I found out today that there is scientific proof that women like pink and men like blue. Apparently the most obvious explanation for these preferences is evolution! Biology! And it has nothing to do whatsoever with the way people are socialized from birth. Obviously, people buy pink things for girls and blue things for boys because we understand on a genetic level that these are the correct, biologically-determined color choices. It's nonsense to believe that the cultural association of a specific color to each gender might influence the preferences of people raised in that culture. I mean, it's not like color associations have ever been different. Men hate pink, and always have.
I think it's interesting to note that girls like pink and blue, but boys only like blue. The article, however, doesn't say anything about green or orange, which are the favorite colors of the male people in my house. I guess we can say that green is closer to blue, and orange is closer to red, which is close to pink, so one of my sons may actually be a daughter, if we're using this scientifically proven, biological indicator. I'll have to check on that and get back to you.
22 August 2007
maybe my kids are hermaphrodites
20 August 2007
okay, FINE.
I had no idea there would be so much demand for pirate photos. I don't even have any very good ones -- Greg and I made pretty mediocre pirates, and we are (or at least I am) incredibly unphotogenic. But you asked for it.
I feel the need to explain that in my attempt for authenticity, my hair looked like that on purpose. I figured that with all the humidity on the open sea, and lack of conditioner or anti-frizz hair products, a pirate lass would have pretty unkempt hair. Don't ask me to explain Greg, though:
And as long as I'm posting photos, I've got some from the weekend as well. We spent the weekend at a cabin in the Adirondacks with friends, and did a little dressing up there too.
Exhibit A: Heidi and friends from high school went a little crazy with a box of hats found in a closet:
Exhibit B: Greg, who forgot to bring warm clothes even though we were camping, had to rummage through the closets as well, and made do with the warmest items he found. He made quite the fashion statement:
More impressive than either of us, though, was Cooper, the chihuahua who had more clothes for the weekend than I did. Here are a couple of my favorites:
And finally, a normal photo of Greg and me (before Andrea dropped her lunch in Greg's lap) in front of Snowbird Lake, where we spent time swimming and boating and generally relaxing, when we weren't experimenting with fashion:
Oh, how I wish every weekend could involve dressing up ridiculously with old friends in beautiful remote locations, but unfortunately, we must return to real life eventually.
14 August 2007
weekend wrap-up
If I was expecting our weekend away from the kids to be restful, I must have forgotten what it's like to spend time with our friends. We spent the weekend in Alexandria Bay for a wedding, and coincidentally, it was Pirate Days in Alex Bay as well. So in addition to seeing friends we haven't seen in 4 or 5 years, celebrating the marriage of two people we love, lake and river swimming, soaking in the hot tub, crazy dancing, eating tons of delicious food, and stargazing (and spotting a few meteors) at a giant bonfire, we also had the opportunity to dress up as pirates for a night out on the town. That includes the bride and groom. There was much merriment and revelry, and perhaps a little mischief and mayhem. Unfortunately the photos of me as a pirate wench are not terribly flattering, so they will not be making an appearance on the blog.
We had a ton of fun, but I got even less sleep than I normally do and that's really saying something. At least I got to sleep through the night, though -- no midnight crying, bedwetting, falling out of bed, or little bodies crawling into our bed. I can't wait until the day when those things are not regular features of my life. Even with the lack of sleep, it was one of the better weekends I've had in a long time.
10 August 2007
obviously he wasn't writing for parents of kids like evan
Despite the whole moving business, I have, of course, managed to get in some quality reading. How else would I maintain my sanity without reading about people whose lives are worse than mine?
Seeing as I'm apparently one of the few Americans who never had to read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World in high school, I decided it was finally time to read it myself. I enjoyed it, mostly. But I have a feeling I didn't take away the exact message Huxley intended to send.
If you haven't read the book, allow me to fill you in: it takes place in a futuristic society where humans are bred and brainwashed to fulfill a particular role in society. Everything is strictly managed by the state and people are stripped of any decision-making or free thought or individuality, yet brainwashed to believe they couldn't be happier. I get the point of the book: freedom and democracy and truth are better than all-powerful government control of mindless, soulless, emotionless, brainwashed drones. Right.
