Julia Roberts

I read this week that Julia Roberts got paid a handsome 3 Million dollars for her all-of-six-minutes appearance in Valentine's Day. Must be nice.

I've also seen her popping up on my TV lately asking me to donate money to Haiti. Hey, Julia, that 3 million could go a lot further than the 10 bucks I can afford to donate. I'm just sayin'.

Snow Day

This morning, my usually sunlight-averse daughter was in an exceptionally good mood. I had to promise "make-up" to get her to go downstairs, but otherwise she let me get her dressed and *gasp* even do her hair for school this morning without any fits or protests for Dad. We opened the door to see a light snowfall and she got excited to go outside and make footprints. I didn't even rush her to get in the car, I just enjoyed watching her smile as she trekked through the snow. As we did approach her school, I noticed that, even though I was a little late, there were unusually few cars on the street...and no tire tracks in the driveway...and no little backpacks hung up in their room...oh, no. It's a Snow Day. Back home to play with Dad. All that effort and she could have slept in.

And some completely unrelated pictures, check out Lily in her designer jeans, courtesy of Uncle Paul:

I'm a Game Junkie

While at my parent's house for Christmas, I fell in love with a game called Qwirkle. I wanted to buy it for myself, but decided instead to be more frugal and make it myself. Overall, I don't think I will have saved myself any money after buying all the tiles and paint, but it's been fun to have painting sessions with Ally when I get home from work:



If you look close, you can see that she painted her raisins:


And here she is in her painting apron (courtesy of my uber talented sister-in-law, Natalie. I have a matching one, too).


Lily hanging out with the girls (she is so stinkin' cute!)


One set down, 2 more to go!

Jeans

I have reached a point in my life where I am comfortable with my size. I can finally say that my worth as a person is not defined by the size of my pants (yes mom, you read that right...it only took 28 years of you telling me that for me to believe you). And although the number on my jeans does not define my self-worth, it would be nice if I knew what that number was. Some of my jeans are so tight I can barely breathe (not to mention the muffin-top that results) and others of the same size are so loose I can pull them off without undoing the zipper. Men's pants are much easier...you are either a 37 waist or you're not. But I guess women don't like to see 37 on their pants, they'd much prefer to see a smaller, preferably single-digit, number. So I guess for now I'll continue to be a 6/8/10 and avoid pants shopping at all costs.

Time to Cool Off

There is a pile of wet clothes in my entry way. This is because I was in a dreadful funk this evening. Mid-conversation with Matt, I realized that something needed to change, so I got up, opened the front door, and dove face first into a snow pile.

I walked back in giggling and dripping snow from my eyelashes. After explaining what I had done and why, Matt asked, "Did it work?"
"Almost. I may need another dip."
So we both took another dive into the snow.

Blogworthy

All day long I think in terms of blogging...I am constantly evaluating actions/interactions/activities for their blog-worthiness. But then I get home from work, eat, snuggle, and my motivation to do anything other than the absolutely necessary fades. I promise that we do things, interesting things. I promise that I have thoughts, some of them even novel and occasionally funny. Well, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Especially since this week we've been trying to get back into our normal routine. It's Thursday and it was the first day that Ally made it to school at all. We didn't get home from our trip until about 3 am Monday morning, so we let her sleep in and unfortunately, both girls have been fighting their bedtimes this week thanks to our vacation. But what a great vacation it was. I was not ready to go back to work Monday morning (especially since I only got about 4 hours of sleep). All I can say is that I have increasing respect for single mothers and for my friends whose husbands travel...how do you do it??!? Without Matt, our family could not function. And since Ally thinks he is the only one capable of getting her dressed, changing her diaper, feeding her, etc., Ally especially would be hungry and naked without him.

Experience, Please

I am learning the value of experience. Two years ago when I began looking for a real job, I was highly disappointed at the lack of job opportunities presented to me. After all, I had an advanced degree, shouldn't companies be chomping at the bit to hire me? Over and over again I was told I didn't have enough experience. Frustrated, I wondered how I would ever get that experience since no one would hire me? One person told me, after letting me know they were going with another candidate, that the chosen person was "where [I] would be in five years." In five years, I'll be working at the makeup counter at Dillards because noone will hire me!

Fortunately, that is not the case. I have a great job although not in my field of study, but I did go through a slump at work where I felt very overwhelmed by the learning curve. It's still challenging work and I enjoy it, but I am relieved to have some experience under my belt.

Mostly, I've been thinking about experience as I face the ultimate challenge, parenthood. How in the world am I going to raise moral and valiant young women, while instilling in them values of kindness, generosity, and education, while still focusing on cultivating their individuality and creativity? Will my girls be dancers, singers, musicians, artists, teachers? How do I best discipline? How do I be supportive? How do I protect them without being overprotective?

At Grandpa Joe's birthday, I sat in the living room with two of my aunts and my mom. I was nursing Lily and mentioned that I needed to try to keep an eye on Ally because she was "sneaky." My aunt said, "Oh please. You have 3 experienced mothers in this room. We can outsmart a 3 year old." I regret not living closer to family so I can borrow from their experiences as I test out the waters of motherhood.