An Ode to my Best Friend

Oh glorious monkey friend
who brings me bagfuls of fashion
to stymie my shopping bug
I think you shrink them on purpose

(This would have been haiku
but you are too awesome
for so few syllab--)

Houdini

I just came across this fascinating story about Harry Houdini. It may be truth or legend, even the author wasn't sure, but either way it illustrates an important lesson about perception and expectations. Exactly what I needed today.

I'm It

I'm apparently required to respond to a blog-tag, thanks to the superb tag-strategy of Suburban Kamikaze. And of course, now I have to do a meme. *sigh* Can you tell how wearily taxed I am by all of this?

What is it about these stupid lists that is just so darned appealing? Is it the desire to tell the world Who You Are? To call attention to your individuality? To shock or surprise people who thought they knew you? Is it just plain narcissism?

I'm going to ignore all of those theories and go with "it's better than spending the next 15 minutes up to my eyeballs in the excel spreadsheet of statistics that I can't seem to finish."

Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

1. I love to get my hands dirty. I guess that's why I love pottery and gardening and painting and cleaning so much - I get the most satisfaction that I have accomplished something when I have gotten dirty in the doing.

2. I love to sleep. And no, it's not just because I don't really get to anymore - two restless kids, two very nocturnal cats, and a husband that sleeps like the dead makes me the official night watchman (watchwoman?) in our house. But really, I love to sleep, especially catnaps.

3. In 5 years of marriage I have earned somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 "geek points" from my husband for independently coming up with quips or references to video games, comic books, computer gizmos, etc. of which I knew absolutely NOTHING before he began "training" me. At 1000 points I supposedly win a toaster.

4. I'm a closet hypochondriac. Every time I feel a twinge or quirk in the functioning of any of my bodily systems, my mind immediately jumps to the worst possible conclusion and I work my way back to something reasonable from there. I do not voice these concerns to anyone, but someday I am pretty sure I will stub my toe and announce to some unsuspecting soul that I'm sure it's due to loss of coordination from early on-set dementia. The end is definitely near.

5. I write in my books. Yes, even the "fluff". If there's a quip or a perspective that I really like or really hate, I underline it and comment in the margin. That way when I read the book again, as I typically do, I can see what I was thinking about the last time I read it. My husband hates this.

6. I want to quit my job and go back to school. Forever. If I won the lottery today, I would pay off our debt, set up a killer investment portfolio, and enroll in a class. Any class. I want to learn about everything. If anyone has any strategies for making this happen, or winning lottery numbers, please let me know.

7. I am the only person I know who drinks whiskey straight up. Other than Mr. Lady. Although I have yet to try her patented sippy cup method.

Girl Scout Camp Songs

"I love the mountains
I love the rolling hills
I love the flowers
I love the daffodils
I love the fireside
When all the lights are low
Boom de yada, boom de yada...."

Come on everyone, sing along!
Even if the words you know are slightly different...

Wisdom

Sunshine: Mommy! I see the moon!
Me: Yep, there it is!
Sunshine: I'm going to climb up to the moon.
Me: Really? How are you going to do that?
Sunshine: I'm going to get a BIG ladder.
Me: That sounds like a good idea. What will you do when you get all the way up there?
Sunshine: Hold on.

Movin' Right Along

My family is about to make an epochal shift from life in an Apartment to life in a House. And, to my cramped and crowded self, it can't happen too soon!

We have spent the last five years in a third story walk-up that, when Hubby and I moved into it, felt nearly cavernous, the essence of opulence for our newlywed selves. Two bedrooms (a vast improvement from the 1BR we had been in before), TWO bathrooms (luxury!), full sized washer and dryer, lots of roomy closets, spacious living room/dining room, a fireplace, and joy-of-all-joys a balcony! THIS was living!

In the five years since, we have added two darling and much-loved children to the household, and with them came all the accoutrement that two small children need. Now that once-huge apartment has somehow become exceedingly tiny. In addition to my concerns over one very stifled and somewhat panicky gypsy spirit (before this five-year stint, the longest I had lived in one place since I've been on my own was 15 months), the walls have been closing in on me, the closets and cabinets are overflowing, and the walkways are dwindling. Despite my vicious purging raids on all things superfluous, our Stuff can no longer be contained in this space.

So we began hunting for a house. Sunshine was remarkably excited about the prospect, although her stipulations for acceptable housing do not exactly reflect mine:

Sunshine: Mama, are we going to the park?
Me: No love, today we are going to go look at some houses - we need to find a new house to live in so we can have more space to play! (putting it in terms she can relate to, you know?)
Sunshine: Oh. [pause] Can Baby Bear sleep in my room in the new house?
Me: Sure! You two will have a room just for Sisters! (marveling at how easy this seems to be.)
Sunshine: Okay. [another pause] What color is our new house?
Me: I don't know yet. It could be white, or red, or green...
Sunshine: I want polka-dots.
Me: Polka-dots? (Did I say easy?)
Sunshine: Yes. Pink ones. And blue and yellow ones. And maybe green.
Me: Polka-dots. (Crap.)
Sunshine: Uh-huh.
Me: Sweetheart, I don't know if we'll be able to find a house with polka-dots....
Sunshine: Wellllll, maaaaybe we can find one. (She says this with her best "mother placating her small child" voice - hmmm, wonder where she learned that.)

And, Heaven help me, maybe she's right, maybe we can. But one way or another, solid or polka-dotted or striped or whatever comes our way, we will in fact be moving into a House. We will breathe deeply in the vast openness and stretch our souls into the near-infinite spaces. And then we will slowly begin the process of filling up every nook and cranny. Again.

Things You Should Know

I recently came across this website through a link on a blog somewhere....sorry, I've been reading and linking so much lately that I can't figure out exactly how I came across this site. Trust me, it made sense at the time.

Anyway...being the list-maker that I am, I have really been enjoying the posts of Marc and Angel Hack Life. This particular list, 50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do, really struck a cord with me. I'd like to believe that I can do at least half of these with some measure of competence, but I think I'll go read the instruction links to confirm this before I start making any claims. This one I know I've got down pat. This one I've done...once...half a lifetime ago....