A Little of This and That

Hi.
How's it going?
Maybe I really should write this post as a letter, or better, an email to whoever is reading. I actually almost named this blog "Letters to June" so that my wirting would reflect the casual way I just launch off emails to my friend chronicling my day, the frustrations, the funny stuff, celebrity obsessions . .you know. I really don't have any celebrity obsessions, but sometimes I make my little comment or two on what's happeing with the latest celebrity couple, or what celebrity just had a baby and what she (or they) nammed him or her. (Jack is popular, . . .Apple??) I will say, if you ever come up with a really cute and orginal name that you want to keep "safe" for your own use, just pray a celebrity doesn't use it. My friend June that I referred to regularly talked about using the name Ella if she had a girl. This was long before either of us had kids, and I have to say I was a little jealous when she told me. Man, what a GREAT name - if only I had thought of it! But, then John Travolta and Kelly Preston named their little girl Ella, and now Ben Stiller has a daughter - also Ella. There is a little Ella in my mom's group at church too. I don't know that it's completely over-used, saturated, or as my husband would say, "has jumped the shark", but it's just not AS original as it once was. Just think Maddison, or Madeline about 10 years ago. (Two names which I loved and still do . . . .Maddy is the cutest . . . but it's like the name Jennifer when I was in school . . .always at least one, if not two, in all my classes.) Well, June has two boys, so the whole girl name thing is off the table . . . for now.

OK, on to props to other bloggers. I was introduced to Crib Ceiling by Mel, and her "Milkandjuice" post is so right on the money. It's about what one thinks being a stay-at-home-mom will be like versus the reality of being one. Lunches with friends - hardly ever. But, ear infections, cranky pre-schooler needing lots of comforting, endlessly messy house, and all that . . .ok, that's the reality. (At least it is for me for the past week and a-half - and I only have one!) Here's an excerpt that I just had to quote:

"But barring keeping the full time day care – YOU become the full time day care. Providing three meals and two snacks a day. Changing, clothing, holding, comforting, reading, playing. Cooking, laundry, pick-up. Playgroups, parks, grocery store. There’s not a lot of time in there for, oh I don’t know, lunch with girlfriends and volunteer work, let alone your novel or other secret project."

If you can, go read the rest of it because it's great.

In reading it all I could think of was "expectations". They can make or break our experience of anything. If I expect motherhood to be blissful moments of adoring my child, carefully crafting my discipline strategies so that my child is obedient, respectful and pleasant, and meal planning to make dinnertime flow seamlessly, then I might be just a little bitter when I have a baby who is colicky and unconsolable, a toddler/pre-schooler who has temper tantrums, throws things, and actually has emotions of anger, frustration and disappointment - oh, and the meal planning goes completely out the window and you end up eating lots of pizza and McDonalds (not all the time, but there are certainly seasons.) It's just plain work and the kind almost no one else sees throughout most of the day. From now on I'm just going to expect everyday to be challenging, difficult and madening, and then I'll have a day every now and then when I'm pleasantly surprised. When I ask my child to come and get his diaper changed he'll just walk on over to me and say "ok mom" and I'll pratically throw him a party 'cause it wasn't a disaster. And we can laugh. Laughing about whatever always makes it better. I tend to forget that part.
Ok, bye for now!

Loopy From the Fumes

Paint fumes, that is. Right now they are painting the trim which is oil-based, and man what a smell!! I'm trying to leave alot of the windows open, but it's a little tough with all the rain. But, I will not be complaining about the rain because I'm so glad it's here!! In typically sunny So. Cal it's such a great change of pace to have the rain. Although, last year we had quite alot of it . . I don't think I'd do too well in places like Portland or Seattle - just a little too depressing to have it almost all the time.

The 'Pumpkin Creme' color in the living room is growing on me. It's received alot of positive reviews so that's good.

