Corndog Queen

Dog?

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:50:25 -0800

We have been taking care of my mom and dad's Schnoodle for a week, now. She is a wonderful dog. And, just like every time we take care of MaggieDog, we start thinking...."Hmmmm, shouldn't we get a dog? Margaret REALLY wants a dog..." And this week is the closest we have come to caving. Because of course, Margaret asks every day "Can we get a dog, soon?" And we put her off with all kinds of excuses.

But Margaret is Serious. She wanted to show us she means business. She has taken over the care and feeding of the dog. We have put the tasks on her chore chart.

The other day, Margaret was all jazzed up to take MaggieDog for a walk

Ready to walk the dog

I mean, the kid brought along a poop bag, and she wasn't afraid to use it!

Picking up poop!

We walked around the neighborhood, Margaret skipping along in her stripey dress and cherry red jacket, her little ears poking out from under her hat. MaggieDog walked obediently along beside Margaret, wearing her own little red outfit. The two were quite a match.

Sitting with the dog

My heart was welling up inside of me. I was ready to call the pound that minute. The second we walked in the front door, I was ready to announce to the world that YES -- we were ready for a dog!

My daughter and the sweet little dog made one more pitstop before home. MaggieDog was taking a long time, sniffing and sniffing. Margaret waited patiently. I got a little closer, to see what MaggieDog was up to....

And it was like the needle being scratched across the happy soundtrack of my dog filled future. SCREEEEETCH.

Wait. Stop. WHAT is that dog eating??????

Oh my God.

I threw up a little bit in my mouth when I realized that that cute, loveable schnoodle dog that I have cuddled and kissed.... was eating dog poop.

Now, remind me again? Why do people own dogs?

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All I want for Christmas....

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:00:14 -0800

Guess who just lost her two front teeth?

Two front teeth

Right in time for all the photos. Whoo hooo! Very cute. And, of course, it has prompted all kinds of holiday theme song singing:

All I want for christmas

Last night she put her tooth under her pillow. This was the fifth time for the tooth fairy to visit our house. And this visit was especially exciting, because there was a near collision with the fairy and the shelf elf.

Elf on the Shelf (The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition, Volume 1)

My mom bought this book for our family last week. She and my dad are in town for the holidays. And my mom had heard about this book. There is an elf who hangs out around the house and watches Margaret and her behaviour. Then he reports back to Santa. My dad keeps referring to the elf as "the snitch" but Margaret named him "Red". Red goes to see Santa every night, and then comes back in the morning and finds a new place to sit. Margaret has found this daily search for Red to be VERY exciting. And it is sweet to watch. I think it will be a fun tradition.

The other Christmas tradition that we have around here is pulling out the Holiday Books and reading them together. And that means another year of "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey"

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey with CD: Gift Edition

Oh my goodness. Have you read this book? I first read it when I was a nanny. And I couldn't make it all the way through without sobbing. Now that I have a child, it is even more effective. I have to trade off reading with Kevin, to make it through the whole thing. But this year, we were both going through the kleenex. And Maggie just sat there rolling her eyes. And my mom and dad sat there watching and laughing at us the whole time. (actually, my dad teared up, too --sap!) A photo was taken. We hammed it up a little (but not much)

Jonathan Toomey sobfest

I hope that you and your family are sharing lovely family traditions that are all your own. Merry Christmas everybody!

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Christmas Doings

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:31:22 -0800

Last weekend was a very festive one. We got all of our Holiday celebrating packed into two days. On Saturday, we went to our local farm and experienced Christmas like they did in Victorian times. There were crafts to make,

Lots of ardenwood crafts

cookies to sample, Father Christmas to visit,

Father christmas and maggie

(Maggie told him all about the light saber she wants for Christmas, which was news to me... Good thing we made that stop!) a puppet show to watch, and of course, the biggest event of all, the search for the YULE LOG! So fun. There were about 100 kids running all over the farm looking for that thing. It took about 30 minutes of searching, but they finally found it.

Yule log exodus

Then the next day, we drove up to Oakland to meet Kevin's parents so that we could be together to see....Tap Dancing Santas!!!

