I just picked up my phone to blog and it was 11:11. I look at the clock all day at times like this - 10:10, 3:33, 2:22, 12:12. I am not really sure what it means, but I am sure it is something amazing.
Speaking of amazing, it is 11:16 on New Year's Eve. My babies and I are snuggled in our bed together waiting to ring in the new year. We plan on doing that in our sleep. Ivy and Owen are asleep, Autumn is playing, and Greg is downstairs alone watching tv. It is obviously a rockin New Year's Eve around here. The kids are too little and we are too old. Next year we are going to aim for staying awake, nothing fancy, just being awake. We set high goals for ourselves around here. (Actually, us awake, Autumn asleep, she may be the only one awake at midnight tonight.)
Speaking of goals, I need to figure those out for 2013. Resolution #1 - set goals before December. Like I said, we aim high.
And with that, goodbye 2012, you were a good year.
Here is to another year of health and happiness!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
The days after
T'was the day after the day after Christmas and all through the house;
Not a creature was stirring except Auttie, our mouse.
The stockings were scattered all over the floor;
With signs that St. Nicholas could not have done more.
Owen and Ivy were nestled all snug in my bed;
As fevers and aches took over their head.
With Greg back to work, I put on my cap;
And took care of sickies with oils and a nap.
Upstairs there were often sounds and some clatter;
I would head on up to see what was the matter.
Coughing, crying, throwing up in a flash;
Sneezing, sleeping, and movies, we had quite a bash.
The sickness and lack of any new-fallen snow;
Made me question if Christmas really happened below.
When, what to my wondering eyes would appear;
But untouched presents and signs he was here.
This came on so sudden, so lively and quick;
We never asked for this present from jolly St. Nick.
Now sickness please leave quick, as quick as you came.
We are over you now, we are done with your game.
Now coughing! Now fevers!
Now aches and pains!
On stuffiness! On sleepiness!
On virus and germs!
To the top of the porch!
To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Dash away all!
Not a creature was stirring except Auttie, our mouse.
The stockings were scattered all over the floor;
With signs that St. Nicholas could not have done more.
Owen and Ivy were nestled all snug in my bed;
As fevers and aches took over their head.
With Greg back to work, I put on my cap;
And took care of sickies with oils and a nap.
Upstairs there were often sounds and some clatter;
I would head on up to see what was the matter.
Coughing, crying, throwing up in a flash;
Sneezing, sleeping, and movies, we had quite a bash.
The sickness and lack of any new-fallen snow;
Made me question if Christmas really happened below.
When, what to my wondering eyes would appear;
But untouched presents and signs he was here.
This came on so sudden, so lively and quick;
We never asked for this present from jolly St. Nick.
Now sickness please leave quick, as quick as you came.
We are over you now, we are done with your game.
Now coughing! Now fevers!
Now aches and pains!
On stuffiness! On sleepiness!
On virus and germs!
To the top of the porch!
To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Dash away all!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Things to note
There is so much going on right now, Christmas, house refinance, potential job location change for Greg, dentist, an upcoming out of town trip for Greg, redoing the master bath shower, winter concerts for both kids, remembering to pack a lunch for Owen, trying to eat organic and GMO free, boot camp, and a really complicated case at work that has consumed all my time, to name a few.
And to top it all off, Ben swears the earth is moving faster and time is speeding up. Great. Like I need that.
During this crazy time I am letting things go by and failing to note those things, thus bringing you a blog of things to note of course.
1. The quality of homework in our schools is amazing. See for yourself: Jon has 4 cars. Don gives him four more. How many cars does Bob have? Amazing, right?
2. I love eating sweet potatoes. I cut them in thin circles, put olive oil on them, sprinkle with sea salt and 21 seasoning salute, and roast them to perfection. I eat them almost daily and they never seem to get old.
3. Ivy had her Christmas concert last week and she sang her little heart out. Her singing "Christmas lights" has got to be the cutest thing of her whole life so far.
4. I am obsessed with Autumn's cuteness.
5. A lady yelled at me at Trader Joe's the other day. I keep thinking I am over that and then I remember it and I want to go hunt her down and yell at her.
6. Owen has 3 things on his Christmas list this year : stuffed animals, an iPad, and a winter coat (he has a winter coat I swear, can you imagine if he had to eat a lunch full of crusts and then go out to play in a wispy little jacket).
7. Owen and Ivy were discussing what a husband is. He told her it was a boy after you got married. She decided she was going to marry Owen. He corrected her and told her she would get big and marry someone she liked. She thought for a minute and said, "Owen, I like you. Actually, I love you. I will marry you". I could just die.
