Posts (page 2)
I keep forgetting all about this place. It is a SHAME how busy I am lately. I have been busy hemorraging money.
1. Coach turned 43. And he got….
Spoiled muffukka.
2. Dance recital coming up. This year Risa's in both ballet and tap so I'm shelling out major cheese for 2 costumes, 2 new pair of shoes, 2 new pairs of tights, 2 sets of pictures, practice music and performance dvd. Not to mention all the driving here and there and everywhere. (To and fro.) In addition, she's alternately begging to to take up soccer, ice-skating and acting/singing class. Little sugar believes Mommy is MADE OF MONEY. And she has a really good argument:
"I do GREAT in school…" while she pointedly glances at her brother.
3. If ebay and thrift shops weren't already killing me, now here comes GARAGE SALE SEASON. Somebody stop me.
Also:
Take your kid to work day has got to be the most physically challenging, mental exhausting event since actual childbirth. Jesus. I started out strong, but was hanging on the edge towards the end of the day, nerves frazzled, hair limp and lifeless, pockets relieved of all spare change, absolutely spent.
And:
I love 'Heroes'. I am really going to hate when the story's over.
A co-worker sent me a link to a site about the ethics of declawing cats. Oh man. I hate how easily an innocent email can make me question myself and feel like a terrible person. When I got my cat four years ago I didn't put much thought into it, other than my kids wanted a kitty so I went out to a farm and got them a kitty. I knew I wanted an inside pet. I tend to love my pets like family members and I really didn't want him to disappear one day, forcing me to go out and purchase a new family member. I knew I didn't want a female, they make that godawful noise when in heat and they cost so much more to spay. I knew he was definitely going to be neutered because male cats spray/mark territory and that is just gross and unclean and smelly. "Mr Clean" would not be having any of that. He doesn't even like cats. Also I know from experience what cats can do to furniture and carpets. This was more his issue than mine, because I have had cats that did not scratch furniture, but only after YEARS of spraying them with water and yelling at them. Now that I have a full-time job, I don't have that kind of time and I already have two kids to yell at. So Smoky quickly grew, as kitties do, from an adorable little sleepy puff of fur to a wild Tasmanian Devil with razor knives on all four feet. He scratched the hell out of my kids, and not always because they were squeezing or hugging him past the time when he felt like being hugged or whatever. His favorite thing was to stalk us from across the room, then run and try to climb our legs with his claws, often leaving ribbons of blood. My husband kept reminding me that he "never liked cats". Rissa liked to hold Smoky, and if she held him too long he would swipe his paw across her soft babypink cheek, sometimes leaving a bloody slash mark. ON HER FACE. Cat scratches are for life, I still have scars from that unfortunate day in 1987 when Ashley tossed a cat in the bathtub with me. YOWZA. I tried clipping his nails, but that didn't really work because he could still hurt us with them, and one time I made his toe bleed and I cried for an hour. I thought about those tiny plastic things you can glue on their nails but I think I have established that Smoky is not exactly receptive to forced holding in the first place, and then for me to try to manipulate an open tube of superglue at the same time? Forget it. When I made the decision to declaw him, I wasn't trying to mutilate him, I was only trying to co-exist with him. Of course I was worried about his health, and the surgery. Of course I wasn't sure if I was making the right decision. I think what bothered me most about it was not the physical act of removing his claws. I knew that would heal in time. It was that he was to become nothing more than a living stuffed animal, like we were going to take away all his "catness". Once he lost his claws he would never go outside again, he can't hunt, he can't have sex if some unsuspecting female cat happens to end up in our house (Smoky: "It could happen!"), he can't even scratch up some furniture. But there is an up side. He will never catch an infectious disease from another animal, he will never be hungry or lost, or hit by a car. He will never kill a bird or a bunny, or be beaten up by another cat or dog. No unwanted kittens will ever come from him. He will probably live much longer than a cat that is allowed outside. And he lives good, in a warm, dry house with perpetually full food and water dishes and many places to run and hide. No doubt my cat was in pain for a couple of days after the surgery, I have guilt about that and I hope I have snuck him enough tuna since that he forgives me. (Honestly I think he was more mad about the neutering. He kept opening his legs and pointedly looking at me like "Balls. Had them this morning...") I know he isn't in pain anymore. He is playful and friendly and he still loves to "scratch" my wicker baskets with his... nubs. Now if he is being held and doesn't want to be, he wags his tail and bites gently in warning. Sometimes I like to hold him like a baby and kiss his cheeks. He HATES that so much. When he stalks us and climbs our legs now it mostly just tickles until he slides off. Obviously he can still hunt somewhat, one day he proudly presented me with a flat, wet, deceased field mouse that had meandered into his basement domain of death. He kneads me when he's feeling really lovey. And sometimes he reaches out and touches me with his fuzzy paws. I still don't know if what we did was right or wrong. I only know that I love my cat, and I love my family, and none of us are currently bleeding.
