Merry Christmas, 2013

Our teeny little table-top tree.

The much more impressive tree at my parents' home, where we open gifts.

From left to right, Rosie, Dash, me, Granddaddy Jim, Monkeyrotica

Dash's favorite Christmas gift!

Rosie's favorite Christmas gift!

Dash's 2nd favorite gift, still pretty excellent.

Rosie checks out a book from Santa.

A board game? Well, maybe Dash will enjoy it later.

Nobody's touching Rosie's precious LPS toys. Look away NOW!

I hope everyone I know had a fantabulously tremendous Christmas (or whichever Holiday you celebrate) and I wish you an excellent 2014. Happy New Year!!

Dash's 8th Birthday Party

While making plans for Rosie's party, I am reminded that I forgot to post photos from Dash's 8th birthay party (I did this last year, too didn't I?). No matter, it makes for a great additional November post!

Happy 8-year-old Dash

Here's a photo of the birthday boy on the day of his 8th birthday! He's wearing a shirt that he was particularly fond of — one of his birthday gifts. We had about 50 guests this year, equally divided between adults and kids.

Before the hunt, all the guests had plenty to eat, including pizza, ribs, and Monkey's special grilled chicken wings. Many of our usual favorite guests arrived to celebrate!

Pre-scavenger hunt Dash and Carter, eating dinner

Michael and Matthew, eating pizza

Brent and Chris, two of our favorite party guests

The theme for his 8th birthday party was "scavenger hunt." We had a list of items that the kids were to find in the yard, with additional prizes for winners. It was a bit of a blur, but I think brothers Alex and Adam were the winners.

Gina holding Aoife (Brent & Chris's baby girl)

Along with the hunt, there was also a moonbounce; coupled with a warm June day, there were a lot of sweaty boys by the time we offered Dash's special donut tower.

Trevor, eating pizza

Alex, winner of the scavenger hunt (with his brother,
Adam, far right), sporting his medal!

Singing the "Happy Birthday Song"

Blowing out candles over the donut tower
— hope your wish came true, Dash!

 

Nick and his delicious forbidden donut!

Two generations of String/Twines!
Nick, Dom, and Alex are Monk's nephews and Dash's 1st cousins.

Many of our guests asked several times over the course of the party, "Where's Rosie?" She was holed-up in her room with a few of her friends the entire time. Only the rarest glimpse was caught of her, sneaking out to get a drink or use the bathroom. She had a good time, nevertheless!

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?

So very thankful...

I'm thankful that I slept in today, but was woken up gently by a 6-year-old bouncing on the mattress near my feet.

I'm thankful that Monkeyrotica brought me delicious coffee in bed and made the four of us a lovely breakfast.

I'm thankful that my family helped me to maintain order in the house this week so that it wasn't too difficult to prepare for our dinner guests.

I'm incredibly thankful for a quick-thinking husband who, when given an obstacle like, say, A POWER OUTAGE ON THANKSGIVING right after the turkey went into the oven, has a plan B ready to go and put the turkey in the smoker without missing a beat. He was planning to cook the beans and peas on the camp stove, but thankfully (!) the power came back on.

I'm thankful that my sister and parents live so close to us and can visit regularly without hardship. I'm incredibly thankful that they let my children know that they love them in so many ways, all the time.

I'm thankful that we were able to have such plenty on our table this Thanksgiving, all healthy food made from scratch with love.

Monkeyrotica cooked the turkey using a Julia Child recipe that reduces the cook-time by deboning and stuffing the turkey thighs.

My plate: slices of turkey meat, stuffing, sauteed green beans, Brussels sprout slaw, roasted red potato, and a little homemade gravy.

Dash: always moving, always playful and so sweet. He's the most imaginative little guy; I'm never sure what is going to come out of his mouth next. He's so very much his own wonderful six-year-old boy and I'm glad he's my son.

Rosie: adorable, affectionate, and inquisitive. She's becoming such a wonderful person, caring deeply about her friends, helping around the house, doing her schoolwork without too much prodding. She does the "I'm-the-cutest-kitten-in-the-world-with-sad-eyes-how-could-you-deny-me" look so well! I'm so thankful for her hugs and her love. I feel lucky every day to have a daughter like Rosie.

