How we roll on Saturday nights

[caption id="attachment_755" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Dance party"][/caption]

I really don't have to tell you that we're lovers of music in our household. My husband is a musician and I, well, you read this blog, you know I like music a lot. On Saturday night, I confided in my husband of the dirty little secret that Lil B and I partake in when my husband's out playing a gig -- we put on Ashes of American Flags and cue it up to "I'm the Man that Loves You." Now, for a while, when my friend Ethan had borrowed the movie, I would have to pull various versions up from YouTube but none compared to the DVD version. Not even the cute version of Heavy Metal Drummer with Spencer Tweedy when he was 6 wouldn't work from I'm Trying to Break Your Heart ... Lil B and I had to play the version from Ashes. So, that doesn't sound like a dirty secret ... well, the dirty part was that we have a little dance we to, together and I sing the song as loud as I can switching man to mom. I'd grab the DVD and Lil B would come running -- he knew I would pick him up and spend the next three minuates singing and dancing and it would be full of giggles.

Why that song? Do I need to answer that question? My husband was still like "oh my god, that is dumb." At one point, he wanted to video it but that is where I drew the line. You can video take anything else but not of us doing our secret dance.

A few weeks back, an old friend sent me a touching Facebook message about hearing a song on the radio that I told her my mom used to sing to me. That song, "Sunshine on my Shoulders" by John Denver.  Our parents mold us and it's those bonding moments you are comforted with as a child that make you realize "by gosh, she does love me unconditionally." I sorta felt like maybe Lil B and I needed our "moment." My mom used to sing "You Are My Sunshine" too.

"You Are My Sunshine" is a special song. Sometimes I can sing it to Lil B. Sometimes I can not. I substitute "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" when I can't hold back tears.  But, our song is "I'm the MOM who loves you" and we do that silly little dance, well, when it's just us.

After our little dance reenactment for dad, we showed dad our new found love of the Flaming Lips:



And of Techno:


Hopefully, I'm making good memories for Lil B.

Nana, Kitty Cat

Artificial tears = my BFF

It has now been 11 days since I had my LASIK surgery and I’m happy to report that I A) survived and B) I have 20/15 vision. WOO HOO.

I was a whole lotta nervous for nothing. I took two .5 mg of Valium and they sat me down under this machine (obviously the laser) and just stared at it while it worked its magic. There was some pressure but only for a nano second and I had no idea when the laser was “doing it’s thing.” At the end of both eyes, the machine made this weird noise and I smelled smoke but I was warned that would happen and was normal.

Recovery was sleeping from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.  My husband picked me up from the surgery and I could see on the way home which was amazing and an hour after surgery. I went for my post-op the next day and could see 20/20 but the flap had moved a nano millimeter so I had to come back in a few day and then it was proclaimed I could 20/15. Woo hoo.

My eyes were not too dry at first but today I’m experiencing it big time (I think it’s because I went to our new Redmond office and the dust was flying all over the place). Artificial tears have been my best friend today. I have anywhere from two weeks to six months for the dry eye to go away. I guess it’s better than wearing glasses or contacts. Good thing Costco sells them in bulk.

I keep wanting to go take my contacts out before bed and I grab for my glasses on the night stand. I have to sleep with a stupid sleep shield for a few more days (I busted one already).

I realize I need to blog more. I have some exciting topics coming forth so stay tuned.

Can't get enough of peanut butter chocolate Easter eggs unless ...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="126" caption="Egg hunt"][/caption]

... you come down with a stomach virus.  Lil B awoke me at 3 a.m. crying with a weird cough. As I rolled out of bed and walked into him room there was this stench of grossness. Poor little guy couldn't keep anything down. After a few hours, he just sorta snapped out of it and was up for the Old Mill Easter hunt.

Lil B was a pro. He knew exactly what to do (without even telling him) -- get the eggs. He ran all over the amphitheater and when we got in the car, he fell fast asleep in the back of the Jeep. He'd been up since 3 a.m. so he had to be pretty darn tired. When he awoke, THREE HOURS LATER, we proceeded to "hide" the eggs over and over again.

Brian and I met his brother out that night. He and his girlfriend came to town for a little R&R so we went to dinner and had swanky drinks. On the way home, we noticed a police man had pulled over someone on the parkway. It was a man dressed in a bunny suit. We joked on twitter that no one would get candy in the morning as it looked like the Easter Bunny was a little tied up taking a sobriety test on the side of the road.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Lil B and his Easter basket"][/caption]

This morning Lil B was greeted with his Easter basket (bunny must have not been drunk). The candy was mostly for my husband but inside where two little trains -- Thomas and Rosey -- guess what Lil B did all morning? Play trains. I know what he'll be getting for his birthday.

Mid-morning, Brian started to not feel good. I joked he ate too many peanut butter chocolate eggs. He didn't think that was funny and within the hour was sick and couldn't keep anything down. Now, Lil B wasn't sick too long so my guess is Brian will be fine soon and well, I'm next. Fabulous.

I had a glorious meal planned but I guess we'll skip it. I might break into the strawberry pie though. Hot dogs for dinner. Yippie!

You can view our Easter photos here.

Happy Easter!

Wayne and the bubble

I did do a little playing when I went to SXSW Interactive. I was lucky to score a ticket to the Flaming Lips sold out show. Enjoy Wayne floating around in his bubble!

Bye, bye four eyes

Hmmm, it’s been a few weeks. My goal is to post at least twice a week but since being back from Austin from SXSW Interactive I’ve been faced with the following:
• Re-sleep training my child
• WORK WORK WORK
• Volunteer stuff for the Family Access Network
• Pre-school hunting
• Getting the house painted
• Being scared out of my wits about getting LASIK in less than a week.

By the time my child is off to dreamland I am SPENT. Just SPENT. And a little stressed. When this happens, I focus on spending my time on Flickr seeing if Jeff Tweedy combed his hair during Wilco’s sold out
US tour. Jeff, if you’re reading this, I’m quite disappointed in your grooming skills.

I’m getting LASIK surgery next week. Since I’ve inherited my mother’s poor eyesight at the good ole age of 10, glasses and contacts have been my world. I only wore my glasses to see the blackboard until my
senior year where I was forced to get contacts for my 18th birthday (what a fun bday gift) in order to see the world more clearly. Since 1993, there have been some great advances in corrective surgery and the recovery time (in my case) is just a day and I should be back up and running and seeing clearly but that doesn’t mean I’m scared out of my mind that lasers will be pointed at my eyes and slicing stuff. I’ve been told I’ll be loaded up on valium but still, I probably won’t sleep the night before. YIKES.

The good thing is that my employer offers LASIK and I get to cash in on the good ole employee discount. I was hesitant to sign up for a health flex spending account in November since my husband was out of
work but I held positive vibes that he would find employment (which he did) and I wouldn’t feel guilty about spending the dough on a cosmetic procedure. There was talk of videoing the procedure for a work video
but I really really didn’t want to broadcast that part of my life out there on the internet. You’ll just have to read about it when it’s all said and done.

As for my child, after a few days of crying himself to sleep, he is back to his regular sleep routine of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. He’s been night waking a lot too so we’ve started night waking sleep training. We
would usually bring him into bed where he’d fall asleep and proceed to kick me all night long. Great for him; not so much for me.

I will post more, I promise. Pinky swear, really.