.thirty one.

Today is my birthday. I am not, as Sesame guessed, 17 or 69. I am 31. One of my family members so kindly told me I'm now closer to 40 than I am to 20 which is depressing. 

I honestly can't remember many specifics from this year (I think I blocked out parts of it) but I came up with a few things worth noting.

Trips: I took a 30th birthday trip to Maine with Autumn and Joanna.

 I saw Katie for the first time in 3 years. 

I went to West Virginia, Denver, and on a cruise. I went to Ohio to hug Michelle after too many months apart.

Shows: My current favorites are This Is Us, Million Little Things and Virgin River. I just started Sweet Magnolia's which is a mix of Gilmore Girls/Hart of Dixie/Hallmark small town movie. In other words, it's right up my alley and checks all the predictable chick-flick boxes.

Beauty: Incoco nail appliques. I love having painted nails but get so frustrated when I spend an hour painting them only to have them chip the next day. I found the Incoco nails at the beauty world headquarters that is Walmart.

I continued my hunt for the perfect mascara. It's been a long mascara road but someone has to bear the burden and I selflessly volunteer. I picked up a Rimmel mascara on sale because it said "buy one at $8.99, get one for $1.99" and if there's anything to will get me to plunk down cash it's a good sale. The second one kept ringing up at full price and I did not want to be that person who holds up the line, but I made her look at the sticker herself and even went so far as to wait for the manager to approve the price. Such cheap mascara is too good to pass up. I pair it with my L'Oreal primer and walk around town like this.

Celebrity sightings: Josh Groban, Josh Turner and Jimmy Carter. I did not get a picture with any of them but their people told my people they'll be in contact soon for a photoshoot and autograph. 

Books: I can't think of a favorite book I read this year. I didn't read nearly as much as I would have liked. I enjoyed What Alice Forgot, House Rules, and The Things We Do for Love.

Firsts: We bought a house. I was a stage mom at the dance recital. We survived (more accurately, are surviving) quarantine and life being turned on its head. I completed my first year of being a homeschool parent instead of a student. 

Negatives: I haven't been home to visit since early July and thanks to the current pandemic it could be a while. I saw several frogs. People close to me got very sick. I lost a baby in October and one in April. The latter has been an ongoing saga since February but that's a story for another day. 

Listened to: AB talk practically around the clock for the 362 days we were together since my last birthday. If I had to pick a soundtrack for the last year it would be ''Mom. Mama. Hey, Mom? Can I listen to my story? Mom! I'm hungry. What is the man doing? How many furs do you think Linus has? How many rocks are in my hand? What are the inside of planets made of? Can you google where my shoes are? Do I have email? Is it almost lunchtime?"

Tuesday Tidbits

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.

She can be a handful but I'll keep her around.

Sesame's Suite 4.0

Subtitled: It is Never this Neat

I never got AB's room at our last house finished before we moved to this house. I had the same bedroom for 21 years and she's on bedroom number four in six years. She had no zero input on the first two rooms and a moderate amount in her yellow bird room in the last house, but she had opinions about this room. She requested it be "history and nature themed." There is no such category on Pinterest. It's not completely done but it's coming together.

This is what I see when I walk in the doorway. I got Florance Flamingo from Tarjay Boutique.

Her door is decorated with hearts from last Valentine's heart attack. 

SHE HAS A CHANDELIER IN HER ROOM. I wanted a chandelier in her nursery and Christopher said no. I've asked about putting a chandelier in every room since with no luck. When we were looking at this house I saw the light and almost signed the check on the spot. 

I haven't decided what to put on the wall to the right of her bed. I also want to get a blue or jute rug but I haven't found one yet. I'm terrible at buying the right size rugs and curtains. I needed a rug for the upstairs hallway and found this one on clearance. It seemed long enough in the package but I was mistaken by about 6 feet.

Long gone are the days of carefully placed knickknacks and sentimental items of my choosing. Part of me wishes I could do the whole room in my way but it is fun to see what's special and important to here right now. On her vanity from Oma she has two figurines she painted, a postcard we sent ourselves from St. Thomas, a letter from the Tooth Fairy, an ornate pen box with a piece of foam in it, and a little baby Jesus from a random nativity.

I put the bulletin board up recently because she taped Frozen pictures on the wall like a girl with boy band posters. She still sleeps with Memere blanket and anywhere between zero and seventeen stuffed animals. I got the leopard blanket on sale at Ikea when we went to visit Katie. AB has since decided she prefers tossing the blanket on the floor when she goes to bed which is annoying. It takes a long time to get the duvet insert in the duvet cover and she could at least pretend to use it. She hoards so much under her bed and between the bed and the wall. She loves turning tissues and toilet paper into things for her stuffed animal friends. She puts "very special to me" rocks and sticks under the bed and always has pipe cleaners on the floor. 

The pièce de résistance is the accent wall that covers the nature theme she requested. In the beginning, I envisioned a field with a few deer and trees. Elizabeth was here when we did it and as things generally go with her, we went off the straight and narrow path down into the jungle on the side of the path and ended up with a mountain scene. They're hard to see, but I hung little birds from the ceiling in front of the painting, We will now look at the same wall from three different angles. 

