Yentl and the House of Mouse

On the big day, the divine day to Disney, we awoke to a very happy boy. Lying between my hubby and I, Jake babbled on and on about the day to come. His clothes were set on the bed in hopes that the excited 3 year old might be coaxed out of jammies and into Disney appropriate attire at some point following morning snuggle time.
Jake spotted his Batman underwear and pulled them over his head, his cherubic face popping out a leg hole. And as he looked up to see us laughing, I had the image from the final scene in “Yentl” of Barbra Streisand wrapped in a shawl on the boat to America flash before my eyes. I chimed in, “Oh look honey, it’s Yentl.” Without a pause in conversation Jake starts jumping on the bed shouting, “It’s the Yentl, it’s the Yentl,” thinking it was some monster. What a way to start the day.
All in all, Disneyland was a fun day. The weather was a gorgeously sunny California day. There were crowds but not terribly so. Every time we went on a ride that was dark inside Jake would hold my hand and whisper, “Mommy, I don’t like this ride.” Only to say as we’re leaving it, “That was sooooo cool!”
We visited the Horseshoe Saloon and watched 4 brothers play the fiddle, bass, and guitar. It was an awesome, comedic, song wielding performance. The best part was when they played each others instruments at the same time. A definite must for anyone into live entertainment.
Then we went to Toon Town, a newer addition to the Disney repertoire. You get dragged into Mickey's house for a picture with the mouse himself, which Jake just loved. Then to top it off, we saw Goofy shaking hands outside. They had just cut off people from getting in line. Jake was so dejected until he waved to Goofy as we passed by and the big dawg waved back. (Goofy is a dog, isn't he? I will never figure out why Goofy talks and walks on two feet but Pluto just barks.)
We stayed until the parade, which is always at the end of the day and travels down Main Street. Jake played with a little girl who was in the stroller next to him. Clapping their hands together and yelling “Superman!” Don’t ask, I have no idea where some 3 year old ideas come from.
The next day it rained and we all took turns sleeping in and napping. It was the perfect finale after all that walking.
And yes, Dale, we got mouse ears for Jake...I'll have to owe you a pair.

Tax Day Off

Ah! Tax season is over! O..V..E..R! Yippee! Life returns to a semblance of normalcy. I took a blessed day off to just revel in my free time, go shopping, snuggle my boy and spend a relaxing afternoon at a new park. Jake and I have a game we play every couple weeks. He says “Mommy, let’s go to a NEW park,” then I have to find one. In the Mecca of suburbia and planned communities that is Orange County, it’s not hard. Just drive around the neighborhoods for 15 minutes and you’ll run into one. This time though, I was prepared. On my way to a client’s office one day, I spotted a huge park complete with a fishing lake about 20 minutes from our house. We usually wouldn’t go that far away but I had ulterior motives. Nordstrom’s. Now, I’m not much of a shopper, but I had a gift certificate, a free day and a sad wardrobe pointing me in that direction.
After wandering around Nordstrom’s, okay it was Nordstrom’s Rack … sue me for being frugal; I found a great new outfit for the upcoming Disney day while Jake people watched and asked me why, why, why. I realized I had slipped (watching my language, that is) when Jake points at a woman with questionable fashion sense and says, “Look Mom, that LADY has Scarrrry Hair!” Never knew I could move a cart through overstuffed racks of clothes that fast! At one point, I’m answering the multitude of ‘why’ questions and I hear a snicker nearby. I look up to see a smiling woman say, “You’re in the why stage, eh?” Yeppers that would be correct!
On to the House of Mouse.

Promises, Promises

Yes, I ditched you. I worked like a maniac. (I'm prone to that.) Then as tax season whipped to a blinding crescendo, I fell off the radar by spending some much needed offline time with my family. My son had taken to carrying around one of my nightshirts as a Linus blanket...time to reconnect was desperately needed. Then, a lightning speed return to the land of the working stiffs, complete with 9 client appointments in 5 days. Is a vacation really a vacation when no one does your work while you're gone? It is more a delay of work rather than time off. But that's part of being in business...even though it's not mine.
So, I've visited some friends pages and dejectedly looked at my Easter blog and finally I decided I'd better write something down or it'd be a month before I said hello again. It's amazing that even something as cathartic as blogging, which is a selfish pastime I admit, is something which we can so easily fall out of the habit of doing. No wonder I'm still not getting my butt to the gym.
I'll be back with tales of the House of Mouse and Yentl, believe it or not.