But I couldn't help thinking, as I read, that some features of this society were pretty attractive when you have a child in the terrible twos. All children are raised in state-operated conditioning centers? All children are trained to be docile and submissive? In fact, parents don't exist at all? Also, free drugs whose effect simulates a long vacation from the real world?
Of course, if I didn't have the children, I wouldn't need the drugs. But this whole no-parenting idea is something I spent some serious daydreaming time on. I'm pretty sure that wasn't what I was supposed to get from the novel, but hey, parenting really changes your perception sometimes.
09 August 2007
we survived.
Well, we did it. We successfully moved. It wasn't even as bad as I expected. My mom, sister and brother-in-law were all here to help, and despite scheduling problems with the dunces at U-Haul, we managed it in an afternoon and treated ourselves to a Dinosaur BBQ feast for dinner.
That was Saturday: moving. Sunday was mostly spent in cleaning the old apartment. Monday morning Greg promptly left for a conference in California, for the entire week, so I've been in charge of the unpacking along with two monstrous children, one of whom is, as we expected, not coping terribly well with the move. (One guess who that is.) How much unpacking do you suppose I've done?
James has been great with the whole process, of course, and Evan has been work. Of course. I've heard about monsters in the bedroom at night. We've battled over the new booster seat. He ate 321534 popsicles at my frisbee game last night because that was the only way to keep him from screaming and running across the field to me. I earned the sympathy of the cable guy, who heard Evan screaming and throwing tantrums about nothing for approximately 80% of the 2 hours he was here installing our internet and phone.
Speaking of the internet and phone, for all the work that guy did over the span of two hours, I've had issues with both services. Also, our new basement smells gross. That's not really related to anything I was saying, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway as long as I'm complaining.
Anyway, to look on the bright side, Greg and I are going to a wedding with many of our college friends (and without the kids) this weekend, so there's that to save me from the endless unpacking and baby-minding.
01 August 2007
we are moving in three days
If you were to take a guess, on a scale of one to ten, with ten being as ready as it's possible to be, and one being entirely unprepared, how would you guess I'm feeling now that the move is three days away?
Hint: The answer falls somewhere in between two and four.
27 July 2007
friday photos
After several nights of staying up way too late, I have finished reading Harry Potter, all seven books in a row, from beginning to end. Lots of crying, of course, but overall very satisfying. Now that that's over, I can return to the real world and start blogging again.
Last Friday, before I got into full-swing Potter-mania, I met up with my friend Jessica and her family in Ithaca for the day. James got to play all day with his old friend K (Jessica's 7-yea-old daughter) and we all got to do some sight-seeing and relaxing. We had a lot of fun. It was so good to see you, Jessica!
We went to Taughannock Falls to hike and play:
One of few recent photos of myself that I've liked -- it helps that the world's cutest toddler is perched on my shoulders, of course:
Jessica's family, my boys and me at the falls:
And Evan, who won't actually get into a pool, but feels that he needs goggles to look into the water from a distance:
And now that Harry is through, I have to get serious about packing, so I'm not sure how soon or often I'll be back to the blog in the next couple of weeks.
19 July 2007
i have not been posting lately because
We have found an apartment (another townhouse, actually, almost identical to the place we're in now, except that the new place has a DISHWASHER!) and we are moving over the first weekend in August. So I'm beginning to pack, pack, pack, putting away all of the things we can live without for two more weeks. It's strange: the walls are nearly bare now, and surfaces cleared of decoration. Yet the rest of the house is messier than ever, and that's saying something.
The other major thing that will keep me from posting for the next week or so is the upcoming release of the last Harry Potter book. Yup, Harry Potter. We are, like all good fans, having our copy delivered on Saturday, and I will read it as soon as I finish re-reading the first six books in preparation. I should probably go see the new movie, too, if I really want to call myself a fan.
So there it is: moving, and Harry Potter, two things important enough to keep me away from the computer for the near future.
10 July 2007
i can't believe i forgot to mention this
In all of the 4th of July fun and post-holiday travel, I totally forgot to report back on a matter of utmost importance: James' tooth!
