First Day of Summer Vacation!

1. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, Miranda dressed herself this morning in her snow boots and coat. It's going to be at least 90 degrees this afternoon. Alex is also dressed for winter. I have yet to persuade either child, when I tell them to dress themselves, that the seasons have changed. Unless, of course, it's time to put their bathing suits on to go swim in the pool. On Wednesday, Alex was so tired from our day at the beach on Tuesday that he refused to swim. Poor Miranda was in her bathing suit for more than an hour, importuning him, with no result. (If I'm going to make the effort to get them ready for the pool and sit outside with them, it's got to be for both kids. Otherwise, it's just not worth it.)

2. I reread Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon this week. Perfect novels for sitting in the shade while the children swim. When I first read Gaudy Night as a senior in High School, I was convinced that my fondest dream--which, at that point, was to be a writer of fiction--was impossible and I should start looking for another career. While I was doing my undergraduate work, I intended to become a college professor. In fact, we first moved to New Jersey to give me a wider array of options for graduate school. Life, however, went in a different direction. But it's not over yet! Every time I think again about continuing my education, I remember that thing called "homework." Ewww. Maybe, someday, but not right now.

3. Alex is managing to stay dry at night almost every night. He seems to have an accident about once a week, which is amazing and we're really happy with his progress. He already earned a new flashlight for his first 10 days of dryness. He is now trying to go another 7 to earn a new book. He would actually go with me to the store and pick it out; that would be a new adventure. Since this morning he was wet, I decided it was a good enough time to wash everyone's sheets.

4. I leave for San Diego a week from tomorrow! We are still trying to figure out how to explain to the kids where I'm going since I've never been away from them more than 3 nights. My mother has suggested getting Skype video casting (or whatever it's called) so the kids can see me (or Grandma or Grandpa or whomever) when they talk to me. Marshall is presently working on it.

5. Not much stitching this week; I was too busy reading. I expect to be able to finish Page 4 before I leave, though, and plan to take it with me, though not on the plane. To difficult to manage without scissors.

6. Marshall did finish the repairs to the Super Beetle and spent last weekend in CT with his friend at the VW show. They had a marvelous time and came home tired but happy. My thanks to Ashley, Ben and Jen for helping me get through the weekend by playing with my kids when I went out or rested.

7. I am dreadfully behind on the grocery shopping. End of the school year parties and our beach adventure on Tuesday took up most of the week so I will need to spend the weekend taking stock of things so that I have all the crucial items purchased before I leave so Marshall isn't stuck running my errands while I'm away. Thankfully, Julia Koerwer has agreed to be here in the afternoons next week and the week after, so that I will have help getting ready and Marshall won't be overwhelmed with child care 24/7 for the entire week I'm gone.

And here's Jen.

Summer Movie Update #2

Summer Movie Planning Update: here's the list I made in March, with continuing comments:

March 12
Green Zone (never managed to see it-we were too sick to go out when my folks were visiting for Easter; waiting for video)
April 2
Clash of the Titans (poor reviews; may see it on video)
April 23
The Losers (saw it by myself and really liked it)
May 7
Iron Man 2 (loved it!)
May 14
Robin Hood (it has received poor reviews so we do not plan to see it)
May 28
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (went to see it by myself and enjoyed it more than I expected to)
June 11
The A-Team (we saw it together and while I liked it, I think I liked The Losers better)


Here's my up and coming list of movies to plan for:

June 18
Toy Story 3 (don't have a plan yet of when to see it, but still intend to, especially because of the rave reviews)
June 23
Knight & Day (the trailers for this look like a lot of fun)
July 14
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (the trailer is starting to win me over)
July 16
Inception (it would take universally scorning reviews to keep us from this)
November 19
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) (trailer finally premiered last week)
December 10
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (trailer premiered this week)
December 17
Tron: Legacy (this trailer, which aired in front of Prince of Persia, really looks awesome on the big screen)

Another Clean Friday

1. The woman who cleans my house called Tuesday night to say she was free Thursday (she fits me in whenever she has time) so her crew arrived yesterday afternoon about 1:30 so by swimming time (3:30 pm after Alex gets off the bus) the house was spotless. Except of course for the growing pile of paper that's been sent home by Alex's teacher that I can't quite force myself to put in the recycle bin but don't have room to store either. It's been on the dining room table for at least 2 weeks. Now it's on the floor in the front room. One of these days I will have to come to a decision about it, or enough people will trip over it that the majority of it will be destroyed and have to be recycled.

