When I grow up....

Maizie: Mom, when I grow up, I wanna be just like you.

Me: Oh, that's sweet. What part?

Maizie: All the parts.

Redrum Thumb

Jason and Maizie went to Iowa this weekend, leaving Cheeky and me all by ourselves. Since Iris refuses to sleep past 6am, she still (at 18 months) takes 2 very long naps. This leaves me alone, yet housebound.

When Jason was originally planning to leave, I thought of all the chores I must do. I am going to be selling some stuff at a garage sale at the end of the month, and really need to get a jump on that. But then, my mom sent me a gift card to Bachmans (garden center/florist) for my birthday so that I would spend it entirely on myself (grrr...those of you that have limited money know how ANNOYINGLY LOVING this is-can't exactly buy diapers or tylenol at Bachmans). Anyway, without a choice, I decided to spend the day "using" my giftcard.

So Iris and I went to buy the flowers this morning. We bought 5 different things, all different colors. Then we went to JoAnns and bought paint that matched the colors of the plants. I then came home and dug out all my old terra cotta pots and painted them each a different color. They are drying right now, but as soon as they are dry, I will make my pot garden. I have no time for real gardens. The weeds are killer. I DO think that gardens are so cool. I am sure that gardening makes healthy people and a healthy community and world peace and all the like, but I just don't have the time or patience for it. Even if I did, I actually am not a green thumb at all. I'm a redrum thumb. But I CAN keep a pot of flowers looking healthy for a limited period of time.

So, coming soon, photos of Katie's Garden...

Non-mommy

Today I pruned some lilacs from the alley. They don't actually originate in the city-owned alley, they originate from another person's yard.
So, I loved-languaged the person whose yard they originate from and I did an act of service by pruning them, just a bit.
Oh, you think I stole them?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? I mean, aren't they everyone's lilacs?
I think so. God surely doesn't apply commandments to his very own creation. Um...
They are pretty regardless.

On another note, I've been seeing a nutritionist, who has effectually banned me from eating carbs. All of them. For just a little while. We'll see how this goes. This includes grains like whole-wheat couscous, quinoa, brown rice, etc. What may hurt more is that it also includes cookies. Even ones made with whole-wheat flour. But, is ice cream really a carb? I may have found a loophole.

On another note, I'm trying to not write this all about my kids. A good friend called this a "mommy blog" and then proceeded to "throw up in [her] mouth" when she called it that. It's hard, though. I don't have much to write about. You may start to see some really great fiction on here.

On yet another note (I've already got four different notes on here-do, re, mi, and fa!) I may learn to tapdance. I have no idea where or when, but this is a non-mommy thing I can do. I really want to learn to sew, but the only reason is so that I can make pretty dresses for miniature people, which MAY be construed as a mommy thing to do, depending on who those mini-people are. I also want to learn to wield knives like Rachel Ray, but this is VERY close to mommy-ish as well, because we all know mommies need to know how to wield knives to mince scallions and make threats more effective. So, tapdancing it is. I could play my trumpet and tap dance at the same time. That would be amazing.
Anyone giving lessons?

Top 5 things about Sarah

Yesterday was my sister's 30th birthday. She lives far away right now, it sometimes feels further than it is. I haven't visited her b/c of the small children, and she probably can't get here b/c of jobs or money or time. But she's 30!
I wanted to get this up for her birthday, but I didn't have time to give it proper thought.
Anyway, Sarah and I are pretty different. But she's my sister. So it doesn't matter, really. We've both been through the wood chipper and then been able to somehow reassemble ourselves to be functioning again. Like the door on Monster's Inc. And wasn't it more special b/c someone took the time to put it back together with such love and care?

So here are just a few of my favorite things/memories about Sarah (in no particular order).

1. While I HATE that she spends any money whenever there are holidays, she goes to thrift shops and buys the most random things for gifts. But my girls think they are great. The point is that even though she is adult, she just "gets" little kids. Not just a little bit. Like, a lot.
2. She always says "I love you" first. I can't win on this. And, she's incredibly forgiving of my brattiness.
3. When we were in middle school, my mom and dad hired house painters and didn't tell us when they would start. Sarah and I were home alone, and one of the painters hoisted himself up outside of her window (on the second floor). She freaked out and army crawled into my room stage-whispering, "there's a man outside of my window." It STILL makes me laugh outloud.
4. If I call her in the middle of the night saying "I got one of those feelings, are you okay?" she doesn't say, "You are crazy, leave me alone." She says, "Oh no. Did you call mom and check on her, too?"
5. Her hair. And that she always stayed true to herself and never got her ears pierced.