Because, well, you know. We are.

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[there may be a short commercial at the start.  but this version had the best quality.  and quality is important.]

Butterfly School

Our nephew, Gavin, has a birthday this week so we made him a butterfly garden. It just took a big jar, cheesecloth, some paper towels, stalks of fresh dill, a couple chunks of driftwood for cuteness and a few of the caterpillars that are teeming on our dill plants. He loved it! The black swallowtail likes parsley, dill and fennel and that's what we had.

Since many whocaresians seem to be homeschooling these days and many also have gardens where you could find caterpillars, I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

when the ride ends

truth be told, i've used the "chicken out" exit more than i've actually ridden roller coasters. my imagination is too real for me to ride those up & down type of rides. i can always imagine myself falling out of the roller coaster and actually feel the impact of hitting the ground--well, i imagine the feeling--but it seems so real that i have almost always turned for the exit.

last week was absolutely insane. there were two evenings of up-til-midnight & then up again at 4 a.m. to get details arranged, have time for organizing that, etc etc. now that the ride is over, my head feels dizzy and i kinda wonder why i got on that ride. oh yeah, there was no chicken out exit!! there should be some sense of accomplishment, right? i should be walking around, exhilarated by the success of a week that could have gone wrong at so many points. instead, i'm standing with the medicine cabinet open, looking for a good allergy medicine to clear the congestion and rev me back up.

my next attempt: raw local honey trick. hope it works. i gotta go out because we don't keep it in the medicine cabinet...right now.

glee

a picture from our church picnic. annabelle looks so happy, spraying violet in the face with the water hose. i didn't see this happen...and am kinda glad to witness her joy out-of-the-moment.

ARE WE GOING TO MAKE IT?!?

i jumped out of bed and ran to the computer just now to see if we were getting close to making the goal for blog posts. trouble is, i don't remember what the goal was - 66 posts? something like that? the suspense is killing me!

my hand looks bizarrely huge in this picture. okay, everything looks bizarre in this picture. anything for a laugh...

heritage

not only was this the weekend of our 5k race, but our town hosts a festival every year on the last weekend of august called 'HERITAGE DAYS'. there's a 5k race (duh!), kiddie bike parade, food tent, car show, talent showcase, inflatable jumping fun houses, food, crafts, etc. and did i mention the parade? jay dressed up in the gorilla & hopped around, hugging people & high-fiving the little kids that weren't crying at the sight of him. i rode on the hayrack, sandwiched between henry & finn, and threw candy at people. i almost hit my old hairdresser in the head with a box of nerds. she looked hungover.

i played some songs at the talent showcase. here's my friend jill & i up on stage. it was a scorching 200 degrees up there, as was evidenced by my sweating stomach when i got done playing my two-song-set. i need to do some sit-ups...and they need to have a tarp over the stage!
really, i had given up hope that our challenge would be met. i kept posting stuff & then ran outta any thoughts and decided that maybe september would be a better month. THEN THERE YOU COME WITH YOUR "CAN-DO" ATTITUDES!!! did you send out some secret pep-rally email or something?!

hustle

this past weekend was the 2nd annual hanna city hustle, and i must say that we enjoyed the morning of 5k runners & walkers SO MUCH!!! we had over 150 people enter the race & saw a new course record set. corrie snapped some photos of the event & there are more on her facebook page, too. it was a blast. i got to start the race, which was the highlight for me.

Sweet & Salt

I've been meaning to post this for Alicia for a while. I know this should be on whocarescooks, but for the sake of our August post-a-thon, it is going here. Also, I'd like to note that I'm really not a big Rachel Ray fan. But, I DO like making her kettle corn.

Who Cares to be a Design Star?

Okay, my friends.  I know some of you share my addiction to HGTV's design star.  Here's your chance to be a "WhoCares Design Star!" Do you get your own show if you win?  No.  Do you get any prizes at all?  No.  But you DO get my gratitude. 

