Monday musings

Today is a "rainy, cool breezy, wear your comfy clothes with a messy ponytail, drink hot tea, eat candy corn because it now seems like fall and you want to celebrate childhood, watch a movie then ready books under a blanket, jump on the couch or bed" kind of day.

An artsy Stephen shot -"oh, love it" as Nora would say. The pic is of some sunflowers I bought last week. Sunflowers are a fun, friendly, bold flower. I love them, too.

Last week we joined Stephen for lunch at the University of Dallas. It was great to get out of the house and see him during the day. I definitely plan on adding that to my "list of things to do when I start to go stir crazy."

Our little girl is starting to loose her baby look.

This guy is growing into a new look as well; his own look, too, as he doesn't really resemble Nora at all as a baby.

Expired lettuces

So, I was at the grocery store tonight, trying to make a record for how quickly I could get in and out (have I ever mentioned that I DREAD the chore?), when I encountered something that gave me pause. A produce stock person was somberly throwing bags of lettuce and other greens into a cart. It was piled high and from what I could tell, it looked fresh enough. The guy grumpily said as if to himself, "This is what I hate about my job. Thinking about all the people in the world that don't have enough food and how much I throw away each week." I said something sympathetic and continued on with my list. But I continued to think about the incident as I finished shopping. Why don't grocery stores sell the food the day it's expiring rather than throw it out? As a person on a budget, I would appreciate that practice. More importantly, why is there shameful excess in America while so many across the globe live in poverty. I think, what can I DO?

Tales of hair and home

Joseph: proof of the poofy hair
The girls: with their new dos (If Stephen had a hair picture, it would be to show that he's in need of a haircut :-P)

Our thumb sucking boy, oh dear. The pacifer isn't working as a substitute.

Father-son time

That's all, folks.

From here to Chicago and back

...is a great city. My dad's family lives near there and I traveled there last weekend for a cousin's wedding. I have some great memories from time spent there, and had fun adding to those memories. The picture above is me with my lovely sisters before the reception. So, I'm curious, blog visitors, who would you say I look most like? As I said, I was there only a weekend. I flew there with Joseph, who was a good little traveler considering both flights were PACKED. The little guy has already flown twice and he's only two months old, but we'll really be slowing down with the travel now. It occurred to me when I got back that I have nothing planned for the next 3 months -no travel, no visits, no big events. WEIRD. I haven't decided if I'm excited or uneasy about that...or a little of both. And there is always the unforeseen. For the record, we welcome visitors. Hint, hint.

Of course, I hope to make Thanksgiving and Christmas special for our family. So, there's a couple things on the calendar. I've begun to think about traditions and which old ones I want to keep or new ones I hope to create. And I have no lack of unscheduled things to do... including getting a Texas driver's license.

Or maybe I'll just never drive. It is a hassle to load the kids up and so scary to drive around here. But that's not realistic. If I hadn't lived in St. Andrews where not having a car was possible, I wouldn't know how great it is to not have to worry about a vehicle -insurance, repairs, general maintenance, cleaning because someone (I suspect a stupid or malicious kid from the nearby high school) spilled something sticky all over the driver's side door. But I did live car free, and now it is harder to deal with those things.

There is an upside to my car grumblings. It puts other things into perspective. Whenever I am tempted to wish we owned a home, I remind myself how great it is to be a renter. When the faucet won't turn off because a screw came off somewhere inside the handle, you can call the office and they send their competent handy man over to fix the problem. All you have to do is endure the dripping for a night and then maybe let Mr. Handyman borrow your tweezers so that he can recover the loose part and then "voila" problem solved with no nagging to the spouse. It's been really great for our marriage.

Speaking of marriage, Stephen and I are going on a date on Saturday. Seriously, this is newsworthy stuff. It's been a little while and I am sooo excited. More kids= more appreciation for times to get out of the house away from crying, whining, pee, poo and spit-up. (for non-parent readers I apologize that I have given up the fight and given in to talking about bodily functions. it's what parents do.) Believe me, I LOVE my adorable children, but I like to think it's healthy that I am looking forward to getting away from them with the man I love.

Speaking about the kids, they continue to make life fun and interesting. Joseph has been sleeping through the night now for a couple weeks now (yeah!!!) and Nora is potty trained aside from a few accidents here and there. Though it's been a fairly easy process, I don't think there's a room in the apartment that hasn't been christened, and I've gotten really good at cleaning up after her. (or at least I tell myself that to feel better about my house). Nora's imagination is growing by leaps and bounds; today she ranged from Cinderella to Wendy to a bird to an alligator and on from there. Joseph is as sweet as can be. He has hints of personality developing, but it's still a little early to pinpoint exactly. He has a winsome smile and funny poofy hair (hopefully a picture of that soon), that makes me laugh. He can also be a grump, but it's so pathetic and (usually) half-hearted that it mostly just makes me laugh, too.