On my nightstand: Jason just got A Dance with Dragons (book 5 in the series a Song of Ice and Fire), so I’ve laid aside all else and picked up A Clash of Kings (book 2).
TV show worth watching: Can’t wait until Game of Thrones comes out on dvd (a bit of a theme here). Really enjoying White Collar.
Movie I’ve seen (in or out of the theater): Jason and I got to see Tree of Life last week, and he wrote up some good thoughts on it. We also finally watched Harry Potter 7, so now we’re ready for 8.
In my ears: I am loving a mix that Joie Meador made for her wedding a few weeks ago. And I’ve also pulled out Mavis Staples. When we’re in the car, Simon alternatively asks for Joie’s music or Mader Steeps.
What I’m looking forward to next month: Two—yes, two!!—trips. One to celebrate our anniversary (just the two of us!) and one for family getaway. Also, our anniversary (6), my birthday (38), and my sister’s wedding. And even with all that, I’m probably most excited about our “big” ultrasound (and, yes, we hope to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl).
It became obvious to me today that I’ve been watching too many detective and spyshows. We dropped Jason off at work after lunch, and on our way back home, Simon spotted a tower crane and wanted a closer look. I looked back to see Ian already sleeping and, thinking Simon was probably needing a snooze too, offered to find a construction site (where my plan was to let Simon doze off watching the interesting-at-first-but-ultimately-soporific action). We found an excavator filling up a line of dump trucks near downtown—and a parking spot across the street. After about ten minutes, the first dump truck was topped off and pulled away to make room for the second truck. I realized that although I was growing bored with the repetitive scooping and dumping, Simon was riveted and not the least bit drowsy. I came up with a new plan: follow the dump truck! (I hoped that the drone of the road would put Simon to sleep.)
I pulled out of the parking lot and sped up just a little to catch up to the truck, which was already a couple of blocks ahead. Simon and I happily chatted about how neat it was to see the digger filling up that big truck and speculating about where the truck might be taking all the dirt. When the truck started down a road I had never been on before (part of the newly opened Salt Creek something or other near the UNL campus), I became both genuinely curious about where the truck was taking all that dirt and debris and a little nervous that it would turn into some super-secret industrial place where it would be obvious I didn’t belong. As we continued along the route, I got just ever so slightly carried away with the thought that maybe I had gotten myself into something bigger than simply following a truck full of dirt to a dumpsite: maybe, I thought, I had accidentally stumbled onto some crime boss’s elaborate coverup for his diamond smuggling/drug dealing/loan sharking operation and now I was following his enforcer when he was supposed to be re-hiding the rocks/smack/bodies. When he led me down a deserted road and jumped out to confront me would he believe that I was just a mom trying to get my kid to sleep or, failing that, learn about construction? Would he demand my iPhone and smash it to bits because he saw me snap a photo? Should I hide my phone in the seat and hope that the good guys find it and use my last texts to try to trace my steps and locate me and my boys? Would I instead be pulled over and hassled by a dirty cop on the mobster’s payroll? I tell you it didn’t help when the truck suddenly (and rather suspiciously) changed lanes right before a stoplight. I lost him right around 56th and Cornhusker.
Simon did, in fact, fall asleep sometime during the chase (high-speed it was not). I drove a while longer—to “solidify the nap” as we say—and hoped to find a place to park and pull out my library copy of Heat Wave, but sadly, he stirred just as I was about to pull over. “Mommy, where’s that dump truck?” he wondered. I told him that, as it turned out, we were not following the truck but rather the truck was following us and that Mommy, being a super stealthy ninja spy, lost the tail. He had no idea what I was talking about and changed the subject, asking if we could please find a steeeenky garbage truck instead.
Several years ago, I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t like jazz. I used to want to like it, but eventually I gave up even really wanting to. Sure, I enjoy sitting on the lawn with friends at Lincoln’s Jazz in June once or twice a summer, but beyond that the musical genre just hasn’t been for me.
Enter Elmo.
I really have no idea where he even learned the name—I can promise it wasn’t from me or Jason—but Simon has a genuine affection for “Melmo!” The little red monster was probably one of my least favorite Sesame Street characters—I don’t know why really except that I did find his baby voice and his referring to himself in the third person annoying. I tried to stave off the Melmo love as long as I could, but Simon is nothing if not relentless, so I found some short Elmo videos online that I can tolerate. Okay, okay, full disclosure: the truth is that after watching these videos again and again and again (and again and again . . . ), they have grown on me to the point where I actually find them quite funny and charming. We pretty much stick to this playlist, but there are a fewotherones that we watch now and again.
Whenever Simon gets to pick “doo Melmo” (two Elmos), I secretly hope he picks the one with Kermit the Frog because it brings back good memories of the Sesame Street News skits I watched as a kid or the one of Grover delivering a singing telegram for its genuinely funny lines (e.g., “You can’t shove singing and dancing under the door; they are artistic!”) or the one with Jamie Foxx because the fox’s vocabulary cracks me up. He most often picks the one with Natalie Portman, perhaps because it’s long (I love Portman’s playfulness in that one). Lately, I’ve been liking the one with jazz musician Diane Schuur—it’s a catchy little number, doobe doobe doowah.
So here I am saying that I like both jazz and Elmo—in small to medium doses, at least. File it under Things You Never Thought Would Be True and Then You Had Kids.
Jason and I started dating on a Wednesday (May 26, 2004).
Jason proposed to me on a Wednesday (January 26, 2005).
Simon was born on a Wednesday (January 30, 2008).
Last, least, and not at all in the same category, but still pretty good: Project Runway airs on Wednesdays. Season 5 starts tonight. I’m excited.
As if we didn’t love the Discovery Channel enough already, this is our new favorite commercial.
Last May, when we were out in Scottsbluff, Jason and I were driving back to the hotel at night, and we saw a lightning storm on the horizon. As we watched the show, we promised each other that when we had kids, we would always take the time to try to instill a sense of wonder in them. The commercial reminds me of that, and it makes me a little teary every time I watch it.
Perhaps I should just add a category for Bravia’s advertisements—I am taken with each new one I see. This one for the Egyptian market is, to my mind, second only to (what else?) the bouncy balls.
You can see a (better quality) Quicktime version here.
