i am trying to make use of the free spare minutes i have while una is still asleep and the boys are occupied....

february should be a great month--usually it finds me hating life:

1. jay starts two weeks vacation tomorrow

2. frank is coming into town tuesday

3. i volunteered to lead a junior great books group at f/c's school. I got assigned the 5th grade. They pick the gifted/talented kids (thus kids who got certain scores on an achievement test) and we get together one day a week for about a half hour and discuss a story out of the junior great books book. I get to pick the story. There are no grades for the kids and they are interested so it should be fun!

4. kids have a vacation in a week and we are thinking of driving to chicago and mid-michigan. plans for a larger vacation have had to be put aside but we can go visit family--jay's mom and grandparents have yet to see Una. in chicago maybe hit Shedd's or Art institute or Museum of Science and Industry. Also, Harry can visit his EL friends and his dad!

5. F/C have taken an interest in monsters. I ordered some books and we have been reading about trolls, boogeymen, golems, draculas, werewolves, etc. This is one of the reasons i like having boys--i am glad i don't have to be dressing up as a princess!

6. inspired by adventure girl, shawn, i am thinking of giving downhill skiing a try. We have season passes to the local small hill and the bigger hill so we shall see how it goes.

7. two times a month jay is also on general surgery call as well as trauma call and he gets paid an extra $500 a shot. I am hoping we can put that away for a real vacation in either april or june!

8. inspired by all the various friends writing plays, stories, etc. I have been thinking about writing. I always think of jerry lewis and christopher hitchens claim that women cannot be funny. Here is an article in which he pulls out science to make his case:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701

i think a book about this subject would be interesting...the whole grad school thing has me thinking it should be more theoretical than it probably should be--like starting off with a chapter or two about the philosophical basis of comedy from aristotle on, etc.

My sister and her family were here for a visit. They wanted to go to the Mall of America and my brother-in-law wanted to go to Cabela's so we drove in to the twin cities on Sunday and stayed in a hotel. We briefly went into the MoA on Sunday during a rap off. It was very loud and crowded. On Monday the boys headed to Cabela's and my sister and I and all the kids ventured to IKEA. We ate some scrumptious IKEA food and i dropped the twins off in "the magic forest" and we shopped. I got some kids' craft materials, a lamp for my dad, and duvet and sheet for harry's bed.

Next we went back to the MofA and hit rides. I went on the little kid roller coaster w/ the kids. Jeremy wanted to go on all the bigger rides. We hit the LEGO store, of course. I bought some body butter at The Body Shop.

I am getting excited about Jay's upcoming two weeks off. The kids have winter break during that time so we are trying to figure out where to go. We don't have money to fly so disneyworld, etc. are off the table. It is family roadtrip time---but where to go? we are so far north it will take quite some time to get somewhere warm.

I am thinking maybe chicago--art institute, museum of science and industry, and shedd's aquarium. maybe hit a couple cities we haven't been to before--kansas city, iowa city, des moines???

Ellyn is having wonderful fun in Ghana. She is the only english teacher for a junior high class. They literally said--"here is your class--teach them english" there is no textbook, lesson plan, etc. She said they are at about 4th grade level. I am sending her some pens, pencils and loose leaf paper. I am so glad that we could do this for her! (well worth putting off a family trip to Disneyworld!)

the first week of jay's three weeks of work is nice. I get back into my groove, etc.
the second week begins the suck. jay does 36 hour shifts every third day. he also works the day in between and his usual work day is about 10-12 hours.
the third week i am at my breaking point because when he does come home he comes home at about 7pm so i am mostly functioning w/o help with the kids, house, or anything for three weeks.

all this and no money for a vacation in february. we have enough for a road trip but not enough to pay for flying for 5 people and then pay for hotels, food, etc.


yep, i am officially feeling sorry for myself.

i am starting to think i should just plan a vacation and let him know about when we are packing to go!

Jay usually has two weeks off every three but the last turn he only got a week off. We are still getting used to the schedule. We tried to fit some stuff in--we rented a camper cabin at Jay Cooke on Friday night and went for a walk/hike around it on Saturday morning. On Sunday we drove Ellyn's car to Ironwood so Jeremy could drive it to Ishpeming. With Ellyn in Africa there is no one driving her car and Jay doesn't want to drive it coz he would rather drive his car. We are letting my brother drive it until Ellyn gets back. Jay also took finn, carter, and harry out to the ski hill individually to teach them how to ski.

