Apparently it snowed here in the Philadelphia area yesterday morning… or, at least it snowed on my street, but as I was walking to work a whole 8 blocks away I saw no snow.
I like snow.
I would have appreciated the few little flurries.
So, instead of getting the real thing the girls and I did a snowflake craft last night after school while I was botching dinner*. The idea came from How About Orange and here’s our take on it:
I had a vision of making a snowflake mobile or garland… all we managed to accomplish was two of these snowflakes. Oh well. It’s pretty, no?
Wow. 2012.
Let’s all take a moment right now to realize that last year was an odd-numbered year and I DIDN’T HAVE A BABY! Yes yes I know, my “baby” is now 2 and yes yes, I’m still celebrating the fact that I am not pregnant again. Phew.
2012 is going to be awesome. It deserves a list:
1. Maddy will be done with daycare in 6 months.
2. Maddy will be going to summer camp for the first time.
3. Maddy will be entering kindergarten. My daycare cost will go down by 50%. YES.
4. Pippa will go through some huge developmental stages as she progresses from the age of 2 to 3. Her language skills are going to skyrocket. She will gain some more independence.
5. Maybe, maybe, MAYBE Pippa will get potty trained?!? No more daytime diapers?!? I’m not sure if I can handle that, having been in full-time diaper mode now for nearly 7 years.
6. Maja will finally lose her first tooth… she’s had one loose for a few weeks now and it’s just taking it’s sweet old time coming out.
And of course I have my own laundry list of things that I’d like to accomplish (not resolutions!):
- go out for dinner once a month
- start riding my bike again and getting some exercise
- decorate the master bedroom (we just kind of shoved the furniture in there when we moved in… although I did put up some curtains last year)
- laugh more
Resolutions… to make them or not?
I make resolutions.
Mind you, they’re not earth shattering.
Actually, they’re practically the same resolutions every year. I suppose that makes them more like reminders. Either that, or I just can not be improved upon. I’m a hopeless case.
So, just to remind you what my annual resolutions are:
1. stay more on top of the finances. Generally I’ve been doing ok — I started using Quicken this year and it’s helped a lot. It would probably be more useful if I logged on more then 1x a month. So, yes, there’s room for improvement there.
2. do a better job of creating a ‘menu’ for the week. Admittedly, some weeks are better then others…It’s purely a matter of planning.
3. fold and put away my clothes. Um… this may come as a suprise to some of you, but I’m a bit of a slob. I rarely fold my clothes and put them away in drawers. Usually I just kind of toss shove things in the drawers … it’s one of my weak points. I admit it. It drove my sister nuts when we were sharing a room — my pile of clothes on the chair a mile high. I’ve always been this way and really, I don’t think I’ll ever change. But what the hell, there’s always hope.
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got.
I’d love to hear about your resolutions and whether you stick to them or not… if you wrote a resolution post then link to it in the comments!
Happy 2012!
Katia: we should do a Fake Christmas.
Richard: ????
Katia: presents, candles on the tree, I can make a turkey dinner… we’ll just do it the 17th instead of the 25th. You know, Fake Christmas.
Richard: how are you going to explain Santa coming early?
Katia: he’s in the neighbourhood doing the party circuit. We’ll lure him in with cookies. It’ll be awesome.
And awesome it was.
Over the Thanksgiving break I was determined that the family do some family-style outings that did not involve shopping or a museum – in other words, something outdoorsy. That Saturday the weather was gorgeous –a brisk morning followed by a temperate afternoon. We decided to go to a local diner for breakfast and then take a nature walk! As we were getting in the car, though, I noticed that one of the tires looked a little soft… and mentioned that we should go put some air in it. Good thing I did, because that tire was DONE. We put air in it and it proceeded to hiss… and that was the end of our plan for a family nature walk. Sorta.
Richard and the car headed to the tire repair place and I packed up the kids and took them to the Woodlands Cemetery. We brought the warbler with us that was a gift from Papa and a hearty snack and headed off. The day was salvaged!
Me. I am cheating on my cleaning lady. How? I cleaned. Well, really, I only mopped the kitchen floor, but it felt wrong somehow, as if I was cheating on my cleaning lady. EVEN WORSE? I enjoyed it.
Is that cheating? Am I being unfaithful?
The kitchen floor was disgusting from post-cookie-baking-frenzy-with-three-kids and a simple sweeping was not going to stop me from being completely grossed-out. So, after the kids were asleep and before the hubs came home, I quietly snuck into the cleaning closet and quickly got out the mop, bucket and soap … and before I knew what I was doing and before I could change my mind, I was mopping the kitchen floor. Me. Mopping. I generally hate mopping… but something was different this time – it was either the thrill of cheating on my cleaning lady or the new mop.
The new mop. A “twist” mop. The mop my cleaning lady asked me to buy specifically because she complained that the original mop I provided to her was dirty. And she was right, it was dirty — because I dug that one up from the recesses of the basement. Ok, whoa! hold on! – don’t go thinking that I haven’t mopped in several years – yes, THAT dirty mop was in the recesses of the basement because I was actually using a different mop that I knew the cleaning lady wouldn’t like. So, before she came for the first time I pulled out the old mop. The old, dirty, unacceptable mop. Anyway, she complained (nicely) and I went out* and bought the requested “twist” mop. I will admit, I had to look that up on the internet – what the heck is a “twist” mop??
Anyway, the mop was awesome. It cleaned, it was easy to wring out, and actually wasn’t too bad as far as mops go. I may just end up mopping my floors more often… given that it only took me about 5 minutes to mop the floor. Just keep this on the low-down would you? And please don’t tell my cleaning lady.
*I didn’t end up buying it. Not that I didn’t try – but Target was sold out of mops when I went a few days before Thanksgiving. This begs the question: how many people in the city of Philadelphia PANICKED just before Thanksgiving about the prospect of having a house full of people and went out and bought a new mop? C’mon, ‘fess up — did you? Either that or a whole lot of people are getting a mop for Christmas. Which is a really weird gift.
I’m not a Grinch. Really. I LOVE Christmas. But it makes me grouchy because of all the pressure. The pressure to buy “the perfect gift”, the pressure to make the holiday memorable, the travel (sorry folks, I love seeing my family but in order to do so we need to spend up to $3000 on flights OR drive for 2 days straight), the rushing around. The expectation of baking and cooking. The parties. And this from me! The person who loves to bake, and cook, and decorate and party.
Christmas brings me to my knees in fear. It makes me want to run into a corner and cry.
It’s tempting to say “let it go” and do less… but I’ll let you in on a little secret… I’M NOT DOING ANYTHING. There’s nothing to let go and if I do any less my children will move out of the house to an office tower in center city because it’s decorated for the holidays and my house isn’t.
So, in keeping with the true holiday spirit, I’ve devised a list complete with unattainable goals all of which will be attained in military-style precision at the cost of my mental sanity.
Tonight: I will start the Christmas baking, a tree will be acquired, the first floor will be cleaned and tidied, and I will take down the birthday bunting from Maddy’s bday (which, um, was in July. Do not judge me!). The hubs will also be dispatched to the store to get hooks so I can hang Christmas lights (have those) and a wreath (still to buy).
Right now: I am medicating with chocolate and browsing the WW website (nothing like pairing guilt and redemption at the same time).
My kid is a pawn in a large machine. That’s what I came away with from my most recent parent-teacher conference. It was awful. The teacher threw “assessment” tests and numbers at me. Grading matrixes. Expected goals. Numbers. Comparisons.
And letter grades. Did you know that a score of 18/20 gets you a “B” letter grade? Did you know that this score of 18/20 is higher than “what is expected of someone in grade 1” – AND YET IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO GET AN “A”? It feels like the whole system is set up to make these children fail, or at the very least not succeed.
The teacher said my child is “loud”. She said she is “loud and has this little high-pitched voice”. There was a drawing Maja made on her folder that said “I love Miss XXXX” and when the teacher saw it she said “oh, look, she’s sucking up to me.” What the hell is that? What does that mean?
I came away from that conference with the impression that this teacher doesn’t like my child. That breaks my heart. It’s one thing for the teacher to not like my child –it’s not a requirement, but it’s quite another for a parent to come away from a conference with that impression, for a teacher to be obvious enough about her sentiments for me to pick up on it.
I have no idea what to do. If I complain… I’ll be the whiney parent. If I don’t speak up… then I’m not an advocate for my child. Thoughts? Advice?
What things are worth suffering for? Is anything worth suffering for? Is anything worth sacrificing your sanity?
Women will suffer through childbirth – still. In this day and age where an epidural will take care of that suffering for you. I suffered through it. Twice. No drugs. Not because I didn’t want them, though. With #1 I was medicated up the wazoo. Lovely.
But, I have a much more inane example for you which prompts this question. A shallow example. An example that doesn’t sound like a suicide note involving pain and medication and ending all suffering (which this isn’t! omg, now you’re thinking I’m suicidal.)
RAINBOOTS. I’m talking about RAINBOOTS. I’m suffering with rainboots and for whatever reason can’t seem to justify buying a new pair because the pair I’ve currently got work just fine in that they keep the rain out and my feet dry.
BUT. The boots are clunky. They’re at least one size too big. And the leg shaft is huge (I have skinny legs. I wish the rest of me (well, my butt) was as skinny as my legs). So, the boots flop around and are noisy — clodhoppers. It’s annoying. I’ve been envying and eyeing and spying on people’s rainboots for a year now… that’s the nice thing about working on a University campus – I have a fashion show going on infront of me all.day.long. If I want to go shopping all I have to do is sit outside on a bench and watch the show – clothes in the environment being worn!
Anyway, I’ve mulled it over. Clearly. And I’ve decided to buy the damn boots. Pictures when I get them. And of course, I’ll show you the old ones too.
After a nearly one-year hiatus (read: recovery from stupid over-commitment year last year), I am dipping my toes back into the world of kids ballet lessons and am enrolling my older two girls in classes beginning the end of January. Maja has taken 2 sessions of lessons over 2 years – I’m not sure how much she actually learned, but whatever – while Maddy has never taken lessons. Unless you count the sessions she’s taken with Maja. I was half-hoping that Maddy’s obsession with ballet would wane once Maja stopped taking classes… but it hasn’t. She fairly consistently wants to change into her ballet clothes the moment we get in the front door in the afternoons. Of course there’s no deterring her now that she can access the ballet bag on her own.
I’m really still debating the whole signing the kids up for lessons thing (even though it’s a done deal). Maja and Maddy are already taking swimming lessons on Saturday afternoons; Maja is doing one day a week at an afterschool program… and somehow that seems to be enough. But now that it’s getting cold(er)* out and park time starts to get limited it seems feasible to add in ballet lessons on Saturday mornings.
Of couse, Pippa is now starting to get in on the act… of course I think she’s adorable even if she looks like an overstuffed clown.
*I say colder because it’s the end of November and it’s +16C outside. This is NOT cold. Maybe cooler.
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