FIRE!

I picked Mr. up from the train.

He kissed me,

and then began to tell me all about his day.

Suddenly, 

in the middle of his story,

he began to say,

"My lips are on FIRE!"

"No, really!  My lips are burning up!"

Now, again, slightly louder,

more panic in his voice,

"My lips are on FIRE!"

"What do you have on your lips?"

I was laughing hysterically by this time.  

Pee your pants kind of laughing.

As calmly as I can, 

I say,

"Burt's Beeswax."

"What's in it?" he yells.

Ironically

I say,

"Cool and refreshing mint."

Honestly, it was so funny!

You'd think I was trying to poison him,

by using lip balm

ON MY LIPS!

As the sisters say

"Overreact much?"

Who's Carmen?

Sister was talking at dinner tonight

 about her bad day.

"Karma is out to get me," she declared.

"Who's Carmen?" Mr. asked.

Peels of laughter.

Sister Too says 

"I think someone is getting old."

And reminds us a little of grandpa.

Happy Chinese New Year!

We served broccoli and beef, firecracker shrimp, rice, 

and chocolate dessert bites.

Ambitiously, I planned to make paper lanterns for decorations.

*chirp...chirp*

Um, yeah.

On the bright side, there is nothing to take down.

Dinner

Tonight school is hosting 

International Night.

Sister is playing her trombone.

(The Can-can...once it gets in your head it stays...)

Sister Too is one of the MC's.

Sister Too really wants us to go.

"Mom, you don't have to make dinner,"

she persuades.

"Hmmm, sounds good," I think.

Sister Too says,

 "And, I told my teacher 

how great you are

at making

 homemade French bread.

So I volunteered you

 to make

 a dozen loaves."

I'm not sure 

but I think making dinner 

*might* 

have been easier.

Once again, the easy way

is not the right way.

Even my hair smells like bread.

Random fun in the Carnegie Museum

 Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love.

Pittsburgh is the city of sisterly love.

See this love?

Can you feel it?

They are literally pushing each other apart!

Mr. thinks he looks like Zeus.

Not so much.

Sister Too in the Hall of Statues.

See that tall building?

It's the Cathedral of Learning.

I want to go there some day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'll tell you what:

I love this city!

Random stuff

I woke up today

to Sister Too, trapped in her bedroom.

She wiggled the doorknob from the inside.

I wiggled it from the outside.

It wasn't budging.

In this old house (1941),

I was afraid we would need the screwdriver

to take off the doorknob

and release Sister Too.

Mr. stayed in bed, 

listening,

and thinking it was funny.

Finally I chastised him for his lack of help

and he went to work.

He deduced that the door was locked.

And when he coached her,

she was able to unlock the door

and spring herself free.

She didn't know the door was locked.

HA!

Meanwhile the Mac Doctor was here again.

He left me with a corrupted photo library.

And instructions to keep deleting libraries

and going further and further back

until I find the library BEFORE the corruption.

You know that means I am losing pictures.

And I have a back up.

And it frustrates me that my camera has 400 photos on it

that I don't dare load onto the computer

or post here.

It frustrates me that the back up drive 

has saved corrupted photos

and is no good to me.

It frustrates me that I paid someone lots of money

to NOT FIX my problem.

And I am really sad that I may be losing some of my pictures

for they are really the only thing I collect.

Boo hoo for me!

Growing up

I need to hang the pictures in this house.

First, I need to find out what is in the attic.

Then I need to organize the basement,

finally, the things in the garage that go in the basement 

or in the attic need to return to their respective places.

Only then will I be able to access the pictures to hang.

I started that process yesterday.

This move was perfectly timed.

The moving company packed everything up, and loaded it into the truck,

and dropped it off here while

 the sisters and I went to the cottage for the summer.

We had a fabulous summer.

Now that we're here, and the house is smaller,

we no longer have a toy room.  

Actually, we no longer need a toy room.

The sisters have outgrown their toys, 

and are satisfied to store them in the attic,

and generously donated a few as well.

Yesterday, while in the attic,

sorting through the boxes,

organizing the holiday decor which we will need in a few weeks,

I opened the box of dress-up clothes,

which was full of lots of things that didn't belong in there,

because kids rarely put things back where they belong.

I found two napkins from a tea party,

and a wipe-erase board listing 18 different kinds of tea served.

The long lengths of fabric used for so many things:

rivers, beds, forts, and costumes, 

were hopelessly knotted and tangled with safety pins,

couture designed by the sisters, 

worn by themselves and their friends.

It was weird, to see these items frozen in time,

and suddenly I wished 

for a moment

that the pretending days in our house were not over.

I wanted to post a picture here,

taken 4 years ago,

of all the neighborhood kids,

but iPhoto is still mad at me, 

and told me so by giving me a big, red exclamation point.

I gotta call that computer guy back.

Brave

Sister Too is not the most adventurous of our family.

She tends to be cautious 

and plans ahead.

Recently she challenged herself.

She begged to go on.

Mr. indulged her.

I encouraged her.

Sister heckled her (boo for Sister).

She gave it a try.

But then got a bit nervous.

Can you FEEL her apprehension?

She gave it a try.

She didn't work up the courage

 to try a flip.

And she cut her turn short.

I was so proud of her for TRYING something new.

We can't see it,

but she just did lots of growing there.

I'm stumped for a title.

12 and 14 can be tough.

On the mother.

Recently I tried to take photos of my children on a family outing.

This is what I got:

Pretty.

This one we'll frame for Grandma.

Sometimes Halloween decorations

seem appropriate

for EVERY day.

Like this one warning of a foul mood:

Or this one, 

for the bedroom door of a teenager.

Calgon, take me away!

Dinner conversation

Overheard at dinner:

Sister Too (6th grade) was singing a song.

Sister (8th grade) says "Oh, did you like that song?"

"Oh, you heard it too? Is it in every classroom?"  Sister Too wonders.

"Yes, that's why they are called MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS!" Sister replies.

Just goes to show how self-absorbed kids this age can be.

I think it's funny.