Love's

Let me just say that great Rabbinical minds think alike. Or, great Rabbinical butts--eh Steph?? :-) Last night during the lastest Feminine Hijinx show, Stephanie and I both revealed surprises....and they were both Love's Baby Soft perfume!!!!!! Unbelievable, how many ways Stephanie and I are alike. Things are coming up all the time and we just shake our head and laugh. Of course with my brain being the way it is I can't think of anything right now, but there are many similarities. Oh, one was that we had the same Gunny Sax prom dress. Kind of scary. Last night Stephanie went a notch above and also pulled out Jean Nate--both of these fragrances we have reminisced and laughed about on previous podcasts. We all sprayed it on ourselves and I swear I can still smell it wafting up from the basement. Actually, Stephanie didn't even put any on herself, but I'm sure she still reeked just from being in the same vicinity. Cory came down at one point and choked--hilarious. I guess he wouldn't have wanted to be around me in Junior High then, since I practically bathed in the stuff. Ahhhh, memories.

Man, what a day! Another PERFECT day of spring. We all dragged our butts out of bed early this morning to get to Vivian's school for a family breakfast. Fun! Then Sullivan and I made our way over to my friend Lisa's house for some play! Sullivan and Quinn happily played out in the back yard, baby Auden napped, and Lisa and I sat in the sun and gabbed. Those are the days I especially love my job. :-) (sorry, Pat, but I had to do it!)

Unfortunately though, as much as it's killing me not to partake of gorgeous weather by being outside every moment, I can also barely keep my eyes open. Those nights with my ladies wear me out! (and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!) So, whilst Sullivan is at school and Vivian is with Cory at the 'Take Your Daughter to Work Day', I may just have to lay down for a little nap. The second best thing to being outside on a perfect day and watching your children happily play. Yeah!

Intaglio Blues

So my lovely sister Barb gives me the most incredible necklace for my birthday last year. It's a beautiful vintage chain, with this incredible pendant--one side is a carved intaglio, I believe in carnelian, and the other was just empty--obviously looking like it once had something in it. Along with the necklace she sent me a crystal that fits perfectly over that space, and some glue...with the idea of finding something special and putting it in there. I love that! A personalized necklace! So not only do I love love love the intaglio dude, but the other side will be just as special when I figure out what the heck to get in there.

Now this is not an easy task for someone like me. Getting something in there is just so...permanent. I am always changing my mind about things, so that is a daunting task indeed! My sister suggested a 4 leaf clover. Now where in the world does one find one of those?? At least for me, it's not so easy to go out and find one. I remember combing through the clover as a kid, but never any luck. (obviously no luck, I never found the 4 leaf clover!) I could have put my kids' hair in there or something, but eeeeu. Besides, that's the kind of thing you do when someone dies. Thank goodness, no one is dead, so I'm not doing that. I had thought about putting some sort of pretty material in there, but what? Then it dawned on me...I had bought some beautiful Asian silk to cover my keyboard that's up in my little song-writing studio. It's black with beautifully stitched butterflies. It's a long story, but butterflies are my thing and of course black goes with everything. :-) Plus that material sort of symbolizes success to me, since I have sold a song I had written for the first time in my life, on that keyboard! Hey! This actually has MEANING, and God knows whatever goes in that locket has to have MEANING. Nevertheless I STILL hemmed and hawed over this idea...until I saw some amazing glass pendants in a jewelry case yesterday that had that sort of material in them. That made up my mind, and this very morning I got to work.

It just so happened that there was the perfect sized tiny butterfly I could cut out of that material that fit exactly in the circle of that locket. I carefully cut it out, glued it in just right, snapped that crystal into place with complete satisfaction. Gorgeous! It's exactly what I want--a beautiful colorful butterfly on silky black fabric, absolutely stunning encased in glass surrounded by a sort of rose-colored vintage gold. (anyone who knows me well also knows that I LOVE something inside of something....it's just magical...) I did it! I made the decision, it's in, it's perfect.