Tap dancing santas

I mean, how could I miss that???? I cried, of course. So weird, that. I can't help it. It is like a reflex or something...

AND the santas were not only tap dancing, but they also did the hula, the can can, some sort of reindeer rap that involved the children, there was russian dancing with spoons, they belly danced, and macarenaed (That last one deeply, deeply disturbed Maggie, who ran from the macarena line and jumped into Kevin's lap, and wouldn't participate for the rest of the show. When asked what the problem was, she stuck out her bottom lip and said, "too much booty shaking"! huh.)

The tap dancing rabbi did not bother her. But for me, the Santas that donned reggae hats with fake dreads were a little freaky.

Check out santa's tap boots

The entire show ended with a group limbo and conga line, and that was that. No more Santa related booty shaking until next year.

I'll let the tap dancing Santas take this blog entry out with a bang. (As much of a bang as you can get when the chipmunks are singing in the background, at least....)

Tap dancing santas

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Thanksgiving Break

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:33:12 -0800

Maggie and I get a week off for Thanksgiving. A WEEK! Unbelievable. We start school in August, so maybe that is why. But still, it is a wonderful time to travel. And Kevin has two days off, so he just takes three more, and there you have it. A vacation!

This year we decided to go to the desert. It is about a 12 hour drive. I have never been to Death Valley, or to Las Vegas (unless you count a two hour layover a visit. -- to Las Vegas, not Death Valley) So, we thought we would go and enjoy Vegas in all of its kitschy glory, after a couple of days of camping in Death Valley.

Here we are in Death Valley

Going up the dunes

Maggie had sand in her shoes for weeks after this trip. Perhaps this is why:

Death valley sand dune slide

Death Valley is sort of a land of extremes. There is the lowest point in the United States,

Blub, blub, blub

There are huge salt flats, and a place called the devil's golfcourse,

WATER! Devils golf course

And there are huge craters, that make it look like a moon scape or something. Very photogenic.

Ubehebe crater, dude!

Speaking of photogenic, can I just take a moment to comment on those last three photos? Ummmm, the Campbell family is full of a bunch of hambones. That is all. Maggie came by it natural. Poor thing. What have we done to her?

We left Death Valley and got into Las Vegas kind of late. We slept in a princess castle.

Kevin and maggie outside excalibur

It looked great from the outside. ( I mean, okay, not great. But REALLY kitschy, which was the goal...) Sadly, upon entering, we were met with a wall of cigarette smoke. And the ringing and clanging of slot machines. Very tawdry. But we were there, and sleepy, so we stayed. Plus, we had a plan to attend The Tournament of the Kings the next day, so we wanted to be close. If I had wanted, I could have gone to see Thunder from Down Under that very night! Wheeeee! Or Louie Anderson. Whoopie! Instead, we went to our room and passed out. When we got up, we discovered that coffee makers were not provided in our room. Oh no. They were not. And we are coffee drinkers. Mama's gots to haves her coffee. So I went down the elevator and walked into the smokey, clanging, depressing lobby/casino and went in search of starbucks. As I walked though the maze of slot machines, it was SO depressing to see all of these people at 8 AM, sitting there with a cigarette, and a beer, putting coin after coin into the machine. Sigh.

Coffee in Vegas is twice what it is in the real world. Did you know that? Uh huh.

Twenty two dollar breakfast, baby!

We walked around and saw New York New York, and the MGM lions. We wandered around and got very very lost and confused. One time, Maggie, who had been drinking bottled water all day, had a pee pee emergency, and I honestly thought we weren't going to make it to the bathroom in time. That is how confusing and maze like the stupid casinos are.

We had a pool behind our hotel that Maggie had been eyeing all morning. For some unknown reason, it was open at the end of November. It was NOT warm. But Maggie insisted that it was. So. We went swimming. No, wait, let me amend that. Maggie and I went swimming. Kevin was the only sane one in the bunch. The lifeguard was wearing jeans. And shoes. And a hoodie. And a windbreaker! Smart man. (unless he had to dive in and save someone, of course, then perhaps it wouldn't be so smart...)

