Dr Who

Where are my Dr. Who fans?

I loved last night's episode, but am confused about 'the Master' particularly the scene, the final scene, where the Doctor apologizes to the Master.

Was he apologizing because the Master was insane and he felt sorry, or was he apologizing because he didn't address the Master by his proper name, or was he just apologizing, for the hell of it?

So I thought the whole pointed teeth thing was silly, but then, what good is a Doctor episode without the Doctor being stranded on an alien world and being chased.

And, my general opinion question, for my Doctor fans (I think there are, what two?) Who is your favorite Doctor?

Ah the fun of it

And yes, there is another job that requires with my resume a one page expository writing sample.

I really wish I had one stocked somewhere, or that one of my previous clips would do.

So here I sit, writing a one page expository writing sample, already annoyed that this is not even a guarantee of an interview, and while I should view it as an OPPORTUNITY, at this stage, I only view it as another potential waste of time. I know I know, I shouldn't pre-view it as a waste of time, after all, I could conceivably get an interview out of it, but that's not the point, is it.

The problem really isn't the job posting requiring this, the problem really is I have no idea where my writing skill stands compared to others, so I honestly can not tell if this particular job is in or out of my writing league, so I get frustrated easily, because I imagine the world is filled with far-brighter people than me.

Oh that I had more of an ego!

Theraflu

Hubby McRed was on a three day business trip, and didn't get home til Saturday. This meant that I didn't take any medicine for my little plague until Saturday night. See, I can't take theraflu or nyquil when it's just me with the kids. I don't know why, it's just, those medicines are meant to help you sleep, and I don't want to sleep so well I don't wake up if my kids need me.

So I took thereaflu last night and felt immensely better this morning. (I really think I needed just the full night sleep, but the actual medicine part probably helped) and nothing all day, and tonight I'm taking theraflu.

I live for theraflu.

My parents lived for Robitussin when I was a kid. Everyone who was sick, Robitussin, or St. John's children's asprin.

Me?
My husband gets theraflu and the occasional Emergen-C tablets.
I do the Theraflu.
My children? Tylenol and Children's Benadryl (mainly for Drama Girl and her many allergies. We used to give it to her whenever a cold started to prevent a full blown ear infection, now I keep it on stock for the strange allergic reactions she, and occasionally a boy, gets).

Anyone have any medicine cabinet staples they want to share?

Running in the Rain Means Sneezes from the Brain

Totally not scientifically accurate, but I ran the other day when it was chilly and raining. This was Monday.

I was fine alllll week.
Til today.

Now I"m sneezing and have the WORST head cold and headache, well, not worst, I've had worse, but it's icky.

At least I finished some of my class stuff!

ahhhh


choooooo

An Idiot

Apparently, I am an idiot.

But not enough of an idiot to not be slightly offended when the e-mail read 'pleasantly surprised by the high number of quality candidates' that totally outshone me, only to find the job re-posted.

So essentially I failed the pre-screening test.

Okay. Maybe you were trying to make me feel good.
Unfortunately, seeing the re-posting made me think you just thought I was an idiot.

Maybe I really am an idiot.

I know I know, they don't really care, la la la, I'm just one of a gazillion people who'd like to work, waah waah me.

At this point, I think it would be easier for me to get published than to actually get a job.

I KNOW you're not supposed to give up, and you're supposed to keep trying, but my word.

I don't know what hurt me more, staying home with the little babies for a few years or the industry I was in prior.

I'm going to drink a beer and feel sorry for myself.

The Second Post of the Day

Swimming Lessons

Now, let me explain something about Drama Girl.
We put her in swim lessons when she was about six.
One day, there was a substitute teacher.
It was toward the end of the class.
He was helping her float on her back.
He turned to look at another student, and removed his hand.
She fell under the water.
He thought she could float.
HA.

Mind you, it wasn't over her head, but it didn't dawn on her to actually, oh, say, stand up.

