A Few Photos

Raspberry finger heads

A Picture of Saren in Ithaca, NY taken in LV, NV

Lunch!

I make him do all the cleaning.

Flying Girl

Lord, please save me from Hannah Montana.

Irina has recently discovered the joy of Hannah Montana through the miracle of streaming Netflix on our Wii. So far she has watched all of season 1 and most of season 2.

Look, we haven't had a lot of experience with "tween" shows up to this point. When we got cable (which we no longer have!), we all started watching iCarly, and when it comes to tween shows, iCarly sets the bar pretty high. I mean, yes, it's a tween show on Nickelodeon and it has it's moments of stupidity, but by and large, the whole family has come to love it. It's clever and funny and the actors are adorable and not awful. Hannah Montana is no iCarly.

Hannah Montana is difficult to watch at times. The acting is not great, they tend to drop plotlines, out and out change a character or plotline mid-season, it's predictable, and it's not really believable. Exactly what you might expect from a Disney tween show.

But I do watch it. Because Irina loves it. And I can see just why it's so appealing to her, as my little performer. The singing, the dancing, the over-the-top emotions and exclamations, the sheer girly-ness of it, and the pop star at the center of it all, Hannah. These are the things that won her over. And so I love it for that. I love it for the fact that when Irina takes the microphone for the Wii and starts belting out her made-up songs, now she reaches out her hands to give her fans (me and Pat) little touches, just like a pop star on stage with those in the front row. I love it for the fact that yesterday she found a pink hooded baby towel and wore it on her head as a wig, even going so far as to wear it to the pet store on our errands.

But. I have a tendency to pick up on the southern accents when I've been watching it too long. And sometimes the over-the-top exclamations too. And that's annoying, y'all. (To be clear, southern accents aren't annoying, the way Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus's speech patterns and catchphrases are invading my brain and coming out of my mouth is. Sweet niblets!)

How My Day Started

Irina woke up and came to me shaking and whimpering and saying her belly was "moving." A little later she threw up the few sips of water she had taken. I changed a poopy diaper, cleaned up the mess on the carpet that the schizophrenic cat made, noticed that the turtle we recently rescued had created some sort of green something or other in it's water (which I had just changed), cleaned up the rather runny rat excrement that made Harper cry because it ended up on her clothes, and then dealt with the second round of vomit from the two sips of milk Irina tried to keep down.

We were supposed to have a playdate today. That didn't happen. Sometimes (like this morning) I feel like my whole life is dedicated to cleaning up the various output of other living beings in my care.

What Saren's Up To

The internet is wonderful! Miranda is posting on her blog about what the girls are getting up to each day, so I get to see photos and read about Saren's daily activities. Plus I can talk to her on Skype, which the kids children and I all did earlier today. It sure eases the ache of missing her, but what will we talk about when she comes home if I already know everything she did?

Anyway, if you'd like to keep up, you can check out Miranda's blog. Saren's friend Mollie dyed Saren's hair again yesterday and from the pictures it looks really awesome. Waaaay better than my dye job. More dye, I think is the answer.

Thirty-five thousand feet

Saren is 35,000 feet above Mississippi right now. This I know because I am tracking her plane on FlightAware.com. Ah, the wonders of the internet.

Getting through the ticketing line and security was easy-peasy, probably partly because it was so early (we arrived at 4:15am) and partly because of her special status as an unaccompanied minor (we bypassed one of the longer lines).

It feels so strange to know that she's so far away, that she's up in the air, that she's alone. Those Delta people better take good care of her.

Later: Now she's 11,800 feet above Georgia. I told her earlier that this was kind of like a coming of age trip, a rite of passage in lieu of going out in the wilderness all alone. Her first great adventure now that she's 13. I hope she has a blast.

Later, Later: Okay, she's safely in Miranda's care. Worry level has plunged by 76%.

Thirteen

Today my remarkable daughter has become a teenager. You only get 6 years to be one of those! I mean 7! I forgot about 19. Thus, today is the first of 2557 days in which she will be a teen.

She really didn't want to do anything other than go out to U-swirl, the self-serve frozen yogurt place, so that's all we'll be doing. Other than hanging out here and having cake and her choice of meals and opening presents. I worked it out so that she can have one present every hour, for 13 hours, today. 7 down, 6 to go! Each one is hidden and has a clue to find it.

The other day my big girl climbed up into my lap and curled up there like she used to do when she was little. I sat there, smelling her shampoo and feeling her arms around me, marveling at how only 13 years can turn a baby into a young woman. I appreciated the fact that my almost teenaged daughter would still cuddle with me, still come to me for mama-love.

She has feet almost as big as mine, she is almost as tall as me, and I regularly give her shirts that are just a little bit too small for me. She loves to laugh, she loves her sisters and her brother, she loves video games and going online, she loves her uncles, her grandma, her rats and cats. She's entering a new phase of her life. I can't wait to see how she continues to grow, to learn, and to discover her place in the world.

Happy birthday, beautiful amazing girl! I love you.

What's goin' on.

Nothing, really. I just haven't felt terribly bloggy.

Pat recently got a second job. He's only just started it, but we are hoping that the little bit of extra money will help ease things a bit here. His job number 2 is at a 7-11, which is great because I can call it "the sev." You know, like "So what time do you get off from the sev?" That sort of thing.

I'm glad that we'll have that little extra with the budget (hooray, we can buy food!), but I'm bummed the he'll be working an extra 8 or maybe 16 hours per week. Hopefully, we'll find some other solution to the not enough money problem soon and then he can quit the sev.

By the by, guess who's going to have a teenager in the house in 5 days? That's right! SPISHS is! What the?! No way! Yep. Way. Saren is turning 13. She keeps balking when I ask her what she wants to do for her birthday. The only thing I know for sure is that she wants to go to the self serve frozen yogurt place.

And then! Right on the heels of her turning into a TEENAGER, she'll be taking her first plane flight. By herself. She's going to visit her friends in NY for two weeks. She's nervous about the flight and I guess I am too. Also, this will be the longest she's been away from me since she went camping with my mom for three days. That was weird. This will be weirder.

The end.

Photographs, Various and Sundry

Back Door Decorations

Barbie Shoes Fingers

Chasing Rainbows

 

 

 

Chasing Rainbows - Part 2

How Harper's Hair Turned Out.

Turquoise + Red

Bonus Picture