She Giveth, He Taketh Away

I took Z-man out grocery shopping yesterday, and the cashier was talking to me as she rung up my purchases. She asked if Z-man was my first, and when I told her he was my third, she looked shocked and said, "Wow, you look so young to have three!"

I'm not. I'm 34. But it was nice of her to say!

So I came home and told TK. He asked, "how old was she?" I told him she was a grandmother herself, so probably around 60. He said, "yeah, well you know how once you're older, you can't judge younger people's ages anymore."

Oh. I guess that was TK's way of saying that I *do* look my age. Good thing I'm not overly vain or worried about looking young!

Suspended three stories high...in an entirely safe structure!

Today is the boys' birthday. They're three. It's all kind of vaguely surreal and odd how quickly the time has gone, but I'm sure I'm not telling y'all anything you don't know, so I'll stop now.

TK took the day off and we all went to The Children's Museum in Boston. When you first go into the museum, there's this huge web of suspended platforms enclosed in a cabled netting. It goes up three stories. So of course that's immediately what our boys want to do.

TK and I looked at each other, shrugged, and sent them off on their climbing adventure. It looked like a lot of fun, and with just a little encouragement yelled from the staircase running next to the structure, the boys both made it up no problem. They loved it, and wanted to do it again, so we said they could go back after lunch if they wanted.

We played for a few hours, had lunch, and then returned to the climbing structure. Again, both boys sped right up to the very top. B-man got out on the third floor exit, but N-man continued up to the very top. And somehow got his leg through the netting. And got stuck. We could see him, and he was starting to get upset when he couldn't get his leg free. And I was starting to get nervous. I mean, rationally a hole that is too small for him to easily fit his shoe through is not large enough for him to fall out. But, his little leg was sticking out, over three stories above the ground...

The staff member working there let me go in to "rescue" N-man. It was a tight fit...this structure is really designed for kids, not adults, and I had to do some serious wiggling. I finally made it over to N-man, shimmied his leg and shoe back in to the relative safety of the structure, and then looked down. Three stories.

Man, how come kids don't find that unsettling?? I was a bit freaked.

But it was also really fun. I joked with TK that every time we go back we're going to have to coach the kids to get stuck so we'll have an excuse to go into the structure! Anyone else ever gone into the climbing structure with their kids?

Random unrelated thought: Can someone please tell TK that it's bad taste to crack up when you suggest a person with a failing memory play Memory with your children?

My awesome bad luck

I was having a rough afternoon yesterday. I've been sick, and while I'm recovering, I feel pretty low on energy. The boys were in a grumpy mood, and probably would have napped except a thunderstorm rolled through right as they were falling asleep. So I had two grumpy, overtired, scared boys while I was feeling pretty crappy myself.

I brought the boys downstairs, and N-man played quietly while I held B-man, trying to console him from the scare of the thunder. Of course B-man fell asleep in my arms. So I was trapped on the couch. Luckily, the computer was close by so I started browsing. I decided to look for a wii fit. Of course, it was nowhere to be found. Until I happened across one local store that as of closing the night before, had a "limited stock" available. Well, I figured that was a long shot if I ever heard of one as it was already afternoon. So I kind of put it out of my head.

Then N-man peed out of his diaper, and I had to put B-man down. B-man woke up, and started having a crying fit. I'm busy cleaning up pee and changing all of N-man's wet clothes and B-man is working himself up to a full-blown tantrum. I know, you're all jealous of my super-glamorous life. Luckily, I think the vast majority of my readers are all moms so I know you all have had days like this. It's not just me, is it??

I get N-man all cleaned up, then work on calming B-man down. I finally turn on a short TV show (god, I love on-demand. They have a huge selection of free children's programs, including a few really short animated versions of story books. A perfect 5 minute calm-down activity!) It helped a little, but things were still on the verge of falling apart. Oh, and TK wasn't coming home until bedtime since he was at band practice. I was all on my own.

So, a change of venue was in order. But where to go at 5pm? Of course, on a quest to get a wii fit! I load the boys into the car. And get going. And get stuck in traffic. Because it's rush hour. And not only that, but the road I was taking was torn apart. Shouldn't they give me updates if they're going to start construction on a road I want to take? Geez! (And yes, I'm also now running into dinner time. Luckily, since my boys don't eat, this is never a big problem with them).

I get to the store, get the boys back to the electronics section, and...no wii fits. Of course. But I didn't go all that way to give up without even asking. I wait in line, and ask the people who work there. Nope, no wii fits. Another woman comes up to ask the same thing, and we all start chatting about how many people have been in to look for wii fits and how annoying it is that there are never enough wii things to go around. I was laughing, talking about how on the way over I was teaching the boys about a "long shot". Well, along comes a manager, listens for a minute, then asks, "Are you looking for a wii fit?" Yes, answered the other woman and I. "Well, I have a few I just got in."

Really?

So the manager went to get the boxes, opened them, and we bought our wii fit! It was that easy. And if I hadn't had the bad luck to have N-man's pee accident, B-man's tantrum, rush hour traffic, road construction, and just generally being in a bad mood and having to get out of the house, I would have been there too early and they wouldn't have had any wii fits.

It's amazing, sometimes all kinds of bad stuff can happen that come together for something good.

Random related thought: I'm completely uncoordinated and a lot of the wii fit games rely on balance. Of which I don't possess any. At one point, the game actually heckled me and asked if I tripped a lot while I walk. Sadly, the answer is yes. My play was further impaired by having the boys playing with me. I'd let one get on to the balance board with me and we'd play together.

