if you came to my house today…
gosh, I’d appreciate it if you would just go ahead and get busy, huh?
You there in the front, I’m going to need you to hop on the laptop and do some googling to figure out this little ant problem we have in the front room. Once you determine the solution, I’ll throw you the keys to run out and get whatever super-strong poison that will kill the little beasts best.
Now that I’m thinking about it, take your friend with you. Someone’s going to have to sweep up all of those dead ants. But don’t use the good broom.
That’s for the girl in the red. She’s going to sweep the house so the guy with her can do the mopping. Be sure to get around the fridge. Something icky spilled there earlier, and I’m quite sure someone’s going to stick while looking for something less healthy than the yogurt I keep offering.
I’m going to need two volunteers for the laundry. You two? Ok, great. I really need to find a washcloth. I’ve taken my make-up off with a handtowel for two days.
Hey! You… yeah, you, Mr. Headed for the Door. You’re on bathroom duty ( yeah, I said duty). Wish you’d volunteered for the ant killer job, don’t you? See. Volunteering is good.
Geez, I’m so glad you all dropped by to be my house elves. I was seriously in need.
When you’re all done, we’ll all go out for a really fabulous lunch. Unless someone kinda wants to cook. I’m good with that, too.
Geez, I’m glad you came to my house today.
(thanks to Kellie over at LaVidaDulce for the idea)
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1001 update…
I’m still working on my 101 Things in 1001 Days list, and I’ve updated the list with more current information. I love the idea of this list because it gives such a long time-frame. Some things I’ll accomplish. Some, I’ll just dream about. And some, I’ll realize aren’t really all that and will let go of them. Good things, all.
Filed under Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)Menu Plan Monday
Mike’s off this week for Fall Break, so I’m thinking I may make a few things that require some simmering. He can get things going, and I can finish them off when I get home. We’re having the cousins visit next weekend, and I’m planning some fun Halloween foods and activities.
I’m still having a hard time finding things for Griff to take for lunch during the week. Every other day, he has PE right after lunch (and it’s still hot here in Central Florida), so he can’t have anything heavy on those days. I’m going to try to find the ingredients to try making my own veggie sushi for him, but I’m still searching for other ideas.
Sunday - sloppy joes with apple broccoli slaw
Monday - tomato basil chicken with egg noodles
Tuesday - smoked pork shoulder with whatever fresh veggies look good at the outdoor market
Wednesday - pork lo mein (with the leftover pork shoulder)
Thursday - Chel’s Cooking Class … dirty rice.
Friday - something spooky… I’ll post later in the week when I decide what my spooky menu is going to be.
Filed under Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)Menu Plan Monday - Eliza’s birthday edition
We got home yesterday from a weekend at the Nick Hotel in Orlando with Chuck, Stacy and the cousins where we had a wonderful time doing a little pre-birthday celebrating with Eliza. (If you ever get to go, be sure to do so. It’s just a lot of fun.) I’m reasonably sure we’re going to spend most of the rest of the week celebrating as well.
Have I mentioned that I hate packing lunches? Because of Griff’s food allergies, it’s safer for me to pack his lunch. But the things he’ll eat for lunch aren’t things that translate well to travel. He also got the unlucky draw of having PE right after lunch, so everything needs to be really light. So we’re working with the trial and error method at this point. Right now, he’s liking vegetable sushi (which I’m going to try to learn to make myself) and hummus with pretzels and fruit. I’ll take any other suggestions anyone might have.
Monday - turkey burgers with fries and apple slices
Tuesday - chicken Ceasar salad wraps (Eliza most likely won’t eat it, but I may deconstruct one for her and see what happens)
Wednesday - Eliza’s 6th birthday - I always let the kids choose, and she wants to go to the Mongolian Grill. I’ll make her a cake, too… pink with rainbow icing… again, her choice. Wait… no, she just told me she wants to go to Chuck E Cheese. I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re going out.
Thursday - chicken and yellow rice (love the Crock-Pot)
Friday - paninis … easy Friday food
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where did the time go?
I’ll be 40 in a few months, and while I have a lovely life, I sometimes feel like I haven’t really done anything with this life.
I’ve never had a problem with getting older, and I’m significantly older than the people I socialize with at work, and I’m always telling a friend of mine that she shouldn’t worry about her age. But something clicked in my head a few weeks ago that I’m going to be 40 soon, and I can’t shake the sense of unease that realization gives me.
When I was younger, I had a much different vision of 40 than what my life actually looks like.
I work a job that I’m hoping to become good at but that doesn’t nourish me in any way other than monitarily. And now, don’t get me wrong, I know there are people out there who would love to have a job that does even that, and I am endlessly grateful for this job (and the really good health insurance that goes with it). But between the tension of the people around me and the workload and the people yelling at me on the phone, it’s just so draining some days.
After my draining days at work, I come home to additional draining.
Eliza’s at this odd age where she is alternately completely precious and completely infuriating. Literally, every night she screams at me… she throws these horrible fits. And I try to be patient and kind, but they make me feel like such a wretched mother. Now, logically, I know she’s just struggling with learning and frustrated with the newness of wanting to already be good at her sight words but not just yet. But emotionally, it makes me feel like a less than wonderful mother.
I get yelled at during the day at work and yelled at during the night at home. And I look around as I do the countless loads of laundry and as I cook endless meals which people eat or don’t eat with no particular consistency and as I clean the same rooms over and over and I wonder.
I flip through the newspaper and I cruise Facebook and I am too distracted to read books. I want to sign up for classes and learn new things, but I cannot figure out how to find the time.
And I think… is this all there is? Is this the pinnacle of what I’m doing with my life?
Have I completely given up on my own dreams? My oldest friend, LeeAnn, used to remind me that after Mike finished his PhD, it was my turn to follow my dreams. Turns out, I still am following his. He asked me today what my dreams were, what I would like to do. To be honest, I don’t know.
Is there no excitement any longer? Are there no more adrenaline rush opportunities?
I know that I am at my best, my most empowered and useful, when I am most comfortable being who I am. I am the mama. I am everyone’s mama. I’m the mama at home, the mama at work. I take care of people and make them feel comfortable and safe with me, and I know this is a really wonderful thing. But there are days when I wish I was something else, when I miss the carefree options of youth.
This week, I dug a beautiful coffee table out of the garage and gave it to a young friend who had just bought her first home. I told her that table was the last tangible evidence of my youth. It was all iron and glass and was simple and stunning. I loved it. But it was dangerous with the iron and glass. It had been lingering in storage for a decade now. And while it was good and right to give it away, it was also a little sad to say goodbye to my youth that way.
And even in that act, I was being my best self (as Oprah would say). I was generous and kind. I was the mama, taking care of a friend.
But still, I wonder. Is this what I am? Is this all? This mama person. I’ve always been a community girl, loving having people around me, loving being involved with other people. Odd that I so desperately want to have accomplished something on my own, without anyone else’s assistance.
This family that I am so vested in, so proud of is most likely going to be my shining accomplishment in life, and I will be pleased with that. But I’m still a little disappointed in me.
I never wrote anything that touched someone. I never became successful in my field. I don’t have a big nest egg in the bank. I don’t lead anyone.
I’m not quite sure how it’s possible to be so proud of myself (and Mike, of course) for making this marriage work and for making this family work and yet be so disappointed in myself for not accomplishing something in my own right.
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