Indigo Girl

Friendship Advice, Please

L came home from school holding a business card that had a name, address, and phone number written on the back.  She told me one of her classmates wants her to come over and play and here is her dad's number to set this up.

I am not sure how to negotiate this.  I don't know this person at all.  I've only left my kids with friends, family, and group situations with supervision (childcare at the Y, school, church nursery).  I don't know if this family has guns lying around or a child molesting uncle living in the house or they're running a porn site out of their living room.

Now, I understand that most likely these are nice people.  Their daughter wants to have a friend over and they are making the effort to accommodate her.  I want to be friendly, but smart.  I'm not afraid to offend someone to protect my daughter, but I don't want to cut off a potential friendship because of fear.  It is a difficult balancing act and this is my first experience with it.

If the weather was nicer, I would suggest meeting at a park or another public place.  I am already planning to suggest the friend comes over here, but then they're in my situation - they don't know me at all. The card came home earlier this week and I think the holiday next week can buy me some time, but pretty soon I need to call him or else I'm just being rude.

How do other people negotiate these situations?  They're going to come up more and more and I want my kids to be safe, but allowed to begin to learn independence and have a social life. 

Fears/Freezers/Glee

C is in that annoying/amusing stage of being scared of the most random things.  I remember L being terrified of the shower head during baths - she wouldn't come into the bathroom until it was covered with a towel - so I know it's a passing phase.  Yesterday, we went to Lowe's so I could eyeball the freezers (and gaze longingly at the stoves) and decide what size I want.  I can't picture 13 cubic feet in my head.  And how much bigger is 16 cubic feet?  I need a visual. 

Anyway, we walked through the Christmas decorations because I think it's fun to look at pretty things and there are always some little moving ice skating rinks and waving Santas and such.  She was petrified.  It was funny on one hand:

Me: Look, C! The tinsel is so pretty!

C: (clinging to me with her face buried in my shoulder) I NO LIKE IT TINSEL!

Me: Ooookay, look over here! Look at the silly snowman!

C: (clutching me tighter) I NO LIKE IT SNOWMAN!

It is funny, but she's 2 and heavy and it was a pain to carry her up and down the aisles.  It would have been much nicer if she walked and we exclaimed over all the different sights as was my plan.

Our current basement freezer was given to us by my MIL in the following way:

"This freezer doesn't work very well anymore. Would you like it?"

At the time, E and L were babies and we needed it to store all the breastmilk I was pumping.  Hence, it became known immediately as The Breastmilk Freezer.  It's one of those tiny dorm-sized ones and was perfect.  The seal was never good, though, and now it's worse.  I'm tired of defrosting it every month.  I use it for minimizing my trips to Costco and stocking up on sale stuff that's freezable - it gets a lot of use.  We're also going to split a quarter of a cow with a friend, so I need a bigger one with a good seal.  I keep watching Craigslist and checking the scratch-and-dent basement of a local store, but don't appliances go on sale at certain times of the year?  I don't suppose that would be December, would it?  I'd love to get one with an Energy Star rating, but those are hard to find used.

When we had The Sickness recently, I was tooling around Hulu looking for something to amuse me, and I happened upon Glee.  Now I am a fan and even added the soundtracks to my Amazon wish list.  I love musicals and the singing and quirkiness in Glee is so fun!  I wish I could link to the football team singing Beyonce - that's my favorite scene so far.  After I watched the first few episodes, I tweeted, "Why hasn't anyone recommended Glee to me yet? That is a FRIENDSHIP FAIL."  I didn't really want to add more TV to our current line-up (The Office, Lost, 30 Rock), but I am powerless to resist Jane Lynch and any program where people break into choreographed singing and dancing.

Wii Games Question

Has anyone out there found a Wii activity that is a good workout AND enjoyable AND you've stuck with it?  There is such a wide range of opinions on what is a good/fun/enduring workout on the Amazon reviews.  Apparently there are too many opinions and so I'm seeking MORE opinions?  Whatever.  I am just wondering if anyone has stuck with their Wii workout and, if so, which one is it?  If you did NOT stick with one, tell me that, too.

Wii fit? Jillian Michaels 2010? This lady who is on one of my kickboxing videos? Gold's Gym? My Fitness Coach?

Also, my ZUMBA! instructor has put a bunch of videos up on the internet and I will tell you where they are if you email me and let me know you're interested.  I know when I started doing ZUMBA! there were a lot of people who didn't know what the heck it was, so this is a visual demonstration of about a dozen different songs and the dance moves that go with them. 

