I could have just dyed.

It seemed like an ordinary thing to do. I boiled some eggs, prepared the glasses with the vinegar, water and the little dye pellets. They fizzed and bubbled and then it was time. All the boys helped, even Marty. Everything seemed to be going just fine. They each dyed one and the colors were turning out so bright.


I left the room for a moment and this is what I came back to...

THEY WERE ALL DYING THEIR FINGERS! I couldn't believe my eyes. Even Marty!

And now for the finished product. Marty's blue finger looked like he was suffering from a case of frost bite, and Julian looked like he had Jaundice. The rest of them... well, you can see.

After all the finger dying was over, the eggs ended up turning out great! Now, it was time to wait for the bunny!

T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.

This is a milestone in the boys' lives. Honestly, I can't tell you the name of my first concert without turning red in the face. Toto. at. the. gorge. with my Dad and brother. I don't even remember how old I was, but I remember I didn't really understand what a concert was or how amazing it could be until I was much older.

Marty and I packed the little boys up, Reuben decided he didn't really want to go, understandable. He's a teenager, ya know. We headed to Seattle on Saturday afternoon, made a quick, (HA! quick, that's a good one), stop at Ikea and then grabbed some dinner.

We arrived 45 minutes before the doors opened. We waited in line outside the venue. I knew they were excited; they were bouncing off the walls, or maybe that was an attempt to stay warm. We finally got in and managed to get all the way up front to the left of the stage. Perfect. After two, mediocre at best, opening bands the moment we'd been waiting for was here. (the video is short, well, ah, because we forgot to bring an extra battery for the camera and it died.)

The Hives put on the best rock show we've ever seen. There was even one point where Howlin' Pelle Almqvist (the lead singer) climbed out on one of the light scaffolds and Marty lifted Solomon up to shake his hand. After the show, in the car Sol told us he was never going to wash that hand again. Ewwwwww.

Knowing the boys' can tell their friends that their first show was one this good, definitely won't make them red in the face.

The Accomplice.

Louie, our kitten, well he's 10 months now, but still very much a kitten has this terrible habit of playing with his toys in the hall way outside our bedroom door in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Having hardwood floors this makes it even worse. He'll bat around his mice or even his little plastic balls, smacking them into the door and the walls.

Last night, just as I was dozing off I heard, "WACK!" Throwing the covers off, annoyed, I got out of bed, opened the door and found him there with one of his plastic balls. I snatched it up from him and closed the door. Leaving him there with a blank stare of "what?!" on his face. Okay, now that it's over I can go back to sleep...

Fast forward to 2:57 a.m. "WACK!" I roll over with irritation and hope it'll just go away... "SWOOSH, WACK!" D'oh! Marty got up this time... only to find Louie in the hall way with the empty package of nightlight bulbs from the table in the living room, left by Marty's keys to remind him to buy more. Marty picked up the package, rounded the corner to the living room and found Samson sitting on the table?!?! The accomplice. He knocked the package down for Louie to play with.

Now if you ask me this is war, I tell you. Now I know they are in it together, scheming to wake us up. Why? I have no idea, but I can only think it’s because they are felines.

The First Day of Winter

Now, technically speaking, the first day of winter is December 21st, however I'd like to call it January 28th. Yesterday morning we woke up to this...

The first actual snow of the winter! It was beautiful! When you stepped outside it was so quiet and bright! But the best part was NO SCHOOL! You see, Port Angeles isn't equipped for mass snow removal, so when it does snow the whole city just kinda closes down. I did, however have to go into work at 11 am, but I still got to enjoy the morning off with the snow.

Later than evening, Julian wanted to play in the snow again. We bundled him up again and in about an hour he managed to make 15 snowballs in the front yard. He lined them up nice and neat and then proceeded to throw snowballs at the house till we noticed what he had done. He was so proud of his work! It was quite a feat you know... snow is heavy and cold!

This morning, sadly there was no new snow. School and work started on time, *tear*, but we did get to enjoy one snow day this year.

Once a year.

This is a special day for me. One that will never go unnoticed or unannounced because it is just too precious. Today is Marty's birthday.

We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with homemade enchilada's and his famous cake, made especially for him by his Mom. "It's not my birthday if I don't get MY cake."

Happy Birthday Marty, from all of us. We love you and can't wait to celebrate the rest of the special "once a year" days in your life.

Home made delight.

I can remember the smell like yesterday... it would waft through the house, tumble down the stairs and spill in to the basement where my room was. It would hit me like a ton of bricks, but the good kind of bricks, made from foam, and as I would inhale the smell would carry me up stairs to the kitchen. Fresh baked bread.

My Mom had a bread machine and for so many years as a child I ate homemade bread. And it was delicious. Yesterday afternoon as I was making an attempt to re-organize the back pantry for the one millionth time I came across a box with my Grandmother's cook books in it. There it was... speaking to me. "Don't worry about the pantry, open me and be allured by my goodies." I fought the urge. I really did. But I caved. I tore the box open and there it was, a bread machine cook book, chock full of recipes that were making my mouth water.

