For richer, for poorer--

(holy shit, this is a long post...good luck...)

I am so excited I am bouncing up and down in my chair!!
Guess what I just did.
Just guess!
I purchased season ski passes for myself, my husband, and his 11 year old.
I am a little bit euphoric.
If you've been reading long, you'll know that I have only skied a few times in my life and have not always had the greatest luck *cough* out of control down the mountain nearly died *cough* so this will give me a chance to practice!!!
It will also give me an excuse to go shopping for ski clothes.
I discovered that if you're local and you buy early and if you're a student you get pretty fantastic discounts.
And look at that--my education's paying off already!
Not to mention I have no classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays so those are pretty much Ski Days.
Let's forget the fact that I am
TERR
I
FIED
of driving up the mountain in snowy conditions.
Turns my heart into a delicate southern woman in summer is what that thought does!
(makes my heart have fainting spells...get it? snort)
I am so fucking excited I can hardly stand it.
Hurry up and snow, already!!!!
Jeeez.
Stupid September.
Hee...
We'll probably take the twinners up for a lesson or two and just see how that goes this year...I can just see them refusing to put the skis on or refusing to go back after one day...stubborn little devils, they are.
But soccer starts on Saturday and this time they're both playing.
Did I tell you how Twin A came to Twin B's games in the spring and was a total backseat driver?
It was hilarious.
So I was not at all surprised when I asked him if he wanted to play this time and he said, "Yeah! Then I'll go out there and chase the ball EVERY TIME." He was practically grumbling, "I'll show him!"
Twin A also wants to take karate, and there's a good little Kung Fu class that I keep meaning to take him to, but it's year-round, open enrollment so I keep putting it off.
Gotta give this girl a fucking deadline, man!

Anyway.
I am on a high from all the organizing and phone calls and motherfucking PRODUCTIVITY.
God, I love it.

And.
THE BABY!!!
I got to go see my dear friend at the hospital and that baby is the tiniest (8 pound) little precious doll on the planet!
You always forget how tiny they start out, don't you?
And she confirmed that yes indeed she did fall in love with him in precisely the manner I had described.
You know....so dreamy...their every blink, yawn and stretch just captivates you, and you can truly spend countless happy minutes marvelling over each finger, each perfect little TOE!!
Oh, oh.
If only I could guarantee a MILD MANNERED daughter I would be all over that.
But since my boys are about as much to manage as 12.4 normal kids, I think I'll just thank my begeebus-scared stars that there are not more than 2 of them!
Dear little fellas that they are...
Ha.
As we walked from the school to the car today, they were cheerfully chattering away to me, each one having grabbed one of my hands without any prompting, and I was savoring the moment and then--totally un-fucking-provoked--Twin B brought the arm holding his jacket and backpack around in front of me to smack his brother.
NO.
REASON.
I caught this mom-of-an-exasperation-inducing-redhead-girl's eye just as Twin B said without a trace of guile, "I had to hit a bee." I'd say it even bordered on both smug and gleeful.
She grimaced back at me, knowingly, and I said, "He had to hit a bee," rolled my eyes, "Suuuure."

It's on days like this that I think--
Life is far too grand, and would be even better if only I had also stopped at the media big box store and replaced my long missing Throwing Copper CD.
And then I wink at you and say, "Oh, but I DID do that!!"
It feels like coming home, in a way.
That was the very first CD I listened to and loved every single song on it.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was the first tape I loved every single song of...
and Paula Abdul's CD...um...Spellbound? Something like that was my first CD purchased.
It had Rush, Rush on it and that one line, "Even when you're right next to me you're still too faaaaar away, if I'm not inside your arms."
MELT ME.
God, I loved that line.
It gave me shivers.
Because isn't that just the way to describe love in its lusty stage?
Mmmm...

Yes, I'm in a good mood today.

My favorite, sneaky backway to school is having construction, making a breezy little drive along the northern part of the western belt route a congested, ugly mess.
Soooo....
I've taken to the surface roads and there is peace.
No one else takes Redwood because it's the slowest of the 4 main choices for north-south movement in this strip mall of a state.
Bangerter has lights, but they're widely spaced and the speed limit is high.
I-15 is for chumps, because that's the most widely travelled path.
And 215 was my Savior until they had to go and tear the thing up.
Psh.
Fuckers.
I used to glide onto that little fella and pour out into city traffic, skimming along the edge and taking the little travelled 400 south all the way east to my school.
But...it's just like The Raven quoth, ya know?
Quoth the Raven, "Yer fucked, m'am."
Or something.
And so, I break free of the pavement and taillight prison and slip along my Redwood Road, all the way to 400 south, where I shoot through
SEED-
Y
neighborhoods and past the free dental clinic
(with its long lines on Wednesdays) which makes my heart constrict with conflict
ing emotions--
I'm glad it's available for those in need, but being exposed to the breadth of the neediness of some makes me wither, shiver, ache a little.
Then, if I'm not careful, I end up passing the Shelter, too.
Or the park, with its raggedy, smudgy cluster of people waiting for something good;
something tangible, something that arrives while I pass, but I don't catch the words on the trucky-vanny vehicle.
Food? Meds? Dunno.

(for once I titled this post after writing it. Usually I title them with the first thing that pops into my head, my jumping off point.)

Ok.
My mania and I will amble along now.
I will go read an awesome book until it's time to cook dinner.
And maybe we will drive down to The U.C. to put some good dirt in the flowerbeds of the house we're (still) trying to sell.
They are laying carpet today, and the painters finished up last week, so with a few more finishing touches, it should be quite a little gem.

I'm sorry, one more thing--
have I mentioned the weather?
Fan-fucking-tastic!
Nice and cool morning and evening, around 80-85 during the day.
Fuggin sweet.

As if this post wasn't long enough to kill a forest of trees already,
here's a shot of the newly framed PAINTING!