Monday, March 29, 2010

Regional parks, here I come.



Since I'm getting a little sick of the same old thing, I've resolved to visit a nearby park, reserve, shore, or attraction every weekend that there isn't some other obligation. I'm also a little weary of taking Gianna to Saturday morning 10:00 activities. First it was Kindermusik for at least 6 months or so, then I switched to Waterbabies. I'm doing gymnastics with her right now, but it's sort of lame because only 2 kids are in the class. Anyway, since Gigi usually rises pretty early, between 6:20-6:40, that's a long time to putter around the house before the class. I hesitate to start a walk or excursion because then she has a fit when we need to leave. I don't know, I guess there's 9:00 classes.....But since this is a beautiful time of year, we could emerge to some new (or old trusty) destination. This weekend we tried to go to Deer Creek Reserve (or whatever the hell it is called). I say "tried," because not only was there a little creek to forge in the car, which Joe wasn't keen on doing, but it became increasingly clear that this was going to be a true hiking situation. I was looking for just a large, open space environment. When you walk with Gianna, it's best not to be in a hurry or have a real destination in mind. Her ambling, diversions, and investigating all things curious IS the destination. There is no hurrying her along. We could have loaded her into the Ergo baby carrier, but we weren't prepared for that sort of trip. So, we aborted the mission and went to the Folsom Powerhouse instead. We explored the old building, then went along a short path and stuck our toes in the river. Then we went to eat at the Hacienda Mexican joint, sitting outside on the balcony enjoying the nice breeze and warm sunshine. On Sunday, we set out on another excursion, to the Mather Fields Vernal Pools. This will be a place we need to visit again, this time bringing picnic provisions and, much later in the future, boats! People were just loading their kayaks in and stuff. There was also a large playground. Again, to truly see the pools, we would need to load her into the Ergo carrier to do any serious traipsing. So, we grabbed some lunch and then drove home.


Gianna now says, "That's me!" when she sees herself in a picture. She'll also say, "Sorry mommy," after making a mess. She'll also ask stuffed animals or her Thomas the trains if they are ok, or will say "Sorry." On Friday morning, while we were still all laying in bed, Joe says, "We're gonna go to the zoo today!" Gianna said, "Giraffes! Tall, long necks!"


Ciao for now!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Good bye, Darwin.


Here I am sitting with my new Macbook laptop. And wi-fi. After years of Joe being the de facto internet gatekeeper, I have total freedom. I can't tell you how many arguments we got into because I wanted to use his computer for something (usually to mapquest, upload pictures, or look something up) when he didn't want me to. If I so much glanced toward the computer, he'd get suspicious and come investigate. And when permission was granted, he'd grumbled the whole time saying, "Are you done yet?" or, "Don't mess anything up!" Even if he didn't mind, it was moot past 8 pm, because Gianna sleeps in that room. Now I have complete autonomy; mwah hah hah!! Anyway, this weekend was fairly pleasant. On Saturday, we went to gymnastics class, then Gianna and I met Genny and Tristan at Crepeville. Afterwards, we went across the street to the Storybook theatre. Considering that it was at noon, essentially Gigi's naptime, and the fact that she is 25 months old, she did really well. There was some rooting around in my purse and climbing around on me and the seats, but for the most part she paid attention. We had a lot of fun, and I resolved to go to all the plays whenever possible, now that I know she found it at least somewhat engaging.

Today I wasted most of the morning trying to find an animal shelter willing to take the stray cat (Darwin) I finally caught. I sort of feel wistful, and I truly will miss her. It felt good to have the little critter greet me in the mornings and after work. I also enjoyed seeing her snuggled down in the garden in the sun. She was still painfully shy, but I was able to gradually get her comfortable eating in the pet carrier, and today, while she sat munching unsuspectingly, I just slammed the door shut. I felt horrible, as she yowled in surprise and fear. But it's just not practical to delay any longer. She is surely pregnant by now, which means another 5 homeless cats or so. Then more, and more. And we can't keep her due to Joe's allergies. Plus, he really doesn't want any animals, and we don't need another thing to argue about. It's really no life to live, residing under the neighbor Mike's house. She'd eventually get run over, or worse, mauled by some dog. And I couldn't ever get her vet care, being as how it is so difficult to catch her. I considered telling animal control to call me if it came down to the wire and they were going to euthanize her. If she were spayed, then theoretically we could go back to how it was before. Of course, it would probably be awhile before she'd trust my traitorous ass again. Surely life as an outdoor kitty is better than euthanasia, right? I don't know. Maybe I'll call them in a few days. But Joe reeeallllly doesn't want cats around. It reminds him of his ex-wife. I'll wait until Gianna is old enough to do the pestering for me. Anyway, most of the animal shelters were either closed, or refused to take her as I was "out of their jurisdiction." Luckily, they sent an officer to our house rather promptly, once I called. Poor kitty.