My Name is Mommy

I hate these nights.

Ave has been away at Chorus Camp- which is a little like camp and alot like music school for a couple days and I made the 3+ hour drive there tonight to pick her up between the short window of 8:30-9pm when evening activities end and bed time for her level.  I was lucky enough to arrive in time for 'nightsing' which, in the twilight, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, was pure magic.  If it did nothing else, it affirmed for me that regardless of what Ave decides to do with music now or in the future- all the driving, waiting, rehearsals, chaperoning, performances, etc... it was all worth it for that 10 minutes of hearing the angels sing.  I know it sounds goofy, but it was crazily amazing.  

Now I am home and can't sleep.  Ave and Vi both napped in the car.  Dean was sleeping when I got home.  Ave barely batted an eyelash as I got her into pjs and bed.  Dean was awake for the ten minutes or so it took to secure the kids from the car to the house and was back snoring as if he planned to sleep through armageddon.

There was a ton of construction along 101 as we drove back and I missed the exit to the bridge I needed to take, had to turn around and go back.  A highway patrol car was blocking my last-chance exit and had those 'go around me' arrows on- so I did.  For the record, I was only half on the shoulder. Well, the officer jumped out in front of my car, yelling.  I very politely did not run her over and rolled my window down.  I was totally confused.  She explained in a very pissed off manner that she was giving *that* guy a ticket for exactly what I was doing. "The shoulder is not for driving on!!  The shoulder is not for passing!!"  Seriously?  In the middle of merging 4 lanes down to 1, officer not-so-friendly decides to pull someone over in the middle of the freaking road, blocks the exit and then bitches me out for driving on the shoulder?  WHAT??  Then she yells at me, "OH AND DON'T GIVE ME THAT DISGUSTED LOOK."  Brilliant.  Sorry, that was not my disgusted look, ma'am, that was my I've-been-driving-for-four-and-a-half-hours-straight-and-missed-my-exit-and-my-bridge-am-lost-and-confused-and-now-someone-is-yelling-at-me look.  Vi then put it all in perspective and said, "Mom, I think she must have had a really bad day."  Clearly.  But it reminded me that I had children in the car and picking a fight with an officer of the law was absolutely not something I'd ever want to do, period, let alone in front of my kids.  Plus, looking around at the traffic jam and all the impatient, entitled drivers- one might guess that Officer Not-So-Friendly was either coming to the end of a very bad day or just beginning one.  So I sucked it up, said, "Yes, ma'am" and rolled my window up and waited for *that* guy to proceed and her to follow before returning my car to the middle of the road.

I could not resist giving the guy behind me, who honked like 50 times, the finger.  I hope she pulls him over next.

Of course, I had to pee(pretty much from about 2 hours from home) but didn't want to stop cause there is no way I'm leaving my kids in the car at a gas station or wherever at 11pm- yet, couldn't quite bring myself to rouse them to go into some nasty, flourescent-lighted roadside bathroom.  I also felt a bit nauseated at the thought of using said public toilet, but maybe it was really nausea from od-ing on caffeine, chewing through three 30oz cups of crushed ice, and the subsequent backing up of urine from my bursting bladder into my overworked kidneys.  What I do know is that I left both kids in the car, ran into the house, yelled at Dean as I ran by the living room to get the kids in, and then made it with seconds to spare to the hall bathroom.

Cannot chew ice and drink diet coke in massive quantities on 5-6 hour car rides with only one stop in the middle.  I learned my lesson.  Boy howdy.

Why did I go get Ave?  Tomorrow is the championship for our swim league and Ave is in all the 'A' relays.  The team we're(and trust me, it is a family sport with all the volunteer hours we put in to meets and driving back and forth every day to practices and all the homework we do with the girls in our community pool) on has won the championship the past 10 years running but I think 10 might have been the magic number- guess we'll see tomorrow.  Anyhow, Ave will be returning to Chorus Camp tomorrow night after the championships which means a very brief trip with lots and lots of driving for mom- but hey, that's my job, right? right.

