The No. 1 Ladies rule!

Alexander McCall Smith and HBO seem to me to me at first, to be odd bedfellows, but as I have time to think on it, the pairing may be brilliant.

McCall Smith writes fun, smart, clean books and HBO produces fantastic material but is known to sort of sex things up a bit. Despite what HBO could do with McCall Smith's material, I'm excited and optimistic about my latest television find of last night, a new series based on McCall's Smith's popular book series "The Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency."

I stumbled on to the show Saturday evening while looking for something to watch while folding laundry. Typically, about the only time I have to sit and watch TV is when I fold laundry, so the end of the TV season is always sad for me. What, oh what will entertain me as I fold, fold, fold?

I have read all the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency books, and it's interesting to see characters constructed in your mind suddenly in the flesh. I so love the books, I couldn't help but watch and think, "Well, that's now how I pictured her."

American actresses fill out the two female leads in the story set and filmed in Botswana, Africa. Jill Scott's Mme. Ramostwe was too young and uncertain of herself. She lacked, I thought, the wisdom, wit, self confidence and courage of her book counterpart, although they did manage to make her "traditionally built." She is softer and more self conscious here. Mme. Matuska was too pretty and her glasses too small, although I thought Anika Noni Rose nailed her uptight, bossy persona otherwise. And Mr. JLB Matekoni was, again, younger, more talkative and demonstrative of his affections than in the books. Mr. Matekoni and Mme. Ramostwe's book relationship is very sweet and reserved, but in my 1/2 an episode, they shared a kiss, held hands and said, "I love you!" Considering what HBO could have done, I'll get over my shock and accept their happiness. They've also add a character, a "flamboyant hairdresser," named BK, who wasn't in the episode I watched but could be an interesting addition. The Botswana I saw in my episode seemed a bit more American than I would have figured, but the other trailers I've seen fit more the image in my mind from the books.

Despite those criticisms, I so enjoyed watching the show last night and I'm looking foward to seeing how this group of actors continue to bring to life one of my favorite series. I don't know how many episodes are on board (there are 11 books in the series, which is actually news to me since the 11th just came out. Yet another thing to be excited about!) but I will be DVR'ing all of them. And finding something to fold my laundry to this summer is, well, precious, don't you think?

I wish I could figure out how to post videos on my blog, from my desktop or YouTube, but I've so far failed every time. So, see a trailer for the show here and a CNN interview about the making of the show here.

The show airs Sunday evenings. Don't know what time!

Notes on a day #5, the Lucky Me! edition

Frequently my notes on a day follow a really long or really amusing day. Not Saturday!

* I got to take Ellie and the boys to Ellie's little girl dance class. I love seeing her so girly and happy!
* Sophie watched all three kids so I could get away for a couple hours for a haircut and a trip to Wal-Mart. Who knew that could be so rejuvenating?
* I got the best haircut I've had in years
* Jack was an angel today. He threw no temper tantrums and did everything I asked of him. This follows a day where the melted down over the simplest requests, got in trouble at a church event for calling people "poopy heads" (????!!!!) and topped off his day by cutting through his seat belt with a pair of craft scissors. Seriously.
* They boys and I searched the garden in vain for a seedling then gave up. Instead of cleaning or cooking, I laid on the trampoline in the sun while they played around me.
* And finally, not to tempt the fates at not giving me another great day, but...the dishwasher WORKED. In my first outing to Lowes, I found the right attachment for my sink (it's portable, pushes around the kitchen). It was the most amazing thing! The kids were astounded! "Mommy, where did you put our plates? What is that noise? Can we help?"

Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me!

Notes on a day #4

Dirt washes. However, I'm not sure I'd anticpated Jack, Ben and Ellie's trip to the "mud store."

* Things I had not planned to do at midnight or anywhere near it:

1. Blog, but seriously...

2. Clean pink Nesquick powerded mix off the floor.

3. Clean pink Nesquick powerded mix out of the dog's food bowl.

4. Clean pink Nesquick powerded mix out of the dog's water bowl.

5. Clean pink Nesquick powerded mix off my broom and dustpan.

I would like to thank Daddy Lonsberry for astutely suggesting that our children could not watch another episode of "Charlie and Lola" without their own pink milk. Why should Lola and her mommy have all the fun?

* At some point in the last two days, I should have realized the importance of umbrellas. No really, if getting drenched in 15 seconds during yesterday's downpour taught me nothing, it's that rain gear is a must. The first time I left a store in Henrietta and it started raining, fine. Grab the umbrella. The second time I left the umbrellas in the van someone should have questioned my judgement. But the third time...honestly, the third time was at 7:30 p.m. at Wegman's in Henrietta with all three kids strapped into one of their amazing three-kid mobiles and God just turned on a faucet and said, "Haven't you learned anything today?" No, but I'm willing to bet my children wished they could have looked like they did yesterday instead of sitting and waiting for me to (again) find a stranger to watch them while I dashed to the van.

* My grocery store is better than yours (unless you live in New York, at which point you also can choose Wegmans and it's just a matter of who's location is better.) Wegmans is amazing, from their roomy eco-friendly shopping bags to their fresh out of some faraway garden produce to the natural food section and weird olive bar to the children's playroom in the new amazing Henrietta location. Too bad we found the playroom on the way out. My children wanted to stay at the grocery store and play. Who'd have thunk those crafty Wegmans would come up with a way to top the free cookies?

