Oh my God. More school violence.

A child has lost her life in a close-knit mountain community high school. A gunman took 6 children hostage, released 4, broke off negotiations, then shot one of the remaining female hostages when the police stormed the school.
Too horrible to imagine.
The worst thing that is supposed to happen at school is bullying.
What is going on in this World?
Hug your children extra today.

Friday Five, a wee bit late

All that was left of Kim's (All Consuming) roasted tomatoes recipe a half hour after it came out of oven. We eventually resorted to eating it straight out of the pan.

The Hair, with a Level 1 rinse on it. It was like painting slippery, gooey shoe polish - I would not recommend this coloring product. And it only last 6-12 shampoos! I found a Level 2 rinse (Clairol Natural Instincts) that I will try next. I figure about 3-4 more inches and then SHORT HAIR! YAHOO! This Hair is clogging up our appliances, vacuums, drains. I have to cut it off the beater bars of the Dyson every time I use it. In fact; check your beater bar. Cut strings and hair off - you will be amazed at how well your vacuum works again.

Kim of All Consuming posted this recipe. It. Is. Luscious. And I will definitely make at least a double batch next time.

The last of the vegetables from our garden. We still have some tomatoes, but that's about it. Plus, it's going to freeze this week. We have a bit of work to do to put the garden to bed. It was a great success and we'll do it again next year.

The menfolk putting together my purchase of yesterday - a carpet steamer. This carpeting is 5 years old now, and is getting worn. There are pretty bad traffic patterns in it that are just now showing up (from being a model home). I don't want to spend the $ anymore to have it professionally done. But what an exhausting process! I only got the family room area rug, the living room and the stairs done yesterday so I obviously need to develop a better system.

ARGH! What's Your Pirate name?

My pirate name is:

Captain Jenny Kidd

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Photos! New Haircuts and Lounging Around...

Lounging, sick, in the master bedroom. Where Parker also slept alone for half of the night. The other half? He was up and complaining, poor thing. He got a bad cold in the middle of the night. We had musical beds. Ken ended up sleeping in Parker's bed, feet hanging off. Ryan got a great night's sleep, however.

This is Parker's idea of lounging. He broke into full Tae Kwon Do routine a second later. Leaping and kicking and then falling over dead when Ryan said "GOTCHA" Isn't he a good older brother?! (Note educational Sponge Bob on TV. You betcha!)

Ryan, sporting a new haircut.

Parker's new haircut, side view. His hair is about 1" all over. Sleek, smooth, on his nice little noggin.

Another view of Ryan's haircut. Please note the size of this child's head! Chinese people are always rubbing his head, saying "Smart Boy!"

Friday Five: Faces, Costumes, Vegetables!

Parker, first day of school. This is a phony smile, the child is scared shitless.

Ryan's tooth in the Tooth Fairy Box. Chosen by Parker, who was convinced HE was going to lose a tooth first, even though Ryan had one hanging by the proverbial thread. The box was, of course, used by Ryan first. But Parker found the money first!

Parker's Star Wars' Costume! Note the light saber being brandished about right in front of my eyes. It barely missed my nose.

Tomatoes, oh lovely tomatoes. How I have loved thee!

Gap-toothed Ryan, in his CARS costume, with his Star Wars light saber. "It's my Star Wars CARS Costume, Mommy!" And that it is.

My Friday Five, suggested by Loretta or somebody many moons ago.

I can post AnyThing. This site is private!

It just occurred to me, emailing someone just now, that I can post
Any
Darn
Thing
I
Want.

This site is by invitation only. If you are here, you are wanted. Not a GODDAM old boyfriend, who needs to grow up and get a life.

So, No more 'My K, Oldest and Youngest'

We are:
Myself, (no mention of my first name on this site)
Ken
Parker (6)
Ryan (5)

We live in a beautiful area in Colorado, South of Boulder, Northwest of Denver, nestled in the windy old foothills. Those craggy reddish mountains directly West of our home? They are the Flat irons. (purposely mispelled to evade pesky web searches)

Our address is in a small town. Until this development was built, the little town was nestled along Rock Creek, and boasted 200 houses, stores and businesses. It was NOT charming. Blighted, more like it.

Now picture Irvine, California. Yes! Take away a hundred fifty thousand or so people, and all the humidity, and you have our Perfect Little Development. We have one of the few racially-mixed populaces in the entire state of Colorado (that isn't Chicano). Said mix being Asian - engineers from China, Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan, Russia, and many more Points East. There are lots of people from lots of places here. We have burkah-wearers, sari-wearers, scarf wearers and baby wearers. We have 2 "Jacob has Two Mommies" kids in our sons' classes. In EACH of our sons' classes. We have women who MUST be accompanied by a male relative to drop off their children at school. We have more than one parent who is on the phone or laptop the entire time they are dropping off their children, racing around like mad dogs trying to get better reception in this hilly community. Most parents walk their kindergarteners to class and home, pushing tone-y strollers if they have younger children. The parents range in ages from quite young to *ahem* barely middle aged.

But the Annoying Thing?

We have nut allergies in both classes! And Ryan? Eats Peanut Butter Sandwiches Every Day of the World. I have to practically bathe him after lunch! And re-brush his pearly whites.

But Mostly?

This is a great place to live, raise a family, spend money, spend time and energy. It has a drop-dead beautiful climate. People in this community are athletic, generally happy, helpful and very friendly. Downright Midwestern in its comraderie feel. Western in its location, climate and recreational lifestyle. We have a SuperTarget IN our town, and a huge, high-end mall 4 minutes away. And Starbucks, grocery, video store, cleaners, banks, nail salon/hair salon, restaurants, etc. in walking distance. (Hilly, but walkable)

And expensive. Like most places on the planet.

