Weekend Trips

It is "Qbo Day" at our house. Qbo is the name of the educational children's programming that airs on Saturday mornings on NBC. We don't actually watch many of those shows, preferring the uneducational shows on the KidsWB. It starts at 7 a.m. with Will & Dewit, followed by Magi Nation, and then Skunk Fu. I'm hoping to get everyone out before the full hour of the violent classic Tom & Jerry Tales. :)

Today the plan is to ride bikes over to the Farmer's Market. We'll swing past the post office and mail Uncle Scott's graduation gift from my parents--U.Scott is now Dr. Pickett, he received his Ph.D. two weeks ago and will be moving back to Michigan from the big city at the end of the summer. Woohoo! We spent Sunday at the fabulous Lincoln Park Zoo. Check out one of Griffin's pictures of a lizard.

Anyway, I think U.Scott will really love the gift which, as it turns out, was the only bloody thing we forgot to pack when we went to Chicago. :( Our trip last weekend to Grandma & Grandpa Peplinski's was much, much lighter. So light, in fact, I didn't have any clothes for Bela after the first day. Oops! We had a great time up north. Brett got a chance to begin to repay our debt of gratitude to my dad by helping him put the roof on his new garage. We also spent a relaxing hour putting our feet in the sand at Fifth Avenue Beach.

It's been a busy month! The weekend of Mother's Day we went to suburban Detroit to see my very good friend Megan and her family. Her little peanut, Lucas, turned one this month! I miss my buddy Megan. She and I have been friends since our freshman year at MSU (15 years at the end of this summer!!!). I have so many good memories of our time together at school. Probably my favorite is the last night of our freshman year when we rode our bikes out to the east side of campus and laid in the grass of the traffic circle talking about life. Anyway, check out the bibs she turned me on to--BPA free!

Well, the sky is getting darker and darker; Tom & Jerry has been on for 15 minutes; I think my plans are screwed. :( Look for another post soon. There is a bunch of stuff I want to write about!

Where, o where, has my lipstick gone?

My kalahari clay-colored lipstick is missing. It's been gone since Monday. I keep it in a zippered bag inside my burlap sack/handbag. On Monday I gave the zippered bag to Bela to play with at the grocery store and knew that it was okay because the lipstick was ... where? Someplace else, but I can't remember where. The memory is just beyond my grasp.

I'm trying to relax. The missing lipstick has caused a great deal of consternation. It went missing once before, earlier this spring. It was the same week that Griffin's Ben 10 Omnitrix disappeared. The loss of my own little talisman made me much more sympathetic to his situation. My lipstick was stuck between the seat and the passenger side door of the car. It was a happy day , made better because we had found the Omnitrix a few days before inside the tire swing.

There's a bunch of stuff to do (some of it good: email my friend Amy, make another s'more; some of it boring: clean up the kitchen, pack lunches; some of it just plain icky: pick up the dead squirrel I found in the back yard). By Thursday, I tend to feel ruined, and more than a bit lazy.

The bad thing about the squirrel (like there's only one bad thing), is that I've finally gone through my entire stash of plastic shopping bags that double as garbage can liners. This year, as you may recall, is my year to live "green." It's working. I've bought a bunch of those reusable grocery bags. We joined a CSA with my friend Sara and her family, set to begin week after next. I signed up to get part of our electricity from wind, water, and biomass. Surely, there must be more than that but, as I said already, it is Thursday.

Tangentially, Brett and I are watching Last Comic Standing and I'm amazed how much Bill Bellamy, the host, looks like Bela's teacher. Griffin will be joining her school soon in the Zebra/Gecko room. He, too, will have a male teacher. My favorite comic tonight so far has been the Star Wars guy who chided the audience for having some dishonest girls. Here comes another one--the guy who can't say "prepare." Hahahaha! Oh, and here is Coldplay on itunes. Remember back when I couldn't remember their name, the night they were on Austin City Limits? Yep, I'm tired. What a lame post. :) Television play-by-play.

Well, it's good to be back on The Jolly Mama but I'm ready to go get that s'more.

Long Gone Mama

I'm baaaaaaccccckkkkkk! Barely. All week I have been suffering from allergies (because surely it cannot be another cold, right???). My new job is wonderful but makes for some seriously long days. Griffin and Bela have adjusted well to their new daytime routines. Life marches on.