Break Time

Today is the last day of my 30's. I don't know really how to feel about that. I have spent the weekend celebrating with family and friends. It has been nice. Tomorrow, I begin new adventures in my 40's. Gonna lay low for a couple weeks, but I'll be back.

Weekend of Firsts (or WALL-E-HO!)

Once everyone stopped being sick, we had chicken soup. Go figure.

It was really good. Kevin made the dumplings. I always mess them up. But now I know the secret, so next time I will make them and they will rule!



Daphne has been really good lately. We decided to treat her to her first movie in a theater on Saturday, so we went to the 11:30 matinee showing of Wall-E at the great Inwood theater, which has changed me forever. Now, no other movie theater will do. The Inwood has big giant comfy couches with ottomans, so we sat in a couch-built-for-three with the Peanut anchored securely between us. She had her own little bag of popcorn, her juice cup, and PSB (Pink Soft Blankie), and she was ready. For about the first 45 minutes, she was completely mesmerized, probably by the sheer hugeness of it all. It was more fun watching her than the movie. Her eyes were glued to the screen, and now and then her little hand would sloooowly make its way into the popcorn bag and then to her mouth. It was so dang cute...she was like a little adult sitting there. Unfortunately, the movie was WAY over her head. There were no cute forest creatures or catchy songs. It wasn't very colorful. There was hardly any dialogue. So after the novelty wore off, the squirming began. Squirming isn't so bad, though, when you have a whole giant couch to squirm upon, so we made it through the whole movie without having to leave. The biggest problem now is gonna be taking her to a regular old theater. With chairs. We've set the bar too high.



Today we made Daphne her first root beer float. She loved it. She spent about three minutes drinking it, and then about ten minutes trying to summon every last molecule from the bottom and sides of the cup. I thought she'd cry when we finally took the cup away, but she was OK.

She got a root beer float because she ate all of her shrimp and "spaGARagus." I love my kid.



Tomorrow it is supposed to be 107. It is just not right.

Also, tomorrow I begin my last week of being in my 30's. Which is also just not right. I am not old enough to be 40.

Anyway, Kev got a wireless router thing, so I should be able to blog more blogs than I have been blogging lately.

Time to shut down for now...

Illin'

On Tuesday, my digestive system suddenly turned against me. I will spare you the details, but it wasn't pretty. There was a scary moment when I was so dehydrated that I almost blacked out while I was brushing my teeth. Blacking out is no fun. If it has never happened to you, you are lucky. It happened to me before when I was in the hospital right after Daphne was born. I got all dizzy, hot and cold at the same time, and everything started to get black and spotty. They had to carry me to the bed and use smelling salts on me. This time it wasn't quite that bad. I made it back to bed myself and put up my feet. But dehydration is nothing to mess with, man. Don't let it happen to you.

Anyway, I had to spend all day Wednesday in bed getting absolutely nothing done and feeling like I'd been hit by a bus. I couldn't even knit or read. Fortunately, I had my nice family to take care of me, so thanks to them I am doing much better now. I still can't really eat anything very substantial. And I am going kinda crazy from not having coffee for three days. Kev made some this morning and it smelled so good.

Now, I am way behind on things like blogging and returning email and chores and so forth. Sometimes I feel like I'll never catch up with my life.

On a completely unrelated note, I am seriously thinking about getting the lasik.

Sick Day

Sick Day 1
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Daphne and Kev are both sick. Daphne is starting to get better, so she's kinda having fun with her Sick Day today. I got out this hamper, and so far, it has been a pool, bathtub, car, washing machine, cage, and, in this picture, a beach chair. I don't know why we bother buying her toys when she can have this much fun with a hamper.

Kev, on the other hand, is NOT having fun. He is in bed. I will not take a picture of him. A sick Kev is not a pretty Kev.

Me and my Big Girl

Me and my Big Girl
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Here is a Sweet Daphne moment. I appreciate those moments more and more every day, because they are sometimes overshadowed by Alien Daphne moments, like the other night when Alien Daphne threw her whole bowl of rice on the floor and thought it was funny.

This picture was from music class yesterday. It was the last day of class, and Kev got to go with us. One of the perks of his working from home. A couple more pictures on Flickr if you want to see...it was fun hanging out with Daddy and playing with the parachute.

I think one of the drawbacks to ME staying home with Daphne every day is that I take her for granted. It seems like I am always rushing around doing chores or whatever, and I forget to stop and just play with her or talk to her or give her my full attention. This morning at breakfast, I asked her if she'd like to have a conversation, and she said "Let's talk about Old Sesame Street." (We've been watching my Sesame Street Old Skool DVDs lately...so much better than the Over-Elmo'ed new episodes). So, we talked about Old Sesame Street, and we talked about the Olympics, (try explaing THAT to a two-yr-old!), and the magic of Velcro (much easier to explain...used the bibs as visual aids). It was good. She is a very interesting kid who makes interesting observations, and she's fun to talk to. I like her a lot.

So, I am going to make more of an effort to spend more time with her every day, actually paying attention, and not just rushing around. Maybe that will help prevent Alien Daphne from making so many appearances.

