Curly Straight

I still need to unpack the rest of my suitcase from Florida. I am in denial that it was so cold, I'm think I am pretending that it didn't happen yet.

Julia has a soft pink baby doll that giggles when you squeeze her hand. Well, in theory.

In actuality, I have to put her down on the floor and stomp on her hand really hard with my foot.

Probably not the best example for Julia.

Does it even it out if I eat potato chips right after I eat a piece of celery?

Darn. Probably not.

Everyone battles with self esteem issues.

Half the battle is believing that you're cute. You think you're cute, so will other people.

Accessorizing with nice shoes and funky belts and cute earrings helps too.

Doing tricep pushups during Group Power.

Somehow pulled my trapezoid muscle. Ow. Hurts. Try to rub it out, but can't. Can't turn my neck without deep, searing pain for the rest of the day. Hurts on the left. Wake up from the pain in the middle of the night and it hurts on both sides, now badly.

Make a massage appointment with Frank on Tuesday. He gets right into it. None of this working into it stuff. It's a good, deep, strong massage. Deeper than I have ever had. He almost went through my body. Hurts the next day from where he was rubbing my neck muscles but it's feeling better.

But not healed.

Chiropractor.

Go in. He manipulates me and rubs me and has me hold the foam cylinder and lays me down and my back cracks.

I have to tell him to tell me to think of something else when he tries to crack my neck. I tighten up before he is going to crack my neck, because who wouldn't, really?

"Distract me!" I tell him and he tells me to think of my toes "slowly, slowly, move them into toward each other." It works, I crack.

I feel so much better but that painful pull is still deep inside me. Hoping sleep will help it tonight.

Wish I could do yoga tomorrow but such a full day. Friday, for sure, I bet that will be the final healing help.

Hello Etsy! So nice to see you again...

Am I addicted?

Maybe.

Here's the description of my latest purchase.

It makes me want to be a sterling silver earring artist.

I twisted and I curled and I coiled 18ga sterling silver wire to create these very organic hoops. They are THE perfect everyday earrings. I wear my small curled hoops all the time and get so many compliments for them.

Haven't received any of my orders yet...waiting patiently. As usual.

TJ: Mama, did you know dinosaurs used to be all over the earth?

Mama: Really, they were? What did they eat?

TJ: Ham, meat and plants.

Got my first Etsy earrings today. Super cute and they make me happy.

I'm thinking of a cuter name for them than rainy skies, that sounds too drab for these little delights. Drab with cool colors, but still.

Silver dots in the sky? Happy Gray Day? Circles of rain? Dropping dots? Hmmm.

I really want to see a silversmith in action.

Every time Julia sees a picture of a baby in the house, she says "Baby TJ."

Today, she was looking at one in a pink polka dot frame that says Thank Heaven for Little Girls.

Julia: Baby TJ

Mama: No, Julia, that's you. That's Baby Julia.

Julia, with a big smile on her face: Baby Yaya.

Le Grand Pinot Noir

(Black Sheep)

A nice, delicious, light red.

Introduced by Gail.

I find it amazing what a difference in the day it can make waking up to a clean kitchen.
And entire house, for that matter. Although I would have no idea about the latter.

We have a Kindness Jar in our home and whenever someone does something really nice or kind, they get a little note in there. Every now and then when TJ does something nice, he demands it gets documented and put in there, but mostly it's when we catch them committing a random act of kindness.

We have filled it up twice since we implemented it in October or so.

It's nice to sit and read the kind acts that the kids have done. After John and I take turns reading each kindness, we all applaud. Mostly it ends up that TJ gets a lot of praise because although Julia is pretty sweet and kind, she hasn't quite figured out the good deed thing yet at her tender age. In the future, I'm sure she will have many more.

Here are the kindnesses we read about as we emptied the jar on Saturday evening.

TJ got Julia her milk when she couldn't reach.

Julia gave TJ his car. He was sitting on the potty.

