I hate it when July 12, 2007

I outsmart myself. 

A few weeks ago a friend gave me a couple of Gameboys of some sort.  I only wanted them for desperate travel times so I didn’t really want the boys to know I had them.  She’d put them in some shopping bag because the boys were with me at the time so I needed to smuggle them home, undetected. 

Now, here we are, T-48 hours on a longish trip.  Thought it would be a good idea to bring these, just in case.  Not so much for the plane ride as they are pretty used to these flights but there’s going to be an 8 hr drive in there. 

Well, after I successfully smuggled them into the house, I then stashed them somewhere very safe from snoopy curious eyes and hands.  Obviously I found a very clever spot to put them in.  So clever, in fact, that even I can’t find them now. 

Why is it that I can remember the birthdates of people I haven’t seen in 25 years, phone numbers I haven’t used in years, credit card numbers complete with expiry dates and CCV #’s but not only do I have no idea where I put a bag with  a couple of Gameboys, I’ve been through the whole house and not a sign of them. 

When DH hides stuff from me, I can always find it.  I guess I should just get him to do the stashing next time.  Or maybe I should learn the fine art of drawing a buried treasure map, pirate style. 

Note to self July 11, 2007

The kids may be watching too many movies. 

DS1 (yelling): MOM!!! DS2 bit my finger! 

DS2 (with his characteristic twinkle in his voice): That tastes like chicken.

3 boys, 1 set of walkie-talkies and some imagination July 11, 2007

DS1 on the walkie talkie to DS2&3 “Mayday, mayday, all hands on deck.  It’s turning into a tornado.” brief pause. “Please leave all electronics below board”.

 I was waiting to hear “as they may interfere with the ship’s navigational systems”. 

Right now July 10, 2007

I have 15 minutes left of paid babysitter watching the kids so that I can get some work done.  Work, which I am ridiculously far behind on.

 But I’m not going to work.  I’m going to put my feet on the desk, close my eyes, listen to the itunes and soak up all the peace and quiet before re-entering the chaos zone.

The problem with clever kids July 10, 2007

is that you may find yourself losing a game of Scrabble Junior (yeah, the one that the grownup playing really should be able to win…) to a 4 y.o. and a 7 y.o.  I like to think of myself as a reasonably smart person.  In order to preserve this idea of myself, I may need to stop playing games with them once they are in the double digits.  Or maybe I’ll just stick to the games of chance

Shh, don’t tell Daddy July 3, 2007

Tuesday is pancake morning.  No one is going to let it go by.  Well, OK, DS2 and DS3 do not generally keep track of what day of the week it is.  DS2 in particular.  He still asks me at least 4 times a week if tomorrow is a school day and he’s been out of (pre)school since June 1.

But DS1 knows.  And one simply does not cancel pancake morning.  So, this morning I realize there is no syrup.  I could swear I put the bottle in the fridge at least half full very recently but, as we’ve previously established, my memory sucks. 

We do, however, have some of that chocolate syrup meant to top sundaes.  At this moment, post breakfast, we have significantly less of it than we did about a half hour ago.  It was a hit.  I’m probably going to pay for this in the long run.  A price will be exacted for this little parenting improvisation.  The currency will be pestering.

They may turn darker shades of brown later today as I’d already given them large cups of chocolate milk when they got up because it expired yesterday and needed to be used up. 

Remarkably, there is peace in the playroom even with all that early morning (well, morning, anyway)  chocolate consumption.  Which is more than could be said yesterday after a healthy breakfast.  So, I guess chocolate really does have magical properties.  Not that I didn’t already know this.

What in the Hell… July 2, 2007

That is DS3’s new favorite expressive phrase.  Perfect.  Adopted just in time to use during visit to the the very non-curseword-friendly grandparents.  At least Grandpa is hard of hearing and will not likely pick it up if it is uttered in his presence.  Grandma… well, her hearing is just fine. 

This should be fun.  I wonder if I can mutter something about “the things they pick up at preschool… tsk tsk” and be believable. 

