Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

Archives for May 2008

Wizzledy Bizzledy Boo

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I type to the sound of warm water running over a small bag of frozen breast milk.  It is being thawed for our precious Willa.  I have the pleasure of her care for a couple of hours today.  She woke a little early and cried for a minute until we heard her.  Christopher and Lydia were in the kitchen when I brought her out blinking.  She stopped crying immediately as they crowded around her coohing, aaaawwing  and ooooohing.  She is much loved.

Lydia is holding her and a bowl of popcorn.  Willa is grabbing the bowl, trying to get her mitts on some kernels.  I took pictures and will post soon.  But now, the bottle is ready and the baby eagerly awaits.
I am grateful to care for this sweet girl.

Wild Kingdom

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There are a lot of stray puppies in my neighborhood.  Just about every morning I find a stray puppy in a laundry basket just inside my doorstep.  I always take them in and spend the day getting to know them.

It’s a variety of breeds of I have adopted: Black Labs, Purple Labs, Chihuahaus, Westies and lately, a rash of Golden Retrievers.  You might think that a stray would just be happy to be taken in to a safe home.   These puppies are, but they’re also full of directions.  “Pretend you’re going outside to check your garden and you find me.” I am often instructed in a whisper followed by a string of high pitched barks.
This morning the stage direction started just after breakfast, when I was trying to iron a shirt for Paul.  “Pretend you’re going out into the woods for a walk and you think you see a dead dog, but it’s really me sleeping.”
“If I found a dead dog I would run screaming.”
“No.  Pretend you wonder what’s in that den and then you see me.”
I assumed I was talking to a puppy, but it was actually a baby bear.
“I’m all alone because…” she paused to think up her story, “my Mama and Daddy and brother and sister bear are all dead.”
“What happened!”
“Bad guys shot them and turned them into meat…actually they were good guys.”
“That’s so sad!”  I had finished ironing so I bent over Jack’s kennel, where she was sitting waiting to be found.  “Oh my goodness!  What’s this?  Is that a baby bear?”
She crawled around, blinked and turned her head winningly.
“Here girl!  Come on girl!”  I clucked and patted my leg.
She slowly crawled out of the kennel.  “I was scared that you were going to turn me into meat.”
“Never!”  
We walked, well I did, she crawled, past the bathroom where Paul was standing in a towel, shaving.  I made the introductions and explained to him that the her family had been turned into meat.  
“That’s sort of surprising,” he said, “bears aren’t normally prized for their meat.”
“Well, that’s what happened.”  I said.  Baby Bear just blinked up at us.  
Since then she has made quite the den out of an upside down chair, a couple blankets and several pillows.  She even has a small crystal vase with flowers tucked into the upended part of the chair.  Wild animal animal she might be, but that doesn’t keep her from appreciating the finer things.
 

Mental Health Assessment Part 2

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You have to see THIS.  Go to the theater immediately.  Now!  Now!  Now!

You don’t have to cry, although I SOBBED and Paul had to wipe away tears several times, but you must laugh or, at the very least smile.  If you can walk out of the theater unmoved, call me and we’ll get you some help.
Go watch it today.
*To view the trailer, click on the red guitar.

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Last weekend we were in Chicago attending a friend’s wedding. When we received the invitation, Paul and I went back and forth on taking the kids or having a nice little weekend to ourselves. When these considerations were being made, Paul had just completed a couple of months of whirlwind travel, so both of us were leery of anything that took him away from the kids.

Then there was the certainty that our kids would have all been heartbroken to miss “Miss Lisa’s” wedding, especially because they were all longing to see her dog, Jersey. Jersey is a ten year old Golden Retriever who is an absolute prince of a dog and he’s certainly treated like one. He is playful and obedient and extremely good natured. My kids love him. We hadn’t seen Lisa or Jersey for a couple of years and all the kids would mention them from time to time with a plaintive, “We really need to go visit Miss Lisa and Jersey!” We knew that, at ten, Jers is, if not yet walking to the light, he is definitely getting closer to it and we both knew it would mean a lot to all the children to see him again.

But what really decided it was knowing how much fun we would have at the reception. We all, from Paul down to The Bean, love to dance. Love it. Unfortunately, outside of weddings, there aren’t any venues for a family of five to get down, get down. And so it became a family affair which, with the exception of the cocktail hour that stretched to two when Eden was melting down from tiredness, heat and hunger, we didn’t regret it.

I’ll tell you more later as I need to run and educate the homeschoolers, but I’ll leave you with this: as he slid into his chair at the reception, Christopher said, “I REALLY hope there is dancing so that I can do my signature move.”

I told Lisa this the next day at brunch. She laughed. “He did NOT say ‘signature move’!”

But he did.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/05/446/

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“Mom, do you think Miley Cyrus’ success has gone to her head?”  Lydia asked.

Before I had a chance to answer Eden asked, “What’s sussess in the head?”
“It’s about how people are thinking of themselves as cool -” Lydia began.
“I have that in my head.”  Eden said.
Lydia tried again, “It’s when people get a lot of attention-“
“I get a lot of attention because I’m young!”  
We never did decide on Miley Cyrus, but I think we all agreed that, given the same success, it would almost certainly go to Eden’s head.
She’s ready. 

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/05/448/