Random Bits

It's time again for random bits.

Hope everyone is actually able to ENJOY some of this Holiday season and not just feel all crazy go nuts!

December: I am like a kid and love to get Holiday and Christmas cards! It's like Christmas every day! Which then reminds me that I need to leave something for the Postal Worker - and then I wonder what? Do they want home made cookies? I think I would NOT like to find homemade cookies in the mailbox. Did the maker wash their hands? Is their house clean? I only know what her front door looks like..... Suggestions anyone? Does anyone else do this?

Segueing into other things that are nice - in December or just anytime. A friend who GIVES you the other half of the appetizer they were taking to a party - so that you could show up at your party with a handmade yummy dish, because you totally forgot about it until oh shoot, we're leaving in 30 minutes. Perfect gift from a friend! Anyone else have a unexpected warm and fuzzy?

OR that your fun and super great neighbor down the way was in a bind and felt comfortable enough to ask if you could hang on to her child for a bit one evening so she could go to a Holiday Party. It's flattering that a new friend you don't know all that well yet, trusts you with the life of their child! So I guess I'll have to pretend that I don't yell all the time tonight and forced housework will have to wait until tomorrow night...

Fuzzy's Cousin - Wuzzy

My kid is weird. I guess all kids are a little weird....and I'm not saying weird is bad, it can just be a little hard sometimes. And as I write this, I'm having a little flash back to a something I used to say as an adolescent - "I'm not weird, just different". Guess apple doesn't fall as far from the tree as I thought.

Here's the story. My daughter Kate and her best little kindergarten friend S - both ended up with coats this winter that have that little fake fur fringe on the hood. When I went to pick her up the other day, the fur thing was off, as was S's and they were playing with them. Apparently they had also named them. Fuzzy is Kate's and S's I'm not sure of, but it's either a cousin to Fuzzy, or Fuzzy's mother.

I don't know why this drives me nuts. More likely because it's just one more thing I have to keep track of i.e did it make it home from school? Is it in the car? Didn't I just make my fingers bleed trying to button and snap that damn thing back on to her coat 6 times last week?

And then there's that creepy way she pets it while riding in the car. It's the fringe to your jacket girl! It's not a pet!

So when I was at the fabric store last week (I pretend that I sew.. mostly I just make messes, break needles and curse alot at my machine)- I saw this great fuzzy fleece stuff. The kind that leaves lots of little fuzzy fleece hair peices when you cut it - that part of it is not great. But I got all ramped up with the idea to make a 'real' Fuzzy. Or as I am calling him 'Wuzzy' - you know, Fuzzy's other cousin. I got these animal eyes and a little nose... and it will be legit! And since you're not allowed to take toys to school - I will not have to suffer the embarrassment of my strange child petting a fake fur friend during recess or whatever. (I'm kidding - I'm not really embarrassed.. that much.)

AND side note - fuzzy fleece stuff - HIDES all crappy sewing stitches! Yes! This is my kind of fabric.

So here is Wuzzy curled under the tree - awaiting the morning when he'll meet his little girl.

Wait, did I say my child was weird?

Keen Eye for the Creepy Guy

So my BFF was a corrections officer before she took on the full time job of chief domestic engineer (side note, have new found respect for her crazy life..). So I'm not sure if it's her observations and work stories that have made me see all strange men who eye my children as child molesters...or if it's some sort of innate Mothering instinct. But it's there.

On Sunday I envisioned a beautiful memory filled afternoon of having lunch and going to a play at the Seattle Children's Theatre (was fabulous!!) with my girls. They wanted to wear their fancy poofy holiday dresses and I let them. We got out of the house and headed downtown to begin our adventure. Right off the bat, said beautiful afternoon took a turn as I should have expected it to. The restaurant I chose close to the theatre that has great food, is not high priced and has nice staff - well it's a pub. And it was Sunday. And how in the heck could I have forgotten that there is football on Sunday (hello, have you met my husband?). When a Mom and her two young daughters wearing ridiculous poofy fancy dresses step into a pub on a Sunday... you get some looks. And these weren't 'awww, so cute!' looks... more like 'what the?' looks... Did I mention I even paid to park in the lot across the street?

