Humiliation Averted

Don't you love it when you know you could have been absolutely humiliated, but as things turned out, you're none the worse for whatever happened?

So, I was at the park yesterday morning. It was a rare morning when no one else was out with their kids yet. Rudy and I were swinging our guts out, hooting and hollering with the exhilaration of it all, when I heard a Rrrrip and suddenly my bum felt more breeze than it's used to feeling.

I hopped off the swing to find my pants had ripped almost from the waistband to the crotch. Yikes! Lucky for me, it was a bit of a cool morning, so I was wearing a sweater over my T-shirt. Soon enough, the sweater was tied around my waist, and Rudy and I finished our play time at the park.

Whew! Thank goodness for that sweater. It would have been a humiliatingly long walk home with my underwear flapping in the wind for everyone to see!

My First Re-upholster

A couple weeks ago, we picked up a cute kid sized rocking chair with great potential from a garage sale for $2. I thought I'd be able to fabreeze the smoky smell out of it, but NO, that smoke was goin' NOWHERE. So, instead of just recovering the cushion, I ended up having to tear the whole thing apart, paint the wood (to trap in the smell) and entirely replace the cushion. Not so easy as I had though it'd be when I bought it, but still fun and fulfilling to 'rehab' this old smoky, grimy thing into something fun and cute again. Rudy helped pick out the fabric. :)

Before

After

A few things I have learned from this upholstery adventure.

1) Never buy something from a smoking home unless you don't mind that smoky smell.

2) Measure twice, cut once. :)

3) Re-upholstering is not as simple or quick as you may think.

Home Owners!

After signing all these papers,

We went and took this picture.

The Ugly Duckling (we call her Ducky for short) is ours. I can't believe it, can you?

Rudy's First Sleepover

Rudy spend the night and following day with my parents from Sunday night through Monday. It was delightful to wake up with no need to tend to a child first thing, and move through my day with consideration only of what I needed to accomplish, though I really did miss him. He had a blast with Oma, Opa, and Sam.

They spent most of the day outside,

Except for a visit to the library for story time

And some toy exploration with Rudy's sidekick, Sam

That night, we read a dragon book he and Oma had checked out from the library,

and this morning, Rudy asked for green 'dragon' pancakes. :)

twenty-eight

On Saturday, I had my 28th birthday. It was a lovely day filled with doing things I felt like doing, spending time with family, and eating good food. Even the weather was beautiful (until the night, but I kinda like stormy nights). The next day, Jason, Rudy and I headed up to my parents' house to enjoy more good food and great company. It was just awesome.

I just did a search for an image of 28 to stick in this post, and learned some really cool things about my current number of years:

28 is a perfect number, meaning it is the sum of all it's divisors (1,2,4,7,14). The first perfect number is 6, the next one is 496. So, I think it's safe to say that this is the last time I'll get to have a perfect number describe my age. It is also one of seven magic numbers in physics. A magic number is a number of nucleons (that's either protons or neutrons for those of you who have been out of school for as long as I have) that results in them being arranged into complete shells within the atomic nucleus. This kind of arrangement creates super stable isotopes. So maybe this year I'll finally master emotional stability! Though with a move and a pregnancy on the horizon, I can't quite see myself as emotionally stable in the near future. Maybe I'll be able to achieve some Zen by imagining I'm a super stable isotope with the magic number of nucleons to make me very resistant to breakdown(s). :)

Anyway, I started this post to make a list of twenty-eight things I love about life to celebrate my birthday, so with no further ado, here goes, in no particular order:

