Not One of Them

crinklyeyes @ 2006-12-30T14:25:00

2006-12-30T19:25:51Z

In 2007, crinklyeyes resolves to...

Take cgallivan writing.
Go to the menses every month.
Apply for a new religion.
Pay for my mini-vans on time.
Put fifty hippies a month into my savings account.
Buy new dyes.

crinklyeyes @ 2006-12-22T07:41:00

2006-12-22T12:41:09Z

Cub Scouts are insane. We went to this holiday party last night for Curtis's Cub Scout pack, and they are all a bunch of little maniacs. MANIACS. The evening ended in an interesting way, though. Everyone had brought in new packs of socks, and at the end of the party everyone balled up the socks and had a snowball fight with them. Curtis was up at the front line throwing, using some really cool sound effects! Supposedly they are giving the socks to charity now.

The pack leader was using this microphone since all the ~~maniacs~~ scouts were so so loud, and Susannah decided to stand in the middle of the room and shout baby talk at the scouts. I guess she thought the scouts could use a little shaping up :D

crinklyeyes @ 2006-12-10T21:56:00

2006-12-11T02:56:55Z

Whew, I finally got my actual site up. It's really, really simple, but it does the job.

Check it out and let me know what you think. If there are any glaring errors or anything that just doesn't look good, tell me!

http://www.sunspotbabywear.com

crinklyeyes @ 2006-12-08T12:15:00

2006-12-08T17:15:58Z

So, this is why I have been so busy lately.

http://hyenacart.com/sunspotbabywear/

Hmmm

2006-12-05T21:42:41Z

I want to be the kind of mother who bakes bread every day, never has papers piled on her counters, and never, ever finds shriveled Ramen noodles stuck on the couch. I want to be the kind of mother who feeds her kids chickpea salad with brown rice and spinach for lunch, and they actually eat it with a smile.

I realized that I am striving to be the kind of mother that I am not. Sure we eat healthy (most of the time), and our meals get liberal doses of flax seed, even though I am the only one who knows it :)
But I realized today that I am not nearly as 'crunchy' as I thought I was when I bribed my 3 year old and 15 month old with Pop-Tarts just so I could have five minutes with no screaming.

Later, I was feeling a little better about my mothering skills after 10 sets of Ring-Around-the-Rosies, 1 of Hokey-Pokey, numerous Pat-a-Cakes, etc. While I was singing about that idiotic spider for the 121st time of the day, Susannah casually reached down and plucked a piece of Pop-Tart off of her pants and popped it into her mouth. Wow, my mood was blown. Not only did I give my kids Pop-Tarts, but I obviously don't clean them very well either.
Then, Lydia brought me her little Doodle Pad so that I could see what she'd drawn.
'Look, a booger!!!!!!!!!' (I swear she said it with that many exclamation points). 'I love boogers, Mom.' She said this with so much love that I was afraid my status had been usurped by some dirt and dried mucous.

I guess my point is that I will never be the kind of Mom I REALLY want to be, because that's just impossible. But my kids make it really fun. I just need to remember that the next time Lydia zips by me with nothing on but a pair of underwear and a laundry basket over her head.

Cut

2006-11-13T01:52:17Z

Did a friends cut. I hope noone minds - it was nothing personal, I just need a little more private space.

crinklyeyes @ 2006-08-29T15:57:00

2006-08-29T20:03:51Z

Can you say 'Awwwww'

Lydia before her first haircut

During her first haircut

Time Flies

2006-08-06T12:48:08Z

Susannah turned one year old on Friday, and we had a party for her yesterday. She had a really good time, I think. She blushed when everyone was singing happy birthday, and she was quite pleased with the cake.

Penis, Anyone?

2006-06-20T12:24:27Z

Can anyone give me pointers on how to convince a toddler girl that she does not, in fact, have a penis like her big brother?

crinklyeyes @ 2006-05-19T10:16:00

2006-05-19T14:23:32Z

So this will be my last post for probably a couple of weeks. My work computer is what I use at home, and I have to turn it in today. Actually, I have to turn in two laptops, two docking stations, one monitor, a keybord, a few mice and several power cables. But anyway.

I'll check LJ and comment as often as I can, so please don't take me off of your lists!

whatwhatwhat!!!

2006-05-16T00:31:41Z

Well, I am officially no longer employed. Tim put in notice at work today, and they decided to go ahead and fire me. I'm a little shocked. And angry.

crinklyeyes @ 2006-05-05T12:18:00

2006-05-05T16:28:47Z

Today feels like a Saturday.

