It was cold this morning. I mean really cold, for September. We were completely spoiled by the warm weather last week but now I do believe that it's autumn. The girls are in corduroys and long sleeved shirts again.
Time to put away their summer sleeveless dresses? Say it isn't so!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
On the way home from the library
Allie: Mom, there's a fly stuck to my window.
Me: Open your window and shoo him out.
Allie: No, he's on the outside.
Me: OK, whatever.
Allie: He's hanging on. Why doesn't he go away?
Me: (not listening) Mmmm.
Julia: Maybe he's concentrating on pooping!
Me: Open your window and shoo him out.
Allie: No, he's on the outside.
Me: OK, whatever.
Allie: He's hanging on. Why doesn't he go away?
Me: (not listening) Mmmm.
Julia: Maybe he's concentrating on pooping!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Dinnertime
Today is Sunday. I've been cooking a lot lately (since I have little else to do, or so Greg says) and so Greg hasn't had a chance lately to be creative in the kitchen, which is something he very much enjoys. It's just a shame that he lives with the three of us, because we are hopelessly pedestrian in our tastes in food. Nonetheless, he perseveres (sometimes) and today, he decided to make us an absolutely enormous pot of spaghetti, homemade tomato sauce, and meatballs. He wrote about it here. The tomato sauce was wonderful and Greg made both of his daughters take exactly one meatball on their plates to try.
Allie is pretty brave about trying new food and she tasted the meatball and ate the whole thing with most of her spaghetti. I cleaned my plate of all of the spaghetti, light sauce, and meatballs that I took. And then there was Julia. Julia has a bad habit of saying that her stomach hurts when she doesn't want to eat any more of her dinner (or any of it at all). We've been trying to work on this habit with her somewhat, so tonight she took another tack.
We insisted that she try one small piece off of her one small meatball. She ate it and didn't say it was yucky or any other comments about it's taste. She clearly didn't want to have to eat anything else on her plate however, so she tried something new. She reminded me that I made her a really big lunch for school on Friday, then said she was full from that.
Allie didn't understand why I was laughing.
Allie is pretty brave about trying new food and she tasted the meatball and ate the whole thing with most of her spaghetti. I cleaned my plate of all of the spaghetti, light sauce, and meatballs that I took. And then there was Julia. Julia has a bad habit of saying that her stomach hurts when she doesn't want to eat any more of her dinner (or any of it at all). We've been trying to work on this habit with her somewhat, so tonight she took another tack.
We insisted that she try one small piece off of her one small meatball. She ate it and didn't say it was yucky or any other comments about it's taste. She clearly didn't want to have to eat anything else on her plate however, so she tried something new. She reminded me that I made her a really big lunch for school on Friday, then said she was full from that.
Allie didn't understand why I was laughing.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Not so Great America
Back in the year of our nation's bicentennial, my family traveled several hours to a new and exciting attraction, the area's first amusement park, Marriott's Great America. To a kid who had never seen anything for rides and shows except the local carnival and a school field trip to a play, this was heady stuff. It was amazing. Everything was shiny and new and red, white and blue. We rode every ride possible in one day, despite the long lines. After all, adult admission had cost $6.95, so my parents wanted to make sure we got our money's worth. I still remember that we got red, white and blue frisbees to take home.
After that, I visited Great America occasionally, maybe two or three more times. Then, back in 1985 or so, I made my last excursion to Great America. I was with my college boyfriend and he compared every ride to King's Island Amusement Park in Ohio, which was the park he'd enjoyed in childhood. I had never been to Great America without my parents before, so we had a wonderful time, despite some budgetary restrictions. And then I didn't go back to Great America for 23 years.
I'm not really sure why. In the meantime, I visited Epcot in Florida for the first time (and then again), but amusement parks kind of took a back seat entertainment-wise. And then enough time passed that I had kids of my own. So my family visited all of the Orlando parks earlier this year and I finally made it to DisneyWorld for the first time. And that was shiny and sparkling and looking like new, very impressive, truly.
Then we had an opportunity to go to Great America. The girls were out of this world excited. After all, they know we're not going back to Disney anytime soon. We walked into the park and immediately headed for the double decker carousel that's the symbol of the park. All four of us climbed to the top level and Julia selected a beautiful white horse with a very elaborate mane and tail for her ride. I lifted her on and then took a step back and I noticed something disconcerting. The side of her horse, right where a little girl might pretend to stroke her steed's neck, was smeary with what looked like black grease.
