Halloween is a scant few days away. The pumpkins are on the front step waiting to be carved. The candy hidden from desirous eyes and grabbing hands. T.D.'s costume has been tried on and test driven. She is ready to become Lord Vader. In our house the dog is the princess. Princess Leia to be exact. We are a month from Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and two months from Christmas. Yet somehow emails and phone calls have already begun popping up into my inbox and onto my voicemail regarding holiday menus and logistics. IT'S TOO EARLY! Isn't it? Am I being too nonchalant? I love the holidays don't get me wrong but the frenzy for Turkey day is bearing down and I'm already feeling the stress. Puff pastry? I'm in charge of puff pastry?! I HATE making puff pastry. I suck at it and it stresses me … [Read more...]
Reduce the Crazy- Project Life Change
So there I was reading all about Project Life Change from some great bloggers and I thought, well what a swell idea but I've already done that. Remember? I quit my job back in January to stay home with T.D. and pursue my writing. A life long dream. What could be better than that?Except for one thing. It's called balance. Coupled with my inability to say no to a writing gig or almost anything else and I am swamped! Swamped with writing for free half the time too. Sure I get loads of free products and that's great! My friends think I'm the luckiest person for all that stuff that arrives daily at my front door. Except that they don't have to review it. I get bogged down in the boxes and using things and keeping such a tight schedule. I have stopped enjoying it. I want to do different things … [Read more...]
The Dash Two Factor
What is it about a kid free weekend that makes you wonder and discuss the idea of having another child? That topic came up more than once for H and I this sans T.D. weekend. For me, it surrounded me and clouded my thoughts, making me jump from one opinion to the next never able to land on a definite decision. When it comes to the idea of having another child many thoughts crowd my brain. They plague me and doubt looms large. Can we afford another child? How are we going to have room for another one? Can I stand the body upheaval again and the sickness I might have all the while caring for T.D. and not lose my ever-lovin' mind? I'm not so sure. I am an only child. I see nothing wrong with only children despite H's jokes of, "only children are weird..." I would love to give T.D. a sibling … [Read more...]
A Family that Plays Together, Stays Together
Quality Family Time. "What's that?", I sometimes wonder to myself, when between H and I we juggle a business, my writing, and his full-time 9-5 job. Time can get pretty scarce. We have to count on the little moments. The ones that are short but sweet. Some of my favorite times are meal times. Breakfast or dinner we sit down and talk about our day. T.D. being 18 mos. things can get pretty comical. Flying food, cascading food, and hilarious tantrums can be the norm. Add the dog in and it's a regular party or a pilot for a sitcom. We do a lot of dancing in our house as well, especially in the kitchen. The radio is always on or the iPod is piping music through the house and we all stop to dance in between unloading the dishwasher or cleaning up the kitchen. It's a blast, funny, and makes us … [Read more...]
What We’re Not Going To Talk About
Are we going to talk about the delayed flight home yesterday? Nope.The jerk who made snide comments to my MiL on the flight home and then proceeded to yell at the flights staff, captain, and random airport workers as we deboarded the plane? No.How about the fact that we sat on the tarmac for an hour after sitting at the gate both in departure and deboarding? Sorry, no.We'll also not be discussing overzealous diaper changing grandparents who succeed in going through a whole box of diapers and wipes in four days. Poor T.D. but we're not talking about that either.Nor will we discuss the sheer exhaustion I now feel from only one day of traveling with a toddler even though I had help.I will only say that I adored having a TV back in my room and the Sleuth channel on Direct TV rocks! There is … [Read more...]
Blog Blast! Join the Fun and Do Some Good!
Tell me about your favorite charity, or better yet, head to PBN and post it there. If you are like me there is an organization that you hold near and dear to your heart. Maybe you know someone with cancer and you want to help in anyway you can so you donate to the American Cancer Society. Maybe you love animals and want to help out the local shelter. For me, it is a deeply personal reason that I donate to this one particular organization. They helped me out in so many ways during such a dire time in my life. A time that if they had not been there I would have probably remained broken for years to come if not forever. My life would not be what it is today nor would I. I was in an abyss with no way out and felt completely isolated and alone. The Domestic Violence Resource Center of South … [Read more...]
House Flipper Fantasy
H and I flip houses. We find real estate a fascinating affair. It took me a bit, but I can get just as a excited as he can when it comes down to it. I love the idea of picking out cabinets, flooring, and paint for a house that I will never live in. Seeing how a putrid piece of property shakily standing on its last leg can almost overnight come together into something beautiful makes me proud. We really think of it as a service we are doing for the community not just a job. A beautification of sorts. Though sometimes we get obsessed. We talk about houses and various properties continuously. What's the deal with this one or that one? Have you heard back from the so and so. What custom home builder are we going with for such a major overhaul and so on. Sometimes we fear that we bit more … [Read more...]
In a Child’s Eye’s
Smiling Mom is on vacation. Here is my version for July's blog Exchange. In a child’s eyes she was more than the woman who could scarily flip her eyelids inside out she was the one and only person who I would eat Total cereal and unsalted potato chips for. In a child’s eyes she made ‘Mystery’ just as much fun to watch as ‘Love Boat’ and the Sunday night Disney movie. In a child’s eyes she made swinging on the porch the only way to spend an afternoon, going to the grocery store an adventure with special treats, and she instilled the fine art of French cooking even the dreaded Buche de Noel.In a child’s eyes she would play endless kiddie bits on the piano for a concert of one. In a child’s eyes it was all in good fun and not the glass ceiling breaking concert pianist that she actually … [Read more...]
In an Instant
While H, T.D. and I were enjoying a rather carefree Father's Day yesterday another section of my family was dealing with tragedy. As we strolled through the wetlands near our home taking photographs of birds and other assorted wildlife, an accident occurred that caused that branch of my family to lose a loved one. My mother sent me an email this morning detailing the awful event and while I probably only met this person a handful of times in my life I cried. It's just so damn awful. It breaks my heart. This accident, an ATV one, happened so fast that there was nothing anyone could do. I don't know how else to describe it all except to put in an excerpt of the email-I took out all names-Upon my brother's arrival, he could see that the victim was having great difficulty breathing and was in … [Read more...]
Ah! The Excitement of Youth
I was feeling sort of pissy today what with the oppressive humidity, lack of sleep (ambien? anyone?), and general feeling of doom I sometimes have (I blame it on the fact that I'm from New England and thus partly Puritan or that French gene in me -we piss on a lot simply because we're Frrrrenccch). ANYWAYS....Then, I got this email from my cousin. Her daughter is going into the big pond of middle school next year. When Mom asked her how it went this is what came out."AWESOME!! Their computers are soooo much better than ours and the teachers are all really nice and the principal Mrs. Shaver-Hood, is really cool too!! I can't wait to go there next year and the lunch room is set up really cool Mom, they have snack huts, but good snacks, like yogurt and nuts and cereal and some junkfood but … [Read more...]