The situation:  I am currently stumped about how to (re)arrange a corner of my living room and I am turning to you all for your sage and creative input.  The picture below shows (in all its lack of glory) the corner in question, as well as some of the raw materials you have to work with.  The primary goal here is to make that desk work in the space.  The bookshelf does NOT have to stay.  Other furniture (that I'll thrift for) CAN be purchased (if it's cheap) so suggestions for other pieces that would make the space work are welcome. 

Other materials at your design-star disposal: a number of wall hangings in various sizes from a framed poster of the _To Kill a Mockingbird_ cover to medium-sized framed items (maps, prints, etc.) to very small framed items.

Here's the pic of the space as it is now (I can't believe I'm posting it in its embarrassing state, but I'm counting on you all!).  Thanks for any ideas you can toss my way!

stuff to do, part 3

breakfasts, breakfasts, breakfasts. weekly.

stuff to do, part 2

2. work on our novel about vampire/pirates. i vote for excessive sex and violence. just kidding. maybe just some swashbuckling and a few chaste kisses. anyway, long winters are perfect for literary projects.

stuff to do, part 1

in light of lindsay's terrifying post about the wretched winter ahead of us, here are some ideas for things to do. i'm going to post them separately, to up the post count.

1. a spice crawl! let's go explore all (or some) of the ethnic grocery stores in omaha, pub-crawl-style. i want to warm up the winter with lots of toasty hot indian food and will need large quantities of cheap, fresh, good-quality spices. and i'm always looking for affordable saffron. so we just need to figure out a time.

only eleven--make that ten!--more to go...

...will we make it?! who will post the record-setting post?!

First day back at preschool....

Finley's first day of three-day preschool at Bethany Lutheran! He and Ada are in the same class like last year. I was so glad to send him off since all summer he had reverted to a 2 year old. He came home from preschool today like a 10 year old. Pretty soon, the pendulum will swing back to an almost 5 year old. Shew! Here he is "posing" in his Buzz Lightyear backpack, a la Thrift World.

$#!%

darby, it is as you have feared. well, almost.

the new farmer's almanac is out & says we can expect to see our first few flakes in mid-October. this precedes a 'cold & very snowy' winter forecast for the north central great plains.

lord, have mercy.

form plans and ready the coping mechanisms now.

First day.

Ada picked out her "first day of school clothes" 2 days ago and has been sleeping with them under her pillow ever since.

And while I'm posting poetry...

...here's another one that I came across in the reader I'm using for comp this semester (Thanks, Conscious Reader!) This is by George Bilgere.

Once Again I Fail to Read an Important Novel

Instead, we sit together beside the fountain,
the important novel and I.

We are having coffee together
in that quiet first hour of the morning,
respecting each other’s silences
in the shadow of an important old building
in this small but significant European city.

All the characters can relax.
I’m giving them the day off.
For once they can forget about their problems—
desire, betrayal, the fatal denouement—
and just sit peacefully beside me.

In the afternoon,
at lunch near the cathedral,
and in the evening, after my lonely,
historical walk along the promenade,

the men and women, the children
and even the dogs
in the important, complicated novel
have nothing to fear from me.

We will sit quietly at the table
with a glass of cool red wine
and listen to the pigeons
questioning each other in the ancient corridors.

A Remarkable Morning in Perryshire

Well my ladies, it has been quite a morning here at the Shire. We were all settled in for a morning of entertainment by our local and dear jester, Tele, doing a special presentation for us about a Safari adventure starring a lad named Diego. Well, we were all abuzz when our guest of honor, Princess Charlotte of Rabuckington arrived in the most jovial of moods and with quite an accomidating demeanor. (Always a lovely treat). Tele was dismissed and we were quickly fluttering about, preparing morning tea out in the sun (and dressed in our finest apparel of course). With much stirring of our teacups, we drank till we were silly, filled our stomachs with crackers and corn-that-had-been-popped, and ultimately brought our souls joy with much laughter and adoration of one another.

You all are welcome at the shire any morning!