Then it dawns on me. I get a sick feeling in my stomach as I turn the locket back over and realize that when the intaglio is right side up, spinning it means the butterfly is--*gasp*--upside down!!!! I should have glued it upside down to have it come out right when it spins around. A sign in my adult life why I was never good at geometry. shit. The Virgo-must-have-order person in me is not happy.

Realizing this is messing with the entire order of the thing, I yahoo Cory with my tale of woe. His response is, "life". At first I was irritated because, being the Coreman and the one who can figure anything out, I thought MAYBE he'd have a solution. But then I had to laugh... isn't that just the perfect response?? That IS life, isn't it?? Just when you think you have it all figured out, you realize that something will always be just a bit askew. That's just the way it is, and we just have to learn to live with it. We must soldier on. We must learn to just shrug our shoulders and laugh a bit, as our butterflies are askew. (or our breasts, as the case may be) Man, am I deep this morning, or what? (Stephanie, I guess it's my turn to have a rabbinical butt!)

I think I'll have another cup of coffee and ponder this a bit. Then I'll put on my flawed yet perfectly beautiful locket and go out into this crazy askew world.

More Patio Musings

Here I am AGAIN, on the patio. It's sunny, a slight breeze, a lovely 68 degrees...how could I be anywhere BUT on my patio?? (Now Pat, you can't get mad at me this time...it's a SUNDAY and it's very likely you are taking the opportunity to be on your patio as well. ;-)) I even skipped church this morning to be outside--HEATHEN!--and took a nice long walk whilst listening to the latest Feminine Hijinx show. I am definitely my own best audience. I didn't actually skip church on purpose, per se...my sweet husband let me sleep in this morning and I was literally conked out until 9:00. That's rare for me. Normally after my little alarm clock wakes me at 7:00, even if Cory gets up with him, I can only lay in bed for another hour or so if I'm lucky, and I don't normally fall back into a deep sleep. Not this time. I guess I was catching up after that girlie sleepover. (see previous post!)

Now Cory has the kids at his first softball practice of the season. He plays on the church team--isn't that cute? I usually go to the games but there is no actual watching of the game with Sullivan. Of course he just wants to run around the nearby playground and has no interest in sitting still on the bleachers and yelling, "Canna Corn, Canna Corn"! (hear previous podcast, show #8!!)

I would have gone with them today but I have my rolfing appointment with the lovely Siana Goodwin. I haven't been in to see her in WAY too long. Thanks to a nice tax return, I can hopefully get in the rest of my treatments in the next few weeks! For those of you wondering, don't ask me to explain what rolfing is, exactly. That's why I included that link. All I know is that I lay on a table for about an hour and a half, Siana gently pokes, prods and messages me from head to toe (now now, don't let your mind go there...this is totally legit!!) and when I leave there I feel great. The changes rolfing has made for me and my chronic back trouble have been incredible. I would not say I am 100% cured--I still wake up stiff sometimes in the morning and still will find myself in a hitch every so often--but whenever that happens I recover so much more quickly and overall, it is SO much better than it used to be. I totally recommend Siana. She is amazing, and a very fun and relaxing person to be with for an hour and a half while she's poking, prodding and messaging. And it DOESN'T HURT! I know rolfing sounds like a scary word to many, and maybe some people that practice it do make it painful--but not Siana.

What a lovely way to end a week. A morning walk, a lovely patio visit, relaxing back-work and conversation with Siana, then probably more outside time with the fam. Hooray! Then on to another week already. Whew!

The Morning After, again

Can I just say how impressed I am? My daughter had 5 girls over last night for a birthday/slumber party. Yes, they were loud, yes they were giggly--but I gave them a lights out at 1:00 AM (just call me June Cleaver with an iron fist) and right around then, it got pretty quiet and I just heard the low drone of quiet talking above me (to be expected, of course!--I'm not THAT mean!) until probably around 2:00. Of course the goils were up at the crack of dawn--how the heck do they DO that?!--and they all padded downstairs for their morning cartoons. I giggled to myself as I frosted cinnamon rolls--don't be too impressed, they're Pop'N'Fresh...no June Cleaver there--and listened to them trying to decide on 'regular' TV or a movie, and then WHAT movie. 6 girls, trying to agree on something--not an easy task. They had a lot to choose from--Harry Potter, Shrek, Holes, Spongebob...but all of a sudden I heard the sweet sound of a single violin. The well-known tune of none other than "Fiddler on the Roof". ! Whoa, talk about discriminating taste and culture at 7:00 AM! Impressive!

