if wishes were fishes

We now have fish in the house again. It was kind-of a last minute decision; we'd talked about it in vague terms. So, we went to the pet store to buy cat food and came home with a fish: a blue and red Betta/fighting fish named James. We haven't had fish since Owen was born and we moved. Our managuense ended up at New England Fish and Reptile; our chinese water dragons Bode and Bisley died before or while I was pregnant. Tak and his friends always had fish (M the arowana, a variety of South American and African cichilds). Wiley has been good with the new fish so far. He used to sit on top of the managuense tank and stick his arm in the water to taunt the fish; he even got bit a couple times!

Owen is now a reader: a couple weeks ago he read the whole book of Today I Will Fly. It was awesome to see him recognize words he knew and figure out the ones he didn't. The book is a good one because it has repeated text, words that are slight variations of each other, and lots of picture support. Owen thought it was funny, too.

Secret Asian Man is up daily. Check it out at comics.com.
My work has also been pretty insane too.

Lastly, I finished Ilona's scarf after a year, and a cap for Tak's dad.
If you ever wanted to knit marzipan, here's how.

catch the magic

In gearing up for the Harry Potter onslaught, I'm re-watching movies #3 (my favorite) tonight and #4 tomorrow night, and will hopefully see #5 over the weekend. I re-read books 5 & 6 last month, too.

Neil Gaiman keeps letting people know about Stardust, which should be in theaters later this year.

Over 4th of July, our friend Dan had his annual BBQ. Once again, the numbers are intimate, about 20 people. I think for his 30th (or 29th?) birthday, there must have been 300+ people there, and amenities included a DJ, a band, bar with an ice sculpture shot slide, and port-a-potties. Crazy. One of the best though, was the year ('96? '97?) people got up on the mic, (we think--the memory is vague) Scruffy from the Dropkick Murphys played bagpipes against some drumbeats (amazing), and f-14s flew overhead towards the end of the night. (BTW, if someone reads this who was there, please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points!) Anyway, again, happy birthday Dan. You rock!

The fireworks in Dorchester lasted at least until midnight, and people were still lighting them off until Sunday night.

Lorie from NYC stayed with us, and I kidnapped her to sleep overnight at my parents' house with Owen. We went blueberry picking (TreeBerry Farm in Scituate), lunch at Haddad's in Brant Rock, and a jaunt to Scituate Harbor. We did a lot of driving around, too. It was awesome to hang out (sans Owen) with Rob & Jude, go out to an excellent dinner at Petit Robert, visit the Dig offices, and cap off the night at JJ Foley's. Lorie left the next morning. Sadly, her guy Pete couldn't come up because he has to save his vacation for San Diego Comic Con, where he & co will be doing their Comic Book Show. Woo-hoo! We missed him, but we know how fantastic ComicCon is, too.

Last bit of news: Tak's comic, Secret Asian Man, should (fingers crossing, wood knocking) start running daily on Monday in the Patriot Ledger and other papers all over the place.

I love my neighborhood #2

Almost every night for the last couple of weeks, there have been fireworks. I don't know where they're coming from, except slightly southwest of my neighborhood, on the other side of Rt. 93. Whatever the occasion, they can last from 9-11. It's nothing like the Pops for 4th of July, but they're big enough to be pretty and make a lot of noise. Who'd have thought living in the Dot would be so festive?

yummy

This morning I got through washing all the strawberries we picked over the weekend. On Saturday we went to Lookout Farm in Natick. Friends of ours went the weekend before, and said it was packed; so we left relatively early and picked a ton of strawberries. The picking was good; we didn't find too many large strawberries, but small and sweet ones. The Farm itself is huge and more like a theme park. What farm has a petting zoo with ostriches, emu, and reindeer? Owen had a blast riding the "trains" all over the farm, the catepillar ride, and the burlap maze. There's a gigantic playground with a mountain climbing structure and a treehouse slide. I only wished we had packed a lunch or picked up a sandwich from the market, because the food served at the playground was superbasic and priced conveniently.

Guess what we had for breakfast on Sunday? Strawberry pancakes! And for dessert? Coconut sorbet with...strawberries!
If any are left after tomorrow, I'm freezing them.

The delicious Sea Dog blueberry wheat beer I had tonight reminded me that blueberry picking will be here before we know it. Especially if we keep having hot humid days like today!

Currently reading: Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present by Cory Doctorow.

what's up with imports from China?

