Twix and Rolo

Saren got two new ratties. Sticking with the candy theme, their names are Twix and Rolo. Twix has one red eye and one black eye. Rolo has curly fur and curly whiskers, which makes her a rex, which Saren tells me are used to breed hairless rats. They are very young and very tiny and very cute.

Twix

Twix

Rolo

This happened almost a month ago.

Let us put February into the blogging fail category. Oh well.

Actually I need to properly start the story about 14 years ago. I have been a big Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five fan since I first heard them when I was maybe 19 or 20. I first heard them listening to the now non-existent college radio station from UNLV. I fell in love with Underground and have been listening ever since.

In 1998, they came to Vegas and Pat won tickets to the show from the radio station. Saren was a little less than one year old at the time and we had my mom (or possibly my aunt) babysit and went to the show. The tickets were backstage tickets so afterward we got to meet Ben Folds, Darren Jesse, and Robert Sledge. They signed some CD case liners we had and Pat asked something like, "How long have you been playing piano?" Other than that I don't remember much. Still, it was quite possibly one of the best days of my life.

Fast forward to mid-January of this year. Ben Folds Five had gotten back together to put out a new album and would be coming to Vegas on their tour. Pat entered to win some tickets on a radio station's website and we thought nothing would come of it. But then there was a message on the answering machine and he won! Again!

In all the time Saren has been growing up she has been listening to Ben Folds. She's probably just as big of a fan as I am. So, at the end of January she accompanied me to the Ben Folds Five concert that Pat won tickets to. It was her first concert.

I have only a couple of very crappy quality pictures because I was a complete idiot and didn't bring my camera with me. These were taken with Saren's phone.

It was so, so good. Not backstage this time, but still soooo soooo good. Saren loved it too.

The thing about concerts is that they seem to fade from your memory (well, from mine anyway) quickly. (Could just be that all the concerts I've been to have been in my distant past). So I wanted to write a couple of details so I could remember better later.

They did this whole impromptu, made-up, in-fake-german song all based off of what some guy in the audience shouted. It was seriously song-length, and pretty catchy actually, and hilarious.

There was a point when they were singing Do It Anyway that Ben forgot the lyrics and kind of faltered, said "I forgot the fucking words!" and then got back on track. Seems like that would be a low point, but honestly it just made it more awesome for me because it makes the whole experience more human. Like, these people are here, playing a song in person, for me. This is what makes live music so cool.

Somewhat disappointing was the fact that for the most part everyone remained seated. I was speculating that it was because Ben Folds' audience is getting older, but whatever. They did an encore of Underground and during that I stood up and made sure that Saren did as well. Good stuff.

Irina is 8!!!!!

Here are the various festivities and events surrounding the celebration of her birth. Wednesday was park day and we brought party stuff and cupcakes.

On Friday, the actual day, we did presents in the morning and the Adventuredome during the day.

favorite ride!

Saren, Pat, and Harper about to go on the roller coaster

 Then out to dinner and home for some cake and balloon popping.

8 dollar bills in 8 balloons

And today, we went to the mall to purchase her final gift. Ear piercing!

Happy Birthday, Irina Bean!

Laundry, Still

Over the past two days I have done two loads of laundry in the bathtub. I'm sticking it to the man! It's apparel-care anarchy around here. I don't need your stinking machines!

Seriously though, I do not recommend doing laundry in the bathtub.

January Days - Volume 3

On Monday we were going to take Harper to an acting class, but at the last minute she decided she didn't actually want to do it. Instead we went to Springs Preserve. It was super cold that day (for Las Vegas) and we shivered and ran quickly from one building to the next. There was a new-ish section that we hadn't been to yet. It had a wooly mammoth skeleton. They have this nature exchange thing where you bring bits of nature and they give you points for whatever you bring in and you pick out new bits of nature. Back in 2008, Harper had brought in a rock that we found in central Nevada on the side of the highway and it turned out to be volcanic (if I am remembering correctly) and they gave her 3000 something points for it. When we checked on those points on Monday there were still over a thousand left, so Harper, Irina, and Silas each picked out some pretty shells and there's still points left for next time.

