The Scraps of Life

It could be the very height of self absorption. This week in the mail I finally received my book! Ages ago I got nervous about the entire internet imploding and what has functioned as a scrapbook of Ella’s childhood, this blog, going with it. I searched and researched and found Blurb to “slurp” up my blog. I edited it down and ended with a 354 page book called “Bombadee’s Garden – The Blog from 08.11.05 to 02.28.07” I intend on printing them a little more often in the future. Perhaps next Feb. I’ll order the next volume. If you ever found yourself wanting to publish a book I highly recommend Blurb. The process was pretty user freindly and the software good. The binding, the paper quality and the print quality are beautiful. As for the content - well… it’s mine.

Hey AZ! It was like winning a very tiny lottery!

I found the most perfect present in the whole world today. Ella just loves dress up clothes, I think I posted that already and so the only thing she wants from Santa is this

“Sleeping Beauty Dress, with Sleeping Beauty Shoes and a Sleeping Beauty Crown and a Sleeping Beauty Wand and that’s just want I want to have and Santa can go to the store and buy it for me and I will open it and put it on and pretend to be Sleeping Beauty!”

So at three she wants clothes and at thirty-four I want her to have a place to put them and so we set out to find a tiny fancy wardrobe to put the above mentioned foof. Today while strolling through a local outlet store, way in the very back I found a grown up wardrobe that had no chest of drawers to match – it had been lost or destroyed or blown up, who knows. Anyway this wardrobe was just the top part, just the part where you could hang things and since the bottom was gone, it’s only four feet high and an adult would have to bend over to hang anything in it and who in their right mind wants a fancy carved mahogany wardrobe for someone that has a 32 inch reach and only wears very tiny dresses…. Hmmm. Since the bottom half is missing I paid $40.00 for it. I almost kissed the sales clerk.

12.08.07

Early Christmas for Bombadee

Three Fortunes

After a wonderful meal courtesy of the gift certificate my Grandparents sent to us on our anniversary, Dan, Ella and I opened our fortunes and found the following:















Would you laugh if I told you I took that picture three times to get the right one for this post?

The Saints Smiled Down Upon Us

Recently Saint Apollonia parted the clouds and looked down from her heavenly abode and smiled her beautiful pearly whites at our family. This December for Christmas we found in our stocking dental insurance and a young vibrant dentist with bright eyes a thick Ukrainian accent and a chair-side manor that Mother Theresa would admire. The good news… two small cavities, and the bad… the root canal I paid handsomely out of pocket for three years ago has proved sub par and needs supplemental drilling. Today, I am on the phone learning far more than I ever wanted to know about this fine insurance blanket lovingly knotted and weaved by the gnarly old hands of bureaucracy and finely finished in red tape. Though our blanket is less of a blanket and more of a lace doily I am still happy to have it. I will keep it lovingly under my Christmas tree this year under the presents it will leave money to buy.

tagged with 7 things

Catching up on my regular reading and realized Jennie tagged me. (BTW Totally looking forward to Thursday - big grin)

Rules:
1- Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2- Share 7 random and-or weird things about yourself.
3- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4- Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Weird and/or Random Things About Me:
1. I've never been to Disney World so I'm as excited as a 4 year old about the possible trip.
2. I had the chance to move to a warmer climate and more money but gave it up to remain close to our families and friends... twice.
3. Growing up I couldn't even stand the smell of tomatoes but after La was born I began to crave tomatoes with green olives and cheddar cheese hors devours and often make a plate of a dozen or so just for myself.
4. I have a rather big statue of Buddha on my desk.
5. I'm a bad speller and most of the time I don't care. (this drives Dan mad)
6. I have an affinity for taking photographs of street people and I always give pan-handlers money, if I have any.
7. I notice people's shoes and judge them a little based on them.