P.S. Dearest Cheryl, Ellabelle has been adamantly asking for the last few days, "I talka Ada?"
Maybe we can work on that soon. ;-)

How to be a Poet

I can think of no better chaser to Brooke's lovely "Better Off" plug than Wendell Berry's "How to be a Poet." I heard him read it on "Speaking of Faith" this summer and I liked it. You can listen to him read it here or you can read it for yourself below.











"How to Be a Poet" by Wendell Berry

(to remind myself)

i

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

ii

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

iii

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.

Better Off

Ali tipped me off to this book when she copied an excerpt of it for me out of her reader for her composition class.  She thought I might want to use it for mine.  And, she was right.

But!  The unexpected happened.  I got to the end of the excerpt and I found that I HAD to read on.  The book is a compelling look at the question: "How much technology do we really need in order to live the sorts of lives we want?"  It's not guilt-trippy.  It's not preachy.  It's just a delightful narrative of a couple's year spent exploring this question and the ways that exploration changed their lives.

For example, Brende talks about how our reliance on motorized vehicles and our typically sedentary jobs combine so that we end up having to "work out" in gyms, etc.  The gym work-out puts an emphasis on the "work" and so, for people like me, it's way less fun and I'm apt not to do it at all. But, if we are more active in our regular life, the work out comes along for free. This is helping motivate me to bike to work.  It adds a total of 20 minutes to my overall commute each day, but I get my work out in as I get to work and so I save the time I would have otherwise (maybe) spent working out.  Anyway.  It's a good and thought-provoking read.  A fast one too. 

But, as Reading Rainbow would say, "you don't have to take my word for it."  Check it out.

lemonpain

here's jane & i at the david gray / ray lamontagne show last night. the stars collided & i got a last-minute ticket from a friend. boy, was it great. packed to the gills with all sorts of folk. david bopped his head clean off (caron was right. i got whiplash just watching him.), and some large alt-pop-loving-insect landed on his back during the set which sent him into a colorful tirade. hilarious.

i expected mr. gray's set to be kinda mellow & probably lame. not so. very energetic. his new(er) stuff was great, too. much better live! he played the harmonica & tossed it. he sang a song at the piano & then tossed that mic. he ended the show with an encore of 'be mine', 'please forgive me', and 'the one i love' (our favorite - which had jane on her feet). fan-tastic.

i really went to see ray, though, and was not disappointed. wearing a canadian tuxedo, he said nary a word between songs, except the occassional 'thank you'. even at the end. [during 'you are the best thing', a guy in front of us popped up & proposed to his girlfriend. the whole place erupted. she emphatically accepted. adorable.] the set was soulful. heartfelt. and that voice. oh, that voice! tasty. would love to see just him & his gee-tar in a small venue. mmm.

jane's back off to boston this week to start her last year of grad school. i'll start formally homeschooling next week. this was the perfect way to bid summer adieu. today, it's ray on pandora. all. day. long.

AMBF, you will be missed!!!

Little A. talking

More of little A

First Day Frivolity

So today was my first day of teaching this semester.  As part of the whole "community building" part of Day One, I asked the students to share one "fun fact" about themselves, as well as something that they love or hate.  Here are some of the funniest ones:

• I hate green fruit.  Only vegetables should be green.
• I am a left-handed vegetarian.  [The way he blended that just cracked me up.]
• I hate raw tomatoes, but I love all tomato by-products.
• This summer I learned how to fence and wakeboard (but not at the same time).

And, in the category of good wisdom:

• I don't like fixing things more than twice.  If it breaks a third time, you should get someone who knows what they're doing.

musings of a potty-training zoologist

the potty-training discussion continues, this time applied to the animal kingdom.

ben, to himself: "lemurs hang upside down in trees. (pause) lemurs poop in trees too. (pause) maybe lemurs twinkle in trees too."

i guess it doesn't hurt to fudge the facts on lemur elimination, as long as ben doesn't start pooping or "twinkling" in trees...

