9:30 am: *Court looks for glasses*
10:45 am: *Court looks for glasses*
11:15 am: *Court looks for glasses*
12:04 pm: *Court looks for glasses*

Court: "I CANNOT FIND MY GLASSES!"

1:30pm: *Skye goes to take a shower, finds glasses camouflaged on her jeans.*

Skye: "Hey - I found your glasses!"
Court: "YAY!"
Skye: You know why you couldn't find your glasses? 'Cause..."
Court: *breaks in* "Yes - because I WASN'T WEARING MY GLASSES!"


The girl can really problem solve, can't she? ;)

I'm sitting on the couch surfing the internet with my feet up. I have walked my new nephew BabyL to sleep and he"s dreaming warmly on my shoulder. My kitty came and settled down on my lap, gradually stretching out along the length of my thighs with her legs hanging over my legs. Court is beside me on the couch playing (and annotating) Warcraft while cuddling an eagerly-watching Cai. My other sister's kids are with their counterparts in my family: baby Sassy is with Syd watching the two boys play Mario Wii and the two tween girls are upstairs sharing dreams in Maddie's room. My sisters are each asleep on separate beds. Dinner is prepared and ready for its final warming.

Blending families and sharing lives is hard... until suddenly it's the most beautiful, wonderful, peaceful thing in the world



I needed this today. It's going to be a hard semester and I want to keep these peaceful times in mind.

This morning I pulled the car up the roundabout and stopped by the stairs in order to give Paris the shortest walk to the front door of his school. He lingered in the passenger seat for a minute, warming his hands over the heater vent before braving the single-digit temps outside. I know he doesn't want to go in, and that even after school he's going to be working all night on a project that's due.

Paris: *sigh*
Me: "Yup. Good morning, buddy - you can do it."
Paris: "It's morning."
Me: *nod*
Paris: "Friday morning."
Me *nod*
Paris: *epic voiceover- voice* "DAWN... OF THE FINAL DAY. 7 PERIODS TO GO"


At that moment I wanted to somehow have all the things that he was stressing about in his day be magically resolved, and I wanted to take him with me to run errands and adventure downtown so we could be together and talk all day. I love every padawan, but I don't think it's possible to overstate my like of my eldest son.

I introduced my children to hummus today at dinner. I insisted on the first two bites but by then they decided that they all liked it and we ate quite a bit. I'm very glad I have children who'll eat what I ask them to and who keep an open mind when they eat new foods.

But let's talk about my kitten!

My kitten wishes to be with us, always and anywhere we are. She is, however, smart enough to stay away from the table during dinnertime. The truth, as she knows, is that during dinner she is in grave danger of being unintentionally trampled by a random water-run (traditionally, a full-out sprint to get a refill of water) or spontaneous acting-out of a scene. Our dinners, always family affairs filled with wildly gesturing children and loud stories and laughter, are... exuberant, to say the least.

The last few times we've had family dinner our kitten has been sitting in top of our Blu-ray player, just under our huge TV and next to our Wii, watching us.

"Look what our kitten is doing! She's so silly," I said to Cai tonight, serving him another spoonful of applesauce.

"She's doing what you do," he said, stuffing about 3x more food in his mouth than I would have suspected would fit. Seeing me eying him judgmentally, he mumbled "Shorry, mummrs," around his mouthful and endeavored to swallow as much as possible so as to clear the evidence of his transgression.

"Take your time, Cai - chew, then swallow," I said automatically, adding "What do you mean, 'doing what I do'?"

Cai was too busy trying to chew his mouthful of food; in his place, Syd piped up.

"The thing with the oven," she said, picking up a piece of bread and attempting to butter it with the not-quite-pliable stick of butter, biting her tongue in concentration.

( This story, contrary to the lead-in, has very little to do with kittens.Collapse )

"Yes!" said Cai, and then suddenly everyone was back to eating and the conversation turned to 'What 4 people you would kiss if you had to'.


So now you know what my kitten does during dinner and what I do after. Which story could have been considerably shorter but... well, this is just how we do things here. Everything relates to everything else and everyone's connected.

Even kittens and mommersez.

The impossible has happened: I HAVE HAD A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY BRUNCH. ON MY BIRTHDAY! This means, dear friends, that PEOPLE HAVE GOTTEN UP ON JANUARY FIRST, IN THE MORNING, TO CELEBRATE ME. I find it inconceivable that anyone should get up in the morning after New Years Eve partying for anything, let alone me. It is a testament to how stellar my friends are, that this sort of thing could be done, and Jme is quite a prince to pull this off for me. This year a surprise brunch with all my bestestez was just the perfect thing to bolster me and I thank you profusely. I was humbled, I was touched, I was... well, slightly hung over myself so next year, Birthday Dinner. But my point is, YAY FOR HAPPY FRIEND TIME AND 2010!  

My New Years day was filled with happyhappy, and the evening only got more fun and silly - Jme and I started watching the HBO series True Blood in the late afternoon and...Just. Didn't. Stop. About the time bakers get up to make the donuts Jme and I finished Season One and finally went to bed. This is so incredibly unlike me and it was truly awesome and wonderful because there's no way I would ever see this show trying to watch an episode 'whenever I could' - I just don't make that kind of time or space in my life for TV shows anymore. [A little Light9 story: As we were going to bed around 4 we thought about calling Light9 (who plays Warcraft at night and so is not-unoften awake at that time) and telling her to go to bed, but we didn't... though I did txt her when we finally woke up at 11 this afternoon to say good morning. Though you know what? I really doubt she was awake herself yet. I guess I shouldn't try to compete with The Master, huh?] Jme is rather embarrassed to have gotten snagged and spent all that time watching such a silly series but I assured him that it's Epic Win and we get major XP with my group of friends for doing it. In fact, I told him, mainlining a series is a time-honored way to watch a show or anime that already has a bunch of episodes released.

Today is a Template Saturday: Coffee and reading in bed, late breakfast (at the jewish deli down the street), grocery shopping, laundry while jewelry making (Jme) and writing (me), and an evening dinner with a good bottle of wine while watching a movie. Mmmmpeeeeaceful.

A friend reminded me of important things, and now I have a little something that's pulling me into the new year.



( Lyrics under the cutCollapse )


Download the song

(x-posted to artschool journal)

I couldn't sleep last night omg. I don't remember the last time that happened! I ended up laying next to a slumbering Court until 3am, reading a trashy romance novel. I think I'm excited for New Years and also dreading my birthday on the 1st. You wouldn't think that these two things could coexist, would you? Maybe that's what's up with the no-sleeping.

I did have the most awesome Girl's Date yesterday. ( Downtown adventures and birthday worries behind the cutCollapse )

In other, happier news - the baby kitten I got for Christmas is adorable. She sleeps with a different padawan each night and she may be starting to come to our call. She's cuddly and playful and fits perfectly into our family. :)