How to eat my mom's lasagne, by Ana Sophia

Ana would like to show everyone how to eat her mommy's yummy lasagne. She realizes that her plate is clean. This is just for demonstration purposes only.


"Watch Closely"


"First You Stab"
She likes to stab her fork repeatedly until something sticks. This way you ensure you eat all the yummy pasta first, then mommy has to help with the cheese, meat and tomatoes left on your plate.


"Then you eat"


"Don't be afraid to lick your plate if you need to!"


"Good Stuff!!"

The Exterminator has been called

It is a moment I've been anticipating and dreading for months now: calling the exterminator.

As mentioned in the previous post, I don't like bugs. And we have a lot! The worst offenders to me have to be the ants, scorpions (we've only had one, but the fear remains), and the very occasional cockroach...oh, and the ticks. The fleas aren't so fun either. Okay, they all bug me!

So, the line has been drawn and the exterminator is coming Tuesday. Now for the part I dread. I hate chemicals! I was loathe to call them any earlier from the thought of my sweet baby crawling around in nasty chemically badness. But, the baby is walking and I'll have someone to help me clean up after the guys with the spray guns leave.

I also have this horrible image of them spraying down the drain or somewhere sinister and a hoard of cockroaches (we've really only seen three in the last four months) comes spilling out only to die a twitchy death all over my kitchen counters and floor. Bad things man, bad things!

That said, there is NO WAY I'm going to be here when they let their spray guns blast forth. I will be taking the puppy to the vet to be de-ticked. Then I'll take the kids out to lunch. Then I just might stay in a hotel until I'm sure the bugs are dead. And cleaned up. Perhaps a week will do the trick. Let's just hope there's internet access.

A bit on bugs

Here's the thing about bugs: I don't like them.

And when I say I don't like them, I mean they give me that leg hair growin', heebie jeebie givin', creepy crawly icky feeling that makes me want to scream and climb the nearest piece of furniture.


But the darn things LOVE me! It's like if you don't like cats and you visit your great aunt and twenty of her cats are purring and kneading your lap the whole time. It's like that, except the bugs are trying to eat me alive.

Even the strictly vegetarian ones will give up their lives of veggie-eunichism to come have their fill of my sweet, sweet blood.

Oh, and if you've forgotten, I live in the Amazon rain forrest. We've got bugs.
Current population is: Ants (so tiny you can barely see 'em, pretty tiny and completely invading and devouring anything remotely sweet or protein based in my kitchen, regular U.S. sized ones that live somewhat peacefully in the yard until they are on my sandal clad feet (then the biting commences), larger leaf cutter ants that love to show you how unproductive your life is as they cut, carry and devour an entire hibiscus flower... or bush, and these huge purpley/brown ones with ginormous heads and mandibles that look like tin snips, weird brown mole-like half mutant termite/ant crosses from a misguided bio-engineering program.....and that's just the ants. We also are trying to break the Guiness Book's record for largest number of Daddy longlegs in a single habitable residence (our ceilings are really high, so they're difficult to reach). We've seen so many beetles that we really only notice them if they have big rhino horns. One of those stayed on our screen the entire day last December 25th.
Natasha now asks, "Will we have a Christmas beetle visit us again next year?"

Oh, let's not forget the other arthropods: scorpions, silver dollar sized spiders that come out at night and crawl through the grass (or under our front door), a plethora of moths and butterflies (finally something fun!), ticks, fleas, centipedes, millepedes. If you've seen it on Discovery Channel, we can probably find it on our 4,000 square foot bit of land here in Santa Cruz.

Here's your sign

A friend, Kristal, has a cute etsy shop where she sells customized handmade distressed affordable signs. I love them! And now if you leave a comment today on her blog, you might win two of them. Or, you can just buy one!! There affordable, like I said.

Wishing I was in Clatskanie

This weekend a lot of people I really, really love will be gathering in Clatskanie to talk, laugh, remember, cry and mourn Todd Howard. Oh how I wish I was going to be there!

Todd has been like a big brother to me for over 20 years. His family graciously--almost scandalously!--took my dad in as a border when we made the move from Woodburn to Clatskanie in the late '80s. Houses were really hard to find and Dad had to report for work, so instead of living in a hotel for a few months, Todd's mom, Jeanette, offered an extra room at her house. I felt really weird and uncomfortable about this. After a few visits to Clatskanie as a family, however, it was clear to all that we were destined to be surrogate extended families.

Todd was ten years older than I was and a nineteen year old to a nine year old makes for a strong impression! The same went for my brother. If I was at my parents's house I'd dig up photo after photo of us together for countless Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas celebrations--along with just as many hunting trips.

Todd was like most big brothers to me: relentless teasing, hugs, fun, driving too fast, words of advice, the occasional misunderstanding or disagreement, but most of all I knew that no matter what, He loved me like a sister and always would. I knew that he was proud of me. I knew that he cared.

It is strange and surreal to be over 5,700 miles away when someone you love has passed away. The hardest part is knowing that so many people I love are hurting and grieving together. I wish I could be a part of all the story telling, photo sharing, service planning and hugs. I don't always know what to say, but I always have a hug ready. I'd give one to Jeanette and Tracey, Mom, Dad and Mike, Don and Fran...and there's no way my eyes would be dry as they are now because my heart can't seem to accept that he's gone.

One thing I do know is this...he is not here. He is with our Lord.

I love you, Todd.

Snapshots

I wanted everyone to see this girl's beautiful curls. They are such a foreign idea to me that I'm constantly touching them to make sure they're real. And apparently, she really liked my lasagne.

Ah, a clear picture of Elias. He decided to dress himself today. This is such a step in the right direction--He wanted to get dressed. He did it himself. He was very proud of his humorous choice. I decided to just go with it. Backwards uniform shirt, spaceship pajama pants and all. And I do mean all....as in commando.

After an afternoon of playing "makeover" with Mommy, we had a little photo shoot. I labled this one "Daddy, Get your gun."

And this is here to remind me that through all the craziness and mayhem we have travelled and have yet to traverse, there are lucid and clean moments. I cherish them. (Even if they're all squinting and the taxi is honking outside our gate waiting for us.)

First things...

First things first: I am so sorry. For the few out there that actually read this blog, I have been a very poor contributor. Should this ever happen again (and you even care) please email me a very chastising, accusatory note...reminding me that this is the only way I will ever journal for posterity (i.e. my kids's future curiosity) what life was like for us.

There, I said it. Now let's get on with life!