The Combo Gift

The picture above shows Molly drinking from my Mother's Day gift. I thought it would be a good photo for "Weekly Winners," in which bloggers send photos they've taken during the week to sarcasticmom.com. For information, click http://sarcasticmom.com/?page_id=137.

My dear, ever-practical husband. He's the only person I know who would combine my Mother's Day gift with a water bowl for our cat Molly.
What did he get me? Why, a Homedics tranquility fountain, of course. Not only would the sound of tinkling water chill me out while I'm on the computer, it would serve as a water fountain for our ever-thirsty cat (see previous post, "What Do a Cat and a Snail Have in Common?").
"I looked for one of those pet water fountains at Wal-Mart, but they didn't have one," he said. "So then I saw one of these for $20, and thought it would do." Thanks for the details, honey.
Seriously, though, I do like the fountain. The sound of the water is pleasant to listen to, plus it keeps Molly from terrorizing me. Before the fountain, every time I walked into our bathroom, she would bolt onto the sink and meow for me to turn on the faucet. "I'm not going to waste a gallon of water so you can get a couple of sips," I tell her. "Meeooww," she replies. Preserving the environment is not one of her priorities.
My husband's gift-giving technique may be blunderous, but I wouldn't want him to change. What he lacks in finesse is more than made up for in the thought and care he puts into each gift.

Family Outings Really Can Be Fun

Once upon a time, in my work life, I went to many Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball games. Some were through my husband's work, and some were essentially press junkets through my editing jobs at various trade magazines. Then I had Ethan, quit my job, and the free Major League baseball tickets disappeared.

Until this past weekend. Terry got four tickets from his boss to see the Colorado Rockies play the Dodgers this past Saturday at Coors Field. At first he tried to get some friends together to see the game, but everyone had plans. So, gulp, instead of waste the tickets, we decided to take the kids.

For many families, taking 6-year-old and 3-year-old boys to a ball game would be a no brainer. But our kids' hyperactivity and sensitivities to crowds, noise and new situations make going to a crowded baseball stadium a minefield. It was a total crapshoot as to whether Ethan or James would stay in their seats and enjoy the game, or get overwelmed by the crowds and the noise and have huge meltdowns.

But, we figured, we got free tickets--it's not a huge loss if we drive 30 minutes down to Coors Field only to get back in the car and drive home.

So off we go to Coors Field. The weather was in our favor--it's a mild spring evening. We find parking and walk up to the stadium. We get past security, get a bag of peanuts for the kids and find our seats.

We knew our seats were good, but not this good--we're in the second row overlooking the Rockies dugout. I've never had seats this good. The baseball field shined like an emerald in the early evening light. I got a beer and took in the sights and sounds of the stadium--the lights, the music, the people joined in the common cause of seeing the Rockies win. I get my mind off of my kids, their developmental delays, our therapy bills, our problems of everyday family life. Please, I think, let my kids cooperate so we can watch this game.

It turns out my kids were as taken by the atmosphere as I was. They relaxed in their seats and focused on breaking up the peanut shells to extract the nuts. Ethan, whom loves loud music, clapped enthusiastically to every rock song played during the game. When Matt Holliday hit a home run and the crowd cheered, Ethan and James broke into smiles and clapped along with them.

The magic lasted about five innings. Then Ethan and James started getting tired and bored, and we knew it was time to go. As Terry and I walked to our car, our kids in tow, we felt so grateful that this effort wasn't a waste of time. Better yet, if Terry got tickets to another game, we could confidently take the kids on a fun outing for all of us.

Haiku Friday

The dorky English major in me very excited about Haiku Friday. Here is my first attempt:




Swinging
Hands grip chains
Smiling at the grass
Feet touch the sky.

Anyway, it was nice to use the creative part of my brain today.

Facing My Insect Phobia

I've always have had an aversion to insects. You name them--ants, spiders, flies, worms--I can't stand looking at them. I can deal with the "pretty" bugs, like lady bugs and butterflies, from a distance, but no close-ups of their beady eyes and waving antenni, please. I don't mean them any harm, I just don't want to look at them.
So imagine my apprehension when my kids ask to go to our suburb's insect zoo. It's called the Butterfly Pavillion, which connotes dreamy visions of fanstically colored butterflies poised on flowers. But that's only half of it--the other half is filled with creepy crawlies, like spiders, cockroaches and gigantic centipedes. Plus, there's a tarantula named Rosie you can hold in your hand. OMG!!!
This insect room is the first room we enter. I stand in the middle of it, as far from the displays of insects as possible. The terrifying part is that these bugs are so huge, I can still see them pretty clearly. The picture below shows my boys and my friend's daughter checking out a display of giant cockroaches. I did not need to know that cockroaches get that big.



