zoo time

Jun 30, 2020 | What's going on | 2 comments

We had planned on leaving for Texas yesterday to visit family, but the virus forced us to stay home. Annabelle was devastated. She had been counting down the days until she saw her cousins for weeks. She prayed every night that the days until we left would go by quickly. More and more things in her life are being touched by the virus and it makes me really sad. We already had a reservation at a hotel near the airport so we still spent the night there and had a fun weekend.


Every time I stay in a hotel I’m reminded of a hotel story from 2016. We were driving home from my cousin’s wedding in Tennessee and spent the night in Virginia. Mom and Annabelle stayed in the car while I checked in and ran to the room to use the bathroom. The handsoap was unwrapped and the wrapper was in the trash can which I thought was odd, but nature called and I didn’t time much time to worry about housekeeping not cleaning well. When I opened the door to leave the bathroom, I noticed that the tv had been turned on. I peered around the corner enough to see there were suits laid on the bed. The front desk had given me the key to an already occupied room. I never saw anyone, but the tv went on so someone was in there. I saw my life, and AB’s short life, flash before my eyes in the few seconds I stood there frozen. I tried to leave the room as quietly as possible but I couldn’t get the door unlocked. I was sure whoever was in the room would, rightly, try to stop the intruder in their room. Finally, I got out and went to the front desk to discuss the issue. The two workers looked at their computer then asked me if I was sure the room was already taken. Yes, I was sure! Clearly, someone was already in there! Did they need to check my blood pressure and pulse to see how worked up I was?! All that to say, I’m always cautious about entering hotel rooms now!


Annabelle loves a good hotel experience as much as I do. She inspects the light switches, the phone and opens all the drawers. We had gotten take out dessert so we sat on the bed sampling and ranking the sweets. We discovered a new show on Netflix called The Repair Shop and she instantly began pretending she was a “toy fixer” and I was her assistant. She was a picky employer and did not pay well.

I watched Hermione while the others went into the reptile center. Belle Belle is as attached to this doll as she was to Mr. Lion the pacifier as a baby and as she has always been to her Memere blanket. She bought Hermione with her own money and she goes everywhere with us. Much like my work at the repair shop, I was not well paid for babysitting the doll.

I seldom sit in the backseat but I did on the way home and Sesame held my hand as she fell asleep. 

She did the same exact thing on the way home from the hospital.

A Tuesday in June

Jun 10, 2020 | What's going on | 2 comments

Our library finally opened back up! We were so excited to go in and not rely on curbside pick up. They had directional arrows taped on the floor and I went the wrong way because I have issues with going the right way in one-way parking lots, aisles, and evidently between library shelves. I am constantly going the wrong way now that the grocery store has become one way.  “Mama! You went the wrong way again! Didn’t you see the sticker?” We stocked up on enough books to last us a week and Sesame is already asking to go back.

We didn’t get to church this Sunday after all. They had everything set up outside and ready to go, but it rained so they called it off. Instead of watching the service at our church online, we watched the service at our old Fort Campbell church. We loved that church. Everyone in our Sunday School class was so kind.  It’s where AB had her baby dedication. Even now when we move and need to find a new church we talk about how we wish we could go there. When I was pregnant with AB she would move all through the week but barely move on Saturdays and Sundays. I don’t know why she took the weekends off but every week she had the same pattern. An older man named Kevin led the traditional service we attended and every single time he sang a solo, she would move. It didn’t happen with any soloist but Kevin. After she was born, she still had the same reaction to him. Low and behold, Kevin sang a solo this Sunday. It made me so happy for Annabelle to see him after she’d heard about him for so long.


Sesame had ballet for the first time last week. Going from nothing in the books for months to two ballet classes in one week seems like a phenomenon. What is this life where we have to be somewhere at a particular time? Only half the girls were there but the teacher wants to have a tiny recital this week and they need practice. During quarantine the teacher videoed herself doing a class as well as the recital songs, but doing ballet at home did not work for us. Annabelle only has a moderate interest in doing ballet in person so doing it through a screen was a flop. I practiced the recital songs with her and more than made up for her lack of enthusiasm. I made myself available to the studio for an “Animal Crackers in My Soup” ballet solo but I have yet to hear whether they’ll add me to the program.

Tuesday Tidbits

May 27, 2020 | What's going on | 2 comments

I promised myself I would blog at least two times a week but it hasn’t happened. We’ve been doing the same thing day after day, week after week and it’s getting monotonous. I have nothing new to talk about.

We’ve had some plumbing issues with the kitchen sink recently. Hector the plumber came with his business partner/brother/person who did absolutely nothing the whole time. Hector gave his opinions on not using dishwashers (“way too expensive to run”), tequila (“haven’t seen that brand since last time I was home in Puerto Rico”) and the quality of the appliance installation (“always put the mistakes at the bottom, not the top so no one sees”) When he finally got around to looking at the sink, he twisted one thing and declared the job done. I said, “And you’re sure that fixed it and we won’t have a leak tomorrow?” “Nah. I see this all the time. You’ll be good. It won’t leak anymore.” I’m someone who uses an expensive dishwasher so what do I know, but I didn’t share his confidence. I didn’t want to have to call him to come back and write a second check. He decided to test the sink like he was doing me some big favor. He filled the sink up and in no time water came rushing out the bottom. He lay half in, half out of the cupboard for a good 15 minutes catching the water in a plastic bowl. In the end he needed to replace a pipe so it was more than one little twist. I didn’t want to gloat but I TOLD HIM SO. I haven’t been working since the pandemic started so I might offer my plumbing expertise to Hector.

