Ks Are Wild

Ever had one of those less-than-stellar parental moments when perhaps you’re standing in the kitchen working on dinner, waiting for your spouse to return from work, and muttering to yourself about your kids driving you nuts and just when you’re about to freak out and blow your top and do – you scream at the kids in the other room, “That’s IT!!!!  I’ve had it!!!!” only to hear happy cries of “Daddy!!!” (who must’ve just walked in the door but you didn’t hear the door open because you were too busy losing your temper), and the radio goes silent as it switches to a new song, which distracts your brain from its tantrum long enough for you to notice what the new song is and comprehend the lyrics in a whole new way?  And then it makes you feel sorry, ashamed, and foolish enough to chuckle at yourself and then go apologize to your kids?

Well, I did.  Just yesterday in fact.   And this was the song that was the comedic ice breaker:

Lyrics to “Undun” by The Guess Who

She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late

She’s come undun
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn’t fly
It was too late

It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun

She’s come undun
She wanted truth but all she got was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late

She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
Mama, it was too late

It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun

Too many mountains, and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time

It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun

She’s come undun
Doe-doe-doe-doe-doe doe un doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe
Doe doe-doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe doe-doe-doe
Doe doe-doe-doe doe doe-doe-doe doe doe

—— flute ——

It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun

She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late

She’s come undun
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn’t fly
Mama, it was too late

It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun

She’s come undun
No no-no-no-no-no no
Doe doe doe-doe

On the flipside, I handled a very similar moment to this comic strip the other night much better than my aforementioned breakdown.  After being awoken in the middle of the night to tend to Kellen’s growing pains (this entails Ibuprofen, Ben Gay type substance massaged into legs and sometimes arms, and nuking a sand/rice hull heating pad in the microwave).   I had been enjoying this quiet, private, very sweet, tender moment with my son whereupon many kisses and lovey dovey words were exchanged and had turned to leave when Kellen suddenly cried out with great urgency, “WAIT!!!”  Startled, I asked him what was the matter.  The reply and subsequent interchange went something like this:

Kellen:  I have something important to ask you.

Me: Yeeees?  (thinkingto myself:  What on earth could it possibly be?  That’s so urgent and so important to know right now at 2 am?!!)

Kellen:  How do you make pizza?

Me:  Giggle, giggle, snort, tear, tee hee…  I love you Kellen.  I’ll show you tomorrow.  You can help me make it for dinner.

Kellen:  Ok.  Mom, will you get off my blanket?  I want to sleep now.

Me: Ok.  Giggle.  You are too cute, Little Man.  Sweet Dreams.

(door closes)  Man, I wish Kham was awake so I can tell him that one!!!

Compared to Kosette’s thought-provoking but taxing and loaded questions of late like “Who and why was the earth created?  And why does Mother Earth give me headaches?  Why did Mother Earth make me so short when you’re so tall?  And why would someone want to kill themselves?” it was a relief to get a question I could answer without having to think so hard and answer so carefully.  Ah, my children amuse me so much.  Think I’ll keep them around a little longer.  <Wink>

I’ve been enjoying my summer….away from the computer.  Not that the computers or the internet has been functioning correctly recently.  Arg!  Somewhat the main reason for my lack of email, blogging, and facebook communication.  I’ll be cooped up in the fall and winter soon enough.  So I, and the rest of us Oregonians, have been basking in the summer sun, relishing the perfect temperature for evenings outside, and generally avoiding all things relating to or relegated to the interior of a home.  Thus, my noticing and enjoyment of said sky.

Tonight we went to the free concert in Central Park here in Corvallis and listened to three different acts whilst sitting on our picnic quilt and watching our kids gallivant with other youngins.  We couldn’t help but chuckle as the music seemed to match our children’s antics to a tee, making it the perfect soundtrack.  It was absolute mayhem resembling a mad chase scene from Scooby Doo or some other cartoon: they were running around in circles, doing mad puppy sprints, dog piles, dives back onto the quilt, cartwheels, and dress spinning while the band played.

Looking like this:

Only to music more along the likes of this only a little more 60s Scooby Dooish:

Later, a different band played some retroey funky stuff that Kham and I were sorta able to swing dance to.  I kept on wanting to break out into a frug like in some Bob Fosse number from Sweet Charity:

or the big dance scene in Austin Powers (which, by the way, if this music doesn’t make your toes twitch and you want to dance, you’re made of stone!!!)

And as we left the clouds in the sky were the most amazing peachy pink against the periwinkle blue…I wish I’d had my camera.  This is some other person’s random picture on the internet and it resembles our sky alot. 

