Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Pictures of Maggie's new haircut



PEACE Quote

Life is life's greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life's scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature that owns it than the largest.
- Lloyd Buggle, Jr.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Tale as old as time...


Maggie really loves "Beauty and the Beast." and I have been feeding this love, left and right. she has a little Belle action figure that she plays with endlessly, she watches the movie itself regularly, she requests the storybook at bedtime, and we picked up the greatest hits from iTunes. "Be Our Guest" is such a showstopper. RIP Jerry Orbach, you really hit it out of the ballpark with that one. I would love to see a documentary about the making of the soundtrack to that movie. And dear sweet Angela Landsbury as Mrs. Potts, she also really gave it her all. And Cogsworth is a hoot, and Gaston. What a perfect villan. That song of his is so great, too. To say nothing of all the little jokes tucked in to the sequence in the movie itself. Good stuff!

The adults in the house have analyzed the script and story structure, however. And we have a few questions. First off, why the long goodbye after Belle sees her father in the magic mirror? She's not going off the face of the earth, just back to the village. You would think the Beast would tell her to come back, bring her back to the castle. Or that Belle would want to bring back her Papa to the castle. Enchanted objects being what they are, why stick around in the aforementioned quiet village with the provincial life and all? Get back to the enchanted castle, and bring your loved ones! And why didn't the Beast go with her? He shows up in the forest to save her from the pack of hungry wolves, plus her Papa had been chased to the castle in the first place by those same wolves, so wouldn't you think he would want to accompany her?

Regarding Mrs. Potts and her son Chip... at one point, she says to him, "off to bed with your brothers and sisters" and shoo's him into the china cabinet. brothers and sisters? what are their names? where they his brothers and sisters before the spell was cast? The enchanted spell perhaps turned specific people into household items (candelabra, clock, teapot, etc.) and then enchanted the remaining inventory of household goods via a different method, perhaps. it is also interesting to note that the enchantment certainly isn't contained to the magic castle boundaries. Chip the teacup hides in Belle's bag when she goes to rescue her father, the magic mirror works like a charm when Belle needs to show the villagers the hideous beast, Beat is able to use his Beastleyness to fend off the pack of wolves, etc.

Also, when she begins to see the Beast as a real person, why does she continue to call him that insulting name? He had a name before the enchantress cast the spell, and it couldn't have been Beast, you know? Although the enchanted objects appear to have the same names ("Cogsworth! Mrs. Potts!") after the spell has been reversed. But could it be that the guy's name was actually Beast before the spell was cast?

Anyways. We've got a new favorite working it's way into our hearts. My Neighbor Totoro, which perhaps someday I'll deconstruct for you just like I did here. Have a good day!

Friday, January 26, 2007

Hi There

I feel like I have lots to say, but I can't seem to put much of it into words this week! I am thinking of my family back in Seattle almost constantly these days. My heart is firmly planted in two different places right now, that is for sure! I am very anxious to get back there next month, let me tell you. I spent yesterday going from window to window here in my house, staring pensively out into the woods, waiting for the phone to ring. When I wasn't staring out the window, I was on the phone to one or more of my sisters or my folks, calling to hear their voices.

sigh.

my neice Brooke will be out here for a visit before I head west on the 10th of February. I am literally wading through the days until I see her. She flies into Boston on the 2nd, and we are grabbing a hotel room and staying in the city for a night.

in other news, it is C-O-L-D cold here today. something like seven degrees not including the wind chill factor. I keep pulling together ideas that would get us out of the house today, but it is also so much easier and cheaper to just stay home. nevermind the fight both kids would give me about getting out of the house. those two love to stay home.

we have no weekend plans, although we do intend to attempt to install a patch of drywall in the downstairs bathroom. once that's complete, I'll be able to repaint it. I don't know if I'll get to that before or after I go to Seattle, but at least the wall will be repaired. In theory. Assuming all goes well.

okedoke, take care. think positive thoughts for my daddy, would you? thanks.

Monday, January 22, 2007

TeeVee TeeVee

the kids are watching as much television as ever. there are subtle shifts occuring in behavior and choice making and time spending, however. and we were smart to move the location of the tv, I can certainly recommend that. the living room is now this nice oasis of quiet and relative calm. I love how it can look nice nearly all day with minimal effort.