I'm thankful for all my friends, who are out there having their own Thanksgivings. I send you love, warmth, and hope, and a wish to see you all soon. I have thanks and an embrace to give you in person.

XOXOX, Nylonthread

More of the weird and random...

A few years ago, I blogged about how some of my friends are connected to each other in bizarre, coincidental ways. I had a similar experience last night that made my head spin. I've written about how I met my husband, Monkeyrotica, through a personals ad, but not about why I was looking at personals ads in the first place. That's a tale that I was reminded of last night while I found myself face-to-face with the wife of my ex-boyfriend. Here's that story, from the very beginning.

I first met Andy when I was home for the summer after my freshman year of college. I was in a new place, didn't know anyone, so I was hanging out with my sister and her high school pals. He was nearby with a group of friends not in their clique; I have no memory of why we started talking, but we did and exchanged phone numbers. We had similar taste in music and in movies, but that's as far as it went. He was crazy for antique cars, performed in karate competitions, and talked up his experiences as the star of his HS distance cycling team. He was charming, charismatic, and came from new money; his father had built a local empire and his son got the spoils. There were certain personality issues that made it a summer romance and not a long-term one, in my mind: he was extremely anti-social, for one thing. He discouraged hanging out with his friends (bunch of "jerks") and had no interest in meeting the few I had—didn't want to "share me" on our dates. He never introduced me to his parents (we entered through his "wing" of his house without disturbing anyone) and when he came to take me on a date, he would honk from the driveway rather than make small talk with mine. This drove my parents to dislike him intensely.

Anyway, when I left for college after break I'd forget about him while busy with academics; when I returned for the summer he would start phoning again. I'd ignore his calls for a while, but once the boredom set in, I'd call back and we'd start up again. After I graduated from college and came home to stay, he was elated at first. He excitedly talked about having more time with me and started planning for a relationship. I played along for a little while, but really knew it was going nowhere—we had too little in common. My dad started taking an interest, negatively, and I found pages of personals ads left on the dining table after I came home from dates, with red circles drawn on good prospects. After a "disagreement" between Andy and me, I picked up the personals and seriously considered them. I chose Monkeyrotica's ad—not one that my dad had circled. I listened to the message on his phone box (pre-Internet in 1992) phoned and left my own.

Back to today: twenty years later, Monkey and I are about to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary and have two lovely children. Yesterday, I was out with Dash, the adorable six-year-old, at his karate practice. There was one other mom also watching her son and between poking on our iPhones, we started chatting. Her son was one of the two Jacks—the light-haired one, not the dark-haired one—an eight-year-old with a yellow belt. We'd smile at each other when one of our kids screwed up and got yelled at by the sensei. I learned Jack was an only child, but was born in the same year/month as Rosie, my gorgeous and talented older child. She lived nearby and had been in the DC area for a while, but was from Connecticut (where my family is originally from).

Our sons were paired up to spar together and I heard the sensei call out Jack's last name. Same as Andy's. I hadn't thought of him in forever, but my brain made the connection anyway. I asked, "Is there an Andrew in your family?"

"My husband," she answered. I followed up with questions about his family in case there was more than one person with that name in town, got affirmatives to all. I must have been noticeably freaking out, because she asked me, "Are you having a 'moment'?" I looked at her more closely, noticing her brown hair, brown eyes and that she was the same height and complexion as me.

I can't keep my mouth shut sometimes. I told her I used to date her husband. I asked when they first met and found that it was about 6 months after Andy and I broke up. She was my rebound? They married five years later, in the same month and year that Monkey and I were married.

Okay, so for those who are keeping track of coincidences here:
1. we both met our spouses within 6 months of breaking it off.
2. we were married the same month and year.
3. our oldest children were born the same month and year.
4. she is the same height, and has the same complexion, hair and eye color as me.
5. she and I are both originally from Connecticut, but settled in the DC area after living in other cities.