Since then, she's been afraid to put her feet off the surface, and actually attempt to swim.

So we put her in swim lessons, and though the kids are all three to four years younger, she seemed to do well. In November, she'll be eligible for the tween kids who don't know how to swim, so she can change to that class. But I told her she had to start now. Seriously. She loves the water. I can't let her play in water without her knowing how to swim. So, we start now. For a full season of 'swim' lessons.

Great.

The boys, however, are 3.5. They have been in the water only a couple of times, and once they are in, love it. Twice at a lake, twice at a pool and once at a river. Yeah yeah, I know, I stayed home all summer, and that's the only water play they got... bad me.

They are signed up for Turtle classes.
Turbo babbled about swimming ALL MORNING.
Bear, who was up at 2 and 4 a.m. playing, told me he wasn't going. When he realized he was going, he said "I'll just watch. I'm just going to watch."

Well.

We get there.
Other smarter moms didn't bring them in their trunks, and changed them there, because it was cold today. Whatever. LOL I'll bring sweats on Wednesday.

So
We get there.
We go upstairs to the place where you can watch your kid swim. You go upstairs and there's this whole glass wall you can watch everyone in the pool.
Turbo is trying to run out the door to get to the pool.
Bear is just saying he's going to stay with me.

Finally the instructor calls them. SEVEN kids like the boys age, yeesh. I worry, of course.
They go down the stairs.
Turbo just lollygags and is walking alongside the VERY EDGE of the deep end. I'm flipping out. I actually gasped. The other moms honestly were like 'it's okay there's tons of people to jump in after him.' OH GEE THANKS.
But Turbo is Unpredictable! Nobody can fully appreciate how unpredictable Turbo is! He's nicknamed Turbo for a REASON!
I had to turn away. I couldn't watch the walk past the VERY DEEP end of the pool. What if he slipped and fell? Or just jumped in? Or fell in? Oh. I panicked. So I just buried my nose in my magazine.

When they get to there pool area, Bear, true to his word, sat on the edge the ENTIRE time.

Turbo walked in and out, but never quite got in.
He did try to a) run to the deep end where the slide was, b) climb into the toy locker, which they finally moved, and c) tried crawling into the water and d) was grabbed by the second teacher they brought in for trying to run again and e) given multiple 'no running' lectures.

He also yelled at the lady twice. Did I mention lady? Oh that's right, yes, because they needed a second individual to help the instructor, courtesy of my boys. There was one other boy, but he mainly sat and cried til his mom took him home.

So all the other kids are jumping and bouncing and walking and having fun.

I'm sure they will be fine, but I worry, because my kids seem to have this genetic aversion to just 'following the leader' or 'doing what the other kids are doing under the guidance of a teacher' or 'following instructions' or 'playing reindeer games' or something!

So they are having two people in the pool on Wednesday, and they assured me that it's not unusual (except for the kid trying to run to the deep end part) and they will work with them.

And I will do my best to not watch. It's probably for the best, if I don't see.

However, I may have to buy them new swim trunks, seeing as Turbo and his bright blue and white floral trunks and Bear's green and turquoise fish trunks seemed a bit, loud, compared to the other subdued trunks. Then again maybe I'll keep em, easier to see bright colors and all...

Two for One Day~

Two posts for the mere viewing pleasure of one!
Or something.

So how hard can technical writing be? Seriously? I'm not talking an article on, say, "Learning Lua by Friday' or anything. I'm talking articles on, say, airplanes, engines, pizza ovens, etc etc.

I took an editing test for an editor job.

Now, I want to be confident. Edit? Ha. I can edit in my sleep. I can, too. I find it very relaxing. I can find my zen when editing. However, I have edited resumes, game fiction, design documents, and articles, oh so many articles, about Air Force stuff, from simple 'news' and 'feature' stories to 'The Definition of Airpower' and 'Night Vision Technology' etc etc.

