what keeps me

this week has been, um, interesting, to say the least. post-nyc blues and creative juices with no outlet (not completely true, but how do some of you have so much time to be so damn creative?). joey's breathing problems (or not-breathing problems) and doctor's offices and my car breaking down yet again, trapping us. breaking down at gray's school this morning and then having to work on my car with my work clothes on. massage therapist hands that are now oily and my knuckle that has been torn off. thank you nu-skin, for creating another knuckle before i have to go to work in an hour.

ok, negative nina beana. enough of you.

so here i go, off on a thursday tangent, channeling all things positive and sanity-inducing:

::my early morning phone call with joballies this morning
::positive health thoughts of my dear friend c. who goes in for major surgery today- a new hip!
::weekend date with my other c. and c., hopefully involving crafting and eating under tables
::this new hiding place for me and hubby
::crisp and cold gala apples
::making up with gray after a supreme meltdown
::this corner of my home
::making mock-ups of birthday gifts for all my beans
::snow days and bottomless cups of joe
::and this corner of my home
::early naps and early-to-beds
::memories of this recent date with j.
::all of these beans, who are innocent and pure and raw, and remind me of what life is all about
::big bowls of steaming chili with lots of corn
::my gray is a budding jewelry designer. she makes the earrings, and then i "needlenose" them, and then she forces me to wear them for the rest of the day. nothing makes me happier.::these animals that jess and i found at the dollar store engaging in x-rated acts
::this moment last weekend
::and lately, when i'm feeling stressed and tired and poo-ish, and my dad is driving us around to all our errands because our car is broken, and i think that life is just really tough, i look in the backseat, and completely unsolicited i see something like this
my freakin' kids. they sometimes beat the crap out of each other and fight over who gets to hugs me and claw at my face, but when i least expect it, they are holding hands in the car, just because they can. because they love.


now i'm successfully recentered. ready to start the day and get stuck in the snow again.

and the winner is...

dear piper!


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this video was actually taken around 5:45am this morning. i put gray to bed last night explaining that we'd do the "drawing" when she woke up. evidently she remembered...because when she burst into our room at 5:30am, she was all "let's do the drawing for pucknopolis!!!". we came downstairs and gray picked piper. and then proceeded to draw everyone else's name out of the basket. she's like her mama...wanting to make puck dollies for all 33 entries. hubbie was the voice of reason and called me insane, and forced me to just pick one winner, because that's what contests are all about, supposedly. pooh.

gotta love the "naaaah, that's not the winning...". saved ya, piper! sorry to whoever she threw back into the pot before i intervened...

so piper, inspirational soul and fellow-clarkie, please send me your snail mail address when you get a chance! we'd like to pop puck in the mail (sometime after tomorrow's expected snow storm, of course...grrrr). congrats! just you wait to see the wonky nina-beanaish sewing skills!


thanks for playing, people! and stay tuned for more giveaways, because you know that i'm addicted now, right?

n.y. mo'fo c.

first off, let me just say that i feel better equipped to write a post now that i polished off a tub of hummus, a big circle-bigger-than-my-head of pita, and 10 cups of coffee.

secondly, let me say that i haven't done the final drawing for dear puck yet, but plan to do it after work this afternoon when gray is home from school. thank you for all your entries and sweet comments about puck. he's flattered, and is currently sitting up high on a shelf, away from paint-covered fingers and teeth that would love to pluck his button-eyes from his unsuspecting cow face. more to come about the results of the drawing later today.

lastly, femiknit's monday nyc love made my day yesterday. and her new site has me swoonin' and stalkin' in true nina beana style.


ok, on with the updates! i'm inspired and tired. maybe that should be my new motto of the week. there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything that i want to do, especially now that i've got the creative fires of nyc burnin' under my fanny. boo and i headed into nyc early early sat. morning, leaving our husband at home to watch the kiddies. our list (meaning: my list) of things that i wanted to do in nyc was random and filled with things that were easy to accomplish:

::nyc style pizza
::big women's bookstore
::natural foodplace
:: chinese market
::flea market/thrift stores
::record store
::hot dog carts
::vintage nyc
::fake big sunglasses
::pint glasses of beer
::photobooth at bubby's

funnily enough i get most of these things satisfied in my daily life, but there's something about doing them in nyc that seems much cooler, i guess.

