like a giant head snuggle

This past Christmas, my mother in law gave John and me matching.... pillows!  Yes!  It is what every girl dreams of receiving as a gift.  A new pillow!  John's brother received one as well.

This is where I should include a family picture in which we are all wearing
matching Christmas sweaters, but I don't have one.  We're not
THAT geeky, folks!

The pillows were packed away in our trunk for the return trip home, unpacked, placed in the bedroom, and promptly forgotten about.  Well, for a few days at least.  John wanted to try his out, so he unboxed it and stuffed it under his head.  That first night, he didn't like it so much.  The second night, I "stole" his to use to prop myself up while watching television.  What a perfect head-propper!  It cradled my neck and supported me in all the right places.  Rather than unboxing my own pillow, I just kept his around for that purpose alone.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I really was grateful for a new pillow.  However, no matter how many new pillows I have purchased over the past 8 years, I always wind up going back to my faithful feather pillow that John and I bought when we were first setting up a home.  I like the way it keeps its fluff.  I like the fullness of it, and the fact that I can sleep on my tummy, side, or back comfortably.  It has been my favorite for a long time and, though I think it gives me allergy issues, I was reluctant to try out anything new.

Then, one day, something happened to my good old feather pillow.  I think the dog peed on it.  No, really, I don't remember.  I have cleaned up quite a bit of dog piss recently, so that could be a logical reason.  I just don't know.

Penny and Fritz the dog used to fight like, well... cats and dogs.

At any rate.  I was forced to use one of these new-fangled cushy pillows for an.entire.night.  The result?

totally honest with the wrinkled bedspread and
lack of wall decor

 Oh.my.WOW!  This thing was the best pillow ever!  It was so soft and cushy!  The stretchy pillowcase felt divine against my skin.  Sometimes non-natural fabrics ARE more comfortable!  The little pellets inside contoured to my head just as well as my feather pillow, yet I didn't get poked in the cheek or have the sneezies!  Success!

I don't know why I was so reluctant to try it out.  I had one of those neon pillows that are filled with the cushy pellets and are sold at the beach.  You know, the floppy things the cheap junkshops sell?  I bought it when I was about 7 months pregnant and kept it with me for the entire remainder of my baby-carrying days.  It even went to the hospital with me, though I never pulled it out for comfort.  The Sobakawa Cloud Pillows are almost exactly the same, but they have this little sewn-down contoured section that cradles your head PERFECTLY!  Seriously, this is the best pillow in the world, people.

I don't normally jump on the As Seen On TV bandwagon, but you really do HAVE to have this pillow.  It's phenomenal.  I still wake occasionally throughout the night (mainly to tinkle), but then I can just snuggle down and snooze away.  I love it.  Yes, even more than my old feather companion (which I still can't quite part with, but maybe one day...).  I can only hope that this pillow lasts just as long, or they continue to make it FOREVER!

So, thank you dear Mother-in-law.  You did know best, and I love it!








*This is not a sponsored post.  I was not paid for my opinion.

short takes

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We're having a snow day today. Alex is out of school, the roads are covered with slippery snow, and we're stuck inside. Today will be a day to relax, make some Christmas crafts, and spend time as a family.

Today, I'm baking a Cinnamon-Apple Cake using some bruised apples from the grocery store.  I don't know if I accidentally bought bruised apples, or if Katie bruised them while shuffling the bag around the house once I got it home.  At any rate, no one has wanted to eat these things and they are about to go to waste.  So, we're going to have a treat.

I'm also planning on making some salt dough ornaments with the kids today.  We'll give these as Christmas presents to teachers and some family.  I can't wait to see how they turn out, as I've never made them before. 

