Chocolate Inspiration.

We hired a painter to paint the trim and doors this past week. The trim, fascia boards, around our home were overdue for an update as well as the two sets of french doors in the back that were beginning to look dilapidated. We moved in right after the builder finished building our house 12 1/2 years ago and have never used even a drop of touch up, so yeah we were past due on this.

The fascia boards were beginning to look very tired and droopy and pretty much unpainted. Plus one of our garage doors was two different colors since we had a panel replaced a while back, OK it was almost a year ago. Shut up.

Our front door was still in great shape, probably because the sun has never hit it and we don't use it that much. We only open it when friends or relatives come over or when one of my favorite people [my fellow carpool moms] brings one of my kidlets [spell check wants me to change that to cutlets or giblets and that just cracks me up] home from school. Maybe it gets opened once a day. Maybe. So i just wrote a whole paragraph telling you that my door still looked good. I do have a point, and I'll get to it now.

I have never liked the pasty blue color we chose for that door. Never. I can't even remember why the door was that color. I know it was me because Tony gave those decisions to me and then we gave the final say to the builder together. I do remember a swatch board thing with colors on it but my exact intent with that selection is lost in the recesses of history and who cares.

So getting to select a color at this point to splash over that nasty blue I have suffered with was so excellent. I savored the prospects, pondered the possibilities, and then languished over the fact that I am not really a good color picker. Or maybe I just thought I was not a good color picker because I could not forgive myself for the stinky blue door, or a few other awful paint color choice mistakes nightmares that I have endured over the years.

Anyway. I thought I had finally come to a selection when looked down at my dark chocolate that I was about to consume and it hit me. A few hours later when our painter asked if I had chosen the color, I asked him to wait a minute while I went inside to retrieve for him my inspiration. I handed it to him, along with his ten pound book of swatches and told him that I wanted a door that looked just like my dark chocolate.

It ended up being one color darker [on the same page] from one that I thought was the right one before the chocolate epiphany struck me. It was so meant to be.

I'm glad we went with the darker one, I don't like milk chocolate anyway [unless it is a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup]. I love it. I really love it!

Summer Won't Let Go.

I'm torn. I love fall, but we have had the most wonderful backyard summer, and I don't want to let it go either. Our near hundred degree weather day after day does not make fall seem eminent. But, around here our seasons change on a dime. One day it's summer and the next day it is fall, I think I usually make some comment to that effect every year.

We spent six hours, [well, Tony did, I was an intermittent spectator, he let's me and Eva get away with that] at the soccer field Saturday with three games and picture day it was a marathon and we all baked to crisps.

This is going to sound trivial and ridiculous but I am going to tell you my deep dark [alright beige] secret anyway because it was a kind of a big deal for me. Ready? Here it is: I have never worn a sleeveless top in public. Never. Never bared my arms outside of a swimming/boating type circumstance. Nope, not even once.

Well, there was Maria's wedding five or six years ago but it was not an option for me and it was a bridesmaid dress that had a small wrap so it doesn't count. Oh yes, and Chandra's wedding too. Anyway. Notice how I can remember if/when it has ever happened?

So, as hot as it was on Saturday I made the big decision to go for it. I wore two. An orange and a red, layered. I felt so naked. But it felt good too, and cool-er. I was looking around at the hoards of parents and grandparents on the soccer fields to see if anyone was paying attention or if anyone even noticed me, and of course they didn't! I was just as invisible as usual. It was just me inside my head. Tony didn't notice either but he sees me at home sometimes with my tank top so I don't really blame him for not observing my little breakthrough.

Sleeveless tops have just never appealed to me, no matter how hot and tempting it is. I thought of photographing myself to document the monumental silliness of me but I didn't work up the nerve. So there you go...my big beige revelation. I don't think it means that I will do it often, but who knows, maybe I'll try it again next summer!

We are still swimming every day of the week. The girls and I have worn our swimsuits down to thin shabby little coverings. Do you know how hard it is to find a female bathing suit this time of year? It's practically impossible, even on the internet!

Eva recently finished up a round of swimming lessons with our friend Debbie who ultra graciously came out of swim instructor retirement to work with our littlest child [she taught Wyatt and Sarah how to swim last year]. Eva is all over the pool now, life jacket and floaty free, and I am a mother who is over the moon with relief that I have four kiddos who are water safe! I am so confident that even the ear bleeding alarms have come off all the doors. Phheeeew!

