Attached below is the handout for this coming weekend's (October 18-19) Mountain Man trip.

• All Scouts who are participating should make sure their Patrol Leaders know by Tuesday of this week.
• Patrol Leaders need to let Matthew Muir, Senior Patrol Leader, who is coming from their patrol, by Wednesday of this week.
• Patrol Leaders need to make sure that their patrol will have enough backpacking stoves, water filters, and first aid kits for the patrol.
• Assistant Patrol Leaders should work with their Patrol Leaders to make sure this is done.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Brennan

The handout is here:  Mountain Man in the Catskills

Attack of the giant eyeball! I am living one of my worst nightmares. I almost didn't become a nurse because of eyeballs.

Boys will be boys... So much for the no climbing rule.

David's "respite" from the "hotfest".  His words.

Since Sophie and the boys were so upset about missing the zoo, we decided to go out for pizza instead.  It was a small consolation, but they seemed happy about it.  About the only place that Sophie can safely eat pizza is at Whole Foods, and sometimes going in there with my crew is... frightening!  They LOVE that store and can get really hyped up with all the bright lights and colors.

So as we were getting out of the car I lined all 3 kids up at the back of the Rover and had my "pep" talk.  It went something like this:

"There will be no running, screaming, disobeying, or yelling.  If there is any infractions (and I did say infractions btw) we will IMMEDIATELY return to the car and depart (and I said depart too).  There will be no whining, wheedling, or wingeing.  No crying, no begging, no hissy-fits.  We will stay together as a group!  We are going to go inside and ACT like a normal group of people, we are not going to act like hooligans.  Aim for normal!  Pretend if you need to!!  Do you understand?"

To which they all replied "yes Mommy".

It was then I noticed the man in the car next to us with his window rolled down.  Oh yes, he heard it all.  And yes he was laughing.  Really laughing.

When he saw me looking at him he said "Sir, Yes Sir!" and gave me a smart salute.

I'm certain I blushed, but I rallied and replied "there's only one of me and 3 of them... I'd rather start off with them knowing what I'm expecting than correcting them after the fact."  I didn't feel the need to explain the dynamics of my children and how re-upping the rules of conduct are pretty much an HOURLY occurance!

He smiled and went back to reading his Wall Street Journal, but I could still hear him laughing.

Seriously, taking my guys (and let's remember that only Beckett is remotely "normal") alone anywhere is an exercise in control.  People see Sophie and assume she'll help tend the boys, only that doesn't happen, and invariably Dandy feeds off of Sophie's manias and Beckett is just a 2 and a half year old! 

I've found that if I'm taking them into a stressful situation (grocery store with lots of distractions, doctors' office where they need to be quiet and well behaved) that if I give them a "pep" talk prior to entering the situation I have a much better chance of coming through the event with all my nerves intact.  It's not something I can do everytime we go somewhere, so I save it for trips when they're already a little hyped up and I'm alone with them. 

So anyway, we had our pizza and did a little shopping and as we were returning to the car I told the kids how proud I was of how well they had behaved.  And they were all smiles and giggles as I loaded them and our bags into the car.  I noticed the man parked next to us was still there (oddly enough) and was watching us over the top of his paper.  He was still smiling.

Part of me wondered if he was hoping to see me coming back to the car, frazzled and annoyed with at least one screaming kid.  Instead we were the picture of familial harmony, boys smiling and talking about taking the left over pizza home to Poppy and Sophie offering to help buckle Beckett's carseat.  I admit I felt the teensiest bit smug.  So much so that I actually smiled at the man when he asked how my shopping trip had gone.  I simply replied "brilliantly, thank you very much!"  and then I hopped in the car and locked the doors because WHY WAS THAT MAN STILL THERE???  I mean seriously, we were gone over an hour!  Weird! 

