The Bloom is off the Rose

I’m officially over my honeymoon period with Facebook which, as you may have noticed, completely killed my blog. I really enjoyed it for a while, and I created the goofy status updates like everyone else. It was interesting checking out photos of people I went to high school with and seeing what their cute kids look like. Taking the occasional quiz here and there was fun, and becoming a fan of things like “morning sex” and “nutella” has its merits, I suppose.

I really enjoy Facebook as a tool to stay in touch with my family. I have about a thousand cousins. Even my aunts and uncles have pages these days. We have a great time when we get together, but that’s not all that often anymore. I love viewing my family members' vacation pictures and reading about their lives. Like my cousins who went to Europe earlier this year, and my super inspiring cousin who just completed a triathalon. Without Facebook, I may not have even known about those things until long after the fact.

I have a ton of other “friends” on FB. Most of them are people I haven’t talked to in years and years. But some of them are my neighbors, co-workers, etc. Last week, I had posted a status update where I complained about the screaming 2-year-old boy who I had the misfortune of sharing a hospital waiting room with. While I was out for my evening walk the other night, one of my neighbors stopped and asked me who was in the hospital. It startled me that she knew something like that about me without me telling her first. And though I didn’t mind her asking – she was being friendly and concerned - I realized that I had, in fact, told her (and hundreds of other people) about being in the hospital. It really made me realize how far reaching Facebook information really is. I was kind of deluding myself thinking that only the people who comment back and forth with me regularly were seeing my updates. But of course, that's not the case.

So, I’ve eased up on my Facebook usage a bit, and who knows - maybe I’ll start writing in my blog again. Lord knows that working on my writing by crafting blog posts will serve me better than playing farming games on Facebook.

And don’t even get me started on Twitter… I gave it a try and didn’t like it. Actually, it wasn’t that I didn’t like it so much as I didn’t really understand it. And that’s probably not a bad thing.

Bunny Terror

Anybody want a cat? You can have her for free. She's a lovely little thing - her favorite place to hang out is my closet. The fur on her belly is white and she has a fondness for sleeping on black clothing.

She is also a monster! A few weeks ago, Hollywood was hanging up clothes in my closet and she found a present that Mabel left us: a decapitated and disemboweled bunny. She left it on a black skirt of mine that was laying on my closet floor. It was Father's Day, so The Husband took one look at it and said, "Ha! Glad it's Father's Day - that's all yours!" So I had to clean it up. Ew, ew, ew.

Last night, The Husband and I were sleeping soundly and we woke up to the sound of this indescribable squeaky screeching that sounded kind of like this: "reeh, reeh, reeh!!!" The Husband leapt out of bed. "That cat has another bunny in here." He said.

Sure enough, when he flipped on the light, Mabel had a bunny in her mouth. The Husband went to grab the bunny and the cat ran out of our room into Bumblebee's room, where she darted under the bed.

The bunny was able to get away, and it tore off down the hallway into the dining room, squealing the entire way. Unfortunately for the bunny, Merlin (our dog) was also in the dining room, barking up a storm, and she was itching for a chance to play with Peter Cottontail too, so she scooped it up. The Husband yelled at the dog to drop the bunny, and she did. The bunny then darted into the living room, and this is when TH made a move that the most impressive wide receiver in the NFL would be hard pressed to match. With a flying leap, he caught the bunny by the leg and crashed to the floor.

He took it to the door and flung it outside. Then he went and scrubbed his hands with soap and water.

What was I doing during all of this hullabaloo? Well. I was terrified. At one point in it's frantic scrambling, the bunny ran close to my bare feet. I screamed like a little girl and ran the other way. Yeah, I'm brave.

Poor Hollywood's bedroom is in the basement, and she heard all of the scrambling, the dog barking, and TH's giant leap (which resulted in a resounding crash) and she thought we were being robbed. She was relieved when TH went downstairs to explain the fiasco.

The last time the cat brought in a bunny, Bumblebee had left the door off our sun room open. This time, all of the doors were closed, so we were puzzled as to how the cat got in, until we noticed that the windows in the living room were open and the cat had knocked the screens out of their track and squeezed through them.

Poor little bunny.

Slideshow: Sixteen Years of Fatherhood

Happy Father's Day to The Husband! (and to my dad too, but he doesn't read my blog. :))

Rent!

