i'm such a dork

i totally forgot to mention this DCist blurb on Rock-n-Romp! i just remembered, so here it is, a month-and-a-half late. oops! i'm still amazed that people are finding out about RnR, especially with NO promotional effort on my part. but as much as i'd love to get out there and spread the word, i'm starting to think that the backyard can't really hold too many more people! it's a bummer, but what can i do? moving to a house with a bigger yard just isn't an option. so as the word seems to be getting out with or without my help, it would appear that RnR is reaching a critical juncture -- how do we make this thing bigger and better? we've got a few ideas up our sleeves -- don't be surprised if you see an Ozzfest-style RocknRompalooza at a stadium near you in the next 5 years! heh. i am SO not kidding. Rock-n-Romp! coming soon to a town near you!

to the anonymous commenter below who said:

i am sure you'll do just fine in your bathing suit. sorry if this creeps you out.

this was in response to my "feeling funky" post. i read this earlier and thought, "why would someone think i would wear my bathing suit to perform at Rock-n-Romp??" and "yes, that is a little but creepy!" heh. i just realized that you were referring to the six flags part and my having to wear a bathing suit there. i'm really not usually this slow. i swear! heh. so wait... should i be creeped out by this??

dave and i were actually just talking about how slim and trim we felt compared to the average six flags visitor. scary, but true.

have you seen

whale rider? holy shit, i bawled my eyes out watching it last night. i recommend it.

feeling funky

not depressed, just not enthusiastic about anything. it doesn't help to find out that jack is having so much damn fun at grammy's he doesn't want to come home! little brat! yeah, i started missing him a couple of days ago so tried to get him to come home early. he wasn't having it, what with all the sweets and bike-riding and movie-going and chuck e. cheese and baseball games and undivided attention, etc. yes, i just said chuck e. cheese. UGH.

what else has been happening? well, my sister is bringing jack home friday night so we can get up bright and early to hit six flags saturday. woo-fucking-hoo, i know. but jack will have a blast and natey probably will, too. and it's like less than half an hour from here, so what have we got to lose? the only problem i'm foreseeing is the water park area and the having to don a swimsuit-type garment. holy flabby mother-of-two batman, that's not gonna be a pretty sight! heh. fuck it. do i really care about what six flags people think?? heh.

one more bit of news that's kind of exciting: my friend bill, who used to be in jawbox and burning airlines (read this link--it makes me laugh because i was just saying to dave that bill reminded me of tom cruise! pre-dumbfuck, treat your post-partum depression with vitamins tom cruise, of course. heh.), is coming out of rock retirement with his band the blames to play the next Rock-n-Romp! pretty fucking cool! plus, shudder to think's original drummer, mike, is in the band. dude, i saw him play like a gazillion times back in the day! i am very excited about this. oh, and i get to sing. don't be scared -- i'm not that bad! heh. we're doing kid-oriented songs, so i can't really fuck up too badly. just in case, though, we're calling ourselves blame it on debbie lee.

so yeah, that's what's been happening over here.

some things are better left unsaid

jack crept into our room early saturday morning to tell us that his shorts were wet so i, not wanting to get out of bed, told him to get into bed with us so we could get some more sleep. for some reason my sleep-crusted brain decided that he must've already changed his underwear and shorts since he was getting into bed with us, so i flung my arm around him and went back to sleep. well, tried to go back to sleep, i should say. jack is a fidgety little dude if he's not totally exhausted, so he would lay still for a bit then start squirming, then lay still, then start squirming, over and over....finally i'd had enough!

"jack! if you're going to be in here you need to lay still and go to sleep! what are you doing??"

"i'm just playing with my penis."

