A Cool Opportunity

This afternoon Drew and some other kids from the house band got the opportunity to have a jam session with a Seattle rocker named Amanda Hardy.  They played a song of hers called "Ugly Girl" and nailed it!

This was taken during the song.  That's Amanda.

And this was taken right after as they were all smiling at each other.  

Here's the whole song...

But if you only want to watch part of it, this is the best bit...

Misc. Saturday

If Gibbs was a person he'd be a forty-five year old guy who never quite grew up.  He be jovial, kind, and fun-loving, but he wouldn't be able to hold down a job, and he may or may not have done jail time in his youth.

I can't help it, though.  I still like him.  He's my faithful buddy who follows me everywhere.

Last week we had a spell of absolutely gorgeous weather, and it made some flowers come up in our yard.  Baylee went out and took these pictures of them.

News

Well, Drew had his audition this afternoon.  I'm not sure when we'll find out the results, but he thinks it went well. 

I mentioned that he had to do two songs.  Here's a little piece of the second one:

If he's allowed to go on, then the next step will be for him to submit a 5-minute video* of him talking about his experiences with music and the SoR, and then playing excerpts of two songs that showcase his ability.  (They can be the same two he used for the first stage, as long as they follow certain criteria, which his do.)  The video will be watched by a panel of judges, and ultimately he'll either be chosen or not chosen to participate in something called the School of Rock All-Stars.  It's the top 1% of all the SoR students from around the country, meeting in Chicago to learn and play together for one week.  It's a pretty neat opportunity. 

Anyhow, we'll see what happens.  Like I said before, I don't even know if this is possible financially for us right now, and if it isn't, then it isn't.  Maybe he can try again next year.

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I've got great family news!  Mike was transferred to the Boeing facility that's much closer to our home!  Now instead of a commute that takes 45 minutes on a good day of traffic (and an hour and a half on a bad one), his commute will only take about 20 minutes.  That's going to be so much easier.  Last night the people Mike manages said goodbye to him with homemade pulled pork sandwiches and lots of cake.  Everyone was really kind and is sad to see him go.  I know that made Mike feel good.


*If he gets to that point, then his video won't involve him wearing pajamas and sitting on an unmade bed.  LOL  We'll try to class it up a little.

Adaptable

Yesterday afternoon I read an article about how the autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder was recently published, and about how it's a little bit grittier than the "made okay for kids" version she wrote for children.  It's called Pioneer Girl if you're interested.  Anyway, it got me thinking about how I'm not sure I want to read it, because I'm not sure I want to know the truth.  I'm happy in my ignorance.  One thought led to another, and I ended up contemplating how, as a general rule, kids are more adaptable to surprising or upsetting information than adults are.  Here are two examples from my own childhood:

Upsetting:  One day when I was five years old I was excitedly telling my grandma about how Santa was going to be coming to visit my house soon, and she responded with, "You know Santa isn't real, right, honey?"  Blink.  No, I did NOT know that, Grandma!  Thanks a lot!  lol  Actually, what I said was, "Oh........Okay."  I was disappointed, but I moved on quickly.

Surprising:  When I was five or six years old my mom started dating a really nice guy named Karl.  Over time they fell in love and Karl became a big part of our lives.  One day my brother and I were riding somewhere in the car and Karl was driving.  I was sitting in the passenger seat talking his ear off, as six-year-old girls are wont to do, and seemingly out of the blue he interrupted me with, "You can call me dad."  I let about one beat go by before saying, "Okay, Dad!" and then I went right back to chattering at him.  lol  He and my mom married when I was seven, and when I was twelve he legally adopted my brother and me.  That made it official, but in my mind he had already been my dad for years...since that moment in the car.

Ska

Awhile back I talked about how one day I was making a sandwich, and I noticed that our mustard had one of those yucky dried plugs on it, otherwise known as a mustard plug.  Seeing that made me remember that my brother's best friend in high school, Bleu, was in a ska band for a few years, and the band's name was Mustard Plug.  I told Drew about it, and we ended up looking up the band and finding out that it's still famous in the ska world.  All that to say:

Ever since that day, Drew, Baylee, and I have started to listen to ska, and we've learned to love it.  My favorite group right now is called Streetlight Manifesto.  They're like what would happen if a marching band and a rock band had a baby.  You'll see what I mean when you listen to this...

