The story of a young lady raised in the San Francisco Bay Area who moved to Houston, got married, had 2 boys and moved to a small Southeast Texas town. Read all about it.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

It's My Birthday

Well today is my birthday. I'm 32 and not afraid to tell everyone I see. My mom just called me for birthday wishes and I told her happy birthday, at least to her liver. She had a transplant 12 years ago, so I suppose it's like having a little brother whose birthday is also yours. You can't help but remember the date.
Anyhow, I've been up since 6am, got the Bear ready for school, roasted, ground & brewed coffee for the Husband, picked up the dry-cleaning, went to the gym and came home. I didn't expect my husband to have miraculously decorated the house while I was gone, but a "Happy Birthday" would have been nice. Three hours later, and I'm still waiting for him to put it together.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

I love Netflix

I love all kinds of movies. Musicals, foreign films, dramas, chick flicks, really bad B-movies. I don't love every movie, but I can tolerate a wide variety. A perfect example is the few times of the year my husband decides he wants to watch a few movies in one day. He will look through the movies we have and pick 3. And without a doubt they will be Gladiator, Braveheart, and We Were Soldiers. To be watched in that order. I have nothing against those movies. I just can't watch them in one day. One after the other. Just to be fair, he watches other movies too, but those 3 are joined together. The only time he watches them separately is when they happen to be on TNT or something like that.
Back to the original track. I was thinking of the movies I've watched this year because of Netflix. I watched My Favorite Year with Peter O'Toole. I love watching that movie, especially with my dad. Thankfully, BBC America just happened to be showing it Christmas night, when my parents and sister had come down from San Francisco for a visit. So while I felt a little sorry for my mom and sister having to sit through a movie that my dad and I can quote word for word, it felt really good to be able to quote a movie word for word and have a partner.
The Disney Channel had the cartoon Alice in Wonderland on during the Christmas break. I think it's alright as an introduction, I started to think of my favorite version of Alice. I remember watching a live version of it on PBS when I was little. What I remembered from it was the costumes, props and backdrops seemed to come from the actual books (I was maybe 6 or 7 at the time). So I set upon to find a copy of it, because the last copy I had of it was a 1983 BetaMax tape that my parents graciously taped for me. So I looked online, and found out that Netflix had it. And so this weekend, I watched with my 6 year old Bear. He loved it. He would ask me if the actors were real, because mice aren't really as big as little girls (BTW, Nathan Lane played the Mouse!). After telling him they were actors in costumes, he enjoyed it even more. I found myself remembering it far more than I thought. Maybe as he gets older he will want to watch My Favorite Year with his Mom & PeePaw.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

I don't want to be a Nitpicker.......

I know that 2009 is not even 24 hours old (at least here in Southeast Texas) but I'd already like a refund, please! The Bear decided he wanted to stay at a friend's house last night instead of partying with his parents. I guess I need to learn sooner rather than later that my kids are going to want to spend New Year's Eve with friends, but I didn't expect him to start at 6 years old. Oh well. He had fun. However......
When he got back this morning I noticed he was scratching his head. After looking at his hair and scalp for bug bites, I saw the dreaded nits. My little boy had lice! After several moments of scratching my own head, I looked at the Bug's head, and thankfully there was nothing there. But I still had to deal with the Bear.
So off to the neighborhood Walgreen's. After searching for the Rid and nit combs, I finally find the boxes on a bottom shelf, wedged between the blue-hair rinse and the hair straightener. Then I noticed the strange thing. The shelf was surprisingly bare. Was there a lice outbreak I wasn't notified of? What crazy Christmas Vacation stories are the kids going to come back with on Monday? Whatever. I picked up enough poisoned shampoo for the boys, my husband and I, just in case. I also picked up 4 plastic shower caps that my mom suggested I get. Thanks Mom!
Back home we went. I decided it would be better to wait until my husband got home so I could have help. I didn't think it would be as bad as washing the dog or cat (yes I've bathed my cat, but that's a story for another day). Boy was I wrong. Bear was easy. Well as easy as keeping a 6 year old boy with itchy scalp from scratching his scalp. Then on with the shower cap. Bug saw the "hat" and wanted one too. Great! This should be really easy, a willing victim, I mean customer. After having Bug run from the bathroom twice, I realized I should probably lock the door. At least he'd be confined. Saturate the hair, throw a cap on, and back to living room to wait. After 30 minutes, Bug decided he had worn the hat long enough and took it off then jumped on the new couch. Oh well, at least it'll keep the bad bugs off the furniture. Off to the shower!
Try to explain to a 2 year old anything. Especially that if he doesn't close his eyes the water will hurt them. It never works. The screams echoed loudly, but the Kiddos were clean. Then they passed out after getting PJs on. The night is almost over, then my husband wants me to look at his hair. Thank goodness, he's fine. Then he looks at my hair. And right now I'm waiting my 30 minutes with a shower cap on my head. 2009 is going to be a great year!