happy halloweek!

Yippee! Yippee! Noodle is 3!

how quickly time flies when you have a little buddy this entertaining by your side.

meet your new motto

to be more specific....anyone need tile work? or portraits of their rugrats?

Confidence Building, with Angus Brown

Angus: Mom? You're old?
Me: Uh, yeah, I guess so.
Angus: Cause you have white hair.
Me: Wow. Okay, then. I guess I do, so I guess I am old.
Angus: But you don't have to be.
Me: Really? What do you mean, buddy?
Angus: Like on Monsters v. Aliens. Lucy---
Me: (seeing where this is going...) Susan.
Angus: Yeah. Susan got white hair and grew bigger and bigger and bigger but not older. Can you just do that?
Me: I'll try.
Angus: Ok!!! (looking like he's waiting....)
Me: I can't really do that, Angus.
Angus: Oh. Just get old then.

table talk with The Unicorn

And now, a snippet from tonight at dinner......

Angus: Can I pick my nose at school?
Me: No, you can't. That's not nice manners.
Angus: (after a brief pause) Oh.
Me: Why? Do you do it?
Angus: Yes.
Me: Where do you do it?
Angus : I hide so they won't see me.
Me: Where do you hide?
Angus: Everywhere. Under the tables, other places. In the trash can.

happy monday

if only every monday could be just like yesterday. then i'd have no complaints. school holiday + daddy's return from far too long away + 70 degree weather + momma-made peter pan hats + duct tape & cardboard daddy-made swords + a walk with my boys through the woods and along the river + discovering land art in the james + many many kisses and hugs = just about as good as it gets.

allow me to reiterate, october

As October nears, I'd just like to once again address the month to beg for Mercy. You see, it seemed to have worked last year. We made it through all of last October without incident. So, I thought I'd better try it again. The following is a (still relevant) post from 2008.



October is here. October is not good to us. We have spent 3 of the last 4 Octobers cooped up in hospitals. In 2005, Angus nearly died. Fall allergies and asthma are a bad mix. Especially when you don't know your child has either. The next year, Angus got pneumonia and I was busy having Noah cut from my body. There went October '06. Then last October, Noah had his first hospital stay. Yup, another fall allergy + asthma sufferer. And the kids got Hand, Foot & Mouth disease. (Thanks a lot, icky preschool germs.) There went October 2007 down the drain, too.

So this year, October....I'm begging you to please lay off the Browns. I'm not saying go bother another family---just that maybe you've picked on us enough for right now. What do you say? I"d really like to be able to enjoy your blue skies and cool temperatures, your hayrides and pumpkin patches, your crisp evenings and frosty mornings, trick or treating and cookie baking. What do you say , October? Can we be friends?

gratitude

at least three times a day, i feel or hear myself sounding just like my own mother. sometimes it's in the tone i've used to be just the right amount of firm with my kids. other times i recognize her in my soft and encouraging statements of praise, or in the way i feel holding hands with the boys as we cross the street. but unlike that old cliche, i haven't ever been overtaken with disgust when i notice her in me. i am always just really proud of myself because i know i am doing something right.

thank you, mom, for being who you are. and for knowing how to bring out the best in the me that i am. i'd never know what i was doing without the influence of your guidance from the past, your support in the present, and the irrational faith that you'll always be here for me in the future. i am truly grateful for being blessed with you for my mother.

Jet Generation!

Jet Generation!
Originally uploaded by Hollis Queen

i love sunday mornings around here.

happy saturday!

my friends at orangehouse posted this earlier today. i laughed so hard and long at these coiffed poodles that i knew it was too good not to pass along. enjoy!




also, i just now filled up noodle's snack bowl with snapea crisps and snagged a few from the top of his tiny bowl and popped them in my mouth. then it went like this:
Noodle: Noooooooooooo! My green beans! Don't eat them!
Me: Oh, calm down.
Noodle: (makes that sound of disgust & frustration----a long low growl, you know the one.... reserved for use by kids and designed as the ultimate wordless weapon against parents. come on, kid! you're two years old! couldn't this wait a few years?)
Me: (attempting to prompt good manners, despite his ugly display of early-onset teenagerdom) What do you say?----squeaked out in the most annoying mommy-voice i can muster.
Noodle: DON'T TOUCH MY FOOD!
Me: (conjuring up something i perfected during my own childhood, makes that very same sound of disgust & frustration.)

chilly chill

the first day of school is lurking less than two weeks away. *sigh* i am a summer lover, so i am sort of dreading the big change looming. i've so enjoyed having angus here with us all day this summer. but soon he will go back to spending most of his waking hours with people other than his family and noodle and i will go back to being a two-man team on school days. that is, until he's finished with potty training and trots off to nursery school part-time without even looking back to wave goodbye. *again, sigh.*

anyhow, i got off track. this was supposed to be a post about sharing info on a great deal i found on some back to school necessities at kroger. i've had my eye on these awesome BPA-free 2-cup food chilling containers from Fit & Fresh all summer, but kept waiting for them to go on sale and they finally did. i am kind of fanatical about trying to avoid BPAs. it used to be hard to find plastics without them. but now, thanks to studies like the recent out of Harvard, BPA-free plstics are getting easier to locate in mainstream grocery stores.


so... yay, me. instead of $9.99 for a six-pack i scored them last night for $6. i think i may even snag up one or two of their bento box sets before the sale ends.

City Skyline scarf

My First Pattern!!

Needle: US 10 / 6.0 mm
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy
1 skeins = 250.0 yards
Color: Grey Tabby
Finished size: 96" after blocking

Pattern is as follows:

CO 26 stitches.

