Ant Eradication

Sometimes keeping house means asking the little pests to leave. Jesse wants me to do it in a green non toxic way. Well, I tried the corn meal, we have a cinnamon barrier in front of the door, and I've put dryer sheets in crevices. The vinegar is supposed to kill their trails, but I only have sushi vinegar, so they might actually like it. Don't tell Jesse, but I'm off to Target tomorrow for some toxic, horrible for the environment substance to spray around the perimeter of the apartment. They are ruthless. And the cinnamon just doesn't compete. And just so you know, it's not just a couple of ants, they are swarming. ( do ants swarm?)

Everything I need to know I learned in 1st grade

Mermaid's school gives out little tickets for good deeds. At the end of the week, someone from each grade gets their ticket pulled and receives some sort of prize.

"I saw Mrs. R give a girl a ticket for picking up trash, so I decided to pick up trash the next chance I got. So I picked up trash at recess, and I got a ticket too! And then I saw more trash, but I had already gotten my ticket, so I didn't pick it up."

And today I got a call that she had a fever and should come home. I asked her how the teacher knew she was sick and she said "I was groaning a lot and I tried to put my head down." The nurse said she shouldn't come back to school tomorrow, but she's been fit as a fiddle since she got home. But I'd probably die of embarrassment if we had a repeat groaning performance tomorrow. So she's coming to playgroup with G. Whee.

Miraculous Mozart?

The miracle of Mozart is not necessarily that your infant will be a genius. The miracle is that while it's playing in the background, children will eat breakfast, put their shoes on, brush their hair without complaining. And though it seemed impossible since they woke up at 7:30, they are out the door at 7:45 and no one is yelling or crying. And, we get the Mermaid to school before the 5 minute warning at 7:55. How?
Simple.
Mozart in the morning.
Thank you.
Grazie.
Wir Danken Sie, Herr Mozart.

Where have you gone, darling Bekah?

I have been:
-fixing my computer. Yes, an English/psychology/music major can fix her own computer without calling Adam! (It just needed to be cleaned, but I ended up rebooting OSX. Got a little carried away)Check out that fancy schmancy monitor and keyboard that J got through Craigslist. We feel so high class. We just need speakers so Miriam can listen to Faded Paper Figures, her favorite band. She's a bit of a groupie.
-catching up in my classes. After running around campus two days in a row, I am officially enrolled and have two assignments and two discussion boards to contribute to before we go to Santa Barbara tomorrow.
-ferrying kids on the extracycle.
-Missing Jesse while he was at a conference and visiting my dad and Joe, Leslie, kids, and Lance. Not fair.
-Welcoming Jesse home with a semi-immaculate home.
-Reading books one and two of Twilight. It's every teenagers dream, gorgeous boy, who has the maturity of a 100 year old man. Gee, that's every woman's dream. No offense, babe.

So that's where I've been. In bloglalaland. It's sort of like Bob Loblaw's Law blog, but not quite.

Last year's films?

Our library here is nothing short of amazing. It's huge, beautiful, and has books, dvds, and cds galore. I managed to get arm loads of books but as I browsed the dvds, I didn't know where to start.

So here's my question for you. What movies did I miss last year? What were your favorites? Which ones should I miss? Do tell.

AAARGH!

You know when you meet people and have tons to talk about and think "these are awesome people and I love hanging out with them" and then you move across the ocean and won't see them for awhile, or at least until they come to Disneyland (which better be soon!), oh right, and your kids play together fabulously. ARRRGH! I hate that!Trust me. We miss you all! Hawaii, California, New York? When/Where should we meet?

First Grade

Guess who I'm making friends with at school. Guess. The Japanese moms. There are four Japanese kids in Mermaid's class, not counting M. She's the only one with a randoseru. It's causing jealous fits amongst the Nihonjin kids. Mermaid was also glad that Izumi-chan has an obento, too. Seeing as lunch costs $3.00 a day, I'm not sure why everyone isn't making an obento.

Also, Danny will be happy to know that my car is a hit with the primary age children. I got lots of "oooh, pretty car!" when I went to pick Mermaid up the first day. Some people appreciate turquoise.

Cousins at the Coast

It was hard to leave Japan, but having Auntie, Uncles, Tutu, and cousins made the transition seamless. Thanks for making the drive.

Princess Reunion

When we were in Sacramento, we went by the Funny Farm and saw some friends from not so long ago. The Princesses were in Joy School together some 3 years ago. Now they're first graders, but they got along as if those 3 years were just a day or two.

This week, still no pictures.

Here I am skipping the last two hours of church because of the worst cold in a very long time. So instead of sleeping (which I really tried to do), I'm catching up here. You'll be happy to know that I'm recumbent, therefore I am indeed resting.

So lets start with the second first day of first grade! Yay Mermaid! She loves her teacher, loves her school, gets ready and brushes her hair everyday. And she can't wait until I let her get the hot lunch every once in awhile.

I did have to drop my classes because the person who reclassifies residency was out of the office last week. I get to stalk her tomorrow. I mean talk to her. Hopefully, I can be reclassified so I can keep taking my classes.

Which I am enjoying immensely. My kids are great. They let me do homework and read while they play. There is an end to each assignment. It's not like laundry or housecleaning which NEVER END. I didn't get kicked off the online blackboard, so I've been able to do all my assignments and keep up, so it shouldn't be a big deal if I can add them this week.

I bought a new vacuum. I know that for most people this is not blog worthy, but for me it begins a new era. Mermaid and I have really bad allergies here, and I can't help but think it might be the dust in our carpets. I found a little vacuum that's perfect for our little house. It's purple, the color of choice around here, and it sucked up so much junk from my mattress, I was more than a little disturbed. I will probably be a vacuuming fool for the next few weeks.

And last. WE LOVE OUR HOUSE! I know that it's small, there's no washing machine or dish washer, but the layout is amazing. The kitchen is pretty spacious, the bathroom (though it needs to be re-caulked) is quite nice, the kids play in their room because there is room, our room fits our needs (sleep), and there is so much light. When we clean the house, it looks clean. Can you tell how much I hated our house in Japan? One more thing, we got rid of so much stuff when we left, the house doesn't feel stuffed to the brim. I like it.

This Week Without Pictures

This past week has been EVENTFUL!!!

We drove in.
Got Mermaid registered for school.
Got me registered for school (though I may have to drop if I don't get residency).
Got the car halfway registered (still need a smog check).
Picked up Jesse from the airport.
Went to the first and only day of class (it's online. And I started getting nervous. Can I do this? There's a paper. Wait. Aren't I an English teacher? I've already graduated from college.) Went to the Jack Johnson concert in the GINORMOUS Verizon Ampitheater (where were you Jamie?? Oh. You were that teeny tiny speck in the front!) Got the first whiff of second hand smoke/toke in a LONG time (when was that Reel Big Fish concert?? 96?)
Had in-laws and cousin party ("hey Bekah. Where does this knife go?" I dunno. "Do you have scissors?" I dunno. By Sunday they realized I really had no idea where anything went, or if I actually owned said thing.)
Had a welcome home party with friends and family. SO FUN!! SO MUCH WORK!
4 weeks ago... Bekah: "I don't know if having a party two days after you fly in and with your brother and sister and their families at our house is a great idea."
Jesse: "Oh. It'll be fine."
It was FUN. But when you have no idea where anything is, it's a bit of a challenge.
Just got 17/20 on my first quiz (not that great considering it was open book, but I just have to get 14 to get full credit).

Monkey: "I don't want you to call me Monkey anymore. I'm Dragon!"