It’s ‘Signing Time’ with Alex and Leah

We’re hooked, no, not on Phonics, not on any video games or TV shows (although the video games are fun!), we’re hooked on Signing Time.  It’s an awesome kids orientated instructional video on ASL, or American Sign Language.  Now, readers of this blog know I don’t advertise anything unless I say why, and it’s still rare for me to do.  But this time it is so worth it.

On a board I belong to there’s a lovely gal, C from Vegas with triplets, she’s a great lady and I don’t know how she does all she does.  When her sons were born, they were very premature, and if I remember correctly of her story, she had a wonderful idea to teach them sign language as she had heard that babies, especially ones with prematurity, can learn to sign much earlier than they learn to talk, and after asking around, she heard about Signing Time.  Well of course, she passed it along to us, and knowing the success rate she’s had as well as the success of another member on the board, K with her sweet boy who has Down’s Syndrome.

Sweet was not born severely premature (only 1 month), nor is he suffering with any mental or physical disorder that should delay his speech, but I’m not wanting to take any chances.  So when C told the board of a sale going on at Signing Time I rushed over and grabbed about 8 VHS for just under $40 shipped!  I was so excited to get started, and so were Bing and Punk!  We of course started watching them as soon as they arrived.  I have just recently ordered a few more to round out our collection.

It was just today that I started to notice Sweet Pea watching my hands if I use them to talk with.  I was so excited!  I didn’t know how he would learn, because although babies can watch the videos, it isn’t a constant viewing so it’s sort of hit and miss.  But he always watches us, so I encourage the girls to use sign as much as they can with him, as do I.  It’s fun to watch him stop wiggling and watch my hands.  I wonder what his first sign will be.

Bon Jovi rocks

Of course those that lived through the 80s hairband days already knew that, but dayum that guy can rock.

I’m not a concert goer normally, it’s just not my thing. I have super sensitive ears and an aversion to crowds, so the thought of sitting amongst 15,000 other people, especially screaming girls, with the noise level that they produce tends to deter me from many concerts. That and the $158 price tag (), even for Bon Jovi, I’d have never paid that. He’s cute, but not that cute.

So late last week my dad comes up to me in his kitchen and on the sly lets me know that he has an early Christmas present for me and my mom. It seems he was approached by my cousin, who knew that my parents are avid concert goers (yeah, my parents rock out more than I, I’m ok with that), who had 2 tickets to the concert. 6 rows up from the floor, about 80 yds from the stage. Uh, yeah, he’d take them. So he was waiting for confirmation and then he was going to surprise her the day of. Of course the dork didn’t tell my cousin this, so she dropped off the tickets 2 nights ago to a shocked mom who had no idea what the hell was going on. Needless to say she was pleasantly surprised.

It was planned to grab a limo to drive us there as parking is insane at the stadium, but after discovering that limo costs start at $150/hour, we opted to volunteer my dad to drive us. As was predicted, traffic was nuts to get into the area so we ended up walking a bit, but it was nice enough, and our excitement kept building.

We arrived late for the warm-up band. Hedley was a really great group, and the singer is absolutely hilarious. Mom and I both agree that he graduated at the top honours of Rockstar school because he was pulling all the typical rockstar moves, jumping off of things, weird stances, pointing at the crowd, etc. It was great though, and their music was fantastic.

Then of course too much time was taken up to set up for Bon Jovi in between, my mom kept telling me the crowd was cooling down too much. Boy was she ever wrong. As soon as the lights went back down, the crowd went utterly insane. It hurt my ears! We’re in an area that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to stand the whole time, but I was wrong, as soon as the girls in front of us stood, we stood too, which happened at every old song, never for any of their new ones.