"what?? go.back.to.bed.NOW."

so he crawls out from under the covers beside me and off the bed flashing his little white ass in my face along the way. what? was it unreasonable to expect that he would want to have clothes on to get in bed with us?? heh. the best part was explaining to him (without any hint of judgement) that if he wants to play with his penis he has to do it in his own bed when he's ALONE. it was easy to talk to a 4 year old about it, i just hope i don't need to have the same conversation with him in, say, 8 or 9 years! YIKES. as much as i love having boys, i am truly frightened at what the pre-pubescent years will bring.

freedom!

i suppose every mother of more than one child has this experience at some point or another, and hopefully without too much excitement and/or guilt: jack is at grammy's house ALL WEEK and i feel like i've been given a new lease on life! whee! heh. yes, i've still got the wee nate around, but this is what i'm talking about: i never thought i'd feel like taking care of one instead of two would feel so much lke a vacation! i know you first-timers don't want to hear this shit but, DAMN, taking care of a baby is pretty easy! no backtalking, no fake-crying and whining, no colossal messes left in their wake! don't get me wrong, i love that boy to death, but he can be one annoying little fucker if we're together all day long. oh! and with babies you can cuss your fucking heart out! dave and i have increased our cussing at least tenfold since jack's been gone. god, we're immature.

ah, summer vacation...

you will be appalled, amused and/or made jealous by this confession: jack has been staying home from summer camp (which dave keeps reminding me that we have PAID FOR) because we have all been waking up too late. every day. we sometimes don't get out of bed until 9:00! camp starts at 9:00 and ends at 1:00. monday through friday. you can see why it would be pointless to try to hurry everyone along to get there late, only to have to turn around and pick jack up a couple of hours later.

somewhere between the time we left for ireland and now, the sleeping rhythm and routine in this house has become seriously fucked up -- everyone's staying up too late, not getting timely naps, etc. i'd say that is the primary reason for jack becoming a summer camp dropout (heh), but i've come to realize that there is another very big reason i've let this happen: summer vacation is supposed to be lazy! it's supposed to be unstructured! it's supposed to be about hanging out and doing things on a whim! at least, that's how i remember summers when i was a kid. and here i am, home all day, not taking advantage of the opportunity to do nothing but hang around?? well, i'm obviously doing a lot more than just hanging around, but not having to wake up grumpy kids, feed them breakfast, pack lunch, get them dressed and in the car at breakneck speed so we aren't late?? that's totally worth all the daily tedious shit that comes with taking care of kids. and it doesn't have to be tedious! now that jack's not going to camp, we can plan trips to the zoo or the museums or grammy's house or wherever. we can camp in the backyard and make smores (this is jack's latest obsession)! see? it sucked being tied down to that camp schedule, dammit! it was wrong.

so yes, this is what summer vacation is all about: the freedom to do anything you want or nothing at all. you working stiffs, don't be too jealous -- i'm still taking care of two boys prone to hysterical whining and crying at the drop of a hat. but sleeping in til 9:00 everyday is totally worth all that.

i swear this is NOT going to be a regular thing

but i have to say, THANK GOD that lameass wil guy got booted off of ROCKSTAR:INXS! he sucked! it was cute how the INXS guys seemed so concerned about his feelings, though.

holy shit!

i've found my reason to continue watching primetime tv over the summer! yes, i will be religiously watching ROCKSTAR:INXS to find out who will become INXS's new singer. whee! it's like american idol, but without all the lame music that i can't stand hearing or watching. oh, and some serious trainwreck potential, which i usually don't enjoy, but for some reason am looking forward to with this bunch. hee!

i'm starting a new club

it's called Mothers Who Cuss (it was going to be Mothers Who Swear Like Sailors, but i've always said "cuss" instead of "swear" so wanted to be true to myself. plus, the MWC sounds better than the MWSLS, no?) i've found that i tend to size up the friend-potential of other parents i randomly meet by a few things (keep in mind that i am ridiculously critical and that my obsession over small details is, well, obsessive):

1. do they look like they could be republican?
2. do they have *any* sense of style?
3. do they look like they have any knowledge of cool music?
4. do they look like they would be shocked if i dropped an F-bomb?
5. do they look like *they* would drop an F-bomb?

call me crazy and narrowminded, but it's true! in the course of my 35 years, i've realized that i cannot truly be comfortable around anyone who is not tolerant of cussing or an active cusser. as much as i tend to do whatever the fuck i want and not care about what people think, i am too polite a person to cuss around certain types of people -- i don't cuss to offend! i cuss to express my feelings. heh. it does surprise me when i meet people who are roughly my age or younger that don't cuss. i'm like, where did you grow up?? did we not watch the same tv shows and movies growing up? so anyway, instead of try to "grow up" and stop using foul language, i've decided that i should surround myself with likeminded (mouthed?) people.