Ava (TJ's little friend) gave Julia a book so nicely.

Julia is always smiling in the morning.

TJ shared his eggnog with Julia.

Julia gave TJ a hug just because.

Thomas put Julia's coat away for her. Also, at school, he cleaned up when she took out a doll.

TJ helps Julia get down from her chair.

Julia let TJ read a story to her.

TJ whispered in the morning so Julia wouldn't wake up.

TJ and Julia played so nicely with her new dollhouse.

TJ helped Mommy make delicious beef stew.

Julia helped pick up all the cars.

TJ and Julia shared their spiders.

Julia gave TJ his shoe.

Julia gave TJ a Christmas kiss.

TJ gave Julia a pizelle out of the kindness of his heart.

TJ helped make his lunch.

I have a sweet son and a sweet daughter.

Rhode Island needs more restaurant/breweries.

Not restaurants. There are plenty of fabulous restaurants here. Although some cute ones could be closer to my house.

But I'm talking about a good old brewery, with a casual ambiance and good beer for one and all.

If I had an elliptical in my house, I would be on it right now.

TJ: I just burped.

Mama: Did you say "excuse moi?"

TJ: No.

Mama: That's how you say it in French.

TJ: We're not in French.

TJ is wiping Julia's nose. He ran to get a tissue as fast as he could and then ran over to her and wiped her runny nose.

It is very cute.

True love.

John is reading The Cat in the Hat to TJ and Julia.

Julia points to a picture of the little boy. "TJ," she says.

John says "is that TJ? And is that Julia?" pointing to the little girl.

She gives a tiny little nod and whispers "yes."

I am cutting Julia's waffle into smaller pieces because she can't fit the last couple into her mouth.

TJ: Dada cut them too big. I need to tell him.

TJ walks into the bathroom where John is in the shower: Daddy, you cut Julia's waffle too big and next time you need to make the pieces smaller so she can fit them in her mouth.

Daddy: ok, I'll make a note of that.

TJ: And put it on the counter or in a secret place so next time you make a waffle you can look at it and remember to cut it smaller.

Julia loves looking at books, magazines, photo albums, anything with pages and pictures.

She repeats everything you say, as she points at the picture, pretty much verbatim.

The one phrase she doesn't have down yet is "what is that?" - instead she points at a picture and says "da da daa?" which so clearly means "what is that?" by the inflection of her voice.

Works for me.

Julia is holding her sippy cup horizontally and singing Baby Milk, Baaaabbyyy Miilllkkk while rocking it back and forth, oh so gently.

So I got my hair straightened today. I'm going to have to change my blog's name to straight.com. Haha, kidding!

After getting it washed, then dried, the keratin applied (just like color), then sitting for 20 minutes, then having a flat iron ran again and again over tiny little sections of hair, it is crazy straight, like a ruler. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

I can run my fingers through it. Bizarre.

It doesn't feel like my hair. I feel like Cleopatra. I also feel as though the curls and the frizzies are saying "hey, let me out!!! I am trapped! What's going on here? Where's my home on top of that crazy head of curlystraight?" so it will be interesting to see what happens after the 72 hours of not having it up, and of not being able to get it wet, 3 full days of having it hang straight with the keratin still soaking in.

For some reason, there are tiny little 4 inch pieces sticking straight up on the top. Happy hairs, Shelby has coined them, through a picture I emailed her.

My toes are purplish pink.

My fingers are chocolate moose, which isn't meant to be. My fingers are meant to be natural.

My shiny maroon patent leather boots are not unzippering, which is not a good thing right now.

5 pets.

All with crazy nicknames.

Here is a sampling of what they may be called at any given moment.

Amadeus the Dog: Rizzle Dizzle, Dizzle, Amadizzle, Blondie, The Good One, Wolfie, Fluffy, Have You Seen My Stamps?, Stuffie

Georgia the Dog: Gigi, Nutter Butter

Taylor the Cat: TayTay, Escape Artist

Spike the Cat: Eyes in Space, Dustmops, Spikeazoid

Toby the Cat: Tobina Rina, Tobycat, Toberina

Rain rain go away and don't mess up my keratin treatment!

