The girls got up and found Jack who was getting ready for work. So he got them set up with Megan's v-tech game and that's where I found them a bit later. I had no idea they were up, till Jack told me, and that was 20 minutes later at least. But both got dressed easy and had breakfast. It was a relatively quiet night, and thankfully Megan didn't have the night terrors she occasionally has.
After I shower and change we'll be off to drop Megan off at school and then Josephine and I will run some errands. I was thinking of another picnic at the farm but the rain clouds mean thats out of the questions so we'll just come back here after we pick Megan up and have lunch and then the girls can play until Josephine's mom comes or dinner - which ever comes first :)
Update: After dropping Megan off at school, Josephine and I headed off to Trader Joes and had a lovely time shopping. We headed back to the house and I put all the groceries away. Josephine entertained her self in Megan's room and after she got bored she headed up to the living room where she played with the v-tech Elmo's game. We headed out to the hardware store and then picked up Megan.
After returning home and eating sandwiches. The girls played outside despite the dark clouds we still haven't had the rain. When they came in we painted t-shirts together before heading into my room to watch a movie. The girls are there now - all bundled up in the bed drinking chocolate milk and watching "Monster's Inc"
So far all is well, and quiet. Megan is having her first friend sleep over. Josephine's parents had separate trips for work and asked us to watch Josephine over night. She's been an absolute angel, and the girls have had a lot of fun playing. They are both still awake, but I expected that. And i'm sure as tired as they are that we'll have sleeping girls soon.
I just got back from seeing Thank you for Smoking - which was hysterically funny. The only complaint was the miscasting of the sexy big titted reporter - Katy Homes just didn't cut it - she looks too young and a little deerish and she hasn't even had a boob job let alone have natural big ones - so a conversation earlier on between 2 men about her chest falls flat when the character is introduced and has well nothing.
The other flick I saw over the weekend was V for Vendetta which really wowed me - it was thrilling and I was on the edge of my seat through out - no spoilers here just 2 big recommendations!
Sadie is doing great - better than great. Her neck is completely better. I had her groomed on Friday last week and now with her short hair cut she's prancing and acting like a 2 year old. Its great to see. She's also seems to be settling in her age (finally!) Tonight she's sleeping on the sofa while I'm watching TV. I always knew she'd sleep on the sofa, but she usually gets down when someone comes in the room and she has never gotten up there while we've had the TV on. Its wonderful to see that she finally feels at home here. After years of abuse before we got her, she really didn't trust that we wouldn't hurt her when we'd find her up on furniture. She was the first dog i'd ever seen have a panic attack. But now she's sleeping on the sofa - with one leg up in the air, and I know that she is finally at home.
I surprised Megan this afternoon when I picked her up from school today. I had packed us a picnic and we headed over to the local historical farm. After eating lunch in the company of a peacock, who was very interested in us, we wondered around and looked at all the animals. Megan befriend a horse who was breaking his neck to get to the tall grass on the other side of the fence. She happily pulled it out and fed him, same with the sheep, though most stayed clear of us - only one actually wanted the grass she presented. While we were walking back out a couple of hummingbirds flew by us. It stopped me in my tracks and Megan ask me to point out the birds to her, and when I tried she just couldn't see them, so small. So after we left we headed over to a local bird store (for bird watchers not owners) and we bought a humming bird feeder. Once home we set it up, and I also filled all the other feeders.
Course Megan expected birds to show up immediately, but that has not been the case, but sometime in the near future i'll be able to stay Megan look - hummingbirds.
Literarily ... Jack's out of town and I had to get the trash out tonight - only I couldn't find the gate key anywhere. Not on the freezer where we always keep it, or any pockets of any pants Jack or I wore in the last week. No where I could think of! After about an hour of serious frantic searching (cause on top of that the lawn man is coming tomorrow too) I found instead Jack big ass Metal cutters and with the help of the wall of the house I clipped the lock right off. Of course now i'll find the key.
Megan and I will head out after dinner and buy a new lock with lots of keys!
Megan and I ventured down to Monterey yesterday. We invited Megan's sitter along us and she's beat me to blogging about it.
The day started out rainy, and traffic was backed up worse than usual. It took us about an hour longer to get down there. Once there we dodged raindrops and went in and explored the Aquarium. Megan tends to run through exhibits, but by the third I was able to slow her down a bit. There were alot of docents working and one in the jellies as art exhibit showed us the the polyps in one tank. basically the polyp which starts out as a fertilized egg, is attached to a hard surface and has several layers each one pops off and becomes a baby jelly. We finished up the morning in the Outer Bay before heading out to Blue Moon for a yummy lunch. While waiting for our food we watch the usual otters and birds and then, we got to see a whole pod of wild dolphins swim by - it was very cool.
Back at the Aquarium, we explored the other side. By now the place had gotten very crowded. But it was still alot of fun and Megan of course loved the water play area.
The ride home was much smoother, and we even saw a double complete rainbow - which was also very cool.
I was so looking forward to film club, an afternoon to immerse myself in something new and possibly exciting. i've been disappointed before - a documentary about women wrestlers comes to mind - but even then I was entertained.
