I gots nuthin

seriously, folks.  long week.  i was going to title this post, “Without Nap” making a pun on the textiles meaning of nap, and the fact that i don’t sleep much, but who am i kidding?  that’s like beyond an awkward pun, n’est-ce pas?  suffice it to say, i had great fun at my first sewing class last night.  but, even for a non-stop chatterer like myself, 2 1/2 hrs is a lot of chat.  i don’t have any chat left right now.  i’m sorry that i’m giving you my chat leavin’s, as it were, but i think i’m going to go zone out to downloaded tv and laundry folding.  how’s that for glamorous???

Question o’ the day:  what’s the best or worst extemporaneous (as in, on the spot) pun that you’ve ever punned?

I’m free. free-falling.

Okay, so it finally caught up with me.  i haven’t really been myself this last few weeks (whatever ‘myself’ usually means), emotionally speaking.  I’ve been trying to figure out what’s up: hormones?  too much ‘project runway’?  lack of sleep?  all of the above?  Well, it is some of all those things, but last night, like the proverbial brick, the realization hit me:  I AM THE MOTHER OF A SCHOOL-AGED CHILD.  And, as such, I’ve once again hit (check out my new little phrase)  Identity Freefall.  By this, i mean that oh-so-lovely redefining process we women (sorry gents, but it’s true) must become so familiar with as we negotiate our ever-changing roles–single, married, mother, divorced, working mom, at home mom, etc…  I personally experience it as some kind of psychological splintering effect.  one day, i’m just me.  the next day, i see this new version of me walking and talking and being perceived by a new social group, and i feel like i don’t know who this new person is, or whether i want anything to do with her.  Eventually, i think, i’m able to incorporate this new ’self’ into my old familiar one, as just an aspect or facet of the person i am.  but, for the adjustment period, i am way freaked out most of the time.  do any of you feel at all like this?  if it’s just me, that’s okay.

that’s all to say that i am finding life pretty bizarre lately, have been (at times, okay, a lot of times) heinously cranky with my husband, and distant with my children.  my m.i.l. assures me that it does in fact pass, and that, as time goes on, these shifts of identity get easier, which is soothing news to my somewhat troubled psyche.  so, for now, i’m just trying to see how this all shakes down, and hope that the voice screaming, “I’M TOO YOUNG FOR THIS! RUN AWAY!!!” in my head decides to take a chill pill somewhat soon and mellow out.

So, there you have it, dear folks.  And now, for something completely different.  Question o’ the day:  Have you ever been to Disneyland?  if so, what was your favourite ride/attraction?

p.s. i am, in fact, going to said magick kingdome sometime soon (instead of investing in a new fence/landscaping–how’s that for irresponsible?   just in case you were wondering why the random question about ‘Walt’s Place’ as we so euphemistically call it at our house.  (the children do NOT know that they are going. so, sshhhhhhhh.)

First Helper of The Year

it helps that her name begins with “A”:

Don’t you love the last comment???

Why must all good things come to an end?

last evening, after a very very busy day that had begun at 6:21 am, i smucked the back corner of our car as i was parking it in our tiny carport.  nothing major, but enough scratchiness for it to need a trip to the body shop to be prettied up.  which is just what we need right now. errgh.  i knew such a thing would happen sometime; after all, having had very limited driving experience, and no previous car scrapes and bumps as a teenager, i was bound to misjudge something sometime.

THEN, i come into the house to find that our trusted (and ancient) dishwasher has died.  seriously.  so, now i’ve just returned from my first ever “Meet the Teacher Night”, have smoked the car into a wall, and have a kitchen full of dinner dishes and mess, and a dishwasher half-open and half-full of undrained water.

so, why am i telling you all of this?  well, firstly, i really wanted to tell someone.  and, since you are that generic, caring, “Someone” in my life, it seemed only appropriate that i neglect the care of my children (well, they are playing happily in the playroom) and blog about the minor miseries that make life frustrating sometimes.

secondly, I am, perhaps selfishly (okay, entirely selfishly)  hoping that you’ll share some amusing bad day stories with me.  Question o’ the day: Have you ever had a day that went from bad to worse, to the point where it was (almost) funny?  Like a Balzac novel?

Finally, i should say that i know that lots of you have more serious and major difficulties right now.  this whinging, whiny post is in no way intended to imply that i’ve lost perspective on how insignificant these wee troubles are.  sometimes, though, i just need to vent.

Several Posts that Never Were

Hello, everyone.

I have been thinking about posting on and off for several days now, but i keep getting thwarted–by small people, by domestic servitude, by my own lack of faith in my ideas.  All I can offer, i’m afraid, is a short list of topics i would have posted on, had i not been derailed by the aforementioned obstacles.

