I can't make the peace

so I'm buying myself some.

It's only the second full day of summer vacation, yet my children are already screeching at each other every time I stop entertaining them.

But tomorrow they start a few days a week at summer day camp. It will be the first time that I have ever had them both occupied elsewhere for more than 2 hours and 15 minutes at a time.

It's going to be a sweet summer.

Plus, Henry had his first violin lesson today. Cary and I have no idea if he will want to stick with it or not, but I am really excited for him and fully prepared to plug my ears for the next year or so.

Ack, more asthma

Henry and Lucy slept over at my parent's house for the first time together last night. Cary and I had a so-so dinner at Sea Bar (the sashimi was tasty but whoever prepared it lacked knife skills, the Sojitos were too sweet) and split an amazing dessert at Butterwood.

All the while my cell phone remained silent.

We were most concerned about Lucy because she tends to reject any bed besides her own, but she did great. Unfortunately, Henry woke up wheezing at 4 a.m. and I'm pretty sure both my parents never went back to sleep.

Looks like we'll be off to the pediatrician tomorrow. I hope he doesn't need the nebulizer.

UPDATE: Henry does require the nebulizer with Albuterol and possibly Pulmicort. Does this justify the purchase of a Dyson Vacuum cleaner?

It's finally over

It's the last day of school. Oh yeah! Henry made it through another year and I'm proud and relieved.

Also, I review King Khan and the Shrines for Venus.

Sweet, sweet laughter

For me, one of '08's most anticipated releases, Head Like a Kite's There is Loud Laughter Everywhere has arrived. It met my expectations and then some, and I reviewed it for Donnybrook. Sweet laughter indeed.

But you don't have to believe me, you can listen to a live performance by the band streaming through your computer, or fancy phone, or whatever, this Thursday, June 26 at noon on KEXP.

I've got a soft spot for HLAK because it's lovely front man, Dave Einmo, is currently the only musician I have ever interviewed. And even though our chat never saw publication it was still a great experience for me, even though Dave was getting snowed on while I struggled awkwardly with the micro cassette recorder.

Sleeping like a baby tonight

Nothing is more exhausting than attending a picnic for first graders. That is all.

White Board Update

My mom tells me the White Board is already in the Smithsonian.

Classic WWW moment.

Florida, Florida, Florida

Tim Russert's coverage of politics was pretty much the only mainstream TV news source that I trusted. Ever since the 2000 election I paid extra attention to what he said, and he had a way of explaining the news that always left me feeling like even if I didn't like what I heard, at least I understood it better.

Tim Russert was also from Buffalo. Even though hometown pride around here tends more towards chest beating and overstatement, he always made me feel like someone from our area was really doing good in the outside world.

I am well aware that my sadness is false. I didn't know Tim Russert. I only felt like I knew him because I like the same sports teams and suspect I shared the same political views. I don't care. It is going to be hard to imagine election night coverage without him.

I think they should put his white board in the Smithsonian.

I wish she didn't need the squirts.

Despite my hopes to the contrary, Lucy has asthma. We now have our own nebulizer. I let her put the medicine in it herself. She says, "I want to do the squirts! I looooove the squirts." At least she has gotten used to using the machine because the treatments are still onerous even is she isn't screaming.

But, I've got some writing to share. I reviewed the new Twilight Sad mini LP, Here it Never Snowed, Afterwards it Did, for Donnybrook over here. Also here, at Venus I review March Forth by KaiserCartel.

Crap, crap, and more crap

Things I did today:

1. 3 loads of laundry (probably not getting folded tonight).
2. Watered the garden
3. Took the car to the shop
4. Vacuumed the entire house and cleaned one of the bathrooms.
5. Mailed out two new house cards and one get well card that have been sitting on my counter for two weeks. (BTW, send Jen14221 good wishes because she made it through surgery today.)
6. Visited the pediatrician because my kids both woke up sick after playing their hearts out at a birthday party. Henry has a sinus infection, but that's really no big deal because Lucy was sent home with a nebulizer. Yep, I spent the latter part of the day begging my daughter to sit still so she could inhale a cocktail of Albuterol and Pulmicort. She flailed through the entire first treatment, and almost kicked the doctor in the process, but by the last treatment she fell asleep. My poor baby is asleep in her bed in the t-shirt she wore today because she refused pajamas.

