my soft spot

just a mom who plays hockey and knits

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

I can NOT wait

In case you, my dear readers, harbored any thought that I was not a geek, this should do it.

Renie has shared with me that they are giving G this year's LEGO advent calendar for Christmas (and thus must give it to him in the next couple of days). I am so excited! These things are so fun. Each day yields a tiny handful of parts, which make into one or two designs. When you get farther into the month, you sometimes borrow parts from previous items and make a larger item. Some are simple, yet charming, like last year's snowflake. Others are just darn cool, like the one that could be either a boat or a helicopter.

December 1 is only 2 days away! Eeeee!

Disappointing

On Black Friday, we're leaving Toys R Us and a guy tries to come in the exit. The security guard stops him, saying they were just closing, sorry, sir. The guy walks back to his car, parked in the handicapped space (no plates or tags on his car, nice).

As he pulls away, I see the Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker. C'mon, Democrats! Be better people.

Predictable

We're leaving Southland mall and I look up to see a gal in a Hummer with the door open. What made me look up is the of her cup hitting the ground. No, not a mistake; she was done with it. So she chucks it. I called out, "There's a trashcan right over there" and pointed one out. (Sure, partly to be an ass, but partly to point out you have a choice). She ignores me. They pull out and I realize they were in a handicapped space. $20 says they didn't have the decal nor plates.

And as we leave it seems like they followed us closely for a while (hard to see in the rain). Jerks.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Update on Jazmin!

She went to her Forever Home on Friday and the gal is tickled pink! Apparently, she has a baby gate to keep Jazmin out of the kitchen, so that's not an issue. Plus, Jazmin is getting along great with her two cats. How cool is that? I was worried that her high energy/play drive would mean she'd chase the cats endlessly.

Yeah!!! And Maddy is so happy to be Numbah One Dog again. So happy that she's shedding in poofs.

But she's also thrilled to do three hikes in three days, even though the last one was illicit (who knew dogs weren't allowed around Jewel Lake? My first time openly breaking rules in front of G--"Mom, does that sign say 'no dogs'?" Oops). She's a trooper, my old lady.

OMG what an ass

http://www.craigslist.org/eby/ele/113657688.html

"Needs" one today, but doesn't feel like spending an "outrageous amount."

It is to laugh.

I don't THINK so.

Tch. I ain' t no holla back girl.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

And a great weekend.

Really had a great time this weekend. G has been behaving very well (I don't have to knock on wood, because he wasn't perfect, lol) and it's been very pleasant.

We managed to do three hikes in three days, so I could try out the three backpacks I'm considering for my France on Foot trip in Spring 2007 with my sister. G was a real trooper, and Maddy is thrilled (and sleeping soundly now!). We also got a little shopping done, something I enjoy immensely, including buying a new hard drive for my ancient Mac, to boost its capacity from 70 gigs to 160. I won't know what to do with all the space!

We ended our evening, after G finished all his homework from last week, with a game from our Dr. Seuss 4-game Treasury. G beat me handily and we both had a great time trying to see if the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz was the right card for capital Z.

On to Monday!

Friday, November 25, 2005

A very nice Thanksgiving. No, a great one.

I had been very glum about not having (blood) family for Thanksgiving this year. I moped for a while and then had the bright idea to invite a friend from college days who had shown up at my church two weeks ago. Procrasted, and then decided to call. Looked in my organizer and... don't have their phone number. Tried to look them up online; no dice. I have their email address, though, so went to compose an email. As I wrote the email, I realized that at least one of them has plenty of family nearby, dangit. Glum again.

Finally I kicked myself in the ass and called some good friends to invite them. They could come. Wonderful.