I love this one, too. The whole song is great, but my favorite parts are the intro and everything after the 3:52 mark.

Audition

I've been a little stressed out over the last couple days, because, at almost the last minute, Drew was talked into auditioning for something kind of big.  On the one hand it's nerve-wracking because he doesn't have much time to prepare.  He has to have two full songs ready just to get past stage 1, and the auditions for that part are on Friday.  On the other hand I'm afraid he will make it, in which case Mike and I will have to figure out what to do.  I don't think we can afford this experience for him.  We were up-front with him, telling him that we probably can't make it happen financially, but Drew said, "That's okay.  I'll just do it for the audition experience."  That's a nice thought, but I know he's going to feel pretty bad if he gets all the way through the process and then can't actually go.

Anyway, he's been working hard on his try-out songs.  Here's a piece of one of them.  It's not perfect...there's a pretty obvious wrong note in this video (at the 47 second mark), which he's cringing over lol...but he's got a couple more days to polish everything up.

The Difference Between Men and Women

Me:  I'm tired.

Him:  Well, go to bed.

Me:  I haven't brushed my teeth.

Him:  Well, go brush your teeth.

Me:  Drew's in the tub.

Him:  Well, tell him to get out.

Me:  You don't have to solve every single problem.

Him:  Oh.  Umm...I'm sorry you're tired.

Me:  Thank you.

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I have a short video of a little bit of Baylee and Rachel's basketball game from Saturday.  So far their team hasn't won any games, but the girls...at least Baylee and Rachel...love to play and look forward to it every week.

(Baylee is the one who shoots the ball into the edge of the backboard...doh!...and then Rachel makes the basket.  She's good.)

Edited to Add:

I almost forgot to tell you!  There was a total Sound of Music moment at the Devo show today.  You know how at the end of the movie the Von Trapps get called back onstage, but they've secretly escaped and they're making their way over the Alps?  And do you remember how none of the people at the festival know that, including all the Nazis sitting in the front row?  They're still expecting the VonTrapps to come out as the announcer says, over and over, "The Von Trapp Family Singers!.........The Family VonTrapp!" Well, that kind of happened!

One of the kids, a drummer, didn't come out for his song, so Zeke got onstage and said something humorous like, "Paging [so-and-so]!"  (That happens now and then.  The school's policy is that if you're not keeping track of when to be out there, they will embarrass you publicly.)   Anyway, so Zeke called for him.  Nothing.  He called again.  Nothing.  He called him a couple more times and still it was crickets.  By now people onstage were milling around, looking at each other, and wondering what was going on.  Finally Zeke gave a sign to get everyone off and get the next group on while he figured out what was wrong.   The show went on for a little while, then Zeke got back onstage.  It turns out that little drummer guy got suddenly and violently ill, and he was in the bathroom, down for the count.  For the first time in the history of the school, a teacher had to get up there and do a student's part during a show.  The was no way around it. 

The End of a Long Weekend

Wow, this weekend was full.  I'm tired.

Today a bunch of us went to the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, which is a quirky and fun place, because that's where the Devo show was.  As always we had to get Drew there early for sound checks and stuff, so we had time to bum around for awhile before doors opened for the audience.  Here are some pics of our time in Fremont while we waited...

(Except for this first one.  This one shows our car at full capacity...8 people.  It's a bit crowded.  lol)

The rest of these are of us meandering around the neighborhood, through a local farmer's market, and down to the waterfront.

The show was at Nectar.  Of all the venues, this one is my favorite.  It's open and airy and clean...ish.

We heard a great show!  Here's a little piece of a song Drew was in...

Acoustic Set at Stone Way Cafe

The house band did an acoustic show at a place called Stone Way Cafe in Seattle, and they did a great job!  It was fun, because we could sit and eat and listen, and it turned out to be kind of a date night for Mike and me.

