Zoinks! Scooby Doo Where are you?

We have a mystery going on at our house.

On Friday I received a post card from Australia. In it the writer tells me that they were thinking of me and bringing up some specific things in my life (the 69 Camaro I used to drive, how I like to knit) and then ended the post card with “Aren’t I good staying in touch”. But seemingly forgot to sign it. Boy Toy and I went through a list of folks who we thought it could be, but haven’t got a clue.

On Saturday, another Postcard, calling me by an old nickname, pointing out that they are wearing flip-flops and not Chucks (love my chucks). Then mentioned how they were thinking of Boy toy and I and the summers we have spent together. No signature.

On Monday…no card. Boy toy and I were sad.

Today? Another postcard. Some stamps are over some of the writing, but they are looking for a wallabee and got a chance to swim near a dolphin. And they brought up my DEEP love of Star Wars. Damn this person is good. We are having such a good time trying to figure out who it is. Keep those post cards coming!!!

Book Review – Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart

Wolf Book 2
Found it!

The Pledge child has been swindled. Sapphire and Shad are getting married. Sir Jared and Lady Elise try to pretend that they aren’t falling for each other. Firekeeper is still causing an uproar with the well to do. And that’s just in the first few pages.

Firekeeper is back and King Tedric needs her help, but this time her loyalties may be divided because the Royal animals including her Pack want her to help them. We learn much of the back story of the Royal animals, and find that they too have had moments in their history that show them at their worst. The humans want the magical items for themselves to keep them safe. The animals want the magical items for themselves to prevent history from repeating itself. Whose orders does Firekeeper follow?

This not so simple request brings old friends and new into the most foreign of foreign lands New Kelvin. Everyone seems to undergo a transformation and for some it’s more than skin deep. On the other hand, Lady Melina is the same cold hearted bitch that she was in the first book; in fact she kicked it up a notch. I would say I want to smack the crap out of her, but honestly. She scares me. I think I will just keep my mouth shut and read.

A lover and a fighter

Apparently last Friday at Day Care “work”, Spotty would not nap. He has a friend Moppet that is the cutest little blond…moppet. She is super friendly and the two of them are usually the first to arrive on Friday mornings. She drags him away from me so fast my head spins. Anyhooo. Moppet gets up from her nap and Spotty goes over to her, gives her a big hug and says “I love you, what’s your name?” I am slapping my forehead as boy toy yells “that’s my boy”.

Today we get into “work” and I am taking Spotty’s jacket off, he sees Smiley and her mom coming up the stairs and pushes the door open to let them in (which was really sweet I though). Smiley runs in yelling “SPOTTY SPOTTY SPOTTY!!! Gives him a HUGE bear hug and starts kissing him. Smiley’s mom is trying to tell Smiley to be gentle and then maybe yelling at her in Chinese. Spotty is just standing there with a befuddled look on his face…it only gets worse my son.

Have I mentioned that Spotty seems to be getting a brass set lately? We went to Little Gym on Monday and one of the little lads started kicking and pushing Spotty. The boys mom went over there and told him to knock it off. Well later in the night Spotty was pushing him. The mom and I just looked at each other and shrugged. Well a little while later Spotty starts kicking and pushing the crap out of another little boy. I am all “SPOTTY KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF NOW”, ok I gave the whole “you are hurting his feelings, you could have hurt him, look he is crying, he is sad, that was naughty, how would you like it if he did it to you” spiel. I apologized as Spotty wasn’t, the dad was like whatever, my son has been following your son around all night.

So I asked Grammie has Spotty been beating up kids at “work”…there is silence on the phone…crap I think to myself. Apparently there was an incident, she wasn’t there so she wasn’t sure what happened, the other boy is a whiner, but she will keep her eye out and nip this in the bud.

Two...people he is two…how the hell am I going to survive?

Book Review – Hood

The King Raven Trilogy - Book 1
Another Robin Hood tale? DAMN Straight!The British King Brychan ap Tewdwr is pissed. His son Bran is nowhere to be found and the warband is riding out. As the King contemplates what punishments to deliver to his wayward son, they run into a group of Norman’s who let Brychan know that they have been given Elfael, his kingdom, by King William and he is now to swear fealty to them. It turns out that it is a trap and the warband is killed, except for the King’s champion Iwan who is sent to warn the others.

