New year, new portraits

Rosie and Dash, 2013 school photos. I think the photos turned out great this year!

Rosie, age 10, in 5th grade

Dash, age 8, in 3rd grade

Well, maybe Dash should have had a haircut! Aw, he's just naturally fuzzy and adorable.

Rosie's Rainbow Scarf

On September 29th, Rosie and I went to Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair together and among the many amazing purchases we made was a beautiful skein of hand-dyed rainbow yarn from Folktale Fibers. I just finished knitting it today, and just in time; Rosie's 11th birthday is Wednesday! After knitting the first skein, I realized that the scarf was too short, so I had to order a second one, which delayed its completion. Rosie loves rainbows and she picked out the yarn, so this is her perfect scarf. It looks lovely on her, too.

I spread the scarf out so the beautiful reds, oranges, and pinks can be seen. She likes the purples best, so I made a point to end the scarf with the purples in front so she could enjoy them. Rosie's modeling the scarf next to her signature rainbow hairband. I'll go back to check, but I think in almost every school portrait of her back to Kindergarten, she's wearing her rainbow hairband. Now she'll be pairing it with her matching scarf!

Need that party RSVP tracked down? I'm your woman.

(A disclaimer: all names of friends below have been changed. This post is part of a series of coincidence-related posts that I've written. For related stories, read: this one, these two, this one, this one, or this other one, and a flashback one.)

Rosie will be turning 11 next week and we're planning her party. She gave me her guest list and I sent out the Evite, like a good mom/party planner. There was one guest that I've had trouble reaching in the past, so I felt determined to make sure I had the right contact information for her this time! Rosie had requested play dates with "Emily" in the past and her mom, "Cheryl," didn't respond to emails; also, to add to my frustration, their phone number listed in the school directory didn't have voicemail and nobody's ever answered calls I've made to it.

Rosie had visited Emily's house only once before, six months ago, and it was a pretty odd situation: a precociously professional 10-year-old Emily had phoned me to give the time, address, and other details necessary for the play date. When I dropped Rosie off, nobody answered the door or the phone, but several girls including Emily were playing in the yard. I had errands to run, so I left Rosie to play with the (possibly feral) girls. When I returned to pick Rosie up, the girls were in the street, running around or on scooters. No one was harmed, but I never did see a single parent.

On the trail.

Next steps: I checked the cc line in Rosie's classroom email that went out to all parents at the beginning of the school year. You'd think that would be accurate, right? The email did list Cheryl with the email addy that I have, but the ID gave a last name different from Emily's: a clue! I did a quick search on Facebook for mutual friends with kids in Rosie's grade to see if "Cheryl Jones" was in any Facebook circles. Facebook was a bust.

As an Internet search for anyone named Jones would obviously be fruitless, my next tactic was to Google that email address. Nothing. I get TONS of hits with my email address, so, kind of shocking, right? By a bizarre coincidence, that morning I had taken a phone-photo of the school directory to get the contact info for one of Dash's friends, with an "L" last name; Emily's last name starts with "M" so her details were on the same page. I googled their street address and managed a few hits.

Closing in...

There was an LLC business license registered with that address in 2003, with Cheryl listed as the CEO. I did a search on the business name "ABC Associates, LLC" and got several random hits with similarly named businesses across the United States. I narrowed it down to Virginia-only and found a LinkedIn profile with the correct business name, and someone named Cheryl, but her last name was "James." An honest mistake by the teacher? Maybe.

A quick recap: so far, I've had one wrong phone number and two wrong last names for this person. Should I give up? Nope, I clicked over to her LinkedIn profile.

Found her, complete with freaky coincidences!

I quickly scrolled down the profile to see that the details on the LLC were accurate to the online registry. Yep. I scrolled up slowly, curious to see where she'd job-hopped since then. When I got to the top it took a double-take before I realized that Cheryl James and I work for the same tiny, little 100-employee company. Seriously. I've been arm's length from the person that I haven't been able to contact for months. We have actually emailed each other on work projects!