Becoming THE BOSS. Reality TV. Thrift shopping. My coworker's fashion choices. My kids' activities (sports/dance) translating into untold $uce$$ for them! (*not necessarily in that order.)
I was tagged by the lovely Miss Cetta. That is one way to make me write an entry, I guess!
YO Cricket, Trouble, Dana, Danielle and Say please consider yourself tagged!
I can not believe my baby is SIX YEARS OLD. I mean, I love that she is growing up, it's lovely not to have to wipe her butt anymore. Wonderful that she can help me with laundry. But also heartbreakingly sad that I will never have another baby. Godwilling I will live to hold some baby grandkids one day.
OKOK party recap.
We celebrated with a fancy ballet party at her dance studio. It look like pink threw up in there with all the pink cups plates etc, little white doilies, Strawberry Shortcake cake. Miss Muffin bought new music and choreographed some really cute routines for them to do, giving them tutus and wands and colorful scarves to wave around. Risa had a great time! Despite a really bad snowstorm, her most hardcore friends ventured out. She got some great and sparkly presents. I was proud that she was a really sweet and kind birthday girl, I hate when kids act up on their birthday, and they almost always do.
(Until the end when the sugar got to her and she went to the Dark Side, bugging her eyes out at people and snatching things. She informed me it was "GO TIME.")
Jalen's team won 22-20. It was a pretty exciting game, the team they played against were bigger and very very aggressive. Afterward Jalen had teammates Alex, Chris and Big T over for pizza and cake. They hung out all afternoon, watching their last game on tv, playing NBA 2K7 on PS2 and talking about how great they are. "NOBODY scores more than 20 points on us. Nobody." One more game next week, then a week off when they scrimmage and party with a team from Chicago, then the tournament. Please send all your extra basketball karma my son's way, he's gonna need it.
I finally found some tap shoes. You probably don't know this about me but I can dance my ass off. This is gonna be so fun. I'm choreographing a fun little routine for Risa and I, to It's Tricky (Run DMC). Should be fun, she has the shimsham down pat so I suppose we'll just do that over and over. HOTT.
Jalen's team won the real tough game they had Saturday! A little backstory…this team was previously undefeated. This team usually blows out their opponents, sometimes by enough points that the ref shuts the scoreboard off so as not to demoralize the kids on the other team. Their star player, "Marcus" usually averages 20 points himself, however this day WE HELD THE WHOLE TEAM TO JUST 17 POINTS!! Jalen scored once, a very sweet little layup, but it was called back because the ref blew the whistle on some little girls crossing the corner of the court. He was disappointed about that, but he did so well defending Marcus that the kid threw up an airball and passed the ball out of bounds twice! Marcus' mom kept screaming "SHAKE HIM OFF!". (But he couldn't.) I was so proud of my son! The coach of the other team was red-faced and really angry, he actually cussed M in front of a couple kids and the ref. He said we didn't play "the little Mexican kid" enough. He even said he was "telling". What he didn't know was that the boy in question had missed the preceding 5 practices and game, hadn't learned any of the plays, and then showed up 30 minutes late for this very game! M still played him for one period, which is more than fair, under the circumstances. I think dude was probably just pissed that he lost (on tv). I can't wait to see if they left in the part when he freaked out!