needless to say we ended up doing most of these things and totally exceeding my expectations. three outdoor flea markets, a stack of purchased black and white photos, some very photobooth-esque, taking pictures of colors and textures, walking across and around most of the shaft of nyc and feeling the burn in my underexercised thighs, basement photobooths and using the nyc village voice as our photobooth props, the most unhealthy eating on the planet that included hot dogs and pizza (hey! they were on the list...i had to) and a big paper cone of fried-right-in-front-of-your-face french fries, darkish underground bar where drinks were consumed, taxi rides and ridonkulous conversations with the driver, stacks of fish in chinatown and feeling the bustle of the crowd all around, americal apparel, vintage bras, lots of jay-z and beyonce and lenny kravitz and sufjan stevens and the b-52's, bathroom self portraits, watching episodes of 30 rock in the car, people watching in the best of places.

my friday with the kiddies also included a photobooth (and a carousel and cherry icees) so stay tuned for more photobooth lovin'.

and can i just say that whoever invented easter candy deserves a good smack on their fanny? i have absolutely no self control.

happy tuesday!

more to come

starbucks bathroom, originally uploaded by Nina Marie Gilbert.

but in the meantime, check out the multitudes of NYC pics here...

http://www.flickr.com/gp/93618941@N00/Ei082h

and don't forget, today is your last chance to leave a comment for puck!

heart you.

the "wanna piece of me?" spring giveaway!

today i was feeling inspired and generous and creative (gotta roll with it when i'm feeling it, right?), so i decided to honor that and came up with a giveaway idea. blogging is revolutionary and subversive and encouraging in so many ways, and each and every one of you hold me up when i'm feeling down. so why not create something to send to one of you in honor of you special ladies and germiefreaks? i just wish i could send something to every one of you.

that is to say that you want this little gem i've created...

someone wants him, no?

here he his- puck fignopolis. he's a cow that likes to listen to records and has a liking for vintage fabrics and buttons and wool felt. he's a keeper.




what do you do to enter, you ask? leave me a comment under this post. all peeps, dear and near ones and anonymousy-readery ones, too. you owe me nothing except good karma. at the end of monday night, i'm going to close the comments to this post (i act like i know how to do this), and then put all the names in a hat, and let my gray pick the winner. she's already made a "puck fignopolis" song, so maybe i'll catch the winning pick on video, winner and all. i'll announce the winner and then scramble to get in touch with you regarding your snail mail address. if i'm successful, then i send you dear puck.



please enter. my self esteem depends on it. and good ole puck needs a friendly bloggie home.

if you're the lucky winner, you get to see my wonky sewing techniques and puck's lumpy-stuffed leggies up close and personal! (stating the obvious, i know...but puck's eyes and nostrils *nostreeels as gray would call them) are vintagey buttons, so puck's not a good wee-one hands-on toy, more of a high-up-on-the-bookshelf-lookie-lookie toy, ok?

(one last one, with a legless jenny doll for scale)

happy video day!

feeling quiet again, with all the snow and another round of sickies. but also feeling a bit silly, and got just the dose of beegine humor when i went to boo's blog and found this little gem:

(warning, don't watch at work or with the kiddies around...or if you have kids like mine, it's fair game i guess...)



and then this video, with i found at hathor's place, got me thinking:



14 months of breastfeeding ain't pooh when you're rollin' with mamas like veronica!

getting inspired by:

::the new free people catalog
::east village research, duuurty all around
::watching people at the airport for about two hours yesterday. people scare me and enlighten me


and finally, a little home video that i like to call "my son as a truck". obsessed, i tell you...obsessed.


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my life as i know it

my life as i know it, originally uploaded by Nina Marie Gilbert.

finishing up a knitting project, a gift for a dear friend, but she won't receive it until the hottest summer month

a bat under my leg, under my step

a pillow that is in desepate need of a new slipcover

a table, and little hands, smeared in peanut butter

the smell of pumpkin bread in the over

first word dictionaries strewn across the floor

flipflops on even though it's sleeting outside

headed in to the big city for an airport pickup (eeeks! city driving...must get another coffee to get through this adventure)

journals and gifts and packages to be organized and wrapped and created

still planning NYC trip (keep the suggestions coming...i'm eating them up. we are going to spend the whole day (and budget) on eating, clearly.)

incense, wet heads from baths, piles of laundry to be folded, the hum of the monitor as joey sleeps



how's your life?