Today I actually fell asleep - i've never fallen asleep in a theater before. The movie was Frisbeethe story of a hippie Pentecostal preacher from the 70 and 80s. I was so bored I actually left before the film maker spoke to the the group after the film. After missing a couple of film clubs, I'm so annoyed that my first chance back was for one so boring, so tedious, so inane. I've never cared less for a subject and a film.
Granted poor Frisbee got the shaft. He helped start the Calvary chapeland vineyard churches down in the LA area only to be ostracized for being gay. And you can imagine how righteous the church leaders felt when Frisbee died of aids in 1993.
The trouble for me was that I just didn't care about the films material, the people interviewed for the character that was Lonnie Frisbee. Boring - enough said.
Megan has become a flirt with men. A week or so ago when I took her to get her hair cut she spent the 20 minutes we were waiting for our turn talking to and entertaining a guy who was there to fix the tv. He was in my opinion slimy, though probably in reality harmless. It was the first time I realized Megan loves to talk to everyone (a bit like her mom there) and that she had yet to be taught to be wary of people she doesn't know.
Today she singled out the scruffiest looking dad at the pump it up drop in playtime and befriended him and played with him. He was nice and he and I started chatting once I realized she wasn't leaving him alone, but it kind of bothered me.
Both incidences are harmless, and yet both show that she has no sense of stranger danger, and both scared the *&%^$^ out of me. Its time to get the ball.
I found out from a mom friend that one of the local police departments has a program for toddlers. She's going to try and get it organize for our group. Any one else have any advice on the subject?
but I 'll get to that in a minute :)
Last week while organizing for our taxes, I found a gift certificate to Bay Wolf Restaurant. Jack had gotten it as a thankyou 2 years ago and we had forgotten about it. I called the restaurant and they said they would of course still honor it (no change of manager or anything). So I made a reservation for this saturday after confirming our sitter would sit for us.
Then I went on a google quest to find something else to do in Oakland that evening and found out a local professional theater was in its last days of a play so I got all the info and order us some tickets.
Well dinner was yummy. I had a lovely potato soup, which was so scrumptious I ended up sopping up ever drop with bread. Jack had a goat cheese appetizer, that he seemed to throughly enjoy (which had a few beets on it so I got to steal these from him).
For our mains Jack had the gnocchi, and I had the "Chicken alla diavola with creamy polenta". It was so delicious, but I would have loved a bit more polenta as the dollop on the plate was merely a tease.
We finished up dinner, but none of the desserts excited us so we headed out. It was early yet so we went for a walk around the Piedmont area of Oakland and stopped at a pete's for some warming beverages. On our way back to the car, it started to rain but not enough for us to worry, but then it started to hail so we ducked into a door way and drank our coffees while watching the hail come down. Like all hail storms it passed quickly and we headed down to the theater.
The play was put on by Theatre First of Oakland and was called "Love Play". It turned out to a be a 2000 year history of sex and love in one spot in England. The first scene was a roman soldier and a prostitute bartering, and it was a hoot, but the next scene was some men during the middle ages raping a woman (thankfully off stage) but still it was a bit more than I would have liked to endure. The rest of the play turned back to humor, and at one point one of the male actors actually undressed and stood stage center for inspection by a spinster gentle woman of the victorian era who had never seen a male naked before. It surprised me that the only nudity in a play about sex was a man.
Overall it was a wonderful evening topped off with an arrival home to find our sitter had noticed I'd stripped the bed and washed it, but we hadn't made it yet, so she did it for us - it was lovely.
Sadie's face is looking normal. The meds are working! She still has a huge bump on her neck, and we have a week+ of meds to go, but all is well.
The histology said its not really an infection, so now She's having an x-ray done to figure out where the fluid is coming from. I'm not sure I understand what is going on, but Jack took her up to the vet as I was still in PJ's and they wanted her right away.
More later when we know
Sadie has a big swollen face. I took her to the vet this morning after watching it grow for 2 days and not really comprehending that there was a problem. I just kept saying to myself - man Sadie's putting on weight, or in this light Sadie looks strange. Then last night I finally felt for myself under her chin and realized she had a growth of some sort. The vet thinks its an infection but did see a few questionable cells under the microscope. So we've sent it off to a lab to be looked at, and meanwhile she's on antibiotics. I tell you she's a brave dog but I'm not sure how much more she can take. - as long as she's comfortable and happy.
one of my guilty pleasures is Project Runway and I'm so happy that Chloe won it. Her collection was beautiful - so refined and cohesive. I had thought I hated it, based on the little snippets I saw online and in the episodes leading up to it. I'm so glad I was wrong. I didn't really like Daniel's finished collection - it was pretty overall but little details on most of the pieces ruined them, like the patch that the judges wanted to rip off. And Santino - what to say about him, his collection while I thought would be my favorite based on the teaser trailers, turned out to be boring and didn't fit the models. I was glad the judges called him on it.
It was also nice to get teary eyed with Chloe's success. She really did a beautiful job.
Now I just need to wait for Season 3!
For a while now, i've wanted to get tagged :) and I finally did by email, but I'm answering on my blog.
