Techno-tard bag

There has been a serious change in my technology over the past week and just so you know, I am not the quickest on the up tick.

We got new cell phones (I brought mine on a bike ride and my water bottle spilled all over it…and broke it), I’ve moved my email and calendar from outlook to gmail (so Adam and I can share each other’s calendars and make partying together so much easier), my site has moved to www.wordpress.com for a hopefully more visually appealing look with better usability and then my lovely husband has added www.delicious.com to my site (which is a cool way to list and share your favorite sites). 

The one problem…I have no real idea how to use any of it.

During the past week I have only added two contacts on my cell, home and Adam.  That really helps don’t you think?  I already know those numbers.  And I’m pretty sure you still can’t leave a message.

I am up-to-date in my calendar to the end of THIS month.  Does it really matter what’s going on in August?

I’m hoping this blathering will at least post on my new snazzy looking site, because about five minutes ago I needed help knowing my user name and password.

Adam, I know how much this pains you to have married a woman who can barley instant message.  I’m so sorry.

Car Talk

KP and I got to spend some delicious alone time together today. CT and PJ were off doing BIG KID things with their Nana. He didn’t seem to be mind being stuck with me, in fact; he was excited to have his mommy all to himself.

During one of our car rides today we had the following conversation:

KP: Mama, do horses have eggs?

Me: No sweetie, horses have baby horses called calves. Just like people give birth to babies, horses give birth to calves. They don’t lay eggs.

KP: And they come out their butts?

Me: Well…they come out of what is called the vagina, which is by the butt.

KP: Oooohh, then then then when I a dinosaur and you’re a dinosaur I be a egg and you put me in your gina.

Me: Silence.

Is that you Helen?

Do you have an Inner Voice? One of those little voices inside your head that tells you things, that many times are nasty, not nice or just down right insulting.

Well, funny enough, I do. When I hear The Voice I usually picture a devil on one shoulder and a saint on the other having a conversation. OK, maybe a fight, over me. My Voice has typically not been so nice. It has told me of hardship and failure due to my actions or inactions or my plain old stupidity.

An interesting shift has occurred this summer, my Voice has become, how should I say it…different.

This season of training has been grueling. To any outsider looking in I am sure I seem like a freak that needs to see a psychologist for my exercise addiction. But through this rigorous training I have found kindness within myself, for myself.

I have found my inner self cheering for ME. There is no talk of failure. There is only talk of striving for the best that I can be. My own Voice encouraging me, cheering me on and pushing me.

I really like this new Voice. So much in fact, I’m thinking of naming her.

Any thoughts?

YO!

Wow, not sure what just happened in that time warp but here we are again.

Let’s see…right now in my life it is 6:11 pm. I am in the midst of baking star cookies for the 4th of July festivities, I am microwaving a sweet potato, drinking red wine and listening to Ryan Adam’s new album Easy Tiger.

Have you ever imagined something bad before it acutely happened? I’m talking silly things, like falling off your bike as you’re going down a hill right before you bomb a VERY LARGE HILL or your kids getting killed when our parents take them on a day long adventure…that kind of stuff.

Well, I have it a lot. Please don’t think I am psychic because 99.9% of the time it never happens. But today, as I was holding that sweet potato in my hand and stabbing it with a really sharp pairing knife so I could microwave it and not have it explode, my inner self told me that was a dumb thing to do (which it was) and in that nano-second I envisioned the knife stabbing me in the fleshy part of my palm and then a nano-second later…right into the fleshy part of my hand goes that sharp knife.

Maybe I am part psychic, better yet, somewhere deep inside I do actually have an intuition and that intuition is to not do stupid things.

Or maybe better yet, don’t drink red wine and wield sharp knifes.

Super Summer Reading Chart

To help CT along with his reading this summer I have organized a very impressive (only to myself) multi tiered chart and reward system. Really, why make it easy?

So the quick run down goes like this…If you read a book you get a stamp. If you read a book and write a three sentence book report on the book just read, you get a stamp in the “prizes” section of the chart. If you get 10 prize stamps you get a prize and so forth and so on.

A few of the books CT chooses from our collection are a little questionable in my opinion. He likes the really easy books or the books he know by heart or just picture books (he sometimes must think I am a complete idiot). Today he chose Everyone Poops, which would not have been a first choice of mine for him to read but he has been at school all morning so what the hell.

And here is his three sentence report.

It is funy win they say that a one hump camel has a one hump poop.
It is cool win they show animals eteing.
I wondr why animals stop to poop.

Photo of the day

Queen of the clouds

Summer School

I had three fears as a little kid. 1. My parents would get a divorce. 2. My house would start on fire. 3. I would fail a grade and have to take SUMMER SCHOOL.

And now, CT is taking summer school. Not because he failed first grade but because he isn’t right where he should be in reading. Let me just tell you, it took me some time to be ok with this idea, but only because of my own inadequacies and fears of failure on my part. He sees none of this, or at least doesn’t let on. He looks at it more as an inconvenience that is interrupting his precious pool time.

But me, I had a hard time with it. As a parent I would never want him to feel “less” than he is, because he is so much and has so much to give. This is one of those moments in time where I know it is the best thing for him but I am feeling how I would have felt if it was me at seven and I know I would never want him to feel that way. It is still fresh for me when I think of it. I took fear of failure very seriously.

I’m glad he doesn’t. I am even gladder that today when he walked off that bus, he was laughing and joking and then told me of all the great things that happened at summer school.

The best of all he said, he has a boy for a teacher. How great is that?

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Grandmas Marathon 2007

It was a hard race to watch and an even harder race to run, with the beating sun, the humidity and the ever climbing temperature I applaud everyone who took the chance.

Cheers to you boys…Paul for his first, Adam for his last and Lars who is on his way to Boston. Well done!

Not so fast

I so don’t care that I’m 37. I never feel like I have to lie about my age or pretend I’m younger than I am. In fact, I actually feel like I will really hit my stride in my forties and am looking forward to it.

This afternoon I quick ran into Trader Joes to pick up a few items for our road trip. We are heading up north to watch Adam and a couple other friends run Grandma’s Marathon tomorrow.

As the 20 something check out boy was making small talk, he asked if I had big plans this weekend. I told him about the marathon. He then asked about the training. I told him Adam had been having some problems with his hip and various other things and then he says, “Yeah that stuff just happens when you’re in your forties.”

Whaaaaaa???? Excuse me? Are you saying my husband is in his forties because he’s not even here for you to see, so how the hell would you know how old he is? Or are you assuming I am ALREADY forty therefore I am married to a forty year old. Do I look forty to you you you you snot nosed ass?