This is jay's first week back and I like the first week. I get to get back into my groove and my way of doing things but after that it gets hard because he is working so much and by the time he is at his two weeks off we are both ready for it.

I went and signed the family up at the YMCA yesterday. Today I actually went and got back on the horse that is exercising. I have been slowly gaining weight SINCE i had Una and my back went out this past week and the time has come to meet the slow but constant process of my body falling apart and put the brakes on a little bit. I do not want to be one of those people who starts to collect minor aches and pains in my 40's that turn into major aches and pains in my 50's and 60's.

Next stop--start eating better. i don't mind working out. I do mind eating healthy. This is difficult for me.

The boy and I went and saw Sherlock Holmes last night. We both really enjoyed it. I have done no pondering of plot strengths or weaknesses or the consistency of Downey's accent. I liked the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen feel of it. I liked the interpretation of Holmes. I didn't like Rachel McAdams--that was the strongest choice for that role??? c'mon.

Harry is currently experiencing his first exams. He has had exams all week and takes his last one today. 4 day weekend! Next week he starts his second semester class that all Marshall students have to take-- Religion. Marshall used to be a catholic school but it is no longer. They have tried to extend what is covered in Religion so they told me it was more a theological/philosophy class. I was telling Harry that this might be one of the first times he has to struggle in a class--his knowledge of the bible and christianity is pretty bare bones compared to what the rest of his classmates will know. the minnesotans seem to be a church going bunch.

Jay took Finn to the ski hill yesterday for an hour or two to get him started on downhill skiing. Perhaps today he will take Carter.

Yesterday we went and checked out the Duluth YMCA. It is in the middle of renovations and it is nowhere as nice as the one in Lansing but we would only pay $60/month and if i go 12x in a month or if jay does we get $20 taken off our bill by our health insurance. They have tot watch and most importantly--SAUNAS! Plus i want to start getting f/c started in lessons for something again.

it is a warm week here. last week temps were in the negatives w/ windchills up to -15 or -20. this week the temps have been in the 20's--it is weird how you get used to weather. Because the week is so 'warm' we have been going outside a lot. we think 20 is warm???

jay cooke is a state park about 20-30 minutes away from Duluth. We found out they have camper cabins that have electricity and heat. we are going out there tomorrow night. Wish i had snowshoes!

suffering from a mild migraine. i have some meds w/ one refill which i am hoping that they will let me do even though the prescription is from out of state. they sometimes can get picky about filling narcotics.

today is jay's last day and then he gets one weeks vacation. we are planning nothing big because i think all of us have the holiday hangover. it will be nice to just collapse--watch movies, hang around, maybe take day trip to hibbing or something. we are trying (ok, i am trying) to get something together for his two weeks off in February. our money is a bit tight for flying all of us somewhere and staying in hotels for a week w/ all this paying for two houses and for the oldest to go to africa so it is looking like another family road trip. redbox is the shit for car trips. you can rent and return to any redbox so we can rent something for the kids in the car and return it on the road and get a new one!!!

i have moved from picking up and reading Infinite Jest for the 10 minutes in bed before i collapse to making a gallant effort to make major advances. Of course i did just pick up Lolita and start reading....

trying to knit some and printed out some old, old anatomy drawings of women and pregnant women (ones with the insides showing, etc.) i love them. i want to color them w/ some watercolor pencils and frame them. i want to knit myself a cowl coz i just don't like scarfs.

netflix watch instantly has added a lot of foreign stuff. the fairly recent movie from Italy about the Mafia written by the journalist who is now in hiding is on there.....Gomorrah. it is supposed to be wonderful. i think i will have to be in the right mood for it.

We are all still adjusting to the whole back to life thing here. Kids are back in school but the twins are none too pleased with it. Yesterday was particularly awful. They see school as a waste of their times and often ask, "what's the point." i thought i was raising good existentialists!! there is no point! there is no point to this whole big thing!

we are also getting ready for ellyn to fly out to Africa on Thursday. She has taken care of getting all the right paperwork in, etc. and we have been taking care of paying for it all : ) She flies out from MPLS on thursday at 3pm. IKEA here i come! my parents are driving over here today and we will all drive to MPLS tomorrow. They have never been to the Mall of America. The airport is right next to MOA and Ikea so a shopping we shall go!

jay is off next week. we still have to take out the tree out and do basic clean up , etc. He typically has three weeks off but this time he only has one week off and i am sure that it will go by superquick. He plans on taking the kids out skiing a lot. I would like to try snow shoes or cross country skiing. i don't want to downhill ski.

