Dirty Little Secret...

Some things we never let go of. Last night Trav and I dug to the back of our closets for our 'blackest of black' clothes, pulled out the boots that have been living in storage boxes for 15 years (which ended up being far too uncomfortable to actually wear... what was I thinking back then?!?) and caked on the white face paint to go act like teenagers at the ohGr concert at the Murray Theatre. The frontman in ohGr is Nivek Ogre, who in the 80's and 90's was the lead singer in the band Skinny Puppy - whom we adored. Well, he's well into his 40's now, and still making the kind of music we loved as kids. Here's the dirty little secret part: We still love it! We put away our skeletons and fixed our attitudes, donated most of our dyed black wedding dresses and shirts made from chains, but the love of the music is still there. There is no feeling quite the same as having the airwaves from the bass make your pantlegs flap around your ankles. It was so COOL!



I can't hear today, though. I'm feeling my age for sure.

You (but not the children!) can check him out yourself at http://www.skinnypuppy.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/bigohgr .

R.I.P.

The end of an era has come to our family. In 1999, we were planning a trip to Cave Creek, Arizona, to spend Thanksgiving with Trav's father's family. At the time, I was driving a very old, very used - and I'll certainly add VERY ugly - grey van. It's been so long ago, I can't even remember what kind of van it was, other than it was boxy and horrifically unattractive. I used it to tote Miah, Erin and my li'l bro Alex (who is only two months older than Miah) around to gymnastic and karate lessons, and the occasional drive-in movie. As a matter of fact, that van had a... memorable aroma, owing to a disastrous drive-in viewing of Tarzan. Alex didn't feel so well and after HE threw up the smell caused Miah to join him. Of course, Erin figured out what the boys were doing and added her own contribution. Keep in mind, we were at a drive-in on opening night of a Disney movie. My van wasn't leaving that parking lot - there were kids all over the place...

Anyway, I digress. The van stunk! Trav and I decided it wasn't mechanically sound enough to make the trip to Arizona and home, and our other vehicle at the time was a two door Eagle. We debated just driving the Eagle, but I would wake up in the middle of the night with the sweats, imagining the four of us - particularly the two in the backseat - making the twelve hour drive practically sitting on each other's laps. Bleck! We hit the dealer's lot and bought a brand-spankin'-new Mazda MPV.



Fast forward to Thursday, November 20th, 2008. Time to have the safety and emissions done on the van that has seen my children grow from 5 and 4 years old, to 14 and 13 years. Wow! Imagine how surprised I was to learn that the poor thing (that has accrued 170,689 miles over its lifetime) needed a MINIMUM of $2400 in repairs to pass the emissions inspection. *SIGH* In June, we dropped around $3000 into the old cow to keep it running, so I debated spending more - I didn't want my June investment to be wasted! We decided it was time to let the dead horse really be dead. We headed over to Willey Honda and found this used Honda Odyssey. (No new for us this time, as we have a new FURNACE that had to be put in two weeks ago, and we'll end up paying a pretty penny for our daughter's post-teenage-moment stay at the University.)

No, that's not bad paint on the hood... that's just frost from this morning! Here are some cool things the Odyssey has that the Mazda didn't have: leather seats, front seat warmers, a DVD player (woot!) with console game hookups, automatic sliding side doors, and a luggage rack.

It was a little bittersweet to clean out the junk from the Mazda (we found some stuff in there we haven't seen since the year 2000) but we're excited about the DVD player. Really, the DVD player was the clincher!

Rest In Peace Mazda. You've had your last french fry dropped in the crevice of the seat runners. Your last cappuccino spilled down the side of the seat. Your last little boy breaking off the panic handle trying to swing out of the door like a monkey, last shopping cart ding, and last road trip to Arizona. Bye!

The Good, The Bad... No, really it's just the UGLY!

Fifteen years ago, I knew one day Travis and I would be in this place: the parents of teenagers. I knew, also, that it would be hard. I very vividly remember being a teenager, and I KNOW how hard it must have been to raise me. (I have profusely and profoundly apologized to my mother this week for every difficult thing I did!) I suppose I just didn't realize HOW hard it was going to be. Last Thursday, Erin had her first "for-real" teenage episode. She woke up claiming not to feel good (which happens a bit, actually) and her very mean, very strict mom made her go to school anyway. This was apparently the final straw for her, and she decided it would be better to run away then have to live in her own tyrannical home. She walked nine hours in a pair of plastic flip-flops, until - after a myriad of adventures - she was brought home by the police. Hmmm, I wonder who she takes after?!? I, of course, am claiming that her stubbornness comes from Travis! Needless to say, it's been an eye-opening week here for all of us. The one comfort I am taking from all of this, though, is that when we get her through to adulthood, she is going to be one powerful, incredible woman. I just hope I'm granted the fortitude to make it through!

All Hallow's

Happy Halloween! We took the 'easy' route for costumes this year... we purchased them. The kids were busy this season, between our cruise, their Halloween Show at the Rock 'N Roll Academy, an Orchestra Concert at the school, trick-or-treating and throwing a party at our house for all of their friends - we were too worn out to spend hours in front of the sewing machines this year. They were still very cute, although Miah boycotted the gorilla mask almost instantly, as he claimed it was a burning inferno inside and I had to bribe him with a new video game to get any pictures of him with it on. Oh well, I suppose it's a small price to pay to have blackmail pictures to show to any future girlfriends...

Erin of Green Gables

Erin has landed her dream job! I have a friend from high school who has a few animals that he keeps. Erin offered to feed them every afternoon after school. She loves the animals! It was an even bigger bonus for her, as my friend is paying her for her time. It's very cute to see the goats, chickens and ducks follow her when she gets there... they know who has the food!