So I'm happily making preparations, having realized that the reason I love this holiday is that I love to cook and I love to eat, and Thanksgiving beautifully incorporates both. And Thursday morning comes, and I get the turkey out. And have a horrible moment of, "That didn't smell right." I convince myself it's just the juices that leaked out that have spoiled, but the bird, still in its bag, is just fine. I pull it out of the bag, rinse it, and sniff again. Definitely bad. I'm freaking now. Thankfully, I'm cheap: Trader Joe's had had all their birds for $9.99 when we were there on Monday, and I had bought one to roast at some later date, and thrown it in the freezer. Ignoring my mom's suggestion of going out & buying two chickens to roast (my assertion was that it must be illegal to serve chicken on Thanksgiving), I thawed the bird in the sink in cold water--and called my guests to tell them dinner would be delayed. In an hour, she was ready to go. I oiled her, salt & peppered her, and popped her in the oven at 1PM, just 1 1/2 hours after her original start time. Despite only remembering to baste her once (did I mention I have a bit of ADD?), she turns out terrific.

(G and I even manage to start a jigsaw puzzle, one of my very rare joys. We all manage to finish it late in the evening, to the enjoyment of all. Oh, and I manage to be out of the shower when folks arrive!)

Guests arrive on time, every one of them, and we have a little cheese and crackers while the final preparations happen. We end up sitting down--wow--right on time, and everything really turns out great.

Just before we sit down, though, folks are intimating that something is going on out front that I will likely not like much. Turns out Sue brought along a turkey to put in front of my garage. Lest you think it's a cardboard cutout, think again. (that's not my front yard, but damn if that isn't the same turkey.) It has a light inside as well, so folks got to see it even after dark, woo hoo.

We round out the evening with several rounds of Uno Attack!, which is way fun, and G even won the first game. Then went on to try to play the "trade hands" card to trade with me, even though he was holding 1 card and I was holding a lot. We convinced him to play his other card instead, and when he realized what he'd done, he burst into tears, finally telling me he knew what he was doing--he wanted me to win. What a sweet kid.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Excellent, Dodged a Bullet #1, Phew, Dodged a Bullet #2

Excellent.
I'm dropping G off at Y-kids and his friend Julia is there, because the Y-Kids from another school combines with ours on holidays. Her mom is there too, and Julia asks if G can come over on a playdate. Julia's mom says sure! G's mom is overjoyed. Playdates rock. Playdates on the day before Thanksgiving rock. Playdates on the day before Thanksgiving, when I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner, totally rock.

Dodged a Bullet #1
So I've taken off work early and must dash to the hardware store for one last part to prop up the bathroom sink so I have a working bathroom sink tomorrow. I gather things from the house and put them on the sidewalk while I get out the key remote to unlock the car. I hear a familiar clicking noise and turn around to wave good-bye to Jazmin. Wait! Jazmin is supposed to be in a crate while I'm gone! Good thing she jumped up at the window or I'd have forgotten and buh-bye cornbread for cornbread stuffing as well as anything else she could find to pull off the counters.

Phew
And I go back in to put her in the crate, carelessly leaving the door open because I'm saying, "Want a treat? Who wants a treat?" and am thinking I'm the Pied Piper. Jazmin is smarter than this, and runs out the open door. For once, I don't have to worry about G's safety, as he's not home, and I race out the door after her, dog biscuits in hand. She is in front of the neighbors house and makes her fatal mistake, looking back. She does her usual slinking "I know I'm bad but I'm NOT coming, I'm having fun" body posture. I break the dog biscuits in half and start chucking them toward her. I have terrible aim but manage to get one close to her. As she's munching on it, I get up to her and nab her collar. This is much better than (a) the time she ran across Buena Vista, which is not only a busy street but is also a truck route, and (b) the time I ended up following her all the way around the block (Maddy happily tagging along, and leading the happy charge back up the front steps that Jazmin stupidly joined). (The damned dog is going to her Forever Home on Friday, and I tell you, it won't be one second too soon!)

Dodged a Bullet #2
So I get done with the hardware store in time to dash to Y-Kids to pick G up at the dot of 6:00 PM, and have brought his booster with me, in case Julia is there too, so he can go home with her. In a burst of brilliance, I leave the booster in the car. The car is close to Y-Kids and if I need the booster, I can easily get it. It turns out that Julia's mom has sent her young college-aged son to get Julia. No way G's going in the car with him. He's never been driven by someone so young. G begs me to let him go with them (out of their earshot) and I stand firm. I didn't want to have to say to him (nor even to Julia's mom) that I don't trust him... so glad I didn't have to go into it.