From there we went across the road to BJ's and discovered that they are closing on the 16th!  The store's already pretty bare and I was seriously afraid that they would already be out of Tiger Cubs.  Sophie held it together until we got to the toy aisle and then had a mini-meltdown when there were no visible Tigers.  I moved a couple boxes around and found a couple.  One was sort of shop-worn and the other was pristine!  Sophie was overjoyed and I was beyond thrilled to discover that instead of $45 it was $39.99!!  WooHoo!!  So yes we now have a White Tiger Cub!

It's actually pretty neat, although the servos (at least I think that's what they're called) are REALLY loud!  Everytime it moves it's eyes or mouth there's a loud whirring noise.  But other than that it's really neat!  Sophie slept with it last night but sometime during the night she must have righted it as it woke up and started meowing and purring!  I had to figure out how to turn it off (you hold down it's ear to put it into a dormant state and then hold it down again to wake it up) as it was quite loud!

She's named it Rintoo from NiHao Kailan and has so thoroughly enjoyed playing with it that I'm glad we went ahead and bought it plus it was a GREAT price compared to online!

(Will update post after some sleep and hopefully make pancakes and/or eggplant parmesan early Sunday and have links to cookbooks. I need to do an entry on the ridiculous number of cookbooks I own but never make recipes from!)

Cooper listened intently as he explained the finer points

Then threw her line in and waited...

Until she caught a fish! (Ok, so she got a bit bored in between, and Pappy took over, but still!)

As you can see she was less than impressed by the rather large whiting!

Cooper and Bailey left their mark on the sand -

Before Bailey bunkered down in the pram,

And Cooper had a standoff with Mr Peli-chicken (as she called him!)

I thought he was pretty cute myself!

It was then time to scale the fish, and head home - Cooper gave Pappy some pointers,

But Bailey decided to have a rest - sleeping on the job as usual!

(Just pretend I'm not here, ok?)

I went, but did not find my friends. It was a night of desencuetros, it seems.

I walked four blocks and found a locutorio. No answer on the cell phone.

I returned to the restaurant, in the pouring rain and got soaked. Still no familiar faces at the tables.

But with an empty stomach and the smell of yummy food, I decided to take myself out on a date.

I sit and order kebbeh al horno and rice.

The kebbeh was not the best, but good. The rice, a little soupy.

The belly dancer was pretty good.

I even got up and danced a little myself.

And the halawa with pistacchios, delicious! The morsels of sesame or tahini based sweetness took me back to Austin, where Maryam introduced me to halawa.

The cafe, wonderful as well. I turned it over to try and see my fortune.

I think I saw a dancer in the silt.

What do you see?

Mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits, raised on a diet of broken biscuits - Jarvis Cocker's lyrics resonate throughout this dark comedy. Agnes is senile while her granddaughter, Jodie, is odd. As the story shifts between the two women, it shows how our little histories and inheritance make us the people we are. I was hooked from the first page.

hahahaha! me doing a face mask- korea product! Should be not bad right? My face smell like an apricot after doing e mask anyway. But I stupidly go and watch Star Wedding (Korean variety show, fucking funny) and I seriously can feel my wrinkles popping out. I tried to curb it down but nah, couldnt ctrl it so i just tear off the mask and continue watching e show.

What I am gg to post later on does not link w my facemask picture anyway.

last sunday went to IKEA w F.S and we bought quite a no. of stuff. And er, nope i didnt take much pictures so it wasnt enough for a post. This is one of my fav pose frm him cos it looks gu niang. Btw, i'm training him to become a diva, so far, so good. LOL

and i bought a pair of heels frm Anchor Pt! Tell me, is this nice, or is this nice? :D Havent gt a chance to wear it out yet. Thought can wear it today but turns out B is working so, another day, i guess.

Days are turning cold so sometimes I will wear this long PJ pants i bought frm cotton on. HEHS. its damn comfy and paired with my nua mango top and bedroom slips, i swear its so comfortable i can sleep while standing. hahahaha. my dad said I dressed like someone wearing in a condo or bungalow when in actual fact, I'm only living in a 3rm flat. what nonsense, who says ppl living in HDB flats cannot wear like that?!