2. The Super Beetle's engine is running again, which didn't happen until last night, even though Marshall is supposed to be leaving tomorrow at noon with his friend for a camping trip and VW show in CT. So many people are praying for this car, it feels a little silly, but my dear husband has worked so hard, I want to see him sail off in it tomorrow. Besides, aren't we always telling our children in Sunday school that God cares about what we care about, so pray about what is on your heart? Well, this engine restoration has been on our hearts for lo, these many weeks, so every prayer is welcome.

3. Alex has been dry all but 3 nights out of 14, so he earned a new flashlight on Monday night. Happy boy, happy parents.

4. Today is the last regular day of school. On Monday afternoon, I will go in to Alex's classroom for his end of the school year party. Tuesday I'm taking both children out of school for a day at the beach with Mimi and Aunt Leah and the cousins. Wednesday is Miranda's last day and end of the year party and then Thursday, Alex has a half day and Miranda has no school at all. Silly snow days.

5. I have really been stitching at a furious rate (for me, anyway), so here is a new progress picture for you:

I have reached the top right corner, which means, if the design is 20 pages long and I'm working on page 4, I'm almost 1/5 done, right? Anyway, it feels good that it's really starting to look like something. Something pretty, that is.

6. Only 2 weeks until I leave for a week's vacation ALL BY MYSELF in California with my family for my brother's wedding. I am seriously counting down the days.

7. I finally got up enough nerve to start watching The Wire. I've been hearing for years that it's the best series on television, ever, but knew that it would require an emotional investment that I was afraid to make. Well, I'm halfway through the first season and everything the reviewers said is right. What surprises me (although it shouldn't) is how reflective it's made me about my own personal politics. I don't really fit in a straightforward box of liberal or conservative (I like to joke I can't afford to be a conservative with two special needs kids because I depend upon the state to provide services for them) but I understand better the traditional conservative's mistrust of large bureaucracies since any large structure made up of human beings is going to be broken. Once again, there are no easy fixes in this life and we are all dependent on God's grace to survive.

Bonus 8: I ran outside after the downpour we had on Sunday and took pictures of my flowers. They look at lot like last year's, but they're still pretty. See them here.

And here's Jen.

A Cool Summer Friday

1. The weather has been cool and lovely for most of the week (except Wednesday, when it rained all day) which has been great in all ways except for swimming. Alex tried to swim yesterday and just couldn't stand the cold, poor thing.

2. Wednesday night I was able to get a sitter and meet Marshall at church for a leadership meeting and then we went out for a beer to celebrate his birthday. We are also going out tomorrow night for dinner and a movie (The A-Team!). Since his birthday, Father's Day and our anniversary are all within 2 weeks of each other and I'm feeling celebratory, I've organized these multiple events. I also haven't had much time to talk to him of late since he's been working on the car every available moment, so I'm enjoying the time just with him and no other distractions.

3. The car is still unfinished although Marshall does get closer to the finish line every day. Say a prayer for us all.

4. The church yard sale is tomorrow so I've been gathering toys and other stuff I want to get rid of and packed them into the back of my car. Marshall will take them to church tonight and see if he can find us a new easy chair for the living room. Our kids have pulled out about half of the stuffing of our current chair and I expect the springs to go any day now.

5. Alex, collector of animals--alive and dead--found a dead juvenile rabbit last night in the backyard. I have been doing sweeps of the yard when we go outside to play ever since the bird incidents but apparently, I missed this one. I did find a dead mole earlier in the week. Ugh.