I pulled up my company's intranet and found her email address and phone number, completely different from any other that I had before. I called the number listed for her. She answered.

Contact.

After establishing that I was a colleague, I ventured into the odd coincidences that our girls were not only in the same school, but the same grade and in the same class. When we exchanged work details, it turns out that she is working on the same contract that my old company used to have (and I worked), in a location that I worked in 2010. She's on site with people that I used to work with. I think we were both a little baffled by it all and the fact that as far as I know, we have never met.

I'll meet her at Rosie's party.

Dash and "Family Jam Time"

Dash and Flippy the manatee at the piano

Rosie's been taking cello since fourth grade, and as Dash has expressed interest in music (he begged for a theramin for his 8th birthday), we thought that he might like to get some professional training with an instrument as well. He's a big fan of banging on our piano so that was a no-brainer. No additional instrument rentals!

I learned that the mom of one of Rosie's friends was teaching piano out of her home just a block away, so also crazy fortuitous. Dash started lessons with Marilyn mid-Summer and has been picking up all the theory very quickly. One amazing thing about Marilyn: if Dash misses a lesson, she offers video lessons that she'll post on youtube. I'm very grateful for this, as we don't have much wiggle room in the calendar to reschedule.

We moved the piano, the cello, and a few other random instruments into a consolidated spot in our rec room that Dash coined the "family jam area." Even Flippy joined in (see photo, and not really)! Sometimes in the evenings, Dash will announce, "It's family jam time!" and we will all collect ourselves in the music area and start a cacophony. I'm terrible at improvising, but maybe with practice I'll get better?

I'm just glad the kids are learning more about music and the arts. I feel strongly that it's a crucial part of their development.

Just awesome.

Happy Birthday, Monkeyrotica!

Monk with his boy, Dash

Much love on his birthday to my main squeeze, Monkey! We just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary in September and are still going strong. Over the past year, Monkey has managed to keep his gout attacks mostly in check (our trip to Chicago notwithstanding), is learning to support an ADHD diagnosis in one of our kids, survived a government shutdown/an active shooter on base, finally broke down and bought a gas grill, and has been doggedly perfecting his pizza making skills. With Rosie and Dash, he's fostered the love of quoting movie lines, Greek mythology, practicing family "jam time" on various instruments, writing to "vomit on the page and edit later," and shows them every day that they are part of a loving family unit. We added two new pets to our home this year and despite some reluctance to embrace the bunnies as family additions at first, is now fully enjoying their fluffy antics. Weegee the parrot and Monk have also come to a positive understanding somehow; Weegee wants to hang out with him all the time and seeks him out to request head scratches! Better than screaming and bites.
 
I'm looking forward to our next year together, enjoying our family and friends, staying active, encouraging the kids academically, cooking awesome food, watching movies, and generally being a bunch of goofballs. Many hugs and kisses for weekend coffee in bed, keeping me up to date on current events that I wouldn't otherwise investigate, constant reminders that I am loved, and being my partner in crime. 

Golden Hong Kong — weekend Dim Sum

The dim sum cart filled with hot dishes!

We tried out a new dim sum restaurant in Springfield, Virginia this past Sunday and enjoyed the experience. Instead of repeating what's already been written, I give you an excerpt from Monkey's review (enhanced by my photos):

"Unlike most dim sum places in Wheaton or Seven Corners, this place is clean and well-lit. Nice koi pond by the door, plenty of seating, and a restroom that didn't look like a disaster area. Arrived at 11:30 a.m. and carts were already rolling the standard dishes for the dozen or so seated customers: shui mai, pork buns, bbq pork, steamed pork, sesame rolls, crepes. etc. They have a dim sum menu, so if you don't see what you want, they'll bring it to you from about two dozen choices.