Inevitably, Andy and I are bound to cross paths at the karate studio. Perhaps we have already and I had no clue, without any context. I'm not looking forward to it, to tell the truth. I have no idea what I'd say as we didn't split on friendly terms. I needed to document this story, though—coincidences are very intriguing to me. Is there a reason that our paths are crossing again after all this time?

Portrait of sixth cousins! (I'm a geneology nerd)

Our family had dinner with some distant cousins last night. I originally discovered these cousins while I was doing some serious geneology research on Monkeyrotica's family a few years ago and we've kept in touch through email, blogging, and Facebook. When they scheduled a vacation in DC, Dees (Monkey's cousin) emailed me to let me know. I was so happy to hear from them and schedule a meet up!

Rosie and Ann are only two months apart in age and became fast friends. Don't they look like first cousins and not sixth cousins, once removed? I introduced the idea of "pen pals" (very foreign concept) and am encouraging Rosie to write to her cousin. I lurved writing pen pals when I was her age and might still have some of their letters. They were often fast friends I made while I was on vacation with my family, too.

I'm looking forward to a Chicago vacation in the near future with my family so the cousins can meet up again!

Mother's Day gifts

This impatiens plant was worse for wear after spending the weekend in my little guy's backpack, but shortly after the Sunday morning delivery, I repotted it, watered it, and put it in the sun.
Dash didn't want to spoil my Mother's Day surprise by delivering it early!

My second Mother's Day gift was this lovely painting, with Dash's little hand outlined, holding gorgeously colorful flowers! I also got a card from Rosie.

One more thing, does anyone remember this post? Well Dash does. We camped out in the backyard in August of 2008, almost three years ago. So, what makes the cut when he draws a picture of dear mommy? Him and me in sleeping bags, in a tent. I think his caption was meant to read: "I love my Mom because she slept with me in a tent." Honestly, he's been a bit nutty about sleeping bags lately! He was weeping and cranky on the way to school last week and the only way I was able to distract him was to talk about how if you have two sleeping bags, you can zip them together to make a HUGE sleeping bag and the considering the possibilities got him out of his funk. Cutie.

What do you mean you don't have a newspaper?

Some situations really strike hard to reveal how quickly our world is changing, like during my septuagenarian, non-driver mother-in-law's unexpected stay.

There have been massive power outages in the DC Metro area since Sunday when temperatures were upwards of 100 degrees and we had a sudden and violent thunderstorm. Many places around the Beltway are still without power, including my mother-in-law's neighborhood. On Monday, Monkeyrotica got a phone call from his mom that she needed to be picked up and stay with us until her power came back on.

Monday, this was fine, since Monkey had the day off and was able to get his mom, take her out to lunch and run a bunch of errands with her. When the kids came home from summer camp and preschool, they had a great time with Grandma I, showing her school projects and enjoying her company. They even watched a couple of Japanese movies with her. Tuesday morning we had a dilemma, as her power still wasn't on and Monkey and I were both going in to work. She was trying to figure out how she would spend her day in the scant minutes before I had to whisk the kids off to school and head to work.


Suggestions from Grandma I:

"I could read the newspaper or some magazines?"
Nope, we don't get a newspaper and have no magazine subscriptions, we get all our information from news websites.

"I could call my friends on the phone?"
Nope, we don't have a landline and use our cell phones at work.

"I could watch TV?"
Nope, we don't have TV, just laptops with Internet connections."


My suggestion:

"Why don't I show you how to view www.washingtonpost.com on this laptop?"
Oh, no, the text is too small, I can't read it or see the keyboard to type.

"Here's my Kindle, I could upload a few books onto it for you?"
No thank you.


I wound up buying her a paper and some magazines at the local 7-11 and dropping them off before I headed to work so she wouldn't be hopelessly bored. We might as well have been in Amish country for the amount of acceptable entertainments that we could have offered! Maybe we could get her one of those pay-as-you-use cell phones, so at least she could make some phone calls next time? Our home is unfortunately totally not set up for technologically unadapted houseguests.