Now off to vacuum the house!

I like the way

when Andrea bugs you to blog, she goes ahead and reads your posts and responds to them, too. That way, I know she wasn't bugging me to blog but then distracted by a shiny thing.

Keep enough gas in your car. (people are nice)

I usually buy my gas at our local Alameda Gas Station on Wednesdays. They usually have good prices, and on Wednesdays, they have the "lowest price of the week." It's a good schtick and they're nice people.

So the out-of-gas light has been on for a couple of days, but I haven't left Alameda, so thought I was OK. I went to my swim class today, and just a few blocks out of the parking lot, the car does that heart-stopping lurch that signifies "You're running on fumes, baby."

I go to swim class with a bare minimum. I bring my license and 50¢ for parking. I don't bring my wallet , a credit card, or any more money than that. So here I am, actually 1 block from a gas station but it's behind me on a one-way street of course, and all I have is the spare change in my car. I drive/coast to the station (4 blocks) and make it in. I walk up to the window and say, "I'm running out of gas and this is all I have." He says, "Fifty-one cents. That's OK, I'll mumble mumble." I figure he says, "I'll put this in and you should be OK." I start pumping and it goes past 51¢ and I'm thinking, I guess I misunderstood him. It keeps going and I let it go to $1.00 and stop. I know he let me put more in than I had; it was just a handful of nickels, dimes, and a penny or three. I remember dropping a quarter in my car a bit ago, and rummage around till I find it, after checking all the other nooks and crannies for change or a spare buck. I walk up to the window and say, "You let me pump too much!" and drop the quarter in the tray. He waves me off, "No, no, it's fine" and doesn't even want the quarter. I leave the quarter but still, that was kind.

I made it to the Alameda station and made a new vow to fill up with at least 1 gallon the next time the light goes on.

Buy good shoes.

I tend to be cheap in a lot of things (you're all saying, "Don't you mean everything?" No, I splurge on knitting), and shoes is one of them.

But... I bought myself some Keens for before/after swimming, which I generally do twice a week. It's not nearly as fun as crack ice hockey, but it keeps me in shape and forces me to learn new physical stuff, which is hard for me. Anyway, I've had these Speedo sandals with "massage nubs" that have been kinda painful to me from the beginning. I've seen folks wear them after soccer, and maybe they're not horrible with socks on, but with bare feet, not fun. So I finally splurged and bought myself a pair o'Keens for après swim and... Oh. My. God. They're so nice! Lightweight, smooshy but not too smooshy, and even arch support. Why did I wait?

I waited because they were almost $50, which is a lot to me. I think the thing that tipped the scales was the fact that they're nearly $40 less than the Keens my sister and I are drooling over. That, and the no-risk way Zappos sells shoes. Free shipping. Free returns. Good prices. Easy to search by size. What's not to like?

Andrea's stalking me

so I'd better blog to get her off my back.

So, lots of changing of points of view lately. At first, I was going to knit G's teacher a pair of sock for Christmas. But since I'm just at the heel of the first of the socks for my mom, and have doubts that they'll get done in time, I decided instead to make a shrug out of some bright red mohair yarn I was given. After knitting a few swatches (I hate knitting swatches, but I needed to make sure it didn't turn out linebacker-sized nor doll-sized), I set off on the work. I knit through "City of God" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," finishing late Sunday. Was never sure of the needle-size choice, so tried it on before cutting the casting-off yarn. The size seems OK, but the cast-off edge is WAY too tight! Damn. So I have to rip back about 125 stitches and re-cast off. Oh, well, at least it's close to done and it's still before Thanksgiving.

