What decade are you?

You Belong in 1999

With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

What Year Do You Belong In?

1st prize goes to whoever can tell me what "ghetto fabulous" is...

Oh, and no- you don't get a prize, ya little... Isn't reading my fabulous bog reward enough??? ;D

You're so vain, you probably think this post is about you

I've known some pretty ego-centric people.

But you, my dear, take the cake. You take it, and then you complain that it wasn't your favorite flavor.

Surrounded by people. By wisdom that surpasses your own, by experiences beyond your reach, by perspectives you will never see, and you're the one doing the talking. No one can teach you.

No one can love you. Because despite all your talking, you've decided that no one will ever know your every last self-centered thought. No one will ever completely break down your walls. Because you've created a rule for yourself: keep up at least one brick.

And then blame the brick on the person who made the cake.

Giddy

My package from Susan, my swap partner, came yesterday!! All day long I listened for a knock on the door, and thought maybe it would be put in the "big mailbox," at the end of the street. The knock must have come while I was putting the babies down for their naps. Zach went to check the mail around 10 last night, and when he came back empty-handed I finally thought to check the front porch (yeah- we're really smart around here.) My box!! Hidden over behind the bushes!

I opened the box and found everything individually wrapped!! Classy. I'm thinking next time I'll do that instead of pink bubble wrap... which was... not so classy... ;D

She sent me a letter explaining each of her choices, which I won't use all of cause I didn't get permission to put it on here..

"One of my favorite things to do is cook... "

There were some recipe cards, three of which she had written some of her favorite recipes. Handy- because I'm getting to the end of the index cards from my wedding. She included a jar of apple butter, which was actually one of her favorite recipes. I have to admit, I wasn't as initially excited about this as I should have been. About a year ago, I bought some apple butter with a vague memory in my head of liking it. That particular brand didn't live up to my expectations, (really bland) and I had decided we were done with apple butter. When I opened this jar, I was so hopeful and curious I just popped the top and stuck my finger in- ha! It was just like I had hoped the first jar would be, kind of tart and very.... appley. I knew I like apple butter! But I probably wouldn't have tried it 'til much later if she hadn't sent it- so now my kids will get a chance to love it, too!

"I have also included two of my favorite cooking magazines. I love Rachael Ray because it has a section on budget meals and weekly menu ideas. But, Cuisine at Home is my absolute favorite. It doesn’t have ads and has pictures of each dish and its process. The helpful tips are always good as well."

Perfect timing. Yesterday I cooked this Egyptian rice and lentils dish- trying to branch out a bit. I'm definitely on a try-something-new in the kitchen kick. And she is right- this magazine is incredible!! I hadn't even thought of looking to a magazine- awesome.



Next- Oxi Clean stain remover.

"(It)is the best and I love being able to pretreat stains on the run or get things out of my clothes when I get “slimed” by the kids."

Ha! Amen. More perfect timing. I just lost mine.

And another thing we amazingly had in common... dark chocolate in truffle form, baby.

"I don’t think I have to say anything more than that."

Me neither.


Something I'm surprised I didn't think of- she sent a CD of her favorite songs. It seems we've both got a musical background, and appreciate the effect certain music has on us. What a great idea! I still haven't convinced the kids to let me play it instead of the kid CD we've always got on- so maybe tonight I can enjoy some grown-up songs for a change.


The book "The Wednesday Letters," which neither of us has read. Which is my favorite part about most books- that I haven't read it before. I'll have it devoured by Sunday- how much you wanna bet.


I saved the best for last. I had seen on her blog that she was a rep for a jewelry company, and immediately wished I hadn't seen it, because I got my hopes up, and no matter how hard i tried to not think about it, I still found myself hoping there would be a little box in there. I'm awful. Awful. She picked the perfect earrings (which are the only jewelry I really ever bother with!)

"I am a representative for Silpada Designs and love it. Their jewelry is the highest quality sterling silver and other precious stones. The earrings I sent you are sterling silver, turquoise, peridot, amethyst, red coral and lapis. Silpada jewelry is definitely one of my favorite things!!!"