Paradise Lost Read-Along: The Schedule

I'm super excited that folks are up for reading along with me!  It's a great read, I promise.  It may likely take a while to get into the rhythm of it, but it's worth it.  Reading out loud helps too.  And, as a colleague of mine suggested today, so does imagining how it would sound if Bob Dylan was reading it out loud.  His impression was really quite something.

Anyway.  Here's the schedule we're following in my class.  We can amend it as necessary for ourselves.

Th, 9/2: "The Verse" and Books 1-2
Tu, 9/7: Books 3-4
Th, 9/9: Books 5-7
Tu, 9/14: Books 8-10
Th, 9/16: Books 11-12 (The END!)

In terms of discussion, how about I post something on my blog the night before and then we can have a discussion in the comments?  And then, at the end, maybe we can find a way to discuss over skype or something?

literary doppelganger

my favorite place in columbia is Ed's Editions, the perfect used book store. i could browse in there for hours, but i try to limit myself because of the constraints of my book cases (not to mention my budget). every time i visit, the same thing happens. i hold on to all of the books i'd like to buy, and then before i check out, i reexamine my stack and make my final selections. but lately when i'm preparing to check out, i've noticed something. every book i've picked up has the same former owner: albert smith (exhibit a)

i fear albert smith is no longer among the living. or else he liquidated his library. but it seems more likely that my literary doppelganger has gone the way of all flesh. and now it remains for his library, piece by piece, to be reassembled in my own. it's kind of sad. and i gotta say, that fella had some good taste. and cool handwriting too.

still more photos

for the curious/so-inclined, here are photos from my and brooke's trip to savannah last weekend. it was so humid there that a local guy told us that visiting floridians were complaining. and we believed him. it was like sitting in the devil's own humid belly. but it was fun. a fun devil's belly.

eyes on the prize

so far this month, i haven't done much to contribute to our post campaign. i've let others carry the load. but a short night's sleep and the favor of the internet fairies have converged to give me this opportunity to do my part. so here's a link to my pictures from the whocares trip, a weekend that has caused a mini revolution in my life in the last month. what a time of fun and freedom to enjoy the good and let go of the rest. i had a glimpse of a better way to be. and i'll confess that it's harder to conjure on my own, but the feeling stays with me.

meat, spay, glove

i've been looking forward to seeing "eat, pray, love" (gimme a break!) for a few months because every so often i get the hankering for a brainless travel flick. what i've been reading about the film, however, is that i would do better to read the book (or skip it) than to watch the trivialized version of a woman on a spiritual journey after hitting the lowest point of her life.

usually slate.com doesn't steer me in the wrong direction, and with the recent "ditch your husband love your life: eat pray love and the trope of the woman liberated by divorce" article, i think i'm sitting this one out. have you seen it? were you interested? i mean "eat pray love", not "meat spay glove".

mantra

formation is more important than information.

can you believe

can you believe it's been 4 years since this picture was taken?! think of the way our lives have changed in those four years! those who are not pictured but are still nearest to heart. i think there have been 8 kids added in that amount of time. and two weddings. new degrees earned, new homes purchased, new hair colors ventured, new towns listed as "home", time spent apart from loved ones, the loss of close friends & the development of new ones. a benediction for the ten years:

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

miles to go

i've been looking @ this necklace for a coupla weeks and wondering how hard it would be to make my own. i like this typeface better, but don't want a pendant the size of my palm, either.

the ole hanna city hustle 5k is coming up next saturday & i must admit to sheer joy as all of the past months' work is showing fruit. we've had some interesting hurdles thrown our way, but where able to work our way around the trouble as a team. it's wonderful to share in teamwork.

hope your sunday is restful. i'll leave you with words we read in church this morning from habakkuk 3:-17-19:

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

land of sri

tonight at dinner annabelle said, "mom, you should move to the land of sriracha." hah!

State Fair

What we've all been waiting for!