Elizabeth free-handed the squirrel. I traced a rabbit on the wall by the door and have been too scared of messing it up that I still haven't painted the mouth on it yet. 

She hasn't mentioned wanting more history in the room so I haven't brought it up. I'll never repaint over the accent wall so in 7 years the wall will be old news and we can check the history box.

chit chat about nothing

I have two, with a pending third, things in the books for next week so our schedule is about to get full again. What kind of wild life are we living with THREE events in one week? Counting the couch repairman coming as a "wild life" is a bit of a stretch, but such are the times we're living in. 

Annabelle was recently asking for specifics about adoption while we were driving with the windows down. "I was wondering how you pick a child. Is it like a deli? Or is it more like a pizza delivery? Or like a restaurant where you order? And can you turn down the sound of the wind for me?" The answer is no to all those questions. 

We were on our morning walk and she was chatting as she usually does. "I can't wait for spring to finish so summer can start and finish and then fall can start." "What's going to happen in the fall?" I asked. "I'll get to do school and learn lots of new things and it will be so fun." I think she meant she'll be excited for the homeschool groups to start back up, but we're still doing school for this year! She does not seem so excited about doing it every morning. 

AB spent a significant amount of time on Tuesday evening crying. She would not tell me what was wrong, but she requested I "leave and shut the door' when I went to check on her in her room. She lay on her bed, crying and sniffling. All she could get out was the quarantine might have something to do with it. Yesterday I was in the other room and I heard her pause her story multiple to say something. I thought she was talking to me but she said she wasn't. Later on, she paused the story again and said, "Dear Lord. Please help me not to have a loose tooth." Then later, "Dear Lord. Please help me not to believe I have a loose tooth." I had to break it to her that losing teeth is going to happen, regardless of how much she prays for the contrary. We're in for a long road of it if she gets so upset at the thought of losing teeth when she doesn't have any loose ones. Hopefully getting money from the Tooth Fairy every time will make it a little easier. 

We pay a yard crew to do our lawn. They do the grass and we do the weeding, trimming (when the trimmer works), etc. The other day they were over at the same time as I was out watering the tiny plants in my garden. One of them said something about how he had used bug spray last time he was over and for me to let him know if I didn't want anything sprayed. He gestured to my flower garden and said, "Did you plant something there?" "Yes, I put flower seeds in a few weeks ago. Is that a problem? Should I have done it somewhere else?" Why would I ask if it was a problem? It's my garden! I'm too much of a people pleaser. Oh, my garden in my own yard is possibly in your way? Let me dig up the whole thing and move it somewhere more convenient for you. While I'm at it, how about I take down any pictures from my walls that aren't your style? Lawn Guy stared at me. He only wanted to know if he should spray it or not. 

I'm am a very frugal person but this quarantine is turning me into a woman who wants to press buy now on purchases left and right. I have wanted to purchase many unnecessary items but the latest is a new low. The Jawzersize promises me a chiseled jaw in 60 days. Reduction of double chins! Free shipping on US orders! SIGN ME UP. I could work on my jawline while Annabelle uses her jaw to tell endless stories about her perspective on the day she was born.

day in the life, quarantine edition

Tuesday, May 5th

5:45am- Christopher's alarm goes off in 15-minute increments until he gets up at 6:30.

6:45- My alarm went off but evidently I turned it off and go back to sleep.

7:43- I was awakened by Annabelle in the doorway asking for breakfast. She must be going through a growth spurt. She used to lay in bed and cuddle and we could start the day slowly but those days are gone. She skips all the morning sentimentality and asks to eat instantly. I sent her in the kitchen to get the cereal while I get dressed and made the bed.

8:02- She tells me we have no milk but I had the foresight to buy an extra gallon and put it in the outside freezer. I go out there but there is no milk to be found. I look in the kitchen refrigerator but it isn't there. I go back out to the garage in case I missed it, but missing a gallon of milk in a mostly empty refrigerator seemed unlikely. I later learned Christopher threw it out because it went bad.

8:12- We decide to fry quail eggs instead. I had never eaten quails or their eggs, but I bought them on a whim at the grocery store then side-eyed them for several days without trying them. It seemed like the day to try them and they were surprisingly good. AB likes to crack eggs but we didn't know quail eggs have a thicker shell so she banged it harder and harder until it exploded on her hair and my shirt.

9:00- We went on our daily walk and met a new neighbor and his dog. He gave a lengthy explanation of the meaning behind his dog's name.  

9:45- We started the school day with reading and handwriting. I called the furniture company about a rip in the couch and the woman told me to text her a picture of the rip so she could assess the damage. I do it immediately but she never responded and I didn't think any more about it. 

10:30- The kitchen sink leaked and soaked my new kitchen rug. I took everything out from under the sink and used all our rags drying it up. Linus escaped out the back door and charged around the yard like a wild animal. I got him back in the house and made myself an ice coffee. I seldom drink coffee in the morning but I could see where this day was going and I needed to brace myself.

