I had the best weekend. So great it's taken me a day or two to actually get around to blogging about it.
One of my good friends turned 30 on Sunday. MAJOR freakout. Which is to be expected its a big milestone. It took me an ENTIRE year to wrap my head around the fact that I was 30. Now I am approaching 32 and I am feeling the dread: I am NEARLY at my mid-30s. I am hoping I do or don't do anything embarrassing when I go to Dallas this weekend to see U2. Weeeeell, we all went out to a fancy restaurant Saturday to celebrate. Fancy enough that I didn't take pictures like I wanted to...because DUDE we had beautiful men in beautiful gaucho pants bringing us MEAT ON SWORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was Chauma Gaucha (it's a restaurant review, I don't think they have a website). Much wine was consumed (by others--don't like the stuff) and much fun was had. The meat was amazing. What you do is when you are ready for the meat (they have an awesome salad bar, that's TOTALLY not like Soup or Salad, it has cheeses and steamed beggies, a ROUND of parm!!!) you turn over a card and MEN DESCEND UPON YOU bearing swords full of MEAT. Perfectly cooked, succulent pieces of flesh...dude I was in HEAVEN. I told Jamey to save up for my birthday, THIS is where I want to go!!! I was able to have some raw steak which, I totally prefer over anything else. I have always been scared of asking for raw, but since they cut it for you right off the sword and you can SEE it and you get a slice at a time...it's not as scary. So good. I was in heaven. Meat Heaven.
We had so much fun the time kinda ran away from us (and some problems with the check) and we missed part two of my friend's special evening: ghost hunting downtown! And yes it would have been JUST like Ghost Hunters on SyFy. But we all promised we would try to do this later on this month.
So we went to a bar/grill called The Flying Saucer for beers and to count down to midnight.
I had planned on going home, but my friend was shell shocked by turning 30. (Strangely enough she didn't remember any of this. She asked me when she woke up in the morning why I was still there and no one else was. LOL) During the early morning it rained and rained and then the sky decided to upend its self and it POURED. God knows San Antonio needs the rain, but damn it was loud! And the storm knocked out a transformer...so we were without power for 6 hours.
Okay so where were my kids?
Anne was with us, celebrating out friend's birthday and we asked her husband to watch the kids (the dinner festivities started before J. got off work). And HE said hey why I don't watch the overnight as well. (Famous last words) Well it didn't go so well and my kids (along with Anne's grandson) turned into shit throwing monkeys. My two are now on restriction this week. Yay!! I guess because they got their arses chewed off, they have been angels since. Sort of...well as much as my two criminal geniuses can be. I found this on my wall last night:
Micci wanted to save their hair for posterity. And yes, it is Kittenhead's fur, Micci and Lorelei's hair, and Gina's fur. (And yes my wall looked like that BEFORE)
Sigh.
Despite the rain, the local soccer fields were dry, so Mic was able to have his soccer game last night. Not only did his team "win" (they don't keep score officially but you better believe the kids keep track!), but Micci was the goalie for the first time and for the first quarter. He did an awesome job and played hard. And passed out when we got home that evening.
Saturday was a blur--kinda felt like I was in a fog all day. By the end of it, I was suprised it was over and even more surprised that it was in fact Saturday.
I took a few pictures of my odd day.
Micci's roly poly city. He loves these wee crustaceans. I even bought him a mini habitat. However, we've had so many in our front porch this year, his habitat wasn't big enough--so he improvised.
This just goes to show my daughter can ROCK anything: even a terrible hair cut. Even though I DREAD her teenage years, she is going to be an awesome woman. She has the attitude and charisma to go FAR in her life...and the smarts, dude, watch out!
Me personally I am vacillating between terror and joy, waiting on pins and needles.
While elsewhere, namely in D.C where my Mom is, it's snowing (well at least when I took this picture it was). To all those who are still freezing their arses off: please enjoy this!
I can accept 80s and 90s in March. I welcome the Blue Bonnets (although this year we are in a massive drought--and I am not sure we will have any. Poot.), because March IS proper time for Spring in S. Texas--just not in February. Grin.