The main benefit of having "killed" our television is that we aren't shelling out 80 bucks a month on it anymore. and like I said, the kids and I are gradually, slowly beginning to find new ways to spend time together. I've also given myself a schedule that helps me not to plant margie in front of the boob tube constantly. Everybody needs structure.

as for me, I'm really not missing the tv at all. I'm reading more, I'm getting more sleep, I'm connecting with my family more, my husband more. so no complaints from me. jeff has been so busy lately he hasn't hardly watched tv at all since we turned it off! he and henry watched '20,000 leagues under the sea' last weekend, I bet that's been about it for him.

but the best thing is we're not paying the 80 bucks. that's four yuppie food stamps!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

the new TLC

if you know me, you know about my addiction to triscuits and cheese. I can get so addicted to a certain type of food that I'll just eat it and eat it and eat it and eat it. I think I have a powerful attraction to fiber. Used to be sugar, now it's probably fiber. I love crunch and I love a little salt or a little sweet.

When I attempt to break the cycle, cruising the snack cracker aisle I feel like a drug addict who's trying to stay clean. and if I'm stressed or looking to reward myself, I'll run out to the store and buy my little box of crackers and my block of cheddar and set out all my favorite tools for the job, and my little drug and then I take it. Seriously. it's like a drug. I could say more on this topic.

Anyway. There's a new fix on the street I've come to realize. Frosted shredded mini wheats. with skim milk. I tell you I could eat this stuff all day long. I DO eat it all day long. I've got to stop. It just can't be good for me. EVERYTHING IN MODERATION, doggone it! I first tried it because I thought I might like them onaccounta my thing for triscuits. And I figured if I did like them, it'd be a smarter choice than triscuits and cheese. fat grams wise. but boy howdy do I like them. too much!

But I feel huge. my intestines are packed with fiber, and my bottom system trumpets from dawn to dusk. bbbbrooooppppptt!

And this room is cozy once again




I've switched up the cozyroom even more than what you saw last! I brought the red couch from the porch in and put it along the back wall where that craft desk and clutter tower used to be. and I took all the alphabet flash cards down, too. I like them a lot, but the visual clutter had to go.

the craft desk is now cleaned off and under the window, next to the tv. this area gets wonderful light and we are all enjoying it in our own way. Henry likes to type on the typewriter I picked up at the dump, I've done some crafting at the table at night while watching trashy network television, and Maggie loves to sit on the desk and work her glue stick at her little trau table while I work on something at the desk. I really like this desk, very sturdy. I sort of wish it wasn't so massive, however. Anyway. what do you want for five dollars?!

what I want is to make it a dark cozy private den in the night time, because that vibe is very appealing to me too. eventually all the toys will make their way out of the room, and I put the dark red curtains I had in this room before back in. and the doors are going to be put back on soon, too which will make it extra cozy and private. The overhead light will have to go. I brought "dogs playing poker" from in the guest room up to over the red couch. I'd like to find a cozy shaggy rug, maybe some groovy lamps. and on the walls we could have a little display area for things we are proud of, maybe the collection of group photos the kids will appear in over the years. Perhaps a sports penant or two, vacation photos, etc. - can you see it? :-)

the living room needs window treatments of some kind. the walls in that room are bleak! We need to fix the drywall situation around the doors to the porch, and then that room will be in a position to shape up via paint and so forth. and to be able to play tunes in the living room would be so nice. I'm listening to music right now in the kitchen, and you just can't beat it for helping to maintain a positive energy and help you keep busy. right now I am loving dave matthews band.

I'll post pictures of the latest version of the living room when I have them...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Maggie


She was crabbing about my wanting to watch the news while I folded the laundry, and I told her that when she grew up, she was going to want to be a smart woman who is able to speak on a number of current events, and that meant watching the news once in awhile. "I don't want to be a woman!" she cried out. I asked her what she wanted to be, and the first thing she blurted out was "a pink puppy!"

And I was able to show her this picture.

Pig Pile



The only ones missing in these pics are me and Rudy! And that's a new slipcover I picked up at the JobLot for thirty bucks last week. I am not crazy about the color, but the functionality can't be beat!

Also, note the classic gender preferences evident in the dress of the children. Both are wearing their current favorite outfits, for sure.

Power to the People!

Phew. Thank goodness! We were out of power for a bit of a while there. What a drag! Here are some pictures from yesterdays ice storm...



These were from the morning. It's so crazy how every single detail gets encased in ice. really beautiful. (if you're not stuck out in it, that is.)



I took these later in the day, as sunset neared. These are looking west, towards curtis farm.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I just bought my tickets!


I leave on saturday, feb 10, early in the morning. I return on saturday, feb 17, at around 9:45 in the morning. It will be so good to see you all!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Pictures of the overhaul




I'm pretty pleased with how things are turning out. I'm going to put both doors on the cozyroom again, which will turn it into a cozy little den. Also, if you're in the living room, the desire is there to close the door near the stairs to block the sights and sounds of whatevers on the tv in the other room. Same with if you're in the kitchen and want to listen to the stereo while someone else watches tv. and for an even cozier private evening, shut both the doors!