I'm supposed to keep my hair dry for 72 hours. Since my keratin straightening treatment on Thursday, it has done nothing but rain.

The black rocking chair found us. I have no idea where it came from. Quite possibly it was found in the basement of the condo where we used to live in Providence.

It is really not either of our styles, black and old fashioned looking with gold painting on the top. Definitely an old school rocker. You know the style. I always have visions of painting old furniture different fun colors, but really have no idea how to do it. The probability is that it would it involve tools, sanding, etc. Not really my thing, although I do think it would be fun. Maybe when I don't have a toddler hanging from each arm and two nosy, furry dogs trying to figure out what is going on.

I knew we needed a rocking chair in a baby's room in August of 2005, so it ended up in the nursery. I was looking around online and at different stores for a replacement but I didn't like the glider types and everything else in our price range was pretty similar to the black rocking chair.

I did end up buying a big black leather comfy rocker, which, upon arrival, looked better as part of our bedroom decor rather than a rocking chair for a child's room.

So, the temporary black wooden rocking chair stayed in Baby TJ's room for a few years and many, many stories were read in it. Thousands. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. So many Pooh Bear books. Elmo. Sesame Street. Goodnight Moon. I read them all to my little tiny baby in that chair. When he was fussy, I would grab him from his crib and sit with him and feed him and sing to him. I remember holding TJ and rocking when he was 2-years-old and couldn't sleep and singing him made-up lullabies, that focused on what we did that day.

When Julia was born, it made it into her room as a temporary place to sit and again, many stories were told and many lullabies sung. The lullaby that my mom used to sing to me and I sing to both kids, still. "Lullaby, go to sleep, you are my precious baby. Close your eyes and goodnight, you are my little girl. Close your eyes, go to sleep, it is time for a rest, close your eyes and goodnight, you are my little girl."

Julia likes her daddy to sing her lullabies before she settles down, so he would sit with her in that chair and read to her and sing to her before bedtime.

Sometimes she would sit on my lap, facing me, and tuck her arms in underneath her and cuddle up her head on my shoulder. Love.

That temporary chair often held two kids and one parent for bedtime stories, without much complaint, besides breaking sometime.

One of the babysitters called it the "uncomfortable chair." And it was. It wasn't padded or cushioned, or cozy and it broke if you moved it a certain way.

Today, I moved it that certain way and the whole entire top came out, all the spindles. I left it for John to fix. Once again. Or not fix. We have said a million times we need to replace it. I think he glued the spindles in and did lots of different tweaks to it, but it was never a sturdy chair.

Finally today, he stuck those spindles in for the last time and put it on the corner outside. It was gone when we came back from errands. Hopefully someone will give it some love. However we ended up with that rocking chair, it definitely served its purpose here.

Julia is eating breakfast.

She has her waffle on a plate shaped like Mickey Mouse on top of an Elmo place mat, numbered 1 - 12 with different items signifying each number.

She is taking her fork and putting it on Cookie Monster's cookies and pretending to eat them. She's also pretending to eat the 12 rubber duckies, the 4 pigeons and Zoe's flowers.

She is finding this quite amusing.

I am working on getting TJ to dress himself, he can do it, he just chooses not to do so.

Yesterday, John was taking him to the Museum of Natural History to the Planetarium Show at 2 p.m. It was getting close to time to go and he was still in his pajamas. TJ, not John.

"Get dressed!" I ordered him and a few minutes later I went to see his choices or to see if he even got dressed at all. Sometimes he has a hard time making it into his room due to all the fascinating distractions along the way.

His pick was a pair of red fleece pants and a matching hooded fleece sweatshirt, size 5, both way too big for him.