So, the girls will leave around 10:00, and I suppose I'll spend the rest of the day getting this house in some kind of order. Then around 5:00 Vivian and I will be heading over to the church, as I signed us both up for this month's youth event, "Mission Impossible". I have no clue what that entails, hopefully I'll just have to serve some pizza and that will be the extent of my job. I just hope we can both stay awake for it. Kim and Emily signed up, too. Should be interesting! I figured I should volunteer for at least ONE of these events, since they are always looking for parents to help out. This one was easy, all I have to do is walk a few feet to the church and I'm there. Talk about your Lazy Jewthran. Of course this is assuming that I won't have to be a part of whatever this Mission Impossible thing is. Oy. Now I'm a little afraid...!

They Grow Up

Here's my little girl, the second girl back getting ready to take her place at the mic and sing a solo for her 4th grade concert that I attended last night. (Coreman was too busy filming a movie clip to actually get a photo of her singing) As soon as the first note left her mouth, the water works were flowing. Man, that girl has a voice. It's so sweet and pure--she said at some point afterward someone told her they thought she had an angel stuck in her throat! :-) I was the proud Mom, indeed. The whole concert was so cute, all of the kids did such a great job!

And now here is my little angel, on the bottom of a hog-pile of giggling 10 year old girls. Whew, we're in for a long night--they are all having a slumber party as I type! I have a sneaking suspition that there is not going to be much slumber going on, however. The party started out with a couple of boys here, too, with all of them downstairs screaming, laughing and dancing. Oh, the Din! Now the girls have all moved upstairs into Vivian's room, and it's a bit quiet. I'll have to sneak up there in a bit. :-)

Coreman told me the funniest thing today. Some guy called about the Montero he's attempting to sell. I guess at some point he asked Cory something like, "So, will I be flossin' in that car?" He actually used the word 'flossin', in complete seriousness. I think he even asked Cory if he was flossin' in the car. Cory kind of chuckled and said, yeah, he guessed he was flossin'. I had called Cory from IKEA (yes, I attempted IKEA again and I must say it was a rather nice IKEA experience) and he told me this on the phone--I literally had a throw-the-head-back-and-howl right there. I turned a few heads, I did.

Now, I always thought flossin' meant showing something off in a proud way, but Cory looked it up and he thought it meant 'posing'. Hmmmm. Well, I guess maybe it did mean the latter because the guy was supposed to come look at the car tonight and he hasn't called. Who knew we'd need to brush up on our slang in order to sell our car?! Hilarious.

Well, I'm hearing a few shrieks up there, so, it's not all THAT quiet. It will be amazing if any of us get sleep tonight. Did I agree to this?? And when the heck did my daughter turn TEN???

Hijinx on the Patio, and in the Pine

We at the household here have been total Patio Whores the past few days. We've had everybody and anybody on our patio, thank you very much. You saw Gary on the previous post, and since then we've also had our friend Tony over, who has known Coreman since the college days. (there he is with Sullivan!) Didn't get a picture of Slip on the patio, unfortunately, but he bought us pizza and that was a very nice thing. He also brought the movie "Walk the Line", with the intention of all of us watching it together, but MY HUSBAND actually suggested we TALK instead. ! It does happen, ladies! You CAN be a good influence on your man!

I talked about our patio hijinx on the latest podcast last night, and I must say, it felt like one of our best. That's especially amazing, too, because it was a do-over. Yup, we had a Technical Difficulty in the form of Garage Band completely shutting down the recording after all of eight seconds, and so we had to re-create the entire show. I wasn't sure if we could pull it off with the same feeling of spontaneity we had the first time, but we just rolled with it and it was great! I have to say, I am completely impressed with my minxes! Good show, ladies! Fo sho!(Here's a photo we're hoping to get on the Libsyn site--our site host!)