Lucky for her, she'll be heading back to her house today. The power's finally back on, her newspapers are waiting, the TV's just an on-switch away, and unlimited local phone calls are within arm's reach.

Dash's (first!!) Family Drawing

While at the back-up daycare last Friday (the regular school was closed), Dash drew me this lovely representation of our family. This is the first time EVER that I've seen him draw something figurative that looks anything like he intended. His typical drawings tend to be, um, much more abstract (and are awesome!).

He told me that that's him on the far left, then Rosie, then ME (the biggest, and most important, I'd like to think, right?), and Monkeyrotica on the far right. I forgot to ask why his daddy had dots on his hands and feet, but he told me all about what I first assumed were some sort of dickey on our chests. They are our tongues. Explanation? He has been rather obsessed with his new Pokémon toy, Lickilicky.

From my mother's day

1. Me and my goofy kids at Founder's Park in Alexandria
2. Dash's Mother's Day note from his preschool class, featuring a photo of himself
3. Side B of Dash's note (the class also made and decorated a "pocket" with a seed packet inside, will add photo later)
4. Rosie's art class painted plant pots for their mothers, complete with a begonia flower!
5. Rosie's kindergarten class made photo holders; Rosie chose to color hers purple and adorn with purple faceted gems. The polaroid is from 2007, I think.
6. A gift from Monketrotica: the Speedball screenprinting kit. Woot!
7. Rosie & Dash were being awfully cute at my lunch with Auntie M and Grandma Sheila. This mother's day scored high above the last few for overall good times!

Victory Garden FTW!!

Wasn’t the weather fantastic this weekend? My yard called to me, begging to be cleared, to be made beautiful and fruitful this year. Last weekend, I met with Kelly and Brent to talk about preparing what is now a lawn for a metamorphosis into a vegetable garden. Brent is a master gardener and both Kelly and I are novices. I’m hoping to get regular updates from Brent & Kelly and we can enjoy our Victory Gardens together! This year I have some serious goals for the garden: (1) to grow vegetables (and flowers, for Rosie) from seed, (2) to prepare of an area in my yard that’s 6’x14’ for planting, (3) to stay on top of the weeds and watering. We're on our way with #1 already, touched on #2 & #3.

Earlier in the week, Monkeyrotica and I agreed to set aside Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to Noon for family gardening time. I put Monkey in charge of the compost pile and the kids are going to help with planting, watering and weeding (Dash wants to Kill Some Weeds!). Fully aware that the kids will lose interest in all that within 5 minutes, I am putting myself in charge of planting, watering and weeding.

So what went on at the Strings' this weekend? Well, we:
• planted our seeds in mini-greenhouses

















• cleared the weeds in the garden bed (I enlisted some area boys to move the rocks, coming soon)
• weeded and mulched the raspberry beds
• generally cleared out a lot of dead and overgrown stuff
• raked some of the ignored leaves from last Fall

After some shopping at the local hardware store for some materials (mini-greenhouses, sprinkler, hose, wheelbarrow), we pretty much were in the yard all Saturday and Sunday. Rosie and I took a couple of bike rides around the neighborhood for breaks in the lovely weather, and there was a visit from Auntie M. on Sunday morning (Auntie M helped with bagging leaves, brought back some childhood leaf-bagging memories). The end result is what you see in the photo of my curb (at top, lots of bags and brush). I’m so excited about this! I want to get back in the garden right away.

My 500th Post!! Uncle John.

What better way to celebrate my 500th blog post than a lovely, warm photo of my family! Including surprise visitor, Uncle John!!

We were thrilled on Monday when we received an unexpected phone call from Monkeyrotica's brother, John. He was nearby and on his way over! Why so thrilled? Well, it's a long story, but essentially, we haven't seen John in four years. This was the first time that Dash met his Uncle John; having an uncle was only a theory, prior to four days ago.

