Hands Full of Rocks

And another one down...

With a bang.

The train robbery was great fun.

Not sure if I had more fun because I was NOT next to the kids, or what. The friends from work got tickets separately, and only then did we find out that the tickets were assigned seating - so they were in a different car than us. ACK! Not exactly hosting it well that way.

So, since his wife loves my kids, we swapped out - I went with him, she stayed with my kids. Miss M was THRILLED. She absolutely worships N. She's so pretty. And so pretty. And she carries me. I want a doll that looks Just Like Her. She looks like a princess.

Gaga. Oh, to be so worshiped by my own child... ah, well. It's fun to watch.

Fairly mutual gaga, it seems. N didn't seem to mind being uppied to death, either.

Miss M loved two things about the trip best. First was the shootout. WOO, loud gunfire and people falling over and ... WOO. :)

And second, N carrying her across the parking lot to the car. That ranks right behind the gunfire.

Mr G and Mr B got shells from Paco (the Mexican Bandit, right-hand man for Black Bart the Bad Guy) - they're thrilled as well.

There weren't as many people dressed up as we'd hoped, though. My kids were very dressed up.

Mr G was a cowboy - Quaker style hat (flat brim, round crown), period rifle, fringed vest, jeans, fringed boots.

Mr B was a Native American - bone breastplate, fringed vest, brown pants, fringed boots, and his hair done in braids. More Oglala in style than his actual heritage (Chumash), ah, well. He looked the part, despite his hair being quite blond.

Miss M was a princess, complete with tiara and earrings and sparkly pink and white mary-janes. She wanted to be a Native American, too. But she hadn't given me time to make that, so she went with princess instead.

Miss R was in her usual costume... whatever she thinks she is, but that in their regular clothes. Princess in her regular clothes, this time. It requires a great deal less in the costume making department. Heh.

I went as something like a school teacher - tiered black skirt with some embroidery and lace, brown tall granny boots (relatively period-ish), sheer high-necked black and antique rose floral long-sleeve shirt with a plain brown western-ish vest over it. And my hair more loose than usual (only the front pulled back). Oh, and a garter with a pistol in it. Because otherwise it would have been boring. Just a bit dangerous looking is good, right?

I'd planned to go as a dance-hall girl, but I couldn't find the darn dress. I think I gave it away. Sigh. Blue with black lace and pretty low cut in front... would have been perfect work blackmail photos, but instead I ended up dressed 'too nice' for blackmail. My friend A declined to wear a costume, so I was not getting any blackmail photos, either (though we did get a pic of N with Miss Kitty, the, er, 'boss' of the dance hall girls...).

I had a decent conversation with A, and he had a good time with the event itself. They did the whole play throughout the train, with lots of banter with the audience, practicing holding up our hands for the stickup, teasing the kids, and then setting up the robbery, shootout, stage-fighting fist-fights, and with the good guys eventually winning, even though they were outnumbered three to one.

They also have a murder mystery train ride. That also sounds like fun... but more for grownups.

Mr B was a little put out that we were in costume and other kids were just there in shorts and tees. He said 'everyone was looking at us!' - and then I asked him who looked at us the most. Who? The actors. They loved that we were in costume. It drew their attention, and they played it up from the moment we got to the train platform. We had three different characters come up and talk with the kids. And then there were the spent shell casings from Paco... that was cool. Mr B quickly decided that being in costume was pretty neat. It paid off. And the notice from other people was a fine thing. He's still annoyed that the other people don't Get It. I mean, come on, dress up! Who needs dignity if you have a costume and can play a part?

It was good all around. N got her kid fix, I got to hang out a bit with A (yeah, I talked shop a little), the kids got to play, I got to not have to manage the kids the whole time, my mom had fun, my brother and niece and nephew had fun...Perfect would have been if we'd all been in the same car. Close enough.

So, one more adventure down, solid success. I'll post some pics from these in a few days - no time at the moment. I have to clean the house up a bit, and also re-write my resume - I'm being shopped for a new slot (half-time) within our client company. Still get time to work on the stuff I care about most, thankfully. Don't like the feeling that the reason they're shopping me is partly because I don't fit the role they tried to fold me into. I dislike the feeling that I didn't do a good job on that, but I really am not suited for it (knowledge-wise, not skills-wise - my skills are fine, but I just don't have the data warehousing background required). Still hate that feeling. Bleah. But, should be a better fit for this opportunity, and they are trying - trying to find me a spot that can be strategic all around - help the client, help the company, help my career. I don't mind that part. Bonus, the client is actively seeking people for these roles, so if I'm a fit, I'm good for the client company. Solving their problems is the entire point. They'll pay us if we do, boot us if we don't. So, do, and make everyone happy.

I need to be sillier

I'm still learning how to play. You'd think that I would have some experience at playing - either from childhood or from having kids over the age of two.

But no.

I so suck at playing that our daycare provider (with Mr G) very gently and casually passed on a book on games to play with babies.

I do make up games and songs, and some of them are favorites. So that's good.

But I'm also far too serious most of the time. Granted, my humor meter is busted in general - ep often has to tell me that he's made a joke. Oh. Riiiight, I get it, ha ha ha. Oy.

Silly is also a problem. I have to practice, and remember, so that I can be sufficiently silly.

I am getting better at it. Really.

Like, yesterday, I actually played with Mr B at the bus stop. We had a bionicle-to-superhero battle, which mainly involved my character dying dramatically (over and over). But it was fun. And I even forgot to wonder if people driving by were entertained by the whole thing.

I usually think of myself as pretty extroverted and confident, but I still have that little childhood niggle of 'what if someone is watching me?' I think that's the biggest interference in being sufficiently silly.

I have had to get over that a lot. Repeatedly. Often in hospital conditions, like when I climbed into the huge crib with Mr G when he was admitted for severe croup, got under the croup tent with him, and played silly as I could to get him to laugh, because it seemed that the more he laughed, the more easily he breathed. Nurses came by and peered in the door, and I pretended they didn't exist, sure that I was in for a scolding for a) getting in the bed, b) being under the tent, or c) making too much noise early in the morning (the boy next door had pneumonia). But no, actually, our nurse stopped in, watched me for a moment, then announced that I was a great mom, and that a lot of parents didn't do that stuff, at least not in the hospital.

So, under pressure, I can perform, and shut out the outside world. I can put myself in a black box and handle a problem in public, even with teachers standing nearby listening in, and choose to not care what they think provided I handle the problem the way I choose to, effectively.

But with no pressure, I suck. I serious. I bore. I lecture, advise, and direct. My kids have to coach me through the silly game:

Miss M: Mommy, you're silly.

Me: Right, I'm silly.

Miss M: NO. (patiently) You say, "I not silly, Mommy never silly."

Me: Gotcha. (mock-serious voice) Mommies are never silly, I'm not silly. Not not not.

Miss M: (giggle) Mommy, YOU SILLY!

Me: (having got with the program, mock scolding) Don't call me silly, Mommies are NEVER silly!

But I'm working on it. This morning I got the girls going by singing a silly song and making their legs dance around (by grabbing their feet and waving them all over the place). It didn't make the morning go more smoothly, but it made it more enjoyable. And that's okay, too.

All a work in progress, and I suppose it might as well be fun work. But I keep forgetting that.

Silly me.