But editing isn't that simple. I don't know how good an editor I am compared to the gazillions of other editors out there that probably applied to this job. And, in fact, I totally destroyed the article I was meant to edit, so I cut it down by about...um. Half. Maybe a bit more. Because that's what I do. But, it was journalistic editing. "This is EXTRA. Words take up SPACE. Be gone, Evil Excessive Wording." So I may have edited it a tad too much. Also, I'm not from a tech background. For all I know, I edited out the ENTIRE point of the article. I don't think I did. But I may have.

Then there was the proofreading test. Which is semi-bogus. I mean, WHAT editor or writer now- a-days doesn't employ, oh, spell check? But there were other things to proofread. I had a nightmare I left half the errors in, and missed GAZILLIONS of simple errors.

So, I am fretty.

I may be an idiot. Only I won't know for sure if I am until later this week/early next week. I don't know what I'll do if I discover that I did an exceptionally poor job of editing and that I'm an idiot. It's rather stressful.

And I'm not even including the pre-stress I'm having about whether or not I'll even get an interview at this place.

See, Fretting, for me, it's something I do well.

Stay tuned, to find out if I'm an idiot or not!

green watermelon toothpaste

It was an okay day, for the most part. I've been suffering from 'kid overdose' and will probably let the children play outside at midnight for a bit. But overall, it was okay...

.....

...... and then...

......

Bear used green watermelon toothpaste to draw on the carpet.

Someone.

Help.

Did you Snopes?

This is a question every gullible, believe it cuz it's on e-mail, crazy 'fwd'er should ask themselves.

There is nothing worse than opening up your e-mail from a friend or relative to see seven lines of 'fwd' 'fwd' 'fwd' with corresponding gibberish, only to get to the message 'fwd'ed directly from your friend or relative to you, to discover, yep, it's a variation of the following message:

PLEASE READ

This is a warning to all humans, everywhere, please pass this on to everyone you know, so this won't happen anymore.

One day, in the middle of the brightest day ever, in the safest parking lot ever, the SuperTarget parking lot located next to the safest city in the world's police department, who were having a barbecue, an alien ship landed.

At first everyone thought it was a publicity stunt, and so gathered round, when all of a sudden, the ship opened up and let out, Target employees.

We thought they were Target employees, anyhow, until, suddenly, they started grabbing customers who were in the Target parking lot.

"We are hungry carnivores from planet zeldoid, you are our lunch" they said over and over.

Luckily for us, the police officers at the barbecue were wearing expensive, modern laser beam side arms, because it's also the richest city in the world. They ran over the fence with their weapons and shot all the aliens dressed as Target people, and rescued the passengers from the ship. They then sent it off into space with a warning. "We won't be fooled again."

If it weren't for the fact it was also the richest city in the world, with modern laser technology, who knows how many innocent customers would have been taken away to become appetizers for alien entities!

God was clearly with us, this day. But there are other parking lots out there, with ships carrying aliens dressed as employees from Target, Walmart, Costco and who knows how many other retailers!

Pass this on to as MANY people as you know, telling them to be careful.

P.S. I checked this out at snopes, and it checks as TRUE. So you know this isn't a lie.

Friday Night... boooring

I have pretty much come to terms with my lack of a social life.

I'm pretty sure it won't improve until I have a job and meet people.

Contrary to popular belief, having kids doesn't help you meet people, not even all the other people who had kids and wanted to meet people. Mom to Mom competition in the preschool years is pretty intense, so it's usually just stressful.

Learning from how frustrating it was to join a mom's club, I won't join one here.
I suppose really I'm doomed socially until my boys enter school, and I can start volunteering. See, I have Drama Girl in school, but I can't really volunteer because I have no one around to watch the boys while I do.

Or until I get a job.

Whichever comes first.

