He’s got a beard, a shoulder tattoo, a flower tucked in his “hair” and oh so much attitude.
I could not be more proud.
Never Fancied Myself a Rainbow Kind of Gal… August 10, 2009
I tried last night to come up with wise words on turning 40. But word retrieval issues kept getting in my way.
Sage advice from a 40 year old: Do not play Taboo during your birthday weekend. Just skip it, politely decline or scream, “NO FUCKING WAY” at the top of your lungs. Seriously.
You see, I was once a fairly competitive gamer. At least in my own head. My husband and I were in a regular game group, before kids, and loved it. I may have developed a bit of a reputation as being a little too competitive. But I just called it being a WINNER. So it was with a touch of this former glory that I approached the game last weekend. Let’s just say I blew out the candles on humble pie for my birthday. I completely and utterly stunk. I believe the jewel on my birthday crown was when I had the word, Ballistic, and I said, “He went BLANK.” over and over until that little sand timer mercifully played me off like keyboard cat.
edit to add, YOU MUST WATCH THIS. If ever I am down, this never fails to bring the mirth.
Yeah, so I am happy with 40. Not freaked out about the number. Just a little freaked out that I need to shop at the large print section of the bookstore, that my butt needs it’s own pull behind wheeled trolley, and that I appear to be just a shadow of my former Gamer self. But I still challenge anyone to beat me at AIR HOCKEY. I reign SUPREME.
Good Old Timey Carnival July 5, 2009
Yesterday we went to the local carnival which always lands over the 4th of July weekend. We have meant to go for the past 3 years but something always came up. So glad we made the time to go yesterday with our good friends.
We saw a dragon roller coaster.
Shoved our trash into the mouth of a clown trash can! I am thinking this could get BIG money on ebay.
We coveted stuffed junk!
We found a clown shooting gallery.
And acted accordingly.
Watched other, braver, folks ride the Viking Ship.
I was blissed out, surrounded by all the colors and vintage carnie goodness.
This reminds me to brag about my SERIOUS faux bois score. I scored a FREE 4 drawer filing cabinet off Craigslist. It is a vintage beauty and photos are sure to follow once we’re settled into the new house. Now back to the carnival…
All 3 of my men, 2 wee ones and my man, climbed through the obstacle course. Some faster than others! 
The signs were gorgeous.
My youngest covered his ears to try and block out all the massive carnival noise, even said no to cotton candy because he had no free hands. But then, then he spotted the duckie pond.
I wanted to buy/steal the aqua and red duckie. I settled for a photograph. Life rule # 427, Do not mess with CARNIES.
SHAZAM! (taken through the viewfinder of my vintage Kodak Duaflex)
Rainy Day Recipe June 22, 2009
Rainy Day Recipe:
Antsy Kiddo
Vintage Buttons
Thrifted Tins
Kitchen Spoon
Camera (to entertain antsy adult)
Go
Me, messing around with some ‘colorways’.
And now, for the final ingredient in the recipe:
NAP TIME
The Force is Strong With This One… April 29, 2009
So this is not the Star Wars post I’ve been writing in my head for months but I wanted to document so I can remember.
Tonight I took a deep breath, reached for the Star Wars sticker book and asked, “Hey, you want to do some Star Wars stickers together?” My son looked a little surprised and very pleased. We snuggled up on the sofa with the sticker book and then he said, “I’m touched you asked me to do this with you Mom.” It was a moment filled with bliss and love and victory and it was also a reminder. A reminder for me to make the effort to understand and connect through his interests, it is a finite amount of time this open book stage.
“I am touched you asked me to do this with you…” A powerful reminder that he does notice all those times I am not only unable to pick a favorite droid, debate the moral compass of the storm troopers, or choose which light saber I think is the most powerful but that sometimes I am unable to hide my annoyance. I will savor this moment and hope to remember to make more of them.
Never a Dull Moment April 15, 2009
My soon to be 3 year old asked for a “Mohawk” the other night while I was reading a story to him at bedtime. I non-Mohawk related story, for the record. I spiked up his hair using his big brother’s hair gel. “BIG BIG BIG Spikes” was the direction he gave.