I was a part of a strange situation over the weekend. We went to a local pumpkin farm/picking patch to get pumpkins with the grandparents. Everything was great. We checked-out in the line with our pumpkins, and then waited off to the side for my mother-in-law to get some fresh produce too. As we waited a mom with her three kids and a huge wagon of pumpkins she had just paid for came up beside us. The mom told her kids to wait right there not move, and then walked away. I figured she forgot something at the check-out area and would be right back, but it was a little odd that she just left them there. There were two boys, probably 7 & 8, and a little girl about 4. A few minutes passed and something happened with the little girl and she started crying. I kept thinking, "where's the mom - what could be taking her so long?" Next thing I knew the little girl started walking off, right into the path of a car. I ran over to her and guided her back to where her brothers were standing with their pumpkins and asked her to wait there for her mom. I kept thinking the mom would be there any second. Another woman who saw the whole thing happen was pretty mad. I thought, "now maybe this woman (who left the kids) had a really tough day, and it was everything she could do to get her kids out to do something fun . . ", I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. We all do things at times that seem fine right in the moment, and then later realize we should have done differently.

We contined to wait - we had to wait- for this mom to come back. I finally saw her driving her car up to the spot to load up the pumpkins and her kids. The little girl was still crying when the mom got out of the car. I chose not to say anything to her. I could have. Maybe I should have. But I knew God knew what had happened, and her boys saw it all too, so I said a little prayer for that whole family and we proceeded to walk to our car. I felt bad later that I didn't do more to comfort that little girl while she was so upset over whatever had happened.

When we got home and all settled I was looking over the photos we had taken with the digital camera, and in the background of one of the photos were the three children from the earlier episode. I prayed for them again. If I am ever faced with a similar situation, I hope I do more.

I Think I Hate It

Painters are here, painting the interior of the house. One room is part-way done and I like the color. Another room is completely done, and I . . think . . .I think I hate it. We went out on a limb and chose a very BOLD and dramatic color for our living room. We even consulted an interior designer. The official color name is "Pumpkin Creme", but it just looks . . . orange. Orange can be good, but we have big black chairs in our living room, so it looks a little Halloween-like. Maybe I'll get used to it. "Trick or Treat!!"

Caution: Men At Work

Ok, so this week there will be various people working on and in my house. Does anyone else experience this. . . . the total awkwardness when you're home and someone is working in the house. They probably aren't even paying attention to what I'm doing - which should be the case if they are doing the work - but I feel so self-conscious! ESPECIALLY if I have a moment when my child isn't listening to me, or he's throwing a tantrum, etc. There is someone here now, but the part that makes it not so weird is that he's mainly working outside today (whew!). Painters will be here tomorrow, and I had planned on hanging out briefly while they set-up, go over any details, etc. and be on my merry way to escape the paint fumes and generally be out of the way. However, yesterday the painting company guy tells me they REALLY prefer that I be here the entire time they are painting. It's going to be 4-5 DAYS, and I'm suppose to stay here - with a two-and-a-half-year-old?? Hmmmm. I'll come up with something to do. It's a good lesson, in a way for me, becaue I'm usually way too concerned with what others are thinking of me, and having to remind myself, "You are not the center of everyone else's universe - they don't really care."

Now I'm being asked to make a kitty-cat out of play-dough. So not in my skill-set but I'll make a go of it.

Radio

My husband and I watched the movie "Radio" last night, starring Ed Harris & Cuba Gooding Jr. Such a great film! I vaguely remember when it came out and thought it looked good. I'm so glad I saw it - and it's a great family film too. Get in in your Netfilx cue, or go on down to the local video store and check it out.

Something odd. . . .I got my first good night's sleep in quite a while, but I'm more tired today than I've been all week. Go figure!!

No More!

Well, it seems my blog is being taken over by spamming, or spammer comments. I know there is a way I can delete these, but I have not gotten there yet. In the meantime I am 'protesting' by not writing anything. (??) So, until I can get this fixed, it may be a while. Have a great weekend everyone!!