Thursday, May 22, 2008

Preparing them for the real world

Today has been unreasonably cold. I have been promising the girl's for the last two days that we will go to the beach. It has yet to happen. Today I told them we could go to the book store to play with the train table. Only the borders I went to did not have a train table. I could've sworn at one point it did. On the car ride there I kept going on and one about Thomas and Percy and all the other trains that we would play with. They were super excited. It was a big let down when the store was train table free. I am certain that they both think I am full of shit. The next time I tell them we are going to go somewhere they will be like "yeah, right!" They will remember the beach, the train table, and that at the zoo yesterday I told them they could go on the sky ride but decided against it after I saw the massive line. At least I am preparing them for the disappoint that is almost always life. They will be well equipped for it that's for sure!

Instead of the train table I read them a ton of books. They sat on the stage and pretended to be princesses while I read. They are such chicks! I am pretty sure that I was annoying most of the people in the store with my animated reading. There was a point in my life when I thought I would never be that person. Before I had kids I thought for sure that I would not lower myself to being annoying with my kid in public. That has changed. Some random kid even wobbled up to sit with us and listen to the stories. It was kind of embarrassing to do with an audience but the girls liked it! The random kid's mom probably thinks I bake a ton and speak to everyone in the world like they are kindergarten students.

On the way home from the book store, while stopped at a red light, the man in the car in front of us opened his car door and started dry heaving. He then shut his door and re opened it a few seconds later and proceeded to vomit. It was pretty much the most disgusting driving experiences of my 29 year life. I thought I might vomit myself. To make matters worse I had already picked up a bean and cheese burrito for lunch which has the look and consistency of vomit. That guy now owes my three bucks! The weird thing is that he was old. He had gray hair. At first I thought that maybe he was a drunk but I have a hard time believing that gramps was inebriated at 11am. I think I should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he is undergoing chemotherapy treatments and always sick to his stomach. Poor guy! Still it was really, really gross!

In three more weeks the kids and I minus the husband, will head to Chicago. We are staying for most of the month of June. My dad is very ill. I haven't brought it up much because it annoys me when people make big deal about it. I know that the human population means well and are only being kind and thoughtful by asking about him but frankly I don't like it at all. I would rather keep things to myself and talk about it when I am ready to talk about it. I have issues. Talking about death and illness is always unpleasant. I always come off as a complete idiot basket case or way to calm and collected to the extent that it boarders on coldness/psychoticness. That's why I would rather avoid the subject all together until I learn how to discuss it like a rational person.

I am taking the kids to Chicago because I want them to know their grandpa. I want them to remember my dad dearly just in case. Also my mom has asked me to take care of him during the day while she is at work. He really doesn't need much taking care of but he does have a comical lack of memory and is prone to falling, otherwise he is completely the dad that I have always known and loved. I plan to squeeze so much in to my three weeks that I will be completely sick of Chicago. Every time I go home I worry that it will be the very last time and that before I will have the opportunity to get back my parents will have sold my childhood home right up from under my feet. Each time I am back I make sure to fit in all the local spots I frequented as a kid. This time will be no exception! I will take tons of pictures and bore you all to the death with the trivial details.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Individual style

This is what happens when Amelia dresses herself:

I kind of love it. It's very punky Brewster. I used to dress like this too only I would actually leave the house that way. My mom left for work before school started so she never had the opportunity to edit my wardrobe. I ended up in all sorts of crazy ensembles that looked almost identical.