Rubber Band Strings and Other Things

Posted on 12/31/2015 by chick

Dear Kids,

Here is one last collection of stories about you from 2015.

One day earlier this year you littered the floor with strips of construction paper. Your father and I were appalled at the waste of paper, and we couldn’t understand why you had done it. But then we looked closer and realized that each scrap had a face. You had created a horde of friendly worms. They were sort of cute. So I couldn’t stay mad over it, but I did keep a closer eye on the paper for a while!

We had an uninvited guest at one point this year. His name was Mr. Squeakers. He broke into our pantry, sampled a variety of foods, and made quite mess. He was physically evicted, but he stayed with us in spirit, becoming a sort of invisible friend or mascot for you. He sometimes left us notes, and you sometimes wrote letters to him. I thought it was sweet, but I never liked Mr. Squeakers, because he had had the nerve to take my Pop Tart. But you didn’t mind that. You thought it was hysterical, probably because it wasn’t your Pop Tart!

I gave Livia a strong cardboard box top so that she could stretch rubber bands across it to make a “guitar.” I used to do the same thing when I was a kid, so I understood exactly what she wanted to do. I helped her to put the strings on and tune them. She played her rubber-band guitar well. I videotaped her and managed to catch this wonderful, impromptu song:

I got my own guitar with rubber band stri-i-ings.
I got my own guitar. Hmm-hmm-hmm.
I used cardboard for the bottom,
Rubber bands for the tops and strings.
Hmm-hmm-hmm.
I got my own guitar with a pick. Hmm-hmm-hmm.
Two different, two the same.
I got my own guitar.
Ohhh, yeah.

It was a fun year with paper worms and Mr. Squeakers and rubber band strings. Ohhh, yeah.

Love,

Mom

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At Least I Read Some!

Posted on 12/30/2015 by chick

I set myself to a big reading goal earlier this year. I had hoped to read 33 additional books before year’s end. I didn’t come even close to reaching that goal, but at least I read some! Here are the books that I read.

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecilia Ahern
Grade: B

The Book of Tomorrow is about a teenage girl who, due to a terrible event, has to go live with an aunt and uncle in the countryside, near the ruins of a once-grand castle. There’s not much to do there, so when the traveling library comes to the house, she’s thrilled, even though she doesn’t like to read. The book she chooses turns out to be a magical diary that every day rewrites itself to tell the story of what will happen to her tomorrow. This focuses her attention on the immediate future, but it’s to the past to which she should be looking.

The Book of Tomorrow was described on its cover as being “Gothic.” I don’t agree. Just because a book has a castle, a mystery, and a deadly fire, that doesn’t make it inherently worthy of being called “Gothic.” It wasn’t scary and the mystery wasn’t that mysterious. I also didn’t care for the main character. She was rude and self-absorbed. But the worst thing was that the story’s main feature (the magical diary after which it was named) was a real yawn.

On the plus side, the ruins of the castle always make for an interesting setting. There was humor at times (for example, one of the characters communicated primarily in “grunts, nods, and snot-snorts”). So I gave it a B grade, which means that I didn’t hate it, but I wouldn’t care to read it again.

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Grade: A

Abandoned by their terrible parents, the Willoughby children have to make their own way in the world, and they do so in dark comedy fashion. I finished this book a while ago, so I don’t remember the details, but I really enjoyed the dark humor.

The Witches by Roald Dahl
Grade: A+

I have enjoyed many Roald Dahl books, but I don’t consider him to be one of my favorite authors. His over-the-top style of storytelling is usually not quite my cup of tea. However, I was pleasantly surprised by The Witches. His description of witches is enjoyably terrifying. These awful creatures live among us, masquerading as human women, and their single, evil purpose is to get rid of every child in England. An orphaned boy discovers the witches’ plan and, with his grandmother’s help, tries to stop them. I really liked the ending, which I would have to call “bittersweet.” This is my favorite Dahl book to date.

Beyond the Deepwoods (The Edge Chronicles Book 1) by Paul Stewart
Grade: B+

A nicely illustrated (by Chris Riddell) and enjoyable book about a boy named Twig who’s lost in the forest of a strange world teeming with all sorts of interesting and scary creatures. I liked this just enough that I’m interested to try one of its sequels.

Rowan Hood by Nancy Springer
Grade: B+

This book is about a girl named Rowan who wants to join Robin Hood’s band of thieves because she thinks that he’s her father. I always seem to enjoy Nancy Springer’s writing. This particular story didn’t quite resonate with me, though, perhaps because I’m long past the age of its intended audience. I think its ideal reader would be a tween or early-teen girl.