Hanging with the butter people

On Tuesday Irina, Silas, and I made swirly marbleized paper with shaving cream and food coloring.

Finished Product

And then there was this.

And this.

Wednesday was park day.

And Friday, we went to homeschool rollerskating day. Irina decided to do the limbo and the races this time. She came in last in the race, but they gave a free soda to all the kids who participated. She was pretty proud of herself.

Paleo, Writing, Laundry, and Dr. Who (or the lack thereof)

So how has the conversion to eating paleo been going? Miserably. By which I don't mean that I'm doing it and it's making me miserable, but that I'm failing miserably. Because I have no self control whatsoever and my addiction to sugar is worse than I feared. So if there are sodas in the house I tell myself I will have just one more today and then I'm done forever. If Saren makes a loaf of bread in the middle of the night and I wake up and hey, look! Bread! Well, obviously I have to eat it because it's important to support your children in all their endeavors.

But, whatever. Because when I made that goal (among others) I told myself if I faltered I would just keep trying without berating myself. Which either means I will eventually get it or I will use that as an excuse to forestall forever. Just one more Pepsi/Taco Bell dinner/Snickers bar for today and I can start for reals tomorrow!

I've also been trying to keep up with writing every day. Last year I did very well, but lost steam around September. Still, last year was better than the year before, which was better then the year before that. This year will be the best yet. But I have the same caveat as above. When I miss a day I just get back on the horse and start again, no self guilt trips. I think part of why I faltered last year and hardly wrote at all for the last months was just the inertia of not writing. So far this year, I have missed a few days, but the days I did write outnumber the days I didn't.

The novel I had been working on got maybe a quarter of the way done. I am still interested in it actually, but I don't know how to begin again from a different angle, which is what it needs. That's kind of intimidating, to have written so much and to know I need to start again from scratch. So I put it off. And put it off. And in the meantime I started in on a little idea involving time manipulation. Sort of a no pressure thing because I don't really know where it's going.

Speaking of time manipulation, a few days ago I had to temporarily cancel the Netflix streaming, and so I had to say goodbye to Dr. Who, which was heartbreaking. I was just in the middle of the last season that was currently available on Netflix so after I start it again I'll have a couple of days of bliss and then my heart will be broken all over again. I had gotten into the habit of watching it every night before bed and now I just don't know what to do with myself between 9 and 11pm.

Our washing machine broke a few weeks back and since we can't afford to get it fixed right away, we've been using the laundromat. The great thing about the laundromat is that you can get all your laundry done at once in about an hour. The bad thing about going to the laundromat is going to the laundromat. If only I could have four washers and two dryers in my house. Best of both worlds.

January Days - Volume 2

I changed the name of my Saturday posts. My Saturday posts that have been going on for all of two Saturdays. Originally I was going to have 52 volumes, but maybe I'll just have 3 or 4 or 5 per month instead. The Saturday posts are about what's been going on in the kids' worlds, by the way. This week was actually pretty blah and the things that happened that come immediately to mind are not terribly positive, so I'll just share this funny conversation I had with Silas (though Irina started it off).

Irina: What holiday comes after Christmas?
Me: New Year's, but that already passed.
Irina: And then what?
Me: Your birthday!
Irina: Woo-hoo!
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Valentine's Day.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then St. Patrick's Day.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Mama's birthday.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Easter.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then your birthday.
Silas: Woo-hoo! And then Christmas?
Me: And then Daddy's birthday.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Harper's birthday.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then 4th of July.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Saren's birthday.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Halloween.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Thanksgiving.
Silas: And then Christmas?
Me: And then Christmas.
Silas: Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! *jumping up and down*