I've come a long way, baby

It's been a crazy few days for me.  

My bi-annual community project that I'm in charge of starts tomorrow and continues through Saturday.

Due to the rough spot in our family, and some illnesses, and just . . . life, I'm not as personally prepared as I would like to be.  Sure, the preparations for the event are ready, but the way in which I personally benefit is not ready in the way I want it to be.  I've vacillated between beating myself up for not being more organized, but even I know that this is what happens some years. I've also had to deal with some snarkiness from a couple of the women involved, and that's never fun.  

Late last night and early this morning, I was teary and sad.  Then, I gave myself a hard time for letting snarky people and less than perfect preparation get to me and make me teary and sad. "I should be more flexible and easy going."  "I should be more cold and uncaring," I thought, or at least putting my own needs in front of others.  To be fair, I don't think I'm a doormat (anymore) and that was what caused some of the snarkiness from the other women.  Yes, you too, have to follow the rules.

But you know what ?  I'm just fine the way I am.  I could stand to be less brusque at times, and I could stop thinking about the things that bother me, and there's lots of other things I'd like to work on, but I'm FINE.  

In the midst of this, I remembered the several instances of kindness that I was shown yesterday.  The women participating in the sale who were flexible and cooperative, the woman who re-arranged some other things so she could keep to her commitment and when she came to my house to pick something up and told me, I could see such generosity in her eyes.  "It's not about the sale" I kept saying.  "I'm just so touched that you found a way to make it work for both of us."  The unexpected and nice e-mail from a friend, offering up prayers for me and my family.

The kindness continued today.  Another friend listening to me talk about this AGAIN, a fun date to look forward to, someone else telling me they missed me, an e-mail from another friend reminding me to make a reservation for a secret trip to the American Girl store that Beezus and I are going on next week.

I am so lucky, I can't even believe it sometimes.  I.am.so.grateful.

This evening, my husband telling me that he loves me and taking the girls for the evening so I can work on my personal part of the sale.

I wish that I wasn't so sensitive.  I really do.  I wish that I didn't let other people's snarkiness get to me.  But I'm going to be grateful that I only let it affect me for a few hours, and then I can talk myself out of it.  I couldn't have done that 10 years ago.  

I am grateful.

Wednesdays

Wednesdays are one of my favorite days of the week.  I'm home all day with the girls and don't usually have to do much work.

Ramona and I often spend the morning engaged in pretend play.  When she wants me to be her mom again, she says "Pause Game."  It's usually some variation on school, with both of us taking turns being the teacher.  We occasionally run an errand or two, and will often stop for a special treat along the way.

We walk together to the elementary school to pick up Beezus, and they both play on the playground for a bit.  Then we head home, Beezus finishes her lunch, and then it's just playtime, sometimes inside, sometimes outside, sometimes at the park, sometimes at home.  Sometimes the 10 year old girl down the street will come down and take them to the town playground that is essentially in our back yard.

The girls only have 1 activity per week after school, and I love that we have all of Wednesday afternoon free. I am all too aware that this time is fleeting - next year Ramona will be in school five days a week and I will only have them in the afternoon.

Also, I thought of Susan and Peg's sister today.  Ramona asked me what she would do if I died and Beezus died and she (Ramona) didn't know how to cook.  I re-assured her that I will not die until I am very, very old and very, very sick and by then she would know how to cook.  She asked me if there were houses in heaven and if we would live in the same house.  I told her that we would find each other.

I like Wednesdays.

Trip to the Dentist

I took both girls to the dentist last week.

Many years ago, I suspected that taking babies to the dentist was one of those over-rated things that didn't really make sense. The girls teeth came in on schedule, were colored properly, and I didn't notice anything amiss, so we didn't go. At 4 years of age, I took Beezus to a very popular children's dentistry practice in the far out suburbs. TV in the waiting rooms and chairs, a treasure box, lots of dentists, a fun waiting room. She hated it. The exam room was a huge room with 6-8 chairs lined up next to each other and was WAY too bright. The hygenist was fake nice (which Beezus could detect at 4 years of age) and used this odd voice and the dentist was frustrated that I wouldn't let them give her fluoride at that first visit. Beezus hated it and was a bundle of nerves. We left and never went back.

A year later, when Beezus was 5 and Ramona was 3, we got a recommendation from a fellow blogger and neighbor for a local pediatric dentist in a large family dental practice just down the street. This dentist has been fantastic and we've been seeing her every 6 months. We all look forward to going, and the girls easily go with the techs by themselves to get X-rays, climb in and out of the chairs, etc.

However, I was dreading this particular trip last week, because we don't thoroughly brush their teeth every night. They brush them every night and morning and use mouthwash as well, but Ramona went through a phase where she wouldn't use toothpaste for several months (she would literally gag and I tried every single flavor available at every store in the Northern Prince George's County area. I'd say they get a good thorough brushing 4 times per week.

A tip from one of the Milk Moms at our monthly First Friday dinners (thanks Laura and Marya !) pointed me in the direction of an $8 electric toothbrush for each girl, and that made things easier.

It wound up to be a great visit. Both girls were excited and SO well-behaved, following every one of the dentist's instructions. It was interesting to see Beezus interacting with an authority figure whom she clearly liked. The dentist has a sincere, welcoming, positive, aura about her and Beezus, in particular, really responds to it.

