Linking Up
How many awkward selfless {no, autocorrect, it’s SELFIE} can I litter this post with? I’m rolling out tomorrow for two trips back to back with the baby and cannot wait to have the chance to take more awkward selfies. 1) Another whirlwind week. Lots of play time with the kids and sewing time by myself during the sweet lull of nap time. Almost sweet. One day looked like this. Nurse baby down while older two have unusually happy moments of playing together. Rejoin older two to discover all sheets removed from beds, trucks lined up for truck rally of the sort only toddlers could dream up, and children not ready for bed. I give them a quick warning and run go look for the UPS man. Separate older two, sending SuperBoy up to his napping room (the guest room recently vacated by a dear friend from the Netherlands), and plopping SweetPea on the toilet. She can’t go. Three//four//five songs later and she is in nap mode. Read to SuperBoy this great new book “Built to Last” that I picked up in the bargain room of Red Balloon up the street. Love it. As we round the corner of our last page, she is screaming I MADE A POOPIE AND POTTY. Pause with him. Go back to her, wipe, re-do everything, put an unhappy girl back to bed. Go back to him, finish our page. Go back to her while she screams I AM HUNGRY and trot downstairs, kicking the hallway humidifier in…
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Cleaning out my closet which has been a project nearly a year in the making, most of that time just in my head, I came upon this journal we had written in during our honeymoon. Nearly six years ago. We had these beautiful goals for our marriage. These really, truly lovely and lofty ideals of how we would proceed in developing our lives together. I read them with a little bit of a sneer. How idealistic. How childlike. Clearly I hadn’t experienced the devastation of pregnancy on my whole body. Clearly I hadn’t felt the disruption of sleep for years on end. Clearly I hadn’t fought with the haze of long hours without each other hanging between us, that resentment of your hardworking lover whose absence pains you. Then I read them aloud to AA. I choked up a little. Okay, a lot. Maybe because our beloved friends in Scythian have been in town (the kids are WILD about Joey. Very wild about Tim, too!) and I’ve been listening to their new album, Old Tin Can, and weeping copiously especially at Clare to Here and our first wedding dance they played in our front yard, If Ever You Were Mine. Why have I become–dare I say?–cynical? Why is everyday about surviving the tests and tantrums, the deadlines and stresses, somehow pulling dinner out of a magic hat, and crashing or retreating to my computer or sewing machine to get revitalized before another day of the same? Why do I scoff at me &…
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It’s Friday. That means I link my blog post with a bunch of other nuts at This Ain’t the Lyceum where Kelly is Queen. Hustle over and read what others are writing. 1. Prayers for a good friend’s daughter. Please pray for a good friend’s daughter who is only five years old and having major kidney trouble, like surgery & dialysis kind of trouble. We’re asking for the intercession of Venerable Bishop Baraga and Our Lady Undoer of Knots for healing for Mary Frances. Chime in, please. 2. What to Expect again. I’m a regular contributor at What to Expect and this month wrote on 7 ways to maximize your maternity leave. Nell, you aren’t working. You don’t have a maternity leave. I’m thinking, hey, once I wasn’t this online hanger-on-mama-lady. I did have maternity leave with SuperBoy. Ages ago! Hey, wisdom only ages well, right? Maybe. So go read it and tell me what resonates with you. 3. I launched the Lady Leggings. With quaking knees, I did the pre-launch for the subscribers to my newsletter. Now why would I want another email from you, Nell? You’re annoying enough as is. Well, gentle reader, the newsletter is just about etsy. So if you want to skip the temper tantrums and compostable diapers, subscribe and you’ll get insider scoops on new products and insider pricing. Not insider trading. Oh, you’re so not funny. And Grace was so sweet as to highlight my kiddo and lady leggings on her fabulous blog. And stay at her blog when…
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Guess what?? I am not going to let you down this week. Meals for all! And guess what’s even better? My friend Katie who is an actual chef hosting the link up & comment in this week? Yes. She’s amazing and kindly took me up on my pleading to breath some chef life into our little adventure here. She writes at The Humble Onion. So head to her. Link here. And stick around her place. I think you’ll like what you read. And your stomach will too. Comment there with what you’re planning on feeding your kids, self, friends, and loved ones this week. Or if you’ve blogged it, put your link in her link up! Cheers! And thanks to Katie for saving my bacon.
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My week, in seven quick takes. Linking with Kelly & the gang for this so go read other people’s takes which are guarnateeeeeeed to be cooler than mine. Except my first one. Which is so cool. 1. This Inspired Life Podcast! I had a wonderful interview with Kristin from “This Inspired Life” podcast, a podcast to inspire and encourage you to live your best life. She is just a joy to talk with. The podcast can be found here. We talked recipes, kids, my Whole Parenting Goods hand made business, the works. Enjoy and follow her on Facebook, instagram, and twitter, Of course I had multiple technology issues before I called her to start the interview. The headphones were missing for our Skype conversation. I couldn’t log into Skype on my desktop but finally got my husband’s username and password to do it on his laptop but then his laptop died and I couldn’t find the cord. I finally got my username and password sorted out, and my desktop rolling, but my desktop fan makes this weird rolling noise and she was forced to listen to that over the headset (which I found in the car??). All the while I was bouncing Mr. I Didn’t Want to Finish My Nap, who, as it turns out, had loaded his diaper with a bomb. I bounced the bomb unknowingly for 45 minutes while standing in front of my rattling desk with the headset on. Phew. But she was so easy to talk to…
Read MoreIt’s that time of the week. Week Eats is your friendly meal plan. Okay, really it is all for the sake of my poor husband who has been married almost six years and eaten by the skin of his teeth every single night. As in, it’s 4pm and no meat is defrosted 😉 See our other volumes here. Your part? Comment with what you’re eating or link your blog post about food. Help each other find new recipes! I’m going to focus on lunch & snacks as dinners have been going very smoothly around here. Something I learned about myself in my month fast from processed sugar is that I don’t eat a nutritional lunch. Therefore by mid afternoon, a handful of chocolate chips, or a grab at cookies or fudge sounds appealing because I’m not full on good food. And after ruining my appetite for dinner (surprise, surprise, your mother was right about that), I wouldn’t have a great appetite for dinner. Then later in the evening, when hungry, enter: ice cream. There’s nothing abhorrent about a little sugar here and there, but it took me going without it for 30 days to realize that I was abusing it. So I’m resolved to be conscious about lunches beyond the norm for me and the kids, and having good snacks on hand, too. Monday snack: Homemade granola bars. Made them last week. Delish!! Following this recipe. lunch: Fresh cucumbers and bell peppers with hummus, whole grain crackers, slices of deli harvarti cheese,…
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