"Oh." I said. I didn't want to discourage him from dressing himself, but this really wasn't something to wear out in public, in my opinion. He wears it to bed and call him my Red Tomato. TJ loves to be cozy like no one I have ever seen. And this outfit is cozy. Thick red fleece.

I told him maybe he shouldn't wear the pants out because of the rain, it would be uncomfortable if he got wet, they are about 6 inches too long for him. So he decides to change everything.

Underneath the red fleece, he was sporting a white button down oxford shirt, unbuttoned.

John came into the room and asked TJ if he was ready.

"No, not yet. I have to change. I can't wear this out in public."

Spin class, here I come! Woohoo.

Really, I should write Woohoo! but I am so not feeling it.

It will be great once it's over.

Mama, in library parking lot: Julia, hold my hand. This is a parking lot.

Julia: Noooo! TJ's hand.

TJ grabs her hand and they start to walk together.

Mama: Aw, TJ! That's so sweet. You are melting my heart.

TJ: That's the first time Julia melted my heart.

Julia, pointing at the cup of milk she's drinking through a straw: Mommy's in the milk.

Mama: Mommy's in the milk?

Julia: hahahahahahah!

Julia: Daddy's in the milk.

Mama: Daddy's in the milk?

Julia: hahahahahahah!

Julia: TJ in the milk.

Mama: Who else is in the milk?

Julia: Yaya in the milk!

TJ likes to eat shredded cheese. I let him do it, even though it makes kind of a mess.

Tonight, Julia spots his cheese and starts giving him the sign for more.

He gives her one piece. One shred.

Put that in the kindness jar, he tells me.

I am about to throw a frozen pizza in (Newman's Own - 2 for $6 at Dave's!) - have to decide between the thin and crispy uncured pepperoni or the supreme.

TJ, pick one, I tell him.

He picks the pepperoni.

Now Julia, you pick one, I say to her.

She's not too interested in it, she is eating a plum and is preoccupied with that.

"I'll pick one for her," TJ says. "She picks this one." Surprise, surprise, the pepperoni.

The last Elmo Live we saw was when Julia was in my belly.

It was great!

Costume changes, Bert in a tuxedo (rented! he told us), and lots of great singing from the cast and Jenny, the lone human in the show. She had lost her instruments and the show centered around the search.

Last night's Elmo show, Elmo's Green Thumb, had its high points, but was not as satisfying as Elmo Makes Music, the one we saw in 2007.

Elmo Makes Music was a classic, with really talented and fun singing and an educational message. I didn't mind listening over and over to the cd and even used my internet sleuthing skills to track down another one when we left the original one in a hotel.

I would be willing to bet that the person responsible for Elmo's Green Thumb is way younger than the one who was in charge of Elmo Makes Music. It's Sesame Street rap pretty much the whole way through, with a couple exceptions. I may be exaggerating a little, but my point is that the songs are not as catchy.*

Julia didn't mind, she was dancing in the aisle and clapping like crazy when the song ended.

The characters are great and the kids were excited to see them. We had floor seats so TJ got a high five from Grover and one from one of the Honkers too. The Honker gave Julia such love, squeezing her cheeks and pretending to eat her popcorn.

The entire cast was on the stage pretty much the whole time telling the story of Sunny the sunflower who needed a new home. No costume changes and no strong educational message.

I do have to say that Cookie Monster had mad rhythm. He was a great dancer!

*We have the cd, which is much easier to understand than the songs we heard last night, so my opinion may change once I listen to it 17,000 times.

Exhausted!

Elmo Live last night.

My poor friend fractured her ankle so threw her race number to me for the St Patty's 5K in downtown Providence my way for the race this morning at 11:15. Isn't she nice? I recruited my friend Karla to do it with me. Sure, we can run 3.1 miles without having run in how long?

After stopping at numerous stores in the mall to make sure Karla had on the appropriate festive St Patrick's Day color, we ran that race. Ran far down Smith Street, took a left onto a hilly street and then headed back to the Statehouse.

Sounds way easier than it was.

