Visit with the Easter bunny

Zakiah, Thea, Wendy (Thea's best friend), and Liam.
And, of course, the Easter Bunny.

The community center where Thea has afterschool care had an Easter program on Saturday. It was fun, mostly. The kids had a blast. They got their faces and arms painted, got tattoos and stickers, ate hot dogs and tons of chocolate; all good things.

There was also a couple of musicians who played games with parachutes. It seemed like a fun idea: parents helped hold the parachutes above the heads of the kids, who were all in the middle of it. Then they lift and lower the parachute, like you would if you were playing with your kid in bed with a blanket, while the musicians played cheerful music. Kids would run in and out of the center, run in circles, dance around. It sounds great in theory.

Here's the problem with that scenario: there were a lot of kids of varying ages in a relatively small space. The situation went from giggle-y to trample-y in short order. Thea, my sensitive little big girl, recognized pretty quickly how things could get out of control and left the group to sit with me. Liam, my adventurous and easy-going guy, stayed at the periphery of the crowd, but I saw by the expression on his face that he was unsure of what to do next. While I was hesitating, considering whether it would spoil his fun for me to pull him out, Thea took charge. She called him repeatedly, and when he couldn't hear her, she pushed her way over to him, grabbed his hand, and led him back to our table where she gave him a chocolate egg.

Later, someone was passing out balloons. Despite his efforts, Liam was in the wrong place and missed his chance to get one, a tragedy for a kid who loves balloons as much as he does. Thea saw how sincerely upset he was and gave him hers with no hesitation. I'm often struck by her kindness and empathy, two things that have been part of her personality since day one.

All in all, a good day.

Taking in the Halloween pumpkin

It outlasted Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and two blizzards. I
think it's time to give the pumpkin a rest.

Floogee violates HIPAA

I had to have an echocardiogram of my heart the other day, just to make sure everything was okay. (Indeed, everything is fine.) Mike went with me so I wouldn't have to be alone in case there was a problem, which I really appreciated. I tend to be kind of stoic and self-reliant about such matters, so it doesn't occur to me to lean on anyone else. Thanks, Mike, for reminding me that I'm not alone.

While we were there, Mike took video of my heart displayed in the sonogram machine, much to the annoyance of the technician, who already was irritated by me having a difficult-to-find heart.

She wasn't the only one who we had disappointed. When the doctor asked me what I had for dinner last night, Mike and I glanced at each other sheepishly before I replied "Barbecue ribs." The doctor audibly gasped and muttered, "Terrible! Terrible!"

Miss Li and Francis at the House of Sweden, March 22, 2010

I fell in love last night, and I was dancing the whole way home

Floogee, Svetlana, and I were lucky enough to catch a free show at the Swedish Embassy's House of Sweden last night. Francis was tons of fun, kind of caberet-rockabilly, and the lead singer was incredibly charismatic. I hope to see them again at some point.



Miss Li played next, and they totally blew me away. I thought we were going to have to watch the band from behind a small crowd of trust-fund intern-types, but they left after half a song. They missed a great show, thank dog.



If you get a chance to check out either of these bands, TAKE IT.

Francis opening for Miss Li at the Swedish Embassy

Oh man, they're fabulous. Kind of cabaret and rockabilly. Very cool. They apparently sold out at SXSW, and we get them at a free show! I love DC!

Waiting for train

We went to the circus!

And there were clowns, cruel and scary, though not as scary as when Liam played hide and seek and we lost him briefly. We all almost had a heart attack and Thea yelled, "LIAM, don't DO THAT!!"

Aside from that and the $9 hamburger getting dropped on the floor minutes after I bought it, it was a blast. The highlights were the tigers, elephants, horses, dogs, acrobats (ethpecially the girlth, says Liam), and clown cannon. So, basically, everything.

UPDATE: Liam said last night that the one thing he did not like was when "the clown that cut the other clown in half. That looked like it really hurt." And it really was grotesque, with the clown strapped down, face in shock, hands and feet shaking. Yeesh. Thus starts the kids' lifelong and quite reasonable fear of clowns, I guess.

I'll have a colon hydrotherapy on the rocks, please

Liam's fixing his hair before bedtime

Thea's latest masterpiece: On the Farm

I like the form, too.

Etiquette 2.0

A blog friend's recent post and a night out a while back with some old co-workers has made me to wonder: is it okay to unfriend someone on Facebook if we weren't happy to see each other in real life and I find her entirely insufferable? What if you want to be friends with someone, but just don't want to be Facebook friends? (Is that even possible? No, I'm asking seriously. Part of me thinks that it's not, but it could be that I'm wrong about that.) I have no problems unfollowing people on Twitter, where your link to someone is pretty casual. But unfriending on Facebook seems to be a pretty specific statement to make.

Speaking of Twitter, I realized recently that several people who follow me thought I was Kelly Osbourne, daughter of Ozzy Osbourne and recent contestant on some dance show. Idiots.

Laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh!

"Dude, you missed a spot."

(Hey, look what I found in my drafts!)



Mike took this photo of a print hanging in the offices where he had his recent surgery. If you have a strong stomach, go check out his blog! There are some awesome post-surgery pictures, and even a video that is the single worst thing I have ever seen in my life.

The print, Mike tells me, was painted by the "Christian Rockwell". It gives me the serious heebie-jeebies.