I don't think I can tag 7 people, I just don't know 7 very well and I bet Dooce just aint stoppin' by the ol' Garden to see what's shakin', so I am tagging...
Utah Jo
Chrissy the Libraran on Skates
a Very Lucky Lady
and
The Fabulous Paula

Enchanted

I saw Enchanted last night and thought it was superb. It was nice to see the damsel in distress pick up the sword and chase the beast, even if she was wide eyed and bushy headed. It was just the right amount of scary without inducing nightmares and the signing was syrupy sweet while still being self deprecatingly funny. I give it three majic beans.

Bonjour

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my Mom’s house even though I had a tooth ache. I was able to down enough wine to numb me up enough to chew. It’s better today and I’m seeing our dentist first thing Monday. Yesterday me and Lala ventured out to the big mall and shopped until we almost dropped. We saw Santa, got portraits done at the department store and bought presents and an outfit for all the upcoming festivities. I think we may go see Enchanted tonight and I’m going to try to get some sushi with friends worked in somewhere too. So it’s indeed been a wonderful kick off to the holiday season.

***

I finished “The Virgin Blue” and it took a really odd turn at the end. It seemed very disconnected to the rest of the book. I kept having to re-read things wile thinking to myself “What?! Where did that come from?! How odd.” So, I’m moving from 16th century France to 16th century Tuscany in “Mirror Mirror” next. I’ve had it for some time, but haven’t found the right mood to read it. After this perhaps I’d like to try some of the historical novels Dan’s been reading over the past few years about the 30 Years' War. It seems this winter’s reading will have a theme, the Early Modern Era/Europe 1500-1800. Perhaps I’ll do a little genealogy too, who knows maybe I’ll locate the lost Dauphine.

***

Speaking of fancier times, my daughter has made the decision to stop wearing modern clothes altogether and is now only wearing “princess dresses”. I'm pretty sure if we owned a little powdered wig, she'd have it on her head every morning just after her servants rouse her. She’ll be taking tea on the fainting couch later.

I procured a dress from one of the finest designers in Disneyland for Christmas yesterday. The box we'll wrap it in will be as big as she is. "Satiny bodice topped by a golden lace and brocade collar, smocked inset plus golden ribbon and lace ruffles, bell sleeves finished with sequined organza and lace cuffs, red organza overskirt with sequins and lace over gold organza skirt, tulle and taffeta underskirts make it extra-captivating for swirling."

The Virgin Blue

I started a wonderful new book the other night and plowed through the first third of it before I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. The Virgin Blue was written by the same author who penned (typed? Do people still pen anything?) The Girl with Pearl Earrings. The problem is every other chapter is great. Those are the chapters that take place during the 30 years war and the chapters I can’t wait to get past altogether are the ones that take place in the modern day French countryside. I’ll probably be done by the end of the weekend; I’ll let you know if the weaker chapters get any better.

See it Before the Full Moon

Three weeks ago, Comet 17P/Holmes, a periodic planet in our solar system, suddenly became one million times brighter than normal. It began shooting out gas and dust in such volume that it can be seen with the naked eye. According to astronomers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the comet has become the biggest object in the solar system, bigger than the Sun. Hal Weaver, a planetary astronomer at Johns Hopkins University, advises looking for the comet in the northeastern part of the sky in the constellation Perseus early in the night.

· NASA: Astronomy picture of the day
· NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
· Astrodon - Don Goldman photos
· Astrophotography by David Kodama
· HubbleSite.org
· Sky and Telescope.com

9 things & 1 picture

9 things I am thankful for today (besides the obvious)

Instant coffee
Settlers of Catan
The space heater under my desk
Noggin
Our crock pot
The cozy pink knit sweater AW gave me
Lists
E-mail

The litttle birds outside my window

Alice

Ella's preschool class made crafts for Thanksgiving next week. Today, when I came to get her she told me her "Indian name" is Alice the Princess and she could wear her headband on Tuesday at the feast. I feel like this maybe the opportunity to talk about some history here but she's three and I'm not sure what to say. Perhaps we'll talk about how Native Amrican's saved the Europeans from starving and freezing to death when they came to North America and now we celebrate that by collecting food for the needy and having a feast. Maybe we'll talk about celebrating the harvest season. Maybe we'll get some books about Native Amercan culture. Maybe we'll say what we're thankful for. Maybe we'll just go to school and eat sliced deli turkey and cheese squares while wearing headbands with feathers in them... sigh.