I looked around a little more and felt nothing but dismay. The ride itself wasn't clean. And the railings definitely needed paint. And it was obvious that no one had swept bits of greenery off the indoor-outdoor carpet in a very long time (it's an outdoor carousel). I know, I know. I shouldn't expect this park to rise to Disney standards. Disney leads the world in that kind of thing. And it's the very end of the season for Great America. They'll be closed for the winter in another month and I'm sure they'll take the time to make everything shiny and sparkly before they reopen next summer. But it was definitely a let down. And it was like that everywhere, everywhere in the park.
The girls didn't notice. And the rides themselves were wonderful. There were still some things in exactly the same locations as I remembered, but there were lots of new things too. Greg got to fly on the Superman coaster, which he repeatedly said was all he cared about. The food was pretty gross, and about as expensive as you'd expect. The weather was wonderful and because it was a closed event, the lines were wonderfully short. And overall, we had a great, fabulous time.
But will we be back? I think overall I'd rather save my pennies for Disney.
After that, I visited Great America occasionally, maybe two or three more times. Then, back in 1985 or so, I made my last excursion to Great America. I was with my college boyfriend and he compared every ride to King's Island Amusement Park in Ohio, which was the park he'd enjoyed in childhood. I had never been to Great America without my parents before, so we had a wonderful time, despite some budgetary restrictions. And then I didn't go back to Great America for 23 years.
I'm not really sure why. In the meantime, I visited Epcot in Florida for the first time (and then again), but amusement parks kind of took a back seat entertainment-wise. And then enough time passed that I had kids of my own. So my family visited all of the Orlando parks earlier this year and I finally made it to DisneyWorld for the first time. And that was shiny and sparkling and looking like new, very impressive, truly.
Then we had an opportunity to go to Great America. The girls were out of this world excited. After all, they know we're not going back to Disney anytime soon. We walked into the park and immediately headed for the double decker carousel that's the symbol of the park. All four of us climbed to the top level and Julia selected a beautiful white horse with a very elaborate mane and tail for her ride. I lifted her on and then took a step back and I noticed something disconcerting. The side of her horse, right where a little girl might pretend to stroke her steed's neck, was smeary with what looked like black grease.
I looked around a little more and felt nothing but dismay. The ride itself wasn't clean. And the railings definitely needed paint. And it was obvious that no one had swept bits of greenery off the indoor-outdoor carpet in a very long time (it's an outdoor carousel). I know, I know. I shouldn't expect this park to rise to Disney standards. Disney leads the world in that kind of thing. And it's the very end of the season for Great America. They'll be closed for the winter in another month and I'm sure they'll take the time to make everything shiny and sparkly before they reopen next summer. But it was definitely a let down. And it was like that everywhere, everywhere in the park.
The girls didn't notice. And the rides themselves were wonderful. There were still some things in exactly the same locations as I remembered, but there were lots of new things too. Greg got to fly on the Superman coaster, which he repeatedly said was all he cared about. The food was pretty gross, and about as expensive as you'd expect. The weather was wonderful and because it was a closed event, the lines were wonderfully short. And overall, we had a great, fabulous time.
But will we be back? I think overall I'd rather save my pennies for Disney.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Cats and kids
This morning, I walked the kids to the bus stop for a ride to school. This is Allie's fourth year and she's never ridden the bus to school, ever. She has always gotten a ride from one of her parents. But eventually, I'll get a job. And it probably won't be in town like I had before. So the girls will probably have to ride the bus to school, or I would be dropping them off at school too early. Thus the test run.
Allie, not unexpectedly, thought she was going to throw up. She actually did throw up from nerves on the first day of school, so I took her feelings today in stride. The school hasn't called me requesting another set of clothes, so I'm assuming she made it OK. If things went well, I'm going to have the girls ride the bus tomorrow also and then I'll go back to driving them until I can no longer do that.
When I got home, there were pieces of chalk on the kitchen floor and a cat on top of the kitchen counter. Last night, one of the cats ate most of Julia's only piece of chalk. Stomach ache, I guess. I picked up the pieces and put them on the counter when I saw them and now Simon the cat had obviously been at them again. Our cats are so bold about getting on the counter after we've gone that I've, at least three times, come back into the house to grab something immediately after stepping out the door and caught a cat on the counter.
