I am the Queen of the Mermaids

Julia, Ben and Emma have been downstairs in the family room for the last hour and a half, playing a really loud game. I know at one point they were pirates because I heard them shouting about getting to the ship and various "Ayes!" and "Mateys!" coming up the stairs.

I went into the kitchen to get my coffee, and met them in the kitchen. Julia was in the mermaid costume, Ben had a wooden sword and a silk scarf around his waist (looked like a skirt but was probably supposed to be a belt...) and Emma had on her leopard costume. Julia was on the counter, getting glasses out of the cupboard.

"Good morning, Mother," she greeted me. (I knew this was part of the game. She never calls me Mother, only Mama or Mom sometimes. For now.)

"Hello, sweeties," I replied.

"You are the Queen," she informed me. "The Queen of the Mermaids!"

"Then why am I getting my own coffee?" I thought. "I am?" I said out loud. "then I command you to keep playing!"

"We're getting a drink," Julia said, as if I wouldn't deduce that from the glasses and the counter scaling.

"Of beer!" Ben added, helpfully. (Matt and I HATE beer--we only have it in the fridge for guests and making bread.) "Only Lilly can't have some." (indicating Emma, who when dressed as a leopard is always Lilly.)

Seeing that this could degenerate into a knock-down, drag out fight if Emma was denied beer when the mermaid and pirate were having some (do I need to worry about the teen years?!) I said indulgently, "Oh--let her have some. She looks thirsty."

Ben and Julia looked doubtfully at each other for a minute. They started debating about cubs being old enough to drink beer. Lilly waited patiently for the verdict. Finally, they conceded, "Okay, Lilly, you can have some beer--but it has to be mixed with grape juice! We don't want you drunk at the Mermaid Ball later!"

I need some more coffee, please.

Christmas Shopping

I really should start my shopping. I hate this, every single year. Anyone who knows me I love to shop--but Christmas is too much pressure. I have a list a mile long, there's always the decision of which friends are close enough to actually buy for, who I should bake for, who should just get warm holiday wishes. The pressure of finding gifts that people actually want and need and will like. Not to mention everything else going on at the same time: baking cookies, decorating the tree and outside, trying to fit in parties and special activities and traditions, packing and visiting relatives, Rachel's birthday and party, our anniversary, etc. etc. etc.

Not to mention the frenzy of the stores, everyone desperately hunting for gifts and eventually not really even caring what they buy, just that they're bringing home stuff. And as soon as I get home,I realize that I need more wrapping paper or tape or gift tags or chocolate or ribbons or whatever. Plus the yearly decision about what the kids actually need--we have so many toys that we could supply most third world countries with enough to make every child there ecstatic.

Every year I vow that I will shop all year to take the pressure off. I don't. Every year I vow that I will do everything online and never go into a store at all. Sure I will! Every year I shop all in December and go crazy doing it.

I guess 2008 will be the time to actually stick to a New Year's resolution!

Daily Quote

So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?

--Christina Aguilera

About the Quiz

Another reason I am geeky is because of Matt and his computer things--I got some points for using Firefox rather than Microsoft as a browser (or whatever it is!) and for reading 3-7 books per month! I was a bit surprised I didn't score higher, actually....

--Jen

37% geek!

While looking at a blog, I found a little button that said, "What is your blog rated?" I took the test just for fun, and we are rated PG, for the words of "death" (when our chicken died we posted it) and "punch" (we made punch for a party and took a picture of it!) So, let's just say these quizzes got a bit addictive!

I found one on "How Geeky Are You?" I asked my mom to take it--and she was officially pronounced 37% geek! The reason is mostly because she knew the name of some ship on Star Trek, she knew the name of the dragon in the Hobbit (Smaug; Ben is addicted to that movie and watches it almost every weekend....)

Hope you like this little story! (By the way, we hit 200 posts today on the blog! :)

~Rachel

Photos of the Painted House

Here they are--photos of the house from the front, all pretty and red....