First, it was the cat food. Back in February, the Wileymonster stopped eating his wet food, Nutro Max Light pouch food. Luckily he was still eating the light Science Diet dry, even if he was occasionally throwing up, and I played around with the Friskies/9 lives/Fancy Feast for treats. I took him to the vet in March, where thankfully, his blood & urine didn't test for anything. That same weekend was when the first press release came out about the tainted wheat gluten in pet food. (He continued to lose weight, but has started gaining it back with a low-allergy dry food). Totally opened my eyes to the insane stuff that's in pet food.

Then the fake Colgate toothpaste arrived. Yes, that's my brand. Great. Good thing I don't shop at dollar stores.

Now, the staple toy of choice for my kid has been recalled: red paint on wooden Thomas the Tank toys. We happened to be watching the news the first night they announced the recall, and we're sending back several trains as a result. Lucky for me, Thomas and Percy are the favorites, and not James. But I look at Bertie the bus and wonder if I should I should send him back because he's red, junt not that vibrant bright red. In addition to the horror and disgust at the thought of "who still uses lead paint?!", I just hope these toys are being destroyed. If they're using the tainted production methods, what the hell are they using for their own kids?

Thanks too, to everyone who's told me about this.

An insight to why this stuff happens was a great documentary we saw on PBS called China Blue about a girl who works/lives in a jeans factory. Takes the fun out of shopping, and is just a facet a consumer culture.

same fight, different day

We have on a UFC fight that we watched last week (the guy in green trunks wins).

Owen has been having problems with transitions which is hard. I go to pick him up at school, and he gives me a hug an then he hits me/bites my clothes, won't go to the bathroom, runs off to the elevator. I try and help him go to sleep and he hits me, headbutts me, unleashes a torrent of poophead talk. (BTW, the word for today was booger.) When I threaten to leave, he begs me to stay and starts crying. It sucks. The situation has been snowballing for the last week or so. Tonight we didn't give in and Tak helped him go to sleep. It's funny, but going to sleep is that last little thing that he really wants me to help him with. I see it as a sign he's really torn about getting bigger. It would be great for him to go to sleep without so many problems, but it makes me sad because it's a kind of weaning.

He's making great strides reading: reading signs, high frequency words like and and the. He finished reading the title of Minerva Louise and the Red Truck; he loved the book and totally has a sense of humor.

Last night I sat in bed and knit: I finished a coaster for my sister (how I love self-striping yarn) and ended up ripping out the cap I'm knitting for my father-in-law. I admitted defeat that not only were the stitches twisted and going moebius, but also that it was going to be way too big. Do over!

a little bit of shameless promotion

...For Secret Asian Man in the Patriot Ledger: http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/06/20/life/life04.txt
Hopefully the link will work, and if not, I'll fix it later if I can remember the code. Go ahead & copy/paste if it doesn't. Enjoy!

blogging in bed

This past Father's Day weekend was exciting: Tak got a new computer, a spankin' new 15" MacBook Pro, wireless, the whole kit and caboodle. Sure, we still have the 4-year-old iMac with a whopping 800MGhz connection and OS 9 to work Word. But it pales in comparision to a light-up keyboard and widescreen. Sigh. Tak also got a new desk, because the dinner table where he'd been working was constantly littered with mail and crap, which entailed moving a bunch of stuff around in the living room. The dinner table still needs a thorough douching, but that can wait until we get the rest of the garbage off the floor and vacuum.

At least the bathroom and kitchen are clean, even if Wily has been stalking mice. He had one last night, but he dropped it on floor to show me, it came to, and scampered under the floorboard, avoiding the carefully laid out trap. Delightful. Better than on Sunday, when we came home from brunch, and Owen picked up a dead mouse, not knowing what it was. Luckily, I was in the bathroom for that 2-minute interval, and Tak had the pleasure of freaking out. We checked out the body, and figured that Wiles got that one too. He's been keeping watch over the kitchen for us, thankfully.

Secret Asian Man is going to be running in my parents' local paper, The Patirot Ledger. Our new summer schedule is working out so far, so good. I finally finished my knitted cotton shell, and still need to weave in the ends, even if I did bind it off too tightly. Looking forward to the Order of the Phoenix movie and final Potter book, as well as in the fall/winter, I think, Stardust and the Golden Compass films. Found this great magazine I can't believe I'd missed, Venuszine, which is like a more music-based version of BUST. Bjork's on the cover, and there's also an interview with Tori Amos. OK, I think Tak needs his computer back. Sometimes, it's hard to share.

finally!