How well do you know me?? For instance, did you know...
Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Admin assistant Dade County (Miami) Morgue (photography dept)
2. bookkeeper
3. technical book editor
4. Barnes and Noble Bookseller
Four movies you would watch over and over:*
1.Truly Madly Deeply
2. Matrix
3. English Patient
4. Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth - though the new one was pretty good too)
*Four places you have lived:*
1. Melbourne Australia
2. Copenhagen Denmark
3. Miami Florida
4. Caracas Venezula - ok I don't remember it much but its sounds cooler than Ocala Florida
*Four TV shows you love to watch:*
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. ER
3. Battlestar Galactica - the new one on Sci-fi
4. Sopranos
*Four places you have been on vacation:*
1. Tokyo Japan
2. Walt Disney World
3. Maui
4. Tasmania
*Four websites I visit daily:*
1. Chubby Girl Brigade
2. Rosie's blog
3. Google and Google news
4. Astronomy Picture of the day
*Four of my favorite foods*:
1. Bread pudding
2. Grilled Chicken
3. Chinese or Thai
4. Italian
*Four places I would rather be right now:*
1. In bed asleep
2. at the movies
3. swimming
4. at the beach - where the water is warm like florida or hawaii
Four friends who I have tagged that I think will respond, I'm tagging bloggers so they can blog there answers
1. Jeanetta
2. Jacqueline
3. Jack
4. Heather
I do this thing, where I don't want change unless its my idea, so I say I hate something. Did it with Sopranos season 1 when Jack was trying to watch it, I poopoo it. Then Firefly (convinced I'd hate it cause it was a western). Both shows I found I loved once they were out on DVD. Tonight we finished off Firefly and then watched Serenity. The story is so well told, so well crafted. The sparing between the cast members is really enjoyable. Man I wish i'd jumped on this band wagon sooner.
I did it with Tivo too- Jack bought the first one and I wouldn't let him get more than a 1 month subscription - by the end of the week I wanted another one for the bedroom - with lifetime subscription.
Bet I would have done it with Dyson, had I not seen it with my own eyes before we got it.
I do change my mind and admit when i'm wrong - but I wish I didn't have to go through the negative time where I reject things out of hand. I want to be more open to trying new things.
Being a mom has made me try - I recently found out that I love slides - the big blow up ones like pump it up has - and I certainly wouldn't have bothered trying them, if Megan hadn't asked me to go down with her. I was content to stand at the bottom and watch, mainly because I was sure I hated it. Glad I was wrong.
This train of conscience confession is being written at midnight and i am almost asleep.
I've spent the better part of today trying to organize our expenses for our tax return. I have an appointment with the accountant on tuesday and basically i've waited until now to look for everything. I have a hell of a headache but i totally deserve it for not doing this sooner!
While Megan was watching a movie this afternoon I decided to vacuum the latest layer of dog hair. Oso who is terrified of the vacuum high tailed it to my bedroom (where Megan was) I then decided to shut the door so Megan could hear the movie over the vacuum. Both seemed fine.
I started it up and as I was heading back out into the garage to vacuum the rug going into the house I realized I could hear the rain - strange I thought but continued. As I was coming back in I heard and then saw Oso banging on the sliding door. I looked out beyond him and it was hailing - the fool was standing in a hail storm because he was terrified and needed my lap.
A couple of cute stories about Megan ...
1) a couple of nights ago at dinner I announced that I was "pooped" .. Megan looked very concerned - and asked me ...
"in your underwear?"
2) This afternoon Megan asked to go "swimming" before her nap. Basically we just climb into spa and Soak while Megan plays. I agreed and we both ran to get our suits on. I told Megan to grab a towel from under her sink - Ok she called ... when she arrived at the sliding door she had forgotten her towel. I sent her to get it and she went a few feet and turned around and said "now YOU wait right there for Megan! - don't go outside!
Jack beat me to the punch, but I will offer up my choices for Oscars - for what its worth. - i'm only going to pick from Movie's i've seen which rules out a few in each category.
Best Actor - I'll got with Heath Ledger - I didn't know he had it in him and his performance blew me away. Philip Seymour Hoffman is probably going to win it but I didn't see Capote so I can't really vote for him :)
Best supporting actor - George Clooney for Syriana (I have to wonder how i've seen all but one of the supporting actors but only 2 of the best actor nominees)
Best Actress - Felicity Huffman was the best of the ones i've seen. I missed Reese though and she seems to be the favorite. Guess i'll have to rent that one.
Best supporting actress - all good nominees - but I have to go with Amy Adams. She really was phenomenal in June Bug
Best Animated Feature - Wallace and Gromit of course.
Art Direction - Pride and Prejudice
Cinematography - Brokeback Mountain
Costume Design - Mrs Henderson Presents
Directing - Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain
Documentary - March of the Penquins
Best Picture - Brokeback or Crash - both surprised me I guess I'm going for Brokeback more than Crash but not by much
Screenplay - original - kind of want Clooney to win this one for Good night and good luck - but I really want Crash to win it
Screenplay - Adapted - Brokeback Mountain