peace and quiet

right now, as joey sleeps soundly in the next room and gray is off at school dressing like a princess and learning about barbies, i'm sitting here with nothing but the sound of the typing keys and the soft hum of the monitor. it's luxurious. i even took the phone off the hook, and have a nice steaming cup of coffee sitting on the table next to me. it's raining and cold outside, and the light in my room is dim and somber. i'm loving every second of it.

there hasn't been much peace and quiet here lately. joey and grace have been at each other's throats, a new phase in our family routine that i'm just not used to. i feel like a referee most of the day, keeping the peace. but amidst the chaos, there are tender and sweet moments like the one pictured above. moments that i did not stage just for a great photo op. moments that make my heart break with love. when each of them pick up a book and read quietly, enjoying each other's company for the moment. the sun shines through the windows in the porch and we're all warm and safe. there's no noise from the tv or the radio and you can smell dinner cooking in the kitchen. everything is as it should be, for the moment.

then let the chaos begin again.



spending this time planning for my upcoming weekend (meaning a saturday day-trip) to NYC with my two favorite men, john and boo. anyone out there have any good suggestions from grub or fun places to explore? we like it dirrrrty...there will be no sight-seeing of the statue-of-liberty-type for us. i want little hole-in-the-wall bars, chinatown shops, photobooths (anyone?), hot-dog carts, and blue nailpolish. all suggestions welcome and appreciated...please?

wrapup

with daddy gone at work most of the week, coming home after the beans are in bed, we are consistently determined to pack in as much quality family time on the weekend as possible. this weekend was no exception- it shined brightly on the horizon of our week, getting us through, and then exploded into existence, readying us for yet another week away from daddy.

friday: early morning work on the lovliest of clients. massaging away pain, physical and emotional. then walking around on a "signs of spring walk" where our girl got to point out everything she saw that was a sign of spring. she kind of went with the idea and started pointing out all the literal signs in our neighborhood. we were all inappropriately dressed, wishing for warmed weather. i was wearing flip flops and trudging through unmelted snowbanks. the kids were drippy and happy to be outside. sandboxes. yard cleanup. garden readying. neighbors. friday night we got our favorite pizza and had some sam adams pale ale. i slept like a baby for the first time in two weeks.

saturday: more work on an incredible client. then packed up pails and shovels and headed to the beach for our planned "tide pool" activity. get to the beach and all hell breaks loose- it's freezing, gray is crying, joey fell in the ocean. we managed to dig a big hole and burying joey anyway. got some rocks for the zen garden. newburyport library book sale where everything was free. got some random things i can cut up, along with a stack of records. visit with an old friend and then more driving and drink treats and our first stop at dairy queen for dilly bars. it's never too cold for ice cream. late night dinner of grilled steak tips and big huge asparagus and salmon. listening to our girl chatter and eat for real for the first time in days.

sunday: early morning cinnamon french toast and coffee and then out the door on an "alone" date for a couple hours. we went to a local park we've never been to before, sitting on top of huge rocks in the middle of the city that we never knew where there. exploring, picking up trash, sitting on the dock of a vernal pool watching the wildlife. basking in the quiet, even if it was just for an hour. wearing flip flops to hike down rock faces. the crunching of the leaves and being in the forest again. going to open houses and dreaming of other people's lives. hot dogs on the grill, the first of the season. toasted buns and relish. garden supplies strewn over the lawn, and seed planting with the kids. dirt under our fingernails. hooded sweatshirts and smeared soil everywhere. visiting with family and then a late day trip to the most distopic, apocalyptic dollar store with jess, looking for gaudy sunglasses and easter treats to hide in the yard. listening to beatles records and eating grapes.


there was more, there always is. duty calls...

hope your weekends were filled with blank pages, free sales, and salt and pepper shakers of love.

quotes that feed me, and photobooth love

feeling mighty quiet today after being up since 4am and a powerful massage session, so i offer you some quotes:


"i began to cherish the most quiet, vocally unresponsive crowd because it forced me to go in further, into myself, to be more true, to not reply on the currents of approval or applause. so i could become more of who i am and trust that they play would reach whoever it was meant to reach. i learned to stop moving fast. i learned to breathe. to find my way to the next beat without prop or charm or playing for laughs. to sit in the uncertainty, to find my way in front of the audience as it was happening, to let my insecurities be apparent." -eve ensler, insecure at last