so, the MWC! who wants to join??

damn margaritas

why do i always drink too many?? note to self: once you've realized you drank one too many upon leaving the local mexican restaurant, refrain from saying anything about being drunk, especially if your mynah bird 4 year old is with you. there's nothing cuter than seeing the young(ish) family strolling along with the kid skipping and singing, "I'M DRU-UNK! I'M DRU-UNK!" to the tune of "it's raining! it's pouring!" heh.

feeling horribly remiss

so i started to write something about the horrific tragedy in london yesterday, but stopped. i'm not terribly articulate when it comes to expressing my feelings in the first place, and everything i could think of saying just didn't seem fitting.

our world has become a terrifying and maddening place. it makes me sad and it makes me sick. when can i move my family to mars?

christ on a crutch

THIS could have been david! when i was ready to get my epidural before delivering jack, dave assumed the customary position of standing in front of me and holding my hands while the anesthesiologist did his thing behind me. "his thing" being sticking a 4-inch needle into my spine to hook me up with some painkiller! dave is not a needle/shot/blood person, but i wasn't really thinking about that at the time. i was thinking, "hold my hands, mofo, so i have something to squeeze the shit out of when i have a contraction!" well, we held hands while the needle went in, but one of the nurses noticed dave's face go white and his eyes roll to the back of his head. she made him sit on the floor and got him some water. luckily (for him!) i didn't even feel the epidural going in and he recovered just fine on the floor.

what would i have done if dave had fainted and hit his head and died from a brain hemorrhage? i'd like to think i wouldn't sue the hospital for focusing on me, the patient, rather than my husband. perhaps this couple hadn't read all the childbirth books and articles or seen the TV shows -- i must've watched a baby story on TLC 100+ times -- that describe and show in detail the process of getting an epidural and that the husband/partner/birth coach typically assumes the hand-holding position in front of the mother. perhaps the mother is too blinded by her anguish to see how her husband's death was a horrible, horrible accident and really no one's fault. perhaps.

dave stood in the hall when i got my epidural before delivering nate, which SUCKED ASS because that time it HURT LIKE A BITCH and the nurse didn't even offer to hold my hands! but today i feel lucky that dave is still around for me to bitch at about having to endure that pain.

umm...hmmm....

i've been slacking on the blogging, eh? i guess i've been busy getting back to everyday life after the great escape to ireland. not much to report, really. no, scratch that. there is actually quite a lot to report, but i just don't feel like typing it all. what i do feel like typing about is this movie i just watched on cable! it's called the punisher. i know, you're wondering why the hell i was watching something like the punisher. hey, i like goofy movies based on comic books! i hadn't planned on watching this one, but the plotline was too intriguing: FBI agent's entire family is killed by druglord/mobster as payback for killing druglord's son. of course, the agent was supposed to die, too, but miraculously survives multiple gunshot wounds to seek bloody vengeance on all involved with his family's murders. good stuff, huh?? once i saw the first 15 minutes with the family frolicking and having fun right before they met their end, there was no turning back. i was sucked in, and there was no way i wasn't going to see the delicious payback.

i do believe it was my friend sweetney who recently talked about having no reservations about hunting down and killing anyone who harmed her daughter -- i don't remember the exact wording, but it was something to that effect -- and, as a parent, i can certainly second that emotion. i'm not one for the killing and violence in movies, but there was something supremely satisfying in watching the punisher get his revenge on the assholes that killed his family. actually, now that i think about it, it's kind of disturbing how happy i was when the final bad guy (john travolta, of all people!) got what he deserved. motherfucker's dead! yay!

yikes, i don't take death lightly AT ALL, so i hope no one thinks that. this is what happens when i've got nothing to write about! heh. actually, this is what happens when there is nothing but reruns to watch on TV, dammit! *sniff* how many days until new gilmore girls???