Golden HK's Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce

Also, unlike most dim sum places, everything we got was hot; other places, half of what you order off the carts ends up being cold. The service was snappy without being intrusive. Two adults and two kids left full and happy for $45. Checked the regular menu on the way out and they have LOTS of interesting Hong Kong items, including tripe dishes, frogs legs, casseroles, noodle soups, etc. And since they serve dim sum all week (carts only on weekends), this will definitely be on rotation."  

Golden HK, clean, well-lit and not crowded

Dash spots the koi in Golden HK's pond

Music enriches the 10-year-old soul

Rosie started playing cello in 4th grade and stuck with it over the summer. After a rough start with her first rental (the bridge kept falling off), she's really enjoyed the instrument. In the 5th grade strings program, many of the students previously in strings moved over to band (it wasn't offered in 4th grade) and it's more of an elite group now. Rosie is one of four cellists, and there aren't any bass viols at all.

Hopefully that means more hands-on attention for the remaining strings players! I'm looking forward to many years of watching her improve her playing. :-)

A note from a boy

Just a quick post for today, it's been a busy Saturday. Every schoolday, Dash is ready way before Rosie, so he entertains himself in the front yard. Earlier this week, I found this sweet note written into the condensation on my car. Cutie!

NaBloPoMo, and Happy All Saint's Day

It's National Blog Posting Month again! I'll have to admit that I'm feeling pretty rusty at writing, but I'll plow into it. For Halloween this year, we went as a family to the elementary school's Halloween Fun Night. As usual, it was crowded and warm, but the kids were glad to run into and socialize with their friends.

Dash, in the "hooded scream" costume, found his buddy, Max, who was wearing some sort of Norse god costume. They're adorable!

Rosie was dressed as an "Artist Vampire" and didn't want her photo taken. I snapped the photo below before she had a chance to dive out of my camera's way! Dash has been carrying a camera around with him lately and told us that he was thinking about being a paparazzi — he'll get plenty of training just by trying to get a shot of Rosie. She's wily!

Rosie did her own makeup for vampire teeth and blood and was pretty proud of her work. Funny, for our actual trick-or-treating, we didn't have a chance to get the makeup on (for anyone's costume actually; gotta stay on schedule...), and without the teeth, everyone guessed that she was Little Red Riding Hood. Understandable, don't you think?

It was dark and rainy on Halloween night, but we made the best of it. We brought umbrellas, I wore a big hat, and had plenty of glow-sticks and flashlights. The kids had quite a haul, as the places they visited had plenty of candy! There seems to be fewer and fewer trick-or-treaters on our street—we only had 6-8 visitors—and I'm not sure why. There are plenty of kids on our street. I'm thinking that the parents take them to parties instead or a busier neighborhood and just hang out. I don't blame them. Dressing up and getting candy is fun, but when it's cold and wet? It's nicer indoors.

Is trick-or-treating going strong where you are? Or is it on the wane?

(Not quite) Free-range Rabbits!

All the other images I posted of the rabbits show them caged, so I made an effort today to take a few photos while the were hopping around! It was pretty tough avoiding motion blur, as they're constantly moving. In this first photo, you can see a little bit of the large, white wire corral that we borrowed (permanently?) from our neighbor. Her daughter used to have a a bunny and she was happy to lend it to us. She used to set it up in the yard outside to let the rabbit get fresh air and grass under its paws, but we're not quite that adventurous — yet.

Mary Potter, in the corraled area

After I set up the corral in a doorway that had access to the bedroom where their cages are, I learned that they won't "spray" or excessively "pill" to mark their new "territory." Whew. They really made some messes when we unknowingly separated them from their "home base." I learned from an article about litter box training (h/t Kellygo), I'm apparently doing the right thing (now, not at first!) by introducing them to other rooms in stages, so they get used to their location in relation to where their home base is.

