Now Entering the Retail Desert

So I've been thinking about Lent, and what it means to me, and how I wanted to observe it this year. There are always the typical things to give up - chocolate, Diet Coke, swearing - but I felt like I really wouldn't be learning anything from a dietary or verbal deprivation (not that I don't need to be depriving myself of some food!).

Now this may seem like a digression, but bear with me. We get a lot of packages at our house. Ray loves to stay up late and shop eBay for deals on model helicopters, I love to get up early and surf for yarn or books, and our family loves to send the kids packages for every holiday or non-holiday. Last Monday Amelia had a major meltdown because Ray got a package and she didn't. This is the child who has every toy, book, stuffed animal imaginable. That's when I hit upon what to do about Lent. Our family needed to go on a buying fast. The plan is that we only buy items we truly need - food, gas, plants for the garden that we're planning - and we leave off the things that we want, whether they're for our own personal use or for the house.

For the record, I am the only one excited about this. Well, maybe Jack, too, because after all how many frivolous items can a 15-month need? Amelia has warmed up to it after I explained how much fun we can have making things out of the supplies we already have in the craft closet, playing with the toys she already has, etc. Ray's first response was, "Pentecostals don't do Lent." After some cajoling and some Fat Tuesday eBay activity, I think he's on board.

So, I'll report back in about 40 days and let you know how our time in the retail desert has gone.

You Can Go Home Again

When I was sixteen or seventeen, my mother and I drove up to Birmingham to visit UAB’s campus. We were driving around looking for a parking space when I first saw the Honors House. It was an old church repurposed for some sort of classroom. At the time, I didn’t know what for. I just knew that I had to be there. It was a calling as strong as any I’ve ever felt before or after.

As part of the Honors Program, I spent a lot of hours at that old church. I thought deep thoughts, had soul-searching conversations, explored my ideas of race, religion and social justice. Sitting on an old, busted sofa beneath one of the gorgeous stained-glass windows, I kissed my husband for the first time. I played pool and ping-pong. I studied. I lived.

This last weekend Ray and I had the chance to go back to the Honors House for the program’s 25^th anniversary. Things have changed as they always do. There’s a new director and assistant director. The inside of the building has been renovated. The people we knew then have grown up, accepted more responsibilities, had kids, gained weight or lost it, but for those of us who came back – and I suspect for many of those who didn’t – the Honors House and what it stands for still shines like a beacon. Sounds dramatic, I know, but I really mean it. The HP was the closest thing I have ever known to a utopia, and it was absolutely wonderful to be there this weekend.

It was also absolutely wonderful to have an adult weekend. I love the babies, but this was the first time we’ve been away from both kids since we went to Mexico in 2007, and that doesn’t really count because I was pregnant with Jack. But now that he’s weaned (wiping of slightly tearful eye) it was the perfect time to get away. We stayed at the Hotel Highland and lucked out with a spectacular room – top floor with views of Five Points, the Vulcan and UAB. To top it all off, I got to have dinner at Surrins with my old college roommates.

Now it’s back to reality!

This Moment in Time

I just saw this post over at Amy's Ignore Me - It's Easier and thought it would be fun to do.

1.	What is your occupation right now?	Homemaker
2.	What color are your socks right now?	Not wearing any, but the ones I'm knitting are red, gray, and white
3.	What are you listening to right now?	The hum of the refrigerator
4.	What was the last thing that you ate?	a bowl of granola
5.	Can you drive a stick	You really don't want me to unless it's an emergency
6.	Last person you spoke to on the phone?	My sister Allison
7.	Do you like the person who sent this to you?	Absolutely! Amy and her blog are fabulous!
8.	How old are you today?	33
9.	What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?	baseball
10.	What is your favorite drink?	ice water or a diet coke
11.	Have you ever dyed your hair?	nope
12.	Favorite food?	fried shrimp from my Gram
13.	What is the last movie you watched?	The Rescuers
14.	Favorite day of the year?	The first day of the first cold/cool front in the fall
15.	How do you vent anger?	shout or throw things (talk about embarrassing)
16.	What was your favorite toy as a child?	my bicycle
17.	What is your favorite season?	fall
8.	Cherries or Blueberries?	cherries!
19.	Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?	sure :-)
20.	Who is the most likely to respond?	?
21.	Who is least likely to respond?	?
22.	Living arrangements?	very settled
23.	When was the last time you cried?	this morning
24.	What is on the floor of your closet?	My closet has a floor?
25.	Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?	?
26.	What did you do last night	Took dinner to a friend and her new baby
27.	What are you most afraid of	bad news
28.	Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?	spicy
29.	Favorite dog breed?	Labrador retriever
30.	Favorite day of the week?	Thursday
31.	How many states have you lived in?	two
32.	Diamonds or pearls?	pearls
33.	What is your favorite flower?	black-eyed susans

The Laundry is Greener

This week our laundry has gone green, and I must confess not by my choosing! Over the weekend the dryer light blew taking the starter switch with it. The repair guy says that the parts will be here NEXT week. I did not kill the messenger although I was sorely tempted.