Freezing pool in vegas

We basically just sat around in the hotel room for a while after that. It was too smokey to go downstairs, and we had dinner/tournament reservations at 6pm. The tournament was cheesy. But fun. I will give it that. There was a lot of gratuitous flesh. And I mean on the men. The guards for King Arthur wore leggings, pleather thongs, and no shirts. Perhaps they were the Australian Hunks from Down Under doing a side job. I dunno. Anyway, there was jousting, and mead drinking, and lots of fanfare. Just as expected. And that. Was Vegas.

The next morning we got up, had our ten billion dollar coffees and got the hell out of Dodge. I needed some nature, and we found it just an hour outside of Vegas in a place called "The Valley of Fire". It was Nevada's first State Park, it was amazing. Kind of like Sedona, with all of the red rocks, and pink sand, and rock formations. It was glorious.

Balanced rock

Red rock beehive

Oh, yeah, and these unbelievable petroglyphs. Just, all over the place. You could go up and touch them (but we didn't) And they were 4,000 years old. And sort of mysterious. They really aren't sure about the people who created them.

Right next to petroglyphs

We stayed in the Valley of Fire to see the sunset, and then went back through Vegas to see the dancing water fountains of Bellagio at night, which were worth it, I must say. While we were at Bellagio, waiting for the water fountain show, we visited the largest chocolate fountain in the world. No joking.It was really tall. With three varieties of chocolate. Completely over the top. Of course.

Margaret models a sample of the chocolate

And then we got in the car and headed home. We got home just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family. It was perfect.

Giving Thanks

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Art Class

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:48:04 -0800

Here is a link to my website for school. Some of the art work my kids have done astounds me. I am really enjoying teaching this year.

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My Hero

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:42:10 -0700

Last week I was kind of pushing it. Maggie had the croup, I had a bad cough and couldn't sleep through the night, Kevin had 15 hour work days. And I had a full weekend planned. I had planned it without really consulting Kevin. Because Kevin didn't have to DO anything.

On Saturday, I had signed up to volunteer at the bounce house at 10 AM and at the science club booth at noon. This was for our school's main fundraiser, a walk-a-thon/carnival. Since I am a teacher and a parent, I feel it is only right to volunteer. Maggie would be participating in the walk-a-thon while I volunteered. No problem. Kevin? He would probably be working. It is crunch time at his office.

Then on Sunday, I had planned to teach Sunday School, take in the coffee time goodies and meet with another couple to plan our Social Concerns actions for the Fall. Right after church Maggie and I were going to meet Kevin and drive up to the city to meet his parents and go to the King Tut Exhibit. I was really looking forward to that!

But...On Friday I felt really awful. Queasy and light headed, and doubled over with coughing bouts. I should have called in sick, but I was already covering my classes AND another teacher's classes who couldn't be there. If I had gone home, they would have had to find TWO subs. Plus, I only work part time. How hard could it be?

I almost fainted a few times. It was ridiculous. Those poor kids. I managed to wait until after the last bell when the kids had all gone, to barf into the art class trash cans. Then I called Kevin. Kevin, who was working on a deadline that Friday night. And had planned to worked very late to get stuff done....

I called Kevin, and he jumped into action. He left work, got me medicine from the pharmacy, got dinner for Maggie, put her to bed, and just took care of me.

Saturday came. Guess who went to the walkathon? I stayed in bed.

Sunday? Kevin taught Sunday School for the first time. He said it wasn't too bad. He took in the coffee time treats, met with the social action crew. Then he and Maggie went to the exhibit. I stayed home. Boo.

The man is a rock. I love him so much. He must be exhausted after all of the work he has been doing. And then there were Maggie duties, and Natalie created duties on top of that. But he never said a thing. And I am still sick. I took off work yesterday, and as soon as I finish this blog, I plan to go back to bed.

H1N1? Probably. Ehhh -- Swine Flu. You don't scare me. I have my husband taking care of me.

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Perhaps I should slow down a little....

