The loft is being shown right now and our renter has a tiny, cute, but, oh-so-vicious guard-dog named Pinchi. He is a Dachshund that likes to make a lot of noise when people come in so, in an effort to make the place more appealing we take Pinchi for a walk when people are touring. Marc just sent me this photo of H “fishing” on the lake while out on their walk, photo by Marc and Pinchi.

The day made me remember just how much I absolutely detest the cold.

Listening: Beach Fossils

Texas is included with 6 skaters two of whom still skate with the league now – Lucille Brawl and Bloody Mary. Pretty darn exciting.

Listening: Wild Nothing

More details Monday!

That’s all for tonight. Thank you.

Listening: The Black Keys (my magical meditation music for the past 9 weeks)

1. Finances – we have been scrambling to take on and get out as much work as we can as we find ourselves taking on another mortgage (losing a renter and putting your rental property on the market means an immediate loss of income and triple-gain of stress). However, we have faith that the loft will sell. And we are getting tons of work, now we just need those clients to PAY US!

2. Roller Derby – tryouts… are… still… going… they started 8 1/2 weeks ago which when written out like that doesn’t seem that long – although, the counting down the months, weeks, days is all too reminiscent of the countdown to not being pregnant anymore. The two situations are quite similar: I am swollen, ache all over, nervous as hell and am completely unsure of the outcome and what life will be like when this is all over. That said – it’s still a blast and I love it. I should know “Wednesday, November 10″, no – “sometime this week”, “by Monday at the latest”… if I made it and what team I’m on. Not having an true end date is like being the size of a whale and having a baby stuck inside you refusing to vacate.

3. Harrison – is pretty awesome. He is definitely two. But, his attempts for control of household power through laid out crying fits on the floor are so feeble that it has made it incredibly easy to ignore. And when he’s being charming – oh man – ladies better watch out. Yesterday while picking him up from school Marc, Harrison and I exited through the gate where our bikes were waiting. The other kids on the playground think that bikes are cool – so, they come to watch Harrison leave. Well, yesterday Cole, Linus and Bella came to see him off. And while oblivious-Harrison was doing somersaults on the hill with his helmet on, Bella was quietly professing her love:

Bella: “Harrison… Harrison… … … I love you. Harrison, I love you… … Har- Harrison?”

Harrison: “Look at me mommy!”

Me: “Harrison, did you hear what Bella said – that was very nice. Would you like to go say goodbye and see ya tomorrow?”

Harrison: walks over to the fence, doesn’t even give Bella the courtesy of a glance, asks for Linus’ hand through the fence and shakes it, “Nice to meetcha. Nice to meetcha, Linus, sir.”

Bella: “Um… Harrison, I love you, I want you- … I love you, I want you to make birthday cakes with me.”

I attempt to get Harrison to at least say thank  you and that he will consider her invitation to make birthday cakes and he does with a flippant, “Maybe – see ya!” And at that moment I am thankful that Harrison is liked by his friends. And I’m thankful that we both get to pick him up from school on our bikes. And thankful that at this age I am pretty darn sure that “making birthday cakes” isn’t new slang for something dirty.

Listening: The Sea & Cake

Listening: Black Mountain

What the hell – let’s go try on cowboy boots. We’ve only lived in ATX for five years – if they find out that our kid and his mom doesn’t own a pair – we might get kicked out.

H actually loved the store - we killed a good 20 minutes just walking the isles looking at “WHOA – look! Look at those mommy! WOOOOOW, look at that!” – and he loooved the black boots he tried on, I’m surprised I got outta there without buying them. Maybe next time.

UPDATE: I forgot I also took a video at the boot store right before we left. See it here.

Listening: The Thermals

As they bike away to school on the first cool morning in what feels like forever.

HARRISON (yelling back to Marc while they ride): “This feels good on my back!” “I’m wearing a sweatshirt! This feels niiiiice!”

HARRISON to Josh, his teacher, as they arrive: “JOSH! I’m wearing a SWEAT-SHIRT!”

Pretty exciting times over here.

—

HARRISON: “This is difficult.”

As he attempts and fails to put a lego rocket ship back together.

—

ME: “Does anybody want dessert?”

Directing my question to the adults at the table – Uncle Jeff and cousin Mitsi, whom Harrison and I had dinner with last night in honor of our visiting cousin.

HARRISON: “ZERT! ZERT! I want zert!!!”

ME: “Harrison – it’s De-zert. And no, I think you have a full belly.”

HARRISON: “No full belly. I want ZERT!” …making sure that the cute waitress can hear his plea for sustenance and his mother’s obvious disregard for his health.

Much to Harrison’s satisfaction his plan worked – the waitress returns to the table with 2 maraschino cherries on a cocktail napkin – a dessert fit for a toddler-king… his first ever experience with the sulfur-dioxide+red-die#40-food-of-the-Gods. Seriously – these little morsels now absolutely disgust me, but, growing up maraschino cherries were the epitome of fine dining for me. I judged a restaurants quality based on the number of free cherries that the waitstaff would bring me – extra points if they came before the meal. So, it’s hard for me to imagine keeping that from H even though they are pretty much as far from actual food as you can get.

ME: ”What does that taste like?”

HARRISON: …silence… followed by 5 minutes of spazzed-out running back and forth between me and Uncle Jeff in the booth:

—

ME: “Mitsi has to go home after we get back to our house.” …driving home with Mitsi from dinner last night.

HARRISON: “I miss you Mitsi.”

MITSI (a little bit jaded – been around/been auntie to/worked with tons of kids – heard it all/seen it all): “OK, now, THAT is cute.”

The kid is a charmer – he’s his father’s son. There aren’t many who can resist.

Listening: M Ward

And did I mention that Harrison liked the juice?

Listening: Bear In Heaven

When I got H this morning from his dimly lit room he got real close to my arms to study the Sharpie-marked ID number (12) that was given to me for purposes of keeping track of us 50 girls at tryouts. He pointed and yelled, “TWO!” I explained what it was and told him it was for a skating game I played last night, to which he replied, “That’s funny mommy.” and he was right. A game comprised of women with wheeled-shoes, skating around a circle and bashing into each other IS funny. The costumes, the names are funny. The amount of stress these tryouts have caused me is hilarious. But, I love it. I totally feel at home on skates. And I finally feel validated for all that time I spent dorking out by myself on rollerblades in college.

Now, I promise to lay off the derby-obsession and get you (mom) back to the Harrison show.

Listening: The Ettes