Thankful Thursdays

This Thursday I am thankful for:

Having gotten past my cursed pumpkin carving abilities. After last year's disastorous cat and the pumpkin I carved several years ago with the Brookses, I thought I was doomed to be a kindergarten level carver. This year, however, I pulled off a Tinkerbell and a happy pumpkin - go me.

The weather starting to turn a bit cooler and being inspired to whip up three different batches of soup. I love soup, I could happily eat it every day.

Chik-fil-a's free kid Tuesday. Brilliant! I get a grilled chicken salad, she get's nuggets. There is time to play, there's a wandering cow to hug, free balloons and this week? This week there was a fancy face painter.

Gettting the back yard/patio cleaned up. The yard toys have been cleaned and stored, the umbrella is in the garage and the tiki torches will come down after this weekend. Bring it on Autumn.

Preschool - it gives me a few minutes to myself to think, blog, shop, read, putz around or clean. Addie also loves it and wakes up wanting to go to school. (Today I managed to run an errand, make Andy and I breakfast, toast pumpkin seeds and do some laundry - see? Preschool rocks!)

The fact that my daughter absolutely loves my friends. In fact she loves them so much that she insists that they are her friends and she demands to talk to them on the phone and follows them around when they are in town - and then she begs them not to leave. Deciding to make Addison's ballerina costume. My mom never bought costumes and as long as I can get away with it, neither will I.

Firepits with good friends, good wine and mini-marshmallows.

GG's knee replacement surgery going off without a hitch. I have no doubt she'll be running laps around us in no time.

At long last, a weekend that should be restful and quiet.

And, obviously, an excuse to use orange text - Happy Halloween!

I have sat down to write a pithy entry here and a poignant entry there many times over the past several days, but I've had nothing.
Perhaps it it due to the ten days of travel. Or maybe it was the migraine that resulted in 24 hour nausea and vomiting. It could be that I had company for the weekend and one of them gave me their sinus infection. Or that state the carpets are in, or the loads of laundry, or the every day errands of life.

But most likely it's that I have been unable to find my daughter amusing lately. I left for Massachusetts two weeks ago with a three-year-old and came back with daughter in the throes of adolescence.

My days are full of huffs and tsks. There are countless eye-rolls, endless foot stomping and incalculable glares accessorized with both hands planted firmly on her bitty, little hips.
She is trying new phrases, such as: JESUS. JeeeeSUSsss. I TOLD you. Oh MY GOD. And daaaarnnnn IT!
She gives me options: Make me a peanut butter sandwich now or gimme a cookie - your choice, Mama.
Or informs me of what I have done or said wrong: Don't talk with your mouth full! Don't say shut up!* Don't you boss me.
Occasionally she reprimands me: You do that again and you go to the thinking stool or your room. I mean it, Mama. (Usually I am just breathing, and that seems to offend her sensibilities).

So, I totally get that she is testing her boundaries. She is seeing what she can get away with and what is okay. I don't need to hear that this is normal or that it's just a phase or that soon enough she'll be back to her old-self.

What I need to hear is that the little girl who listens to her aunts, obeys her grandparents, adores her neighbors and worships her teacher will one day listen to me.
Or obey me.
Or adore me.

I don't need to be worshiped - her dad covers that angle just fine.



*Aunt Kimmie tried to explain that 'shut up' can sometimes just be an incredulous statement from an adult. Addie ain't buying it.....and she LOVES catching people saying it.
And then calling them a "Mean Jean".

Oy vey.

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

• Feeling marginally better. Yesterday was spent in bed and throwing up and wanting to die a little bit. Today I just feel like death warmed over.
• My new porcelain travel coffee mug - it's so cheery and keeps my coffee piping hot.
• Lugging my mother's old carpet cleaner 750+ miles back to Ohio - holy Jesus my carpets were disgusting. We could have single-handedly brought back the plague. Ack!
• Whole wheat english muffin, egg, ham and cheese sandwiches.
• Yankee Candle pumpkin scented candle jar - fabulous.
• Blue skies, sunny days, mums in full bloom and Halloween decorations.
• Two pumpkin carving dates in a matter of three days.
• Plans to play in a pumpkin patch with best friends and my sweet daughter. Following that, just plans to play with my friends all weekend.
• That even though she's been acting like a thirteen year old for the past week and pushing right to the brink of insanity, yesterday she was sweet and kind and gentle and took good care of her sick mommy.

Thankful Thursday

I am late sitting down this week, but this Thursday I am thankful for:

• Being home, my childhood home. Having coffee delivered to my room each morning. Reading in bed.
• The sound of my mother's laughter intermingled with Addison's giggles.
• Fresh baked apples squares, Bailey's and coffee, apple cider with Beam and sugar dusted apple cider doughnuts.
• Having a mother who buys cheap wine in bulk without shame.
• Seeing a high school pal and meeting her beautiful family.
• Watching my daughter rediscover the magic of Gramma's house - the candy bowl, the multiple bird feeders, the snuggly purple chair.
• Hearing Addie run to Gramma's room each morning and laughing as she's told "Good Morning Sunshine!".
• New England in the Autumn. This isn't even that awesome of a fall foliage, and yet it is still breathtaking. Gold, orange, brilliant yellow leaves against a crisp blue sky - it reminds why I love fall.
• Having a toddler who likes to be thankful: "Thank you for getting me my toothpaste mama", "Thank you Gramma for my new thing", "Thank you for bringing me here". It is so lovely to be told thank you.
• Seeing my daughter ferociously love all the people who I love ferociously.
• The sound of my husband's voice.
• Getting to see this, at least once a year:

Another autumn with apples

All Addison wanted to do, while visiting Gramma Kathy, was go apple picking. She remembered our trip last year - picking the apples, eating apple cider doughnuts, nibbling on honey candy.