Bran is with the lovely Merian. He is, to quote another feisty lady, a scoundrel. He works only for his own pleasure. He is doing all he can do to get into her bed. Merian however is not just a pretty face. She knows what he is trying to do and she has no plans on making it easy for him. I think we like her. As he makes his way home he realizes he is late and that his father will be less than pleased. Once home he grabs a horse and rides out to catch up with the warband thinking of excuses on the way. He finds Iwan first.

It is nice to have a hero who doesn’t want to be one. So many times the hero is surrounded by blinding white light and becomes the perfect ass kicker that is needed. Bran wants to party and be left alone. After the battle he just wants to run away to his mother’s people. He doesn’t want to be king; he doesn’t want to be like his dad. I can totally relate to this. I know if I was caught up in the same situation my first thought would be, “go find someone else”. We watch as Bran slowly begins to develop into the man and King he will hopefully become. But he does it kicking and screaming. He makes mistakes. He’s a bit of a dink at times; you can see yourself in him.

So begins the story of Robin Hood. This is a great retelling. There are betrayals, new friendships, and rat fink bastards. And….say it with me people…a sequel…YAaaaay series!!!!

DON’T TAKE MY BABY

Spotty Chop started day care about 2-3 weeks ago on January 2nd. It is in Needham so my parents are there if there was an emergency. It is bright, sunny, cheerful, clean, tons of toys and activities. There are kind, caring and qualified personnel (including his Grammy) that work there. While doing my undergrad degree at Simmons I did a lot of case studies there. I have known most of the teachers for years.

Their philosophy works for me. They feel that children are children and need to play. Although there is structure and daily activities; if a child is really into playing with cars/trucks/reading and the rest of the class is moving on to another activity across the hall, the child is given the option to go across the hall with the group, or stay with the activity they are enjoying and joining with another group. They go outside if at all possible, usually twice a day. There is a large, well stocked basement with tons of room to run, play with bikes and do gymnastics if the weather is not co-operating. They have snacks and will work with you during potty training. They do not feel this is something to be pressured into.

Spotty LOVES going, he gets along with all the kids, he is very active and participates in everything. The teachers are all surprised at how well he is doing, as some kids who have been there for much longer do not participate as much as Spotty does. He has only cried once at my leaving him, at SIL’s he would cry all the time (he stopped the minute I walked out the door, but I still felt like crap). He likes to talk about “his work”. His dada picks him up and they ride in the big blue truck together. They get to play and hang out before I get home and it seems to be doing them both some good.

Why do I still feel as if I have failed?

Book Review – Dreams Made Flesh

I ordinarily do not like short stories. I prefer epic behemoths that will keep me amused for days. Dreams are short stories that pull the Black Jewels Trilogy together. There are 4 separate stories. The first is my least favorite and is how the jewels come to be. The second story takes place after Heir to the Shadows. Lucivar has a new home and needs some help running things. Jaenelle is still picking up strays. Lucivar’s mom Marian is still a bitch. And Lucivar may have just met his match with his new hearth witch. The third story explains why everyone is so afraid of Saetan and it turns out rightfully so. This gives new meaning to the phrase “feed the rage”. In the final story someone is trying to kill Jaenelle and discredit Daemon. This on top of Jaenelle loosing her powers and going from the strongest witch on the planet to something else.

This is a definite read if you enjoyed the Jewels Trilogy. It fills in gaps and brings additional depth to characters that you already enjoy. I wouldn’t start with this but it is a great way to end the series, or perhaps this is the beginning of a new series?

Happy Hollydaze

Yes, it’s how many weeks later and I am finally getting around to updating the blog. Nothing dramatic has been happening, Spotty has just wanted a lot of attention and then I have wanted to sleep and boy toy has wanted attention. It’s all good

The holidays were chock full of fun for Spotty Chop, boy toy and myself. We were a bit handicapped in that our house is so uncontrollably cluttered that we can barely function. We were struck with the stomach virus from hell. At any one time at least 2 of us were down for the count. The tree didn’t get decorated until the 23rd. We missed 3 trash weeks, anything stinky was outside, but I did a lot of internet shopping and we have a room full of nothing but boxes. Unfortunately it is the first room you walk into when you come into the use. Add that to the normal clutter we always have, then the clutter you get with a 2 year old and you have “CHOSS”.

