Archives for January 2006

In our family, we prefer to eat our food “out of the trash.”

Laylee – Can I please eat a cheese stick out of the trash? (Okay, maybe I inserted the please in there erroneously, but it’s possible she did actually say it.)

Me – NO! Yuck! (Maybe our “three second rule” is stretching to the point where I see Magoo eating something from the floor and am relieved to see it’s “just a cheerio” who-knows-how-old and I let him keep chowing away, but we do have SOME standards)

Laylee (tearing up) – Please can I have it out of the trash?

Me – No, but (handing her a string cheese) you can have a cheese stick out of the fridge.

Laylee – Please mommy please (handing it back and pulling at the wrapper). Can you take it out of the trash?

Me – Ahhhhh…….”out of the trash” = sans wrapper. Got it!

1. First song you remember hearing on the radio as a child
“Talking in your Sleep” by The Romantics

2. First album you remember listening to as a child
Tapestry by Carole King

3. Album that takes you back to junior high
Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice (When this came out, the only rapper I had ever heard of was M.C. Hammer so I called a local radio request line about one million times requesting Vanilla Ice by M.C. Hammer. Mucho embarissimo)
Paula Abdoul – Spellbound
Milli Vanilli Girl You Know It, Yes You Know It’s True g-g-g-Girl! (Heather got rid of this one when they were “exposed” but I found a copy of the cassette at a garage sale years later. Played it for the kids on vacation last week, if you must know.)
Bryon Adams – Waking Up the Neighbors (also my first rock concert)

4. Most played album in high school
Swing Kids Soundtrack
Dave Matthews Band – Under the Table and Dreaming
Mariah Carey – Daydream
Reba McEntire – Read My Mind (Saw her in concert 3 times. I lived in Texas, okay? Stop yelling at me.)

5. Favorite album in college
Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen
Little Women Soundtrack
U2 – Joshua Tree
Romeo and Juliet Soundtrack
BNL (to avoid unsavory searches) – Maroon
Natalie Merchant – Ophelia

6. Favorite albums to road trip with
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Greatest Hits
Michael Jackson – History Volume 1 (when he was still a black male)
Eva Cassidy – Songbird (I love her but didn’t discover her until after her untimely death)
Frank Sinatra – Reprise, The Very Good Years
Bob Marley – Legend
Michael Buble – It’s Time

7. Best relationship angst album or any other albums worthy of mention
My dad hooked me on classic rock from a young age (Cream, The Doobie Brothers, Boston, Jimi Hendrix, old Chicago. Yeah baby!) I also secretly love the Backstreet Boys and Kelly Clarkson. Don’t tell.

8. Your personal soundtrack today includes
Many of the above with the addition of Raffi, Dido, Beethoven, Bach and lots of Jazz thanks to the DYDad.

9. Song that reminds you of what it was like to feel cool
Informer by Snow – it was a 14-year-old thing
Wyclef Jean and the Fugees (my album is ‘edited’)

10. So if this is your personal soundtrack, what’s the plot of the movie in 50 words or less
Too much brain power required to answer this question.

I would like to add that my first Cassette was Debbie Gibson Out of the Blue and my first CD was the Bodyguard Soundtrack by Whitney Houston.

This is really difficult because nothing I do is weird.

1. I squeeze the toothpaste from the middle.

2. I eat Kit-Kats correctly.

3. I always lock the garage door leading into the house but leave the light on out in the garage, always.

4. When I start a project, I am a whirlwind of activity, create a huge mess with junk everywhere and then do a major cleanup effort afterwards.

5. I stalk the mailman. I want my mail immediately.

We’re back, alive and mostly in one piece…er 4 pieces. The plague has left us and all that remains is a prescription for Amoxicillin procured at a secret Urgent Care facility late on New Years night.

What an awesome trip. I’m sure you all had great holidays and I won’t bore you with the details of mine, except a few.

But first, I’d like to say I now have the evidence to confirm a theory I’ve been harboring for quite some time. The funniest people in the world read my blog. Dan and I have been killing ourselves laughing at the name suggestions you’ve given for our van. We have a few favorites but we’re not decided. Dan mumbled something about making a spreadsheet to help with the decision just before falling into bed. So, if you’ve got a name and you want it on the spreadsheet, you’d better get your comments up. The competition is steep but the reward is so SWEET!

Okay, so for our anniversary, we had a day-long celebration, as only the parents of 2 young children can. We leeched free babysitting from our families while we:

-Woke up to gorgeous flowers (that was me only. Dude actually woke up first and purchased said vegetative reproductive organs)
-Went to see Narnia
-Traveled to –Mart to buy something we forgot
-Came home to nurse the bebe (pronounced beeb)
-Drove up the canyon to the gorgeous basin of hills where Dan originally proposed under a sea of stars….ahh…..
-Out to dinner, massive massive portions of pasta consumed
-Went home to feed the bebe
-Out to see King Kong
-Home to feed the bebe (what can I say? He really really likes me.)

It was a day of romance and memories. Now, lest we all rush for our tongue depressors to begin a gag-fest, I will move on to the other memories, the memories involving bicycles. Those are more fun, if not nearly as romantical.

Junior year of college, my roommate Amy and I decided to take our mountain bikes in to a local shop for a “tune-up,” costing around $30 for each bike. The bikes were in great condition so we decided to take em for a spin. We left straight from the bike shop and headed up the canyon for a ride.

