| Tuesday, June 30, 2009 |
| A Fish Funeral |
Dear Blue,
While you will not remember us due to you two second memory, we will remember you. You were a red fish named "Blue" and the best birthday present Goose ever got, behind the Dinosaur Excavation Kit.
When I made cereal for my midnight breakfast this morning and looked over expecting to see you swimming around trying to fight my fingers to the death through thick glass but didn't, I felt the loss, and a tinge of guilt. I'm sorry I didn't medicate you sooner. I'm sorry that we burried you in a plastic bag. I'm sorry that I let Goose pick outside under Ludo's waterbowl as your burial site, but then again it was one in the morning.
Please accept these irises, which Goose picked out to make her/you feel better, they were all they had left at 1:15 am in our local Safeway.
You were a great pet. You will be missed (though, I'm likely to see you again when Ludo digs you up).
Blue Fish
2006-2009 |
posted by Lori @ 7:03 AM  |
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| Monday, June 29, 2009 |
| A Giveaway and A Great Blog |
| About a month ago I started reading 3 Kids and Us. Her blog is a wonderfully honest and funny look at wifedom and motherhood, and she does giveaways, too. Right now she has joined up with Lunchables to promote their Lunch Your Tummy Right campaign. It'd be so awesome to win the Flip Camera! |
| posted by Lori @ 8:52 PM |
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| Sunday, June 28, 2009 |
| A Favor |
I like shopping for fabric, even if I've was banned from touching sewing machines/surgers by my college costume shop foreman. So I was pretty psyched when I found this Dia de los Muertos sugar skull fabric, and then cracked the whip on my mother in law to make enough crayon rolls for all the kids at Goose's party. They turned out pretty awesome!
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| posted by Lori @ 11:21 AM |
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| Birthday Time |
I know it was last weekend, but here are some of my favorite things about Goose's party:
Goose and Daddy made this super cool graveyard
Ziggy and I had fun throwing streamers. Ziggy made this super fun pumpkin (still up, by the way, I love it tooo much to take it down...)
Goose spent the night at Grammy and Grandpa's and ended up watching Spongebob for half an hour with my brother. Since then she has been in love with all things Spongebob, so here is "Spongeguy Rectanglepants"
These fingers are peanut butter cookie dough (not nestle!) wrapped around pretzels, for bone crunching abilities and almond slivers for nails, as provided by Gramma D, pretty spooky!
Everytime we have a party, I put my family to work and they help so much, so this is my super photogenic dad helping out my mom and I with food, while my mother in law is probably off somewhere cleaning...
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| posted by Lori @ 8:25 AM |
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| Friday, June 26, 2009 |
| A Helping Hand |
| I've been trying to figure out the whole twitter thing. Even though it says I've been a member for months and months, I think I'm still in the beginner phase and only recently discovered the newfangled tweetgrid. I do love my colors though, so I'm hoping that Tweetest Backgrounds can give me a helping hand! And they've got a great iPod Touch giveaway going on that would be the super amazing cherry on top! |
| posted by Lori @ 9:53 PM |
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| Wednesday, June 24, 2009 |
| Wordy Wednesday: Birthday Brain |
So, the let down begins (sort of). The decorations are down, and almost all the presents open, the birthday party let down has begun (for me, really. Goose is always constant in her excitement for anything from a marble chase track to being able to crack eggs for breakfast. I miss the fun colors and silly stuff in the house.)
I got to thinking as I weighed tacky versus eccentric labels and whether or not the witch who proclaims "you stink" and sticks her tongue out at you should be left in the bathroom year round, what are our favorite birthday books?
Birthday Monsters is a must for young readers. I can recite it for you right here, right now. It's well timed fun and leaves me wanting Trix, which I've never even tried before. By now Boynton is a staple for anyone with young kids and I'm sure most of you have read this, so you've got your own conclusions, but to me this gives me hope for when Goose or Monkey seem shunned by other kids on the playground. In my mind I'm thinking "it's all for show. These kids will be at our house cleaning it up for penance in no time".
 Birthday Fish by Dan Yaccarino is a great one. It is a wonderful message about being happy with what you've got. We read this one over and over two years ago when Goose got "Blue" her red betta that is still going strong--no replacements necessary, got that, Friend who thought we deceived Goose and made the flush and a trip to the pet store? And while, I feel like this style of illustration is a bit too easy, it does have lots of fun colors and patterns for the eye.