"freedom is not knowing where you are but being deeply there". -eve ensler, insecure at last

and this

"who am i
when i am not trying to make others feel better?" -bright leonie


and just because it's friday, some photobooth love:

booger balls and stoner laughs

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we are blessed with the most helpful of big sisters, and the most patient of little boogery brothers. it's always an adventure here, let me tell you. my life is filled with baby stoner laughs, green boogers, headaches, and love. here's proof.

sugaaaah

(fingurrs in the milkshake- busted!)

i'm not going to deny it...sometimes we're big fans of sugar 'round here at the gilbert house. yes, i'll occassionally indulge in organic sugar, etc. but my kids aren't the best little hippie eaters. my girl will snack on rice krispy treats and popsicles until her little belly bloats and her teeth fall out of her head. my little man could suck down a container of cupcake frosting faster than you can empty the top shelf of your dishwasher.

that being said, my husband still came downstairs this morning and greeted us with an original song. the lyrics? you ask. "WELcome to the hippie house! WELCOME to the hippie house!" yes, yes, yes, i was sitting on a quilt, cross-legged, burning incense, listening to cat stevens on the record player, knitting, and the house still reeked of a burnt batch of granola from yesterday afternoon. i guess i deserved it. my husband is a good one...him in his ironed pinstriped shirts and fancy pants and designer shoes, still making time to sing a hippie tune for little ole me.

my point? i have no idea. there's been too many cups of coffee today and too many bolts of thrifted fabric purchased to make shirts for my girl.

i leave you with this...

our sugar-tastic, nina beana family funky snack mix that we made a butt-load (technical term) of yesterday...


take a big huge bowl and add a whole bunch (another technical term) of kix and honey nut whatever-o's. or whatever cereal you like.

then add-
craisins
shredded coconut
raisins
mini marshmallows
dry roasted slivered almonds
white chocolate chips
mini (read: microscopic) chocolate chips
diced apricots

and whatever else you want to get rid of in the cabinets of questionable expiration dates

mix together lovingly with spatulas that you take out of the kiddies' mouths.

put into bags and containers.

pig out and regret it later.



like i said, we like-ah the sug-ah.

new routines

(my boy's face...proof that he has an older sister)

i think most of the time i find comfort in routine. i've always gone to bed around the same time, probably since the age of 3. when i wake in the morning, i get the kiddies and go downstairs and do everything in the exact same order every day...put the bathroom gate up, pee, put the kitchen gate up, get juicies, make the coffee, put the upstairs gate up, open the curtains, fold the blankets, change joey's diaper. every day. there is comfort in this familiar...it gives shape and purpose to my days.

but lately i've had this urge to break away from the familiar. buy different foods and create different meals and just do things in a different order to make my life a bit more exciting. there's been much, much, much crafting, mainly sewing and knitting, going on in my hood. there's gifts to be made and kiddie projects to develop. there are new playdates and adventures to be had outside. last night after i put the kids to bed i poured myself a nice big beer and filled up the tub and soaked for 40 minutes while the rice and indian food cooked on the stove. i don't do baths. but after last night i just might. this morning we left the house early and went to the grocery store to buy the remaining ingredients for our homemade granola and trail mix. then gray was off to school. i let her wear whatever she wanted today, because after my post yesterday i thought 'why the hell not?' she's innocent, she's doesn't care what people think. her outfit was the most ridonkulous thing i've ever seen, and it involved booty jean shorts and tights and layers of dora shirts and big rainboots. i dropped her off at school with a big smile and said "have a great day! gray dressed herself!"

my blurb order came in, and as a family we've been pouring over our life since july 15, 2005. it's incredible how life seems to drag by and simultaneously slip past us without our noticing. it's making me think about living more in the moment, living with purpose and intention, and making the best of where we're at.

if any of my mamas out there are looking for a quick and satisfying springy craft idea for the babes, this is what we did a couple of days ago:

1. take a crap-load (crafty term) of tiny little scrappers of fabric. dump them onto a table, preferably in some comfortable, crafty nook for you and your bean. take regular old construction paper or the cereal box you just finished off and make big, exaggerated flower shapes (without the petals and leaves)...and use these shapes as the naked tree bodies, too. have your bean use your overpriced fancy-pants glue to glue all their petals onto their flowers, or all their leaves onto their tree. don't forget the leaves on the stem! try to drag this out as long as possible, just because.