When TK got home, the boys excitedly told him all about playing the games. N-man happily reported, "We played the falling off the building game!" Yeah, it was a tightrope walking game. Although mostly we did just immediately fall off the tightrope and down between the buildings. Kids are so easily entertained. I love that he was just as happy with the thought that the goal of the game was to fall off the tightrope as to stay on it!

I got proofed!

Excuse me for bragging for a minute, but I was at the liquor store yesterday and I got asked to see some ID! Okay, fine, I know they ask for ID from anyone who looks under 30, but hey, someone thought I look under 30! Woo Hoo!

Is there really anything else to say in this entirely narcissistic post?

Well, I can tell you about what I was buying. I got a 6 pack of Guinness. I'm not a big drinker, and I really don't like beer but I decided to try a new corned beef recipe that requires you to slow cook it all day in Guinness. Sounds interesting. I mean, I hate to let down my Irish heritage, but for once I wanted to try to a cooking style that doesn't involve boiling the crap out of everything. Shhh, don't tell my mom.

Random related thought: I'm a somewhat recent transplant to Massachusetts, and for the most part, I totally love it here. But does anyone else think it's ridiculous you can't buy alcohol in a supermarket? What a pain in the patootie, and I don't even drink very much. Why did I have to run a separate errand to buy some beer? Bunch of puritans :)

PS~~Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Are there stars on your underwear?

So, today I'm thinking of pickup lines. I went out to dinner with two girlfriends a few nights ago, and for once in my life, I got there early. I was waiting for my friends, standing right in smokers' alley. You know, that lane between the bar and the door that all smokers must take on their walk of shame to feed their addiction. I guess they might not think of it as a "walk of shame", but I digress.

Anyway, while I'm standing there, some guys come by and one asks if I'm waiting for him. I say "no", and he asks if I want to wait with him. No thanks, I'm fine. Move along now. Later, after one of my girlfriends, L., arrives, another guy walks by and calls us "pretty ladies" and asks us to go out and smoke. I think. I'm a little hazy on that part as it was noisy and I wasn't paying a lot of attention. I think I better forward this to L. for verification. Because if that's really what happened, that's a pretty weak pick up line.

All of this has got me thinking, what are your favorite pickup lines? Mine is the one I used as a title for this entry. Much to my dismay, no one ever tried that one on me. TK, if you're reading, you better get moving on this one!

So for all you readers (all five or six of you :), share, please, the best pickup lines you've heard.

For the record, I never get hit on anymore. I'm not sure when this happened. Or stopped happening. Last time I got hit on was at a sci-fi convention a few years ago (note to anyone in the mood to get a lot of attention: sci-fi convention = awesome place to meet men apparently. Who knew! I was there watching TK play piano so it was a long night of gesturing to the stage and saying "my husband's in the band". But I digress, again). On the plus side, I don't miss getting hit on. I find it kind of awkward at best and annoying at worst. That's my unfriendly streak at work again, I'm sure.

One last thought on this whole experience. Okay, advance warning: I'm neurotic. Warning done, now back to story: You know how young guys hitting on older women is the new big thing? Yeah, these guys didn't think I was an older woman did they? I'm only 33. Damn, I suspect they might have thought I was an older woman. Fine, these guys were in their 20's I'd guess (once again, I have to turn to L. for verification) so yes, I guess technically I am an older woman. Shoot. I was looking rough that night thanks to my early morning workout schedule. And twins. Can I blame the twins for prematurely aging me? I think I need to start using the Stephanie Plum theory of big hair and lots of makeup to distract from any flaws like huge dark circles under my eyes.

Random unrelated thought: B-man was wandering around this morning saying "Biko" over and over. I'm not sure if he's a Peter Gabriel fan or just really into human rights. I think it was just random syllables to be honest. But, it reminded me of TK's roommate when I was a freshman in college. This guy would play Peter Gabriel's Biko over and over again. I mean, I like that song, but isn't it a little repetitive to play multiple times in a row? He'd stick it in the CD player on endless repeat, and listen to it for hours on end. I've never understood it. What do you think: was he purposely trying to drive TK crazy so that he could have the room to himself most of the time or was he just a really annoying guy?

Wheeee!

We got a wii yesterday. Okay, technically, we got a wii quite some time ago. I stood in line for an hour or so one morning a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. It was right in the middle of NaNoWriMo, though, and I didn't want the distraction of it pulling at me, so we put it away until December 1, as a kind of reward for finishing my novel.

December 1 rolled around, and we got out the wii, set it up, and....nothing. It didn't work. After much talking on the phone to the Nintendo repair department, the gist was: it was broken. Thanks.

So, we sent it back, and just yesterday got our new one.

I wish I could say we got it for our kids, but at 2 and a half years old, I don't think they're old enough to act as cover for us.

So I guess we're part of the "old people" video game movement. Okay, maybe it's not that dire. We're part of the Nintendo generation. I played plenty of NES in my youth. We even own a Playstation (the first version, from way back when) that we pull out from time to time. While I was pregnant with my twins and on "couch rest" I even pulled out an old video game and played for hours.

But I still feel somehow apologetic for playing video games, like I should be doing something more important with my life. But I guess instead of saving the world, I'll be honing my wii tennis skills, or trying to build my brain at the Big Brain Academy (current grade: B--). At least for a little while.

Random unrelated thought:

It's snowing. Again. After years of living in Georgia, and hating the fake winters there, I swore once we moved back to a normal climate, I'd never complain about the snow. I do like the snow, but we have a lot to do today, and sitting inside while 8" falls wasn't exactly on my list.