Busy Few Days

A busy past few days and since I have very little brain power left at this point in the day I'm presenting it mostly in pictures. We took the kids to Story Land in New Hampshire on Saturday and we went apple picking in North Yarmouth on Sunday. Both were fun and both were tiring. We do Story Land every year-love those free tickets from work-and we always went apple picking through pre-school but those days are over.

Clowns are scary but I still made them sit for a picture.

Grace, celebrating her Dutch heritage.

Any excuse to shoot a gun.
They actually volunteered to get in for this picture-it was their idea.
Big excitement to pick apples but we were done in about 10 minutes.

Declan had to pick the perfect one each time.


Trying to get them to pose for a picture with their harvest-it took a while. Finally, success. We didn't pick too much because I only want to make a pie and maybe something else. We might go again before the end of the season.

The Tooth Fairy Is Coming

Grace finally lost her last little baby tooth and the Tooth Fairy will be visiting us tonight. She requested a paper dollar instead of coins so I had to put a call in to the Tooth Fairy to leave her this message. In case you are wondering, her phone number is 1-800-TOOTH-FAIRY. Its sort of sad because now she just has her bigger teeth to lose-all the little ones she grew as a baby have fallen out now. Of course, once the Tooth Fairy became a part of our lives, I had to take a trip to the craft store to make Tooth Fairy Boxes. I bought a plain wooden box for Grace a few years back and painted it pink which was her favorite color at the time. Then I put transfers stickers on it that sort of looked like fairies and sealed it up with some decoupage. Declan has no sign of any loose teeth but I made his a few months ago because I didn't want to be caught off guard if he suddenly lost one. His has no fairies-he choose to cover it with bugs but whatever-Mommy still got to play with stickers and Modge-Podge.

Best British TV

Looking through a lot of my TIVO choices I notice quite a bit of them are British shows. You have to have cable and really good PBS channels to get them which, thank goodness, I do. Here are some of my favorites thanks to You Tube.



This is The Vicar of Dibley. Its from the mid-90's and I never really paid attention to it but I became obsessed with it last year and now I own the complete DVD. I could watch it for hours but I never get the chance.


This a show from the 70's called Good Neighbors although I think it was called The Good Life in England-no idea why they changed it. Pretty standard sitcom but there is something about it. A couple quit their jobs and try to sustain themselves by starting a farm on their suburban plot of land-the neighbors aren't happy and comedy ensues.

Absolutely Fabulous is, of course, one of the best shows ever made regardless of country. I have seen every episode at least 50 times and I know that sounds horrible but I can't help it-that is over a 16 year span though.

The Young Ones is what really started me off on British TV. It's from the early 80's and MTV started showing it when I was in high school. I also own this complete series on DVD. I like this clip because it features Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Stephen Frey and Ben Elton before they were famous. Neil and Rick were my favorites.


Here's another Young Ones clip just because its so freaking funny.

Where I Was

I think its safe to say most people today were thinking about where they were 7 years ago. I was at work getting ready for our morning meeting to decide what we were going to cover that day. It was, as we call it, "a slow news day". I remember waking up at 7am that morning to the Today show leading with Micheal Jordan possibly returning to the NBA. By the time I went to bed that night it seemed unbelievable to me that was how the morning news started. I was sitting at my desk which has 3 CBS and CNN news feeds running across from it. One of our editors was watching raw video that had popped up of the World Trade Center smoking and he pointed it out to me. We sat there watching it and it started coming over the AP news wires that a small plane had gone off course and hit the building. Most of our staff wasn't in yet but a small group of us stood around watching it. It soon became apparent that this was more than originally thought. My day became a blur after that because we all went into overdrive to cover the story. I am actually featured in a lot of our staffs "where were you" stories because I had to call in all of them early and tell them what was going on. One of our producers was actually in NYC that morning and I called and woke her up because we wanted her to go down to the towers. She spent the rest of the day walking around the city looking for a place to stay and only some of her cell calls to us actually worked. Her mother was calling us to make sure she was alive because she couldn't get through to her. Viewers were calling the newsroom asking strange questions almost like we were showing a disaster movie instead of real life. I think most people that day slowed down and left work and sat in front of their TV. As someone working in news my day became the opposite. I still don't know if I processed it like other people because it became my job and we see horrible things in our job and we sort of disassociate ourselves from it so we can get our work done. We talk of murder and molestation casually and even joke about it as a way to get past it-a newsroom is one of the last politically incorrect places left because it has to be although I can say I have never heard someone in the newsroom joke about 9/11. Then, as it started coming out the next day that 2 of the terrorists had started out their day at in Portland, work just became busier and busier. I still only rarely shop at the Scarborough Wal-Mart and when I do go in all I can think about is that this is where they bought the box cutters they used to take over the plane. I made it home late that night and still had to go back for a newsroom meeting. Grace was only a year old so thankfully she had no idea what was going on and she was a good distraction. I went back into work on the 12th and sat down at my desk and started crying because no one knew what to expect because our world had come out from beneath us and I honestly didn't know if I would see Grace again. We spent weeks covering it and then the anthrax attacks happened. I vividly remember a few months afterwards and a California police car chase came live over the feeds and the whole newsroom stopped to watch because they are addicting. I started laughing because it was such a relief to watch something normal like that not having to do with terrorists. I'd like to be able to end this with some great thought but I have nothing new or original to say about the day that hasn't been said already.