 

Here's a little piece of one of the songs Drew was in.  This one was just him and a girl named Hannah on stage.

Saturday

[I probably shouldn't post this, because I think it might make me look like one of those kinds of moms.]

The other day Baylee, Rachel, and I were in the car on the way home from youth group.  I don't remember how it started, but we got into a conversation about a little girl named Kate who used to come over to our house now and then, but doesn't anymore.  I admit, it's my fault she stopped visiting, because of what happened the last time she was here.

Me [trying to tell the story to Rachel]:  See, what happened was...

Baylee:  Mom, let me tell it.  You don't tell it right.

Me:  I do, too.  Listen, Rachel.  What happened was Kate stopped coming over because...

Baylee:  Because my mom yelled at her.

Me:  I did not!

Baylee:  Kate and I had accidentally let Gibbs out, and then, even though I was telling Kate to stop chasing him because it was making it worse, she wouldn't stop.  Gibbs ended up running really far down the road.  Then my mom came outside and yelled at Kate.

Me:  I didn't yell at her.  I yelled toward her.  I was yelling at both of you.  And I wasn't yelling!

Baylee:  Kate hasn't come back for years.

Me:  I don't get what the big deal is.  All moms have moments like that once in awhile.  Doesn't your mom, Rachel?

Rachel:  Oh, yeah.

Me:  See??? Rachel understands.


Several things...

1. I still don't think I was "yelling," per se.  I'm much too Dutch to actually yell at someone else's child.  I was just projecting sternly.  
2. Rachel is a wonderful soul.  Really, at this point she's just about our 4th kid.  She's here pretty much every day, she's seen us at our worst, and she likes us anyway.
3. Baylee told me that one time Rachel's mom, Martha, got mad at her and Rachel.  Apparently they had bombed Rachel's little sisters with a bunch of water balloons, and Martha came out and let them have it in a mixture of English and Sudanese.  So I'm in good company.

Friday

Today I was sitting at the dining room table chatting with Mike, then I got up, took a step backwards, and promptly fell completely over.  It was one of those slow-motion, windmilling, I'm-trying-to-save-myself-but-I-can't falls, too. You see, the dog had been right behind me and I tripped over him.  How come Gibbs can't be more like Lassie???  Lassie would've found some way to communicate that danger to me.  Lassie would've been like, "Hey, just a heads up.  I decided to take a nap and form a death trap down by your feet.  Oh, and Timmy's stuck in the well."

A few days ago I had a head cold which made me sneeze approximately two billion times, gave me a fever, and made me feel generally run-down.  I'm fine, but now Drew has it.  It's bad timing for him, because he has a rehearsal tonight, an acoustic event at a coffee shop tomorrow, and a show on Sunday.  Poor guy.  I let him skip school today and rest, and he slept for about six hours.  A cold isn't enough to get him out of any of his obligations, and so we'll prop him up with Dayquil and hope for the best.

Thursday

Today Baylee and I were walking down the sidewalk (during Drew's guitar lesson.  We usually go across the street and get Starbucks.) and she was telling me an embarrassing story about herself.  Then she quietly said, "Oh no.  I think that lady might've heard me."

"WHAT LADY?" I loudly asked while spinning around to see who Baylee might be referring to.  Oh.  She meant the lady about two feet behind me who totally heard me say that.  [face palm]  That was awkward.

Pet Peeve:  When I have allergies or a cold, and some jackwagon insists on saying "Bless you!" after EVERY one of my sneezes.  Sometimes I sneeze 6 or 7 times in a row.  I get it already.

Drew's got one more show, Devo, and then the new season starts up.  He's going to be in two shows again:

• Tool ~ This one is his choice, and it's a good one!  Once in awhile the school does a show that only advanced students are allowed to be in, and this is one of those.  Zeke, who will be the director, told the kids, "If I don't make every one of you cry at least once during rehearsals, I'm not doing my job."  I take that to mean the music will be challenging and will require a big commitment, but I think it could be really awesome!  (PS:  I suggest listening to this song with the volume up.  It's good.)