He tried to sleep sitting up so it wouldn’t flatten his hair.
Where does this come from? This is a kid whose mother (i.e., ME) does not wear make-up and is lucky to brush her own hair.
So this morning he insists upon wearing these shoes from dress up to his class.
After making his way to the car with these thrifted babies, each on the wrong foot, he decided to go with the back up shoes I packed. A more sensible flat.
Then is his class he tied my arm to a chair. Don’t worry, he was able to articulate all the sounds in the words, KNOT & TIGHT. Woot!
Just wanted to share little snippets from our day, and we’re only just past noon.
Passover Seder April 14, 2009
Phew, it’s been an intense couple of weeks. Lots of deadlines and responsibilities with an overnight in the hospital for my little one thrown in (my little love is a-ok). I’ve almost shaken off all the stress and am ready to embrace spring (should it ever arrive).
One of the projects I worked on was preparing a seder for 14 at our place. It involved bringing a table up from the basement and taking a door off it’s hinges, I was not involved except to offer our friend who helped an ice cold beer after the job only to realize we had no such thing. Nice. But I was involved in the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, the making of the new family Haggadah, did I mention the cleaning? Luckily I am married to a man who is actively involved in the life of our family. He stayed up until 2 braising 15 pounds of brisket. Yum.
I did not take very many photos but here are a few of the set up, a couple of my lovely friends who came even though not everyone was 100%, and of the aftermath.
You can’t see them very well but I have 2 of these beautiful lotus centerpieces that house 3 candles and have a built in frog for creating low floral arrangements. I got 1 from ebay the first year ebay was up and running. It’s silver and I think I paid under 5 dollars for it. I LOVE it. I found one that isn’t silver but is an exact copy at the thrift store for around the same price and was thrilled to have both on our seder table. 
These 2 are the shots I took as I was preparing the table.
My eldest made the 2 ceramic creations in this shot at school and we used them for ceremonially washing our hands during the seder. The orange on the seder plate in a relatively new addition. The story goes someone asked a Jewish scholar/rabbi when women would be able to become rabbis and he replied, “A woman will become a rabbi when there is an orange on the seder plate.” And so now many people add an orange to both represent women and there struggle for equal rights but also to represent the possibility for change. Hope.
There’s the nice guy who helped my nice guy lug up the dinning table. Thanks G, we owe you.
I love these of my nephew who read the 4 questions for the first time! The 4 ?’s are read by the youngest at the table and he really did a wonderful job reading them, it was nice to have a child’s voice among all the adults. He was very proud and rightly so!
I’m not a braggart, but don’t I have beautiful friends? Here they are entertaining/terrifying the children the 10 plagues finger puppets.
And this is me “reclining” on the sofa after everyone was gone and my husband and I had done the initial clean up. Actually he was still in the kitchen and I decided I could not possibly move another muscle, until I got the urge to document that is and then I shot up (well, more like crawled) and got my camera. Here is the credenza where we put out the yummy food. Brisket, roasted beets with caramelized red onions, carrot sald (with lots of garlic and parsley), green beans with shallots and garlic, a yummy green salad, my SIL’s kickin’ matzah ball soup, my FIL’s special cucumber dish, and the roasted potatoes that I saw here. The irony is not lost on me.
I was too tired to even kick the pillow out of the shot. It was a good kind of tired, kinda.
We don’t have a dining room, per say. We use the extra room for a playroom so we set up the table in the middle of the living room. Where it will now stay, did I mention the door off the hinges thing?
My favorite spot above the computer with a rotating collection of my collections.
The children’s wooden Passover set. That’s the best Manishevitz wine you’ll ever taste, fyi!
So you’re probably thinking, if you’re still reading, that actually I did take ENOUGH Passover photos!
I’ll stop because my writing is all fawn learning to walk today,
Crazy Week Behind Me April 6, 2009
and an equally crazy week ahead of me. Not much posting going to happen but wanted to share this poster I saw on my friend’s blog.
Poster put out by these interesting folks.
I read this poster to my 6 year old and asked him what he thought it was about. He glanced up and said, “Stereotypes.” and went back to reading his Star Wars book. What are you doing this week?