Bugs Bunny, grooming Mary Potter in the kitchen

We first let them roam around Dash's room, their home base, then moved them to the bathroom. Bad idea — much territory marking. We tried corralling them in the dining room, first in one area, then around the dining table, also bad ideas with lots of sanitizing afterward. Earlier this week, I let them roam from Dash's room (home base) through to the kitchen, which worked out great until Bugs Bunny got too curious and hopped over a solid, 24-inch barrier. Yesterday, I had the brilliant idea of using the corral as the barrier, letting them wander from the kitchen and a short way into the living room, and be able to view the surrounding areas. That worked very well! Only one little "pill" at the end of the corral, to mark their new "territory." They still have a very clear path back to home base.

Bugs Bunny, lounging in the kitchen

Maybe soon, after we introduce more new areas, we can get some bunny-proofing going and let them have more range through the house!

My new morning schedule, with rabbits

Adding two rabbits to our household requires more than a few adjustments, especially in my morning schedule. Looks like I'll need to actually get out of bed *with* my alarm, and not goof around for 10-15 minutes...
 
5:25: AJS gives me a kiss, leaves for work
5:30: Boss texts me not to pack a lunch, we're having a group lunch today (BTW, good morning!)
5:35: Alarm goes off; check texts, Facebook, play words with friends before dragging self down to shower.
5:50: Shower, dress, load laundry in the washing machine
6:15: Get kids up, pester them to wear their swim outfits for summer camp water-park day
6:30: Put up barriers, let rabbits hop around while I make breakfast
6:45: Kids shuffle out from their bedrooms; tell kids to pack their dry clothes and towels
7:00: Hand kids their breakfasts over the rabbit barriers
7:05: Prep kids' lunches, get nose-bumped in the legs by hungry rabbits
7:15: Pack kids' lunches, give rabbits carrot & apple scraps
7:20: Chase down escaped rabbit who hopped over a two-foot barrier (taller than her), toss her back over the barrier
7:25: Put rabbit food (hay and pellets) into their cages, chase rabbits into cages 
7:30: Yell at kids for not dressing in a swim suit (Dash), packing their clothes and towels, brushing their teeth, or putting their shoes on; blow-dry my hair
7:35: Using a Sharpie pen, draw flames on previously rejected OMG pink! hand-me-down water-shoes for Dash; they are deemed okay.
7:40: Get in car, drive to summer camp, drop off kids
7:50: Head to work

I haven't fully wrapped my head around letting the rabbits run free through the house. I've noticed that when we corral them outside of Dash's bedroom (where the cages are), they poop and pee all over; but when they do have access to their cages, they scamper back to the cages every few minutes and I don't see poop anywhere. Once I have a chance to secure all of our chewables (especially electrical cords) I'll consider letting them run around with express access to their cages and see if this prevents the free-pooping that happened last night in the corral. Trial and error!!

Bunny Sitting for the Summer

For the past week, our home has been occupied by four humans and three exotic pets. If you've kept up with this blog, or know me personally, you know we have Weegee the parrot, and now our temporary additions are rabbits. I was calling them bunnies, but after we had a number of guests tell me, "those things are huge! I'd call them hares or rabbits, not bunnies," I suppose I ought to stop referring to these large creatures in the diminutive. To give you an idea of their size, when they're splayed out, relaxing, they look to be around a foot and a half long.

Mary Potter, domestic rabbit

The two rabbits are brown females (no idea what breed, if any) and come from Dash's 2nd grade menagerie classroom, which also included a few guinea pigs and a couple of turtles. The rabbits are named  "Mary Potter" (has white paw-tips) and "Bugs Bunny." If I were to characterize their personalities, I'd say Mary Potter is more aggressive and Bugs Bunny is more curious. But, I really haven't had much time to get to know them.