Photos to follow. This is So Cool. I can be Who I am. I can show you my beautiful sons.

Day-Off Thursdays

Ah, they are GLORIOUS!
Okay, it's really only Thursday Morning's Off, but to lie abed with your two delicious-smelling little boys, and play with their babies (favorite stuffed animals) and massage their lovely little bodies and kiss their velvety cheeks? Am I not the luckiest woman alive these Thursday mornings?

Our favorite parlour game the last few days has been 'Little Baby/Big Baby'. Oldest is Little Baby, just learning to walk. Youngest is Big Baby, and helps me take care of Little Baby. But Big Baby needs alot of attention, too (And frequently turns into a demanding 5 year old, right in the middle of play) We play in the living room (hence 'parlour game') and use the good pillows, sectional and wide expanse of carpeting to play out the following:

Babies Falling Off the Couch.
They take turns falling off the sofa, with many exclamations of horror and hurrying over to rescue from me, and subsequent ROCKETING back into the sofa, with no cares - NO CARES WHATSOEVER - that they are Little Babies; and would little babies really like to be rocketed back into the chaise lounge portion of the sectional, sure to break their little necks? No, not these little babies! I wear out after maybe 6 sessions of rocketing; they do weigh almost 45 pounds each.

Then we play "Little Baby Learning to Walk". Oldest draws a line in the carpeting, and admonishes me in his normal voice "I have to walk All By Myself to here, Mommy. And I'm going to take little baby step, like this." and he proceeds to show me how he is going to lurch and take tiny steps, but I am to 'have confidence and just hold out my hands'. So we do that, with Youngest lurching in front of Oldest and pretending to cry, which makes Oldest snap out of 'baby' and turn into 6 yo Big Brother, yelling "HEY! I"M THE LITTLE BABY HERE!" and giving Youngest a shove out of the way and then going back to being the 'cute little walking baby' after giving Youngest The Death Stare.

But Today? Oldest wanted to play a new game. "Mommy, pretend like it's the day I got here! You are picking me up at the airport!" so I held out my arms and said "Oh, Hello, my beautiful son!" and Oldest? Held up his arms to be picked up, then turned around in my arms, waved and said "Goodbye Korea! Goodbye Foster Mommy! I am going to miss you! I love you." and I burst into Very Quiet tears and hugged and hugged him. How did we get so lucky to have these children?

And now they are watching The Magic School Bus videos we got from the NEW LIBRARY which is just too beautiful and wonderful for words. The boys beg to go every day. It's That Great.

Where I'm at this week...

Things are going really great with Youngest. He is wearing costumes, playing with friends, communicating, staking his place in the middle of the mix. Yes, his speech is still delayed and different. This boy lives in the present; there is no past or future in his conversations. And frequently no prepositions or other unnecessary embellishments. The fact is, he's alot more social than some of the highest-paid geeks at my husband's company. So, there is hope.

Oldest? Except for sulky, moody mood swings and Drama - Oh, The Drama! - Life is Good for Oldest. He is ahead of the curve for manners, social skills (the boy likes to be liked) and agility. He'll be fine.

Today, the boys are being allowed to watch Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope, with very much of the movie fast-forwarded through, and many, many questions from them "Is he a bad guy?""What Kind of animal is that?" and finally "Well, NONE of this is real, is it?!" We all jumped out of our seats when youngest bellowed "Dat's DARK VADER, I KNOW DAT GUY!" complete with popcorn going airborne as he jumped out of his chair. We've only watched half of it so far. We wanted to see how the boys did with that much of the movie.

This was prompted by oldest poring over a Costume Express catalog, and deciding that his life could never be complete unless he had a storm trooper (clone trooper?) costume. After 2 days of pleading, his brother finally came up with a costume he wanted as well - McQueen from Cars. It's a step-into costume, pictured here. I hope he is not too big for it.
Cars Costume
Since I was ordering that costume for youngest, I told Oldest he could also pick one. Of course he chose a $60 costume right away. I told him 'something less expensive', which then meant we had a long discussion about money and budgets. I remember going through this same thing with a 6 yo godson, many moons ago. Anyway, he pounced on a clone trooper (storm trooper?) costume and once I clicked "ORDER", both boys have been hounding me mercilessly, and leaping out of their skins with every peal of the doorbell.

And about switching the blog to something much more opaque; well, I had something rather unpleasant from the past sneak up and give me a goose. So I'm leaving up the old site, hoping the Putz is thrown off scent. If not, I gave it a good try. In the meantime, if you do choose to add or keep me on a blogroll, please leave my old name out of it. In fact, that old name won't be appearing anywhere on this site, ever. Just to let you know. Also? I'll be commenting by email to your blog entries when I can. I'm going to be on the computer alot less. Reigning in an addiction, so to speak.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Let's see if this worked:

Switcheroo complete?

Bloggy Bye Bye

I'm spending way too much time on the computer and have lots of stuff to do right now.

So adieu for now.

I say, You think:

1. Wiggle ::


2. Face ::


3. Adjustable ::


4. Room ::


5. Easy ::


6. Store ::


7. Maid ::


8. 9 pm ::


9. Challenge ::


10. Debt ::

Here are Mine:

Wiggle: Room
Face: Value
Adjustable: Waistband
Room: to Grow
Easy: Livin'
Store: Bought
Maid: Servant
9 pm: Light's Out
Challenge: Fight
Debt: Free

Hmm, I see a theme of expanding girth here -

Stolen from Kim