My brother and SIL are visiting from SC, and my grandmother and my aunt came out from RI. Julie and Moey came down, and Beth and Cathy came with Hannah. The three toddlers had a grand old time, but I think the biggest hit was stuffing them all in the red wagon and bouncing them across my bumpy back yard. Good times! I can't believe my tiny baby girl is two years old!
My brother and SIL got Punk a big wooden doll house with furniture and dolls and everything, and Rick put it together last night so it would be ready to go today. It was a HUGE success. Everything was, really. She was so into opening presents this year. And everything was so up her alley: a puzzle, a giant coloring book, stickers, the doll house, a tee-ball set, Yo Gabba Gabba bath stickies, books, LEGOs, and an Elmo and Abby birthday video that my brother got in the impulse area of the grocery store.
And then, when we were winding down for the evening, a black bear cub sauntered into my front yard. So cool!
So who's coming over for cake??
- I feel::
grateful
- I feel::
enthralled
Not only did she do the exact opposite of what I asked (I asked her to leave the top alone so I could grow it out and cut the back-bottom because it was getting annoying, and instead she left the back-bottom as long as it was before and cut the top and sides and I look riDICulous), but she had this annoying tone of voice and kept talking down to me every time I would tell her I wanted her to do something else. It was so infuriating!
Finally I got tired of trying to re-explain what I wanted and got tired of hearing her tell me "that's not how hair grows" (umm, down?) that I said, "Can you just stop right now? I don't like the way you're speaking to me." And I paid for my haircut and walked away.
So irritated. SOOO irritated. With bad hair.
~//~
It was just the cap on a very frustrating day. Jen and I switched cars today so I could get her car inspected, and so I went to the bank to get some cash for the inspection and then realized there was no registration in the glove compartment. So I had to go to the RMV and wait for an hour to get a new copy of the registration, but the copy cost $25 (WTF? It's a piece of paper!) which of course took all of my inspection money... so I had to go /back/ to the bank and get more money and then go get the car inspected. Maddening!
- I feel::
irritated - I hear::and Punk is still not sleeping
Yesterday we hit the road around 8:30am and drove out to Natick. We made a brief stop at the Natick Mall to buy a birthday gift for one of Punk's friends and partake of the play space there. Jen also bought a little cheapo umbrella stroller because we forgot ours. Whoops. Then we were off to Beth and Cathy's for a little IVP brunch because Jen and Cait (and kids) were in town! YAY! There I ate too many delicious waffles and Punk got filthy. It was fun to hang in a circle of moms while toddlers took over the back yard. It was lovely.
From there we made a quickie stop at McDonald's to put a little food in the toddler (she wouldn't eat when there was fun to be had!) and wrap the present, and then headed out to Edaville Railroad for the birthday party. It was Day Out with Thomas and there were a LOT of people/kids there. We met up with Cody, got our tickets, and enjoyed Charlie's 2nd birthday party. Punk enjoyed her first ever ball pit, as well as multiple carousel rides, a ride on the Thomas train, a bazillion pieces of Thomas paraphernalia, and her first kiddie rides. She really enjoyed the kiddie rides and it was fun riding them with her. Good times!
On the way back, we stopped in Wrentham for a quickie dinner with Liza and Mike (who were also at the party) and then chugged along home. Punk did her usual "stay awake until 15 minutes from home" trick but transitioned to sleeping at home without a peep and slept until I woke her up at 7:15 this morning!
This morning we decided to forgo church in order to get a lot of errands and things done. Grocery shopping in the morning after Jen made a pancake and bacon breakfast for everyone. Cleaning during Punk's nap time in preparation for Punk's birthday party next weekend (I will have a TWO YEAR OLD come Wednesday), and then AGAIN I had to wake the child because she was sleeping and sleeping. I wonder if she is having a growth spurt. Anyway, after nap we headed to a local furniture store that is trying to clear inventory, and ordered a new sectional. Then Jen took Punk to the park for a while and I did more cleaning. Then we went out to dinner, and came back and I did MORE laundry.
Phew, I am beat. Tomorrow... more errands and cleaning. Fun, right? My life is sooo glamorous!
- I feel::
exhausted
Nuff said.
- I feel:: tired
- I hear::SYTYCD
We have had a full house this weekend!
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carina_s and the girls arrived on Thursday evening and are leaving tomorrow. Today they are out east visiting relatives and I am trying to catch up on tidying and assorted things. I am enjoying the calm quiet of nap time.I think we are probably boring the twins to death with our lame boringness. It's kind of hard with a toddler because the day tends to get broken down into chunks (pre-nap, nap, post-nap, bedtime) so it's hard to make big plans. And, umm, if you live anywhere near New England right now, you know that our weather has pretty much sucked the entire month of June. It has rained pretty much every day. Bleh. So the girls are always asking what we're going to do at any given time, or what we would be doing if they weren't visiting, and I don't think our answers of "chores" or "errands" or "you're looking at it" are quite what they had in mind. ;)
We have done a lot of eating out and a lot of hanging out. The girls enjoyed learning to play Bohnanza, and I took them all to eat wings and play trivia last night which was a good time. We went up to the Book Mill in Montague on Saturday for a little while, too.
