Mystic, CT is home to a lot of touristy attractions. We arrived early one morning to go visit the Aquarium, and had a little time to spare before it opened. So we drove down to the main street, parked, and walked around a bit.

It was a stunningly beautiful day.

When we got back to the aquarium, again, we were too busy chasing after Jocelyn to be very handy with the camera. After a few hours looking at fish, we came back to the main drag and lunched at Mystic Pizza before we headed back to the yellow house for naptime.

There are no shots of the interior, because we were too busy chasing Jocelyn from room to room while screaming, “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” and tearing out our hair. We were very grateful when the time came to strap her back into her carseat.

Gillette Castle is located in Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, CT. It was about 40 minutes away from our vacation house in Old Saybrook. It was built by William Hooker Gillette, who had a thing for portraying Sherlock Holmes on the stage. That is all I can tell you about him, because instead of being able to stand and listen to the nice lady who was relating all the pertinent details of the castle, James and I had to stop Jocelyn from climbing all over the roped off furniture and wiping her boogers on the beautifully tapestried walls.

One thing I do remember though (although I had to look it up to be exact), the castle was purchased by the state from his descendants, which would probably please him, because in his will, he stated his wish for the property not to fall into the hands of “some blithering saphead who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded.”

He probably would have kicked Jocelyn out post haste.

More information can be found here.

CRIKEY!Astonished was I, when I read the news that Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) died a few days ago of a stingray’s barb straight to the heart. I heard on Monday, and every time I think of it, I get a little choked up. Steve was so full of personality and energy it is hard to beleive that he is really gone. Everything he did he did with such single-mindedness, and I have learned so much from his shows – and even more importantly, grown to LOVE the wild creatures he introduced to me. He loved wildlife so much, and the respect he held for animals taught me as well. His death was tragic, in that one would imagine it would come at the hands of some of the more dangerous creatures he handled.

Steve Irwin joins Jim Henson, Shel Silverstein, and (I know I’m forgetting some more) Dr. Suess in the “WHY GOD, WHY?!” category. When I think about his wife and 2 kids, tears come to my eyes.

He was on a radio talk show in the DC area a few years ago, and I only caught the tale end of it, but let’s just say, he totally KILLED, he was so awesome. A few minutes after the interview was over, the producer came in. He had talked to him a few minutes to ask him how he thought the show went, and to thank him for being on the show, etc. The DJs were astonished to hear how Steve was afraid he wasn’t “peppy” enough (can you imagine Steve Irwin not having enough energy?) and had actually gotten up a few hours before the interview (the time difference meant that it was sometime during the sleeping hours in Australia) to make sure he’d be “awake” enough to give a good interview.

Ah, crikey, I’m going to miss him.

WHY GOD, WHY?!!

CLASS NIGHTS

I spewed all Pollyanna-ish about making James’ gone-class-time to use for me, for craftiness, and really, it wasn’t a good comparison to the situation last summer. I was freaking out because I would have a Saturday with the kids, just as if it was a weekday, and I could see the whole summer droning out in front of me with a summer of all weekdays and only 1-day weekends, and I had to do something to keep it from feeling like a weekday.

That really isn’t the case here. It’s the dealing with the kids all myself that is tiring, with no buffer to keep Jocelyn from trying the bathroom door while I’m trying to pee, or going to inspect the newest creation that Ethan has built while I’m trying to get dinner on the table, or getting the jammies ready while the baths are in progress.

My plan for being crafty doesn’t really work, because it doesn’t alleviate all that, the way going on special expeditions alleviated Saturdays feeling like a weekday last summer.