2.
take time to notice the little things, like your bean's choice of fabric. and how they like to draw "lucky marks" on their hands to keep them safe from harm. try not to bawl hysterical as you notice said things.

3.
take pictures because you can. because they are only young once.

4.
take two nails and a piece of wire and rig up an impromptu "art show". hang up your finished products for all your world to see. drool over the fabric choices and the petal placement. find a new routine and live it.

hard yet perfect

(costumes obviously not bought by me)

(neither were the shoes...but once she laid her three-year-old eyes on them...)

some days it's so hard being a mama so such a strong willed, beautiful, independent and emotional young person. it's my biggest challenge but my best one. i am blessed with the girlie girl that is attracted to anything with lace and frills and high heels. how this happened when i don't even own a pair, i don't know. i'm scared for my girl. scared to let her go off to school. scared of peer pressure and myspace and evil girl culture eating her alive. between last week, when i went to her "big girl's school" for some paperwork, seeing all the kids running wild and so loud and unchecked, and then today at a playdate that involved lots of barbies. i had to take my crew and leave when the barbies started saying "i hate you" (not my girl saying this) and getting into barbie brawls. we've managed to resist the lure of barbies up until today. and it was not a good day. after leaving, i sat the babe down and explained how barbies are allowed to dance and play and be friends, but are in no way allowed to fight or say hate. hate is a bad word in our house, not to be used lightly and thrown around when our feelings are hurt.

but real people fight and hate, don't they? so why wouldn't barbies, too?

aaaah mamahood. i thought i'd be better prepared emotionally to deal with barbies and high heels and feelings.

i just don't want to let my little girl go.

i heart the weekend

as expected, this weekend was filled with the extremes of beauty and chaos that is our family. big bowls of noodles and crunchy fresh vegetables coupled with bruised knees. biting cold temps coupled with big beautiful parks on the water and freezing hands and smiles and smiles. meeting old friends over bowls of soup and watching their new lives unfold. drink treats and miles and miles in the car, and thrift shopping alone and finding the best find. waking up and thinking "all i want for today is to find a vintage fisher price farm set" and walking into a store and finding a complete sought-after set for five bucks. gifties and treats tied up with string. dripping cucumbery dill grilled lamb pieces and frozen pierogies. pee on the seat of the car and the sounds of a new city. a new hardcover book and new pages added to our life.

we're all sick here but still taking time to stop and love.

how you know you're married to a hippie, and photobooth friday

after getting out of the shower this morning, my husband said to me:

"is it me or does the new detergent that you're using smell like marijuana?"

and happy friday peeps in cyberspace! this weekend is promising to be one of the best kinds...involving road trips, natural foods stores, old friends, and possible new friends. and lots of incense and pathouli, much to john and boo's dismay.

here's my photoboothie contribution for the week, and oldie featuring my little brother and me. he's a dear sweet soul, but looks quite disturbing in these pics. he went through a weird stage that we all referred to as the "big pants phase". he also grew his hair into two devil horns and used elmers glue to stick them up. luckily he didn't fall into a world of drugs and nothingness...he's just about to graduate with his masters in engineering! let's hear it for devil horns!

other friday peoples here.

cat dad and all before 8am

this video is proof of why i married my husband. just wait for joey's little laugh and smirky giggle. it's my favorite part. (and can you tell we just watched the most horrible slash funniest movie jackass 2? totally not our style but exactly what we needed...)


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and here are some quotes of our day, all occuring before 8am this morning (it's currently 8:05am):

"joey, don't throw pandas, ok?" -mama

"your ear lobielobies are peuwist and kuberist and i want to ooom-bah them and kuber them"- gray

"my snack for school is all crayon-y. i don't want to eat crayonchocolate! please get a plastic bag for me to put it in". -gray

"aaaaw, the table looks pretty with paint all over it!" -gray

and gray has called joey all of the following nicknames. poor kid is going to have some sort of identity crisis:

:chobe
:cho-bra
:poom
:poomalooma
:probe (this one is especially hysterical and problematic)
:probaloba

happy stinkin' thursday!

mantra of the day

my mantra of the day is as follows:

my children are sweet, special and kind

my children are sweet, special and kind

my children are sweet, special and kind


little do you know is that the second half of this mantra is as follows:

they really aren't evil little human beings that happened to crawl out of my body only to force me to never sleep so i have to drink 10 cups of coffee a day just to function and they never share and pull eachother's hair and earlobes and scratch at my face and eachother's faces so i'm forced to get out of bed at 4am in the morning and fumble for the nail clippers to cut their little demonic talons



they really are sweet, trust me. they are even sweeter at bedtime.

