Monday, March 22, 2010

Dance dance revolution

Holy moses, what a weekend!

Headed out on our dance adventure on Saturday morning, with a stop in Grove City first to get a new car adapter for the iPod. From there we took the longest, most ridiculous way to Edinboro. The "scenic route", if you will.  Stopped in at the workshop to say hi to Dan, who was massively sweaty from teaching Charleston all morning. Had a few hours to kill before we started our class, so we drove to Erie to indulge in some sushi and hibachi. Okay, not "some". Massive amounts is more accurate. Headed back to the university for our class, praying that food would settle before we got to the dancing. Ow.

The class went so amazingly well. Everyone caught on surprisingly well and I think they all had a blast.  We even had a few of the old Rocco's crew show up, so that was really cool. The only times I felt flabbergasted were when I had to explain little stylistic bits that I do. I have no way to explain them to people other than "I'm just following Steve" or "I dunno. I've always done it that way."  For instance, apparently Steve and I have a signature move that we do with our shoulders. Neither of us have ever really thought about it, it's just something that we do. We got asked numerous times "Wait...how are you doing that?" and all I could say was "I'm not doing anything. I'm just following."  Steve tried to break it down and explained it as a rowing motion, but it was still baffling I guess.  I think they'll get it more when they stop thinking so much about the movement. with blues dancing you can't overanalyze each step, you just have to go with the music. The class did a wonderful job of that when we had them dance with their eyes shut, so clearly the intention is there.  They're such an enthusistic group of kids, and I just adore them to pieces.

After many hours of dancing, Steve and I scooted home and reveled in the wonder that is a quiet, toddler free house. And a toddler free bed. Oh, the luxury!  We slept in, went out to my favorite Chinese place for lunch and swung by Lowes to price some lumber and to pick up a few seed packets.  We picked up a very sleepy Finn from Nana's and came home to work in the yard. Finn helped me plant the seeds in their pods and it was possibly the cutest thing ever. You could see the concentration on his face as he carefully picked up one seed at a time and pushed it into the soil. I wish I would have had more pods because he could have kept going with it.  Steve grilled up some yummy burgers for us and not long afterwards it was bedtime for everyone under the age of 3. Easiest bedtime ever. I think we're going to love spring and summer for the fact that Finn is too worn out to even attempt a fight at bedtime.  It's nice for a change.  I forsee a bad bedtime tonight though, since it's pouring outside, ruining any chance we had at burning off some energy. Oh well. Can't win them all.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Change of seasons

This week has been gorgeous. No, really. Unseasonably warm weather, grass visible in most of the yard (yes, that's right, GRASS!), and the masses of adorable birds flitting around the patio. So, of course, we all come down with a monster, nose killing, mucus festival of a cold.  Finn started it all on Saturday. Steve noticed him sniffling while at the zoo. By the time I got home from my tattoo appointment, he had commenced the sneezing. Sunday and Monday the cold progressed to full blown rivulets of snot and a glorious hacking. By Tuesday both Steve and I had itchy throats. Today I woke up feeling like I could barely breathe. Steve's colds rarely ever progress past the itchy throat phase, the lucky bastard. Finn and I spent the majority of the day snuggle up on the couch under the big comforter watching movies and eating chicken noodle soup.  What a way to spend a lovely 60 degree day.

Anyways, rewind to Saturday. It ended up being quite fun. Mom and I started our day in Erie with some gut-filling grub from Moe's and then hit up Target to find a suitable party dress for my birthday. Gave up on finding a dress and settled on a cutesy floral skirt that I will get infinitely more wear out of than a dress anyways.  Headed downtown to Karma and spent the next 3.5 hours under the skillful hand of Doug Lopretto.  I hadn't even seen the artwork before then, and I have to say I was blown away. I still am actually. He got the linework and about half the shading done. I'm hoping to make my next appointment at the end f April. I can't wait to see this gorgeousness colored in.


Friday, March 5, 2010

I'm getting pretty gosh darn excited. In a little less than 24 hours I say good-bye to my naked right arm and hello to a most excellent half sleeve filled with lots of underwater critters.  It's been a long time in coming, about three years to be exact. The last tattoo I got, my chest piece, was completed about a week before I got pregnant with Finn. Who knows, maybe this one will have the same baby-making effects. I'm planning on having my IUD removed after our trip to Toronto in April, so baby-making will definitely be on the horizon. Oh boy. Or girl.  Or as my mom LOVES to tease "maybe one of each!". Seriously, not funny mom. Not funny in the slightest. Speaking of my mom, she will be the one going with me to my appointment. This should prove to be interesting since she thinks the tattoo experience is like an episode of Miami Ink :  The tattoo customer prattles on and on about the deep, life changing meaning behind their choice of artwork and the artist is brought to tears by their emotional story and then relates a similar story of their own. I love her to pieces, but...really? She has a lot to learn. I went with her for her first tattoo and it was an experience I will not be repeating. She clung to my leg, cursing about the pain. For three hours. For a woman that went through 36 hours of labor, you'd really think she'd have handled it better.  Anyways, possible face-palm moments aside, it should be an enjoyable day. We're heading up to Erie early so I can look for a birthday party dress and have a delicious lunch. Meanwhile, with the nice weather we've been having (holy shit! Is that GRASS I see in our backyard?! No way!) Steve is planning on taking Finn to the zoo. I think this will be the first time he's taken a semi-big trip with Finn by himself. So, his day might be more hilarious than mine. I'm looking forward to comparing stories when we get home.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Get Milk

We got seriously off track with drinking raw milk this summer. We took Finn off all dairy for quite awhile there and that, combined with serious money issues, made the 45 minute drive to get milk seem completely unworth it. But, we slowly re-introduced dairy to Finn and since he's been fine with it and our milk consumption went back up I decided that it was high time we get back to swilling the good stuff.
Two Fridays ago after dropping Steve off at work Finn and I made the drive to Wilson Farms. I figured he wouldn't remember our previous trips but I was wrong. Upon mention of going to get milk his eyes lit up. "See doggies? And kitties?!" he yelled excitedly from the back seat.  For him the best part of getting milk was not the milk, or the cookies that the farmers stuffed his pockets with, or getting to pet new born calves. It was always the barn dogs and cats. He is such a cat person. As soon as we parked ouside the dairy shed, he spied the big orange cat perched in the window. "KITTIE!!! Pet da kittie!". He couldn't scramble inside fast enough.  We lugged our gallon containers inside and he immediately made a beeline for the half sleeping cat.  I tried to catch up with the owner of the farm, but Finn's sole interest was in petting the kittie. Luckily, the owner was quite understanding and dipped him out a cup of fresh milk and produced a cookie to munch on while playing with the critter.  Our jugs filled, I had a heck of a time explaining that the kittie could not, in fact, come home with us.
"Kittie? Home? In da car?"
"No, peanut. Kittie has to stay here. "
"Oh...Pwease?"
"Kittie makes Mommy sneeze, so he can't come in the car. Sorry buddy."

Thankfully, a meltdown did not occur. He seemed okay with the promise that we'd come back and visit the kittie soon.  And now almost two weeks later, he's still telling the "get milk" story anytime he sees a picture of a cat. It goes something like this:

"Aww, kittie... Mommy get milk. Byes in da car. Get milk. See kittie. Kittie, maowwww. Get cookie. Petted da kittie. Maowwww. Nice. Is black kittie. No, is orange kittie. Is orange."