Susannah went for her 9 month checkup today, and she is as healthy as can be.
The doctor said, "You realize she's an accident waiting to happen, don't you?" Of course he's referring to the fact that she will be mobile soon. I've been having this feeling that my third child will definitely be the most...rambunctious of the three. I love watching her play (I like to refer to it as work, since she's so serious about it). Her curiosity and determination really are amazing. That girl will stop at nothing to get what she wants, which makes it surprising that she's not crawling yet. Just yesterday she managed to get ahold of Lydia's dinner plate that we left on her tray while she was being put to bed, and none of us noticed until she had a tomato slice hanging out of her mouth. What makes it so funny is that Tim was holding her while she got it. And the screams when we took it away! She let her temper out full force.

Tomorrow is Curtis' first communion. There are going to be so many people here. I guess that means I should hop to it and get cleaning.

Poor Curtis

2006-04-29T18:32:41Z

Curtis is at his first ever Kung-Fu tournament right now. I made a commitment to the the MS walk before we even knew about the tournament, so I wasn't able to go. Luckily Tim, Lydia and my Dad were able to go with him.
But, my Dad just called and said that Curtis didn't even win a ribbon and he (Curtis) is really upset. It's breaking my heart to not be able to be there with him right now.

crinklyeyes @ 2006-04-28T10:37:00

2006-04-28T14:40:58Z

What happens when you leave a toddler unattended with a marker?

I wish I had gotten a better picture of her mouth. Very orange.

Also, because it's so cute:

I love watching her sleep.

Catholicism

2006-04-27T14:48:52Z

I've been considering a conversion to Catholicism for a while. However, it is not something that I want to do lightly, for obvious reasons. I figured the best way (besides going through RCIA classes at church, the idea of which is quite intimidating to me for some reason) is to educate myself through books and other resources. I know that there is an abundance of controversy surrounding the Church so I decided that I wanted to find three different sources to begin with. One book 'for' the Church, written by a Catholic. One neutral, or unbiased, factual book regarding Catholicism. And one book from a dissenting standpoint.

Dismayingly, I found that the easiest books to locate were those that were written by authors who seemed to take a strange glee in mocking and pointing out all of the faults of the Church. I started with one such book, called The Church That Forgot Christ written by journalist Jimmy Breslin. He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith, and as an adult has severed his ties to the church.

I am on the twentieth page of this book, and he has spent these pages so far mocking the Pope and railing about pedophilic priests. Which is what I expected and was looking for. However, on this twentieth page, I read something that made me put the book down so that I could consider whether or not I really wanted to finish it.

Mr. Breslin is writing of the vows of celibacy which a priest takes when he is ordained. He states that 'the word [celibacy] itself is confused with chastity which means a pure life, virginity. Celibacy is defined as the passing up of unlawful or immoral sexual activity.'
He then goes on to state that celibacy does not rule out sex, and chastity is absolute purity.

Now, I understand that there is confusion regarding these two words because in many places they are regarded as synonyms. But if we look:

celibacy

n 1: an unmarried status 2: abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows)

chastity

n 1: abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows) 2: morality with respect to sexual relations

It seems that he has them backwards. A priest is celibate. A married couple who uses the gift of sex within their relationships as God intended is chaste.

So, I ask myself this: Did Mr. Breslin make an honest mistake in his defining of these words, or did he intentionally tweak the definitions in order to pack more of a punch in his book? If I judge by the tone of the book up to this point, I would have to say it was a self-serving action, a way to pack an even more powerful wallop in his writing. But then, this is an emotionally charged book and when one is speaking from emotion it is quite easy to confuse the facts.

I think I will continue this book to see if he gets the rest of the basic facts right.

Request

2006-04-27T13:11:28Z

We just found out this morning that Susannah's neurosurgeon had a heart attack yesterday. From what we know now, she is likely to recover, but at this moment she is in the cardiac intensive care unit.

Dr. Bierbrauer has surely changed the lives of so many people for the better. I know that without surgery Susannah would have rapidly lost bowel, bladder and leg function and probably would have spent her life crippled and in pain.

So, if any of you pray, please send one up for this wonderful woman.

Thanks,
Rose

Itchy

2006-04-25T17:44:39Z

It doesn't seem that Lydia is actually going to nap today. Susannah, however, has been asleep for 2.5 hours. Well, alternating between asleep and waking up and looking for my boob.