Dash's teacher told me that she let the rabbits out for 3-4 hours a day and suggested I put them in the bathroom (easy cleanup, no cords or stuff to chew up) if we wanted to give them free time without worrying that they'd get into trouble. I learned very quickly that it's not a good idea to let them out right after they eat, unless you don't mind wiping up the area thoroughly! The bathroom hasn't really worked out as a good free-play option for us, but I've been letting them hop around in the kitchen while I'm getting everyone's breakfasts ready, then after dinner they hop around some more while I'm doing kitchen cleanup.

They get pellets and lots of hay in the morning, then in the evening after they're back in their cages, I let the kids give them small amounts of lettuce, apples, bananas, or other treats. One thing I don't quite have a handle on yet is the smell. They have very stinky pee!! I need to figure out a better way to mask the ammonia odor. Luckily, my pal Jill in Oregon sent me a really long message about rabbit care. I'll need to revisit the TL;DR note and scan for bedding tips.

I was warned by another parent who had watched the rabbits over a weekend during the school year that we may need to prepare ourselves to get asked to keep them. O_o  She told me that Mary Potter and Bugs Bunny were babies at the beginning of the year and the teacher may want to have babies for the new batch of second graders. That means that these rabbits are only 9-10 months old and may not be full size yet? They already seem too big for their cages, but I'm not really prepared to buy new enclosures for them (or be their forever home).

We may consider keeping bunnies in the future since I'm thrilled that nobody has exhibited allergic reactions to them (crossing fingers!), but I'd like ones that are either litter-box trained or young enough to train easily. These ladies just poop all over their cages, and don't seem to prefer the litter boxes. Not sure what to do about that. More research needed! They are entertaining to watch and super soft; they like being petted. The kids really love them. Weegee's keeping his opinion to himself, as is AJS (who seems to like them outside of mentioning "hantha virus" while they're in the kitchen).

Planning Dash's 8th Birthday: a Scavenger hunt?

For Dash's eighth birthday party, we're doing our usual backyard party with barbecue and moonbounce, but this year Dash asked for a scavenger hunt. I can't remember getting involved with scavenger hunts when I was younger outside of organized events at camp with kids I barely knew. I know there is a subculture of people who are passionate about it, geocaching items worldwide for others to find. 

While I can't imagine parents being okay with their 8 year olds wandering the neighborhood, looking for random stuff, would they be okay with going down to the creek to do a nature scavenger hunt? Here is a suggested list for a nature hunt, from http://www.birthdaypartyideas4kids.com:

1.  2 different types of grass

2.  Leaves from 3 different trees

3.  Large rock

4.  Moss

5.  3 different colored smooth stones

6.  Berry

7.  Pinecone

8.  Something plastic (explain how it doesn't belong in nature)

9.  Water reed

10. Animal tracks (draw them on paper after you find them)

11. Nut or acorn

12. Flower

13. Something red

14. Feather

16. Seeds

17. Wood

18. Stick

19. Something that fell out of a tree

20. Something that begins with the first letter of the birthday child's name

We could potentially do this in our back yard, but the creek is just across the street and I would go them, if parents agreed. Of course, I'll need to check with Dash to find out what he had in mind!

Too much homework and trying to be the squeaky wheel.

My family is feeling overwhelmed by the incredible amount of work being sent home with the kids, particularly my 10-year-old, by their elementary school teachers. I'm stressed out and I know my kids are too — my family isn't the only one affected, either. Read this psychologist's article about homework and elementary-school-aged children to see what the experts think about over-assigning work. In the spirit of being the squeaky wheel and letting the administration know how I feel, I just sent this letter to my daughter's school principal and vice principal.

"Dear Principal and VP,

Rosie, a fourth grader in Mrs. M's class came home with 11 separate homework assignments last night. I spent 3 hours working with her to get them done before 9 p.m. at which point she was exhausted and crying, then worked on unfinished work for another 45 minutes this morning before SACC. She was not able to complete all the assignments (listed below) — this was easily 5 hours of work. What are the real expectations here?