Annie

I took Ella to see Annie last night and she was dumbfounded for the first sixty seconds at the action on stage and the song. She's watched Annie the movie perhaps a thousand times, maybe a million but when she saw actual kids on stage singing "Maybe" it was soo much for her process she couldn't move and then after that she couldn't stop grinning. She was glued to it, unmoving and when intermission came she almost cried "Is it over?! Is that it? What happens to Annie?" as if she hadn't seen the movie. "No honey they're just taking a break so we can go potty and get a drink, it's called intermission" I told her and she responded with "OOoooh, they paused it for us?"

Before the show we actually got to pet Sandy and meet Daddy Warbucks in the lobby and before that Ella and I went to this little shop up the street Chocolat by Daniel to eat up a little time, two ginger truffles and some orange soda. The whole time Ella was talking as if we were on our way to a movie. "Are we going to get popcorn?" she'd ask, "will they turn it up loud?" We'd been to plays and musicals before but lately something in my child has switched on, an awareness that she didn't have before. Lately she seems to be cataloguing memories and understanding humor and logic in a new sort of way, so it didn't surprise me that she really hadn't remembered being at the Coronado before. When we walked into the auditorium she looked up and gasped "Look mom STARS!" at the faux dark velvety sky and the twinkling lights embedded in it.

At the end, after happy tears and Annie's adoption, Ella and I lolly gagged around the theatre making a stop at the powder room and then going up to the lobby to sit in the fancy chairs and take pictures of each other. We were just waiting for the crowds to thin before we went for the door. Finally, we made our way to the lobby and while we donned coats she treated the remaining ushers and stragglers to an impromptu performance of "Tomorrow" and when she threw her arms out wide and crooned "A daaaaay a waaaaaaaaaayah!" we all clapped.

Thank you Dan.

Monday Marker Blues

Hey! What the?!!

We scrimmaged last night and I forgot what it’s like to try to get your teammates together into a certain pattern but have a mouth guard in and refs are yelling fouls from two different directions all the while the jammers are making her way through the pack and skaters are knocking into you so hard that instead of being able to reason “go left while Subpoena Envy goes right and we’ll block her with a vee formation” the only thought you can put together in your head is “Hey! What the *&%$! – quit knocking into me!” “HEY! Get the Hey! HEY! Get the $%^4@ outta my WAY!” Tempers flare, that’s what good blocking does, it confuses you and makes you want to scream things but with a mouth guard in it mostly comes out “Guh! Shah fah fuh guh!” while you drool on yourself. So it’s frustrating at the least and fun as heck at its best. It’ll be so much easier when we’re playing someone else and I can focus the frustration at someone who’s real name I don’t know. I can hardly wait, I am glad to say we have some hard hitters skating interference and I’m glad their on my team that’s for sure.

More Golden Bonus Days

Wednesday is her old self this morning. She goes in for some blood test tomorrow just to make sure she's out of the woods but if I'd paid the vet more, he could tell me why she got sick in the first place. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if some punk kid got grounded for stealing all my Halloween candy came down and fed my dog antifreeze for lunch but really she's probably just old. What matters is we have some golden bonus days with Wednesday and she's wagging and rolling around on the couch again.

***

So my beautiful 26" monitor lost it's power supply the day before yesterday and it now sits on the buffet black and dusty waiting for me to find someone that can repair it for less than the cost of replacing it. In the mean time I have a little 17" to fill in and it feels kinda like a little sports car on my desk, small, sleek and fast. Don't ask me to explain - I can't.

***

Last night Dan and Ella and I were playing Candyland and Hungry Hungry Hippo and we were all hoping for Ella to win and when it became clear she wasn't going to she exclaimed "Son of a butt!" and Dan and I laughed really hard on the inside.

Ah yes, life is good.