I yelled at Simon and he jumped down. I picked up the chalk again, threw more pieces in the garbage, and put the last little piece that was left inside Julia's chalkboard box. Then I turned back and I had two cats on the kitchen counter!
That's when I noticed that Allie's bug cage was on the counter, with the large fuzzy yellow caterpillar inside that she caught and made a home for last evening. Oh! I get it now. Damn cats. Get off the counter!
Allie, not unexpectedly, thought she was going to throw up. She actually did throw up from nerves on the first day of school, so I took her feelings today in stride. The school hasn't called me requesting another set of clothes, so I'm assuming she made it OK. If things went well, I'm going to have the girls ride the bus tomorrow also and then I'll go back to driving them until I can no longer do that.
When I got home, there were pieces of chalk on the kitchen floor and a cat on top of the kitchen counter. Last night, one of the cats ate most of Julia's only piece of chalk. Stomach ache, I guess. I picked up the pieces and put them on the counter when I saw them and now Simon the cat had obviously been at them again. Our cats are so bold about getting on the counter after we've gone that I've, at least three times, come back into the house to grab something immediately after stepping out the door and caught a cat on the counter.
I yelled at Simon and he jumped down. I picked up the chalk again, threw more pieces in the garbage, and put the last little piece that was left inside Julia's chalkboard box. Then I turned back and I had two cats on the kitchen counter!
That's when I noticed that Allie's bug cage was on the counter, with the large fuzzy yellow caterpillar inside that she caught and made a home for last evening. Oh! I get it now. Damn cats. Get off the counter!
Saturday, September 06, 2008
It figures
We had our hottest day of the entire year so far on Tuesday. It got to about 91 degrees or so, so of course we used the air conditioning, hopefully for the last time this year. At about 8 p.m., I thought, gosh, I'm overheated.
I looked at the thermostat and the air was running, so I disregarded my feeling (no, I'm too young for hot flashes). About an hour later, I thought, gosh, I'm overheated.
Crap. The air conditioning was supposedly running but there wasn't any cool air coming out. Greg braved the vicious mosquitoes around the back of the house and tried some things, but no go. It was still about 82 degrees outside, so we had an uncomfortable night.
The next morning, a cold front had come through and it was only 72 degrees outside. Regardless, I called the air conditioning repairman. He said we were smart--always nice to hear. He said people whose air conditioning fails at the end of the season often wait until spring warms up to call for service, and then they have 100 or so service calls ahead of them.
Gregory, it was a dual capacitor, not a flux capacitor. $140 and we're good to go. No DeLoreans in sight.
I looked at the thermostat and the air was running, so I disregarded my feeling (no, I'm too young for hot flashes). About an hour later, I thought, gosh, I'm overheated.
Crap. The air conditioning was supposedly running but there wasn't any cool air coming out. Greg braved the vicious mosquitoes around the back of the house and tried some things, but no go. It was still about 82 degrees outside, so we had an uncomfortable night.
The next morning, a cold front had come through and it was only 72 degrees outside. Regardless, I called the air conditioning repairman. He said we were smart--always nice to hear. He said people whose air conditioning fails at the end of the season often wait until spring warms up to call for service, and then they have 100 or so service calls ahead of them.
Gregory, it was a dual capacitor, not a flux capacitor. $140 and we're good to go. No DeLoreans in sight.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
School and essay questions
Allie went back to school today to start third grade. Julia starts kindergarten on Thursday, which I am frankly not at all ready for. And I'm the one doing an exam. I've decided to apply for a job with the State of Wisconsin and it requires a civil service exam of essay questions. It's only 3 questions, but each question has about 15 subsections, so I've been working on it all day.
Allie was so excited about school this morning that she threw up as we got in the car. Julia held her nose and complained while I bustled around getting Allie napkins and then emptying her "puke bucket" (as we so delicately call it--her carsickness bucket). She was fine in about two minutes--just nerves on an almost empty stomach.
I get to meet her bus in about 1/2 hour so I can hear all about her first day. How can it be September already!
Allie was so excited about school this morning that she threw up as we got in the car. Julia held her nose and complained while I bustled around getting Allie napkins and then emptying her "puke bucket" (as we so delicately call it--her carsickness bucket). She was fine in about two minutes--just nerves on an almost empty stomach.
I get to meet her bus in about 1/2 hour so I can hear all about her first day. How can it be September already!
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