cut your mullet
January 31, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
at eight o’clock the four of us were in the bed and the babes were the only ones who were supposed to fall asleep. the boys had a good wrestle and run-around with ernie while i did dishes and set the timer for tomorrow’s coffee. then while i straightened the covers on today’s unmade bed and changed diapers and zipped jammies ernie went to my mom’s house to retrieve henry’s gary-hippo. jude was tired and kept nuzzling my neck. henry was wiggly while whispering “you’re the best” and “i love you, jude” in our ears. it was a perfect evening together. enough of everything for everyone. so we piled up in our room of blue to put the boys to sleep.
ernie and i woke up at ten o’clock with those heavy fingers of sleep trying to hold us cozy in the bed. it was all we could do to get up and out of it. ernie was still wearing shoes and all that goes with a body still in shoes. i had already brushed my teeth once and as ernie jumped up and stretched i imagined how nice it would be if i just stayed in the bed until morning, sleeping for ten hours with boys in soft pajamas.
but i got up and filled tall glasses with ice and grenadine and coca cola and passed one off to ernie who was already working on finishing his “be thou my vision” composition that is due tomorrow.
sitting at my paper-pile covered desk i’m wondering why it is that ten hours of sleep doesn’t send me running through the house half-naked and laughing like it does henry. so much joy in that kid. we could all use a little more, methinks.
let’s hear it for boys in coats.
if i threw my guitar out the window
January 29, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
ben gave henry this gas station guitar last night. henry likes to practice and ernie taught him how to say “virtuoso.” i wonder if there will be too heavy an expectation on henry and jude to be musicians. they’ll certainly be expected to practice — lots and lots of practice, hours of finger burning practice. i don’t think anything bad will come of that, will it?
i have a hard time imagining having a child who hates to practice. i practiced until my mother made me stop. my brother would tell the teacher “whatever” and she’d cut his lesson short and make my lesson longer. that first teacher was a glossy self-tanned woman who didn’t know much about music at all. she kept copies of “teen” magazine in her waiting room and while my brothers took their lessons i would read the magazines cover to cover. and during my lesson i would play the music perfectly. sometimes she would leave the room for one reason or another and i would sneak sips of her iced coffee from the sweating glass on her filing cabinet. she was angry when i quit taking lessons from her to move on to the hotheaded polish teacher who had a real tan and glossy short fingernails and a gleaming black piano on a floor of white carpet.
i wonder if there’s anything i can do *now* that will “mold our young breed” (mrs. banks) into musicians. not just musicians, but lovers of practice.
it’s still snowing. i crept down the stairs with the boys at 6:30 this morning and the snow itself had already been creeping across the lawn.
i said, “be careful his bowtie is really a camera”
January 28, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
my birdfeeder was heartlessly knocked from the tree by the wretched squirrel who chewed a scar in the side of the feeder the other day. i am so annoyed with this squirrel. he scares the birds away and eats all of the food. he looks at me through the window with little eyes, switching his tail and rudely splaying his crotch my way. i’m about to perform a random act of violence on said squirrel. my brother shoots the squirrels at his feeder with his paint ball gun. i’m not *that* annoyed. but something must be done. the cardinals are hiding in the neighbors bushes watching me through the leaves and twigs and windows as i stand and watch the squirrel munch away.
henry painted yesterday during jude’s first nap. he started with the paper and ended with his body. he didn’t know he’d been wearing a blue moustache for half an hour until he caught a glimpse in bedroom mirror much later. it was cute to see his surprise. then he asked to wash it off. funny kiddo.
the weekend is upon us.
i said, “be careful his bowtie is really a camera”
January 28, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
my birdfeeder was heartlessly knocked from the tree by the wretched squirrel who chewed a scar in the side of the feeder the other day. i am so annoyed with this squirrel. he scares the birds away and eats all of the food. he looks at me through the window with little eyes, switching his tail and rudely splaying his crotch my way. i’m about to perform a random act of violence on said squirrel. my brother shoots the squirrels at his feeder with his paint ball gun. i’m not *that* annoyed. but something must be done. the cardinals are hiding in the neighbors bushes watching me through the leaves and twigs and windows as i stand and watch the squirrel munch away.
henry painted yesterday during jude’s first nap. he started with the paper and ended with his body. he didn’t know he’d been wearing a blue moustache for half an hour until he caught a glimpse in bedroom mirror much later. it was cute to see his surprise. then he asked to wash it off. funny kiddo.
the weekend is upon us.
it’s you i like
January 26, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | 1 Comment
so henry and i have started watching mr. rogers religiously. he sits in my lap and does not get up until fred has tossed his shoe for the last time and slipped it onto his slender foot.
yesterday the thermometer read a breezy sixty degrees. henry marched in the mud wearing pirate boots two days in a row. jude was rosy cheeked and happy outside watching henry run in circles around my legs.