School Lunches Remix

Here is where I am on school lunches:

I still hate them.

I also hate all you who have kids who eat things like "sandwiches."  However, I am in a better place since I mandated hot lunch twice a week (and encourage three times a week) and stopped caring so much.  I know!  I stopped caring about what my children eat and now I feel better!  I'm such a good mom!

L will eat turkey pepperoni, so once a week I send her crackers/cheese/pepperoni and call it a homemade lunchable.  It's still not healthy, per se, but see above re: not caring anymore.  She'll also eat sliced ham and the same ol' peanut butter sandwich, so if we add in the 2 days of hot lunch, at least she's eating something different each day.  She gets string cheese every day and milk from school.  I send a serving of fruit and a treat and call it done.

E will eat peanut butter crackers that I make myself using my loving, motherly hands.  I could buy the pre-made type, I suppose, but I already have crackers and peanut butter and it takes 2 seconds.  She will also eat a cashew/cubed cheese medley and on that third cold lunch day she gets a sandwich minus the bread: lunch meat/sliced cheese in a tupperware.  I  also put fruit and a treat in her lunch.  Add in the 2 days of hot lunch and we're set.

Here is what I think my problem was: I was sending them the same thing every day and I couldn't stand that idea.  Now my brain thinks, "They're eating a variety of foods!" and my nurse's training corrects, "It's supposed to be a variety of healthy foods!" but I ignore that part and pretend cheez-its with peanut butter are healthy.  I will try again with the thermos when I build up my courage.  Or maybe the next time someone complains about their lunch.

I also stopped sending them so much food.  I was severely overestimating how much they needed to eat during the school day.  They would come back with half the food uneaten and that was frustrating.  I encourage them to stop eating when they're full, but I also get annoyed at wasted food.  The kindergarten day is set up so they eat breakfast at 7:15 (at home), lunch at 11 am, snack at 2 pm, and then school is done at 3:15.  They are eating every few hours, so lunch doesn't have to be so hearty.  I've started making lunches smaller and sending 2 snacks to get them through to our late dinner.

Here is something that Summer (of a defunct blog, otherwise I'd link to her) told me about school uniforms: do not buy long sleeved shirts/sweaters for winter.  Buy some cheap long sleeved t-shirts and have your child wear them UNDER their short sleeved shirts.  I am embarrassed to admit this would have NEVER occurred to me.  I would have bought an entire summer uniform wardrobe and an entire winter uniform wardrobe, muttering the whole time about how these kids had BETTER NOT GROW and there better be TWO YEARS worth of uniform wearing going on.  We have a few long sleeved, collared shirts that I found on sale, but mainly my kids are wearing layering tees under their short sleeves.  I also have a few uniform sweaters for an extra layer in the coldest part of winter.  Thank you, Summer!

A and I spent the last week near death and are finally on the road to recovery.  Then E came home yesterday and ended the recap of her day with ". . .  and then Fatima threw up ALL OVER!"  I asked on Twitter: is it wrong to hope Fatima has food poisoning?  Because really, I need to finish recovering from this virus and all the backed up laundry and fast food we've eaten.  Geez, just let me go shopping for some VEGETABLES.  E swears she wasn't near Fatima all day, but this child can't see something that I'm pointing to directly in front of her face, so I don't really trust her observation skills.

Dresses Again

This morning, C's first words to me were, "I pick my dress!" and after I showed her the one I left out last night, she gathered it to her chest and approved happily, "Pretty dress!"  Monday, A dressed her in jeans and a striped turtleneck.  She was so desolate over not wearing a dress that he put a yellow sleeveless summer dress over the whole outfit and called her boho hippie-chick.  I mocked him for it (I firmly side with the Fug Girls when it comes to dresses over pants), but he claims she giggled and twirled for 20 minutes.

L's dress obsession didn't start until later, so I've bought a few cheap dresses to make her happy until she can fit into L's hand-me-downs.  Then I had to buy a few pairs of tights and leggings, so a trip to Target was in order.  THEN, E and L both had a lot of allowance saved ($22 and $33, respectively) so we wandered through the toys to see if there was anything they wanted to spend their money on.  I found a magna doodle for C since she won't be getting a lot out of our Christmas Wii.  We also needed a new living room lamp.  You know where this is going: Target is evil.

