Category Archives: just plain drivel.

on feeling sorry

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Sometimes it takes a few moments (or hours) of feeling sorry for yourself to turn around and kick yourself in the ass… So here’s the story. I left the house the other day with a little birdie who really needed to nap, but didn’t want to nap more than a little bit. Sooooo outside we ventured. We wandered around the neighborhood to see all the pumpkins, goblins, witches, spider webs, acorns and leaves. We found ourselves in front of the pink house, which houses thirteen (13!) children. Just as I was chasing my one (1) child as she was darting into the road, The Mom came out of the house. As usual, she looked fantastic. She’s probably a bit too old to be wearing the trendy little dress and leggings she was confidently sporting, but because she has a great body she seems to be able to pull it off. As we chatted, I thought about what I had thrown on. Oof. The pants were fine, but the rest? Oh my. The comfy (read: too big and dowdy) sweater WITH the pants? Not a good choice. And because I couldn’t find my default black boots, I was wearing a pair of old running shoes. And my Mom Hair — always a pony tail, now about a year overdue for a real haircut–nice. The only thing that looked good? My toes. But only because I had a pedicure about two weeks ago. Of course, The Mom could not see those…

But it gets worse. The Mom asked me what Wren was going to be for Halloween. Side note: although she has 13 children, she always is the first one in the conversation to ask about my child. I didn’t really want to tell her that I was thinking of dressing Wren up as Andy Warhol because I’m not sure she’d quite understand so I told her that I was thinking (which I had been!) about making Wren an apple costume because she’s obsessed with apples (which she very much is), but I wasn’t quite sure “if I could get it together by then.” Then I remembered with whom I was speaking. The Mom. She went on to sweetly tell me about all her (13!) kids and their costumes. Sigh. At about that moment, the only thing that saved me from continuing down this soul-sucking road was that Wren tried to dart into the street again, another one of her recent obsessions. So that was my out.

The little birdie and I kept walking and I decided that a coffee would really perk me up. With some sugar. Yeah, caffeine and sugar, that’s what I needed. I ordered a pumpkin pie latte, which friends had been raving about, but, ahem, gag. Do not put a pumpkin pie into a cup of professionally-steamed espresso. Repeat after me. That’s about when it dawned on me. No amount of caffeine and sugar was really going to make me feel better or more confident as I walked around with a sad excuse for an outfit and a ‘do. And a “woe is me” attitude.

Hair appointment is tomorrow. And I’m getting IT back. Myself, that is. But not like my old pre-baby self. She’s gone, but that’s OK. Because I’m here and I’ve got everything I need. Nothing like a swift kick in the ass.

She walks!

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Yes, the little birdie walks! And with gusto. It’s joyful (with a hint of terror!) to hear the pitter-patter of her steps ’round and ’round the house. And she’s awfully proud of herself. Truth be told, her Mamma is tearfully proud too. Sniffle sniffle. Wasn’t she just a tiny little lady who smelled like sugar cookies, fresh from the safety and warmth of Mamma’s womb? Sigh.

Needless to say (err, write), we’ve been a bit busy to be spending too much time in good ole Cyberspace. Little Miss Go Big or Go Home has been a hoot lately. 13 months was a tough time with a lot of frustrations and changes, but 14, almost 15 months? A riot! Wren has been settling in well to her two mornings at school. She still cries a bit when I leave her, but within a few minutes she’s fine. Whew.

So what’s my other excuse for ignoring you lovelies lately? Summer! We’ve been spending a lot of time in the water, trying to escape the high heat and humidity. I love Mother Nature’s air conditioning, don’t you? Although I am happily wearing long sleeves today, I wouldn’t mind another month or so of playing at the water’s edge with the little birdie. Aah, the simple things.

How’s your summer been going? Have you found some means of escaping the oppressive heat and humidity? Chris likes to remind me to store it up for the long winter ahead, but I haven’t figured out exactly how to do that yet… you? Any tips?

Happy Monday, dear readers! I have a lot to catch up on with you. I have literally started four other posts, but haven’t completed them yet. In time.

Best!

purging, part 1

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Purging our house of all the excess stuff and hosting “The North’s Best Tag Sale” seemed like a great idea about a month ago. But (you saw that coming, did you, smarty pants?) now I can’t wait until it’s over and the junk wonderful items that everyone in the neighborhood is going to be elbowing their way in for are going-going-gone from our nest. Forever. This month-long process has been a tremendous amount of work and I only have a fraction of items tagged and everything for the sale is still sitting in boxes in the basement. The next 36 hours? Oof.

