State of Obvious

Josh on night-time: 'Since Carly is brown, when it's dark outside I can't see her. It's like she's a ghost.' Josh on kissing: 'I'm not going to do that until I'm in college.' 'How do you french kiss? (insert parental laughter) Nevermind, I don't want to know.' Josh on dining: 'We got all dressed up and went to the funeral thing and now we're going to eat at a not-fancy place?'

First, a correction: Last week I listed the Just for Me hair relaxer as a product I purchased but that was false. Michelle, goddess of all things related to Carly's hair, actually bought it and applied it. Now that we cleared that up, this week's 4fer. Four things about a new school year that are both good and bad: 1. Waking up early - I hate waking up early, so does Joshua. Dragging Josh out of bed during the school year is basically like trying to move a large boulder up hill. At the end you are sweaty and mad and you just want to sit down. On the up side, Carly and I can now take a mid morning nap without the sound of Joshua's elephantine pitter-patter. 2. Shopping for new school clothes and supplies - I take particular joy in school supply shopping. Growing up, my parents were raising 4 kids on a small budget. Sometimes my dad was in school himself, sometimes we had just moved, most of the time it was just a matter of making do with what we had. I understand

I have mixed feelings today. Grief, peace, disbelief, sorrow, compassion, confusion, wonder, regrets. Uncle Jim passed away last night and I have regret hanging over my head like a shadow. Regrets for not taking the time to spend one last afternoon in his company. When he first went into the hospital a few weeks ago we were going to drive out to the hospital to see him, but we didn't want to take the kids. Especially in light of painful memories it might dredge up for Josh. So we waited and we missed our chance for a last goodbye. By now I should have learned the lesson: never wait, embrace the moment . A friend of mine sent me a text message saying that he was singing this song, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing , to himself and upon reading the words I have decided they fit my mood pretty well. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by fla

Josh: Every family has a wandering sheep. In our family that's me. Carly: Daddy's home! Oh my goodness, I can't believe me!

I'm just wondering if you are like me. Do you choke on your own words when you stumble across another blog as beautiful as this one? Do you re-examine your funny bone when you indulge in a blog as knee-slapping funny as this one? Do you fight the urge to delete all your nonsensical posts when you find blogs as smart as this one? Do you get almost giddy when you link to wikipedia about blogs ? Do you wish you took better pictures and rationalize that your digital camera is out of date and that's why so many of your pictures hover under the excellence bar? Do you regularly blog browse, looking for new things to read ? Click, click, click. Me too. For the faithful few readers that keep me wallowing just inside the realm of obscure blogs, an Blog on.

Our lives are woven together like intricate lace. The threads wind, tie and stretch to create a beautiful and unique pattern that will unravel if any string is cut, no matter how late the thread was added in to our pattern. I have been very fortunate to be surrounded by a remarkable family. This isn't only my family, it includes Eric's family. I count myself lucky that I have never had a 'wicked-mother-in-law' story to relate. I count myself luckier that Eric's extended family is just as warm, just as kind, just as welcoming from the first moments that our lives were wound together. Eric's uncle, Jim, is in the final stages of terminal cancer. Such ugly words to describe the closing days, weeks and months of an amazing man's life. I can quite literally say that Uncle Jim (and his wife, Aunt Marty) are directly responsible for a great portion of the peace and security Eric and I enjoy. The kindness and generosity they extended to us are only the tip of a very

A shameless rip off of B-happy's "Three Things Thursday" and other famous alliterative blogs. 1. Best thing I bought at the store this week: Just For Me hair relaxer This product is life changing. LIFE CHANGING . Before the relaxer our hair care sessions (ie brushing, styling, washing, looking at, touching, thinking about of Carly's hair) looked something like this But without the cute pigtails. Now our hair care sessions look something like this: And I am not even kidding. When Carly was having her hair washed, post fabulous relaxation (courtesy of her Godmother, Michelle), her bangs fell down onto her face. She caught a glimpse of them and was startled. "What's that!" she said, reaching up tentatively to touch them. "That's your hair," Michelle said. Carly pushed them away from her eyes, amazed while Michelle and I howled with laughter. Classic. 2. The book on my nightstand: Twilight (currently on my second read through) 3. The

