Rock um Sock um or My husband is not a weeble wobble

I remember when I was little one Christmas I got this large inflatable egg shaped....thing with a weight at the bottom that would allow you to hit it and it would just sort of POP back up allowing itself to be subject to many senseless beatings.

and I loved it!

I can remember spending many an hour in my room kicking and hitting at this infatable egg only to have it always spring back up - same grin on its painted face.

I managed to find a small version of one of these fashioned after Munch's Scream. I never took my angst out on it though - which is odd as it is seen as the iconoclast of modern angst.

But I digress.

There are people in my life (namly my husband) who I seem to think are my modern day inflatable Weeble Wobbles. It seems that the person we love the most always gets the brunt of our misplaced anger, fatigue, stress etc. It's made me wonder why that is....the person whom we decided to forsake ALL others for.....we so often abuse.


I guess it's because we know they'll just POP back up again. I wouldn't dare treat my girlfriends that way - or they wouldn't be friends for long. I wouldn't even treat a stranger that way. But the person I love the most...is the person that I know will ALWAYS be there. I can abuse him a little (ok a lot) and know he's not going to "break up" with me or not want to be my friend anymore. He's not going to take his proverbial ball and go home. He has to live with me - the good, the bad and the ugly. So naturally he's the one who takes the most abuse.

I'm not putting myself down - it is at times a two way street.....it's something everyone does. The person you love the most takes the most abuse as well. I wouldn't hesitate a nanosecond to hop in front of a bus to push him out of the way. But I seem to be all to willing to send a few buses at him of my own. It's not fair.

"Weebles Wobble but they don't fall down"

AFI I am not

Steve and I watched the AFI "Best Movies" the other night. It was a top 100 list of the Best movies ever made. We only caught like the last 30 - but I was a little disappointed. To Kill a Mockingbird came in 25 (boo) while some silent movie by Charlie Chaplin was like tenth. I did agree with their first and second choices. Second was The Godfather. First was....Citizen Kane. both fantastic movies. My husband only saw the Godfather like 6 months ago! I thought men saw that movie in utero! He hasn't seen Citizen Kane though - so I picked that up from the library today. "Roooooosebud."

So - in that vein I thought I'd finally (yes I know everyone was waiting with bated breath) divulge some of my favourite movies and my favourite quotes in them.

I have to say that my all time favourite movie of any genre is Dead Poets Society. But I'm an English teacher - the movie is the touchstone of English teachers. segue...the best gift my students ever gave me was...the class of 2004. I was especially close to them in that I was a sponser as well as their Lit teacher (and drama and cheerleading). On graduation day they gave me a picture of all of them standing on top of their desks with the caption "O Captain My Captain." I BAWLED!!! To this day it it one of my prized posessions and holds a prominent place on our livingroom bookshelf.

SO - that is my favourite movie.
"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is full of passion. Business,law, medicine, engineering, these are all noble persuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love . . . these are what we stay alive for!"

My favourite humerous movie is probably Waiting for Guffman. (A spinoff of Beckett's classic play Waiting for Godot) If you are familiar with Christopher Guest (think the 6 fingered man in The Princess Bride) you know that his mockumentaries are HILARIOUS! None of the quotes really make sense unless you're watching the movie but I'll share anyway....

"People don't like fire poked...poked in their noses. Poked...poked..."

"Here we have a Remains of the Day lunchbox. Kids hate eating lunch, but if they have a Remains of the Day lunchbox they're a lot happier."

"We consider ourselves bi-coastal if you consider the Mississippi one of the coasts."

"I'm working on my cockney accent....you know..'ello ow are ou."


My favourite weird dark (I mean DARK) depressing movie would have to be The House of Yes. (Which also stars Parker Posey of "Guffman" fame."

"Goo is what tape's all about. Goo is what makes it tape and not PAPER."

(Leslie signs "I love you") "Don't leave this girl alone with any handsome deaf mutes Marty - that's my advice to you!"

"Pennsylvania! Pennsylvania's just this state that gets in the way when you're trying to get somewhere else!"

"Does your fiance work in a doughnut shop?"
"A doughnut king actually."
"Wow, so is she like the queen? Are we entertaining royalty here?"
"She's more of a .....dougnut lady in waiting."
"So, she's a marginal doughnut figure."

"No, Peter and I have nothing in common. You and I, Marty, have a lot in common; parents, dna, bone structure. "

Ok, my hands are cramping and I've wasted enough time...

Pics Again!

Pics

Pics

Here are some playdate pics. Apparently the files are GINORMOUS so we'll upload more later. :)

do

Where was I before the day - I first saw your lovely face?

Today's been a rough day on all kinds of levels. I have one of the worst headaches I've had in a LONG time. Madeline's been whiney (that third tooth is seriously taking its sweet time!). And, I just find myself sad.

I cheered myself up by reading some old e-mails from my husband while Madeline napped. As all new parents know, your life just gets so consumed with the baby that you have to try extra hard to make time for each other - to cherish and go out of your way for each other. My husband is REALLY good at the little things. He'll hide little notes where I'll see them - in my wallet or my car or he'll add funny things to my grocery list. Yesterday he brought me home a beautiul flower arrangement that we put on the table. He's really an amazing man.