A simple plan to save the world July 2, 2007

There is an article here that is very long but very worth reading.  It’s from the 05/04 issue of Esquire magazine and I only ever read it because I was stuck in the waiting room for a couple of hours once while DS1 was doing some testing.

With the state of the world being what it is, I am thinking of this article more again.  I think it’s at least as relevant now.  There’s a lot of hope for solutions in this writing.  Of course, it would take people who think in terms of real solutions like this man in our positions of power.

Did I mention the article is really long?  It is.  But totally worth the read.

Here is an intro:

A Simple Plan to Save the World
by Jeffrey Sachs
Esquire, May 1, ‘04
Ending extreme poverty, disease, environmental degradation, war? We asked one of the world’s most influential economists — adviser to Kofi Annan and Bono alike — what would have to be done to put the world on a course to do exactly that. What follows is his modest little plan.

It is increasingly hard to believe the old adage that “people get the government they deserve.” Despite having everything going for it — wealth, technology, unchallenged military might — the United States is facing a spiraling crisis made in Washington: a budget deficit of gargantuan proportions, a voracious military budget that buys us neither security nor peace of mind, a reckless neglect of man-made climate change, and a foreign policy that in three short years has made us one of the most feared countries on the planet. This is a crisis, I believe, that reflects profoundly misplaced priorities regarding America’s relations with the world. In this article, I want to advance some concrete ideas on how to set those priorities right.In spite of our problems, I am an optimist — not an incorrigible optimist, but one based on facts. It is for this simple reason: The key problems that we have are all indeed solvable. Every great challenge that we face — climate, biodiversity, global health, extreme poverty, growing violence, and the “clash of civilizations” — can be solved, and at modest cost and with huge long-term benefit. We’re facing the bargain of a generation, a chance to fix the world and forge a prosperous and peaceful place for the rest of the century.The world is racked by instability resulting from “failed states,” places where hunger, death, and disease flourish and where young men rampage in the face of poverty, mass unemployment, lack of education, and hopelessness. Yet the problems of extreme poverty are not the visitations of God’s plagues on corrupt and hapless nonbelievers, but rather the result of societies suffering from the lack of health clinics, a shortage of schools and teachers, lack of rural roads, and the like. These countries need major investments in social services and infrastructure but simply lack the resources. The result is a poverty trap in which solvable poverty gets only deeper because the basic investments needed to overcome it are beyond the means of the country, while the scale of financial help from the United States, European countries, and other rich nations is much too limited to make a breakthrough. Remarkably, the United States is spending about $450 billion for the military to defend itself against global threats but only about $13 billion to fight the underlying conditions of poverty, disease, and despair that provide the breeding grounds for these global threats.

It’s possible to add up, with some precision, what financial resources would actually be needed from the rich countries to help end this extreme poverty and thereby set today’s unstable and desperate societies — Ethiopia, Haiti, Bolivia, Afghanistan, and dozens of countries like them — on their way to self-sustaining economic growth. By helping these countries rise above extreme poverty, we would also enable them to become stable neighbors and trading partners instead of havens of terror, disease, unwanted mass migration, and drug trafficking.

A happy ending in the story of Bitsey July 2, 2007

Or “Better Living Through Technology”.

 The Cliff’s Notes:  took the dog to Petsmart where they have an instore vet clinic.  Picked out a $20 leash (to help insure that her owner would be found… the more money I spent on her, I figured, the less likely we would be to keep her) to keep her from leaping out of my arms in the store.

Went to the counter and after a couple tries a chip was found and scanned.  The dog belonged to a family a little less than a mile from my house.  I dropped her off on the way home but asked if I could bring the boys by so they would undertand that she already had a home and a family.  I went home, brought them back.  The dad gave them all popsicles and it was all good. 

Of course, now I’ve got getting a dog on the brain.  And so do the boys.  DH and I had a discreet discussion about it and decided that, yes, the boys should have a dog.  But, this isn’t the year with so much travel planned.  Particularly given that it is the one year we’re gone for Christmas. 

