ha sido un invierno eterno
y loco me vuelve la nieve
primavera venga ya venga la
primavera venga ya venga
primavera
"Queremos Bailar" - Dan Zanes

Hola, mis amigos y amigas! Welcome to the Short People's "Mundo del Espanol". Like most preschoolers, India has always enjoyed dabbling in Spanish (the influence of "Dora" seems to know no bounds). But lately her interest is, shall we say, excesivo? Any counting to be done? Do it in Spanish. Want to say "hello", "goodbye", "thank you" or "your welcome"? All the Turmanators must answer with the appropriate Spanish phrase. Don't know how to say something in Spanish? No problem; India just makes it up! She's enjoying herself and we are having a great time trying not to let her catch us cracking up.

Recently she asked to eat at a Mexican restaurant despite the fact that she does not care for the food. When I questioned whether she really wanted to dine there she haughtily retorted "I ASSUME they will have little cheeseburgers".

But my favorite thus far: when India asked Tracy if she could watch a movie in the car and he responded "I doubt it", India questioned "Is 'I doubt it' Spanish for 'I don't think so'?

Today's photo is of our new patio and firepit (just for you, Brian, Janice and Clare). Tracy's birthday (his first 39th, he says) was this weekend. We did a lot of celebrating; his favorite homemade spareribs, dinner out with friends, etcetera, but our best celebrating was done right here. We spent much of the weekend roasting marshmallows, having a glass of wine and stargazing. Perfecto!

Happy Thanksgiving

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
--Arlo Guthrie "Alice's Restaurant"

Very obscure song reference today, but it is a family tradition to listen to "Alice's Restaurant" every Thanksgiving. If you aren't familiar with the song, it has a vague (very vague) connection with Thanksgiving and some radio stations play it on the holiday. If you want to hear the song, you can check out this performance on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo


We had a marvelous Thanksgiving. Here are a few things I'm grateful for:
* For such good friends and family
* For happy, healthy children
* That I didn't have to host Thanksgiving at my house this year
* That no one was upset that my "famous" gravy was a tad greasy
* That Susan sent us home with two pieces of her pecan pie
* That Tracy cleaned up the rest of the kitchen mess this morning before going to work
* That I'm not out Christmas shopping today...my own personal Hell.

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.

MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP,

MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS,

MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,

MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER

STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a box of rain -
wind and water -
Believe it if you need it,
if you don't just pass it on
Sun and shower -
Wind and rain -
in and out the window
like a moth before a flame

--"Box Of Rain" The Grateful Dead

Today was to have been a day of freedom. A WHOLE DAY ALONE. Alone shopping, which is one of my least favorite things, yes, but still...I've found I like shopping a whole lot more than I used to if I have the opportunity to do so by myself. Anyway, I had a babysitter scheduled so I could travel to civilization and wipe out all of our Christmas shopping in one trip. Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, lunch at the Baker's Crust, a trip to Starbucks perhaps?

Evidently the weatherman had other ideas.

A nor-easter is slamming the coast today, resulting in high winds, torrential rain, wind restrictions/closures on the Bay Bridge Tunnel (couldn't go even if I wanted to), and leaking at our house. So I cancelled my trip, and have spent the ENTIRE day cooped up with the Short People and fervently looking for water drips in every room.

On a positive note, the Short People have behaved rather well considering they would rather eat spinach for breakfast than remain in the house all day. They spent a lot of time creating fabulous costumes (at one point India was wearing a velvet dress, Strawberry Shortcake bedroom slippers, a macaroni necklace and Indian headdress) and making appalling messes. Somehow the girls conned our dog Daisy into playing Polly Pockets in the above photo.

Another bright side to my imprisonment is that I was able to get a bit of Thanksgiving cooking done ahead of time. Tomorrow we are going to our friends John and Susan's, joined by Susan's parents and another set of friends and their children. I was assigned an appetizer, sweet potato casserole, asparagus casserole, and stuffing. Since Tracy will work a half day tomorrow it was helpful to have some things done ahead. We'll head over there after naps for our Thanksgiving feast. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Sometimes I feel so uninspired
Sometimes I feel like giving up
Sometimes I feel so very tired
Sometimes I feel like I've had enough

But don't let it get you down
There is no reason for not failing
You've got to smile and turn the other cheek
So today you might get up
But by tomorrow you'll be sailing
Traffic -- "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired"

My friend Janice (this is gonna sound familiar, Jan) and I joke about the ebb and flow of the stay at home Mom. Some weeks you are a Goddess. The universe revolves around her and her masterful planning. The house is run with near military precision.The floors are clean. The children are clean. The library books are returned on time. The meals are healthy and organized. She is amazing.

Then the tide turns, and the Goddess is gone. I'm not sure where she goes, but the Interloper who replaces her is not very efficient. When the Interloper is here, cleaning, errands and household tasks are completed begrudgingly...if at all. She forgets to buy the chicken for dinner, misses her haircut appointment, doesn't feel like vacumming AGAIN and resents the fact that children must be fed three wholesome meals a day ("didn't I just feed you lunch?").

The Goddess took a road trip for a few weeks and the Turmanators have lived in squalor and chaos with the Interloper. But the Goddess is back! As a result, the sheets are changed, the floors are vacuumed, everyone has had flu shots and haircuts, meeting minutes have been typed, and Christmas shopping has begun. This also means, of course, that the Goddess will resume blogging. Sorry to those of you who have expressed some disgust with the Interloper in this regard.

Enjoy some photos of a recent playgroup and of our adults-only trip to the Hotel Hershey for some much-needed pampering, and know that the Goddess has it all under control. For now.

Halloween Was A Real Drag

Well I'm not the worlds most masculine man

But I know what I am and I'm glad Im a man

And so is Lola

Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola

Lola -- The Kinks

Cross-dressing was the unspoken theme for the men Saturday October 28th at our annual Halloween Party. We hosted the Indigo Girls, the Ugly Stepsisters, and my personal favorite, Tracy as Brittany Spears. I was a "hanging judge", complete with noose and rope marks on my neck. There were so many great costumes; it was difficult to get pictures of everyone and some of the photos we did take didn't come out (camera problems...think I need a new one for Christmas. Any recommendations?).

I love the photo of the table with the (unententional) spooky effects.We had a fabulous time and I think the guests did, too; things didn't wind down until about 1:30am. Of course, the short people were up at 6:15 old time so we were a bit tired on Sunday!

On Sunday after a quick nap we took the girls to the Camp Silver Beach http://www.campsilverbeach.org/home.htm Halloween Party. It's a great event sponsored by the YMCA with games, hayrides, a hay maze and other activities. It was so windy they kept losing their clown hats, but we had a fabulous time.

Since the party weekend the Turmanators have been really busy deconstructing the decorations, going trick or treating, then high-tailing it out of town without the short people for a long, relaxing weekend. I'll be sure to post more pictures of the party, Halloween, and our trip to Hershey, PA soon.