Top 10 Reasons My Husband is Too Good For Me

10) He can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never let me forget he's a man. (He is a wonderful cook; just when I think I know all his dishes, he surprises me with a new taste sensation.)

9) He can hold his own in any sports conversation with a group of men, then turn around and watch "Dancing With the Stars" with me, and critique with the best of 'em. He enjoys the arts and cultural experiences as well as a good football game.

8) When he's in the house, magic things happen - the garbage can never gets full, laundry puts itself away, and the refrigerator only has fresh food in it, no matter how many science projects I try to start. And our lightbulbs seem to burn forever...(!)

7) When we go out dancing, he knows how to lead.

6) For every gift giving occasion, he thinks to give me exactly what I wanted even when I didn't know myself that I wanted it. He does something special every single day on the week leading up to my birthday.

5) He has the same appreciation for adventure that I was raised with. He seeks out new experiences, and doesn't hesitate to drive cross country in a vehicle filled with friends and family members. He is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to explore.

4) He notices small things about me, and is quick to compliment any new change of hair style or clothes, yet thinks I'm beautiful, even when I'm 50 pounds overweight and my face has broken out, and I'm wearing nasty sweaty work clothes and am desperately in need of a shower (which is exactly how I looked the day he proposed).

3) He is a naturally wonderful provider and father figure for our son - he takes care of every pet we drag into the house with as much love as he gives to us; he provides everything we need, and keeps us feeling safe and protected while not encroaching on our independence. He loves and cares for my family sometimes better than I do myself.

2) He supports my dreams and wild imaginings. For any project I take on, I know I can count on him to be my "right hand man". He does whatever he can to help make anything happen that I can come up with.

1) He cares more about my needs than his own - and at the same time, he lets himself need me. The only thing better than having someone who can fill all your needs, is being able to do the same thing for him.

There are many more reasons my husband is too good for me, and they all add up to my incredible love for him, and my belief that there must be something more to me than I can see for myself, if somebody like him would see fit to commit to spending the rest of his life with someone like me.

Zombie Heat

No, it wasn't Color on Your Clothes Day. Harrison and the other kids used markers and scissors to distress some of their costume pieces in preparation for our first day of shooting the soon-to-be epic blockbuster, "When Zombies Attack".

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the boys wrote the screenplay for this summer's movie before school was even out. **spoiler alert** It is a movie about zombies who eat people's brains and take over the world.

We are a bit behind in our shot schedule; it was just so darn hot, and it took a long time to shoot the outdoor scenes at the school. By the time we were done, our two primary zombies had nearly melted away.

Grammy and G-Boy also got sucked into the movie magic, and each has more than just a cameo role in the film. We had so much fun shooting the indoor scenes (out of the sun and in their airconditioned living room), we ran out of time to shoot any of our other outdoor scenes (also, did I mention it was too darn HOT).

Hot Fun in the Summertime

We delivered invitations for the neighborhood Kids' Carnival today! There weren't as many kids helping as we usually have, but we still got all 100 delivered in about 40 minutes, including time out for a water balloon fight at Grammy & Grampa's.

Before we delivered them, the kids attached "hangars" to all of the invitations - they did this by making loops out of different colored pipe cleaners and taping them to one corner of the page. (We've discovered this is the best way to make flyers for fast distribution - they can hang easily on doorknobs, and bend to fit on unusually shaped door handles).

It was one of those steamy hot days today - the kind you don't notice if you spend the entire day at a desk in a climate-controlled building. It was sunny and lovely, and the thermometer read a deceptive 82 degrees. Thermometers don't register the kind of humidity that makes you feel like you are actually swimming through the thick, molten air.

I was proud of how well the kids held up under the heat - this is the first time that all of the kids were eager to get wet from the water balloons. Usually there are a couple girls who throw them and try not to get hit themselves. Today, they were smashing balloons against themselves, and tearing small holes to spray the water on each other like sprinklers.

After we delivered the final flyers, we all headed for the pool, and even I went straight into the water for a swim. The water was so warm it almost wasn't even refreshing, except in the shade. But it sure beat swimming in the air!

starry, starry night

Harrison was invited to Emilee's 13th birthday party being held on Saturday. Friday night we watched "all new episodes" of two of our favorite TV shows - Monk and Psych. Then we decided to get our birthday shopping done that night, to avoid the weekend crowds that descend on Saturday mornings.

It was a good plan. I stand by that plan. Except that I was pretty tired, and thus easily distracted from the goal, which was to purchase things for Emilee to make her own portfolio, similar to the one Harrison has (a 3-ring binder with page protectors and tons of art supplies and paper).

So, like a raccoon surrounded by shiny objects, the 22-and 88-cent sales of school supplies had me going in circles, wishing I had Harrison's list for next fall. The end result being that we were at Wal-Mart until after midnight.