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:39:26 -0700

Recently, I had been patting myself on the back for how darned efficient I was being.

Errands run? Check.

Work out DVD performed? Check.

Floor mopped? Check.

Articles typed up for the church newsletter? Check.

Lessons planned and papers graded? Check. (mostly...Ummm.... okay, not all of my papers are graded. most. not all. Alright, fine, I still have a stack on my kitchen table, so sue me!)

Dinner planned out for the week? Check.

But in order to do everything, I have been getting up each morning at 6AM. This is a big difference for me. Especially since my darling daughter is NOT an early riser, so I can actually sleep in pretty late. But this year we all need to be up and out of here by 7:40. I have to drive the carpool in the morning. And if I am going to exercise every day, then I need to do it before Maggie gets up at 7. So. I get up at 6. But I don't like to go to bed at 10 PM. Too early. Too much to do. I am NOT getting the amount of sleep I need. Which is 8 hours a night. (ha ha, right? Who gets eight hours of sleep? Single people. Retired people. Vacationing people) Not moms. But still. I need to try. Because when I get tired, I get a little absent minded. Here are some examples of why I should maybe hit the snooze button....

1) Last week, when I was helping Maggie brush her teeth, we got to the part where I pump the mouthwash into the little cup, and add water so she can slosh it around. I performed the nightly ritual, and handed her the cup. Maggie looked at me, wide eyed, and said, "Mom, you put the hand soap in there!" And yep, I totally had. The concoction had even gotten a bit bubbly. And I hadn't noticed a thing. Thank goodness one of us was aware!

2) Last Monday, I was driving the kids in to school. I had one extra kid, and was a little flummoxed over how to fit three car seats in the back of my Subaru (Oh mini van, how I covet you....) And I was just getting over heated and frustrated, and of course, we were totally running late. (I always seem to be running late, and the kids are like, pushed out of the car, while I yell, "go go go , hurry, I hear the bell ringing!" and they grab their little back packs, and run wildly. Oh, and I WORK there! Thank goodness I don't teach art classes until later in the day!)

ANYWAY-- We were late. Just getting out of my garage. And I broke a nail while buckling them in. And I still had to run into the kitchen to grab my coffee. (Mommy loves her coffee) and Josh, from the back of the car, yelled, "I need water, I am so thirsty!" Poor kid had been asking for 10 minutes while I buckled them in. So I opened the fridge and grabbed one of our aluminum water bottles that I keep in there, to make sure the water is cold when I want it. I unscrewed the cap, and passed it back there. "You guys share!" I yelled over my shoulder as I careened onto the highway, "Pass it back and forth!" Josh took the first chug, and said "Natalie, this water tastes bad."

Oh God. When he said that, I realized what I had just handed that dear, sweet little six year old. "STOP!!!!" I yelled, and almost crashed the car. "Don't drink any more! Don't pass it to your sister! Give it to me!" . The kids were looking at me in the rearview mirror like I was a crazy person. I was a crazy person! I had just handed Josh a full liter of Sangria. And he drank some. At 7:40 in the morning.

Lord. I don't usually have water bottles full of sangria just sitting in my fridge. But we had gone camping with the girl scouts that weekend, (more on that later) and I had taken the sangria for the adults to drink when the girls were in bed. And I totally forgot. And now Josh was going to smell like a wino when he walked into 1st grade. Please don't call Child Protective Services. I told his mom, and she just laughed. But. Ummmmm. I need a nap. Or something. (Maybe some sangria?)

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SIX

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:12:07 -0700

Today Margaret turns six. I can hardly believe it. My baby! And here she is, already in school, making friends, learning to read and write. She is learning how to go off without me. It is wonderful and sad all at the same time. I am so proud of the person that she is becoming.

She is kind, and helps other children when she can. Her first grade teacher has paired her up with a kindergartener who is not able to get along with many of the other children, and Margaret is fine with her.

She shares and is not at all greedy. She will even offer me the last bite of her ice cream cone, if she knows I wanted to taste it (I am fairly certain I would not do that, even at the age of 38. Not even for my own daughter....ahem)

She is gentle, and not at all violent or aggressive. She will begin taking Aikido in a few weeks, and from what I hear, this class will further this sort of behavior.

