The Pool Is Open. The Pool Is Closed.

The Sholem Aquatic Center opened for the season last Sat., though I doubt many people braved the cold water temps, despite the Champaign Park District's cheerful note, "don't forget the pool is heated." I don't think they could make the water that warm. At least, for me - I am not a polar bear. Anyway, since Unit 4 schools are in session until next week, the pool's only open after 4 p.m., which kinda stinks but is understandable.

I hemmed and hawed over taking the kids this afternoon. The weather was great all day - sunny, warm, a bit breezy - perfect swimming weather. So around 3:30 we put on our suits and sunscreen, gathered our towels and headed out the door.

By the time we arrived at the pool, there was a small mass of people but the line for pool pass holders was blissfully short (I got ours last Friday). We were through the door and into the water by 4:03.

The kids were over-the-moon happy. Both of them are like fish and could live at the pool. Flynn kept giggling and jumping up and down, though they were a teeny bit bummed when they realized they are too big for the kiddie pool. They recovered with a quick shoulder shrug and took off for the "big pool." They played, we took a trip down the lazy river and then Evan worked a little on his breast stroke.

I, however, kept one eye on my kids and one on the sky, with its darkening clouds.

After spotting lightning in the area, the guards cleared the pool. The time was 4:35.

We dried off and went home, rather than hang around and wait for them to actually close the pool due to bad weather.

30 minutes. I'm so glad we have pool passes. I would've hated to have paid admission.

Turning It Up A Notch

Once in a blue moon I get the opportunity to watch a little day-time TV, usually BBC America. Today after cleaning up the house, the kids and I sat down to view You Are What You Eat, hosted by England's resident health-nut, holistic nutritionist Gillian McKeith. She ambushes heavy-weight people and bullies them into a healthier life-style, one that includes ditching a diet comprised mainly of take-aways and lots of sugar, caffeine, and refined everything. Not a fruit or veg in sight. Exercise? Fugeddaboutit.

One of her little tricks is to lay out a week's worth of food and confront the guilty party. Each table's offerings are very, well, brown and rather disgusting. Then she shows the person a table full of what their diet will be for the next two months, a veritable rainbow of vibrantly colored fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, lean proteins and whole grains.

In 8 weeks she turns their life around, every person's a success story - they eat a healthy diet and start exercising, loosing lots of weight in the process (30 pounds seems to be the average).

But she's not very nice about it. The best I can describe her is she's a steely-gazed, sharp-tongued school marm. She has the tenacity of a pit bull or rat terrier. She tears into the poor slob, ripping him or her a new one; scolding them for their poor eating and exercise habits, nipping at their heels or biting them in the butt until they change.

After the program was over Evan said, "She's pretty aggressive. That woman needs to turn up the nice a few notches." He's an observant young man, my son. Flynn chimed in with, "Yeah, she's a meanie."

I agree. But it makes good TV.

He'll Make An Excellent Husband Someday

For years Evan's been bugging me and bugging me to let him use the sewing machine. He's pretty crafty with a needle and thread - he sewed a Christmas ornament for me last December, and mostly completed a blanket for his teddy.

After showing him the basics of the machine, I let him at it with a scrap of flannel I'd had left over from the latest baby blanket (made with this fabric) and showed him what to do.

Now he wants to make a blanket for his bed. I have had the pieces cut for a year or so with the intention of making a quilt for him, so now all I have to do is dig them out and we're off, a slightly different version of my own summers spent sitting by my mother while she made clothes for me and my sister. When I was a little older than Evan, my mom would let me pick a pattern (something very easy) and fabric and she'd teach me, something we did pretty much every summer until I went away to school. Those sewing lessons helped pay my rent in college; I worked in the theatre department's costume shop making all kinds of stuff.

Sarah made the cutest robot pajama's for her daughter and inspired me, as she so often does. I spent the better part of today working on a pair for Evan. The top is finished and while Evan says the sleeves are "fine, Mom. They'll do," I'm not very happy with them (I couldn't get the cuffs right and ended up just hemming them and they look a little fluttery). I'll finish the bottoms tomorrow, then I'll have a pix to post.

Hell, maybe Evan will finish his own jammies and that's just fine by me.

Auf Wiedersehen, Mein Deutche Mama

The last week of April, the mother of one of my dearest friends was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, which had spread to her liver and the surrounding lymph nodes. Her doctor gave her, at most, six months to live.

She died at 3:45 this a.m., surrounded by her children and loved ones. I'm told she went peacefully - no machines or condescending care givers, just birds singing outside her window, the sound of the wind in the trees, and the music she loved.

I've always called her my "Deutche Mama" because Martina was originally from Germany and she treated me like a member of her family from the moment her son, my friend, introduced us well over 20 years ago.

I will always remember her smiling face, her loving nature, her kindness and generosity, the strength of her faith. In my mind's eye I see her in the big kitchen of the retreat center where she lived and worked (for some reason she has flour on her hands). She's busy taking care of everyone around her, me included.

My life is that much richer for having had her gentle presence in my life and she will be greatly missed.

Baby Names

Always ones to plan ahead, my children had the following conversation, which I report verbatim:

Evan: What are we going to name our new baby?

Mom (thinking): What new baby?

Evan: We should come up with some names for when we have babies.

[I will clarify that my children know they can't have babies with each other. They've asked if they can marry each other. I told them "no" unless they live in Kentucky. Evan's had his heart set on a particular girl in his class, whom he adores.]

Flynn: Ummm, Sunshine?

Evan: That's good. What else?

Flynn: Treepod!

Evan: That's a great name, Sunshine Treepod! Hey, Mom, isn't that a great name?

