All in a day's play

The dog playdates continue to parallel the human ones at our house:

We play a little, then fight.



We find food and toy treasures hidden about the house.



We relax after the work is done.



We say goodbye. Sami, your ride is here!

In the dog house

Getting a bone stuck on your face is one thing; burying a slimy one in the couch cushions when I'm not looking is unacceptable behavior.

Sunday night ramblings

Mr. Bickerson is crying his little eyes out tonight because the 2006 Winter Olympics are finally over. You've never met a bigger biathlon, curling, and ice dancing fan.

I don't think you can ever reheat shrimp and make it okay the day after.

There may not be a lot of snow in the backyard but a small slope of ice on the south side of the deck will keep a three and five year-old occupied for almost two hours on a nice Sunday afternoon. With frequent breaks for cocoa, of course.

If it's 25 degrees in Minnesota there is a 90% chance your local YMCA will have the A/C on in the yoga studio so get used to it.

If you color your hair at home and things don't go well and you go get a haircut the next day, the decent thing to do is wear a big sign that says: "I assure you my hairstylist did NOT put this color on my head."

I'm calling my new color a cross between Strained Carrots and Stewed Tomatoes. It looks almost as good as it sounds.

Tears

We got home last night from a late dinner and I decided the kids needed to pretty much go straight to bed. We tucked them in (not much tucking required for Hope as she fell asleep in the car on the way home) and Gary started searching for a movie to watch on Pay Per View. He ordered up Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and we settled in with our popcorn ready to watch.

Who should come creeping around the corner when he heard the opening music? None other than our biggest Star Wars fan, Hank. We had a five minute argument about him going back to bed. He wanted to know which Star Wars we were watching. Was it one that he hadn't seen that all of his friends were talking about? We tried to ignore the question and firmly stated that it was very late and he needed to be in bed. Resigned, he walked back to his bedroom.

Gary and I looked at each other. It was Friday night. There is no greater Star Wars fan in our family. Would it kill us to let the little guy stay up and watch the movie with us?

I called to Hank in his bedroom and said his dad and I had decided it would be okay for him to watch the movie. I was surprised he didn't come sprinting out of his room at the news but about 30 seconds later I said it again and he came around the corner, wiping his eyes on his jammy sleeves.

Hank, are you crying?

No Mom, I just got some tears coming in my eyes.

As tired as I am with all the crying and wailing that goes on in this house every day, I cannot tell you how bad my heart hurt thinking that he had been up there in his room crying quietly, all by himself. And it hurts more to know that there will be many opportunities for tears he'd rather hide from his parents in the coming years.

May the force be with us all.

Too many TV channels

Survivor is over and CSI is a rerun so we've decided to tune to TLC for a documentary called The Man with Exploding Arms featuring this guy:



Just before commercial they showed this guy lancing his own bicep boil in his bathroom. It's just one of the many reasons we need to pull the plug on cable.

Uh oh

I wonder if a Jim Gaffigan "obsession" might put the brakes on my aspirations for future gainful employment. At least I'm not stalking Star Jones.

Yo, Dogg...

I never talk to the TV as much as I do as when I'm watching American Idol. Dude! I am 41 years old! What the hell do I care about which 17 year-old has too much attitude, or not enough, or is pitchy one night, or is "bringing it" the other night, or is not "bringing it." I have three things to say about this season. 1) Simon has softened and that's a good thing. That helps us all overlook his weird tight-sweater wardrobe obsession. 2) Paris ROCKS! 3) The grey-haired dude singer is weird but I love him!

Impossible!

It's impossibly entertaining to listen to Hope sing snippets of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella over and over and over and over and over, and with exaggerated vibrato. The girl is funny when she's not crying!

Impossible!
To have a plain yellow pumpkin that becomes a golden carriage!
Impossible!

And

In my own little corner
In my own little chair
I can be whatever I want to be....

(Okay, so you had to be there...)

