My own little Pippi! Sort of.

From the time she had a few cute baby wisp until now when she's got lots of long hair, Sarah has hated for her hair to be controlled by any one other than herself.

I have a couple of cute pictures when she was younger of her hair in little tiny bows or cute little spouts that were snapped quickly before she jerked the clips or bows right out of her head.

I finally had enough of the battle and took her to get bangs cut into her little baby hair.  Big. Mistake.

The bangs on her giant round head made her resemble something close to a smiling pumpkin or perhaps a giggling basket ball.  I would post some pictures but I'm too lazy to dig out the albums so you are just going to have to trust me on this.  Bangs were not a flattering look for my little princess.

Even as she has matured, the horrible bangs have grown out and her hair has gotten longer, she still doesn't want anything in her hair.  And quite honestly, that's fine with me on most days.  She's a bit of a princess- tomboy anyway her unkempt hair and her pink dresses work for her.

A couple of days ago, she told me she wanted to wear braids the next day.  And I told her she was going to have to get up and get dressed quickly if she wanted me to try to put braids in.  I am horrible with hair - hers and mine and the last thing I needed was the extra pressure of trying to get braids in without missing the bus.

Finally this morning, she hopped out of bed with a cheerful disposition, quickly ate her breakfast and dressed and declared, "I'm ready for my braids!"

So, I gave it my best shot. She was moving around like crazy, my hands aren't very nimble any more (not sure if it's my age, my MS, or too much coffee!) 

It turned out o.k., I suppose.  If nothing else, she would make a great Pippi Longstocking for Halloween!

 

She was so excited about her braids that she took this picture of herself.  Guess it was worth the extra sweat at 7:00 am.  I just need to work on getting them tighter and more uniform.  (You can see all the "wild hairs" in the first picture.)

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

In March, I plunked down 145 of Dan's hard-earned dollars and purchased an iPod Nano. 

And I have loved every minute of owning it.  It makes my runs fly by.  I couldn't imagine running without it.

My only problem with my iPod is that I have to hold it  I bought an arm band for it but was never happy with that.  It was either too tight or too loose and I would spend the whole run wishing that it wasn't on my arm. 

I made peace with the fact that I would just have to carry my iPod in my hand while running and that's what I've been doing.

So imagine my excitement (and annoyance, if I'm being perfectly honest) when I saw a commercial for this the other week:

It is the new and improved iPod Nano.  Look how tiny it is.  Isn't it precious?  And the best part of all?  It has A CLIP on it!  A CLIP!!!  Oh, and a TOUCH SCREEN.  

Does anyone know if Apple has a trade-in program?   Because I know someone who has a perfectly good one they'd be willing to trade in.

*Photos courtesy of the Apple store at apple.com.

What do those teenagers know anyway?

I'm from Winston-Salem, North Carolina - home of Krispy Kreme Donuts.

My husband is from Boston, Massachusetts - home of Dunkin' Donuts.  (Well, technically Canton, MA is home of Dunkin' Donuts but that's splitting hairs considering how small Massachusetts is.)

My husband has often tried to engage me in a battle of Who Has the Best Donuts - Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts.  But I never play along because I think all donuts are pretty tasty so really, what does it matter? Plus, I don't like to play games.  Just ask the kids.

Donut competitions aside, I always concede to my husband on one point -  Dunkin' Donuts has THE BEST COFFEE and not just better than Krispy Kreme's, better than anyone's.

It is rich and robust (robust?  No, Juan Valdez did not hijack this computer) without the burnt taste of Starbucks and certainly without all the teenagers that think they are so cool sitting around drinking their expensive burnt coffee, texting, and snickering at the old lady in the corner who cringes every time she takes a sip of her latte... 

And why do I bring all of this up today?  On a rainy and cool Wednesday afternoon?

Because on Wednesdays after school, I take the kids to their Faith Formation class at church.  Last year, I would pass the hour and 15 minutes at the nearby Starbucks, nursing an overpriced latte and questioning what I was even doing there.  Yet, week after week, I continued to go. 

But not this year.  No!  This year, a Dunkin' Donuts has opened near the church! So now I can spend a mere  $1.15 and enjoy a  deliciously smooth cup of coffee while reading a book.  And the best part - I have yet to encounter one texting teenager in this Dunkin' Donuts.

Guess they haven't heard that America Runs on Dunkin'. 

The tiny box.

I caught my breath when he handed me the tiny gift. It was wrapped in pretty paper and tied with a tiny bow.

"Happy Anniversary," he said.

"A gift? For me? But I didn't get you anything. We never exchange gifts," I stammered.

"Don't get excited.  It isn't much," he replied.

I held the tiny package in my hand, wondering what it could be.  Is it a charm, a locket?  A ring?  A ring! I held my breath as I began to gently remove the paper from the tiny box.

What if I don't like it, I thought to myself.  What if he spent too much money? Why didn't I get him something? He knows we don't exchange gifts.  My mind was racing.  It was the excitement of such a tiny package.  Or maybe it was the wine.

As I opened the tiny box, a small sheet of folded paper slipped out and onto the table.

I unfolded the paper.  I saw his familiar scrawl and read the words.   

Anniversary ring/Engagement ring upgrade.

I smiled, moved that he remember I had said long ago, before kids and mortgage payments and college funds, that I had wanted a diamond anniversary ring on our 10 year anniversary.

I thanked him for the gift and told him that I was touched by such a sweet gift.