Caron, for you!

a text received

i received a picture text today. "we saw this and thought of you." oh, to be known and still loved!!

skeptical about vacation

check this article if you've taken your kids somewhere recently, only to wonder "why did we do that? they won't remember it. it was a lot of work. blah."

old enough

first hike of late summer. 2 miles of exploring & not one complaint.

bejeweled, bojangles, bedeviled

i love the nightlife, i like to boogie

well, okay, if you call "hitting the library at 8pm" nightlife, then that was me tonight and i did like it. for some odd reason, strolling through the library or a used bookstore, where there are rows and rows of books, always makes me have to visit the powder room!! it's a little bit trickier when the kids are with me, so i knew my use-the-library-as-a-laxative trick wouldn't be as worrisome as it usually is. yeah, i know. i know.

i've got a cup of sleepytime steeping next to me and a house full of sleeping people. rachel sent me a link this afternoon that made me giggle, and immediately called to mind lindsay bluth's charitable organizations. she did love a good cause, didn't she? pretty exciting that an "arrested development" movie is coming in 2012. yeah...except it's two years away!!

boy, this tea is working. goodnight. ya know, we have that challenge to get more than 66 posts by the end of august. not sure it's gonna happen. maybe we should wait until september when there are 3 birthdays in a row we can count on for 1/22 of that number. (also, please watch this clip to keep in step with my downer of a message.)

Found: the perfect planner

I'm not sure I want to admit to you all how much time I've spend scouring the googly-web for the perfect weekly planner. In past years I've had to settle for subpar planning books-- but not this year! I had very specific criteria: a fairly large notebook in a weekly layout with space to write in my schedule AND to-do list. I also wanted an entire blank page with every week in which I can take notes or jot down ideas. Moleskin came through for me!

Paradise Lost Read-Along Anyone?

Well, friends.  It's my job, but it could be your fun. 

I'm teaching Milton's Paradise Lost again this fall and I thought I'd see if anyone wanted to read along.  We could find a forum for sharing our thoughts--either over audio chat or just posting on a blog (this one or my own).  If you haven't read it already, it's well worth reading.  And if you have read it already, it's well worth reading again, in my opinion.

It's a great, great poem.  The poetry itself is lovely.  The subject matter (first the fall of Satan and later the fall of Adam and Eve) is fascinating, and Milton's project--to "justify the ways of God to men"--is certainly an ambitious one.

I'll be teaching it from 8/31-9/16, and I can post the more detailed schedule I'll be following if folks are interested in joining in.  Also, I highly recommend the Norton edition.  It's got great notes, which are really helpful.  It's probably in every used bookstore there is.

dedicated to whocaresians near & far

never heard this song before, but it was on my Pandora station today and it made me think of you. this one goes out to y'all:



(ignore the pictures. this is not the 'official' music video.)

what some people name their kids

be sure not to miss this fund-raising event, featuring guest speaker misty hyman. i just heard about it on the events calendar segment on kios. i had to check it out for myself because it was just so...wow. yep, you heard right, misty hyman.

what she would like to do

is go see OTR, again at the waiting room in benson!

only $15, ladies.
tuesday, september 7th, at 7:00PM.

just a little friendly whocares PSA.

tiny desk concert

my pal, kate ortiz, directed me to this little concert series, tiny desk concert, that features frazey ford.

i read the caption under the video clips & was struck by the introduction: "ten years ago, i heard an astonishing voice stand out in a group filled with strong singers." i remember where i was sitting when i first heard frazey ford singing--in my car at the UNO student center, needing to pay some fines for parking violations, but i didn't want to leave the car until i could find out WHO it was that was playing LIVE on 89.7 the river. i called anne marie as soon as i got home & we made plans with some pals to see the "be goods" @ the saddlecreek bar that night. the rest is history.

