Thank you, Jojo the bunny.

Charlie
Originally uploaded by threeredtrees

Dash has been getting up several nights in a row with bad dreams. When I go to check on him, he's already packed to head off with me to mommy-daddy bed, complete with a toy, his night-night (Taggie), and sippycup-o-H20. I've been giving in, because this was a somewhat new phenomenon, but on the 4th night in a row, I took some action.

When I tucked him in, I remembered to wish him good dreams. He told me, no mommy, I'm having bad dreams. So, I grabbed Jojo the bunny (a random toy in his crib [yep, still in a crib] that is occasionally a favorite). I told him that Jojo was a special bunny that chases all the bad dreams away and he wouldn't have any tonight, because Jojo was on watch. Dash said, Yay! and hugged Jojo tight.

I woke him up this morning (no nighttime interruptions!) and asked if he'd had any bad dreams? No! Dash said, Jojo was a good bunny and sent them away! Jojo was such a star this morning, he went to school with Dash so he could tell all his teachers and friends about him.

Jojo, keep it up, buddy. I'm counting on you.

Pinarific!

A lovely gift from my adorable pal, Melissa. When I put it on this
morning, Rosie asked me, "Mommy, why are you wearing your special pin on
an everyday?"

Because I love it!

Happy birthday to me

Anthony Bourdain Taste Testing
Originally uploaded by Anthony Bourdain:No Reservations

Okay, 38 is now here, with the passing of my birthday this past Friday. So why did I post a photo of Anthony Bourdain, you may ask? Well, I'll get to that in a minute.

I slacked off until the last minute deciding what/where/when I wanted to do birthday celebrating. So much so that Monkeyrotica made other plans for my birthday proper. No problem! I had a lovely time out with my parents, Auntie M., Rosie and Dash. We dined at Rustico where after the quickest glance at the kids menu, I knew instantly what my tots would be eating: Dash= hotdog/Rosie= pasta w/butter. I had the lovely baked mac & cheese with roasted mushrooms, pancetta & English peas (though we all wondered what exactly made them English). We all baked ourselves in the window seat, where even though it was tinted, plenty of heat came through. Next time we should all wear tanktops and shorts or phone first to see if their blinds have come in. Kimberly was our fabulous waitress, who indulged us by fawning over Dash's silly comments (after receiving an adult-size water glass) like, "I think I need a small, small cup because I have teeny, tiny hands!"

Saturday, after our neighbor's son, Bram, came over for babysitting (sorry won't be available next weekend, he's going away to violin camp)—he was awesome, and I will absolutely use him again!!—Monkey and I headed off for Old Town. Our destination was PX, but since you can't drink several cocktails into the evening without having something in your stomach, we drifted over to The Majestic. We were thinking about going to Eamonn's first for fish and chips, but weren't sure we'd have enough time and it seemed too hot with sun streaming through their large storefront (I think I'd just been recounting the Rustico experience). It might have been crowded in there, too (alluding to Bourdain sighting to follow), but we'd already discounted going there, and didn't give it much of a glance. At Majestic, I had a glass of Cab, and the antipasti platter with some crusty bread and Monkey enjoyed their limeade with fried oysters. All delightful! When our reservation hour neared, we headed down the road to PX.

PX was pretty empty at 6:15, so after giving our greetings to Todd Thrasher, the "liquid savant/master alchemist" behind the bar, Monkey and I enjoyed ourselves in the blue room while we waited for our first cocktail order to arrive. I had the sparkling mojito, he had a Basil cocktail--very nice. When Kelly arrived, she was beside herself, the "Smoker's Delight" was such a wonderful mix of flavors! I asked Todd to come back and talk with her when he had a minute; I know how proud he is of his expertise and willingness to discuss, so a short while later he came by. He spoke of distilling flavors down to essences and then adding them to the cocktails, using eyedroppers to apply just the right intensity. We enjoyed each other's company for a while, and he mentioned that Tony Bourdain was downstairs at Eamonn's and he was at PX even though it was supposed to be his night off. He was called away and promised to come back to chat more. Our pal Don arrived and we all were having a delightful time with our drinks and exchanging tastes (Don had the "O" and the "Pump" drinks, I believe; the pump was mixed with homemade gingerale and will be the next drink I try when we go again). I went to check on Todd in case he was available to continue our conversation when I saw that Bourdain was at the bar with his entourage.

