The Tiger Cub...

White Belt received his Tiger Cub badge tonight at his Blue And Gold Banquet. Doesn't he look handsome in his uniform? He worked very hard this last year to earn this badge. He's been excited about all of them so far but this one is like the culmination of the entire year. Very exciting!!!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider...

Note to Self...

When out after 8 p.m. do not, and I repeat DO NOT, drink regular coffee...especially when at a coffee shop type venue. Otherwise you will be awake, unable to fall asleep, until well after midnight.

UPDATE...I ended up staying awake until 2:30 watching a really awful Jessica Alba/Hugh Dancy movie called "The Sleeping Dictionary" since I couldn't sleep anyway. It was a really really really awful movie. Then I finally fell asleep after three only to be woken up by Dirty about an hour later and not able to fall right back to sleep. And to top everything off Monkey was up by 6:15. And now I have to go to SP's to watch her kids so she can go to a speech evaluation for S1 and then lunch with her husband. I would love nothing more than to come home directly after dropping off White Belt and letting Monkey destroy the house while I take a nap. I am so freakin' exhausted. I'm definitely going to need coffee. ;^)

Another update...I realized why I was so buzzed after my coffee which was technically an "Americano". When I get coffee out I usually get either a small or medium/tall or grande/12oz. or 16oz. LATTE. So last night when I got a regular cup which was at least 12 oz. of coffee that is like having twice what I normally have. So I technically had two of my regular-sized cups of coffee last night.

And I did have to have more coffee today which is what is getting me through the day. That and not being too sedentary for fear of passing out. I'm about to go workout while Monkey naps. He's already sleeping so I need to get cracking. I will say though that I've found that I enjoy the "Americano" and it's also much cheaper than a latte because the most expensive thing about the latte is the milk. I may or may not be having the equivalent amount of fat and calories. I think that it might actually be less but there's no way that I'm going to try and calculate that at this moment. That's too much for me to think about right now.

I heart mat Pilates...

Last week I did a Pilates routine 3 days!!! To anyone who works out regularly this is lame. However, it is a new milestone for me. This morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and did a mat routine. YAY!!! I'm still working on the cardio aspect of working out. I have a mini-stepper but my heart rate doesn't really raise that much when I use it. It is basically just something to keep me moving instead of sitting on my bottom and doing nothing...like I am right now.

My motivation right now has to do with Joseph Pilates' motto for using Pilates to strengthen your core as well as the rest of your body, "You will feel better in 10 sessions, look better in 20 sessions, and have a completely new body in 30 sessions!" The exclaimation may just be my video instructor, Ana Caban, being her inspirational peppy self. I've never seen or heard Joseph Pilates speak so maybe it was him...I just don't know. But for anyone who is really bad at simple math, or have maybe just gotten lost in my rambling, I'm down 4 sessions. Only 26 sessions to go for my "completely new body". If I can keep on target with 3 sessions a week I could have my transformed body in 10 weeks!!! Exciting I know.

I may only have completed 4 sessions but I will say that I am already feeling better. I definitely feel that my tush and my tummy are feeling tighter. I notice that even when I'm at rest (standing or now sitting and typing) I feel my muscles are tensed...even if right now it's just a little. :D I read once in a magazine that for my body-type (that would be short aka petite with an hour-glass figure and when I put on even five pounds it makes a B.I.G. difference) Pilates is actually the ideal workout for me. I personally think that Pilates is the ideal workout for ANYONE because it can so easily be modified and challenging for all skill levels. Plus I think that any time you can stretch while working out that's a good thing because I don't like to take the extra time to stretch. I like the flexibility that I gain in addition to the strength. I know that yoga also incorporates these two things, but even though I like yoga, I don't like it as much as Pilates.

Eventually I want to be able to afford, and have time for for that matter, to go to a Pilates studio and use Pilates equipment with my workout. Although right now mat Pilates is all I really need...because I'm in the very beginning of getting back in shape.

Reasons NOT to run with a blanket over your head...