6. My cross stitch is really coming along. While stitching in the last week, I've watched all of last season's episodes of The Closer and am now working on a marathon of all 4 series of Lewis. Here is an updated photo and here's a reminder of what it will look like when finished:



7. Our Internet service is finally fixed. Bless my husband who spent hours hassling Verizon last week to get it fixed.

Bonus 8. Our regular schedule of Youth Group meetings finished last Sunday night with a picnic in the park. In order to keep in touch with all the students I've spent the last 9 months building relationships with, I've started a summer postcard campaign. Which means every morning I sit down and write postcards to 2 of our young ladies (3 on Fridays and Saturdays to make up for no mail on Sunday). My plan is to send cards to all of them the week I'm in California, which may mean I spend most of my plane ride home writing since there are 35 students on my list, but I'm enjoying myself. Of course, my style is very much stream-of-consciousness so I might write about anything from Alex's latest adventure to how much laundry I did today. Still, it seems a worthwhile endeavor.

And here's Jen.

First Summer Friday

I know, I know, officially, summer doesn't start until the solstice. But the weather is warm and the children started swimming in the pool yesterday, so that means it's summer here.

1. Yesterday was a trifecta of unhappiness. I woke up with a summer cold (which is thankfully abating today), we received a large packet of papers from the IRS that said we significantly underpaid our taxes in 2008 (I checked and they're right--we accidentally under-reported our income for 2008--which makes it a very expensive typo), and Maytag released a large list of dishwashers whose heating elements have been recalled because they keep catching on fire and ours is on the list. The good news is, after spending quite a while on the phone with Maytag, I was able to schedule a repairman to come and replace the heating element this afternoon. So I am anxiously waiting for the phone to ring which will mean the repair man is on his way here.

2. As I mentioned above, the children were able to swim for the first time yesterday. Marshall started setting up the pool on Monday and had enough of it assembled for the children to swim happily yesterday. The water should have been freezing, but they still swam for an hour before I pulled them out to eat dinner. For the first time, Miranda (with her flotation device) got right in and started paddling. Usually, she hangs onto the ladder for at least a week.

3. Miranda used the potty several times at school this week. Now, she has yet to duplicate the behavior at home, but it's a start.

4. Also on the potty front, Alex went dry all last night with no pull-up. We have hopes of this becoming a habit.

5. Even 18 hours without a dishwasher I can use is annoying. The sink is full of dirty dishes. Of course, I could have washed them by hand, but when it's going to be fixed today, it does seem like a waste of effort. :)

6. Miranda's sleeping habits are still off. Tuesday morning she did her 4 am wake up and didn't nap and went to bed crying pathetically. Last night, of course, she was up from midnight until 2 am, thinking it was morning, wanting breakfast and for us to play with her. Thankfully, she did go back to sleep eventually. And so did I.

7. Marshall is still hard at work on his Super Beetle. He didn't manage to have it done in time for the show in Virginia last Sunday but he decided to attend the show anyway and made some great connections with other VW fans.

Bonus 8. Marshall has spent several hours on the phone with Verizon this week and our internet connectivity is still not improved. If we can't find a solution soon, we may have to (gulp of dread) return to Comcast. Dang.

Extra Bonus 9. My calla lilies are in gorgeous bloom. I have so many this year, there are plenty to share. Come by and pick a few. I do have a few photos of last years flowers here. And last year's irises are here.

And here's Jen.

Yet Another Bleary Friday

1. Miranda's been up before the sun 3 mornings this week and I was so frustrated with her at 4:15 this morning that I refused to let her get up and stayed in her bed until she fell back asleep, after 5. So I've been making up for my lack of night-time sleep with a series of naps that have just left me feeling vague. And my to do list is seriously suffering. Pesky girl.

2. We had our back-to-back IEP meetings Wednesday morning and they went really well. Miranda will be staying in the same program with the same teacher next year, where she has really flourished. So much so, she didn't qualify for summer school. Alex will have summer school in the building (Larchmont School) where he will start in a self-contained autistic class in the fall and, as appropriate, spend time in a mainstream 1st grade class. Academically, he's right on schedule, but his behaviors are keeping him back, which we did know and experience daily. It will be sad for me to have him leave Springville Elem, which has been such an awesome place for him, but I will still be in the building for Miranda. Of course, that means, in the fall, 2 buses, 2 buildings, 2 schedules. I think Alex will like having his own bus again, though. No more annoying little sister bugging him on the morning bus.