We did it and high fived and fought the urge to go to all the fun parties after, because I had won tickets ($63 it said on the ticket!) for TJ and I to see 101 Dalmatians at PPAC and had to be there for the 2 pm show.

We enjoyed it. Cruella DeVille's voice was amazing! The show was just a little bit scary, but TJ and I held hands during the scary parts and it was fine. He sat on my lap the entire time. Love that!

Getting recruited to go out tonight, but unless I catch a BIG second wind, I'm talking tornado, it's not happening.

TJ likes to play games.

- Doggie -
TJ: Mama, do you want to play doggie?

Mama: OK, can I be the doggie?

TJ: No! I want to be the doggie.

Mama: OK.

The game then proceeds with me ordering TJ around with dog commands.

It's fun!

- Birdie -

TJ: Mama, do you want to play birdie?

Mama: How do you play?

TJ: You sit on me until I hatch.

Mama: Um...ok

So he curls up into a little ball and I pretend to lay on top of him. Immediately, he starts wiggling and "hatches."

I always take this opportunity to feed the baby bird, since he doesn't eat enough.

Mama: Julia, you want some milk? You still have your milk right there.

Julia: That's old milk. I want chocolate milk.

What a day, nice way to cap off the weekend.

Started off the morning by meeting our friends and their kids at the track, rode bikes, played at the playground and the other Mama and I even ran one mile. We could have done more and next time we will...

Then after coming home and trying unsuccessfully to get Julia to nap, we
visited our lovely babysitter/dogsitter/dogtrainer/hair advice giver/cook/friend who lives on the bay.

Went clamming for the first time ever, without really meaning to. I was all obsessed with finding the steamers and putting them into the inside pocket of my purple fuzzy fleece. Luckily I had some little boys helping me fill my pockets, because I think I only found about six. Are they called steamers before they are steamed? Steamers-to-be.

"What an adventure!" TJ exclaimed.

Then a cookout on a gorgeous, cloudless, sunny day.

A beautiful water view.

Julia expressed her feelings by shouting out "Happy!" every now and then.

The grand finale, all the boys (and me) in the hot tub!

There were about six boys under 10 in there, they all looked like they could be brothers.

TJ was the youngest and the most excited of all.

He didn't want to leave.

Julia had fun playing with a little girl her age. She loved the dogs, too, even when one of them stole her lollipop.

Exhausted on the way home, TJ didn't even want to talk anymore.

TJ, what will make you happy? I asked him? His answer: Nothing but going to bed.

Yawn. What a weekend.

Mama, running late, to the car in front of me: GO! GO!!

TJ, from the back seat: Go you stupid Fark!

Mama: What did you just say?

TJ: Stupid Fark. That means Silly One. It's a bad word, but you don't mind if I say bad words, right?

Paying bills.

Actually writing out checks and paying bills, something I only have to do once in a while, thanks to online banking.

Writing kicks my butt sometimes, I am so used to typing. I'm a great typist. Writing, eh, a little sloppy.

I was writing the return address on the envelope because I was too lazy to get up and get the return address labels from the drawer that is 5 feet away from me.

I wrote an address of the condo in Providence where I haven't lived in at least 5 years.

Strange.

They shouldn't even allow me to go into BJs Wholesale Club.

I need an alarm on my grocery cart that goes off when I hit the point of ridiculousness. Which I definitely did today.

is this annoying to anyone else but me?

Live chat (cut and pasted) with a customer representative from an order placed on March 9.

Francine: How may I help you today?

Me: 910558 is the order number

Francine: Please allow me one moment to look into that.

Francine: We apologize about the delay but unfortunately the boots and socks are out for about 1-3 weeks

Me: So, I ordered them on March 9th...when is the earliest I can expect them?

Francine: within 1-3 weeks

Me: from the order date of March 9th?

Me: I need them for April 9th.

Francine: Yes

Me: So 3 weeks from order date would be March 30th.

Francine: within 1-3 weeks

Me: So March 30th is 3 weeks, so it should be before then.