As for Thanksgiving, I am about to spend my first Thanksgiving ever without family. (sigh) Was feeling despondant, but I decided to invite friends and am thrilled that we'll have 8 for Thanksgiving dinner (room for a few more if anyone wants to come--let me know). Since I realized early on that I have control issues around Thanksgiving dinner, I'll be making what I see as the Required Dishes and friends can bring the rest (e.g., we must have Pumpkin Pie, but I don't care how it's made, really). I'm really looking forward to it. I'm doing lots of stuff ahead of time to make the Day Of as stress-free as possible. Wish I could make the gravy ahead of time. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it while missing family like crazy. My sister will be driving at 5AM (and she has taken on Andrea's expression of the Buttcrack of Dawn) to take her kids to Klamath Falls to take Amtrak to Portland to have Thanksgiving with their dad and his family. I worry about ice. :( She'll have Thanksgiving with my dad and stepmom; she was going to hide in her new office and paint it. She's so funny; social and antisocial, both. If God loves me, Dad will recreate the infamous Fat-Free Thanksgiving he thrust upon me and my then-girlfriend years ago. Someone else should encounter that hell. Mom is having Thanksgiving with a friend and is quite content.

G is generally getting good notes from school on his behavior. I'm trying very hard to clamp down and insist on good behavior all of the time, with support from good friends. It always stuns me that he doesn't crumple when I snarl "No!" or "Stop!" as I think he will. But he stops and is fine. Weird.

Tonight, I'll cube bread and cut up the already-baked cornbread for the stuffing, and make the mashed potatoes, which will reheat in the oven tomorrow. I love to cook and to eat, so Thanksgiving is, I swear, my favorite holiday. Have a good one, everyone.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I can't believe this still happens.

This happened to my mom, who was 100 pounds when she started college. I'm disgusted that, in this day and age, it still happens. (It was her mother, too, who insisted.)

Yessss.

G has a project due tomorrow of a Family Scrapbook. I printed out some photos of the two of us, him with the two dogs, him with his cousins, and one of my mom for him to use as he pleases. Thank the Good Lord that this project is NOT a family tree, which is so challenging for SMC families (one whole side of the tree empty). I am SO glad I don't have to fight that battle. I bet it was already fought before me.

Yay!

Questions that make a mom's heart soar

"Can I have more tofu?"

"Can I have a bath now?"

and the one where I nearly hugged him to death (but maintained my aura of impartiality):

"Can I have more brussels sprouts, please?"

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Another glum, self-pitying post.

So I look down last night, at my flannel snowman pjs and my socks still on my feet as I sleep, and think, Sure, like there's ever gonna be someone else in my bed any time soon. I'm such a catch with those sexy bedclothes.

(and then there's the Little Dude who needs to move out, too. Trust me; it's in the plan.)

Friday, November 11, 2005

I want to be her

I can't stop thinking of that scene in Will & Grace where Grace is completely in Karen's face and keeps repeating, "I'm going to kick. your. ass."

And not just because I'm having a very hard time with Graham's behavior at school (and, to a lesser degree, at home). sigh.

One good thing about

Freecycle is that if you hesitate, someone else nearly always snaps something up. And if you hesitated, you probably didn't want that thing anyway.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

You would not think it

but today was an absolutely lovely day for swimming in the outdoor lap-swim pool at Laney College. Despite the endless IM (which apparently stands for "Individual Medley"--who knew?) drills from my teacher. I can do butterfly, my God! It's so hard, though. Got a mouthful of water one time.

Love California. Love it.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Life is precious

Had a bad dream last night/this morning. I was on the Golden Gate Bridge in some sort of ride thing, like an open cup on a track, with my uncle. G hadn't made it into the cup, so was climbing up a rope. Just as he got to the top, he lost his balance and fell. I couldn't even scream.

I woke up moaning and moaning and gathered G into my arms, holding him tight for about an hour. When he was awake, we told each other our dreams and I cried hard as I was telling him. (Fortunately, it didn't seem to traumatize him at all.)

Hug your loves, everyone.

Monday, November 07, 2005

That damned metric system

White Castle has a pretty funny comment on the metric system: "...our popular meal multiple is still based on 10. If the metric system were this delicious, maybe that'd catch on too."

*Someday* I'll be happily walking out of a White Castle with a sackful. Until then, I'll have to buy them frozen.

Woo hoo!

3 nibbles on Jazmin already, from posts to ba-sappho, BA SMC, and Craig's List. Yippee!

A whole week

without blogging, wow! Somebody spank me!