Snowy woods with birch trees

By Hank

By Hope

And she's ALWAYS hungry

Two days ago, while on her doggy playdate, Peggy stole a stick of butter from the kitchen counter. This morning she inhaled about three cups of packing peanuts as I was trying bag them up and dispose of them. These are the packing peanuts that must be made out of corn. I hope.

Pushing maximum density

I am trying to change my eating habits and lose a little weight. I've been on a diet most of my life and the only time I was really successful at losing weight was when I had brain damage in 2003. The infection in my left hemisphere left me with temporary expressive language problems and no desire to eat. The language problems went away in less than a day but the head pain and lack of appetite lasted for three weeks. I remember feeling amazed at the realization that I was never hungry. (I was thirsty, though. The neurologist put me on a fluid restriction for three days after I got out of the hospital and I would have killed a litter of puppies with my bare hands for a cup of water.)

But I got hungry again and started back with my old habits of pretty much eating everything I see and I want to change that. Recently I've been trying to pay attention to when I am actually hungry and I try to eat something healthy then, and eat it slowly so I don't overdo it. Have you ever watched me eat? I am a pig.

So guess what? I am not hungry. And since I started paying attention to my hunger pangs, I think I am hardly ever hungry. There are a number of things in the refridgerator and cupboard that I would really like to stuff in my face right now but I'm waiting for the go-ahead hunger sensation. I'm ready to chow down!

Hey, Blue Cross!

You and your ridiculously high premiums can go take a looooooooooong hike as of Monday, okay? We won't be putting up with your crap anymore. We are a relatively healthy family and we do not go to the doctor excessively. Did you notice that the kids had a total of four visits to the doctor (including two well checks) in the year 2005? Did you notice that Gary and I visited a Minute Clinic only one time each? Did you notice or do you even care that Gary quit smoking last summer? Did you notice that we are hooked on yoga and high on life? Do you care? Do you give a crap? You and your freaking high premiums indicate you do not. Sayonara muchachos.

I thank Mary, whose deodorant rant got me all riled up today. :-)

Blue Cross

Future veterinarians

I helped out in Hope's preschool classroom this morning. You're looking at the veterinarian corner of the room:



As you can see there are a number of patients waiting on the shelf behind the kids. I applied bandages to many animal limbs and some necks. Bunnie and bear legs were sprained. Cat tails were broken. One dog broke his leg in -- I suppose it was the Westminster -- dog show. Lucky for them there were more than enough vets willing to tend to them.

Wee little grappler

He's been the tiniest wrestler in the group for eight weeks but tonight he was the scrappiest! He won 1st place amongst the kindergarteners!

A snap of the winning pin:



The 1st place ribbon:



And the winning smile:



ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?

The Valentine sweater

Hank's Valentine sweater is not going to be done on time. As you can see it still needs a turtle neck and some sleeves. As you can also see it is way too big for him.



He says he loves it but I'm not sure he's going to love when it fits him at 14.



But Happy Valentine's Day anyway to my favorite 5 year-old, his sister, and his dad. I love this family!

Curious George

We saw the movie this weekend and if I had to describe it in two words those would be beautiful and sweet. The jokes for adults were few and far between but this was one of those movies where the parents watch the kids instead of the movie. It was a source of pure joy to watch Hank and Hope almost fall out of their seats from giggling so hard. And while the movie was purely for the kids, the soundtrack was for kids and their parents. Really nice music.

Every dog should have one

A puppy monorail.

I'm in love

And just in time for Valentine's Day. He has a dirt sensor on the power nozzle which lights up red when he senses dirt being sucked from the carpet, and then he turns green when that carpet section is clean. I'm going to vacuum for hours and hours this afternoon. I love you, Ken.

Running on empty

I officially ran out of effective parenting tools today. The well's done gone dry.

The four of us were sitting down to lunch and Hank was pestering Hope when I instructed him "to stop being so childish."

