Frigid No More

It was nice yesterday! And nicer today! The world makes sense again...

Oh no.

Tim Russert, respected MSNBC journalist and long-time moderator of Meet the Press, died today of a heart attack. I know it's nerdy, but Meet the Press is one of my favorite shows. I can't say I always agreed with his particular brand of journalism, but Sunday mornings won't be the same without him.

You can see Tom Brokaw reporting on it here.

Nostalgia, Party of Mom

Oh. Ow. Sometimes I watch old videos of my boy and it hurts a little.

How to have an uneventful but still awesome* Sunday

Get badass new shoes. Dress in black like Johnny Cash. Play outside for hours with an awesome* flower in your hair. Take a nap. Chase the dog for ten minutes after she steals the badminton thingy (birdie?). Ride bikes to the grocery for corn and pasta salad ingredients. Eat corn. Eat a popsicle.

*Be honest. Do I say "awesome" too much?

Yogini

Child's pose. Kind of.
Actually a pretty good downward facing dog.
Trying to show Gus back-bends.

Sometimes when I'm super sore from working out I do a few made-up yoga poses before bed and pretend they help. Gus spent a few minutes admiring my sweet moves before he joined me. Neither one of us could stop laughing.

You're welcome for the sexy grey sweatpants and over-sized tee.

Awesome or Terrible Parenting?

We let Griffin watch Blue's Clues. Like kind of a lot. Not 6 hours a day or anything, maybe just one? And a half? Is that bad?

He's starting to get kind of smart about it. I was just feeding the dog out of her paw print covered food holder thingy and Gus was going "A COO A COO". I guess I should explain that on the show there are "clues" covered in blue paw prints and when one pops up on the screen you're supposed to yell "a clue, a clue". So he did that, but in the language of a 22 month old. Right now he is stacking up blocks, exactly as they do in his all-time favorite Blue's episode, simply titled "Blocks". And he's singing one of the songs from the show.

Tell me, blog fans. Does my son watch too much TV?

When you are old, please don't do this...

Good bloody HELL. This old man keeps calling me claiming that I am sending faxes to his home phone number. I politely told him three dozen times that I do not in fact own a fax machine and therefore could not possibly be sending him a fax. I finally just stopped answering his calls - which put him over the edge. He just left me a 2 minute voicemail about how he was going to "come down there and KILL ALL YOU BASTARDS". I called him right back and he denied calling me. "But sir, you left your name and phone number on the message. I know it was you." He finally admits that the number he needed to call was a 1-866 number and he forgot the 1.

TWENTY TIMES THOUGH?? Even after I TOLD him it was the wrong number? Oy.

HAIR!!!

We cut Gus's hair. He was pissed at the clipper sound - but now he keeps yelling "HAIR, HAIR, HAIR" and is very excited.

A Round of Cupcakes

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Jerry, Grandma Sheryl, and Lindsay Loo! I can assure you all that your lemon raspberry birthday cuppies were quite tasty.

"She is my sister, and therefore one half of me..."*

"Happy Birthday Munchkin"







This is my intensely beautiful sister. Today is her birthday. Ya'll know how I feel about birthdays. THEY ARE VITALLY IMPORTANT AND MUST BE CELEBRATED EXTRAVAGANTLY. Sadly, she and I live far apart. In lieu of the obnoxious 16th birthday party I would have given her (which she will be getting anyway the next time she comes over here) I'll be taking a minute of your time to honor her via bloggy loo.

Because I am more than a decade older than Lulu I have a type of love for her that is hard to describe. I love her like she is my daughter, but that's not quite it. I love her like that, and like my favorite song, and like the perfect cupcake, and like my best friend, and like who I would want to be if I could start all over. I love her like she saved our family, like I love the way she loves my kid. Like she is so beautiful and athletic and just so damn funny. And lots of other things I can't really explain.

I don't know if she knows, because she is so far away and we are all so busy, but I miss her and think about her 567 times every day. I should call her more. We should all call our siblings more. We should all appreciate and worship and adore our siblings, for the things they reflect back to us about ourselves and where we came from. Because they are half of us. Because all of these relationships are fragile and easy to lose.

I'm making birthday cupcakes for Lindsay, and I'm going to make a wish for her. I'll break the rules and tell ya'll what it is. I wish for her to survive high school with heart, head, and spirit intact. I wish that she would find an amazing college in a city she loves (I vote Boise), and meet dozens of exciting people who can teach her everything and learn everything from her. People who rock climb, and knit, and read Margaret Atwood and Chuck Palahniuk, and know how to make their own beer, and know all the good pizza places. I hope she can live in an apartment with a perfect view and have a goldfish named Merton who she always forgets to feed because she is never home. Because she is out living. I want her to do a semester abroad in Italy or Greece or Russia, and come back with the kind of stories she can tell her grandchildren. I want her to meet a smart, beautiful, caring, exciting man and have ten babies, or none, whatever she wants. But not until she is like 30. I want her to be my next door neighbor forever. I want her to teach Gus how to play softball. I want her to blow us all away. She will.

*This is a quote from "The Other Boleyn Girl" which I have neither read nor watched, but I plan to very soon. I just thought it was beautiful.