Maybe I was a wee tipsy, but I assessed the situation, then announced, "Mr. Bourdain, are you monopolizing our Todd Thrasher?" He smiled and laughed a bit. Then I said to Todd Thrasher, "why Todd, you have a celebrity in your midst!" One of Tony's entourage quipped, "Todd is a celebrity in his own right!" I had to agree. That's when I leaned in and told Bourdain that I was celebrating my birthday that night with Todd's fabulous cocktails! He smiled again and wished me a happy birthday. Woot. I was just some crazy drinker with a french twist, a flapper-style black beaded dress (with 8" fringe), red jet beaded jewelry and silver-lame strappy heels. He turned back to the entourage.

Kelly made BFF with another guest in the blue room who traded her his Smoker's Delight for her 2nd drink, which wasn't nearly as fabulous. Thank you, Mr. Generous, whoever you are! Our birthday cakes arrived (they must be pre-ordered, as they are delivered from Eve) with candles on each—I blew out all four (no, I won't tell you what I wished). That confection was wonderful, just perfectly, meltingly sweet icing and fluffy yellow cake-ness inside.

I discovered that the lovely Meshelle Armstrong was at the bar that evening, and with an adorable new coif! We had some giddy chatter in which she revealed that her family was on a cruise when they heard that No Reservations was planning to feature their restaurant, so they had to cut their trip short. She came back to chat with Monkey and my friends and we promised again to get our kids together for a playdate.

Weekend recap, out of order

vanilla ice cream
Originally uploaded by fruitcakey

A highlight from the weekend: No vanilla for Dash. We had lunch at Union Street Public House in Alexandria after a long morning walk at the National Zoo. We treated the kids with ice cream at the end of the meal and figured that since Dash couldn't decide between vanilla and chocolate (Rosie was all about the chocolate), we'd get one of each. I totally misinterpreted Dash's indecision: he wanted this "ice cream," not vanilla- or chocolate-whatever. Akio and I were forced (arms twisted) to eat the vanilla, since Dash acted like we were spooning castor oil at him, with the thrashing, screaming, and hands-over-the-mouth. He doesn't have any idea what he was missing.

Friday afternoon, I took the kids on a rare rush-hour train ride on Metro, just seven stops on the Yellow Line. The kids loved the train ride and I hope nobody was too annoyed by Dash's constant commentary, i.e. "now we're in ANOTHER tunnel!!" We met up with Monkeyrotica and then headed by car to Bethesda, where our friends Lauren and David had invited us to David's opening at Fraser Gallery. Rosie and Dash were only interested in the fruit skewers (no art appreciation yet), and I was just floored, as always, by David's beautiful craftsmanship and articulation of concepts that cruise the border from uncomfortable to S&M.

A second highlight: Rosie is a sprinter!! Saturday night, after a day of staying out of the heat and getting a little stir-crazy, I fulfilled a promise to Rosie that we would go for a walk after dinner. I put Dash to bed and even though if was past 8:30, I figured that we could make up the lost sleep the next morning. The walk turned into a full-out sprint, with me barely able to keep up, for almost the full .8 mile to the park! She then climbed and played on the equipment for about 10 minutes (I insisted that we leave before dark), when she sprinted off to head back home again. About halfway back, she described a pain in her side which I was able to identify as a "side-stitch;" it was a teaching moment! If we keep this up, I'll need to get some better running shoes.

Side note: she was running in her seemingly inadequate faux-crocs, while I had pseudo running shoes, mary-jane style.

Right round, like a record baby...

[skkkkkrrrreeeaattccccchhhh, sound of needle scraping across Dead or Alive vinyl]

Well no, not really. Rosie, like most of us, was painfully unskilled her first time out on her new inline skates. Karen and I held her up and got her around the rink once and then she'd had it. I'm planning to keep up with it and get her out on them more. Skating is so freeing! She will be a great partner to skate with when she gets better.