Speaking of work, we got together last week for a little baby shower for one of the girls. We had a surprise shower planned for her in March but like everything else it got canceled. She’s due in a few weeks and since we’re “allowed” to gather in small groups we had a last minute celebration. Of the nine girls who work there, four of us have children. The other three moms in the group played the age old baby shower game of telling war stories from their deliveries. I didn’t share the horrors of AB’s birth because poor Alyssa looked like she was about to pass out. Why? Why do women always feel the need to tell a new mom how much they tore or how many people in the hospital room saw them naked and exposed? The other girls who have never been pregnant looked equally as horrified and swore up and down they will not deliver children. When we helped Alyssa bring the gifts to the car she showed off the baby’s car seat. All the girls who thirty minutes earlier were anti pregnancy started ohhing and ahhing over the car seat and it’s little cover. Suddenly they couldn’t wait to have babies. And so the human race continues. 


When AB saw the diaper cake I made she said, “That’s a lot of diapers. I think more diapers than the baby will need in three years. I used like, three diapers a week.” As the person who changed many more than three of her diapers a week, I can say with 3000% certainty that is a false statement.

Annabelle loves cooking and baking. I’m glad she does but it’s never as neat and tidy as they show on pinterest. I like making things with her but it’s so messy. Flour gets everywhere. She asks to taste every single ingredient. Butter gets smeared on the counter. I try so so hard to stay patient because I want her to good memories of baking with me. One night last week I very optimistically said we could make pretzels the next day. She was so excited. We listened to Wee Sing Around the World and I showed her how to roll them. She made a tray full of swirls, snails and little breads. She was so happy.

LIsten up, Squiddzen

Feb 14, 2020 | What's going on | 2 comments

Elizabeth (aka Bettina/Betty Boop/Boop/Tine/Tina/Squiddzen/Squiddz) is always complaining that she’ll call and ask for life updates and I’ll say I don’t have any because not much worth reporting happens. She says that later on, she’ll read a laundry list of updates on the blawg. This is for you, sister.




Our church is in the middle of 21 days of prayer. Every
morning they have a prayer service at 6:33 as well as additional prayer
services on Thursday and Sunday nights. I’m all for worshipping the Lord but we haven’t gone to any of the morning services because again, 6:33 IN THE AM. I couldn’t
figure out why it was at 6:33 and not 6:30. Being the mathematical genius that
I am, I said, “Maybe it’s because 6×3+3= 21 and it’s for 21 days.” Christopher replied, “Or it’s
because the bracelets they handed out to remind us to pray have Matthew 6:33 on
them and that’s the verse they’re focusing on.”

I keep a document on my phone with all my usernames and passwords. Everything is very abbreviated and written in a code only I can understand so I’m not too concerned about it being used for hacking purposes. The problem is I did so well with the abbreviations and codes that I don’t remember what site/account It- *franks* is for. I’m too clever for myself to decode.

Last week I made an extra-healthy meal of baked tilapia and
cooked carrots. I haven’t gotten used to cooking on an electric stove and every
so often I’ll accidentally leave the burner on because there’s no obvious flame.
AB and I were having a living room picnic while we watched an American Girl
movie. Suddenly there was a loud pop and the sound of shattering glass. My
first thought was what did the cats break now? as they have a history of
knocking things off the counter. I went to investigate and the stove, floor, and
counters were covered in thousands of pieces of broken glass. I put
the 9×12 glass baking dish on a burner that hadn’t been turned off. It took
almost an hour to clean up. If this is what’s going to happen when I make extra
healthy meals it might not be worth it.


In other kitchen issues, every night the refrigerator has been making a horrible noise that sounds like a jackhammer. The only remedy we’ve found is to unplug it. We finally called Tim the refrigerator repairman and he came today to assess the situation. Naturally, it was quiet as a mouse for the first thirty minutes he was in the kitchen. It was like taking your sick child to the doctor but the second the doctor walks in the room the child goes berzerk and starts spinning around on the rolling stool, looking healthy as a horse. Tim asked if it happens when the refrigerator turns on and off. I was not aware that even happens so I for sure didn’t know if that’s what causes the noise. Tim said he couldn’t do much without hearing the sound firsthand even though I did a great job of recreating it. I shared my diagnosis of it being an ice machine problem but Tim disagreed. I tried to find a recording of the noise I had sent a friend but it wasn’t there. Tim kept staring at the refrigerator and I stared at the counter because I wasn’t sure when this standoff with the appliance would end. I really thought Tim might hang around for an hour waiting for the noise and I’d have to offer him lunch. Suddenly the jackhammer sound started again and we both perked up with much more enthusiasm than is generally given to a refrigerator. It reminded me of the over the top enthusiasm when a child finally uses the potty. I ended up paying Tim $79 to tell me the noise was indeed from the ice maker after all. As you may recall, I told him that at the beginning of the visit. He should be paying ME $79 for doing his job. 




Speaking of American Girls, we’re knee-deep in the dolls and
their stories. Annabelle has listened to all the Felicity, Kirsten, Kaya and
Addy books. We’re learning history using the books and it’s been so fun. Annabelle
is currently on a Kaya kick so every day we’re Indians who are moving camp and
hunting for berries in the forest. Oma gave her a Maryellen AG doll for
Christmas and we’ve read two of her books. The American Girls have some hard-hitting
stories. Kirsten’s best friend dies. Kaya and her sister are kidnapped. Addy has
to run for her life. Meanwhile, my little American girl is sighing and telling me, “Sometimes I wish people wouldn’t compliment me so much.” Their life adversities could not be more different.