I know that this anniversary isn't the one where I will be upgrading my engagement ring or getting an anniversary ring.  Maybe the 20th or the 25th.  Maybe never.  Really though, it doesn't even matter.

As I was unpacking from our trip, Sarah picked up the box, opened it, saw the tiny note and said, "That's it? That's all you got?"

"That's all I needed."

Edible Art

Dense almond flavored pound cake.  Rich butter cream icing. Lots of sweet memories.

My wedding cake was delicious.  It was so delicious that Dan and I could barely wait one whole year before eating the top level of our cake on our one year anniversary. (It had been tucked safely in our freezer to be eaten for good luck just as tradition mandated.) So for one whole year we waited and as they say, good things come...

It was as delicious one year later as it was on the night we cut into it at our wedding reception.  So good in face that we decided we would order another cake from the very same bakery every year for our anniversary as long as we both shall live.

And we did order a cake once but then we had kids with nap schedules and the bakery was on the other side of town and we seemed to be out of town on our anniversary and then we moved well over an hour away from the little bakery.  I guess you could say that married  life got in the way of having our delicious cake every year on our anniversary.

This year, Dan and I went to Charleston to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Mom and Dad watched the kids all weekend while we toured the beautiful town, took a carriage ride, ate out in nice restaurants, held hands, and had lots and lots of uninterrupted conversations.

It felt like we were dating again. **sigh**

On Sunday evening after arriving home from our trip, we were scheduled to have a nice dinner at my parent's house to continue our anniversary celebration and to celebrate our birthdays.  (Dan and I both have birthdays in September as well.)

Imagine our surprise and excitement when Mom revealed that she and Dad and Peter and Sarah had driven all the way to the little bakery in Charlotte to pick up a replica of our wedding cake.

The cake was just as delicious as I remembered.  Dan and I ate wedding cake four nights in a row and finally, due to expanding waistlines, had to put the rest in the freezer.

And I doubt we will wait until next year to eat it.  After all, I don't think there's any tradition associated with eating 10-year-anniversary cake on your 11th anniversary.  Is there?

And just who is Edith Cavell anyway?

I was in the juvenile biography section of our little country library today and I spotted it.  Wedged right between  George Washington Carver: The Peanut Scientist and The Story of Edith Cavell was The Shaun Cassidy Scrapbook.

Shaun Cassidy!

I used to love Shaun Cassidy back in the day - with "the day" being some point in 1978. I had a poster of him hanging above my bedside table and I used to stare into his dreamy eyes while humming Da Do Ron Ron.

Yeah...my heart stood still...

And if Dan appreciates the way I kiss, well I guess he's got Mr. Cassidy to thank for it.

But lets fast forward 32 years...32 years?!

I think it's time for my little country library to retire the Shaun Cassidy Scrapbook.  For heaven's sake, we can even retire The New Kids on the Block Scrapbook.

After all, we need to make way for Justin Bieber's book.

And I hate to tell all those little girls kissing Justin Bieber's poster right now that in 32 years he's going to look a lot like this:

Where did that sweet little baby face go?   For that matter...where did my sweet little baby face go??

Note - the photo was taken from Shaun Cassidy's Facebook page.  Yes, Shaun Cassidy has a Facebook page and no, I did not press "Like".  Somethings just need to stay in the past.

In the meantime...

I've got lots of things to write about but I just can't seem to get the words flowing. And I cleaned out my refrigerator today.  I am finally starting to check things off the to-do list.  Unfortunately the cleanness of my fridge has exposed the dirtiness of my freezer.  So it's one item checked off and another item added. *sigh*

So until I can get some of my own words out, I will leave you with a sentence that Sarah wrote tonight as part of her spelling homework:

Can I yowzs the bath room?

Yes. You kanzs. 

Just right? If God's doing it, then just right means perfect.

Today marks my 10 year wedding anniversary.  I was going to write a very flowery, very dreamy and very lovely post about my husband Dan.  But as I mentioned yesterday, nothing on my to-do list is getting done.

Still, I couldn't let this day go by without even a mention and I didn't want to just link to this post that I wrote in 2007 when our marriage was a young 7 years old. (Even though it is a good post it is not very flowery or very dreamy either.)

But I did want to say this - I was reading in Genesis the other day and this verse literally jumped off the page at me:

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” - Genesis 2:18 NLT

Just right?  I think that says it all.

Thank you God for creating Dan who is just right for me. Help me to continue to be just right for him.

Amen.

My to-do list is not getting done.

I just knew that when the kids started back to school things would start getting done around here.  And by "things would start getting done", I guess I really mean "I will start getting things done".

But alas, we are on day ten of Mommy Being Free to Get Things Done and all I have managed to do is write and rewrite my to-do list.  And in the midst of all of this writing and rewriting, the only things I have managed to cross off of the list are things like "laundry", "grocery shopping", "cook dinner" - all things that I do every day anyway and that weren't even really on my list in the first place.  I just went back and added them to the list so that I could cross them off.  Pathetic, isn't it?

I just can't seem to get motivated for the tough things on my list like "clean out refrigerator", "dust baseboards", "clean out closets", "dust blinds".  Who wants to tackle a to-do list that is full of nothing but cleaning?  It almost makes me want to get a full time job so I can afford a maid.  And I'm not joking.

Well, it's almost time for the kids to get home from school.  I guess I can scribble "write boring blog post" on my to-do list and cross it off.

Ahhhh...it feels so good to cross something off my list.