And the Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down

I suppose there is such a thing as TOO MUCH Winnie the Pooh, but we read it every night to put the babes to sleep. We also watch the dvd once a week or so. This has left me humming the songs and quoting the text. Super! I used to be able to toss off lines of poetry or insert a timely pun into a conversation. Now I can't stop saying, "Tut tut, it looks like rain!"

Holy cow, but the rain is intense. All day for the last few days, hard and driving or soft and fun to play in. We played in the house yesterday until the kids were ready for naps; lots of forts and tunnels and legos. Then, according to the master plan, we were going to end the browsing phase and actually buy our wedding rings. Since our regular babysitter, Auntie Kiko, was busy jumping out of a plane, we drove them to sleep and parked right next to the door of the local lesbian-owned jewelry store, left Burl Ives playing and the engine running for vibration, and darted inside to have a second visit with the wedding rings Homestead Mama selected on our first, rushed visit.

The kids love visiting the jewelry store - so many glass cases upon which to smear their hands, tall display cases to make shake and wobble, and two super nice clerks who get down on the carpet and play with them. There is a one-eyed coiled snake made of faux pearls that we named Pippi [we name everything Pippi] and I made up a story about how she lost her eye to a frisky mongoose in India. As much as we love that version of shopping, it was nice to be child-free, hold hands and make moony eyes at each other while we pondered a wedding ring. She finally selected a beautiful band ring with some modest but sparkly diamonds. The artist thinks he can get it back to us before we go on vacation to Martha's Vineyard, where we intend to have a tiny - the kids and us - ceremony. I will be using my grandmothers ring which my mother graciously and kindly agreed to hand down to me for the occasion. I have loved it always and am really thrilled to be able to use it as my wedding ring. Homestead Mama is having a new plain band made for me to accompany it; she will pair her new ring with her grandmother's simple platinum wedding band. We'll each have something old, something new.

Home again after shopping, we had to get really creative with activities to keep the kids happy. I pulled out the mosquito net found at the thrift store for $4 and attached it to the hooks in the ceiling where we swing in the winter. Oh, my goodness this was a hit. Some pillows underneath and voila, almost an hour of joy.



After tubby, stories and the requisite chapter of Pooh, I retired downstairs to perfect my Ruby June recipe. I found my vintage glasses and enjoyed a taste of sunshine as the deluge continued.


I woke up this morning at 5 when Monito starts rooting around for attention and realized that perhaps it would behoove me to actually find someone to marry us and make an appointment so we can go through with this next month.