Warning: Complaining Below

I have been too lethargic to blog, or do much of anything else lately. I heard that it was 103 today. Last week, Daphne and I walked to the coffee shop for breakfast at 8:00 am, and got home before 9:00 already dripping with sweat. I just want to be able to ride my new bike, or take my kid outside to play, or go for a stroll. If the heat doesn't get us, the mosquitos will. How long until October?

To protest the existence of summer, I am going to knit myself a huge wool scarf. And perhaps a matching hat.

The berries haven't even been very good this year.

Sigh.

At least there are no lions. They've got Elf on the USA network. I think I'll go watch it and imagine it's winter.

The Popsicle that almost Wasn't

Happy Kid with Popsicle (at last)
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

It's been a tough week at the LRHS headquarters. The sweet little girl in the picture disappeared last Monday and was replaced by a cute but defiant little alien, sent here to test our parenting skills and our patience by argueing, kicking, hitting, and being generally very poorly behaved. We are going the no-spanking route, and time out hasn't been very effective. She kinda enjoys it, I think. She sits there and sings or talks to herself and has a great time. So, we have to take away priviliges, and take them away we did! The poor kid had almost no fun last week, and neither did we.

Suddenly, Sweet Nice Daphne returned yesterday, and she was finally able to have a popsicle we made several days before (using our cool new popsicle molds I received from a very nice lady in Minnesota). Look at that face! She was good all day, and we all had so much fun.

All is forgiven, Little Peanut! I know it's hard to be two.

Spiral Scarf

Spiral Scarf 2
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

This is my latest finished knitting project, and I love it. I cannot wait until the fall so I can wear it. It is groovy and swirly and it matches my cowboy boots. Kev thinks it is "weird." It reminds him of pasta. It looks better in real life than in this bad dark photo. It is a nice sort of rust color, and it's very soft...made from baby llama yarn.

It is always very satisfying to finish a project. Now, on to the next one...

Pickles and Jam from Cheryl

Pickles and Jam from Cheryl
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

My friend Cheryl, the one who has the goats, gave us each a jar of home-made pickles and blackberry jam. I had the jam on my bagel this morning for breakfast and it was Deeeelicious. The pickles are for Kev. Pickles are one of my kryptonites. I'm glad the jar didn't break or leak on the way home from Mineola. I'd have had to sell the car.

Big Ol' Weekend

Hope you all had a good 4th of July weekend. Mine was action-packed. Friday, we went to my parents' house for the annual neighborhood parade. All the kids decorate their bikes and wagons, and ride up the street. It's pretty cute. Daphne loves to watch. This year, a big boy pulled his bike over to the side and high-fived her. She talked about it all day. There are more pictures on flickr, including one of my dad in his home-made admiral hat that is not to be missed.



Saturday morning, I headed to East Texas to spend the rest of the weekend with my good friends from high school. Highlights included sweet potato fries, antique stores, shrinky dinks, baby goats (above), and a delightful morning stroll at the Mineola Nature Preserve. The goats belong to my friend Cheryl, who has left her rock and roll lifestyle to become a full-on farmerette. She drives tractors and bales hay and has cows and goats and all that. It is pretty amazing. Quality time with my friends is rare, so I really enjoyed it, and appreciate Kev for taking care of the Peanut solo this weekend. They had a great time without me, going to the pool and watching movies and having popcorn and playing in the teepee. I should probably leave more often.



Downtown Mineola has several antique stores, and I scored some pretty cool stuff. I got this orange owl tin tea set from the 50s, as well as a family of the REAL little people for the Peanut, which she loved. If you know Kev's cousin Sean, check out the Little Person on the far left...it looks just like him. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to have Daphne playing with these.



Finally, I got this groovy tea towel from 1971. It was $1.99. How could I pass it up?



So, it was a good weekend, but I am glad to be home with my little family. I missed them.

Happy 4th of July. October just gets closer and closer every day...

Rocky Mountain, Hi!

Some people are beach people. I am not one of them. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of the ocean. It's just that I prefer looking at the ocean from a hotel balcony, or the deck of a ship. The beach is different. It has all that sand, and sun, and jellyfish. It's just not my thing. Give me the mountains any day.



Kev and I just got back from Colorado, where we attended a wedding. A beautiful outdoor wedding on the side of a mountain in Breckenridge. Did I mention it was outside? In June? and it was chilly! And there were no mosquitos! What a nice break from the heat of Texas, where I get bitten by bugs within seconds of stepping out my front door. In that picture above, there was snow right near us, and it was FREEZING! It was no place to be tromping around in flip-flops and a t-shirt. And it was GREAT.



During the trip, I saw two new birds to put on my list, which is always exciting for me. I saw the mountain bluebird in the top picture...Kev managed to get a couple great shots of him. I also saw the tree swallow, below. These tree swallows know how to have a good time. They swoop and dive and sing and seem to be having so much fun. It would be so cool to be a bird. We also saw a little red fox, but I didn't get a picture.