One of my favourite things to do is to remember what things were like way back at the beginning. Back when we were all awkward with each other and trying not to let on that we liked each other too much. ;) Reading back through those e-mails just filled me with the nervous happiness I felt whenever I got to see him. I could literally tell you what I was wearing the first time we were in the car together (jeans and a blue and green striped shirt). I remember exactly where we were when he first held hands (in the drive through at Arbys on 96th street in his old Camero). It makes me smile just thinking about it.

I don't think about those times enough - I get caught up in this druge - chores, diapers, baby weight.....and yet - all I ever wanted while we were dating was to have a home - and a family with this man. Now I have it!

Recently we went to an outing with Ball State to an Indians Game downtown. We first met at an Indians game so it was very very special for us to be back. We haven't been back since that day. I was gushing the whole time and even made him take a picture with me in the very place I had had a picture taken of my friends and me the day we met. I told him that while we were getting our pic taken (by one of his coworkers) I was looking at him the whole time.

After the game (ok so we left during the 6th inning because - let's face it baseball can get booooring) we walked down to the circle and got some chocolate from South Bend Chocolate and sat and ate it on the stairs of the church on the circle. We had sat there before one night when we went to a launch for IndyDine. We talked for hours even though it was freezing that night. After that we made our way back toward the car but saw an old movie playing outside the Historical Society. There were lots of people there with blankets. We sat and watched for a while and then walked around the canal a little - right behind a family with a beautiful dog and daughter. It was wonderful....

It seems in life we're never happy with where we are. When Steve and I were first hanging out - I just wanted to know if he liked me, then when I knew that I wanted to know if he loved me, then I wanted to know if we were going to get married. Thornton Wilder once said that we should "enjoy our ice cream while its on our plate."

because now I feel that I'd love to go back and relive those first days....

I'm so happy with our life now. Our gorgeous baby girl looks just like him and I'm glad to have a piece of him with me all day.

This one goes out to the one I love

Happy Fathers Day Sweetie!

Yesterday was Steve's first Father's Day. We really kept it low key and stayed home most of the day. I coaxed him into sleeping in a little. :)

It's amazing.....babyhood has changed our lives. It's no more pick up and do whatever we want - run to Chicago for the weekend to see YoYo Ma...go see a cozy Saturday afternoon matinee...stay up late talking... babydom is exhausting. But yet, it's a totally facet of our relationship and one that makes him even more amazing to me. When he's on the floor playing with Madeline or giving her a bath - or especially when he's reading to her and has her in his lap....I'm more in love with him than ever. He's my protector and provider - my ROCK "even Steven!"....but the tenderness he shows to our daughter touches me in a way that none of his other attributes do. Maybe it's because she's a little girl....maybe because my own dad is a MAN's man (a real life mcguyver)...but was always so tender with his girls. Whatever it is - I admire him so much for taking this crazy life altering event and taking it n stride.

I love you sweetie. You are amazing. You inspire me.

"I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls brought me here."

A kiss on the hand may be quite continental

I'm just apparently full of random thoughts tonight.

Maybe I am just avoiding work.
Maybe I don't know what to do with myself without a baby here demanding my husband and my constant attentention.

I got my ring cleaned today. It was starting to look like a ruby it was so filthy dirty. I'm suprised they didn't have to use a jackhammer. See, it never fails that the day I get it cleaned is the day I decided to make homemade jam or something and it gets all cruddy.

So - while they were chipping away the layers of grime - I looked around the store. Nothing wrong with looking right? I feel like I did when I was a kid and I would go through the toy catalogue and put big Es by the things I wanted.

Anyone who knows me at all well knows that I LOVE jewelry - especially diamonds! Especially diamond rings!!!!! One of the first songs I sang my sweet Madeline? "Diamonds are a girl's best friend."

When Tiffanys opened in the Fashion Mall - you'd better believe I dragged Steve there.
ANYWHO - so I was perusing the baubles and they really do have some beauties there at Prestons......but - I am happy to say that I didn't see one that I liked better than the one my sweetie gave me. I don't want to trade up or trade in - I am perfectly in love with the gorgeous one I have.

Oh, and I'm still in love with him too.

haha. :)

"But stiff backed or stiff kneed you stand straight at . . . TIFFANYS!"

Letter to WTHR

The following is an exact transcript of what I wrote to WTHR about 2 months ago:

(Yes I know I am a nerd)


I am a huge fan of wthr and it is the only news my family watches.

However, if I hear one more of your anchors say "IPS Schools" one more time......

I don't know what I'll do.

He is really saying "Indianapolis Public Schools Schools"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Please stop the madness !!!!!!!
Erin Fulton

Here is the reply!:

Thank you for taking the time to write and you are absolutely correct. I will put out a note to remind everyone. Same thing with “IPS School Board” isn’t it? We appreciate the feedback and your loyal viewership.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Williams, WTHR Asst News Director

I hate this blog

I just wrote a long, insightful entry about grammar.

