Fun, full, fabulous Fourth of July weekend.

On Friday all four of us packed ourselves into ramonarjona's minivan and schlepped on down to Tacoma for the Tall Ships Festival. Our girls were faaaaaairly well-behaved, but their stamina cannot compare to that of Ramon's daughter, who is five, so we all left a bit earlier than they might have liked if left to themselves. But on the bright side, there were pictures of the two older girls standing inside a cedar canoe.


Awesome.

... until they are earning their keep as product models. :-)

lesserseattle graciously picked up the trunk from Deseret Industries today with no trouble, and it is now sitting at the foot of the bed waiting to be laden with linens.

The hypermuffin gave it a "baptism of fire" by climbing on top, sliding all over it, then grabbing ahold of the bed's footboard and jumping up and down on the trunk like crazy.

In other news, I took both girls to my office downtown this afternoon so that they could model some products for use as insets in the product photographs. They were both super-cute for the whole endeavor, despite being sleep-deprived and a little bit sick. As soon as I have links to pictures, I'll post 'em. Pictures here

We were even able to take half an hour and visit Andrew at his office. So now the hypermuffin can say "I want to go to work!" and have some concept of what she's actually asking for... :-/

Are there no depths to which "Farmland Foto" will not sink?

It is not enough that they cart a cute little pony around to various daycares and let the children sit on it and trot around the yard a bit.

It is not even enough that they take exorbitantly priced photographs of the events to ransom sell to the parents.

No, they also have to dress the kids up in chaps and a cowboy hat.

There is no fighting the cuteness.

$25 for three photos? Done and done. Before I knew it, the checkbook was in my hand.

I couldn't even struggle.

The power of cute compeled me.

My laptop is old -- 7 or 8 years old, which for a laptop nowadays is positively ancient.

The battery is a joke, barely lasting 5 minutes. The "N" and "M" keys are completely blank, and many other keys have letters that are almost totally worn away -- OK for me, with the touch-typing, but not OK for someone like the hypermuffin, who doesn't know where all the keys are by feel. And for a long time now, it's had less than 3% free disk space -- I've filled it up with music, pictures, short fiction, work files, graduate school files, voice clips, and the other electronic detritus of modern life. 

I've been worried about the low disk space, but figured I could hold out until June, when Andrew plans to buy me a new laptop for my birthday (squeeeee!!!). But then today the transformer on the power cord decided to stop working. It came back, but only if you wiggle and waggle the cord "just so," and sometimes it cuts in and out, and I see exposed wires right at the juncture of cord and transformer box. And once I saw a spark. Not safe.

So, while it's (capriciously) still working, I'm transferring off all my important files tonight, via memory stick, to Andrew's big computer, there to hibernate until such time as a New Laptop shall come upon the land like a longed-for spring.

Sipping tea and watching files transfer is curiously soothing. Popped on my beautiful little cherry red iRiver portable music-delivery device, and listened to the girliest girly music I own, "Ghost of a Rose" by Blackmore's Night (thanks, skylerannesmom!).

(Sorry, but you have to admit that the title track is like a romance novel -- designed to appeal to women. "Promise me, when you see, a white rose, you'll think of me. I love you so, Never let go, I will beeeeeeee -- your ghost of a rose." I recognize that it was designed to appeal to me and my ilk. But still, I can't help admitting that it works. Ah, the perils of being overly self-aware.)

In other news, my father leaves tomorrow in the early morning, after an 8-day visit. Things will be back to normal and my attic will be empty, but I know both granddaughters will miss him. Luckily, that's what insanely cute pictures are for -- to bridge that geographic gap.

Forwarded to me from a coworker, a "Peep Show" that's very, very wrong.

My "little" brother (actually, 6'4") has been teaching English in Japan with the JET Programme for a little while now. He's living and working in the city of Saku, which is famous (in Japan) for being the spot farthest from the sea.

A month or two ago, he and three other teachers auditioned for, and were taped for, a Japanese show called "Nodo Jiman" (のど自慢, literally: Beautiful Throat). It's a show that started in 1946, anticipating the "American Idol"-style reality performance shows by quite a bit. Basically, people and groups sing on air and are judged.

My brother writes that "his" episode is going to air this Sunday the 16th. He adds, "so I will be seen all over the country! Only for a bare minute, of course... Still, I'll be "famous in Japan", so to speak."

