Two Thoughts Tuesday: Lessons Learned Lakeside

1) The larger the wake, the farther and higher the rocks will skip. This is not only fun to watch, but also makes you feel like a champion rock skipper. The downside to this of course is that the larger the wake, the more likely you are to end up with a wet bottom. And soaked children. Who think the best thing to do when drenched is crawl up into the hammock with Mama. Or give her a nice big hug.

2) No matter how breath-taking the view or sweet the photo opportunities,

it is never enough to distract you from what a careless job you did shaving when the cruel sun hits your legs. This is why one should always carry tweezers in her lake bag alongside the towels and sunscreen.  Otherwise, a person having just a touch of OCD might spend the entire day staring at the three stray hairs on her knee. Or so I'd imagine anyway.

Expert Packer, At Your Service

So, I may or may not have forgotten to pack Amaya's underwear this weekend. Ever resourceful as I am though, I just plopped her into Chase's underoos until I can get to WalMart to buy her some pinky ones.

Though I might not be able to get her out of the Batman ones as girl loves anything her brother has. Chase however was less than thrilled at the idea of his sister borrowing his underpants. Observe.

Chase: Amaya if you poop in those, Batman will look like Clayface, so try really, really hard not to poop in my underwear please.

That kid cracks me up--for reals. I mean it totally would look like Clayface. See:

Tea it is.

A tweet from yesterday:  

Mama/daughter bonding over apple juice and rice krispie treats. It's not a bad life.

I look at her little face so contentedly eating that sticky treat, and my heart breaks a little inside. From happiness that she has never known what it means to not have anything to eat. From sadness that there are so many children in this country of excess who can't say the same thing. Through no fault of their own. With no understanding of politics or faltering economies. They know only one thing: they are hungry and there is nothing in the cupboards to eat. And so many of those empty, growling bellies are residing in my home state that my heart breaks all over again.

My friend Sarah is the executive director at Scott's Run Settlement House in Osage, WV.   In a letter, she shared the following:

In a recent report from the US Department of Agriculture, the state of West Virginia was one of only two states that saw a significant increase in food insecurity--to be food insecure means to have limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate or safe foods.  The national rate of food insecurity increased 19% from 2006-2009, in West Virginia, it increased a staggering 44%!

It is evident that your neighbors are suffering. Every June proves this as many parents who are dependent on the free meals their children receive at public school begin inundating the Food Pantry because they do not have the money to feed their children 3 meals a day for the entire summer.

Reading of the struggles of my fellow West Virginians made me choke a bit on that expensive latte.  So, I've decided that I am giving up my designer coffee habit for the summer and sending that money instead to Sarah at the Settlement House as they work to expand their Food Pantry services. $4 a cup x 4 times a week x 12 weeks in the summer =  $192. Not a huge sum, but I am sure it can buy something far more nutritionally sound and needed than the 48 cups of coffee I would have used it for.  And I should really be drinking tea anyway.

Pop!

I've been thinking about bubble wrap a bit lately. More specifically, the possibility that I may have used a bit too much when I was insulating my heart from all of the pain and misery that exists in this world. That in my desire to protect myself from feeling helpless and angry, I have also denied entry to the joys that the world can offer as well.  

Is being protected from feeling sad worth the trade of not feeling much of anything at all? Does turning a blind eye to the wrongs in this world make me any better than the forces that created those very injustices? If we choose to See no evil, Hear no evil, and Speak of no evil; then haven't we made it that much easier for wily, opportunistic Evil to become quite the proliferating monster indeed?

And is something that is never used really worth protecting in all that air-filled plastic? Or will years of neglect find it moth eaten and in ill repair when the day finally comes that I do decide to let my heart breathe again?

I think it might be time to pop some bubbles.

iPod shuffle needed

Starbucks Dude: You have an interesting accent. Where are you from?

Me: West Virginia.

SD: Really?? Not what I would have guessed.

Me: Were you thinking further south? Kentucky or Tennessee maybe?

SD: No, Sweden actually.

Me: Huh. Perhaps I have been a bit more obsessed with Lykke Li and Robyn than I thought. Might be time to give them a break in the rotation.

SD: I'm sorry, what?

Me: Nevermind. But thanks for not thinking I sound like I'm from West Virginia.

SD: You're welcome I guess.