Needless to say, we slept in on Saturday - which was fun, as we haven't had the chance to sleep in since "I can't remember when". We got up in time to get cleaned up and go to lunch at our favorite Chinese Buffet restaurant (the servers looked concerned and asked where Grammy and Grampa were... to give you an idea of how regularly we go there). By the time we'd eaten lunch and stopped at a roadside stand for sweet corn, it was time to get home so I could help Deedee set up for the party.

The party was small but nice - in addition to us and Deedee's family, cousin Lisa brought her son Zack to help celebrate, Emilee's friend Heather was there, and Emilee & Dylan's stepbrother Elijah was there with their dad.

Emilee was extremely gracious in receiving her gifts - she even acted like a ream of white paper (the first part of our gift) was as awesome as an i-pod.

Alex, Dylan and Harrison negotiated another overnight, so after the party Grammy and Grampa joined us as we took the boys to the nearby observatory, where a noted astronomer was speaking on "The Size and Shape of the Milky Way".

(Note: from where our sun is indicated in the picture above, it is 26,000 light years to the center of the galaxy.
See? I learned something!)

I was really proud of the boys. They sat in the front row and behaved quite well during the talk, and Harrison and Alex even asked questions after the lecture. There were quite a few kids at the event, but only Alex and Harrison were engaged enough to ask questions afterwards. Bear in mind, this was not an event designed for children or families. It was sponsored by the local amateur astronomers club, and there were some serious eggheads in attendance. The speaker is also a college professor, and he did not simplify his vocabulary as he spoke.

Afterwards, members of the astronomers group manned two of their high powered, dome-enclosed telescopes, and allowed the public to look through them. We got to see a globular star cluster and Jupiter. As Harrison was viewing Jupiter, the man started to explain to him about the "red spot" between two of the "bands". Harrison said, "yes, that's the storm that is always raging"...?!?

When I asked Harrison how he knew that, he looked at me with a puzzled expression as if I'd just asked him how he knew how to breathe. Didn't everyone know that?

http://stardate.org/resources/ssguide/jupiter.html

We concluded the evening with a "McDonald's" reception at our place. The boys ate in the car on the way home, then played upstairs as the adults enjoyed some fresh air on our porch. Turns out, midnight in the summer is the perfect time to enjoy fresh air on our porch, which is usually too hot and muggy or too cold for adults to comfortably inhabit.

We had a great time discussing the tangential UFO/other life forms conversation that had developed at the end of the lecture (much to the speaker's dismay - he kept trying to steer things back to the Milky Way, but the trekkers would not be dissuaded) and that led to talk of all things "beyond our ken".

But I think the highlight of the evening came when Harrison and Alex interrupted us to tell a new joke Harrison had just made up. It was a take-off on a Joke that Tom's family shared with us when we were comparing notes on all of us having a certain amount of A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder), and the interesting dynamics created when we all get together for an event.

Harrison's joke goes something like this:

"How many people with A.D.D. does it take to... CATS!"

I don't know how it translates in writing when read during the day, but believe me when I tell you that beverages would shoot out your nose if you heard Harrison deliver that line at midnight in the middle of a chat about reincarnation and alternate dimensions.

When it rains, it pours

Another bit of unhappy news. The historic village where we staged Mom and Dad's 40th Wedding Anniversary vow renewal and reception was severely impacted by the Midwest floods. Apparently, it is not high enough on the priority list to have been evaluated yet, so only the newest building (a brand new visitors center) is currently authorized for clean up and restoration.

Volunteers will not be allowed to do any work on the rest of the village until inspectors can evaluate the buildings, which means the mold, etc. is running rampant throughout all the historic structures, as the summer rains and hot, humid days provide incubation to exacerbate the damage.

Another minuscule taste of the frustration that the Katrina victims must have experienced, when they lost homes and loved ones and were then met with incompetence as they began to rebuild. Eyes opened even more than before - the more I learn, the more I realize how much I can't imagine what true victims of disaster actually go through.

The Last Lecture

I just learned that Randy Pausch died today. He was a Carnegie Mellon professor and noted computer scientist who became famous for his lecture titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", which he delivered a month after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and given a prognosis of 3-6 months of good health. It was part of the Carnegie Mellon lecture series originally entitled "The Last Lecture" - inviting top-level professors to give a penultimate talk of their choosing. (Before he spoke, the series had been renamed "Journeys").

He tells his story better than I, and I would encourage you to find an hour out of your day and watch his lecture. You will be grateful to have done so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

for Spanish translation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKRgLvmamUY&NR=1

Meet Arora

No, it's not a typo. Harrison's bird is named Arora (no "u" in his spelling a la the recent spate of young parents inventing their own spelling for common names, rather than inventing a whole new name). He's a "rare parakeet" we bought at PetCo after a daycare field trip awhile back.

We've had him/her (the store people weren't sure, but the consensus was that the bird is probably male) for quite awhile now, and he's really started to relax and seems to enjoy his new home.

During the day, we keep him in the bay window, and he sings and chirps all day - especially on sunny days. As it gets darker he gets quieter - that is, until Julio enters the room. As with all our pets, he quickly learned to favor Julio over the rest of the family. Julio is our own Saint Francis of Assisi, probably because he usually provides the food and water, which animals seem to appreciate.