This was the line up of songs:

INTRO
LOST HIGHWAY
BAD NAME
RAISE YOUR HANDS
RUNAWAY
OLDER
KEEP THE FAITH
WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN’
TILL WE AIN’T STRANGERS ANYMORE
BORN TO BE MY BABY
WE GOT IT GOIN’ ON
IT’S MY LIFE
BAD MEDICINE W/ SHOUT
STRANGER IN THIS TOWN – RICHIE VOX
(YOU WANT TO) MAKE A MEMORY
DIAMOND RING
NEVER SAY GOODBYE
MYSTERY TRAIN
BLOOD ON BLOOD
SLEEP
WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T GO HOME
PRAYER

ENCORE:
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN
RUN RUN RUDOLPH
I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU
WANTED
TWIST & SHOUT
TREAT HER RIGHT

The intro was great, they had a big screen running and out comes this trio with a steel guitar, a violin and an acoustic guitar and starts playing this country twang song. We were just killing ourselves laughing, and then each band member came out to screaming fans, waved and sat and waited. On the screen was a picture of a car (camaro I think?) driving on a highway in between each band member coming out. Then the car parked and you saw a shot of a pair of boots while he was getting out of the car. Then he came up the stairs and the whole place went berserk and then they jumped right into the first song.

Richie even sang one of his songs from his album. I know that the man can sing, his voice is stunning, but he does not have the presence the JBJ does, so I can see why his album didn’t do as well. I do consider them both to be a little crazy though. Just after Richie was finished singing his song, a spotlight came on 25 yds from us and there was JBJ ready to sing the next song perched on a platform above the penalty box. He sang the one song and then Richie joined him for the next 2. This is in amongst the crowd. I can’t believe how crazy the people got, running up to them, etc. Security had a helluva time. Then at the very end of the encore, JBJ walked down through the crowd again singing, and right out the backdoor for his final exit.

It was so excellent and every time a familiar song came on we’d stand up and dance and sing. And the encore was hilarious, he made it seem like he was just improvising when it was obvious that it was part of the show to do such a huge encore. It was all so fantastic. I’d do it again in a heartbeat on someone else’s dollar!LOL!

Can I put in a request for my next life?

When I was young I figured that in my next life I’d want to come back as an animal of some sort. An eagle to soar above everything, a tiger for their beauty, a panda for their ability to eat, be fat and still be happy about that. But I’ve changed my mind tonight. I want to be a man in my next life.

Ah to be only in charge of yourself, to never have any concern about anything but yourself, to be able to get things done without having to listen to another person, to have the ability to shut off your hearing for fighting children or an upset spouse, to be able to make massage appointments without having to consult anyone else, to be able to have all the time off in the world from your job. Shall I go on?

Resentment, jealousy, envy, all feelings I didn’t really thing were part of me. Oh wait, I’ve known myself to be resentful before, and for the same damn thing, but I figured out tonight that I’m green with envy because as a man, I could do anything, and as a woman/wife/mom, I’m saddled. Yes, I get it, it was my choice to get married and have children. I love my children to death. But can someone explain to me (and I know women out there reading this will smile and nod), why is it that a man can come home after work and need ‘time off’ from his job, brag about being away from the house 12 hours, and then sit his ass on the computer while his wife is strapped down feeding an infant while still trying to get two very tired, fighting & screaming girls to get their pajamas on? Why is it that his wife must actually say something to him to get him off his ass to help out? Why must they be asked to do the day to day things that their kids need? The kids weren’t put on the planet for mom’s to raise and do that work by themselves, but for some reason, we do it. I realize it won’t get done.

Oh and don’t even get me started on laundry. How they can see a pile of laundry on the floor needing to be done, and either a)step over it to get to the closet, or b)make sure to remind the wife that the laundry needs doing.

Then there’s the conversation issue. Why is it that men can come home from work and vent and whine about their day, don’t ask their wives about their’s, and then when the wife wants to speak, he interrupts to make sure that the wife knows her day wasn’t nearly as hard.

This streak of mine started last night. A few nights ago I had the enormous pleasure of witnessing the beauty of being up at 1:30am feeding an infant. Not only did I have one helluva handsome man suckling his bottle, but 3 mule deer strolled by our house like 3 queens checking in on their dominion. They walked with such poise and beauty it was so lovely to watch. What are the chances of that happening? I’ve been up hundreds of times now and have never seen that yet.

So last night, I tell dh this. I wasn’t trying to brag, I just wanted to share with him how amazing it was. His reply, ‘meh, it doesn’t surprise me’. Nice. Thanks. Good talking to ya. This is a once in a lifetime thing, but it doesn’t surprise him. Jerk.

Hmmm…..there’s a bit of anger in there too ya think? This is almost as bad as the coyote thing. Shit, I just wanted back to read the coyote post and it was pretty much the same shit, just different day.

