Here's a sign that Maggie's growing up

She won't nap anymore! Not this week anyway. Today I'm trying not to fight it, going to let her do whatever. Yesterday she screamed and cried, "I'M AWAKE!" over and over again for nearly 45 minutes before I went to get her from her crib. The day before that, same sort of thing. Then at some point this week, I came upon this:


The no napping thing makes the early evening sort of awful at times. She also is not falling asleep until much later in the evening, like 2 hours or so after we've read her stories and put her to bed. Before she finally falls asleep she talks to herself, looks at books, begs to be brought to the potty, begs to brush her teeth once more, cries, wails, bawls, and so on. Until suddenly, it's quiet. And then at some point she'll wake up and cry cry cry until I cave and bring her into our bed. UGH!

Last night Jeff had a planning board meeting and so didn't get home until very late. Tonight he goes to Manchester to play D&D, won't get home until very late. We are missing the pace of life that comes with dad being home at night! Luckily it's not very often, and it's good to see Jeff getting out. I'm only complaining a little...

Anyways, that's about it from here. I put a few more things up for sale at craigslist this morning, I'm doing laundry, and trying to get through the day without Maggie's nap. wish me luck.

Ah, Wednesday

Life is currently going on here in Wilton. My hands are dry, Maggie has a hangnail, and we are waiting for the Library to open at 11am! (I will put on lotion, and Maggie is thrilled with her bandaid.) And then we'll run to Peterborough, to the Ocean State Job Lot.

But right now I'm talking to you and playing Lottso on pogo. My sisters turned me on to Pogo, and Dian specifically taught me how to play Lottso. It's sort of relaxing to play for a few minutes while simultaneously checking out my favorite websites and eating breakfast. (or playing Lottso while blogging.) I definitely feel closer to my sisters while playing at pogo.com. Although after this I will be running the vacuum and then switching the laundry. I feel the blues today, so I am trying to work through rather than lay off.

I'm halfway through "Cry, The Beloved Country" right now. Very interesting. South Africa is interesting to me. I find my reading tastes tend to center around a particular geographic region (China, India, and of course always the good ol USA) -- and now I seem to be turning towards Africa. I picked up Nelson Mandelas autobiography at a garage sale this summer, and I may finally get into that after this one. I have also read two books by Joyce Caol Oates ("The Falls" and "Because it is Bitter, And Because it is My Heart" - both fantastic) and am anxious to check out a couple of hers at the Library later.

I will try to post a picture in every post, but they won't always line up with the content of the post. I think you can handle that. For todays photos I offer up a baby pic of Henry, a baby pic of Maggie at the same age, and then a recent photo of both of them, for comparison. Have a good day!

A perfect day for laying around

My goodness is the weather just perfect for the type of day I am enjoying. it's been cold seeming and foggy and rainy all day. At least that's been the view from my window, as I haven't stepped foot outside since arriving home from a party late last night. And this morning I got out of bed at nearly 11:30! That doesn't happen more than a few times per year, sleeping in like that. It was fantastic.

My girlfriend Heather had a Wildtree Herb party last night at her house, and let me tell you, it was really fun. I took my new girlfriend Lascia with me, and we had a great time. Wildtree Herbs is a Spice and Herb blend company, very good stuff. What's cool about these parties is that the sales rep lady cooks up a bunch of food and dips from the product line, so you can actually get fed. The stuff is real yummy.

I didn't listen to the pitch, having been lucky enough to seat myself out in the overflow room (there was quite a turnout). But I've heard it all before. Why is it the sales pitch ladies always regale you with stories about how it was that they came to be a sales pitch lady? Or dragging a minor detail about shipping costs or something into a 5 minute presentation filler? Anyways. No biggie. I wasn't really there for the sales pitch lady.

The afterparty was very good times. A family we all grew close to that recently moved to Connecticut were in town and staying at Heathers, so we all got a chance to reconnect. That was the best part. And so terrific to bring Lascia, introduce her to all those folks. Henry had a Cub Scout Pack Meeting last night, so Jeff took he and Maggie to that while I went to this party.

Henry and Jeff are seeing a movie right now. "Flushed Away" it's called. About a mouse who gets flushed down the toilet. Hilarious, I'm sure.


oh, and p.s.! I finally got my haircut on Friday, yahoo! There was a woman at the party, Jill, who raved and raved about the cut. "I'm gonna put you in my blog!" I told her. So there. Thanks Jill!

Henry shoots, Henry SCORES!

Here is a link to a clip our friend Brian made of some video he shot at his daugher Lily's soccer game. Lily is #6, and Henry is the one in the yellow socks, scoring the goal!

