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October 31, 2005
The Obligatory Post of Halloween Pictures
By the way, I turned 36 today.
Posted by Julee at 07:58 PM | Comments (6)
October 28, 2005
Friday at the Art Museum
Eric was able to come home early this afternoon, so we high-tailed it downtown to the San Antonio Museum of Art. I had read in the paper that some Tibetan Buddhist Monks were creating a mandala there this week. They will complete it on Sunday and then immediately destroy it, so we took our only opportunity to go see it.
As we were pulling up to the museum we saw the monks in front getting ready to leave. Bummer! We wouldn't be able to see them in action. But it was well worth the trip. The museum had a really nice collection and the building was beautiful. It actually houses an older mandala which is one of only 4 preserved ones in the nation.
The kids were amazing. We had not ever had very much success taking them to art museums. They would always lose interest after about 15 minutes and then start complaining and whining. They gave us at least an hour this time.
Posted by Julee at 09:54 PM | Comments (2)
Friday Random 10
Shuffle Those MP3s
1. Red-Eyed and Blue - Wilco - Being There(1)
2. Blessed - Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Trouble Water
3. Holy Grail - Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One is One
4. Yellow Creep Around - Mary's Danish - Circa
5. Flinty Kind of Woman - Dar Williams - The Honesty Room
6. Song for Lindy - Fatboy Slim - Better Living Through Science
7. Crumble - Calexico - Feast of Wire
8. She's Losing It - Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
9. U-Mass - Pixies - Trompe Le Monde
10. Too Alive - The Breeders - Title TK
Posted by Julee at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2005
Potty Training
With the boys I waited until the week of their 3rd birthdays before I even introduced the idea of potty training. I didn't even want to start trying until I felt that they were really able to follow their own cues. I just was not at all interested in having to remind a toddler to use the potty every 30 minutes or so. I wasn't up for a struggle or for cleaning up accident after accident. And it worked. Maybe I have a selective memory, but I recall few accidents. It must have taken Henry only a couple of days to completely train because he started preschool the week after he turned 3. I had to send a spare set of clothing just in case and he never used them- not once.
I was planning to use the same approach with Iris. I know that many girls are developmentally ready at a younger age than boys. So I imagined that sometime in the spring I would address the issue with her. (She will be 3 in August)
Well, I should have known better than to try to plan it with Iris! About a month ago she started refusing to wear her cloth diapers- even her cute Winnie the Pooh diaper. And Iris likes Pooh! Then in the past couple of weeks she has refused to wear diapers at all while at home. I would say, "Great! She's potty training at 26 months!" But actually I'm having to remind a toddler to use the potty every 30 minutes and I'm cleaning up accident after accident all over the house. I could just make her wear diapers but we all know that when you try to battle a two year old there are no winners.
Arghh!
Posted by Julee at 09:19 PM | Comments (4)
October 26, 2005
5 Things...
That you may not know about me.
Lisa Tagged me. So Here it goes:
1. I'm pretty messy and I'm not very good about keeping up with the housework. I don't really notice dust or dirt until Eric points it out to me.
2. I really, really hate to admit this, but I voted for George H. W. Bush in 1988. The only excuse I have is that I was 19 and was a freshman in college. I was kind of a shallow party girl and knew absolutely nothing about current events.
3. I made up for it by taking a job (for a pittance) as the campaign scheduler for Gloria O'Dell. She ran against Bob Dole for US Senate in 1992 and of course lost by a wide margin. Our campaign office was frequently picketed by Fred Phelps and his crew.
4. I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day all through college and for 2 years after. I quit cold turkey 1 month after I got married. Haven't had one in over 10 years.
5. I hate perfume and scented candles. I think they smell like chemicals and they give me a headache.
Posted by Julee at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
Local Farmers
On Wednesday we went on a field trip to a farm about 40 minutes away in Hondo. One of the activities was a hay wagon ride around the farm.
We all climbed on the wagon, the farmer started up the tractor and took us out to the middle of a field. He then stopped the engine and jumped onto the wagon to give us a speech. Not that anyone would have gotten up and left, but we were trapped.
Okay, though we were literally a captive audience, it wasn't that bad. He just told us how he was the 5th generation to own and farm that land. As most of us already know, he described the struggles of the small family farmer in this day and age and explained some of the things he had to do differently to survive. Besides the maze that we were there to visit, he now raises natural beef and sells the eggs from his free range chickens to keep his farm going.
He also encouraged us to support our local farmers. I really, truly agree with this, but I often do fall into the convenience trap of just buying my produce from the local supermarket. I should visit the farmers market more. The growing season is so much lomger here, plus it's fun and educational for the kids. Having an actual face put to the food provides additional incentive.
By the way, I bought a ton of ground beef from him and I cannot wait until Eric gets the grill tank refilled.
Posted by Julee at 05:10 PM | Comments (6)
October 16, 2005
Accordions
A good babysitter is a wonderful thing to have. And since we have one, Eric and I have been going out without kids regularly. Last night we went down to the Riverwalk. We usually only do this when people are in town visiting because it's easy to get Riverwalk overload. But as I was scanning the entertainment section of the newspaper, I noticed that the International Accordion Festival was being held at La Villita this weekend.
