Hugs and Health

Posted on 05/29/2015 by chick

Marshall: I want to hug you forever. I don’t want you to die.
Mommy: Well, I’ll try not to.
Marshall: But you can’t stop yourself.
Mommy: I can take good care of myself and live longer.
Marshall: Then I want you to eat lots of vegetables. And hundreds of healthy fruits. And not too much fat.

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Project Completed

Posted on 05/28/2015 by chick

I could not get either my husband or my mother to look over the photo album that I created for my dad. Oh, well. So I proofed it myself. I was up past midnight working on it, but I finished it and ordered it. No doubt I missed some typos and other opportunities to improve the album. But I saved 50% and got free shipping, and I gave Shutterfly enough time to process and ship the order before Father’s Day (I hope). So I’m feeling good about it, even though I’m dragging from the lack of sleep.

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Today’s Project

Posted on 05/22/2015 by chick

I was cleaning off my desk when I found two partial sheets of stickers. One was creepy-crawlies (snakes, snails, millipedes, etc.) and the other monsters. Some of the stickers were damaged, so I cut off the bad ones and stuck the good ones into envelopes. Then I created two tree posters and turned the whole thing into a project for the kids. I left it on the table for them. It looked like this:

project

Marshall didn’t even ask for a snack when he got home from school, because he wanted to get started on the project right away. I enjoyed watching them work on it. I especially enjoyed the song that Marshall improvised as he arranged his stickers on the tree. Here’s how some of it went.

It went up the tree. Tree, tree, tree. A bee with another bee.

It went buzz, buzz, buzz, running down.

Snail up the tree. Snail up the tree. Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm.

There’s a little worm diggy-diggy down.

Buggin’ up the tree. Buggin’ up the tree.

And here is the finished project. Marshall’s creepy-crawly tree is on the left and Livia’s monster tree on the right. The blue dots are rain.

project 2

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Overheard

Posted on 05/17/2015 by chick

I don’t deliberately listen to other people’s conversations, but every once in a while I overhear a comment that strikes me as funny. Here’s the one I overheard today while shopping.

That’s not God. That’s somebody’s stupid head.

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A Story With Teeth

Posted on 05/15/2015 by chick

Marshall got his teeth cleaned and treated with fluoride for the first time last week. He was so excited about it! Then he lost a tooth the next day. His sixth. I would have thought it was only his fifth, but I had just been poking around in some containers and had found a tooth wrapped up in a tissue. Since he’s the only one here who has lost any teeth, it had to have been his, and it brought the (then) total up to five.

Finding that tooth made me recall something from my own childhood. I once discovered some teeth in my mother’s jewelry box. I remember thinking that the teeth, still reddish at the roots, were gross and creepy. It never occurred to me that they might have been mine or my brother’s, but why else would my mother have had a tooth collection?

P.S. Don’t let your mind dwell on the idea of why else a woman might have teeth in her jewelry box. It’s too terrible to consider!

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Random 1

Posted on 05/12/2015 by chick

Anxiety can be a big problem for me. To combat it, I have to remember to limit my caffeine intake, eat regular meals, and engage in activities (like music) that calm me. Yesterday I failed at the first two, so I sat down at my piano, played some Coldplay, and sang along. It’s hard to be anxious when you’re singing.

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Mother’s Day 2015

Posted on 05/10/2015 by chick

I had a great Mother’s Day this year. First, there was the treasure trove that the kids brought home with them from school.

gifts

Mother’s Day Gifts

Livia gave me a tile with a picture of her on it. Marshall gave me a marigold in a holder that he decorated. He also gave me the teabag and the note.

tea

Sweet Tea Message

ILoveYou

“Mommy, I love you, and I love all of the nice things you do.”

Then, with their Daddy’s help, the kids made and decorated this amazing cake.

cake

Brightly-Decorated Cake

Thanks to my family for the memorable day!

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Blessing in Disguise

Posted on 04/27/2015 by chick

I don’t have enough time to do all the things that I want to do. Yesterday I was in the mood to write, and though I did do some writing, I spent most of my day on other things. I went for a long, leisurely hike in the woods. When I got home, I played my piano. Before bedtime, I read some more of Savvy, which is the book that’s currently on my nightstand, and the first book that I’ve read for months.

I did these particular things because they are my primary hobbies. I have other hobbies, not to mention a slew of interests. One could say that I have too many. I know people who don’t really have any, and I feel sorry for them. How do they keep themselves busy when they don’t have to work? I could keep myself busy indefinitely. But right now, I don’t have the time to pursue any hobby whole-heartedly. And while I may complain about it, I know that it is in its own way a blessing. The other things that take up my time are my job, which pays the bills, and my kids, who are wonderful. I miss having tons of spare time, but I wouldn’t trade away my livelihood or my kids to have it.

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Eighth Year

Posted on 04/20/2015 by chick

April 19th was my 8th anniversary of blogging. It came and went without any fuss. I didn’t schedule a post for that day, though I had intended to. But that’s the story of the blog lately: plenty of good intentions, but no posts. Most days, I’ve just been too tired and distracted to take a piece of writing all the way to a conclusion.

I’m not going to be too hard on myself about this. Though I’ve only been posting a few times per month, those posts are better than nothing. There are many things that I recorded here that I would have forgotten otherwise. I particularly like the posts about the kids. I think they will amuse me and my husband for many years to come. Maybe my kids will enjoy reading about them, too, someday.

Still, I could do so much more. I should do more. If I want my future self to have posts to read later, I need to write them now. I will try to keep that in mind over the course of the next year.

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Anniversaries

Posted on 04/04/2015 by chick

There is nothing like a big, evenly-divisible-by-five anniversary to make one realize the passage of time. I have several special anniversaries this year. The biggest are these:

  • 25 years since my high-school graduation year (had I actually graduated)
  • 20 years since college graduation and since I started my job (who stays at a job for 20 years anymore?)
  • 15 years since meeting my husband and quitting smoking

It is also alarming to realize that I’ve lived in Rhode Island for 8 years (though I still feel, to some extent, like I belong in CT), and that I’ll be celebrating my 7th wedding anniversary in the fall. The elder of my two children will turn 6 this year.

Time flies. No, it’s worse than that. It wings away before we can even catch our breath and take in the view!

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