We have been having so many fun things come up from all of this. We continue to have some great comments on our site, even garnering a fan who is an 18 year old guy living in the UK. Cory's friend Christopher, who has a computer business called macworks and was over to talk shop with Coreman the other night whipped one of our business cards out of his pocket and actually asked me to sign it--ha! He joked around about selling it on ebay. Hilarious. We've even been contacted by a publicist in New York who represents a comedian that may just pop up as a phone-in guest on the show soon. tee hee.

So, who knew? All of this, from our little silly show down in the naughty pine.

More Patio Loveliness

Ahhhh, this weather! It's enough to put even the most crabby in a good mood. We had a very nice, quiet Easter yesterday. It started out a bit rainy and cloudy, but the sun came out by the end of the day. (it was risen indeed!) We hung out on the patio with our new furniture and our good friend Gary. (if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you'll see he's holding a Feminine Hijinx business card...tee hee!)

Gary lives across the street and is a great friend and neighbor. He's just a damn funny guy, and he tends to be very free with the compliments--always a good thing in my book. A very talented guy, too, owning his own advertising agency called Quasimodo and being a busy voiceover artist. He was telling Cory and I about a voiceover job he recently did for Holiday, some sort of in-house manual he had to read for employees to listen to. I guess one part was about not selling alcohol to people who are already inebriated, and how to tell if this was indeed so. He had to read, in his best announcer voice, something about how smelling vomit-on-the-breath and/or seeing it on their clothes was a sign. Gross and hilarious!

This morning we had a play date with Kari and Drake--it had been quite an undertaking getting something scheduled between us. Who knew at-home mommies had such a life?! (well, Kari does have a part-time job, but...!) The big excitement of the morning was poor Sullivan getting stung by a bee, as he was picking a dandelion for his Mommy. Awww! He was such a trooper, after a little baking soda paste and a kiss, he was off and playing again. After Kari and Drake left we headed over to Sullivan's second swimming lesson. He did a great job, getting his little head right down in the water. I'm sure he'll be my little fish by the time we hit the Rec Center this summer!

Tonight will be more hanging on the patio, I'm sure. We have to get it all in before the mosquitoes hatch and start attacking--which won't be long. In fact even at Stephanie's party there was one lurking about. Patio life is a fleeting thing here in Minnesota. The window of opportunity is open only a crack--early spring and fall, after the first frost. In between it's a bug buffet, and no amount of spray or smoke will keep them at bay. So I will enjoy this now! Hope you all have a good night, too!

Passover Down South

I love this. My new-found Jewish cousin sent it to me. Perfect for Easter, I must say!!! :-)

Happy Bad Saturday

Actually, it's been a very good Saturday. But what do you call the day after Good Friday? I suppose back in Jesus' day, this would have been a very bad Saturday indeed. According to the Christian faith, the poor guy must have still been suffering on that cross all day until he was 'risen' the next. Eeuuu, sort of a disturbing thought. It's disturbing to think they call the day that they nailed him up there Good Friday, anyway...but what do I know? Kim drove by a church yesterday that actually had LIVE people acting out the crucifixion...indeed there was a man hanging on a cross with people dressed in black praying on the ground below. EU. I especially love the mental picture of the fact that it was in the yard of a church right across from a Drive-In burger joint. "Hey Honey, Lookit. It's Jesus Christ on the cross. Pass me a corndog!" Hilarious. The whole thing is kind of like an interpretive dance. Everyone sits around watching feeling just a bit uncomfortable while they try to understand the true meaning of what the 'artist' is trying to get across. Or you are my husband, who just gets up and leaves. He probably would have done that at the Live Crucifixion. Renting "The Passion" would probably be enough 'real life' for me, and I haven't even done that yet. I guess hearing about it is enough!

So we started out this day by hitting the annual Easter Egg hunt at the church. You gotta love a church celebrating such a pagan thing that really has nothing to do with Easter, when you think about it. Kim brought Vivian over, as she had spent the night there with Emily. All of the kids found a ton of plastic eggs with candy in them...just what they need, more candy. We haven't even gone though all of the Valentine's Day loot yet. (normally at this time of year we still have Halloween candy, but this year we got smart and got rid of it in a more timely fashion!)

