So I'm adding a poll to my blog

Please help me nickname my Hubby.  

Hubby, I know you will read this eventually, so you may vote too.  

Note to Hubby: bribery can tip the scales in your favor.  If you have a strong nickname preference commence with the bribery.

Must get new nickname soon, the word hubby is now annoying the crap out of me.

So I am posting again

Now that I see the photos on the blog, I realize my next step should be to learn how to add a slideshow of photos instead of individual ones.  Maybe in a few days after I recover from the field trip and Halloween....

So I volunteered to chaperone the kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch

I am BEAT!  I have not had time to fully process my thoughts today and I am too tired to do it now.  I do have some photos of Huck & Worm playing in the leaves at Grandpa's.  I am posting those in lieu of writing in hopes you will be appeased by the cuteness.

So I searched the web for a perfect picture to go with my kids' new nicknames!

My brilliant sis-in-law, nickname yet to be determined, suggested that I give nicknames from books I like.  SO SMART!  It seems appropriate that my kid's nicknames come from children's books.  When I was little I loved Richard Scarry's books.  In fact I loved them so much that I nicknamed (yes there was a time in my life that I was a fearless nicknamer) my first boyfriend Huckle after Scarry's Huckle Cat.  Okay, so I was in kindergarten at the time and he was only my boyfriend because we had the exact same birthday, but calling him Huckle was a true sign of affection from me.  So from this day forward my kid's will officially be:

Oldest Boy, age 6: Huckle Cat - will probably shorten this to Huck 

Youngest Boy, age 17 months - Lowly Worm (Huckle's best friend) - will probably shorten this to Worm

Please see the photo of Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm for which  I tediously searched the web. Finding the photo really clinched the nicknames for me.

Stay tuned for future literary based nicknames.  Did I mention how smart my sis-in-law is?

So I sat in the after school pick-up line longer than usual

I'm sitting in the carpool line eating Hot Tamales (my favorite candy if you are looking to buy me a treat) & rockin' out to a new Wiggles DVD when it occurs to me that I have just signed myself up for three or four more years of the Wiggles. Introducing C to the Wiggles was not one of my more brilliant mommy moment.

Anyway, this new one has the replacement yellow Wiggle on it.  He is Sam Wiggle and I was very nervous about him.  Not that I have any great love for the former yellow Wiggle, Greg, I just have bad feelings from the 2002 Blue's Clues host switch from Steve to Joe.  I now have trust issues with children's programing.  Blue's Clues was never the same for me after Steve left.  You could watch Steve and know that he was fully aware of the absurdity of his job.  He seemed quirky and like he would be funny in a very adult way outside of his job.  Like Bob Saget during his Full House years.  Joe, however, creeped me out.  He was too sincere.  It is not normal to be that earnest while pretending to talk to an audience of toddlers and a blue dog about shapes and colors in front of a green screen.  Steve always had that look in his eye that said "I know this is a crappy gig, but I'm raking it in once we syndicate."  Joe just seemed mildly retarded by comparison.

So I was all prepared to hate Sam Wiggle.  But, I don't.  His voice doesn't sound like he is imitating Greg, which is good because that never works, even toddlers know the difference. Also he he younger than the others. Unless you are Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo you should not be a children's entertainer once you hit social security.  Curmudgeon does not make for warm & cuddly viewing.   

The youth of Sam Wiggle did give me something new to worry about.  Will they be replacing each Wiggle one by one as needed?  Sure they did an okay job replacing Greg, but there are 3 more Wiggles to go.  They may not get it right each time.  I'll have to go through this again when Murray gets arthritis & can't fake play his guitar anymore.  And what about when Anthony tops 450 and develops diabetes because he loves to eat.  Then there is Jeff, who is always falling asleep, that dude is going to be the next to go for sure.  Falling asleep frequently and without warning is a symptom of some pretty scary shit.  Will my suffering never end (this is my blog and it is supposed to be self-referential, so, yes, my suffering is the main point here)?