Cute pics of Maggie

This is that new vest I mentioned in yesterdays post. I love the down vests from Lands End. I'm not sure what's going on with that ball of light in Maggie's hair. I do know her hair was wet, and I used a flash for this picture, so it's probably a reflection.


And here is our little princess. Maggie doesn't play with dress up clothes too often at this point, so I took it out of the playroom and washed it all up to hand down to cousin Nora, and of course it was the most fun she'd had in years.

Farewell, our fine feathered friend.

So our parakeet Mary Beth has found a new home. She can look forward to a very full life at her new home. The woman who took her in was thrilled to have her, and she joined many other birds in residence at this womans' apartment. The kids and I took her down to Westminster, MA yesterday and everyone handled the goodbyes wonderfully. Well, Maggie had some confused tears as we were on our way home, and Henry tried to join in on that. But I stopped him quick, pointing out that the only time he ever even mentioned Mary Beth was to willingly get rid of her if it meant he could have a hamster. And then I said that no, he couldn't have a hamster.

Today we drove up to Manchester to have the van looked at by the auto glass shop that replaced it's windshield last year. A leak had developed at the drivers side feet after heavy rains, and we were told by the dealership that the default was with the windshield, the replacement of which they had subcontracted out. The guy at the auto glass place was real nice, although he had a nasty looking plug of tobacco in his lower lip. He pointed out that the drainage holes for rainwater coming off the windshield had been collecting on top of a big pile of leaves. once he blasted the debris out with a airhose, he felt confident that the problem had been solved and we were on our way!

I felt like an idiot though, having not figured it out myself. but then jeff pointed out nevermind my idiocy, what about the dealership that claimed the fault lay in the windshield replacement! it didn't occur to them to check that? it sure was plain as day. big ol pile of leaves and assorted natural debris all jammed in there. anyways. didn't cost anything, so I'm happy.

Then, because we were in the area, we went to the mall. Ahh, the mall. Very crowded, very christmas'd, very "let's get out of here." We did pick up a fuschia colored down vest from lands end at sears for maggie, and a couple of inexpensive craft supplies. And lunch. we ate lunch. And we saw Santa, although he made maggie very nervous. We waved to him from afar.

Henry is in love with legos. my goodness. If you had any questions about what to get him for Christmas, legos would be a good bet. He shows such patience, following the instructions to build the kit he's got. When he eventually gets frustrated and overwhelmed, he creates ships and robots of his own design (I think he likes this best). He was talking about wanting his Batmo-hovercraft to get on tv somehow because it was so awesome. He settled for posting a picture of it on my blog, so look for it soon...

You aren't missing anything...

Another day of cleaning house, running errands and whipping up things for bake sales. Worst nightmare or dream come true, depending! Dream come true for me. I'm pretty happy these days.

I voted yesterday, did you? It was nice to wake up this morning to the election results, we were all pleased. I woke Henry up this morning with the good news that Paul Hodes had won the congressional election. "YESSS! Now somebody's going to stand up to George Bush!" He is such a great kid.

Jeff volunteered for the Hodes campaign and managed to get he and Henry seats on the campaign's Labor Day parade float in Milford earlier this year, so Henry has been all about Paul Hodes.
We would be driving down the road and Henry would spy a Paul Hodes sign and it would be impossible for him to keep quiet about it. "Paul Hodes!" he'd shout. I love that Jeff is sharing his interest in political action with all of us, Henry especially. We are all looking forward with great anticipation to the New Hampshire primary in 2008. I actually can conjur butterflies in my stomach when I think about Barack Obama running for president. Keep your fingers crossed!

Jeff took yesterday off from work so he could hold signs in front of our Town Hall for the various Democratic candidates. And he helped with the vote count last night after the polls closed, too! WHAT A PATRIOTIC AMERICAN.

We also had a parent teacher conference with Henry's 1st grade teacher in the afternoon, which went great. Henry is really doing wonderfully in school. She mentioned that he's always there for her when she calls on him in the classroom, the other kids love him, he gives her no trouble, he gives the other kids no trouble, gets along with everyone, etc. etc. etc. "I'd give him 5 tickets a day if I could" she said. (They have a ticket system. good behavior earns tickets, poor behavior costs tickets. 15 tickets equals a trip to the treasure chest.) I thought this was interesting because Henry totally understands and respects the ticket system and feels he needs to work hard to earn them. He was very proud and excited about getting to cash in his tickets for a prize today. (But it was Paul Hodes winning the election that actually got him up and willing to start his day, so go figure!)