Will it be worth it? Financially, probably not. Are tag (garage, yard, what do you call them?) sales ever really worth the time once you’ve figured out the finances? No, but I knew that going into it. I decided to do it for a few other reasons.

  • Get rid of stuff and help friends and family get rid of stuff too
  • Have a more clean and organized basement and not grumble and sigh every time I go down the stairs
  • Control clutter throughout the house
  • Feel lighter
  • Meet a few neighbors (we’ve lived here a little over a year and there are still people in our neighborhood we haven’t met yet)
  • Relish in organizing a mini retail store for a day (this could be a whole post by itself)
  • Host a live sociological study – the interactions with the people will be priceless, no? Part of the reason I go to garage sales in the first place… and yes, I realize I’m part of the study so come on over and observe!
  • Make a few bucks toward a DSLR camera (!)

I will post later this weekend with the results and insights. In the meantime, I’m off to make more signs and tag some more items. Aren’t you just on the edge of your seat? Ha!

Have a great weekend, lovelies. Any fun summer plans? Enjoy.

proof of a good day

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Do you sometimes have doubts that your day was well spent? I (occasionally) do. But when you’re 14 months old, your clothes tell the story that your day indeed was full of life. You lovely little people always live to the fullest and this is endlessly inspiring. And exhausting.

Blueberries. Check! Strawberries. Check! Dirt from exploring the yard. Check! Grub from the slides at the playground. Check! I almost don’t want to wash her outfit. I want time to stand still.

Virtual A/C

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I don’t like air conditioning, but when the sweat begins to drip down my torso and Wren and I are stuck together in one big nursing sweat ball, a part of me wishes for a little burst of good ole fashioned a/c. You?

Voila! Virtual a/c in the form of Chilly Willy. Are you cooler yet?

Summer is here.

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Happy Summer Solstice to you, dear readers. It’s decidedly summer here: 75 and sunny and the bikinis are at the beach. We had a fun beach day yesterday to celebrate Father’s Day and I was very concerned about Wren’s precious skin so she was generously slathered with sunscreen, but I neglected to do the same for my own skin. Result? The season’s first (and hopefully, last) sunburn. Oops. Sigh.

Because I’m a list-maker and my Spring Forward list kept me focused on enjoying Spring’s delights, I will do the same for summer. So here goes…

  • pick lots of strawberries and blueberries to enjoy and put up for a long winter
  • enjoy a huge, fresh sandwich from the Village Cheese Shanty in Leland
  • feel good after running the National Cherry Festival 15K – this is coming up more quickly than I thought so we’ll see how good I feel…
  • I know I said (err, wrote) at some point about how I WAS NOT going to make marshmallows from scratch (so utterly Martha), but with it being s’mores season and all, I’m inspired to make some marshmallows, roast them (a bit burnt is my style), then sandwich them with some really good chocolate between a couple graham cracker pieces. Wondering if I will notice a difference. What do you think?
  • spend lots of evenings on the porch with dear Chris
  • wear a pretty sundress while playing bocce and sipping a fancy cocktail
  • swim, swim, swim, swim. A lot.
  • eat lots of salads and grilled meat. Yes!
  • enjoy my annual corn dog and maybe even an elephant ear or funnel cake… oof.
  • make progress on my Dairy Lodge Diet. I’ve been slacking lately and I need to get back at it!
  • take Wren to her first Northwest Michigan Fair. “Goin’ to the fair, goin’ to the fair, goin’ to the Northwest Michigan Fair!”
  • frequent our local farmer’s markets and art fairs
  • have a big garage sale and get rid of some stuff (err, junk)
  • visit Werner’s vineyard. He makes my favorite local wine: Left Foot Charley’s Pinot Blanc. Lovely!
  • pickle something from my garden
  • make some kind of jam. Strawberry?
  • be overwhelmed with harvesting all the veggies from my garden. This would be a good problem to have. We’ll see… so far, so good.
  • enjoy the summer sunrises as much as the sunsets
  • stay up late to be awed by the Perseid meteor showers in August
  • picnic, picnic, picnic. Doesn’t everything taste better when you’re eating it outside?
  • erect our hammock and enjoy a few lazy moments
  • read a book. The whole book. Wow, what an idea! Got any suggestions?
  • run through the sprinkler
  • chase the ice cream truck
  • be barefoot most of the time
  • make Wren’s play kitchen – similar to this one
  • create bouquets from our zinnias and bells of ireland
  • dance with the little birdie at the Cedar Polka Fest. She is going to LOVE it!
  • get on the water in someone else’s boat… anyone?
  • take Chris out to eat at Siren Hall for a date night
  • take in a few films at the Traverse City Film Festival
  • do a weekend camping trip and eat hot dogs, plain potato chips, a bottle of Faygo rock & rye and german potato salad from a can
  • sleep outside
  • enjoy a campfire and cheesy camp songs

