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It's snow wonder

Ahhh, March...a promising month of tan lawns suddenly edged in green, redbud trees blossoming, and more sunny days than not.

And, evidently, a time for six inches of snow.

Which hasn't happened in our city since 1926 or so.

It also happened to be the only snowin'-like-you-mean-it snow of the winter...the kind that can actually accomplish something. Like a snowman and a recreation of a base camp on Mt. Everest. "Mommy! Last time I saw snow like this I was still in diapers!" "No really, Alex, it'll taste like ice cream." "Just take it. I need to get back to the job of shoveling this...just shoveling." Here's what $250 looks like hanging on for dear life. Easily first prize for creepiest snowman eyes. And why Pete needed to seat them in lawn chairs with their fishing poles is still a mystery. "Wonder if I'll ever finish this shoveling. And thanks for helping, Alex." "You can't see me too well..." "...but I could survive for days in here." The day after the snow. And the saddest snowman in town. I guess because Base Camp didn't quite last 24 hours.
Posted by Christine at 3/29/2009 09:22:00 PM 4 comments: 
The post where I whine

Wonder what it would be like to have 30 uninterrupted minutes to blog? When I'm not supposed to be sleeping. Anyone? Anyone? 'Cause I'm having a hard time remembering what that's like...

Until I find those elusive, CONSECUTIVE minutes, I may be sparse out here.

I know...tell you something you don't know.

Have a great Tuesday, folks!

And here's a not-so-whiny pic to complete this whiny post... Posted by Christine at 3/24/2009 08:07:00 AM 1 comment: 
Head to 918moms.com...

...if you'd like the recipe that made these cuties: (Or you could really go to Kraft, too, but I'd really appreciate ya'll going to see me at 918moms.com. Maybe click around there and see what else they have besides posts from bloggers who have nothing else to post but recipes from little 'ol KRAFT. And thanks.)
Posted by Christine at 3/20/2009 08:41:00 PM 2 comments: NCAA tourney bracket update: Whatever

Is it too early to start looking forward to next year's tournament?

First, turns out I'm not a genius: Stephen F. Austin didn't quite beat Syracuse, although they didn't get annihilated so that makes me borderline genius.

Then, two of my picks lost by five points. Collectively.

I'm ranked 24th out of 50 entrants in my pool.

So this is awful! People are going to start thinking it was a fluke that I won the pool last year. It's not, I tell you! I'm a skilled sports analyst with insights familiar only to the most experienced basketball writers and broadcasters.

And I'm darned lucky. Except not this year.
Posted by Christine at 3/20/2009 02:33:00 PM No comments: 
At 11-something today...I will be a changed person

Let the Madness begin! I got my bracket completed last night and I'm ready for Stephen F. Austin to make me look like a genius when they beat #3 Syracuse!


But you know there's a Cinderella team waiting to dance...why couldn't it be SFA?!

Whatever. I'm off to fold up my bracket and carry it around in my purse for the next three weeks so I can keep it updated with all the progress.

Who else has a bracket completed?! Who's your upset waiting to happen?
Posted by Christine at 3/19/2009 07:58:00 AM 2 comments: 
Stay tuned...and a reptile

That's what I thought. Posted by Christine at 3/18/2009 03:51:00 PM 4 comments: 
LeapFrog Tag Bundle giveaway

Callapidder Days is having a cool giveaway of a LeapFrog Tag Bundle. It's a pen/book system that reads aloud to kids.

Not that I don't like doing it myself, mind you.

But it would be nice to let LeapFrog have a turn now and then.

Head over there yourself and enter the giveaway if you think your kiddos would enjoy this system. And hang around to read Callapidder Days, too. She rocks.
Posted by Christine at 3/16/2009 01:12:00 PM No comments: 
Merely a ghost of a tree

We have a very interesting configuration of a backyard.

So the thing needed to be put out of our misery. Posted by Christine at 3/14/2009 05:26:00 PM 1 comment: Labels: Home Work


Wordless Wednesday: When Dad's gone 
Finally figured it out

Mickey asked me yesterday: "Mamma, what does blah, blah, blah mean?"

I told him "...it's what people say when they don't know what else to say..."

Better known as your mother's blog.
Posted by Christine at 3/10/2009 12:53:00 PM No comments: 
Fourth and final night. Thank goodness.

Pete has been on a golf trip for the past four days and arrives home tomorrow. At 11:43 a.m. I was supposed to have used my alone time at night on the computer to write six blog posts and queue them up for the next six days.

But that did not quite happen.

I spent the time on the computer all right...but not quite productively. So much for Lenten resolutions.