Tonight is something called a "Fall Festival" put on by our PTO, and I am going down there to help out in the cafeteria. The after school enrichment program has a Junior First Lego League club, of which Henry is a member and I am a volunteer. The Lego kits that the school bought depleted the enrichment program coffers, so a few of us will be selling baked goods to the kind folks that attend the Fall Festival tonight. In fact, I have brownies and lemon bars to whip up and cupcakes to frost as we speak!

But I figure I can whip those up in no time and anyway, I have to pick up Henry soon, so the timing is off for pulling them out of the oven at the right time. There's time yet. My time is better spent sitting here typing this up, then maybe playing some Lottso on Pogo. Especially since the dishwasher is running, the washer and dryer are going, my bedroom is nearly spotless and my daughter is napping!

Time Out for Parents

Cheri Huber is a Zen meditation teacher and author that I discovered years ago in a bookshop in Cannon Beach, Oregon. The first book of hers I read was called “That Which You Are Seeking Is Causing You To Seek” , and it really blew my mind. Definitely provided many valuable life lessons. I feel like everyone should read that book.

So now I collect Cheri Huber books and press them upon my friends whenever possible. I just got her book about parenting, “Time-Out…for Parents. A Compassionate Approach to Parenting” returned to me, and I am once again struck by her sound wisdom. Check this out:

How do you want your child to be as an adult? Do you want your child to be repressed, to feel anxious and fearful of losing control? If that is the adult you want to produce then be that way with your child.

If you want a child who has the full range of his or her emotions, then you must begin to allow yourself the full range of your emotions. Once you are able to do that, and to knw that emotions are to be welcomed, not rejected, then your child will learn to do the same.

And:

That feeling of about-to-lose-it is actually a gift: it is the self signaling itself that a need is being neglected.

It is sort of like emotional hunger pangs. When you get really hungry, you do not consider that you have “lost it.” You might have learned that it is helpful not to get that hungry, because when you do you tend to gobble your food, eat the wrong things, overeat – it’s not a good system.

But does letting yourself get that hungry make you a bad person? No, of course not. It makes you a person who is out of touch with your body.

When you get to the point of screaming with anger or frustration, does this make you a bad person? No. It makes you a person who is out of touch with your feelings.

Screaming, then, is to emotions as gobbling is to hunger.

When we’ve gone too long without a basic need being met, our reactions become HUGE.

“Losing control” is really about finding feelings that have been neglected and now refuse to be ignored. The crucial information is what happens inside ourselves right before we “lose it.”

The one I think is most powerful is:

Consider that how you are treating your child is probably how you were treated.

Being familiar with Cheri Huber’s books, I can tell you that she’s talking about feelings. For example, if you remember growing up feeling anxious or not a priority or having lots of guilt about stuff you now see as an adult was unwarranted, you might consider in what ways your parenting style creates similar feelings for your kid(s).

Anyways. Just some random ramblings. Here is the book on amazon if you want to pick up her book for yourself. I really recommend it.

I had a little friend for lunch!

can you see the little face on my lunch from yesterday?

My kids are adorable.

See my handsome son. His two front teeth are beginning to descend! Here he is showing you his lego fighter ships.


Here's a picture of Maggie on our way to a birthday party yesterday. Isn't that a great jacket? She got it from her family in Maine for her birthday. Just fits now!

Ahh Yogi Tea

I love this stuff. You should try it.

A chicken in every pot, and a shoe organizer in every room

This organizer lives in my closet and it holds, wait for it, shoes! I had to screw it into the wall rather than hang it over the door, but I prefer it where it is. Between us, Jeff and I gave away over 35 wal-mart bags of used clothes several weekends ago. That's how you can see the floor. I appreciate most about this organizer the bald undeniable fact about exactly where my shoes belong when they're not on my feet.



Maggie's room. nothing too exciting here. The top row holds shoes that don't fit yet, there are some stuffed animals towards the bottom, and I plan to stuff shoes ready to be passed on to Maggie's cousin Nora. Maggie's room needs work. Soon we will be overhauling her space to include a big girl bed. for now, it's a sea of books strewn about on the floor, and a beautiful mural on the wall. and oh yes, a shoe organizer on the closet!


This is in the utility closet off the kitchen. vaccuum cleaner bags, light bulbs, bug spray, suntan lotion, extention cords, etc. I recently redid this closet, and it is really serving up some value to me now.


And finally we have the pantry. Just picked this one up at Lowes last weekend. $2.25 down from $8.95! I like it because it has two double width pockets under the mirror. And the clear plastic envelope like pockets along the type. At first I wondered what to do with them, but they ended up perfect for collecting soup labels and the like for Henry's school, and holding those individual diet drink mix things.

Now stop for a minute and try to figure out how you ever managed in life without knowing about me and my shoe organizers.