I do need to bring a phone into the living room. That's going to be the place to get away to talk on the phone. the couch in the cozy room used to be where I'd go, and now that privacy is gone! Also when I look at a picture of it, the rooms still look the same to me. but I know obviously that big changes are occuring. Feels really good.

We are doing just fine with the television, by the way. Already I notice that maggie launches fewer battles of will, was much more imaginative in her play, etc etc. And I think it was good to remove the tv from it's original room, because if we'd pulled the plug and then left the television set in the living room, still the focal point, we woulda felt chumped maybe. now it seems like the living room is on it's way towards the focal point being other human faces in the room. It's definitely a room to sit down and enjoy each others company. The room is desperate for a paint job and window treatments, I know, I know. I'm still trying to see how much change I can create without spending any money at all. but that's going to have to come soon, don't you think? also a slip cover for that blue couch. Since it won't be taking such a beating every day now I can fit it with a slip cover and not have to tuck and pull every ten minutes.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

It's official.

We've killed our television. I feel sort of sick to my stomach! isn't that funny. This next week will be interesting. If you know us, you probably think/know that we watch a lot of television. Well now we've gone and done it. We cancelled our Directv, and will keep our tivo for now. Turns out we get the local abc, nbc, cbs and pbs from boston right out of thin air. it's a fuzzy picture, but definitely something to stare at when we need a fix. It's like dramatically reducing the nicotine content of our cigarettes. :-)

My only thing is I love to watch "The Office". Without a doubt, my favorite show. Thank goodness that's on nbc because I would be hurting for certain. I don't think I'll miss The Daily Show or even the Colbert report. I feel like the internet is such a great resource for seeing the funny stuff, and many of the bloggers will post "here's the clip in case you missed it" for other various visual input I may miss.

I'll also miss shows like "How it's Made" and "Modern Marvels", and the Science channel in particular. But thank goodness I have one of the best pbs stations in the country to watch! it's funny. One of my goals for 2007 is to reduce and simplify and this is certainly that! still retaining the essential but cutting away a lot of flab. It feels good so far!

So what did we do. Well, we moved the entertainment center from the guest room in the basement up to the playroom. I made another brutal edit of the toys in the playroom. Hauled a bunch more stuff up to the bonus space, which is really turning into a phenomenal storage area as I worth through the contents of our household and fine tune and edit. I only wish there was a more convenient way to access it. Anyway. Jeff and I split the work up real good and between the two of us, brought the tv out of the living room and into the playroom. so now, in the playroom, you can watch the four channels we get, the dvd player, and the vcr. I may or may not put the doors back on and turn it into a super cozy room again. We also hauled that big red entertainment center from the living room out to the porch. This week I will photograph it and try to give it away via craigslist. There is a big comfy chair that has been upstairs for the last several years, and we brought that downstairs to sit where the tv used to be. Now I see that the windows are filthy and so have to figure out some way to get them clean from the outside. I see climbing a ladder in my future! But my sister marcia says that nothing makes a house sparkle like cleaning your windows, and she's right. Especially with this low winter light and no leaves on the trees.

By the way, we are beginning to freak out over here regarding global warming. holy cow. it was 70 degrees this weekend! Now I enjoy balmy weather as much as the next guy, but that just ain't right! it just isn't right. I was talking about it with Henry yesterday, saying that I will be so curious to see what the world is like when he is as old as I am right now, in the year 2036. I sort of apologized for the fact that my generation and the ones before me created the problem and yadda yadda yadda. He was like, "yeah...I'm excited to see about that too, see what kinds of new inventions there are!" and then began to describe for me what sort of gun he would invent that would somehow solve the global warming problem. Something about shooting the Co2 out of your state and into another or something. So we got to talk about how it's everybody's problem and that when we say "global warming" we're talking about the entire globe, the earth. it was good stuff.

Maggie is turning into a disney princess-aholic. anything to do with the disney princesses, she is all over. They are both boy and girl, that is for sure! we were at lowes on friday and jeff showed her a disney princess lamp that has the different princess ladies twirling around on rotating platforms when you press the button or the alarm goes off or whatever. She wanted it so bad it turned in to this giant emotional extreme situation for her - at one point she suggested that maybe we had more money in the van that we could go get to pay for the lamp! real tears and everything!

I'll try to post pictures as soon as things shape up. I have to run to the grocery store now, or at least check in downstairs. bye now!

