 15th and this is June 15th, so yes?  Math was never my friend.    Our summer is off to a fabulous start, especially with the addition of a Slip n' Slide.  You can head over to the family blog for more fabulousness.  For now, wheeeee!!!

365 days 143-153

Back from vacation, ready for eye overload??

 6-4-12
After months of hemming and quite a bit of hawing, I got my hairs cut.  You would not believe how much less conditioner I am currently using.

 6-5-12
In between practicing I took this on a mirror.  These poor fingers need a little love.

 6-6-12
Oh, what a day we had.  A scene at the doctor's office (insurance changed apparently, &$&^&^%), the 2 hour drive to the airport, the flight, the drive to Nana and Papa's - we were all spent.  But in the SOUTH!!!! HUZZAH!!!

 6-7-12
I adore these humans.  Recording all night and morning was grueling, but so worth it.  Who produces an album in less than 24 hours??  The Blarney Girls, that's who!!

 6-8-12
Just before our first showfor the Celidh banquet.  We snapped this in our exclusive "dressing room."  Exclusive because it's a restroom exclusively for handicapped persons :)

6-9-12
Remember that killer video I posted?  I broke 7 bowhairs on that solo!  Metal, indeed.

 6-10-12

The husband made this salad for me - seared ahi tuna, avocado, ginger dressing, maaaahhhhhhh....  uncontrollable droooing.....

 6-11-12

The hubs got a Les Paul ukelele for his birthday.  Couldn't you just eat it all up??

 6-12-12

Before we headed home, we went to the Kenessaw Battlefield Memorial museum.  I'm weepy anyway, but this nearly did me in.  The poor mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives, children... so much pain came from this place.  I just can't stand it.

 6-13-12

Unpacking.

 6-14-12

We got a pence put in so I made this tent out of a thrift store sheet and 2 dollar store brooms for the kids to enjoy.  But it turns out the fence terrifies the Dude, so I will have to keep WG company out there until I can bribe him enough.

well hellooooo there

Did I neglect to update you on my mad cool travels this weekend?  Apologies, but it can be blamed squarely on my phone, which does not allow me to post on-the-go anymore.  I've discovered that the Blogger app is whack on my last 3 or 4 trips and there are some witty posts just languishing in the recesses of my phone memory, but I get super mad then forget and don't remember again until I travel.  Poo.

Anywho, it was a mad, frabulous time and I am sad and sore to be back in Wisconsin.  We got all kinds of crazy and thought it was a totally doable thing to do to record, mix and print an entire CD in less than 24 hours.

I had considered this beforehand and had set out to make CD covers just in case:

They turned out cool, n'est pas?  I cut out cardstock and sewed up the sides to create an envelope, then printed out a label on sticker paper because I got a color printer for Mother's Day, what what.

Then I got the Michael's and we actually recorded.  Which, as always, pushed me to the brink of insanity and self-loathing.  I HATE recording.  But in less than 24 hours, we had this:

We madly mastered, printed, and duplicated as we ran from computer to car in a mad dash to leave for the lovely North Georgia mountains on time.

In the end, we did it!!  I had a case of the nerves for a good portion of the weekend (left over from the recording, I HATE recording) but I had a total blast and we already got booked to play there next year!!  I'll spend some time today messing with my 365 pics to tell a slightly fuller side of the story (slightly, I was busy) but for now, this video of us messing around with another band, Uncle Hamish and the Hooligans, can give you a taste of the aswesomeness (as one friend put it, I am apparently "metal" at the 4 minute mark).  Also, I think I need to wear pants when I play so my chicken legs do not scare the faint-hearted.

365 days 138-142

 5-30-12
We keep each other on our toes.

 5-31-12
I tried something with my reflection in a cheap Ikea mirror.  Not shabby.

 6-1-12
WonderGirl has a bike so husband decided we needed a grown-up sized one to keep up with her.  He managed to put it together in less than 10 minutes, no joke.  So I thought I'd go for a ride during naptime - and realized it has been at least 15 years at the least that I've ridden a bike.  What an odd sensation.  And what a ginormous sky.  I love it.

 6-2-12
Michael sent me some tracks that needed fiddle parts and is hoping we'll record enough songs before our gig next week to put together a small CD to sell at the Scottish games.  I HATE recording, but I managed to work through the "I hate how I sound why do I even try?!" takes and laid down some stuff I'm proud of.  I'm feeling pumped!

6-3-12
Journaling - one of my favorite Sabbath day activities.  It's not easy when I have to help WG with hers then write in the two journals I keep for both WG and the Dude - and the if my tendons aren't screaming at me, I write in my own.  I got around to that today.