Day 2 of a Pilates Extravaganza

Okay so maybe "extravaganza" is too big of a word for the second day of doing a Pilates routine. But I've had the motivation to do it two days this week. The second day was even at 6:30...in the morning!!! I will say that my shoulders are still stiff from day one so doing anything today was painful. My legs and abs felt good though. Woo Hoo!!! Go Me!!! And PPG there is no way that I will make another blog about this type of stuff. I'm already spending way too much time with this one and I have a new Jon Krakauer book ready for me to pick up at the library. :D

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr................

That's me growling because maneuvering the parking lot for school drop off and pick up is similar to driving in some sort of demolition derby. This morning I was trying to back up into a spot. I do this because I am nearly hit each time I back out of a spot. So while trying to back into a spot someone, a teacher no less, races behind my car as I'm backing up. Very frustrating. Then this afternoon there was one spot left. Well actually there was only half of a spot left because some inconsiderate person parked in two spaces. This person turns out to be even more inconsiderate later. Monkey fell asleep and instead of bringing a stoller in I carried him so my arm and neck are killing me. White Belt was later than usual coming down. We have to walk to the opposite end of the parking lot to get to the one spot that was open after I drove around the parking lot twice. Then as I'm slowly backing out of my space in the one break in the line of cars opens up double-space-parker speeds out of his space and then stops behind my car. The line in front of him kept going, but of course he just sits there knowing full well that I need to back out before the next extremely long line of cars comes. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only all this but I've come to realize that NO ONE and I mean NO ONE makes a complete stop in St. Louis. This all came about because there was a crackdown across 44 in old McRee town which is now Botanical Heights. Everyone on our neighborhood listserv was complaining about the crackdown which got me thinking about people stopping at stop signs. NO ONE does. Everyone seems to just briefly pause then speed on through. And what I also notice is that people driving behind those that do actually stop, and wait the required 3 seconds, is that they honk, go around, and act like you're inconveniencing them by stopping...AT A STOP SIGN!!!!!!! Who cares if we have more stop signs than other places. It's because we have more reckless drivers who are inconsiderate of other people. It doesn't give you the right to disobey the law.

I thought that venting about this would help but I may actually be getting more worked up. So I'll stop and know that I've put this out into the universe. Maybe now I can put it behind me a little bit.

book club is cancelled?!?!?!

After a four day weekend, it may be sad, but I needed a break from my kids. Yes, I know that my husband was home all weekend and that he is a HUGE help in all things boy. I was still really looking forward to some coffee, snacks, and minimal conversation about the book that my book club was reading for February. However, when I woke up on Tuesday morning I had a message saying that book club was cancelled due to illness in the family. I was feeling the stress wash over me. Then Monkey woke up and was very crabby toward me. I tried to make him cereal. He didn't want that. I was going to make him pancakes from a mix. We have no eggs and therefore the pancake mix is useless. AHA!!! There is a strawberry muffin mix! I can turn that into pancakes. This all seems very calm but at 7 a.m. with a three year old throwing a tantrum of maximum proportion it's a little hard to think clearly. Once he realized that I was indeed making pancakes (strawberry pancakes no less) he calmed down.

We went about getting ready and White Belt's break must have been what he needed because he had no complaints about going to school. I dropped him off at school where, luckily, he and his classmates were getting to sit inside the gym because of the frigid temps. Then I took Monkey to school who told me that he didn't want to go to his school. He didn't stop complaining the entire way. When we got to the light at Jefferson getting off of 44 he yelled at me that, "Green means go, MOM! Turn the car! The sun is getting in my face!!!!!" I calmly told him that I couldn't go because even though green means go the light is red right now. That means I can't do anything about it. I'm sorry the sun is in his eyes and I will turn the car just as soon as I can.

Right then my friend RE called to ask if I would still like to get together somewhere...even if we don't discuss the book. She needed to have some break from her oldest sometime throughout the day. So we talked about options. I knew that wherever we went it needed to include coffee and possibly something to eat. So we decided on Hartford Coffee Co. We called everyone who was supposed to come to book club. And invited DR who we knew is always in for coffee. We had a nice time at Hartford and some distraction from what is stressful in our lives.