10 years. so much has happened in those ten years. and when i watch frazey ford perform her songs, i'm happy to bear witness to ten years that have passed...for her, for me, for you. i'm glad to have lines that testify to the amount of laughter & smiling that happens. i'm thankful for the ups, downs, all-arounds that we share together...and can point to as points to remember along the journey...pointing out the consistencies of the story we're apart of together.

hope you watch the little concert and enjoy the songs.

blessins

the road is never quite as smooth as we imagined it would be. or maybe we never imagined there would be a road at all. as i was talking to the brother/sisters that stayed at the bed & breakfast, their seniority in years, yet like-heartedness to me, seemed to aid in the amount of shared understanding between us. like we were suddenly warped forward to a place of vulnerability, all cards on the table, talking about deep soul-searching questions/answers. (of course most of you missed this because it was 6:45...but l.y. and al heard it through the crack at that bottom of their door!!). what was remarkable to me was their echo with our sentiments: this is now how i imagined it would be then, but i'm going to stop, look at the blessings around me, and forge ahead as best as i can.

this evening, as we were visiting this impressive candy shop, i had the kids sit down on one side of the table for a snapshot. i was struck by their vibrance. by their energy. by their ways of connecting with different people based on their individual selves. what a privilege to witness this process. and, my dear sisters of the order, what a privilege to witness the same in you. oh no, i didn't imagine i'd only get to bask in the glory every 12 months...but i'm stoppin', lookin around at the blessings around me, and moving ahead as best as i can (until next summer...please, please, let's go to cancun...hahaha!).

love to you this fine evening.

gimme a C

CMON! get CREATIVE for me, perfectos. i'm helping to compile a cookbook for our church (hanna city presbyterian). we need a title. i'm guessing 85% of the responses given will be so very funny & totally worthless...and maybe 15% we'd be able to consider...soo....HELP ME!!!

Another WhoCares Brainchild

So, it seems that the spirit of entrepreneurship is running rampant among whocaresians these days.  Tonight, another dream was born and, with the aim of helping us reach our goal of 67 posts this month, I'll share it with you here.

Imagine. A series of novels that I would author (with help from my trusty Perfecto sisters, of course) about a Vampirate* named Clotilde Clafoutie (the name may need some work) and her cat, Fisketjon Trogbladder (this name is perfection embodied).  The story engages many historical issues including the slave trade in the West Indies, the unfortunately common practice of slave owners fathering illegitimate children with one of the women they enslaved, the collaboration between pirates and the community of escaped slaves that existed in the Carribbean, and, of course, a romance between Clotilde and the  pirate-hunter, Woodes Rogers (based on the historical figure by the same name).  The twist is that Clotilde is not only a pirate, but also a vampire.  Dontcha want to read this?!

The book is narrated by the cat, giving it a fresh perspective that is unlike any of the current pirate or vampire novels out there.  It begins like this:

Call me Fisketjon.

And that, my friends, is as far as we've--I mean *I've*-- gotten, though we do know that Clotilde suffers from porphyria and she has a penchant for creating difficult, but delicious, recipes with which she tempts her victims.  If you feel like contributing plot elements, please do so in the comments.  All will be duly acknowledged when the book is written and becomes a best-seller, which we can feature in the reading room of our new B&B.

Between one thing and another, my friends, I think we just might be on to somethings.

*The term Vampirate is one we thought we coined this evening.  But, alas, there is already a series of young adult novels with this title, featuring the twins, Connor and Grace Tempest.

trader WHEN?

for those of you who asked last weekend, i hopped onto the 'Bring Trader Joes To Omaha' Facebook group and found out a little factoid for ya: they've just now started to demo & remodel the store (at One Pacific Place, where Abercrombie used to be), and one of the group's members drove over & asked a construction worker when the store is scheduled to open. he said:

OCTOBER!

who's ready for Autumn?!