At some point, we'll likely go outside to play.  We're expecting 3-6 inches of snow today, according to the latest reports.  This afternoon, it will turn to sleet and freezing rain, so we'd better get out there while we can!

whitewashing the walls

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Yesterday morning, a gaggle of friends brought their kids to my house to decorate Christmas cookies. I love hosting play groups like this, where the moms can get together to drink coffee and laugh, and the kids have a little activity and then time to play. We had a blast. My friend, Catherine, names have been changed co-hosted with me and brought over tons of cookie cutters and Alton Brown's Sugar Cookie dough.  Several other ladies bundled up in this frigid weather and joined us for the fun.

photo by dano, via a creative commons license

This is the thing, though.  While I love to have people over for a good laugh, I don't enjoy having to clean up my house before they arrive.  I had an even harder time of it this go-round because my son's Cub Scout den (for which I am the leader) had a meeting the night before.  And, I had had errands to run and other stuff to do for much of the day.  And, after I got home, I spent some quality time with the mister instead of cleaning up all of our crap.  So, come sun-up Tuesday morning, my house was not in tip-top shape.  By far.

I jumped out of bed and promptly started cleaning blogged.  It was a short post, but one that required a little research.  When I finished, it was 8:30 ish.  I jumped in the shower, because you can't be a stinky hostess with a messy house.  That's just not cool.  Catherine was due at my door at 10 AM.

Upon finishing my shower, I finally began to pick up the mess.  Clean the table, counters, bathroom... check.  Pick up toys... check.  Remove random junk that has been strewn from one corner of the house to the other... semi-check.  All that stuff got piled on my bed to be dealt with later.  Vacuum..... vacuum.... vacuum... why isn't my vacuum working?  Crap and double crap!    Fling the vacuum aside... check.

Dishes.  Oh, the dishes.  Needless to say, I hadn't worried over the dishes the night before because I was too, um... busy.  The sink was piled high.  The time is ticking down.  The dishwasher was already full of clean dishes that would have to be unloaded.  What to do?

courtesy of miss pupik, via a creative commons license

What to do?  Suddenly, the name of a favorite blog came to mind, Just Hide the Dishes in the Dryer.  Grabbing up my large turkey roaster, I starting piling dirty dishes inside.  One, two, three pots and pans.  Numerous plates, coffee mugs (Yes, Liz, that's why you had to use hubby's John Wayne mug.  My nicer ones were hidden), silverware, serving spoons, all the random junk we use in our day to day lives.  Out of my sink, into the roaster.  Four, five, six... where do I put this shit?  Lifting the roaster (wow, this is heavy), I dashed down the hall and into my bedroom.  The dishes were plopped on the floor by my bed, roaster and all.  I would deal with them later.  Back out to the kitchen I go to semi-shine my sink.  They'll never know!

That is, until I write a post about it.  But, I do have a point.  Yesterday, my home looked presentable.  Obviously lived-in, but (fairly) clean.  My vacuum did break, remember?  Hopefully, my home exuded comfort and welcome and a sense of this-is-me-not-trying-too-hard.  Out of respect for my friends, I cleaned up my home so they would feel comfortable.  So they wouldn't have to look at all of my grime.  I think that's perfectly acceptable, even hospitable to do.

But, what about ourselves?  Do we clean up our personalities when we're with our friends?  Or, do we let it all hang out?  Do we really show them our true selves?  Are there corners that we try to hide away from prying eyes?  If so, why?  Why must we fake a perfect persona for the world to see?  Why must we always be the peppy, perfect cheerleader?  Why must we always be dressed to the nines?  Can't we wear our sweats once in awhile?

Let down your hair, ladies.  Allow your friends to really get to know you.  Seek out a few close relationships, if you haven't already.  Sometimes, it's okay to have proverbial dishes in the sink.

one huggable, lovable friend

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.

While packing for our recent trip to Colonial Williamsburg (which was great and I'm sure I'll tell you all about it shortly), I started thinking about Pillow Pets. You see, Katie received the bumble bee pillow pet for her birthday and she now sleeps with it every night. So, it had to go to the hotel with us. Had. To.  I plopped the thing in the suitcase and zipped it on up.  Done.  Ready to hit the road.