But tonight, alas, my husband is staying late at work, because, yes, Fantasy Football time.
Drama Girl is at her first sleepover at a friend's. Drama Girl isn't involved in a lot of activities, so friendship making time is limited. She has to complete two months of swim lessons successfully before I let her do gymnastics.

Why? Because Drama Girl is almost 11 and can't swim. Won't let me teach her. Or daddy. Nope. So back to lessons.

So tonight, I am stuck with Turbo and Bear, both who told me to 'go away.' Shoot, even they don't want to play with me.

SOMEONE come and play with me.

.....

um after Dr. Who....

Talking is cheap, but time consuming

When Drama Girl was six, we were visiting my parents in Tennessee, and had stopped at a diner that paid homage to Elvis.

"Who's that," she asked, pointing to one of several pictures of Elvis, this particular one being in our bathroom stall.

"That," I said, "Is the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley."

I may have been a bit dramatic, but we were in Tennessee after all. And who doesn't love Elvis?

"He's cute."

She was entranced. Riveted by his looks, as so many women were. His eyes twinkled from the picture. So, I ruined the moment. I'm a mom. It's what I do.

"He's dead now," I said. "He died a long time ago."

Drama Girl looked visibly sad. She'd never heard his music, but seemed to sense from one picture in a bathroom stall the magic that he was in life, those years ago.

"How'd he die?"

Well, this was the tricky thing, really. She's six. I could lie. I could tell her he had an accident. I mean, she was ONLY six. But one of my fears in life is that I would be one of those moms that never talked to their kid about anything, or worse, one of those moms who sit their kid down at 13 and tell them EVERYTHING. Too much too fast is as useless as not at all.

"Well, he died from DRUGS. He had a problem, he took drugs he didn't need and one day, he took too many by accident, and he died." I looked at the picture in our stall. "In his bathroom."

Drama Girl looked at me with wide eyes.
"In his bathroom?"

"Yes, he passed out, because the drugs had made him sick."

"Drugs killed him?"

"Yes."

"Drugs are bad for you?"

"VERY bad for you, except the ones your doctor tells you to take, for medicine, but you only take medicine the right way. But yes, drugs are bad for you."

"Yeah, because they KILLED Elvis."

"Yes, they did."

And thus began the dialogue between Drama Girl and I about drugs. It was light, really, drugs was a word that represented something 'bad' and 'dangerous' at first, and as she became older, the talks became a bit more specific. You can smoke it. Your friends might try it. It's bad for you like smoking. It looks harmless, sometimes like an asprin, but it's really not. Never take medicine from your friends, you know the talk. It's the talks the parent moms and dads on television have with their kids. Always in casual moments, never out of the blue, just consistent reinforcement of the same message.

I believe in these talks. I believe they are her best defense against drugs and peer pressure. We'll have more talks, too, and I hate them, I really hate having them. I hate telling her about the darker side of life. But I have to. We've talked about stranger danger. I've even gone through scenarios with her, based on her 'what if...' questions. And I challenge her with my own... 'what if someone asks you for directions, to help find a puppy, the way to the school, knows your name...' It's not fun, I hate that the world isn't safe enough for her to go out without having to be somewhat savvy, but it's not, and she must be prepared as much as she can.

Our latest talks were on the changes she was going through. Drama Girl is going to be eleven soon, and we had to buy her, well, bras. At first she was excited, but then the constant necessity of wearing either a bra or a thick camisole, depending on the shirt, has begun to annoy her. I have to remind her every other day. We talked about 'periods' because I know soon she'll either learn it in school or well, have it. I had the mental image of my daughter beginning for the first time, not knowing what it was because I never told her, screaming in the bathroom. She'd then hold a grudge against me for months, after the horror and tears faded. She's not called Drama Girl for nothing. I remember my first time. I thought I had a cut. Yeah, I wasn't really bright back then.

