From Home to Home Again

I went "home" for eight days to visit my mom and dad, as well as my brother and his family. But you know what? I felt even more than usual that when I arrived back in NY that I was truly "home." When my little family of four is together, then we are all home. I didn't even take my camera! The only photos I have are of the scarf and hat I sent Dad for Father's Day, because I forgot to photograph them before I mailed them. I'm full of barbeque and Krispy Kremes and Mom's good cookin'. We had a wonderful time despite not catching one single solitary fish.

Holy crap, what have I done?

I just applied for a job. Dan and I have had conversations over the past years in which he mentions gently that it might be time soon for me to start looking for a job, and they always end up with me in tears. I love being here for the kids if they need me during the day, but it's time I faced facts and realized that I am BORED at home. And I guess nothing is ever going to get me motivated enough to start cleaning regularly. So why not contribute to the income, right? I found a proofreading position at Stony Brook University, and over the past few days I've been mentally writing up a resume and cover letter. Today I sat down and the computer and wrote them up. Dan the Resume Man helped me edit, and just a moment ago I clicked "send" and sent them off. I'm actually excited about this opportunity because they're flexible with the job being full or part time. I'm still adamant that I want to be home when the kids get out of school, so I could easily do part time hours. Fingers crossed that I get called for an interview. But I am still shaking a little.

Disaster Cake

Ben's party went very, very well. Four children called at the last minute to say they could come, which made me very happy, and we still came in right at the number of attendees that we estimated for the Mad Science people. Our Mad Scientist was funny and engaging, and he managed the kids wonderfully. They were very well behaved, so he didn't have much to do in that regard, but he had a good grip on how to allow them to call out without it turning into chaos. There was only one problem all day. Me. I was a completely klutzical mess. I think I spilled, dropped or broke at least five or six things throughout the course of the day. The most embarrassing was when I was bringing out the cake (more on the cake in a minute) covered with sparklers and steaming potions, then hit the cake tray on the inside of the doorway and spilled one of the potions all over the floor. But that was nothing compared to the Disaster Cake. I decided I was going to make the cake myself. So Saturday night I baked one sheet cake and realized it looked kinda puny. So I baked a second one. Sunday morning we were doing final preparations with the guests due to arrive around 1:30, and I decided around 12:00 to go ahead and ice the cake. I iced the top of the first sheet cake, put the second on top and began to ice it. And you know how when you bake a cake it's kind of domed on the top? Well I didn't bother to cut off the tops of the cake because it seemed like a waste. However, because the flat side of the top layer was sitting on top of the domed bottom layer, the top layer started to bend until I had a literal canyon running down the center of the top layer. There wasn't enough icing in the world to make it look like anything less than a disaster. Dan suggested we just take the top layer off and put them side by side. I could ice over any mess. But as you can see by the photo below, it was too far gone. So at 12:30 I ran to the grocery store and nearly shook the bakery girl by the shoulders while crying, "You have to help me!!!" In moments they had a perfect yellow 1/4 sheet cake with white icing that I could take home and decorate with a mad science theme. Unfortunately I don't have a still photo of the finished cake, but Dan promises me he did get some video. And the Disaster Cake was a good chatting point during the party because I didn't want to throw it out...it still tasted fine! We did have to come inside because it began to drizzle during the last half hour or so, but everyone who wanted to did get to swim for a while. And for the most part the weather was gorgeous. So aside from my embarrassing moments, which I think weren't that big a deal to anyone but me, the party was a success. And then I had a beer. PS: I finished a pair of socks this morning.

Party time!

Ben is turning 7 on Monday, so we are throwing him a big bash tomorrow. He's never had a really nice party so far. It feels really unfair, but it seems like Rebecca gets all the good parties. So this time around we're having a MAD SCIENCE party! There's a company called Mad Science that sends out people to put on a show with cool experiments, lots of bubbles and smoke and stuff, and since Ben is such a science fanatic he's really psyched for it. We have 10 kids coming, and Dan has really outdone himself planning for other activities besides just the show. The show has quite a bit of audience participation (particularly for the birthday kid), but Dan also has homemade, nontoxic lava lamps, rubber ball making, and bubbles. Plus he wants to put dry ice in the pool. That one I'm no so sure about, but we'll see what happens. :P There's still a lot to do. Tonight I'm making the cake and tomorrow I'll decorate it with beakers of colored water steaming with dry ice, sparkling candles, and (hopefully) cool icing. I'm already tired just from getting the house ready today, but I'm very excited and I hope he'll enjoy himself and feel very special tomorrow. He's just the best boy in the world and he deserves to have a fantastic day. I opened a can of Coke and poured it in a glass with a little rum. I haven't eaten since breakfast (it's now almost 7pm) so I don't want to overdo it, but I do like a good rum n coke every now and again. I may have to save it for later though. The party people across the street (not the ones with the perpetual Christmas decorations but the ones with the spoiled rich kids) are having another party tonight, and I may need the help of Mr. Bacardi to get to sleep once the noise level goes up.

Mean Mom, cont.

I'm very proud of myself for carrying out the kids' punishment, despite the fact that it actually made things a little tougher on me. They were not allowed any TV or computer or video games yesterday or today, which meant I heard the phrase "I'm bored" more than once. Funny thing, though, every time I suggested something to do they were suddenly un-bored. Granted, the suggestions I had were "go pick up the dog's droppings in the back yard" and "empty the dishwasher." But they played together very nicely all day, and we did have a field trip to the library and the grocery store to break things up. Plus the pool. Always the pool. When kids get cranky..."just add water." The lucky happenstance of the day was that there was a program just beginning when we arrived at the library. The Extension office had sent a young lady with two baby pigs! The kids had fun learning about how they use their snouts, what their hair and skin can be used for, and what they feel like. Oh, and the various loud and squealy sounds they can make. The pigs were named Babe and Wilber. In my mind, though, they were called Bacon and Sausage. The weekend! Yay! No idea what we'll be doing, but I guess I'll need to start preparing for having a backyard full of kids next weekend. Goodie bags, cake, ice cream, decorations...I feel like I'll be putting it together on the fly, but at least with the kids home they'll be able to help. Thank goodness they're reaching the age where their help really is help and not hinderance.