I needed to go meet AR at my house, where she was going to drop Monkey off, so I helped DR out to her car. DR said that if I needed a distraction for Monkey that we could come over to her house where she also needed a distraction from JR. They were leaving last night to go to Memphis where she was dropping off JR at her parents house then she and her husband were going on their first child-free trip in three years. I didn't really feel like facing my house and spending time with someone where our children will go off and play together is always nice. We were able to sit and chat all afternoon until I had to go get White Belt from school. So thank you DR for your hospitality. I got indigestion from the IMO's though. :D I have nothing but good wishes for your trip.

Then Dirty took both boys with him to Tae Kwon Do even though Monkey hadn't had a nap. And I got to do a session of mat Pilates and take a shower. When they got home I put Monkey to bed and then passed out not much later myself. I don't know why I've been so exhausted.

Well isn't he just the sweetest thing...

Or does he just think all pictures on the computer are of our family???

Scene: I'm sitting browsing the internet next to Monkey while he's supposed to be watching a show. A picture of Jessica Alba pops up.

Monkey: Mommy look!!! It's a picture of you.

Me: You think that's a picture of Mommy? Well thank you Monkey!

Scene: I scroll down a little further and a picture of Adrian Grenier pops up. He's sporting longish hair and a serious 5 o'clock shadow.

Monkey: Mommy look!!! It a picture of Daddy.

Me: You think that looks like Daddy. (I guess it kind of does but the coloring is sort of off.)

Scene: I scroll down yet even futher and a picture of Britney Spears pops up. She's looking a little disheveled and possibly a little crazy.

Monkey: Mommy look!!! It's you!

Me: Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute!!! I thought I looked like Jessica Alba!!!

The start of a four day weekend...

For White Belt that is. He was starting to get totally burned out. So I'm glad that he's getting a decent break. We had a nice slow wake up this morning which may or may not have included candy from yesterdays Valentine's Day extravaganza. I will not incriminate myself for not stopping it or the boys for sneaking it. :D And after I got an uninterrupted shower with minimal damage to the house I made french toast for breakfast which neither of the boys snubbed their noses at.

Then we went to Whittle Shortline Railroad which I think is in Fenton. Now unfortunately my boys are not the playing-with-trains-on-fully-stocked-train-tables-for-hours-on-end types of boys. So after one cup of extremely cheap (Only $1. Very cheap in these days of coffee house franchises) but tasty coffee and maybe two paragraphs of adult interaction for me we left. This may not seem like much time since it took us 20 minutes to drive there but I got a short mommy playdate with my friends RE and EL. They had to leave after an hour also because their even younger children were starting to break down.

After Whittle we went to Steak 'n Shake. We had a pretty nice lunch. Although White Belt started a very loud explaination about different orangutans. The young professionals at the closest inhabited table started whispering to each other and laughing a little. And even though I was slightly lost because I haven't been watching the same show that he has I always enjoying watching his excitement. I told him more than a year ago that if he was going to be a zoologist that he could work at the zoo throughout high school, and after he could go to the jungles of Borneo and volunteer at the orangutan orphanages. Well, I lost him talking about internships and such but after watching Orangutan Island he now wants to go to the jungles of Borneo when he's grown up to see the orangutans there. AWESOME!!!

Then we made an impromptu visit to the P's. There I had another short mommy playdate with SP and EO. Two separate mommy playdates in one day. SCORE!!! Monkey broke at least one toy while we were there and was in a sort of destructive mood. I guess playing with trains didn't cut it as far as getting destructive energy out.

