Par-tay Girls Start Scheming

It was a nice little addition to the whole holiday vacation.... an email yesterday from one of the Par-tay girls, informing me of our lunch date for today. Missy Kay decided to come to Austin to play, so the mommies and the kids all met at Waterloo Ice House for lunch.

While the kids played, we tried to think of a way to score some tickets to see Oprah. We just need to come up with a compelling scenario. Since Missy is the actress of the four of us, she will either suffer a debilitating disease, or have some sort of problem that requires Oprah's help. We are all prepared to drop what we are doing and get to Chicago for taping, and we will dress nice, so we get to sit on the front row.

We got all the kids, except Joey to pose for a pint sized Par-tay picture. 

Funny Christmas Memory

The last couple of days before Christmas, when I was frantically wrapping all the loot, I had to get creative about boxes. I used an empty Cheerios box for something, and an old Ritz Cracker box for something else. Both were Joey's gifts.

On Christmas morning, Joey unwrapped each of those and said, Yum! and then just set the box down. We had to tell him, twice, that there was something better in the box.

Before opening presents.... 

Joey anticipating his "big gift" from Mom and Dad. 

Joey experiencing his "big gift" from Mom and Dad... 

After opening presents. 

Christmas Pagent. One of the lambs had really chapped lips. 

Took the kids for the annual visit with Santa. For the first time I remembered to bring my camera, for the 4th or 5th time, forgot to bring a brush. 

Joey asked for Playdoh Doggie Doctor, Max asked for Star Wars Legos, and Emma asked for a trip to Japan. 

Grace and Joey (possibly class of 2020, if I'm doing the math right....) 

Alex and Emma 

Grace and Max 

The spinning of the tops. 

Cute nephew Alex 

So much fun!

I had a blast yesterday at my first ever Art Sale. And as of about 12:30 pm I became a professional artist when my lovely friend Lindsey bought a Day of the Dead pillow, greeting cards and a tooth fairy pillow! I'm so glad someone I love came by first!

We had 15 artists at my friend Robbin's awesome house. I had so much fun making pillows and cards this last month and fun selling them too! I traded other artists for their cool stuff, the weather was perfect and lots of friends dropped by to visit me. A wonderful day!

My "booth" and my "son" 

slutty cowgirls and dish TV

OK. Two issues in life right now. Issue one, VERY BUSY. There is a sale coming up on Saturday. An art sale and I'm one of the artists selling stuff! My friend Robbin has held this sale for the last couple of years. I attended last year and thought it was really cool and I should spend all of 2005 making clever things to sell. By mid-November, I hadn't. And the date Robbin set was the same as my Brownie troop camp out. So, I figured I had all of 2006 to get crackin'.

Then she changed the date to December 10. No excuses and I said yes. So for the last month the house has gone to hell, since something had to give. Housework is not possible now. My bathrooms are messy, the laundry is a mountain of doom, I open the fridge at 6 wondering why the vegetables, milk, eggs, OJ haven't appeared magically since I no longer have time to shop.

What I have done is made really nifty pillows. For the moms out there, two styles: Slutty Cowgirl, or Day of the Dead. I am happy with both, and hope that I don't own all 15 at the end of the day on Saturday. Then I have about a dozen kids' tooth fairy pillows. Originally, I planned them to be sweet and cute, but I had some slutty cowgirl fabric scraps..... David is quizzing me on just who I imagine will buy their daughter a slutty cowgirl tooth fairy pillow. (me?) Then I sort of half heartedly made greeting cards. Cute, but it's been almost a month since I made them, and since my own Christmas cards are languishing unmade at the 40% completion point, I feel guilty working on any other cards. (Saturday night I go full steam on my cards! -- look for them in the mail mid-Dec)

Anyway, I'm almost set. And since 5 hours just became available tomorrow, I should be in good shape. Why, you ask, did 5 hour become available? Well, that is topic two: DISH TV.

For the last 5 1/2 years, David and I have been cable free. We watch a LOT of TV around here, so it is sort of amazing we cut the umbilical cord (coaxial) when we moved home to Austin. Well, we did. And every 6 months or so we talked about getting cable. But with the three kids, there was always something more pressing to fund. ($50 a month will not send them to Harvard, and that is what we currently put in the college fund!)

Anyway, long story short. We found a "bundle" from our phone company, DSL/Local/Long Distance/and Dish TV for about what we were paying two companies for DSL/Local + Long D. So we signed up Monday. Set to install the dish tomorrow. And today the dish TV guy was outside. I ran outside in a panic, thinking I had mis-written in my calendar. But no, he was the feasability guy, and due to the majestic Oaks surrounding our house, no clear view of the satellite. No dish. I'm waiting to hear from the phone company directly, since it was just a stroke of luck I asked him why he was parked in front of my house.

David is crushed. We were both set. Damn trees.

Emma and Gramma 

Joey and Grandad 

Gramma and Grandad with Emma, Max and Joey hiding behind Grandad. 

