Girlymama

I’ve been seeing posts like this cropping up all over the place this week. You write a letter from yourself to yourself in the past. I’ve been thinking about trying it, being totally uninspired this week (My kids are behaving. What else can I write about?) but I can’t get into it.

What would I write?
Dear Self, Hang in there. This awkward stage when you’re wearing glasses, braces and headgear will end eventually…. (self circa 1990)
or
Dear Self, Stay away from that guy. You know which on I mean… (self circa 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1997 again, 1997 again (not a good year), 1998….)
or
Dear Self, Enjoy this time before you and your husband have kids. Sleep. Go out and enjoy the city. Save some money. Here’s an idea – buy a house before prices in your area double… (self, circa 2000)
or
Dear Self, Keep you damn mouth shut! What’s the matter with you? (self, circa my whole life)

When I look back at my life there are certainly things that sucked. Things that I think that would love to change or things that I would pay money to do-over.  But… would I really want to? There are definatly completely stupid things I have said that I would love to take back. But besides that? Nothing, really.
In Bible Study this week we read this passage:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have recieved from God.” 2 Cor. 1:3-4
The things I have experienced in my life – good and bad – are a testimony of God’s love, grace, mercy and faithfulness. Which I am able to share and use to comfort others in my life as a testimony to Him. Its so hard to imagine that some of the darkest moments in my life can be used to glorify God – but they can. Much more effectively than my proudest moments.  I just have to be humble and brave enough to share them.

Besides, any advise I would have told myself in the past was either in the Bible or told to me by my mother. I probably just wasn’t listening.

This is Ellie’s new favorite hobby. I sit on the piano bench and she sits next to me. I play a song and she sings. There are a few rules:
1) Do not sing along, this is The Ellie Show, thank you very much.
2) Do not talk amongst yourselves. Focus on The Ellie Show, please.
3) Do not try to walk by The Ellie Show without stopping and watching in awe.
4) Applaud. Loudly.

It won’t let me put it in my post, so click here. Hum. Or try this. Or this. Yahoo is being retarded, sorry.

Like usual, I’m unintentionally fashionably late. But, I made it and that’s what counts.

I actually love, love, love hosting real parties at my house. I love having girlfriends over to chat over coffee and a baked treat (while our kids destroy the play room.) So grab a muffin and lets chat.

We live just outside Philadelphia. I’m a stay-at-home mom of two little girls who I swear are not as angelic as they look. You can learn about them and me on my about me page and my 100 things page. I love my job, but occasionally fantasize about running away to Aruba.

This is me: 
  Just kidding! This is me (and Ellie):

I started blogging about nine months ago when a friend of mine convinced me to give it a try. We have lots of family who love far away, so I started a blog to keep them updated without sending out 37 e-mails a week. I really liked it, but wanted to write more personal stuff so I started another one for me.  Its been a very fun and therapeutic way to waste time 😉 I’ve really enjoyed reading the mommy-blogs and hearing about other people who I can relate to.

Thanks for dropping by!  Here’s the recipe for the incredible muffins you’ve been inhaling as we’ve been chatting:
blueberry muffins
makes about 12 regular sized muffins6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 3/4 cups blueberries (or any chopped fruit)

Preheat the over to 375; spray muffin tin (preferably with Pam for Baking – genius!) and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add egg, yolks and vanilla; mix until well combined. Reduce speed to low, alternately adding reserved flour mixture and milk to mixer, begin and end with the flour. Remove bowl from mixer to gently fold in berries by hand. Divide among muffin tins and sprinkle generously with sugar (preferably demerara sugar). Bake until light golden, about 30 minutes. Cool in the pan for around 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

We are pretty sure that Ellie is sleepwalking. We keep finding her at night standing in the hallway or in the middle of her room, crying and looking confused. When we try to talk to her, its like she can’t hear us. 
Should we be worried?
Anyone have any experience with this?
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I made some serious progress today on mission: organization. Both girls rooms are sorted through and cleaned. I am extremely proud of plopping them in front of a new movie and going to town, sorting through all their stuffed animals and getting rid of a bunch. I have three huge crates of toys and clothes that I can sell at the consignment sale next month. You can now walk through the room to the window, which I consider progress. Still loads to do, but I feel so much better just having started!
As kimmyrose said in her blog the other day, “Once you’ve begun, the job is half done.”
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Does it take anyone else ALL DAY to do laundry? I started at 8am and I’m still going.
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What I learned about parenting today:
This week, we’re learning about the letter “B” in our house. Today we baked brownies, got balloons from Trader Joe’s and made necklaces out of beads. When you make beaded necklaces with or for children, do NOT use elastic string. Because their daddy, who thought it would be fun, taught them to shoot rubber bands across the room. They will then turn the necklaces into huge, heavy flying weapons. Until the strings break, then they explode into a zillion pieces of bead-shrapnel.  
Good times. Good times.

