Why is my heat on?

Well, today was the last day of school.  Usually the last day of school is celebrated by a big picnic and gathering in the park, but today it was 55 degrees and rainy.  So Tad and I dropped Coen off at school where he had fun and watched a movie and we went grocery shopping with Lucy.

We took the kids out for a celebratory last day of school lunch.  (We could splurge as we had little to pay for daycare this month--Yay suddenly having a teacher for a partner!) and then home where we lounged and watched a movie.  I did laundry while the kids viewed and Lucy stripped down to her birthday suit and found a warm cuddly spot inside the laundry basket.

We all went outside to play for a while until it got too chilly and we came in for a very wintry dinner of grilled cheese and soup!  The exciting thing is that the soup we ate was delicious seafood bisque made and packed up for us by our neighbors Lynn and Bill.  And the cheese was leftover from our grill out last weekend. I forgot to bring out the cheese for the burgers so hurray for unexpected extra cheese!

I love a meal that just pops up like that, unplanned. Now the meal I was GOING to make for tonight can wait another day, thus drawing out the length of time before we need groceries again.  The heat is on as the children just took a bath.  I intend to leave it on until I go to bed.  My children felt sorry for Mother Nature as I was speaking poorly about her this evening.  But, I mean, come ON!  I'm back in my fleece!  Mother Nature! I want to pack up my fleece!  Give us back the heat!

Lucy, on a puddle hunt

Getting warm in the laundry

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, bright and shiny sun...

I love love love this weather.

We have no central air at our house, which some might find rather torturous.

We installed window units in both the kiddo's rooms as they sleep in a converted attic and it is monstrously hot up there!  I was against it at first.  I lamented how I grew up with no air conditioning and I was fine! My children could live through it too!  But once we got the window units in and I realized that my children now slumber soundly, not awoken by loudly chirping bird, nor 90 + degree heat, nor clashing thunder clap!  That is indeed a lovely thing.

Tad and I sleep in heat, blown gently by a fan in two of the windows and the ceiling fan overhead.  I love it.  I just love to feel it all around me, soaking into my skin. 

mmmmmm summer. 

This post brought to you by tomorrow's sudden jump back down to 58 degrees.

todayday

Today I am 36 years old.  I always liked the number 36.  It's a nice number!

I had to work today but I went to work in my kick-ass new yellow shoes that Tad gave me.  These shoes cost a pretty penny.  But Tad reasoned (bless him) that I spend no more than five dollars usually on one article of clothing as I am a major thrifter...so pretty penny shoes, I do deserve--so he says.  He also picked me up at noon and we went out to lunch at Casablanca (two for one coupon from United Way) and for a stroll down Brady Street (our old stomping ground).

On my way home from work, my mom called me and told me my birth story which she does every single year without fail.

This evening, we sat in the backyard with the kids.  Coen dragged out a table and chair with a notebook, some books on space and a pencil and did 'research' on black holes. Lucy drew on our new white-erase board easel given to us by our wonderful next door neighbors.  Then they ran through the sprinkler.  We ate grilled veggie burgers, and my mom's cheesy potatoes, and beans and fruit with cake for dessert. (all leftovers)

Now I am going to settle in and watch baseball with Tad.

Here are some photos of the people I brought into the world and the person I brought them in with.

Another special order!!!

I made a shirt for a friends' daughter's birthday last week! It was my second special order. Here it is.  I'm thinking about staring an etsy shop eventually.  I'll have to crank out a bunch of shirts first, I suppose!   

I had a really really nice weekend.  Two overnights for at hour house, both went awesome.  One birthday/graduation/onset of summer combo party.  One delicious Thai meal with a group of friends.  I'm going now to watch baseball...then maybe a movie...and eat some leftover cake!

Sleepover!!

Popsicle time!

  

Coen had his first ever sleepover at his house last night.  His friends from school--Alejandro and Sebastian came. It had to be the easiest sleepover in history. No arguments, lots of fun, and everyone was asleep by nine!  It was awesome!  They got up around 6:30 a.m. I made them some breakfast and they played quietly until it was time for Tad to take all three of them to soccer!

Coen and Sebastian riding around the block.

