Real Conversation after dinner tonight:
Rachel was 'finched' eating for the day and had got up from the table to look through her Viewfinder.
Rachel: "Look, a P-cock!"
Hubby: "Do you see a Q-cock"
Rachel: " Here Q-cock, Here cute-cock"
Me: " Hello, Mrs. Rachel's mom? This is the preschool office. Aah, we have Rachel with us..."
Me: Hubby blew water out his nose.
All of this went over both girls' heads, thank goodness.
We're bent, they are still straight.
Emily is 1/2 asleep after a long and eventful playdate of painting pottery and swimming.
She takes a sip of water and it, too, dribbles out of her mouth.
Me: " Nice, Emily - got a hole in you lip?"
Emily: "Gotta a hole in my pie hole!"
Now where do they get that from?
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Let's Get Stupid!
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” My personal opinion is that a true friend is someone with whom you can totally be yourself around. Someone who will be there for you - no questions asked. Someone who will be there for you when there are questions to ask, and ask them. Someone who will answer when the are questions asked. Not someone who expects reciprocity, but one who earns it.
I think we all have more friendly acquaintances than anything else. I have very few 'friends' and am okay with that. I consider myself a low maintanance friend. I don't need much, don't ask for much save the occasional get together. I have always been the 'funny' one, the one who 'still parties' after all these years - and yes , I am all those things. I am loyal and true. I have no patience or tolerance for weakness, snivelling and neediness. But, I have the 'tell it like it is' gene. As I always say - with me...it might not always be pretty, but it will always be real. I tend to take the sometimes wrongful stance of "Ready, shoot , aim!" then ask for forgiveness when sometimes I should have asked for persmission. Gotta work on that.
Why I bring this up is for two reasons....
1) April 10th marked 90 days (or 3 months, or 1/2 a school year, or 1/4 a calendar year ) that my dad died. The sting is not as sharp these days, but it is there nonetheless.
I remember my Dad telling me, on the occasion of his 40th birthday, that if you can count your true friends on the fingers of one hand (see above for definition of true friend) that you a lucky person indeed.
and
2) As I passed the mark of my own 40th (c'mon now, not too far passed the mark), and having given so many up so many of my own organs of late, I am starting to take stock of my precious fingers (and toes, and knees, and spleen, and earlobes) with more tolerance and hopefully less cynicism than ever before.
I think we all have more friendly acquaintances than anything else. I have very few 'friends' and am okay with that. I consider myself a low maintanance friend. I don't need much, don't ask for much save the occasional get together. I have always been the 'funny' one, the one who 'still parties' after all these years - and yes , I am all those things. I am loyal and true. I have no patience or tolerance for weakness, snivelling and neediness. But, I have the 'tell it like it is' gene. As I always say - with me...it might not always be pretty, but it will always be real. I tend to take the sometimes wrongful stance of "Ready, shoot , aim!" then ask for forgiveness when sometimes I should have asked for persmission. Gotta work on that.
Why I bring this up is for two reasons....
1) April 10th marked 90 days (or 3 months, or 1/2 a school year, or 1/4 a calendar year ) that my dad died. The sting is not as sharp these days, but it is there nonetheless.
I remember my Dad telling me, on the occasion of his 40th birthday, that if you can count your true friends on the fingers of one hand (see above for definition of true friend) that you a lucky person indeed.
and
2) As I passed the mark of my own 40th (c'mon now, not too far passed the mark), and having given so many up so many of my own organs of late, I am starting to take stock of my precious fingers (and toes, and knees, and spleen, and earlobes) with more tolerance and hopefully less cynicism than ever before.
In the past several few months Hubby and I have had friends: battling their own personal demons, health issues, ailing parents, ailing children, flailing marriages, failed marriages. I have become aware of my own mortality and fragility...acutely aware, in fact. And, whereas in the past, I would fluff these types of things off or attribute these 'behaviors' to weakness - or bad decisions...I am hoping now that my personal epiphany has made me a 'kinder, gentler' cynic.
Maybe now my usually 1/2 empty glass view of the world is not just 1/2 empty, but 1/2 of it has been consumed and the rest is there to swirl and savor. To be enjoyed with one of my friends!
I hope that somebody out there counts me as a finger (probably the middle one, heh-heh).
To quote a famous movie line "Mama always said, Stupid is as stupid does." I hope someone wants to get stupid with me.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Mornin' Sunshine #&#*%!
"Mornin' sunshine! " That's how I was greeted this morning, by Emily - who at age 8 still wakes up with that attitude. Better this attitude, then the 'tude I am in for when she hits puberty. I am not a morning person. I am not a chipper person. I don't do chipper. In fact, on the way to school(s), my children determined the following:
(actual conversation)
Emily: "Mommy, you're not a morning person, are you?"
Me: "uh-uh."
Rachel: "Daddy's a morning person"
Me: "well bully for dad"
Emily: "Mommy, you're not an evening person either, are you?"