Did anyone else have one of those pillow person things in the 80's/90's/can't remember the hell when, but I was a kid and they were super popular?  You know, the ones that had clothes kind of drawn on and floppy legs hanging off their square-ish bottoms and yarn for hair?  Really long yarn that would be considered a choking hazard now?  But, back then?  Parents apparently didn't care enough to care.  What were they called?  The pillow people, not the parents.  Let's see....




Oh, right.  They were called Pillow People.  How original.  And, maybe they didn't quite have chokingly-long hair.  Maybe I made that part up.  Anyway, this was the one that I received for Christmas one year.  I don't know how old I was.  I just remember that my dad (whom I used to call my "real dad," children of divorce can really be f'd up and scary sometimes), my dad gave it to me the year he was living in an apartment with a drug-dealing woman.  I don't remember her name.  Maybe there were two women.  Maybe I don't really know. 

Not my picture, I'm too lazy to deal with scanning and such.

Anyway, I got this pillow person for Christmas that year.  I can remember being incredibly thrilled, though I can't recall actually asking for it or anything.  Non-custodial parents have it so easy.  They can thrill their young children with anything. 

However, my dreams of snuggling down in bed clutching this little person to my chest and snoozing comfortably through the night were soon dashed.  The thing is, though, that my dad expected me to actually use this thing as my pillow.  Like, lay my head on it.  And, he didn't know how to wash it properly, so it got kind of dirty.  Eventually, she was shoved inside a pillow case.  So much for the pillow person/friend fantasy.  Unlike the girls in the commercial, I never pushed mine around in a stroller or played with her like my friend (okay, maybe I played with her as my dirty pal who really needed a bath.  Maybe.)

That's okay, though.  Because, it is kind of weird for kids to have a person look-a-like pillow that they clutch to their chest as they sleep at night.  It seems like a bit of a precursor to the blow-up doll.  You know, a fake partner with whom you snuggle.  Who can't talk back and always does what you want.  Such a fantasy.  I'm glad I have a husband, so that I'm not stuck hugging pillows.  That's the best part about marriage, you know!

So freakin' weird.  Yes, this thing really is for sale.

So, pillow people have now turned into pillow pets and Katie has one.  Alex is jealous and he wants one, too.  The grandparents plan to give him one for Christmas.  A dog, I think.  Because, he doesn't have enough dogs already (we have two).  Whatever.  They can both lay their heads on them so that they don't develop creepy feelings about snuggling with pets.  We don't want fleas in the bed, you know.

memory lane

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I was going through some old photos recently and came across a set from Christmas 2003.  Alex was 2 and a half years old.  It's hard to believe that he's nearing 10. 
Where does the time go?

We came across this tool bench in the attic while getting out Christmas decorations this weekend.  He loved playing with it so much that, when he out grew it, I couldn't make myself get rid of the thing.   Other finds were Little People toys, a boppy, and the menu from my hospital stay when he was born.

 Peek-a-boo!  See the box in the corner?  We had just moved into that apartment.  We would stay for a year before buying our house.  The first thing to go up in our new home was the Christmas tree.

 Among other things, Santa brought Alex a corduroy Mickey who is still hanging around somewhere.

And, there I am with my fuzzy-caterpillar eyebrows with the first turkey that I ever cooked.  It's just the breast, but it counts for something, right?  We ate Christmas dinner with my dad on a small end table because we didn't yet have a dining table.  Cooking dinner for my family has always been important to me, at least on the holidays, even if I haven't always been good at it.  It seems as if this turkey had to be put back in the oven after the picture was taken, as it had a bloody streak running through it.  I added too much milk to the mashed potatoes, so they were runny, and I only cooked my green beans for a few hours.  That's okay, I believe we had a good time of it anyway.