--Jen

Sponge Skating

I found a new way to get the kids to do chores...well, actually they found it and I agreed to it, with reservations. But it has worked out beautifully. Julia, Ben and Emma were playing a great game this morning, one of their patented epic pretend games with Hawaii and fishing and leopards and I don't know what else. Then they were using washcloths to skate across the floor. (At first the cloths were just held on the floor by their feet, but Emma got frustrated, so they rubber banded them to their feet after that.)

Julia asked me if they could wash the kitchen floor by wetting the washcloths with soapy water and skating around. Why not? The floor's dirty. The worst that could happen is that they'd get too much water on the floor, and they readily agreed to wipe it up with dog towels if that happened. And so it began....

I don't think the kitchen floor has ever been so clean--they were skating around for forty five minutes! I did have to advise them to dump the soapy water and switch to plain water, but after the rinse cycle the floor is sparkling. I wish I could have them do the wood floors, too--but too much water there could really harm them, so I'll stick to the kitchen. One less floor is one less floor!

--Jen

Painting--Ay Carumba!

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in over a week. That's because Matt and I have been painting the exterior of the house. Don't even get me started--yes, I know it's November. Yes, I know we should have done it months ago. Suffice it to say that we planned to do it in May, then June, then October--and it didn't get done. So now we are scrambling and suffering with cold temperatures and rain every other day halting us in our tracks. Anyway.

We began last Sunday, then worked on Wednesday and Thursday too. We were benched Monday, Tuesday and now today and tomorrow for weather concerns, but we have gotten the front of the house completely done and the west side of the house (the other side very visible from the street) nearly done. It is a really tedious job, but there's satisfaction in it--I don't think any paint has been applied in twenty years, so it's nice to see clean shiny paint where things were dull and chipping. We chose Benjamin Moore's cottage red for the walls and white for the trim--sort of a reverse of what we had. It really makes a difference with the walls not being white--the house looks different, maybe more solid or substantial. Not sure what the right word for it is.

That being said, even though we are looking forward to being done--we won't really be done. Because it's so late in the season, we will only have time to do one coat. The Benjamin Moore guy said that we should do one coat, which will protect the wood over the winter just fine, then do the second coat, which will be for looks and to keep the paint lasting over 10 years, in the spring. So the thought of doing this all over again in the spring is horrifying. On the one hand, it isn't all over again--it will be easier because there's no scraping or prepping, and the one coat will smooth the way to make it easier. But, there are things we are leaving off for the winter that will have to be done in the spring--inside the garage we have window trim, a screen door and an interior door, and both sides of the door leading into the shed. Window trim on the inside of the shed. All the interiors of the window frames. Wicker furniture and an outside table that need a fresh coat. And last (and least in Matt's opinion, but not in mine!) the chicken coop, because the red that it's currently painted is going to look terrible sitting next to the red of the house!

And I just have to say that although one of the things that drew me to this house was the way the front entry has the latticed arbor, the benches next to the door, and the nice roof over it all---I spent more than an entire day just painting that! The results are worth it, though.

--Jen

Daily Quote

History repeats itself, and that's one of the things that's wrong with history.

--Clarence Darrow

Kids' Conversation

This morning Ben, Julia and Emma were playing PlayDoh. Our neighbors around the corner, who live on a busy street, don't get trick-or-treaters, so they bring treat bags to kids they know in our neighborhood! Our kids have made friends with them because they have two adorable dogs--Bear is a Pomeranian and Charlie is a King Charles spaniel. So the bags they brought were full of PlayDoh, candy and treats. It's great to have nice neighbors!

Anyway, this is the conversation between Ben and Julia. Ben had made a candy shop from PlayDoh, and Julia was a worker, arriving for her first day on the job. The problem was, Ben hadn't made a door on his shop!

Julia: "I could climb in under the floor."
Ben: "Ummmm...no, I don't think I want you to do that."
Julia: "I could break a window and come in that way."
Ben: (thinks for a minute.) "Julia, I don't think my boss would like that!"


--Jen