When I first saw it listed I imagined oompah bands and Lawrence Welk type music. (Not that those aren't valid forms of entertainment) I was intrigued enough to check out the website for more information and saw that all types of music from zydeco to western-tinged polkas would be performed.
Obviously we decided to go. On our way to dinner we briefly saw Los Garcia Brothers and was introduced to Conjunto. We then sat down and ate really bad, over-salted Mexican food but had really good double frozen margaritas. Plus we got a table right on the river.
After dinner we saw two bands: Brian Marshall and the Texas Slavic Playboys and Le Vent du Nord. The latter band was definitely the highlight of the night. They were Quebecois* from Montreal. They were incredible and I don't think it was just the double margarita talking. They really rocked out playing their traditional farming folk songs. They had the whole crowd enthralled.
I plan on going to this festival again next year!
*I looked up "French Canadian" on Wikipedia and learned that it is not appropriate to loosley use that term to describe someone. I read that, "This is, in fact, offensive to many Canadians of French descent who identify strongly with the terms Québécois, Franco-Ontarian, etc., as cultural identities which are not casually interchangeable with each other."
Posted by Julee at 10:41 PM | Comments (3)
Lights on the Water
Posted by Julee at 10:39 PM | Comments (1)
October 14, 2005
Links
"If a woman has something implanted permanently, it might as well do something useful"
Find out the best place for you to live based on a variety of criteria:
Find Your Spot
After you answer all of the questions, you will be prompted for your name, address and e-mail before they will give you your results. I used fake information and it still worked. Apparently, Honolulu is the number one city for me. I wouldn't know because I have never been there.
Posted by Julee at 10:41 PM | Comments (2)
Friday Random 10
Shuffle Those MP3s
1. Big Exit - PJ Harvey
Live at Hultsfred Festival
2. Sir Rockaby - Frank Black
Teenager of the Year
3. A Bend in the River - Mark Erelli
Hillbilly Pilgrim
4. No One's Leaning - Jane's Addiction
Ritual De Lo Habitual
5. O'Brien/O'Brien's Nocturne - M. Ward
End of Amnesia
6. Please Help Me I'm Falling - D. Parton, L. Lynn, T. Wynette
Honky Tonk Angels
7. From Your Girl - The Muffs
The Muffs
8. Sent to the Moon - Tullycraft
Best Surf Fun
9. All Your Sisters - Mazzy Star
Among My Swan
10. Venus Loves Leonard - Mary's Danish
Circa
Posted by Julee at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
Autumn Leaves
It has cooled off quite a bit in the past couple of weeks but it's still summer here. I mean we're still wearing shorts and I have swim lessons scheduled through the end of the month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. In fact I really like it. But I do find it a little outrageous that if I want to see some fall foliage I have to drive 86 miles and wait until November. I got an email from a homeschooling list about a possible field trip to Lost Maples State Natural Area next month. (Speaking of field trips, we have gone on some great ones lately.)
There is nothing like a New England autumn (sigh), but I think I'm really going to like the south Texas winters.
Posted by Julee at 10:00 PM | Comments (1)
Cowboys and a cowgirl
I'm finally getting around to posting this picture as it is a few weeks old. My mother, sister and nephew were here for a long weekend last month to celebrate my sister's birthday. My sister wanted boots for her birthday and Texas does happen to be the place to get them. It may come as a surprise but there is a good-sized western wear store near my home. Well, my mother in a very good grandmotherly fashion bought a pair of boots for each of my children. Plus Iris got a pink cowboy hat!
Posted by Julee at 09:42 PM | Comments (3)
October 12, 2005
Tooth Fairy and an Allowance
The tooth fairy has made two visits to our home in the the past few weeks. She was pretty generous to leave 3 Sacagawea dollars for Henry each time. But those first two bottom baby teeth are pretty special. She also knew that she had to leave an amount that was divisible by three. The bulk of the money the boys receive gets divided into thirds: a third for each spend, share and save. (I did let Henry put most of his birthday money in spend with a little going toward savings)
The boys also now get an allowance every week. They don't have to do to much to earn it- just the things I ask them to do: pick up their toys, put their laundry in their drawers and other small jobs here and there. Once their savings portion gets big enough they can open a bank account and at the end of the year they get to decide where to donate their sharing money. Right now they are both leaning towards giving it to the firefighters.
Posted by Julee at 10:18 PM | Comments (3)
October 10, 2005
Kerrville
The suffocating, stifling heat has finally broken so on Saturday Eric and I took the kids on a drive up through the beautiful Hill Country. Our final destination was the hometown of Kinky Friedman, Kerrville, for an art festival.
The festival had a fundraising raffle, but the prize was something I think you would only see in Texas- a rifle. Sorry, the picture is a little blurry.
Do you want to see what we bought?
It was a pretty small scale festival but we found a couple of things.