So, I am taking the spirit of that post, but not the goals. I can’t really do crafty things before tehy’re in bed, not enough time, really, it’s filled with dinner, playing, tidying, baths, bedtime, etc. And after they’re in bed, that’s my time, just like any other day after they’re in bed. So while I may do crafty things in this time, I might not, the point is to make the CHOICE to not be grumpy about doing the evening routine by myself. And really, I am not, they are both old enough that it doesn’t feel like the chore it did last year. Ethan is helpful and can get into jammies and play until I’m done getting Jocelyn tucked in. The routine with a 4 year old and a 2 year old is infinitely better than with a 3 year old and a 1 year old (or younger).

SO, I’m just letting you know. Tuesdays/Thursdays, I may or may not do crafty things. Last night, I had more important things to do, like FINISHING getting my entire CD collection ripped to MP3 (i’ve been working on this all summer off and on) and getting pictures off the camera, converted to jpg, and up to flickr. YOu’ll be seeing some of our vacation pics over the next week or so.

STILL KIND OF CRAFTY

So, while I’m not dedicating Tuesday/Thursdays to craftiness, I still managed to do a cute thing for Ethan this past weekend. He has several pairs of pants that have holes in the knees but are otherwise perfectly fine, so…

MY NOSE! AHHHH MY NOSE!!

I have mentioned my super sensitive nose before. My nose is like a being unto itself. If it smells something it doesn’t like, it decides to punish me for putting it into contact with such abomination. Thus, my limited use of hairspray, and my abhorrence for the hand cream the Mary Kay lady leaves in the bathroom at work (it hasn’t been seen for sometime, thank god).

So yesterday we arrive home. It is the day the cleaning ladies come. Maybe I am just getting over my initial euphoria of having the house cleaned magically while we’re gone every 2 weeks, because I’m starting to get a little picky. I probably wouldn’t have been this picky yesterday though, if they hadn’t PUT STINKY CARPET FRESHENER POWDER on our carpets, or maybe it was just SPRAYING AIR FRESHENER EVERYWHERE, I don’t know WHAT IT WAS, but it STINKS. It REEKS of powdery floral stench ALL THROUGHOUT OUR HOUSE.

My nose is a very delicate organ. Do not accost the nose, or the nose will turn on you. This is not the first time the cleaning ladies have contaminated the air in my home, but after they had done it a few times, I called the office and requested that they not do it again. Ever. That was a month or so ago. And now they’ve done it again. I have a feeling that Jocelyn has the same delicate nasal passages that I have, because after I put her to bed, she spent the next hour coughing every 5 minutes, poor girl. Every time she coughed, I got angrier and angrier at the cleaning ladies.

Maybe it’s because of the stench that I started getting uber picky. They always leave a checklist of things they did on our kitchen table. I’m sure they go through the house, do their thing, then on their way out, whip out this sheet and quickly check off each box. Because I know they have never wiped down our kitchen cupboards. The reason I know this? Because they have cobwebs on them. I know they have never wiped down our baseboards. I know sometimes they don’t wipe all fingerprints off the woodwork and wipe off all window sills.. The reason I know this? BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL FILTHY.

I started getting all cranky about this as I was looking at their sheet, but then later i got a bit more reasonable. It’s not that I mind that they didn’t do these things, because honestly, the state we leave our house the mornings they come is probably not the best. If they didn’t have to spend time rearranging our piles of junk all throughout the house they probably WOULD have time to wipe off the cupboards, but as is, we’re only paying for X amount of hours, and if they can’t get to the baseboards without going over and charging me more, then yes. Please skip them. I’m just happy that the major things are getting done.

But really. Don’t kid yourself and try to put one over on me by checking every single box, because I’m not a dummy.

And if you put that stench in my home again, I’ll be calling up Merry Maids and dropping your ass.

– amy MY NOSE! MY NOSE!

A year ago ?? Two years ago?

I think it was 2 years ago, because Jocelyn was a wee little baby then.

Why was I remembering 2 years ago? Oh yeah.

