Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Danger Zone.

 Sterling Archer and Lana Kane, my heroes

Spent all day out today.  As in ALL freaking DAY!

First got my new tag.  One great thing about the little county we live in is that there is NEVER anyone at the DMV or the Tax Collector's office... and if there is you prolly know them, and it's cool.  So basically you're in and out in about 5 seconds flat.  In fact, I was done before Harley finished his level of Angry Birds, which sort of annoyed him.  Mostly because I am a mean mom, and won't let him walk while i padding.  In fact I won't let him walk without the cover covering the screen.  So, there you go.  Lickity split, I'm tagged.

Off to school.  Drop off Harley and rush to lunch with a friend.  She brought birthday gifties which was charming.

Then back to school for more torture.  I missed my volunteer day when Harley was sick last week, so I'm making up time to get our tuition reduction for the month.  It really isn't bad.  In fact, most days I love it, but I've been spending an inordinate amount of time there and am in need of a BREAK!  Stayed till end of school then Harley and I went to return a movie to the library and pick up hay for the bun.  We literally pick up our own hay.  (The owner lets us take the scraps that they sweep off the loading dock.)  It is quite the deal if you only have one beastly bunny and you're broke.  It costs a  small damn fortune at regular stores for a tiny package of Timothy hay.  So yay me.

Then, off to Chickfile for some yummy junk food and ice cream.  Then back to school for family meeting night. Hooray!  They are actually kind of cool.  The owner of the school and other interested parties bring food and drink.  (I just couldn't wait that long to eat again.  oink.oink)  Tonight's school menu included: Veggie/tomato soup, cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, some kind of salady lookin thing, tiny burritos and chips with salsa.  Lemonade to drink.  All home made!  Well, the burritos, the salady thing and soup were anyway.  So, got through that and was only strong armed into being on one additional committee...  This gives me hives just thinking about it.  I don't even like the word "committee".  But here I am, all committeed up.  sigh. At least it's a good committee.  It's the let's all raise funds to go to Puerto Rico for the international free school conference!  hooray!  I hope we get there.  


The latest bootleg episode of Archer, possibly the funniest show ever created.  EVER!  It is seriously nasty, sick, twisted and crude...relentlessly so, but I swear I laugh till I'm sore.  I wish I had the nads to say half the stuff they do to people and just watch their faces contort in horror shock and disbelief!  Stammer stammer stammer... heheheheh! 

So, as you can see, it's been a full and complete day and I've sort of hurled my last marble as far as I could.  And that can only mean one thing... MORE Archer! Or maybe sleep.... or more ARCHER!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Good Times

Yesterday we were invited to a party of one of the girl's from Harley's school.  We love love LOVE his school and most everyone involved with it.  We made some veggie soup to bring as an alternative to the usual party fare... and because it was freezing outside! The party was actually AT the school.  The parents of the birthday girl rented out the meeting hall room for the party.  It was grand!  The kiddos got to play on the playground and in the nearby woods.  Lovely.

When all the kid party hoopla was over, the birthday girl's parents invited a handful of us over for a bonfire and continuation of low key celebratory hoopla and beer!  Yea, it was good.  We have not spent that amount of time in the company of others in I don't know how long.  We spent a total of 8 hours with these people!  They are just that good and fun.  I had to tear the boys and myself away at 10pm.  I just knew that although we could have stayed longer, as many folks were, we'd pay dearly today.  Besides, I was beginning to feel a bit like the "things that wouldn't leave"!  (Remember that LNL skit?)  Anyway, it was just so much fun to be around cool and groovy adults and have enough kids to entertain each other so that you can actually enjoy being around the cool and groovy adults!  There was turkey sausage chilly to eat and Quesadillas and leftover cheese and veggie plates from the first party.  It was grand!

Then to top it all off, an old friend who used to be my sort of boss and his wife came!  Turns out they live down the road.  I haven't seen them in a very long time and they are just incredible folks.  And the man who I actually met first and worked with brought a guitar, so there was bonfire sing a longs! whoot!

Harley busied himself with the other kids in the birthday girl's room playing with some of her new stuff, then they all jumped on the trampoline, ran around the yard looking for sticks, snacking and stuffing their faces with giant marshmellows that were supposed to be for roasting over the fire... oh well.  By the time we got home Harley was half asleep.  After Marc put him in bed he asked for me.  When I got to his room, he was face planted in his bed, not having brushed his teeth or fed the fish!  It was like looking at a tiny drunk!  He hasn't passed out like that since he was a toddler.  Seriously.  It was good to have him be so cooperative at bedtime!  I wonder if they'd let us come over for a bonfire every day?  heh heh!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Newest member of our family

Isn't she precious?  Her name is Aurora Valentine.  She has made me a great aunt for the second time!  I am so excited that she is here!  Unfortunately, she lives all the way on the other coast from us, so I'm not sure when I will get to HOLD her.  Hopefully in the spring.

Anyway, I'm just enjoying the view for now and hopefully I'll get to talk to her mommy tomorrow.  We have been having phone issues on this end and between that and respect for family bonding time, we have not made voice contact yet.

Feeling the love today!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Holiday Hangover

I  have a rather king sized holiday hangover.... not from drinking or drugging or staying up late as in lifetimes past.... just from being an involved parent.....  The presents have been opened, relatives visited, New years eve slept through, and now I just feel wrung out.  I don't want to do much of anything but lay around and drink coffee and puts around the web and feel grateful and relieved that another holiday season has been happy and  healthy... and that we got all of the the errands done that needed doing for the wee one, and we shared yet another joyful couple of weeks just bonding and being together.

It's an indescribably feeling to be in the midst of a joyful child at the holiday.... and at my age, nearly 50, it's also exhausting.  At first it's energizing and I feel as though I run on pure joy and adrenalin (and caffeine, of course), but after a couple of weeks of that, the body, mind and spirit are just plain wore out.  At least mine are.  I feel like I could sleep for a month!  But the light at the end of the tunnel is that school starts up again on Weds. 

Things have changed immensely since I was a kid.  Half the fun of Christmas was sharing your loot with your friends and vica versa and playing with all of your stuff (or wearing it, in the case of being a girl and receiving clothes) all through out the Christmas break time.  I was cat sitting for a friend and on Christmas day when I drove into her apartment complex it was like a ghost town save for one boy child riding around on his brand new scooter with no body to show or share or ride with.  It was heartbreaking to see.  My child is not too different.  We live in the country and all of his in town friends are out of town or busy with their parents doing God knows what.  We've had to be his playmates for the past few weeks and play all his games with him and help him build stuff and figure out how to work stuff and and and....  It seems the neighborhood kid network is all but gone.  Even my friends in town say the same things.  What the hell?!!

I realize that as we become ever more expansive in numbers, we humans are becoming more and more isolated... I know this, and yet it just hit me really hard this holiday season.  I am going to put some of my energy this year into changing that.  I want my damn village!  And my child would love it too... He is a people person and ceaselessly engaging.  It's a wonderful quality unless you are someone who requires a modicum of down time.  Then all of a sudden you find yourself saying things like: "Just stop talking for minute!" OR "Please, just stop.... stop... DOING things!"  Then comes the outer body knowledge that you just said what you said to a six year old who has no concept of what that means because he IS movement, he IS verbage, he IS engagement and connectivity... He just IS!  And you want to kick yourself for being such a dolt.  But such is life.  I apologize and explain that grown ups are a bit different that children and mommy just needs a few quiet moments to recharge her batteries.  All is well again.  Exhausting, but well.

Happy New Year everyone.  May you always find the energy to keep on doing what you do, and being who you are.  And I'm including myself in this scenario as well!
xo pf