My laptop is dead. Has been all weekend and is going into the doctor tomorrow, hopefully we’ll be up and running again soon. I’m borrowing J.’s right now so I can post my Best Shot Monday. I have one for Crafty Tuesday so far, too. So I’ll have try to update when I can.
I’m going through serious withdrawals right now. I won’t be able to read all of your blogs for a few days, but I’ll be back soon. Can you please say a little prayer for the quick recovery of my poor little Mac!
Sorry for the slight lapse in posts, my faithful readers, but it appears that the last week of August has flown by and we have been crazy busy around here. All very fun stuff, but busy nonetheless. We have a Small Change update coming soon, and a Best Shot Monday, and I’m sure some other fun stuff, too. So stay tuned.
We had a great time in SF. I am working on photos, maybe I will actually get them posted tomorrow. I have an absolute favorite that I am saving for BSM – yes, my girls are in it, of course, but it also has all of their newfound friends they made in SF. At one point there were six girls, ages 5, 4, 3.5, 3, 2, and 4 months and one little boy, age 2, who was thinking it was pretty hip to be surrounded by all of those girls. My girls had a great time, and Em even asked me on the way home when we can go back to visit San Francisco again. So, yes, it was a successful trip.
And it was so great to see my “girls,” too! It was like we had never all left our old jobs, had kids, moved halfway across the United States and back again, we just fell back into step. Check out the photo Em took of us…
Pretty darn good photo, huh? And some good lookin’ Mamas, too!
So anyways, we are back, and we have Daddy home ALL weekend long. So you can understand why there hasn’t been, and will not be, many posts for the next few days. We are soaking up as much Daddy as we can.
Hope your weekend is relaxing and fun, too!
The girls and I are headed up to San Francisco tomorrow. We are just going for a few days to have a little reunion with all of my ex-DigitalThink friends. I’m so excited to see all the girls and all of their kids! The last time we all saw each other, we were working 80+ hour weeks with no kids. A lot has changed in the past five years!
I can’t figure out why I feel so anxious about this trip. We lived in SF for 8 years, so I know the city, and I know it well. I love big cities and visiting them. The airplane ride is only one hour, which is oh…about 4 hours less than our normal plane rides. The girls have been really, really good this week – so I know I can handle them and I doubt there will be any major meltdowns.
So I guess it is just the jitters. Or maybe the excitement. At any rate, wish me luck.
The first chance I had to talk with J. yesterday happened over IM at nearly 6pm. It went a little something like this…
J: There? How was your day?
C: Mother of God, please tell me you are miraculously IMing and driving home at the same time and are only 5 minutes away.
J: Um…no. Sorry. Bad day?
C: Well, A. has not stopped screaming since she woke up from her alleged “nap,” one hour ago.
J: Yipes!
C: We are in a five-minute quiet interval currently because I threw together some scrambled eggs and toast, and they are both filling their heads right now. She took off her diaper during her “nap” and awoke amidst a puddle of pee.
J: Yuck.
C: I’m sure it wasn’t pleasant, but it has all been cleaned up (as has she) and she still insists on screaming. I don’t know what the problem is. But, how was your day?
J: Slightly less pee…
Today was Em’s last day of school. So she is “home,” for all of three weeks, and then the Fall Preschool starts.
It was a little anti-climatic, I think, but nonetheless, they got to have a little party. Plus she will more than likely have a different teacher next time around, so it was goodbye to sweet Mrs. McCoy. She was a wonderful teacher for Em’s introduction to the whole wide world of school.
Last week there was a little sign-up sheet for their party today and I asked Em what she would like to bring. I was reading down the list, “water, cheese and crackers, cut-up fruit, brownies…”
“BROWNIES! I want to bring BROWNIES, Mama,” she screamed.
Ah, a girl after my own heart. So we signed up for brownies.
Then last night we went over to the neighbor’s house to get the “scoop” on their kitties and fish, since we are taking care of them while they go on vacation. (We also get to “take care” of their pool for the week, yahoo! And it is a really, really nice pool!) So we were swimming, (the kids were, at least) having a glass of wine, (that would be the grown-ups) and visiting. And time kind of got away from us, so I didn’t get the girls home and in bed until nearly 9:00. And yes, paid for it all day today, cranktankerous girls!
