"A Quick Succession of Busy Nothings"

aka "About 25 Things That Happened This Week and I Wanted to Blog About Them But Didn't And I Can't Do Full Posts About Them Now, But I Can't Let Them Go, Either."

aka "Feel Free to Read in 25 Sittings If You Need To, Just To Get Through It, Since Blogger Will Not Let Me Add Photos for More Enjoyable Reading."

Yeah, the Jane Austen quote for a title is much better.

David arrived in Molvania, safe and sound. He is mostly sleeping and waiting for now, but he has called and e-mailed and entered a comment on my blog (the husband speaks!), so all is well.

Speaking of David leaving, the sandbox got a lid and our kitchen got a new light fixture, courtesy of his faithful completion of the honey-do-before-you-go list. Now we don't have to whack the light fixture after flipping the switch to get it to come on, and the stinking black cat that is prowling our yard can't make the sand box into a litter box...

Speaking of the honey-do list, I tried to clean the carpet in our living room to help with item on said list and it resulted in nice muddy stripes up and down the rug. So honey had to do it anyway. And then he told ME thanks for trying to do something sweet. Can't lose for winning...

Speaking of the clean carpet, we took a trip to the zoo today to keep one day's worth of sandbox foot traffic off of it. This will probably be the topic of Monday's post because it was more of an adventure than I want to elaborate on here.

Speaking of zoos, I have apparently been operating like I live in one (the monkey house), because I asked my babysitting co-op last week for a babysitter on Monday, got one, then sent out another e-mail today to the co-op asking for the same thing, thinking that I had neglected it and now no one would be available last minute. The mom who is going to watch my boys sent a note back: "Is life a little crazy? You're already on my calendar." Uh, yeah, he, he, he...

Speaking of our babysitting co-op/playgroup friends, we went strawberry picking with them on Wednesday. It was lovely. One of my favorite places: Butler's Orchard in Maryland. The boys are great berry-pickers, and as a bonus, the peas were also ready for picking so we picked a few of them, too. Cal and Henry had me opening sugar snap pods for the rest of the day, eating little fresh peas like they were the most wonderful, amazing thing in the world. There really is something so magical about the miracle of planting and harvesting, and God's amazing creations. Fun to see it through the boys' eyes...

Speaking of strawberries, we passed the Godiva chocolatier in the mall yesterday and their dipped strawberries in the window were seriously the size of my fist. And they cost more for their weight than gold does. I don't think I want a single strawberry that expensive or that big, even if it is covered in chocolate...

Speaking of gold and riches, on Memorial Day we ate at one of my favorite places in all of DC - El Pollo Rico. The Rich Chicken, El Salvadoran rotisserie style. You can choose a 1/4 chicken or a 1/2 chicken, and it comes with great fries and tasty slaw and a great yellow dipping sauce. The place is in an alley-like side street and could be mistaken for an auto shop from the outside, but that chicken is fabulous. And you can't beat the feeling of leaving a pile of bones and greasy napkins on your plate when you're finished...

Speaking of eating good dinners, the question of what to fix every night is right up there on the banes of my existence. I saw a preview this week of a new TLC show called the Take Home Chef where he tracks down someone in the grocery store, and asks her if she'd like him to come home with her and whip up a gourmet dinner for whoever she was planning to feed. He buys the groceries, too. I think I want to be stalked like that...

Speaking of making dinner, and not having a chef to take home with me, I bought some frozen crockpot meals to try out (they were on a good sale and I love the crockpot). I made chicken and dumplings yesterday, but really had to laugh at the instructions because they really said, "Wash hands" after emptying the seasoning pouch into the crockpot. Since when is personal hygiene included in package instructions, and were my hands supposed to get dirty emptying packets of frozen stuff into the pot? The only thing I could figure is that from the picture it looks like the pouch is magically pouring itself while both my hands are busy pouring and stirring. A magically pouring sauce pouch probably could require hand washing, if it decided to go Disney's Sorcerer's Apprentice or something. I don't know...