Topics I would have blogged on:

some of you will already know it:  i’m going through a particularly angsty phase about The Mommy Uniform.  you know the one, that would-be athletic, but often slightly saggy attire that makes the most practical sense for a mommy of young kiddles.  don’t get me wrong; i don’t hold it against anyone else (well..i try not to   but i just can’t seem to get my brain in gear about actually wearing it all the time. i know, lame. lame. lame. but still, it’s been bugging me enough that i’ve considered some kind of treatise here in blogland.  i know.  even lamer.

Next up:  the usual crafty/design projects.  well, i seem to be in one of those, “not-quite-as-good-in-practice-as-in-my-head” phases.  maybe i’m risking more artistically, so the gamble is more likely to fail.  yeah.  that must be it.  i’m edgy, brave, and willing to fail.  yeah…….  yeah.

sleeping as well as one does with a newborn in the house.  seriously.  i’ve got perpetually sore shoulders/insomnia/kids waking up.  good times.  and, in my earlier days as a parent, i would have written out all the gory details, analysing all the ways in which lack of sleep makes me crazy.  now, i’ll just say it sucks.

Oh, there have been good things that i’ve wanted to write about:  agatha seems to be loving school, and i’m loving that.  and her quirky self.  so much more than usual, too, now that i get a bit of a break.  as for the Edmundo, i am really wishing he could just stay this size for ever–he’s so snuggly, and yet so droll (“Daddddd!  I’m like totally donneeee!”)

also also, i’ve been prepping to teach, and rediscovering my love of lists and plans…ahhhh. plans.  lists.  say it with me.  plans.  lists.

so.  there you have it.  the every which way of my brain.  but what about you?  A pointed Question o’the day:  What would a snapshot of your life look like right now?  who or what is in the foreground?  who’s lurking around that half-open door?  what expression are you currently sporting?  do tell.

Avec my apologies to PETA

New boots.  “My babies.”  A major (but planned) splurge.  Am hoping they live up to my expectations.

Aren’t they beauties?  and the leather (sorry, vegans) is like butter.

Question o’ the day:  what is your favourite shoe purchase ever?

Best Post Birthday Cake Ever.

seriously.  does not Knitting Night rock?

it’s the skull and crossbones motif i can’t get over.   and you thought knitting was for sissies.

Uh, there’s someone new in my life i think you should meet.

Her name is, rather anticlimatically, “debbie”.  As in “Little” (as opposed to that other one who lavishes her-ahem-affections in Texas).  Debbie is a dressform, generously bestowed on me by my parents in law, tara, and martin (thank you so much!).  Behold:

She’s a modest gal, here wearing a housecoat.  (oh, the endless and hilarious possibilities…)

More importantly, she helped me make my first fully-reversible item for grown-ups: this skirt.  Also, debbie lacks the Post-baby-no-amount-of-exercise-is-going-to-change-me-Paunch that i so cunningly sport on a daily basis.  and, she talks less than i do.  wait, have i introduced a Stepford Wife into my house?  although, she can’t play Mario Kart, so i think i’m probably safe.  for now.

Question o’ the day:  if you could have a lifesize model of yourself, how would you dress it?  okay, if that’s not the quirkiest question ever…..

I’d better be careful, it’s almost a streak.

3 days in a row!  wow, am i ever avoiding the rest of my life!!

Seriously, though, i know that some of you are wondering how agatha’s first day of kindergarten went.  and, since you weren’t here to share it with us, i here offer a selection of snapshots.  (NOTE:  i did NOT take my camera to her school.  i thought that that was just excessive.  apparently not, however, as i was one of the only ones without.  luckily, my new cell phone takes decent photos.)  anyhoo, here we go:

The outfit was later amended to include a little skirt–wouldn’t want her too ‘edgy’ for the first day.

uh…here’s agatha in heaven…or a place very much like her version of it.  a special place at a table, and a set of brand new markers for her to try, without a pesky little brother to steal them and bite their heads off. (he actually does that.)

also, she’s been holding out on us.  insisting that she can’t print her name, and refusing to draw her own pictures, she brought this little gem home for us.  sneaky child.  also, i couldn’t resist getting a picture of these:

As soon as we got back to the car, she asked, “when do i get to go to kindergarten again?”  clearly, a successful morning.

question o’ the day:  do you remember your first day of kindergarten?  or, if not, do you remember anything from your kindergarten days?

Lazy Labour Day

We ambled through the pastoral Reiffel Bird Sanctuary this morning, feeding ducks, Canada geese and cheeky pigeons.  Nothing too important, but we did get some decent photo ops:

Such sumptuous berries, and they’re everywhere.  Only, you’re not allowed to pick them.  One presumes that this is to avoid avian flu and the like, as well as to let the nesting (and apparently very aggressive) sandhill cranes and other winged creatures go about their days in peace.  Still, it was very sad to think of all that blackberry jam and pie just going to waste.  edmund barely escaped the temptation to help himself.

Question o’ the day: what is your favourite summertime crop?