So then we left there to get ready for the Friday night swim which happens almost weekly at our house. (sans myself because I don't especially enjoy getting into a bathing suit any time but it's really not worth it if you don't get to lay in the sun.) We packed up and brought some clementine's for snacks in the car. We were supposed to meet Dirty at 4:15-ish at the Heights. We got there slightly after four which was good because then the boys got about 25 minutes of running around and playground time since Dirty was running late. I should have skipped the afternoon playdate and just taken them to a playground. They desperately needed it. Once Dirty showed up he left his bag with me since our locker lock has disappeared and we are too cheap to go buy another $4 lock we'd rather just ask if the lost lock has been found somewhere in the house. He also reminded me repeatedly that I was not to leave his bag in the car. Period.

I left to go buy a pizza for the boys at Schnucks and my secret plans to get my car washed. I didn't tell Dirty that I had added a car wash to my last gas purchase because he thinks they are a waste...and yet we have never ever washed our cars at home. I think he's okay with the wash your car yourself car wash. When I got to Smitty's SoKing Amoco though there was a pretty long line for the car wash. So I decided to run to Schnucks first and get the pizza.

The line for the car wash should shorten by then, right? Wrong. There were exactly as many cars in line when I got there the second time as when I left the first time only with two new cars. I rarely have alone time in my car to just sit since I have no commute except for White Belt and Monkey's school drop offs. And even though I could come back during the week I have nothing better to do (disgusting kitchen and ridiculously untidy house aside) so I decide to stay. Now it is my belief that when you get anyone behind you in line you are committed because there is no way to back out without inconveniencing anyone. This didn't stop the young lady behind me from asking no less than five drivers behind her to back up out of the line so that she could get out of the queue. I was slightly shock that she would ask other drivers to do that and slightly in awe of her asking other drivers to do that.

I, however, took the time to detail my car as much as is humanly possible with one empty grocery shopping bag and baby wipes. We rarely use baby wipes anymore now that both boys are potty trained but baby wipes are a very useful tool at any age. They must be scent free though because the scented ones give me a headache. I also cleaned out my messenger bag. I started worrying, after 45 minutes of waiting to get my car washed, that Dirty was going to hit his proverbial wall for the day because of hunger and be heading home. I knew what the boys have eaten today and knew that they would also be hungry. Sometimes my oven goes on strike and doesn't like to heat up in a timely fashion. To get home and heat the oven and cook the pizza in 20 minutes is unlikely in even the best of circumstances. I'm only one car back now. I'm getting excited and slightly worried that some wierd malfunction is going to cause me to not get my car wash like an unauthorized code or something. Entering my code runs smoothly even though I don't think I got the undercarriage wash that I paid for. My car almost looks like I don't live with three human boys that trash it on a daily basis.

I drive home and pull up hoping that this will be the one time that Dirty stays longer than an hour by himself at the pool with the boys. My cell phone rings and he's on his way home. He'll be home in about 15 minutes. I have 15 minutes to get the pizza ready. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I work faster without the boys home but there's no way that I am going to tidy the house and clean the kitchen in the little bit of alone time that I have. They get home hungry and the pizza still has 20 minutes left. Luckily Dirty stayed home long enough to plaster the children in front of the tv so I can finish "making" dinner and cleaning the kitchen. The boys were very excited that food was ready, came in ate dinner, and then dispersed to further chill out for the day in front of the television. I cooked a pizza for myself and then ate while watching SuperWhy with Monkey. We then all watched the second half of Curious George together after which White Belt went to the living room to his weekend bedroom. Monkey passed out while watching Lazy Town. And I've spent most of the evening that I haven't been moving on this super long blog. (The only kind I can write apparently.)

Oh and did I mention that Dirty was going out tonight with his work friends. I know, I know. I'm totally a superwoman...for today anyway.

Happy Valentine's Day...