The allowance thing is going well.  It's kind of a pain to keep ones and quarters in the house, so I've been using E and L for my bank.  Before we hit Target yesterday, I took 20 ones from each of them and replaced them with 20 dollar bills.  Then I raided their savings jars and took 15 ones and $5 worth of quarters from each jar, replacing them with a twenty.  Since they each get $5/week, we're restocked with small bills and change for a while.  Last time A took a bunch of money to the bank and got it changed to ones, the teller raised an eyebrow at his OBVIOUS plan for visiting a strip club.

When I came up with the allowance plan, I thought, "Three dollars a week of 'take-home allowance' after tithe/savings will mean they'll have to save before buying anything."  WRONG.  As A stated, "Three dollars will buy a lot of crap."  Some of the buying choices they've made cause me to roll my eyes: santa hat, plastic pterodactyl, lip gloss, pens with faces, Superman keychain.  I will usually gently point out that we have something like that at home or ask if they REALLY think they'll play with that, but it's their money and as long as the item isn't dangerous or morally objectionable, I let them buy it.  This is an exercise in choices and consequences and, for the most part, I need to stay out of it.  If E really thinks she'll play with that stuffed tiger - even though we have a million stuffed animals at home - she can buy it.

They've made some good decisions - they each have a character umbrella and those get a lot of use.  Yesterday, L originally wanted a princess blanket for school rest time, but after seeing the cost ($17), decided that she doesn't usually sleep during rest time and she didn't need a blanket.  I love when they talk through a purchase, even if they end up buying a useless item.  At least they're thinking and analyzing.  Then, despite being able to afford multiple princesses, she chose a jack-in-the-box, something she asked for last Christmas.

Anyhoo, I'm now sick with the crud.  Either that or Juanito is right - my sword swallowing classes aren't going well.  My throat hurts and it hurts to breathe and fire shoots through my chest whenever I cough.  Lucky C watched more TV than ever in her life while A was sick this past weekend.  Now she and I are snuggled under a blanket on the couch while Bear In the Big, Blue House (pronounced "Beer" by C)  entertains us and I mop up her snot.  I feel mildly guilty, but am taking A's parting advice to heart.  As he left for work this morning, he told me, "Survive."

Creeping Crud

Last Tuesday, the school called us around 2 pm and told us E was sick.  Her teacher thought she felt hot and she wasn't eating her snack.  She had a temp of 99.2 when she got home (a wussy temp, I think), but I felt like I HAD to keep her home the next day because of the slight temp and because what if I sent her to school and they sent her home AGAIN?!  PARENTING FAIL.  She ending up napping for 3 hours, so I felt okay about keeping her home.  I also tried to make being home as boring as possible - I made her do kindergarten worksheets!  I don't want her to get the idea that staying home = fun/sweets/TV and then try to fake illness in the future.  She's already my drama queen when it comes to illness or injury.

Case in point: Saturday evening I was the only one awake after 8 pm.  I was reading and surfing the internet (does anyone use that phrase anymore?) and I heard moaning/crying upstairs.  I ran up and found E crawling towards our room, wailing, "MY LEGS! MY LEGS HURT!"  I helped her to her feet and she collapsed, "I CAN'T WALK!"  I carried her to the bathroom, did a quick exam, and gave her some ibuprofen for mom diagnosed growing pains.  Good Lord, child.  You'd think she had had a traumatic amputation of both extremities.

Re-reading this I realize I look like a total bitch mom who tortures her sick kid.  I'm not. Okay, I am, but only a little.  If they're really sick, I'm all over the juice and TV and snuggling.  It's just that my index of suspicion for faking is high.  Also, E is one smart cookie when it comes to getting what she wants.  She can be devious.

On Friday, I thought someone was breaking into our house at 4 in the afternoon - the door was rattling and someone was entering.  It turns out that A's coworkers sent him home because he was hacking all over the place.  I still went to work that night and he put the girls to bed at 7:30 and then stumbled down the hallway to bed himself.  He's less pathetically sick today, but was achy and cough-y all weekend.

Yesterday morning, L tiptoed into our room with bright pink cheeks of fire and glazed eyes.  So now she's sick and stayed home from school today.

C felt warm to me yesterday, but was acting fine.  A took her temp and it was 98.3.  She's got occasional snottiness, but nothing too bad.  No cough.  I think her obsession with "magic soap" (hand sanitizer) may be paying off.