All of the time I talk to my daughter, she's responding, talking, asking questions, and I hide my twitchiness, my innate desire to have her magically become a woman without having to tell her the hard things, by cooking, cleaning, playing with my hair, playing with her hair, anything, and all the while, I'm watching her, listening to her, because I don't want to tell her too much, too fast. From her reaction I can tell she isn't ready to talk about sex, which is fine with me, but I did tell her the biology of it. Frankly, I'm surprised one of her friends already hasn't. But then I dropped it. She thinks kissing is gross. I'm good with that. However, she kept going back to drugs and bras. Those were the things I focused on. How to say no. Why she should say no. How hard it can be. The tough choices she would have to make.

Man, I hope she listens.

I wondered then, what do other moms do? How and when do they talk to their kids? I know I'm not the only one. I know I come from a generation of women who either were told nothing or too much, a generation of women who now want to get it right. We don't want our daughters to stumble into the unknown unprepared. We've been to the unknown. We have the ability to map it out for them, give them a compass and a guide. Avoid this, stay close to this, don't stray here, if you get lost, head this way... How do others help their kids navigate these years?

And, will they listen?

Some of Us Will Die without the Internet

Sadly, I might be one of them.

My cable went out for like, a day, (YES< a whole day) and I was very very very mildly grumpy about it. Turns out we needed a new modem, but that's not the point. The point is, I felt very very very mildly grumpy, not to mention I do bills, shop, socialize (I'm a sahm, give me a break) and schoolwork all online. It was a rough day.

Saying that, Drama Girl is back in school, and on this, the first cool day in a while, it dawned on me, she doesn't have a fall coat, and my boys don't have fall shirts/coats either.

Oopsie.

See that was the thing about Washington State, it was mostly the same weather all year round, with a short hot break that I complained about.

So next week I'll make a Target run for the boys fall wear and Drama Girl's coat.

My school starts up next week, and really, four classes left to go, I just want to be done. But, I have to get through those four classes, you see, and now that I'm settled, hopefully I can do better. I really want As this semester. Not that I'm driven or anything.

Other news in brief...
My writing is doing well.
My boys seem to be done their major growth spurt for the time being.
Drama Girl finished a whole week of school without forgetting to turn in or bring home homework.
Hubby McRed is happy at his job, but stressed because he IS driven and an overachiever, and hasn't quite conquered a new territory yet.
I have a new modem so SHOULD be able to actually CONNECT to the internet.

Blogligent

That is me :)

I've been blogligent.

It's just that school starts early here, and so last week was spent doing last minute school shopping, a couple of days visiting the Manitou Cliff Dwellings (cool) Joe Buckskin Frontier Town or Something (kids loved it) and some caves.

I've also created a New Writing Commandment.
Thou Shalt Not Do Anything Til Thoust Hath Written 1,000 word or more.
This Includeth Dishes.

This actually works, except for today, but today was Drama Girl's first day back to school.

I celebrated this day by not doing my morning Wogging or Exercising, the dishes, or anything else that normally needs to be accomplished.

First day back to school for kid, Lounge goof off day for mom.

Never mind Turbo and Bear, they have been pesky all day, but haven't really noticed their sister is gone. Except for Turbo who is upstairs laying down with a particularly foul mood of unknown origin.

Hubby McRed suffered a flat tire today, so he has my truck. Which means even if I were inclined, I couldn't do any errands. Aw, shucks.

It's quickly turning into afternoon, however, so time to write those thousand words, do those dishes and discover the source of Turbo's foul mood.

Turnips, your children will eat them

I happen to love turnips.

I know this isn't a common love, but I adore them.

How to get your children to adore them as much as you do?

Don't cook them turnips.

Cook them yellow and white mashed potatoes.

Boil turnips and potatoes, mash em like you would potatoes, and serve them like potatoes.

It's the same ole trick used with the cauliflower, only with turnips.

Now, if I could find a way to make rutabaga's appetizing, but frankly, I've never been fond of them myself!

