Yadda Yadda

Lessee, last time I posted, I was recovering from a nasty flu. That's right about where I am this time too, only it was a much nastier version this time. (Swine flu? Doubtful.) Fortunately, nobody else in my family was felled.

My birthday boys had a lovely party together, and I am so happy that I didn't have to do two parties. It worked really well, and I loved watching them all run around like a pack of deranged, beautiful animals. The weather cooperated, and we managed to get a bit of outdoor playtime, trotting out the bouncy house again. (I'm sure the neighbours are sick to death of listening to the fan start up every time my kids are in the yard, but man, we've really gotten our money's worth out of that thing.) My trick cake (slices of pound cake with orangey icing in the middle, to look like grilled cheese sandwiches) fooled them all--unfortunately, they were so convinced that they politely declined to eat any. "No, it's really cake!" I told them. "Honest!" They remained dubious. Even the kids who politely agreed to the crazy sandwich-pusher ate the other stuff and left the cake. Lesson learned.

So now I am mother to a 3 year old, a 4 year old, and a 7 year old. Whoa. Those kids are practically senior citizens--how did they get so damn old? Their advanced ages are really apparent lately because I have been reacquainting myself with their baby photos. All of our photos from 2002 (the year of N's birth) through 2005 (the year after G was born) were stored in a computer that suddenly died one day. I was so worried that the photos would be irretrievable that I refused to address the issue for four years. The computer tower has been stored in the basement, waiting for the day that I would admit it was time to take it to a shop for data recovery. That day finally came last week, and despite my adding to the challenge by DROPPING IT ON THE CONCRETE as I struggled to carry it into the building, they saved every last photo and video. Bless those geeks, I could kiss every last one of them.

Since then, I have been obssessively clicking through photo after photo after video after photo of the most amazingly gorgeous babies in the history of the world. Seriously, I make cute kids. And oh, how I miss those chubby thighs! Not that I am really jonesing to gestate another one--but now they're all so large and gangly and ancient. I'm just a little wistful, is all. It really does go fast.

My dad popped in this week, delighting the boys beyond measure. Every night before bed, J would hug him, then give him the Serious Eyes and tell him sternly, "You don't go anywhere while I am sleeping, alright?" Apparently he was deeply scarred by a previous stealth exit by my dad, which none of us remember.

I did the morning school run today (usually Husband's jurisdiction), and slept later than I'd planned. When you don't set an alarm because you are always up by a certain time, you are pretty much guaranteed to sleep well past that certain time. Fortunately, the kids were on the ball and woke me in time to put on some pants and brush my teeth before we had to dash to school. And that's about as far as I got with making myself presentable today. No makeup, unwashed hair, no bra! Egads. And I went out three times, dropping off kids, picking them up, running errands...I feel a tiny bit rebellious, but also a bit like I just proved a point I already knew to be true. Like, surprise, the entire city didn't issue a collective gasp at the sight of me without makeup...though my greasy hair may have earned a sideways glance or two. Whatevs.

I have been knocking a few longstanding items off my to-do list, and it feels GOOD. Today I finally fixed the latch strike on the front door, which has been nonfunctional for, oh, about two years. The door wouldn't latch when we closed it, and we had to turn the bolt to keep it from blowing open with a breeze. My dad found a replacement and removed the old one, and then it stayed like that for several months. To be fair, it wouldn't have been a pleasant job to do in the dead of a harsh winter, what with the working in the open doorway. Today I locked the curious kitty in the bathroom and bashed a chisel into the doorframe for a while, and now there is a most satisfying click when the door is closed. Yay! Last week I installed blinds in two windows which have been nude for the five years we have lived here. Go me! I'm on a roll.

I have been coveting a home espresso machine lately, but simply cannot justify the cost. So today I impulsively bought something like this (mine has a glossy white enamel on the top half), all giddy to come home and try it out with the finely ground espresso I'd inadvertently bought instead of regular ol' coffee. Alas, I discovered that all that finely ground espresso had been used up, because we just dumped it into our regular ol' coffee maker anyway. Thwarted! By the time I picked up some more, it was too late to be indulging in caffeinated anything, so my taste test will have to be in the morning. Now I just need one of these, and I'll be set. Woohoo! Now I can feel all fancy-pants with my morning coffee. Can't wait!