 Then there's Birthday for Bear by Bonny Becker. Now this one doesn't come out until Sept. 8th, the day before my birthday and the day after my brother's (my parents had great timing). I liked Visitor for Bear very much, which is another story of friend making by Becker, so that her Bear character is returning with festivities makes me think this will be on my birthday wish list. Becker's charm and sweetness is not too over the top and Christmas Crocodile was a big hit around here last year, so this one could be a great birthday staple.
How about you? What are your favorite birthday books? |
| posted by Lori @ 2:06 AM |
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| Tuesday, June 23, 2009 |
| Happy, Happy Birthday |
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Goose, You have a big head. Don't anyone tell you otherwise. It's one of the things that make you the most unique and interesting girl I have ever known (although you could have tried sucking that head in a little four years ago today...)
The years are going so fast and I can't believe how you've changed in such a short but also such an immense amount of time. You're sweet, silly, incredibly smart and have your Daddy's wonderful enthusiasm. I hope you never lose these things, and that you'll still be just as excited to use your birthday wishes having me lay in your bed and read you extra chapters from our latest book at night.
We love you, Baby Girl! Happy Fourth! |
| posted by Lori @ 6:10 AM |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 |
| Father's Day |
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My dad is awesome. He's the kind of dad that would give you his still beating heart from his chest if he knew it would help. When you're a kid you think your dad is a superhero, but for me, well, I still think my dad is a superhero.
He takes after his mom (my amazing grandma) in that he would sit and listen--or at least, not look too glazed over, as I rambled on as only diarrhea mouth could/can. He taught me to be MacGuyver-like and make do with what I had (and thirty PVC pipe flutes later, I still thought he was Super Dad). He relishes the time he gets with the grandkids. He won't even say anything about the fact that essentially yesterday all I gave him was a rock and some gum. He's a wonderful guy, and I'm lucky that he's my dad (and that he cares enough to read this blog post. Dad, Father's Day is over, get to work!) |
| posted by Lori @ 6:19 AM |
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| Thursday, June 18, 2009 |
| Lucky! |
And now that Jason Mraz song is stuck in my head. Thank you, Mark and Julie!
So I'm really lucky that I've won a few amazing things lately!
I won this diaper from Otter Blotters. I'm really into this whole cloth diapering thing. I am super clumsy so the idea of safety pins always freaked me out. Then there's snaps, which could be great if you were good at changing a diaper, which I am most definitely not. However, the hook and loop closures on the Otter Blotters work well for me (provided Monkey wasn't heading for higher ground). Debby was amazing with helping me pick out the right size for Monkey, too, which was wonderful.
 Continuing on the green track, I won a giveaway that included these super great cloth napkins from WeeBeaks. Goose loves being fancy with them and made me play the "Piggies" song by the Beatles for a full day after we got them.
Seeryus Mama hooked me up with Starbucks! I don't have pictures, because we ran out and spent the giftcard so fast I couldn't grab a camera.
Madame Deals took care of our health and beauty trip for Ziggy this month (which he was psyched about!).
 And I won a set of four plaster animals from My 3 Wisemans. Goose loved them! She got to do the frog first. We're going to invite a couple friends over to do the rest and have a bit of a critter party.
I'm so thankful to all of these blogs and all the great things people have been generous with! |
| posted by Lori @ 1:33 AM |
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| Thursday, June 11, 2009 |
| Every Girl's Crazy bout a sharp dressed man |
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I love my husband. (sorry Mac, you don't put up blinds and you're a bit cold when it comes to the snuggles). He looks good when he's at work--slacks and a collared shirt (a bit boring, but I'd be laughing too hard if he came out in skinny jeans) but when he's home and lounging, he really needs help.
So there's this. He looks great in this non-holey, non-silly saying shirt with these chino pants. Sure I've got pictures of him in various tuxes, but I think this is the best outfit he ever put on that wasn't for some shindig.
Then there's this. He loves to tuck his collar under his sweater. Oh and this sweater? Someone at work gave it to him I think after they went back in time and stole it out of the Cosby Show wardrobe!
Now again, I love my husband and I think he looks great in most anything, but I think he'd look a whole lot better after we went shopping with a $100 JCPenney card from All Hail Queen Mommy. |
| posted by Lori @ 4:33 PM |
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| Wednesday, June 10, 2009 |
| Painting Update! |
Ziggy liked my painting. He said "wow! That's an awesome vortex to hell".
