Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Out of the CLOSET...

...I've had the urge to go through, clean out, organize lately. Yesterday, I went through 5 boxes of "remnants from the past" and had an interesting walk down memory lane.  For instance, I found the brochure of the house we currently own and noticed for the first time, that the grass on the pamphlet is unnaturally green and fuzzy, lots of other things were embellished too, I'm sure, but the grass was totally photoshopped in!!!  We were duped!  Then, I came across a bunch of old Christmas cards and had the thought to chuck them, but reading through them brought much joy as I perused the pictures and brief updates from years' past, so I tossed them back in a box to return to the attic.  In a random stack of old mortgage docs from 3 purchases ago, I found a picture of me and "Chip" at a high school dance.  I don't recall much at all about the dance or anything else surrounding it except for shopping with Chip beforehand to coordinate our kicka$$ outfits, but seeing the picture brought a smile to my face--especially the pink theme and thermals with boxers!!!  So "totally rad" 80s.  I don't remember much about Chip either.  Where is he now?  Does he still sport pink sweats and socks?  I hope not.  And what the heck was "TOLO?"  It was written on the back along with the date "2-12-88."  And the funniest thing was I think my hair was very similar to #14!!!  (<-----referring to yearbookyourself.com)



While it feels good to let things go like old receipts for gas, antiquated computer parts (and there were tons of that crap!), out of date clothes and other bric a brac, it feels good to keep and hold on to things too.  I don't think I would remember much about my past if I didn't have the paraphernalia to jog my memory.  I just need to figure out a better way to keep it, but who has the time?  I seem to only have time to discard things or throw them back in the box until the next urge to expunge things comes about.  It really is much quicker than finding a solution for it, you know! 


Back IN the CLOSET goes some of the meaningful knickknacks, but the rest will be carted off by NRSD Thursday.  Good bye stuff that's clogging my attic!  Feels so good to say goodbye.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

It's FALL!


Leaves are falling, there's a crisp in the air, clothes are layering, apples abound, pumpkins are everywhere, scarecrows too, the kids are obsessing about their every changing costume ideas, grass is browning, impatiens are dying, campaigns are heating up, I am baking, tan is fading, lots of planning, lots of weatherproofing, spiders are entering, i am leaf wreath-making, FALL IS HERE!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Wanted: New Tooth Fairy




For the third or fourth tooth, Sophia's tooth fairy has completely snubbed her.  The anticipation of waking up to something clanking under her pillow has been far too disappointing lately!  Nothing, but a leftover tooth in her little box.  Does anyone know where we could procure a responsible tooth fairy that is consistent and thoughtful?  Is it so much to ask for to drop by for at most a minute and slip a little something under the pillow for a little girl who is waiting for some tooth fairy affection?  My only thought is that our tooth fairy must have a family of her own and after getting her own kids safely tucked into bed and the dinner dishes cleared and washed and everything shut down for the night, maybe she takes a side trip to the couch to watch her latest DV-R recordings for "just a few minutes" before she winds down to take off on her tooth fairy flight.  Then suddenly finds herself drifting off to slumber without remembering her duties.  Yeah, I could see that happening for sure.  


But, if anyone knows of a more reliable tooth fairy needing a gig, let me know. I can't take the disappointment in a certain 7 year old's eyes even one more time!


Tooth #8 bites the dust!  Our jack 'o lantern this year is going to be identical.  ;-)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Yeah, but I remembered the other 78 things...


I know it's cliche' to say that as a mother I have to remember so many things, but really, if I had to write down all the things I do have to remember to keep it together on a daily basis, that is all I would be doing, because the processes are tedious to running a family!  But over the summer, when we would get in the car and be on our way to the beach and Wesley would say, "Mo'om, why didn't you bring my so & so toy?"  I'd reply, "I don't know, why didn't you?" And then he would get infuriated and usually launch into a whole full blown tantrum.  I would reply, "I remembered the 4 towels, the sunscreen, the plethora of snacks (even the craisins that I know you love so much), the dry clothes, the chairs, the car keys, the sunglasses, the water toys, my cell phone, the drinks, the stroller, the diapers, the lunch, etc, etc... and so on, doesn't all that count?  Do you have to dwell on the ONE thing I forgot that I knew you wanted, but could live without?  If we were counting points, I would still get a 95% and that is well over passing grade.


Well, certainly there is more value in some things than others if we were giving scores and points for items we need when we go out because this weekend, we headed down to Six Flags with the kids for a fun company sponsored day and I forgot something KEY!  Let me just preface it with the fact that we decided to avoid the crowds and get to the Safari part of the park 15 minutes before they open at 9, so that meant we had to leave at 6:45AM since we had a pick up to make in Manhattan along the way.  That said, my cherubic kids did do a great job of getting themselves ready including dressing and brushing their teeth.  On the other hand, Luke isn't old enough to do such things yet and he wasn't even awake, so we just scooped him up in his drowsy state of still being jammied and buckled him into the carseat so he could still sleep if he wanted to.  I grabbed his clothes along with the packed bag of 27 other things in prep for the day and off we went!  We made great time and had a nice drive on the Turnpike and then pulled into the lineup for the Safari--we were in a top position!  It was exciting until I realized, We don't have any shoes for Luke!!!!  Oops!  Then, that's all I could think about as we sat in anticipation of the animalicious Safari ahead of us.  Is it possible that there is a spare pair tucked under a seat, if so, it's probably only one and not both.  I scavenged and came up with nothing.  Indeed, we were 2 hours away from home and I forgot a key item!  Lots of thoughts went racing through my head:  Is there something else I could use for shoes?  Do they sell shoes at Six Flags?  Would I miss out on all the fun if I skipped out and just went outlet shopping nearby?  Would there be another family that would just happen to have a spare pair of size 6 shoes, preferable Wide and no Hello Kitty logos?, Ok, pink would be fine, I guess beggars can't be choosers. Then ultimately,I thought "what am I going to do?!"  Keep him suppressed in the stroller ALL day? Impossible.  My only hope was that we would find a shop with some sort of shoes, so off we went.  To make an already too long story shorter, after hitting 8 or 9 of Six Flags' stores, we finally found the bargain basement store where most things were 50% off.  One helpful clerk later and a trip to the back stockroom, we ended up with a leftover pair of watershoes.  Perfect!  Luke was happy and thrilled to get out of his stroller finally!

The experience had me thinking, obviously, and reminded me of one of our trips to Italy 6 years ago when Sophia was Luke's age.  We were going back to Pisa where we lived after coming home for a school break for a few days.  We had a lot on our minds since our NYC apartment was still on the market and we had to decide if we were to stay in Italy for more semesters or to just come home after the first semester.  Anyway, we took off to the airport for the night flight and when we got to JFK, I realized it that I hadn't packed a single diaper in my bag. Oops!  I looked at every store in JFK, but no one had diapers, I looked for another mother, but didn't see anyone with a comparable or older child.  Off we went and I just prayed for the best.  The "best" being that we wouldn't have any #2s that night or we would be in deep "you know what" literally!  Our prayers were answered, and we made it all the way to Pisa on that one diaper, albeit heavy once we arrived.  Indeed a moment when I told myself, I will never forget to pack diapers again!

I'm certain that I'll be more aware of packing shoes for Luke from now on too, but maybe it's just my way of getting back at Evan for teasing me of always overpacking. In the end, which is better to be prepared or to lack an important item?

So, what's the worst item that you've forgotten?