8. Both Owen and Ivy take piano lessons and I am totally obsessed with that also.
9. You can totally make a smoothie with mangos, bananas, strawberries, orange juice and an avocado and no one seems to mind the avocado. Way to go little green source of wonderfulness.
And now I have 9 things to remember as the earth continues to rotate a little faster each day.
And to top it all off, Ben swears the earth is moving faster and time is speeding up. Great. Like I need that.
During this crazy time I am letting things go by and failing to note those things, thus bringing you a blog of things to note of course.
1. The quality of homework in our schools is amazing. See for yourself: Jon has 4 cars. Don gives him four more. How many cars does Bob have? Amazing, right?
2. I love eating sweet potatoes. I cut them in thin circles, put olive oil on them, sprinkle with sea salt and 21 seasoning salute, and roast them to perfection. I eat them almost daily and they never seem to get old.
3. Ivy had her Christmas concert last week and she sang her little heart out. Her singing "Christmas lights" has got to be the cutest thing of her whole life so far.
4. I am obsessed with Autumn's cuteness.
5. A lady yelled at me at Trader Joe's the other day. I keep thinking I am over that and then I remember it and I want to go hunt her down and yell at her.
6. Owen has 3 things on his Christmas list this year : stuffed animals, an iPad, and a winter coat (he has a winter coat I swear, can you imagine if he had to eat a lunch full of crusts and then go out to play in a wispy little jacket).
7. Owen and Ivy were discussing what a husband is. He told her it was a boy after you got married. She decided she was going to marry Owen. He corrected her and told her she would get big and marry someone she liked. She thought for a minute and said, "Owen, I like you. Actually, I love you. I will marry you". I could just die.
8. Both Owen and Ivy take piano lessons and I am totally obsessed with that also.
9. You can totally make a smoothie with mangos, bananas, strawberries, orange juice and an avocado and no one seems to mind the avocado. Way to go little green source of wonderfulness.
And now I have 9 things to remember as the earth continues to rotate a little faster each day.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The leftovers
Some leftovers are good, like pizza, restaurant, and Thanksgiving.
Some leftovers are not so good. One comes quickly to mind: lunchbox leftovers.
This is a story about leftovers.
So imagine for a moment it is that time of the day, finally 11:45 and time for lunch.
You pretty much know what is in your lunchbox everyday, a peanut butter sandwich, some delicious crackers, a piece of fruit, and your water bottle. You take your little gnome lunchbox to the cafeteria with you wondering which fruit your mom packed you. You sit down with all of your friends, friends, who like yourself, left home for the day trusting they would eat a lunch; friends that also confidently answered the lunch count with home or school lunch answers.
You sit at your table in the lunchroom surrounded by hot lunches and home lunches. You hear the carefree chatter around you as children start to quench their hunger with their well prepared lunch.
You smile at your friends as you happily unzip your lunchbox and as you glance down, ready to join in the lunch eating madness, you slowly flip back your lunchbox lid and to your utter disappointment and dismay, the lunch that you have come to expect is not there, but rather, you open your lunchbox to nothing but..... a pile of crusts. And these are not just any old crusts but yesterday's leftover crusts. And not just yesterday's crusts but due to a little mix-up, yesterday's crusts from a triple decker sandwich or even more crusts than you want to see.
You look at yesterday's leftover crusts and because you are starving, you actually take three bites. They are three bites too many considering they are the same pile of crusts you chose not to eat the day before. They are the same crusts that you hate covered in seeds. It doesn't matter, you try those three bites anyway cause you realize this is your lunch. When it becomes too much to bear, you decide you are done with lunch and you zip up your same crusts again, feeling like you have done this exact thing before (and you have, minus three bites) and you wait. You have to wait cause of course no one else is done and it is still too early to head out to recess (naturally, I mean how long can it take to eat three bites of gross crusts you hated already once). So three seconds after you opened your lunchbox, it is closed and you wait while everyone else eats.
Meanwhile, back at home, as your mom is feeding your sisters a well balanced meal of turkey, garbanzo beans, carrots, oranges, and crackers, and suddenly begins to realize that was the first time she opened the crackers all day, which meant no new lunch was made.
She frantically emails the teacher and finds out the lunch and recess are over and you ate yesterday's leftovers. Your mom thought maybe you would get an emergency lunch or opt for cold lunch, but of course lunch count was done and you said "home".
My poor Owen.
At the direction of his teacher, the girls and I took over some food . As we were walking away we heard her say, "Owen, go ahead and sit and your table and eat, everyone, don't look at Owen, look at me and learn".
I will always feel bad about the day Owen and I now I call "the day you got crusts".
