English Emma Blooms

Can’t wait for Aaron to get home! ------ Forwarded Message From: Aaron Kalinowski Subject: One more day It took me a while to walk to Lincoln but this is his view. Home   tomorrow. Love ak

Aaron’s picture of the polish embassy.

The wash zoo under construction...

Aaron’s picture from a DC comedy club

3 tablespoon oil 3 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1 garlic clove crushed 1/2 cup fresh basil (1 tsp dry) 2+1/2 cup dry pasta 8 oz green beans 1 red bell pepper 2 fresh tomatoes chopped 1/2 cup fresh oregano(1 tsp dry) 1 tsp sugar (if you have kids) 8 oz tuna or 1 lb cooked chicken strips cook pasta and drain combine oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, oregano in blender combine ingredients Chill and serve

The next time your husband goes out of town without you, write out exactly what you're going to do to him when he walks in the door. Get the note to your husband while he's on the road. There's a pretty good chance he will be hurrying home just as fast as humanly possible. ( www.52projects.com)

* Buy a disposable camera.  Take pictures of each waiter/waitress at each restaurant you go to. When you have finished the film, send it in to be developed. when you get the pictures back see if you can remember which server was at each restaurant.   Try to see how much you really take notice of the people who touch your lives if only for a little and whose lives you touch. (my idea)

Don't throw out your coffee, jam or pickle jars, especially if they are those really beautifully shaped ones that you get nowadays. All you need are some sequins or diamantes, which cost literally pennies from haberdashers. Stick them on at random and glue a label to the front with "coffee,” "spice,” "pasta" or anything else, which the jar might be utilized for storing. Tie a silver or gold bow round the neck of the jar. 

Tick Removal: I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it's some times difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc. Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"

Jeremiah gets short shrift ..  He was shamefully ignored when Solomon was ill and has hardly been acknowledged publicly since. So, here he is in all his furry glory.  When I have the energy I will tell you some stories of his deviousness.

When Joel and Emma go on vacation, they don’t just see Castles in England, but also in Indiana! Enough of the third person. The last week of May  Joel and I went on a road Trip to visit Laura, Lars, Philip and Micah in Newburgh.  we have to go back soon, if just to play at the castle playground with the anatomically correct mermaid, complete with nipple detail!  Can you believe that.  Luckily the boys did not notice it.... Unfortunately Joel did not bring his Knight costume.  He did bring spare cowboy hats so that Philip and Micah could dress up too! Laura said that she thought I had more fun at the playground than anyone else, but I am sure that is not true.    What I am sure of is that I had more fun at the mission thrift store than anyone else... except perhaps Laura herself.  Joel did score 5 new cowboy shirts so he didn’t come away completely bereft.

of our Newburgh vacation for Joel was playing with Philip and Micah (in between vicious fighting) and swimming in their pool. Lars was busy, but we did get to see him in the evenings and when he left for work in the morning. Joel might not have got to have breakfast with his daddy, but he had breakfast with Lars and he loves Lars, so all was good. Here Lars is pictured with his son, Philip. Also pictured, the boys eating watermelon. Eating is serious business for male types.

Daffodils by William Wordsworth I wander'd lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay; Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced, but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee; A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth. Public domain.  

To Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,    Old time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today    Tomorrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,    The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run,    And nearer he's to setting. That age is best which is the first,    When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse, and worst    Times still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time,    And while ye may, go marry; For, having lost but once your prime,    You may forever tarry. "To Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick. Public domain.

Mommy, have you ever heard the word “fuck dumb”?   said with a smirk.    “Ask your father...” I said...

I do well when I have structure, routine and predictability.  Kind of like a balanced diet.  There are certain things I need daily and others that are special treats.   The last three weeks have unnerved me because of the lack of routine.  No preschool for Joel.  No MOPS. Aaron leaving for work so early that we don’t see him in the mornings. Aaron working weekends... Visitors, visiting other people, dinner at different times of the day.  I am discombobulated.   Joel put the brakes on everything today by waking up late with a sore throat and his voice almost gone.  That means we didn’t go to a park to meet friends.  Instead we snuggled on the sofa,  played with his toys on the living room floor and painted outside.  I fast forwarded our day by an hour so that we ate lunch early and I put him down for his nap early.  He needed it. I needed it.  If he had not needed it I would not have got it.    I don't know what time Aaron leaves for work in the morning and I don’t want to know.

Joel wears a diaper to sleep- apparently quite common for boys his age.  We get him up once in the night to pee but he still needs the diaper because his bladder just has not caught up to the rest of his body yet.   The one struggle we have over it is that  when in the morning he dresses himself he forgets to throw the diaper in the trash.   We have lots of arguments in which I threaten to put his dirty diaper in his pillow case as an incentive to start throwing them away.   Then he calls me a super-mean mommy. Anyway, a happy incident on Wednesday might have broken him of his habit.   His friend Katherine came over to play.  We cleaned the house excitedly awaiting her arrival.   It might not surprise you to know that Katherine is very pretty and that her eyelashes are the longest ones Joel has ever seen, so he says.    When she arrived he did his usual mating dance of not being able to look her in the eye and then doing donkey kicks in circles.  When he had calmed himself down he an

Summer has officially started. I know this because the pool is open and Joel started summer camp. Since Solomon died in February I have been avoiding being home alone because of the emptiness (sorry Jeremiah). cats are like teenagers.  They spend all day sleeping in another room and then get up in the evening and sulk around the house.   Apparently Jeremiah tried to wake Joel up in the night to play with him by meowing loudly outside Joel’s door.  Maybe we should get him a feline friend to play with at night. Anyway... off on a tangent.  I dropped Joel off and he clung to my leg.  He doesn’t know anyone at the camp.  Last year he went with Mira.    So, while he is clinging to his leg a boy comes up to us and says :”  I know you guys!  I played with you at the park!”  This kid’s name is Keegan and he will be in Joel’s kindergarten class next year!  How cool is that.   It made me glad that he is doing the camp.   If there is one thing that is worse than showing up at summer camp and n

Our first Mops scavenger hunt, of the digital variety was organized by our wonderful Josie.    We gathered at the agreed on location before we started out on our nefarious mission.  There would be winners and there would be losers. Josie’s daughter Colleen would be the judge... The winning teams: Someone doing the Monkey Bars The Winning Team (Veronica, Flo, Karla, Danielle) ) The runner up (Sara, Emma,  Dawn) Strangers Kissing Drinking Fountain Two people on a slide together Mops Member sitting at a bar Stranger doing a return Stranger talking on phone while driving; Something with a MOPS logo Black Minivan: Hugging a stop-sign ringing someone's doorbell and asking for a picture with them stranger modeling clothes group eating french fries: picture of someone pumping gas Stranger buying something from Carters group doing Chinese Fire Drill at a stoplight MOPS member donating money: MOPS members sneaking dessert from the room without being caught;   someone buying som