what's your mantra of the day?

belly dancers and cheez balls

doing and going:

:: yesterday was spent being taken caramel by aunties jo&lib at the MIT space odyssey ball for the kiddies. there were plenty of trolls present, with lots of debriefable activities going on, but let me tell you people, we had f.u.n. and the kids had a freakin' blast, too. grace observed liquid nitrogen displays while gettin' rocked on three packages in a row of pop rocks, and joey danced with real-life, not-afraid belly dancers. daddy even wore a space suit that his package almost busted through! an event not-to-be-missed.


read this weekend:

:: love is a mix tape: life and loss, one song at a time by rob sheffield
this book rocked my world in so many ways. my only complaint is that i wish it were four hundred pages longer than it was. such a testament to love and loss. and it has inspired me to go up into my dad's attic and pull out all my mix tapes and listen to my history.

:: hipster haiku by siobhan adcock
this book took me approximately 20 minutes to read but was insanely funny and meaningful in an unmeaningful sort of way. the book i wish i'd been smart enough to write. damn you siobhan for being cooler and beating me to the punch.

reading now:

:: driving over lemons: an optimist in spain by chris stewart
nice to read about such beauty and life when it's cold and poohish outside. and i'm a sucker for a good travel memoir.

:: insecure at last: losing it in our security obsessed world by eve ensler
i'm a sucker for eve ensler, too.

what the beans are reading: (in honor of the upcoming earth day, a big thing around here for hippie-ish reasons)

:: the flower alphabet book by jerry pallotta (this book freakin' rocks, esp. if you've got a bean obsessed with flowers and nature and catagorizing stuff like me)
:: mother earth's counting book by andrew clements and lonni sue johnson
:: we all went on safari: a counting journey through tanzania by laurie krebs and julia cairns
:: can you say peace? by karen katz
:: new york is english, chattanooga is creek by chris raschka

listening to:

:: g. love's lemondade
:: matisyahu's live at stubb's
:: mazzy star's so tonight that i might see
:: sufjan stevens the avalanche
:: stealing beauty soundtrack (sucker for liv tyler)
:: moby's hotel

eating:

:: cheez balls at the space odyssey- i heart frickin' flourescent cheez balls.

random video that is only going to make sense to jen, and maybe you can get a laugh or two at the expense of my hideous accent:

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cheers to today

another snowstorm, just when i thought it was spring. another saturday morning filled with the sounds of the kids playing, running around on the hardwood floors, half naked and wild eyed. over a foot of snow outside, watching john stand at the end of the driveway scratching his head for a half an hour wondering how he's going to move all the snow. a surprise visit from a caravan of family members rallying around with a snowblower moving the snow around for us. a couple of peelers and pounds of potatoes and carrots. the promise of a housefull of guests this afternoon for st. patrick's day. four corned beef (beefs?) and lots of cabbage and not enough pots to feed all our friends and family. lots of irish records and impromptu irish step dancing shows from the girl. green construction paper and shamrock stickers on everything and green crayons and scissors and love. today we celebrate family and heritage and snow and food and love, just because we can.

happy st. patrick's day! let's hope the snow doesn't keep the liquor store (or what i like to call the 'alcohol store' and always get laughed at because of it) closed.

(any of my local peeps are welcome to come by and watch the beans run around in their undies and diapies)

SAHM

i am lucky enough to call myself a stay at home mama, for the most part at least (for the most part SAH, not for the most party lucky). granted, i worked today, but it was only for an hour, and i made enough money in that hour to justify not working for the rest of the day. and if we're being honest, i'd do the work i do for free, because i'm a dork like that and i love giving massages in my sage green workspace so much.

with that being said, my stay-at-home-mamaness allows me to not only spend time with my two delicious mini-human friends that i like to call my children, but also to host a parade-worthy amount of individuals throughout my day. my days are shaped by the visits- who's here now and who's coming next. it's what gets me through the day, every day. maybe it's because i lived so far from family and fetus-friends (and my hubby) while living in very-upstate NY through long winters, but i have a deep appreciation for each and every visitor that comes through the nina beana door. breakfast with my father's fiance, a long chat and babysitting from my mother-in-law, a visit from my dad bearing gifts of my favorite syrian bread and butter, my old friend peep who works for the town popping in for a drink, a bottle of wine with my girl after the beans are in bed, my brother catching up about life and love, and boo who is downstairs right now with the beans making a homemade pineapple upside down cake in a skillet for dinner (ok ok, dessert).

