In full bloom

I LOVE THE SPRING!

The garden is in full bloom now, and my brother-in-law called yesterday from San Francisco, on a flight home from Osaka (he's a pilot) wondering if he could come out for a couple of days. Sure, I said, so he's here and right now outside enjoying the yard, the sun and the warmth with MQE and the kids. It looks so different from the bleak twigs that greeted us when we arrived home from Nashville a month ago, he was really surprised upon reaching home last night from the airport.

These days brighten my spirits and lift my mood and if I could spend all day long outside working in the garden and forgetting about all the other responsibilities that await me indoors, I would in a heartbeat. Last week that is precisely what happened. That is why I had eight loads of laundry to do yesterday.

MQE is feeling much better--so much so, in fact, that he is planning to be in Galveston next week for a conference, so that should be good for him. After that, I would imagine he would be ready to go back to work full-time...right??? I guess we'll have to see about that, as we're currently on the two-day-a-week plan at the moment.

C has the last molars teasing him again this week. He just turns into a mean, nasty little man and there is little I or anyone else can do to make the situation any better for him. It is exhausting--but fortunately it is for him, too, as he is sleeping well through the night. Oh, and this is week 2 of no more naps. Sigh. That was short-lived.

Time for class! Toodle-oo for now.

this week's housewives...

Wow. Little Scavo is going to learn one day that it won't be so easy to ask a girl to show her unmentionables for neither a ginger snap nor a fudgesickle, no matter how tempting the treat might appear! Although that was a great little writer's genius detail, having the babysitter sucking on a fudgesickle when Lynette walked in the door...

So, has Susan finally woken up and smelled the coffee? Carl needs to get his you-know-what together and stop trying to play her. I feel bad for their daughter. And say, where the heck was Edie, anyway?

Speaking of smelling coffee, um, Gabi???? Maybe you should start drinking some of that caffeine-laden stuff. That's what motherhood is all about, I have discovered in my sleepless nights, as have most of my sane mother friends. Sure, I don't care to propogate a potentially unhealthy dependency on stimulants...but reality is reality and being a mom is sinonymous to not sleeping. And that is just that.

Bree gets my applause for the night. She played the situation both with her father and stepmother and with her son very well--I look forward to watching further developments in that arena. I was also happy to see her appear at the courthouse (note, not in court--haha) with her hot sponsor.

colored eggs...

I remember a rhyme we used to chant when in elementary school:

Knock-knock
Who's there?
Big Bad Wolf!
What do you want?
Colored Eggs!
What color?

Then the person who was the Big Bad Wolf would start listing off all different colors until the color of which the other was thinking would run and the Big Bad Wolf had to catch her...boys never played that game!

There are over 200 colored eggs in our front and back yards today. They just seemed to magically appear overnight. Maybe it happened when the Starbucks Easter Bunny Delivery Service showed up this morning with coffee and pastries for breakfast (I just about typed breakfats...talk about a freudian slip-of-the-finger). Hmm...

Somehow K didn't seem so surprised to wake up to see eggs all over the grass. She knows what to expect. When her friends start showing up today, it will change. The Children's Hot Chocolate order from Buckies made her much more excited. C didn't seem to notice yet...he, too, will get excited once he figures out what is going to happen once the whistle blows at 12:30 today!

Good Friday

It is Good.

It is rainy, the sky is rather dark, but the grass looks so much greener with spring rains, the flowers seem to open to the raindrops as a chick opens its beak to its first wormy meal from its momma. The colors are splendid today, it is not a stormy rain but rather a gentle, spotty potsu-potsu at best, but this is enough to make me smile. Yes, Spring is here. Easter is this weekend. So much glee to behold, especially among the young, this weekend.

Time to sit back and enjoy the shrieks of joy!

pre-Easter blues

One would think that, with weather greatly improving, temperatures above 70F/20C, sunshine abounding, and flowers bursting forth in full bloom that only smiles and happy thoughts could result. This has just not been one of those weeks, however. Although working out in the garden each day this week, planting new flowers and ripping up grass for the new vegetable garden this summer, that has not brought the immense pleasure it usually grants my soul. Instead, the highlight thus far this week occured yesterday, when I decided that class should meet outside on the lawn instead of in the classroom. The students were able to amazingly remain on-task and focused on each activity, and the fresh air did us all a great deal of good. This impromptu change of scenery was facilitated by the fact that I was not, obviously, planning on using my stereo in neither class yesterday.

And there remains so much to do between now and Easter--it has become much like Christmas in that sense, in that it sneaks up on me and then, SURPRISE, I only have 4 days to get everything done. Fortunately for Easter Day I have no responsibility but to get the children and MQE dressed for Church, and to drive them all to M&P's house for Easter Brunch--we decided this year that, considering the age of our two youngest boys, it would be much more pleasurable for the mommys (not to mention a lot less waste of good money) to not, in fact, go out for Easter Brunch but to eat in instead. P is a professional chef by education, so all I have to do is bring the champagne for mimosas. I suppose that is something to anticipate.