As I was quickly hosing them down in the bath, Em pipes up, “Oh, Mom! Don’t forget we have to make brownies for school tomorrow!”
*#@%!. I had forgotten. Of course.
So I shuffled them off to bed and ran downstairs to make a couple batches of brownies. Pulled them out, ran to bed myself and thought all was well.
And then I had “brownie” nightmares. The entire night. In between Emma waking me up (a grand total of 7 times) I would get back to sleep I would have some snippet of a dream that involved those stupid brownies.
The first dream was that the brownies had nuts in them and made half the class sick. After I woke up with a start, and then realized I had in fact, NOT, put nuts into them, I drifted back to sleep.
I think Em woke me up once or twice in there, and then I had a dream that Ad had knocked the whole plate of brownies on the floor, and I had to “smoosh” them back into squares because I didn’t have time to make any more.
And, cue Em, who wakes me up because she had to go the bathroom, then I realized Addie hadn’t been anywhere near the brownies, so it was, just a dream. All is still ok.
And finally in that early-morning, kind of “floating in-and-out” sleep, I dreamt that I had entirely forgotten to make the brownies and was running around trying to figure out what to do.
As I woke up from that one, and reassured myself that I did indeed make the brownies and they were ready to go, I tried to figure out why all this stress over some cocoa, sugar and eggs?
I came to the conclusion that I so want to be that Mom who can do it all; bake brownies, have a fantastically clean house (where I can serve brownies off of the floor!), look all pulled-together – you know that calm, cool, collected Mom that seems to just have her crap sorted out. I want to be her, but it is just so hard. And it has been especially hard this week.
It isn’t an earth-shattering conclusion, I know, but I think I just need to let something go. I feel like I strive on having a “full plate.” I seem better organized and I love being able to look back on the day and really feel like I accomplished something, if I have a looming “to-do” list. But really is it worth it?
I mean will Emma remember that I made brownies for her to bring into her “Last Day” party?
Well, let’s not answer that. Because knowing the memory on that girl, she will.
Maybe I just need to find a good bakery where I can buy a decent batch of brownies and pass them off as homemade, and call it a day.
E: Is it our turn, Mama?
M: Not yet, honey. Be patient.
(20 seconds later…)
E: Okay, the hand is on 11, now is it our turn?
M: Not yet, peanut. The kids are still in their lesson. Be patient.
(20 seconds later…)
E: Mommy…
M: Em, have some patience!
E: I was just gonna ask what patient means.
M: It means you need to wait your turn, be calm, and Mommy will tell you as soon as it is your turn.
E: Oh.
(20 seconds later)
E: I’m being very patience now, Mommy. So now is it my turn?
*sigh*
Dear Fellow Yogi -
First off, do you have any idea how much I was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing hour of peace this morning when I arrived at yoga class?
I think you clearly did not. Otherwise you wouldn’t have come noisily into class late, dropping keys and shoes, and then proceeded to roll out your yoga mat practically on top of mine. Have you ever heard of a little thing called personal space? My moving my mat over didn’t give you a little hint that maybe your butt a mere 6 inches from my face was a little too close?
And the breathing. My God, the breathing! Your obscenely loud, Darth Vader-like inhales and exhales were unnerving, distracting and just about enough to put me over the edge. I just wanted to punch you in the throat. (Yes, that was how “at peace” I was – about as far from a Zen-like state as you can possibly get.)
And it wasn’t just me who was astonished by the noise emanating from you. Most of the heads in the class at one point or another, swiveled around trying to shoot a dirty look at the offending perpetrator. And I’m quite certain some of them thought the noise was originating from me. So thanks for that, too.
All in all, just wanted to commend you for turning my usually favorite hour of the week, into a completely unfulfilled disaster.
Most Insincerely Yours,
~carrie
Alrighty, then. Here goes.
I was tagged by Colleen and at first when I saw my name, I was so excited! Yahoo, my first “tag” – ever! But over the last two days I’ve been anxiously trying to come up with some interesting facts that the majority of my readers (our family!) wouldn’t know.
