Monday, March 31, 2008

American Idol, here we come

Colin has taken to making up songs now. This little ditty, sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques", was debuted today, on the swings at the park, and name-drops two friends of his from school. Sing along!

I saw spider, I saw spider
Dormez nous? Dormez nous?
Who will touch the spider? Who will touch the spider?
Colby and Chase! Colby and Chase!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Somewhere in Orange County, a math teacher silently weeps

My neighbor, a really cool woman, has just had it with her job. She wants to "stay home" (as if you ever do!) with her kids, help her husband with his business, and get the house cleaned up. She's tired of tripping over crap, tired of staying up past midnight to get everything done, tired of going in to work. How tired? Check out this phone conversation from four o'clock this afternoon...


Neighbor: I need to use this Dell coupon before midnight.

Me: Oh, okay.

Neighbor: It expires at midnight Eastern Time... damn, it's pr'y too late.

Me (after a pause): No, it's okay - that's 9 p.m. our time.

Neighbor: Even after the time change?


Hang in there until July, Neighbor Friend! You can make it!

Twelve years posting... and counting

I just realized the other day that I put up my first website in Spring 1996 as part of a computer sciences class I was taking in college. I started posting "linguistic rants" every month and continued to do so for years. It was arduous work, let me tell you; "blogging" as we know it now, in its easy-to-post format, didn't exist! (And I was just barely out of using a text-based browser... oh my God.) Memories!

Monday, March 24, 2008

That's French for "biting off more than you can chew"


Colin prepares for National Library Week (April 13-19) with some light reading.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

How you know someone's an engineer and has played "Dark Side of the Moon" while watching "The Wizard of Oz"

We were at Outback Steakhouse tonight. Colin and I were outside, and he noticed a landscape light in the garden, pointed right up to the sky.

Colin: Mommy, look - a light!

Me: Wow, yeah.

Nerdy engineer eavesdropping on our conversation, to Colin: Yeah, that's so if you want to lay on the sky, you can read a book upside down.

Colin: (silent blank stare)

Friday, March 21, 2008

How You Can Tell That Someone Is an Engineer and English Is Not Their First Language

Overheard at the YMCA tonight:

"Yeah, you need real weights. Nothing's like the real Dr. McCoy."

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

At least she got paid...

Got into a conversation with two women at the chiropractic office regarding why we are named what we are. (Got that?)

One woman said, "I've never liked my name. It's 'Marsha'. I asked my mom years and years ago about why she named me that. Apparently, there was a young woman in our town who was beautiful and always had a lot of boyfriends. She was quite popular. Her name was 'Marsha', so my mom chose the name for me."

"Well, that's nice," the other woman and I conceded.

"Yes," she continued, "But years later, I wanted to find out what happened to Marsha. Well, I found out why she was so popular. Marsha was a hooker! My mother named me after a hooker!"

Ah, hindsight...

Thursday, March 13, 2008

I am not kidding you

On a coffee run this morning, I noticed the "Employee of the Month" for March 2008 is....

Rich Folk.

That's right, Rich Folk.

Reminds me of a girl I went to school with, Penelope Banks. Who went by "Penny". Penny Banks.

Ka-ching!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

My little love!



A photo from July - but just recently received; we attended a housewarming/anniversary party on July 4th at our acquaintances' beautiful new mansion. Colin was tasting chocolate milk for the first time... and wouldn't even put the box down for a professional photographer! I laugh whenever I see this pic.

Anyway...

This evening, Colin and I were playing with trains while Matt watched. Colin started climbing up onto my lap.

"Mommy... Mommy..." he said.

"What, Colin?"

"I want hold you." (That means "I want you to hold me.")

"Okay, I can hold you."

He looked at me, smiled softly, threw his arms around my neck, and said, "Mommy, best friend, everything."

Needless to say, he got a HUGE hug!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Maybe I should just call him "Poops"

When Colin was a baby - besides calling him "Mijo" - I would call him "Poops". Because that's what he did. A lot.

Matt told me, "Call him 'Mijo' - but please don't call him 'Poops'! He can't go to high school with that as his nickname!"

So Colin, Hayden and I were at the park on Friday. He's in the sandbox, and I see him put something in his mouth. I shout, "Colin! Colin! Don't put that in your mouth! Take it out!" (He does.) "Don't put stuff in your mouth, Colin!" (He then sticks his tongue out to lick the item - hey, he was following directions, right?) "Colin! That doesn't mean lick it! Out!"

This little boy - between three and four years old - starts bawling suddenly. He gets up, clutching his ice cream, cries and cries while looking at me and barreling toward his mother. His mother looks at me and says, "His name is Colin also."

Poor kid thought this strange lady was yelling at HIM, telling HIM to take his ice cream out of his mouth.

What ever happened to making eye contact?

In any case... for "Colin" not being an incredibly popular name, that was quite a coincidence. And kinda funny.

I mean sad. Right? (WINK!)

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Still rolling along


Miss Hayden has started social smiling as of last week (four weeks old). She's also going 4-6 hours between bottles at night (hurrah!) as of 2.5 weeks.

What a change from last time! (Don't tell Colin I said that.)

Colin is feeling better after his bout of brochiolitis; I am dying to get back to dance class; and we're rooting like crazy for this guy on "American Idol".

I'm also trying to figure out how to work a minimal amount of hours starting April 1.

Am I starting to enjoy this stay-at-home-mom-thing a little too much?


Let's just say that raising kids is WAY harder than working (well, most jobs, I suppose). But being at work, while rewarding - and a nice break! - isn't as great as seeing these lovely faces and interacting with them.

Speaking of interacting, the other day Colin and I were playing with trains (my new addiction!). I said to Hayden, "What is your big brother going to do with that curved track?" Colin looked at me seriously and said, "Hayden not to talk, Mommy."

Duh, Mom! She's only a month old!