So in the grand scheme of things I have not had the best Valentine's Days. I've been broken up with, I've found out I've been cheated on by a boyfriend, and I have now been totally rebuffed by my firstborn. I thought that I would get a few gifts for the boys. I bought White Belt a frog dish and frog spoon and fork. For Monkey I bought a monkey dish and monkey spoon and fork. Then I also got them a Curious George dvd to share. They both came out excited about getting gifts. White Belt's response was, "Dang!" That was it. So I said, "Dang? What do you mean dang?" White Belt said, "Just dang about the presents." I didn't know what to make of that so I went about making breakfast while they looked over their gifts. Monkey by the way said he loved his gifts and all of his monkeys were named George. Then once they are eating breakfast White Belt asks, "Why did you get me frogs?" I said, "I got you frogs because you like green. You've pretty much always like green. The only other animals they had were ladybugs and butterflies. Would you have rather had one of those?" "No." "Well then the only choice was frogs." I thought that would be the end of the conversation but a little later he asks, "Can you just take these gifts back and get me more gifts?" And by this point I'm starting to wonder why I bought him anything to begin with. He was totally spoiled at Christmas and now he is pooing all over the gifts that I thought he would like. So I said, "No I'm not taking them back to buy you something else. And I'm done talking about this. You're bumming me out." He then proceeded to try and push Monkey's and my buttons the rest of the time that we were together this morning. After writing about this I think that maybe he was just not in a very good mood. He went to bed late and then woke up a little early. I'm trying to get this out of my system before I have to pick him up at 3:30 at school.

I will say that Monkey has been a complete doll all day. He was excited about his gifts. When he was at this Valentine's Day party at school he was more excited about the cards than the candy. I think he was the only child there that didn't eat every single piece of candy given him. He didn't even get into his candy when we were there. He did eat the savory food and a little of the strawberry milk. He's also been extremely cuddly and sweet all day.

After the party we went to meet Dirty at his work for lunch. We were going to go to Trainwreck or something like that. But when we got there, right at 12, there was a huge rush and we didn't feel like waiting. I wasn't really looking forward to bar food. And since there was a wait we left and went to Crazy Bowls And Wraps. Dirty got a chicken Caesar wrap with crispy chicken that I think he gets every time. Monkey and I shared the Teriyaki salmon bowl with brown rice and vegetables. It was extremely yummy and filling. I didn't finish all of the rice but it was a really big bowl.

I HEART BBC AMERICA!!!

To preface what I am going to say next I do not enjoy any Gordon Ramsay show on American TV...at all!!! I started watching How Clean Is Your House? on BBC America and it would record the first 5 minutes or so of You Are What You Eat. I started recording You Are What You Eat, which then recorded 5 minutes or so of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. My interests were piqued. Then I was recording that show.

When Gordon Ramsay first reared his head on American TV I would not give him the time of day. I came to find out that Gordon Ramsay was a celebrity chef who I actually liked. Now I actually like many celebrity chefs but I thought there was a possibility that I would not like Gordon Ramsay. I really enjoy his recipes especially those from Gordon Ramsay's F Word. The F Word was his campaign to get women back into the kitchen. He thought that women were not learning or even trying to cook for reasons that were complete bollocks. The recipes are all very simple and yet look and seem like they would be extremely tasty. Granted I haven't actually tried any of the recipes but they all look good and I'm generally a good judge of that. I know he gets a bad wrap for having the mouth of a sailor. Dirty said that he thought I was watching something on MTV because he was in the kitchen and all he heard was mumble mumble beep beep beep mumble mumble mumble beep beep. I will admit that he does not have the most advanced vocabulary. I do enjoy his use of the word bollocks and until this posting I've never had the bollocks to use it. I mostly think he is inpiring as far as cooking and the world of restaurant ownership goes.

Now onto You Are What You Eat. This show takes extremely obese people (men, women, and children) put them on a detox diet of fruits, vegetables, legumes, lean protein (fish and chicken), and who grains. These people in six weeks generally lose a ton of weight and feel much better from the healthier diets and the addition of exercise to their lifestyles. I love this show because I liked learning the nutritional values of food. It also makes me feel better that I don't eat the tables full of carbs, fat, and fizzy drinks that these poor fat slobs eat. Now this isn't to say that I don't eat carbs, fat, or fizzy drinks. I love carbs, fat, and fizzy drinks. However this show did help me to really get motivated to eat more fruits and vegetables. I unfortunately cannot get motivated to do much else. So I will for now, until Monkey is no longer as physically demanding as he is now, look longingly at my size four and six jeans. Oh and this show also made me figure out how much a "stone" weighs. It's approximately 14 pounds. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I'm correct.