After the bus drops her off from school at 4:15, she has 1 hour to work on her homework before dinner; dinner is about 45 minutes, then most days (except Tuesdays and Fridays) she has a one-hour out-of-the-home activity. She gets back around 7:15, then I go through her work with her from that point until bedtime at 8 p.m. I'm allotting approximately 1.5 hours for homework in her day, but this schedule as is doesn't allow for any playtime after school with friends or daily chores. If the homework extends beyond 1.5 hours, she misses sleep, or it may cut into her activities. Is this appropriate at 10 years old? I don't agree and neither does her pediatrician.

Rosie was ordered by her pediatrician to get at least 60 minutes of "sweaty activity" in each day due to being overweight, and this is not possible for her if she is spending all of her time after school completing work or missing recess to complete assignments. For example, last week, I was emailed by Mrs. M that Rosie had not completed an assignment, and that she was being kept in at recess (which might be her only source of activity on a given day) to finish the work. I appreciate that the issue was brought to my attention, but I am not okay with Rosie missing recess time.

I'm not meaning at all to demonize any of the 4th grade teachers, just to bring awareness that the collective weight of the workload sent home with my daughter is not appropriate. I've spoken with other parents at WWES who agree that the amount of work their children is given has forced them to go on "lockdown" during the week, where children are not allowed playdates, activities (for parents either!!), or stress-relieving television/games during the week just so they can keep afloat with the homework. Where does the creative play, socialization, and alone time that is so important to children this age fit in?

I can't balance it all and I'm asking for your help.

Thank you,
Nylon"

Here is the assignments list:

1. Read for 20 minutes (daily, ongoing)
2. Study for Caesar's English quiz
3. Finish 5 illustrations in word study notebook (leftover classwork)
4. Complete practice math sheet (new assignment)
5. Study for quiz on customary lengths
6. Go over and correct answers on geometry test (requiring parental sign-off)
7. Study for physics force and motion test
8. Study for Race 2 quiz
9. Go over and correct answers on Race 1 quiz (requiring parental sign-off)
10. Continue working on VA Heroes project, writing details for accomplishments (ongoing, large project with written, visual and oral components, due 5/10)
11. Practice cello for 15-30 minutes. (daily, ongoing)

Had we attempted to complete the work for each of these assignments, it would have been over 5 hours of work. As it was last night, we didn't get to 2, 6, 8, or 11. Those will have to wait till tonight!

Beside Rosie's workload, I had to cancel two planned adult activities that required my participation last night so I could help her. Monkey did all the cooking and kitchen cleanup so I could devote my time to her. I'm sure Dash could feel the tension! 
 

Happy 10th Birthday, Rosie!

If You Were Born Today, November 13:

You are wise beyond your years, your eyes reflect this wisdom. The outward expression of your personality is strong and determined, although this hides a very emotional and sensitive nature. Success may come later in life, simply because in youth, you are inclined to more daydreaming than action. You may come across as sarcastic and even tough, but you are a thoughtful and kind person with a love of knowledge, justice, and truth. You also have a well-developed sense of humor.

This is a strong year for learning and communications. You are able to find new insight into old problems, and your thinking processes during this period are likely to be especially original. You may find more opportunities to attend meetings and other organized group activities, to communicate online, and to take part in activities involving computers, science, or metaphysics. .

Relationships with younger people in your life are rewarding. A subject or even a person can be especially inspiring, prompting you to explore new perspectives.

Dancing, swimming, photography, arts, and entertainment are favored this year. If you are an artist, this could be an especially inspired, imaginative, and productive year. Pay attention to your gut feelings, which will, more often than not, give you valuable information.

(from http://www.cafeastrology.com/birthday/november13_2012.html)

We're No. #1!! Or #7...

I'll link to DCist.com, since that's where I get my local news: According to an annual report by Allstate Insurance, the District of Columbia has the very worst drivers in the country. Alexandria, VA, where I do a good deal of my driving, is ranked 7th worst. I've been in my share of accidents in the area, probably more than the average person nationwide. I can think of three collisions that I've been in just in the past 5 years. I'll regale you with the hilarity — or pain, depending on your point of view.