too much is too much

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This weekend, my wonderful husband chose to be super helpful around the house. For that, I am very thankful. During his time off from work, he mulched the leaves, cleaned the gutters, watched the children so I could sleep after shopping all night, stayed home while I went out to the Star City Comedy Club with good friend, Jannine, got the Christmas decorations out of the attic and did the dishes. And, you know what? I didn't even ask him to do any many of these things. What a dear!

source

The thing is, he hit a snag the last time he did the dishes.  The soap packet that had been put into the dishwasher for the previous run had not dissolved.  So, my handy husband decided he would add Dawn dishwashing detergent to the cup to get the job done.  I think he may have mentioned that we were also out of the Cascade packs.  I don't remember.  At any rate, he squirted a cupful of Dawn (the type you use to hand wash dishes) into the machine.  He turned it on.  A little while later, he went to get something from the kitchen and found a mess.  "Oh....." he groaned.  I asked what was the matter and he told me, "There are some bubbles on the floor."  Some bubbles?  A good quarter of the kitchen was covered in suds.  Oh my!  Deja vu, anyone?

For the second time in three months, I started to clean up a wet mess.  We bypassed the bath towel route this time because I didn't want to add to my backed-up laundry pile.  Instead, he grabbed the mop and I used the dust mop.  He would swing his tool across the sudsy floor, and I would push back, trying to keep the water and bubbles from spreading even further.  It felt like we were playing a gentle game of hockey, or participating in that weird-ass Olympic sport, curling.

source

Eventually, we were able to get the floor mostly dry and we turned our attention to the dishwasher.  You see, when John walked into the kitchen, soap was pouring out of the front of the machine.  He promptly turned it off, to minimize the flooding, but we realized we would soon have to deal with the mess inside.  Opening the door, we found a wall of bubbles.  Slowly, but surely, we began to scoop them out until the were nearly gone.  When we had removed as much soap as possible, we turned on the dishwasher to let it finish the cycle.  Water continued to dribble out for much of that run, but now our machine is as good as new and cleaner than it has been in a very long time.

This whole ordeal got me to thinking (bad idea, I know!).  A lot of times, we think that if a little is good, then a lot is a whole lot better.  Like the little squirt of dawn turning into a good half cup being poured into the dishwasher.  We have a tendency to go for the overkill, especially with our children.

Christmas is coming.  I have a difficult time moderating how many gifts my kids receive.  I just love to give them things and there are so many toys and items on the market that they would love to have.  Once I get started buying presents, I find it so hard to stop.  But, is more really better when it comes to giving things to our kids?  Or, should they learn the life lessons that go along with disappointment and/or hard work?

While waiting in line to shop at Toys R Us on Thanksgiving night, I spoke with Jessica, a young mother of a two year old boy.  Her son will be receiving many things this Christmas, among them a 32" flat screen television.  Her reasoning?  He needs something to entertain him.  Feel free to roll your eyes.  Inwardly, I did, too.  My response, "My kids are getting an aquarium."  Jessica's mother, who was along for the ride, just about died laughing.

You see, over the years I have come to realize that the bigger and better presents aren't always the best.  If you get your two year old a giant tv, then what is there to look forward to as he grows up?  Hell, we don't even have a tv that big in my home.  When Alex was young, he was overly spoiled.  I couldn't wait to get him the next best thing for his "age."  However, I failed to realize that just because he was in the appropriate "age range," and I was able to buy the items, they weren't necessarily suitable playthings for his stage.

When you jump ahead and buy anything and everything for your children, they lose more than they gain.  The kids no longer become enthralled with the gifts they receive, they become spoiled, and they lose interest in their toys more quickly.  They don't learn the value of hard work with suitable rewards, nor do they experience the thrill of receiving something they have longed for. Things become disposable.  In general, items lose their value when they are given by the bucket load.  While a squirt of generosity is good, a cupful just creates a mess. 