(Less vs Fewer)

ARG!!!!

now it's gone

booo hisss

Goo is what tape's all about!

YAY! I SAVED IT!


One of the things I do that bugs my husband is quote lines from movies constantly. So - I thought maybe it would help for me to list some of my favourite movies and lines here in the comfort of my blog and annoy my husband less.



Actually - segue - let's talk about grammar for a while.



Less vs Fewer



If I hear ONE MORE "educated" television reporter use the wrong adjective again I'll lose it! SO - let's have a grammar lesson shall we?



Fewer - an adjective used for count nouns. (Remember that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns)

But Erin, you ask, what is this count noun of which you speak?



A count noun is something that well - you can count. Dogs, Cars, Dresses, Paintings

"I have fewer dogs than Joshua."

"Madeline has fewer accidents than her brother Jackson."

"You must have fewer than 14 items to use this checkout line."



LESS - and adjective used for noncount nouns (Nouns you CANNOT count) - milk, sand, homework

You can have GLASSES of milk, GRAINS of sand, or PAGES of homework. You DON'T have 3 milks, or 5 sands.



"Ellie has less milk than Violet."

"Darcy got less sand on her feet by wearing shoes."



*THERE YOU GO!*



Another thing that drives me beyond bonkers? When my local newscasters say "IPS Schools"

What you are actually saying is, "Indianapolis Public Schools Schools."



I actually took some action on this one....see next entry.



As for movies - I'll come back to that later. But if anyone knows where the title of this entry came from - mad props to you! We have the same taste in weird vague stage plays turned into movies!

Thanks Dad!!

Today was going perfectly normal. I mean normal, of course, in the mommy way which is never really close to normal. But anywho.... Madeline and I took off for my MIL's house to pick her up to go to the grocery. As we were backing out of the driveway I noticed the tire sounded funny. I popped out of the car and saw one big fat FLAT. ~sigh~

Ironically I had been in on Monday to have the EXACT tire patched. Then, low and behold, the whole tire deflates. So we tricycle back down the driveway to the house - got Madda settled in and I called Steve - assuring him that I could change it. Of COURSE he insists on coming allll the way out to McCordsville to do it himself. I told him to at least let me try.

So, whilest in my skirt in the 400 mile an hour wind we had today, I lugged all of the junk out of the back of the Jeep - pulled out the new tire (which weighed about 567 pounds) and the jack, and got the tire iron out from under the seat. I started loosening the lug nuts in order to get it jacked up. I got all but one lugnut loosened. I pushed, pulled - put all my weight on it - no luck. So - I walked over to the neighbor's house - he was outside in his yard and asked if he could loosen my lug nut. He was about 70 years old, but got it loosened. He then told me that he had a hydrolic jack and I could use. So he brought that over, and jacked up the car for me. We pulled the bad tire off, put the new one on, and he tightened all the lug nuts while I loaded the flat into the back of the Jeep.

So I am going to have words with the FIRESTONE who "repaired" my tire and tell them they are VERY LUCKY that I was in my MILs driveway and not on the side of the road with my 8 month old baby.

Anywho - so I felt pretty proud of myself. If that one lugnut had cooperated I could have done it by myself. There's a lot of things I can't do. I can't kill a spider - or an ant for that matter. I can't seem to bake banana bread. But one thing my dad MADE me learn how to do before I was able to drive was to change a tire. I remember pulling that tire on and off - on and off - him showing me to put it on with my legs if I couldn't lift it onto the rim. Showing me how to use a jack. To light a flare if it was dark.

I felt proud of myself today. I owe it to my dad. That's something I'll make sure Steve passes on to little Madeline.

Nombre

A few people have asked me about the name of my blog. :) I *heart* this poem

Robert Frost - Mending Wall

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

Mad Props

Madeline got to spend the afternoon with baby friends Nolan and Natalie. They are twins that are...around 11 months old (?) They are crawling all OVER The place!! Sarah (the mommy) does an amazing job corraling them, and I just sit in amazement.

I remember hearing a story of a couple who came to a rabbi and said that life with their 4 children was simply too hard and their family was about to crumble. He told them "Get a dog." "A dog!" "yes a dog" the rabbi said. So the family got a dog. They came back the next week and the rabbi asked how things were. They told him things were terrible. He said "Get a pig" "We just got a dog and now you want us to get a pig!" "Yes" the rabbi said. The next week they were back - mismatched clothes and bags under their eyes. "Our house is being torn apart! We can't live like this!" The Rabbi said "get a horse" They had very little faith left in the Rabbi but they decided to give it one last chance. They came back the next week crying. "Rabbi," the man said - we have slept in 4 days - our children won't stop crying and I haven't been able to go to work all week. PLEASE tell us how to fix this once and for all!" The rabbi told them "get rid of the animals."

Brilliant. You don't know how easy your life is until someone shows you that their life is harder.

Mad props for you Sarah!!!