That's right, my darling first-born has lost his first tooth. Did you remember he had a loose tooth? It only took like a month to fall out so I wouldn't be surprised if you'd forgotten. I forgot about it sometimes during that month.
But last Tuesday, as he was eating goldfish, out it came. And I did promise you gaping-tooth-hole photos, didn't I? Well, I won't disappoint you:
We're not doing the tooth fairy -- no, James is keeping his little lost tooth in his mini treasure chest.
And already, the tooth next to it is loose. I'll let you know in a month or so how that turns out.
09 July 2007
another way in which he takes after his father
Those of you who know James know that he is a mini-Greg. I'm pretty sure the only things he inherited from me are a love of reading, excessive sweating while sleeping, and a propensity for whining and melodrama. So it really shouldn't surprise me, at this point, when another Greg-like quality emerges. But it's still a little disappointing sometimes.
James has finally, within the last year or two, started liking adult music. We've played him bands like Weezer, Franz Ferdinand, Flogging Molly, They Might Be Giants, the Pet Shop Boys, and the Beatles, all of which he's liked. So on Saturday, as we're driving from my mom's to meet Greg and some friends at the lake, I decided to put on a mixed tape that my sister made for me, oh, about 10 years ago. I couldn't really remember what was on it, but I remembered that I used to like it pretty well.
One thing you should know about me is that I don't claim to have good taste in music. I know what is good, and I like to listen to good music, but I also listen to a lot of crappy music. I know that it's terrible, horrible music, but I like it. Terrible music is often the best stuff to sing along to.
So the first song to come on when I put on the mystery tape was a John Denver song! I was psyched; I started singing along. "Country roooooaaaads, take me hooooome..."
"Mom," James whined, "I don't like this song."
"It'll be over soon," I replied, and went back to my singing.
James continued to whine for the duration of the song. Okay, so he's not a John Denver fan. I can't fault him for that.
The next song to come on was one I really love to sing along to, so I turned it up a little. I mean, who doesn't love Air Supply? "Makin' looo-oooove outta nothing a-at all -- Makin' love! Outta nothing at all! Makin' love!"
Well, you would have thought I'd invented some kind of new, particularly evil torture method and inflicted it on my son. James started crying: "Turn it off, Mom! Turn it off!" He covered his ears with his hands, and tried to curl into a fetal position, as much as the seat belt would allow, anyway. For the whole duration of the song (which, being the sadistic parent I am, did not turn off), James continued whining, crying, pleading, begging me to TURN IT OFF I HATE THIS SONG.
I just sat there thinking, Your father would be so proud of you.
When we got to the lake and I told Greg the story, he nearly wept with pride. Well, no, but he laughed, a lot, and said, "Yeah, James! Good boy!"
It is becoming more and more clear as the years go by that these boys will always join forces to outvote me. Ah, well, Evan's still young; maybe he'll be interested in Air Supply. But, knowing him, I'm not holding my breath.
03 July 2007
friday tuesday photos
We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog-reading to bring you a special Tuesday photo post! Photos are on Tuesday this week because 1) I missed Friday photos last week and 2) I'll probably miss them again this week since I'll be out of town.
I managed to cross two more items off my 101 Things list (I still haven't decided on the last two things, by the way, but thank you all for your suggestions): 1) I hand-picked strawberries, made them into jam, and canned a dozen jars of jam, and it's the most delicious jam I've ever tasted, and no, I'm not biased at all. Yes, I am aware that you can buy jam in the store, and yes, I'm aware of what century we're in. I think we all know by now that if a complete stranger were to judge me based solely on my hobbies, they would conclude that I'm at least 70 years old. I know. But making jam is fun! And really, really delicious.
Anyway, moving on. The second item I crossed off my list this weekend was a visit to Chimney Bluffs State Park, and that, my friends, is what you will now see photos of.