Besides the wedding, we had time to do a few touristy things. We walked around the town of Breckenridge, where there are lots of shops and restaurants. We saw this funny-face aspen tree:


And we ate crepes:




As I sat there with my crepe, next to the giant sign that says crepes, a lady walked up and asked me what I was eating. Pretty funny. That crepe there in my hand was GOOD. It was a S'mores crepe, loaded with chocolate and marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs. Mmmmmm. We went back the next day for more.



And, we rode horses. This was my first time on a horse, and it was pretty fun, although I don't know if it's something I would do again. It hurt my knees, and I got a pretty bad sunburn on my arms. And Caesar, my horse, was not the most cooperative. But overall, I enjoyed riding the dusty trail, and we got to see a lot of pretty scenery.

I think Colorado might be my favorite place. It's right up there with Maine. I was trying to think of bad things about Colorado. Here is all I could come up with:

• It has a really dorky state flag.
• The altitude gives you a headache for a couple days.

Even Denver is cool. It has a great downtown with a lot going on, and it's really clean. So, go to Colorado, be cold in the summer, ride a horse and have a crepe. You'll be glad you did.

More pictures on Flickr if you wanna see...

Break Time

Going to take a few days off from the computer. Back on sometime early next week. Have a good weekend.

Haircut!

Haircut!
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

This is what my hair can look like when a nice stylist spends half an hour drying it straight. Tomorrow, it will be curly again. Dangit.

Look! It's all straight and swoopy and smooth and soft. Sigh.

And I don't even have anywhere to go. Kev is in Phoenix for a meeting. I'm wasting a whole straight-hair day waiting for Daphne to wake up so we can eat frozen pizza and watch the Muppet Show.

If only I could make it last. I feel like Cinderella when the clock is nearing twelve.

If You Give a Kid a Donut

The Devil
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

I have managed to avoid ever going to Krispy Kreme in spite of the fact that it is right next to my grocery store and it pipes the scent of its deep fried donuty goodness into the parking lot. I avoided it, that is, until yesterday, when a rainy day dictated meeting up with friends at Krispy Kreme for a play date. I gotta admit, it's a fun place. You get a cool paper hat, and you get to watch the donut-making process in action. And I can't speak for the other flavors, but my blueberry donut was delicious. Daphne chose the one with sprinkles, of course. And this was her first ever donut. I was afraid of what might happen after she ate it, and at first, it didn't seem to affect her. She didn't misbehave, or bounce off the walls. In fact, she was really good. Until nap-time. Then, she couldn't sleep. So, no nap. Then the sugar really hit her and by the time it wore off, she had colored with a blue (washable!) crayon all over my closet door and was generally naughty. Then she woke up about an hour after she went to bed, crying hysterically...most likely a donut-induced nightmare. She won't be going back to Krispy Kreme anytime soon. But I probably will.

Relief

Yesterday we had a big storm which made it cool outside so we all took a walk. Daphne wore her rain boots and splashed in puddles. We had no electricity most of the day. It was nice.

Blog Blues

I am feeling like the LRHS needs an over-haul, so if I get some time, I may make some changes. Maybe it's time for another logo design contest. In the meantime, I have added a button over on the right that is a link to etsy.com. I encourage everyone to go there if you need any interesting gifts for the people and animals you like. It is all handmade, and most of it is very reasonably priced and if you look around, you will find a lot of really great stuff. Like, say you have a friend who likes owls, and you want to find them a cool gift. Type "owl" in the search and you get all this! Or say you want a Steven Tyler from Aerosmith necktie, well you can get one here. And here is what you get if you type in "Spock." So, there's something for everyone on etsy.com, and you can be sure it is something they won't find at the mall. It's good to buy handmade.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

Happy Father's Day, Dad
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

My dad is about the only guy I can think of who is nicer than Mister Rogers. I bet he even gave me a bite of that cake!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy-O

Happy Father's Day, Kev
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Fanks for letting me play your dwums. You are a good daddy. Love, Daphne-O.

Hostess with the Mostess

You know the hypothetical that is often discussed: If you could have any four people over for tea, who would they be? Well, today I had tea with Daphne, Tyrone, Austin, and Tiny Ben Franklin. What an eclectic mix! You can only imagine the conversation.

A couple days ago, I overheard Daphne tell Austin and Tyrone they had to go to time out. Then a couple minutes later, I heard her say, "Are you guys ready to be nice?" It's Monkey See- Monkey Do around here these days, so Kev and I are really going to have to be careful.

Thanks to Uncle Jeff for the Ben Franklin action figure, by the way. It was a birthday gift. He has a tiny kite and key, too, but I put them away until Daphne can be trusted with tiny items. She managed to pull a necklace apart the other day and I think she ate a bead.

Pajama Party Time

So, it's Father's Day weekend, and Kev and my dad are both out of town. My dad went on his annual Canada fishing adventure, and Kev is in Colorado at a bachelor party. So, last night, the Peanut and I were on our own. We put on our pajamas, ordered a pizza, had ice cream for dessert, and watched the Curious George movie for the second time this week. There were also pretend tea parties and picnics, and I worked in a little knitting. I started a new hat, this time it's for ME. I've been assured it will fit, even though as you can see, it seems about the right size for Daphne.

Tonight, we're going to stay with my mom, so it'll be another girls' night in. I guess we'll have to have Father's Day next week.