My favorite flower smell is gardenia. I don't know what it is about the smell of the gardenia flower that is difficult to capture accurately, but it is very rare to get a consumer product that truly smells like gardenias.
One time at an airport I ran across a candle that was very expensive, but smelled just like gardenias. I balked at the price and then for the next month I thought about my upcoming business trip and how I was going to get that candle when I went back through the airport. When I returned, they had sold out.
I see candles frequently that are gardenia scented and I almost always stop to smell them. I'm almost always disappointed because whatever smell it is, it's not remotely like the true gardenia flower scent.
The Big Boy Update: I asked my son if he knew what he used to call a motorcycle and a helicopter. He didn't remember what a 'mackamuck' or a 'hebercopper' were but he practiced saying the words and smiled when I told him.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has not had a functioning pacifier for a while now, but she still likes to hold the broken one and sometimes even puts it in her mouth. Yesterday she did something that she knew would have her pacifier thrown away. She was fine with it at the time, but at night she felt differently. She went to sleep with not pacifier though. The most interesting part was how for thirty minutes she moaned that she, "needed carrots" before she fell asleep.
Fitness Update: At the gym he's having us do bench presses and pull-ups. These are two of the three things I never thought I'd ever do (the third being a push-up, which I do repeatedly, all the time now.) I would tell you how much I'm bench pressing, only it would not impress you in the slightest.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Heartbeats
Our neighbor's son has surgery tomorrow. He's fourteen and he has had a pacemaker since he was a baby. Over time they need to be replaced and it's that time again. He seems fairly calm about the whole thing, especially since he's been through it before, but it's still an important day for him tomorrow.
His four grandparents are in town and we stopped in this afternoon to deliver a card my son made with us for him. My daughter was going to help, but she fell asleep at the table eating strawberries so she missed out. My son was excited about doing some stamping and making a card for Blake.
In the middle of this, my son and I had another one of those battles of will in which he didn't get his way (that being to put his hand on the ink pad and rub ink all over the table). He got upset and decided he wanted to go to bed. I got into his bed with him and we talked about how he and I had both been having strong feelings all day and that it had not been our best day.
I asked him what he thought we should put into Blake's card and he said, "kisses". I asked him how, and he told me, "we blow kisses into the envelope." I marveled at the imagination of a child. So that's just what we did. My husband, son and I blew kisses into the envelope for Blake and then sealed it. My son decided there needed to be a red bow on the front so he got one out and stuck it on.
Before we went over to Blake's house, I asked my son if there was anything we should take to Blake as a present. My son said that yes, we needed to take some strawberry yogurt to him and that we should bring a spoon too. Now that he thought about it, he was going to need a strawberry yogurt and spoon as well because he could eat his yogurt with Blake.
Yogurt, spoons and card in hand, over to the neighbor's house we went. Blake opened his card and then he and my son sat at the table and ate their yogurts together. It was very sweet.
We wish Blake the best tomorrow and look forward to seeing him home on Tuesday with his new, upgraded pacemaker.
The Big Boy Update: It was one of those days. My son would not listen. Oh, he would listen, but he would intentionally and immediately do the thing you just told him he could not do. It was a crazy day of testing. When my husband got home he saw it in action, so it wasn't just me my son was testing. I yelled multiple times and my son got upset eventually, saying he felt like he just wanted to go to bed. I got in the bed with him and he and I had a little talk and we decided to be good friends again. He is sensitive, but he's more hard-headed than he is sensitive some days.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: She was itchy. She's not commonly itchy, although bug bites give her the itching fits. At any rate, it was non-specific in location and seemingly all over so I gave her some Benadryl after the pool. She fell asleep fifteen minutes later with her head on the dining room table after eating some strawberries.
His four grandparents are in town and we stopped in this afternoon to deliver a card my son made with us for him. My daughter was going to help, but she fell asleep at the table eating strawberries so she missed out. My son was excited about doing some stamping and making a card for Blake.