How Clean Is Your House? is a show dedicated to letting most of us know that we are not really as disgusting when it comes to housecleaning as we might think we are. Again this show helped me feel superior to these people who obviously had some sort of mental issue and subsequently felt helpless to the point that they just gave up cleaning their houses because it took up too much energy. Now sometimes I think our house is just gross but when I watch this show I realize that it's not really that bad. I used some of their "recipes" for cleaning and for the most part they didn't work as well, or maybe I didn't use enough "elbow grease", as they did on the show. So even though I sometimes think that our house is sometimes as bad as a barnyard we do not literally have a barnyard in our kitchen when there are people that actually do. Right now it's close though because I haven't swept since Tuesday.

I also enjoy BBC America News. It is the same news as NPR only I get pictures to go along. All of those names and places mean nothing to me but then I see BBC America News, and suddenly I understand. I am going to go ahead and say that the reason I need pictures is because of how I learn rather than I'm an idiot who needs pictures in order to understand things though.

Lands' End Sale at Sears

We were totally blessed with the Lands' End sale that Sears was having this weekend. We got coats for the boys that are usually $59.50 each for $22.50 each. Dirty didn't want to spend more than $30 for each of their coats, and he has been pretty excited that we got them each quality coats for the price that we would have originally spent on one. The boys got new coats which were definitely needed. White Belt's coat had a broken zipper pull for a while and then a broken zipper. He also didn't like it from the moment that we made him wear it. We had gotten it free last year when my auntie V. who works a job at Value City gave it to him for Christmas. As soon as we mentioned that it was his new coat he told us that he just wanted a green coat. Monkey's old coat also had some teeth broken out of the zipper so each time we would go to zip it up all the way it would skip those teeth then come undone. I also don't know how warm it really was. It used to have another shell that went inside but that we have yet to locate possibly in the house. Each of them wanted a specific color. White Belt wanted green like I said before and Monkey wanted blue. Blue was the one color they had his size in.

Oh so frustrating...

Since dropping our home phone we have not had internet for a week. Now this isn't to say that through other devices we are not able to access the internet which is why I've had posts in this last week. I was using a laptop with a wireless card which let me update my blog. I was also using Dirty's handheld wireless internet device to just check e-mail, but typing anything on that is a pain because you use a stylus to point at letters which is time consuming on such a small screen. And then to top it all off the laptop that we had been using, who's hard-drive had been getting louder and louder over the last month or so, finally crashed. I spent 35 minutes on hold with AT&T today for them to tell me that they haven't found an answer to the problem we have. This problem has something to do with everytime they try to connect us remotely it comes back with an error. The error has something to do with the fact that wherever they are trying to connect us is the incorrect place to connect us. The man that I talked to said that we won't be charged for this time that they are trying to work out our issue. That is the light at the end of that tunnel.

One more thing that is frustrating...Monkey is not taking a nap. For some reason, where he used to fall asleep in the car on the way to pick up White Belt from school, he is no longer falling asleep. Now this wouldn't be a problem except that when he is tired, like after not taking a nap in the afternoon, he is even more rambunctious than normal. For those that know him you may be shuddering with disbelief that anyone could have more energy than Monkey. But, my friends, indeed he does have that much more energy. I believe it has something to do with trying not to be still because it could cause him to fall asleep. Now the upswing of this is that he will be going to bed around 7 p.m.

Tomorrow's a busy day. We have White Belt to drop off at school. Then we have a field trip to the SLPD stables in Forest Park with Monkey's preschool. Then off to the R.'s for Valentine cookie decorating. We will probably be there for quite sometime because that's how playdates go there. And depending on how long we stay there we will come home and hopefully get some of the weekly cleaning stuff done. (i.e. sweep, clean toilet, clean mirrors, wipe fingerprints off of doors, vacuum, dust.) Now to be realistic since this is at the bottom of the list it will most likely get pushed to a later date. I need to go look for recipes for a friend who needs a good room temperature appetizer for a trivia night. Actually I think I will give her a roasted pepper terrine recipe that I have been wanting to try.