• Michael Jackson vs. Prince ~ This is the one the school assigned Drew to be in.  This one, I think, is gonna be a lot of fun.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm an Idiot

Last night I woke up at 2:30 and Mike wasn't home yet.  I was kinda freaked out, because he's always home long before then, so I called his cell phone.  No answer.  I called it again.  No answer.  I called it again and again and again.  No answer.  Then I tried his work cell phone.  That one rang...in our house.  I got up, blearily wandered around until I found that phone on the kitchen counter.  A bit more searching revealed Mike himself calmly watching TV in the soundproof room.  It turns out he'd gotten home ages ago.  Apparently he even came into our bedroom, where we talked and he gave me a kiss goodnight.  I had and still have NO memory of that.

Okay, that last story shows what I dork I can be, but this next one?  It blows right by dork and goes straight to crazy lady.  In fact, I can barely think about it without wanting to hide, and it's been days.  You know how I said that at the last show I met Nina's mom, Beth?  Well, what I didn't tell you is that during that conversation with her I did something that defies explanation.  Part of me doesn't even want to tell you about it, but I guess I will...

I was talking to Beth when along came another parent...a man...and he joined our conversation.  I didn't exactly focus very hard on him, but I did look at him.  I repeat:  I DEFINITELY saw him.  Anyway, he stood there for quite awhile talking with us, and then I said to Beth, "Man, I'm wondering where my husband is.  He went to get the car."  That's when that guy...the one right next to me...the one we'd been chatting with for some time...said, "Umm.  I'm right here."  Yup.  It was Mike, the man I've been married to for 21 years.  I just...I can't fathom what happened.  My only (very small) defense is that he was wearing a hat that I hadn't seen him in before.  Sigh.  All I know is Nina's mom probably thinks I'm insane.

Dead Kennedys

Drew was in his main show today, the Dead Kennedys.  They did an outstanding job!  Zeke got on stage afterward and heaped praise on the kids, saying it was the best punk show that the school has ever done.  It completely wasn't my style of music, but I loved that the group put their heart into it and really rocked it.

Here's a couple little pieces of fun stuff that Drew did...

And here's a picture I took of Drew and Nina.  She was in the show, too.  In fact, if you look, she's onstage playing bass in both of those videos.

I also met Nina's mom tonight.  She's a very nice woman, and we're on the same page as far as how we want to handle this dating thing.  (Basically, they can be together as long as they're in groups of people or as long as a parent is around.)

So...

...this happened.

After school today my friend Bethany (who's a hairdresser) and her daugher Lily came over.  They turned Baylee's hair blue, and then we all, including Drew, went downtown to see a SoR show.  Drew wasn't in it, but lots of his friends were.  It was fun!

Now Lily is spending the night, and the two girls are holed up in the TV room, watching movies and eating junk food.

News

I'm taking a small break while Paul has a cookie and some milk.  I don't usually have him on Fridays, but his mom asked me to do an extra day and I agreed.  I enjoy having Paul over here, even though sometimes (like right now) he makes me feel like I've spent the morning herding cats.  He's the wiggliest kid on the planet, I think.  lol 

Well, the big news over here is that Drew has a girlfriend.  They even changed their Facebook statuses so that they both say "in a relationship" with each other.  lol  I knew this was coming, but it's strange, new territory.  Anyway, her name is Nina and she plays bass.

Yes, I'm 100% aware that that's a terrible picture of Drew.  I hate it with all my heart.  Why oh why won't he change it???  There are so many other, nicer photos of him.  Sigh.  On the bright side, Nina is cute.  She seems like a nice girl, too. 

We've got a big, busy weekend coming up.  I'm sure there will be pics forthcoming.

Two Car-Related Conversations

The other day Drew and I were trying to find a place that I had never been to before, so I was using the Google Map app on my phone.  It has a very nice lady's voice, and she tells me where to go.  In this case she said to go east.