Collision #1, Unreported in Alexandria. I was waiting at a red light on a single-lane road with one car in front of me when I noticed that the car behind me, with Pennsylvania plates (Philadelphia has the 6th-worst drivers in the country), had its right-turn signal on and the driver was motioning for me to give him room on the right. I was accomodating, and scooted up as close as I could to the car in front. He still didn't make the turn; the car at the light saw him and tried to scoot up too. It was a long light and right-turn-signal guy was close enough for me to see the circus going on in his car. He was talking on his cell phone while he had a gigantic fold-out highway map across his lap, accordioning into the passenger seat. In the back, there was a large dog, a preschool-aged kid in a carseat, and two more large dogs in the hatchback area.

When the light changed to green, the car in front of me immediately made a left and I continued straight. Then I heard a car on overdrive coming up on my right. I looked to see what it was (because there wasn't any room before I got across the intersection) and it was THAT GUY! Turn-signal guy had crept around my right side into the crosswalk so that he could attempt to turbo past me and cut me off before I cleared the intersection!

I hit him. I didn't have an option. He was cutting me off inches from my vehicle like an a$$hat and there was no room to stop, even at 10 MPH.

We both stopped on the other side of the road to assess the damage. He barrelled out of his car and started screaming at me, what was my problem? etc. and I just let him scream, didn't respond at all. He eventually petered out and told me that he didn't want to make a claim. I was super relieved, because even though he was the one driving like he had a hive of bees in his car, I hit him and probably would have been charged with fault.

Collision #2, Icy Alexandria road. The D.C. metro area has pretty unpredictable weather and typically is caught completely unawares when the temperature drops to freezing. Coming from the Chicago area and never having had a snow-related collision in my 25 years as a driver, I felt superior to all those silly people skidding out on ice and pulling off the road when a dusting of snow came along. Weather babies!

I had just dropped my kids at childcare one January morning and there had been no snow whatsoever on the drive out. As I was leaving the garage, I saw that it had started to flurry, but not a big deal to me, right? I know snow. I came up to a busy intersection, stopped, then turned right onto one of my favorite less-traveled roads to get around the typical congestion. There was a car ahead of me, pausing at a stop sign, but I had plenty of room to brake. I braked. My car kept moving. I pushed the brake to the floor; my car didn't slow. My car was sliding on ice covered with the light snow! I quickly steered my car to the right in an attempt to avoid hitting the car that was pulling away from its stop, but instead managed to completely plow over the stop sign and still hit the other guy's bumper. Sigh.

Collision #3, Rear-ended on 495. I was running an errand that required a short trip on the Beltway. I slowly crawled onto an exit ramp that was crowded with other cars until it was my time to merge onto 495. Whew, I could finally accelerate! But, wait, no. There was another collision right past the ramp with two cars and a policeman in the shoulder. I decelerated a bit to give them some clearance, as it's poor form to cruise full-Beltway-speed past a pedestrian on the highway shoulder, especially a cop.

Unfortunately, the woman driving behind me didn't see the accident because she was too busy looking behind her for a gap in oncoming traffic so she could merge into the lane beyond my car. She slammed into my left bumper at high speed and her car spiraled into the two far lanes on the Beltway. Miraculously for her, the other drivers managed to avoid her car. I was still in the merge lane, now missing my left-turn and -brake lights which had been smashed to oblivion. My car was still driveable, but the entire front end of her car had fallen off. You could still clearly see her Maryland plates (Baltimore has the 2nd-worst drivers).

So now, the poor cop had to deal with two collisions in the same spot. He called for backup.

