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Lost in Translation

I do my best thinking in the shower... Sometimes I have whole conversations with people in my mind there. Some are recreated conversations that have already happened and I have just figured out what responses would have been better, so I need to imagine the whole thing again. Some are conversations yet to happen, that need hashed out and fine tuned in the old grey matter before I try to put it out into the atmosphere in that same general way. Never works. No matter how many times I have tried, or how articulate I believe I can be on certain issues, the ones that matter the most always seem to get lost or mixed up or misunderstood. So in my dreams and in the shower, I have the right ones, I say the right things, I get all the words saturated in the meanings I want and I lob them right into the grey matter of the ones that I love and there is no dead air in between... there are no hurt feelings, no miscommunications. And the worst of those conversations come when my people are no longer around to hear the real words... when they will really never or most likely never get to hear or feel the things I meant to say, should have said, needed them to know... Loved ones you must know my heart... if I can't get it out right... look a little harder... and I will do my best to reciprocate...

This reminds me of someone.... hmmmm

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Shocking

Things that might surprise you about the hippo:



1. I enjoy postmortem photography. Not that I enjoy the postmortem part, and I don't enjoy modern Kodak instacam versions of it (like NOTHING IN COLOR Please)... but photographs that were taken in an era when those may be the only photograph a family had of their deceased loved one... that intrigues me. I also like learning little tidbits about the method of photography and knowing that the flowers weren't for decoration they were to mask the odor of the corpses.

2. I stink so bad at general math that I must use a calculator to add 2 and 2. But I can calculate the tip upside down across the table to make it an even dollar amount at a restaurant.. Not only can I do that but it will be within the required tip percentage of the server... Not much marketability in that skill... sigh.

3. As a child, one of my favorite daydream scenarios of my grown up life involved me living in the woods in a lone cabin with a horse... I would have the longest hair ever and only see other people on my rare forays into the nearest town for necessities. I could completely visualize each and every detail of how my house would be and how I would spend my time. It, at the time, seemed like the most perfect way to live. If I wasn't so spoiled on amenities now, it would probably hold a pretty decent appeal.

4. I have never eaten a salad in my life. As a matter of fact, the only lettuce that I have ever eaten was accidentally on my taco. Contrary to the fact that one has never been eaten by me, I would actually like to overcome whatever mental block I have to salads because I think I could grow to like them. Sadly, I doubt this will ever happen.

5. I love chocolate SOOO much that I used to eat cookie sandwiches (made of Chips Ahoy cookies, chocolate icing and Hershey Bars), BUT I loathe chocolate milk, fudge, and ganache. They belong in chocolate solitary confinement for being so bad.

6. When my oldest son was younger, I tried to teach him Braille JUST IN CASE.... (I can add nothing of value to that revelation!)

7. Pickle is one of my favorite words to use frequently, but I cannot stand actual pickles... They are gross.

8. I never learned the Electric Slide or any other choreographed group dance outside of my 9th grade chorus class.. unless you count the Time Warp... and I only barely do...

Family Fun

What we did this weekend...

Conversations with the weirdos

My children are silly.... Examples below:


1. On the way to a local store, Daniel looks over at me in the car and gets a puzzled face. "Mom", he says, "um, you know those hot, flat iron things that straighten your hair? Are you gonna get one? 'Cause sometimes your hair is crazy...........No offense."

2. Last night was a bath night. The kids have such dry skin that if they don't get dirty, we skip a night. Anyway, Aurelia was bathed and tucked in and Daniel was playing in the tub. I told him goodnight and went downstairs knowing that when he is done he gets out and can handle all the post washing duties himself. Around 9:30, I went back up to retrieve my robe for my own shower. His room light was on, so I went to say goodnight again. He was standing by his bed, shivering, wrinkled like a prune, muttering he'd lost track of time... I thought he meant he hadn't meant to be up so late... NOPE... he had JUST gotten out of the bathtub... TWO HOURS in the water... So I tucked him into bed, and covered him up, hugged him, and he says,"Ahhhhh, your hugs are sooooo warm..."

3. The name of the volunteer group that I work with is CASA. Whenever my son hears me talk about it, he gets a puzzled look on his face. Some time back, he asked me what CASA was and I tried to give him a child-friendly version of what CASA's do... which sometimes involves going to people's houses. A look of recognition spread over him (they dole out a little Spanish at the public school) and said "OH you go their casa's?"... And so that is what my little man will believe for as long as possible. I really hope that innocence lasts for some time to come!!