So today we had Josh and Carly's combined birthday party. It looked like we were going to cancel it 2 days ago but then 2 of the 8 people invited called and said they could make it, after all. So, Eric took Josh and 2 friends to see Star Wars while Carly and I went shopping. On the agenda for the girl's day out: pierced ears for the D.I.V.A. She actually handled it very well, flinching and protesting when the first one went in and crying with the second. For precisely 15 seconds. Once I pointed out the new bling in the mirror she was all smiles and primping. We also bought a tutu, some cute new leggings, a sweater and pants and a new purse. Oh yes, and a scrumptious new purple hat - she's not wearing it in that picture, I do know what color purple is people (I know you thought I was crazy or colorblind for a minute). I promise the shopping trip was for her too and she had as much fun as I did. When Josh got home from the movies there was a water balloon fight in the back ya

I added a music player to the bottom of the ol' blog, if you don't want to hear it you will have to scroll down and tell it to shush. Or browse with no volume. But if you have no sound on you can't hear things like this: Her name is Adele and she really has a classic sound. I really think she is going to be some kinda shooting star. Have a listen.

Which is also 347,155,200 seconds or 5,785,920 minutes or 96,432 hours or 574 weeks or 11 years. I'll be the first to admit that I am somewhat naive in the ways of the world. After 11 years of marriage (as of today!) that hasn't changed much although some other things have, like my waistline. I am sometimes surprised that Eric has stuck with me after all this time. I can be really annoying, clingy, angry, picky, loud, and mean. Eric has, at times, called me a shrew . A word of advice to all the men out there, even the single ones: don't call a woman a shrew. After expressing my extreme dislike of this term, he did stop using that particular nickname. Some of the other nicknames Eric uses for me: woman (I don't like this one much), mommacita, Sarity, girlfriend (not a fan of this one either), barge (there's a story behind this one which makes it slightly more acceptable than it seems, but I don't like it much either), Jeanette, Tamykins (after my WoW chara

Today my Josh is ten years old. I am amazed every day at the things he can do. He started out this sweet little silver-eyed boy and grew into a chocolate-eyed manchild. Sometimes I can see him standing on the edge of childhood, perched and ready to leap into life and it frightens me. I want to hold on to him for a while longer, I want to kiss his smooth, chubby cheek and listen to his out-of-control giggles. I want him to stay my Joshy-boy forever. I know that there are many things that are not easy for him to do. I hope he never gives up, even when its hard to find a way to keep going. I hope he believes in himself, thinks for himself, hopes for himself, and reaches as far as he possibly can. He has an amazing imagination, a vivid world full of pretending and games and fears. I hope that never fades away. Joshua's Gramma Annie lived for him. If not for him, she would have stopped fighting for her life a long time ago. The days we shared with her were very precious, and those days

No, I didn't get pregnant. I also didn't find furniture for the living room. I didn't get a high score on Wii bowling. Nor did I learn how to use who and whom. However, I did find something that surpasses the lolcats for pure, laugh-out-loud fun. It's called FAIL Blog and holy cow is it just amazing. I mean really: As in most internet hijinks, read with caution if you visit the FAIL Blog, it is not G Rated. For those of you scared to venture forth, I'll post my favorites here from time to time. Just for you. Because life just isn't complete without seeing this: and this: and brace yourself: Good times, good times.

I do not remember the night of your birth, I wasn't there. I missed your first breath, your first cry, your first meal, your first hazy glimpse of the big, wide world that was suddenly your home. I would love to say that I had some flash of insight, some quick realization that you were here and that soon you would be with me, but it was just another ordinary day. By chance, I was keeping a journal during the week you were born. I am a very sporadic journal keeper, stopping and starting like a bad stutter, so I am very grateful I was in a journal phase when you made your entry. I remember the phone call, I remember hearing you had been born and I remember being asked if we wanted you. It seemed ridiculous that my quick "yes" wasn't enough and that I was given time to consider it, there was no other answer. Driving over to meet you a few days later was blissful torture. I had no idea what to expect but I already clung to the idea that you were mine like it was th

I like the sound of an old friends voice, even if I can't technically hear it. I can read it and reading is just about my favorite thing to do in the whole wide world - ok so that's an exaggeration but you get it, I like to read. Today I was happy to listen to my old friend Nate's voice. I was happy that he sounds just the same and yet grown up. I don't know if I will ever really get used to the idea that I'm a grown up now, and old married lady with 2 kids and responsibilities. What an ugly word, responsibilities . Anyhow, anytime I get an email from Nate - like twice a millennium or so - I always flash back to when I was in college, living in my first very own apartment and he called me because he was bored. We were very good friends back in those days, it was always easy to be friends with Nate. I wasn't home when he called and so he spent an hour or so calling my house over and over and filling up my voice mail. He would broadcast as DJ Nate until t