For now we will just hang here like this, sit in the pool that even now seems like a beautiful dream, and wait for a change; for a little new color, a cool breeze, a little crunch under our feet. Am I allowed to use that many commas? Oh look, now I have added a semi-colon. I guess by now you have discovered that grammar was not what got me into honors classes [or for that matter what got me out of them as that would be another story for another day]. Oh well.

This doesn't happen much around here but Tony and I had the best date night last night, I hope we get to do that more often because it was pretty great. Happy summer/fall or whatever season it feels like where you are!

That's My Boy.

Luggage love: when my mom was here a few weeks ago we made a spontaneous stop at an estate sale and I found this snappy little red suitcase for $1.00! I thought it would be perfect for my boy who didn't have one. I usually toss his things in with mine or squeeze them into a backpack for him to carry. He was so excited when I brought it home and told him it was for him. It's old and it makes that *click* *snap* noise when you slide the latches to open and close it. It's totally a classic!

Saturday, after a swim, he emerged from his room with this shirt, jeans, and clip on tie. I instantly thought of his red suitcase and could not get to my camera fast enough! He was such a good sport too. Can't you just picture him telling me that he is running away and carrying his suitcase down the street with his bare feet?

Saturday morning was so much fun with all the thunder and then the brief downpour with the biggest raindrops I think I have ever seen! As soon as we noticed the rain, Wyatt pulled off his t-shirt and ran around the pool squealing with pure delight, we all were.

He had his first soccer game Saturday. See that lower lip? That helps to sum up his 6 year-old personality; feisty, spunky, fiercely independent, cool, fearless and fun.

Or, to put it another way, I have to keep a close eye on him at all times!

Watermelon Pie?

Some recent odds and ends. So exciting I know!

Emily is taking cello again this year at school. Last year, a couple of months into the cello, Emily wanted to quit. I reminded her that she had made a commitment to stay in until the end of the school year, and that if at that time she still felt the same, then that was ok. I'm overflowing with delight that she chose to play it again this year. Whadduya know.

She does not have a music stand so Eva is happy to help out while Emily practices.

Sarah and Wyatt made art for me the other day. My kids do their best to please me and they know that my favorite animal is the giraffe, so I get loads of giraffe pictures. I absolutely love Wyatt's latest version with it's big butt + no tail!

I think Sarah's animal [I always get my jaguars and cougars and leopards and such mixed up] is breathtaking. I really do.

I found this in the kitchen a few nights ago after we had tucked all of them into bed.

I'm not sure whether to call it "health benefits of the yogurt raisin bath" or "why you shouldn't leave your three year old in the kitchen unattended." Anyway, though she has lost her dignity, Polly made it through the dishwasher just fine.

Wyatt has recently started his own recipe book. He writes/creates things like bread and mustard sandwich, banana milk mush in a cup, and so on. He makes his snack, then writes it in his book. Sometimes he enlists Eva's help with his creations, usually he is trying to convince her to try one of them. They were conspiring for a while in the kitchen one day when Eva then came over to me and said, "can you buy watermelons to make watermelon pie?" I told her that we could buy them but wasn't so sure about the pie part. Gotta love that creative thinking!

My kids are so helpful [they really are, and so sympathetic too] when I am in distress. I think I have gone outdoors without sunglasses about five times in my adult life. So, distress for me is not being able to find them, or the back up, or the back up's back up. We were trying to leave and were all packed into the car one day when I tearfully pathetically stated for the 15th time "I can't find my sunglasses!" To that Eva said so sweetly, "I have a great idea, you could just use your eyes." I then swiped her pink sparkly ones and we hit the road.

Short & Sweet.

Just like this week, short & sweet. Short, for sure. Sweet, let's hope so!

Sarah's birthday was more like a full birthday weekend. When Tony got home from work Friday night, she opened a few presents from us then we went out to dinner. Sarah chose Chinese food and it was all good! I can't even begin to tell you what a joy it is to take my four children to a restaurant and be able to enjoy the experience without one major incident. Finally...I have waited so many years [eleven if you're counting] to be able to say that.

Then we went home to eat cake, but instead, we hauled our folding lounge chairs and blankets to the sports complex just as it was getting dark, for an outdoor movie on the big blow up screen. It was so late when we made it home that we kept her cake in the freezer and opted for bed instead. Saturday was busy and we didn't make time for it so again, it stayed in the freezer.

Why the freezer? Let me tell you! I made her a little round devils food cake Friday afternoon and had this brilliant idea to fill it with ice cream instead of regular frosting for filling.

I was inspired by this commercial that seems to play non stop when the tv is on. My kids pop up and run to the tv whenever they hear the song.

