"No cupcakes for you!!!!"

Well, I'm still without internet...it's driving me crazy! So, I am camped out where ever I can- at the library, at the local bakery with free internet access, and at Graceful mom's house. It's hectic and sporadic and non-conducive to blogging and blog-party-visiting..grr... We are supposed to be with dsl sometime Tuesday. I hope, I hope...

So, on to happier subjects...

Have you heard of this little place? We drove by several times during our weekend, always shocked by the incredibly long lines.

Would you wait in line an hour for a cupcake?? I wouldn't...but these people did. Sprinkle's is actually 4 stores down from where I was standing to take this photo...it's the brown-faced storefront.

We passed the shop midday on Sunday, and the line looked to be maybe 20 minutes to 30 minutes...My friend asked if I wanted to get one for my kids. I just couldn't do it. I might stand in line for a really good, life-shifting chocolate truffle experience. But not for a cupcake. Even I can bake a cupcake...

Is this an LA experience? Or are there other cities where people are crazy for cupcakes?
The Jen collective decided that there was a very happy, rich cupcake maker-concept person/Sprinkle's owner out there...

I couldn't help but think this would make a good Seinfeld episode...

Club Jen


The Jennifer club had a non-work weekend convention of sorts. Guess where?
...well, this sign gives it away. My friend Jen had a work conference to attend in Beverly Hills and she invited me to join her once is was finished.

Can you believe that I am a born and raised Southern California girl, and yet I have never visited Rodeo Drive?!


Well, that's the best photo I have of us...it's kind of a hard thing to corral a stranger and ask them to take a photo of you...

I thought this part of the street was the prettiest,
kind of European-looking.

It was so unbelievably relaxing to sleep in each morning, breakfast late and to wander the many shops without a time table (or potty breaks or cries of "I'm bored, can we go now?!")

Here is the view from our room balcony- I think this was the nicest hotel I've stayed in (think down pillows, down duvets and marble).

The hotel was the ...something "Continental"

which of course made me think of this- every
time I said it or thought it...

It was a blast of a weekend, more to come...

Evil, thy name is cable

I wrote in an earlier post that we were getting cable after more then 5 years of being t.v.-free. Oh how we have paid and paid for this impulse! After the cable-guy left, our home phone no longer worked, our wireless router no longer worked, and we could not figure out how to turn off the cable box. -Which meant, being attached to my computer monitor (no real t.v. in the house) that whenever my computer went to sleep mode- the cable came on the screen. This is actually very upsetting for parents who do not allow their kids to watch t.v. or worse, the commercials.

We called and asked them to come take it away. Far away.
Evil, thy name is cable and my house and life are now disrupted.

They came..and now my home phone does not work, my wireless does not work, and I no longer have internet connection. I started to twitch yesterday.

We are getting a bundle from our original internet provider now, and after 4 or so technicians have visited our house- we now have phone service, but still no internet. "Why, oh why?"...I lay awake at night wondering. O.k. not really, I just stay awake late reading, because what else is there to do now that I can't read blogs and so forth?...

I am at the library writing this. Which is useful, but still not my comfy home.
Did I mention I started twitching?

I have lots to post about, and photos too...but it might be a few days, internet friends. I actually went on a mini vacation with a friend this weekend, lots to post about...

see you around the internet, friends- have a great week!

Spa day for hens and other ramdom thoughts

Meg had an orchestra concert a few days ago, I snapped this photo of some of the young people getting ready to go on stage.

Meg is a little right of center.


Sky and the kids are preparing the garden for planting. The hens are trying to help. They have actually been officially banned from the garden for the rest of the season. Sky just put up new and improved bird netting. We are still waiting to see if it will truly be hen-proof.

The hens are waiting outside the net for stray worms to be thrown their way. The kids are happy to oblige.

I was happily puttering around inside, my philosophy is to be a "Jane Austin gardener".
I plan and order seeds and then let Sky know where I would like them. It's a mutually agreeable understanding.


But, ah-ha!! If you notice details, you will see this photo was taken a day later...after the official opening of our garden season. And yet, we have hens in the garden!