Rows 1 -4 Knit in garter stitch.

Row 5 Slip 1, K1, *(YO, K2tog)* , repeat to last 2 sts, K2

Row 6 Slip 1, knit to end

Row 7 Slip 1, K1, (K2tog, YO) repeat to last 2 sts, K2

Row 8 Slip 1, Knit to end

Row 9 - 12 Knit in garter stitch

Row 13, same as Row 5, etc.

Continue in the pattern until piece is desired length. Block lightly.
Mine measured 96" after blocking, 80" or so before.

This one was made for Wonder Wollen's upcoming birthday, but I am most definitely making more of these really soon. And that yarn........dreamy.

i s a w m y b l o o d y v a l e n t i n e

last night at the national theater in richmond. and it was amazing. i had to slink around with my camera hidden in order to snap off these shots. even though practically everyone there was shooting crappy iPhone shots, the security staff kept picking on me for having "professional gear" and threatening to confiscate my camera. am i a total geek for being flattered that they thought i resembled something of a professional? yes. definitely.
P.s. i took these photos. don't steal them or use them without my consent. ya dig?

we are retacular spidermans and you can be retacular mary jane.

we are retacular spidermans and you can be retacular mary jane.
Originally uploaded by Hollis Queen

High Five

Happy Birthday, Angus. Thank you for your smile and laughter, for your sweetness and your kind heart, for the unique way you see the world, for your silliness, and for loving me. You are the apple of my eye, kid. Five years ago today the world became a better place.

P.U. b gone

i have two geriatric dogs and an extraordinarily overactive sense of smell. you can imagine how much time i waste trying to reconcile these unfortunate constants in my life. even the cleanest house still carries that distinct smell associated with the cold hard fact that our dogs are sadly and steadily marching toward life beyond the rainbow bridge. i already bathe each doggie bi-weekly due to angus' allergies, and that doesn't seem to help much. but now i found an ally in my ongoing war against pet funk. and its a green cleaning product. you may not care about this, but i almost did back flips* today when i used the stuff and it actually worked. it was as simple as this: sprinkle the unscented granules, let it sit (preferably overnight) and then vacuum it up. no lilies of the valley or cherries jubilee scent left behind to mask the smell...just an absence of odor. brilliant! i pass along this bit o' knowledge----it is my gift to you.


*but then i remembered that i can't do one.

Summer of Independence

It is a cold hard fact that I love summer. Bright sunny mornings spent outdoors melting into lazy lunchtimes and then hot and sticky afternoons perfect for a good read and a cozy nap, followed by a long golden evening filled with bubble blowing and bug catching and water fights. Oh the freedom! Oh the possibility that summer promises! But wait....oh yeah. I have a nearly five year-old and a tiny monster currently trapped in that terrifyingly fantastic period between age 2 and 3. Needless to say, my "me" time is basically nonexistent, I spend a large chunk of my day searching for things the boys misplace but NEED to find IMMEDIATELY or the WORLD WILL CRUMBLE, and my attention is currently a battleground between the boys and the only one losing is me.
So, as summer began inching closer to becoming a reality and it started to become clear that I needed A Plan or all that freedom and independence was going to swallow me alive. Momma's nerves are simply unable to withstand the amount of "do this" and "watch this" and "where is my _____" and "help me with that" and "I can't find my _____" and "I can't do it" which are thrown my way daily. Correction: All day, every day. Summer 2009 just has to be the Big One. The one in which each of my boys discover how proud he feels accomplishing things on his own, that ends with us never needing to diaper Noah again, with Angus able to execute the tying of his own shoelaces, the pouring of his own milk, with Noah dressing himself, and maybe even with Angus riding his bike sans training wheels or truly reading his first book. The way I see it is this: if these little buddies of mine are in such a big hurry to shake all the baby off them and continue growing up way too fast, then they've got to show some independence while they're at it.
And then I saw this via every little thing. Dang a lang! jane's apron went and put a name to my goal for the Summer of 2009 and now i am apparently part of an actual movement....one with a pledge and all.

Where age-appropriate and within reason,
I pledge to help my kids
develop their independence
through practical activities that are
directly related to life skills.

Brace yourself, boys. Though you will want to resist this change at first, you'll love how great it feels to be doing things for yourself. Its what big kids do, fellas.

The end of the year is bitterweet.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Summer is now.

Welcome back, school-free days, bare feet, mosquito bites, tank tops, flip flops, pit-stains, grass stains, cooking out, summer reading, Popsicles, chasing down the ice cream man, seeking shade, marco polo, high dives, cut-offs, sunscreen, farmer tans, beach hair, freckled noses, dandelion wishes, kick the can, sleeping late, lightning bugs, ant hills, oscillating fans, playgrounds, sipping water straight from the hose, hot cars, freeze-tag, frosty beers, reruns, fresh cut grass, afternoon naps, family vacation, roller coasters, sandy toes, skipping stones, picking flowers, growing food, fresh local honey, farmers markets, holding hands, picnic blankets, butterfly kisses, and laying on your back in the grass and watching the clouds roll by.



Welcome back, summer. I miss you when you're gone. Let the good summer times roll.

the bigtime

seeing your friends succeed at what they love doing rules.



the show was fantastic and it was good to see everyone again. they're away more than they're home right now. i loved seeing the expressions on the faces of the kids in the crowd. their enthusiasm, excitement and love of the music was so pure. i hope the guys in LOG notice that and use it to fuel themselves in those inevitable moments when touring gets to be a drag. it'd be a shame to make it to the top only to find yourself miserable. not that i think that'll happen to LOG. i'm pretty sure they realize that they're kinda living the dream.