Sunday, September 20, 2009

Happiness and Human Cannonballs

photos: The human cannon ball - in flight! The ride over which he shot (and on which Dexter rode). The river rat, a carni-classic. Bella high-5'ing after her 1st soccer game.
It's raining. Again. It's rained every day since Monday and the forecast shows rain for every day coming. The French Broad (it's a river, not a dame) is busting her seams and we're a little stir-crazy. I haven't had the guts to head up the driveway to check on the house. The mud would likely swallow me whole.

We haven't been twiddling our thumbs inside too much though. Last weekend we went to the county fair. A guy climbed into a cannon and shot himself over the midway, through the tentacles of the Cyclops, and into a net. He had a blast. We saw Brahmin Bulls (they have humps like camels), pygmy goats, and a 100-pound river rat. The kids milked a cow. One generation removed from active dairy farming, they had no true idea how milk gets out of the cow. Bella still may be a little fuzzy ("you mean boys don't make milk? What do they do then?") but at least she's got some hands-on experience now. I went on my first ever real mountain biking outing (sans mountain bike still) with some new friends. Bella played her first ever soccer game. Her team scored more points than the other one did but unfortunately, several of them were in the other team's goal. And yesterday we had what Dexter termed a "blind date" when we met one of his new friends and his family. The rain held off just till we were done.

But still - it's raining. I lack a theme. I've tried calling several of you (you know who you are) and you didn't answer. And I'm overdue for a post. So here goes - in no particular order.

1. Culinary feat extraordinare: With this cool rainy weather, my thoughts turn to soup. More often than the kids appreciate. The other night I tried something new - a West African Peanut Stew (from the NY Times). Beautiful orange chunks of sweet potato, slivers of green kale, lovely red tomatoes, a veritable feast for all the senses. As it bubbled away prettily, one thought crossed my mind -- the kids were NOT going to eat this! Not in a million years. A little epicurean epiphany. I grabbed my immersion blender (you don't have one? Get one. Tomorrow.) and pureed those lovely vegetables into an anonymous sludge. A vegetable smoothie if you will. And the kids ate every bite. With opinions on how it could be improved for the NEXT TIME I MAKE IT. Ha. You mean your kids haven't eaten sweet potatoes, kale, and tomatoes lately and asked for more? Get yourself a blender baby.

2. A true kid movie: We took the kids to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Seemed fitting with the rainy weather. And I am happy to report that it was honestly funny, refreshingly light-hearted, and only moderately apocalyptic. And only if you're really worried about the world getting flattened by a meatball. So go. Spend the extra buck or two and see it in 3-D. Bella thinks movies should be 6-D, but until that comes along, 3-D will have to do. And it does.

3. Movie previews: Am I the only mom who objects to scary previews during kid movies? While waiting for the above-mentioned movie, a preview for Avatar (based on a Saturday morning cartoon show!) blasted at us in full sensory overload fashion. I'm completely over the end-of-the-world theme for kids' movies. And I am firmly of the mind that cartoons aimed at the under 8 crowd and cross-advertised with Happy Meals should not be made into PG-13 movies with blood, gore and sex as their primary topics.

4. Happiness: Finally, I'm sure you've all seen the headlines. Women are getting sadder and sadder. Across the world, regardless of ethnicity, class, income, education, or employment status. And the single strongest correlation with women's unhappiness? Kids. The simple act of procreation is directly correlated with a decrease in happiness. So what gives girlfriends? I'd love to hear your thoughts. BTW -- all the "good" answers are apparently, statistically speaking, insignificant. It isn't that we work too much, or our husbands work too little, or that we can't get good jobs, or that we aren't paid as well for what we do. We're just getting sadder.

So. Eat your sweet potatoes. Blend something into oblivion. Take your kids to a silly movie. Laugh out loud. Get shot out of a cannon. Make a list of all the reasons your kids are not a source of your unhappiness. And fly in the face of statistical wisdom.

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