Missing My Voice...

Are you missing me, are in need of a little Beth? Chances are you are not however, If you are, you can listen to me online at kuar.org. I am a part-time reporter for KUAR FM 89.1 in Little Rock. I have been working for the public radio station since February. On Saturday mornings I work as a board operator and you can hear me at 7:04 a.m. and 8:04 a.m. deliver a state newscast. You can listen to me live Saturday mornings from the website. But lets face it the only people who will get up that early to listen to me are my parents. (Thanks mum and dad)
I just finished my second feature piece. It aired this morning at 6:05 and 8:05. Listen to it here. Its only 4 minutes and 32 seconds but it took a surprising amount of time to research, interview, write and produce.

In other news, we are moving this week into a new condo. Who would have thought that we would be condo people? It is a really nice place and we are happy to leave our current "cocoon" neighborhood.
(My pool rights got revoked today because I let William sit in the hot tub and they caught me on video. I am too much of a rebel for this place apparently.)

(This picture is unrelated to my post. William in April 2011 sitting in Dad's new kayak, watching TV and eating yogurt in our almost old condo. This picture just makes me happy. What a funny kid.)

I started teaching Spanish at the preschool where William goes today. It was extremely comically trying to convince three-year-olds to call me Senora Beth. I know I looked like a fool singing about saying "hola every time we meet" but the kids were mesmerized. Not so much by the Spanish songs but the wild eyed crazy lady dancing to them like she was on Broadway. At least I kept their attention for the 30 minute class.

William came home from the Baptist Preschool last week and wanted to say "grace" before dinner, then when we said amen he said grace. I also overheard him singing to himself "God is good, God is great!"
My son is turning southern.

Snow Day

11 days ago it was 70 degrees. Today everything was closed including the gas station nearest our house, all the schools, the YMCA, the grocery stores, Tyler's office, everything! I am not complaining. I did put winter coats away after our fishing trip because I thought spring was on our doorstep, however, I welcome the snow. I welcome the reminder of being a Mainer and for Ty, a Utahn. And I welcome finally putting to use the ridiculous amount of winter gear that we have in our Southern closets.
After a lazy morning, we ventured outside. We made a snowman and went sledding down the hill behind our house. We walked to the store where we were the last customers before it closed at 3 pm. (They had only sold $23 worth of food all day) We tried to shovel out ourselves and our neighbors with Ty's tiny backpacking shovel. This evening we cuddled up by the fire that Ty made and crafted our valentine cards and ate yummy soup, also made by Tyler. It was a fun snow day and I was happy that Arkansas only has 4 plows so that Ty could stay home and play with us.
(Tomorrow maybe another story)

(William's snowman. The rocks represent the snowman's stomach and all the food in it, according to Will)

Fish

William and Walker examining and poking a caught fish.

On the last Saturday in January, Tyler took us fishing, us being, myself, William and Will's best friend, Walker. We all got in the car, bought some lunch and went to a river about 1 hour away from Hot Springs. It was beautiful day in the low 70's. The sun glistened upon the water as it gently swayed down the river. The birds were singing sweet melodies of spring. The air was fresh and vibrant, full of budding cheerfulness and the impending growth of winters end.

As the boys fished in the river, loading one miniature marshmallow after another on their hooks trying to entice the trout, I had an epiphany. In this serene setting, as I now became the one hooking the marshmallows and casting the line for the 4 year old boys who wanted to fish, I realized with an absolute clarity, the kind that is so clear it is life altering, that I HATE FISHING!

I dislike everything about it! I dislike the sitting or standing while waiting for a poor little trout to bite, I dislike the casting and tangling of lines with little boys heads and fingers and clothing. I dislike the actual catching of the fish or the disappointment when you don't. I dislike retrieval of the hook from the fishes mouth or worse its stomach. I dislike the smell of the little fish and the way they look at you and squirm in the hands of their captor, pleading to be set free. I dislike the way my sweet little boy smells after fishing. I dislike listening to the other fishermen on the bank speculating about the fishes whereabouts or taste buds. In short I am not a fisher. Fishing is not for me and I am not for fishing.

The boys did catch a trout each, they brought them home in a cooler full of ice in the hopes of eating them. I truly wonder how much Tyler actually likes fishing himself, because upon arrival home, he decided that we should not eat the fish but just throw them away. After all it is Arkansas and fish die here with no explanation; probably nuclear waste poisoning or second hand smoke or something.

I asked Tyler to kindly never invite me fishing again. He quickly accepted the request a little too enthusiastically. I used to frown upon segregating outings, daddy trips and mummy trips. My mind has changed. Fishing will be for the men in my house and that is fine with me as long as they don't dirty my cooler again.

Four!