Yes, I am inflicting a variety of palettes on my children in the hopes they will not be 'meat, potato, soda, chips, ice cream, candy eating American diet.'

Omigosh but tell me, WHY are my children addicted to their vitamin?

Silent Me

I've been so busy!

But let me just pop in to reiterate one more time....


......


I am not going to learn how to play Bridge, because I'm not interested in playing Bridge, and while I would love a night out once a week, I would not love that night out once a week if it meant going to bridge class, in which case, I would rather stay home with a netflix video...

I'll be reading all my fave blogs soon!

Silent Me

I've been so busy!

But let me just pop in to reiterate one more time....


......


I am not going to learn how to play Bridge, because I'm not interested in playing Bridge, and while I would love a night out once a week, I would not love that night out once a week if it meant going to bridge class, in which case, I would rather stay home with a netflix video...

I'll be reading all my fave blogs soon!

I got the scale

Okay,

For any who remotely care.

I finally got a scale, that measures body fat, too, oh joy...

The thing is, I've gone down a full size, and the new size I am is loose now. I'm not done dropping pounds and inches, but for the first time, I have a number. I KNEW I lost weight. I just didn't know how much. Oh my oh my oh my.

What it's been, three months, since I first made some small changes, and then noticed a lost inch?

Well,

Here it is.

I've lost..... FIFTEEN POUNDS!!!!! and about three or four inches, I honestly can't remember for certain what my waist was before.

That is a lot. I mean, Ten is hard to lose. I've lost five before. Everyone can lose five. Ten is dreadful. Everyone WANTS to lose ten. It's this golden number.

And I'm not done.

I'm not saying that as you are reading this, inches and pounds are dropping off at incredulous rates. I'm just saying that I'm doing really well in my exercising and eating, and hope to continue losing a pound a week. Yes, that's right, I only want to lose a pound a week. Two would be ideal, but one is more realistic. I have 15 more pounds to go. But really for me it's about the body fat and the size of clothing.

I'm THIIIIIISSSSSSSS close to my goal size which I want to be by fall. Then I want to spend the full winter going down the next size, because that is a hard one to hit. My goal is to achieve bathing suit hotness next summer. I know, it's a vanity, but whatever :).

I'm not going to write about this every day. It's dreary really, 'lost .3 lbs today...' lol no, we're not doing that. Especially since I'm trying to build muscle as well, so it's give and take. But I'll give you an occasional update :). Cuz I'm just so tickled pink with myself.

The thing is, I didn't do this with diet pills (which I'm totally against unless you REALLY are obese and need medical help to lose weight) or with weight watchers (the reason weight watchers doesn't work for me is because it doesn't change the way you eat, just how much, so yeah, frankly, for me, the sugary stuff had to go) and the places that prepackage your meals. Now, I think they are a great idea, the ones that ship you meals, so if you only eat what they send you, you lose weight, I think those are nice. I was tempted to try them before, but the only thing about them is they are expensive, they are processed, and if you don't learn to cook the healthy stuff and readjust your normal diet, as soon as you stop eating them, you end up reverting back to old weight gaining habits.

This isn't just about weight loss. This is about changing my lifestyle and my family's to be healthy, eat healthy, eat the right amounts, and to keep the weight off. My favorite side effect is my family has never eaten healthier. My boys, ate spinach! and cous cous! They only eat whole grain bread. I tricked them into fried tofu! Yes, they thought it was chicken, hey whatever works (I only do tofu once in a while, I'm still not sure if it's good for you or not ha ha). All our cereals are naturally under 6 grams of sugar. I got them eating quaker oats from the big container, rather than the instant sugared packets.

Mom and healthy meals, 1
Family and desirious junk, 0
Mommxxor for the Winxxor.