Maybe I should try to switch C to The Backyardigans.  Animated just seems safer for me.

So I spent all afternoon at the elementary school

I mentioned earlier that I was going to read to J's class (just can't hang with aforementioned nicknames).  Those kids love me and so far the feeling is mutual.  I figure I need to get to know them now before they become little thugs that I want to keep my kid away from.  I'm not kidding.  Look around any kindergarten classroom in America and you will find some kids that are going to be shitty teenagers.  I'm not claiming my kid won't be one too, I just want to know whose name to raise an eyebrow over in a few years.  Aside from that, I really do like to read to those little boogers.

Several weeks ago I volunteered to make a big sheet for all the kids in school to sign tomorrow as part of drug prevention week.  They sign the sheet as a pledge to be drug free.  I have no artistic talent whatsoever so it took me forever and isn't as cool as I envisioned.  Whatever. After it was finished, I ended up staying until school let out helping get the PTA newsletter copied, stapled and distributed to the entire school.  I'm really not that busy (plus C spends Tuesday with Grandpa), so I didn't mind helping. 

What I DID mind was the other people who stood around and watched me work and didn't offer to help.  Really?  You came to hang out in the workroom of your kid's elementary school and watch other parents work.  I thought my life was boring and slightly pathetic (quiet rhythm is really just my euphemism for boring & pathetic) until I saw these folks.  This is my first year as a school mom so I don't want to start off on the wrong foot with anyone.  In other words, I kept my pie hole shut, but I really wanted to say something.  Chances are I could have just said, "hey here's two stacks of paper, will you please sort and staple them?"  But I didn't and so now I am just going to bitch about it after the fact.  Sometimes I'm like that.  

So I thought I'd start a blog

I have about 40 minutes to start this thing up before I have to head over to the elementary school to read to Jack's class.

Okay, so I think I already broke a blog rule.  Aren't you supposed to nickname everyone in your blog to protect their identities?  Here's the deal: I'm not much of a nicknamer.  I call my hubby typical stuff like babe.  I call my kids silly stuff like sugar-booger.  Overall, not creative or even descriptive as far as nicknames go.  

Jack & I have been playing a little game at bedtime where we think of alternate words for things and then try to have conversations using only our alternate words.  Mostly we just start cracking up so the conversations haven't gotten too far.  For now I will use our alternate names for everyone.  This is to protect my family's identity from the tens of thousands of people out there who are sure to read my blog .... yeah.

Oldest child, boy, age 6: Jaguar

Youngest child, boy, 17 months: Carrot

Hubby, age 38: Dumptruck

Me, age 35: Milkshake

When Dumptruck first heard his nickname he was not at all flattered.  Gee, really?  Also, Carrot actually hates carrots, Jaguar is a very slow runner & not at all sneaky (wouldn't a real Jaguar be both?) and I am lactose intolerant.  All-in-all, these nicknames SUCK IT!  So lets consider these my "working nicknames" and move on.

So what am I supposed to write now?  I guess I could try to explain the name of my blog: I'm really not that busy.  Honestly, I'm just really not that busy.  Most of my days follow a quiet rhythm.  I have the usual morning & evening flurries of activity, but in between things are pretty mellow for Carrot & me while Jaguar is at school.  

Okay I feel stupid writing those nicknames and promise to work on better ones.  If you are reading this and know me personally - who am I kidding, why would you be reading this if you didn't know me personally?  Anyway, dear reader, if you are a nicknamer please help me.  Send nickname suggestions for my hubby & two boys to my email.  I promise to give you credit.  However I will have to give you a crappy nickname in the blog in order to give you credit unless you suggest your own nickname or give me permission to use your name.

Back to the blog's name.  Where was I ... quiet rhythm, flurries of activity.... yuck, I need to work on my prose.  Anyway, I am not one of those over-scheduled, always on the go sort of moms.  I like to say that I am well balanced, but quiet possibly I am just a lazy ass.  I'm sure I will explore this in excruciating detail in many blogs to follow.

Got to go, time for a break in the quiet rhythm.