Stewardship Sunday - Weekend Getaway Edition

Whew, Sunday again. How did that happen?


We returned from a quick weekend getaway, and are gearing up for the real summer vacation - a week with extended family at a lake house in the upper Midwest. It's late. So I'll try to do a quick week overview and leave the details for tomorrow.


Monday: Gym, led preschool music time, had relaxing afternoon at home. And a visit from the plumber. I think. It feels so long ago...


Tuesday: Worked an extra long day in Boston. Had a delayed train. BestestHusband cooked sandwiches for dinner.


Wednesday: Went to Children's Museum with college roomie and her two boys. Ran errands and did laundry to prep for the camping trip. Then was exhausted.

Thursday: Worked in Boston, then had dentist appointment in evening. BestestHusband cooked takeout for dinner.


Friday: Spent the morning packing for the camping trip. BestestHusband came home early from work, and we headed west. In lots of traffic. We set up camp, roasted hot dogs and s'mores, and crashed (like sardines who like to lay on Mama) in our small tent. 


Saturday:  BestestHusband (who actually slept through the night) let me sleep in. The girls enjoyed the playground. He enjoyed the newspaper. We went swimming in a lake. We showered and got ready for Tanglewood. We spent an evening under the stars, listening to world-class music in a world-class outdoor music venue, drinking sparkling wine and eating a 5-star picnic. They topped it off with fireworks. We got back to the campsite after 1am.


Sunday:  We straggled out of our tent not too long before checkout time. We hurried to pack up and check out. We drove a lot. We went to an outlet mall on the way home. That was so painful on so many fronts, but most of our anniversary shopping is now done. We came home. We greeted the dogs. We discovered they acquired fleas at the dog sitter's house. We rushed to get the girls fed, bathed, and in bed. We tried to clean up from the trip and de-flea the dogs and the downstairs. 


Food waste: It was a hectic week. A perfectly-nice batch of spinach got composted. Some perfectly nice lettuce met the same fate.

Money: Camping + Tanglewood + outlet mall = ouch. But 2 out of the 3 are what we hope the girls' memories are made of. And 1 out of 3 are what much of their food will be made WITH.

Patience: We were trying to accomplish a lot this week, which always puts a strain on everyone. We had a lot of fun, but had a few trying moments, as well. I'd rate this week a "fair" to average out the ups and downs.

M&Ms: MeToo started pooping on the potty this week. And the floor. But she did earn M&Ms for the potty poops. I earned M&Ms for cleaning up the floor poops.

Time: We did a lot of great memory-making stuff this week. I think our time use was pretty good. I'd just like to have more of it...


More info to come on camping, Tanglewood, and out outlet trip. Hope you had a great week, and are looking forward to another one!

Stewardship Sunday, Marathon Edition

Tomorrow is Patriots Day. In Boston, that means its Marathon Monday. The weather is supposed to be so warm that they're offering runners the chance to defer until next year. They're training the runners and bystanders to do CPR on each other. One official described it as a potential "mass casualty event". They're encouraging the charity runners (who didn't need to complete stringent qualifying times in other races) to not do it. What a tough choice to make. Glad I'm not the one making the decision.


I actually did run a marathon once, years ago. Melissa talked me in to it (Happy Birthday Melissa!) I was moping about relationship woes, and she convinced me it would be good for me. And she was right. I wasn't fast. I like to think of myself as a completer, not a competer. But I did it. And used it to convince myself that I could do other crazy things. Like natural childbirth. 


Anyway, I ran around Cape Cod in chilly Fall weather. I wore gloves. There were coastal snow flurries. Not an early Summer heat wave, and I was sweating anyway. Tough athletes will be falling down tomorrow. And I feel bad for them already.


What a whirlwind of activity these last few weeks have been. This week was no exception. I'm looking forward to getting back to a more normal schedule.


This past week was spent trying to recover from the prior weeks and prep for the yard work event. I went to the gym more than usual, which I think was a good thing. My mood definitely benefits. And that benefits the girls, of course. And I worked at the rehab hospital down the street instead of taking an early train ride into Boston. This benefits BestestHusband. And the girls, of course. 