The park is named for the crazy bluffs overlooking the lake:
There is a lovely beach hike below the bluffs, where Evan happily threw rocks into the water:
And where James happily posed for photos:
And where James also spent a lot of time climbing on things:
It was a really pretty hike, and a really beautiful day:
I'll be heading over to central NY to visit with my mom and sister and niece for a few days. Not that I ever blog that regularly, but don't expect anything for a while.
Oh! And while I'm on the subject of photos -- Yahoo is shutting down their photo site, so I've transfered all of my photos to Google. I've even uploaded recent photos (there are actually some that don't make it onto the blog) so check it out.
27 June 2007
an Evan update
I've finally figured out the cause of Evan's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality: he's a Gemini! It's so clear now.
"Gemini...is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory. On the one hand it produces the virtue of versatility, and on the other the vices of two-facedness and flightiness. ... they demand attention, admiration, and the spending on them of time, energy and money, throwing tantrums if they don't get what they want... they take danger no more seriously than anything else."
It's so Evan! Okay, so I don't really believe in astrology, and there are plenty of things in that description that I didn't quote that don't describe Evan. But I can't help thinking it would be nice to have a solid explanation for his personality, because otherwise the only thing I can come up with is that he's a nutcase. Or a toddler. Hard to tell at this point.
This is the kid who snuggled in bed with me all morning and then, minutes later, screamed at me for talking to him. This is the kid who, when asked to stop hitting or kicking or biting his brother, will look at you with the saddest expression ever and say in a tiny, pathetic voice, "But I want to hit/kick/bite James," as if I'm doing Evan the greatest injustice in the world by asking him to refrain from inflicting harm on others. This is the kid who cowered in my arms when faced with the sprinkler yesterday, and then inexplicably tried to leap out of my arms to charge the sprinkler, all fear suddenly erased.
We have managed to cut down on some of the tantrums, but he still has a strong will and a fiery spirit that I think are never going to disappear. I just hope that in time we'll learn to channel his passions into constructive expressions instead of the destructive ones he's exploring now.
In other news, he's got a gigantic bruise next to his right eye where he fell and hit something -- nobody knows what, because no one saw him hurt himself. Over the last several days it's gone from shades of gray to purple, blue, green, and now a sickly yellow. This is why I included the part about not taking danger seriously in the quote above -- I imagine he probably dove head-first into something, or lost his balance trying to climb something dangerous. He has no concept of safety or self-control, and is constantly giving me reminders to never, ever leave him unsupervised, even for a minute.
24 June 2007
99 things
So do you all remember the 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge that I was going to try to complete? Well, I'm nowhere near completing it, but I am proud to announce that I'm almost done writing the list. Yep, yesterday I managed to get up to 99 items. Some of them are kind of lame, some of them are actually going to be a challenge, and a good quarter of the list involves things I want to do before I leave Rochester, which gives me a pretty short window in which to do them. I didn't anticipate what a challenge it would be to just write the list itself, so even getting to 99 feels like an accomplishment, even with all the lame things on it.
But the exciting news is that I've already completed 3 of the things on my list!
- #1: Buy suits for the boys for my sister's wedding. You've all seen the photo evidence. Done! (And that is a good example of one of the lame items on my list.)
- #10: Take my children camping this summer. Done!
- #40: Have a yard sale before moving. Done! (Back in May, but I can't link it because I never wrote about it on the blog for some reason.)
That's two percent! And three more items will be completed soon: clean out all of our old junk before moving, move out of this apartment, and play in a frisbee league in spring and summer. Again, the first two of those are lame items that I was going to have to do anyway, but it is hard to come up with 101 things to do.
Which is where you come in, friends. Anyone want to make some suggestions of something I should do in the next couple of years? Something random, something realistic that I might actually be able to do, something creative, something challenging? Just not something too lame -- I've come up with enough of those on my own. I'm open to pretty much anything. Two more items! That's all I need! And actually, if I get enough interesting suggestions, I might replace something boring that's already on the list.
So, fire away!
22 June 2007
friday photos
Last weekend, kind of at the last minute, we decided to go camping. We went to beautiful Letchworth State Park and did some hiking, saw some waterfalls, and did a lot of playing in the river. This was Evan's first camping trip, and aside from crying "I WAN' GO HOOOOOME!!" for about half an hour after sunset on Saturday night, he did really well. Much like James at the same age, Evan's favorite camping activity was throwing rocks in the water. In fact, that was still James' favorite activity too.