Some leftovers are not so good. One comes quickly to mind: lunchbox leftovers.
This is a story about leftovers.
So imagine for a moment it is that time of the day, finally 11:45 and time for lunch.
You pretty much know what is in your lunchbox everyday, a peanut butter sandwich, some delicious crackers, a piece of fruit, and your water bottle. You take your little gnome lunchbox to the cafeteria with you wondering which fruit your mom packed you. You sit down with all of your friends, friends, who like yourself, left home for the day trusting they would eat a lunch; friends that also confidently answered the lunch count with home or school lunch answers.
You sit at your table in the lunchroom surrounded by hot lunches and home lunches. You hear the carefree chatter around you as children start to quench their hunger with their well prepared lunch.
You smile at your friends as you happily unzip your lunchbox and as you glance down, ready to join in the lunch eating madness, you slowly flip back your lunchbox lid and to your utter disappointment and dismay, the lunch that you have come to expect is not there, but rather, you open your lunchbox to nothing but..... a pile of crusts. And these are not just any old crusts but yesterday's leftover crusts. And not just yesterday's crusts but due to a little mix-up, yesterday's crusts from a triple decker sandwich or even more crusts than you want to see.
You look at yesterday's leftover crusts and because you are starving, you actually take three bites. They are three bites too many considering they are the same pile of crusts you chose not to eat the day before. They are the same crusts that you hate covered in seeds. It doesn't matter, you try those three bites anyway cause you realize this is your lunch. When it becomes too much to bear, you decide you are done with lunch and you zip up your same crusts again, feeling like you have done this exact thing before (and you have, minus three bites) and you wait. You have to wait cause of course no one else is done and it is still too early to head out to recess (naturally, I mean how long can it take to eat three bites of gross crusts you hated already once). So three seconds after you opened your lunchbox, it is closed and you wait while everyone else eats.
Meanwhile, back at home, as your mom is feeding your sisters a well balanced meal of turkey, garbanzo beans, carrots, oranges, and crackers, and suddenly begins to realize that was the first time she opened the crackers all day, which meant no new lunch was made.
She frantically emails the teacher and finds out the lunch and recess are over and you ate yesterday's leftovers. Your mom thought maybe you would get an emergency lunch or opt for cold lunch, but of course lunch count was done and you said "home".
My poor Owen.
At the direction of his teacher, the girls and I took over some food . As we were walking away we heard her say, "Owen, go ahead and sit and your table and eat, everyone, don't look at Owen, look at me and learn".
I will always feel bad about the day Owen and I now I call "the day you got crusts".
Sunday, November 25, 2012
In case you were wondering
In case you were wondering what the perfect night looks like, according to Ivy, here you go.
It doesn't get much better than this.
It doesn't get much better than this.
Lee Lee & Ivy
Ivy told me today that her friend Lee Lee was here to play. She was going to stay inside to ride Ivy's scooter while Ivy was outside, then they were both going to the store with Greg.
I have never met Lee Lee before. Ivy talks about her a lot but today was the first time she came to play.
They left to go to the store together. Ivy buckled her in and then Lee Lee decided to sit on Ivy's lap.
She doesn't have any real friends and there is a part of me that feels so sad, and yet, another part of me that thinks that even if she had some, she wouldn't know what to do with them.
She loves her little world, the one that is safe. She plays endlessly with her brother, she takes care of Autumn, she pretends, she imagines, she shares all my food and makes sure we always share the last bite, she worries tirelessly and has a heart so big.
That girl is wise beyond her years.
Outside her world is hard. She doesn't know how to play, she doesn't relate to little kids, she has social anxiety, she is constantly afraid a dog will be around every corner, she always trying to learn something new, and puts an incredible amount of pressure on herself. All of this and she is only three.
The last remaining anxiety at school was on the playground. I saw her standing there one day and realized how uncomfortable she was during the run and frolic time. I casually mentioned one day that Owen used to look for rocks outside and for four weeks now I have picked up a smiley happy girl with pockets of treasures. She has a purpose, something to do other than run and frolic and be carefree.
I see myself in her and I wish I could set her little soul free to have fun, to run and play with little kids and really just have permission to be three.
I don't know if she will ever truly play and frolic, but I will do what I can to suggest activities to make her a little more comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. I will also welcome Lee Lee, and the friends before and after her, into our house to give Ivy the chance to play with her friends, the ones that are safe and let her be her kind of 3.
I have never met Lee Lee before. Ivy talks about her a lot but today was the first time she came to play.
They left to go to the store together. Ivy buckled her in and then Lee Lee decided to sit on Ivy's lap.