One good thing about today...I've gotten the laundry caught up. YAY!!!!!

while eating dinner...

Monkey laughed telling Dirty, who was working on White Belt's bicycle, that, "Dad, you look like a bicycle." Then after Monkey was finished with dinner, I was still eating, and he came up to me trying to get into my lap. I told him I didn't want to hold him because I was still eating. But then he looked up at me and said, "Pretty please. I want to hold you because you're so soft." And really at that point I couldn't say no.

I must write about voting...

Apparently almost everyone that I know who blogs wrote about voting. Unfortunately, my internet was/is down while they work out us not having a landline anymore. I was only able to check e-mail and browse the internet through a handheld wireless device. So I will write a little something about voting. I went thinking, "No problem. I will be in and out in five minutes." It ended up being ten and the ladies working the check in were a little frustrated and taking it out on us the humble voters. When I came in there was only one lady working the table checking people in. There was a guy sitting there as well but apparently he was just on his lunch break and another lady but her only job was to hand people their ballots. So the lady working was trying to explain to someone the protocol for change of address and giving very confusing directions how to get to the correct polling place. The second lady was apparently checking people in for curbside voting. I did not know before yesterday that there was such a thing.

So once she came back in the lady that was already working the table went into a story about how exactly she was helping the change of venue voter...which took about three minutes. There were two ladies in front of me. (Three if you count the lady on her cell phone that I cut in front of because I figured she couldn't go through the process while talking on the phone. That would be rude of her, right?) Once the lady who left for the curbside voting came back in things started going more quickly.

Although after waiting so long the lady in front of me was asked to remove her Obama pin from the lapel of her coat. She said that's fine. Then she turned around to us, her fellow voters, and opened her jacket to show a large Obama head across her torso. The lady working said, kind of rudely, that it's the law and it would be illegal for the lady voting to keep the pin on in the voting area. Thus concludes my voting story. I know that 10 minutes is not that long in the grand scheme of things. I was still slightly early for preschool pick-up to get Monkey and his friend MR. It was a little tough trying to explain to her why I was picking her up, which was so her mom could go vote with only one child.

Even though I'm not well versed in anything political and really I just went on intuition I was still excited about voting. I feel blessed that we get to vote even if sometimes it doesn't feel like it really matters. I have the probably naive view that somehow it does. Every time I vote I think I should really make my vote count and be more informed. I think I'm getting slightly better. It's just not something that I'm extremely interested. If it were a firsthand account of one of the biggest disasters on Mt. Everest, at this point in time, I would have been more interested in reading up on the topic. More on that later perhaps. Anyway I hope everyone, especially any ladies out there, used their right to vote. And now before the cheesy music starts playing...

Art Hill and the Bo-tangle Gardens

Tay-Tay came for an overnight visit and we filled the time with all sorts of fun things. Friday night, shortly after arriving, she and the boys went swimming. This swimming trip wasn't as long as usual because well...they were all hungry. I had a little trouble with the oven and it didn't heat up as quickly as I was expecting so dinner was still a little bit of a wait. Saturday morning as quickly as we could we all got bundled up and went to Art Hill for sledding. We went early hoping we would miss the crowds. It worked. The hill wasn't too crowded. We all took turns going down and it was one of our better sledding experiences. The snow was packed and we were able to make it down the hill with minimal effort. Aside from the fact that Monkey had to pee about 45 minutes in causing us to have to leave didn't hinder the fun time. It's a B.I.G. hill and it's fun going down but a haul to get back up. Four or five times down really can be enough. :D

After Art Hill we came home and had a potty break, ate some lunch, then headed back out to make it to the Bo-tangle Gardens (as Monkey calls it) before noon catching their free admission time. We planned on walking through the Climatron as the main event. There was a bird exhibit where we were able to see an American Kestrel, a Screech Owl, a Barn Owl, and a Red-Tailed Hawk from the World Bird Sanctuary. White Belt suggested we get a Red-Tailed Hawk for our attic to keep the squirrel problem we have up there under control. Then we headed to the Climatron.