In the middle of this, my son and I had another one of those battles of will in which he didn't get his way (that being to put his hand on the ink pad and rub ink all over the table). He got upset and decided he wanted to go to bed. I got into his bed with him and we talked about how he and I had both been having strong feelings all day and that it had not been our best day.
I asked him what he thought we should put into Blake's card and he said, "kisses". I asked him how, and he told me, "we blow kisses into the envelope." I marveled at the imagination of a child. So that's just what we did. My husband, son and I blew kisses into the envelope for Blake and then sealed it. My son decided there needed to be a red bow on the front so he got one out and stuck it on.
Before we went over to Blake's house, I asked my son if there was anything we should take to Blake as a present. My son said that yes, we needed to take some strawberry yogurt to him and that we should bring a spoon too. Now that he thought about it, he was going to need a strawberry yogurt and spoon as well because he could eat his yogurt with Blake.
Yogurt, spoons and card in hand, over to the neighbor's house we went. Blake opened his card and then he and my son sat at the table and ate their yogurts together. It was very sweet.
We wish Blake the best tomorrow and look forward to seeing him home on Tuesday with his new, upgraded pacemaker.
The Big Boy Update: It was one of those days. My son would not listen. Oh, he would listen, but he would intentionally and immediately do the thing you just told him he could not do. It was a crazy day of testing. When my husband got home he saw it in action, so it wasn't just me my son was testing. I yelled multiple times and my son got upset eventually, saying he felt like he just wanted to go to bed. I got in the bed with him and he and I had a little talk and we decided to be good friends again. He is sensitive, but he's more hard-headed than he is sensitive some days.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: She was itchy. She's not commonly itchy, although bug bites give her the itching fits. At any rate, it was non-specific in location and seemingly all over so I gave her some Benadryl after the pool. She fell asleep fifteen minutes later with her head on the dining room table after eating some strawberries.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Tie Dye
We did some tie dying tonight with one of my children's teachers and another family from our school. I have been a participant in the tie dying before, but this time I was coordinating the process. It was messy the first time as a mere participant. As the person running the event, it is drastically more messy.
The children had fun in their underpants squirting dye onto their shirts. (My son was naked, shocker there.) Afterwards, they ate dinner mostly naked and then I put them in the bath with a capful of bleach (on recommendation from my son's surgeon for skin bacteria, not at all having anything to do with the splattering of color all over their little bodies.)
Tomorrow morning I get to rinse, vinegar wash, rinse again, washing machine wash, dry and then run a second, towels load in the washing machine to make sure all residual colors have moved on down the line.
Last time, the results were great. My two children love their tie dyed shirts from the spring and wear them regularly. We'll see if their work this time is of equal quality.
The Big Boy Update: My son wants to connect his penis to things. I would be alarmed, but I hear we're not the only family experiencing a "bonus" member to their family at this age of childhood discovery.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I heard my daughter wake up this morning. I heard the drawers of their dresser opening upstairs. I heard her pattering down the stairs and running into our room. I opened one eye and watched her put her "night night" outfit into the hamper and her nighttime diaper in the trash can. Then she came over to my side of the bed and told me, "my wadiebug is is not tied." And so it wasn't. Her ladybug dress that she'd selected needed to be tied in the back. Then she asked me, "can I have yogurt for breakfast?" Two-and-a-half years old...she makes me proud.
The children had fun in their underpants squirting dye onto their shirts. (My son was naked, shocker there.) Afterwards, they ate dinner mostly naked and then I put them in the bath with a capful of bleach (on recommendation from my son's surgeon for skin bacteria, not at all having anything to do with the splattering of color all over their little bodies.)
Tomorrow morning I get to rinse, vinegar wash, rinse again, washing machine wash, dry and then run a second, towels load in the washing machine to make sure all residual colors have moved on down the line.
Last time, the results were great. My two children love their tie dyed shirts from the spring and wear them regularly. We'll see if their work this time is of equal quality.
