Grasshoppers in November

Jack and I went out to wander today, and I was amazed that a) it is November and 65 degrees, and b) there are a million grasshoppers all over the place. Maybe these are a hardier breed than the ones I grew up with, but I thought grasshoppers were long gone by this time of year. As we went hiking in the foothills behind our house they were jumping with every step we took so it felt like we work walking through popping popcorn. It was great to get out and enjoy the sun and the outdoors though, so I guess there (sorta) is an upside to global warming.

Busy Wasting Time

Steve has been ultra busy lately traveling and hosting performances, so I was finally given a day off yesterday to do absolutely nothing. And it was fabulous. First I went to yoga, second I came home and took a nap, third I felt guilty and so cleaned the entire house, and fourth, I watched an episode from the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 on Fancast. Do you know about this website? Maybe it would be better if you didn't, but when I have an hour to kill, it's fantastic, or should I say fancastic. Just because I can, I am going to embed the entire episode I watched yesterday here on my blog. I don't expect you to watch it, but just think, you could if you wanted to:

This show has definitely made the trip from good to bad and back to good again, at least in my book. I can't believe the cheesy clothes that we all thought were cool back in 1990, and the after school special plot lines absolutely kill me.
While I was busy wasting time with Brandon and Brenda, Steve took the kids for a hike around the foothills where we live. For some unexplicable reason, there are a bunch of old trucks and cars littering the hills, and they went climbing around on some, and Steve caught these photos.

Jack and Max pretending to be on a roller coaster. Sometimes Jack's acting skills are a little too good.

Our Ibiza - Chapter 5: A Walking Tour

The house project is getting more and more exciting, and we are finally beginning to believe that there actually will be a house on our lot, and sooner than we can even imagine. The basement is completely framed now so we can see the room sizes and get an idea of what the space will feel like. Here's a walking tour (with narration from me, I hate the sound of my recorded voice, so just know I'm cringing while you're watching it), to show you all what I mean:

By the end of next week the rest of the house should be framed, and then we can do a complete tour, but I'm pretty excited about the progress so far, so I just couldn't wait.

Bangxiety

Okay, I hate to dedicate yet another post to the fiasco that is my bangs, but you know, sometimes its these little things that can really drive you crazy. I finally took my kitchen shears to them today and did a little damage control, and they ended up looking OK, relatively speaking. Check out the photo above; I told the stylist I wanted them to touch my eyebrows. Do you see them touching my eyebrows at all whatsoever? I didn't think so. I did them side-swept because they look as good and I can get them to look. Okay, I promise, no more time spent fretting about the bangs, I am not that shallow. But I had to add one last photo that totally captures how I felt after the salon massacre:

Stupid Ikea Tricks

One of Jack's favorite things to do is to go to Ikea. In fact, the first word he ever recognized was Ikea on the bottom of one of his plastic plates (I know, I need to get to the park more). I think one of the reasons he loves it so much may have something to do with the fact that we always get there first thing and I let him get a cinnamon roll and a plate of bacon. I know, but the kid hardly eats anything, and he eats absolutely every bit of it, so I indulge him. I think he also likes it because I let him run around on the top floor and play with the kid's stuff and then make him get in a cart when we get downstairs. I usually let him grab a duster at the beginning of the marketplace so he can dust things as we go (and amazingly, this usually works). But today they didn't have any dusters, so I had to resort to doing this:

Thanks to Cha-Cha for taking the video. By the way, check out the butcher job on my bangs. I couldn't get into my regular salon for a trim this week, so I walked in to another one where my friend had a great haircut and color, and they totally cut them too short (even though I told them how long I wanted them), and texturized them. Please, does any sane person texturize their hair anymore? Trust me, I didn't ask for it, and I would have stopped them if I could have, but it all happened so fast. At least they should grow out in a few weeks. Lesson learned: wait to get into your regular salon, even if you're bangs are hanging in your eyes like a shaggy dog.

Collecting

I am always amazed how much I have to learn about parenting. 

Jack and I got home yesterday from our weekly Storytime outing and we had nothing to do. Since he watched too much TV last week, I was resolved to do just about anything else. We went outside and played, and I let him take the lead in what we did. It was interesting, just following him around seeing what he wanted to do. We ended up on a big rock, looking through the dirt. Of course my first instinct was to say something about getting dirty, but I resisted and just went with it. He found the most amazing things there in the dirt, empty snail shells, the skeleton of a leaf, some berries that he loved to take the skin off of, a dead beetle. As he found each of these things he piled them up, and then when we found the beetle he put it into one of the snail shells for his bed and built a roof over it with leaves and dirt to make it a "cozy house" (all I can say is that beetle was glad it was dead). He spent over an hour doing this building of what he ended up calling his "Collection," and it helped me to realize that, especially in parenting, I need to slow down more and live in the moment. I was amazed how many kisses and I love yous I got from him and I could see him soaking in all the time I was spending with him, doing nothing. 

These are the rare moments when I think I may actually grow up to be a decent Mom one day.  

Our Ibiza - Chapter 4: Framed

The house is moving right along, and last week they started the framing so we can actually see what our rooms will look like. They say that it will be finished by the end of the week, which amazes me. I had no idea how quickly a house can be built. Here's a photo (more to come later):