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after the rain, standing in one spot, this is what I see

after the rain

after the rain

after the rain

Posted 06/29/2006
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living anime

Leaving RIT in a light drizzle, Gabriel runs with arms extended straight behind him like some bird doing a horizontal nose dive. He hasn’t done that in a while. I thought only toddlers and anime characters did that.

Posted 06/28/2006
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eat your greens

Tona, they’re eating white bread by the loaf! At least they’re not squishing each slice into small balls. Tell me your brothers don’t do this any more and have moved on to better eating habits.

Posted 06/27/2006
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new habits

I have a new cell phone (reinforcing the idea that old cell phones and water do not mix).

The camera in this one is much better than the old…both picture clarity and resolution. There is a weak built-in flash, and that’s alright. I was trained by my old cell phone/camera as to what constitutes decent lighting conditions for it (and pretty much most digital cameras). Most cell phones now have cameras built-in with a new minimum potential resolution of 1280 x 960 (rather than the 640 x 480 just two years ago). It is difficult to find just a cell phone with a camera and no MP3 player/video player/web something or other. The camera I ended up with still has more features than I want, but I will ignore them for now.

Still, this means I have a point and shoot with me at all times. This means more pictures. Right now, I have no cable to move images from camera to the laptop so I sent them to flickr. More uploading. More pictures.

The digital imaging revolution continues apace.

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Posted 06/26/2006
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pondering

How come dead guys and dead guys on horses always wear black?
-Connor, while watching Lord of the Rings

Posted 06/25/2006
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the summer set up
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Be it ever so humble.

Behold the summer work station. The boys have just evacuated the pool. Note pool, laundry and laptop. (Rosie is cleaning house inside as I type).

Posted 06/23/2006
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some day some way

things will be easier.

The boys will be more independent. They won’t pound on each other with such animosity (just occassional animosity). The money coming in will at least equal the money going out.

And I’ll have that pony.

Posted 06/23/2006
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the boys
the pool is open

Yesterday was the last day of school.
Today we filled the slightly more grown up pool.

Next on the to do:
set up a sweet spot where I can work outside and watch the boys at play. Would a hammock do?

Posted 06/22/2006
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old face

“He has old face…and old legs.”

“That’s alright. I’m old.” he says. We’ll work on those social skills, son.

Later, I ask Gabriel if I am old. He says “no”, but as my hands hold his, he says that my hands are. It is true. There is a huge difference between mine and his. Mine are wrinkled and veined. There are calluses from weight and chappedness from the many chemical abuses they’ve had - whether it be from art solvents or cleaning ones.

But the rest of me isn’t old…at least, according to the boys.

Posted 06/21/2006
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second to the last day
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Posted 06/20/2006
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I could hold off

until I had something profound to say, but then I would never write or say anything.

Posted 06/19/2006
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sun dried

I was able to do four loads of laundry yesterday.

This is not so surprising except that I do not use a dryer, but a clothesline. At 90ish degrees and low humidity, the laundry was dry in slightly longer than it took to do a load.

The kiddie pool is open for the season. Aidan said he wasn’t going to use it - big boy that he is, but he broke down somewhere mid-afternoon. Today is pretty much a lather-rinse-repeat of yesterday. I can’t afford it this paycheck, but I am thinking of getting a slightly more grown up version of the kiddie pool for the bunch of us. With the price of gas, I don’t even want to drive to RIT’s pool, nor pay the summer membership for the boys.

Posted 06/18/2006
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maintain

This is the chant of my parents.

It is echoing in my head now. I just heard the words come out of my mouth and fall on my children’s heads. So that is what we are going to do. The boys want to run Rosie in their room, but they can’t until they pick up the stuff off the floor. I cannot run Rosie until I move the laundry basket from the livingroom. I cannot move the laundry basket until I empty it of clean and folded clothes into the various rooms. Funny how a vacuum cleaner is shunting us around.

Posted 06/17/2006
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following the leader

the leader
the leader
we’re following the leader
wherever she may go.

I love my dog. He is spending the morning following me from room to room as I clean house. Wherever I go, there is a 10 second lag time as he realizes I’ve moved, then I hear a plumph somewhere near my feet. And there he is. My movement is probably is as inexplicable as Rosie’s, but here he is anyway.

Good doggy.

Posted 06/16/2006
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just call me jane jetson

with my little Rosie the roomba.

I did.
I bought the little auto vaccuum frisbee. (I think that’s pretty good…two years of daily visits to woot.com, and only one purchase.)

And it rocks!

I’ve been running it every morning as I go to drop off the boys to school or when I go out to do errands. And it does its little roomba thing - spinning around the first floor in some incomprehensible pattern. But when I get home, the floor is clean…except the last two inches in the corners. So hell, I take a damp sponge to it. And the next thing I know I’ve dusted the floor boards. And the clutter is already off the floor because that’s what you have to do so the poor little thing doesn’t get confused or trips or hiccups.

Teo follows it around and barks at it once and a while. Come to think of it, the boys do the same thing.

Rufus (the cat) just avoids it entirely.

Caveat…I think the reason it works so well is that I have hardwood floors and a few area rugs. Not sure how well it would do on a thick wall to wall carpeted place. I, however, love it.

Posted 06/15/2006
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