I am so very sick. I do not recommend it.
Today Max spent a few hours carefully crafting a letter to Santa– I will scan and post it at some point. Just in case Santa’s reading, y’know? He worked so hard and now the tough part is telling him that just because he asked for all of those things does not mean he will get all of those things.
Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of peppermint tea– Stash brand, to be specific. Mmm. The decaf vanilla chai is also at the top of my list.
I’m not sure I did anything of real value today. Dishes, laundry… and umm, yeah. That’s about it.
Ooh, I did see good things on the internet:
Also, I want this solar system mobile light. It has a remote control! And light-up planets with a motorized sun!
The shopping frenzy is about to descend– the number of people out shopping on a daily basis this time of year never fails to surprise me. It makes me thankful for the wonders of buying online. The internet is also useful because I get to search for reviews on toys beforehand… I wish I’d looked into T-Rex Mountain a little more before agreeing to let Santa leave it under the tree. They LIE when they say ‘age 4 and up’!
Some good places to look for gifty things are Mighty Goods and Etsy. Of course there’s also the Dagoba Chocolate website if you need to ship yourself something for sustenance.
May your shopping be lovely and bright, and may all your Christmas gifts have less than 10 pieces if you are giving them to children who will scatter them to all edges of the Earth.
Perhaps it’s a sign of old age, or better, a sign of my extreme awesomeness: I hurt my back this morning by taking my socks off. It’s still locked up in an angry little spasm. But! I made some of the best mashed potatoes ever! I got some cute photos at the school Thanksgiving Feast– I love that some of the kids are just as happy to rub their potatoes on their faces as to eat them.
The boys have another birthday party to attend tomorrow– that’s the fourth within a month’s time. They received invitations for two more next week, but we can’t make those. I don’t remember going to birthday parties that often when I was a kid… either people didn’t invite the whole class or I didn’t have very many friends. Let’s pretend it’s the former so as to protect my inner child’s fragile ego. Thx.
Posting every day is harder than it should be. It all seems like… fluff. Maybe it’s the way I censor myself without realizing, maybe it’s because my mind is more occupied with the motherhood gig; maybe it’s that things are different now and writing isn’t as easy as it once was. Maybe I’m just tired.
Eyelids… heavy…. This evening I had to take Max to a Chuck E. Cheese party. OMG. I loathe C.E.C. Max had a blast, though, so I’m glad for that. It was fun to see him cut loose on the blue screen with his rockin’ dance moves– I would love to see the movies he’d make with his own blue screen setup.
Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving Feast at the boys’ school; I’m hoping they will be able to eat some of it. It’s so hard with the wheat-free/dairy-free thing because people don’t always read labels. Some of the things that contain wheat are shocking! Like tomato soup, or sometimes on salted peanuts. Crazy, I tell you. I’m taking mashed potatoes and a veggie tray, so I know they’ll at very least have some of that.
Now that I’m thinking about food, my stomach has decided it’s hungry. Why is it that I could easily fast all morning, that I’m rarely hungry until after noon… but 10pm hits and I’m ready for a meal? I try to make myself eat something in the mornings because I’ve heard that it helps stop the evening cravings (in addition to all of the other perks about eating a good breakfast), but in general my stomach just does not want food that early. Lately even coffee is a morning turnoff– tea sits better. My body is just cranky, I think. And opinionated! Wouldn’t it be lovely if I could just ease myself into a healthy relationship with eating?
Down the rabbit hole: Key lime pie! OH! Key lime pie, how I love thee. Quantum Leap (226 Thompson St, New York) has the best key lime pie in the universe– and it’s dairy-free. It makes me giddy inside to think about it. Thank you, thank you, Anne & Eiwe for taking us there.
Maybe I will dream about the pie now? That would be beautiful.
Max’s favorite song this week is by the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Give It Away Now. He has decided it is really rockin’.