We went out to the park on Tuesday. Lorelei got the first sunburn of the season. I totally forgot to put sun block on her. Oops. :( It was a wonderful breezy day! I had the new U2 album playing on my iPod (it's totally danceable). We bought a bucket of fried chicken from KFC and had a wonderful picnic.
Note: The red markers on her back are a design Micci made on her back with red marker on Sunday morning. It's a dinosaur (among other things).
I do love seeing the world wake up from it's winter sleep (in the case of us Southern parts, a light nap)... I hope to take more pictures of the wild flowers as they start to bloom this month and the next (if the drought hasn't killed them, that is).
I planned this for weeks. Casually turning Mic's attention to the TV when the commercial came on. Watching video clips and trailers on the internet. So when I asked him yesterday, "Hey Mic: Do you want to go see Coraline for your Birthday?" I knew his response. "Really? Awesome!!!!"
Hahahahaha! Not only did I get to watch a movie I really wanted to see (the book was awesome), but I avoided having to watch Hotel for Dogs or some other such banality. Woot!!
Coraline was really well done. We saw it in 3D, except for Lorelei. She claimed that she saw the movie better without the glasses. I am guessing she liked all the colours. There were some scary parts for the kids, but it was momentary and a good kind of scary (150% tamer than let's say, I am Legend). Mic left the theatre excited, and wanting to know if we could buy the DVD when it comes out.
Oh yes, today is Micci's 7th birthday. I can't believe it! I remember him as a teeny infant. This time 7 years ago he was very squishy and was nursing like a champ (after a bit of worry with his blood sugar and slight jaundice).
He had his birthday party on Saturday. I need to edit the pictures so I'll post that stuff tomorrow. I am on my laptop presently--and I don't have the awesome, razzle dazzle photo editing software installed here. (I can't find the install disk--I am sure it's in a very safe place.) The only friend that couldn't come to his party was able to spend the evening with him today at McDonald's. So I think my boy had a very very good birthday (filled with Bakugan!).
I hope y'all enjoyed your Christmas--filled with lot's of friends and family.
We went to bed late--so we also woke up late. We actually had to wake the kids up at ten. It was nice having a lie in in a traditionally early day. Grin. Christmas like always was a blessing: the kids were happy with their haul and I was happy with the new clothes their grandparent's bestowed upon them. I got a small knitterly haul and clothes that I picked out earlier this fall, but completely forgot about (this is why I am so great to surprise).
Jamey really surprised me--completely taken unawares. He got me a Personalised Novel, called Vampire Kisses (grin--yeah he knows me well). He had my name, features, along with one of my best friend's name (Quimby got to reprise her role as sexy wing woman. Grin, I think he's getting her back for luring him into my apartment in the first place.) and of course all of his pertinent info as the vampire in this story. I am half way through it and I keep blushing. It's a sweet, wonderful gift. And it really brings me back to An Scear as well...smirk.
Very surreal.
My brother is due to come to town in a few days. It will probably be the last time I get to see him before he gets deployed to Iraq this summer. He'll be in town for 2 weeks--he'll be dividing his time between my family and his mates. I just want to make sure I get some good hugs in, and perhaps a few Golden Moments--if I'm lucky. I am very proud my my brother--he's been wanting to serve in the middle East and has trained so long and so hard (he's a combat medic/jumper). My joy for him getting his heart's desire is (for now) overshadowing my worry for him. Like I said, I want lot's of hugs before he leaves.
Every year I attempt Nanowrimo--and it always seems like my muse becomes trapped underneath the marble boulder that is my writers block. This year I think a Knitting Bunny helped push the boulder ;-).
On the news front, my sister is not pregnant (we had a scare). Yes, this is my 18 year old sister. She is still living with her boyfriend and is engaged now...she's known him less than a year. The family is a bit worried about his possessiveness and jealousy and it's warning signs, but there is little we can do but pray.
I do not have cancer! I had a scare...and with the help of WebMD, I scared myself further. Unfortunately they don't know what's wrong with me. So after the busy new year I am making an appointment with my GP to find out why, I have abdominal pain, bloating, and exhaustion. Heck it may be stress! Life's been especially fun lately (said with the utmost sarcasm).
