It took me a while to watch this, because I like The Cure so much, and this song of theirs, and I was worried I would judge it too harshly. I think they did a nice job with it. Good harmony on the chorus and the toy piano was a cute touch. Plus I’m always a sucker for well done accoustic guitar…

Fires in France–cover of Just Like Heaven on Youtube

A friend sent me this Youtube link, which does not have a video to watch, but it plays the audio with a static picture.

Smash–Second Hand White Baby Grand

My friend Jaime (yo Omaha!) recently reminded me of her advice to write out my stressors and divide them up like the Solemnity Prayer: things I cannot do anything about, and those which I can.

I discovered there were very few things I had absolutely no control over, such as my cousin’s liver or Great White’s transmission. Most things could be wrapped up into a larger category (homemaking), and I am at the point of making peace with my own capacity for now. It’s a process not completed, but at least I am in the vicinity of the parking lot…

I just found out I’m losing another friend to the rural parts of Arizona. Good thing I like to drive, right? That’s what I keep telling myself. Not that I’ve visited the other two who have moved in the last couple of years…

We made a trip to LegoLand this past weekend to get a second use of our expires-next-week-three-month pass, and I was stopped at Border Patrol checkpoints 4 times, pulled over by a BP agent, and had to declare my fruits/live plants at the California border. Good thing bananas are an acceptable produce item. Also, you can’t say that they aren’t trying to work on our illegal immigration problem!

Of whom much is given, much is required.

Ultimately I feel being with me is like the joke about about relationships and yard sales. From far away I may look fun and exciting, up close you see all I am is a bunch of crap you don’t need.

Go on field trips this week. Anya got a playdate while I went to the dentist–not exactly the county fair or the zoo. There are going to be so many things that she continues to miss out on, even as she starts Kindergarten next year. I guess as long as no one points it out to her we’ll be okay, right? Separate but equal? *weak chuckle*

L-R Ephraim, Elena, Emma, Anya, Cheanna, Duncan

• ~This photo was taken in front of the now-defunct Mineral and Mining Museum in Downtown Phoenix.
• ~It is almost a year old now, from when Richard’s folks were visiting from Idaho
• ~We drove to the museum only to discover that the hours were different from those on the website; it was already closed.
• ~The machinery may have had room for 6 delightful children, but getting them all to pose at the same time was much much harder.
• ~It was a fairly warm day in late April, with just a little breeze.
• ~Everyone can still wear the same shirts they are wearing in this picture.
• ~Four of six cannot wear the same shoes.
• ~Anya’s bangs are starting to grow out again after several self-cuts
• ~Anya had just given me the birthday gift of successfully transferring to big-girl underwear.
• ~Construction is always happening *somewhere* downtown….
• ~Cheanna would join the glasses crew in just a month or two from this picture

…than the faces of loved ones staring back at me there?

(L-R Duncan, Ephraim, Elena, Emma Catharine, Anya, Cheanna, Granpa Don, Richard)

We had two wonderful visitors who came for different parts of the month, and put up with the madness that is the RA.
I’ve already turned on our A/C one day when I got really hot.
Fighting for Ephraim to get special services and an IEP.

March is going out like a lambion.

Sorry, folks, the extra day here was pretty normal. Phone calls, NickJr, potty training, the Wednesday round of children drop off, pick up, pick up, drop off, drop off, pick up. Baked cookies and ate Tuna Helper for dinner. Go us!

Heard on December 25, 2011 “Merry Christmas, you’re going somewhere in a month!”

We went to the They Might Be Giants Special Family Show at UCLA on the 28th, and visited both Legoland and the Carlsbad State Beach twice. It was great fun, with some learning experiences to be mindful of next time.

(Duncan & I are still recovering from our physical/mental ordeal in the ocean. Suffice it to say we know more about how powerful riptides and how sharp mussel covered jetties are first hand. This is painful to type as my fingertips shredded trying to get any sort of hold as the waves pounded me into the rocks. Thankfully there was a former lifeguard nearby who came to our rescue, and that the children still playing on shore had no idea what was going on…)

As I post pictures I can go into more detail about our vacation. I would like to go back again before our three month passes expire, probably the weekend after standardized tests. Give the oldest children something to look forward to after hell week =)

Some video clips that have amused or amazed me recently:

Jesus comes to visit Tim Tebow on Saturday Night Live

Top Ten things Mitt Romney wants to say to America  (The Rick Perry one from a little while back was amusing too)

Jon Huntsman on Weekend Update

The first trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Bards, Beers & Longbeards–music videos created from The Lord of the Rings Online

Alec Baldwin’s American Airlines Apology

A very funny column with some visuals  The best of  Regret The Error for 2011  (Example: Typo of the year–Osama/Obama)

And last, Eric D. Snider’s Rejected Breaking Dawn part 1 Screenplay  (love me my Snide Remarks)

It’s the little things, between running and prepping everywhere, that let me smile…