know your enemy

I have some vague memories of being younger and noticing the population of rust-colored ladybugs growing each year. After a while, it seemed like they were all over the place outside, and even showing up on walls and ceilings. I don't think it bothered my mother or me very much, since they were kind of cute.


It matters now.

The ladybugs have become an infestation over the past several years. My mother's small home began filling with them each spring, in ever increasing numbers. It turns out, they like hiding in medicine cabinets and spoon drawers. In addition, they stink when they fly into your lightbulbs, and don't seem to learn from the mistakes of their peers.

The infestation has reached a new level, because this time, they didn't leave over the winter. They set up camp and stayed, and now are multiplying at a rate that would make a rabbit blush. This is especially troublesome because I live in this house now, with two young daughters and my mother and her dog. Guys, space is tight. We *do not* have room for ten thousand ladybugs.

My children are afraid.

It turns out, the ladybugs bite. They stink when they die and they bite my little girls. They have now become my enemies...

I've learned some interesting things during the week since I declared war on the rust colored legion(let's call this list, "You Know You Have an Infestation When...."):

1. If you listen closely, you can hear their shells clicking as they jockey for the best position on the glass windowpane.
2. If you are almost asleep and feel something pellet-like on, say, your thigh..and it BITES you, it's probably a lady bug. In this situation, it's best to panic.
3. If you see a ladybug in your house and call other family members to 'ooh' and 'ahh' over it's cuteness before taking it gently outdoors to set it free, you probably don't have an infestation. If your frightened 2 yr old plays a skewed version of hopscotch just to get down the hall without encountering one, you probably *do* have an infestation.


Earlier this week, I discovered that they don't like the vacuum cleaner. I was happily on my way to freeing our home from their tyranny..
Then, they organized. I swear. Every day, I go through the house vacuuming hundreds of them from windows, corners, blankets, picture frames (to the applause and cheers of W and G). I take the full vacuum canister outdoors and empty it, then come in to our clean, inviting, de-bugged home.
The next morning, I wake to find MORE than the day before! So I start again..

Now, when they hear the vacuum turn on, they all try to run and hide. I don't think they are supposed to know how to do that.
And this is the weirdest thing so far: every day at around 3 pm, they go crazy trying to get out the North-facing window. Every stinking one of them clicking frantically against the picture window. I look on the other windows, nothing. I come to the North-facing window, it's ladybug chaos.
That's okay with me, though..it just makes it easier to surprise them with the vacuum, them being so distracted and all in one place.
For now, I'm one step ahead of them.
I just pray they don't evolve any further..if they go on the offensive, we're in trouble.




">Link

?????

The wierdest thing:

I have been doing household 'stuff'...since lunch the girls have been just playing (and cranky.)...it got too quiet so I walked into their room to ask what they were playing. One of them was tucked into her bed sound asleep, when I had just talked with her literally 2 minutes ago. She put herself down for a nap??!! This just does not happen.

Then I looked around for the other one, who just minutes before had mentioned being tired (I was going to lay them down in an hour or so..).

As I approached the bathroom, I heard something. I opened the door to find the other one sitting on the toilet with her head leaned against the wall snoring!! I was so shocked that I shut the door again and went back to look at the first one: still asleep. Then I headed back to get the other one from the toilet, but she woke up and ambled to bed on her own. I have never EVER had such an easy time putting them down for a nap.


What. On. Earth.

Will the real Colleen G. Corbin please step forward?

Last night, I forged my mother's signature approximately 145 times while she smiled her grateful approval from across the kitchen table. We took occasional breaks from scrawling to sip our special coffee(a bit of Bailey's Irish Cream...turns coffee into something much better) from clear glass mugs.
In keeping with the offbeat ease our relationship has always held, we continue to bond at the most unexpected, inexplicable moments.

**In case you're wondering about the backstory....she had to go out to make copies of a letter she had written which will be sent home to parents of her students. The middle school AND high school copier machines are broken, so she used her personal time to run the copies. It wasn't a big deal, shouldn't take too much time.
Unless you did something silly like forget to sign the original....meaning 290 letters must be signed by the librarian before sending them home the next day..
If something like that happened, you would be glad you had a willing forger and some Bailey's waiting at home..
I wonder if people will notice the dozens of signature styles(I'm not great at sticking with one thing..)?