I’m normally extremely organized. Even my freezer is organized. Except for one room. The spare bedroom, where we have lots of stuff waiting to be stored other places that aren’t ready yet. (like the crawl space…) 

I’m completely embarrassed to put this on the internet, but this is is what the spare bedroom looks like right now.  I’ve been sorting through bins of the girls’ clothes on and off for about a month, getting ready for a big consignment sale I’m selling in. And going through everything, trying to thin out our junk. But I must, repeat must, get this cleaned up in time for houseguests this weekend. So, I need to get my rear in gear.
Here’s my organization mission for the week:

Ugh. It looks like one of those crazy houses featured on Oprah when people are “crippled by clutter” and need “intervention.”

Group therapy: Party with the girlfriends! Joy had an empty house for the night, so we had a party. Good food, pomegranate martinis, and tons of laughter. Then some of us stayed fora good ol’ fashioned sleepover, complete with all of us piling into her bed and chatting and giggling ’till the wee hours of the morning. So therapeutic.
Bonus: by my going away for the night, Gracie decided that she does like me. She apparently really missed me and is now my little buddy again.
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Retail therapy! Husband and I went out to Lancaster to go to the outlets. We needed a wedding gift for a friend and hit up the Pottery Barn Outlet. Where all furniture is 30% off. And all bedding is 25% off. And they had the silk quilt I have been wanting for three years for less than half price. As in $200 off. Only they were out of queen size. Dang.  We were seriously tempted by these chairs, but managed to show some self-control. We only bought the wedding gift – a $100 wool throw for only $30.
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Laughter. Best medicine there is.

Mama!! I stuck!!

(Yes. That is a toilet seat.)

This morning I walked in to the dining room to see the girls having a food fight, throwing pancakes at each other and laughing their tails off. Upon seeing my face, which must have been priceless since I am normally not the most cheerful person in the morning anyways, Ellie says “Look, Mom. The pancakes are snowballs! We’re havin’ a snowball fight – just like you showed us!!”

Is there something in the lunar cycles this week? Are everyone’s kids are going nuts or am I just lucky?

I’m so done parenting for the morning. Possibly for the week. So ignore all that touching stuff I wrote last week for my baby’s fourth birthday. I no longer feel that way about my children. At all.

This morning Ellie kicked the pediatrician in the face while the doctor was trying to give her a shot while I held her down as she screamed her head off.* And the doctor told me I needed to get her speech tested because Ellie can’t talk. She can talk just fine, she just was acting like an idiot in front of the doctor. Doctor: Ellie, what comes after 4? Ellie: I don’t know. Me: (inside my head) YES YOU DO!!! Doctor: What’s your full name? Ellie: Wiz-a-beff Nay-na Me: You can say your name. STOP MAKING ME LOOK BAD!! So after making me look like the world’s worst parent in front of the doctor, Doctor: I think she might have some social issues. Me: I’ll show you some social issues, kid. we went to the library, where I had to pay $11.80 in fines because our books were a week late.** Then, she pooped in the library. In her pants. In the middle of the library. She has not had an accident in months. And she does it this morning when my patience is non-existent.

Grace has decided that she no longer likes me. This is not in my head: “I don’t like you, Mama,” she says to me several times a day. She has cried for over 6 hours this week*** because she “doesn’t want Mama. I want Daddy. I don’t like you.” This morning she cried because Husband brought her into our bed and put her next to me. She didn’t want to even lay next to me.  She has said this in front of the doctor today, to her grandmother, to the Sam’s cashier and to her Bible Study teacher. She’s crying for Daddy right now because I told her to stop unrolling toilet paper all over the bathroom.  Apparently “I mean to her”. Betcha didn’t know how mean I was, huh? I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with this until she was at least 12.

Mama needs a drink. Do I have to wait until dinner?
*While Ellie screamed her head off, Grace screamed at the doctor to “Stop it! Stop hurt my Ellie!!!” Which was sort-of touching, but sort-of added to my annoyance at the freaking-out.
**This fits in nicely in my week of wasting money.
***literally.

update: Husband came home at lunch to help me out (or check up on me… we’ll say ‘help me out’) and the kids have been sleeping for two hours now, so life is looking more rosy. Sleep should help. And dinner out with friends tomorrow night. Meanwhile, I’m hanging in there, reading the cookbooks I got from the library today. This is fan-tastic. I’m going to find something to make for dinner that goes well with wine.

Easter Dresses

Again! Ellie was asked to be a flower girl in the wedding we’re going to in April (which has been slightly overshadowed by the fact that we are going to Disneyland the week before. You may have heard and not noticed that the reason we are going to CA is because of this wedding. Probably because I don’t think I mentioned it in my excitement to go to Disney. Not that I don’t love the bride and groom, but its Disney. Disney!!) 
Anyway, she l-o-v-e-s to be the flower girl. Heck, she’d prefer to be the bride, but anything that has her up front with people taking pictures of her is fine by her. Her shyness tends to wear off as soon as she’s in front of a crowd. Don’t know where she got that from. ahem.
She’s done this twice before, so I’m sure she’ll be great! I mean look how cute! Look!!