Finally, I am able to get in a few words. Mr. Man has been dominating the computer, which is just as well because I haven't really been able to put together a possible cohesive blog entry for at least the last week.

Owen turned four, and had a little party. He also finished with the 2-half-days (Tuesdays & Thursdays) of preschool at the South Shore Science Center with a graduation on the same day as his birthday. Some of his Science Center friends came over after the picnic for ice cream, cake, and to take turns driving his ride-on jeep in my parents' backyard. We've met some wonderful people that I hope we can keep in touch with.

We've enjoyed this week of not running down to Braintree on the train 2x/week and being crazy with "What are we doing today?" Owen has had a fun-filled post-birthday week of going to the vet with me & the cat, going to the dentist (see below), going to the top of the Pru (the 50th floor), a trip to IKEA, and riding in the car while Tak DROVE with my dad (my mom & I were at a bridal shower for my cousin's fiancee).

You know it's a good sign when you bring your kid to the dentist and the movie being shown in the reception area is Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky. We still haven't let Owen watch it with all of the shooting and flying robots on fire, but the part he caught was the best for him--the train chase. The dentist was awesome, very sweet--and Japanese. He doesn't have any cavities, either, which is a big relief. Owen especially liked riding up and down in the chair, and also wearing rainbow sunglasses while the dentist checked his teeth under lamp. What I want to know is how did he learn, "Pink is for girls"?

I finally broke down and bought a new rice cooker for Tak as an early father's day gift--a $30 one at Target. We've been eating curry for the last couple days and I have to say that now, I missed having one.

when turkeys fly

Last week at my parents' house, we came in there was a 20-25lb male turkey standing outside, just walking for at least 5-10 minutes. I pulled out my camera to try & take a picture, and I think the movement scared him off. The even cooler thing was that he flew into up the tall trees, where they roost at night--which was an amazing to see.

Thanks to the Best Buy pre-sale, I was able to get Police tickets--for November. The band had better be good.

Right now I am making cupcakes for Owen's birthday party at school tomorrow and watching Borat. What a frickin' crazy movie. The cupcakes came out OK. Note to self: if you have a choice between using spray-on oil, flour, or both--just go with the spray-on oil. These cupcakes came out the easiest. I had to frost the cupcakes with a dusting of oil & flour or just flour on the muffin pan upside-down. All because I didn't have cupcake liners!

fun friday thing

My friend Susan at work sent this to me. I've never posted a silly questionnaire on my blog, so here you go. Enjoy.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
No, although I was supposed to and my mom changed her mind.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
The other night when I was trying to go to sleep, I kept thinking about if something bad happened to Owen.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
most of the time

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
I like most of them.
healthy: turkey; naughty: pastrami or bologna

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
yes, just one (for now)

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
probably, although I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people, and tend to say what I'm thinking (good and bad!)

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
who, me?

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
only out in nature--not in the city

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
all-time: peanut butter cap'n crunch or alphabits
but most of the time I eat old-fashioned oatmeal

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
clogs don't have laces

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I can move heavy furniture & put up with a lot of crap.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
half-baked; Edy's girl scout cookie line; chocolate & vanilla twist soft serve in a plain cone

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
the whole package: how they're dressed (no judgement!), their eyes & breath, what they say.

15. RED OR PINK?
hot pink

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
overprocessing; losing my temper with my kid; in some situations I don't know what to do, don't do anything, and feel badly about it or like I should have done *something*

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST
my nana

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
only if they fill it out with their answers

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Jeans, black beat-up clogs.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Trader Joe's 99% fat-free blueberry muffin

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
purple

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Lilacs, freshly mown grass, the ocean, that clean earthy smell right after it rains, (these are weird) the smell of a clean T-shirt drawer that smells kind of like paper money (reminds me of my dad), and my aunt's house in NJ

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
either my sister Kate or Susan

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Japanese game shows, Iron Chef, UFC, the sox & the Pats if they're in the playoffs

27. HAIR COLOR?
Today it's medium golden brown, but the grays are starting to come through.

28. EYE COLOR?
Hazel (brown/green)

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
If I'm going out or if I have time in the morning to put them in.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Pastries (cupcakes, donuts, brownies), hamburgers, lobstah, chicken curry. Baked fish with seafood stuffing on top. Waffles & pancakes. So hard to choose!