Yikes! A shark is eating us! 

All the kids on sculpture. 

Max on the beach. 

Joey wacko. 

Joey normal. 

Emma on one of the many concrete sculptures that dot the island. 

We had a fun weekend trip to Port Aransas with Gramma and Grandad. Emma and David on the beach. 

Joey plus Kathy

Yesterday, David was watching the boys while I had my Brownie meeting at school. He took them to the playground, where lots of kids get to burn off steam before heading home. Max and Joey wanted to swing, and soon, one of Max's classmates, Uma was on the swing next to Joey.

Uma was swinging next to Joey and David heard her say, "Oh no, now we're married!". Apparantly at Bryker Woods Elementary, when your swing is in unison with the one next to you, you are married. Joey got upset and said, "I'm already married to MOM!"

On another note, I'm all packed up for the big 27 hour camp out with my Brownie troop. We meet at 9:00 tomorrow at a cool stone cabin hidden away in Zilker Park. It was built during the WPA era, and it is very cool. Anyway, I've been pretty low stress about the whole thing, because of having lots of other things on my plate this week. But now I'm pretty sure I'll forget something crucial, like matches, important food items, something! I have sucessfully remembered about 100 items but I just know, within hours I'll be saying, "DOH!"

chilly weather

It finally got cold(er). A front blew in today, shaking off the unseasonably warm weather we've been living with. I was torn between wishing for cool weather vs. enduring the runny noses and sinus problems my family seems prone to getting when the weather changes. So far we are cooler and not snottier.

So many things going on right now. Every free minute of mine is being spent getting ready for an Art Show and Sale on December 10. It is my first time to try to sell stuff at a show, and my projects are tooth fairy pillows, funky big people pillows and assorted greeting cards. Maybe a quilt if I can swing it.... so far, so good.

This weekend is the Brownie Camp Out. We will be cooking our own food over our little coffee can stoves that we made last week. The girls will learn pocket knife safety, and sleep away without too many of the Mommies along. It is at a Girl Scout cabin in Zilker Park, 5 minutes from most of our houses, so we have a large safety net.

The kids are signed up for Children's Book Week. They have given up TV for the week. I am thinking it is harder for me to give it up than them. I have come to rely on having at least one adult voice in the house that isn't mine. Oprah works well. Then there is the bickering factor. When the kids are bored, they bicker more. When the kids aren't watching TV, initially, they are bored. After a while, and a few fights, they find something to do together. So maybe it isn't too bad.

politics is local

Just a thought on yesterday's election. Proposition 2 passed, making Texas a state that passes a constitutional amendment that TAKES AWAY rights for a minority. I'm waiting to see if my home county (Travis) bucked the trend and voted against the amendment. The amendment was mean spirited and doesn't even do anything, since the fundamentalists already made gay marriage illegal last year.

The interesting twist is that the state can no longer recognize anything resembling or identical to marriage..... like..... marriage!!!!!

One of my good friends in Washington wrote me an email today:

"congrats on being a single gal again -  and no messy divorce!"

Yee Haw!

Joey's eye view

For a different view of the world (one from 36 inches above ground) please check out Joey's first roll of developed film. We bought each of the kids a disposable camera during our trip to Seattle. Joey finished the roll last week when Adam came over for a visit.

It is interesting to see what caught Joey's attention and what was "photo worthy."

Go to www.snapfish.com

Log in with my email genet5@sbcglobal.net

password: snapfish

Please don't order any prints for me, or sign me up for spam. Remember, karma is watching.

candy girl?

OK, it is confession time. All you parents (but I'm thinking of moms) out there who have had the kids' Halloween candy sitting around the house for 2 full days now. While the kids are at school, did you snitch?

Personally, I used to have no qualms about taking my "mom tax" in Almond Joys or Heath Bars or Bit 'O Honey. But David has really made me feel guilty! For some reason he feels the kids' candy is sacred and that even the thought of taking it is really sick. Now I feel guilty about eating it!

Before, I reasoned that eating two pounds of candy was not good for anyone, much less my small children. And, by eating some (very few) bits, I was actually sparing their teeth and health the bad influence of Mr. Mars and Hershey at the expense of my own. And actually, their favorites are generally not what I'm after. Smarties are fine, but even Joey told us on Halloween he didn't want chocolate candy. No chocolate!? I DO respect the chocolate and I will eat it so it won't get it's feelings hurt.

Anyway, I suspect that I'm not the only mom out there taking candy from babies. It's only because we love our kids (and the candy's feelings) so much. So the kids miss out on a few pieces, did you see how much they got? Emma had over 80, so did Max-- look at the pictures. These days the people at each house let kids take a handful. It is decadent. And it is sending my kids the wrong message, a message I must counteract before they take plentiful candy as the norm.

I'm proud to eat my kids' candy and I'm grateful that they don't know how to get to this website to read all about it.