On Tuesday, I took a trip with another mom, Hollywood, and two of her friends down to St. Louis to catch the Broadway tour of RENT.

The show was amazing. If you've never heard the music for Rent, you are missing out. It's fabulous. This tour was cool because the two main male characters were played by the original Broadway cast members. Talk about talent! I'm still obsessing about my boyfriend Adam Pascal, who plays Roger. *swoon*
Don't laugh at the pants. They're part of his stage outfit!!

The girls were very well behaved and had a great time, even though it was a very quick trip. We got to St. Louis just in time to zip downtown to the arch, take the quick (and clausterphobic) trip up to the top to look out those tiny windows, have some dinner, and see the show.

We had to be back to Tinytown by 1:30 on Wednesday, so it was rough getting up at 6 a.m. to drive the 6 1/2 hours back home, but still. It was a fun time and I'm glad we went. Here's a collage pic I created for the girls to remember their trip. (that's Hollywood in the middle of both pics. Isn't the short hair cute?)

Dam Embarrassing

Des Moines has a 20K race every year called the Dam to Dam. It runs from the dam at Saylorville Lake north of Des Moines to the downtown bridge/dam over the river. It's a pretty big deal, gets lots of press attention. For the last two years, I've ran the 5K that they hold for those of us who aren't as ambitious as the 20K'ers. But that's not the point here, so I'll move on... Thursday night I was at Hollywood's softball game and overheard a woman talking about the race. She called it the 'water to water race' because she doesn't like to say that word.

The man she was talking to explained to her that it's not the bad word, it's the kind of dam with no 'n', but she said she just wouldn't say the word - no matter what. Guess she doesn't ever call a donkey by it's other name either. Later on in the evening, I heard her grumbling to herself about someone else's language. Man, she would not like to be in my house, our obscenities would embarrass a pirate!

And speaking of embarrassing... (schwing! how was that for a segue?)

I took the kids to mass tonight so that I can be completely lazy tomorrow.

While we were sitting there, listening to the Good Word, Bumblebee asked me if she could write on something in my purse. I usually let her practice her writing during church. She found a piece of folded notebook paper that looked perfect for the job and started writing on the back of it.

Bad idea.

It was my shopping list from the other day. It was a short list with only a few items on it and she left it list side up during the gospel reading, which is when we Catholics stand up for a while. And while we are standing, if there's something on the pew in front of us, we might, you know, read what's on it just because it was there...

So... the nice Catholic gentleman standing behind us, probably read that I needed to purchase the following at the store:

artificial tears
band aids
laundry soap
clothespins
condoms & lubricant

Yes, they were the last items on the list, and they were fully written out like that.

I'm a model Catholic, I know.

I clearly need code words for those items from now on. Something that only I will know what they mean. Like wraps and gels or something like that. I have decent handwriting, so my only hope is that this man was severely nearsighted. Or illiterate - that would work too.

As soon as I noticed what was on that list, I about died. My face and ears turned bright red as I shoved the list into my purse and tried to find something less personal for Bumblebee to write on.

I was mortified when it was time to turn around and shake the man's hand at "peace be with you time" during mass.

It's such a lovely life I lead.

Memorials, Milestones, and Memories

I went to a memorial service today. I watched my coworker and his wife say goodbye to their 18 year old son who died suddenly and tragically, leaving them with questions that might never be answered.

As I sat there in the church, I did what I always do when among a large crowd: I people watched. This young man was going to graduate this week, so you can imagine that there were many teenagers there. The boys stared dully ahead with their fringed hair-dos obscuring their faces while the girls cried and hugged each other, wearing outfits of varying degrees of appropriateness.

My heart went out to these kids who were already dealing with the emotional upheaval of graduation. How sad for them to have the loss of a friend thrown into that mix. My friends' son was very well loved by his friends, family, and community. That much was clear.

I also watched the family members who sat with dazed looks on their faces. Maybe they just wanted the service to be over so they could have some time in peace. For the past week, they have had to deal not only with normal funeral preparations, but because this story has had a considerable amount of press coverage, they've had that dynamic to deal with too.

My eyes naturally zeroed in on the grieving parents. I watched my co-worker, his wife and their 10 year old daughter as they sat with their arms draped around each other, providing silent support. At one time the minister described the deceased as a 'good hugger and a good listener' and I thought that sounded just like his dad. It made me smile just a bit.