Is anyone watching This Emotional Life on PBS? good stuff.

I was feeling some 70'slove and bought a 5 disc set of 70's hits. oh yeah!

what follows is not something that i don't want my facebook friends to read but rather stuff i would rather not bore them with. that means i view you all worth boring....lucky.

i will be glad when the kids go back to school tomorrow. when jay works everyday and the kids are off school the days start blending together. i need some am't of routine--just a small am't.

i was thinking of getting a new tattoo. i really like the tcb lightening bolt. taking care of business in a flash. i thought that it for me could mean takin' care of babies.

the boys and i are really getting into beowolf. we just watched the cgi one and now we are going to watch the live action with gerald butler! as with my shakespeare deficiency my knowledge of early lit stuff is minimal.

got 4 cookbooks and two knitting books and a kitchenaid mixer for xmas. when did i become this lame? have i always been this lame?

we got wallopped with a big storm. 23.5 inches was the total. i had been contemplating leaving for the UP today but we didn't get plowed out until about 2pm.

carter has been laying around all day and i checked his temp and it is 103.5. so our heading out that way might be delayed for another couple days....

jay has wonderfully had a very, very light week. yesterday he didn't have to go in and he is on-call today but has been home since about 3.

i am done with xmas. i am not feeling humbuggy about it but i am just ready to move on. it was fun xmas 2009 now on with you....

donkey, shrek the halls: my mom always said it wasn't xmas until somebody was crying.

at about 8:30 last night we showed f/c norad and it showed that santa was in south america. we told them he would soon be in north america so they actually skeedaddled upstairs and went to sleep. we stayed up and wrapped gifts and watched more episodes of californication. went to bed at about 1am.

carter woke us up at 6:50am. as per our family rule you are allowed to dig into your stocking but cannot open gifts until everybody else is downstairs. f/c were very excited that santa put mario plushies in their stockings as well as mario mad bomber winter hats!

f/c got lots of super mario stuff and legos. we read through all the beverly cleary ramona books w/ them this fall so i got them the ralph s. mouse boxed set. i got them the battle of endor lego set--and it was big hit.

harry had picked out his gift a couple weeks ago. at the used music store and he got a used starter bass and 1970's semi hollow epiphone guitar and i also got him big bang theory season 2, Flea learn to play bass DVD, and sherman alexie book.

we got ellyn a couple t-shirts from pinkalert--make out not war and gandhi is my homeboy. some cd's and some books. we also got her a new digital camera. most of her gift will be $$$ for ghana.

i got a kitchenmaid mixer. i got America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, The Settlement Cookbook: The Way to A Man's Heart (jay ebayed me an old copy-- http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Settlement-Cookbook:-An-Immigrants-Guide-to-Assimilation&id=414715 ), Dave Brubeck Quartet: Take Five, Truffaut's Antoine Doinel boxed set and Nick Hornby's Juliet Naked. Should i take the two cookbooks and the kitchenaid mixer as hints from the hubby?!

i am loving my first christmas in duluth!

last christmas i was pregnant and not feeling at the top of my game. we were stressed about where and what we would be doing in the upcoming year.

november the temps were about 5 degrees below average but december temps have been about 5 degrees above average. we had about 2 inches of snow until yesterday. we got some snow last night and now there is a over a foot over there. tonight we will be a log in the fireplace, watch some xmas shows, and bond.

i like making big meals for my family. i like just hanging out with them.

today ellyn and i must wrap. maybe we can play in snow in our backyard.

i made finn a stocking and today i must finish carter's. i am just doing it freestyle with material i bought. i think there are turning out well.

hope everybody else is having a good holiday season. (hope yours gets better buster v.!)

the end of jay's two weeks will quickly be upon us. we are still trying to negotiate how to use the two weeks he gets off after every three. given the kids are in school we can't really take a vacation and because we have to put money into various side projects (aka children) we don't really have the extra cash to head out somewhere anyway.

our whole plan has been to head to the UP this weekend and do the xmas exchange and xmas with my family but yesterday finn was 103 and he woke up in the middle of the night crying for more medicine. don't know if taking him on a 5 hour car ride and possibly infecting my family is a good idea.

we ordered a lot of xmas stuff on amazon this year and packages are finally starting to arrive. this is a relief. it is weird no matter how much you spend it still looks small under the tree. the boy picked out a used starter bass guitar and a semi-hollow body epiphone and they are under the tree and he can't have them until xmas.

i am getting ready to head out to do some last minute pick ups.