The Big Boy Update: My son wants to connect his penis to things. I would be alarmed, but I hear we're not the only family experiencing a "bonus" member to their family at this age of childhood discovery.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I heard my daughter wake up this morning. I heard the drawers of their dresser opening upstairs. I heard her pattering down the stairs and running into our room. I opened one eye and watched her put her "night night" outfit into the hamper and her nighttime diaper in the trash can. Then she came over to my side of the bed and told me, "my wadiebug is is not tied." And so it wasn't. Her ladybug dress that she'd selected needed to be tied in the back. Then she asked me, "can I have yogurt for breakfast?" Two-and-a-half years old...she makes me proud.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Malaise
I'm not sick. Maybe I'm lazy or maybe it's a lazy day. I don't know what it is, but I've been a slob and a blob all day long. That laziness is going to extend to this blog post because I just don't feel like putting forth the effort tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday, which is pancake day, and we should all have a fun day with two play dates, a cook out, and tie dying with friends.
The Big Boy Update: "Do you know where the pumpkin patch is?" My son has been asking about pumpkins lately. We're not sure why.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "I wanna try that again,". This is my daughter's favorite thing to say when she enjoys something. If it's jumping into the pool or doing a twirl or sliding down the slide, she'll gleefully say this (or say it to you if she needs your help) and then do the thing over and over and over.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Tesla's Birthday
Today is Nikola Tesla's birthday, which I'm going to use as a loose excuse to write more about our new Model S car.
People know it or don't: People either know immediately what the car is, are excited, want to ask you questions and talk about it, or they don't even notice it. If you're into cars or electric cars or technology, you may have heard about this breakthrough new car company that's doing things differently than other companies. Otherwise, it just looks like a nice sedan. I've picked up people in the car and they've said, "you got a new car, nice, " followed by, "what is this?" and then followed by, "who makes it?" It doesn't stand out visually, even the logo, a capital T, looks a bit like the Infinity logo if you're not paying attention.
The stereo can play any song: If you've used Pandora, you'll be familiar with this type of behavior, but this is the first time I've seen it in a car. The car comes with five years of 3G AT&T cellular service and includes both Slacker Radio and TuneIn Radio. It also has voice recognition, so you can press and hold a button on the steering wheel and say, "Play 'Ants Marching' by Dave Matthews Band". It will process your request and then pop up a selection on the touch screen. You can pick the song itself, the album or alternate versions of the song by other artists and it will start to play. If you pick the song itself, it will first play that song and then play other songs that are in the same genre/era/feel as that song.
The volume goes to eleven: Some people have said that this feature alone makes the Tesla Model S the coolest car they've ever bought. If you're not familiar with the phrase, "our amplifiers go to eleven" from the cult classic movie, This is Spinal Tap, then this feature may not appeal to you. As someone who's been saying that phrase for decades, it is, I agree, one heck of an homage.
Digitally Faithful: The car won't let you in unless you're vetted by a key. Heck, you can't even grab a door handle and try to open the car unless you're in possession of a key because the door handles pull flush with the car when it's locked and asleep. You can't unplug the charge cable if you don't have a key in proximity either. I thought at first the car liked me, now I realize it's digitally faithful to the keys, which are shaped like mini Model S cars. As long as it's protecting itself, I suppose I don't really mind.
Charging Stations: We've been looking at Plugshare.com on the browser in the car and continue to marvel at how many EV charging stations there are in the area. We went to one of our favorite shopping malls the other day and discovered not one, not two, but three locations you could charge your car with a total of five charge ports and two levels of charging. The electric car world has been out there for a while, we're just now realizing how prevalent it is.
Strange Noises: This car makes noises you've never heard a car make. It makes them at times when you think it's asleep, like when you walk out to the refrigerator in the garage to get a drink. It makes buzzing sounds, popping sounds, unusual humming sounds. There is a panoply of noises I have yet to catalog. So far, I have no idea what any of them mean either.
I have parking anxiety: It's new. It's shiny. It's unmarred. Both my husband and I are having parking anxiety because we don't want to get it dinged by someone who isn't paying attention in a small parking space. I had my last car for five years and it never got dinged, but this car is new and suddenly we're both overthinking the whole parking thing.