"Do you know which way east is?" Drew asked.

"Nope," I answered.

"What will you do?"

"I'll just turn any ol' way, and if it doesn't happen to be east, she'll recalculate."

And that, my friends, is how you go through life without a sense of direction.

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 Last night I had to put gas in the car, so I stopped at a gas station.  I happened to get there at the same time as two middle-aged men who, I'm pretty sure, were drunk.  They politely let me go ahead of them in line, so I smiled and thanked them.

One of them piped up with, "How long you been married?"  (I guess he saw my wedding ring.)

"Umm...over twenty years," I answered.

"Well, you shouldn'ta got married, 'cause I'd date you!"

Then the other guy stepped in.  He seemed slightly less drunk.  "It's nice to give compliments, but they gotta be respectful!  What he's trying to say is...you're beautiful."

lol  That was embarrassing, a bit scary, and kind of nice all at the same time.

 

Wednesday

Drew decided he's going to teach himself (with the help of YouTube) to play the piano.  It's been kinda fun to listen to him, but it's also been a bit...well...painful.  He's the kind of person who, when he wants to learn something, will do nothing else for however long it takes.  That means stuff like:

• He'll get it in his head to learn to juggle and have it totally down in 3 days.
• He'll play a video game nonstop until he beats it.
• He'll play the guitar until his fingers literally bleed.
• He'll play the piano until my ears figuratively bleed.

I wish he would put that sort of drive into his schoolwork.  Anyway, here's a little bit of what he was working on yesterday, his first day.

 Okay, I said in my previous post that Rachel, Baylee, and I "saved the day" using the neighborhood information forum.  Here's what happened...

It was Christmas break and Baylee and Rachel were at the local high school, shooting hoops at one of their outdoor basketball courts.  They came home earlier than they intended, though, and when they got here they told me this story:

A man, looking panicky and suspicious, rode right by the girls on a bike that was much too small for him.  When he got down by the football field he suddenly ditched the bike and ran off on foot.  Baylee and Rachel were a little freaked out by the whole thing, so they left, came back here, and told me about it.

Literally as they were talking my phone buzzed, letting me know I had a new email.  When the girls finished their story I glanced at the email and saw it was a notification from the neighborhood site.  It said, "URGENT:  A man just stole a bike out of our front yard!"  Of course I got right on the site and described what Baylee and Rachel saw.  Long story short, the bike was recovered!  It was the same one that was stolen.  Apparently a boy was visiting the home of some friends, bringing Christmas cookies to them.  He had ridden his bike over and had left it in the front yard while he went inside for a minute to give them the cookies.  In that short amount of time the weirdo took the bike and rode off on it.  It was brand new.  In fact, the kid had just gotten it for Christmas the day before.  He was very happy to get it back!

So...see?  We saved the day!


 PS:  Drew and I just had this conversation...

Drew:  The piano, like the guitar, is a very unforgiving instrument.
Me:  What do you mean?
Drew:  I mean you can hear every mistake.
Me:  What instrument is forgiving?
Drew:  The harmonica.

More from Tuesday

Drew and I were reading a story for his American Lit course, and we came across this sentence:  "On both sides lay an extensive quagmire, which could not have been more disagreeable, either to sight or smell, had all the kennels of the earth emptied their pollution there."

I thought we should stop and discuss this for a second.  "It's like" I started, "...remember that time we put Gibbs in his kennel and he had diarrhea in there?"

"Yeah," Drew answered warily.

"Well, do you remember how bad that smelled???"

"Yeah, okay, Mom.  I understood the concept in the first place."

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We're a part of a neighborhood information website, which, I have to admit, has irritated me in the past.  People have a tendency to post stupid stuff ("Free packing peanuts to anyone willing to pick them up!") and/or get into arguments with each other.  That said, there was a pretty great conversation on it today:

One Neighbor:  I spotted two chickens on the corner of Fremont and 102nd.
Another Neighbor:  Did they look like they were trying to cross the road?

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One of these days I should tell you my story about how Baylee, Rachel, and I saved the day using that neighborhood site.  For real! 