You Must Read This

You must click and read here: http://nieniedialogues.com/
It is the blog of a young mother who, along with her husband, was almost killed in a plane crash a few weeks ago. I saw her family on the Today show yesterday and they have taken over her blog to let people know about her and to raise funds for their medical bills. She reminds me of the Soule Mama posts. Shes always so happy to be a mother and doesn't dwell on all the bad things. So sad to read but so important at the same time because you never know what can happen to you.

He Did Such A Good Job

Declan did a wonderful job with his first day of school. I was prepared for anything but he was excited without being shy about it. I held my tears back in front of him but even the principal could tell I was losing it. We drove him there in the morning but he did take the bus home in the afternoon. We got there, he hung up his stuff and picked a seat, and then he ordered his parents to leave. He wouldn't cooperate with the first day of school pictures so this was the best one I could get.
He led the way to his classroom.

Got a seat and started playing right away.
Tim had to get one last hug in.


Here he is getting off the bus this afternoon full of stories about his day. A congratulations hug from his big sister for starting school. She then tried to carry him home but that didn't work out.

Tim and I had a really strange day home alone. Not quite sure what to do with ourselves and we ended up wasting most of the day. Hopefully we can get some stuff accomplished this week. We actually took a walk in the trails by our house that lead to the old Portland dump. Its not as gross as it sounds-its all been covered up years ago and now is all grass and flowers with the occasional rusty car engine sticking out. I picked a huge bouquet of flowers to brighten the day. I know they are dump flowers but I'm overlooking that!

Too Fast

Can anyone explain to me how I am supposed to put this little boy on a school bus and let them drive away with him? I'm not sure I can do it.

Finally Made Them & Other Random Stuff

I finally got around to making the flag garlands for their room. They turned out to be as easy as I thought they sounded. I just sewed a bunch of triangles-see below-then sewed them inside some bias binding. I had no idea was bias binding was until a few weeks ago but I love it now. I think the cutting and pinning took more time than the actual sewing. The whole project only took a little over an hour.

Here is the finished product hanging over Declans bed. I made Grace's too but forgot to take a picture of hers. They are cool and really easy-something I could easily make and sell on Etsy if I ever got off my butt and started doing that.

Speaking of Etsy, tonight I discovered their PIF listings. These are Pay It Forward listings. People just post things for their 20 cent listing fee and all they ask if that you perform a random act of kindness. I bought a cool pair of yellow wire earrings and really just paid $2 for the shipping. Go to Etsy and search PIF and I'm sure you'll find something you'll like and all you have to do in return is something kind which can be easy to do if you think about it.

Its been a really strange night around here so forgive me if this post rambles on. Tim had the night off, Declan is long ago asleep and Grace is spending the night at her friends. The house was way too quiet. Tim had projects to get done which I can't complain about since he doesn't get much time to himself-I long ago accepted I am a computer widow. So I spent most of the night knitting, eating jellybeans and watching British comedies on PBS while listening to the hurricane remnants outside. I'm on vacation this week and I have things to get done but can't get the energy to start them. The big project to take my mind off Declan starting school is painting the living and dining rooms. I have the colors picked out but I hate painting. I'm giving the ceilings to Tim because he is taller but most of the rest will probably be me. I hate cleaning all the trim and then taping it off, spackling, and moving furniture around. It has to be done so no use whining about. A lot needs to be done around here so if anyone has a $500 Home Depot gift card to donate, it would be greatly appreciated. We need 3 new doors, a weedwacker and a lawnmower-you know, just small stuff!

Firsts

Many changes happening this week and next and I had to take all of next week off to adjust to it. Grace started 3rd grade this morning and Declan starts kindergarten on Monday. He took his practice bus run yesterday with Tim and seemed to enjoy himself. Today we went for kindergarten screening and he was extremely uncooperative which has me worried about his first day. Hes gets nervous very easily and in response just shuts down. He can get almost shy about how excited he is and then he just starts acting foolish. I know deep down he will be fine but I'm not so sure about me.

The standard first day of school picture but you have to take them every year. I'm surprised she let me-you can totally tell she was humoring me.
The backpack wouldn't be so heavy if she just took all her stuffed animals and journals out of it.
Off she goes again. Its hard to believe she is halfway through elementary school. It seems I was just in 3rd grade myself not that long ago.