ellyn left new orleans on wednesday and she won't be back until the end of may. she is driving up because she will be flying out of here on jan 7th for ghana and will be there until may 15th. hopefully she won't get malaria! she will be back home today!

going to mpls to pick ellyn up at the airport then we shall hit ikea!!!!!!!!!

tomorrow either late morning or early afternoon i shall load all the kids (and dog) into the car and head to Ishpeming.

thanksgiving: at my sister's cooking, eating, drinking, playing rock band, etc.

friday: lunch w/ some old high school pals, parade, ?

saturday: ?

sunday: head home

would like to get together with people if possible. but i know everybody else has a crazy schedule as well.

to give you a laugh. here is what my grandparents in law wrote in their last email to me:

"Teresa i would not let jay be alone to much when he works as i have seen to many nurses
and other women grab a doctor when he is alone and they put the temptation up to him i think that was partly robins trouble
it is nice when he does get home to have you there"

merely cut and pasted that.....

well, it had to happen. harry has become a teenager. most interactions with him involve some am't of surliness. he his irritated by our mere presence and any attempt at interaction is met with an attitude of "why are you bothering me". oh boy how i love the teenage years. good times, my friends, good times. but you all shall find out in time. it is something you cannot really communicate to people it is something that has to be experienced to be understood. we got his first report card and he is doing very well at school so at least we have that comfort--he is not rebelling by giving school the big finger.

jay has had this week off. it is always hard to adjust to. when he works he works about 100-110 hours a week and then when he is off he is here all the time. i am used to running my own ship and doing things my way. because he works three weeks on and two off it is not like we can take a vacation everytime so he just gets to hang around the house. he then decides he is going to make this ship run his way. we bicker a lot. we will need to find someway to make these vacations less stressful.

ellyn's preparations for ghana are going in high gear. we have had to pay several deposits and she has had to have 3 shots and get two more. we have to order her plane ticket--how much is a plane ticket to and from ghana--a cool $1,400--which we have to buy now because she can't get her visa unless she has the ticket. she has to get malaria medicine which she takes the whole time she is there and for a month after coming back. she is not yet set on housing there--she will either be in the dorms or in a house with a family.

on other depressing money news. we have going back and forth with our realtor in lansing. nothing in our area has sold for over $60,000 in the last 8 months. Lansing has one of the worst markets in the country. that would be all well and good if we didn't owe $74K on our lansing house. So we are going to take a bath on this--if and when we sell it. it pains me just to think about it. physical pain.

to counter my bitching with some positive stuff:

1. went and bought a fifth of bombay sapphire gin. i just gaze at the bottle in all its loveliness.

2. knitting a sweater for una. i like knitting.

3. got the new julian casablancas cd. he was/is the lead singer of the strokes. i am loving it.

4. we might go to minneapolis later today. stay in a hotel tonight and go out and about tomorrow. NO mall of america!

it will be ellyn's 20th b-day on the 12th.

i want to buy her a good book.

i tend to run to the classic, must read for book gifts for her.

do you all have any suggestions?

thanks

kinda having a hard work week. the thing about being a stay at home mom is that if you have a bad day and work is driving you crazy and you are complaining there seems to be this undeclared question from others, "why do you stay at home if it sucks?"

it doesn't suck all the time. it is not hard all the time. but it does suck every once and awhile and it is very often hard.

the hours are long, your underlings can be insubordinate and demanding, etc.

also, being a stay at home parent isn't really all that respected. but you do often get that "well, isn't that nice" when you say you stay at home. I am old enough now that people have stopped asking what i am going to do after this. yep, this whole stay at home thing is my real life not a 2 or 5 year diversion from my real life. Una will be 21 when i am 60. she won't be finished with college until i'm 62 or 63 and qualifying for social security!

i have noticed a big difference since Ellyn was little-whether the change is society or me i don't know. I think with Ellyn I was just getting my footing on this whole parenting thing and i was still trying to get my footing on the whole being an adult thing so i was apt to be more of a "good enough" mother. But also there does seem to be more pressure now on parents. I don't think the whole hovering thing is coming only from the parents. I think there is a more society-wide feeling that you should be involved in every aspect of your child's life. i feel like i am negotiating that all the time. I cannot really be involved at either harry's school or f/c's school coz of una. F/c's school wants a parent helper in the class EVERYDAY. IN THE CLASS. how can you not feel like a slacker when you get the calendar for the upcoming month and there is a mother (coz it is always a mother) listed for almost everyday and you have never done it????