(i also have it on good authority that they're also planning a TJ in Kansas City, and very possibly, Des Moines. well, then.)

attention breakfasters!

change of plans:

breakfast tomorrow at my house (instead of cheryl's)
starting at 8:30 (instead of 8:00)

see you then!

my rack

they were not sissy kayaks, oh no they were not!! the kayaks we rented were as long as my house is wide and heavy enough to cause some serious damage to your rack, if you weren't careful. we tried to get brooke to ride in one of the boats during transportation to the damn site, but she was all scared and crying and stuff. somebody asked cheryl if she'd do it for a cup of coffee...and everyone rolled their eyes when she predictably said yes. daredevils for java!

gene swift band

remember ole "perfectos" gene? he was our understated, good @ listenin', & very witty breakfast pal @ the brown street. well, here's one of his recording projects from 2007, "backseat guru". i like the sample of "no more bad dreams" a lot. his voice is akin to mike knott and jakob dylan.

my monday

fumble the hot sauce in your hands & watch it land on top of the heirloom plates your grandmother gave you. CRASH!

that same morning annabelle wanted to walk around with this little hand held tape recorder to do a little radio show, interview family members, and make up stories. i was cleaning out the fridge when some bickering started between #2 and #3. it kept escalating to the point where they could no longer hear me calling their names. so, i started calling "HENRY, VIOLET, INTO THE KITCHEN!" but they still can't hear me so i get louder and shout some garbled something about "I'VE HAD IT ENOUGH THIS IS RIDICULOUS GET IN HERE THIS INSTANT OR...". but it was loud. very loud. and they came running in, along with their older sister. and whaddya know, but she was recording the whole debacle.

do you have to wait for the ending? i rewound the tape and allowed her to record over my shouting with a different, more updated version of her previous radio show/interviews. interviews are always better the second time around, right?

Dad Life (Father's Day Opening 2010)

As if it were long ago...

Had a little fun with the "retro camera" application on my phone while we were in Iowa City.  Captured just a few of our antics about town. 

You can find the rest of the pics here.

The order of Perfecto motto

Free Listens are Better than Free Smells

I don't care *what* Jimmy Johns says.  A free listen to Ray LaMontagne's newest, "God Willlin' and the Creek Don't Rise," is better than the smell of their bread.  Just started to listen to it, myself, and it gets off to a right good start, I think.  Enjoy!

Click on the title for the link to NPR.

winner: RACHEL!

as we were exiting the bed & breakfast, someone said, "caron, aren't you the one with the most kids?" it felt a little wrong to take that title with three kids because, well, i think the couples in illinois could single-handedly (wait...what?) repopulate the country if there were some disaster that wiped out a bunch of people (just so much love and conviction in these parts!). and then someone else said, "but what about your friend rachel? she's pregnant with #4, right?"

my competitive thread is hidden under a thick layer of lovin' to lounge around and goof around and take it easy, but when provoked, the inner dragon of "i want to win" can be awakened. i'm happy to say, however, that she slept soundly through the whole exchange. WINNER: RACHEL!!!

Our heritage

For those of you who did not attend the Iowa City trip.-- somehow* we came up with the idea that we had become monks of the order of Perfecto from the monastery located in the city of Shut-The-Hell-Up.

Turns out, we have a real predecessor.

*maybe one of the other Perfectos can explain how this came to be in the Comments section.

perfecto

was our weekend. here are some highlights.

WhoTube

Live, from Iowa City!

friday night: the book of love


sunday morning: there is a fountain (ignore my fly-like humming.)


sunday morning, part deux: for the beauty (uh, best viewed with sound off. why did i sing?!)

See you again soon.

Time to say good-bye to Allie again. She's heading back to SC this Sat.

Let us bid farewell in true WhoCares fashion-- a breakfast! Please come to my (Cheryl) house this Thurs. from 8-11. As usual, bring something to share. Maybe not pickled herring.... But, then again, why not?

are you ready?

the number to beat: 66. we was talkin' this weekend about giving the ole WC a little steroid injection to boost the action. what am i supposed to say in this post? you suckas told me to give a challenge...so let's create the challenge together....because i can't remember the specs.

i gotta go rustle up some pickled herring for breakfast. it's my new diet: a spoonful of compote, bite of pickled herring, & some this cool arm exercise that involves the phrase "gee willakers!".