We did start the season with a treat. Boy toy was supposed to work xmas eve day, which totally sucked. We have done an Xmas eve brunch with Lennon and B-52 for years, we started when we all lived together at 357 (even made a song about it) and it is our way of easing into the stress, fun that is Xmas. We swap houses every year and this year was our turn, but with Tim working B-52 was kind enough to host for the 2nd year in a row. We have toned down our menu because for some reason when the 4 (now 5) of us get together we eat like pigs/kings. This year on the menu was made to order omelets, bacon, sausage, gingerbread, blueberry muffins, coffee cake, and home made whipped cream. Spotty was in awe of the decorations, B-52 really pulls out all the stops their yard is full of every blow up Xmas character out there, inside there is a village, every picture and light switch is wrapped and a tree dressed to perfection. But best of all? There are kitty’s to chase and pat and love. Lennon takes Spotty Chop duty, which lets me relax and is the perfect gift. Around 2 or 3 we leave them to get ready for the beginning of their family fun and we head home for a nap and then a night of Boy Toy Family fun!!!

We got to Gramie and Grumpa’s around 7:00pm we were the last to arrive, but we had all napped and felt good. Xmas eve is a good time, there is food and family and pure crazyness. Spotty has 2 cousins that were born within 6 months of him and they tore the place apart. Present time is a goat rodeo some of the older kids pass out the gifts and it is just a free for all, honestly I am not crazy about it. You don’t get to see what people think of your gifts, you don’t even get to see who gave half the crap to your kid. There are just too many of us for the small space. I am going to suggest the younger kids getting their gifts first, or a couple of gifts and then sending or keeping them at the other end of the house while the older kids open theirs. We will see. We left there around 11PM, thank god Spotty fell asleep on the ride home.

Boy toy and I were up until 3 wrapping gifts and putting together Spotty’s BIG GIFT…a trampoline! We set it up so that it was going to be the first thing he saw
When he walked into the livingroom the next day. We usually celebrate the Solstice, but this year we just couldn’t get our acts together so Xmas it was. Spotty woke up around 8am and I started a tradition that we had at our house. Daddy goes into the livingroom first to see if Santa came while we wait on the other side of the gate. Boy toy gave us the all clear and Spotty walked into the living room. He absolutely flipped out over the trampoline. He loves that thing. He is a jumping fool. It’s just a small square with a bar that he can hold onto while he is jumping, but damn that boy can get some height. We played with all the new toys, games and books all day. Took a nap and went to my folks and got there around 7pm. We were the last to arrive, but we had napped and were happy. Apparently my mom had cooked a real dinner so the ham and turkey were dry, but that was the worst thing that happened. Favorite brother gave Spotty some monster trucks and GeoTrax which was a huge hit. Froggy gave him some adorable outfits and an R2D2 laptop. I love this girl and will so kick my brothers ass if he screws up this relationship. Spotty got so much stuff that my mom decided not to give him all of the stuff they bought him, which wasn’t a big deal as the week before he was wandering around their house and found his big gift a remote control excavator! Nannie was pissed because Papa was supposed to have hidden it, they forget what a 2 year old is like. We left there around 11:00.

I was lucky enough to have the rest of the week off. Spotty and I slept late 8am! Played and hung out. Did some shopping. It was just nice not going to work. We ended the holiday with Moo, Freak, Hippy chick, Cheese and CR coming over to celebrate Xmas and New Years. We have been doing this for years and it is just a low key 100lbs of Chinese food, watching the ball drop, playing video games swapping gifts, chasing Spotty around and cake. I get a birthday cake for Freak and Cheese, and now I add CR too. Moo makes me cookie dough every year, sugar and chocolate chip. She makes it, forms it into logs and then freezes it so we have cookies all year round. It’s a good thing. I really enjoy the fact that Hippy and CR are coming over, I know it’s just a matter of time before they stop because seriously, would you want to hang out with your parents friends…who don’t drink on New Years? Christ, I don’t know if I want to hang out with us.

Spotty jumped on his trampoline until 12:03am when I looked at the clock and say “Holy SHIT it’s 12:03 get the fuck out of my house, I have to get Spotty to bed”. They left, we went to bed. And to all a good night