How efficient driving saved the car: The car goes fast, that's for sure. But it also wants you to drive it slowly because it tells you, in great detail, how good or bad your driving habits are--in graph form. There's the, "rated range" and the "ideal range" and your driving habits, accelerating slowly or quickly, using regenerative braking or hitting the brakes at the last minute and overall speed can make a big difference in how much range you get out of a full charge. My husband and I have been comparing who can be the most efficient driver. Yesterday, I was at a stop light and when the light turned green the person in right lane went straight through the intersection into my left lane without even realizing they had changed lanes into mine. Because I was trying to accelerate gently and slowly, they faded into the lane in front of me and I took a deep breath of relief.
Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla, the impact you've made on our world is both dramatic and ongoing.
The Big Boy Update: My son looked down today and said, "what are those, mom?" Ah, "those are your testicles," I told him. I don't know if he's never noticed them before, but he suddenly wanted to check them out. He was trying to isolate them in his scrotum so he could get a better look when I told him, "why you don't ask daddy about them. You should be gentle with them, I hear they can hurt if you're not." Let's see what he asks daddy tomorrow on the subject...
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I let the dog out after she ate her dinner and before I could shut the door, my daughter came around the corner on hands and knees, exclaiming, "mommy, I'm a dog." She wanted to go outside too.
People know it or don't: People either know immediately what the car is, are excited, want to ask you questions and talk about it, or they don't even notice it. If you're into cars or electric cars or technology, you may have heard about this breakthrough new car company that's doing things differently than other companies. Otherwise, it just looks like a nice sedan. I've picked up people in the car and they've said, "you got a new car, nice, " followed by, "what is this?" and then followed by, "who makes it?" It doesn't stand out visually, even the logo, a capital T, looks a bit like the Infinity logo if you're not paying attention.
The stereo can play any song: If you've used Pandora, you'll be familiar with this type of behavior, but this is the first time I've seen it in a car. The car comes with five years of 3G AT&T cellular service and includes both Slacker Radio and TuneIn Radio. It also has voice recognition, so you can press and hold a button on the steering wheel and say, "Play 'Ants Marching' by Dave Matthews Band". It will process your request and then pop up a selection on the touch screen. You can pick the song itself, the album or alternate versions of the song by other artists and it will start to play. If you pick the song itself, it will first play that song and then play other songs that are in the same genre/era/feel as that song.
The volume goes to eleven: Some people have said that this feature alone makes the Tesla Model S the coolest car they've ever bought. If you're not familiar with the phrase, "our amplifiers go to eleven" from the cult classic movie, This is Spinal Tap, then this feature may not appeal to you. As someone who's been saying that phrase for decades, it is, I agree, one heck of an homage.
Digitally Faithful: The car won't let you in unless you're vetted by a key. Heck, you can't even grab a door handle and try to open the car unless you're in possession of a key because the door handles pull flush with the car when it's locked and asleep. You can't unplug the charge cable if you don't have a key in proximity either. I thought at first the car liked me, now I realize it's digitally faithful to the keys, which are shaped like mini Model S cars. As long as it's protecting itself, I suppose I don't really mind.
Charging Stations: We've been looking at Plugshare.com on the browser in the car and continue to marvel at how many EV charging stations there are in the area. We went to one of our favorite shopping malls the other day and discovered not one, not two, but three locations you could charge your car with a total of five charge ports and two levels of charging. The electric car world has been out there for a while, we're just now realizing how prevalent it is.
Strange Noises: This car makes noises you've never heard a car make. It makes them at times when you think it's asleep, like when you walk out to the refrigerator in the garage to get a drink. It makes buzzing sounds, popping sounds, unusual humming sounds. There is a panoply of noises I have yet to catalog. So far, I have no idea what any of them mean either.
I have parking anxiety: It's new. It's shiny. It's unmarred. Both my husband and I are having parking anxiety because we don't want to get it dinged by someone who isn't paying attention in a small parking space. I had my last car for five years and it never got dinged, but this car is new and suddenly we're both overthinking the whole parking thing.