As I drove home, I kept thinking how unspeakably awful it would be to have to bury a child who you have spent 18 years raising, teaching, learning from, and loving. The boy's mom was quoted in a recent news article saying, "Parents, give your kids a hug - you never know when it'll be the last time you can."

That's what I have done since I heard about this tragedy. I don't want to take for granted anything that happens with my children. Tonight as I got home, Bumblebee showed me that she'd lost her first tooth. She is so excited about it - wondered if the tooth fairy might give her ten dollars! (I think not!) I had to smile at her exuberance, this is a big milestone for her!

At the same time, it made me sad to think that my coworker and his wife are hurting as much as they are. I hope that their own memories of things like the first tooth lost are comforting to them today, as they say goodbye to their son, and in the many hard times ahead.

Now That's a LONG Time!

Take a look at this picture. My grandma and grandpa celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on Saturday. Sixty-five years is a looooong time.

We celebrated with a family reunion of sorts. There were cousins there who I hadn't seen in fifteen years. It was nice to get together to share the event. There was a slide show that took us on a journey from the time they were first married, through the births of all six of their children. At the cake reception, my cousin put on a wonderful music program. It was a sing-a-long of sorts, singing songs that my Dad's family used to sing during long car trips. Hollywood helped out by playing on the guitar.

My grandpa has Alzheimer's. He handled the day very well, but he was confused and I think exhausted by the end of the night. I know a few of my cousins had a hard time seeing him like that - they were sad when he didn't remember them. I've seen him since he's been sick, so it wasn't a surprise to me, but I remember that first realization that his memory was going...

Grandma has made the decision to move him into the assisted living section of the retirement home that they live in. This week he will make the transition. I know it must have been a very hard decision for her, but it's the right one. Grandma needs to keep her strength up, and taking care of Grandpa full time like she's been doing has been very hard.


I know the day is coming when I will lose a grandparent. I'm aware that I'm very fortunate to still have all four of my grandparents alive at my age. I don't like thinking about losing any of them. What comforts me when I start to think of this, is the amazing legacy that they've created.

I'll close with this picture of Bumblebee giving Grandma a huge hug. This picture squishes my heart, I just love it so much. My daughter and my grandma embracing. How lovely.

The Mom Song

I'm such a horrible blogger these days. But someone sent me this in an email and I just had to share it. It's such a cute song and totally sums up the life of moms.



I'm hoping to post again before Mother's Day, but if it doesn't happen, Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there!

Tribute to "Rth" Day - By Bumblebee

Picture drawn by Bumblebee that says "I Love the Rth". It has a heart and a pretty good picture of the earth:

What Has Been Happening Since My Last Blog Post

• Jazzy (our 8 year old cat) died.
• I read the second book in the Emigrants series (Unto a Good Land). Great read.
• Spring decided to finally grace Iowa with its presence.
• The Boy and I rode our bikes for 10 miles in one outing and I didn’t die or crash. (But my lady bits were numb and tingly.)
• I ran 3 miles and realized that I have gotten sorely out of running shape this winter.
• My baby brother turned 26.
• I screwed my back up (again) but I think it is finally on the mend.
  
• I attended five track meets and froze my ass off during four of them.
• Bumblebee got a loose tooth.
• I spent way too much time on Facebook and Pogo playing Scrabble.
• Hollywood ‘overtexted’ to the tune of $290. She is now working that bill off one chore at a time.
• The Husband got to grill our dinner because the weather is finally nice!
  
• I attended a three day off-site meeting for work. It was so boring that I almost drifted into a non-reversible coma.
• Easter came and my self-imposed ban on chocolate was lifted.
• The Boy started voluntarily showering and brushing his teeth.
  
• I went to my best friend’s little guy’s First Communion and spent time with her and the kids - something I don't get to do often enough.
• It got warm enough to wear sandals without my toes turning blue from the cold.
• We finalized our summer vacation plans by booking a lakeside cottage in Door County, Wisconsin.
• My annual ‘sorrow day’ passed with only a small amount of sadness. I mostly thought of how content I am with how things are today.
• My tulips, daffodils and phlox are all blooming beautifully.
• It’s starting to get light out in the mornings AND stay light out past 8 at night!
• I’ve neglected this blog, as well as everyone else’s. (I'm sorry!)

Happy Spring, everyone!!!