This was shot at the Anacostia Skate Park in SE DC. It was actually a pretty awesome location. Hardly anyone was skating and we had the rink almost to ourselves. They rent rollerskates (old school), but you can bring your own if you have 'em.

My love-hate relationship with our dishwasher

Dishwasher
Originally uploaded by embleton

I won't go into any long-winded diatribe here, just the basics.

We are a family of four.

Monkeyrotica likes to cook—a lot. We like to eat the food he cooks.

Cooking and eating generate lots of dirty dishes, pots, utensils, and other miscellaneous containers.

Therefore, it behooves me, the cleaner-upper of everything household related, to use our three-year-old automatic dishwasher. I count on this.

But then, this happened. Almost a month ago. A Sears-sanctioned repair guy came out and found NOTHING wrong. He blamed me, ME, in fact, for setting the dishwasher to run 2 cycles at the same time (?!?!?! HTF would/could I do that?).

What's the big deal today? It happened again last night. Thankfully, I'd set the thing to run right after dinner and Monkeyrotica checked the flood before it created more than a minor puddle in the basement.

This means that I don't have a dishwasher for the rest of the week. At the very least. A different, non-Sears-affiliated, repair-company representative is coming to give me a second opinion on Friday.

If they find nothing wrong as well? We will be shopping for a new dishwasher. I can't handle a thing in my house that intermittently creates mass destruction and mayhem, unexpectedly, on a whim.

Anyone have recommendations? Don't say Kenmore.

They got me dead on.

Ah, how I wish I could afford this clever cleaning company...

Junk mail. It's usually not this entertaining.

Tolerance at the RiteAid

Kids at Play
Originally uploaded by jeridaking

Last night we stopped at the RiteAid to pick up some Rx of mine. There wasn't much of a wait, but even so, Mr. Monkey was getting anxious to leave and the kids were getting rambunctious.

It was that silly, high-pitched, giggling rambunctiousness that accompanies running in circles around the aisles and squeezing together tightly to hide from Monkey. I couldn't help but smile at their silliness, but tried to swallow my joy in their delightful sibling-happiness because we were in a public place.

I became the mom, shushing them and using an affected threatening tone to get them to quiet down while I was with the cashier. She stopped me. Turning to look at the pharmacy staff, none of whom were American-born, I saw that they were all smiling outright.

The cashier ringing me up said to me, "They are happy! They should be expressing their happiness while they are children. One day they will be adults and have the world to weigh them down."

Isn't that the truth?

I thanked them for appreciating my kids' behavior and we were on our way. It occurred to me that 90% of the people who come to the pharmacy are probably unwell, depressed, or angry at something (their insurance, maybe?), and that laughing, happy kids just might be a welcome break to a pharmacist's day.

Switcheroo, After

The new table!! And five of the eight new chairs. Why five? Monkeyrotica said something about Elijah...  

If it's not apparent to you, I'm 99% certain that the pink/green/cream floral motif on the chairs' upholstery doesn't go with everything else. I'll try to get on that soon. Though I've never tried reupholstering anything, I do have a staple gun and several friends have assured me it's pretty easy.

You can see that all the rest of the furniture have found new homes. All of it. I don't think a single item remained in its original spot, although we moved one piece to three places then settled on it 2 or three inches from where it was before, but at a 90 degree turn. I really like it! And the kids do too. They're having more trouble getting in and out of the chairs, but that's fine for now. Feng Shui = good.

Getting a new table today!

These are "before" photos of the living and dining rooms; as soon as we have the space set up with the new table, I'll post the "afters."

We've been talking for years about how our dining room table is just too small for our dinner parties. It seats four comfortably, but beyond that, you've got a table leg jammed in your crotch and you're a little too comfortably close to your neighbor. I was bored at work yesterday and checked craigslist for tables, then sent prospects to Monkeyrotica. He dissed most of them, but only one got a WANT! response. I contacted a few people with queries, and fortuitously, his WANT! table owners gave us the callback.

We will have to move around just about every piece of furniture in the living/dining room to accomodate the new, larger table. In fact the dining room will become our living room and vice-versa. Good for the feng shui!