I've got to tell you- this was so much fun. Not even just the fact that we got to open cool stuff- but the fact that there are so many perfect strangers out there willing to reach out and share a peice of themselves. It's a good feeling from start to finish. I'm glad they did such a great job pairing me with Susan!

Second Guessing

Before we even decided to have our "second" child, I thought, almost constantly, about the space between ages, and the pros and cons of 2, 3, or 4 years difference from Mia to her sibling.

We were in kind of a unique situation. We knew, right down to the month, when we would be moving out of state, more than a year in advance. And we knew, more or less, that the time and responsibility constrictions with Zach's future schooling would necessitate some creative "family planning."

Basically, we had two choices. A) Have the next kid before we moved- causing them to be extremely close in age, but compensating for the difficulties that would cause by being in the same state as both our families for the first three (and most difficult) months of infancy. B) Wait until Mia was old enough to take care of herself a little better, and hope that would compensate for the fact that there would be no family around, and that Zach would be up to his neck in med school.

Looking back- I can't believe what a difference choosing Plan A meant. There was no way I could have accurately weighed the incredible "pros" we were blessed with, (mostly because we had no idea baby #2 would come with baby #3.)

After realizing I couldn't keep our house clean enough to sell, live in it, have a bad back, and be eight months pregnant with twins all at the same time, I was worried we'd have to move in with my parents longer than the few weeks between selling our place and moving to Ohio. The story behind finding our apartment is kind of long, but it seems so cool to me.

Journal: February 8, 2007

Monday I saw an important ad in the online classifieds. I’ve been checking the baby section every day looking for good deals. Someone put an ad in for an apartment lease. I read it for no reason, other than it was funny that someone put it in "baby items" and it hadn’t been reported and moved yet. 4 bedroom, everything you could ask for in an apartment, plus free internet, a pool and gym, granite countertops and tile floors: $610 a month. When I realized what an incredible deal it was I started thinking how nice it would be to move there instead of my parents’ house. The amazing thing about it- the lease ends in July- the very month we'd need it to end. And you can’t renew the contract. (I found out later it is because the complex is really student housing, and when it was first built, they opened it temporarily to families at that great rate. The catch was- they got kicked out after two years. So this family found a house and it closed really fast. They have to move at the end of this month.) Just for the fun of it, I calculated the difference we would pay, once we got rid of our internet. $100 a month. Hmm. Just for a little more fun, I called the gal who placed the ad. She said all the offers she got wanted to renew the lease past July- which they couldn’t do. I called Zach, who surprised me by sounding optimistic. I called my mom, who also surprised me by NOT saying she would be a tad miffed if we didn’t come live there, and that it was up to us. I looked for the ad an hour later, and it had been moved. We went and looked at the apartment that night, applied for it the next day, and today, Thursday, we signed the lease! Crazy!

A little more than a month before D-day, we had moved into a student ward, with the most well-organized and willing compassionate service set up that I have ever seen.

Some of the forseen cons were actually pros in disguise. I think I would be either be working with two kids in daycare right now, or feeling like a big fat slacker for staying home. But having twins kind of nixed that problem.

Still. Every so often, something comes up that still makes me wonder if we made the right decision. (And I've gotta say- it was more my decision than Zach's. He needed some convincing- so I'm super scrutinizing of this particular life-choice.)

After adding and subtracting all the good and bad about this decision, I think the twins are paying the biggest price. Little conflicts have been escalating between those two- and got way worse when I experimented with having all three girls nap at once. Mia was used to at least a few hours of alone time, but the twins have never really experienced it. Having Mia around during their every waking minute made for some cranky babies, and alerted me to an underlying problem. They share absolutely EVERYTHING.

And are increasingly unhappy about it. The big wake-up call came Monday: Bree bit Anya.






I think the next-highest payer is Mia. I caught her eating her cereal in an odd spot this morning.
"What are you doing back there, Mim?"
"I don't want the babies to get my cereal."

Sigh.

But we'll keep plugging away. Because, whether or not having them so close together was the right decision- it was the decision we have to live with.

Something tells me we'll be okay.