We stood for a few uncomfortable moments waiting for a table. And then we headed back to the car so we could get to the food court of the Seattle Center for some hot dogs. Oh our beautiful memory filled hot dog lunch. And this is where my creepy alert was on high. The Seattle Center for most parts of the year is geared for children. And homeless folks who want to get out of the cold. And I'm pretty sure it's a mecca for child molesters.

As we sat eating (or not eating in the case of MY children) our Frankenfurter lunch extraordinaire - I see a man dressed as a train conductor (there is a huge train inside this time of year..) pointedly staring at my girls. At first, I thought ahhh it's because of the matchy matchy dresses... and I look up again and he has not dropped his gaze. Does he want us to acknowledge his train conductor status? I'm good thanks.. and I look up again - STILL staring. Red alert, red alert - out comes the stare DOWN. The mama bear stare down. WTF dude? What are you looking at? Because you step one foot closer to me with your creepy staring and I'll shove this hot dog so far.....

So then we have some time before the play starts, so we sit down to watch the dance exhibition from a local school of dance. Girls are 6-16. For me - there is really no need for any man who is alone, without children or seemingly related to any children in the vicinity to a.) interact with strangers children or b.) sit front row of a young girls dance recital. Totally biased I'm sure, but my BFF would tell you not.

As I look around there are lots of scummy (and I mean this in the level of cleanliness) old guys watching this show. In the seats, from the stairs, loitering around. Ah man.. I'm stereotyping and I know it - but there's something for gut instinct which I have relied on and been successful with many a time before. Gut alarm is on high and I'm thinking it's time this poofy dress party train moves on.

Being Present

With my new lifestyle change, I've been trying really hard to be 'present' - as I'm not known for my ability to sit still or stand still..or do anything slowly. As some Christmas song says "Christmas is an emotional time of year" or something like that - which is true. So I've tried to stop and take the time to be grateful for the little things in my everyday life that make me happy or make me smile or elicit a fist pump (see cat puke below) If you already do this - good on you. Me - not so good at it. So I'm trying and I challenge you to try it this week too!

I'm thankful for the small things, some of them being;

- Christmas music!
- Being able to burn nag champa and crank what my husband deems 'whiny' music in my new office.
- Power walks and sweaty long runs with fabulous girlfriends on really cold and frosty mornings!
- Watching my 3 year old jam out in public to the sound of a drum circle at the Seattle Center.
- Hearing the cat start to puke and actually catching it all on discarded paper sack before it ruined my carpet! Yes!
- A husband who supports me and willingly climbs tall ladders to put up Christmas lights even though he could care less about the holiday.
- Knowing how to successfully snake a shower drain. (this one of those disgusting but strangely gratifying chores..)

I'd love to hear a snippet from my friends out there - what is a little thing that made you stop a feel a bit warm and fuzzy....

Happy Monday all!

Spacial Awareness

I love people. Well, to clarify, I love watching and observing people. Today I had a nugget I can't pass up and is close to my heart. Spacial Awareness or lack thereof.

I'm at Trader Joes buying Hannukah Gelt for my daughter's kindergarten class. (Apparently she is now VERY much on board with Hannukah - I think only because she's the only one in her class that has any relationship with it and it makes her feel cool. I use the term relationship loosely, in that I force my husband to say the prayer for 8 nights while we light the menorah so my kids will understand what Grandma and Grandpa and the cousins celebrate. I bought a book with the prayers and attempted it myself the first year - and that was enough for him to take over the duties.)

So back to TJ's, I've got my gelt and an entire basket of other things I don't need like ginger cinnamon flavored coffee and salted caramels... and I head for a register. I mistakenly choose the one behind a woman who looks as though she has finished checking out. But she's a check writer. Damn! Check writer! The check is written, but she's apparently very diligently filling out the check register with her purchase details. Slowly. Very slowly. And she's a chatter. And she's chatting with the girl at the register. Who looks as pained I as feel about this exchange.

And then I hear the nugget, I think in reference to the person who was in front of her before I showed up. "I call it a lack of spacial awareness! I mean really! Not being aware of the people around you!" Aaccchhhemmm.... Perhaps you mean like ME behind you? WAITING for YOU??? Are you spacially aware of THAT? While the register next to me blows through two customers and you enjoy a leisurely chat? Ahh.. the irony.

It was really all I could take not to step up really close to her at this point.

Give me your spacial awareness story! We all have them.... unless maybe you're a check writer?! Hah!