11:15- We went out on the deck to practice reading Ollie the Goose. Christopher came home early and Annabelle read to him.

11:50- We finished making our tin can telephones. We experimented the day before with paper cups because we only had one empty can, but I emptied another so we could do it the real way. We were unsuccessful and heard nothing through the cans.

12:00- I made lunch while Annabelle listened to Samantha, made paper dolls and requested a pre-lunch snack of crackers. While we eat lunch she kept listening to Samantha so I could read my book.

12:30- The sink leaked again so I took everything out again and dried it down again. I went to put the wet towels in the laundry room and discovered that one of the cats (my money is on Lucy) peed in the laundry basket. Generally, when they have accidents it's because their litter box is full. I changed the litter but the bag I put it in had a hole so it spilled all over the floor. Meanwhile, AB was in my room cutting out paper snowflakes as one does in May.

I turned around and these jokers were relaxing on the table
 like they're the ones who had a stressful day.

12:58- I made a second ice coffee.

1:00- I got a text from a random number saying they didn't need a picture of my couch.That explains 
why Sharon never responded hours before.

1:02- I cannot explain why I looked this up, but for the next fifteen minutes I researched artificial eyes. 

1:15- I needed to print something for school but Annabelle used the last of the printer paper for her snowflakes. She's used several small trees worth of paper since January.

1:25 to 5:30- We finished school, played in the living room, reading Ollie, made a phone call, dug out the slipnslide, found the pump, inflated the slipnslide, handed out snacks, did laundry, watered plants, prepped supper and attempted to blog. Tuesday afternoons are supposed to be my afternoon off. I try to keep it free for reading, crafting or whatever I want to do. I try not to do cleaning or house-related things but sometimes it doesn't work out well. Every time I started to do my own thing I got disrupted by something. I got more frustrated than I should have and raised my voice before deciding to give up on my afternoon off. 

6:23- We had roasted brussel sprouts and carrots and chicken marsala for supper. Annabelle asked about America's allies and Christopher's deployments.

7:15- I was desperately in need of alone time so I let the others clean up from supper while I planted my flowers and went for a walk. I listened to The Giver of Stars while I walked. It was so good. When I get back, I took a shower then did devotions with Annabelle and put her to bed. We've had the Jesus Storybook Bible for years and years but never read it for two reasons. One, it's extremely popular and I have an issue with getting on some very popular trains. Two, I could never get past the illustrations. I HATE them. I think they're horrendous and a blindfolded child could do better. If the illustrator ever reads this, I mean no ill-will against you! I'm sure you're great! The pictures are just not my type of art. My refusal to read it was the very definition of judging a book by its cover. But a few months ago we exhausted all our other Bible storybooks so I started to read it. Low and behold, it's pretty good. That may be why it's sold millions of copies and has been translated in 38 languages. A few times a week we do this prayer journal as well. 

9:30ish- I do a few things on the computer then we watch two episodes of Community. 

(not much of a) wild Wednesday

I tried all day yesterday to blog but every single time I sat down, the cat ran out of the house or the laundry needed to be switched or Miss No Personal Bubble was three inches from my face.

We celebrated our anniversary last week by wearing fancy clothes and eating takeout in the dining room. I hadn't worn the dress since I was slightly smaller so it didn't zip all the way in the back but no one else was at Restaurant de Personal Dining Room so it didn't matter. Annabelle ate in the kitchen while facetiming with Grammy and Elizabeth. It worked out well for all involved. Somehow we've been married for nine years but it feels like two. It's gone by SO fast.

Annabelle wrote us this card. "Der mom and dad. Hop you hav a hape anovrsre." 

Poor Sesame was getting droopy and sad last week from missing her friends and her normal life. I've tried to keep as much of a normal schedule as possible while adding in a little extra fun, but I can't replace her swimming, ballet or playdates. Several times I'd find her laying on the floor in her bedroom or the living room, staring into space. I decided we needed to get out of the house so Monday we had a Mommy Sesame date. We needed to go grocery shopping anyway, so we drove an hour and a half to a town with an Aldis and an open park. There were very few people at the park so we weren't in anyone's way. It made me so happy to see her splashing around. She kept telling me, "This is the best quarantine day I've ever had." 

Reading for pleasure has finally started to click for AB. She loves the Ollie the gossling books and we've read all the stories our library has in the series. She likes to sit in one chair on the deck with I sit in another and she reads to me. It's still not completely smooth sailing but it's much better than a few months ago. I don't particularly enjoy teaching reading but it's very rewarding that she's getting into it. 

Other than that it's been "normal" shelter in place life. Our state has eased up some and technically we're allowed to go out as we please, but the numbers are still rising so no new stores opened up and we're not going out any more than before. We are now allowed to resume getting tattoos which is not something I ever consider getting, but quarantine Sarah is getting restless so who knows what a wild Wednesday night may bring. I don't understand how we're to maintain the preferred 6ft apart when getting a tattoo but I'll keep you posted if I try it. Maybe I'll get AB's anovrsre letter tattooed on my forehead.