Happy 50th Anniversary!!!

My parents have been married for 50 years. They got married April 25th, 1959. Wow. I have to say I find that pretty impressive. Mostly, because they seem so happy together. They've been through good and terrible times and then some more stuff in the middle. And, today, its really amazing to see how contented they are together. 50 years have done wonders for them.

I felt kind of bad that we couldn't put together a big family party so I put together a family video. Don't feel like you need to watch it but I am going to attach it for those related and those willing to put up with a long family video of goofy smiles and very bad singing.

Anyway, here's to love and partnership. I look forward to as many of those years with BZ and of course with my kids, family and friends.

I warned you:

Happy 50th Anniversary!!!

I do it

"I do it!!" is a popular phrase in our household. In the photo, Aiden is preparing his own oatmeal (not the microwave part).

Aiden is a very independent fellow at 3 years old. He has tantrums if we don't let him do everything for himself. This can be frustrating when behind schedule, which is my usual state. I admire the independent streak but wondered why it didn't translate to potty training. Most of his fellow preschool buddies seem to be in big kid underwear while he's still in pullups with no interest.

Until now. About a week ago, I decided to begin again. From scratch. With better bribes. And a schedule of sorts. And consistency.

So, bribery still doesn't work BUT the celebratory dancing do. He loves the "Aiden pooped in the potty!" song and dance. He loves the honor of getting to use toilet paper and running water in the sink.

As of today, he is starting to run to the potty on his own. He's been in Madagascar undies all day, without an accident.

I'm thinking we might be completely out of diapers by summer. Wow. No more baby boy.

House of Doom

So its been almost 2 years and the house next door is still not built. Three owners later, there is 1/2 of a house. When we first moved to our Oakland home, there was a hill of trees next to us with a "For Sale" sign. I hoped it would stay that way.

A few months later, late spring of 2007, someone, a contractor, purchased the property along with the blueprints for a 3000 sq ft home. He had big plans. He bragged it would be on the cover of Sunset magazine with a waterfall going through the living room. We just asked that he start by building a foundation in the two-story mud pit he dug and left empty next to our home.

After multiple complaints to the city, he was threatened with fines and loss of permits if he didn't keep building so to his credit, he began to build a foundation. Then he stopped. Ran out of money. His ex-wife's fault. He says.

Owner # 3 came along last year, last summer maybe. At this point, we have all been staring at this big gaping muddy hole with a partial foundation and a bright blue porta potty on the corner for over a year. So, we are happy to hear and see new owners. We secretly dream of a young family with children. Actually, the real dream is that they will tear out all that crap and fill in the dirt and replant the trees. Ha.

The new owners get to work immediately on the property. This is good. They leave for about a month around Thanksgiving. They sort of return. They begin again but then its raining. Its been many months with no activity but half of a structure of a house. Several big dirt moving vehicles and the very bright aqua potty still on the corner.

The news on the street is that the latest stop occurred when they got to the part of the plans where they begin to consider the roof and...well, they found that the plans don't work. Something is wrong and they need to redesign the house so that it can have a roof. Huh? Anything to do with a waterfall?

Its now mid-April and today they are back out there doing...something related to home building. I am thankful for the sound of hammers and a loud radio. Perhaps they will finish this year?

A day with Max

Max and I had a whole day together. We went to the movies, a bookstore
and a bite to eat. A really nice day.