She is adventurous. Our trip to Thailand this Spring was made so much more fun by her love of new experiences. And for her birthday, she climbed to the top of Flag Hill in Sunol with us this past weekend. And it was no small feat! When we got to the top, her reward was finding a geocache under a tree.

She is creative. She has taken to making little "dolls" out of found objects. I am constantly coming across taped together creations around the house. And if I am missing a sock, or a button, or a ribbon, chances are, I will find it as part of one of her dolls...

She is funny. She has a very good sense of humor, and remembers stories that tickle my funny bone. She will bring them up at unexpected times.

She is easy going and goes with the flow. Always. Kevin and I can plan elaborate weekends out and about the Bay Area, and she is always game. We just have to have a notebook and pens and books -- All of these in the back seat, and she will keep herself entertained as we drive to where ever we are going.

She is excited about learning. She loves reading, and she loves writing stories, and she comes home from first grade brimming over with tales of what went on in class that day. (I absolutely adore her teacher. I mean it. ADORE her.)

She sings and dances with abandon. She has a beautiful voice. Truly. I may even have her take some voice lessons down the line! And her dancing, well, let's just say she puts her heart into it.... :)

She makes my heart fill up whenever I am with her. She is my joy. She is my light. She is my 6 year old daughter.

I love you Margaret. Happy Birthday, honey.

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Too much to even TRY to write coherently.....

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:15:00 -0700

Here are the things I have done since arriving in Arlington on the 14th of July:

1) Went to DC, Baltimore and Mount Vernon with Maggie and Kevin. After a week, Kevin had to go back home to work. But Maggie and I still had 2 more weeks.

2) Went to New York City with my mom and Maggie. Some of the photos and videos have been uploaded into my photo library on VOX. We had a terrific time. We went to the American Girl Doll place, we visited with Anne Marie and her adorable children, we went to the zoo, we walked all up and down 5th avenue and Avenue of the Americas, we looked for Eloise at the Plaza and we saw The Little Mermaid on Broadway. So fun. All of it.

3) We came back to Arlington and helped my mom move out of her art studio at the Arlington Arts Center. That was a big job. It took two full days.

4) Maggie and I got in the car and visited my brother and his wife (Caroline) and his son (Conrad - 4) in Charlottesville in their newly renovated home. The cousins played and played. A video of David is in my video file. Pretty much sums up the visit. We stayed with them overnight.

5) From David's we went to visit the Corys. The family I nannied for for 7 years. They have gotten so big. The house where they live is lovely. Very Southern and gracious and dreamy. We stayed with them for a night, too.

6) On Monday morning (the 27th) we got up and drove to Bethany Beach. My mom and dad were already there, staying in a wonderful beach house that was looking over a little pond. It was a short drive to the beach and we went every day and Maggie made a friend within five minutes of us getting there. We met up with the little girl's family every day for the rest of the week. Maggie had so much fun!!!! And when we were hot and sandy and finished with the beach, we went back to the beach house area, and there was a pool we could swim in. So perfect.

7) Throughout the trip, I was listening to a wonderful audio recording of The Help and the book made my days pass with happiness. I really felt like I was on vacation. It was so nice. Very relaxing.

8) On Friday night we returned to Arlington. I met with Jane today. She looks gorgeous (photos to follow soon) and we had a wonderful afternoon together going out to lunch in Alexandria. This evening I had a nice visit with PoppyCharley's parents, tomorrow I meet up with my Godmother for breakfast, and on Monday, my last day, I am meeting with my old college roommate who is coming down from Annapolis.

Wow. Lots of stuff. I really had to squeeze it in. And when I get back to California, we have exactly ONE day, and then we get on a plane to San Diego to go to my friend Helen's wedding. Can't WAIT!!!!!! I am the minister and Maggie is the flower girl. Next Saturday. Perhaps I will report on that event. I will definitely take my camera.

