the revolution will not be microwaved.

some days i wish i'd just be happy with tater tot casserole.

today is starting out slow as all mondays tend to do..

the duke is dawdling over greek...wingman is at loose ends waiting for school to start...the lord of the ring is doing, well, whatever it is he does involving the computer and a lot of other things i don't the name of and wouldn't understand even if he told me...and i'm trying to find yet one more fish recipe for this week's menu that the boybarians will devour without complaint...

while i enjoy perusing recipes and menu planning and food shopping and cooking the whole keeping it healthy AND enjoyable WHILE including all the 'must haves' on a weekly basis can be a challenge...couple that with all of sudden i've got boybarians who are like toddlers in the eating department!...one week they will devour what the next week they will bitterly complain about...

and as far as fish is concerned it needs to be good and tasty on its own...i refuse to go the tartar sauce as incentive route on a regular basis...not that there's anything wrong with tartar sauce...lord knows my ass just loves it some tartar sauce...but in the interest of parenting as it relates to food choices, tartar sauce is in the every once in awhile category...

and perhaps, like all things i do in my parenting, i can be a bit obsessive on the healthy balanced food front...BUT in my defense this is the hill i choose to die on...well, one of them...

bottom line is i LOVE to cook and to eat and while i'm not invested in my kids "loving" to cook, i do very much want them to care for what they eat and learn to feed themselves...in a reasonable and healthy manner...a manner that does not automatically include a microwave or ready to eat food sucked from a tube...

besides, my kids are going to need to be healthy and robust enough to seek and endure the therapy they are going need when they're older...

alright, enough...the sun is shining and we all seem to be on the somewhat mend...there's a lingering cough and a bit of congestion in the ranks but otherwise all is well...

and just in case you were wondering, there are no kittens yet...all of us being sick last week kinda put that on hold...haven't come up with a good excuse yet this week, but i'm working on it!

yeah.

x.

kids, fevers, pastry.

having kids is weird.

it very nearly is never how you thought it would be.

before you have kids it's so theoretical...not only that, it's this deep wanting for something that is so fucking hard sometimes it's a wonder that any of us asked for this let alone actively sought it...

the craziest part is you have created this person from the very fiber of your being...the best parts of your soul...and yet despite what they are made of, a child doesn't belong to you anymore than the sun does...

because there comes that point when a child ceases to be *your* child and becomes a member of the family...of the world...of myspace...

i know i've written about this before...it's something i've been thinking about because i'm not so sure how i am going to be with the full transition...i don't know if it's my controlling nature or my mama bear approach to parenting...

but i see my children and the children around me growing up...and frankly it's not sitting too well with me...

i suppose it's a natural response to the world around me...i'm not in the first generation of parents to look around and say "what the fuck? my kid's got to grow up with this?"

i'm looking around at people in the news and in the world and out of their godforsaken gourds and i'm thinking one day these could be my children...or any of the children i know...grown up and untethered...

acting like they haven't come from anyone, anywhere, or anything...

the world is just far too much and far too big sometimes...and way too fast for me...wow, i must be getting old...i certainly sound like i am!

bah...moving right along...

wingman had a 24 hour fever and now he's better...i'm glad for that...

i don't generally treat a fever unless it stays the same without fluctuation for a period of time...mostly it's lots of liquids, laying low, and holding them when the fever is spiking or breaking...

last night wingman had a hard time with the temp fluctuation as he was trying to sleep...and at one point while i was rubbing his head and trying to soothe him the duke had come in without me hearing and was sitting next to wingman's bed holding his hand...just being there...

he's an awfully good person, the duke...i hope this world treats him well...i hope this world can handle him!...

and when we're locked in our parent/child, big guy/little guy, cancer/taurus cycle and i'm pissing him off and he's pissing me off i try to think about times like last night...or the times he says things that seriously only he can come up with...like for instance when we were in woodcock pocket we would go to the king arthur flour bakers store for treats...wingman would always get the brownie...no matter what...

but the duke likes to choose something new each time...he does this with ice cream, too...never gets the same flavor twice...and ordering...he always finds the one thing on the menu he hasn't had...it's usually always the MOST EXPENSIVE item, too...but that's a story for another day...

anyhow, this particular trip in question he chose a napoleon...(incidentally, also the most expensive treat in the case)...so he's eating the napoleon and he says

"you know why i chose this napoleon?"