Thank you for your support! |
| posted by Lori @ 7:54 PM |
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| Wordy Wednesday: Any Fancy Nancys? |
I love Fancy Nancy. I love that she's a girly girl, and sure she rocks glitter and does ballet, but she frills it up while out on a soccer field and she's not afraid to scoop some poop, too. The colors are fantastic, and while Ms. Glasser takes her illustration abilities over to the Ruby book[s] as well, I think they're pretty unique (also the reason that the Fancy Nancy readers just don't have the same vibe, she's not the illustrator).
Well Goose had her first no-can-do response to her birthday party invites because her friend is going to her grandparents wedding anniversary in the Phillipines so we've been reading Bonjour, Butterfly lately.
She loves it. And she loves explaining to people what RSVP stands for--something I didn't know until we got the book.
To Fancy Nancy we say "oui, oui, oui!" |
| posted by Lori @ 7:45 PM |
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| What We've Been Up To |
We've been getting ticky tack things ready for Goose's birthday party on the twentieth. We're opening our door to massive amounts of people and most of whom have never been here therefore we'll be doing tours so we've been working on decorations and house stuff.
Ziggy and I worked on the backyard over the weekend and pulled weeds, put down barrier, mowed, edged, filled holes, moved doghouses and playhouses and then in two hours the dog undid everything (except moving the dog house--that would require Doggie Growth Hormone).
Who doesn't love that face? Oh, and don't tell Ziggy Ludo was inside much less on the sofa. He seriously won't read this ever.
I painted over a four foot by six foot painting that looked like someone had been killed on it. My inspiration, the sardines that swim in circles at one of my favorite places in the world--the Monterey Bay Aquarium:
along with a painting the size of our living room I once saw with Ziggy at our favorite place to eat in San Fran. Then I made this for Monkey's room:
I like abstract expressionism. DeKooning is one of my favorite artists, but when Ziggy sees it, he might think it's a slight improvement over the bloodbath painting we inherited. He really does not like deKooning or Pollock, or any other abstract art. (I like it, though and Monkey kept rubbing it like he liked it--so that's what counts, right?) Also it was really fun to paint on such a massive scale! I took inspiration from Pollock and put the canvas on the floor to do it. And I only minorly painted my feet!
And Goose started ballet today. We have to work on not shouting answers and information at the teacher, who complained that Goose was making her ears hurt (I hope she was being sarcastic. Ballerinas scare me!) |
| posted by Lori @ 3:02 PM |
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| My Newest Love |
Sorry, Ziggy. I have a new love, and it's amazing. I love Mac!
Our Macbook's frame broke apart at the corner a few weeks ago. An Apple store opened at our mall over the weekend so I made an appointment with the Genius Bar yesterday and took the kiddos in with me to get it fixed.
Now I'm a bit of a computer addict, and really, REALLY did not want to give up the laptop and had prepared in my mind my pleas with my dad to let me borrow his desktop (I mean what household needs three computers, after all?) But guess what? I'm in love!
The mall wasn't open yet. They opened their doors especially for us, which was sort of like boarding a spaceship mixed with joining a secret society, and the kids loved that. Then they saw me immediately. Goose got to try out using a computer, while Monkey got to roam the store (after all, he couldn't escape on account of them space-doors). Then Meghan and I got to the Macbook.
She said that it wasn't anything wrong with the computer, as I had guessed overheating, and said that it looked like there had been a point of impact, which I SWEAR I never dropped it! But she said that since we had a warranty she was going to do it anyway. Fine. Bye, bye laptop, old friend.
She then said it would take her maybe thirty minutes to fix and that the kids could play on the playground if they wanted. It was ready on time, she helped me load up since Monkey was in hand and we were able to make storytime.
Plus, rather than upgrading to their new OS via paying for expensive software ahem, Vista...we can pay $25 (I think) and have it.
Hi, Justin Long. I, too, am a Mac. If I could get your autograph on a Jeepers Creepers dvd for that guy I used to be in love with, that'd be great!
Oh, and I hope I can continue with my love for Macs by winning an iPod touch at Moms by Heart, Joyful Money Saving, or Deal Seeking Mom for their Xtra Xtra reviews! |
| posted by Lori @ 2:41 PM |
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| Saturday, June 6, 2009 |
| Wordy Wednesday--Although it's Technically Saturday |
Last Wednesday we picked out The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde. Our library didn't have much to choose from as far as different editions go, and Goose wanted the one that had little to no pictures.