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Did Someone say "Toenails?"

nobody@vox.com(Corndog Queen) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:11:26 -0700

Ha. This is sort of funny, because I just had a toenail incident this past Friday! At my local manicure place around the corner. I hadn't been in a really long time. But my beautiful ($4) pedicure that I got in Thailand was starting to wear off, and I found that I had a free afternoon. So hey, why not treat myself to a pedicure?!

This past week has been hellish. There were meetings at church, open house at school on Wednesday until 9:30, Maggie's dance dress rehearsal on Thursday until 8:30, and then the weekend was looking like it was going to be one activity after another.

But on Friday....ahhhh....sweet Friday, Maggie had gone for her very first sleepover at a classmate's house. So Kevin and I had the night to ourselves -- for the first time in a long time. And I planned to enjoy every minute I had. I called the pedicure place ahead of time, to make sure the lady I like was there. Tina. She was the one who did this to my toes. I like her. I was assured that I had an appointment at 5pm.

I got there at 5 PM on the dot. And saw another woman being escorted by Tina to the pedicure chair. Aghhhhhh! This did not bode well. But Tina assured me it would only be a few minutes. So, there I sat in the uncomfortable chairs, waiting for my turn. My seat mate was an 18 month old boy who was apparently half pterodactyl -- judging from the ear piercing screeches he was making every few seconds. What? An 18 month old boy? What was he doing in a nail place, you might be asking.... Yeah, I was wondering that too. But the mom didn't have time to actually watch him. She was concerned with the bright red fingernail polish she was instructing the manicurist to apply to her 7 year old daughter's nails. The mom, herself was getting her acrylic nails replaced, and she did this while holding ANOTHER baby under one of her arms. Yep. Three kids under 7 in the nail place. Lovely.

After 1/2 an hour of waiting, I was ushered to the foot soak. And once my feet were in there, I really couldn't leave. Even though I was tempted. Repeatedly. Because the mom of three kids was there the WHOLE time. And the baby boy was squawking and then...then...the mom got a call on her cell phone. Which apparently she HAD to take. So she put the baby down. Down on the nasty floor where everybody's toenail clipping are and god knows what else. And then the baby, who must have been about 8 months old, proceeded to crawl with the speed of a racehorse over to my foot bath. I was sure she was going to drown herself in it, and it would all be over. But the mom suddenly looked up from her phone conversation and noticed what was going on. She bellowed out "Natalie! Get back here!" (Yeah, nice, huh? The kid had my name, so I got to hear it yelled repeatedly during my "relaxing" time at the manicurist) And the baby, who was a total escape artist, turned toward her mother, giggled, and slap slap slap across the tile floor, edged her way closer to certain death in my massaging foot spa. Finally the mom got up, and with the phone held to one ear on her shoulder, came and scooped her daughter up with the the other arm and took her back to her seat.

All of this was commented on loudly by the screeching pterodactyl boy in the seating area. To her credit, the 7 year old girl with the inappropriate nail polish was totally behaving herself. So anyway, the mom sat down, put her nails back out to have them touched up, and put the baby back down. And little baby Natalie...you guessed it...headed right back towards me. slap slap slap.

I could go on. But I will not. You get the idea. I didn't even wait for my toenails to dry. As soon as she slapped the polish on, I was out of there. Ughhhh. WHY would a person take three young kids with them to the manicurist? Why?

In happier news, Kevin and I had a wonderful dinner out. (With the cell phone in my pocket the whole time, just in case Maggie had to call from her sleep over --which she did not) We had crepes, and then we walked over to the local Indian Movie Theater which has just started showing American films, and watched Star Trek. I have never even seen one episode of Star Trek in my life. And I watched one of the movies with Kevin one time because he couldn't believe I had never seen Star Trek (we watched the one with the Whales and it was SOOOOOOO stupid) But anyway, I knew that Kevin really wanted to see the movie and he had been working when his friends all went to see it together, so I suggested that we go see it on our romantic date night together. I honestly thought he was going to swoon when I suggested it. Ha. But, I must admit, it was a totally fun movie. Also, it didn't hurt that the guys in the movie were really cute. Way cuter than William Shatner EVER was.

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