Our visit was happy, the kids love him, and we all got caught up on what John's doing with himself. John's career has always been in dangerous security details, first traveling all over the U.S. to do private protection, then his work took him overseas to train security professionals in Afghanistan and other locations in the Middle East. We used to see him a few times a year, as work allowed, but he was injured four years ago. Ironically, he was not injured on his high-risk job, but slipped on some ice on a sidewalk outside his apartment building and out went his back. While he was recuperating from that injury, he was t-boned in a car accident, which exacerbated his bad back. Needless to say, sadly, long car trips to visit the family were out of the question for much too long. Now, he's back up, looks great, and is interviewing to get back into the thick of it!!

The Strings are looking forward to having Uncle John back in our circle. At least, as regularly as before. Growing up, I only saw my uncles, aunts, and cousins twice a year at most, and those visits meant a great deal to me. Family connections are important to children, sometimes even mysterious (that person is related to me?). I'm so glad that we are close to immediate family and have opportunities to visit our relatives in just a short car trip. Maybe soon, we can take the kids to visit their second-cousins and great aunts & uncles on a longer car ride? They would love it!!

Strings family portrait

Rosie painted our portrait in her favorite medium, watercolor. I am so proud of her! She included all of us, even Weegee, in pretty accurate scale. I like Monkeyrotica's green hair and Homer Simpson pants. I'm also finding it interesting that, like Kelly O's Thea, Rosie has me towering over the rest of the family; Moms Rule!

Thanksgiving, a harvest festival

Okay, back to my theme; wait what? Oh that's right, Nylonthread had a theme! I know, I know, I've verrry loosely stuck to my theme, assisted by two November birthdays in my house as well as a few well-known holidays. Thanksgiving is no different, really, it's today, we get the day off as a Federal holiday, and it's unavoidable.

Traditionally, most of us travel on the third Thursday in November to reunite with family members, share food as a potluck, and eat mass quantities. The thanks part may often get pushed aside in all the giving, which brings me to a piece of this holiday that sometimes needs emphasizing: wherever you are in your life, there are some people out there who helped you along; your parents who raised you, your siblings who supported or challenged you, your friends who enjoy your company and help you when you're in need, your children who give you hope for the future, and lastly, teachers and mentors who have taught you and shown you the way. Give thanks for them all. Whether it's aloud in a pronoucement at your dinner today or a silent prayer, it's important to acknowledge how you got to be the person you are today and thank the people who helped you put the food on your table.

The spirit of Thanksgiving is based solidly in worldwide mid-fall harvest festivals where communities gather together to celebrate the abundance of the growing season by having a communal feast. Americans have wrapped the festival up with a remembrance of a deliverance of English settlers by Native Americans after the brutal winter of 1620 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. From Wikipedia:

"Teaching the colonists how to farm corn, where and how to catch fish, and how to make other necessary items, [Tisquantum, or Squanto,] was instrumental in the survival of the [Plymouth] settlement for the first two years. Squanto and another guide sent by Massasoit in 1621, Hobomok, also helped Plymouth set up trading posts where the Pilgrims could trade Indians for furs and pay off the cost of establishing the colony. Chief Massasoit later formed a Peace Treaty with the Pilgrims. Upon growing a plentiful harvest in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims gathered with Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit, and ninety other Wampanoag men in a celebration of food and feasting. This celebration is known today as the First Thanksgiving, and is still commemorated annually in downtown Plymouth with a parade and a reenactment. Since 1941, Thanksgiving has been observed as a federal holiday in the United States."

While you have your family and friends around you (and I hope you do!) say a few words about how much you appreciate the lessons you've learned and share the year's abundance. I sure am grateful that my family is nearby and is so incredibly generous with their time and enjoy helping out with the kids. I'm incredibly grateful I have a wonderful support group in my friends--you all are the best & just ask me for help with anything, I'm there. I'm glad I have a great job where I get to use my training and skills for a challenging variety of projects and am respected by my coworkers. Most of all, I'm so thankful for my husband and my kids. They brighten my every day, and inspire everything I do.

Thanks everyone, and happy Thanksgiving!

Milestone celebrations: cancer-free

Monkeyrotica's nephew is five years cancer free.

It feels so good to say that! I'm so glad we're here. We were all so devastated by the diagnosis (stomach cancer) and how the chemo almost wiped him out. It's been a rough ride for his sister that I wouldn't have wished on any single mom.