Fact is, I spent a lot of time wishing he were here with me. I was so distracted with thoughts of him I couldn't concentrate on anything productive but for the minimum laundry and meal preparation duties. And fingerpainting...letting the boys fingerpaint. That was a feat in itself.

When he's away, which is rarely four nights in a row, sure I wish I had a hand with the boys. Bedtime, bathtime, mealtime...they're all on me all the time. There's no one else here to help me answer them, pour more milk, clean up after them, etc.

And there's no one here to share in their cute sayings and sweet gestures, which do happen from time to time.

Thing is, when he's gone I always think: why would any woman CHOOSE to be a single mother. I don't know anyone personally who's done this, but plenty of Hollywood-ers have taken the plunge into parenthood sans partner (let alone husband). They get as much positive press as traditional Hollywood births, maybe even more. As if to say, "who needs a man..."

Well I'll tell you who: I do. I need someone to share in the workload. The decision-making about what's best for our kids. The physical demands of parenting. The joy. And the frustrations. The emotional load I could never bear by myself. And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

(I understand there's divorce. That's different. That's not CHOOSING single motherhood.)

I guess absence makes every heart grow fonder. That, and more grateful...grateful Pete's on this parenting road with me, sharing all the bumps and detours, and whhhheeees as we coast. Whenever that is...
Posted by Christine at 3/08/2009 09:58:00 PM 1 comment: 
Foot Stool Posted by Christine at 3/07/2009 09:11:00 AM 4 comments: 
My pledge to Mickey and Alex

Dear Sons,

I promise to never dress you in anything, nor style your hair in any fashion, that will cause your portrait to end up on the Sexy People blog. Unless I already have, and for that dear kids, I'm sorry.


(Thanks to If You Give a Mom a Moment... who fired the warning shot.)
Posted by Christine at 3/05/2009 01:00:00 PM 1 comment: 
She did it! She did it!

Ya'll remember my friend Mary at Owlhaven? Well, right now in her hot little hand is her book. No, I mean HER book. As in, she's the one who wrote it! A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family is finished and awaiting its flight off the shelves.

Now I'd have probably posted about Mary's book nonetheless, but it just so happens she's having a little contest at her place to give away a few copies. Woo-hoo!

I also know what you're thinking: what the heck do I want with a book about raising ten kids?

First of all, tell me that my life with two kids won't seem just a little less...shall we say...stressed, if I employ some of her techniques for wrangling ten. If she can maintain her humor and sanity and still look good in the process, surely there are a few lessons to be learned by us moms of few.

Second, coming from a family of 11 myself, I think it could be an interesting perspective to think about what my mom went through raising us...and appreciate her even more than I already do.

So if you'd like to win your own copy of Mary's book, head over there now!
Posted by Christine at 3/04/2009 07:17:00 PM No comments: 
Destined to be the longest list in the world

Tonight Alex threw up his dinner. At dinner. At a restaurant. On the table and his plate and the front of his shirt and my wedding ring (love it when those things happen when Pete's out of town).

And as I worked through the six-inch stack of napkins the waitress brought me, the thought occurred to me that when I gazed at my ring with gaze-y eyes on my wedding day, I didn't also picture myself digging...pieces...out of it.

Add that to the growing list of things I didn't foresee when I signed up for parenthood.
Posted by Christine at 3/03/2009 07:42:00 PM 3 comments: 
Lenten resolution: keep it real

What, I'm supposed to let you know when I'm taking a blogging break?

Consider yourself warned.

A week or so late.

In case you didn't know, last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday...the beginning of Lent. Lent, for us Catholics, is the time of year when we're supposed to give something up. Something that is not healthy for us in one way or another. Then we're supposed to channel that time or money or effort to something positive, like an extra church service or prayer or time with a neglected husband.

I chose the latter.

And my "not healthy" choice (that, friends, was tough to discern):

Night time at the computer.

Hence, my unplanned blog break.

I have since reconsidered my Lenten commitment.

I believe I will choose something less not-healthy to give up. Something less painful. The Lord would not want me to be pained, would He?

So I'm choosing Diet Coke.

HA! Had ya goin!

Nah, I'm still cutting back on computer time, just not so much that I have to stop blogging altogether. Six weeks of that and God would not like the person I'd become. The whole point is to develop the Lenten commitment into something permanently positive...not destroy a part of the person!

The reality of it all? I'm going to have to get more effective with the time I'm online instead of the aimless surfing that goes on forever with nothing to show for it (good-bye Facebook).

And the staring at a blank post. That'll have to stop, too. Maybe sometime I'll develop some sort of posting schedule; I wonder if that'll help me develop quality content, too.

Worth a try...
Posted by Christine at 3/02/2009 10:21:00 PM 1 comment: