Stuff

I took these pics over the weekend - Genevieve and her stuff. She can't go anywhere without carrying some sort of makeshift purse and a plethora of crap. I worry these tendencies will turn her into a "bag lady" when she gets older - or at the very least a pack-rat.

My editorial advisor (Euge), is insisting I write about yesterday's windshield-wiper fiasco. Our windshield wiper had fallen off last week and in true Lardizabal-Jenkins style, we didn't bother (or know how) to replace it until it started pouring rain yesterday on our way home from the mall. So of course I can't see anything and we turn into the nearest cull-de-sac to avoid crashing into whatever we can't see. Anyone who lives here will groan when I mention that the neighborhood we are driving through is Eastborough. This is a neighborhood that has such a superiority complex that it became its own city....in Wichita. It has its own police, piddly "City" hall, and a speed zone of 20 MPH just so that the police (who have nothing else to do) can nail anyone who goes even 5 miles over that (my theory is they use the money to throw a "we're so great" party every year complete with radar guns as party favors). So anyway..we drive under a tree to avoid getting totally soaked and Eugene hobbles out (his ankle is still bandaged up and he has one of those cast-boot things on) to try and put the windshield wiper on. After about 3 minutes of sturggling and getting wet, the house we're parked next to opens its garage dorr and there's a family standing there. The wife proceeds to yell at Eugene that we're parked on their lawn (like one tire was on their grass) and to get off their property. Imagine this scene for a couple of minutes - a guy in a cast in the pouring rain with his family in the car, trying to put a windshield wiper blade on and all they can do is stand in their garage and yell at us? This is a great opportunity to warn those of you out there about the power of Karma. If you see such an opportunity to help someone in need and do not take it - well, you know the saying "Karma's a Bitch?" - enough said.

school schedule mayham

Sometimes I think it would be easier to give up fighting the system, quit my job, and spend the day shuttling my kids back and forth to various committments b/c it sure seems like the schools do not want both parents working. I found out yesterday when I picked up my son at 5:15pm, that he doesn't have school for the rest of the week. They're doing the "DIAL" mandatory testing on each kid for half an hour each and apparantly they can't handle conducting regular classes at the same time. Now I admit, I got the letter home saying they're doing this testing and that Josh wouldn't have "regular classes", but I didn't interpret that as "no school at all for three days straight". I've been spoiled with preschool, where, if your kid doesn't have class, he goes to Adventure Club: the after-hours care. I have Josh in "latchkey" (God I hate that term being a lowly latchkey child myself during my elementary and middle school years) and they posted their notice YESTERDAY AFTERNOON that there would be no latchkey Wed, Thurs or Fri. Now, Euge and I are transplants here, which means no family or close ties with moms that have nothing better to do than watch our kid for 3 days straight. I couldn't skip work for the rest of the week and neither could Euge. I thought fast and raced to preschool daycare where I begged the admin head (literally crouched and had hands in praying motion with a pitiful look) to take Josh in the preschool class. The Gods must have been smiling on me because it turns out a kid was sent home throwing up that day and that meant there would be a space for Josh today (the Gods were obviously not smiling down on him - wonder what he did?). Thurs and Fri looked good too. Now I have to find a way to take him to his scheduled testing time tomorrow morning, when I have 4 meetings scheduled back to back at the same time (I already called Euge and he has an appt with an orthopedic surgeon he's waited 3 months to get). I think I'll leave it in the hands of the Gods again (you can tell I'm a huge Battlestar Galactica fan), I'm too tired to stress about it.

Hockey time in Kansas

My little guy starts "Hockey Skills" Class tomorrow - I can't believe how excited I am - you'd think he just got drafted by the NHL or something. I think it's inbred in Canadians to put their kids in Hockey - I say "kids", not boys, because last time I went home to PEI it seemed there were just as many girls playing hockey as boys - awesome stuff. Euge and I were a little apprehensive about Josh's skill level and how he'll do tommorow, but after taking him skating for his last practice on Saturday, we feel better. I think we've officially graduated to the next level of parenting: the "teach your child a skill and and follow-through" type of parenting - which we've never done before. We're the reigning kings of half-baked parenting - one swim session here, one bike-ride there, 3 weeks of rock climbing, then 4 weeks of basketball - it's like we're actually passing on our ADD to our poor kid, who will never really learn how to do anything well. It was different with skating though- there's a lot monre at stake. There's the money involved (actually the grandparents bought the skates and equipment - amazing grandparents ), then there's the time involved to learn how to simply skate, and then there's the whole cultural thing. We faithfully took Josh to the rink twice a week for an hour each time - and each time we saw him get better and better. We added his equipment on piece-by-piece to get him comfortable skating in it and by the time last Saturday came along, he was zooming around the ice with full-equipment. I know this is so mom-ish but he was SOOO CUTE. I can't wait until tomorrow to see him in action. As a reward for all the hard work he (and us!) put in, we bought NHL tickets to see the Dallas Stars take on the Maple Leafs over thanksgiving weekend in Dallas. The seats are in the front section and I'm telling ya - as a Canadian, it'll be worth every penny!!

lippy

Have you ever bitten the inside of your lip, and then KEEP biting it accidently whenever you eat? it's...really....annoying (and painful). I am housekeeping my office this week - color-coding files, getting rid of documents from 2005 that I"l never need (until I throw them out of course). It's all very liberating and feng-shui-like. I think I'll buy a plant over the weekend and name it Hank.

Green Tip on-a-budget tip - start your own office-recylcing effort if no one recycles office paper. I take 3 boxes from work every Friday and recycle most of it but then I always have paper available as well for my own home printer, kids' art projects (paper-mache heads!!), and paper in general. You'll actually save money on this one and your eco-concious efforts will rub-off on others (my co-workers are now very good at putting all their office paper in the recycling boxes).

b-day weekend

As far as over-30 birthdays go, this was a pretty good b-day weekend. Ran the Wichita half-marathon (started feeling the blisters that now cover my right foot at mile 6 so that was not too much fun), had brunch at Ben and Sam's (AWESOME food - like "I can't believe my luck at be-friending gourmet chefs" food), and went out for Japanese steak house last night (the kids LOVE it). We were supposed to go up for a flight with Euge but the winds were really strong and sitting on the runway in that rinky-dink plane, my gut just felt uneasy. I looked over at Eugene and I could tell he was torn about what to do. The winds were really borderline "too strong to fly" but that plane was rocking pretty good and we were still on the ground! After a few minutes and checking the weather again he looked over and said "I just don't feel comfortable". He made a good call as the "Pilot in Command" - I was pretty proud of him and really relieved this birthday wouldn't potentially be my last! haha.



running...and running....


Finishing at last!!



Behaving ourselves at the Japanese steak house


The chef putting on the show


Catch the Shrimp!


Where did it go??

Ode to Oprah

I recently started using my DVR for good things (not that Spongebob, Dora and Diego are bad but after 60 saved episodes of each it becomes turtuous). I started recording Oprah to watch after I put the kids to bed. Watching the shows again was like being re-united with a former BFF. I admit it, I LOVE the shmaltzy "we can all be winners...live your best life...accomplish your dream" shtick that she spoon feeds us every day. It's like wrapping yourself in a warm fuzzy blanket. I laugh, cry, cheer and get totally sucked in and begin living the gospel. I've followed Dr. Oz's advice and rid my fridge of foods containing sugar, enriched flour and partially hydrogenated oil. I try to "pass it on" every day and do good deeds for strangers (some days smiling politely at chronic compainers is the best I can muster), I even started believing that maybe I can accomplish my own dream of being a successfull freelance video producer/journalist, live on the ocean or in the mountains (I'm not too picky -either will do), travel the world with my pilot/rocket scientist husband and gorgeous kids during the summer, all while being deliriously happy and then featured on Oprah herself! OK, OK, I agree, a lot of it is totally fake and corny, but I've realized that Oprah's biggest appeal is that it inspires you. You see every day people doing wonderful things, and it takes a little away from the sayings "I could never accomplish that" or "what can I do? I'm only one person." It's a great escape into optimism and I always want to accomplish a little more after watching. And after retiring up to the bedroom, guess what I can read before going to sleep? You know it - the "O" Magazine!

Thrifty Green Tip: Don't idle your car - it's a myth that cars burn more gas starting up than sitting there idling. If you're waiting for someone or something, just turn the engine off. You'll save emissions, AND gas money.

Better late than never

I hawked newspapers for United Way last week outside my work. Denise Neil (a columnist at the paper) was there too, so we hung out and made the best of it. Most of the time I was there (6:30am-8am) it was dark and quiet. The DJ from Power 93FM was there too and I love how they always make it sound like there's a BIG party going on wherever they are - I mean I wanted to go there too until I realized I was there and it was just the three of us, and a random car that would try like hell to avoid eye contact until we pretty much had to jump on the hood waving like idiots. Denise just emailed me the pictures she took and I guess I'd better abandon any plans I have to do any sign-holding jobs after looking at that first picture - nice. I redeemed myself in the second picture though.

In other thoughts...Joshua's teacher asked to speak to us last week after school (uh ohhhhh), but it was good news. Seems Josh scored so far off the charts in the mandatory reading comprehension tests that he will now be spending a few hours each day with, not first graders, but SECOND graders! If you're a diligent blog reader you'll know that I predicted my son was a genius way long ago.

I watched the Travel Channel last night, which is a big deal b/c the kids take it hostage over the weekend until I'm stuck with the theme song of "Diego and Dora" stuck in my head for the rest of the week (why does Dora get only a "backpack" when Diego gets to have a "rescue pack?" - sexist). Anyways, the program showcased the natural wonders of the earth - Amazon River, the Gadaloupe Islands (spunds like that anyhow), and the world's tallest waterfalls in Venezuela - MAN I wanted to go see all of them - I'm a traveler at heart and have been fighting the desperate urge to go off travelling again. I used to go overseas every year until the kids - yes joys of my life etc etc - how can I find a job travelling and producing TV programs? ahhhh, Travel Channel! Now I need to convince Euge to move to DC - NASA's Goddard Flight Center is there, should be a cinch.

Green Tip of the Day - The Eagle did an awesome 2-page article on re-useable shopping bags (I know, everyone outside of Kansas is like "well duhhh"), but local folks - these are great. They costs under $2 each and save plastic bags from polluting lakes, or just sitting in landfills for like thousands of years (they don't desintegrate). The reuseable bags also save the energy and resrouces going into making the plsatic ones. They're stronger, save you a ton of trips back and forth unloading your groceries and they're totally hip right now - you'll be the envy of the parking lot!! Dillons Marketplace sells them now, and offers recycling for plastic bags. Just get one or two each grocery trip you make and you won't feel the cost at all.