10 things you might not know about Nylonthread

I thought I'd revisit this old meme just for fun today. I'm planning to get back online to put a new craft I'm making out there and remembered this neglected blog. Here's a little love for tied to my apron strings:

1. I love the scent of grapefruit.
2. When I was a junior in college, I lived in Arthur Miller's former house.
3. I bought deodorant for my daughter for the first time last week (she'll be two-digits old in a couple of months!).
4. My grade-school best friend was ordered to break our friendship off by her parents because it was (might have been) bringing her grades down.
5. My pinky toes are very fragile and I've broken both of them several times (one of them might be broken right now; I'm buddy-taping it, which is all that can be done).
6. I try not to tell good news to more than three people; the fourth telling takes the glow off.
7. I can play relatively simple tunes on my hands like a flute or "hand flute".
8. I know way more than the average person about IEDs, unexploded ordinance, and female fertility.
9. I'm really, really, really bad at sending thank you cards and unfortunately, I'm afraid that I'll be passing this on to my kids.
10. I love hiking near waterfalls or on paths that make you leap from rock to rock.

I've still got all your blogs on my feed reader, I'm just not commenting on them very much. Facebook has been scratching that itch, to be honest. Anyone still out there?

xo,
Nylon

Happy 7th Birthday, Dash!

Dash turned 7 over the weekend and we had an awesome summer party to celebrate. 29 of his friends showed up to run this circuit for the four-hour party: moonbounce, wading pool, Dash's room, basement (for Wii), moonbounce. See how they all look kind of tired and sweaty in this pic? This was from about 2.5 hours into the shindig.

Dash has grown about 2 inches this year and has grown out of so many favorite clothes! That fabulous suit he wore on our New Orleans trip a year ago, is still in his closet, but too short to wear now. He started 1st grade in September, with only limited reading skills—his teacher was pretty worried about him—but is now reading a few books before bed every night. We took a few day trips last fall, checking out historic sights like the Antietam battlefield (where Dash got a kick watching Monkeyrotica's ghost app pop up with hundreds of ghosts).

Dash left the karate studio where he was practicing and joined a tae kwon do studio, begged to join (and joined!) chess club at his school, became an expert at Wii LEGO games and fruit ninja, and discovered how fun it can be to trade Pokemon cards with friends. He's becoming very good at quoting obscure movie lines in context, as well. Just last month, we were discussing the theory of reincarnation at the dinner table when Dash shouted out, "Renewal is a LIE!" Which, for those of you who never paid attention to 1970s sci-fi, is a line from "Logan's Run." (From imdb.com, the actual line is "Life clocks are a lie! Carousel is a lie! THERE IS NO RENEWAL!")

Most of all, he has stayed such a snuggly, smiley, loving little boy. He feels deeply for all his intricately named toys and many (also named) inanimate objects, caring about setting bugs free outside, just as always. He comes up with some of the funniest things to say, but needs to work on his jokes—one of his faves is to say, for example, "what is 'shirt'?" when I ask him to put on his shirt. Back when Dash lost another tooth, as I tucked him in and checked on his tooth fairy box, I noticed a dollar bill next to it. I asked Dash, "What's this doing here?" and he said, "It's for the Tooth Fairy. She's given me so much money, she should have some for herself." He is still very transparent and can't manage to lie (well) about anything — I'm grateful for this.

He's an adorable, sweet seven-year-old. While I miss his six-year-old self, I can't wait to watch him and eight and beyond.

First and Last Days of School, 2011-12

On their last day of school this year, I talked Rosie and Dash into wearing the same outfits that they had worn on their first day so I could take this comparison photo. They didn't protest at all, and amazingly, Rosie still fit in all the clothing, including shoes (although, I noticed afterwards that she had worn holes through the soles).

While they are standing in almost the same spot, I didn't get the exact angle from the original shot. I was pretty careful to scale the after-shot to an accurate relative size, basing the measurement on Dash's shirt from collar to shirt-tails.

They *have* grown quite a bit, haven't they? Cheers to my rising Second and Fourth-graders!