Monday, August 30, 2010

No More Plastic Cups

This summer I had lunch with some friends from high school and along with being a delightful way to spend an afternoon, I also became inspired. My friend, Molly, has three kids that are all out of the toddler phase, not in college and out of the house, but at the nice age of reason & understanding (ages 5-12, as I see it). She has done something that is truly genius. She has rid her house of all plastic cups. No sippy cups, no little plastic cups from restaurants, none of it...NO PLASTIC CUPS. She simply, and confidently, stated; "They are not babies. They can drink out of glasses like people." Why do I find this so brilliant? It is because each time I open one particular cupboard in my kitchen I am bombarded (and sometimes actually physically assaulted) by plastic cups. None, that I have actually purchased, just the crap from restaurants, ball games, and birthday party favors. Really, just a pile of rubbish. I too am at the stage where my kids are reasonable, and fully capable of handling glassware. I however am a chicken, and I fear that ridding the house of the plastic cups will somehow bring on a plague of clumsiness, and stitches from stepping on broken glass. However, I strive, by Molly's brave example, to have a more grown up house. There are some nice things around this place that have been cast aside and put in storage since kids came into the picture. It is time to un-baby proof the joint. I can have exposed electrical outlets now. I do not need cabinet locks, okay I never had them because I found them to be too difficult to operate. The old baby gates that are in storage need to just leave this house. I am going glass. That is right, no more unnecessary safety measures. We are living on the edge. I am reclaiming my former decorative style. No longer shall I look at objects of art as possible choking hazards. Thanks to Molly I know that I can start living an adult life again. Yes, I am still a parent with responsibilities to keep my kids safe, but now I am a parent of children that have the good sense to not eat, lick, or stick their fingers in everything they see. And drink out of glasses made of glass. That alone will make for a great week. Happy Monday!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Word...It's Wednesday

This week I give you a little gem. If you can not use this word on a daily basis, you need to rethink your worldview.
minutiae- (mih-NOO-shuh) noun. Small, trifling matters that one encounters on an average day.
We could not being to cover the major agenda items during the meeting because the committee was more interested in discussing the minutiae of office politics.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Get Back to School Already!!!

One of my favorite things as a child was going "back to school" shopping. I loved getting the supplies, the new sneakers, the clothes, the haircut...pretty much the whole deal was great with me. As a parent of two kids, I do not share this lovely feeling anymore. Maybe its because my kids are not as gung-ho about all the running around and shopping. They both love the trip for school supplies, so I have that going for me. Otherwise, one hates haircuts, the other does not like to try on clothing, both have shoe issues (they have their mother's big feet). In short there are abundant complaints and much foot dragging. No one wants to wait while the other picks out clothes. Then the ugly clothing suggestions happen. Somehow, my kids have the ability to seek out the most hideous looking shirt and then say, "You would look GREAT in this". Naturally in a really snippy tone that suggests their sibling is equally as hideous looking as the garment. Mind you, both are quite pleasing to the eye (maybe I am biased). I do not recall giving my mother this treatment. I did not heckle my siblings and cause scenes in the store, at least I do not think I did. Mind you, we are no where close to being "fully stocked and ready", but we must continue to fight the good fight for school readiness.
The bigger issue right now is the kids just need to get back to school. I am officially done with summer. We have wrung out all the fun we possibly can from the Summer 2010. Now we are left with a few more weeks of summer break and a general state of aggravation and annoyance with each other. I am sick of nagging, they are sick of hearing me nag. No one wants to be near anyone. Yet we are forced to go store to store getting the necessities for school. My mistake was having kids of two different genders, five years apart. There are not many stores that accommodate both of their clothing preferences and my budget preferences. If they insist upon growing, I insist upon not spending a fortune. Seeing as there is no way to change the gender and age issues, I am forced to vent to you about my back to school problems. This is becoming a solid argument for year around school. If they go to school all year, then there is no "back to school" push for new clothes and shoes. It would be like work clothes, you get new things as the old wear out. I never thought I would support the school all year movement, but the length of the summer break and the crazy-making back to school shopping have me seriously considering the some of the advantages of going to school all year. Maybe once school starts and things settle back into a routine I will change my mind. Until next year when the back to school push starts once again.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Word...It's Wednesday

FYI- Still not caught up on life after the vacation and bridal shower. However, my problems with organization should not keep you from building a better vocabulary. So here we go...
petulant- (PET-chew-lant) adj. Describes someone who sulks, complains, or whines because he or she is acting immaturely or is ill-tempered.
I had to sever all ties with Simon since he seemed unable to control his petulant pouting.
Note to readers...unless I post a picture I generally make up names for my sentences. I do not know a petulant Simon or anyone named Simon. Please never take offense if I use your name. I am not really thinking of you, unless it is something glowing and fabulous, then of course its you. Happy Wednesday!!!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Catching Up...

So...sorry for the lack of posts of late. Vacations and a party girl life style have cut me off from the cyber world. Now after two weeks of fun, fun, fun, I have to get back to reality. The harsh reality of dinner prep, laundry, yard, cleaning, (and repeat) is upon me. I am actually blogging as a way to put off the yard that is getting pretty ragged looking. Catching up is the worst. I often wish there was a special service that could come in and do all the detail stuff (groceries, laundry, yard) until I feel up to taking it all back. I am not sure I would take any of it back, and then I would be a fancy lady with "help". Sadly, I am not a person cut out to have "help" come in and touch my things. So I am catching up on everything and putting away the vacation state of mind for awhile. I will get back to observing the world and commenting upon it as soon as I can see the floor in front of my washer and dryer...and find the cat.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Word...It's Wednesday


Today's word starts with my favorite letter of the alphabet, Q. Yes, I like the letter Q. I am not sure most people have a favorite letter, but I do. I like the sound of Q, or should I say "Qu", since Q is always with "u", well in most cases. Anyway...enjoy.


quintessential- Adjective. The most perfect or typical example of its category or kind.


Betsy's dog Ollie is the quintessential yellow Labrador Retriever.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Earworms

I get songs stuck in my head all the time. Almost daily. A few years ago I heard someone call the song stuck in their head an "earworm". I immediately latched onto this term. It is pretty gross sounding, but having a song, especially an annoying song, stuck in one's head is pretty disturbing too. Fortunately, I seem to get a good mix of good songs and fewer annoying songs. This week will be an exception. It is Vacation Bible School week. A week full of songs about good things like trust, love, caring, discipleship, and sharing. A week full of songs that are very repetitious, and these songs get stuck and become earworms on steroids. I should feel bad about complaining these virtue extolling songs, but I do not because ever since I played the VBS CD to get familiar with the songs, the theme song "wormed" me. So for a few days I have found myself singing "It's a Baobab, It's a Baobab Blast....". I will not give you all the lyrics, but those are the sticky ones. Even the kids roll their eyes at me as I try to sing it out of my head. By the way, "singing it out" does not work with VBS songs, it just makes you do the hand motions and dance steps. So as much as I love VBS and doing the science activities with the kids, the songs haunt me. I know I will have a great time this week, I just hope that the songs will quit "worming" me. I wish you all an earworm-free week.