The Trials of a Busy Mom

Month: January 2006 (Page 2 of 2)

The Mermaid Chair

I just finished a book by Sue Monk Kidd, who you may remember wrote
the Secret Life of Bees. This book is called The Mermaid Chair. I would recommend it. It’s about a woman who returns to her home on a tiny island to help her mother, but in reality is escaping from her life with her husband. She discribes her life as “molded to the smallest space possible”. Thinking about that phrase is interesting. Do we all have something that makes us feel alive, so that we’re not just living the smallest life possible. Do we challenge ourselves and take risks? Do we have moments that take our breaths away? If not, maybe you need to examine your live, find out who you really are and be true to yourself. This woman in the book decides not to return to her home and husband, has an affair with a priest, of all things, and “finds herself”. I believe you can find yourself without such drastic measures, butt it’s an interesting look at life–especially the life of a housewife, like myself.

Anyway, it’s a well written book, and I enjoyed it. Too bad I didn’t read it a few months ago, then I could have had a good pick for Book Club.

In other news, I just got pictures from my birthday posted. Here’s a picture of my new fridge! and you can see the rest of the birthday pictures if you click here .

Peace, out. I’ve got to go and help Megan find something acceptable to wear to school for her “4th grade arts and literature program”. The teacher wants them to wear Sunday dress, which would be a dress or a skirt, which she finds abhorant. I’ve got to work on that kid.

I’m back, and so is Ryan

Well, I finally won something–4 tickets to the Auto Expo going on this weekend! I know you are SO jealous. If you are nice to me, maybe I’ll let you go with me!
(I also won tickets to “the Rat Pack Remembered” at the Desert Star Theater, so it turns out it actually is a good prize).

Hooray for me. Now, if I could just win that trip to Cabo San Lucas!

Ryan is back, and we’re happy to have him!! Yesterday he fixed the dryer hose that I broke while trying to paint around the dryer, and took off the shelf in my laundry room, so today I can finish up (I hope–I’m now tired of that project, and I’ve got to get back on track with the mountains of luandry that we seem to generate around here). It’s mustard yellow, by the way, which I know sounds kind of like a gross color, but I think it looks really cool.

Not every bozo with a brush

Not every bozo with a brush and a roller can call themselves a painter. It takes some skills. Skills I obviously don’t possess. I’ve spent the weekend painting my laundry room, and I must say I’m not all that great at it. It’s not the greatest finish in the world–that’s why we start with the laundry room (who goes in there but me, anyway?). I let the kids have a go at it today, and they thought it was great fun. When my hubby gets back with the camera, I’ll take pictures.

Other parent

Last night my sweet Jenna just couldn’t sleep for some reason. She was up at 10:45 (right after I had gone to sleep, so when I woke up I was really out of it) and wanted a tape to help her fall asleep. I started a tape really quietly, so as not to wake her sister who she shares a room with.

At sometime around 1:00 she was back in my room asking about something or other. I don’t know if it’s the same with everyone, but I sleep REALLY soundly for the first couple of hours, and hav a hard time waking up. So, I really wasn’t sure what time it was, what she needed and all that. I told her to go use the bathroom, and I heard her softly crying as she did so. She wanted another tape. No, I said, you should have been asleep long ago, and you don’t get a tape. She cried all the way back to bed, so I went and sat by her on her bed. It only took about 5 minutes for her to fall asleep. But how long did it take me to fall asleep? Probably about an hour. Ugh.

My point about the other parent is–if Ryan had been here, he would have still been up, so hopefully he would have been the one dealing with the sleepwalking (or just not asleep) child. But alas, Ryan is not here, he’s in Las Vegas for the week for a big Consumer Electronics Show. And I miss him.

Losing my touch

I haven’t won anything in days—weeks, even! I may be losing my touch! I’ll have to redouble my efforts and WIN something soon. I’ll let you know. I’m sure you are worried about my well being.

Retail Experiences

1- THE DVD PLAYER FOR THE CAR
In the past few weeks I have bought 3 (count them….3) dual screen DVD players for the car. The first one I bought at ToysRus, using the gift card, so I didn’t have to charge it. I got it on sale, got a free DVD with it, and used a coupon for 20% off, saving me another $50. So, it was an all around great deal. Until we opened it on Christmas day and Ryan informed me that one of the screens didn’t have a working backlight, therefore you couldn’t see the movie on the second screen. So, back to ToysRus I went to return it. They didn’t have any more in stock, didn’t know (and didn’t care, from the look of the sales associate who I asked) when they would get any more.
So, I looked online and found a similar one at Walmart.com (also available in stores). So, to avoid the shipping, I went to WalMart and bought another one. I brought it home and Ryan informed me that this one must have been a return, because it was already broken. Ugh.
So, I returned that one to Walmart (a different one–not the scroungy one at 106th South where I bought it), and bought a different brand. This one–so far–looks good. Although the cables between the two units are short and we don’t know if we can put one in the middle seat and one in the back seat, it looks like it will work. Hooray!

2- THE PURPLE BRA
While birthday shopping, I went into the bra store to stock up on a few essentials. I found this really great Bali bra in the clearance section that was marked at $5.99. Wow. But when I tried it on, I realized that it wasn’t white like the picture on the package, but purple. Oh well, I’ll try it on, and then I can find it in white. Fits great. So, I look for it in white. There are no whites in the clearance (blue, yes. white? no), but the sales girl found it for me in the regular section. It’s $19.99. Ok. I’ll get it, but I’ll also get the purple one, too, since really, what does it matter what color your bra is (unless you are wearing some sheer white outfit or something very low cut that shows your bra). So, she rings up the purple bra, and it’s 1/2 OFF the $5.99. Wow, so I went and grabbed the blue one as well. I mean, who gets a bra that fits for 3 dollars? Well….me, that’s who. So, now I have these blue and purple bras. I’ve personally never strayed from the basic white, so it feels kind of funny to wear them. I feel kind of exotic and sexy (under my same old regular clothes, of course). What’s your most unusual bra like?

3- THE STOLEN PIN
Last night as I was digging in the pile of coats in the mudroom for a shoe or something, I found a pin. Not just a pin, but a fancy broach type thing. It was still on the little card, with a price tag on the back for $1.99. It looked like it must have come from Big Lots, where I took the kids Christmas shopping. But I don’t remember anyone buying it. So, I asked Jenna where it came from. She kind of avoided answering, and said she thought her friend’s mom would like it for Christmas. I asked her if she had paid for it, and she again avoided my question. So, it appears Jenna stole this pin. I did not fly off the handle about it, but told her I would have to think about what we would do about it. I did quickly inform her that taking something without paying for it is stealing, and that Heavenly Father frowns on that kind of activity (as does Mommy). So, what should I do. It’s really such a small pin that it’s not a huge deal. The last time one of my kids stole something, I traipsed back to the store where it came from (Barnes and Noble), told the clerk that my daughter had taken the Barbie book without paying and we would like to return it, asked them to reprimand her, and they said “Oh, thanks.” So, it was more a punishment for Me to have to drag my kids all the way back there, and she got nothing out of it. Any suggestions?

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