but it’s cold today. my fingers feel it through the window glass.
i should have books coming in the mail today.
ernie is working on an arrangment of “be thou my vision” on a commission for a tuba and euphonium choir. the second verse is stunning and quite impressive. i like to hear him buzzing around in his studio late into the night, humming and plunking out notes on the keyboard. the sounds are muffled through the dining room floor and i can hear him talking to himself but cannot make out the words.
i’ve decided to teach kindermusik this summer in an attempt to keep my mind working and to make more money to spend garage-sale-like at bradley’s bargain barn. there is some interest in this town and if i can get six students it will be worthwhile. henry will take, and jude, if i can manage two kinds of classes. it will be summer and they will be 3 and 1 so the idea is more manageable in my back-flipping brain.
it’s you i like
January 26, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
so henry and i have started watching mr. rogers religiously. he sits in my lap and does not get up until fred has tossed his shoe for the last time and slipped it onto his slender foot.
yesterday the thermometer read a breezy sixty degrees. henry marched in the mud wearing pirate boots two days in a row. jude was rosy cheeked and happy outside watching henry run in circles around my legs.
but it’s cold today. my fingers feel it through the window glass.
i should have books coming in the mail today.
ernie is working on an arrangment of “be thou my vision” on a commission for a tuba and euphonium choir. the second verse is stunning and quite impressive. i like to hear him buzzing around in his studio late into the night, humming and plunking out notes on the keyboard. the sounds are muffled through the dining room floor and i can hear him talking to himself but cannot make out the words.
i’ve decided to teach kindermusik this summer in an attempt to keep my mind working and to make more money to spend garage-sale-like at bradley’s bargain barn. there is some interest in this town and if i can get six students it will be worthwhile. henry will take, and jude, if i can manage two kinds of classes. it will be summer and they will be 3 and 1 so the idea is more manageable in my back-flipping brain.
tina come get some ham.
January 25, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
if you’ve not seen it yet you need to strap on your shoes and winter apparel as necessary and head for your local family video store.
napolean dynamite is my new favorite movie.
“Tina, you fat lard, come get some DINNER!… Tina, eat. Food. Eat the FOOD!”
where’dya get them peepers
January 24, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | 1 Comment
i don’t know where we got these beautiful kids. i really don’t.
it was a lazy weekend. nothing was done at all. maintenance of this house was barely accomplished. we went nowhere, saw no one.
we did eat cheesecake. dad cashed in on the january cheesecake coupon. it was turtle cheesecake which was easy enough to accomplish. next month is raspberry lemon and i’m feeling anxiety about making it. grandma said they used to call cheesecake “idiot cake” for reasons for which we are still scrambling. she kept saying “idiot cake” and “pudding pie” while dad was trying to talk. she belched the words out loudly between bites of the cake/pie/idiocy. she’s old now and her skin resembles cheescake, soft and pale and squishy.
where’dya get them peepers
January 24, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
i don’t know where we got these beautiful kids. i really don’t.
it was a lazy weekend. nothing was done at all. maintenance of this house was barely accomplished. we went nowhere, saw no one.
we did eat cheesecake. dad cashed in on the january cheesecake coupon. it was turtle cheesecake which was easy enough to accomplish. next month is raspberry lemon and i’m feeling anxiety about making it. grandma said they used to call cheesecake “idiot cake” for reasons for which we are still scrambling. she kept saying “idiot cake” and “pudding pie” while dad was trying to talk. she belched the words out loudly between bites of the cake/pie/idiocy. she’s old now and her skin resembles cheescake, soft and pale and squishy.
stay awake don’t go to sleep
January 21, 2005 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
yesterday’s late nap made for a late night for henry. jude sleeps no matter what (shouldn’t jinx it by saying so, i know…) but henry runs until he drops. he was so cute last night, though, bouncing gary in his pouch and singing to him. he’s so gentle with gary saying, “oh baby, mommy’s here.” and kissing on him. i love when henry kisses things, people. they’re just about the best kisses on this planet. jude’s are a close second but jude’s kisses mostly consist of gnawing on my chin or nose while holding my cheekbones in his hands.
my mom and i junk shopped today. we went to “brandon’s bargain barn” which is a new place and there had been a break-in so we couldn’t rummage. so we went to another spot in town that is more of a consignment shop than a junk heap and i bought a cool indian lamp to hang here or there but most definitely outside in our summer tent. i’m very excited and the thing was only ten dollars so there’s really nothing more to say without taking a jump around the living room.
it’s the weekend at last. henry cries when ernie leaves for work. it’s sad but very cute. i lock the backdoor while reassuring him that poppy will be home tonight, that i know he loves to keep poppy here to play. then we make toast and coffee while jude sits on the kitchen floor gnawing on a spoon.