A year or two ago, when James informed me he was taking Saturday classes that summer, my heart dropped and my mind exploded and I thought I would sink into the depths of despair. My mind screamed in denial. Then it screamed in anger. I ALREADY HAVE TO WATCH THESE KIDS 5 DAYS A WEEK, 2 EVENINGS AND NOW YOU WON’T BE HERE SATURDAYS TOO??? I seriously felt so depressed I may have cried over it.

Before I go on, let me just say that this was during a period of time that James worked from home, and I stayed at home with the kids. It was a wonderful time, we would all get up around 7:30-8ish, shower/get dressed and then give daddy kisses as he headed down the stairs to work. He would come up now and then to go potty, we would all have lunch together, and whenever anyone was doing anything super cute (I know, how did he get ANY work done?) I would buzz him on the phone and he’d run up to come see.

So my (inner) cries of abandonment were really not too well founded. Except that the daily wear and tear of staying at home was obviously telling on my psyche.

I did something cool though. Despite my despair at the ruination of our weekends for the entire summer (and let me tell you, it really did ruin the summer. James would agree.) I decided to flip this situation on it’s head and do something fun every week. I tried to view it as a special time I got to take the kids somewhere cool and exciting. I tried to ignore the fact that I already had 5 other days with no James that I filled somehow without wanting to stick my head in the oven, and make Saturdays special.

The first day, I got everyone ready, packed the double stroller, some PBJs and drove into DC. We parked along the river, walked over by the round memorial (what, you don’t know which one I’m refering to? Bah! Sorry, the only name that keeps popping into my head is Jefferson and Lincoln, and I don’t think it’s either, it’s not on the mall) around the edge of the water, looking at the ducks, watching Ethan climbing UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN the steps of that one memorial that you can look over the water and see the white house (aren’t I helpful with all the names?) while I tried to hide behind a column and nurse Jocelyn. We watched folks playing football, we investigated every rock and twig and we saw a mother goose with a sweet little line of baby geese walking in a line just like a little goose-train.

It was a pretty nice day, and I remember feeling pleased on my way home. If I had just stayed home, I would have moped and gotten more depressed. I know that sometimes it is all about your choices, and not about how you feel, even when you don’t really feel like making that choice. It’s hard when you just want to wallow in the pity-party, but I decided to have fun, and dammit, I had fun.

I’m recalling all this because James went to his first class on Tuesday, and didn’t get home until 10pm. I’m not really depressed over this, but it was a nice summer with no classes, and it’s a bit of an adjustment to the new schedule. I thought about how Tuesday went, and am not particularly happy. I got the kids, got dinner ready, and then kind of lazed around reading a John Grisham book until bedtime while the kids played. Got them into bed w/out incident and then lazed around watching TV. I had the best intentions of cleaning the kitchen, but it got later and later and it wasn’t happening until James called and said, “YOU’RE CLEANING THE KITCHEN, AREN’T YOU??? YOU SHOULD CLEAN THE KITCHEN!” and then I got up and cleaned the kitchen.

I don’t know, I wasn’t sad, but I WAS wallowing a teeny bit. “Woe is me. James isn’t here, so I’ll just sit here and ignore my children and my dirty kitchen and read.”

Anyway, my point is, I think I need to rearrange my point of view on this whole no James 2x a week thing. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, feeling OH SO PUT UPON because I MUST CARE FOR OUR CHILDREN WITHOUT AID FOR 3 WHOLE HOURS, TWICE A WEEK, I’ve decided to view it as 2 nights when after the kids are in bed, I can do absolutely my own thing.

So the point to all this? I dedicate Tuesday and Thursday nights to craftiness! No more feeling sorry for myself, I shall look forward to these two nights as the nights I get creative, in whatever fashion I choose. I have been dipping my toes into some crafty projects lately, and some are still in the mid-way phase. Tonight I’m going to try to finish Jocelyn’s Hello Kitty pillow.

Next, I’ll finish the bears.

and THEN, THE WORLD! MUAHAHAHAHA!

– amy “NO MORE! TALE TO TELL!” be-damy