White Belt has been a little off today and I think he must also have the cold that I have. So the first picture we weren't able to get him to pose with Tay-Tay and Monkey. The second picture was a rare moment when White Belt, Tay-Tay, and Monkey were all clustered together looking at the sensitive plant. This plant, when you touch it's leaves, closes up hence the name sensitive plant. Tay-Tay was hoping to find more plants like that as well as the meat-eating plants which we never found. Then I was going to lead us to the Japanese garden only to run into a dead end because of the snow and construction on the Victorian Garden. After hitting a dead end we decided against going any further really and went through the Camellia exhibit before leaving the Garden. Leaving so soon wasn't a big deal since we did get in for free.

After the Garden we came back home. Tay-Tay and the boys went out back to play which lasted about 20 minutes. Then they came in and had a snack, and we're all sitting around waiting for the time when we have to leave to take Tay-Tay home. All in all it's been a lovely visit from our "pretend sister/daughter".

Pinewood Derby 2008

White Belt had his first Pinewood Derby this year for Cub Scouts. He was so excited to race and absolutely sure that he was going to win a trophy for something. To start with every boy weighs in his car, and it has to be judged to make sure that it is under five ounces. Once the official weigh-in was over each den took turns racing each other. Every scout got four chances to race on four different tracks. White Belt's car wasn't really doing so great. He did win one race but the race was disqualified because one of the other cars jumped the track. Dirty, who was a judge, said that if that race hadn't been disqualified White Belt could have gotten second place for his den. BUT the race didn't count so White Belt didn't place. This was his first real brush with competitive disappointment. When he tested for his white belt in Tae Kwon Do he got it. When he takes spelling tests, the only real tests he has in school right now, he never misses more than one which gives him a one hundred because his teacher gives them a "bonus" word.

So the Pinewood Derby was a great learning experience. Every boy does walk away with a Pinewood Derby badge but, I'm sure to the boys, it's not the same as a trophy. It was our chance to really emphasize to White Belt the fun that he had designing the car and the time he got to spend with his dad and Grandpa C building it. We also got to talk about everything that Dirty learned from being a judge and what he can do to help his car go faster next year. He really liked his design and when he had the chance to vote on best design he chose his own...smart boy. His is the bright green car in the middle of the picture.

SNOW DAY!!!!!

I stayed up late (found out later that I didn't really need to) to see if White Belt was going to have school today. When I found out I decided to make him a sign that he would see as soon as he came out of his room. I taped this message to the floor right outside of his door. He opened the door and said, "Oh." Then he read aloud, "White Belt no school today. Love Mom." Immediately after that he said, "Yes!!! Monkey, I don't have school today! Let's go watch tv!" This sign bought me an extra half an hour to sleep since I stayed up late.

After an easy wake up this morning. The boys wanted to play outside. So we bundled up and went out. I figured I needed to shovel the walk anyway. Luckily our snow is pretty powdery and therefore easy to shovel. BUT I heard John from next door with his snowblower. I will say that John is one of the neighboriest neighbors one can have since the PGs have moved away. John pushed his snowblower toward me then turned it off and said, "How much do you want to shovel?" I said, "None of it." He said, "I can do it. This thing has no problem with it and I like doing it." I asked if we could get him some beer or something. And he said, "Well you guys do what you want. I just like doing it." I guess this statement really is true since he did half of the block...ON BOTH SIDES!!! He also made a path from the sidewalk, that he cleared, to the street where he also cleared a space around my car. JOHN ROCKS!!!

So I abandoned my snow shoveling and went to stand in the back and watch the boys play. I would have thought that it would have zapped some of their energy...I was wrong! And yet, my energy is zapped, and I don't think I'll be making it to the grocery store today. Oh well, at least I can tackle some housework.