these visits and conversations and snippets of other people's lives keep me honest and alive. i'm a big fan of hearing what people have to say behind my doors. i've been obsessing lately about confessions and secrets (i've been hearing quite a bit of them lately, esp. at work), and what we share with each other in these moments. my job as a SAHM (stay at home mama, or shit ass ho motherfucker, as dooce likes to call it) allows me to go to confession all day long, and hear the confessions and secrets of all my peeps that i hold near and dear. it's kind of like being a priest, but waaaaay better.

can i get a 'whoot whoot'?

clearly, after the morning that i've had, a good things list is in order. i'd like to blame it on the time change, but something's amiss with my little miss, and i'm not quite convinced that that is what it is. i had to drag her kicking and screaming (literally) to school this morning, which was a first. i tried to be all zen and meditate through it, and respect her thoughts and wishes, but she was completely out of her tree. she went to bed at 5pm last night! which means it was really 4pm! so i can't blame it on lack of sleep. she has grown about 10 inches this week though, so maybe that's it? anyone that knows my little bean knows that ever since she was little she gets this really crazy red birthmark thing on her forehead when she gets upset, so i left her, sadly, at school this morning with a blazin' cling-on forehead. aaah, mamahood. today is just not my day.

so out with the bad, and in with the good!

::spring crafty projects a-dancin' in my head

::clementines, at least three at a time

::my blurb order that is ridonkulously over-the-top expensive (of course i can't just order one book...i have to order three!) but i don't care, i just want to get it! (thanks soulemama for the link!)

::finally chipping away at my massage continuing ed credits (hello, no joke! also incredibly expensive)

::making ebay antique money with my dad in order to fund my recent extravagant purchases (hello new wardrobe...i heart springy clothes)

::cinnamon shredded wheat cereal, i heart you, too

::upcoming dates with my mindertins (i miss you! i need girl time! i need adult human crafty mama interaction! what are you doing this friday night?!?)

::my love affair with mazzy star. yes, i know she was all the rage in the 90's, but i still love her. putting her cd in allows me to take broody trips back and feel all dark. like i should get out the khol and slather it on my lids.

::finally going into the city this weekend for the puffiest, more deeelicious gyro ever invented, and then a quick jaunt into johnny cupcakes

::gray's new hairstyle makes me one happy mama...two tiny wispy ponies, one on each side of her perfect skull

::going on a mama's outing yesterday- we were five mamas with 11 kids running wild, which doesn't sound like a lot until you actually see it in action. complete insanity. we got in trouble with security because the beans were bouncin' so hardcore.

::gray's new habit of pulling on my earrings- she says "mama, i wanna whoot whoot you, just like a train". my lobies are going to be down to my shoulders by the time i'm 30.

::joey trippin' around in his new shoes



aaaah zen. let the goodness flow over.

seamlessly: a late photobooth friday

it's days like today that we all fit together seamlessly. the muscles in my cheeks hurt from constant smiling. as annoying and cloyingly sweet it may sound, i'm one lucky mama to be blessed with such an amazing family.

evidence:



my belly is full and warm from a morning spent at our favorite local diner, with endless cups of coffee (hence the jitters) and big steaming plates of the greasiest, soul-cleansing (yes, it's possible) food ever. i'm wearing my new jeans by the "department of peace" and a new kelly green hoodie. two kids three and under at our table and things just seemed to go seamlessly.

my hands are cold and numb from a morning spent at the beach. plum island to be exact. walking among the dunes, getting our feet wet in snowy puddles. watching the kids holding hands while toddling down the boardwalk. the freezing breeze and the warm sun. the sneaking of shells into our pockets and the plans for the big pieces of driftwood in our upcoming spring garden. examining the footprints in the sand. salty tear-streaked faces. swings on the beach and big white-knuckled smiles. we're all wet and cold, but we're happy. another seamless adventure.

my soul is nourished from our photobooth adventure and our driving and talking and singing. we all squeeze into the booth and i take a moment to be grateful for everything that is us. i realize that we are seamless and perfect just as we are at this moment, but realize that we have at least one more gilbert waiting for us in the universe.

