Tuesday, July 22, 2008

still learning the details

Lilah just called out to me: Ima, I like the number "L"!

Monday, July 21, 2008

distinctions are important.

lilah: *growly voice* rahr! rahr! *walks around frankenstein's monster style, stiff legs, arms out*
me: are you a scary monster?!
lilah: *growly voice* no! i'm just a peanut butter monster!

Sunday, July 06, 2008

I wrote my alma mater...

my alma mater has a quarterly magazine and every class gets a little part of the "Class Notes" section in the back. last time the 1990 section was all about the woman who volunteered to write it, because no one else wrote in. she interspersed stuff about, say, her bird feeders, with pleas for people to write. so, i wrote.

. . .

Kristen, I read your plea, so I went to California and got appointed to my local School Board just to have something to report.

Indiana folks get all excited for me when I tell them I went to California, but I learned if you land at LAX, find friends you met on the internet, rent a car and drive northeast, you will find the middle of California is a desert. Holy guacamole. Who fills a desert with farms? California is a crazy, crazy place. On the other hand, where better to meet up with crazy friends? The Pottermamas bonded on the internet over the Harry Potter books and now we get drunk in California oil towns and rebury clams on Pismo Beach. I tried to teach them our MHC drinking song and was deeply distressed to discover I've forgotten almost all of it.

Despite the heat, I had a blast. My spouse and three kids even cleaned the house while I was gone. (Covering every surface with dirty laundry seems to have worked.)

Turning 40 was a mixed bag. My spouse threw a dinner party at a local Italian place. We had a fabulous time and I told him not to tell me how much the evening cost. I got just tipsy enough to announce I was thinking of going for the open school board position caused by a neighbor's move East and my spouse pointed out later this meant I had to go for it or I'd look ridiculous.

I went for it and am now the only member of my local school board with children enrolled in the public schools. Something is out of whack here and it is probably me. I think all the other moms without paid employment are actually taking care of their homes and children. Whereas I apparently have signed up to spend the next two and a half years in a meeting.

Thanks for the push to write!

Thursday, July 03, 2008

All day alone with Lilah...

Lilah and I took a walk earlier, and she pointed at something in wonder.
"Ima! Look at that!"
"What, honey? The cut branches? The mailbox?"
"The mailbox! . . . It's not singing!"

Think she watches too much Blue's Clues?


Also, I gave her fudge swirl ice cream. She likes it. She still likes it. She likes it again. She likes the chocolate part. She wants to eat the chocolate part again. Hmm. I think she likes this flavour!