Another good thing is that we got rid of both the riding lawn mower and the patio set today! We are replacing the patio set with a different set up--one that is easier maintenance and more of what we want. Woo! The lawn mower, whew, that's been a long time coming. TOO long of a story to go into here, but let's just say the people in the neighborhood who actually had the nuts to call and complain about the thing sitting on our front lawn all last spring and summer can breathe a sigh of relief. (ok, so maybe I was just a LITTLE happy that they had the City call to move it...I was tired of looking at it, myself) Plus I get to do a nice big I TOLD YOU SO to my husband, who insisted that just parking it on our yard without actually paying to put it in the paper was a good idea. :-) 2 days in the paper, and BAM. Gone. It's good to be right. :-)

Yesterday we went to the zoo for the first time this year. It was very nice to be out on such a gorgeous day, but I have to tell you, it was a real ZOO at the zoo. Everybody and their Mother's Mother was there. I've never waited so long just to get in the place. But the kids had a great time, and the zoo is always a good outing.

Easter will be quiet for us this year, which is just fine. We'll have our Honeybaked Ham all to ourselves, and I'll probably have the New Potato Green Bean Salad (scroll down for recipe) of Stephanie's all to myself, too, since I'm the only one who will eat it. (Fools! But again, more for me!) Happy Easter and Happy Passover, everyone!!!

Life on the Patio

Ahhhhhh....8:00 AM and I'm sitting here on my patio. It's one of those mornings where there is NO staying in the house no matter what. I threw sweatshirts on Sullivan and I and we padded out in our slippers, coffee and sidewalk chalk in hand. Oh, how I love this weather!

I guess I could have just slept right here, considering this is where I was last night, too. Stephanie brought Nathan over for a playdate with Vivian, and that turned into a full-on BBQ with them and the Billadeaus. First BBQ of the season! Yeah! Not bad for the beginning of April. Stephanie brought leftovers from her fabulous party--YUM--and Kim brought me a vintage postcard she found that said "He-Is Risen" (for those of you who have listened to Feminine Hijinx, you get the joke!--and yes, there really is a hyphen between the 'he' and the 'is' on the card...??!!) --I love my friends! They are so good to me! It was a grand time to be had by all, adults and kids alike.

And speaking of Feminine Hijinx, stuffed full of burgers and potato salad, we ladies descended down into the naughty pine to record another episode. I was so full, I actually had my full half glass of wine without feeling a thing! We also got our business cards that Brian designed, so now we can pass those out to people who inquire about what we've been up to. They are so incredibly cool! Thank you so much, Brian!!

So today, nothing much planned--which is perfect on a day like this. These are the days when I feel especially blessed not to have to put on work clothes and go sit in some stuffy office to do my job. Thank you so much, Coreman!!! :-)

Just Another Metal Monday (or not...!)

Happy Monday! (I know you are grumbling right now) But I will say that's just another nice thing about being an at-home Metal Mommy...the days of the week are all the same. It doesn't matter if it's Monday or Sunday, my little alarm clock is waking me up at 7:00 and forcing me to start my day. Luckily, once I drag myself out of bed I actually do enjoy the mornings....I've become a morning person! Wow, certainly never would have foreseen that back in the Metal Days.

What a weekend! It was good all around. Friday we finally turned in our damn minivan, as it's 3 1/2 year lease was up. Minivan, so NOT metal! Whatever was I thinking?? It felt good to get that vehicle off of our patio and out of our checkbook. Now we are down to merely 3 cars. We'll be putting an ad in the paper for Coreman's 1996 Montero today--let me know if any of you are interested! :-) Thanks to Cory's Mom, he now drives a Buick LeSabre, aka The Pimpmobile. (makes me think of Richard Scarry...but somehow I don't think he had one of those in his Cars and Trucks and Things That Go) We both poo-poo any small car without 4 wheel drive, but I have to say, that thing has a nice ride. It was just a smart thing to do--no car payments, MUCH less to fill that sucker up with gas. Poor Coreman has to check his ego back at the door when he drives that car around town. Funny tho, how the older you get, the easier it is to do that!!! Especially when it's someone else that has to do it....thanks Coreman, since I still get to drive the Pathfinder....!!!

I spent Saturday getting some good cleaning and other things done around the house, and gearing up for Stephanie's big party that night. What a night it was! Kim agreed to go to A's bat mitzvah's service with me, many of the people just went to the reception at Steph's house afterwards. But being the Jewthran that I am, I just had to go hang with my peeps for a bit!!! :-) It was an amazing service, so steeped in tradition. Lovely. We had a man sitting next to us giving us the lowdown on whatever was going on--he was much appreciated! At one point little bags of good smelling spices were passed around to everyone, to symbolize the end of the Sabbath--I literally had to bite my tongue from almost exclaiming to the man next to me, "This smells like Christmas!" He probably would not have agreed with me.

At Stephanie's house we met many of her family members and friends, that was great. It's so fun to see people that we've heard so much about! We chatted with Stu Williams, the Wine Genius, about being a guest on Feminine Hijinx. He said something about having a wine tasting on the show--yikes! For someone who literally drinks half a glass the entire night, that could get ugly! But how fun, I've never done one of those. Kim and I closed out the evening as the last guests to leave, chatting with Stephanie. That's when the real party started--Stephanie literally fell out of her chair laughing, and there was much excitment in discovering a big spider above our heads that brave Steph eventually killed with her pump.

After falling into bed around 2:30 the night (or, morning?) before, I had to get up on Sunday and head to choich...couldn't skip out on this one, I had to teach Sunday School. (I still get a good laugh out of that) Char, my fellow puppeteer, was gone that day, so I was on my own. Luckily, it went smoothly. That afternoon I helped usher for the last performance of Jesus Christ Superstar, the play at the choich that Vivian has been in. Whew, talk about emotional. Everyone gave their all in that performance. Normally I can keep the tears at bay, but not yesterday. I think it was the culmination of being overly-tired and feeling my daughter's sadness at the whole thing coming to an end. She looked so OLD to me up there, so beautiful. Sigh. (oh, and here's Jesus, not in his shroud but in casual clothes, taking a much needed break from crucifixion....)

So! A new week, a sunny Monday, Spring Break for Vivian. We're starting it off with a bang--Vivian's 10 year doctor appointment, Sullivan's first swimming lesson, and his friend Susie's birthday party. All things worth getting up for. Not exactly metal, but, just the way this Mommy likes it.

Nipples

Looking at this photo of my son, I don't know whether to be very afraid or to give him the high heavy metal sign!!! He's a little Gene Simmons!!! (click on this photo and get a good look at my husband, looking very afraid indeed...hilarious!!!) Putting clothes away in his room, somehow my bra had gotten into his stuff. I had left it on his table with the intention of putting it away...of course he got to it first. After this he had me make sure and adjust them so the cups weren't all squashed in, saying he wanted them to have 'nipples like me'...!! What is it with my kid and nipples? I should have told him that these were indeed Nipples of a Jewthran, and not of a Wiccan.

My Friend Kim

I absolutely love this photo. This is my friend Kim, to a tee. Maven of Mischief, indeed. I got this photo from her brother, Mr. Pat Beyer, who is incredibly hilarious himself and hopefully won't mind that I stole it from him for my own shameless personal use. What really cracked me up, is when I emailed Kim about this photo saying that I couldn't possibly imagine this being part of a sick and twisted Thanksgiving assembly at the elementary school where she works, she said that yes indeedy, it was. HILARIOUS! She did make sure and inform me that she never actually caught the turkey, because "that would be just wrong"---yeah, I suppose she's right. I just love her face in this picture. Maybe I'll ask her if I can use it for this year's Thanksgiving card. (not that I usually send out Thanksgiving cards, but this photo is truly an inspiration to do so!)

Happy (belated!) Birthday, Vivian!