let's hope we can keep fitting them into the photobooths with us.


happy weekend, happy photoboothies. hope yours is filled with eggs and getting your face squashed by the little bums that you love.

the wine song

i'm busted. really busted. after a morning spent in a little seaside town doing jury duty (or not-so-much-jury-duty, more like being the only freak in the room full of white potential jury people- what's up with all the white people?), i came home to my sickly kiddos and my saintlike mother-in-law. after getting everyone settled and situated, grace and i were doing a craft at the table (actually drawing poop families...yes, families of poops, with labels and all, which is another story for another day) and she's all "mama, can i sing you a song?" and i'm all like "yes! i love songs. sing away baby!" and no word of a lie, this is what comes out of my sweet baby's mouth, word for word:

the wine song:

"the grown-ups love wine
the grown-ups drink wine

i don't drink wine because i'm a-three years old

but grown-ups really love wine."


holy AA! i guess we really do love wine in these parts. :)
i swear, my girl never ceases to amaze me with her wit, at a-three stinkin' years old.



thanks for all the enlightening and soul-nourishing conversation about the family thing. i'm going to read back over the comments and a-think about it all some more. i loved how some of you had such differing opinions about the whole topic, yet i found myself nodding my head in agreement with each one. thank you for guiding me and teaching me, and holding my hand on my journey.

power to change it all

(this morning's breakfast)

after the recent, cat-like nudgings from my husband about the possibility of having baby #3, i'm left feeling completely confused, overwhelmed, and excited about the power of decisions. it sounds simple and sooooo stating the obvious, but we have the ability to drastically change our lives. i mean, duh, really. i know. but i could, or could-not, create another human being, not only changing the course of my own life, but that of my unborn and my already-born and my marriage and dot dot dot. how do we know when are families are done being born? i'm not one to think things through and ruminate and weigh out options but come on! i should probably think about this, right? not that the pressure is on in any way. but if we're going to go all the way and pop out another snot-nosed-love-freak, i want to do it soon. i'm on a roll, right? my titters have barely had a moment to relax and deflate and we're already talking about #3. pure insanity.


so i ask you, dear friends...how do you know when your family's complete?

my body, the battlefield

(joey and mama- taken at the museum's dollhouse last week...or was it the week before?)

first, the good news: i'm showered, i'm dressed, and i've had two cups of coffee and it's 8:23am.

now, the bad news: my body is a battlefield. not sure if the mastitis-infectiony-crud spread through my body or what, but the weekend was spent having my brain cells fried away by a 103 degree temperature. my kids watched me cry and babble on the couch as i alternated between freezing cold "get the hot packs! get the heating pads! get the blankets! turn up the heat!" and burning hot "why is it so hot in here? who turned up the heat? should we go to the hospital? i think i'm dying."

luckily, the fevers have broken, my kids aren't too traumatized, and today is another day. i spent the sanest hours of my weekend finishing off the book "children of men" by banks, which the movie (which i haven't seen) is based on. nothing like reading a good distopic the-world-as-we-know-it-is-ending book to put everything into perspective and make your feverish world seem sunny and bright.

other brighter spots of the weekend: early morning breakfast date (with lots of shivering) at the local donut shop, watching people named carmello speak italian to each other, and watching my beautiful family gorge on donuts, raspberry and orange sherbert, frosties, my trusty heating pad, and sleeping with it on all night long despite my better judgement, the book "dirty sugar cookies" by ayun halliday who rocks my world, and who i'm considering petitioning to become my best friend, getting the little localy magazine in the mail with my humble little article published in it, all your comments about my boobies and your support regarding my interview, soy sauce sausage and ginger seasame rice, a date with my guys for the worst gyro i've ever eaten in my life but at least it was a date, boo helping me record all my old vhs tapes over to dvd's.

ok ok, i was really sick. how i managed to have all this greatness and all these bright spots, i'm not sure. as i drag my fanny through this morning, i must channel all the positivity i can to get through the pooh.

hope your weekends were filled with funhouses and sweetarts.

i feel famous, oh so famous

well, maybe not famous, but definitely cool.

if you have a sec, go swing by wendy's swingin' spot 'mother rising' for her interview with little ole me! an interview! my first! stuff on mama-ing and creativity. an honor, let me tell you. an honor.