Oh and please, I think I mentioned, I don't believe that if you 'deprive your children' of super sugary treats and soda and cup cakes and twinkies, that they will go out and binge. I think that's an excuse. I believe in having healthy food in the house, including lots of yummy fruits to munch on, and letting them have cookies and stuff once in a while, and explaining why we don't have all the junk food in our house. No child wants to be fat, so if you appeal to the 'this is what makes you healthy and fit and looking good' they will continue with that trend. If one of them starts getting chunky I'm just going to readjust the diet and pipe up the exercise, but if you eat healthy, it's not usually an issue. So bleah.

And yes, this isn't just about me, it's about my children and my husband. And if my three year olds can be convinced that salmon is 'pink meat' and trout 'white chicken' and tofu 'chicken' then your kids can, too!

:)

oh and to ensure you all understand nothing is perfect, Drama Girl ate raw brown sugar at the coffee shop yesterday. /boggle....

I mean, okay she's ten. She was already sugared up from the fruit berry smoothie. I asked her to get me some brown sugar, and she got me a quarter cup.... /boggle... I meant the packets... and then she munched on the brown sugar before I saw what she was doing... so we had a little chat... I mean... that's the equivalent of one of those powdered sugar treats, remember those, you'd cut open the tip, open your mouth, and down all the sugar? Egads. She'd just have a cookie, too... so you see, it's ESSENTIAL we don't let kids make these decisions on their own... impulse always wins...

Buffalo Meat

This is a rather dry post, but I just thought I'd ramble about the buffalo meat pot roast we had.

See, every time buffalo meat goes on sale, I want to try it. I hear good things about it... it's lower in fat and cholesterol than other types of meat, it's got those good omega 3s, more protein, and it's a leaner cut. I also hear it tastes better.

So I bought me a pot roast. You have to be careful with buffalo meat usually because it cooks faster than other meat, but for the pot roast, long, slow cooking was key. So seasoned it with salt, pepper and garlic, browned it, and tossed it in my crock pot with a can of diced tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, a dash of worcestershire, a sprinkle of basil, a few tablespoons of white wine, and a couple of cups of water and a beef bouillion cube (it was a 1.8 lb roast), and let it cook for about six and a half hours (yep, I looove crock pot cooking). I thought it'd take longer, but my crock pot is a large one, and most foods on the 8 hour setting are finished in six.

My family loved it. It, they told me, was a keeper recipe. Six ounces of this meat had only 200 calories in it, and only 20 from fat. Egads! That's good for meat.

Now, I am not a big fan of pot roasts, which is ironic, considering it's my family's favorite meal. They love my pot roasts, and I can't stand them. But this one, this one I could stand. I'm going to try a few more cuts of buffalo when they aren't crazy pricey, but the pot roast was worth the cost.

So, um, yeah, Go Forth and Eat Buffalo....

Boys and Tously Hair

Short hair is easy to care for in kids, especially boys. I'm a big believer in the short crew for my preschoolers. That is if I could get them to the hairdressers and get the hair cut.

See, I have a thing for tousley hair. Nothing is more adorable and cute to me than little messy haired boys running about with the wind blowing their loose, untamed locks every which way. Nothing is more adorable than those sights of bleary-eyed, bed-head, sweaty brows crawling up to me, just waiting for my hands to brush those soft, sandy brown bangs back, to nuzzle kisses in the depths of their boy-meets-shampoo scented heads. Nothing is more natural, correct, right, than boys with unkempt hair. It goes with their dirty elbows and scraped knees. It matches the dust clinging to their shorts and shirts. It's Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. It's living without worries or inhibitions, it's freedom to just be...

And every time they run out back, their toes free of kicked-off shoes, their hair flying whichever way it may, diving into the grass, digging in the dirt, I think how wonderfully marvelous it must be to be a little boy playing outside, doing their own thing, running just to run, digging to dig, and falling in the grass just to feel how soft it is, and it is then I can't bear the thought of those scissors cutting away a piece of that haphazard existence. Not yet, not quite yet. Maybe, maybe I'll do it this fall.