The Candy High

Easter has taken on a new routine since Jake has come into our lives. Every year we get together with my best friend Sally and her family to color Easter eggs. She has three kids, Nicholas 11, Katie 5, and Tristan who is a couple months older than Jake. Jake and Tristan are best buds, it works well. After my tax season Saturday, I picked up Jake from my mom's and we went to Sal's house. Shawn picked up 3 dozen eggs and met us there. Sally had already hardboiled 5 dozen for her household. I was sure it would take days to color that many eggs but with 4 kids and my hubby, who absolutely LOVES coloring eggs, they made short work of it. The three little ones pooped out after a while. Then Shawn and Nick ended up having a bonding moment over rubberbanding and coloring the last of the eggs. It was a fun evening.
By the time we arrived home it was pretty late for the little guy. I was hoping he'd sleep in, but he was up bright and early "Did the Easter Bunny come? Can I go look?" After an even later night of preparing the Easter Bunny's delivery load, we convinced Jake to snuggle a bit more. Truth be told, we have gotten into the habit of hiding the eggs in the morning after we've woken up. This year we realized that this is just not gonna fly next year! It was a pure act of will keeping Jake upstairs while Daddy went downstairs to make sure the Easter Bunny had safely moved on to the next house.
So, Jake had a grand time finding all the eggs. I tried to keep the candy to a minimum but after filling several plastic eggs with nuts and Shawn filling a few with coins we still ended up with a ton filled with candy. For a boy who rarely gets candy it was candy Mecca! As few as I he got away with popping into his mouth, he was still spinning by midday.
The sight of a 3 year old hiped up on sugar is frightening indeed. The glazed eyes, the complete lack of reason, manners, or sanity... it's not a pretty picture. He ended up on full throttle and didn't come down or give any eye contact for a good long while.
So, in the midst of this phenomenon, off we go to grandmas for Easter dinner...oh joy! After shoveling as much food and water as we could into the poor child and keeping him occupied with the dog, the toys, the poor male relatives in attendance, anything to work the sugar out of his system, finally after two hours and the end of my own sanity I finally heard him turn to Shawn and say quietly, "Daddy, I love you." The sugar rush had finally released my child!
I hope you all had a Happy Easter!

It's All About Me

“Wow, it’s your birthday! Here’s your free Astrology Chart!” Okay, I’ll bite. Did you ever notice these things are terribly complimentary? I can use a little ego fluffer as I turn *cough, cough* 38.
Section 1: How You Approach Life and How You Appear To Others
You are a natural diplomat, reasonable, tolerant, fair, always willing to listen to varying viewpoints, and ready to see the other side of an issue. Even if you strongly disagree with someone, you will try to find points of similarity and agreement rather than emphasizing the differences. You often avoid taking an extreme or one-sided stance on anything. You have a strong desire for harmonious and pleasant relationships, and express a spirit of cooperation, compromise, friendship, and fairness. You very much want to be liked and because of your need for approval and acceptance, you are easily influenced by others' opinions, especially when young. You so much want to please that often you will suppress your own intense or unpleasant feelings in order not to offend others. Sometimes your politeness is interpreted as phoniness or wishy-washiness
Yeap, that’s me. Doormat and all-round “Nice” person.
Section 2: The Inner You: Your Real Motivation.
You are a person who thrives on challenge, and you often feel that you must battle your way through life, depending upon no one and nothing but your own strength, intelligence, and courage. You believe in being totally honest, true to oneself and one's own vision and convictions, even if that means standing alone. Honesty, integrity, personal honor, and authenticity are your gods, and you have no sympathy for weakness of character in others.
Gawd, okay fine! Other people are good, they can help. ‘Wash, rinse and repeat.’ I don’t have to do it all. Well, at least not today. But I’m sooooo good at adding project after project…and they like me when I say “Yes! I can do that.” Woops, that’s back to the first one, isn’t it? Does everyone have to ‘like’ me? Apparently.
Then they give you the “chart wheel.” (Seen above because I'm too blog inept to -insert here-)
And if you can’t immediately see the obvious, they will explain it in plain English with...you guessed it...another chart. Huh?!?!?
Oh boy, it just gets better and better! For a rather froo froo uhh science (?) this is getting altogether too complicated. What in the heavens does this mean? Can’t I just do things the old fashioned way? You know, try something, fall flat on my ass, learn from it and move on…isn’t that the usual character building method? Or should I consult the stars and let them guide me, let them do the work, it is destined after all isn’t it? (Okay, don’t take my philosophic ranting here too seriously, it is astrology we’re talking about remember?)
Just had to share!