Wish us luck! We're picking it up this morning (gotta snap up craiglist stuff immediately) and while they told us the table wouldn't possibly fit in a minivan, we are stubbornly heading over in a minivan.

UPDATE: The table fit in the minivan!! We spent about 3 hours moving furniture around and have the rooms 80% set up. Woo!

Getting to love my office gym

Group Fitness Room
Originally uploaded by Belmont University

I initially felt that the office gym was dreary; no music playing, TVs showing the History channel's show on military weapons of the Civil War, and just a bunch of guys there working out on the free weights. I adore aerobics classes, and they have them, but they are at 6:30 a.m. or 5:30 p.m. and I initially thought that was not doable because of my schedule with the kids. After consulting with Monkeyrotica, we decided that it was possible to make the 6:30 a.m. class work. I just have to set the kids' clothing out the night before and feed the bird before I sneak stealthily out of the house at 5:45 to get to the gym on time.

Last week, I went to the morning step-aerobics class for the third time since October, when I was relocated to this building. I was being a little down on the class/instructor the first few times because she doesn't play the pumping, dance-club-style music I enjoy working out to. Also, her teaching style is low- to medium-impact and I like high. Giving her some credit though, all of the four other women in the class were either injured or very new to step, so low-impact was appropriate. But BORING for me.

Instead of just resigning myself to being bored, I went ahead and just did some alternate high-impact moves and had a blast!! At the end of class, I asked her if that was okay (I have known instructors to get p.o.'d if you don't follow them) and she said, sure! She was a little inexperienced and hadn't been trained for high-impact, so if I or anyone else wanted to do high, she'd just point them over to ME to demonstrate. On top of that, in the locker room, a few of the other ladies in the class asked me (hopefully?) if I was planning to be a regular! That was very flattering.

I went back to the step aerobics class yesterday and there were about twice as many people in it. About halfway through, the instructor stopped and told everyone that her knee was bothering her and she'd be doing the low-impact versions of the moves, but if you wanted to try high-impact to LOOK AT NYLONTHREAD! Um, no warning (even though she did say she might do that last week, I wasn't really mentally prepared for it)! And, while I love the high-impact, I'm a follower in those classes, not a leader (especially that early in the day). Maybe next time if I plan for it I can handle keeping it together, but I think I put a wrench in her routine a few times because I went the wrong direction while on my own.

Seriously, it's my fourth aerobics class in two years or more. I'm going to cut myself some slack for not being perfect. Dang, it was fun, though!!

So what about the dancing?

Finally, I've gotten around to posting the dance recital. I think Monkeyrotica has zoomed in enough for you to tell which one I am. Videos are great ways to see how you can do better next time. I think I'll try smiling more. How do you like the red & black lycra sparkle outfit? While Monkey was waiting for my class to come on (we were 15th in Act 2) he wondered if he could get carpel tunnel from checking his watch...

I was a little bummed that Monkey was the only person I know to see it live, but I guess life gets in the way for most friends & family I offered tickets to. The sushi & sake feast with the Os afterward made up for it!

We collectively decided to make post-recital sushi a yearly tradition. Can't wait till next year!

Take the preschoolers bowling...

Dash's 3rd birthday party took place in two parts: first at a duckpin bowling alley and second at KellyO & Todd's house. Early in the a.m., we picked up his bowling-themed, blueberry birthday cake (name spelled correctly, check!) and then headed to College Park to meet his friends for an hour of bowling. His main posse from daycare, Matthew, Collin, Riley, and Amelia, arrived as well as his dear friends Liam, Keaton, and Gabriela; siblings Rosie's age included Thea & Ethan, who showed the rest how to play the game.

The bowling alley suggested I tell my guests to arrive early, as we they'd cut us off promptly after 60 mins; even so, most guests unfamiliar with the area were very late. Google maps told most people to head away from the bowling alley or do an unnecessary U-turn, so I blame Google! Aargh. All the kids LOVED the bowling. Huge hit, and we plan to go again soon. A few of the boys couldn't resist running full-tilt down the long carpeted area behind the lanes (with parents charging after them) and one speedy wee tot, a new walker, made it about halfway down lane 5 before her mom caught her.