This weekend was full of work and fun. We had great friends over to help us rearrange the dirt in our backyard. Yes, BestestHusband is motivated to make at least part of our yard flat. And put in a veggie garden. So he had 7 cubic yards of compost and a tiller delivered. To go with the 20 cubic yards of wood chips that the tree company delivered a few weeks back. And he and our friends dug up the yard, pulled out the boulders, mixed the pitiful sandy rocky soil with compost, and smoothed it all back down again. The seeding for grass is supposed to happen next weekend. (This week's weather is not great for grass seed, and we just plain ran out of time.) Our combined 5 girls between the ages of 2 and 5 all ran around together and had a blast. We ate some food, drank some beer, then went home and collapsed. Except for BestestHusband. He went back out to spend some quality time with the tiller. We all cleaned up in time to welcome the babysitter and go out to Christine's birthday party. (Happy Birthday Christine!) It was at a shishi bar in Boston. Lots of people there didn't have kids. There were yummy cocktails. Lots of them. And we had a designated driver. (Thanks Anne!) It was a fun night. Getting up for church this morning was rough. 


Food waste:
I really cleaned out the fridge tonight. And I found a lot of nasty stuff. I few a few random things I need to use this week. Including pork fat. Long story. But yes, I bought pork fat last week. And veal. We ate the veal already. But not the pork fat.
Here's what I threw out tonight:
2 blueberry yogurt smoothies. They were fermenting. 
Half a head of lettuce. I just forgot about it. Sigh.
Leftover salad. The dressing on it kinda did it in. 
Mint. It's been in there a long time. The paper towel helped, but it still went bad.
About half a cup of half and half. I got it for a recipe. I served some to a friend in coffee. But I don't really use half and half. Must try harder next time to find a recipe for it. 
All and all, it's pretty shameful.

I'll spare you the closeups. 

The fridge is starting out the week clean and full of leftovers (all of the second shelf from the top).

Patience:  See mention of extra gym time. It helped a lot. Really a lot. I was actually fun on occasion. 

M&Ms:  One week of the month, even Plain M&Ms are tempting. This was that week. Tonight was all about chocolate chips, because I'm running low on M&Ms, and MeToo's started pooping on the potty more, which requires more M&Ms. 

Money:  I'm finally returning the bathing suits that didn't make the cut. I'll post a picture of the final winner at some point. I've never spent much time and effort on a bathing suit before. But I don't think I've ever spent as much time in one as I think I will this summer. The refunds will be coming back in. So this makes it feel a little better to have spent so much money ordering the bathing suits. 

So I'm looking forward to the fun that this week will bring. Anyone up for frozen margaritas on the patio?

Poop in the Shower

I cleaned poop from the shower tonight. A lot of it. I'd been wondering when MeToo was going to poo, it seemed like it had been a while...

So after cleaning the mess, bathing the girls, and getting them to bed, I called my day over. I'm on the couch, drinking a beer. Because I cleaned poop in the shower. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

A Day of Spring and Poo

Spring is here. Maybe not officially, but today I was wearing capris and flip-flops. Today was Spring in Boston.


The crocuses are in full bloom. The daffodils are starting to bloom. The tulips will be next. I started taking Nasonex today in preparation. Living next to a ginormous tree collection when tree pollen starts to fly is not a pretty picture for my sinuses. But the rest of Spring in Boston? Very pretty. I highly recommend it.

Hello little daffodil! Welcome to my yard!

So nice of you to join the crocuses!

Crocuses, a soon-to-be daffodil, future tulips, and a few tiny blue vinca flowers. And the Arboretum in the distance...

More evidence of Spring.

What do I not recommend? Finding poopy finger prints around the house. It's gross. It makes you smell poop wherever you go. Even if there isn't poop there.

Parenting is all fun and games until you find poopy finger prints around the house. Potty training is a good idea in theory. It's just that the details can go south quickly. But I won't post pictures of that. That's already been done. I'll just stick with the flowers today.