Dancing

For the last 2 or 3 years one of the things Baylee and Rachel do for fun is make up dances, and then force Rachel's little sisters to perform them.  Here's a little part of one they came up with a week or so ago:

Monday

You know that amazing, wonderful feeling you get when you had a bad headache, but now it's gone?  Or when you had the stomach flu, but now you're over it?  That sensation of basking in the glorious lack of pain? Well, that's how I feel right now, because this isn't a carpool-to-Bellevue Monday.

Baylee had her first drum lesson yesterday, and it went well!  She likes her teacher and she's excited to practice the stuff he gave her.

Book Recommendation:

It's about a woman who has a love of Jane Austin books and movies, but she's allowed it to become unhealthy.  (None of the real men in her life can ever compare to Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.)  She ends up going to a place called Austenland, which is a 3-week retreat where everything and everyone are just like they were back in Regency London.  The story is about how she does there and if she finds love.  It's a fun read! 
 

Quick Update:

We've got an extremely excited kid on our hands today, because in a little while she gets to go have her first drum lesson!  She'll be taking lessons at the School of Rock, and her teacher is named Michael.  That's all I know so far.  Since she's a beginner she won't be in the performance program yet.

New Haircut

I remembered to ask him if I could take his picture at 11:30 at night, and he graciously agreed.  His new haircut looks nice, huh?

Missions Trip and People of Walmart

Baylee and Rachel have an open-gym night for basketball tonight.  The coaches will be there, and it's a time for the kids to get some fun, extra learning and practice in.

Speaking of Baylee and Rachel, they're going to do a missions trip this summer!  It's just to our sister church up in the mountains, but the girls are still VERY excited.  They'll be gone for a week, helping put on a VBS over there.  To that end, over the past couple days Baylee has been filling out a missions trip application form.  It has things on it like, "Please give a short testimony of how you came to Christ and how that has impacted your life."  And, "How do you want to grow through this ministry?  In other words, what would you like God to accomplish in you?"  It's pretty heavy stuff for an 8th grader, but she's doing a good, thoughtful job.

PS:  One of the questions on the application is, "What do you think are your greatest personal weaknesses when it comes to serving in ministry?"  Is it me or has that exact question been on every Christian ministry application since the beginning of time???  I remember answering it when I was a teen, applying to work as a dishwasher at a Christian summer camp.  Way back then my friend Brian told me that the secret is to write something that's actually a strength.  For instance, you might say, "One of my weaknesses is that I'm such a hard worker I sometimes become exhausted."  LOL  I didn't pass along Brian's advice to Baylee.  I just told her to be honest.

Zach got a haircut!  That doesn't seem like big news, I know, but here's the thing:  I didn't have a thing to do with it and neither did Mike.  Zach handled it.  One day he had shaggy hair and the next day he walked in the door looking great.  It was a weird, nice surprise.  (Okay, yes, this whole "My kid is an adult!" thing is a process.  Don't laugh at me.)

Drew has something kinda neat coming up at the end of the month.  He and some other kids from the SoR are going to be playing backup for an up-and-coming singer from this area named Amanda Hardy.  They're doing a song she wrote called "Ugly Girl."  (You can listen to it here.)

This afternoon I took a little nap (because this week kicked my butt) and when I woke up I had to run an errand to the grocery store.  I knew I probably looked rumpled and sleepy, though, so before I left I had this conversation with the kids:

Me:  Do I look terrible?
Kids:  ...
Zach:  Well, you look good enough to shop at Walmart!

Sigh.

Thursday

Today I've been a slave driver in our homeschool.  Actually, I've kind of been like that this whole week.  This thing is, every day has been taken up with extra things, so I've had to keep us on a strict schedule to make sure we get through it all.  For Baylee that's no problem.  In fact, she was up an hour before me today.  When I came out of my room she was diligently working away with all her school books books in neat, organized piles.  I love that kid.  Drew, on the other hand, had to be woken up with, "Come on!  You're late!" and dragged through the day.  (Not literally.)  I love him, too.