"no. why"

"because i wanted a treat that would try to dominate me"

it very nearly is never how you thought it would be...and a lot of times it's way way better...

but mostly it just makes you wonder how in the hell you got here.

x.

first class, baby.

so on our way to woodcock pocket little ol' us got to fly first class...the lord of the ring traveled so much last year he enough upgrades...

can i tell you the boybarians are spoiled already...great.

the most interesting part is the look of the other passengers...see, obviously first class boards first...this is because people in first class are so important and special, also it gives their own personal flight attendant time to serve the first round of drinks before the plane has to take off...

and this is the most important part about first class...the free drinks...makes people feel all smug...like they are getting one over on someone...even though by purchasing a first class ticket they've paid an ungodly amount of money for the "free" drinks...apparently, this doesn't enter the equation...

and they ply you with enough alcohol in first class probably so you don't figure this out...

oh, and the warm moist towel, too.

so there we are, first row in first class...and here come the passengers who are sitting in coach...and you know how when you board a plane you go around the corner through first class down the aisle to your seat?

well every passenger juggling their loads of carry-ons and bags of fast food for the long flight who rounded that corner and saw the boybarians kicked back in the wide seats with real glass glasses of refreshing beverages got the SAME EXACT LOOK OF DISGUST ON THEIR FACES.

the look that says i have worked my entire life, worked hard, and here are these two KIDS kicked back in first class and i am having to stand and jostle for the next ten minutes while everyone ahead of me takes all the good overhead bin space and then try and settle into a seat the size of a potty chair...meanwhile these two KIDS have not a care in the world and a refreshing beverage by their side.

what's worse is wingman was wearing his "life is good" shirt...

indeed.

first class is everything they say it is...and more...they practically try to get you drunk and the drinks are GOOD! the meals are complete with real plates and real forks and real knives...real cloth napkins...

when you are done with one service of food, there's always a nicely prepared snack a short time later...fresh cookies and milk...champagne before you land, and anytime you want it before that...

warmed moist towel.

your own bathroom.

at one point the duke was watching his movie player, drinking his beverage that never got below half full and the flight attendant went up and set a bowl of fresh warmed mixed nuts on his tray and once again refilled his drink...

the duke looked up and i swear he said, "of course...thank you"

like "of course i should be being presented with this thoughtful between meal snack because i was beginning to feel peckish and you flight attendant, you are doing your job...the job you were meant to do...the job of serving me"

the whole 6 or 7 hours was like that...well at least i think it was, the flight attendant was just as thoughtful with my drinks and mine were considerably stronger the duke's!

imagine the boybarians' dismay when they learned we were NOT flying first class on the way home!

oh my god what a coupla snobs! especially the duke!

"what! we're not flying first class? we'll still get served food and stuff, right?"

"um, they will definitely offer one beverage service, maybe two, but not food unless you pay for it...and it isn't the same food they have in first class"

"oh, this is just gonna be great!"

he's all sulky a minute then he asks

"will they at least give us a bag of peanuts?"

"i wouldn't count on it"

"why bother going anywhere then!!"

i do believe we are all in for it with that one.

anyhow, it wasn't so bad and the duke survived...i will say though, we were sitting in the row behind first class and the level of service between the two is astonishing...on one hand i'm hearing their flight attendant asking if they want another glass of champagne to go with the chocolate mousse she's prepared while my flight attendant asked me, all wearily, to move my jacket that had fallen a half an inch into the aisle...then hit my arm with the beverage cart...

and i must say this...i am not a small woman myself...and i certainly don't begrudge anyone extra weight wherever they may have it...

BUT there is a reason other than the pervasive and insipid shallowness of american culture that flight attendants are generally rail thin...our flight attendant was a woman i affectionately referred to as "the old battle axe"...

her demeanor and countenance was along the lines of one might find in an advancing middle aged person who is continuing to suffer the ills of extensive injuries received on the many football fields of their youth...

but it was her hips that really did me in...her hips were solid and wider than the aisle...she never once said "coming through" or "excuse me" or made any effort whatsoever to get down the aisle without bashing anyone...consequently, the entire 7 hour flight she was knocking into my arm with her hips!...and it hurt!

and the one time she did turn sideways to get by someone i got the "battleaxe" right in the face.

"why bother going anywhere then" indeed.

but like i mentioned earlier, we made it in once piece across country and back, with all of our 10 pieces of luggage intact, and nary a mitten missing...

and now, now we get kittens for hugging and kissing...

ha! i've begun rhyming in casual speech!

obviously the beginning of the end comes when you least expect it.

x.

jig.

well we're home...we escaped in the middle of a nor'easter, got stranded ten minutes from home because the diva decided to rear her pretty head and do something funky to her transmission, and landed here smack dab in the middle of some terrible deadly flu like illness in our county...

but we are all in one piece, had a fabulous time, and miss our vermont family like crazy already...

new england definitely gives me a new appreciation of the world *cold* and the notion of *history*...what a wonderful, fabulous, amazing place...

we're back to full school today and are starting to make plans for the spring...it's green and lush here compared to the white of new england...the crocuses are peeking through and the frogs in the pond out back have returned and sing us to sleep every night...

if i didn't know how much work lay ahead with this property in the spring and summer i would say that this is my favorite time of year...

nice to see you again!

x.