*It should be noted that SD had an accent of his own and therefore is probably as unfamiliar with the WV stereotype as he presumably is with Swedish accents.

I miss this girl

Oh and the blond? Yea I miss her too. I have simply got to make it a priority to get home more often.

Two Thoughts Tuesday: When Life Gives You Lemons

1)  I'm still trying to adjust to the earlier gym class schedule. Yes, it's been well over a month now. I'm a little slow on the uptake. No, that's not entirely true. It's my kids that don't seem to want to get moving in the morning. Trying to get them up, washed, dressed, and fed before I have to get out the door has been an exercise in futility. But I think I may have at last found the solution: serve them their breakfast on a tray in my bedroom while my husband snores away in the bed next to them. Then run...don't walk, run...out the door cackling all the way.

Yes, there's a bit of a mess to deal with upon my return, but life can't be perfect now can it? This is why I have a housecleaning service come...which brings me to

2) Let me just start #2 here by freely admitting that I am a nerd. Of the highest order. It is because of that defect in my personality that I laughed until my sides ached when I saw this van:

I mean, there is nothing worse than a dirty maid, right?  Thank goodness there's this maid cleaning service to take care of that problem for me. I wonder if it's like a hose down or a full on spa offering?  I know, I know. I am a dork. A free maid cleaning to anyone who can somehow turn that particular lemon into lemonade.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

My daughter does not have my hair. And that's a shame really because if ever I possessed a good genetic quality to pass along it would be my thick hair that grows at a rate that makes keeping the grey roots under control a daunting task. Maybe it's not such a great trait after all. Anyway, I don't know where child's hair came from, but it's thin and unruly at best. Observe:

I don't know how to work with it, but even if I did it's not like she'd let me. She seems to prefer it all a mess like that, and honestly I'm perfectly fine with it too. I'll never be one of those moms whose daughter has a perfectly partitioned french braid with expertly arranged ribbons and bows. Just isn't going to happen.

It took her so long to even grow hair that I've been quite reluctant to take her for her first haircut. It seemed almost like spitting in the face of the tress goddess or something. All my Mommy friends have been applying Give the Poor Kid a Trim pressure assuring me that her hair will grow back--probably even thicker and fuller than before. Still not sure I believe them. But when you add in the fact that little miss has been begging for a hair cut for about 3 months now, you knew I was going to cave. Eventually. 

I held out as long as I possibly could, but finally the day came. Yesterday. Seemed like the perfect way to pass the time between dinner and bath to me.

Here she is checking to make sure Chase is watching--which he wasn't as he was too busy getting his own hair buzzed.

She sat completely motionless the entire time staring into the mirror. I swear she looked like she was stoned. Maybe she was in shock or something? I don't know, I was just grateful that she wasn't screaming and thrashing around like a wounded bearcat.

My hair, oh my lovely hair!

But when the deed was done, she recovered her senses. And the little sprite seemed pleased with the reflection of herself.  I think the yellow lollipop helped.

Speaking of lollipops--Amaya calls them Ladypops and thought the hairdryers were giant ones.

Look Mama, big Ladypops!

 Pretty adorable actually her excitement over this giant Candyland discovery. Except all Mama can focus on is how long those legs are. Goodness, where ever did this girl come from?

Food for Thought: A breakfast conversation

Chase: I don't know what I wanna be when I grow up.

Mama: That's ok kid, you've got some time to figure it out.

Chase: Until the last day of grade 12? That's when I need to think about it?

Mama: Yea I guess, but you can still change your mind even then. It's ok to not know where you want to go in life when you're only 18.

Chase: Did you change your mind?

Mama: I did.

Chase: That's when you decided to be a Mama. Right?

Mama: Yep, that's how it worked.

Chase: Because you loved me and Amaya. So you wanted to be the Mama. Right?

Mama: You're one smart cookie.

Chase: I know, I'm super smart. I know what I'm going to be when I grow up now.

Mama: What's that?

Chase: A super hero!

Mama: Well, I'd say you're well on your way there champ.

Chase: Keeeee--yaaaa!

Just Another Manic Monday

Got the Monday blues? Perhaps this will cheer you up a bit:

Yes, that is a reflection of me praying for sanity in her sunglasses. Despite the mounting evidence that we'll never meet again, I continue to hold out hope for its return. Slim, but still there is hope.