Agua fria

Lakes large and small are abundant where I live and few summer memories exist without water in them. 

Week long, sleep-away girls camp where there was canoeing and learning how to sail a Sunfish.

Family vacations at a cottage on the rocky bottomed lake where we'd jump off the dock and go tubing and water skiing. 

Trying to use the old school Slip 'n Slide when I was eight and having it be a bit of a letdown. Damn thing was neither slippy nor slidey. But! It did come with an awesome banana shaped sprinkler.

Day after day after day swimming at the outdoor neighborhood pool with my best friend and trying to impress the hunky lifeguard who I think was mostly a stoner.

Driving to the big lake with this same best friend and cooking ourselves on the beach and eating corn dogs.

I still love water and swimming so much, but am now much more of a chlorinated pool fan. I happen to find sand kind of gnarly, but that probably just means that I'm getting old.

Ezra has taken swimming lessons since he was a baby and loves the outdoor swimming pool as much as is humanly possible. Iris is newer to the scene but will take a hit of water to the face and just laugh. 

It's been hot as balls here lately, so last night we busted out the hose and I let them go to town.

What's not to love about water?

Nosey Nancy: Fashion Edition

Let us talk about clothes.

I am not a shopper in the traditional sense in that going to stores and walking around and disrobing and trying things on gives me the absolute rage. And I hate feeling mussed and bunchy from pulling things on and off and all around. I just hate it.

The only things I will try on are jeans (which I hate wearing) and swimming suits. Those items also make me want to turn to hard liquor and street drugs as it is so discouraging to see the fit reflected back at me in the dressing room mirror.

So I either order online or buy things without trying them on. I know the styles that fit me and the styles that don't and I'm usually successful 90% of the time. 

I love dresses and skirts and hate pants. I adore leggings and tunics and think shorts are the Devil's handiwork. Ballet flats most of the time; heels only when the outfit would look better with them. I love gold shoes and the color pink.

Getting to it then--questions for you:

1. Do you have a "uniform"/go to outfit/something you wear on the regular?
2. What is one piece that you'd drop a hot piece of change on if you could without financial considerations?
3. Is there a color you won't wear?
4. Have you ever gotten trapped in a piece of clothing in the dressing room?

via

Division of labor

Kaysie wrote about this awhile ago, and lately it's become very clear to me that the "jobs" T and I each do around the house are very divided up, like, super rank-and-file. Sure, maybe there was some cross-over back in the day, but mostly now we go about things and handle our business. 

For example, I handle the following:

• Handling all making and scheduling and informing of appointments (T and I have a system in place for this where I send him the info via email and he slaps it on his schedule)
• Knowing when bills are due
• Planting flowers in the spring; hanging garland and whatnot in the winter
• Meal-planning and grocery shopping
• Puree-ing Iris' food
• Eyeballing the kids' closets and adding/removing clothes as needed
• Laundry
• Trimming the kids nails
• Picking-up and dropping off drycleaning

T handles:

• Grilling of meats
• Snow removal
• Anything where wires or electricity or large appliances are malfunctioning
• Paying bills (I inform; he pays) online
• Killing and flushing bugs
• Scrubbing the bathtub and shower
• Taking cars in for maintenance and oil changes
• Changing lightbulbs
• Watering the lawn and flowers
• Making Iris' milk cocktail and pouring it into her cups for school

Aside from discussing and reworking how we were going to handle money/bills, we never really ever had a sit down conversation and divied things up. It all just sort of settled into a rhythm of doing what we are most persnickety about.

T folds the laundry in the most hoopty way known to man. I can't even really describe it to you and it gives me the rage and is utterly ridiculous. Similarly, I would drive my car into the ground without ever taking it in for maintanence in addition to slowly letting the lightbulbs burn out around the house and never replacing them. Both of these facts make us want to choke the other person, so we just handle it ourselves.

Another facet of all this is that T works 70+ hours a week and travels a crap ton. I work 9-5 most days and never have to take work home. Those hours alone largely dictate who handles what as I have more time to keep an eye on and arrange the home logistics of appointments and birthday parties and making sure our kids aren't wearing too small clothes.

Do I sometimes feel like I do 90% of what needs to get done? Yes. Often. And sometimes I truly believe I am handling that much. But when feeling the pangs of injustice I usually eat some Bugles and remind myself that T hustles at work and that load is not to be discounted. 

Synopsis: We both work hard. Bugles are tasty.

Wondering why her mother refuses to
put a new lightbulb in her lamp.

Eyebrows like this: \ /

It is Friday and I am supposed to be preparing for a class I have to teach next week, but I am feeling peevish with some things and it is making me have a furrowed brow. 

So instead I decided to look at some pictures that make me happy, share them with you, and then take an early lunch and get a manicure. 

So there.

Taped below my monitor at work. 

A mobile donut unit!

Father's Day card I found last year that
made me bust out laughing.

Ginormous dog hanging out of a van window.
The passenger had a firm grip on its collar. 

Love/hate Thursday

Love: This sandwich from Starbucks. I can't even discuss it without my eyes becoming large with its melty goodness.

Hate: I've been eating a bit too much lately and it's, um, showing.

Love: I have been putting some effort into how I dress for work lately and while I frankly don't give an eff when I'm at home and trying to figure it out, walking into work looking more put together helps.

Hate: The slow movingness of this day.

Love: Happiness for some friends who are going through some really great things right now.

Hate: Sadness for others I love who have been given a bum deal.

Love: Because I am a worry wart, we had Iris' speech formally evaluated at the children's hospital where we she did much of her other outpatient therapies for so long. My concern being that, well, So-and-So said she was "at age" but is she reeeaaaallly? Also, Ezra was freakishly verbal very early so I have no baseline average to compare Iris to. But yeah. She's good on the talking, expressive language and cognitive understanding fronts. ALL IS WELL.

Hate: It's cold in my office but balls hot outside. 

Love: I am having a tasty lunch with a friend today.

Hate: Am praying it doesn't rain before I walk there. Or back to work.

Love: Oh! The clouds just cleared! Holla.

Hate: So much lone wolfing lately at home in the evenings.

Love: Going to the zoo with the small fries this weekend and hearing how excited T is to show them the animals. Also, you should know that I randomly ask T if (x) animal was in his backyard growing up in Uganda. He rolls his eyes but oh laugh not at me because homeboy has seen MANY WILD ANIMALS live and roaming free, going about their business. 

Hate: I had a flash of worry this morning that those I'll be meeting at The Blathering this fall will think that I'm not very smart. Ugh.

Love: These random pictures

From a year ago this week. CHUBBY ARMS.

Another oldie-but-goodie. Also, CHEEKS.

Pie hole

I fully recognize that hearing the witty things a child spouts is never really as enjoyable as it to the parents, but here are some things that Ezra has said recently that are ridiculous.

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When presented with a strawberry applesauce pouch (and then stated rather bluntly), "Mama, applesauce is boring."

I happen to agree.

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While trying to play barefoot at the sandy area/playground spot at the pool, "Mama, that sand is burning my feet like hot sauce."

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Last night while trying to wind down in bed and after I already closed door, he called me back in to say, "Mama, I can't sleep. I need my monkey and some salami."

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Upon spotting a Frito-Lay truck on our way to school this morning, we had a minutes long conversation wherein Ezra made such statements as: 

"Mama, I SEE A CHIP TRUCK!"

"Mama, I love chips."

"They don't serve potato chips at school, but we get to eat them at the pooOOOOLLLL!"

"Potato chips need dip."


Damn straight they do.

Random useless tidbits

I have been craving Chinese food lately, but I need to be bloated like I need a bullet in the head.

Update! I had Chinese food for lunch and it was totally manky! I chose poorly!

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Iris' new word(s) is "pizza pie" and it makes me laugh. 

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Last night "Napolean Dynamite" was on IFC and I almost always forget how ridiculously funny that movie is. I pretty much laugh like a maniac through the entire thing--especially at Uncle Rico. 

And when Uncle Rico throws a steak at Napolean?--holy hell.

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I have a smallish pile of things I should get through today, but my desire to actually do so is even smaller.

Update! I got through the pile!

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Lately, Ezra has taken to telling me that I'm pretty and if that's not an ego boost I don't know what is.

"Mama, I like your hair down. It's pretty."

"Mama, come show Papa how pretty your dress is!"

It is very sweet and makes me happy for whomever he decides to partner up with in the future.

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Whenever someone has a baby without incident, I find myself feeling very relieved. Enormously so.

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I bought this CD at Starbucks and I recommend it if you like kicky French music from the 60s. Okay, a little niche, but there is a French version of "These Boots Were Made for Walking" that is pretty neat.

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T is working late tonight and dinner ideas are eluding me. And Ezra totally busts out the full court press once in the car, "Mama! What are we having for dinner?!" (quiet) "MAAAAAAMAAAAA!"

It's kind of intense.

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Lastly a picture of Iris. 

What's interesting about this picture is that you can barely see her chest scar from her heart surgery.  When she was little, it was much bigger--like half of her. But as she grows, the scars remain the same size, but she gets bigger, so it won't always be half of her torso like it used to be.

In all honesty, this scar is one of the more low key ones.  She has maybe ten or so more--some from her heart surgery, some from her other surgeries--that are much more prominent. Sometimes I notice them and they give me pause, but mostly I don't. They are indications of where she's been, not where she's heading. 

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What are your random tidbits?

I have all the zen

I often feel as if I've barely got it together, and I think this is largely due to the amount of displeasure I feel in things being only done halfway.

I hate having uncompleted things on my mental to do list. I refuse to have a messy home. I hate having ironing that needs to be done. I hate not going to bed early enough. I hate not spending time outside in the garden. I hate when I'm snappy or shouty or finger pointy with my children. All of it just makes me feel inadequate as a person and very disappointed in who I am as a mother. And while I wouldn't classify myself as a perfectionist, inadequacy is not something I am content with.

As a result of all this, my work week ended on Thursday and I felt a resolve about how to be during the weekend. My goal is always to be intentional in my life but sometimes that gets chucked the eff out the window when someone is riding my last nerve. Ahem.

At any rate, my to-do list for Friday was long, but T was going to be gone all day on Saturday and so my resolve was to plow through everything on Friday and then motherscratching BRING IT as a mom and be in the moment on Saturday and Sunday. This may sound entirely ridiculous, but sometimes I have to forcibly erase my mental list and turn all my energies and attitude towards my children. It's not one of my better traits as a parent, but I'm working on it. I figure I'll have it nailed by the time they leave the house.

So Saturday. I was up, I was showered and make-upped and I was a MACHINE. There were homemade meals and attention and hugs and trips out and snacks outside and patience abounded. It felt good for my soul to be reminded me that I could indeed be a good mother.

I was presented this at the library. My
too clever boy called it a "corn dog."

Statements

I will probably always be a fingernail biter.


I think people should be fired from their jobs more often than that actually occurs.


Some of my pants are pinchy, but I'm not yet at the point that I'm willing to do something about it.


T and I had a sticky patch recently where I was bummed out about some things and he was too, but we talked it out and broke it down and I appreciate him more than ever before.


I think my smile is too gum-y.


I would be interested in being a surrogate for someone, but I know without a doubt that my last pregnancy nixed that.


I like getting a tan.


I miss my friends.


T thinks I swear too much, but I think he is wrong.


I don't understand the appeal of Birkenstocks.


Gifs like this one make me laugh.

On a walk

This stick was almost six feet long and she
dragged it with us FOREVER.

Please ignore the glowing orb that is
my finger in front of the lens.

New to me

Here are some fabulous new-to-me things that I've recently purchased.



Crocs

Son of a biscuit, these shoes are comfortable. I've worn them bike riding, on long walks, while chasing down small people at the playground, gardening and even to work on a day I was just going to be in my office. They are delightful and made of cushy clouds from the sky. 




Garnier BB Cream

I generally only wear concealer and a dusting of pressed powder, but every now and then feel like I could use some additional evening out. Mineral makeup was not my bag and foundation, even applied lightly, made my skin feel yucky.  

This cream, however, is a nice in between. I use very little and it blends well and doesn't sit or turn funny as the day wears on. I recommend.




Popchips

Motherscratcher I can eat an entire bag of these things. Personally, I'm a fan of BBQ but I think this is only because Sea Salt and Vinegar and I have yet to meet. And! They are neither greasy nor high in calories!

Also, how impressed am I that you can even order these from the website? How about very impressed.




Are you digging anything new these days?

Local creeper

The city I live in isn't super small, but I am starting to see the same people over and over and over. I think this might be because I'm observant rather than perhaps turning into a townie.

Let me tell you about who I keep running into.

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The Large Family

This family of six. Mom, dad, four boys. I see these characters EVERYWHERE.

The library. The gym. During winter, at the indoor swimming pool. During summer, the outdoor swimming pool. At restaurants. At church. Various parks.  

It is crazypants. Pretty much the only places I don't seem them is at my workplace and while I'm in the shower. 

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The Incognito Ass Kicker

I go to Starbucks a lot. Like, at least once a day--sometimes twice. It is an expensive habit caused by me introducing children into this world and I figure it's cheaper than hillbilly heroin so please don't judge.

There is this guy there and I am willing to bet that he is an ex-military guy. He is super tall and is very, very serious looking all the time. He is always reading the New York Times and is probably 70-80 years old. Super duper fit. White haired buzz-cut. Thick neck. I also see him at our gym all the time.

He gives off an interesting air and I could never decide if it was because he always looked so serious and ill-humored or if it was something else.

And then one day I saw that his t-shirt said "Blackwater" on it. Hot damn. That is why you're looking so serious, sir, you are used to laying the covert smackdown on characters. Damn.

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The Urban Mr. Peanut

I first started spotting this man when Iris was in the feeding program and we drove to and from home a few times a day. He is older and African American and wears a black top hat and uses a cane.

If it's 42 degrees or when it's been 85--this gentleman looks exactly the same as he strolls the sidewalk.

I always mentally give him props for finding a look and sticking with it.