There was a quiet pause while Hank tried to process this message and then, right before he was going to ask for clarification, Mr. Bickerson mumbled to him, "Granted, you ARE a child."

Valentine 5K

Mr. Bickerson and I decided that we needed to replenish our supply of 5K and 10K local race shirts so we started off the year with the Valentine 5K. It was cold and windy but fun and so worth it because of the quality shirt! It was New Balance Lightning Dry with long sleeves and this cute valentine on the front:



How cute is that!

I'm the oldest birthday girl here.

Chuck E. Cheese's
Originally uploaded by Mrs. Bickerson.

And I'm going to play skeeball all night long!

Bottlecaps

Collecting bottlecaps,
bottlecaps,
bottlecaps,
bottlecaps.
Every one I see!

Star Wars mania

It's no longer all about the movie and the light sabers and the tiny little Stormtrooper guys. It's Star Wars Monopoly, baby!





Click here for more game pictures.

Chew your bone, Peggy. Don't wear it.

Ow.
Originally uploaded by Mrs. Bickerson.

Emergency vets

Emergency vets
Originally uploaded by Mrs. Bickerson.

We interrupt today's playdate with a hasty trip to the veterinarian. Peggy has managed to wedge a tasty marrow bone onto her mandible, behind the canines. She looks calm in this photo (where she waits for the vet to sedate her and saw the bone off her face) but let me assure you that on the way to the clinic she was freaking out in the van. I have a nice gash on my face as evidence.

20 years ago today

I met my Prince Charming at The Deadwood in Iowa City. I'm pretty sure that it didn't have a website in 1986.

I was born in 1965 and the year before that was the same year that the Rodgers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella was first shown on TV. For many years as a kid I waited for my annual birthday present: the TV airing of that particular Cinderella. I thought it was on TV every year for my birthday. When I grew up I let go of some of the egocentricity (only some) and accepted that it was on not for my birthday but for Valentine's Day. Before I figured that out I told my mom that I would marry Prince Charming (aka Stuart Damon) some day. Years passed and I forgot all about that until Gary and I became engaged and my mom reminded me what I told her when I was little. Turns out some little girls' dreams really do come true.

We have coughing

Murphy's law. You brag to someone about you and your kids being incredibly healthy this season and you've instantly jinxed yourself into five days and nights of hacking coughs ringing through your house.

Glass half full

Reason #67,998 why I love Mr. B.:

I was complaining about how homely my sweater is now that I'm finished knitting it. I tried it on to show him and he said it looks like the sweater that Neo and crew wore when they were outside The Matrix.

Well, that's putting kind of a cool spin on a crappy sweater!

Brokeback Mountain observations

1. Ennis probably had a horrible father.
2. Jack and Ennis could have been brothers. Jack's parents were as quiet as Ennis.
3. The casting director for Brokeback Mountain did a most excellent job casting Jack's parents and the 19 year-old daughter of Ennis. Or perhaps they were related in real life.
4. Sheep herding would be boring as hell unless you were working with your life partner/husband.
5. So that's what Peggy's mother looks like!
6. Either I need to be evaluated for a severe auditory processing disorder or the combination of Ennis's mumbling and poor Willow Creek sound quality made me miss 25% of the dialogue in the movie.
7. When you go to a movie in Minnesota you have a 50% chance of purchasing Milk Duds-gone-stale.
8. All moviegoers perk up when two, extremely handsome and naked guys jump from a high cliff, allowing their dangly bits to be viewed everso briefly.
9. Sideburns can be sexy but not "1972 Sexy."
10. Ralph Lauren's got a handle on the Sexy Cowboy Wardrobe.
11. Continuity error: Alma Jr. unbuckled her seatbelt at age 19. Wasn't that 1983-86? In rural Wyoming?

And last but not least:

11. Any movie with Randy Quaid in it makes me desperate to see National Lampoon's Vacation.