I know you’ll be shocked to hear I’m recovering from another wild series of semi-chaotic adventures in my private life, involving a party bus, a van load of Canadians, a Congressman,  a badly timed baseball game, grass stains and a rock band.   And that was just Saturday.

   It always seems to come in waves, and I’m just trying to stay upright and go along for the ride.

Forgive me if my verbal skills are a bit shot right now, I think I’ll lean on the photos to tell the story of our awesome and overwhelming past week.

 Saturday morning Calvin and Clara sang in the Earth Day festival.   Well, Calvin sang.  Little Clara just stood stone-faced with her mouth closed, but at least she didn’t cry. I almost did, just because it was so danged cute.

   No one told me Congressman Andre Carson and Mayor Ballard would be there - maybe I would have stepped up my efforts to look “pulled together.” Or maybe not. I was awfully tired.

   Here’s my friend Kristina, an American Sign Language interpreter and overall intriguing and awesome person, with me at the festival as we let our kids roll down a hill and get grass stains head to toe.

Then the Shepherd kids and I were off to pick up their Canadian cousins at the airport!  Ian’s brother, Scott and his wife Sue live in Ottawa, Ontario and we hadn’t seen them in a year and a half.  My nephew Alex was awfully tolerant of our 5-year-old, Calvin, indulging him in lots of video games, baseball, and sword fights. 

     7-year-old-Katie, whose curly locks make her look like an angel, lavished love and attention on our 2-year-old, Clara.  The two were inseparable, and absolutely adorable.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget how Katie soothed Clara’s tears by offering up her precious “Huggy Bunny,” who got her through several tough years of leukemia treatment. (she is now thankfully in remission and doing great)  I definitely have a soft spot for this little girl.  I think everyone who meets her does.

We got Cal all dressed for a ballgame and showed up at the field only to find out - I’d written down the wrong time.  The game was over.

Oops.  My mother-of-the year award chances just slipped again.

Got back home in time for the Nadas tour bus to pull up once again, with my husband’s hungry and dissheveled rock band showing up after driving straight to Indy from New York.

Simultaneously, my in-laws arrived.  Thank goodness for GT South’s BBQ.  I go into a cold sweat when I imagine cooking for such a big group.

An hour or so later our buddy Donnie shows up in his party bus (it’s his business so he can use it how ever he wants!) to take Ian’s family and I up to see the Nadas play. 

Here’s my friend Jill along for the hilarious ride.

Turns out the gig in Elwood is OFF.  Details snafu with the booking agent.

  So - we get half the band to pile back into the party bus with us and take off for greener pastures.  We found them.  It was a late, bizarre, and very, very memorable night. 

    Time to start picking up the pieces now - I’m looking forward to a very chilled out week ahead. I’m going to FORCE myself to slow down.  If a large bus, a rock band, or a herd of happy and hilarious relatives comes anywhere near me, please, please remind me to behave.

  Have a great week!

TS

  It’s been another busy week.  And on Friday I always look forward to the weekend.  But there is something I can never escape. The honey do list.

Oh sure.  With temperatures in the 60’s this weekend and even a little rain, you’d think I’d get a break.  Nope, ’cause there’s always work to do inside, too.

Am I complaining?  No way, because when my wife isn’t happy, nobody is happy (even our dog runs for cover)  :-)   

I want to hear from everyone.

Husbands - what are your wife’s top honey do’s?

And Wives - what do you wish your husband would get to this weekend? 
I’ll let you know what I did, and didn’t do, on Monday.

Have a great weekend!!

My life is many things, but never dull.

Take this conversation I overheard between my two kids:

Calvin: What if you could sleep in the clouds?

Clara:  But I would fall down!!

Calvin: (pause)  We would build a big ladder.

          Sometimes I think I need a bigger ladder to climb over the hurdles I’ve set in place for myself. 

Yesterday is a great example.

7:am - up and at em. Breakfast, feed the dog, pack a lunch

8:20 off to Cal’s preschool 

9am:  A carpeting crew arrives to start tearing up the house (a much-awaited project I’ve been dying to do since moving in! Out with the old and in with the new.)

  10am: My friend Jill’s adorable little boy, Matt arrives to play with Clara for a few hours while his mom squeezes in an appointment. (we have a pretty good kid-swap trade-off deal going!) The little man happily went on a long stroll with Clara and I, raced relays with her in the back yard, raked a few of my leaves, rode bikes, and drew chalk scribbles all over the driveway. 

     One of the carpet guys (who knew about my night-job) watched us going, going, going, and asked sincerely, “When do you sleep?”

  12:30pm:  Quickie lunch on the way to Calvin’s preschool pickup.

1:20 - Try to assemble myself into someone presentable enough to walk into a newsroom, with 2 kids hungry for attention and 2 carpet guys scrambling to finish the job and make my house habitable again.  Quickly realize this will not be possible. I will definitely look like h*%# today.

  2pm: Then the kicker: With carpet guys still finishing up and furniture all over the house,  my husband’s rock band rolls up in its enormous tour bus, en route from Chicago to Virginia,  filled with 7 people, most of whom are hungry and need showers.