I call it Maxfield Parrish sky.  We get that around here and it is so stunning.  How lucky am I to live here in this place where I can pretend I’m living in a Maxfield Parrish painting?!!  For those who don’t know who Maxfield Parrish is, well, he was an amazing artist who painted a lot of landscapes as well as nudes in fantasy settings with a blue and white sky undertoned background.  I’m not even going to attempt to describe his work to you.  But he is famous for the luminosity and interesting hues in his skies.  I’m sure you’ve seen posters and prints of his work or a coffee table book somewhere.  He is one of my favorite artists and here is a wiki link where you can learn more.  Maybe these will help jog your memory:

See what I mean jellybean?

Meryl Streep is the best actress ever Ray.  You are SO wrong old man.

I’ve been reading The Secret Garden to Kosette and Kellen a little bit here and there and explaining the plot in detail as we drive to school in the morning.  Well, I happened upon the soundtrack at the library and we have been enjoying it while in the car.  There were a couple songs that I could remember and sing off the top of my head before refreshing my memory such as Lily’s Eyes and Come To My Garden but I had forgotten about two of them that I quite like now that I’ve become somewhat of a gardener – “Winter’s On the Wing” and “Wick.”

Today, despite the cold, bite to the air, the daffodils are blooming strongly, the pussywillow’s catkins have burst open, the tulips are headed up, and the maples are impersonating the cherry blossom trees with their salmony colored tender leaves unfurling like blossoms.  Winter is on the wing….we can feel it.  And so do the customers, because work is buuuuuuusy.  In all of your day-to-dayness don’t forget to “stoop and feel it and stop and hear it”….all those little signs of life swelling on branches and emerging through the earthen crust…this cursory time in season’s transitions.  It’s fun to find those bitty signs of life.  Before gardening, all I really knew was it’s cold so it’s still winter, but since we have warmish days here and there and I knew spring was coming.  Or I’d see the daffodils bloom and know it for the obvious sign that springtime is near.  But now my more trained eye is attuned to so much more.  It’s like someone gave me these magical glasses that I can slip on and now I can see all the secret things that other people are oblivious to (I see dead people = I see spring coming).  There’s no going back now.  My visual world has been forever changed and winter no longer feels so long now that I can note its passing with each bud swell or seed germination.

The Secret Garden Cast – Winter’s On The Wing Lyrics

DICKON:
Winter’s on the wing,
Here’s a fine spring morn’
Comin’ clear through the night,
Come the day I say.
Winter’s taken flight
Sweepin’ dark cold air
Out to sea, Spring is born,
Comes the day say I,

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

And now the sun is climbin’ high,
Rising fast on fire,
Glaring down through the gloom,
Gone the gray, I say.
The sun it spells the doom
Of the winter’s reign,
Ice and chill must retire
Comes the May say I,

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

I say, be gone, ye howling gales,
Be off, ye frosty morns!
All ye solid streams begin to thaw.
Melt, ye waterfalls,
Part ye frozen winter walls.
See, see now it’s starting.

And now the mist is liftin’ high,
Leavin’ bright blue air
Rollin’ clean ‘cross the moor
Comes the day I say.
The storm’ll soon be by
Leaving clear blue sky,
Soon the sun will shine,
Comes the day, say I.

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

No posts because I couldn’t find my password to update my new computer.  Too stubborn to reset the password because I knew I’d find it.  Finally surrendered and came up with a new one.  Feeling a bit sheepish about it.

I just wrote a very lovely post about Kellen and his birthday party.  You won’t be reading that because this *&*^#^#(*&&$*&& just reset as I was hitting publish so it is all lost.  ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!   Now all I’m going to say is Kellen turned five this week and we’re throwing him his very first birthday party tomorrow.  So I’ve been busy, and will be extremely so today, readying the house and stuff for it.  Maybe I’ll even sew him a costume if I have time.  Yes, it is themed.  Yes, I’m going all out like I did with Kosette’s 5th, Fairy themed.  I don’t even know if more than 2 kids are coming at this point which is frustrating.  Could be a potential of 12.  That’s a wide margin of absences/attendees to plan for.

I’m happy for Kellen who is so excited….he has been counting the days, and now is counting down the hours.  His sister demands so much of the attention around here, that I look forward to him having the chance to shine and hog our focus for a day.  We will be his minions, as is your due when it’s your birthday dontcha think?