The trouble with my idea is that my cake was cooled but still significantly warmer than my yummy vanilla ice cream so it melted [duh] into the cake soon after I laid it on. I tried to salvage it by quickly giving it a nice home in my freezer, then frosting it later. Next time: freeze the cake first, then add the ice cream filling.

The act of leaving it in the freezer for an extra two days didn't matter, not one bit. I was mighty delicious on Sunday evening, though, um, a little hard to slice. Baskin Robbins must have some secret recipe for cake that can go into the freezer and still remain sliceable at party time.


Eva has a birthday this month as well. We will probably have a party for the girls in a few weeks and invite friends and family. I can't believe my baby is going to be four. She is at school this morning, her first day back. She goes two mornings a week. She loves her school. As soon as we arrived, she made herself right at home.

Make the most of your short week! I will do my best! Step 1. turn off the computer!

Keeping Up + Catching Up.

Hey y'all! Sorry I have been MIA. Things are gettin' busy around here! First it was school, then all the things that follow soon after. PTA, Girl Scouts, soccer, nursery school and CCD next week. To that I add my house things, some of which are old things that I just have not gotten around to finishing and some new that are way overdue. Those I try to work on during the day when the kids are at school but have not made much progress, it actually seems like I have made bigger messes. This is because I start, then don't finish right away [generally weeks or months later, I am ashamed].

Case in point. My mother came last Friday to stay the weekend with us. I had started on my bedroom by unloading the contents of my closet [because we are full up in my house and have no extra bedrooms and my closet is the supreme dumping ground + my office + home to all the supplies that are not bathroom related] into my bedroom and when I surprisingly did not finish the same day, I just had to stack it up and push it all against walls and on top of dressers and such. Not what you want your mother to find. Not at all. Anyway, when she discovered it I convinced her that I had already made good progress and that I had a method to what surely looked like junk and madness. My mother wanted to help me with it, bless her heart. Thank the Lord that we didn't have time for that. We had other business to get to.

Like going out to dinner together, just me and my mom on Friday night. It was such a treat, I'm telling you. We had the best time. I can't remember the last time we did something like that but I will tell you it won't be the last! I felt a tiny bit guilty leaving Tony at home with the kids but he is such a good sport and it was so great to get out and have special alone time with my mom. Our favorite drinks and scrumptious food was excellent X 10! It was a beautiful night and she even drove and put the top down for me. We rode to the restaurant all blowy and carefree. Sweet.

Thanks mom for being here.

Saturday night was Tony's company party that comes along every other year. We got there early this time. Typically we are arriving just as dinner is being served and we miss the hors d'oeuvres and the cocktail hour beforehand. Being early felt good, less rush and fuss. Easy. We sat at a big round table for ten with some of Tony's work people that I most adore and had a great dinner. Everyone was buzzing with the big question. Who was performing? The theme of the evening was hot August nights and I honestly think it may have been the hottest night of the whole summer, and so darn humid to boot. It was pretty much a sweaty sweat fest. But we were all in the same sweaty boat so that commiseration + the anticipation of the night made it a little less painful to suffer.

Additional evidence to the theme were the beautiful classic cars parked all around the venue [tucked away deeply inside the grounds of Cal State Stanislaus]. I guess Neil Diamond sang a song about hot August nights, so the biggest rumor was that it was going to be him. I was happy with that because I will tell you that I do like Neil Diamond. And I will wave my Neil flag proudly. Big surprise coming, read on.

Mystery entertainment revealed: Are you ready for this? No, seriously, are you freaking ready for this? Jay FREAKING Leno! No kidding! For a good hour, maybe more, the stand up comedy of Jay FREAKING Leno! I am still in complete freak out shock about it. No videotaping please, but take all the photos you want! Me and Tracy from Alabama got up and got close, it was still hard to get a good one because it was dusk/becoming dark and I don't take photos with flash [because everybody knows flash is bad]. I had forgotten just how ridiculously funny he is and poor Jay was sweating his heart out in layers of hot suit clothes, God bless him.



After Leno, we danced to a good band. Yep, it was a Neil Diamond cover band and it was a whole lot of fun. You know how much I like to dance. And with one [or four] drinks behind me, I'm certain I looked like a crazy person. Anyway. It was fun.

The littlest princess has just requested the honor of my presence for a game of princess monopoly. I'm Pocahontas, she's Snow White. She is going to be the banker this time and she just handed me the stack of 2's and gave herself the stack of 5's. Looks like she'll be winning. After the game, I will try to talk her into accompanying me to Costco and Target. It's Sarah's birthday and I have to pick up a few things.

Hello Friday, you arrived just in time! My girl is 8!