  TIMING is everything, right!?

      Of course this was all awesome to my starstruck kids were thrilled to see their idols in person. Here’s a shot of Clara, much too shy to even smile while posing with Mike, one of the singers. ( The Nadas aren’t well known in Indiana but they have a crazy-loyal following in other parts of the Midwest an West, especially their home state of Iowa - and to my kids they’re the biggest rock stars to ever walk the earth.)   I’ll admit I was also all smiles seeing all the guys, and especially, Ian (far left in the band photo)  in spite of the incredible timing.

2:15 We bid farewell to the carpet crew, got everyone fed and showered, let the kids have some bonding time with their heroes (and, oh yeah, Dad too) and I slapped on a suit and heels.

3pm: I arrive late at work (thanks to Todd for covering for me in our early-afternoon duties) catching my breath while reading over stories and preparing for newscasts.

  Nope, never dull. There’s always something new to stop me in my tracks or fill up my head with amazement.

Calvin: What if flowers could smell you back?

What if??

I hope you all are finding amusement in all the things life throws at you.

Thanks for reading-

Trish

(PS: For those of you truly curious or into homegrown rock music, the Nadas have just picked up a gig in none other than Elwood, Indiana, this Saturday at 8:30pm at Sam’s Wonder Bar. I’ll be there with lots of Ian’s family to cheer them on. Don’t be shy - say hi if you happen to show up! )www.thenadas.com

I was supposed to be off today so I stayed up really, really late to watch a couple of episodes of  ”Columbo.”  (It’s one of my quirks).  I went to bed with the biggest smile on my face because I knew I could sleep in.  It was 3:00 am. A few hours later… I felt the bed shaking.  I mean really shaking.  Back and forth it went.  “Hmm,” I thought.  “That kind of feels like an earthquake.”  (Nevermind the fact I’d never BEEN in an earthquake .)  Then I thought, “No way.  This is Indiana and we don’t get earthquakes here.  It must be CiCi. ”  CiCi is our dog and, at times, she gets a really good scratch going under the bed and the whole thing shakes.  This, however, was different.  Still, what else could it be? Back to sleep I went. A couple of hours later my wife wakes me and says “We had an earthquake.”  But she also initially thought it was our dog-ter getting a scratch under the bed. But here is what’s really been on my mind.  Wednesday night, there was an explosion and bright lights were seen in the air.  (The Air Natinal Guard took responsibility.)  And now we get an earthquake.  So here’s my theory. The mothership has landed and we are being watched!!  That’s right.  I said it.  And I’m in the media!!  :-) Remember, the truth is out there!!!!!!

Todd

ALL SHOOK UP!

 Trisha: 

Come on, you knew I couldn’t resist the Elvis reference!

I’ve heard lots and lots of earthquake stories today, but mine might be the creepiest.

HERE COMES THE BRIDE 

The shaking and a slamming door woke me up, which would have been weird enough, but then I started hearing some very eerie music.

I had forgotten about an antique music box sitting on our dresser, with little bride and groom figurines on top (a wedding gift from my famous Auntie Corky) The shaking must have stirred it into motion, because in the dark, silent, shaking room, it started playing a torturously slow version of  “Here Comes the Bride. ” I sat straight up in bed, wondering for a moment if we’d bought a haunted house.

     I sold myself on the earthquake theory, and somehow managed to get back to sleep, dreaming about doing earthquake interviews.

  CLARA’S QUAKE TALES:

     My kids slept through the whole thing, but don’t tell that to Clara.  She heard so many stories about the earthquake at preschool and on the news this morning that she started imagining her own experience.   Vividly. Each time I ask her to describe it it gets a bit more dramatic.  At this point she’s pretty sure she saw a “reawwy cweepy dinosaur and bunny-rabbits” - and in a few memorable accounts, some fairies.   Unfortunately for her, it’s all caught on tape.

clara-dinosaur-vids.mov  (You have to turn up the volume on the screen to hear these: Here’s Clara on my cameraphone describing the creepy dinosaur that “shaked” and made her “really scared.” The first 15 seconds you’ll notice I’m convincing her I’m not “taking a picture.” Is that unethical journalism when the interviewee is 2 and I’m her mom?)

clara-quake-rabbits.mov (And here’s her description of hearing an earthquake and then seeing a rabbit that was “very scary!” followed by her reenactment of trembling in the quake. Priceless)

    I’m up for as many more quake stories as you’d like to share, so fire away!  As my church-friend Eric wrote today:  Let’s see, so far this week we’ve had peculiar lights and sounds over Kokomo, a minor earthquake, and a truck full of human feces overturning up in Crown Point.  (Admit it: you guys do make some of this stuff up, don’t you?)  I think now if we learn that Ann Coulter is carrying John Mellencamp’s love child, everything will be in place to signal the start of some sort of Hoosier Apocalypse. Let’s hope for a quieter night, don’t you think?

Thanks for reading!  Trish