She doesn't have any real friends and there is a part of me that feels so sad, and yet, another part of me that thinks that even if she had some, she wouldn't know what to do with them.
She loves her little world, the one that is safe. She plays endlessly with her brother, she takes care of Autumn, she pretends, she imagines, she shares all my food and makes sure we always share the last bite, she worries tirelessly and has a heart so big.
That girl is wise beyond her years.
Outside her world is hard. She doesn't know how to play, she doesn't relate to little kids, she has social anxiety, she is constantly afraid a dog will be around every corner, she always trying to learn something new, and puts an incredible amount of pressure on herself. All of this and she is only three.
The last remaining anxiety at school was on the playground. I saw her standing there one day and realized how uncomfortable she was during the run and frolic time. I casually mentioned one day that Owen used to look for rocks outside and for four weeks now I have picked up a smiley happy girl with pockets of treasures. She has a purpose, something to do other than run and frolic and be carefree.
I see myself in her and I wish I could set her little soul free to have fun, to run and play with little kids and really just have permission to be three.
I don't know if she will ever truly play and frolic, but I will do what I can to suggest activities to make her a little more comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. I will also welcome Lee Lee, and the friends before and after her, into our house to give Ivy the chance to play with her friends, the ones that are safe and let her be her kind of 3.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Sign me up!
I have so much going on and it is all my fault. You see, when the school sends out an email that they still need someone to teach the Junior Achievement program to Owen's class, I think in my head: well, I don't have any idea what they are talking about but I can't let Owen's class go without, sign me up!
Or, when I get a paper sent home about all of the wonderful PTA volunteer positions and I read they need a yearbook lead, what goes through my head? You guessed it, sign me up!
Or when I see the volunteer sign up sheet at Ivy's school I immediately sign up for the field trip.
I fear I am just an email or two away from PTA president and I am afraid I won't be able to stop myself.
The pressure is mounting tonight: we have to refinance our house by the end of the month and the appraisal is in the morning before we go to school; I have a client who has his own vet business and filed a chapter 11 to save the building and I need to get some work done on it before he loses his business because of me; I am in charge of our books at the office and suck at doing just a little each day, which means I have entries to make since February and it has to be done and reviewed by the accountant by December 10 to decide whether we need to set up 401k plans to reduce our tax liability; and finally, and most importantly, in an effort to have a gmo free, mostly organic Thanksgiving, we are making some changes to the menu and Angie and I really need to figure out what those changes are.
And of course I have the day-to-day, school, clients, music, piano, carpool, gymnastics, speech, eating, balancing our bank account, boot camp, and trying to remember to have fun.
Now don't get me wrong, I am certainly not complaining, I do it to myself. In fact, I now know I have something wrong with me. I have often wondered and my suspicions were realized the day I got an email telling me there were only two other people on my yearbook committee. I think this was a bad thing but I felt relief. What can I say, I like to do things like this my way.
I need therapy to curb my controlling crazy ways, but until then I will keep volunteering and stressing cause that is what I do.
Here's to a crazy week!!
(I should take a hint from this girl)
Or, when I get a paper sent home about all of the wonderful PTA volunteer positions and I read they need a yearbook lead, what goes through my head? You guessed it, sign me up!
Or when I see the volunteer sign up sheet at Ivy's school I immediately sign up for the field trip.
I fear I am just an email or two away from PTA president and I am afraid I won't be able to stop myself.
The pressure is mounting tonight: we have to refinance our house by the end of the month and the appraisal is in the morning before we go to school; I have a client who has his own vet business and filed a chapter 11 to save the building and I need to get some work done on it before he loses his business because of me; I am in charge of our books at the office and suck at doing just a little each day, which means I have entries to make since February and it has to be done and reviewed by the accountant by December 10 to decide whether we need to set up 401k plans to reduce our tax liability; and finally, and most importantly, in an effort to have a gmo free, mostly organic Thanksgiving, we are making some changes to the menu and Angie and I really need to figure out what those changes are.
And of course I have the day-to-day, school, clients, music, piano, carpool, gymnastics, speech, eating, balancing our bank account, boot camp, and trying to remember to have fun.
Now don't get me wrong, I am certainly not complaining, I do it to myself. In fact, I now know I have something wrong with me. I have often wondered and my suspicions were realized the day I got an email telling me there were only two other people on my yearbook committee. I think this was a bad thing but I felt relief. What can I say, I like to do things like this my way.
I need therapy to curb my controlling crazy ways, but until then I will keep volunteering and stressing cause that is what I do.
Here's to a crazy week!!
(I should take a hint from this girl)
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