playing with eden

both eden and hunter have entered the world of facebook. unfortunately i have been right in there with them telling them which photo to post and what not to say. the advise is rolling off my tongue. amazingly, they still listen to me, at this point...wonder how long that will last. what us old folks would have done for a facebook arena. remember (im talking to the old people here) when you had to write a letter or actually call on the corded phone attached to the wall in the kitchen. remember when the cord would get all stretched out?

so, i started playing with some photos of eden and got a bit carried away. so here is my beautiful work of art...in technicolor.

in my next life i am going to be a photographer and a pilot. cant wait.

officially depressed

i am officially depressed. summer is ending, and i am entering my annual funk. i should probably get used to the feeling, but i never do. i fight it. i lament. i sulk. i cry.

gone are the lazy days of my children around me 24/7. gone are the sleep overs and waking times of noon. gone are the sunburned cheeks and sandy back seats. gone are the days of having absolutely nothing to do....the magic of summer. i even feel fall in the air. i need to adjust the automatic timers for the outdoor lighting too, cuz it's getting darker, earlier...what a pain. i miss having all of my 5 children sleeping under one roof. why is that so comforting?

real life sets in. waking time of 5:30am, homework, bedtime curfews, routine, routine, routine. maybe i am just a free spirit at heart and hate the routine of it all. that may be the root of my problem-routine, repetition, monotony. maybe i should move to the napali coast with kevin and hunt goat every week and live under a tarp-yeah, that sounds good.

i should have been a hippie.

what i do in my spare time...

i would like to introduce you to my newest orphans. sven and simon, the chinchillas.
their sad story started the day they were born. unfortunately their mom, veda had a severe bout of stress induced drooling (come to find out is a BAD thing for a chinchilla) which led to a severe mystery illness and then a very untimely death. she didnt seem to recover even when taken to the "exotic vet" and given all sorts of remedies which she eagerly accepted. when i was caring for her and her two newborns during her final days, i noticed her devoted love to her little ones. she defended them and cared for them as best as she could...even though she was dying.
i knew the evening before she passed that she would die that night. there was a look in her eye as if she knew. i knew too. i tucked them to bed in her "hospital" cage, and silently gazed into her eyes a final goodbye, promising her i would care for her babies as best i could. when i uncovered the lonely home the next morning, i found two little chins huddled together on her, grasping the very last minute of warmth from her body. i wondered if they knew her fate. i wondered if they understood the sacrifice she had made for them. i wondered if they would miss her. i cradled them in my hands and promised them and veda that i would care for them.
i quickly found a formula to feed them and got to work trying to care for them the way veda would. i failed miserably, but they were patient with me. they eagerly drank the milk from hard, impersonal glass vials, and huddled together on an artificial, sterile heating pad. but they were good sports. i wondered if they missed the smell of their mom-the sweet noises she would make when nuzzling them beneath the soft fur of her chest. these chins were solely dependent on me now. a daunting task. feeding took place every 2-3 hours and before i knew it, i was on round the clock duty. eden, the night owl she is, took on the late night feedings, thank goodness.
our hawaii trip was approaching too, and i was faced with having to find an appropriate nanny for my new little chins. i had no idea where to look or who even to look for. i was so lucky to find kimberly, a woman with a heart of gold. she lovingly embraced my boys and took them into her home, caring for them like her own (she has quite a few chin children). come to find out, my boys hardly weighed what they should, and were lucky to be alive. with her chin expertise and advise, she helped me turn their fate around. thank you kimberly and mercedes.

my boys are now happy living with their dad, jack-i am sure all of them missing their girl, veda.

Dinosaurland for Aenon

Well, we re-lived Aenon's childhood for a moment and went to see "Walking with Dinosaurs", I know, sounds kind of hokey, but the LA Times said it was good, so...we bit the bullet and all of us got in the car at the same time (I know,a feat in itself) and ventured to the Honda center. I could see the excitement in Aenon's eyes, as if she were 8 all over again. I wish this show had been around when she was little. For those of you who didnt know Aenon as a child, she LOVED dinosaurs. Knew every one by name. The show was actually good. The best part were these blow up pyschedelic flowers and plants, which instantaneously came to life right in front of us. You know it's bad when some dinosaur show is actually entertaining.

mom has a blog...

wow, i now have a blog. i guess when i was told to "get with the 21st century" it meant i needed to do this. probably a good thing for me to bear my soul. who knows, it could even be therapeudic. so, kids out there, officially your mom has entered internetland. dont laugh.