26 March 2006

Mental mommy weekend notes

1) Sleeping in past nine a.m. is bliss. Two days in a row is heaven. No idea why they let me do that.

2) Albert Finney played Daddy Warbucks in Annie.> He also played Ed Masry in Erin Brockovich. Knowing one has now totally ruined the other for me. But my eldest loved watching Annie, even though I had to practically twist her arm to watch it.

3) Why is it that no one is selling sundresses this year? I have a wedding to attend in Texas in two weeks. No sundresses anywhere in petite. Not online, not locally, nowhere. Sheesh.

4) Work cranks up again as spring break ends. But I have no interest right now.

5) Kill Bill entertains me wayyyy more than it should. Especially the soliloquies in Vol. 2.

17 March 2006

Publishing, take me away!

Some of my blogging friends have running lists of what they read.

I don't.

I read.

A lot.

I've always read. My mother banned books from the dinner table when I was a kid (something I still struggle with today, even though I know it is impolite and a bad habit). I started reading somewhere around 3 or 4.

My first book: Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss. My dad read it to me all the time, but by an early age, I didn't have it memorized. I knew how to read from it.

I read to other kids in kindergarten. I'd read in the family car on long trips. I'd read on weekends, nice or not outside, to my parents' chagrin. My mom put a limit of 20 books on me per checkout of the library during the summer.

I still read on trips. I try to read to my kids. Right now my son's favorite is Harry the Dirty Dog (he and Harry have a lot in common). My youngest's favorite is Easter Bugs by David A. Carter. (or any of his books. She loves his pop-ups.)

My eldest isn't a reader. It baffles me. She doesn't read fiction. She's like her dad; she'll read nonfiction. If the topic interests her. Right now, she's plowing through our Calvin and Hobbes collection during spring break.

I consider that a good sign, both for her perspective on life and our parenting skills.

I haven't updated the books side in a while. I've read a lot of great books, and a lot of trash--love my romance novels, I do. But I'm a lazy wench, and editing code takes more time than I have.

But this time, I've added a few well worth reading. Take the time and read them, then let me know what you think.

13 March 2006

Hello, tormado season

Long night . . . tormado warnings and tormados (stealing my son's pronunciation) from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. last night. Two separate hits, one south of us by a bit, another north of us by a bit.

We're fine. We even missed the softball-sized hail, which hit a mile down the street. We only had marble-sized. Shooter marble-sized, but still.

Kids are still freaked. Husband and I have had three and four hours of sleep respectively. Check out our local paper for photos.

Night all. I'm crashing now that the tormados are gone. Just think, this will only run until September. Being a parent and reassuring scared kids when you are slightly wigging yourself is just no fun.

Sigh.

03 March 2006

Feh

Illness has felled us again. Like many of my blogging compatriots, the evil viruses have us down. I've burned more sick days this year covering ill kids than I want to think about.

Nor do I want to think about the amount of money in copays and medicine we've burned through since Christmas.

My CT is acting up again, so I'm in the brace for another month and the anti-inflammatories for another month. I'm going to be scarce.

To tide you over:

* Why is it that daycares are petri dishes for every bug out there?

* Why is it that my college roommate has to choose between her incredibly awesome job at a major publisher and her newborn? Why can't a valued near-vice president get cut some slack for a couple of years, maybe at 60%? Instead, they are going to train four people to replace her. How insane is that?

* Why is it that I constantly feel behind the eight ball at home and especially at work? I'm always forgetting something. Why?

* Why is it 18-month-olds have to learn how to do a high-pitched shriek just short of the range that only dogs could hear?

* Why is it 18-month-olds must try to kill themselves climbing on furniture/stairs/stacked beanbags/gates/cribs?

* Why is it that the puberty mood swings seem to hit earlier and earlier? My friends with nine-year-olds and I are watching this and wondering what the heck 15 will look like at this rate.

* Why is it my nearly four-year-old shows no interest in writing, but can tell me every minutia of SpongeBob for the last three seasons?

* Why can't I get a good night's sleep lately?

Discuss amongst yourselves. I'll be back when it doesn't hurt like blazes to type. And the kids are healthy.