3. I was planning to sneak off after bedtime tonight to go see Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time by myself (rated as it is to be cinematic cotton candy, Marshall doesn't care to view it) but since I spent the morning sleeping instead of running errands, we'll have to see.

4, Marshall continues to work on his Super Beetle, but lots of unexpected problems have cropped up, so he might not make his deadline of tomorrow night to finish everything so he can take it the Manassas, VA, show on Sunday. :(

5. My irises are done, as of yesterday, but my beautiful pink calla lilies are just about to open. And I have red Asiatic lilies that are new this year that are gorgeous. And my butterfly bushes have recovered from the bad winter storms remarkably well and should have blooms in a week or two. I love my flowers!

6. I finally got back to stitching last night. I had strained my right arm last Friday and hadn't been able to stitch until yesterday. It still hurts, but it's much better. I'm sure it would have healed more quickly if I'd limited my activities more.

7. My cleaning lady called Monday night to say she had time for me Tuesday so that house was clean, for a few minutes, on Tuesday. Actually, everything but the living room still looks fine. That's why we call it the living room: we spend almost all of our time in here.

And here's Jen.

I really should just start numbering these Friday posts

like Jen does, instead of trying to come up with a silly, catchy title. Silly Sarah.



1. Spent all of Wednesday afternoon and evening reading two books. I was reading through the comments of a post on the Slactivist blog (see link on right) and somehow the conversation was talking about books and Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy by Jean Webster. I had read the former when I was a girl but never knew about the sequel. My library didn't have a copy of both of them, but Inter-Library Loan (one of my best friends!) is still operating (although it might disappear in a month due to budget cuts-ugh!) found it for me and so I spent my time with a book in my hand (instead of my usual laptop), following my children around as they played. Daddy Long Legs was just as good as I remembered (the film with Leslie Caron is actually not too bad) and Dear Enemy was excellent and ends with quite a bit of drama. I highly recommend both books, and not just for young adult readers.

2. Alex did not have a good week last week, biting a least 2 people and probably one of his friends at school as well. (Of course, given Miranda's behavior on Saturday, I'm really not surprised he bit her; I wanted to do the same.) So, in consultation with his doctor, we have raised his anti-depressant dose again. It seems to be helping so far. I love experimenting on my children with psychoactive drugs.

3. However, on a good note, Alex doesn't want to sleep in pull-ups anymore so we may spend the next week trying to go dry all night with him. That would be a wonderful thing! He made it through most of last night just fine.

4. Got ahead of the laundry this week, finally. And got back to walking, so it was a decent week for me, especially since bedtime with Miranda wasn't as traumatic as last week. Last Friday night, we had to lock Miranda in her room and let her cry herself to sleep. I really hate doing that. However, while I was waiting for her to fall asleep, we were in between storms and when I went out on the front porch, there was a beautiful rainbow, which I was able to share with Alex. Rainbows are very high on his list of favorite things.

5. Today was Field Day at Alex and Miranda's school and they both came home from school yesterday with notes asking me to send in frozen disposable water bottles because the weather today is hot. The problem is, we use reusable bottles so I actually had to go out and buy some last night.

6. I have 170 GB of videos and music on our server right now, and the video portion would give me enough to watch for almost 30 full days, 24 hours a day, and I still have been having trouble deciding at night what to watch while I stitch. I actually watched live TV several times this week, switching channels during the commercials (we don't watch commercials). I think I'm a little over-loaded with options. But then, I've never been terribly decisive. Part of my problem is, though, that most of our stuff belongs to the list of serious movies or series, with not a whole lot of fluff, or I've watched the fluff too many times (I'm talking about you, Speed Racer). (Somehow, 10 Things I Hate About You, one of my absolutely favorite movies, just isn't the same since Heath died.) And lately, I've really needed fluff to watch because I feel so strung out from trying to keep up with my kids. Marshall is down to the wire on his engine rebuild of our 1972 Super Beetle, so he's been working long hours in the garage after long hours at SIG. We just need to get through the next 2 weeks and life should get a little easier.

7. I realized this week that the reason I hated vacuuming was that I had a lousy vacuum. My new Oreck makes it so much more fun. I managed to pick up and vacuum more than half the house yesterday in about 90 minutes. Practically miraculous!

And here's Jen.