Alejandro post a front-yard soccer scrimmage

The boys are having some reading time before bed

Here they are having their breakfast

In the morning Lucy watched "Elmo's Potty Time!" 

The boys watched with Lucy and giggled

A double shower afternoon

Today  a few parents got together and had a shower for our kids' teachers.  Coen's teacher is getting married this summer and the assistant in his classroom is having a baby!  I volunteered to make the cakes.  Here they are.

Baby rattle cupcakes

A disco dancing wedding cake

The cakes are box mixes (boooo) but the frosting on both is homemade!  I had to kick Tad out of the kitchen a number of times until they were all done!

Happy Blogging for LGBT families day!

The issues you have read about in this blog--marriage, love, what to make for dinner, shopping with coupons, going down to one income, funny things kids say, frustrating moments in parenting--all of that is common among ALL families, gay, straight, what-have-you....

Today is June 1st, otherwise known as Blogging for LGBT Families Day.  I have many friends who are gay, many of whom have families, wives, husbands, children, and pets!  I truly hope that one day my children are sitting in history class, reading a textbook in disbelief that there was ever a time that a long-term partnership between two men or two women was not legally accepted as marriage.  In honor of today, I share my own story with you...

I grew up with two partying, politically active, uber liberal parents who took me to taverns and parties as much as they took me to rallies, protests and political actions.  There was never a day when I thought that it was wrong to be gay.  The angriest my mom has ever been at me (or at least the angriest I perceived her to be) was when I called from a friend's house to report that I heard Whitney Houston was gay and then proceeded to have a laugh attack on the answering machine.  She called me, fuming.  She wanted me to know that I came off as disrespectful and mean and what if one of her gay friends was there to hear me.  She was ashamed.  So was I.  But that was when I was a teenager, immature, unsure.  But at that same time, I had my first crush on a girl.  Her name was Melissa.  She was brown haired, brown-eyed, super cute.

Both in High School...and in college I was always a little (insert strange sound effects here) different.  In grade school I wore two different colored shoes or socks at all times. In grade eight, for the school talent show, when other kids were doing renditions of madonna, whitney houston, or michael jackson songs, I sang "Everyday" by Buddy Holly.  In high school, I refused to wear make-up, or hairspray, no matter what all the other girls were doing or saying or how much I was shunned for it.  When Jim Henson died, I walked around school wearing black with a floppy crocheted frog tied around my neck.  But you know, no matter the bullying, no matter the teasing...I refused to give into the way people wanted me to be.  They called me "wierd". They called me "nerd", but mostly, I didn't really care. I didn't need a label.  I was Alie!

I had countless crushes on boys before noticing Melissa.  And I went through all the phases in high school and college--heavy metal, alternative, punk, hippie...and not just in the music genres... experimenting, lesbian?, straight? bisexual?  Who knows?!  But through those phases, I tried to stay true to myself no matter what.  When I had another few crushes on girls----I called one of my lesbian friends and also one of my old college friends (who had expressed her homophobia to me) and told them both I might be gay.  Of course the reactions were quite opposite.  But I had the feeling that neither of them quite believed me.  Then I dated a bunch of guys.  Okay, so I guessed I was straight after all.  I wondered if I should call my friends back and say that maybe I cried wolf. 

So now, I'm a grown up (most of the time).  I have two children. I am married...to a man. Falling in love with Tad was the most natural and magical thing that has ever happened to me in my life.  He's my partner. My friend.  And he knows that I think girls are cute too.  He's okay with that.  And so am I.  Because in the end, I'm Alie.  I always have been and I always will be.  No matter what.

Everyone is attracted to someone.  Some people will be attracted all their lives only to people of the same gender.  Some people are attracted to only the opposite.  Some people, both.  The way I see it, we can be attracted to a multitude of different people throughout our lives.  But when we fall in love...we fall in love with a person.  I think all families should be free to BE families...to get married...to have their love seen as valid and to have children together if they so choose.

Pride Fest is in Milwaukee next weekend.  (June 10-12th on the Summerfest grounds) Whatever your label, or your identity, if you're looking for something to do, go out and support those you know and love (and even those you don't know) in the LGBTQ community!!!