Ding Dong!
Mike hates that I use the words Ding Dong as my favored nickname for Erik. He says the phrase refers to penisis (peni?). I say they refer to a scrumptious (or not, now that I have the palate of an adult) chocolate cake treat, complete with cream filling. He’s my little ding dong! Plus, he acts like a silly goose most of the time so it’s fitting.
One last reminder since I don’t think I ever gave a deadline: April 14 (two weeks!) is the deadline to get in your submissions for the Illusions issue of Mosaic Minds.
Remember how my journal used to be filled with tales of the somewhat bizarre? Ordinary occurrences turned into epic adventures? Random observations? Such nuggets of humour are hard to find when you don’t get out much, but today! Today I hate pay dirt!
Latin Cardio class is always interesting, mainly because it’s always a mix of totally new people and regulars. Other than myself, two teenage girls and a professional dancing man, the regulars are all older women which isn’t a problem, but it sets the scene for today’s incident. Normally everyone rushes to the back of the room and tries to be as unobtrusive as possible, but today the old woman were pushing and pulling and demanding front row dancing positions. I have no idea why. I had the back row all to myself and didn’t run in to the punching bag a single time. That’s always a positive in my book.
At the beginning of class one of the ladies who is perpetually late came in after we’d started and totally busted her way to the front, a mere five paces behind the teacher. The woman in front of me yelled at her and told her she was stealing her spot, which caused me, the teen girls and the dancing man to flash each other amused glances. Old lady cat fight! Whoo-hoo!
The teacher acted like she didn’t notice. Are aerobics teachers trained to break up fights? My fight breaking up training hinged on one general principal: never break up a girl fight. Wise, wise words.
Halfway through the class the woman in front of me ran up and grabbed the other old lady around the waist and bodily hauled her back several steps! The other lady was PISSED (as well she should have been) and started screaming “get your hands off me! get your hands off me!” The teacher just kept on moving to the salsa beat, while the rest of us watched on in shocked fascination. The assaulter started yelling that she couldn’t see anything because the other lady was blocking her view (she was right on top of the teacher). The assaultee argued that the other woman should just use the mirrors.
It was intense. And unexpected. And blog fodder!
Can you believe the teacher never said one word about the fight? The rest of us all kept doing our routine, but it seems like the teacher would have told them to chill out or something. Weird.
In other news, I think I may have finally lost my ever loving marbles. I read about Dear Jane quilts a few months ago but was totally not interested. During the civil war some lady named Jane made a totally insane sampler quilt with hundreds of tiny little squares. A few years back a woman put together a book of patterns and it has become really popular for quilters to take on the challenge of creating their own Dear Jane quilt. Some are total fanatics about making it exactly like the original, while others put their own twist on it. I am totally uninterested in traditional quilts and muted fabrics. The quilt itself is amazing, but not to my taste at all.
Then I saw one with a black background and jewel toned squares.
I got the niggling idea to join the madness, but didn’t really have any motivation. Then another woman on one of the quilting communities said she was going to start making one and I got inspired. I’m going to make one! It will probably be a project spanning 3 or more years (and that’s if I manage to crank out one block a week), but since every block is different I don’t mind. I like variety. I’ve finally figured out I do more work when I make sampler type quilts than when I try to stick with one pattern. The woman who published the book of patterns also put out a type of software so I’m going to spend my birthday certificate on the Dear Jane software and the background fabric that I’ll need and get started! I just need to wait till I get a free online shipping coupon from Jo-anns, and I’ll be set! (They send out the coupons all the time–no way am I going to pay $8.95 for shipping if patience will save me the money.)
How many projects does that make? Way, way, way too many. I still have a bed quilt I’m working on, then my mom’s wall hanging (she’ll pick out fabrics when she’s here) and Jojo’s commissioned quilt. I still haven’t completed my March block of the month, but that’s only because I really don’t like the selected pattern so haven’t been able to get motivated.
Quilty quilty quilty!
I believe tomorrow is going to be picture post day. I need to show off what a big boy Erik is becoming, but he won’t hold still long enough to take a cute picture of him. His legs are so long and his face is so mature. . . it’s sad. . . but happy. Everyone keeps asking me when I’m going to have the next one, but I can say in all honesty that I have no baby lust whatsoever. I used to think I wanted to be a foster mother because I felt so sorry for all the poor little lost souls that needed a mommy. An honest assessment of my mommy abilities tells me that perhaps fostering parenting is not my true calling. I just don’t have the patience for it. I love Erik and am very patient with him about 90% of the time. It’s the other 10% that worries me. I have to admit that the month I was off sugar I was much better with him. Why does Mike have to be so right about that? I bought the cutest little silicone cupcake holders the other day and really need to make some Easter cupcakes. But it is bad for me. What to do, what to do? Also, what do you stick in your toddler’s Easter basket when he doesn’t care about stuffed animals and doesn’t know that he is supposed to get candy? I almost feel like skipping the whole thing, but an Easter basket is a rite of childhood. What to do, what to do?
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:01 am
For Peanut’s 2nd Easter basket I put some of her favorite snacks in plastic eggs – Cheerios, animal crackers, etc. Think we had some with coins in them too. We made sure the coins went in the piggy bank immediately for obvious reasons. She was happy with it and spent most of her time trying to get the eggs open and shut. She also liked the sounds she got from shaking the eggs. Unfortunately, she knows now that the Easter Bunny can bring candy and is asking for chocolate. *sigh*
And holy cow – what is with those red hat ladies?!? They get a little empowerment and it all goes to their heads.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:03 am
Offspring also liked opening and shutting the eggs more than anything else. They sell some cute, small Easter Toys at SuperMegaLoMart, although I don’t know if they are cool for under 3s – actually, I got Buna rattle there, so I know they have some things. How about some books with bunny characters (the Rosemary Wells Bunny Planet series, the Runaway Bunny, Goodnight Moon and Guess How Much I Love You come to mind, or maybe the Peter Rabbit books?)
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:36 am
bubbles. in the basket- not the eggs :-)
books
and i like the idea of snacks in the eggs.
April 2nd, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Hi. I really like your blog. Was wondering if you want to add it to my directory? Thanks Shelly
Weblog index
April 3rd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
For Peter’s basket I got bubbles (something that claims someone 2 years old can use it) and a rubber duckie with bunny ears. He doesn’t really know what ‘candy’ is yet and I hope to keep him in the dark as long as possible. :-) I also did get some of those plastic eggs others are talking about but didn’t put anything in them – he likes to just take them apart and put them together. They sell bigger ones which is good – Peter at 2 still wants to put so much stuff in his mouth, it’s really annoying!
We are going to color eggs with my family on Friday night – I’m excited! I haven’t done that in years and I thought it was such fun. Peter won’t really get what’s going on but he can watch. We aren’t going to try and hide them because, once again, he won’t get it. But maybe next year when he’s 3 he will.
Jen