Check out those ears

Hey, I just made seven bucks!

UPDATE: SOLD! for $35 dollars!


I just posted something to new hampshire craigslist and by gum if somebody didn't email me and then drive over here and give me seven dollars to take possession of a giant plastic desk that I was thisclose to bringing to the still good pile!



I just posted a new ad for a baby sling I have laying around! wish me luck!

Kermit gets a haircut

Lookit the hair I took off that dog! My my my. You can probably guess that he didn't enjoy it much. I know you may have another opinion, but I really love Kermit when he's all shorn down like this. it makes his ears so much more expressive, he seeks more cuddling to stay warm, and I can even make him wear a little doggie t shirt for that extra layer! I just love his little shape.

Writers of "The Office" on NPRs Fresh Air

Fresh Air from WHYY, November 2, 2006

· Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling work on the hit NBC series The Office, starring Steve Carrell. Kaling also plays Kelly on the show. Daniels has a history of TV comedy writing. He has worked on Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld and The Simpsons. Kaling had a role in Carrell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin and appeared on an episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiam

Breaking eggs to make omelets

Today is mostly about working in the playroom, and also putting the green sideboard in the living room to smarter use. I was going through the shelves above the desk in the playroom and had to laugh at myself at all the wonderful storage devices put to next to no good use. for example, a beautiful green wicker picinic basket, taking up very valuable space on the shelf, held only three things inside it! and each of those three things have their duplicates (and triplicates) stored in a much more logical place.

Now that I've been cleaning out and weighing things in my personal inventory on a scale of usesablity vs. storage footprint when not in use, I am finally making some headway. Awhile ago I realized that it is one thing to be the kind of person whose decorative style is to have things out where you can see them, it is another thing entirely to have your things out because your drawers and shelves are cram packed with stuff you've forgotten you owned. Which was me. I'm making my way through each drawer and shelf and closet in my house and now actually storing things I use in them! What a pleasure to open my linen closet and have every single thing in it something I have cleaned and considered and stocked carefully in there. Rather than old stuff I crammed in there because someone was coming over or something.

My latest organization trick is to use over the door shoe organizers wherever I can. I had one in the pantry, then swapped it out for one of a different design, and put the old one in a utility closet. they just hold all that smaller stuff that clutters. And this is all to say nothing of the shoe organizer I have in my closet. It actually holds shoes! It is such a pleasure to walk into my closet (of which I can see the floor!) and lay my hands on the exact pair of shoes I want, to have a place to put shoes when cleaning up, etc. I guess what I'm saying is the cleaning and deep organizing I've been doing is still working. you really do need to have a specific place for everything if you want to be able to tidy up and be done with it. stacking and creating fresh piles is just smoke and mirrors.

The other thing I like is that in all this organizing, I'm able to enjoy the house a lot more. If your closets aren't bloated with stuff you don't use, then that space is available for the stuff you DO use! (duh.) Which means it's easier to clean up, easier to put away, easier to delegate or provide direction to others seeking stuff, etc etc etc!

p.s. today's post compared to yesterdays sounds much more productive, doesn't it? what's my secret? Low carb! isn't that interesting? I think so. it's the high protein breakfast, that's the key. I wish I could whip up my eggs and cheese with the same amount of ease that a bowl of cereal takes. Oh well. I need to just relax into the ritual of my mornings and just make the eggs and cheese and be done with it. Inevitably if I fiddle with my routine, I'm off my feed in one way or another thru-out the day.

Lily the witch

This can often be the most trying time of day

ah five pm... the kids are hungry. if I feed them now, they won't want dinner. if I don't feed them, they (and by they, I mostly mean "she") will make it nearly impossible to fix dinner. note: I'm not looking for solutions, I'm looking to vent. thanks!

Today was more relaxing than productive, I must admit. SO SLEEPY today. It's cause I'm not on the low carb plan today. I am such a carb junkie. If I start the day with a carbohydrate laden breakfast, I am done for. Chasing the carb monkey for the rest of the day, crashing mid day, no energy, general malaise. blech.

I started a new book today. "Ursula, Underground" it's called. picked it up from the still good pile at the dump. Goodness sakes do I love the still good pile at the dump. I'm on a good run there. Seems like every time I go by there to check it out, I score bigtime. But I believe in the still-good pile karma, and I believe what goes around comes around. In other words, I leave lots of still good stuf there myself. Keep it local, yocal!

woo hoo! just got off the phone with the lady who owns the duplex we vacation at on Cape Cod. We're all set for two weeks this July! oh man is that great news. I'll include a few pictures from our last trip there this summer to celebrate.