Question:  Have you ever had dealings with someone...like maybe you work with them or they're a neighbor or they're someone from church...and you've talked with them enough that you should definitely know their name, but you just don't?  What's the point of no return on that?  Is it the second time you've interacted?  Third?

A few miscellaneous pics...

Mike has been teaching Baylee how to play cribbage.

Somebody was trying to prove a point about how low I had the thermostat set.

Modern life  = making mac-n-cheese while simultaneously texting friends and playing the guitar.

Mike took this.  He and Baylee went to the bookstore today (That's why Baylee got up early.  She wanted to have time to do this with her Dad.) and then to Panera.

And Baylee took this.

Wednesday

The thing I'm most excited for today?  Going to bed.  lol  I'm having a very tired day.

I took Drew to the orthodontist this morning and he got pink rubberbands to match his hair.

The orthodontist's office is in a building with other medical-type offices, so there are always lots of different kinds of people around.  Today I was proud of Drew, because he stopped and held the door open for an elderly woman with a walker.  She had a smile on her face as she walked by him...possibly because he's a tall, gangly teenage boy with long, weird hair.

I've got a meeting at church tonight for the children's play I'm helping with.  We're going to work out the details of props and costumes and stuff.  I'm a little nervous about it, truth be told.  (Not the meeting.  The play.)   I'd say about half the kids have their lines down well, but that leaves half that don't.  I hope it comes together. 

Tuesday

Last night when I got to the Bellevue school to pick up the carpool kids, I found several of them piled on the floor like puppies.  They had finished their rehearsal early (because they all learned the music and so were able to get through everything efficiently.  Woo hoo!) and were hanging out in the rec room area, talking and laughing. 

I got a new cookbook with some Christmas money!  I'm excited about it, because its recipes look easy and delicious.

Monday

Yesterday I looked at the calendar...really looked at it...and realized that this week is going to be a challenge (I was going to say "suck" but that's not a very nice way to start off a blog post.) and today would be the worst.  So far my prediction is right on track.

• The day started at 5:30am, when someone from the other side of the country called and woke me out of a deep sleep.  "Oh, wait," she eventually said.  "Is it early there?"  Sigh.
• Then Paul came over for the first time since Christmas break started, and he was pretty unfocused.  Good thing he's so darn cute and fun!  lol  (To be totally honest, Paul was in good company, as Drew was also hard to corral.  I know it's a "first day back from break" thing, but is it also a boy thing???)

•  Drew and Baylee started school today, too, which means I started.  Blahhhhhhh. 
• Worst of all, it's my turn to do the carpool to Bellevue again.  [insert tears wracking sobs]  It's not supposed to be, but the other mom can't do it tonight.

Here's a conversation Paul and I had today...

Paul:  I have a true story for you.  There was a mom who had a baby, but it was stillborn.  And then the mom died.

Me:  Wow, this is a sad story.

Paul:  I know, but one baby was strong and one was weak.

Me:  I thought you said it was stillborn.  Do you know what that means, Paul?  It means it was dead.

Paul:  I'm talking about the other two.

Me:  So she had triplets?

Paul:  Yes.  They tried giving the babies to another mom to take care of, but that mom didn't want them, because she already had her own.  The people didn't know what to do.  Then someone said, "I know!  Let's go to the store and buy milk!"  So that's what they did.

Me:  This is a very dramatic story.

Paul:  I know!  When they got to the store they asked the man who was working there, "Do you have any milk for baby goats?"  At first the man said they didn't, but right before the people left the man yelled, "We do have some!"  So they bought it and brought it home and fed it to the babies with a bottle.  The weak baby died, but the strong one is okay.

Me:  Wait.  You've been talking about goats this whole time?

Paul:  Yes!

