I think older siblings have been filling Elise in on the more extreme dangers of life. As I strapped her into a carseat last night, she happily said, "Seat, safe. No me die!" Then a little while ago she had a (non-vehicular) accident and when I went to change her shorts she said, "Yeah, shorts. No me butt OUT! Me Jail!" I was like, did you just say you'll go to jail? And she said, "Yeah! No me jail, me dressed! My butt outside, jail."
Mmm, right.
Yesterday we got two bantam silkie chicks. One was to replace Elise's lost chicken, and the other was to keep the first one company, because tiny chicks really shouldn't be alone in the beginning when they're under heat lamps and all. As we are all outfitted for chicks, and they all eat scraps and things (these are getting minute amounts of a mix of my rolled oats, whole wheat bread crumbs, flax seed meal, wheat germ and peas right now, with some sand mixed in for grit) they only cost the $3 chick price. We got one white and one blue, so when grown they'll look like this:
CLEARLY THEY ARE WINNERS.
Also, silkies are known as the affectionate, cuddly chickens (!), and did I mention they max out at like 6-8 inches tall and 1-2 pounds?! TINY CHICKENS. Elise keeps saying "My chichen mall, ME MALL, MALL CHICHEN!!!" We're calling them Big Bird and Cookie Monster. She does love Sesame Street. She and I are sharing them both.
They are smaller than normal chicks, even, though it's hard to tell with this sort of size reference!
Today is a surreal day. I got like, 4 hours of sleep. I got up early and cleaned like a madwoman because I knew we had people coming over. Right now Ananda's friend Sophia is over, and Aaron's guinea pigs and $100 have arrived (he is pet sitting for a family traveling all summer), and he is playing THE MOST AMAZING stuff on the piano...I really love the phase he is in. Annie and Sophia are crafting in the library while it echoes through the house. Grant went to the Kiwanis Fishing Tournament with his mother. This is not something I feel sad to be left out of ;)
Yesterday I actually got somewhere with the NYC trip, it is exciting. Ok, first, I walked into Dance Empire and Kelly immediately flagged me over and told me she somehow was talking to some agent about the kids in Bring Em Out? Like a talent agent, who was not interested at first but Kelly mentioned Tawanna (their super-credified teacher) and it caught the agent's attention. So next Friday when they rehearse, they're supposed to "dress cool" because this person will be there. Right now Aaron's idea of dressing cool is having his shirts on intentionally inside out, and he's rediscovered his love of glasses with the lenses poked out, so we will see. Kelly is also having Grant do some headswaps on some JUMP pictures to maximize group awesomeness. She is hoping they'll get included in casting calls for commercials or something. I am one part apathy, thinking most likely nothing will come of it (this is Miami, not LA), one part hesitation, like worrying about whether or not I want to enter that wirlwind, and one part excitement at possibilities. Aaron really wants to act and I just haven't had the time and money to make that happen in addition to dance. He and Annie did a
short student film with our friend Shaun 3 years ago and he's playing the villain in another PATH kid's play, which will be performed at a church this fall, and that is about it. We'll see I guess.
BUT THEN!! Then I heard another mama talking about how she's still looking for a place up there she can afford and I immediately was like DO YOU WANT TO SHARE A HOTEL ROOM WITH ME?!?! And she was like OH MAN YES HOW PERFECT and now all is right as rainbows.
Well, not quite. That just means we're splitting the two grand for the weeks' accomadation o_O Really what it means is that for what I was gonna be shelling out for a hostel or Craigslist, I can now use towards actually being at the hotel where JUMP is being held, so we won't have to have subway riding or getting back to our place at the end of the day :D And when the other kids are all going swimming in the hotel pool or whatever he can come, and this is good stuff. I reserved the rooms last night with a giant gulp (though there is no cancellation penalty) because really, $1012 plus food for a week in NYC is still daunting the hell out of me, but this - this is progress. I was more than ready for some freakin' progress. And at least now I don't have to comb the haystack that is New York for the needle that is a really great cheap place in a good area, anymore.
I have had several private messages, anonymous comments and (awhile back) formspring questions of people asking if/how they can help Aaron get to NY to dance. Particularly after the most detailed Usborne Books post it seems like some people REALLY want to help but just can't handle that website or find anything they want. Someone on facebook also recently suggested it become a facebook "cause" for people who don't want books. I am not really comfortable with the cause thing, and keep thinking this is not an emergency or a crisis...BUT, on the other hand, I'll bet there are some people out there that genuinely want to help, and relatives who would send help for him. And it is really still teetering at the 75% we can definitely go mark, with some irresponsible spending and debt thrown in. So, to whoever has asked/genuinely wants to help: you can send paypal for Aaron's NYC trip to my normal email address (altarflame at yahoo) and rest assured that account is not in use for anything else and is easily earmarked in this direction. Also, thank you so much to the two people who already took it upon themselves to do that <3 Grant may or may not take to updating
this page (as it stands it is somewhat inaccurate).
While he was in hip hop yesterday, I took the other kids over to Borders so Annie could use her birthday gift card. She got this massive Dragonology book full of models of dragons, which she built and displayed last night:
Twelve total, not all shown.
I cut my hair last night, about 4 inches off. It's still a bit past my shoulders, I just took all the straggly deadened hag hair off. It was starting to look like I was wearing a dead animal on my head. The problem is that when you cut four inches off my hair
and then it curls you rapidly have a situation where my hair, which before on a good day was sexy or beautiful, is merely
cute. Also I'm pretty sure I look fatter this way, without those extended vertical lines going down the front of me and stretching the visual lengthwise. BUT - it is way healthier looking and "nice" in general now, and as my bangs have grown out to about mid-cheek length when curling (or to the ears pushes to the sides) with the shorter style I'm starting to approach something that actually looks as though it's an intentional
style.
One last thing....Andrea, or custard_kisses, formerly known as taniwha_grrl, is someone I've read on here for many years. She's definitely one of my favorites, with her amazing baking recipes, AMAZING knitting projects, AMAZING New Zealand mountain-and-streams backyard, and her super mothering (SHE HAS TWELVE KIDS...who I know by face and name and have watched change for like 5 years now). She is beautiful, and smart, and hilarious, and links me to most of the best hilarity I find on the internet. She is also now in the ICU in a medically induced coma, on a breathing machine, due to pneumonia....I keep finding myself tearing up and feeling heavy as one of her teenaged daughters updates on her behalf. They don't have need of financial help, but I definitely think we should organize something where we gift her upon homecoming with LUSH products, chocolates, whatever the best latest Twilight parodies are, and tea cups. If anyone would like to participate in putting together a package, please let me know. Also, if you pray, please pray for her swift recovery and rapid return to twittering about how horrible hospital food is.
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