We can't believe that William is 4 now. It really stinks this growing up business. This is how we celebrated.

Birthday morning William blew out some candles on his pancakes to celebrate with Dad before he went to work.

Dad always picks out the best gifts! He got William a transformers race track!

William and I headed to Play by play which is an indoor gym for kids. William had all his best buds there including Walker who William calls his best friend...well depending on the day.

William with his friends Nathan and Darla in the hamster like play place. The kids even roped me into going in there, whew was it stinky, but the slides were fun.

Hanna, Rachel, William, Walker, Smith, Nathan and Teran all waiting for cake.

Finally we wrapped up the party with cupcakes, juice boxes and opening of presents. Everyone had a wonderful time, especially the birthday boy.

In the car ride home William sighed and said , "Mom, that was so cool!"

Mondays

On Monday the dentist found two cavities in Williams mouth! As we drove away from the dentist office I suggested to Will that we go get sundaes, you know, to soften the blow of the bad news. William became thoughtful.
William: Mom is today Sunday?
Me: No today is Monday. Ice cream sundaes are ice cream with hot fudge on them, remember?
William: pause... Mom?
Me:Yes
William: can we get mondays instead?

wedding cake

do you ever assume that because your mother can do something well, somehow you can too?
I do,
I did,
I don't know that I ever will again.

everyone knows mom makes beautiful cakes. heck all the food mom makes is beautiful. i was asked to make a wedding cake for a girl i am supposed to visit teach but do not. we are friends with her family. it actually did not go as bad as i anticipated, luckily i had mom on strict orders to answer her phone immediately all weekend if i was calling and she did, thank you mum. you were wonderful cake life support!
although I think I made her nervous when I asked “what temperature do you cook the cake at?”
mum said, “Beth are you kidding me?”
I replied “MOM, don’t you teach special ed?”
“yes but I didn’t know this was sped cooking.”
I told her to pretend it was.

at first the requests from the bride were as simple as the little town we live in,
"i don really care as long as it doesn taste bad and looks ok"
(re-read that with a southern accent),
yeah now you got it.
then…a week before the blessed day she says that she has tasted a cake that she loves and wants for her wedding cake and could she come over and have me taste it and figure out what it is. I suggested she call the baker of the cake and just ask her what it was and then tell me.
so in the end we had a three-tiered coconut cake with coconut “icing” that I thought tasted very good. even tyler liked it and that is a very good sign because his usual opinion of food is “fine”! I know, how could I have married a man who doesn’t say things like “its to die for” in reference to food?
in the end, I was glad to do it to see if I truly could, (I figured if it had been a huge disaster I would only have had to live with the embarrassment for a few more weeks because we are moving soon)
but I realized something in the process; no one is born with cake decorating genes. too bad. I wish I had been born with that one and maybe a sewing gene too. the old adage is true: practice makes perfect. I just don’t think I need to be perfect at this one. we’ll see

Our nice neighbors went on a church bus tour to our Nation's Capitol a few weeks ago. I have become friendly with most of our neighbors and as such Ms. Carolyn from across the street asked if William and I would come over while she and her husband were away and give her three dogs, Ring, Honeybun and Sissy, treats. Another neighbor had the responsibility of feeding Ring, Honeybun and Sissy but Ms. Carolyn wanted us just to play with them, supply them with ample treats and change the water in the birdbath.

I of course said it would be not trouble at all, even though I don’t really care that much for dogs, especially hers, and we went over to her house to see where the treats were kept. While there Ring, who is so fat from too many treats he can barely walk, would not stop barking. He really wanted to play with William and William just wanted me to hold him, being very intimidated by Ring on account of his enormous girth. Ms. Carolyn has been bestowed with the gift of gab and was talking away to me shooing and shushing Ring as we walked around her yard and patio. Finally at the end of her southern wits she turned around and very loudly yelled,
“Ah, SHUT UP Ring!!” And then turned around to us as though she had forgotten we were there and giggled a little embarrassed at loosing her patience. William, who is holding on to my neck for dear life, afraid no doubt that at any moment he will fall from my arms and Ring will devour him whole, then proceeds to whisper in my ear,
“Can I sha she she at?” he asks
“What William?” I ask.
He whispers again inaudibly.
“Honey I can’t hear you. You don’t have to whisper. What do you want to do?”
Now his lips are in my ear, “Can I say Shut Up to that dog?”
“No”
“Why?”
Good question, Ms. Carolyn just said it. “Because, well Ms. Carolyn we must be going.” I excused us from the yard and back to our own where we could still hear Ring’s longing bark wanting so badly just to play with William who really just wanted to say “Shut up Dog”. I guess William is a little bit like his mother after all, not much of a dog lover.