She was an expert this time around - she picked ten pounds of apples and probably only bruised about seven pounds of them by throwing them with all her might into the bag. She did, however, perfect her apple picking technique. Each time she went to add an apple to our load she would grab and say "twist and pull, twist and pull".

She ran up and down the rows of trees, pointing out the the best apples and picking a few that were just the right size for her. She would examine the apples for splits or bruises, and pause to shine the best looking ones on the leg of her jeans. She managed to munch on two or three apples and tossed the cores out in the woods "for the birdies".


So now we have ten pounds of apples waiting to be turned into wonderful treats - apple crisp, apple sauce, apple squares. Addison has also suggested we make an apple lamp or an apple plate.

She quite the little apple picker, but I am not convinced that she has the baking concept down pat.

Mama said there'd be days like this

My mom used to say me "You just wait" or "One day you'll understand" and more than once she said to me "I'll always love you, but I don't always like you".

We are home at my Mom's house and, for the most part, it is wonderful. I have gotten to sleep in, spend quality time with my Kindle and drink a fair amount of wine. We've gone to a pumpkin patch, had a marshmallow roast, driven to the highest point in the state, taken a train ride, had Addie's teeth cleaned, carved a pumpkin and played, played, played. There have been tons of giggles and lots of fun - but there has also been a crapton of Additude.

Feet stomping, hands on hips, screeching. Pouting, hitting, grouchiness. She's been demanding and exhausting and snippy. She has been bossy and opinionated and short tempered. I have had a very small arsenal of patience - I have taken away treats and walked her out of restaurants and used multiple "thinking chairs".

And each time I am feeling like I am at the end of my rope, I look over at my mother, for her endless support, for reassurance, for her shoulder and all I see in her face is a satisfied, amused, totally tickled smirk.

And that smirk says "God I love this kid, I told you to just wait and that you'd understand." And then she looks me in the eye and with one look let's me know it's okay to "love my daughter, but not always like her".

It's only been a little over 72 hours, but I think that Mom's smirk and Addie's Additude have decided to be pretty good friends.

Whaddayou think?

a year later at the pumpkin patch

October 2009

October 2010

This Thursday I'm thankful for:

• My new mailbox - so new and pretty and willing to collect my mail. Thank you Northwest School District (sorry your bus smashed the original one into pieces).
• A week of good workouts, even if I hurt a little bit.
• The grass finally looking slightly green in our sad, dry yard.
• Neighbors who have tons of kids DVDs who are willing to share.
• Finding a Christmas gift for Addie at 75 percent off. I love me a baragin.
• Having a tub of Rosebud Brambleberry Lip Balm in my purse - I love Smith Rosebud Salve, but Brambleberry is quite lovely too.
• Free book downloads for Kindle. I am so addicted.
• Being able to make a pot of Blackbean Chili for my neighbor and her girls - who knew I could be so neighborly?? Then again, for those three gals - anything.
• The return of The Good Wife - I am so glad Nurse Carol Hathaway found herself a new, good show.
• Trying a new mom and pop cafe and loving it. It had ice cream chairs and homemade soups and delicious salads - mmmm.
• Having the car packed with snacks, toys, clothes and goodies - and having it pointed toward my Mom's house.
• Marrying a man, who became the father that planned a Daddy-daughter daughter date to Princesses on Ice, complete with her in a Cinderella get up. If that doesn't make you jealous of me, I don't know what will.
  

Dancing Queen

Sometimes I wish I could just step into her shoes and twirl. I would pivot and pirouette and spin like a dervish.

I would wear tutus and hair bows and constantly say "I wanna dance wiff you". I would courtesy and bow several times a day. I would grab the closest person and make them have ants in their pants, we would boogie down and jump around. I would be Beauty and I'd find a Beast and we'd float across the dance floor.

And then I would laugh and endlessly giggle and feel graceful, even though not even a little bit of me is.

BG -SU!

This Saturday, in a burst of familial bonding, we trudged three hours north of sunny Cincinnati to cold, cloudy Bowling Green.
It was homecoming weekend at BGSU, where Aunt Nikki is a sophomore, and it was also the second anniversary of Addie's Grampa's passing. Being together to laugh was what was on the menu.

We had visions of tailgating and beer and hot tubs and silliness. In those visions we did not foresee rain, wind and clouds - nonetheless we motored on.

Uncle Dickie brought his truck, loaded down with a grill, coolers of beer, hamburgers, brats and mets. There were pounds of salami rolls and chips and dips and wine spritzers. Luckily we remembered the tent to shelter us from the rain and a few last minute purchases (gloves, grilling utensils and bags for cornhole) made the day a success.

Addie was a excited to go on a 'picnic' and loved adding the term 'tailgate' to her vocabulary. She reveled in the attention of her family and gaped at the marching band, dance team and cheerleaders. In fact, she may have picked up a move or two.

While the rest of the family sat in the frigid stadium Addie and I retired to the soft bed and warm blankets of the hotel...we obviously outsmarted them all.