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
As long as it doesn't have zombies, yes, scary movies...preferably with happy endings, although that usually doesn't happen.
According to my answer, Shaun of the Dead is a perfect movie. (it comes quite close)

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
All the way through? Probably something I've already seen a gazillion times but watched it because it was on...either Wings of a Dove or Happy Gilmore.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
mismatched shades of green long-sleeve T-shirt & sweater. It's always ridonkulously cold in my cube.
Shouldn't there have been a question "What are you wearing?" Or does that sound like a dirty phone call?

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Fall isn't an option? WInter.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Toughie...both. Hugs are less germy.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Chocolate anything.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. Just finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was amazing.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
One of those built-in wrist cushions and the whole thing is yellow, pink and blue psychedelic swirls that I've had for ages. Although I'm noticing now it's starting to get pretty gross and might need a new one!

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
Ultimate Fighter, the reality show (not my choice); The Daily Show; Colbert Report; Showbiz Show

42. FAVORITE SOUND?
the ocean, Owen laughing

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles, although everyone needs a little Satisfaction once in awhile.

44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
West: California; East: London

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can sing most of the time, and I don't usually have a problem getting up in front of people and making an ass of myself.

he's got a permit to drive

Mr. Man got his learner's permit today! It's only taken a few years... Now we can start cruising around in the Caravan. Woo-hoo!

Green Day

You know those days it seems like everyone in the office wears the same color? Today, it's spring green.

According to http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/, Owen is the 58th most popular name, up from #476 in 1992. Tracey is down in the 900s.

happy mothers' day

Happy Mothers' Day to all the awesome moms out there! We went to my parents' and we had a blast playing catch and sort-of T-ball. Owen made a great card for me, which included pipe cleaner stitching on the envelope.

(Yes, I know I still need to blog about our trip. And the improved Children's Museum & Charles MGH T stop. I was sick and needed sleep, or Mr. Man was using the computer. I'm also almost done knitting my first sweater. But tonight, I did a facial mask and really need to wash it off.)

Owen did his first real magnetic words on the fridge last night. My new in-laws at Thanksgiving gave us a set of "artistic" magentic poetry. (We took some words out: smoke, drugs, psychedelic, beer, sex, cigarette.) He kept adding to it until it arched across the bottom of the fridge. I had to say, each time he added more words, "Say, 'Oh my goodness,' then laugh really hard." This is what the complete line was: I ate mess imagine did miasma surreal mount never you scale almost approach you full how we wild open shard fashion pain death glass piece

currently listening to: Amy Winehouse, Back to Black.

bermudaful!

We got back from Bermuda this afternoon, and it was amazing. My sister is a married woman! We have a whole new wing to our family. My ears are still blocked from the plane landing. I'm still finding super-fine grains of sand in our luggage. It's hard to put it all down now; photos & commentary are up at flickr.com. We didn't do very much of what we wanted, but Bermuda is gorgeous and I want to go back. A 1-gig photocard is a wonderful thing. The cat is fine and very happy to see us.

After getting wrapped up in packing & wedding prep last week, I don't think I mentioned how awesome Loreena McKennit was in concert. She did a wide variety of her music, and "The Highwayman" gave me chills. There were about 7 other musicians on the stage. She was incredible live and is so talented. The Wang Center is a great place to see music, because it's such a beautiful hall.

lesson learned

The other night, in an effort to break up the Miyazaki repetition, I put on Disney's Alice in Wonderland, thinking that Owen would like the silliness of it. We've also been reading Bill Peet's The Caboose Who Got Loose, and he worked on a bunch of Disney movies, including Alice in Wonderland. We start watching, and we get to the part after Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole, and is looking through the keyhole as the White Rabbit is running away. Owen comes over to me, tells me to turn it off, and bursts into tears. When I get him to tell me why he's so upset, he says, "She lost her kitty!" The crying jag lasts a good 15 minutes. So, I guess we won't be watching a good chunk of the Disney catalog for awhile!