 I really wouldn't recommend it for three year olds, but since she had grabbed it and while, I had read de Profundis and The Importance of Being Earnest, I had never read his kids stories, so I said it's ok (besides, Goose is the weird kid who liked Sir Gawain and the Green Knight last summer). If you go for this story, you might try one like this that is just the Prince.
It's a really great story, though (if you like downer endings). I thought the villagers comments were timeless for class struggles. The moral of giving all that you can is easily understood and Goose kept saying it was like her sharing with brother. She and I both cried at the end, but I don't think it was anything traumatic.
I also read "the Remarkable Rocket", which was weird with its talking fireworks, but again had those lines that made me think, "is that a pompous rocket, or that guy I knew in my Eng294 class?".
Ziggy read "the Nightingale and the Rose" and hated it. He kept trying to stop reading it. It was a pretty sad story about love, too. (Not like He's Just Not That Into You, which by the way, makes me like Justin Long, despite Drag Me to Hell and Jeepers Creepers.)
So, how bout it, any books from the traditional lit canon that you've attempted with your kiddos? |
| posted by Lori @ 1:06 AM |
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| Cheeky Monkey |
This is the face Monkey makes after he's said something we asked him to say:
This was after, "Can you say Daddy?". He's so proud of himself! |
| posted by Lori @ 1:01 AM |
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| Natural Born Killers |
So I haven't really posted anything this week. We've been trying to work out playdates and get ready for Goose's big Halloween birthday bash at the end of the month. But between all that general running around, there's been quite a bit of carnage here.
Wolf spiders. They could almost be cute, if their bite wouldn't make me look like Tim Allen mid-Santa-Clause transformation (I like to keep it topical and upbeat around here, take that 1994!)So Tuesday morning whilst feeding the dog, I walk out to find one.
I don't know if you can tell from here, but this guy is as wide across as my shoe. Now we've been seeing a lot of silverfish inside, mixed with my awe for how big he was, so I walked inside to tell Ziggy about him. I was already thinking of calling him "Charlotte" (that's right I gave him a girl's name--I'm great with names. You should hear Monkey and Goose's real names).
Well, needless to say Ziggy, who is newly scared of spiders, wanted to see. He crushed my poor Charlotte the second he saw him with a pool broom (which we have, but don't use since we have no pool). Bye, bye, spider who was going to write my epitaph after he bit me.
Not to worry, though I've seen three more just as big since.
 Then we found a hurt sparrow. It was a baby and wouldn't fly. Goose wanted to make a nest for it out in the field and after thirty minutes of gathering everything the baby might need, we laid it down in it's bed. Even Monkey loved this bird and I was just thinking we could nurse it back to health and was turning to go get a box to take it home in when,
CRUNCH
Goose stepped on it. I shrieked uncontrollably and then tried to stop. It's cheeps slowed and stopped and Goose looked at me and said "what happened?"
She had said good bye, forgot it was there and stepped right on it. So I said it was dead, not wanting to gloss over it since part of the bird was on her boot which I had to scrape off later. She sobbed and I worried that I was setting her up for becoming a serial killer as I struggled to add, "but you made another animal happy".
So, what would you have done? Or, better yet, am I screwing up my kids? |
| posted by Lori @ 12:26 AM |
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| Tuesday, June 2, 2009 |
| Faces: Or Why I Prefer Taking the Pictures |
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While I have tons of cute pictures of silly faces the kids make, this is one of me that I think is hilarious. We were on a vacation in Montana and this is at the continental divide in Glacier National Park. We'd been stuck in traffic for a while and Ziggy said he wanted to snap a picture of me. So we hopped out of the car and well the rest, you can see...
Here's what you should know:
1. I am not related to Jim Morrison, nor am I or have I ever been part of his fan club.
2. I don't style my hair that way it was misty and windy--hey it's the continental divide! Note the scenery and mist on the camera lens.
3. I'm not stoned, I really am that awkward in front of a camera.
A Cowboy's Wife has a photo contest going on that even I felt comfortable taking part in. Here's to hoping we're blue ribbon material! |
| posted by Lori @ 5:21 AM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Lori
Home: Sacramento-ish, California, United States
About Me: I want to make things better.
See my complete profile
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