Oh my, I could go on, but I better stop. If I think of more, I’ll add them later… What do you look forward to this summer?

Happy longest day of the year, lovelies! Any fun pagan rituals planned for tonight? Enjoy!

yeeeeeesss!

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I saw this photo on Waldorf Modern’s site and HAD to share. It made my heart skip a beat. You?

I am getting more and more annoyed with people and awful, rude cell phone behavior so this sign made me smile. I want to wear a t-shirt (all the time) that says something to the effect of, “really? Is that phone call so much more important than the interaction we’re having right now? In person? Live? Here? Now?” AAAAHHHHH!

OK, glad I got that off my chest. But really, people’s behavior gets worse and worse. Agree? Or maybe the t-shirt should read, “Just because your phone rings, doesn’t mean you have to answer it.”

Are you as p-o’ed as me? Or doesn’t it bother you?

Back to that sign. Isn’t it lovely? Happy Friday, lovelies! May you enjoy the people with whom you choose to spend your time and ignore your phone.

a few things

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Just wanted to check in with you and let you know I’m thinking about you, but I’m also thinking about a lot of other things so my blog is going to look a bit neglected. For a little bit. Here are a few snippets of life from our nest:

  • Chris broke his wrist and while it’s amazing to see what he can accomplish around our nest and at work with only one hand plus some fingers from another, it’s still a major bummer for the nest.
  • Ever had mastitis? It knocked me out cold for a few days. Ever been hit by a truck? That’s what I felt like. I’m so sorry if you really were hit by a truck because I’m sure it was a lot worse, but you get the point. Pain is really interesting because the pain of natural childbirth, or any kind of childbirth for that matter, is intense to be sure, but it comes with a purpose and that makes all the difference. When was your last paper cut? OUCH!
  • Wren will be going to “school” a couple mornings a week pretty soon so I can make some progress on my *work* and she can play with some other kiddos. As she’s becoming a busier little 20 pound tornado, my *work* has slowed to glacial speed. No big surprise there!
  • Wren likes to pull herself up on everything and walk along the furniture, but no real walking yet. Any bets on when that might be? She’ll probably skip over walking and go straight to running, the little high-energy lady that she is.
  • We’re in the process of refinancing our house. Finance, yuck.
  • The garden is doing great and I did some bittersweet thinning yesterday. We had a delicious salad with assorted microgreens: spinach, radish, beet, mesclun mix, ooh la la. We also enjoyed our very first red, ripe strawberry, which you can see if you look closely… Here are a couple pics of the gardens and flowers and I promise more on that process later. Enjoy!


These are my zinnias I grew from seed in the sunroom this spring. They make me smile. The best $1.99 I have spent in a while.

What’s been happening in your nest? How are your gardens growing? Have a lovely weekend if I don’t see you in Cyberspace. And a hip hip hooray for all the Dads out there. Although it’s obvious that we literally could not do this (life, that is) without you, we adore you and how much you absolutely adore our kiddos. XO

What’s your color personality?

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Have a few more minutes to spare in Cyberspace? Check out this color personality quiz.

Here’s what I learned about myself:

You are dynamic, your actions are only directed by your own will and you know how to lead people. You are also able to have in-depth thinking, you think before acting, and you know how to communicate your knowledge. Finally you are a manager and a structured person, you know how to take into account the needs of each person while leading them towards the set goals.

Well, I’m not so sure, but it was a fun five minutes! I always love looking at colors so it wasn’t too much of a wasted five minutes. Enjoy!