1) Today is National Licorice Day. Licorice requests that you please remit liquid chicken post haste. (My dad gave her an egg white yesterday and she clearly wanted to know why we hadn't brought the liquid-chicken-gifting people over soon.) 2) We have our first middle school IEP planning meeting this afternoon, so I am busy making cinnamon rolls to bribe anyone who will help bring with me to let everyone know that yes, my kid is going to be extra work, but he is worth it because I always bake something yummy. Then this morning I noted that my inability to eat wheat probably leaves folks in...
Oh look! Something furry!! Articles
Guaranteed redemption
I think one of the things I love so much about having a dog is that I always know where I stand with her. Human relationships are complicated, messy things. Good intentions can get lost, overshadowed, and misinterpreted. Apologies can be hard to come by and sometimes even harder to really hear. And a bad day can sabotage years of carefully laid groundwork if you're not lucky. Humans are HARD. Dogs, on the other hand, are easy. Dogs have long but extremely forgiving memories. Dogs are all about your intentions RIGHT THIS SECOND and not so much about that unpleasant thing that happened before....
Unintended repercussions
I would say that first and foremost, I am the queen of unintentionally sticking my foot into my giant mouth. I am forever saying things I should not, and I really don't even have the excuse of being stupid. I'm not stupid. My mouth just happens to work faster than my brain. And in a somewhat related vein, despite being something of a planner---some might even say a neurotic, perfectionist one, at that---I am often queen of choosing a course of action without fully understanding ALL of the ramifications. The saddest part is that it's invariably something where I feel so PLEASED with whatever...
Love is sweet torture
By the time Chickadee got home from school yesterday, she was all sweetness and light again. She wanted hugs and kisses and to cuddle and was full of stories from the day and things she'd been meaning to tell me and pretty much just brimming over with "I am sorry except I can't actually SAY that." Just like that, the events of the morning are set to rights. In her perception, anyway. I try to go with it, to suck up the goodness when it happens. Like the little girl with the little curl, when she is good she is so very, very good. So I roll with it. I take a quiet moment to remind her that I...
Weekends fix everything
This is our first weekend in a long time without a million places to rush off to at top speed. We've all been enjoying a rather glorious slugdom! (Sadly, I do think showers and laundry and groceries are in order for today. Alas.) Licorice is the destroyer of all toys, but her glee while shredding them is so adorable that I cannot resist buying them for her even though I know they're only good for under an hour of (closely supervised) playtime. Last night she got a giant wrench, and lo, it was Very Good: Yep. That's an awesome weekend, alright.
Little big victories, sugar, and hope
Haaaaaaaaappy Valentine's Day! I hope that today brings you whatever form of either commercially-sanctioned or rail-against-the-MAN celebration you desire. I know that some women tell their significant others, "No, really, I don't need to celebrate, we don't need to do anything, honey," and then they would go sulk when their words were heeded and the day was, indeed, nothing special. Me, we're closing in on four years of marriage, and it is still 100% true that I am grateful for Otto every single day. I mean, sure, I guess I could demand/expect flowers or chocolate on this particular day,...
Dog beauty is complicated
The good thing about a dog who doesn't shed is that your house isn't covered in dog hair, but the bad thing is that you never get to buy a
Snowpocalypse, Day 2
Everything is still at a complete standstill, as local authorities puzzle over that odd, frozen substance coating everything. Could it perhaps be resolved with a judicious application of... grits? Alas, it cannot. (The husband and I are enjoying endless jokes about how this storm wouldn't have even merited a one-hour school delay up in New England, yet here it's on its way to a week-long shutdown.) I am weary and overwhelmed and some decisions have been made but the bottom line is that I am perversely grateful for this break from reality for a few days. It's easier to blame these feelings of...
Come home soon, kids!
It's no secret that I'm completely smitten with the dog. I adore her. Yes, I have become one of those people who basically treats the dog like a third child, albeit a child who never grows up and is a bit "special." (Hey, neither of the kids I gave birth to lose their fool minds whenever the UPS guy comes up the driveway, is all I'm sayin'.) Also it's very, very rare for me to make the human children eat kibble out of a bowl on the floor. So there's differences, of course. Yes, in the world of blended families, Licorice is Otto's and my lovechild. (We love each other SO MUCH, we produced a...