Jumbled Thoughts

Today my mind is flitting around from here to there like a butterfly. Or perhaps it’s more chaotic like a June bug that gets stuck in your living room and bashes itself into every wall before exhausting itself and dying behind the couch. Either way, you get the visual, your choice.
My little brother is back from Arkansas. Back to stay. The girlfriend went native on him and pulled a 180 worthy of Jerry Springer. Though I’m really happy to have my brother back I wouldn’t wish what he’s had to go through on anyone. While my bro hangs out on his couch (it moved to my living room when he left the state) his puppy Napa, who’s not such a puppy anymore, entertains Jake. After being pet-less for a while Jake loves having a dog in the house. As soon as we get home each evening the neighbor kids arrive at my backdoor looking for Jake and Napa to play.
Jake puffs up his little chest and says, “Napa is in MY family!”
Nell, the precocious 7 year old leader of their little troupe says with utter 7 year old exasperation, “I know Jake, you’ve told us SEVERAL times now.”
The first evening I let them have the dog for a playmate my brother was out running errands. I called him to say, “1 Dog, 2 Balls, 6 Kids, its pure heaven.” I have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to be looking for a pet once my brother leaves. And I was just getting used to no fur, no litter box, no fleas… not that I expect my life to stay simple.
So, it’s my birthday today, I’m 38. I wasn’t sure if I’d mention it or not but Frenchie Pooh let the cat out of the bag so I’ll admit to it. I don’t know why I wouldn’t mention it; I love birthdays. I always have a wonderful day, somehow. Today I’m working at my newest favorite client. They just happened to be having lunch brought in today and invited me. Odd how the timing works, I have a hot lunch date so I’m going to miss some awesome Persian food. Okay, so it’s just lunch with mom and my brother but it’s still going to be fun. Any date is a hot date in my opinion and at this stage in my life, lol.
What else? Aside from my continuing thoughts on Girly’s question on whether the blind see or the senseless think (No, I haven’t forgotten!) I suppose that’s all for now. Go here to respond to girly’s ponderings, that’ll keep me off the hook for another day! Hee hee!
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-VRG28pM2crS_v6xV5eMLC6T8mQ--?cq=1&p=314
Have a great day everyone! I know I will.

Boys will be Boys

Jake and I went to the park yesterday. The park, any park, is a great place for boys to release some energy. My brother, who has a 2 year old blue heeler said of puppies, the more active time the better the puppy’s temperament. I think the same rule applies to young boys. At the park we met Jake’s cousin Kyle. Kyle is four, just about a year older than Jake and quite a bit more exuberant. Kyle is one of those boys who are on full throttle most of the time. It’s great to see the two boys together; they keep each other entertained and play well together. Kyle’s mom and I were able to have a rare sit down talk during park time; the boys were playing so well. The park we were at was in a natural bowl, so the boys could run around in big circles and not escape our view. There were a bunch of girls playing on the equipment but so far the boys were oblivious of them. Just as we, the two moms, started to relax Kyle runs up to the edge of the hill eye level to the playground, drops ‘trou’ and says “I need to pee!” Pants around his ankles, full view of the girls, proudly arcing a long stream down the hill… he had the biggest mischievous smile plastered over his face. Of course, by the time his mom had scrambled up the hill the event was over. Mission accomplished! Oh, they can be such little stinkers sometimes.
Happy Monday!