Saturday, January 06, 2007

My little defiant one


This morning, the kids and I were out in the porch, enjoying the balmy rainy morning. it was beautiful. Maggie was trying to order us around and I was trying to order her around and she was not having it. At one point I said to her, "watch!" and she actually covered her eyes while saying no! I really had to laugh. she is so consumed with power struggle and control that her first response to my asking her to watch while I do something for her is to cover her eyes! it was very funny to me.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Recent pics of the kids



Maggie's hair is getting long, and Henry looks so much older to me lately! Of course, this is a posed shot, and he is meant to look very serious. That could be it. Those are some big blue eyes, huh?

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Hard Core REM

This morning I dreamt I was leaving for a trip, so was rushing around trying to find everything I needed to pack (a classic anxiety dream of mine) when I was stopped by a "BEEP BEEP" sound everywhere I went. Like the sound of a truck backing up. The dream turned into me tearing apart everything I could in order to halt that infernal beeping! Finally I had to leave for the trip, and when the beeping followed me onto the boat, everyone went crazy from the sound! I have a specific image of rifling through a tool box to find wire cutters and then closing down on random black wires in attempt to stop the beeping. The dream ended when I was poked awake by jeff who told me that the alarm had been going off for eight whole minutes!

So then my morning was a bit of a hard starter. Clearly I had been deeply asleep, and then to add that stressful dream on top of it! blech. I did okay though, I pulled out of it.

I think I was so soundly asleep because I took the feather bed off of our mattress yesterday. We have a really nice feather bed that fits our california king sized bed. I found it at Marshall's on clearance for $32 when I was hugely pregnant with Maggie. I slept like a bird in a cozy nest for the rest of my pregnancy, let me tell you. Even loaned it to lanie when she was big with Nora. The feather bed goes between the mattress itself and the mattress pad. And it shifts something awful. I got tired of having to completely remake the bed every morning, pulling off the mattress pad, yanking the feather bed into position, replacing the mattress pads, the sheet, etc. So just the regular mattress must've been what my sleeping self had been searching for.

Yesterday maggie and I worked on our bonus space, the unfinished area above the house. Turned it into the K**** Family Clubhouse! I slipped the feather bed inside an old duvet cover and positioned it in an area near the one window in the room. I'm bringing toys we're not ready to get rid off yet up there and so it turned into a great little play space for Maggie while I worked in other corners. I hope to recreate that same scenario later today.

I'll go take some pictures of the kids bedrooms today, and also the bonus space, so you can see where it is I toil all day long. In other news, I am hopeful for a date with my husband on saturday, and looking very much forward to my neice Brooke coming to visit us the beginning of February! We will be staying overnight in Boston the first night she arrives, so that should be REAL FUN. And I'm thinking of having a party on Saturday, February 3rd if you're lucky enough to have us K*****s of Wilton in your daily orbit... more details soon!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

More Christmas Photos







Nora's in the cupboard


Cassidy's Ninth Grade Photo

Look at this gorgeous, confident young woman.

Wastebaskets

I read somewhere that each room ought to have it's own trash receptacle. Every room in your house has the potential to generate trash. if you don't have a place to put it in that room, you are either wasting time hauling it out of the room or you are leaving tiny plastic clothes tags on the windowsill or empty granola bar wrappers here and there, etc. Do you have a wastebasket in every room of your house? I don't.

For my upstairs, at this point, I have a large garbage can in the bathroom and it all ends up there. And if it doesn't, I take a grocery sack and make a trash-pass through all the bedrooms and then bring it downstairs to the kitchen trash. When I cleaned out my closet, one thing I began to stock in there full time is a bunch of plastic grocery sacks. I keep them in a basket and whenever I need to bag something up, BAM. DONE. Having a stash of these bags right there in my closet has been such a smart move, if only because I have the ability to execute those "I need to bag these clothes up for goodwill" thoughts nearly immediately. This morning I bagged up a poopy diaper in one, gathered trash in another and bagged up old clothes in a third!

But I do see the sense in having trash cans in every room, especially the kids and their bedrooms as they grow older and generate trash. In Henry's room especially. The makeover I gave his room before Christmas resulted in a great desk for him to sit at and hatch his various plans at. If he had a trash can there, the various wrappers and dud drawings could end up there instead of piled on his desk, with "nowhere" to put them. He could also use his own laundry basket. Right now he undresses in our bedroom before he brushes his teeth for bed, and it's beginning to be time to give him his own private space for that. He is either snickering at me while I am getting dressed or the excitement of being noody-toody in front of the rest of us results in lots of exciting tearing around the upstairs, trying to get someone (anyone!) to react to something (anything!)

It's a tricky thing, trying to instill modesty and a respect for privacy in a kid without passing on ones own skewed issues around nudity and intimacy, you know what I mean?

It's a beautifully warm day today, I think we will be going for a walk after school...