It's times like this, with a house full of guests, that I really take notice of and appreciate the little family life I have with My Jennifer. (Even though it is boring to tweens!!) I suppose I don't take notice of it, and take it for granted a bit, until something shakes it up. Things are mostly seamless in our house and that sense of stability feels very nice.
It has been really good to see Carina and the girls. I've really missed them. The kids have grown up so freaking much.
- I feel::
good - I hear::court shows
i realize now i do not fear death... i fear my daughter will not be free when i die
- From the Twitter of an Iranian medical student
"If it bothers you so much, then why don't you stop watching?" seems to be the question of the last few days from my friends and family who know how invested I have become in the cause of the Iranian people (as I have explained in great detail here) The answer is simple: one day of caring is not enough. We must be the voice for the people of Iran who would otherwise be silenced. They are without reliable news sources, they are without mobile phone calls, text messaging, facebook, twitter, youtube, AIM, Yahoo, Google, and pretty much every other useful outlet for information you can think of. Yet they persist on the streets and on the internet in any way they can. The least we can do, whether we are across continents, oceans, or time zones, is spread their words safely.
My death is irrelevant.Wht is important is that u do not forget my words.We want freedom.i will die 4that
- From the Twitter of a protester in Tehran
Right now, brave men and women in Iran, both young and old, are sacrificing their lives for their voices to be heard. They must fear not only the police, but also the Basij -a force of men loyal to the government who plant themselves among crowds in plain clothes in order to discretely attack protesters and incite chaos.The protesters are peaceful. They mass together in crowds that are reported to grow in size every day. At night they have very few, if any, safe places to stay. Houses with satelite dishes were attacked by the Basij tonight, and during the 50 minutes of Twitter's maintenance, another university was attacked.
140 characters is a novel when you're being shot at.
- From another Iranian Twitter
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
- The most obvious thing to do is stay informed. Keep an eye on reliable sources on Twitter, refresh blogs and news sites that are covering the stories.
- If you are on twitter, retweet information from reliable twitters, but REMOVE THE USERNAME if they are in Iran. People have died because of the lack of responsibility by fellow tweeters and the media in this front. They can be tracked down by the government of Iran.
- Spread the information elsewhere. Repost this article or write your own on Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, or anywhere else you can think of. If you write your own, make sure you are concise and accurate. Link to your sources for people to learn more.
- Change your location on Twitter to Tehran or Iran, and your time zone to GMT +3:30.
- DO NOT auto-refresh and take down websites, even if you are asked. It slows down the internet for the rest of the people in Iran.
- If you make a proxy DO NOT post it publically, otherwise it is useless. Send it in a direct message to a trusted source.
- DO NOT spam the hash tag #IranElection with useless things to "confuse the government". This does not help at all.
USEFUL SITES TO FURTHER HELP
Cyber War Guide for Iran Elections
Green Revolution - How to Help
Anonymous - Why We Protest - Iran
STAY INFORMED!
Follow on Twitter: @ProtesterHelp and @StopAhmadi
(REMINDER: DO NOT REPOST PERSONAL TWITTERS OF THOSE INSIDE THE COUNTRY, EVEN IF THEY ARE RELIABLE!)
Live-blogging by Andrew Sullivan
General information from a poser on Fark.com
Live-blogging on HuffingtonPost
دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election
- original article by one_hoopy_frood on LJ
- I feel::
awake
Just this month alone, she has been invited to three birthday parties. One of them we had to say no to because
carina_s and the girls will be here from Sweden (YAY!). One of them we said yes to. And the other (that she just got the invite for today) we will have to say no to because it is the same day as the one we already said yes to. When did she get so popular?Today's invite was from a girl at day care, and it was in her backpack. She is turning 4, and is a really sweet kid. I'm sad to have to RSVP 'no'. I was sad to RSVP 'no' to this weekend's party, too, because we really like the kid and moms! Bummer. And I am always looking for more toddler craziness.
Next month she will have her birthday party (I will have a 2 year old!) and I think that's probably it. And then in August there will be at least one party, maybe two. Woah.
Having a kid is pretty surreal.
- I feel:: chipper
Awesome.
- I feel:: amused
It's been four years now since my father died, and now it's been two months (yesterday) since my grandfather died. I am so used to at least celebrating /something/ for Father's Day, and now what? It's been four years since I bought anything for my father, and now I don't even have to scout around for that perfect gift for Grandpa. Super sad.
Jen's father is alive (and well), but I don't usually take responsibility for that - she usually gets a card or whatever and I always concentrated on my side of the family. And I can't imagine not having Punk do some little Father's Day thing. I'm sure they will make something at day care (not sure; we started after Father's Day last year) and then what do we do with it?
My mother has been married to a man for 24 years. I do not consider him a father figure. Is that odd? This man has been in my life for 24+ years. I have never called him my step-father, only my "mother's husband." I did not live with them. I did not spend a ton of time with him. I saw my mother on Saturdays and John was often working. He was not parental; it was not his thing. He refers to himself as "Poppa John" WRT Punk. (Not to be confused with the pizza, I suppose.)
Should I send him something from Punk? I didn't last year. I have never sent him anything Father's Day related from myself. But when it comes to my side of the family now, he is the only grandfather-ly person Punk has.
That feels so odd to me. Fatherless on Father's Day. Punk has always been fatherless and I know how to deal with that, because we planned for that... but not for me.
Phooey.
- I feel::
contemplative