How efficient driving saved the car: The car goes fast, that's for sure. But it also wants you to drive it slowly because it tells you, in great detail, how good or bad your driving habits are--in graph form. There's the, "rated range" and the "ideal range" and your driving habits, accelerating slowly or quickly, using regenerative braking or hitting the brakes at the last minute and overall speed can make a big difference in how much range you get out of a full charge. My husband and I have been comparing who can be the most efficient driver. Yesterday, I was at a stop light and when the light turned green the person in right lane went straight through the intersection into my left lane without even realizing they had changed lanes into mine. Because I was trying to accelerate gently and slowly, they faded into the lane in front of me and I took a deep breath of relief.
Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla, the impact you've made on our world is both dramatic and ongoing.
The Big Boy Update: My son looked down today and said, "what are those, mom?" Ah, "those are your testicles," I told him. I don't know if he's never noticed them before, but he suddenly wanted to check them out. He was trying to isolate them in his scrotum so he could get a better look when I told him, "why you don't ask daddy about them. You should be gentle with them, I hear they can hurt if you're not." Let's see what he asks daddy tomorrow on the subject...
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I let the dog out after she ate her dinner and before I could shut the door, my daughter came around the corner on hands and knees, exclaiming, "mommy, I'm a dog." She wanted to go outside too.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
About the Mac
It is quite possible I might become an Apple Snob. Or maybe a Mac Nerd. I have no idea what condescending names might be applied to people who prefer Apple computer products over PC-based (or any other computing paradigm) but soon enough I may well be in that category.
Traditionally there was a learning curve to Mac computers. There still is, but the difference between a PC user's required skill set and that of a Mac computer user's has narrowed significantly in recent years. Not only was I able to transition, I was able to pick up the new operating system, user interface and general Mac way of doing things fairly quickly. And here's the thing...I like it better.
I don't dislike a Windows-based machine, but with less than a month as a Mac user, I don't want to go back.
So dad, if you're reading this...I'll be your tech support should you choose to take the step and go Mac.
The Big Boy Update: We had a visitor coming over tonight just before bedtime to drop something off. My son was getting his night night clothes on and decided he wanted to, "connect my penis to this" thing which was a drawer handle. If I hadn't been assured by other parents by now that this was completely normal behavior, I would have been worried. Ten minutes later and the doorbell rings. My son runs out to meet the new guest and proceeds to show him his penis (for some reason I missed because I was getting paperwork from the visitor.) Our friend said something to my son and then my son made sure he knew that, "this is my penis." We laughed in that, "I have seen this many times and it never stops making you laugh, this being a parent thing."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Today she picked out her clothes. She selected a pink tutu and a New Orleans Saints jersey that was given to her by our Uncle Jonathan. She said, "Uncle Jon has one of these too!" I think she meant the jersey and not the pink tutu...
Traditionally there was a learning curve to Mac computers. There still is, but the difference between a PC user's required skill set and that of a Mac computer user's has narrowed significantly in recent years. Not only was I able to transition, I was able to pick up the new operating system, user interface and general Mac way of doing things fairly quickly. And here's the thing...I like it better.
I don't dislike a Windows-based machine, but with less than a month as a Mac user, I don't want to go back.
So dad, if you're reading this...I'll be your tech support should you choose to take the step and go Mac.
The Big Boy Update: We had a visitor coming over tonight just before bedtime to drop something off. My son was getting his night night clothes on and decided he wanted to, "connect my penis to this" thing which was a drawer handle. If I hadn't been assured by other parents by now that this was completely normal behavior, I would have been worried. Ten minutes later and the doorbell rings. My son runs out to meet the new guest and proceeds to show him his penis (for some reason I missed because I was getting paperwork from the visitor.) Our friend said something to my son and then my son made sure he knew that, "this is my penis." We laughed in that, "I have seen this many times and it never stops making you laugh, this being a parent thing."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Today she picked out her clothes. She selected a pink tutu and a New Orleans Saints jersey that was given to her by our Uncle Jonathan. She said, "Uncle Jon has one of these too!" I think she meant the jersey and not the pink tutu...
