It's a good thing they're cute

Because they sure are putting me through the ringer.  Everything, and I mean everything, is a fight these days.  Maggie is ripping up books, hitting me and the Mister, putting her fingers in the stamp pad milliseconds after I tell her that the only rule I have for playing stamping is not putting your fingers in the stamp pad.  Oliver is throwing himself to the floor and wailing, throwing his couscous on the ground and then stomping on it. It's like living with two door-slamming, eye-rolling teenagers.  It's rough.  I am not handling it as well as I should be.  I raise my voice.  I yell.  I jut out my lower jaw in a threatening manner.  Tonight, in an effort to speed up time, thus reaching bedtime more quickly, I let them watch an entire hour of TV (Stellaluna on DVD, actually).  This is something we simply do not do.  But, ugh, I needed backup.

There are still traces of my two little darlings.  They are affectionate and cute and sweet often enough to keep me from leaving them at the nearest Target and hitting the road.  But, man, why can't we all just get along?

Here's a little sample of the cuteness that still glimmers through:

OLIVER (switching off my bedside lamp): You have to turn off the the light when you leave the room so you don't waste tickly. 

A thing I like

In the last two-and-three-quarter years we, as a family, have gone through more than 10,000 diapers.  I can't even contemplate the number of wipes.  A bazillion? That's a lot of landfill, people (hallelujah for potties!).  Nearly every single diaper change was facilitated by Diapers.com.  It's cheap.  It's fast.  It's reliable.  It's a company I might even miss doing business with, and I can't say that about very many businesses.  So, if someone you love still wets themselves, you should shop there.  You won't be sorry.

39 things to do before my next birthday

It's my birthday. Thirty-nine.  Doesn't that sound old?  It does, doesn't it?  But it doesn't feel old.  It feels just fine, in fact.  When I stop to think about how we all seem to be so terrified of getting older, it seems rather silly.  I suppose it's the sense of shrinking possibility that does it.  Less time to do the stuff that feels worthwhile.   And the looks thing, of course.  But what are you gonna do?  I had my chance to be 23.  And I can say with certainty that it was no better than being 38.  In fact, it sort of sucked.

Here are 39 things I like to do in the final year of my 30s:

1. start some meaningful and ongoing volunteer work

2. re-read some Shakespeare plays

3. learn to sew, even a little

4. make a headboard for our bed

5. throw a party

6. visit a state I've never been to

7. reunite with some friends I don't see very often: Tara, Vida, Kate, Hilary

8. publish at least one piece in a national publication

9. go sailing

10. take my kids to the circus

11. eat hot dogs on the pier at Chrissy Field with my family

12. swim in the Yuba River

13. take my kids to play in the snow

14. take my kids to see a dance performance

15. go to Vermont

16. host a brunch/clothing swap at my house

17. follow the sun more when it gets foggy

18. eat oysters at Tomales Bay Oyster Company

19. spend a weekend by myself

20. make ice cream and then sundaes with Magnolia and Oliver

21. finish landscaping my front yard

22. find some more good, cheap restaurants to love in San Francisco

23. go the Alameda flea market

24. take a dance class

25. do some more encaustic painting

26. go hiking with the kids in backpacks before they really get too heavy

27. take the kids on a ferry ride to Angel Island

28. clean out the garage

29. eat pupusas

30. plant a few veggies (pickling cucumbers!)

31. spend a weekend away with The Mister

32. write a letter to my representative

33. have a movie marathon day at a multiplex

34. write a rough draft of the novel I'm working on

35. bake bread

36. get a massage

37. organize the closets

38. make a new friend

39. have a San Francisco day with my family: cable car, Swensen's, chowder in a sourdough bowl, Fisherman's Wharf

P.S.  If you want to give me a b-day gift, go over there to the right and become one of my followers.

A few interesting things I saw this weekend

Mostly it rained and I hung out with my lovely family (we made muffins and went to the Discovery Museum). I also saw a few noteworthy things:

Like this little trio walking down Union Street.

And this truck parked in front of our neighborhood Catholic church.

And the way the sun broke through the clouds 

at sunset and lit up the houses of my neighborhood.

Oh, and also, The Mister got me the Thing I like seen here for Valentine's Day.  That guy!  Always thinking.