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Two Trees With Character

Posted on 12/30/2015 by chick

I like a trees. I particularly like trees with character, such as this one.

crown1

Big Tree With Character

This tree is located near the Icefalls. It has more trunks than is usual, and I wonder why. What benefit is there for a tree to grow like this? In any event, it has a remarkable shape. I sometimes imagine it as a throne for some regal animal. Doesn’t it look like a place to sit?

crown2

This tree begs to be used as a seat.

Here is another interesting tree.

determinedtree

Small Tree With Character

This tree is not as impressive size-wise. It’s really quite small, but look how it’s growing straight out of a rock. How it must struggle to survive! But it keeps on growing. Amazing.

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That’s Maturity for You

Posted on 12/29/2015 by chick

Marshall: Mommy, do you want to see a picture of Uranus?

Mommy (trying not to giggle): No, Sweetie. I don’t need to see a picture of that.

Marshall: But Mommy, don’t you want to see a picture of Uranus? It’s purple.

Mommy (quietly giggling): No, Sweetie. That’s OK. I don’t need to see it.

Marshall: But Mommy, Uranus has a ring around it!

Mommy bursts out laughing.

Posted in Crazy Me, Livia Says, Marshall Says | Leave a comment

Weekend Surprises

Posted on 12/29/2015 by chick

A post about a weekend in July:

On Friday evening I found some roses on my doorstep. A kind friend had sent them to start my weekend off well, and they sure did.

On Saturday I received an unexpected envelope from the company for which I work. Inside was a card to celebrate my 20th work anniversary and $400 in American Express gift cards. Woo-hoo!

Saturday evening my son announced that he’d seen a hummingbird flying around outside. I looked out the window, and yes, there was a hummingbird visiting the hostas. It tasted most of the flowers on the plant, so we got to watch him for at least a minute, which is like an hour in hummingbird time.

It was not all good surprises.

On Saturday, I was surprised when my husband, who had been splitting logs outside, came in and asked if any of the walk-in clinics were still open. He thought he had broken his finger. The walk-ins were not open, so he had to go to the hospital. On the bright side, his finger was not broken (but he babies it as if it were, typical man). 😉

Also on Saturday, a bottle dropped out of my arms as I was carrying it to the recycling bin. It bounced off the hard floor (wow!) and I thought I might luck out, but when it landed back on the tile, crash! Glass everywhere. On the bright side, as I was cleaning up the glass, I noticed that the dishwasher was leaking. I pointed this out to my husband and he fixed it. We were both glad to have discovered it before it became a major problem.

On Sunday, Livia said her stomach was hurting. She often says her stomach is hurting, though, so we’re never sure how seriously to take it. She was also pale and quiet and when she went to take a bite out of her breakfast waffle, blaaaagh. Vomit everywhere. On the bright side, . . . there’s really no bright side for this one.

And that was our weekend full of surprises.

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Updated Daily Checklist

Posted on 12/27/2015 by chick

So how has this Proud List-Maker been faring with her daily checklist? I must admit that there hasn’t been a single day in which I’ve managed to check everything off the list. I’m still calling it a success, though. It has made me much more mindful of the things that I ought to be doing, and I there are six list items that I’ve consistently added to my day.

As for those remaining, undone items on the list, perhaps the best way to tackle them is one at a time. So I’m going to update my daily checklist by scaling it back to just those items I’ve managed to do consistently, plus one additional item to work on (in this case, breakfast). If I can keep up with this new list, I’ll add a new item in a couple of weeks.

Here is the updated list:

  • Eat breakfast.
  • Eat lunch.
  • Listen to music.
  • Pause to consider someone or something for which you’re grateful.
  • Do something you’ve been putting off.
  • Find a reason to leave the house for a while.
  • Praise yourself for something.
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Spider Family and Other Stories

Posted on 12/17/2015 by chick

Dear Kids,

Here are some more stories about you from 2015.

You love role-playing games. When we were reading about mythical beasts, our game was that Livia and I were harpies, and we sang to lure Marshall to us so that we could eat him. The next game involved spiders. First, I was the spider who caught you, wrapped you in spider silk, hung you upside down, and then ate you. Later we switched to a variation in which we were all spiders, and I was your mother. You liked that variation so much that we had to play it every day for a while. You wrapped yourselves in blankets and pretended that you were spider eggs. After you hatched, I tickled you and exhorted you to stretch out your eight hairy legs. Then I commanded you scuttle around and catch me some flies, which you did gleefully. We ate the flies together. The game ended when I put you in your “night webs” and sang you spidery lullabies. When you got tired of playing spiders, we became sharks. I wonder what creature will be next?

Marshall lost a tooth at school and brought it home in one of those adorable tooth-shaped containers that schools buy for just that purpose. He was going to put the tooth under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy, but then he decided that he couldn’t part with it. He asked if it was OK to keep it, and I said yes. So he left the tooth in the container and strung it from the handle of the bathroom mirror. There it still hangs. I’ve never known of a kid to pass up money from the Tooth Fairy, but it’s cute.