Jalen's team won this week's game 21-20. He put out very good defense as well as delivering some key assists but didn't score himself, which disappointed him greatly. Jalen (dejectedly): "Last year I was good for maybe 4-6 points a game. EVERY GAME." Me: "Yes, and last year you were a 2nd grader playing on a team with 1st and 2nd graders, with 8 foot rims. This year you are a 3rd grader playing on a team with 3rd and 4th graders with 9 foot rims. A lot of these boys are older and bigger than you are. Just think how bad you'll be next year, when YOU are the 4th grader." He seemed happier. But that might just have been the glare coming off his fly new pair of shiny white tearaway pants. Monday morning we got up early, way before the kids were even awake. We crept outside into the early morning quiet, the neighborhood all silent and sparkly with a fresh five-inch thick blanket of fluffy new-fallen snow. And we... shoveled the driveway. (What else would we do?) Then we shoveled the sidewalk and the front walkway and the front porch and the back porch. Then I dusted the snow off the van and let it run for awhile. It was really peaceful at that time in the morning, probably we pissed off some of our neighbors, but it was very romantical romping around out there in the snow. Home on a Monday (thank you Dr. King!) is kind of a lazy day. I played games and read with Risa while we did laundry, then I took her to dance class. There I sat and drank a nice Hot Buttered Rum cappucino and chatted with a couple of the ballet moms while we waited. Lordy but a mere hour can pass SO slowly sometimes. The girls started a new tap routine and I was trying really hard to recognize the music but with all the (off-beat, enthusiastic) tapping and the (vapid, chattering) moms I just couldn't figure it out from the other side of the wall. I thought about it the entire way home as I drove through snow and ice. We got home and immediately had to leave out for basketball practice, so I never did figure it out. We gave a birthday party for Alex after practice, his father is hospitalized in another state and things are difficult to say the least for their family right now. I baked a chocolate cake and we lit candles and sang 'Happy Birthday' and had cake, ice cream and juice. M gave him a gift -- a pair of Starbury basketball shoes. If you don't know about this, I find it very cool. Stephon Marbury has developed a line of truly economical sports shoes and clothing, available at Steve and Barry's. I can get behind something like that. Our team has a real tough game (on tv) coming up, so they are practicing especially hard. I really hope I have good news for you next week.
I just bought an airbrush kit from ebay. I've been wanting to teach myself for years, it looks so fun. I'm hoping at the very least I can make my french manicures look more professional. I'd like to do some jeans too. I have all these grand craft ideas (and mountains of supplies) but my follow-through is not really all that. The airbrush will probably end up in the big box with my hot glue gun, my soldering gun, my Bedazzler, and all my nice embroidery floss. Or maybe I'll just skip all that and send it to my mom, she paints. I had this craft idea for some pretty barrettes for Risa. I was inspired by a photograph of frangipani (plumeria or lei flower) I saw on a photoblog. I bought white craft foam, yellow paint, a new glue gun and glue sticks, and some "naked" barrettes. I was looking forward to making these flower barrettes, but as it turns out the foam is too thick to make the petals look even close to right. I'm forever wasting perfectly good money.
I took myself thrift shopping on my lunch hour yesterday. I wasn't there for anything in particular, for once there was nothing much we needed. BUT. There are some items that I am continually on the lookout for: black leotards, pink tights and dance shoes, dance/sports instruction or performance videos, and a nice sturdy basketball hoop for the driveway. Also I'm looking for a cheap pair of character/tap shoes for me (they are veeeery expensive and I am picky) so I can tap with Risa. I'm always looking for the perfect tiny faded little jean jacket for Risa. There are some other obscure things, like a rock tumbler, a kiln, and pieces of my Grandmother's obscure china setting. In the spring I will step up the search for a new patio table and chairs, as my set is falling apart and they were fairly hoopty to begin with. Today I found a nice pair of carpenter jeans and a Lakers shirt for Jalen. I got a jean skirt with litle shorts under, a floral skirt with matching cute tank top and a Children's Place hot pink hoodie with fur around the collars/cuffs and 8 pairs of earrings for Risa. I got a few books for me. All this bounty for $26. Risa is starting to read actual books now! Jody gave her a copy of Hop on Pop and she read through it immediately like it was no big. She knows most of the words in Green Eggs and Ham already. This is craziness. She was a baby yesterday, and now she reads.