Sunday

I gave up watching that reality larping show.  I just got too embarrassed for them.  Now I'm watching something different called Pioneer Quest.  This one is made in Canada and it's about two modern-day, regular couples, one older and one younger, who are challenged to live in the Canadian wilderness like the pioneers of 150 years ago.  Honestly, it's hard to watch, because it's so incredibly difficult for them.  I mean, these people are starting from absolute scratch.  They arrive on a piece of land with a wagon-load of old-fashioned supplies, a couple horses, a cow, and some chickens.  Everything else...shelter, digging a well, dealing with the animals, planting a garden and a crop...is up to them.  The main problem is that they haven't grown up with the right skills, and so they don't know how to do things that would've been second nature to actual pioneers.  Plowing, for instance.  What a mess.  The other issue is that the two couples don't always see eye-to-eye.  Anyway, I recommend it!  It's a lot like the PBS series Frontier House.

And on a totally different note, here's Cooper, looking cute...

Pet Peeve

 I wrote this awhile back, but decided not to do anything with it.  Since today was a quiet day of cleaning and errands, and nothing blog-worthy happened, I'll post it now.



I've got a minor pet peeve.  You know how "fat shaming" is a thing?  That is, people who are overweight are sometimes made to feel ashamed of themselves for that.  Well, I was thinking about it, and I've come to the conclusion that there's shaming for every different thing under the sun.  There's even shaming for things you do that seem good.

For instance, every once in awhile I have somebody make a comment about how clean my house is.  Sometimes their intention is kind, but sometimes I think the underlying message is, "You're weird."  What I don't get is why people even care.

Here's another example:  A couple of Baylee's friends try to make her feel bad for being thin.  She's got one friend who says something pretty much every time they get together.  It bothers Baylee, and I understand that, because it used to happen to me, too.  Once when I was in college a friend of mine turned around in a class we were sitting in and said out of the blue, "You're gaunt."  What the heck?  I laughed it off, but it bugged me.

I'm sure there are people out there who get criticized for exercising or trying to eat right or for learning something new.  The bottom line is that there's always somebody who has to say something, isn't there?  It's annoying.   

Friday

I've got a couple more comparison pictures for you.  Both of these were taken in about the same place, at the same time of year.

Baylee and Bryce in 2011...

...and in 2014.

Did you know they're only three months apart in age?  Baylee was born in July and Bryce in October.  I've always liked watching their friendship.  They're easy-going, nice kids who get along great.  I don't think they've ever had a single argument.

Well, we came home to a dead fish.  I keep passing by where the fish bowl used to be and thinking I have to put food in it.  And then I remember that the fish is dead (and the bowl isn't even there anymore) and I have a twinge of sadness.  I'd say it accounts for 3% of my feelings.  The other 97% is going, "Two pets down, two to go."

Yesterday I took our old calendar off the wall and put up the new one, but before I put 2014 in the recycling bin I thumbed through it.  I had to laugh when I came to July.

Holy cow!  No wonder I just about had a nervous breakdown this summer.  LOL  Ugh.

Drew found a guitar with nylon strings at Todd and Kellie's, and he barely put it down the entire time we were there.  He loved it and now, of course, he thinks he just has to have one for himself.  Normally when he gets on one of these tangents we wait it out and he moves on, but this time Mike and I are thinking we might indulge him for his birthday, which is a few months away.  The thing is, when he's playing that type of guitar he plays classical music, and it's beautiful.  It would be really neat if he became interested in something other than rock.

Here's what he's been working on nonstop.  Right now he's learning it on his Martin, which doesn't have nylon strings.

Happy New Year!

We just got home from our trip up into the mountains to visit our good friends Todd and Kellie and their kids.  As usual we had an absolutely wonderful time talking, laughing, eating, playing cards, watching movies, and sledding.  We loved our time with them.

PS:  There aren't any pictures of Zach, because he had to work, so he stayed home and held down the fort.  And I didn't end up getting a good picture of Bonnie, Todd and Kellie's oldest, because she had a cold and wasn't around quite as much as the other kids.

Taken out the car window on the way there...

 This is what happened when I said, "Come on, guys!  Give me a nice smile!"

Brian and Baylee...

Baylee and Bryce...

The downtown area at night...

Getting ready to go sledding...

Sledding...