After our time was up, we had some very hot cheese pizza, then broke out the cake—Dash did a grand job of blowing out his candles! I hope he gets his wish, whatever it may have been. The bowling portion of the party quickly dissolved, despite me impressing everyone with how much fun the the adults will have at the Os for afterparty. Ethan and Gabriela V. were so enamored with the bowling, they stayed to rent another lane well after we left. You rock the lanes, Vs! I think only two non-host families from the bowling party took me up on it; it was a lovely, intimate gathering with good food and lots of fun in the kiddie pool. Thank you, Kelly & Todd for hosting! We <3 you all!!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY, DASH!

Mosaic Maker

Mosaic Maker
Originally uploaded by nylonthread

Yep, I couldn't resist trying it too! I've got a booming headache & can't concentrate enough to do the html, so cheers to onthecurb and wrekehavoc for the sparks!

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s Flickr Toys: mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

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.

Overheard at Zoo Elephant House

Me: You see anything, Dash?
Dash: Nope. Just an elephant.

Blasé starts early.

Dash's class, the Bears Room, sponsored this trip to the National Zoo. Pictured below are:
Ms. Kandace, Kyra, Ms. Malikha, Alex, Mika, Dash, Adam, Ms. Canida, Nicholas, Ms. Leah, and Alex T. Thanks, Bears class!!

What's in our Zoo bag?

Orangutan
Originally uploaded by bsmith2

The question for this morning's scramble: do I have all the things we need for an afternoon trip to the Zoo? Dash's teachers wanted to take their class of two- and three-year-olds to the Zoo, but they aren't legal for field trips. So, they called all the parents to see if we'd be up for bringing our little people along. I think all but one parent were up for it! Hooky! It's a beautiful day for it.

Dash and I are very fair-skinned, so I have HATS and SUNBLOCK.
I have a WATERBOTTLE, bike-style, that I plan to fill before I leave the office.
I have FLIP-FLOPS packed, to replace my strappy office heels.
I have a CAMERA! And Monkeyrotica packed me extra batteries + memory card.
I also have MOSQUITO REPELLENT, but am hoping I won't need it.
Since Dash isn't potty trained yet, I'm sure DIAPERS & WIPES will need to be transferred from the diaper bag to the Zoo bag.

One thing I forgot was to pack the sling; even though Dash is a few weeks shy of 3, he still likes to be carried when tired. The Zoo is a lot of walking. And my, that sling has come in handy! He could easily ride on my back in the sling and I'd still be able to have both hands free. If there's time, I may speed by the house and grab it. The strollers in our house have been stashed for at least six months and I'm not about to drag them out of the attic now.

Let me know if you think I'm missing anything essential!

Truck ride to nowhere

The Strings visited our local park, where Rosie told Monkeyrotica to sit
in the back, while she and Dash drove.

Monkey immediately quipped:
"Waa! Waa! Where's my DRINK!"
"WAA! Where's my TEDDYGRAHAMS!"

Rosie replied:
"What's the magic word, Daddy-baby?!"

It's a beautiful evening for the park! Rosie and I rode our
bike+trail-a-bike while Mr. Monkey & Dash drove with our picnic dinner.
Highlight: we saw a woodpecker! I'd take a photo, but it would probably
be a little surrealist, with just a dot for a bird.

Sequins! Glitter! Velvet!

RosieCostume
Originally uploaded by nylonthread

This weekend was busy with photos and pomp. Rosie's ballet class had their dress rehearsal for the recital next weekend (and mine did as well, but this post is not about moi). She looked so adorable! All the little dancers did; I say dancers, because there is one boy in the program, Christopher, who is right front-and-center with Rosie in their dance.

When the first chubby group of pre-ballet kids was revealed on stage by the parting of the curtain, oh, my eyes teared up, they were so sweet! Rosie's class was about 5th in the program and she did very well. The tune for their dance is something like "My teacher made a dancer out of me" and is in an interesting minor key. Watch and see: