Multitudes on Mondays...#331-340

Thankful for:

331.  A fantastic date with my favorite guy in the universe.  (Although if you're looking for a date night movie, may I recommend *against* "The Vow"?  Channing Tatum may be the worst thing Hollywood has spit out in a long time, and I think that's saying something.)

Happy-drunk to be having a night alone!

332.  A fun day-trip to Asheville with my parents.  We had a lovely brunch at the Corner Kitchen and then a wonderful time walking around in the warm spring weather, taking in the little shops and the fresh air.
333.  The special relationships my kids have with their Nana and PaPa.

Lucy and Nana, playing peek-a-boo post-waffles.

Will and PaPa, taking in the toy train at the Christmas store.

334.  The way my kids just glow with happiness while playing at the park. 

335.  The Jumping Beans brand of clothes at Kohl's, on sale for $5.99 each piece.  I just couldn't rationalize spending even $2 more per piece at Gymboree, at least for true play clothes, which is what we needed most of.  I love the clothes we got -- see above!  (I will be darkening the door of a Gymboree next month when the budget allows, though; I adore their spring lines for both genders.)
336.  These beauties for only $6.99 (are you sensing that I love to get a lot for just a little?).

Thank you, Fresh Market!

337.  Ghirardelli Ultimate Chocolate brownies.  Diet-schmiet. 
338.  Several nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep. 
339.  That Peyton has landed on his feet in Denver (just like my gut told me).  I know he is going to do great things for the city and for the Broncos...and my husband has promised me a #18 jersey in blue and orange!
340.  The way lemonade tastes after a long hiatus.

On my mind

Totally random stuff that I feel like dumping here:

• Am I the only one alive who doesn't like the look of decorating with empty picture frames?  I swear, it's *all over* Pinterest and every last magazine.  It was kind of neat to consider at first, even though not my style, but now I'm just over it.  A little DIY art would go nicely in those empty frames, what?
• Is there a prettier song in all the world than "Edelweiss"?  My kids have a lullabies CD that we occasionally listen to during morning playtime and this song always puts me in the sweetest frame of mind.  Plus, I always think of how touching it is when Christopher Plummer's character sings it in "Sound of Music."  (Did you take a minute to watch the clip?  Did you catch the look between the Captain and Maria at the end?  *pure movie magic, y'all*)
• This is perhaps ridiculously premature, but I've started compiling an itinerary for a dream getaway to Paris for me and Marty.  It probably won't happen for at least another 5 years (I've hinted broadly at the need for such a trip to celebrate my 40th birthday -- and did I just admit that I'll be 40 in a scant handful of years -- OH MY STARS), but I'm going to indulge myself.  And when it comes time, I'll know exactly where I want to go and what I want to do and probably even what I want to wear.  To this end, I just signed up for a twice-weekly email newsletter from BonjourParis.com!
• Will's hair curls just at his temples and forehead, a la Napoleon or Julius Caesar.  It's one of my favorite things to look at every day.
• I'm still upset about Peyton Manning.  I've rained down curses on Jim Irsay's head for doing this to Peyton, to Indiana, and yes, frankly, to ME.  Didn't know I was a crazy Colts fan?  I didn't either.  At least, I always knew I was a big fan but apparently I feel these things pretty deeply (I cried watching the press conference).  Came as a shock to me, too!  Anyhoo, I've got a gut feeling he's going to Denver, although Marty's gut is leaning toward Tennessee.  If the former, he and my boy Tebow could be partners in crime, and Tim could learn a few things from pretty much the greatest quarterback ever, and by the time Peyton retires, Tebow would be the ultimate QB threat.  Love that scenario.  If the latter, well, Peyton would be in Tennessee and just a hop, skip, and a jump from where we are.  And maybe we could go see him play, although tickets would probably go from pretty accessible to pretty impossible...

I have much more rattling around in my noggin but my parents are arriving tonight and I've a jillion and a half house chores yet to do.  Happy Hump Day!

Multitudes on Mondays...#321-330

(I'm going to make this short and sweet...I'm working on a couple of big posts right now!)

Thankful for:

321.  Short hair. 
322.  Sweet potatoes.  (And recipes calling for smashing them up with organic maple syrup and chopped pecans...yum!)
323.  Success in weight loss efforts for my love.  (As of this morning, Marty has dropped 33 pounds from his heaviest weight, and 24 pounds from his doctor appointment on January 17th, which was not quite 2 months ago.  Holy smokes, I'm so proud of him.)
324.  Lucy eating nearly all table food now.  (Did you hear that?  That was the sound of our checking account *gaining* a little weight...)
325.  My parents arriving day after tomorrow!  Woot!!!
326.  The date to Carrabba's that Marty and I already have planned for Friday.  I'm going to wear a dress, and lipstick, and perfume, and heels, and I'll have a glass of wine, and I won't have to cook, and I won't have to constantly monitor two small human beings and OH MY STARS, I can't wait for DATE NIGHT!
327.  The shopping trip I'm already planning with my parents (Mom, are you feeling Asheville???).
328.  Having the windows open today, hearing the birds singing, and having Will enjoy it as much as me ("He tweet-tweet, Mama!  He tweet-tweet!").
329.  Making a new friend (of a friend, and on Facebook of all places) who sent me a recipe for peanut-butter banana muffins that are vegan and totally healthy.  I can't wait for my bananas to brown and spot a little!
330.  Instantly available BBC productions on Netflix.  When you need a little England, there she is, right at your fingertips.

Thought for the day



"The Cup of Tea," Mary Cassatt, 1879
(Image from here)

"We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be."

 

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Multitudes on Mondays (again on a Tuesday)...#311-320

Thankful for:

311.  A clean, organized playroom for the babes.  We moved Lucy's crib into Will's room; we also moved the guest bed to the loft area (deemed unsafe for baby play after Lucy almost got through the banister rails...still can hardly talk about the scare she gave me that day) and cleaned out the closet for extra toy storage, too.  We hope it is now Play Heaven.  (I'm thinking of getting some yellow curtains and doing some DIY art for the walls...should be very Pinteresting, ha!)

From the doorway.  It only looks like this during naptime and overnight.  :)

Lucy's corner.  Yes, my daughter has THREE tea sets for her tea table (no more tea sets, Nana!), a cupcake kitchen (thank you, Aunt Sarah!), and a buggy/grocery cart.  I want to get her more baby doll accessories like a crib and a highchair but there's time for that.  And no room at the moment!

Will's corner.  The train table was the best purchase we ever made...it gets hours upon hours of love.

312.  A husband who takes care of me (and the kids) when I don't feel well. 
313.  Spontaneous IM conversations with friends, and friends who still believe in very long emails with multiple paragraphs, with lots of telling stories and asking questions.  I love sitting down to an email with a cup of coffee.
314.  Being already a week into March.  C'mon, spring.
315.  I think I must say this every week, but it deserves a weekly mention:  Will's excellent progress with his speech.  Every day now I hear, "What dat, Mama?"  He wants to know about *everything*. 
316.  The chance to write an article (place comment if you'd like a link) for an online mom's magazine.  Writing is just good for my soul.
317.  Lavender soap.
318.  Coupons for Gymboree.
319.  An upcoming visit from my parents, which means lots of lovin' for my kids, good food and conversations, and of course, DATE NIGHT. 
320.  The sometimes-tough but invaluable and ongoing lesson of how to stretch a dollar.  We've learned how to get 4-5 meals out of a package of chicken!

Multitudes on Monday...#301-310

Thankful for:

301.  Time off mom duty (courtesy of le husband extraordinaire, of course) to just sit by myself and watch the Oscars, even though it was spectacularly boring this year.  Although it was helped by late-night texting with The Shabby Princess...we agreed on the following:  The Academy needs to bring back Hugh Jackman as host (for now and forevermore, amen); Colin Firth should just be nominated for everything and also win everything so we could just look at him all evening (I don't care if that makes it the "Colin Firth Show" -- fine by us!); and finally, we both wanted to elope with Natalie Portman's red dress -- it was delicious vintage perfection.

Dear J.Lo:  Please take a page from this book.  That is all.

302.  Will's ever-expanding imagination.  While I was changing his diaper this morning, he pointed to an owl perched somewhere on the wall in his bedroom.  He hoot-hooted with it, too.  (Does anyone know where I can get a stuffed owl?)  Then later this morning, we all (me, Will, and Lucy) alternately hid from a dragon under the table and then fed him dragon snacks so he would be nice.  (Marty and I honestly have no clue where he picked up dragon knowledge -- we know there are no dragons in his books and we can't recall any from his shows?)
303.  Pinterest.  Yes, I'm thankful for Pinterest, okay???  I know that for some people, Pinterest is materialism overload and I get that (after all, it's mostly pictures of *stuff*).  Yet for me, I am actually energized by it.  I see pretty rooms and think, I know how I can put together that element on the cheap!  And I see fun kid's stuff and think, What a great birthday present!  It's sort of like my relationship with the Pottery Barn catalog.  I know I'll never have all those lovely things, but I can sure use it for inspiration, can't I?
304.  Reading the 19th installment (Body in the Gazebo) of the Faith Fairchild mysteries (Katherine Hall Page).  I've been reading this series for a good decade now, and it always feels like hanging out with an old friend.
305.  Lots of sunshine and fresh breezes.
306.  The never-ending process of self-discovery.
307.  That Lucy is *finally* teething the last of her baby teeth!  (I know those 2-year molars are on their way, but still, it's nice to feel accomplishment with her.)
308.  That Lucy is *finally* talking a bit more.  She might also be a candidate for speech therapy if she doesn't add a whole lot more to her vocabulary by her next well-baby appointment, but we have seen some improvement.  Her favorite thing to say is "Daddy...help!"  (Don't be alarmed; she is rarely in any kind of trouble.  It's just a call for attention from her favorite guy.) 
309.  Planning trips.
310.  (Already) planning my kids' birthday parties.  (Will is pretty much fixated on oceans right now; we watched a documentary this weekend about a dolphin named "Jo-Jo" and he's been walking around with a Fisher Price toy dolphin ever since, helping his own Jo-Jo to swim.  I can just see an oceanic birthday party...it's off to Pinterest I go!)  :)

Friday Daybook

It has been forever since I did a Daybook post!  I shall have to be more consistent with these because I love how they seem to capture my life (that day) in a nutshell.

Outside:  I've had the windows thrown wide-open all morning and afternoon, even though it's been raining on and off (my kitchen windows sit just-so in my house that nary a raindrop seems to be admitted entrance).  We've had a burst of very mild, almost balmy weather here.  It was in the 70's yesterday, so Marty took Will to the park (Lucy has been under with a bug).  It wasn't so warm this morning but the breezes were heavenly.  And then the thunderclouds rolled in and we had several minutes of storms, but it blew through rather quickly.  We've all enjoyed it...even Will has come to the window several times to say "Rain...pwetty."  Yes it is, baby boy. 

Thinking:  Honestly, there's so much on my mind I'm going to do a bullet list.