So, faced with the choice of taking baskets of wet clothes and two small children to the laundromat or hanging a clothesline, I chose the later. Wednesday afternoon Ray hung a nine-foot retractable clothesline catty-corner along the fence in the backyard. Lesson No. 1: nine feet is not enough. Now I know why my Aunt Linda had a double clothesline that was probably 20 feet long. Lesson No. 2: there's no need to completely fill my front-loading super-big washer. Lesson No. 3: wash the clothes that are going to take the longest to dry first.

All grousing aside, it is kind of peaceful to hang clothes out and then take them back in. And the weather is absolutely gorgeous right now. It's probably the perfect weather for hanging out clothes - sunny with just enough wind.

While I'm hanging out the clothes, I feel connected to women who have come before me and raised children and took care of their families with far less than I have. Of course, will I be thrilled when the dryer is finally fixed? You betcha!

Fun for Nothing

After spending all day cooped up thanks to Tropical Storm Fay, Ray and the kids and me struck out for Monkey Park. In true southern fashion, Monkey Park is really named Municipal Park, but in the almost nine months that we've been here, I've yet to hear anyone call it by that name. And before you ask, yes, there really were monkeys there back in the '60s and '70s, but my long-time Auburn-Opelika friends say that the monkeys were removed after folks gave them inappropriate food and cigarette butts (of all things!).

The kids like Monkey Park because it has four or five different play areas. I like it because some of their equipment is vintage 1970s or earlier, so it reminds me of the park where I played with my sisters. Plus, there's a tiny stream that runs through the middle of the park. I love streams, especially little streams with rocks where the water bubbles over them. How wonderful is that?!

Before our quest for free fun had barely begun, excitement struck. Just as we were heading out from the parking lot, we heard C-RRR-AAAA-CK followed by loud crashing. Right across the street from the park, a branch fell on top of a van. Only a few minutes later, an old, ragged out Mecury Cougar came through the parking lot barely missing our van, jumped the curb, ran over a small tree, turned, jumped the curb and came to a stop. As soon as we recovered from that excitement, a stray dog arrived, and a fellow park-goer commenced to chase it with a 10-foot limb. The dog had the good sense to flee.

In between all this craziness the kids did have fun. Jack tried out and loved the toddler swings, and he and Amelia had a go at the bouncy seesaw. She had to ride this the "princess way," which to us mere peasants is side saddle.


With the return of the rain, I borrowed a craft from SouleMama's The Creative Family and got Amelia started on "sewing" around pictures we drew, cut out and hole punched. She was so proud and promptly requested more pictures and yarn.

That Wild and Crazy Jungle Animal

There are the flesh and blood members of our family, and then there is Baby Jaguar.

Serendipity brought her into our lives. Back when Amelia was two, Baby Jaguar appeared in her day care cubbie on a daily basis. I would dutifully place the stuffed animal back on the shelf until finally her teacher told me that Baby Jaguar was Amelia's, that Amelia slept with her at every nap.

I don't know who Baby Jaguar originally belonged to, but to Amelia she's as much a family member as Jack or Ray.

Baby Jaguar is patient. She endures all sorts of costumes and indignities with patience. Her whiskers have been cut off (Baby Jaguar didn't like them according to the amateur stylist). She has been accidentally peed on and subsequently "bathed" in the washing machine. Baby Jaguar gets tucked in just like her little human mommy.

But just when I begin to forget that Baby Jaguar is just a stuffed animal, Amelia reels me in. "Mom," she'll say after I've told Baby Jaguar sweet dreams and sleep tight, "It's just pretend."

It's Never Too Early to Quit

I guess Amelia really listens to me. Tonight our usual bedtime ritual was interrupted when Amelia announced, "I've gotten better about not smoking." That's pretty good since my four-year-old daughter has never smoked! She continued, "Smoking is really bad. It makes you greasy." Now that's a side effect that I wasn't aware of.

Some times I get so wrapped up in the discipline side of parenting that I forget how delightful Amelia is. How funny and original she is. I love the bright sound of her giggle. I love how she chases our chicken Rachel around the yard and scoops her up in her arms and the pride she has over Rachel's eggs. I love how she calls Jack our "buddy man." I love that she adores her daddy and that she calls "The Mythbusters" mist busters.

But most of all I love that she's gotten better about not smoking!