Uniquely 'Willow'

After Willow tried a bite of the radish I was eating...

Me: Do you like it?
W: Yes...it's not too spicy. You don't mind 'too spicy'. But I do.
...pause...........
W: It's o.k. for us to be different. I mean, you can like spicy food and I don't and that's o.k.

Me: Yeah. Isn't that cool? If we were all exactly the same, it would be pretty boring.

W: It's better that we're all different. I'm glad we're not all the same and boring..

Me: (thinking to myself) ...I'm so proud of her for recognizing the importance of diversity and individuality at five yrs old. What a smart kid..

W: Mom, you know, if I was exactly like you, if I was 'another you'...it would be boring. If I was just like you, that would mean I'd clean up more.

Me:(slowly coming to the realization that my smart five year old is now conning me...) Well. That's interesting....it's good that you don't want to be exactly the same as me....how about this: I'll teach you how to clean up more, and then you can put your own flair on it; do it 'your way'...'kay?

Zorg & Andy

Filming wrapped this week on Zorg & Andy, and I'm on my way home. The past two weeks have felt like one long, continuous day punctuated by occasional naps. It was such a great experience - I am really going to miss the group of people I worked with. By the end of the filming process, we had so many inside jokes ( that won't make sense to anyone who wasn't there)!

I won't try to relay all the details, but I am so glad I went for multiple reasons - this project was different than any other I've done before.... here are a few of the memories I'll carry with me always(more later):

Stuffing the contents of five bags into one suitcase at the Amtrak station upon finding out that "we don't check luggage in Michigan"...thanks for convincing me not to bring the weights, Dad. ;)

.....................................The six legged lamb....learning the difference between an Alasaurus and a Smilodon.....making friends with the snakes....

Hearing the hissing of 200 cocroaches from the backseat of the van we were in....crawling back over the mounds of props and equipment to make sure they hadn't gotten loose.......making eye contact with the woman in the car behind us, who obviously thought I was weird for crawling around the back of a van at a stoplight...if she only knew how much wierder it really was, I thought as I adjusted the lid of the cocroach box and gingerly avoided jostling the fragile 6-legged lamb...

The Famous Recipe sign in Richmond, Indiana, that read:
"Try our liver and gizzards combo"

When the DP and I pointed the sign out to the producers, hoping they would find it as hilarious as we did...and they barely even looked...then said, "that's really common here. Like brain sandwiches."

Caffienne.........lots of it, as often as possible........

So much laughter..........friendships starting, a diverse range of personalities(the movie about the making of Zorg & Andy would probably be even funnier than the film itself!)

Missing my girls......doing o.k. most of the time, then crying at random moments....sympathetic hugs..

The joy of travelling alone - the feeling of independance and exploration..

The last shot finished, the cast party at the brewpub, Caroline at Steak'n'Shake who gave me a bowlful of cherries just to be nice.....

I'm happy to be home, and can't wait to do it again.















">Link

Silence

This blog will be silent for a couple of days, probably a couple of weeks. I'm going to be out of town working on a project, and today I'm flying around trying to make sure I have everything I'll need for the trip.
The bad news:
I'll undoubtedly forget something important
The good news:
It's supposed to be in the 50's this week in Indiana:)
More good news:
I get to have lunch in Chicago with one of my favorite people during my train's layover.

Hope spring arrives in Michigan while I'm gone..there's something I love about leaving at the end of one season and returning when the beauty of the new one is just beginning to show.


I want to smell the earth after a long spring rain, and sit at the edge of the dock with bare feet grazing the water. I want to go for walks without scarves, hoods, gloves, boots, and extra layers weighing me down..

:) Be back soon.

Willow just shouted from the other room:

2 + 1 is 3!
And 5+5 is actually 10!!
And 2+2 is....4!

I asked her when she started learning math.
She said,"Today".
I asked her how she was learning, and she replied that her toy is teaching her.
Her toy is speaking spanish.

My five year old daughter is *learning math* from a spanish-speaking toy.

As I recall, I didn't even do very well learning math from highly skilled math teachers in high school.

Who spoke english.

Maybe I should try playing with the magic toy.