House of the Sick

I have officially walked the red carpet to collect my award as 'Worst Wifey of the Year'... Jimmy has been so sick the past week. Like, gross, hacking cough/high fever/achy/whiny sick. And I have banished him to the guest room. I can still hear him coughing and snoring at night, but the guest room is farther away than any other room in the house. I am considering making him sleep in the car tonight. In my defense, for the first 48 hours I waited on him hand and foot, bringing medicine, water, soup etc. Then Kaitlin got sick with a fever of 103 and I was left a lone well person in the House of Graham. Gosh, now my duty had doubled from one whining baby to two. By the fourth day of doing my rounds in the sick ward, I got fed up and started letting the two invalids fend for themselves. Or let the sick husband care for the sick child, rather. Yeah, I'm that evil. Thus, waiting for the lightning to strike... or a high fever, whichever comes first.

OCD part deux

Actually, if I'm being honest, it's far past the second time I've had OCD...
I am a complete control freak about our Christmas tree. Complete.
To live as a Christmas tree at the House of Graham one must

a) have white lights. NO colored lights allowed, much to my husband's dismay.
b) ornaments are properly spaced and color coded to look 'randomly hung on the tree with great care'
c) must follow strict monochromatic dress code excluding the Faberge eggs my grandmother made forty years ago.


p.s.- any friend of mine does not have blue lights as part of their decor. If you have ignored this code of our friendship, we will not speak until Valentine's Day. I do this because I love.

Let it snow!!!

It snowed here yesterday! I have never seen it snow in the Bay Area before. I still recall a day living in Santa Cruz when there was actually a little ice on our driveway... It was so exciting to play in the white fluff with Kaitlin. Granted, it was only a couple of inches, but still enough to make a little baby snowman!

Oh, gosh

why is it that when I'm all gussied up and go to run errands, I don't see anyone I know... but when I look like c.r.a.p.- I see everyone and their brother/sister/gardener/nanny... you get the picture.

My allegiance is to the Road Runner

It was my morning to drive the kids to school today. As were driving down the driveway towards the road, one of the girls said, "Hey, look! There's a deer in the field!" Of course Kaitlin jerks her head around frantically searching for a glimpse of the wild life. I, on the other hand, am used to multiple deer sightings a day so was less than enthused and continued driving. "That's not a deer, " shrieked Anna, "that's a coyote!" Screeeeeeeech! The car comes to a stop and the supposed responsible adult yelps in fear, "Where?!?! A coyote?!! Where is it?!" As my eyes are directed to the coyote in the front field, all I can think of is our dog, Baxter, lazing around the yard. Oh no, I think, that coyote is going to eat Baxter in one bite! I do anything a rational adult would do and start to panic. Might I add, that the kids are calm this entire transaction... I started laying on the horn and yelling, but the coyote does not budge. So, the next thing to do is to protect Baxter from his impending doom and to get him in the car with us. Now, I was quite a distance from the front porch he was sunning on (think about 1/4 mile) and if I called him, the dog would have just barely avoid the coyote's path.

If Baxter ran straight to me. If the coyote stayed put.

Well, of course, this is my life so neither of those two things happened. Baxter came running at my call, but saw the coyote mid stride and started to chase the thing! Kids, still calm in the back seat- Me, freaking out!!!

"Baxter, get back here now- the coyote will!eat!you!" I scream. The dog continues to chase, I continue to scream. The dog crosses the road into reservoir property. I continue to scream. The dog runs further and further away. I continue to scream. Now granted, I did not use profanity... but I was a tad bit out of control trying to get the dog in the car. By now, I had no idea where he was. I am sure the coyote had him up on a spit by now and was preparing a tasty salad to go with Baxter. I hop back in the car to drive up the road to find our dog. There! There he is! just standing barking a severe warning to that coyote and awaiting his carriage ride. He came running towards me up and over the wall (it's private, city owned property, with gates and locks and such) as if to say, "Look, Mom, I've protected you... ain't I great?!" Oh gosh... Yes, Baxter is great, but not in the sense that he goes well with leafy greens and a nice vinaigrette.