Me: "uh-uh"
Rachel: "Daddy's a even person, right?"
Me: "well bully for dad" (slurp of of morning manna - coffee)
Emiily: "Okay, mommy - you're a mid afternoon person, then "
Me: (something not so nice muttered under my breath....) "Yes girls, I am a mid- afternoon
person and dad is an all the time person."
Them: "Go daddy, Go daddy"
Me: "uh-huh, go daddy go"
No really - I thank God I have kids or I would probably never even be a mid-afternoon person.
There would be no need to ever have to be 'on' and I could just be a person person.
And while I am thanking God, let me also thank:
My parents as I blame or credit them with my otherwise shiny disposition....
My Hubby for being an 'even' person who takes me for what I am....morning, noon and night.
The Dannon people who make Activia, the yogurt that helps you poop. I mean, if you have to eat that crap, make it taste decent and have it do something more noticeable than living to be 115 in Russia (remember those commercials?) This shit works, literally and figuratively.
The marketing brilliance of the folks that pack 8 hot dog buns in a package and 7 hot dogs in a package. Otherwise, I would have no leftover bread to feed the ducks with.
The people at Webkinz...this is a great kids toy/web virtual world that actually is teaching kids about responsibility, managing time and money, and taking care of 'kidz'. And- giving parents something meaningful to take away if punishment is warranted.
Other people's kids - for making me realize how truly special my gorgeous girls are.
Another actual car ride conversation:
Rachel: "Mommy , do you wish Poppy wasn't dead?"
Me: "Yes, dolly, I really do."
Rachel: "Mommy, look at that tree. If I could climb that tree to the tippety top, I could touch
the clouds and go up to heaven and say hi to Poppy for you"
Me: "I wish you could do that angel, I really do."
Rachel: "Mommy, is Poppy love the same as Mommy love?"
Me: (sniff, snorfle) "Yes, baby...it is the same"
Rachel: "I am glad I have puppy love"
-reach for that tissue now, folks - go ahead, it's okay.
(An aside: I have been asked numerous times what love is, and in trying to explain it I came up with the following - Mommy's love is special love.. Mommy's want their childrens' bodies to be safe, their brains to be stimulated, their tummy's to be full, their hearts to be happy...and children make their mommy's smile! Rachel can recite this 'pearl of wisdom')
Mornin' Sunhine!!
(actual conversation)
Emily: "Mommy, you're not a morning person, are you?"
Me: "uh-uh."
Rachel: "Daddy's a morning person"
Me: "well bully for dad"
Emily: "Mommy, you're not an evening person either, are you?"
Me: "uh-uh"
Rachel: "Daddy's a even person, right?"
Me: "well bully for dad" (slurp of of morning manna - coffee)
Emiily: "Okay, mommy - you're a mid afternoon person, then "
Me: (something not so nice muttered under my breath....) "Yes girls, I am a mid- afternoon
person and dad is an all the time person."
Them: "Go daddy, Go daddy"
Me: "uh-huh, go daddy go"
No really - I thank God I have kids or I would probably never even be a mid-afternoon person.
There would be no need to ever have to be 'on' and I could just be a person person.
And while I am thanking God, let me also thank:
My parents as I blame or credit them with my otherwise shiny disposition....
My Hubby for being an 'even' person who takes me for what I am....morning, noon and night.
The Dannon people who make Activia, the yogurt that helps you poop. I mean, if you have to eat that crap, make it taste decent and have it do something more noticeable than living to be 115 in Russia (remember those commercials?) This shit works, literally and figuratively.
The marketing brilliance of the folks that pack 8 hot dog buns in a package and 7 hot dogs in a package. Otherwise, I would have no leftover bread to feed the ducks with.
The people at Webkinz...this is a great kids toy/web virtual world that actually is teaching kids about responsibility, managing time and money, and taking care of 'kidz'. And- giving parents something meaningful to take away if punishment is warranted.
Other people's kids - for making me realize how truly special my gorgeous girls are.
Another actual car ride conversation:
Rachel: "Mommy , do you wish Poppy wasn't dead?"
Me: "Yes, dolly, I really do."
Rachel: "Mommy, look at that tree. If I could climb that tree to the tippety top, I could touch
the clouds and go up to heaven and say hi to Poppy for you"
Me: "I wish you could do that angel, I really do."
Rachel: "Mommy, is Poppy love the same as Mommy love?"
Me: (sniff, snorfle) "Yes, baby...it is the same"
Rachel: "I am glad I have puppy love"
-reach for that tissue now, folks - go ahead, it's okay.
(An aside: I have been asked numerous times what love is, and in trying to explain it I came up with the following - Mommy's love is special love.. Mommy's want their childrens' bodies to be safe, their brains to be stimulated, their tummy's to be full, their hearts to be happy...and children make their mommy's smile! Rachel can recite this 'pearl of wisdom')
Mornin' Sunhine!!
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