Pictures and captions

So, did his group win? I hear you clamor to know. You could always tune in to Japanese TV this Sunday and find out! ;-)

As many of us prepare our holiday feasts, let's not forget to laugh at ourselves. I'm sure we all have holiday food misadventures that we are trying to live down. Lots of hilarious, holiday-cooking mishap stories can be found over at Notes From the Trenches.

Or, if we don't feel like laughing at ourselves, let's at least take a moment to give thanks that we can laugh at others.

Classic photograph of a mis-decorated "Wall"Mart cake

( behind the cut. )

My friend Nikki sent me some pictures of people's hands, painted with amazing attention to detail and posed to look like various animals.

I wonder where these came from. Who thought of doing this? And how long did it take?

Andrew and I had a rule -- we didn't exchange gifts on Father's Day and Mother's Day. The thought was that those holidays are for the children to do something, not the spouses. Because otherwise, where does it end?

But this year I gave him a present anyway. Actually, I bought him five -- five prints of medieval alphabet letters by Emily Balivet, via Etsy.com (found her originally through drool.icio.us).

These are luscious prints of paintings, each showing a different letter, a la a children's alphabet book, if a children's alphabet book were illustrated with detailed, medieval-inspired paintings.

I bought Castle, Angel, Violin, Incense, and Winter, to represent our various initials, and had them all matted in dark chocolate brown and framed in gold frames, each different.

They're so pretty!

autumnbottom was with Andrew and me for my labor on June 1, as well as a good chunk of the previous afternoon.

Her photos of the experience (not bloody or all that gross, but showing just a bit of flesh!):

http://picasaweb.google.com/autumnbottom/IrinaElaineSDebut

thank you! thank you!

This photo made me happy.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070504-sumo-pictures.html

My dad just got back from a weeklong trip to Japan.

Pictures of a cherry blossom viewing and a jaunt up into the mountains:
http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2784281#148369912

Here's my brother's account:

Photos from the Baby Welcoming Party yesterday afternoon: http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2661563/32/145766496#145766472

Nikki and Jen did a great job throwing it for us! We are truly blessed to have friends like these.

Well, after a sick-ish Easter morning, on Vivian's part, which prompted us to skip church, the rest of the day has been pretty low-key. I didn't get to nap as much as I'd like. I also haven't gotten to clean as much as I'd like. Vivian wants to whimper and be held a lot, and feels flushed, but those are her only symptoms, and her incisions look fine. She's still playing in between her crying jags, so I think she just has a little 24-hour bug. Hope she's well enough for daycare tomorrow...

Andrew and I got to enjoy French toast and fresh-juiced pineapple juice before he headed off to work. Someday he won't work holidays, but disasters happen on every day of the year, even on Easter. His flexible schedule is a real boon -- it lets us keep Vivian home 6 days a week...

After her (too-short) nap, Vivian "fed" her doll some water, colored in a new pad of construction paper, and enjoyed some plastic Easter eggs with little pieces of chocolate inside them. They also had STICKERS on the outside for her to put on her cheeks!
http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2661563#142109282

The weather has been frustratingly close to perfect. I just want enough dry days in a row to allow us to finally seal our deck. I have all the supplies -- I just want the wood to actually be DRY before we seal it. Dry wood -- really, not too much to ask.

Fun links:
Parent Hacks -- Real-world parenting tips from the real experts -- parents.
WantNot.Net - daily tips on deals to be found online. I found an awesome 800-thread-count cotton sheet set for only $50 at Amazon.
The Washington Post's Miss Manners, Judith Martin

Vivian turns 2 today!

Pictures of her with her birthday cake on Sunday night: http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2661563/8/140812232#140811551

New pictures of the hypermuffin are up.

She is very hard to photograph, because she moves so darn fast!

New pictures are up -- finally!

http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2561632#134774183

Update:

My dreckiness has migrated from a double ear infection (now cleared up) into sinusitis. I have another round of antibiotics, oh joy.

Ah well, better to start that now than to have suffered through the whole weekend without medication.

On a happier note, Andrew brought home a piece of cake from work. It was a big hit!
http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2303200#130109654

Here's Vivian getting her first professional haircut:

http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2303200/2/121316599