Wednesday's at home

Well, they called this morning and said it's her kidneys. So, we took her in to the vet and got some IV fluids. They wanted to keep her for 3 days for more tests and a constant IV. Instead I

brought her home and have to bring her back tomorrow for more IV fluids. I'd rather she felt crappy in my living room then she felt crappy in the kennel. I've got antibiotics, pepcid AC and chicken stock into her and now we just wait

until tomorrow when I take her in for more IV fluids and reassesments.

It's so hard to know what the right thing to do is, she's 10 years old and he said according to her labs her kidneys are in dire shape. I don't know if hundreds of dollars worth of tests will tell us anything more than she needs more treatment and then she's still in the same shape but she's been poked prodded and spent nights on a cold cement floor alone at the vet. So, for now

she'll stay in her fluffy bed at home and get chicken soup and frequent visits to the vet, I'll carry her down the stairs to pee and pet her lots until she either gets better or not.

Wednesday

3:00pm update

She's pukey, dehydrated and hasn't moved in three days accept when I carry her down the back stairs to the yard and when I took her to the vet. We're waiting on blood work. So far the possibilities are: She ate something dead in the back yard and got a little 'food poisoning' or she is old and has cancer or something. I should know more tomorrow. Right now I am cooking up some chicken and rice for her while she sleeps. sigh.

Wednesday

The dog is sick. I’m off to the vet today – update later.

Praise Artemis for a Victorious Hunt

Our excursion lead us through 3 stores, one restaurant and one mall play area. We found the first store utterly futile and spent many minutes in the dressing room sighting no quarry. We decided to hunt elsewhere; the grounds were too picked over leaving only odd sizes and irregulars. Upon arriving at the second locale I thought I spotted my illusive prey however when I went in for the kill I was nearly mauled by frenzied shoppers circling the sale racks scavenging what they could. I was unable to find suitable game and resorted to stalking the perfect catch elsewhere. After searching through endless fields of denim, I did manage to bag a fine pair but when my hunting partner took a shopping bag to the head while reclining in her stroller I knew it was time to find refuge, luckily it was only a scrape.

We arrived at the play area ready to run but found it infested with the frantic offspring of many irritable parents. Among shouts of “Kaliegh! Why don’t you play over here?!” and “Conrad! You say your sorry right this instant!” my dear companion attempted to move down the slide. She was thwarted and knocked to the ground landing square on her head. The gasps of surprise from the natives scarred her further and we hurried out into the distance grasping each other closely for safety. We sent for backup and arranged for a rendezvous with our support party at IHOP just a few miles away. Making our way through a veritable stampede we arrived intact and dined on the finest crepes and smiley face pancakes available in such wilds. Upon filling our bellies we took our leave for base camp happy aft a sparse but no less successful hunt.

Oh yeah, the kids were cute too.

Last week I had the pleasure of joining Ella’s Halloween Dance Party during ballet class. The kids were dressed in white and colors that would glow and they had the black lights on while the Monster Mash inspired them all to march and wiggle around. I was terrified. There’s nothing quite like coming to terms with how terrible your pants look on you like seeing yourself wearing them in a ballet studio. My bad jeans went on for eternity bouncing back and forth between the full wall mirrors, sagging off me in all the wrong places. After a summer of strength training and roller skating I find myself yet another size and shape, so today with child in tow I jean shop. Later I may be drinking.

I am old.

Instead of yelling "Freeze you little sh*t!" I snapped a picture and posted it on tiny town's web board. Yes, I am that crotchety old lady, I posted this last night.

"Happy Halloween dear neighbors, I hope everyone stayed safe and warm. My husband and I took our daughter up and down the block this year. While we were gone, we left a bowl of candy on the front porch with the sign “take one please” just like we do every year. While we were just next door 4 young men on razor scooters wearing clown wigs of various rainbow colors relieved our bowl of the rest of the candy in it, about two bags worth. I hope their mothers or someone that knows them read (tiny town's web board)

PS I snapped a picture of one of them. "