Things I did not do today:
1. Work on my review that's due tomorrow, thankyouverymuch.
2. Attend to the transplanting needs of my hair allium -- they need more sun.
3. Catch my breath ... until now

Because inquiring minds...

want to know:

We sent Henry in the clean socks. They were black, regulation soccer socks. The socks I forgot to wash are red and the uniform is red and black, so it wasn't that bad. I am just anal.

Bad Mama Files 4

This is a good one.

Henry had a soccer game yesterday. He has another game today and I completely forgot to wash his uniform. He only has one pair of uniform socks.

It was like 88 here yesterday.

Do I make him wear the same dirty socks again, or send him in the non-regulation pair?

Also as I write this Lucy is sitting in a drained bath tub happily playing with her My Little Ponies. Gotta run!

Oh, the fauna! It's not hissing and it's not the destroyer.

So I took a bunch of pix of all the birds that have been visiting our yard.
First, there are a male and female rose-breasted Grossbeak on my tray feeder.

Second there are two Baltimore Orioles, a male and a female on my hummingbird feeder. And another male about to eat some grape jelly off the deck.

Then we get to the Wild Turkeys. Almost as sweet as the whiskey. The first pic has a male and a female and a Cardinal. Then a male Turkey, but possibly a juvenile.
Then the grandaddy of them all, a male Turkey with mature plumage. He just waited at the back of the yard for the female to finish eating, and stopped visiting once he established this was a safe place to eat. So it isn't the clearest picture, but cool nonetheless.




Finally, I took a picture of this bizzaro moth.

Also, if you're still reading, I reviewed the new Ladytron CD, Velocifero, for Venus. Check it out.

Wait, wait, don't change the blog's name just yet...

1. This morning I paid bills. I tried three times before I wrote out all the checks correctly and got them into Quicken with the correct numbers. I voided one check.

2. I dropped Lucy off at ballet. My mother-in-law was going to pick her up and bring her home LATER. Sweet. I was waiting to turn right on red at the corner of Transit and Wherle when ... Guzsh ... my car was covered in fine, greasy dirt. Once I turned the first thing I saw was a car dealership with a car wash. Sweet. I thought I'd be really smart and get it cleaned ASAP. I ran it through the car wash but it was still filthy. I took the car to the end of the now incredibly long line. The dealership actually pulled their detail guy out of line ahead of me so he could clean my car. It turns out that my car, and most of the used cars in their lot were covered in hydrolic fluid from the excavator at the corner. All the filthy cars had contaminated the car wash too. So the nice car detailer cleaned off my car, then hand washed it. Plus I met the owner of the construction company and got his number in case the paint starts to fall off my car. One hour later I was headed towards home, but the car was still not clean, so I went through another car wash. Then in the afternoon I cleaned all the windows with Windex.

As annoying as this was, it could have been much worse. My window could have been open, or Lucy could have been with me.

3. Lucy returned from Grandma's after having a great time and being a good little girl only to cry and whine until her father got home.

But I've got a review of the new Walter Meego CD up at Donnybrook. Check it out.

Perfect Day

Yesterday was just about perfect. I slept in (7:50 a.m., y'all) after rolling in from a night out with the girls at around 2 a.m. I turned in a review then we went to a friend's for lunch, followed by a fund raiser for the Chinese earthquake. Then I went to the Cranial Sacral therapist (i.e. I got a massage). Then we had dinner with my in-laws. I had a feeling of general well-being pretty much foreign to me. I am sure it won't last...

Plus I've got some writing to share. I reviewed James Pants' debut for Donnybrook. Plus I gave Moo.com a thumb's up for Venus and they just put up my review for New Bloods from issue #35 on their website too.