The fact that we have to get up in just a few hours is not lending itself to me getting myself sleepy.  I was sleepy enough at one point in the car.  Maybe I should try to sleep out there.  Hmm.  Anyhow, sucks when everyone else is asleep except the cat(who keeps trying to engage me in her midnight romping) and Dean's computer that keeps automatically rebooting(I would kill the thing but not sure how screwed Dean would be- if at all- if I pulled the battery out of his work machine).  I could take some benadryl but then I always have weird dreams.  I could take something stronger but then I'll still be in bed at noon tomorrow while everyone else is at the meet.  Hey... now that's an idea!

I haven't been sleeping well at all lately.  I kind of have that whole days-and-nights-reversed thing going on but at least I've been productive.  I've been refinishing furniture like some crazed carpenter.  I wonder what will happen when I run out of furniture to refinish?  The kids keep asking if I'll spray paint the cat aqua or silver.  Sorry, not quite THAT crazy just yet, kids, but stay tuned!

Kitty says, "Please don't spray paint me!!"

 

OMG! WTF! VOCs!

Chez Yasuda is currently registering high levels of MANIA.  That's right, my friends(proof is right there, isn't talking to people who aren't there definitive for insanity?), I am on an upswing.  I forsee no sleep tonight.  If only I had three washing machines.  I might actually get all the laundry done for once.

Instead, what I have is a massive stash of spray paint, garnered, 10 minutes before closing, at Dale Hardware this evening.  What might I be planning to do with all that spray paint, you might ask?  Or at least the clerk who checked me out might have asked.  For all she knew, I was heading straight over to the train trestle with my apocalyptic supply of spray paint.  

I really know I'm getting old now.  Or, maybe the kinder thing to believe is that the hoodlums don't buy the premium Rustoleum with the trigger spray to do their handiwork.  In white.  No, they probably buy neon green and pink and BLACK and they get the control brand for $3(maybe even $1.75 on clearance).  

Anyhow, I have been hard at work sanding Viola's bed.  Don't buy real wood Mission-style furniture.  What a pain in the ass to sand.  Or if you are going to buy it, don't get some pinecone up your butt that you need to sand the varnish off it and paint it white.  When I first conceived of this idea, I was sorta thinking(well, not really much at all), "I can sand it and spray paint it and it will be all pretty and white and fresh and new looking! Woo Hoo!!"  

Small problem with that scenario.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  Not about everything, but some things for sure.  I refinished a rocking chair way back before Viola was born and I sanded and stained and sanded and varnished and sanded and varnished and sanded and varnished... and so on times like 10.  I just figured, though, that I wouldn't be so particular this time.  I'd sand it enough to get some paint to stick to the thing, one coat and voila!

Sadly, no.  Once I had sanded all the varnish off the bed and nightstand, I started having that unsettled feeling I get when I am sitting across from someone at a table or counter and said table or counter is not clean.  I start looking for a bottle of spray and a roll of paper towels.  I can't help it.  It is compulsive.  Once that varnish was off, I could feel the soft, sweet grain of the wood and pretty soon I was sanding with ever-finer grits, then I was priming and sanding and priming some more.  Then I sanded some more.  Now I am on coat three of paint and I think I need to sand again and then seal it all up with some polyurethane or the equivalent.

Of course now, NOW, after spending three days in a relatively enclosed but fairly well-ventilated bedroom, spray painting stuff, does The Internet tell me that Spray Paint is full of VOCs!  And VOCs are very, very bad!  I should be sprouting an ear in the middle of my back at any moment here from the DNA damage I've done by breathing in those volatile organic compounds.  But they are organic!!  I thought organic stuff was good for you!!  WTF?!  Not that kind of organic, you, my imaginary friends, say.  Oh. OMG!!  I'm going to die!!

In other news, it has been hot this week.  What's up with the weather this year?  The fruit/veggie stand where I buy my local produce has only just opened and it is... geez, almost the end of July.  What gives?  Is this the beginning of the end?  Maybe I should get out there on that train trestle and make my mark while I still can.

Oh, and we saw the Harry Potter movie.  I like popcorn.

I know, I know, it's been too long again.

I had all these plans- write-ups about the girls birthdays and how we spent various holidays and weekends.  But, ah, no.  I think that ship has sailed.