Khai’s favorite? The IKEA song by Jonathan Coulton (favorite part: meatballs, tasty!). He also really likes The Woo-Hoo Song, a.k.a. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall, which he heard on the radio.
Music on my iPod that has made me smile this week:
Khai has had bronchitis but is finally doing better; when he’s sick I appreciate all the more his usual health, humor and energy. My kids generally have all three in abundance, and I’m grateful for that.
It seems like everyone is doing their fair share of whining about the government, politics and the state of the world in general, myself included. We’re angry, confused, conflicted, feeling powerless, and some people even feel hopeless. Rather than focusing on everything that’s wrong or that isn’t going like we want it to, wouldn’t it be more productive to be talking about the way we want our country/our goverment/the world to be? Even if we don’t have immediate solutions or plans to fix the things that are wrong, in discussing the best case scenarios it seems like the means to those ends are going to be more readily found.
What is your perfect world like?
Cars have never held much fascination for me. Sure, in high school I desperately wanted to discover a 1993 Camaro in the driveway in place of my brown 1978 Ford LTD, but I didn’t actually think that would happen. I drove that LTD my first year of college, my parents’ old minivan the second year, then ended up with a 1991 Ford Escort. I was thrilled to be driving something relatively current.
After college, I bought a new car– the 1998 Saturn SL1 that still sits in my driveway today. It has been a trusty vehicle, that Super Saturn of Doom, but it’s not exactly in new-car condition anymore.
Our minivan was purchased after we found out that Max was on the way; we were less than thrilled to be minivan drivers because that meant we were definitely not hip. Not that we had any illusion of hipness before, but that was the final nail in the coffin. But it has headroom! That’s an important feature for us Abnomally Large types. The van, too, has seen better days– like when the bumper was fully attached.
As mentioned previously, we took the van in for a new bumper last week and rented a car to hold us over. Oh, this car. It’s a Buick Lucerne CXS with all the bells & whistles. I WANT TO KEEP THIS CAR FOREVER. Between the powerful engine and the smooth ride, I’m completely in love. It’s roomy without feeling too big, is incredibly responsive, and it’s pretty, too. So, this is what car lust is like. I get it now. Thanks. Now I have to give it back and return to driving the van-yacht. Yes, we could buy one… but with both of our other cars paid for, the idea of making car payments again isn’t very attractive. Besides, I can think of a few other worthy uses for $36,000.
My darling three-year-old has taught himself to swallow air and belch. Afterwards, he announces it: “BURP!” This is followed by a grin and a happy little, “excuse me!”
There should be other things in my head, but the need for sleep has replaced all other thoughts.
So far this weekend I have been Ms. Super-Social-Mommity-Mom. Last night we had a late, after-dinner playdate (a first!) with one of Josh’s co-workers. They have twin 5-year-old girls, so Max & Khai had a blast running all over the house with them and staying up til after 9pm. That’s late for them– you’d think they might sleep in, right? Nooo! Khai was up at 5:40am, demanding breakfast. The early morning was made better with a double batch of pumpkin pancakes, some bacon and coffee.
I napped for the rest of the day, woke up just in time for a massage and bubble bath, and then won the lottery. End fantasy.
In real life, I went shopping. On a Saturday. Bad idea. I had to buy gift wrapping for the present that Max was taking to a birthday party– yaaay! Actually, it wasn’t bad. The kids mostly ran around outside, and they all seemed to love the clown that was there for entertainment. Max was sure to tell me that it was really just a person in a clown costume. I got to talk with several of the moms from the boys’ school, so that was fun (HI, ROBIN!) and even met a few moms that I didn’t know before. One mom is even into hooping, which rocks my socks.
Tomorrow? Quick road trip to Sherman to see Mom & Dad. Insert big, happy grin HERE! I’m ignoring the 234,232.029,340,923,409,394 things that need done around the house, because they’ll all still be there when I get back. I’d so much rather hang out with the parental units. Get the Scrabble board ready, Dad. Victory will be mine. Oh, yes. It will be mine.
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