His entire family came over to our place this afternoon just to commemorate the occasion and show how happy we are that Alex is still with us, causing trouble. My mother-in-law presided over three huge sushi platters, we toasted Alex over hot sake, and really enjoyed a wonderful meal (including some of Mr. Monkey's smoked ribs & chicken wings).

All ate with the kind of gusto you can only have when stomach cancer isn't wracking your life.

Cheers to Alex! Dude, don't scare us like that again, Ever. Stay happy & healthy.

Easy, Breezy Traditions

A family tradition can be something you do regularly to mark an occasion, anywhere from going on a beach vacation every year in the summer, to celebrating birthdays annually, to making snowmen together in the winter, to just plain having a special family dinner together every Sunday.

Rosie had a fabulous week at school! The behavior contract is really helping her stay accountable daily, even hourly. Our mini-tradition (or reward, if you will) for having a good week at school is a trip to her favorite park, the library, or swimming at the Rec Center. We all are feeling very proud of her!

What kind of mini-traditions does your family have?

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

(And happy first day of NaBloPoMo, to all who are participating.)

Growing up in suburban Chicago, I knew nothing of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. My friend Kelly, who has lived all over the place, really brought the holiday out of the periphery for me and showed me what a wondrously joyful tradition it is, shedding a bright light on places other cultures prefer to leave in the shadows, celebrating the lives of the dead.

From Wikipedia:

"Many people believe that during the Day of the Dead, it is easier for the souls of the departed to visit the living. People will go to cemeteries to communicate with the souls of the departed, and will build private altars, containing the favorite foods and beverages, and photos and memorabilia, of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them. Celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.

Plans for the festival are made throughout the year, including gathering the goods to be offered to the dead. During the period of November 1 and November 2, families usually clean and decorate graves; most visit the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and decorate their graves with ofrendas, or offerings, which often include orange marigolds called "cempasúchitl" (originally named cempoalxochitl, Nahuatl for "twenty (i.e., many) flowers"). In modern Mexico this name is often replaced with the term "Flor de Muerto" ("Flower of the Dead"). These flowers are thought to attract souls of the dead to the offerings.

Toys are brought for dead children (los angelitos, or little angels), and bottles of tequila, mezcal, pulque or atole for adults. Families will also offer trinkets or the deceased's favorite candies on the grave. Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead") or sugar skulls and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased. Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the "spiritual essence" of the ofrenda food, so even though the celebrators eat the food after the festivities, they believe it lacks nutritional value. Pillows and blankets are left out so that the deceased can rest after their long journey. In some parts of Mexico, such as the towns of Mixquic, Pátzcuaro and Janitzio, people spend all night beside the graves of their relatives."

Although Monkeyrotica has three relatives that are buried locally, his dad and his paternal grandparents, we have never celebrated this holiday in a cemetery. We've spent it with friends and have had quieter festivities, in a more "spiritual-essence-of-it-all" way.

Tomorrow, we're planning to head over to the National Museum of the American Indian, like we did last year. We'll be getting there early this time! Last year, we were late, missed all the demonstrations and dancing, but enjoyed ourselves anyway. The girls loved the paper flowers and wore them in their hair.

Flood: An Act of Kenmore

Today, I hate water. It seems like all the major repairs we've had in our house have had to do with water damage. First, the pipe under the deck burst, then the downstairs shower leaked (tile repair), then the skylight leaked (replace skylight), then the gutters failed and water leaked into the basement, and now this. Is it because we are all Water Signs here (Scorpio & Cancer/2ea)?

3:15 a.m. at the Strings' house: Dash is crying for me. I go to calm him down and while in his room, hear splattering water from inside the house. I go downstairs to the basement to see water pouring out of a light fixture onto the floor. Must find bucket; checked laundry room for buckets, found more water. I headed back upstairs and checked outside for rain; all dry. WhereTF is the water coming from?!? I step into an inch of water in the flooded kitchen and learn: The Dishwasher is spewing hot water everywhere. I scream for Monkeyrotica's help.

Father's Day can suck hard, too!