So, I will write about the past few weeks which have flown by so quickly, I cannot believe our summer is half over.

Vi and Ave have both been swimming, when they are here, almost daily(sometimes twice a day), between swim team and the neighborhood pool.  Ave has been doing very well on swim team (that's her diving in while Dean kicks up a big splash under her to get her to dive fuirther out) and has been invited to represent her team at the championships(not a big deal since the team sends 10 kids from each age group- but she is excited for it).  Between Vi being injured earlier in the season (stitches right over the kneecap can kind put a kink in your style) and her being gone so long at camp, she's not going this year.  I just have to add that swim team is a huge committment but it has been so good for the girls to get in so much swimming.  Dean has applied himself to it with his usual hyperfocus and is swimming quite a bit himself.  Me?  I dive in on occasion to race the girls but I'm pretty anemic right now so I get really cold really easily.

Vi just got back from 10 days of Girl Scout camp.  Her program was called Gilligan's Island and they were 'shipwrecked' in the middle of the woods for ten days where they built their own tree-beds that they had to sleep on.  This involved using special knots to tie together a couple of thick support logs between two branches and then creating a sort of net out of rope- kind of like macrame.  Apparently, it was actually pretty comfortable.  They had to sleep on the ground for the first couple of nights until they had constructed their beds and shelter.  Sounds pretty rugged, huh?

 They did lots of hiking, apparently, and when she came home today she couldn't bring half her stuff in the house because everything was so muddy.  Awesome!  (No, really!)  She had fun but she's not sure at this point if she'd want to be a Gillie again next year. This is Vi doing her I'm-so-happy-to-be-going-to-camp dance on launch day.  

I have to say, I was a little excited because I get alot of books for Vi and she doesn't always pick them up and read them.  I'm an avid reader and I so, so, so want to share that with my kids.  Anyhow, I totally scored one finally because I sent her "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins at camp and she was dying to get back to it tonight and is already halfway through.

Ave went to Camp Bothin again this year, up in Marin at the old sanitorium.  Seems fitting.  She actually left the day before Vi did but was only gone about 5 days.  This is one of her 'launch day' photos.  She did a program called "Pastry Puffs" where they did a whole lotta baking!  She was very proud to have earned another patch for doing the polar bear swim and won the archery award.  So proud is this mama! 

Since her program was shorter(only fair since she has chorus camp this summer, as well), we had several days to spend one-on-one time.  Pretty much all she wanted to do was bake and cook!  So that's what we did.  I don't think I've ever spent so many consecutive hours in the kitchen except maybe on Thanksgiving.  

Thus far this week we made cupcakes, including buttercream frosting, from scratch.  We then decorated those with cake decorating tools- I taught her to make stars, ribbons and a few other things and then we dusted them with sprinkles.  We made coq au vin for dinner one night, which, as always, turned out superbly.  We made a Carribean Fudge Pie which involves copious quantities of finicky melted chocolate, chopped pecans and a pie crust and then strawberry sauce to go over the top.  We made a blueberry cheesecake.  Then Ave had her friend Olivia over and they made the giant, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies from Cook's illustrated.  

Oh yes, and we also concocted a baked pasta dish in which we used rotelle in a bolognese sauce topped with a tapenade of peppers, green and kalamata olives, artichokes, etc.. On top of that we layered more rotelle tossed in a cheesy white sauce with chunks of chicken.  We covered that with shredded parmigiano reggiano and baked it till it was crispy on top and it turned out beautifully.  Ave is showing off her Carribean Fudge Pie here(which is remarkably good and she made it all on her own- I only kept an eye out for arms being ripped off by the KitchenAid mixer paddle.  Ave has become quite the adept cook!

Last night we started on Vi's room finally.  We are going to give it a little overhaul- some paint, maybe refinish the wood floor under her carpet.  Yesterday's big project was sanding the varnish off her mission style queen-sized bed so it can be painted along with the nightstand.  The dust was everywhere.  I had to wash my hair three times to get it out.  Glad that part is out of the way.

On the docket for the weekend?  Swim meet tomorrow, Girl Scout garage sale fundraiser tomorrow afternoon and then... probably more work on Viola's room so she'll have her bed back to sleep on asap!