I wasn’t in any rush to leave the hospital.  It’s so much easier to adjust your position of your legs and back with the remote control.  But it is nice to be home.  I’m holed up in my bedroom napping when I feel tired, going with silence or soft music when I need it and starting to check my email and maybe even post a little.  I miss my kids and my puppy but I know they’re having a good time with my mom and lots of daddy time.  They come in and say hi sometimes but I have been leaned on while they tried to get off the bed – they’re trying to be so very careful it’s cute.  I wish I could see Kosette’s progress with Irish Dancing and Kellen with his Karate.  They had JUST started their lessons for the first week when I went in.  It’s good that my mom gets to see all this because she hasn’t been around them as much as the other grandparents, although she desperately wanted to.  I swear she teared up as she watched Kosette through the door peephole.  She always wanted us to learn how to play the harp and irish dancing.  It’s through her lineage that we get our Irish, scottish, and French.  County Mayo my peeps are from.

Even though it’s not as easy to adjust.  I love my bed with its cozy flannel sheets and fluffy down comforter and pillows.  And I love my animhouseplants and photos of the kids on the walls.  I love looking at the shelf with all the books I can’t wait to have the mental faculties to read.  And I love my cats who have acted as my personal heating pads – something that I have my  mom nuking constantly.  I really need to make another one so I can rotate.  You know what I also love, staring up at my ceiling and having it finally be finished painted.  It was partially painted in from the corners by a foot or so for over a year.  I knew reclining in bed for 3-6 weeks it would drive me insane to look at that.  Insane to want to paint it the second I could.  I’m so grateful Herma helped me finish that long overdue project.  I rest easier, I swear.

I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to read to get back to sleep, but was still awake reading almost an hour later so I took an Ambien.  I love the book, as I have all other, Barbara Kingsolver novels but this, Animal Vegetable, Miracle is just terrific.  I could underline practically everything.  So often I’ve written a notation about how incredible her writing is.  She really brings points around perfectly and wittily refers back to her initial comment at the end of a paragraph or as the final sentence in a chapter, in a way that is like a smackdown – THERE!  Take that!  Woops, percosets taking effect…

I came across this quote from Mark Twain that I just love.  It was just what I wanted to say, and close to my heart’s sentiments:

“For us, our house was not unsentient matter—it had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals, and solicitudes, and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence, and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction. We never came home from an absence that its face did not light up and speak out its eloquent welcome—and we could not enter it unmoved.”
—Mark Twain, 1896

Tee hee.  Totally juvenile but, come on, how fun would it be to serve this phallic shaped pepper up?  Maybe with the tip sliced off?  Or with the knife served sticking out of it?  How bout with a side of cherries and kiwis?  I wonder how big they get.  Yeah, now I really want to grow them since they say they’re spicier than a jalapeno.

\

100+ days. Capsicum annuum. Plant produces good yields of 2 ½” long by 1″ wide penis shaped peppers. Peppers are mildly hot and turn from green to red when mature. Plant has green leaves, green stems, and white flowers. United States Department of Agriculture, PI 593566. A variety from the USA. Plant Height: 24″ tall. pk/10

Home. Let the healing begin.

Surgery is over. Managed to keep my uterus after all. At least for another couple of years hopefully. It was a surprise surgery. I wasn’t sure which way it would go and had to wake up to find out what happened. After lots of shaking and tremors and lots of rounds of nausea (until night time), I’m finally round the bend. Waiting for them to administer the next round of pain meds but wanted to follow through with my promise to update. Thanks to everyone for their cards, plants, flowers, meals, and offers of assistance be it carpooling of playdates or making play dough so my mom can have another activity to do with them. I should be released some time tomorrow if all goes well.

It’s another one of  those “I-can’t-believe-I’m-posting-this” posts:

I’m a Gleek; a latebloomer (lack of tv), but instant fan.  And I couldn’t figure out how I knew of Matthew Morrison.  Yeah, I knew Broadway, but where exactly.  Turns out, I was most familiar with him in the Disney special adaptation of Once Upon a Mattress with Zooey Deschanel, Carol Burnett, and Tracy Ulman.

Well, I just couldn’t stop from searching out clips of him from there.

Well, here’s one that I was most definitely NOT expecting.  Turn your sound way down.  I can’t believe I sat through some person’s shaky cell phone capture.  But it Morrison doing “the Humpty Hump” sure did make me smile in this Broadway Bares 18, an annual benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.  And it certainly made me like him all the more.

But wait!  Here’s one from a different angle, straight on, with the whole skit.  Sorta worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QycWxUsAsM0

This looks like the BEST fundraiser to attend.  So much fun.

Bleh, I just feel dirty for posting that.  It’s like reading and spreading tabloid crap, or eating a candy bar.  It tasted really good at the time but now I just feel guilty.

Let me try to redeem myself by making up with something of substance….of quality….because that’s what Matthew Morrison is, not just a yummy morsel I’d like to devour…well, that too.  Figuratively, of course.  His voice is perfect for this South Pacific role.

On a side note, I can’t believe we’re the same age.  So much for my older man fantasy