4 a.m.: Dash is still crying for us. Monkey is downstairs doing damage control on the massive amount of water in the laundry room, getting all the clothing, etc. off the floor so he can mop up the puddles. I'm still in the kitchen using dishrags and a bucket to sop up the pool kitchen floor. Opening the dishwasher stemmed the flow of water, but when it's shut, it continues. Once I've sent all the water on the floor down the sink, I get to work on bailing water from the dishwasher until it no longer leaks when shut. I run downstairs to check on Monkey, still in the laundry room, grab all of the towels in the house and toss them his way to put on the 50+ square feet of carpeting that's soaked. I ask him to start setting up fans to circulate air & help dry the carpet.

4:30 a.m.: Dash is still up, Monkey lets him out of bed. He comes downstairs to see all the action, of course! Monkey and I are busy, alternately wringing out towels and laying towels out on the carpet, and also keeping Dash out of trouble. A comment Monkey makes about having a old-school crank-wringer + basin in his first house gives me a eureka moment! I'll use our washer's spin cycle to get the water out of the towels.

5:00 a.m.: I enlist Dash in stomping towels to help get the water out of the carpet. He says, "I'm very good at marching on towels!!" I agree with him! And am glad to have his help, despite messing up his needed sleep. Monkey and & are still wringing out/spinning wet towels and laying them out. Dash gets bored and Monkey takes him upstairs for a snack. I continue wringing, laying out. and putting towels in the spin cycle.

6:00 a.m.: Rosie wakes up and Monkey gives her breakfast. I'm still on towel duty. Monkey brings me coffee and I start smelling yummy breakfast odors. Both kids are with me in the basement, playing and occasionally stomping towels. Seems like the carpet is less squishy in some places. Still squishy in others.

7:00 a.m.: Monkey calls me up for breakfast. I eat a delicious cheese omelet and then grab the kids to give him his Father's Day gifts (just practical stuff like socks, underpants, & a cotton bathrobe; I did get him two t-shirts, Superman and flying monkeys!).

8:00 a.m.: I change the towels again. No more wringing—my arms are dead & I have washerwoman hands—just spin cycles from here out.

9:00 a.m.: I blog about it. Coming up: a phone call to a dishwasher repairman and shopping for a new hose for our wet/dry vac; maybe a nap. But, I'll leave you, dear readers, out of that minutia.

Happy Father's Day to all dads out there! I hope your day is better than ours.

Dash gets his own chores, too

The Perfect Silverware Tray!!
Originally uploaded by RichardBronosky

We haven't been too good about insisting that the kids have chores. For my own sanity, I really could use the help. During dinner last night, Dash spilled some of his milk, asked for a napkin to wipe it up, and as he was wiping, he told us, "I helping clean up! I get em-nems!"

I jumped on this. I announced, "Well, Rosie helps set the table, so Dash can help clear it and put dishes away." Dash agreed and Rosie said she wanted to help, too (didn't happen for Rosie -- she was already absorbed in a handheld vidgame).

Dash and I went into the kitchen and put plates next to the sink, then I enlisted him in unloading the dishwasher. He was very enthusiastic with the utensil sorter I put next to him! He'd put one fork away, then beam at us, saying, "I DID IT!"

I think he wanted an M&M for each spoon. Seriously.

We managed to hold off until he sorted all the utensils & put away the kid-dishes. By then, I offered him daifukumochi and he forgot all about the chocolates!

Happy birthday Grandma Sheila!

Wasn't it a beautiful weekend? We spent most of it outside, barbecuing, gardening, enjoying our friends' company, and going out with Grandma Sheila, Grandaddy Jim, & Auntie M for Sheila's birthday. The picture is me with the kids right next to the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Old Town Alexandria. We just had lunch at Bilbo BagginsRestaurant and then went for a walk in the lovely weather. The kids got balloons from a sidewalk vendor, the parrots were out, and a few buskers gave us a soundtrack. Dash had a great time looking at all the boats on the waterfront; Rosie loved her pink and purple balloon.

If only all weekends were three days! This was only the icing on the cake--I got so much done.