Julio has managed to teach him two melodies of chirp, though Arora steadfastly refuses to try actual human words. He does the whistle many people recognize as meaning "hey, over here!", and he learned to wolf whistle, too. Now I pretend the bird thinks I'm beautiful.

When we first got Arora, we tried to get him to perch on our fingers, but he must have had some bad experiences at the store (I say this in part because of the rough approach the store clerk used when retrieving him for us), because he would nip at our fingers and get very nervous and ruffled.

Later, just as he was warming to us, he had a couple other experiences with overly bold strangers trying to handle him, and that set him back again.

Last week we found out his pin feathers had grown back (they trim them at the store, so the birds can't fly - we'd gotten used to his Orville and Wilbur Wright impression: short flappings around the house). I was cleaning his cage, leaving the door open to encourage him to come out and explore and exercise a bit, when I felt something whoosh past my legs. Next thing I knew, Julio was trying to get him out from behind the entertainment center. After swooping to the middle of the living room, Arora actually let me pick him up and take him back to the cage, without chomping down on my flesh - a BIG step just in the nick of time (thank goodness he didn't discover the front room with the vaulted ceiling and high ceiling fans!).

Then yesterday, another step forward - he perched on Julio's finger. He wouldn't perch on mine, but I'm not the one who feeds him every day (I just clean his cage). Ah well, give it time...

Balloon Fun

We saw the free showing of "Happy Feet" for the second time this week, by special request of the troops. Then we picked up some twisty balloons, which kept the kids overly entertained for the rest of the afternoon.

Harrison knows more than I realized about how to make different things with balloons, so I was able to turn the project over to him long enough to clean the kitchen and go online a bit. I got started on this post, then it was time to head to the library... now it's after 9pm and we're watching our tape of tonight's "So You Think You Can Dance" elimination episode.

I'm very upset, because the best two male dancers on the show (this year, that means the best two dancers on the show) are in the bottom two - which does not speak well for the audience members who call in on this show (shame on me and others like me who refuse to call in on a reality TV show, I guess!).

I will take a moment to post some balloon sculpture pics, though I'm too distracted to write much:

Once everybody else knew how to make animals, Harrison decided to build a tower. The girls helped by inflating balloons for him as he constructed.

placing small critters at the base of his tower


King Kong attacks!

other animals of the day gather at the tower base

Harrison inside his tower -
with background distractions removed.

FAIR-y tales

I am exhausted from our second county fair outing in as many weeks. This fair was a little further away, more of a drive, but the weather was better and the fair had much more to entertain the troops. A picture being worth a thousand words, I'll let them do most of the tale-telling today:

Mock Election Booth -
gave the kids a chance to be voters

Harrison took the longest to vote - not because he was using the electronic voting booth, but because he read through and carefully considered each referendum on the ballot. I learned he is quite the feminist. He voted for females whenever possible.

The other kids used paper ballots, filling in the dots, then feeding them into the voting machine. At the time we were there, the results board indicated Obama leading with 288 votes out of 456 for the day, with McCain running a distant second.

While waiting for fellow voters, the kids tried out the sensory boxes at the DNR table, and then the girls moved to a beauty consultant who had a special exfoliating hand wash.

Meanwhile, the boys played
war games on the Army's X-Box

This fair actually had a lot of different animals and shows going on when we were there, so we saw a lot of critters.

Luckily it wasn't too hot - so the odors were bearable, even for the city boys. (Not that it kept Harrison from complaining about the smell!)

Fun with the fans in the pig barn
blew away all worries about odors.

The younger girls enjoyed a swing while the older kids had a pow-wow in the playground area just before it was time to head home to swim. Harrison was more than ready to go - can you tell?

I think I figured it out!

As you can see by the slideshow above, I learned to embed slideshows in a post. Finally.

As you can also see, we made our own pizzas for lunch today. The minute the kids began kneading the dough, Harrison's first question was "can we make any shape we want?". That question inspired the other kids to make a variety of shapes, from circles to rectangles, with one clover shape that was actually supposed to be a heart. Harrison, of course, made his into a snake.

Right now the kids are downstairs playing a game they invented using 4 board games and a marble set. Guess whose idea that was.

If anybody can wear down the road less traveled, my kid just may be the one to do it.

Dodgeful Arter

the blue by Harrison Martinez

Dots by Stephanie Martinez

skull by Harrison Martinez

The above works are isolated sections from the larger, wearable pieces, which were executed today during craft time:

To make these "sharpie shirts", we stretched portions of t-shirts over plastic cups, using rubber bands to hold them in place. Then we put dots of color in a small circle with Sharpie permanent markers, and slowly dropped rubbing alcohol onto the center of each design with medicine droppers, causing the ink to spread in a sort of "tie dye" effect.

The directions were to do patterns of varying colors in a circle, so naturally Harrison immediately made non-circular shapes using all black instead. That's my boy!