Currently listening to:

knitting at symphony

Since it's spring vacation and the little guy doesn't have preschool 2 days this week, I missed my recent usual knitting group night near my parents' house to go to the open rehearsal at Symphony Hall. Usually, there's a talk before the rehearsal; the lights are up, people are still coming in, it's pretty casual. I break out a small project, and my mom says not to, that it's rude. Really? It seemed pretty OK, or am I just clueless? We're sitting up in the balcony, the lights are on, I'm paying attention. I tell her I'll stop before the performance begins. So I look around, and there were 2 other knitters doing the same thing in our area where we're sitting. My mom grudgingly relented. I stopped when we were joined by some friends of my mom's. The talk was great, the music was great: Mozart (Nachtmusik, Serenade #13; Violin Concerto N1 in B-flat); Ravel (Ma Mere l'oye/Mother Goose) with Sir Andre Previn & Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Other knitting projects: I finally joined the 2 halves of my first sweater for me. I'm knitting the one-skein shell from WEBS in white cotton. Now I just need to keep knitting in the round & stitch in edges. woo-hoo!

There's a fugly vest for Owen that needs its edges finished & stitched together. It was one of those things that I bought a skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky on-line and didn't realize what the true shade was until I started knitting it--and had to figure out what other colors to match with it. It'll be a good layering piece for next year. At least he likes the orange.

wedding countdown

There's a little over a week to my sister's wedding. I still have some things to do (get luggage, clean the house, make appointments, finish husband/son shopping, lose 3-5 lbs.). At least I have my dress, shoes, and some of the little things.

Oddly enough, one of my landmarks to my sister's wedding was the wedding of one of my best friends from high school on Saturday night. Michelle & Darren came to our wedding in Vegas, that's how long they've been together. Michelle looked beautiful, and Darren is so sweet. They make a great couple and I'm so happy for them. They've been dating for almost 10 years and it's nice to see them finally married. Stacy, our 3rd amiga, was there too, and it was awesome to hang out with her. It was also fantastic that my favorite teacher in high school was also there, Ms. V.; I ended up talking to her quite a bit. My parents were invited, and the oddest twist is that Tak & I ended up getting a ride with them, both to and from the wedding.

With the torrential downpour we've had with the Nor'easter this weekend, Morrisey Boulevard was the most flooded I've ever seen it. On even a small rain day, Morrisey Blvd. gets flooded, and walking to Shaw's from the JFK T stop involves navigating puddles that go into a whole lane of traffic. Down by the beach, it so bad they were closing the road off, but were just doing it at 10:30 this morning. Owen & I found out the hard way by suddenly driving into two massive puddles on the way to Ikea this morning. Luckily, our side of the road was farther away from the beach; the other side was completely overtaken by the tide. There was no beach.

Owen's quote of the day: We read our first few of Shel Silverstein poems tonight. Owen loved the "Ickle me, Tickle Me..." poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends. His reaction: "Is there a silly poem about a froggie and a duck? It's called 'Take me to the water and I'll swim.'"

Happy Birthday, S.A.M.

April 11 is Tak's birfday, so we sent Owen stayed at my parents' overnight so we could have a date. Granted, we did the sort-of boring dinner & a movie. Since we were seeing The Host at Kendall Sq. Cinema, we ended up having upscale dinner at the Blue Room, which was excellent. Our waiter was great with suggestions, we had great drinks, delicious food (ricotta gnocci with spring peas, spinach & prosciutto; ceasar salad with white anchovies; mahi mahi with mango salsa, black beans & plaintain cake; stuffed eggplant with cous cous, chick peas and minty yogurt). I made the mistake of eating most of the dessert (banana bread & pudding) which put me over the edge. No room for popcorn! The Host was not your typical Asian horror film; the characters are bumbling & flawed, it's got a lot of humor in it. Weta helped out with the creature's effects; it shows--it's really well-done.

Owen's quote of the week, regarding my 95 or 96-year-old Uncle Francis: "He's old, but he's great."

what noisy cats are we

Happy accident: While typing in the url for the Boston Public Library (bpl.org), I typed in the bplo.org. Imagine my surprise to find the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra, an Irish cover band. Enjoy.

In avoiding putting together our stuff to finally pay our taxes, I'm blogging, and probably knitting. There's a crapalanche of half opened mail that needs going through, too.

Over the weekend we checked out the Art of Dr. Suess at Newbury Fine Arts, which runs until Thursday, 4/5. In addition to lithographs & proofs for the more well-known books, they also have advertising art and political cartoons. Owen & Sofia wanted to pet the large, $3000 statue of the Cat in the Hat. We took them to Ben & Jerry's, then to the Frog Pond playground. I'll have to go again either tomorrow or Thursday to actually read the work during my lunch break. Owen was just as interested in talking to the woman who worked in the gallery and playing at her desk than the art with corrected proof from the Cat in the Hat book.