I wanna throw up.

I have friends living in my pc

That’s right, you read that title correctly, the friends I have live inside my computer, I’m sure of it!

Ever had the pleasure of meeting some great people at a get together, and finding out you have so much in common you just had to remain friends?  Nope, me neither, but I have had that with a couple of online groups.

One such group I joined because I was the lurker at a board that was about to be shut down, and I feared that I wouldn’t be able to lurk anymore if a) I didn’t know where they were going, and b) I couldn’t log-in to lurk because the new board was set to private.  My Punk was born in January, 2001, the group I joined was March of 2001, close enough, right?  What I’ve met there is amazing … ‘what’, yeah, good terms to use for people you love.  Oi.  WHO, who I’ve met there are a group of the most amazing women I’ve ever met.  I joined them well after it was established, around January of 2006, knowing full well that I may never connect with them, but they were so fun to read about that I couldn’t help it.  But connect with them I did.

As with every group I’ve ever joined there always seems to be the ones you connect more to, the ones you understand more, the ones that incessantly whine and get on that last nerve, and ones you quietly clash with.  Truth be known, this board is the same that way, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, I love all of them, the misunderstood, the whiner, the brash ones, everyone.

I’ve tried to explain it to my dh once, the camaraderie we feel as a group.  I dream of meeting them all some day IRL as they do yearly get togethers in the US.  He doesn’t quite get it, and of course would never agree to fork out the thousands it’d cost me to meet them (the flights alone would rack up that high).  If they’d ever come to the North-West, I’ll be the first to be leaving on that jet plane.

The friendships I’ve made there will last a lifetime I’m sure.  I can’t imagine not knowing what’s happening in their lives at any moment, being there when times are tough, and crying with tears of joy when something goes so right for them.  I love reading about lost teeth, good grades, bad grades, suspensions, girlfriends, boyfriends, even the divorces and money woes, not that I love hearing of their misery, but I love that they have the opportunity, as do I, to unload on a bunch of loving women who will be there for them.  It really, truly is amazing to think about. I can’t wait to read what happens with them tomorrow.

Rich, vivid memories

That is something I don’t have.  I miss my childhood in ways most people don’t.  It sounds absolutely weird I know, I can’t help that, but I have very little memory of my childhood.  I know I’ve heard stories, but can’t remember much at all about what it was like to grow up in my house.  I remember a few instances, and the rest is something I can make up on the fly using the ‘fake-out’.  It’s where you play along in the conversation when an event is brought up.  And then, in future times you can bring it up yourself and eke out a little more about the story again.  I have slowly built a few ‘memories’ or pictures in my mind of what happened, but that’s it.

I’ve often wondered if it’s like that for other people.  My dh has many memories he shares with me, so it makes me think that I’m a little off for not being able to remember much.  I guess I remember a few snippets.  Like moving to the new house when I was 3, and I don’t know why I remember that.  Like my aunt coming one Christmas when I had the flu.  The only thing I remember of the entire ‘event’ was her poking her head in my door to say goodbye.  I was sick for the entire visit from what I’ve been told.  I remember my curtains were drawn and mom had put an extra blanket on top of them to keep out the light as my head hurt when my eyes opened to any light.  Another snippet is running downstairs one Christmas (I don’t know which) and finding my Ellery Filmer doll (cabbage patch for those of you who wondered what hideous name that was for a doll, only the cabbage patch dolls had strange names) as my Christmas present.  I never remember playing with her, I never remember my reaction to receiving her, nothing.  Is that the norm?

Some would say it was some kind of coping mechanism, and it’s true that during all those lost memory chunks there were a great amount of ‘problems’, shall we say, that occurred that can cause a child issues, but to remember nothing before or after?  And how fair is it that I remember the problems vividly?

I feel robbed, I feel like my mind has betrayed me.  I can’t remember much good stuff, but can remember vividly the bad, why wouldn’t my mind blame itself?  Oi, nice.

I hope to create such vivid memories with my kids that I can remember them forever.  It’s not as if I’ve forgotten memories after age 13′ish, but anywhere before that is a blur.  Of course there’s the usual forgetfulness, one can’t remember everything of a childhood, but to forget the camping trips, fun times, and small or large events.  It just seems so unfair.