Don’t tell a woman she looks like a little kid.
Don’t tell her you thought she was 13, 16, or whatever grossly young age you thought she was.
Don’t tell her you thought her kids were her younger siblings.
Don’t tell her you think she’s your husband’s kid sister.
Don’t, when you see her out with her kids, ask her who she nannys for.
Don’t tell her you don’t believe those are really her children, and why won’t she just admit she’s the baby sitter.
A woman in her twenties doesn’t want to hear she looks too young to:
Have children
Be married
have gone to college
or whatever else you think she’s too young for.
Especially don’t make any comments about babies having babies or “I wonder what grade she was in when she got knocked up.” You just might get knocked out.
It gets old. If you think she looks young, she’s probably already heard it before.
If it’s me, she’s probably heard it twice before in just that weekend. So shut up. You’re just being rude. I don’t ask you how old you are or comment that your uncle must have been cro magun because you look like such a wrinkly old hag. I don’t crack dinosaur jokes, I don’t mention that you never get carded or that people think you’re my mother (who by the way, is younger looking and hotter than most people her age).
Unless a woman is obviously older, and would appreciate being told she looks 30 instead of 40, just leave it alone.
Public Service Announcement over.
Posted by Lou on April 23, 2006 @ 5:28 pm | 21 Comments
Filed in: Me
Today, I was supposed to go to a twelve hour crop at our local scrapbook store. I was supposed to get all sorts of projects done, pages in the album and trinkets to sell on ebay and whatnot. I was supposed to enjoy a whole day of no kids bickering while my muse unleashed her creative fury without having to stop and change loads of laundry in between ideas. I was going to relax, and I was probably going to go to “lunch” at Baker’s Choice and come back with an entire lemon meringue pie instead of a meal. In other words, I had big plans.
Fast forward to this morning. I. Feel. Like. Poo. I had been hoping the tickle in my throat and the mild congestion was from my allergies, but, as is evidenced by the massive white pile of tissues on my night stand and my glands, which have swollen to the size of small peaches, I am dealing with a virus. Eech. What’s the deal with this? It seems that every time I have something planned lately somebody gets sick. And if it’s not me being sick, I’ll catch it and ruin the following week’s plans. Because of this, I can usually predict when I’m going to be sick. This one snuck up on me since I got it first. I don’t even know who to blame. I suppose I’ll just blame my crap immune system which has really let me down since I’ve become a mother. Mom’s aren’t supposed to get sick. Perhaps my immune system missed the memo about the pregnancy and childbirth and resulting “Mother Status.” It’s still functioning on “Skipping School Status.” Karma? Definitely.
I don’t think we will be attending church tomorrow, either. Most of the people I know would prefer chocolate bunnies over a cold on Easter, so I’ll stay home and spare them. Bummer for me though, I usually enjoy Easter services.
I think we will do the Easter Bunny routine today. In my family the Easter Bunny always came at random and almost never came on Easter Sunday. Due to Chris’ crazy work schedules and a desire to keep Easter Day a little more spiritually focused, we are following suit.
The kids have really awesome baskets this year. They are both getting Thomas the Tank Engine stuff, and I’m sure they will flip over the new engines and destinations I’ve worked into the tracks. I had the train set packed away for about a month, and Jonas has asked almost every day for me to put it back up. This morning I put it together, but I left two holes where the Clock Tower and Quarry Mine Tunnel will fit. Jonas can’t figure out why I’ve put the track together so stupidly, but he is thrilled to have it up anyway, and I know I will be enjoying a peaceful rest of the day, which is nice, since I’m sick. Even though I feel crummy, I am actually looking forward to this quiet day at home with my family. Chris went to bed early last night (early as in three am, he’s been on night shift lately.) so he could be up in time to watch the kids when I went to this crop, so I assume he’ll be up soon, and it will be nice to see him.
Posted by Lou on April 15, 2006 @ 6:25 pm | 9 Comments
I’m going out of my tree here. It has rained almost every day for two months.
Posted by Lou on April 12, 2006 @ 9:40 pm | 10 Comments
My children had the opportunity to visit my in-laws for a few days this past week. They had a wonderful time and Chris and I enjoyed a much needed break. We spent much of the time working on projects around the house and running errands. It can be challenging to be productive with two little ones, and this opportunity to be able to focus on what I was working on was very nice. I thoroughly enjoyed the silence. I never knew how much I loved quiet until I became a mother!
So often I feel very overwhelmed by all the noise and the constant demands. To be plagued with requests for food and toys and activities from sun up to sun down is so incredibly draining. I crave time for me, enough time to rest and also recharge by doing something I enjoy. When I’m spent it is so hard to respond in a positive manner to my children. I am trying to teach myself to constantly ask the question, “why are they doing what they are doing,” rather than just react. They are not bad kids. Usually they are motivated by good or by curiosity or by a sense of fierce independence. Sometimes they are trying to be helpful, but in their own limitations, create more of a mess than I had before.
Too often I spend my time worrying about the mundane tasks of life and I forget that the moment I am in is sweet and fleeting. I forget to love my children up because I’m too busy trying to “deal with them” while I attend to other less important matters. In my haste to accomplish things of little lasting value, and reacting to my exhaustion with irritability instead of taking care of my needs, I really haven’t been the best mother lately. I had an experience last week that brought these things I needed to improve upon into sharp focus.
Maggie had a nasty stomach bug this month. It lasted for almost a week. Jonas tried very hard to be patient with me giving Maggie so much attention, and I tried to be patient with him getting into things. At one point Maggie vomited all over and I was busy cleaning up after her. I started my fourth load of laundry that day and walked back into the living room where I saw Maggie sitting on the couch with one of my breakable bowls. I knew she couldn’t have gotten it herself, and I was about to get angry with Jonas for getting into the cupboards and letting his sister play with my bowl when it hit me to think about this for a second before reacting. Once I assessed the situation from his perspective, I immediately knew what he had done.
When Jonas is sick I always give him a big bowl to hold in case he needs to throw up and can’t make it to the bathroom. He had seen his sister sick and tried to help her, just as I help him. I almost yelled at him for a thoughtful act of caring. When I asked if that was what he had done, he was so proud to have helped, and I was so proud of him, and ashamed of my initial anger. How often I don’t step back before I react. I wonder how many sweet moments I’ve missed while caught up in my own frustration and impatience.
Shortly after my children returned home, I sat on the couch listening to them playing in the next room while I read a short article in a magazine. It expressed many of the same feelings of frustration and exhaustion that I feel on a daily basis from living with two small children underfoot. One line from the article really struck me. It said, “When your children are in your arms, they are no longer under foot.” How true.
Posted by Lou on April 10, 2006 @ 6:15 am | 17 Comments
Maggie is named after my Grandma Donna: Margaret Donna. I wanted to do a special layout about why I wanted to name her after her great grandma, and these pictures of the two of them from last Thanksgiving were perfect. I used Wild Asparagus papers and letter stickers, stamps from stampin up and saavystamps, and more.
Note: No ribbons were harmed in the making of this layout.
Thanks for looking!
Posted by Lou on April 3, 2006 @ 12:45 am | 11 Comments
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