• Why do my kids always outgrow their clothes about 4-8 weeks before a season ends???  Will's pants are too short and most of Lucy's clothes look just a wee bit stretched on her.  I'm *not* about to buy more cool-weather clothes, nor are we quite ready to break out the shorts and tees.  Spring is such a conondrum clothing-wise even when you have a wardrobe full of options.  But when new clothes must be bought for each new season because that person is still growing, well, it's just a big ole headache.  I've been doing my pre-shopping (scoping out items at different places) and once again, I'm going to buy the bulk of Will's wardrobe at Old Navy and Lucy's...elsewhere.  Old Navy is cute for little boys but I find their girl's clothing to be, well, just not cute enough?  Not girlie enough? 
• I've been doing a lot of thinking about Christianity lately, and more specifically, what kind of Christian I am and want to be.  To be honest, I've lost all patience with a certain type of Christian.  All around me I see so-called Christians picking apart other people and I can't even begin to explain how this rubs me so wrong, and on really bad days, sends my head veering for the nearest wall or keyboard.  Guys, the second commandment is to "Love your neighbor."  If what you're doing or saying doesn't look or sound like love, then may I respectfully suggest that you *sit down and shut up*???  This is especially true in the political sphere.  I understand if a politician wants to bring a Christian perspective to decision-making; more power to ya, I say.  But that doesn't necessarily mean that you should wield your moral high ground like a weapon, verbally clubbing anyone and everyone that doesn't fit your model of good behavior.  Look, we are *all* fallen, all sinful, all in need of *grace*.  If other people are not measuring up to you, then you haven't had a good look in the mirror lately.  Let's just remember that when Jesus walked this earth, he sat with the sinners and rebuked the self-righteous. 
  That is not to say that I have all kinds of love for non-religious politicians or even anybody currently holding office, for that matter; in fact, I can hardly believe the news out of Washington on a daily basis.  Our economy is in the toilet and our unemployment rate is wretched, yet we're arguing over *birth control*???  Could we just steer this ship a little better, please?  But I majorly digress...
  (I have lots more to say on this -- the bit about Christianity, that is -- and I really want to capture it all in a blog post, but the topic obviously lends itself to deep thinking and careful writing, so it may be awhile before it appears here.  It's a goal, though, anyway.)
• Yes, I went from "new clothes" to "moral high ground" -- is your head spinning yet?  Just imagine having my brain, because that's how it works! 
• Other things I'm thinking about...how I used to gently tease my sister Sarah for eating her kids' food scraps for lunch.  Um, Sar?  I just did that today.  It made me really think how a person can have all the opinions in the world about something, but until you walk a mile in those moccasins, you don't know jack-diddley-squat. 
• How much Will has improved with speech therapy and how I'd recommend it to anyone who was even slightly doubtful about their kid's developmental progress.  This morning I sat down with him to look at his A-B-C book (it has beautiful pages of letter-specific pictures) and while I usually stick to the easy ones (pointing to the bear on the B page and asking, "What's this?"), today I went for harder ones.  I pointed to the puppet on the P page and asked him what it was; his response?  A very clear "I don't know."  I was absolutely *thrilled* with this, because you know why?  It was the beginning of DIALOGUE.  With MY CHILD.  I then explained that a puppet was just a doll with strings attached for moving the doll, and he nodded in very apparent understanding.  And we moved on to the next picture, with me trying to tamp down my urge to do cartwheels.  :)

From the kitchen:  Attempts at new recipes all the time, some results good, others not-so-good.  But we're trying (and it's not as hard as I thought it would be) to maintain our "no junk" approach to eating.  And it is *working*.  I hope he doesn't mind that I brag on him here, but Marty has now lost 21 pounds, in just about 6 weeks.  He is also spending quality time with the elliptical, but we both agree the diet change is playing the prominent role in his weight loss.  I plan to do a blog post soon on all the foods and menus that are really working for us (why am I all "promises, promises" today?).

Happiness on a stick

Reading:  See above.  (I've finished 2 of them; working on 3 others.  This is my birthday stash, courtesy of the world's best hubby.)

Shopping:  Er, it seems I already covered this one.

Hoping:  Again, and always, for some good news.  I actually find myself jumping a little bit when I hear the phone ringing!

Hearing:  Besides my neighbor who yelled (a bit too harshly) at his dog, nothing but the sounds of the entryway clock ticking, leaves rustling outside, someone's windchimes, and occasional birdsong.  It's perfectly peaceful in my house right now and I'm soaking it up.

A favorite thing:  Oh golly, don't even get me started on Pinterest.  It's my crack, kids.  For some reason I didn't really get it when I first looked at it a long time ago, but when I tried again this week, oh we clicked.  So well, in fact, that I have to remind myself to step...away...from the Pinterest.  Other faves:  when Marty makes me coffee in the mornings.  Whole-grain fig Newtons.  Magazine subscriptions...a gift from a beloved friend.  The few minutes that Lucy and I hug and pat each other before I lay her down at night.  The way Will organizes his blocks into categories of numbers and letters (that's my boy!).  (Okay, some of those aren't "things" but who's grading me here?  Ha!)