Little stinky-face.

There is a really great book out there. It is an inspiring, tear-jerking novel. It is definitely worth checking out.

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A month ago I wrote a little about the new Nick Hornby novel, A Long Way Down. It really has been a great read. If the kids weren't so insistent (meal-time, and play-time, and diaper-time, and story-time) I guess I would be through it by now. I didn't really put too much thought into the title, because when you are standing up at the top of the building, intent on jumping off, and you look down it is a Long Way Down. But in the book they talk about if you don't jump, and you have to walk back down the stairs then you are actually taking the long way down off the top. But so far, it seems to me that the book is referring more to the experiences of the four individuals. Not quite in the literal sense of their location, but rather their state of minds, or their relationships. Not quite with each other, but with their families, and friends. So I might speculate about the fact that with friends and families, and each other, their is no quick jump off the building answers. It takes effort, the walk down the stairs, to fix our lives, or make things the way we want them.

Suburban living.

It is so funny, the event that occurs every week around here. I refer to it as the "Mow Phenomena". When one person gets up and runs their lawnmower around their lawn, everyone else in the nearby vicinity has to get out and mow as well, to avoid having the scruffiest looking yard. It is like a domino effect, someone knocks over the first piece, everyone else falls right in line.

Holly smuggled a crayon in to her bed the other day at naptime. The result was a work of art that we were trying not to laugh at, while we were telling her that she is not allowed to draw on her wall. Quite an interesting work.

Holly misses her sister so much(Emma is finishing up a long couple weeks of trips, she hasn't been around in so long...) that she drew this on her wall! It was a picture for Emma, right by where their beds meet. Mischief meets artisan. 

Well, of course Holly has a pair as well. They are still getting used to how to hold your head when wearing glasses. The sunglasses are a tiny bit big for them, but I think they are gonna get tons of use out of them. 

Ryan looked at me, like this and said: "I want my sunglasses on." Hummmm. 

They are getting so good at being nice to each other. 

Voyager's Series Finale

Ok, I am watching the finale of Star Trek: Voyager. The show was on the air, from January 1995 to May 2001 (What they would have done with September 11, 2001, I would have been curious to see), so it was seven entertaining seasons in which the cast and writing quality truely matured with age. So the premise of the show is that the ship and crew got flung a huge distance away from home, and they were trying to make their way back to Earth. As of the second to the last episode they were seven years into their journey. Suddenly, one episode later, in the season finale it is 20 years later. Talk about a bit of a shock, I had to rewind it a couple times to get my head around the sudden change.
And everyone is really messed up. Sick, or dead, some of the more interesting characters are not even in the thick of things anymore.
I'll finish the show and let you know.

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All wrapped up, and in a pretty bow too. Wouldn't you know that that everything came together all perfect. Voyager got home safe and sound, after only 7 years (the Captain from the future went back in time, and brought some BIG GUNS). Everyone is alive, the baby was born safely, and there was even a romantic kiss between Jeri Ryan and Robert Beltran, with a promise of them getting much closer to each other. And the ultimate nemisis (The Borg, come on, try and keep up) were soundly, and seemingly permenantly defeated. I guess after the rocky start, it turned out to be a great finale, very unlike the finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. I'm still bitter about that one.

Further proof that we are slave-drivers who never let our kids rest, until they clean up after us. 

Ryan has been quite busy since we decided that they aren't allowed to sleep until they clean the whole house, everyday. They sleep much more soundly now too. 

Holly and I got a haircut today, but I must say that her's looks much better then mine. 

Cash money.

You know, the less money that you have, the harder it is to catch up. Duh.

My point, beyond such a deeply obvious statement is the observation of all the fine print on the bills I have been going through. On several bills (Allstate, Home Insurance, and others) there is crap like "There is no penalty for paying in full, but if you choose to pay the minimum there will be a $5.00 installment fee." What the hell? I have been noticing it more and more, being Nickeled and Dimed. According to the 2000 Census, the median age in the US is age 35.3, much too young to have a significant savings. And the median household income is $42,000. It seems that is a little low, doesn't it. It seems to me that there are a whole bunch of people out there frustrated with economic factors of our society.

A rainbow never tasted so good! 

Ryan did enjoy devouring Spongebob! 