last weekend my sister and her family came over and we went to the local waterpark. the kids all had a good time and the waterpark looks like something we will visit again during the winter.

harry was supposed to fly out this morning for new orleans to visit ellyn and go to the Voodoo Fest but last night the airline called and cancelled his flight because of some storm. They said he could still fly out of Minneapolis--so i could drive him 3 hours to the airport so he can fly out....no. so he is flying out tomorrow at the same time and should get to New Orleans in the mid-afternoon. The opening act isn't until 9pm anyway. i should have demanded some cash off the ticket for my inconvenience. i wish i was more of a bitch.

we have done some decorating around here but with harry gone and jay working on halloween there will be no one here to hand out candy because i will have to take the twins out trick or treating! they bought mario and luigi outfits which they have been wearing off and on all week. we watched ghostbusters this weekend and carter became convinced he wanted to be a ghostbuster and was trying to come up w/ all kinds of ideas of how to make a ghostbuster outfit.

for me it has been about little things. i made two new things for dinner and both turned out well and were liked by everyone (except for finn and carter but they hate everything)--black bean tortilla pie and pork chops and apples with both cooked in Hennessey! i might cook just apples in hennessey today. yum.

i went and got some fall clothes at old navy but unfortunately my new look is inspired by che guevara--cargo pants, black boots and black top. i am ready for suburban guerilla warfare!

jay flies to dc tomorrow to take his oral boards. a lesson learned to pass on for the sake of others: don't wait until less than a week before your trip to buy your ticket. he will be back monday and whether he passes or fails will feel more relaxed and less like there is an ax over his head.

i am knitting some for winter stuffs. i have been checking out what marc jacobs has out this season in term of scarves and hats and thinking of making my own instead of paying the $150 or so they are charging--not that i would be paying $150 for a scarf or a hat. a lot of the designs are very basic--easy enough for a novice knitter to do and they charge $$$$ for them. some are made of good yarn--but yarn is not that expensive!

finn and carter are very excited for halloween. we went and got some decorations and it upped the excitement level. i got a big bat for the front porch and a thing that lights up for the front yard. we attempted to go to the boo in the zoo here but i ended up parking about 6 blocks from the zoo and we were in line for nearly 30 minutes and would have had at least 20 more when i talked the twins into maybe trying again tomorrow. finn wasn't dressed that warmly so they were easily convinced.

sick of cooking so we are going out to eat. it is almost as much work to figure out where to go that we can all sort of agree on. there are a couple of places around here we still mean to check out--the thirsty pagan (a micro brewery pizza place) and gonk's (a burger place). both are in superior.

We had a good time visiting and being visited during Jay's vacation.

For the first weekend we went up to the UP and Jay and Harry went and saw Zombieland with the Olson's. After the movie we shared some fine conversations and fine lubricants. We got to share some Cabo Wabo and I got to spend some time with E. while the folks were at the multiplex. (no, i did not share any wabo with E. though, she came with her own cans of orange crush!)

The weekend after the Seppanen Clan came out to our place. We enjoyed a meal on Friday at grandma's and they got some big city shopping in at the mall. On Saturday we all went to Pizza Luce and watched some movies. Our house is almost big enough to allow 5 kids run around without it being too loud.

This week I have P/T conferences at harry's school. 5 minute conferences with each teacher. 5 minutes? WTF? The kids are all off Friday and I am hoping to drag them all out to see Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are. Tonight, if you have HBO, is Jonze's documentary on Maurice Sendak. Sendak is a very interesting character--go read his wikipedia if you don't know any more about him other than he wrote Where The Wild Things Are. Also, check out Spike's We Love You So website. Wonderful beautiful.

Found out Wilco is going to be here in February. As a member of their mailing list i got to buy tickets during the presale and got row H bitches! 8th row. This will be my 6th time seeing them. (7th if you count my seeing tweedy acoustically and alone.) I must admit i didn't like the album before the last one but Wilco the album is growing on me. plus, Nels Cline is GOD.

Bought Harry's ticket to New Orleans. He is going down on the 29th and will go visit his sister and go to VooDoo Fest on the 30/31/1 and he will fly back home on the 2nd. I am not going to DC because Jay only really has to be there one day so he will fly out on Sunday and probably come back on Monday.

this is the second calorimetry i have knit. both are for my niece izzy and hopefully being sent out in the mail today. it is a wide headband that covers the ears--for iceskating, walking, running, skiing, etc., when it starts getting colder. fun and easy to knit. i am thinking of making a couple for the school auction.



(this yarn is pink camoflauge.)