Francine: Yes

Doesn't this sound like it smells delicious?

The new Thierry Mugler fragrance:

ALIEN Sunessence Sun Sapphire Edition

A new distinctive fragrance that captures the soothing benefits of sunlight. The olfactory interpretation of a sensual and mysterious sunset.

Building a shoe rack.

Well, assembling.

Amazing how much better a hammer works than a calculator to bang it together.

Roger Williams Zoo has a giraffe cam.

It sounds more exciting than it is.

http://www.rwpzoo.org/what_to_see/giraffe_cam.cfm

Julia and I were watching it and there is a link to ask questions on their Facebook page.

When I got to the Facebook page, it says This is the public search listing for Roger Williams Park Zoo because you are logged in and share a network with Roger, you can click through to his profile.

I thought that was funny.

Facebook friends with Roger Willams!

(Park Zoo, but that's just a technicality)

I'm going to high five him next time I'm at Prospect Park and ask him if he got my poke.

Every now and then a sippie cup will be left out overnight on the table, or a cup of milk will make it's way under the car seat or the couch. When we find it, we say "don't drink that, it's old milk."

TJ found out once the hard way.

I gave Julia some juice in a Pooh Bear juice container this morning. We went out for some fresh air for about 30 minutes. I told her to drink the juice. She wasn't having it.

"That's old juice!" she tells me. "NO OLD JUICE!!!!"

Watched Food, Inc. instant play on Netflix last night.

Now I am going to start trying to buy more local meat

Ick.

I just heard a drawer open and Julia say "bye bye lollipop."

We have a make believe little boy that we talk about often. His name is Jimmy McTimble and he is a menace. He does everything wrong and nothing right.
His Momma is mean and so is he. He spits on the ground. He doesn't brush his teeth.He goes for weeks without a bath or cutting his toenails. He never cleans his room. He says swear words. He pushes his sister. He never makes his bed. This kid is trouble.

The other day TJ and I were talking about Georgia.

TJ: No one would even want her if we sold her away.

Mama: I know! Who would want that rotten dog anyway?

TJ, eyes lighting up: Jimmy McTimble?

The last two years and one month with Yaya have been simply outstanding.

Now, she has learned how to whine.

I'm trying to nip it in the bud.

Julia: whine, whine, whine, whine, whine

Mama: Julia, I don't understand whining.

Julia: whine, whine, whine, whine, whine, whine.

Mama: Speak like a big girl.

Julia: whine, whine, whine, whine, whine.

It's definitely a work in progress. Sometimes she gets it and will correct herself and I celebrate!

Don't get me wrong, she is still my little chunk of love.

I told TJ that I am allergic to whining. He didn't buy it for some reason.

Put Yaya down for a nap early today, she needs it. Puff under her eyes. The new dining room table is coming at some point today so there will be barking dogs and loud furniture sounds here.

Put in the lullaby cd and things were going great. She was quiet in her crib.

I was about to sneak out of the dining room and go grab a cup of coffee.

The red haired princess who Julia asked me earlier "da da daaa?" (what is that?) was right by my laptop since I was googling her to answer Julia's question. Ariel.

I knocked her over onto the floor.

Bang!

Not quiet anymore from Julia's room. "Mama? Mommy?" and other assorted babbles.

Why does everything good always happen the first weekend of the month?!

Harpoon Brewery sponsoring a 5k in downtown Providence on May 2.

Of course, I can't make it but I would love to run that race!

My goal is to do at least one 5k a month. March is done. St. Patty's Day 5k.

Better get cracking on April.

Julia just repeated the entire alphabet after me.

Clearly, slowly and perfectly.

Awww.

Every now and then Julia will look at me and say "TJ's Mommy" or look at John and say "TJ's Daddy."

When John walked in tonight, she exclaimed "Julia's Daddy!" with a lot of excitement.

TJ summed it up best.

"We have hundreds of water here in Rhode Island."