Birthday wishes one day late for my dear daughter! To think 10 years ago yesterday I was making my poor husband smell my panty shield to see if it truly did smell like bleach...validating the smell that was indeed amniotic fluid! Then we were off to Community Hospital in Missoula, Montana. A mere under-7 hours later, my beautiful Vivian was born. To someone who's never given birth I'm sure that sounds like a long time, but for a first timer, it's actually quite fast! (of course compared to Sullivan's birth, it was an eternity!) Wow, that seems like a decade ago. Gulp! It was a decade ago!

The day actually started out with a bummer, as Vivian wasn't feeling well in the morning. Well, I guess that came on AFTER the opening of the presents and the eating of cinnamon rolls. ! I think the poor girl was just worn out from so many performances (ahh, the life of an actress!) and the excitement of everything. With the time change and all, too, I know she hadn't been getting her normal sleep. Luckily after a couple hours of rest and the surprise of a new-found friend, she was bounding around and ready to go to school.

Yes, I have another child here at the house. His name is Tyko, and he's a fish. We're a multi-species family here. Sullivan originally wanted to get Vivian a snake for her birthday, as that is her favorite animal. But Cory put the kabash on any reptilian pet a long time ago, and being the germ-freak that I am, I have to say I agree. So I told Sullivan he could get Vivian a different kind of pet--a Betta, or Siamese Fighting Fish. Oh, we've had fish before. (they died) And cats. A dog. A guinea pig. We've run the gamut around here. But after too many trial and hive-ridden error, we had the official discovery that poor Vivian is allergic to all things with fur. So, unfortunately, that leaves fish as the most obvious choice for a pet. You can't cuddle a fish, but I tell you, I am completely in love with this Tyko already.

I've been craving a pet. I especially feel that way at spring-time. Is it because my babies were born in the spring? It is just that most animals give birth in the spring, therefore I feel the need to be maternal? I have no clue. It could very well be that I simply have this urge to walk a dog in the new-found bud-filled sunshine. It physically pains me to go into a pet store and see those cats in the cages. I want to take them all home! When Sullivan and I went to Petsmart to pick out Vivian's fish, there was Rabbit, the CUTEST 3-4 month old cat ever, begging me to take her home. She was a grey Persian cat that I guess came to them all matted, so she had that big puffy face and feet and a close-shaven body. I am a sucker for any sort of funny malady like that. I remember seeing one cat in a shelter without an ear. I wanted him so badly, I had already decided his name would be VanGogh.

But! Enough whining. Cory has gotten quite used to the house without hair or a litter box, no poop in the yard--and I have to admit, that has been very nice. But I've already warned him that someday, when the kids are grown and gone (*SNIFF*!) I may just have to have something to cuddle. He of course always answers this with a "But you'll have me!!" As all you women know, of course we love our hubbies, but it's just not the same! It's that Baby Thing. Besides, when I'm helping to trim Cory's fur he can't see and cleaning up his poop the pet stuff will seem like nothing.

Foo

OMG, I just found out that Cory got offered a job in Boulder, Colorado and we will most likely be moving there!

April Fool. That was mostly for Stephanie and Kim, they know why. I actually HATE April Fools jokes. Probably because I'm so gullible and fall for them every time. My mother-in-law got me right away this morning--low blow, I have to say, when I'm stumbling out of bed with my bleary, puffy, sleep-encrusted eyes, totally unawares. Here on a visit, she came to me and said, "I had such a terrible sleep last night!" Me, ever the worried hostess, was like, "Oh noooo!" Then she smiles and says the "April Fool!" thing to me. Ug! Vivian's even in on the gag. She was going to call her friend when I was in the shower, and as I get out she says, "Mom, Allison said she doesn't want to be my friend anymore..." Again, I'm like, "What?! Oh noooo!" April Fool.

Tell me, people, why is it so fun to momentarily lie to, scare the shit out of people or make them sad? Just another example of how sick and twisted we human beans really are. I guess I felt the peer pressure of April Fool's Day myself, starting out this blog entry with my own stupid little Fool's Day joke. But of course it's no surprise that I am a sick and twisted individual. What an April Fool I am. Or, April Foo. I pity the foo!