Then we have our 4th annual Easter Egg hunt and potluck lunch on Saturday at my house. It is always quite an event. Fortunately the weather promises to be absolutely splendid this year, so we are going to set up the food outside in the backyard instead of inside the dining room--less of a housecleaning mess should thus result, right? We shall see.

With two doctor appointments on Friday to see how MQE's back is healing, the end of the week is really rather full.

I think part of my problem now is that I am simply exhausted. C is no longer napping, and is not sleeping well at night, either. For hours on end in the middle of the night he tosses and turns and whimpers and whines and I can't get any sleep. Plus, I feel mentally and emotionally drained. If I could just hide myself away somewhere and sleep for a week, I would in a heartbeat. But then...no meals would be made, no laundry would be done, no house would be cleaned and no diapers would be changed... not to mention my schoolwork! So I guess that an escape is out of the question.

Funny...we were just looking at a yoga pamphlet at our local burger joint on Saturday, and MQE just now brought down a copy of that same foleto that was delivered to our doorstep. Hmm...is this a sign?

there needs to be a word for this

Perhaps it is my job to invent a word...

That single word, verb, to describe the action of drawing one's forefinger across the top of the spiral of whipped cream sitting atop a decaf iced mocha (or input own drink of choice here), licking it off of your finger and thoroughly enjoying the resulting taste sensation.

Schlomalate? (shla' muh leit) Schlomalation. Schlomalating. Schlomalated at Starbucks. Hmmm...

Sounds schlomalatingly delicious to me.

a little night music

okay, a very little night music. But it was enough to feel good.

I never have the chance to pick up my violin anymore, but tonight for some reason I had las ganas to do so, and even with fingers locking up every so often coupled with the humbling realization that I just don't have what I used to have, it still feels good to be capable of producing decent sound, that could even be called music every so often.

My violin used to be my greatest passion. I am sure that is what kept me on task as a young person, the discipline of 3-4 hours a day of practice, the self-motivating desire to become the best self-taught violinist I could, perhaps a little more money for college. It also became for me an instrument of self-expression, allowing me to voice emotions in an uncriticized way; the pleasure this emotional outlet brought to others was also personally gratifying.

I went far, farther than I could ever have dreamed, with my violin, and our passion lasted longer than most. With time, however, passion fades as other interests develop, as one's personal realm widens--and I left my violin behind. Sitting in the corner, collecting dust, I would take it out only on occasion or when asked to play for a certain event in my post-university life.

Although my fingers lock up, my hands cramp after only about an hour of practice, it is nice to "fiddle around" every so often, and the music does bring me back to another place, another time in my life...is that what staying young at heart is all about? I am not certain, but something keeps me from getting rid of this violin and, these every-so-often moments are what validate my decision to still hold on to what used to be...

rockin' and rollin'

We had some thunderstorms pass through last night--nothing severe, and nothing like what I heard happened in Nashville--jeez, that is where The Accident happened. But enough to get the kids all nice and fired up right at bedtime.

The observation went so well, as always--I don't know why I always stress about these things.

Since I have a relatively light workload this weekend, I am taking advantage by trying to CLEAN UP THIS OFFICE. Organize, file, recycle, put-away in proper places...you know the drill. A bit of a pain, but must be done.

And that is about the extent of My Life right now, besides spending 4 1/2 hours at the car dealership yesterday getting a safety recall on the Truck taken care of...it is our only vehicle now, we need to make sure nothing happens to us in it as well.

Ah--something to look forward to--tickets to Garrison Keillor in May, kind of for our anniversary. We decided to go ahead and do it, but we're going to the show that is not the live broadcast so we can get better seats.

It always helps to have something to anticipate.

tis a week...

Between correcting the last class exams before finals, compositions and prepping for an in-class observation tomorrow, I am swamped. I am ready for a vacation...a REAL one this time. It will happen...South America, perhaps, for a short rato this summer? I can only hope.

this week's housewives

Boy, talk about the promos being a LOT hotter than the show...

I am so bummed that Peter (Bree's now ex-sponsor) is just that...and what a disappointing twist. An SA in recovery. And I thought Bree was gonna get some...and some hot at that. I guess we'll have to see what plays out there. I mean, I'm still hung up on Susan and Mike, for goodness sake.

Go, Lynette. What one heck of a deposition. It helps to be informed of the truth...and at that, all of the truths.

Carlos' face, upon learning of the mother's puesto with the Cowboy Rodeo, was classic.

Felicia sure had a way of crushing Edie's engagement party (but she deserved it...)...and boy, the rocking and rolling upstairs between Frank and Susan--well, we all had to ask ourselves when that was going to happen, being that the sexual tension between the two of them from the very first episode has been sky high.

Gabi and Carlos are going to make great parents...if they can come up with a better way than stealing the baby!!!

Quote of the night, upon Gabi's complaint upon receiving the phone call that their birth mother was in labor, and on not having four more weeks to wait for the birth of their baby, the comment of the "inconvenience" of the situation prompted Lynette to respond, "Welcome to parenthood."

And what a welcome that is.