Last week, G lost his coat for the second time. It is labeled, which is good, but this time, it was still on the fence by the play area, where he left it; last time, it was in the Lost & Found box, which, 1 month into the school year, is already overflowing. Yoiks.

Had a good rehearsal for handbells (which sounds snotty and uptight but is actually challenging and fun) and choir. From now 'til Christmas, we'll be rehearsing from 6-9, a change from 6:30-8:30. Feels drudgelike, but the rehearsals themselves are fun, and I have a soft spot for Christmas music. I'll be playing flute for one of the pieces in our Christmas concert. The concerts are free and usually just an hour, so if you're interested, I'd love for you to come. This one is December 18 at 5PM at First Congregational Church of Alameda, United Church of Christ ("church isn't so churchy any more!").

Friday, I watched "Paycheck" with Samantha, while we ate Pad Thai and knitted. It was not bad; Sami caught on to the twists before I did, a common theme for me. Nancy (first gf) used to figure out movies WAY before I could. She's incisive that way.

Saturday, we lazed around the house till Allison came and the four of us headed off to the Alameda Marketplace to have our knives sharpened "for free" (which for me meant buying a $25 kitchen scale I had wanted anyway). I had the best roasted veggie sandwich with pesto; yum. G had the mac & cheese which wasn't Kraft and was really good.

Then we lazed around the house some more till we packed up & headed for Great America to buy our 2006 season passes for $60 each. We used this year's probably 4 times at GA and once at Bonfante Gardens, which is better for a kid G's age but takes 1 hour 20 mins to get there (sigh). We got to GA at 5PM, 1 hour before it closed, and the photo booth was closed. Turns out I could have bought the tickets online and had them processed in 2006, but it was fine--this was their Diwali celebration, so they had booths of Indian food (swoon) and a terrific fireworks display! We gorged on samosas, did a little end-of-season sale shopping (20% discount on everything with our VIP passes at certain shops!), and toodled on home for a relaxing evening.

Sunday, we headed out to Trader Joe's first thing to buy the food for the coffee hour after church. I'd signed up a while ago, when I thought I'd be hosting a Tupperware party the night before, but couldn't secure Phranc and waited too long to contact our local TupperDealer to get a local TupperPimp. But I do have a good one in the wings for the rescheduled party!

I bought what I thought was a lot of food, but everyone came down to coffee and were like locusts on the food. Seriously! I couldn't believe how fast it disappeared. I was feeling bad that I didn't have anything big & sweet, but a gal from church walked in just before church with a sheet cake for her husband's 40th. That went away completely, too. (Often, we have half of the cake left over!) I packed up the (very few!) leftovers and we went home.

I did a little knitting and a little laundry, and packed up my gear and stuff for G, and headed off to my hockey game a little early, even, which was good for getting G settled with the scorekeeper's daughter, who watched him while I played (and forgot about him completely). Had a great game--we lost, but who cares? I did some good stuff, made some dumb mistakes, laughed a lot, said "Outta my way, you big lug" to a bunch of players, and skated hard. Was skating backwards to cover Andrea at one point and when she passed me, tried to transition to skating forwards and nearly fell flat! Lovely. Andrea, Cheddah, and Tiffany were an unstoppable line and made lots of great plays together. Tiffany is one solid player now--that was quick! (Cheddah, your ankle seems to be working just fine, 1 year post break--great to play with you again) Liz was kind enough to leave her sweetie's team and come coach us, and she did a great job, even if we hardly shot the puck at all (2 shots in each of the first and third periods, yoiks).

Went out to IHOP with a crowd, where Liz held court, cracking one joke after another. I'm surprised no one had root beer coming out of her nose. My cod was not bad, thank you, at least the piece that didn't resemble a large eraser; so it isn't IHOC, you can still order cod and have a reasonable dinner. And the baked potato was perfect. Yum.

I put on my "Go to sleep" iPod playlist on the way home and G was out in 1.5 songs. Yippee!

Lucky not to throw my back out carrying first him, then my hockey bag, then the other bags o'stuff into the house. Too tired for swim class today, and besides, it looks bleak out there. I'm going home to knit for lunch. Then after lunch, more bug crunching.