Mom: Mmm-hmmm, yeah, that's a good one alright. (thinking to herself: maybe if it's 1967. Then: Good Lord, my children are hippies. What's a "treepod"?) Is this a boy's name or a girl's?

Evan: A boy.

Flynn: A girl.

No "Emma"'s or "Matthew"'s for my kids, apparently.

Nope.

It's Sunshine Treepod, which has a certain panache, I guess.

Is It August Yet?

My kids are officially on summer vacation as of today.

And I'm ready for them to go back.

After I picked up Evan this morning we had some time to kill before heading over to Flynn's Friday CPD preschool end-of-the-year get together. We were originally to be at Prairie Farm but since the weather was uncooperative we adjourned to the kitchen of the Springer building. Evan was in desperate need of a haircut so I took him in. The girl who cut his hair did a decent job. I've had a hard time finding a stylist for my son who won't cut his hair in either 1 of the 2 approved Boy Haircuts (the Buzz Cut, so the poor guy looks like he belongs in the army or the "Prince Valiant" which makes the boy look like he had a bowl on his head). The best barber we've ever taken him to is in Glenview and I don't know when we'll be up there next.

Anyhoo, We had an o.k. lunch with Flynn's class then headed out into the rain to run some errands.

First on the list was Target to get a birthday present for one of my six nieces (her birthday's next week). She wanted a copy of the new Alvin and The Chipmunks movie. While we were there, I had the kids check out the shoes. Flynn needed an new pair of sandals (she found a bejeweled pair of flip-flops) and Evan claimed to need new sneakers, of which Target has slim pickings for boys. We also perused the toys, like we normally do. Evan had his heart set on getting some kind of spy case, which I vetoed and he spent the rest of our time in the store in a sour funk.

In the car, Evan declared that he's going to read 50 picture books this summer and 3 novels. His reward, should he accomplish his goal, is lunch at McDonald's (that's what he decided). So, in order to help him along we went to Borders to check out their selection. He found 4 books, as did Flynn. I'm always happy to shell out dollars for books because I know they'll get read over and over. Flynn had a minor melt-down in the bookstore because her "legs [were] tired from walking" and I couldn't carry her. They were both super squirrelly at the check out, but once they had their new books in their hot little hands they were happy campers indeed.

On to Payless to checkout their selection of boys' tennis shoes. Flynn found a dressy pair of sandals to wear to church and Evan came up bupkus, which I don't think he minded because he was busy reading. So I told him we'd go to another shoe store, one sure to have shoes for him.

Off to Heel to Toe. My son was too busy reading one of his new books to really concentrate on trying on new shoes and I had to physically wrest the book from his hands to get him to pay attention to the task. The older gentleman who helped us was great and within 5 minutes found Evan a new pair of tennies that he ended up wearing out of the store because he didn't want to take them off. "These new shoes help me run faster," he exclaimed running to the car.

Next task: pool passes. Arrived at the Bresnan building around 3:30. The kids were running on empty by this time and starting to get more than just a little antsy. While we waited for our passes to print out, they were climbing on each other and spinning around and it was just a matter of time before they either pissed off the other one or they got hurt (or both). However, they are more than a little thrilled at having their very own pool pass with their name and picture on it. The pool opens tomorrow, as Evan reminded me as we drove out of the parking lot.

Last stop: the grocery store for a few things. My family goes through a metric ton's worth of Popsicles during the summer and we were out, so that was on the list. And cantaloupe (Flynn would probably eat her weight's worth every day if I let her). The cherries looked good, too, so we grabbed some of those. A couple more things then we were headed for the check-out, with very little bickering from the children. They asked if we could rent a movie, so on our way out the door we stopped at the Red Box and they picked out three movies.

Home by 4 p.m. *whew*

I can't fathom taking them on errands this summer as I'm so used to doing them by myself or at most having one of them with me, but I'll do it because I don't have any other choice and they are usually well-behaved. And, hooray, they have a couple camps in June and Flynn will attend a preschool summer session in July. My only salve and/or bribe will be the pool.

Until August comes and they will (blissfully) go off to school again.

Two By Two

My good friend Gwen forwarded this to me, so I thought I'd make it my post for the day.

Two names you go by:
1. Mom
2. Miss Missy


Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Wedding/engagement rings
2. Jeans


Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Read
2. Explore new places


Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. A live-in maid
2. A night out with my hubby


Two favorite pets:
1. My first dog, Cindy
2. My second dog, Molly


Two people who, I hope, will fill this out:
1. Stacy
2. The Fearless Freak


Two things you did last night:
1. Watched Loony Tunes cartoons with the kids
2. Finished my book and started a new one


Two things you ate today:
1. An amazing sushi rice roll at the preschool picnic (so, so delicious)
2. Watermelon


Two people (I'm amending this to "adults") you last talked too:
1. Audrey
2. Mrs. Chicken


Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Getting Evan a haircut
2. Getting our family's pool passes (the pool opens on Saturday and the kids can hardly wait)


Two longest car rides:
1. 12-hours straight from my grandmother's in PA (with a 4-year-old and 2 1/2-year-old who'd been potty-trained for 2 weeks).
2. Driving from the D.C. area home 3 days after 9/11 (with an 8-month-old Evan). That was about 16-hours almost straight through and we hit a traffic jam in Indy. Ever try nursing a child while he's a) screaming his head off and b) still strapped in the car seat because the car is barreling down the highway? Good times.

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Halloween
2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages:
1. Skinny Green Tea Latte from Starbuck's
2. Starbucks' Light Iced Coffee (it's in a can, but it's soooo good)