Livia has started calling her father Nigel. And I, by extension, am Mrs. Nigel. We’re not really sure where the name Nigel came from (we asked her, and she just said that she likes the name). One morning, when were talking about getting Livia a haircut, I said to your dad, “Are you going to get a haircut, too? Your hair is getting long!” (That was sort of an in-joke, because he keeps his hair so short that, even when it’s grown out, it’s still short.) Livia looked at his hair and said to him, “I’m going to call you Long Pancake Nigel!”

Livia’s diet isn’t very good. We keep trying to get her to eat better, but it’s not working so well. One day I said to her, “It would make you feel better if you ate more fiber.” She replied, “I’ll eat a bunch of sugar instead.”

One morning I went into your room to get you up, but you were already awake and playing a strange game. Marshall was still in his pajamas, but he was also wearing a bunch of other things, including multiple hats and his clip-on tie. He told me he was visiting the Weird Doctor. Livia must have been the Weird Doctor, because she was busy putting another hat on Marshall. Normally playing doctor involves the removal of clothes, not putting on extra layers! But you guys always do things your own way, which is just one more reason that you’re so much fun.

Love,

Mom

Posted in Dear Livia, Dear Marshall, Livia Says, Marshall Says | Leave a comment

A Few Stories

Posted on 12/16/2015 by chick

Dear Kids,

Here are some random stories about you.

It’s funny how you pick up our sayings. Marshall told me that his class had watched a movie at school. He said that it was about Thanksgiving and it had a dog named Snoopy. I said, “Oh, you watched ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.’ Did you like it?” He said, “Eh, maybe it will grow on me.”

After we read “Peter Rabbit,” we asked Marshall what the moral of the story was. He said, “Always do what your mom tells you.” We praised him for his answer, and then he said, “But I still don’t get the point.” Ha-ha.

Your father and I used to think that you both had a special ability to sense if a new food was junk food without even tasting it. And we thought you would inevitably like a food if it was sufficiently bad for you. However, we’ve recently discovered that Livia doesn’t like Cocoa Puffs, Mini Trix cereal, or peanut brittle.

Livia told us that she has a boyfriend. His name is Joshua and he takes the same school bus. Your father asked her how the boy became her boyfriend, and she said, “I asked him. He helps me look for Christmas lights.”

I’ve told you both at least a thousand times not to throw things down the stairs, but you still do and probably always will. When it’s time to go out, Livia goes upstairs to get socks. Then she throws the pair down the stairs and shouts, “Cannonball!”

Love,

Mom

Posted in Dear Livia, Dear Marshall | Leave a comment

Getting Ready for Christmas

Posted on 12/14/2015 by chick

We reached several important Christmas-prep milestones over the last few days.

  • We bought a Christmas tree. A real tree! It’s the first real tree we’ve had since the horrible cinara aphid incident (I can still see, in my mind’s eye, the legions of bugs marching across my floor. Ick!). This new tree smells beautiful, and it’s one of the best-looking trees I’ve ever had. The kids did an awesome job picking it out. I just hope it doesn’t have any bugs lurking in it.
  • We decorated the tree. We probably didn’t put up even half of my ornaments, but the tree looks pretty enough.
  • I finished and ordered my annual photo album. It’s a relief to have it done.
  • Charley arrived the morning after we decorated the tree. The kids were thrilled to see him. And I was thrilled, because I had given the kids permission to hunt for Charley in the morning, so they were awake, dressed, and downstairs before I got up. Not having to roust them out of bed made my life so much easier!

Now if only I could magically finish up the Christmas shopping…

Posted in Crazy Me | Tagged | 2 Comments

List Maker, and Proud of It

Posted on 12/05/2015 by chick

I have long been a list maker, particularly a maker of to-do lists, but I haven’t always been proud of it. List-making is often seen as an anal habit, and who wants to be perceived as anal? And while I’m good at making lists, I’m not so good at sticking to them. When I tackle a list, I often change around my priorities, skip tasks that I’m not in the mood for, and do things that weren’t even on this list. (Clearly I’m not anal!)

There is power, though, in the very act of planning and in promising to allocate time toward a goal. A to-do list helps to keep me focused when I’m tired and have a lot to keep track of. I think I accomplish more after making a list, even if I skip some of the tasks that are on it.

Lists are especially helpful at this time of year. Christmas is nearly upon us, and there’s so much to do! I have several lists going right now. I’ll probably make more before the season is over.

That’s good, because list-making works for me. I’m happy to have found such a helpful method for getting things done. So today I am not just a list maker, I’m a proud list maker!

Posted in Crazy Me | 1 Comment