Both girls escaped with no cavities and the dentist mentioned that Ramona's teeth, in particular, were very clean. I about fell off my chair and asked her how could that possibly be, when she didn't use toothpaste for 4 months and only gets a good thorough brushing every other day. I mentioned the recent article in the New York Times which referenced the increasing number of pre-schoolers who have to go under general anesthesia to get multiple cavities filled.

The dentist asked a few questions and we concluded that, at least for my girls, these things make a difference:
1. Balanced diets, obviously.
2. Little juice, soda, etc. The girls drink water with every meal and throughout the day. Milk is reserved for after dinner and they LOVE it (they get sufficient calcium through other foods).
3. They do have a "special treat" every day (what a change from their younger years) but it's usually a popsicle, a cookie, maybe a Hershey's Kiss; but not sticky candy that sticks to their teeth or gums.
4. Since they were always on the slight side of the weight charts, we've always fed them their whole grain and protein at the beginning of the meal and the fruit at the end of the meal. I suspect that they eat this way during lunch at school, as well. The dentist said that fresh fruit actually cleans the teeth, so I guess that helps clean their teeth throughout the afternoon at school ?

So, I'm not sure what the answer is. It's not all genetics because Mr. Quimby and I both have a fair amount of cavities.

Perhaps just luck - I'll take it.

St. Patrick's Day

 

The leprechauns took the dollhouse furniture and moved it around.



And they left pieces of gold in the chairs that they had sat in.



They also decorated our front door and the bathroom mirror with shamrocks.





Ramona showing the gold candy that the leprechauns left.

The rest of that day, whenever something was out of place, the girls would point their fingers up in the air and announce "It was the leprechauns !  The leprechauns did it !"

Delightful Mischief

I was abrupt with the girls tonight. I was frustrated by the babysitter's reports that Beezus had behaved badly this afternoon, frustrated with the untidy house, and worried about how much work was ahead of me for the evening. I raised my voice (but I didn't yell), wasn't sympathetic when I could have been, and expected too much of two tired girls.

It has been awhile since I have felt this way. It surprised me.

Tomorrow is another day. The girls are full of talk of what mischief the leprechauns will get in to. Ramona talked for 45 minutes non-stop this morning speculating what they will do at school and what they will do at home. She worried about who would have to clean it up if they made a mess.

So, I will tidy up the living room and the breakfast room, put decorations on the door, and re-arrange the dollhouse furniture. The leprechauns will have explored the dollhouse, you see. We'll have waffles on shamrock plates for breakfast and I'll tell them the real story of St. Patrick.

Behind the Times

Mr. Quimby and I LOVE the reality shows on Bravo.  Our favorites are Flipping Out and Tabatha's Salon Takeover and I love Real Housewives Beverly Hills and New York (the others are just so trashy and the DC Housewives was soooooo boring), but Bethenny is my hands down favorite. I'm working on another blog post about her. For my non-tv watching readers, you should know that all these shows aren't on at the same time.  They have mini-seasons (maybe 13 episodes ?) and while I LOVE my tv time, I probably only watch 4 hours a week.  I'm just now watching the season finale of Flipping Out in preparation for the new season, and I have something to say.

It is so refreshing to hear Andy Cohen give Jeff the stink-eye and say out loud that Jeff goes too far. I cannot even stand how rudely he speaks to everyone !

New blogs

A couple weeks ago, I bought myself an ipad.  Between trying to do some decorating in the house and the ipad and all the shoes I've been buying to support my re-newed attempts at exercising regularly, I might have to change my name from Thrift Store Mama to "spend all the money she's saving now that one kid is in public school Mama."

I've been reading blogs on my ipad at night instead of reading books, and since my blog roll was small, I used AwwwTrouble's blog roll to add some new ones to mine.  Take a look - there is some compelling reading on there !

Burrows

Ramona is in to making "burrows" the past couple weeks.  Making a burrow involves piling blankets under and on top of herself and then also having a couple stuffed animals in there for her babies.  The darker the better, since burrows are supposed to be underground anyway.

I was planning to work from home today and then when she threw up a bit this morning, I was grateful that I had already planned to stay home today.

So, here she is, snoozing away.  She hears me if I leave the room or ask her a question, but she is getting some much needed snooze time. 

I like having her home with me, even while I'm trying to put in a full day's work (which for me is 6 hours).  So comforting to have a little warm body near by.

In other matters, I can feel Beezus getting older and pulling away from me.  It's not just the physical things like not wanting to hold my hand or hug in public, I can sense less emotional neediness on her part.  A girl in her class, K. whom she really likes is being unkind to her, going so far as to say that "my mother says you are selfish."  Lordy, Beezus may be a lot of things, but selfish is last on the list.

So, we're inviting a different child, E. over to play on Saturday.  It should be interesting.  Her parents seem to be very different from Mr. Q and I, at least on the surface, so I'm curious to see how it goes.  I don't know if playdates with casual friends are a part of their world and her parents seem protective, so I invited one of the parents to come with E. so that they could all feel comfortable.  There's no way that I would drop Beezus off at someone's house that I didn't know well, so it all makes sense.

My little bunny is stirring in her burrow and my work e-mail just dinged, so I should go !