So this is how it works…
- I’ll write 10 interesting (ahem…you decide how interesting they really are!) facts about me and/or habits of mine.
- I’ll “tag” some new suckers bloggers.
- If you’ve been tagged, you do your own list and tag some more poor suckers.
Here are my ten facts:
1. The first 21 years of my life I lived in six different cities, all within a 150-mile radius, all within Michigan. (Lansing, Big Rapids, Lowell, Leslie, Mt. Pleasant, Ann Arbor)
2. The last 14 years of my life I have lived in (in order) Ann Arbor MI, Daly City CA, Ypsilanti MI, Santa Clara CA, Miami FL, San Mateo CA, London, Chicago IL, Aurora IL, Pasadena CA, San Gabriel CA. That is 11 different cities! (No wonder our family and friends have given up keeping us in their address books.)
3. My favorite (also the shortest stint!) place we’ve lived was London. I would move back there in one second if it didn’t mean being so far away from our families. I was just there for a few months getting a new office set up for our company, but I love, love, LOVE England.
4. When I “grew up” I wanted to be a sportswriter. I have a Communications degree from the University of Michigan with an Environmental Studies minor. So really either a sportswriter or the next Rachel Carson. Although I did write for our hometown newspaper for over 4 years, and for the college newspaper and yearbook – I never, ever did any “journalistic” writing after I graduated.
5. I credit my career I have now to a lot of “how-to” books and “learning by fire.” I didn’t go to school (see #4!) for graphic/web/computer design. But I am proud to be making a pretty good living at it.
6. I consider giving birth to my two girls my greatest achievement. Those two days are my absolute favorite memories to revisit. (Although J. claims my memory and what really happened are clearly 2 different things!) The births happened exactly how I wanted them to: no epidurals, no unnecessary interventions, with J. by my side as they both made their entrance into the world. I love celebrating their birthdays because we are celebrating their birth, obviously, but deep down it is a celebration for me, too. I brought them safely into this world, and we were all able to get through another year together.
7. My favorite movie is the Sound of Music. I used to get to stay up and watch it with my dad when it came on TV every year. Still one of my fondest memories. One that I will definitely pass on to my girls…although we own it on DVD (I think we actually have 2 copies!) and watch it much more frequently than once a year. Julie Andrews will always be my hero…
8. My other favorite achievement (although not nearly in the same league as #6) was completing a marathon. I would like to complete one more before I turn 40. (Wow, now that I’ve written it here for all to read, I guess I had better get to it, huh?).
9. My greatest fear in life is something happening to either of my girls. I can barely write that statement down. And I can’t do it without getting teary-eyed. I know I will have to deal with sickness and death, circle-of-life, and all of that in my lifetime. But I just pray everyday that God keeps them happy, healthy and most of all, safe!
10. My favorite snack right now is Stacy’s Baked Pita Chips (only the Sea Salt ones, though.) And I once (not too long ago!) ate an entire bag of them. No, not over the course of a few days, like most normal people. Within one hour. Clearly it was my abuse of the said chip that has caused them to become extinct in our part of the country. (I will seriously be your best friend if you can find me a bag of these anywhere in a 10, 20, 30, 60 mile radius of my house. Seriously.)
Had to end on that one…I originally had “my greatest fear” as #10, but that was too much of a downer trip!
And if you are on the list below, consider yourself “tagged.” (And no “tag backs!” Cripes! It was hard enough to come up with 10 “half-way” interesting facts, I don’t want to do it again!)
-MyMomtra
-Blueberry and the Bean
-Vic at Life As I Know It
-Jenny at Sew Darn Cute
-Matt at The Barbour Family
-Becky at Parenting with Whine
-Nickie at Rants, Raves and other Rambles
-And you! If you haven’t already participated, but want to – consider yourself “tagged.”
My friend Michelle and I went out for a little “Mommy’s Night Out” (well, really it was more like 2 hours out) and I got carded. Yeees, ME! Me who turns 35 in about 2 weeks. Got carded. Totally made my night.
Meanwhile, if anyone sees Andrew from Trader Joe’s hanging out in the parking lot, can you give him a kiss from me? He may have taken my “I could kiss you!” comment seriously….