Tim and I share a dream. When referring to the dream, we always say 'The Commune'. But really what it is is the dream of living a self-sustained life. Well, I think he would be better at the completely self sustained part than I would. I don't think I would be able to slaughter animals.
And, I'm kind of a nature wussy in that I don't like crapping in the ground, and I don't like bugs.
Anyway, I have been feeling inspired lately for two reasons. One is the beautiful weather lately, and the other is a book that I just kind of grabbed off of the shelf of the Delhi library on Saturday. I don't remember what it's called (it's upstairs and I'm not), but it is really at it's core about leading a self-sustained existance. I grabbed it on a whim because it said something about gardening, which I am a big fan of, and it turned out to be this wonderful encyclopedia of natural, independant living.
Wow. So much to think about. Makes me all itchy for the future.

Tim Tim bo Bim

2006-04-25T00:25:55Z

I made a journal for my hubby and look what he did!

http://teme.livejournal.com/697.html?mode=reply

DITL

2006-04-24T16:43:36Z

All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little hands are plied.
While little hands make vain pretense
Our wanderings to guide.

Good Morning! We got to sleep in today. Everyone wakes up cheerful.

Coffee/Breakfast

Lydia takes a shower with Daddy, AKA Sasquatch.

I iron and watch the news.

Susannah plays.

While Tim braids Lydia's hair.

Kiss.

My turn for a shower.

Susannah needs to eat before we go to church.

This is the church we were married in, and Curtis goes to school there.

Once home, Susannah wants to eat again.

We leave to go get Curtis some new pants and we see this:

If you don't buy cars here you will be squashed by a giant monkey!

Tim and I hold hands on the way home.

Curtis practices his Kung-Fu before his class.

We go to the back yard while Lydia takes her nap.

Hanging laundry out to dry. Something about this is so very satisfying.

Check on the basil I repotted and take a look at our garden. We're getting a late start this year. It's too wet to till right now, and the wait is killing me.

Susannah likes laundry time.

Eat some more, play a little.

Hang some more laundry.

Going to pick Curtis up from Kung Fu class.

This will all become beef Stroganoff, which we have for dinner with a green salad.

Folding laundry after dinner. Susannah wants to help. How can I resist a face like that?

And how can I resist a man who does this?

I love him. Even if he does always lookes stoned in pictures.

Play a little while the sun sets.

Good Night.

Nursing baby, Partial toddler nudity.

Xposted to ditl

Seedlings

2006-04-22T12:45:02Z

They grew so much faster than I anticipated. I'm going to transfer them to bigger containers today. It's still not past the frost-safe date, so I can't put them in the ground yet.

Basil, peppers, squash, and zucchini, in that order.

crinklyeyes @ 2006-04-20T19:06:00

2006-04-20T23:10:35Z

crinklyeyes @ 2006-04-20T08:11:00

2006-04-20T12:15:11Z

I got to go to Loiuisville last week while Curtis was on Easter break, and on Friday I got to go have lunch with stacerific! I really had a good time with her. I wish we lived closer :( I miss being able to hang out with her so much. We are going to have to find a way to get our families together so that I can meet her son. He sounds like a really cool kid.

The weather has been so nice lately! I've been able to hang laundry out on the line for the first time all year. There is something about that which is so satisfying. I swear, it's like a happy drug for me.
You know what else I love? Opening a brand new jar of mayonnaise.

Spring!

2006-04-05T20:16:31Z

Spring is finally here! Today is so beautiful. The kids and I went outside and played for a little while this afternoon. Susannah got to feel the grass for the first time. She was a little scared of it I think. I started the seeds for the peppers, basil, squaush and zucchini, but I can't find my tomato seeds anywhere!

We went to Portsmouth, OH over the weekend for a bridal shower for my sister in law. Portsmouth is a weird town. It's this kind of dumpy little place, but they have about a million little banks in the 'downtown area' as well as a tea room, which is where the bridal shower was. I think it was the strangest bridal shower I've ever been to. Anyway, I'm going to throw her another one, a real one.

I had a lot of fun doing the Day in the Life last Thursday. I do believe I'm going to try and do it every week from now on.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful day too!

Multiple Sclerosis

2006-03-19T14:52:50Z

This year I'm going to be doing the MS walk here in Cincinnati with my Mom.

Please consider making a pledge at my web page.

https://www.nationalmssociety.org//OHG/personal/default.asp?pa=54333359&pd=OHG0EWLK20060429CIN

Thanks!

crinklyeyes @ 2006-03-18T15:32:00

2006-03-18T20:35:22Z

Do not go after the past,
Nor lose yourself in the future.
For the past no longer exists,
And the future is not yet here.
By looking deeply at things just as they are,
In this moment, here and now,
The seeker lives calmly and freely.
You should be attentive today,
For waiting until tomorrow is too late.
Death can come and take us by surprise--
How can we gainsay it?
The one who knows
How to live attentively
Night and day
Is the one who knows
The best way to be independent.

-Bhaddekaratta Sutra