Yesterday:

Our monthly makan-meeting! Its for sept makan-meeting but it was postponed cos i was sick e other time, and Nicole had an appointment last wk. So v soon, we will have another makan-meeting! Wahahah! Food~ GLORIOUS food~

btw, we Q-ed for almost an hr to get a seat. LUCKILY, we were near Cathay so we were watching movie trailers after movie trailers.

Us! With e lil pressie Nicole gt for us! Sweet boss right?! She even include a note that says,

"To e whole world, you're only one person. But to one person, you're e whole world"

Obviously that one person, is e children we are interacting with. Really, to think you may mean e whole world to a kid. Amazing, isnt it?

Lingerie galore. Bought it with e metro vouchers I got. I couldnt think of what to get, initially wana get perfume. But then I dont really use it thus i decide to buy something more practical. Thus, these. HEHS. Cant wait to wear them!!! E joy of wearing new stuff. Ah hak!

As i was taking e picture, I noticed the black and white stripey one is very very familiar. But i couldnt put my finger on where I've seen this before. Hmmmmmm. Nvm who cares! hahahaha.

Today:

I was browsing through my PPCM notes to see which are the ones that I can print for my colleagues to give them a few tips on classrm management and positive discipline. Memories flooding back when im thumbing through my notes man! E good old days. Le sigh.

Part of e collection of my notes! There is still a huge stack on e top cupboard. See, Ngee Ann killed alot of trees in order to print all e print-heavy notes for e students! hahhaaha. I couldnt bear to dump it leh! Holds sentimental value, i guess. Besides, I'm sure I will look through them when I'm pregnant perhaps in e future 10yrs to come. ahahaha.

I enjoyed the every tiny bit of what they are accommodating. My eyes were caught by all sorts of colours, unusual species.... My nose was filled with the delicate fragrance that all the plants and flowers sent forth, and the humidity from that Rainforest Gully, which reminded me the ferns and the smell of Qing Cheng Shan (青城山).

I can hear the bird singing, but there was no wind's presence. It was just so quiet that I started to hear the sound I don't normally hear, the sound that had been blocked away by our busy heads, and the sound from the nature that exists for all the time being but weakened by this modern world.

At the park she asked if she could hold the camera and take some pictures. Then she snapped away all afternoon, pausing only for me to recharge the camera battery. Here is a selection from her first photo shoot:

On Thursday afternoon a friend posted an old photo from college to his Facebook page.  The scads of comments that unspooled fast and furious for well over an hour were bananas!  And more a tangential memory jog than at all relating to the actual photo.  It became a miniature online reunion.  Swept up in this little nostalgia fest, more folks seemed to dig out their old shots and put them up.  Meaning most had to scan them in (or had already scanned them at some point).  For you see, back when we were in college, pay attention now kids, all our cameras required film.  Then that film had to be taken to be developed.  We might as well have been drawing our likenesses on a cave wall with the burnt end of a stick.  It seems that primitive now.

One of our favorite games was to go on little photo jaunts, staging impromptu shoots around town late at night.  Often with wardrobe changes!  Once, we invaded the Orlando International Airport around midnight, and took pictures on the baggage carousel, the people mover-y sidewalks, and on and around the godawful "public art" that littered the place.  It seems inconceivable now. We'd be hauled into some windowless, cramped, florescent-lit  Homeland Security office the moment we traipsed through the doors with our weird outfits and conspicuous behavior.  Hello, cavity search.

Now whenever you go out, everyone acts like the lay paparazzi of their own lives, with their digital cameras and cell phones:  incessantly snapping pictures at every bar, club or birthday party.  Every moment captured and subsequently blogged or Tumblred or Flickred, or yes, Facebooked.  Though this isn't a screed against the ease and proliferation of images in this digital age.  I mean, we had our own instant gratification, it was called Polaroid.  So.  I suppose it's an appreciation that these images endure, in whatever form, and can act as such a powerful catalyst to reminiscence.

Above is one of my favorite shots, taken outside a 7-11 (mmm, Slurpees!) on one of our photo outings in downtown Orlando.