I take drinking coffee pretty seriously and I have wanted a real pottery mug for a long time.
We also could not resist buying this super-kitschy picture done with microbeading:
Posted by Julee at 09:06 PM | Comments (4)
Favorites Meme
Lisa has been supplying the fun memes lately.
1) Shampoo and Conditioner - Avalon Organics lemon
2) Soap - Dr. Bonner's lemon
3) Colors - pink, pink and more pink
4) Soda - don't really drink soda
5) Foods - tamales, yakisoba, hamburgers cooked on the grill, ice cream,
6) Movie - Desperado (I can't explain this, but I really do like it),
Empire Strikes Back
7) Band - Right now, the Shins, Death Cab for Cutie, Mirah
8) Disney Character - Cinderella
9) Actor - Ben Stiller
10) Actress - can't really think of one
11) Video Games - I don't play video games.
12) Computer Games - I don't play computer games
13) Store - Whole Foods, Costco
14) Alcohol - Indian pale ale beer and I have recently discovered the joy of drinking margaritas
15) Number - don't have one
16) Car - lime green VW Beetle
17) Book - anything by author Kazuo Ishiguro
18) T.V. Show - When my mom was visiting a couple of weeks ago she introduced me to Curb Your Enthusiasm. What a great show!
19) Website - Craigslist
20) Condiment - Franks hot sauce
21) Fruit - peaches (in season)
22) Vegetable - arugula
23) Restaurant - Don't really have one
24) Blogger - My guilty pleasure is the celebrity gossip blogs
25) Place - Boston
Posted by Julee at 08:31 PM | Comments (1)
October 06, 2005
Columbus Day Weekend
My sons spend a lot of time engaged in very traditional masculine imaginative playing. When they were younger they mainly acted out rescue or fix-it scenarios. But to my dismay, story lines involving weapons are the latest craze around here. Now, we don't allow toy (or real) guns in our house, but as you all probably know they can turn anything into a weapon, even their fingers. I tried to fight it at first, but I know it's useless. All I can do is keep reminding them that guns are scary and they really do hurt people, and then hope the day they outgrow it comes soon.
I was in the kitchen this morning when I overheard Henry say, "Hut-two, hut-two, we are coming to take the Native Ameican's land." I have no idea where he heard this, but it was not going to fly. I made him stop and come over to listen to me give an abbreviated, 6 year old-friendly version of why it was just not cool for him to pretend that.
We weren't planning anything special for the weekend. Eric doesn't have Monday off. But now maybe I will try to foster some sensitivity in my sons and explain to them that some people celebrate Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day.
(I did go to college in the ultra-politically correct early 90s afterall!)
Posted by Julee at 11:28 PM | Comments (2)
October 05, 2005
Yellow Jackets
We look forward to going to our homeschooling park day on Tuesdays. We meet in a park in the country that has about everything you would want in a park: a pavillion, a creek, woods, ball fields, play structure, swings, flush toilets and lots of shade. The best part is that we are always the only ones there. On any given Tuesday you can count on at least 15 moms (and sometimes a dad or 2) being there. Most people have 2 or 3 kids, so it's a big crowd. The kids can pretty much run wild. They catch crayfish, frogs and small snakes. They hike through the woods, play in a bamboo forest and occasionally even chase deer. Lately they have been playing at the edge of the woods on the banks of the creek, building structures in and around some tree stumps.
I will mention that the creek is usally a dry river bed like so many of the creeks that I have seen around here. If it has rained in the previous few days then the water may be waist-high. It is a safe enough situation where we can pretty much let them play while us adults can relax and chat. The moms whose sons (it's always the boys) are playing in the woods will take turns going in and check on them.
Henry, Theo and 2 other boys were digging in the dirt around the trees. Henry said they were digging to make a house. Well they chose the wrong spot! When the four of them came running out of the woods screaming I didn't really think anything of it at first. But it didn't take long to realize something was wrong. Another mom and I jumped to help out a 6 year old who was covered in yellow jackets. We managed to pull off his shirt pretty quickly because they were up inside it. I don't know how many times he was stung, but it was quite a bit. Thank goodness he wasn't allergic! Theo was only stung 3 times and Henry once, but H's leg got pretty swollen.
The funny thing is (not really ha ha funny though) is that I read this book to them right before we left home for playgroup.
Thank you Dorling Kindersley for your free clip art.
Posted by Julee at 10:09 PM | Comments (3)
October 03, 2005
Travel Opportunity
Too bad it's such short notice (and not within our budget!) but North Korea has opened her borders for the third time in 13 years to American tourists.
I seriously would love to go on this trip, but must be satisfied by only reading the travel diaries of others:
My Travels to Pyongnang and North Korea
Travel Diary: Admidst Snow and Lies
Posted by Julee at 12:10 AM | Comments (1)
October 02, 2005
Real Estate
In case you were at all interested: Brad and Jen's home is on the market.
It's the 10th listing under the Flash Tours. Just click on the picture of the house.
Posted by Julee at 11:57 PM | Comments (3)