This was actually Sky's idea of a day spa for hens,
they were out in the front scratching around to their heart's content- and were chased by a big stray dog. Upset hens are, well, upset hens.
Sky has a soft side on occasion, the day spa for hens is proof. He wanted to cheer them up.

Random blogging

More skater shots...this looks way more skilled then it was in reality, yet it did stop my heart for a second there...

This was our second week of skater phys-ed, we went on a different day of the week..and our two boys (Demi-Sky and his cousin) had the skate park to themselves!

I know it is probably hard for those in other parts of the country to fathom, but it was 80 degrees here yesterday and today.

Yesterday I was inspired to clean off our front patio and wash the front windows. I think spring cleaning was in the air...

I haven't been able to attempt anything like that for a year or two now. I am really feeling much, much better now that the iron pills are kicking in and doing their thing, because, you know- red blood cells are good, blood volume is good, too- and so is oxygen being carried to all the cells in your body. Just a little thing, really.

I was amazed at the job I did on the porch and windows...but, irony abounds in Jen's world-didn't you know? I felt pumped with energy, but by the time I quit I was out of breath and wheezing from asthma. It's just a party with me lately. I had a case of hives Friday night and Saturday, too.

I'm kind of going with a plague theme here.

And I couldn't take any benadryl the first night, because I was alone with the kids and only had adult capsules...which with my low blood volume would have knocked me out. I finally scored some children's benadryl Saturday evening when I could no longer stand the itching. Hive-less is actually refreshing once you experience it again.

I think I have invented Barnes & Nobles -schooling. We went back tonight, after taking a weekend break...don't want attract too much notice, sinister mom-type that I am...
I've got a new technique with the homeschooling...go on into B & N, snag the low kid's table up in the children's area...do a few reading lessons with our Phonics Pathways book...then go and buy some hot chocolate for the littles and a mocha for me...then read aloud a few books that will fit into literature studies and history or social studies...write them down. Just mixing it up a little... (and the library doesn't serve mochas)

I sat with Amie and read "Goodnight Moon" to her. I can recite it, it was the book I cuddled my babies to right before bed, every night. I guess maybe the tradition was more sporadic with Amie, because she didn't really remember it. I read it to her tonight and misted over, being a mom is so sweet sometimes.

Finally, I have to tell you that Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Mini Pretzels are the bomb.
And, addicting.
Chocolate, carbohydrates and salt- it's the perfect food!
The only way to improve it would be to use dark chocolate.
I'm going to have to go back and get a second bag. Just saying.

Here's my wild child.

Don't ever change, sweetie.

The case of the sinister mom-types

I went on a mom field-trip of sorts with Gracefulmom this evening. Oh, because we are mad that way-sitting in a restaurant with 4 kids (2 hers, 2 mine) 8 and under is potentially barely mind-numbingly painful enough to almost cancel out the benefits of adult company and conversation- but only barely. A whole 'nother layer to the definition of
Desperate Housewives...

Truthfully though, I do have to give credit where credit is due- and they are better behaved as they grow older and we can now have a good time, and I can actually report that no drinks were spilled, no merchandise displays were knocked over, no fire alarm pulls uh, pulled. (yes, been there, done that- almost!)

The game plan was a dinner full of carbohydrates (drug of the gods) and then on to
Barnes & Nobles for mochas, hot chocolate and books.

I don't know exactly when, but somewhere about half into our few hours-long visit....I noticed a rather large guy type employee off to the side in the children's department watching us very intently. I kind of thought maybe our 3 youngest were being a little too loud and enthusiastic over on the mini-stage where they were playing with a very cute toddler. So, after trying to shush those who know not how to whisper...we corralled them in, having them sit and -uh, look at books. We were still watched intently for a good half hour as Gracefulmom and I read 2 or 3 books out-loud to the kids. He was making me really nervous, like I should feel guilty or something.

Well, the kids had not spilled anything...drinks and books were not in dangerous closeness, books were neatly stacked on our table- I really couldn't find anything wrong with ourselves...