I love Spring...

Vacation, Day 4

It's hard to believe that today is Day 4 of our Vacation. I'd like to think that Day 1 didn't really count. We mostly just travelled, waking up at 4:30 am EST, then flying, driving, and arriving at our destination around dinner time, Central Time. And Day 2 was Sunday, so much of it was taken up by church. So it really feels like today is really our second day of REAL vacation. It makes me feel like there are more days left.

So today featured an event similar to the Day Before Vacation, but on my parents' rug, and with more mess that required a shower. But hey, there were more hands involved to manage it, so I can't complain.

The last two days have included the delightful task of working on writing our wills. Yes, I said we're spending our vacation working on wills. Yes, those things that specify what we want to happen after we die. Fun stuff for a vacation. But it really needs to be done, and trying to fit it in to our schedule at home hasn't quite worked over our last 3 years of trying...

Did you know that life is 100% fatal? Yup, it's inevitable, and as the news will attest, it can happen tragically to people who die too young. Sadly enough, with kids that need new guardians, homes that need to be sold, the belongings and responsibilities of busy lives that suddenly need to be managed. It's horrible to think that this could happen to us. But it's even more horrible to think that all of the people and creatures that depend on us would suddenly be without care. And that the people who are most devastated by our loss suddenly have to deal with the legal nightmare of dealing with our estate. And children. And dogs.

So BestestHusband has been working through will-making software and all of the reading that goes along with it so that these things are planned for. And we've discussed the matters that are the most terrifying to contemplate. What happens if one of us goes? If both of us? All of us? There are so many details. But if they're exhausting for us to consider, think about how exhausting and overwhelming it would be for someone else, someone outside of our family, to try to manage in our absence.

So there is some joy in writing a will. It allows us the confidence that comes with knowing that, in the event that the unthinkable happens, we can reduce the heartache and suffering of those who love us the most. And this relief, this small joy, is a great thing to have on a vacation.

Have you put the appropriate papers in order?

The Day Before Vacation

Yes folks, that's human excrement on my jute rug.


A certain 2 year old decided that today was the day she'd stop wearing diapers and start using the potty. With a little error along the way...


I'm trying to be really excited. She followed up this doozy with a successful trip to the potty for another #2, and then a #1. Without any prompting from me. She just did it. This is pretty awesome! 


Except that I'm trying to pack for vacation. So in the midst of packing and writing out a novel about household stuff for our housesitter/dogsitter, I'm rolling up rugs and doing puddle checks and sniffing for any other surprises.


But I'm really trying to be excited... 

Things I Learned Today

Happy MLK Day!
BH and the girls and I spent the day together, and it turned out to be quite educational. I'd like to share a few things that I learned today:

1. Wet Ones in the car can freeze. Which makes it impossible to pull out individual wipes to clean up any poo that might have blasted out all over a carseat. 
2. Poo all over a carseat makes me extremely anxious. 
3. Poo blasts are most destructive in cold weather, due to wearing multiple layers.
4. Trying to take off 6 items of poo-smeared clothing without smearing it further makes me anxious.
5. You need to have a bathtub free of bathtub toys before trying to put a poo-covered toddler in it. 
6. The idea of poo-covered bathtub toys makes me extremely anxious. 
7. Hand-held shower nozzles are extremely handy for managing poo blasts.
8. I'm extremely thankful BH installed a new hand-held shower nozzle this past week. Extremely thankful. 
9. Partly-digested onions are recognizable, even after being blasted all over a toddler. 
10. I never want to clean up a piece of party-digested onion from a bath mat again.
11. My darling MT was stoic in the face of a hysterical and anxious mother who stripped her down in a cold bathtub and starting hosing off poo with a hand-held shower nozzle. 
12. Enzyme-based laundry sprays really are amazing at treating poo blasts. 
13. MT's winter coat will be wearable again as soon as the dryer dings. 
14. Managing a poo blast automatically entitles you to a glass of wine. 

Happy MLK Day everyone!