We saw thousands -- and I'm not exaggerating -- of teeny-weeny little frogs all over the riverbanks. You'd walk along the sand and every step you took would send a dozen frogs hopping out of your path. They were very easy to catch, though:
Roasting hot dogs over a campfire -- there is very little that tastes better than this:
Evan, hiking, in a rare moment when he was not begging to be carried:
James posing on a bridge:
James playing by the river. Notice the rock cliffs; apparently Letchworth is known as the "Grand Canyon of the East":
We also took a lot of pretty nature photos -- butterflies, wildflowers, frogs. It was really nice to just get away and not think about stupid frustrating apartment hunting for a couple of days. We all really enjoyed ourselves -- hopefully we'll get to do it again soon.
21 June 2007
success!
No, my success has nothing to do with apartment hunting. Stupid, frustrating, endless apartment hunting is not nearing success. No, this is about something much more important.
Yep, that's bread. But it's not just any bread. This is butternut oatmeal bread, which I baked myself, and it also happens to be the best loaf of bread I've ever baked.
I've been trying for years to bake a good loaf of bread. And when I say good, I mean edible. It's always been too dry, too moist, too dense, or too hard. I could get a good flavor but I never managed a good texture.
But now, with this recipe, and also with a few tips from a bread-baking friend of mine, I have produced a delicious loaf of home-baked bread.
Now if only I could find an apartment, I'd be truly happy.
19 June 2007
the moving situation
Notes from Melissa and Samay about my last post made me realize that I never actually explained our moving situation on the blog (or to my friends, for that matter. Sorry!). So here it is:
Greg is finishing the sixth year of his PhD work. We have lived in student housing for those six years. There is a six year time limit for student housing. Greg expects that he has another six months or so until he completes his PhD. We applied for an extension to remain in student housing for those six months. We were denied because they don't really care about our inconveniences, not when there's a waiting list a mile long for student housing. Therefore we have to look for a new apartment for our last six months here.
Then, Greg will be a doctor (not in the medical sense, of course, but I fully intend to refer to him as such) and he will score a sweet job in some idyllic place and we will move far away and live happily ever after. That's the plan, anyway.
So yeah, it sucks, getting kicked out of our wonderful apartment that we've loved pretty much without reservation for six years. To move into somewhere else where it won't even make sense to unpack everything because soon enough we'll be out again. And have I mentioned how ridiculously difficult it is to find a six-month lease? We have found ONE place that will give us a six-month lease, for $100 more per month. Sweeeet. Greg thinks subletting is a good idea; I'm skeptical.
Nevertheless, we will figure this out, because we have two months and one week until we have to be out of here. I'm just hoping we figure this out sooner rather than later.
18 June 2007
in which i use Too Many Capital Letters
So have I mentioned how much I hate apartment hunting? Because I do. I really, really hate it. I don't think I can possibly stress enough how tired I am of this. Would you like to hear all about it? I thought you might.
You may have noticed my lack of blogging lately. I'm spending a lot of time on Craigslist these days, and on pretty much any other local rental website I can find. I also scour the rental ads in the papers, and pick up the free real estate booklets from teh grocery store. I am getting to be a pro at scanning the ads; however, there's not much out there that meets our criteria. Here are our criteria:
- 2-3 bedrooms
- storage space
- within our budget (i.e., pretty frickin' cheap)
- in a semi-decent neighborhood
- near a semi-decent school
- willing to give a short-term lease
Does that sound impossible to you? It didn't sound impossible to me when we started looking, but apparently I'm pretty naive. The one thing we really can't compromise at all is the price we can afford to pay, so we're being forced to revise all of the rest of our standards. Like, it goes without saying that we won't be living in the Beautiful Amazing Pricey Suburb, which means that James will not be going to kindergarten in one of the best school districts in the country, but instead will be going to whichever underfunded city school still has room. We won't even be living in one of the Cool Urban-by-Choice Artsy Neighborhoods. No, we'll probably end up in the Pretty Decent Neighborhood, But Don't Go Too Far North (Or East, Or West) Or It Gets Sketchy Neighborhood.