The kids have been exercising their need to test boundries. Lot's of fun. Homeschooling is going well--Mic's reading more every day. Lorelei is doing well with her counting. Next letters!
This election has been interesting. Not the outcome I would have liked (while I loved the idea of a non white male president, I disagreed very much with his politics and philosophies), but it is historical and affirming that our nation has come so far in just 40 (or so) years after the Civil Rights act. But I am very nervous about our future.
Fall is upon us and the weather in Texas is wonderfully cool. Thanks to our new doors, we've saved so much in our energy bills. For weeks we've had the AC turned off and the french doors wide open. Which reminds me: I finally have pictures of my loverly and long awaited doors.
The cats that used to visit Gina haven't been to keen on the new door---they come only sporactically and spook easily. And we have blocked up the openings on our fence, as well.
I am going to try to post more this month and of course thereafter...I have been neglecting my blog horribly.
Sorry for the outage this weekend (and Monday). There was a "wee" problem at our hosting site: one of their transformers blew and while there was no damage done to the data, they were without power. Fun fun. Good thing I don't depend on this site for any sort of income. Hopefully my dozen readers come back.
On to news from the weekend. Micci is growing up and has his first loose tooth. Woot! My sister, Kim, is just days away from her "visit." This visit hopefully will lead to her permanently moving down here. (San Antonio is an easier place to become independent than D.C.) The kids are super excited about her visit. For my part: it will very very interesting and I am sure will create all sorts of blog fodder.
We all saw Prince Caspian yesterday. Great movie. And of course it inspired me to start the next book, Voyage of the Dawn Treader. For some reason, it is much more interesting now than it was a years ago when I tried reading it. Shrug.
And better news: I haven't bought diapers in WEEKS!! Woot! And if we do have more kids, I am doing cloth. I am tired of the waste of diapers, not to mention the expense. Lori isn't completely potty trained--she still has accidents every day, but those are out numbered by successful visits to the potty. Woot woot!
Recently Mic has stopped calling me Mommy and Jamey Daddy. It's all Mom and Dad now. He's just too cool now.
I've been neglecting this blog shockingly. I have tons of pics to share. Just haven't gotten around to it. Bad bad Birdwell!
The kids gave me cards--each signed their name. Mic was reluctant because he thinks cards are boring--but cheered up when Jamey brought in the gifts. He later hid his card.
I got a beautiful Cally Lilly and a new crock pot--I've been dropping not so subtle hints that I wanted the new three in one crock pot. Grin. Also got the requisite candy and wine (it's kosher mom!!).
Video!!
Mic is on the far left---my camera won't zoom for video. This was last weeks game. I need to post what I took of yesterday's game.
And I survived HELL week! Sorry it took so long to post again. I've been feeling blah and blech. I am blaming the dreary weather and PMS (although the pms diagnosis isn't confirmed yet--but I can still blame the hormones right??)
Happy Be-Lated April Fools!
This week has been quiet. Lori did lose a fight with gravity, but in her words, "I'm OKAY!!" She got a nice goose egg on her forehead for her trouble. That girl is a trooper. Last week she got run down by a bike...even sported a nice red tire track. Did that stop her?? NO! This girl is amazing!
She'll have fun in soccer next year. Tonight I gotta take a snap shot of her with her pink soccer ball.
Like them?? Not always, not remotely. Lorelei is in her twos and it's just going to get worse as she turns three. Micci keeps telling me he wants a NEW baby sister--as in replace the one I got now I hate her. The amount of times the kids have gotten into things and made a mess just thinking about it makes me want to curl up into a fetal ball. I want to trade in the kids for a hamster.
Everyone says it's okay not to like their kids. As the saying goes, I love my kids--I just don't like them. Well...I am coming to the realisation that is NOT healthy. Loving them isn't enough--I NEED to like them too.
Stop bring the banshee and the mean mommy--and try to remember what it is like to LIKE my kids, to enjoy them, and stop offering my children to friends for the low cost of free.
So I am going to stop complaining about them--esp. on this blog--and dedicate time (maybe once a month or perhaps once a week) to sing their virtues.
Give me time though--I need to think long and hard abut this...