I am (knock on wood) FINE.  I have no symptoms.  I keep waiting for this to hit me, but so far so good.  Juanito - my ZUMBA! buddy - suggested that ZUMBA! has some sort of anti-illness properties.  He has watched his family succumb, too, and has remained healthy.  My mom always called this sort of nondescript illness The Creeping Crud although I guess it's possible that they've all had H1N1 and my vaccination earlier this month protected me.

My awesome friend, Karen, took some pictures of us for our Christmas card.  We're at a sculpture downtown, in case you're wondering about that bright orange background.  You can see them here.

Separating

(We went apple picking this week.  Pictures here.)

Moxie posed the following question last week:

How do you manage the knowledge that [your kids] have to separate, and you need for them to separate, with this longing for the closeness you had and the primacy you had in their lives?

The first thought I had was that I am so thankful that it happens in stages.  I can easily imagine leaving E and L in a safe school environment or with my brother while we go to Las Vegas.  I cannot at all imagine them going to college or being on their own, OBVIOUSLY, since they're five years old.  But at 2 years old I could not imagine being away from them all day long, either, and that has changed.  I expect that by the time they're 18, I will be able to imagine them living on their own and making good choices.*

*PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LET ME BE ABLE TO IMAGINE THAT!

I commented on the Ask Moxie post:

". . . It's fun watching the people they're turning into and how they experience life. I sometimes feel nostalgic for their baby/toddler/preschooler times, but overall, I'm enjoying the budding separation and independence. I couldn't imagine it when they were younger and so much more helpless, but they are both such industrious people in a positive environment. It's easier than I thought to begin to let them go. (Of course, I got a little teary just writing that. I'm not a ROBOT, for Pete's sake.)

I don't think I'd feel like this if I was sending them into a situation that wasn't comfortable or if I still saw them as helpless or vulnerable, like an infant. It didn't feel right for me to have this dramatic of a separation from them until now."

And I think that last sentence is the crux of it: such a dramatic separation hasn't felt right until now.  I am so grateful that I haven't had to separate from my children before it has felt right.  I know parents who separate out of necessity and struggle with that and my heart breaks for them.  Our current level of independence has always felt right.

It was also mentioned in the comments that some of this has to do with parental temperament and preferences.  If you are a baby person and just adore babies and that stage (YOU ARE CRAZY), then you'll probably have a more difficult time than I did as your children leave that stage.  I really enjoyed the preschool years - I've always liked 3 and 4 year olds - so our transition to kindergarten was harder for me than leaving the baby years behind.  I expect to find bumps like this along the way: maybe I'll be full of excitement on their first date, but acquisition of a driver's license will make me weep.  Who knows?  We all have different triggers.

I still have a lot of gratifying moments when E and L show they need me.  I am still needed to tuck them in and give them hugs and help with seat belts.  I still wash their hair and refill their milk and comfort them with they're sad.  I still get requests to snuggle on the couch or in bed in the morning.  Growing up happens slowly and I've had time to adjust to each new stage as we leave the old one behind.

I never want my children to feel bad for growing up.  I want them to know that I'm proud and excited for them - I can't wait to see what they do with their precious lives.  I never want them to feel guilty or held back by my nostalgia and, on occasion, grief.

Speech Patterns

C has this delightful speech pattern that reminds me of my years spent learning French and Spanish.  She adds the object at the end of the sentence.  For example:

"I like it, Mormor." [Mormor is A's grandma. They're Swedish.)

"I don't like it, monster."  (Someone in our neighborhood has a big inflatable Halloween door cover with a monster face.)

"Another one, umbrella!"

I expect she'll get sentence construct pretty soon, so I wanted to remember the way she does this. 

We went to a birthday party last week and two different women commented about C, something along the lines of, "Quite a content little thing, isn't she?"  The party was in full swing all around her, but she was happily moving from area to area playing with the host's toys.  Aside from having to fix her a plate of food, I pretty much ignored her for the entire party.

This morning, she appeared wearing some of the contents of our dress up box and I immediately remembered a picture of E and L at the same age.  Love.  You can see the pictures here.

Twitter Highlights

(Normally the Twitter transcribing will only be a monthly-ish thing.  I did the last one in early September but posted it last week, so I had to do another immediately in order to catch up.  It's not like this is my new format or anything.)

At lunch, C told me solemnly, "Naptime: I no like it."