It was a sweet ride. Helmets were worn. No jumps were made. We rode in the mountains on pavement. We were wussies. Wussies without bungee cords.

The drive to the trail was okay because the canyon winds were with us. We just placed our bikes carefully on the rack and the wind held them down as we drove. No prob.

On the way back, not so much luck. We’re driving along, talking about school when Amy calmly interrupts me to say, “There goes one.”

“Op! There goes the other one.”

She was so calm, so freakishly calm.

“There goes what, I ask?” Then I look back. During this conversation, the bikes had been launched by the wind, 50 feet in the air and I was able to turn around in time to see them hit the ground and go bouncing down the highway.

We pulled over. We ran back to see what we could salvage. The bikes were lying in the middle of the road, right around a tight curve and cars were coming around the curve at 50+ miles per hour, swerving and just missing them.

We ran out, rescued the mangled bikes and headed straight back to the shop where we had picked them up from their ridiculous bike LOFs 45 MINUTES EARLIER.

Sheepishly we asked the store owners to “re-tune” the bikes. This involved major repairs, new tires and a bill of almost $200.

What did we get out of it? A smashed tire rim to hang on the wall. Xtreme bikers stand up and take note. This is what can happen to you if you dare to mountain bike with Kathryn and Amy. When we go riding, we really get some sweet air.

We have a problem.

We have a van.

The van has no name. Okay, the van has a name. Right now we are calling it the Mighty Muffin. This name is unsatisfactory.

This week I would like tips on what to name the van. The person who chooses the winning name for the Muffin will receive, fame, glory, a web banner similar to the one seen on the right, and all their wildest dreams will come true.

Some hints to help you come up with a good name, a winning name, a name the Daring Family will adopt as their own:

1. Past Daring vehicle names –

The Flying Smurf

Howie (inspired by Howie of the Backstreet Boys, determined to be chic but gutless)
As a random sidenote, I will republish a poem written by a 13-year-old girl in a teen magazine, dedicated to the aforementioned boy band member. This poem has been recited many many times in the most serious tone imaginable while driving that vehicle:

Howie, Howie, he’s our man
If he can’t do it, no one can
Howie, Howie, he’s our man
If he can’t do it, no one can
Howie, Howie, he’s our man
If he can’t do it, who can?
Nobody, nobody, nobody, that’s who.
Howie, I love you.

2. Van Facts – The Muffin is a gold 2000’s Toyota Sienna LE with dual sliding doors (one power), a decent stereo system, and tan interior. It’s a sweet ride with a powerful engine that drives like a car but turns like a bus. I am the primary driver, with Laylee and Magoo as first mate and chief petty officer. The van is currently gender-neutral.

3. Family facts – We travel consistently at 4 miles over the speed limit. We plan to fill the van with small people eventually. We like boats, mountains, jazz music, the color puce and wireless internet. We live in the Northwest where it rains all the time. We eat spaghetti at least once per month. Our KitchenAid is red and our garage is gigantic. We bake foods that are meant to be fried. We speak Chinese, French, English, and Pig-Latin.

Good luck coming up with names. The contest will remain open until midnight Pacific Standard Time on Monday, January 9th. (If this goes well, maybe we’ll name our next child this way.)

This contest is open to all legal residents of planet earth, regardless of hair color, favorite vegetable or preferred boy band. No purchase necessary. No limitations or exclusions apply. Must be 5 or older to play or have parental consent. Void where prohibited. Multiple entries are encouraged.

I do have resolutions every year. I try not to go overboard. I always do. I never hold myself accountable for what I resolved. This year I think I’m gonna make a star chart or something. How’s that for iron clad accountability? If I do the star chart electronically and have it load first thing every time I turn on my computer……

Here are a few of mine:

1. Vegetation – At least one quality veggie at each meal – pathetic, I know.
2. Primpage – take more care to look like….not the way I look most days.
3. Readerly-ness – Read one book club book plus at least one more each month.
4. Religiosity – this one’s just for me and Somebody else to discuss.
5. De-pudgification – No poundage goals here, just eat like a normal person and find a reasonable way to exercise more than my current twice per week.
6. Blogdom – Schedule my blogging time after higher priorities have been accomplished. What? This isn’t my first priority? It shouldn’t be. Remember the old “no video games until your chores are finished” rule? That’s how it’s gonna go down.
7. Think/Speak in tandem – The goal here is to actually think before I speak. With the amount of time I spend talking, if I would stop to think before I spoke, that would be a ton of thinking. I surmise it will turn me into a wise, kind genius afore 2007 shows its little noggin.
8. The kindness and the patience – More, please.

Here are a few of meme (via Liz):

Here are the fill-in-the-blank sentences:
1. Stop buying things on sale just because they’re on sale.
2. Use more of the weird things in my food storage to make yummy meals like boiled wheat goo and dried unknown legume/veggie stew.
3. Get rid of my little post-partum helpers.
4. Change my hair style from the nappy mommy-tail to something a little more hip and attractive-o.
5. Concentrate on the sweetness of motherhood rather than the poop.
6. Try to be a better listener, even to three-year-olds. Let’s face it – nodding and saying uh-huh to your kids while you type away on your blog is not exactly award-winning human interaction.