At one point while the kids were busy listening to Gracefulmom read, I moved off to look at some French books and flashcards. I noticed that the employee had followed me some and was watching me eagle eyed- and with a sudden jolt I wondered if he thought I was a shoplifter! I think that was the look he had, or one of watching for some kind of mischief.

I'm really puzzled as to what kind of trouble two thirty-something mom-types with little kids are going to get into. Gasp, maybe not shelve our books back properly?? I am really stumped over this, we visit this store frequently, and I always make a point to have the kids put back any books they are looking at, and to be gentle with the books.
I always buy at least drinks, and most of the time I make a purchase or several...which I did tonight for my nephews. I'm really at a loss, and kind of ticked too.

Maybe I should have come up with a witty remark, like "I used to work in a bookstore too, and just think- ten years from now this could be you, here doing herd control of four kids!!" or "Don't you have some book store employee things to do?" or, I'm good here, I think I have it...books on shelves, read books, put them back...you can go do something else now..."

So, what do you think, do I look like trouble?

The anemia diaries part 2

Well, I've been on iron pills for a few weeks now, I think it's almost 3 weeks. I'm taking 2 iron pills a day plus a prenatal vitamin that has iron. I went in for more lab tests a week after my Dr. visit, a week later because I got the flu or something, and then asthma. (the fun never stops around here).

I've also allowed myself to nap now when I get overpoweringly tired. I am feeling much better, and I've seen some improvement in my thinking abilities.
After the first week on iron pills I stopped asking Sky -4 or 5 times in a row if he had locked up the hens each night.

I think I am thinking better...and yet I have a fear that it is all somehow me, and that my scattered-ness will not ever go away..maybe I am just an airhead!

I was talking to Meg's violin teacher a week or two ago about this, because I had gone to the lesson 15 minutes late- thinking I was early!! (not unheard of in Jen's world) -and she mentioned that a few years ago she had been anemic and had taken iron pills...I came home really depressed, because as she was telling me this, I was searching my mind for a time when she was scattered, or forgot lessons or other things I do- and I couldn't come up with anything, and I've known her for many years.
I had this panicky feeling that maybe it's just me and not the anemia at all.

On the positive side,I have noticed that my lack of balance is gone, and this horrible sense of extreme dizzyness in the dark- that is gone. My Dr. also gave me a prescription for my Raynaud's syndrome...I'm not real sure how I feel about taking medication for it... I'm going to have to google the medication after I get it filled (and can actually read the name...of course I can't read what he wrote!).

My interest in educating my offspring had perked...I am thinking seriously about adding to our studies, looking around for workbooks and whatnot to round us out. This was not happening much of this year, I was having a hard time getting out of bed before 10...After our homeschool open house things degenerated into survival mode- mostly math, some language arts, and handwriting were the things I clung to and purposed to get done, anything else was hit and miss and icing on the cake.
Intestinal issues are still undecided...I'm trying to not take the softeners very often and eating dried apricots but that is not going well. My default ambiguity gets me into trouble much of the time...

well, after all this rambling about me... I will tell you,
- go get a physical moms, you really can't afford not to.

you take a pause

"The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning. Punctuation herds words together, keeps others apart. Punctuation directs you how to read, in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play."
Today as I was helping Demi-Sky with his math, we came upon a sequencing problem. You know the kind- a number, a comma, a few blank spaces with commas and then a few more numbers to show you what they are skip-counting by or if they are counting backwards...
Demi paused in his deep-thought-driven number writing to tell me,
"the comma means you take a breath."

The type of learning that comes effortlessly, like breathing- never ceases to amaze me.
-don't get me wrong, we have plenty of the other kind of learning....

Speaking of pauses, I had to...er, was gifted the opportunity to run through a piece of music with Meg in front of her violin teacher. I've always been music counting-challenged...I took those strings of 8th notes and ran straight through them...
uh, yes ma'am...I could use more practice I guess.
My plan is to mutter "pepperoni-pizza" over and over again and watch what Meg is doing.
I think it will work.
or maybe I'll draw in big florescent comma's all over the music where I need to pause...