I'm pretty sure that last sentence didn't make sense, but I think you get my drift. We will be settling.
We've looked at a few places so far, and they have universally been either Too Expensive, or Too Small. Sometimes both. Correction: there was one place that's neither Too Expensive nor Too Small, but Very Far Away, which kind of equates to Too Expensive in time and transportation costs. Given all of that, we will probably end up with Too Small. That should be fun. You know, with the two growing, energetic, rambunctious boys and all.
I just keep telling myself that this will only be for six months. No matter where we end up living, no matter which school James ends up in, no matter whether I have to drive Greg to school every day, no matter what kind of freaky neighbors we end up with, no matter how small the apartment, it's only for six months. Six months. We can live with anything for just six months, right?
And then we start the apartment hunting all over again.
05 June 2007
two years
Today is Evan's second birthday. My second baby, my little blonde cherub, my whirling dervish, my snuggly child, my banshee, my unpredictable, uncontrollable, charming, loving, darling baby boy.
I feel like, in many ways, this has been the Evan Blog, chronicling his growth and development as well as my challenges and difficulties in raising a child so much like me in some ways, so I won't write much. It's hard for me to put this love for him into words anyway.
We had a small birthday party on Sunday, for which I made a Totoro cake:
Evan's very excited about a new sand digger from Aunt Kim and Uncle Jon:
And he's already been having a lot of fun with the caterpillar tunnel Aunt Ren and Uncle Mike gave him:
And here are the boys enjoying a new book from Grandma:
It's hard to believe we're at two years already. In some ways it feels like the time has just flown by, but in other ways it seems we've only just begun.
Happy birthday, Evan!
04 June 2007
BREAKING NEWS
My five-and-a-half-year-old has a LOOSE TOOTH.
I don't know what it is about this development, but I am suddenly feeling incredibly old. Yet I'm also really excited for him. I remember really liking losing my teeth as a kid, what with all the tooth-wiggling and the tongue-playing and the gaping holes. So this is fun. About four times a day we have the following conversation:
Me: James, how's that tooth?!
James: Wigglier!
And then he will usually run over to wiggle the tooth for me, and show me just how wiggly it is now.
He's also coming up with all of these crazy scenarios, like "What if I'm playing outside and I fall on my face and my tooth falls out and I swallow it?" And after hearing stories from my mom and Greg he's slightly afraid to eat anything crunchy. But clearly, despite these worries, a loose tooth is still a very cool thing.
For me, this is another one of those "My little boy is growing up!!!" moments. I was just not ready for this to happen so soon. He's only five! I mean, first it's a loose tooth, next he's in kindergarten, and pretty soon (to borrow from Ryan) he'll be getting his driver's license and leaving for college, and why doesn't anyone ever tell you that childhood goes by so quickly?!?!
Prepare yourselves for pictures of the gaping tooth-hole -- possibly even in time for this week's Friday photos!
01 June 2007
friday photos
Okay, I know I suck at this blogging thing lately. But instead of making excuses for myself, I will post photos!
I got all dolled up for my sister's wedding:
And my baby looked pretty angelic (and actually behaved pretty well too! No screaming during the ceremony! Well, we didn't end up having him in the church during the ceremony, but still! No screaming from the cemetery outside to disrupt the ceremony! Good job, kid!):
My handsome boys at a second wedding last weekend -- they clean up real good, huh?:
Back to the first wedding. James was in love with my sister all day, and can you blame him?:
This is how James spent much of the reception:
And this is how Evan ended up:
A shot of the wedding party (I'm next to the bride):
And a shot of my beautiful sister and my new brother-in-law:
We had a great weekend -- the weddings were lovely, the receptions were lots of fun, the weather was gorgeous, and my kids more or less behaved. Also, I got to dance with Greg! One dance, but still fun. Couldn't ask for more.
Okay, well, I would have liked more dancing with Greg, but other than that it was a pretty stellar weekend.