How will you balance your desire to give it all with your children's need of moderation and value this season?  What are the top gifts on your list?  Will you go all out, or will you (attempt) to keep it simple and sane?

christmas comes early

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Sit down, everyone. I have an announcement to make. As of about 2 PM yesterday afternoon, we have two new additions to our family. They are the cutest little things ever. Their faces pucker up when you look at them, but they mostly just go on their way, always searching for food. They're settling in nicely, too. The kids are thrilled.

What are they, you ask? Two little goldfish, swimming in a tank. One named Lucky and the other named Frank Dottie. The other doesn't yet have a name. Katie just calls it "Elmo's fish."

 

This is an early Christmas present for my kids.  Alex has wanted a fish forever, and Katie is enthralled by the fish at Alex's school.  New tanks are a bit pricey to set up, especially if you want anything larger than a 10 gallon.  So, I hopped on Craig's List last week and started looking for an aquarium.   I was actually looking for someone selling an empty tank with a hood (lid) and maybe some other accessories.  That way, I could easily hide the stuff until Christmas.  Instead, I found the whole shebang. 

I came across an ad for a 20 gallon tank with everything, even fish, included.  The seller lived about 45 minutes away from me.  Given the name in the email, I thought I was going to the home of a Hispanic man named Juan.  However, upon knocking on the door, a little Asian lady invited us into her home.  She was a hoot!  Due to an impending move to Texas, she was forced to sell her kids' tank.  Two goldfish were included, as well as a filter, hood, thermometer, and some decorations.  We gave her $40 for the set-up.  

We had gone in prepared to take the tank home, with buckets for the fish and accessories, and a general game plan on how to move with fish.  However, Juan couldn't find the fish net.  Now, how are you supposed to catch fish without the net?  "Drive home with fish in tank?" she asked.  Um, no.  That's not happening in my fairly new car.  So, she started going crazy.  "Where's that net?  I can't find net?  Pardon  mess, we moving.  Where is the net?"  Finally, she shouted to her son, "Hunterrrrrr! Where you put the net?"  He didn't know, either.

I suggested that we use a cup to scoop out the water and catch the fish, which worked pretty well.  Except, Juan kept getting exasperated with her preteen son.  "Outta the way!  I'll do it!"  And, he kept nosing in, like kids typically do.  She filled a bucket with water before she caught the first fish.  But, I explained, I only wanted to carry half a bucket home.  So, she dumped the entire bucket.  When she returned, she actually nabbed a fish.  Upon plopping it in the bucket at hand, she realized she had no water for the fish.  So, she and her son started to frantically scoop water into the bucket.  Then, the other fish was caught.    The entire time, little Juan was chattering away about the fish, their care, and her move. 

Finally, we left with an aquarium, several decorations, a taped-together filter that we wound up replacing, two fish in  a bucket, and a mostly-full container of fish flakes.  Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

One the way back to our house, we stopped at the good ol' Walmart for some basic supplies: dechlorinator, a net, and a water syphon mainly.  We also purchased some additional plastic plants and a new filter.  Wouldn't you know, though, that when we got home we realized that we hadn't actually purchased the net?  There I was, ready to gently lower the fish into their home, and I started hollering, "Where's the net?  What happened to the net?  Alexxxxxx!  Find the net!"  I don't know if it fell out of my husband's already-full hands, if the cashier neglected to get it off of the belt, or if we left it in the cart.  But, we had to go through the craziness of catching two feisty goldfish with a cup all over again.  At least, this time, they were staying put in their new-old tank in our chaotic home.

So, they're settled.  All in all, we got more aquarium for our money, though we still spent what we had budgeted for a new tank (maybe slightly more when you account for gas).  Even my husband is enamored with the fish.  The tank is a very pretty addition to our family area and the noise of the filter's waterfall is incredibly relaxing.  It was a good day, and the tank is a great present.  Especially considering that it isn't a cheap piece of plastic crap that will wind up in the dump in a year's time.  Merry Christmas, ya'll.