* I'd like to thank my friend Emily for the free portable dishwasher. I'd like to be more excited over it, but I'm holding back. I don't want to get my hopes up over not spending hours doing dishes daily just to have them dashed. At the moment, the diswasher attachement and my sink are not compatible. I'm trying new parts, but well, it's a process. Keep your fingers crossed.

* My garden is planted. I am weeks away from not buying a veggie all summer. Well, if all this rain didn't wash my seeds away. Drat. Didn't I learn anything?

Potporrui...

I'm so behind in blogging to all 10 people who read this, even in my blog's forum as my quasi journal, that I don't know where to begin. So be forewarned: This is journal-ish stuff I've been wanting to get down. So, how about I start with my main picture here: I love buying my children pajamas. I don't know why, but I love to see them in cute, clean PJs at bedtime. And while I'm certain there are better things to spend $10 on, I love Old Navy's PJs. So, here are my munchkins in this year's new summer selection. Enjoy.

My sister, Mary, is here for two weeks. It's been so wonderful to have her company and extra hands with the kids all day long. I feel very, very spoiled. My mother bought my kids a trampoline for Christmas and we just got it this week. (late order...). Mary helped me tidy up my tiny backyard (I had room in one corner for a 10-foot trampoline. That pretty much ate up the available yard space...) and then she helped me put it together. What an arm work out. The entire set up was a breeze except for those blasted springs. Just as my arms gave out from pulling and pulling (and realizing we'd made an error in placing one of them and had to undo some work) Bob showed up and being, in his words, "a monkey using tools" he figured out an easy way to undo and finish the springs. Thank goodness. Our children, and the neighbor kids, LOVE LOVE LOVE the trampoline. Thanks Mom!

I'm grateful to have good neighbors with children for my kids to play with. Jack and Ben Bacon, who is 1 month and five days younger than Jack, have sort of become one little boy running between our two yards. They love nothing more than to spend as much time in a day outside digging worms, inspecting bugs, building sand castles, riding their (matching!) bikes and now, jumping and wrestling on the trampoline. Ben's older brother, Jesse, 7, and sister, Lilian, 9, provide the extra set of eyes for the little ones and are excellent wagon-pullers, as you can see. I have the best neighbors! And I'm so happy it's warm enough for my kids to be outside, playing, inventing, running. Now, if I could just find a way to get them to keep their shoes on...

A couple weeks ago, the kids and I drove four hours to Ogdensburg, NY to visit my college friend, Amee (Thompson) Longbottom for her baby shower. Her husband is an Episcopalian priest and is in charge of a parish there. They have a lovely home next to the (huge) church and are expecting their first baby any day!!! Rob and Amee made us feel so welcome during our four-day visit and the kids just really enjoyed themselves. Having access to the church's swing set and Father Rob's playful ways did not hurt anything. I was glad the kids traveled so well and enjoyed the trip and I really hope having three screaming kids around the house wasn't too traumatic for idealistic first-time parents. :)

Robbie and I spent last week visiting various lab sections of the Galisano Children's Hospital at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. All the tests came back negative for why he isn't gaining weight or pooping...no cystic fibrosis (thankfully!), no thyroid issues and his stomach is a champion emptier, thank you very much. At his nine-week check up with our family doctor, for whom I have a love-hate relationship, we spent almost an hour (he with a full waiting room) discussing Robbie and all his issues. We decided, and Bob and I had discussed it at length before-hand, that for the next month, I'm going to eat whatever I want (yes, this means milk!) and I'm just going to try to give Robbie some cheese and LOTS of other food to see if a) he really has a milk protein allergy and b) to see if we can get him to gain some weight. Since the boy gained two ounces in the last two weeks (compared with three ounces in the last three months) I figure we really have nothing to lose. I will probably supplement his diet with formula and I've just been feeding him like crazy.

In other words, after months of stress and doctor's appointments and worry, I've decided to ignore all of them and go with my gut, which tells me he will pull through this. If I'm wrong, I haven't jumped too much back into the land of eating dairy, just a little milk and cheese, so I'll be able to cut it out with ease again if it doesn't work. So far, he isn't fussy and even seems to be, ahem, pooping a little better--even considering he's on a laxative. How's that for too much information?

Finally, Jack lately has become an arts and crafts fanatic. A couple weeks ago, the kids got in some trouble for not cleaning up. Also in recent months, Jack and Ellie have been getting up very early before me, running downstairs and turning on PBS kids because I'm sleeping and can't tell them no. (If I were more clever, I'd hide the remote, but I'm not that smart...or, I don't mind them watching "Martha Speaks" and "Curious George.") The night they got in trouble, I told them no TV until all the messes were picked up. The next morning, I woke up to the following scene:

Jack woke up and being very obedient, did not turn on the TV. He did, however, raid his craft supply drawers for just about every craft object in the universe to make this little piece of artwork which I think I will keep forever. Lately, he's really been into layering things and mosaic type art. He found an egg carton and glued a bunch of stuff on it. Glued a toilet paper roll vertically to a drawing he did. Speaking of drawings, he colors/draws about 10 or 20 of those a day. I'm not sure he exactly has artistic talent, but he makes up for it in enthusiasm! He's such a funny kid! I'm thrilled to be his mom!