The worst display in that room is called "Tarantula Tower." It has glass aquariums stacked on top each other, each inhabited with one horror-invoking arachnid after another. There's one that takes my breath away--it has to be at least 10 inches across. I can see individual hairs on its body.
Of course, Ethan presses his face against its glass home. "Why are the spiders in cages?" he asks. "Because if they weren't they could bite you and kill you," I say. Probably not the best answer, but I'm feeling quite queasy at this point and need to get out of here.
Thankfully, the kids have had their fill, and we move onto the butterfly room, which is miniature tropical rain forest filled with butterflies of every hue. Here is a picture of one Ethan took.

This is definitely more my speed. I breathe in the moist, oxygen-enhanced air and begin to relax. All the butterflies keep their distance, and I can just enjoy the pretty colors. If I had not have had kids, I would have never bothered to visit the Butterfly Pavillion. But that's the beauty of becoming a mom--you face fears would have never done on your own.

Kids Instantly Devalue Your Car

http://www.eatplaylove.blogspot.com/ put up a great challenge--ridding your car of junk so it uses less gas. Fortunately, my car doesn't have a lot of big stuff, like strollers. It just has lots of little stuff that doesn't weigh a lot, but just makes it look bad.
Here is an example: the front passenger seat is where I pile all my bags that I need to get through the day: my purse; a backpack filled with extra clothes, wipes and diapers; Ethan's school backpack; a lunch bag in case we need to eat on the go (more on that later). At the end of the day, I try to pull everything out, but don't always succeed.

The back seat is filled with toys to occupy the impatient boys during car rides. They both like to draw and color, so there are lots of Color Wonder coloring books and markers. Magna Doodles are another popular drawing toy. I try to have two of the same type so they don't fight over them. Since I drive a mid-size car (Toyota Matrix), my kids can easily reach out from their car seats and pummel each other over a toy.
Finally, as the pictures show, our car is filled with crumbs, crumbs, food wrappers, and more crumbs. I've found it easier to just eat lunch in the car at times than stop at McDonald's or a park and deal with the transitions of getting them out of the car and back into the car. But my poor car has paid dearly for it--even when I vacuum it regularly, there are stains that will never go away.
Good thing I like my car, because I would have to give it away after what my kids have put it through.

What Do a Snail And a Cat Have In Common?

We don't get the Cartoon Network in our household, so my kids have never been exposed to "Spongebob Squarepants." Yet, at the library a few months ago, James walked up to me with a "Spongebob Squarepants" video. "Let's get Spongebob," he said. Where he found out about Spongebob, I'll never know.
So started our family's love affair with the cartoon. I started half watching it with the kids, soon found myself laughing out loud to it. Not only did I find it funny, I could totally relate to the characters. Patrick reminds me of my kids, and Spongebob Squarepants reminds me of myself. And Gary the Snail is a complete knockoff of my cat, Molly.
Like Gary, Molly is a very coy, demure creature. She only weighs 8 pounds--she looks more like a kitten than a 13-year-old cat. I call her my model--she takes very good care of herself by drinking lots of water, eating very little, and getting lots of sleep. She's very skittish and stays far away from my rambunctious boys. My husband hates her, and she knows it, so she stays far away from him as well. So the only person she interacts with is me. She follows me around the house, meowing. She usually wants something from me, like, "Meow--open the window." Or "Meow--turn on the faucet so I can get a drink of water." (I don't do that anymore now that I'm more environmentally conscious.) Her meow is a dead ringer for Gary's. It's very calm and convincing: "Meow--you will do my bidding."
In one episode of Spongebob, Gary latches onto Patrick. Spongebob goes along with it at first, but after one day of Gary being out of the house, he starts to lose it because he misses Gary so much. Finally, after much heartbreak, Spongebob figures out Gary doesn't really like Patrick, he just wants the cookie in his pocket. The video ends with Spongebob happily getting Gary back in his life, but Gary never lets on whether he really missed Spongebob or not.
That's the dilemma all cat lovers face--do their cats really love them, or do they just put with their owners so that they can live a more comfortable life? As painful as it is to think that the latter reason may be true, their meow is a siren song their owners can't deny.

Flower Fest

The warm weather is bringing out the best in nature--lots of beautiful blooms. Here are some flowers in my garden:



I love tulips--their vibrant colors are an instant pick-me-up.



We covered these grape hyathinths with rocks to make a border along our driveway, and they still managed to defiantly pop through.




Our crab apple tree is the crowning jewel of our back yard in the spring. The pink buds open and turn into snowy white flowers before the petals flutter off the tree.

Now it's your turn. Send me a link of your site with pictures of your garden in bloom, and I'll post the link here.




Happy Spring!