Holly, Ryan and I were eating some donuts for breakfast. When Holly was halfway done with her donut, she looked at me with this mouth and said "Give me a kiss!" 

Media

After I read Harry Potter, I took a little bit of a break. I had to give my eyes a bit of a rest. But recently I started Nick Hornby's new book: A Long Way Down. After reading About a Boy, and making it most of the way through High Fidelity, I was pretty excited to check out his newest offering. I was kinda disappointed with his other one: How to Be Good, but I might not have given it a serious try. I was determined to give A Long Way Down a fair shake.

I was a little intrigued by the dust cover's description, too. Four people who have decided, more or less, to kill themselves at a popular London jumping spot at the same time (awful coincidence, huh, on a New Years Eve) meet each other in the most awkward way. Well, I'm about half way through, and it is really good. It is told through the First Person Narrative of each of the four principles. I found it a little disconcerting at first, to abruptly (sometimes after only a page or two) change viewpoints so often. But now I have found that after reading of a compromising situation, or something, I actually look forward to reading how another member of the quartet viewed it through their experiences, and eyes.

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In another form of media, William recommended that I check out the show "Entourage". After watching as many of them as I could, I must say that they are really good! It is a show on HBO about this group of 4 guys who live in LA. One of them is a up-and-coming movie star, and the other guys are his (yes, Kyle, you guessed it) his entourage. All of them are his friends from Queens, NY, where they all grew up. I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I really have enjoyed every episode.

I'll let you know more as my brain percolates on the show.

Randomness

Well, a number of things have been going on this week.

On Saturday is a community-wide garage sale. We have been working all year, weeding kids clothes, and toys. We even have a crib and some other larger baby pariphenailia that will probably sell quick. Emma and a friend of hers (Kelly) have been planning a Kool-Aid stand for a few months. From what I have been able to get out of them, they are going to also offer a selection of lollipops. I think they were also thinking about baking cookies, but that required a sleepover which they didn't get permission for. Anyway, they seem to have quite grand ideas about the amount of money that they are going to earn. They intend to split the money, evenly, and then Emma was telling me that she is going to use it to buy a couple of squishies, and a magazine. Squishies, the little pillows that are all the rage right now, are about $10 a pop. I'm already working on some concilatory words for when they don't earn as much money as they expect.

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It has been hot here lately. We have been to the pool twice this week (Monday and Tuesday) and thank goodness for the sprinkler that we bought over the weekend. It helps that we have the air conditioner for our great room (our living room is nice and big, but it takes two window air conditioners to keep it cool). We manage to keep busy, and keep cool at the same time.

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And another thing, I'm getting really sick and tired of the terrible twos. Holly and Ryan are one year and 2 weeks apart, so that meant when Holly entered the terrible twos, that we had two years of it to look forward too (Once Holly finished, Ryan had come of age). So we are almost all the way through it, a few more months left, and I can't wait to be done with it. I have been working extremely hard to get across certain principles that I think they kids need to know.
When I ask you to do something, I expect it to be done, completely. I am not going to ask for one result, and then reward some behavior that is less. I don't think that it is beyond reality to expect that behavior from a child.
I have become much more cautious about exactly WHAT I ask them to do, challenging them sometimes, but also building their confidence in doing household chores like clearing their own dish from lunch, or bringing the garbage to the kitchen garbage can.

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I think I might be developing something like bipolar or sociopathic tendancies.....I have become increasingly frustrated. I experience mood swings. And contrary to what anyone thinks, I get angry. I'm not a mindless drone who can devote 24 hours of their day to the complete servatude of other people, other people who without exception fail to recognize how loud they shout, or how annoying it is when I am not even given the courtesy of being listened too. The laundry doesn't fold itself, dinner doesn't appear magically on the tables, like in Harry Potter. When I do things, no one notices, or gives a shit. It is when I DON'T do something, that the world screeches to a halt. Lord have mercy if I don't empty the garbage when it is 3/4 full. There will be a rain of fire if the kitchen is too messy.

And my reward for staying on top of my duties, or keeping the everything "in order"? There is none, other then the smiles on the faces of the people I live with.

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I want to keep on whining, but I have to go pick up some stuff that I have picked up 4 times already (and I will 6 times more before the day is over), and encourage the girls not to exclude Ryan, just because he is a boy. He gets so lonely when they don't play with him, I guess they don't realize how mean they are being to him.