Information from L: "A crab will pick the dead skin off an iguana and eat it like a snack." We all agreed this is gross.

Back from work. Went out drinking with coworkers. You know what? Drinking with coworkers = bitchfest.

On the good side, two separate coworkers told me that I look thin - my face specifically. I like hearing that.

Dear C, shut the eff up. Love, Your Mom

Just re-read C's birthstory in honor of her 2nd birthday. I love her birth. What an awesome experience!

L's hair is long enough to be in a regular ponytail and her big, round head looks hilarious! Also, she's 15.

If you ever read the Elmo lift-the-flap food book @ our house, be aware that C has licked all over every single page multiple times.

E just spent 15 minutes on the couch b/c she couldn't think of a better way to ask for more tape then FREAKING THE HELL OUT.

Escaped 2 my hair appt. Not sure I'll go home. Maybe I'll move 2 an uninhabited tropical island tonite.

Me: tired, hungry, working 12 hrs tonight. E: tired, cranky, hungry, I think. C: needs every book in the house read to her. L: JUST FINE.

A put C's hair in pigtails this morning. It looks like she has horns.

I need to start teaching E how to suffer in silence.

Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedtime? Bedti

How many water glasses do YOU think my husband needs? HE thinks he needs at least THREE scattered around the house.

I have an Ariel sticker on my left boob and a Spiderman sticker on my right on

C's story is that she was blowing on my coffee to cool it, but really? She spit in my coffee.

E, lounging on the floor watching Super Why: "L, you haven't tied my shoes yet!" OH HELL NO, CHILD.

C just told her first knock-knock joke! "Knock-Knock!" "Who's there?" "SEATBELT!" (That's it.)

L calling from the basement, "E's--" E calling from the basement, "--NO, I'M NOT!"

I love my SIL, but she keeps calling C "char-char" instead of cha-cha. FYI, I dislike the name char.

I like that when I sort C's clothes, the too-small stuff goes immediately to DONATE instead of BASEMENT STORAGE. Decluttering!

I love it when people think I AM the Indigo Girls (obv, they haven't clicked over) Amy & Emily. I just got thanked for a great concert.

Oh good. C is over-tired and shrieked herself to sleep.

L, aka Ms. I Love Tights And Adamantly Refuse Socks, wants to wear socks tomorrow because a classmate wears them. IT BEGINS.

By 7 am, E lost computer time, TV time, and has to go immediately to her room after school. All b/c she wouldn't get dressed. *sigh*

When I asked her what the problem was, she wiped her teary eyes, pointed, and accused, "YOU!" HAHAHA! I don't think so, dearie.

Rediscovering one of my favorite cookbooks: The Six O'Clock Scramble. Easy, healthy (veggie heavy), and delish.

BS to everyone who ever told me that girlbabies are harder to change than boys. There are plenty of poop-loving crevices on boys.

Obviously my kids are cavity free thus far. I said, "Dentist today!" and was greeted with "YAY! I LOVE THE DENTIST! IT'S SO FUN!"

Toasting almond slices for cranberry chicken. (You can't tell from that, but my kids are driving me crazy.)

My new bras have a tag that promises, "NO MORE BACK FAT!" Mmmmm.

Me: That's the duck's booty. C corrects me, "QUACK-QUACK'S booty."

Back on Track

(There is an underwear question at the bottom of this post, so if you are uninterested in my organizing efforts, please skip to there and leave your opinion.)

I hit a wall in my organizing frenzy and admit to slacking off in the last couple weeks.  I found myself aimlessly wandering around the internet and while I KNEW that I was accomplishing nothing (not even having fun, just wasting time), I kept doing it.  Then I'd started thinking about all the stuff I needed to get done and my stomach would hurt, but I was paralyzed by way of being overwhelmed.  Thankfully, I've broken through.

One of the things that has helped me is letting the regular day-to-day stuff go a bit.  The parts of the house we live in aren't as clean/tidy as usual, because I am focusing on the storage areas.  It's okay.  I cannot do it all, although there are a few things, like laundry, that still need to get done.

Yesterday, I finished cleaning the bathroom pantry and threw out a GARBAGE BAG FULL of crap: half used lotions/soaps I'll never finish, expired meds (hell0 1999!), etc.  Talk about cathartic.  I checked all the flashlights and changed necessary batteries and put them all in a cute little basket with extra batteries.  We always lose power a few times each winter.  I categorized all the kid medicines and noted which winter cold/flu ones we're running low on.  I found another label maker (what? now we have two?).  I'm surprised I didn't find a person shoved back there.