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
About That Running Thing I Do
I'm not sure I really like running. I've had troubles with shin splints, IT band and feet that cramping, but other than that, I haven't had any real injuries. I seem to be able to run with relative ease and I can easily still run a half marathon distance with nothing more than needing to eat a nice, calorie-laden meal afterwards. But I'm not sure I actually like running.
I like having time to talk to my two good running buddies. It's great to have several hours with nothing else to do than talk while you run alongside each other. That part is great. I like burning all those calories because one of the main reasons I run is so I can eat whatever I want. I do so like to eat. I particularly like to eat things that are high in calories.
I've tried being a faster runner. That's when I got the shin splints. I thought it was shoes, and I still think it was in part. But I've tried on and off running faster and every time I get a little more speed on, the shin pain comes back. When I run at my podunk pace, no pain at all. Being the type of person who likes no pain over any pain, I am perfectly fine being a dreadfully slow runner.
What I think I like the most about running, isn't running at all. I think I like having run.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to play with a sugar packet at lunch today. He didn't know it could be opened, but I warned him not to be too rough with it. He mangled it enough that after lunch I told him we could go outside and I would show him what was inside it. I told him there was powder inside that adults put in their drinks. (You have to think about these things, because kids can turn any bit of seemingly harmless information to their advantage when you least expect it.) So we went outside and opened the packet. He saw some sugar crystals come out. He put some on one plant and then he said, "I want to sprinkle this tree over here so it will grow." "Good enough," I thought.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: At the pool yesterday, I was talking to another parent when I suddenly realized my daughter was getting completely naked over at the table where our things were. What was going on? Could she have pooped in her water diaper and is now taking it off so that all the other parents can freak out about the possibility of poop in the pool (and maybe cause the pool to be closed for twenty-four hours so it can be cleaned?) No, that was not it at all. She had seen the spare water diapers in the pool bag, had selected a new one and was about to put it on. "Hi there, what do you need the new water diaper for," I asked. "This one is wet," she tells me. (It was wet because she'd been swimming in it for over an hour). After she upgraded to a new, dry water diaper she got back into the pool.
Fitness Update: Four miles this morning. We were going to run more, but there were several reasons we had to stop and then it was time to head back.
I like having time to talk to my two good running buddies. It's great to have several hours with nothing else to do than talk while you run alongside each other. That part is great. I like burning all those calories because one of the main reasons I run is so I can eat whatever I want. I do so like to eat. I particularly like to eat things that are high in calories.
I've tried being a faster runner. That's when I got the shin splints. I thought it was shoes, and I still think it was in part. But I've tried on and off running faster and every time I get a little more speed on, the shin pain comes back. When I run at my podunk pace, no pain at all. Being the type of person who likes no pain over any pain, I am perfectly fine being a dreadfully slow runner.
What I think I like the most about running, isn't running at all. I think I like having run.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to play with a sugar packet at lunch today. He didn't know it could be opened, but I warned him not to be too rough with it. He mangled it enough that after lunch I told him we could go outside and I would show him what was inside it. I told him there was powder inside that adults put in their drinks. (You have to think about these things, because kids can turn any bit of seemingly harmless information to their advantage when you least expect it.) So we went outside and opened the packet. He saw some sugar crystals come out. He put some on one plant and then he said, "I want to sprinkle this tree over here so it will grow." "Good enough," I thought.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: At the pool yesterday, I was talking to another parent when I suddenly realized my daughter was getting completely naked over at the table where our things were. What was going on? Could she have pooped in her water diaper and is now taking it off so that all the other parents can freak out about the possibility of poop in the pool (and maybe cause the pool to be closed for twenty-four hours so it can be cleaned?) No, that was not it at all. She had seen the spare water diapers in the pool bag, had selected a new one and was about to put it on. "Hi there, what do you need the new water diaper for," I asked. "This one is wet," she tells me. (It was wet because she'd been swimming in it for over an hour). After she upgraded to a new, dry water diaper she got back into the pool.
Fitness Update: Four miles this morning. We were going to run more, but there were several reasons we had to stop and then it was time to head back.
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