I admit in that moment, I got very nostalgic of living at home and remembering that smell. I wanted Marty and the boys to know it and come to love it the way I did. I snapped out of my little "moment" and remembered a few months back Carol told me she had a bread machine she didn't use anymore and if I wanted to use it I could. A light came on, a meant to be light. Marty just happened to be at his Mom's at that moment, so I whipped my phone out and sent a text asking him to inquire if the offer still stood.

Waiting, waiting, waiting for a reply. YES! He would bring it home! Yippppppeeee! I was filled with childish joy! I added the necessary ingredients to my grocery list as Marty walked in with the machine in hand.

Several hours later, the let down. I followed the directions and set the machine. It was late, so I tried the rapid rise function. My mistake. I also didn't have my water warm enough because my little loaf that I was craving to be light and flaky was dense and hard. *big sigh*

So tonight, redemption. I am going to try again and again if I have to for that bread I remember, that light as air, delicious, flaky, perfect loaf.

On a side note, even though it didn't rise as it should of, the house smelled AMAZING.

the shape of punk to come

2008 is here, crazy huh? We rang in the new year in Sequim at the Boys & Girls Club with music, games, and Mountain Dew that the boys drank (our mistake) to sugar them up throughout the night.

The thing that made this night so important was #1. Reuben's Pomp and #2. witnessing my boys see their first hardcore show. I think all the boys have taken more of a liking to music this last year or so, and especially now that Solly has his first bass guitar and Julian his first keyboard.

I don't normally make a new year's resolution, but in a way this year I am. more than anything I desire to teach my boys the value of music and what music is to be valued... -marty



It's cold outside and my hands are dry Skin is cracked and I realize That I hate the sound of guitars A thousand grudging young millionaires Forcing silence sucking sound Forced into this conversation So i say shine let their planets collide This is the darkening down of my mind We could be making it oiling like crime We could be making it staking last dimes If you want to sieze the sound you don't need a reservation The torch is pased it's yours to return Lay at their feet now use it to burn For marketing the use of the word generation A false alliance of money persuading Forcing silence sound sucking Forced into this conversation Now if you want to sieze the sound you don't need a reservation So open so young so target I can smell your heart you're a target



-fugazi

Going to School

I have had a dream for some time, well for a long time you could say. I have always wanted to open a little coffee shop cafe thingy. (Yes, I said thingy) My first job was in a coffee stand. I was 14 and I LOVED it. I would get up early on my weekends to open up shop, make lattes and mochas all day and come home smelling like freshly roasted coffee beans. Somehow this has always stayed with me, my love for coffee and making people happy. I mean really what makes you more happy than a delicious latte?!

This dream of mine has been in the back of my heart for some time now and I gave myself a goal. I want this to happen. Marty, knowing this signed us up for a small business class at the college. That's right! We're going back to school. Over the next 10 weeks we will be writing a business plan that will be the next step in making my dream a reality.

So if I seem pre-occupied it's probably because I have homework I should be doing.

The season was good to us

As Marty and I headed to bed on Christmas Eve we took one last look at the tree and knew Santa was good to us this year. As I turned out the lights I knew the next day would be a whirlwind of excitement and torn up wrapping paper. The boys were reluctant to go to bed... one, because they wanted to stay up play guitar hero III... their gift from Santa earlier in the evening, and two, well, because it was Christmas eve and Santa was coming... but we knew they needed to lay their sweet heads down and begin their visions of sugar plum fairies.

Morning came quickly, 5 a.m. to be exact, we could hear them rush down the stairs and scurry around the tree to spy which gifts Santa had left them. They woke us up, or I should say got us out of bed at 7:30 with anticipation busting at the seams.

After a delicious breakfast and at least one cup of coffee for Marty and I the festivities began. We enjoyed the day, the smiles and the excitement of Christmas with each other.

A Special Visitor

Santa made a special stop on Christmas Eve... He dropped by to give a few packages to the boys and read them a story. It was such a treat for them and us... who enjoyed watching their faces as he came through the door! P.S. that is a REAL beard. And that is Santa Clause!

Cat Clause

What...? He wanted to get into the Christmas spirit. Later he told me he wanted to dye his beard white. I swear!

CAUTION: A tree

We picked up our tree this weekend...

Let me begin from the BEGINNING. Last year when it came time to select the perfect tree it seems all the trees were snagged up. You know the only ones left are lop sided, or missing a bunch of branches at the top. We did end up with a pretty good tree last year that had to be positioned just right so you couldn't see the bald spot on one side.

So this year we got smart. We went to the tree farm early and tagged our tree! This way we didn't have to pick it up too early and we still got a perfect looking tree. (and I say looking, because a PERFECT tree would be one that didn't come home with spiders. AHHH! ewwwwwwwwww) Now, the gentleman whom I spoke with on the phone said you could bring your own tagging material and the better you tagged your tree the greater chance you had of it still being there. So having said that, we tagged our tree REALLY well.

Saturday afternoon we packed up the crumbs and headed to the tree farm. Let's just say after 99 atempts to take a photo of the kids all smiling at the same time, Marty and I were both ready to pull our hair out. So we found our tree (which wasn't hard, it stuck out like a sore thumb) and joyfully, while whistling the song O' Christmas tree, sawed it down.

I must tell you after getting the lights on it, a task which is never fun, it looked perfect! Nice and full... and the smell was AMAZING.