Speaking of magic, I think that one of the most eye-opening parts of motherhood is realizing that all those things that happened as a child that were so wonderful and magical (Christmas morning being the least of them, it turns out) were the result of the parents - i.e., if my kids are going to have anything magical (like clean underwear folded nicely in their drawers), I have to do the work for it. And there's a lot of stuff that goes on "behind the scenes," I am finding out. Do you know what I mean?...

Speaking of being a little overwhelmed, I have a bone to pick with mo willems for his book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus." It and "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" are favorites around here. But Calvin has very intelligently adopted the phrase, "What's the big deal?!" as expressed by the pigeon to bring me back from my moments of exasperation. Funny, but not...

Speaking of funny expressions, Calvin also changed his trademark, "What in the world?!" about things he thinks are odd, to "What in the what-ness?!" No idea where he got it from...

Speaking of wondering what is going on, Henry got some bad hiccups the other night after gulping his drink too fast. He sat at the table hiccuping, and I could tell they were starting to hurt, then he looked at me after one of the big jolts and said, with an anguished little face and questioning voice, "Burp?!"...

Speaking of Henry's new talking habit, he has learned to put things together like, "No-Talk-Me!" when he doesn't want to be told not to eat Desitin or climb onto the coffee table. And when I told him it was time for bed tonight he said, "Wats. Mossers. Ink." (Watch Monsters, Inc.) I don't think I'm ready for the articulate Henry, but it's so freakin' adorable...

Speaking of bad habits (like turning on movies as a form of childcare in the hopes that you can get a shower), David sent me an article this week about a study that indicates that fewer snack foods in a child's diet doesn't really positively impact their average life expectancy or their obesity level. Whew. Now I feel a little better about all the fruit snacks, lollipops, ice cream, and the fact that Henry asks for "Bot-bot" (Chocolate) in his "Muk" (Milk)...

Speaking of fabulous sweet treats, David's sister sent a hug in the form of brownies by mail today. Thanks, M! They were so good that I don't even care if they affect my ability to fit into the vintage bathing suit I bought on E-bay. It's a 1940's style with cap sleeves and sooo cool. I really like vintage stuff and I hope it's not too wierd to get a bathing suit from E-bay because it is just what I'd like a bathing suit to be - modest, flattering, and inexpensive. No, I will not post a picture of me in it. I am done with pictures of me...

Speaking of fitting into clothing, I bought a few new shirts for summer a couple weeks ago. They were so cute and simple and nice looking, great for shorts or jeans or skirts, and they were long, which was the main thing (the baby fat over low-rise pants must be covered), but they were also only $6 each. So $24, one wear and one wash later, I am left with four shirts that look like this. I did in no way alter or stretch this shirt for photo bloggability! I measured it, too, and it is seriously 1 inch wider than it is tall now. So from now on, do I buy one shirt for $24 that will maintain it's proportions through washing it every day because it's the one shirt I own, or do I continue to buy the cheapies and try not to be disheartened when I wear them a second time and look like a cube resting on top of a butt and gut?...

Speaking of washing shirts, I saw one on a little kid today that said, "My Mom Did My Laundry!!!" OK, that is just hilarious. I told his mom so, too. I want to get six for each of my boys, for every day of the week except Sunday, so everyone knows I'm doing one of my jobs. And if they wear one of them on Sunday, everyone will know I'm not...

Speaking of having clean, fresh smelling things to wear, check this new product out: eau de Play-doh. I want some, I really do. I wonder if they have perfume in the scent of those brown artgum erasers, too. I'd take some of that as well. We know how much I'm in to smelling nice...

Speaking of play-doh, I learned an important lesson about letting myself go this week. Cal has a new play-doh kit with four colors of "doh" and a bunch of squishers and cutters and "tools" that he loves. I have told him a couple times to be really careful not to mix the colors together or he will have an ugly brown color of play-doh and it won't be as fun to play with anymore. Well, I came into the room and he was in the process of squishing the blue and green together. I made a conscious effort to say nothing, both because I thought he could figure out by experience what would happen, and also because I decided it really wasn't the end of the world if he did end up with a brown gob of doh. A little while later, he brought the green and blue swirled together, shaped into a nice ball in his little hands and said, "Look, Mom! I made the Earf! The blue parts are the water and the green is the grass!" Letting go of the less important requirements of myself let him make a beautiful little world...

And that's my week being a mom.