Then I moved downstairs to my "pantry."  It's a row of shelves along a wall of our storage room.  I threw out cans of broth that expired in 2006, organized all the "entertaining dishes" that I rarely use, learned that I have 3 boxes of cheez-its, 4 boxes of graham crackers, and 5 boxes of regular crackers.  I brought up the trail mix that my kids won't eat (except for the M&Ms) and made A take it to work. I made a note that I do not need to buy: peanut butter, fruit snacks, microwave popcorn, juice boxes, rum, or granola bars any time soon.  I am, however, down to my last 4 bottles of wine.

I have to buy a trash sticker for our broken couch down there.  (E and L discovered that removing the cushions enabled them to jump much higher.  Consequently, there are multiple holes in the fabric around the springs.  It was expected.  A and I bought it very used when we got married 11 years ago.)  Once we get rid of it, it'll be a lot easier to move around.  When A and I brought the couch downstairs, we almost divorced and we swore we'd leave it down there when we moved.  But now that it's broken, we'd like to stop stepping around it, so we're risking our happy family and going to attempt to bring it upstairs and out the side door to the curb.  Wish us luck.

While C was napping today, I cleared off all our flower pots, cut down all the plants in our front yard, and bagged them.  It took about an hour, but then I rewarded myself (and everyone within smelling distance) with a hot shower.  We still have to put all the outside toys/bikes in the top part of our garage so we can park in there, but at least the house looks neat(er) from the street.  It's so much easier to cut everything down than it is to plant and weed.  I don't like a lot about winter, but the lack of weeding/lawn care is pretty nice.

I discovered that Roland had peed in our basement dress-up box, so I ditched that (wicker does not recover from cat pee), washed all the machine washable outfits, and bought 2 bins WITH LIDS to keep him out.  This was his MO earlier, before the prozac: pee on stuffed animals/clothing.  If I find more evidence of peeing, I'll call my vet to up his dose.

I added more dirt to the preschool field trip spider plants.  They have been thriving on the ledge next to our block basement windows.  I would have never bought plants because our black cat eats anything green that enters the house and it's such a pain to research what is not poisonous or call the vet when she vomits it up.  Anyway, they have been needing some topping off for months now.  I added a bit of potting soil, emptied the dehumidifier water on top of them, and returned them to their home.

I went through the kids' clothes and thoroughly enjoyed putting C's outgrown summer clothes directly into the DONATE box.  I love that I don't have to pack and store them.  I kept whatever might fit her next year, but the rest of it is gone, baby, gone.  I packed away whatever E and L have outgrown/refuse to wear and determined that they each have enough to easily make it through winter.  I went through L's tights drawer and got rid of gross/stretched out/ stained tights and then put school tights (white and blue) on one side and fun tights on the other.

Still on my list:

Catching up with our pictures, including re-doing a couple of albums that have had pages torn out.

Washing our jumperoo and donating it to the Y childcare.  On a whim I asked if they needed it, since I was just going to donate it anyway, and the desk girl said yes and added in a sad/sarcastic tone, "We don't exactly get a lot of funding."

Finish washing the peed-on dress up bin stuff.  Not everything can be machine washed, so I have to hand wash jewelry, etc.

Finish closing up the outside of our house.  We still have an inflatable POOL on our deck and it was a high of 48 F today, for Pete's sake.  And soon there will be leaves to rake.

Get that broken couch to the curb while maintaining the sanctity of our marriage.

Paint the dining room.  I was stressing about this, but then realized that I need to put the outside stuff first.  I have all winter to paint the dining room.

Underwear Question:

Where do you get your favorite undies?  My current batch was bought from Costco (classy!) but are comfy and do the job.  However, it has been remarked upon - in a casual, non-patriarchal kind of way - that one of the members of this marriage, while holding my comfort in very high esteem, wouldn't mind if my underwear were a bit less . . . comfortable looking.  This member of our marriage is also the one who does the budget and swears that our budget will accommodate whatever underwear strikes my fancy.  And I do agree with him: I am a mom, but I don't have to wear mom underwear.  I wouldn't mind spicing it up a bit.

I used to like V's Secret, but I tried to take advantage of their recent (current?) sale and they were sold out of EVERYTHING I even sort of liked in my size.  I may have to make a trip to the actual store, but I hate the mall so, so much.