Of course, immediately following Christmas are birthdays.  All of them.   

Look at that.  Birthday gifts taken care of.  Aren’t I ahead of the game.  Of course, choosing the actual dog will take much more time than birthday gift shopping ever has, no doubt.  And I’ll probably still buy them more stuff anyway.  Still.  I’m sort of excited about the plan.  The best part is I have 6 months to change my mind without them ever being the wiser. 

Must remember not to go and say something to them.  Keeping secrets for a long time is not so much a strength of mine.

Put an extra scoop in my coffee July 1, 2007

Yesterday’s excitement turned into last night’s lost sleep.

I took the boys to the pool yesterday to practice their newly-learned (DS2 and 3) swimming skills.  When we got home, I went inside and soon had DS1 telling me there was a lost dog “over in Daddy’s garden” (which is the far end of the yard).

Sure enough, there is a very cute, blonde-colored dog out there playing with the boys when I go out.  The boys had a blast playing with her all evening while DH and I tried to figure out how we can get her back where she belongs. 

Finally, bedtime rolls around, we convince the boys that she needs to go to sleep, too, get them settled etc.  DH had set her up on the patio with a bed, food water etc.  Unfortunately, I am a complete pushover and a sucker (even though, having grown up on a farm, I frequently inwardly roll my eyes at people who go overboard on the pampering of pets / animals.  Turns out I’m -><- this close to being one).  I was feeling bad about leaving her out there all alone so I raised the idea of letting her inside.  DH just did his “cautionary tale” thing of “you know, she might… “.  Having also done some googling of pugs – which she appears to be – and reading that they don’t do well in the heat and shouldn’t be left outdoors, I just let her in. 

Then I noticed she was doing a lot of scratching and biting at herself (although she appears very healthy and well taken care of).  Uh oh.  I know nothing about dogs, really, but I was pretty sure I should try not to have one with fleas running all over my house and on my furniture, etc.   But I don’t have the heart to put her back outside. 

So I set her up in the laundry room.  I tried barricading the door 3 different ways (too bad I got rid of the baby gates!) but toy bins, ironing boards, laundry hampers and me are, apparently, no match for the houdini ways of this dog.  I felt bad closing the door since it would be more open and not completely dark with the kitchen night light but after the 3 successful doggie breakouts… closed door it was. 

She quieted down quickly, and I was playing at the computer waiting to see if she stayed settled.  She did so I got worried about whether she was OK because she was too quiet.  I go check, she hears me, makes more attempts to get out (this includes, of course, crying to make me feel bad).   I wait till she settled again, worry because she too quiet… etc.  Hmm…. reminds me of having newborns. 

By 2 a.m I she’s fine and I’ve turned into one of those crazy pet people and it’s time to go to bed.  By then, DH’s work had him on a call.  (Again… another post.  Probably one I should keep private.)  I mention she’s in the laundry room.  He makes a comment about that being much darker and more claustrophobic, so I feel bad and go crack the door a little so there’s a little light. 

And she gets out.  So, I put her back.  Then I decide to leave more lights on in the kitchen (opposite the laundry room door) so it’s not so dark.  This was, apparently, an indication to her that someone was up and about and she should complain loudly to gain sympathy (and, hence, release).  At some point, I actually got to sleep although DH was still on the computer / phone in the room. 

Now I’ve been able to sleep to 8:30 – 9 every day with summer holidays.  The ability to sleep in is a wonderful and long-awaited milestone in my children’s development.  One I’ve been enjoying immensely.  But not today.  I jumped out of bed at 6:30 feeling bad for the dog and needing to make sure she was OK. 

So, now I’m drinking my extra strength Starbucks and remembering what functioning on 3 hours of sleep feels like.  And checking the morning classifieds for a lost dog notice.  After I get dressed I’m going to look for posters on telephone polls.  And call animal rescue.  With any luck, I will again sleep in tomorrow.

Note to self:  While it is very, very cute and  to watch the boys playing with the dog this does not necessarily mean that you should get one.