Possibilities

Recently I got wind of something that made my happy go over the ten! It is a total 11! And yet, in an attempt to obtain that something I picked and worried over something all day long... took it out, looked at, put it away, thought about it some more, took it out... poke poke poke all day long... I finally finished with it and sent it along to see if it could bring me the happy. I don't know if it will work or not, if my attempts to seem professional and light hearted were successful, but I do know that the mere thought of the happy that is possible beyond the 11 makes it all ok. If things are meant to be then they are, if not my quiet little goofy life will roll right on along. But, boy oh boy, that happy sure is shiny!

park21

park21
Originally uploaded by hippoxmas

Sweet little duckies.. are the birds are cute too!

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park15
Originally uploaded by hippoxmas

Baby Peach striking a pose...

park26

park26
Originally uploaded by hippoxmas

Dan the Flower Power Man..

park32

park32
Originally uploaded by hippoxmas

My babies, pretending they love each other!!

Random tidbits

I can never find cinnamon gum or mints anymore... what is the flippin' deal?

Aurelia says lasterday and callipiter... I love that...

Ore Ida's Garlic Steam and Mash potatoes are nearly the grossest thing I have ever eaten..

Long Johns Silvers has an ad on their sign that says "Try our new fish tacos for only 99 cents"... that is disturbing to me...

We are still under a boil water advisory... I just don't know how I am going to boil enough water for five people to BATHE... and it really cannot be put off.

Took my youngest two to the library... I love that they love that.

The funniest thing you may ever see is Daniel folding himself up to ride in the grocery cart that has the little car on front... He honks the horn even though his knees are behind his head...

Spiderboy

My manchild got a wild hair up his heiny the other night and decided he was going to take an excursion to Taco Bell at 12:30 am with his friend. Instead of trying to sneak down the stairs and out the back door, he decided to be super stealthy. He opened his window and climbed out. Oh, did I not mention that his bedroom is on the third floor? Well it is.... His window looks out over the porch roof in the front of our house... two stories down.... He climbed out and once on the roof of the porch had to make some decisions.... When he realized there was no real way down but to jump he did just that. From the second story he jumped onto our concrete driveway, landing just in front of my car... then went on to Taco Bell and wound up sleeping in his friends car. The detail that caught him was the return to the house. He had injured his foot (I think both feet) and couldn't walk in... He had to call his dad to come out and help. His initial story was he had gone to have breakfast at McD's, but no one was biting. After a trip to the ER, the regular doctor, an MRI in his future and a meeting with a specialist, it seems he has ruptured something in his left ankle. Floating fragments were mentioned. Surgery was discussed as a possibility... with PT as a definite. And again we revisit his third floor situation... no way can he go up and down the stairs... just getting to the second floor for a bath (the only one he can use) was a hassle and took over an hour...So the boy has to sleep in the downstairs playroom on an inflatable camp mattress and has to be tended like a sheep. In addition, he may have to quit his job (depending on the extent of his injuries), is definitely missing this month's camp and possibly the remaining two camps in July. Now we are considering moving Daniel to the third floor and Cory to the second floor... we'll have to see what the doctor predicts next week. I just hope this experience is eye-opening in ways that a lecture from Mom and Dad couldn't possibly achieve....

Balloon Ride Photos, Round 2

Round one can be located on my Facebook page, but will be posted here later today....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippoxmas/sets/72157619754173694/

Speaking to me tonight

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou

Parking lot duckies

This little mama duck and her babies wandered across the shopping plaza parking lot this morning... it was SOOO adorable...

Weekend contemplation

Inspector Aurelia dons the uniform appropriate to the occasion and peers into the green abyss...

She is startled by the findings....

She attempts to get a closer peek...

Ewww.... a hole in a pool liner says our plans for summer water fun will be done elsewhere...

Aurelia spent a vast majority of our time at mom's this Sunday peering in and declaring she had found fish, snakes, whales, spiders, you name it and it was in that pool....

Raspberry Harvest

Initially I thought our front berries would bloom first and produce, however, the side plants produced GINORMOUS berries over the weekend. Pictured is the first harvested berry of the summer. Daniel declares dibs on said berry and scopes it out for an angle of approach.

He prepares his taste buds for the incoming berry-fest!

Savors the explosion of yummy summer goodness....

And gives it a whole hearted thumbs up!!

Now we can look forward to the other berries, and our friends should prepare for gifts of fruity goodnes...

Walter the Farting Dog

Um, really must I say more?

(link here)

A change is gonna come

Many things at the hippo lair are changing and shifting.... I've tried to capture how I feel about it all in words during the course of the day, but nothing fits. What I keep coming back to is, that while so much has been afoot, honeysuckle has been thick in the air. The sweet scent drafts into each moment that I am trying desperately to hold onto, to preserve, to cherish. It haunts me with the memories it brings, woven as it is in the fabric of my life. No single emotion, but all whirled up in a meshy hodge-podge.....