1) sleeping in freshly washed sheets with freshly shaved legs 2) holding Jason's hand, and thinking of the first funny moment our hands ever touched. 3) reading books deep into the night while telling myself "one more chapter...one more chapter" 4) reading way more bed time stories than Rudy needs to settle down and fall asleep, just because we're enjoying our snuggly, giggly moments too much to put an end to them. 5) those mornings when you wake up energized and ready for an exciting day. 6)heartfelt prayer 7) a long phone call with a loved one 8) peanut butter and chocolate 9) feeling the warm sun on my skin 10) gulping down cool water on a hot day 11) healthy, beautiful houseplants 12) good dreams 13) snuggling into Jason in the middle of the night when I get too cold by myself 14)blogging 15) the smell of changing seasons-fall is probably my favorite smell. 16) finishing a task, and taking a moment to revel in a job well done 17) babies 18) toddlers! 19) watching trees' branches sway in the breeze 20) swinging so high I leave my stomach behind 21) Feeling warm earth beneath my bare feet 22) fussing over my aquarium 23)warm, moist, whole wheat pancakes with blueberries and honey 24) daydreaming 25)going to the library 26) feeling strong and invincible as I run 27) feeling the Holy Ghost testify of truth 28) Good, solid hugs

Sunset, Sunrise

Well, we've turned from Happy Hamster Hospice to mortuary. Our little guest is chillin' in our fridge until we can bring him up to my parent's house for a proper burial later today. Gus Gus went the way I'd love to go: he was active and full of life yesterday morning, and then peacefully passed a way by the time I came to feed him last night. Simple, not drawn out, and timely (he was an old man-in his 80's by hamster standards).

Rudy doesn't get death at all. "Dead" is in his vocabulary, mostly in relation to the myriad of dead worms he finds on the sidewalks in our daily wanderings around our condo complex. He equates death with sleep, though. He's always telling the worms to 'wake up!'

I've heard from tons of sources not to tell your kid someone went to sleep when they really died, 'cause of the confusion and anxiety around going to sleep it causes for the kid. I've always thought, "Duh! I'd never tell my kid that," but somehow, Rudy has told himself that. Both Jason and I have been trying to help Rudy understand that when something dies,(we haven't talked too much about people dying) it goes to Heaven and leaves it's body behind to help nourish the other living things on the earth. (Kind of a circle of life approach.) Maybe it's the fact that this kid is not even two yet, but the whole thing flies right over his head. Sigh. I might try helping him see that Gus Gus can't wake up, and see if he gets it a bit more with a living creature he has known in life and now death, but I don't know yet.

What if death is just to hard to understand, and all I end up doing is scaring Rudy that if he sleeps too long, we'll bury him in Oma's yard? Sigh. One of those first time mom moments, I guess. For now, I've avoided the whole issue by putting Rudy to bed and then having my sister come retrieve Gus Gus's cage and supplies so that he's just gone. (Except for his body with is between our orange juice and milk- I figured Heidi's roommates may never recover if they knew their food was sharing space with a dead rodent.) So far, Rudy hasn't questioned where Gus Gus went, so maybe I can choose to simple ignore the potential teaching opportunity and wait till Rudy's a bit older to try to tackle the concept of death with him.

**Update: I went the ignore route. Maybe when our next pet dies, or next time we find a dead bird or something. Maybe then I'll tackle death. In the mean time, I'll focus on the frenzy of life around me.***

As Gus Gus's time with us came to a close, a new beginning dawned. The orchid I bought off the clearance rack at Smith's Grocery store bloomed this morning. I bought her for $2.50, totally barren of any sign of a bud, let alone a bloom. (I personify my plants. It's a long standing tradition stemming from my childhood. Call you eccentric if you like, but I call my orchid Penelope.) :) My sweet Oma, who has been tending orchids with great care for several years, sent me home with some orchid food and a book all about caring for the exotic little guys. About 6 weeks later, I have this beauty to show for my efforts. (And the miracle of life, I suppose, since I could water and feed a rock with all diligence to no avail.)

It is exciting to see what color her blossoms are, and fun to have a new breathe of beauty in my living room.

A Study of the Sippy and Self Portrait

Rudy tried his hand at photography today. Here are two of the results (Most were just blurs of color 'cause he really loves to look in the lens part of the camera to take his pictures.) Someday he'll realize what he's actually doing when he pushes the button and a light blinks, and then maybe he'll look at the view finder screen thing instead. In the meantime, we get treated to a few random shots that probably just result from accidental button pushes while Rudy is bringing the camera into shooting position. :)