03 June 2011

7 Quick Morning Takes: Volume 29


Friday morning and this is what I got: cloudy light flickering around my window panes, To Kill a Mockingbird dialogue swirling around in my head, and french toast going down easily with farm fresh peaches. I've also got a super messy house, a desperate need for a shower, and children playing with that darn sound barrier again. Here are some quick takes from my morning:

~ 1 ~

This morning, my son was playing The Black Eyed Peas from his room way too loudly for my tastes. The sound pitched me into that place where I fear my children are growing up on the wrong path. Now, thankfully, he has moved on to Bob Dylan (Tombstone Blues), and rightness has been restored to the world.

~ 2 ~

This morning, my daughter said to me: "Mama, remember when you were all mad at us, and you sent us to bed when I was trying to tell you something? Well, all I wanted to say was that I wanted some pizza." And a little later: "Mama, remember when you were all mad at us, and you sent us to bed and said you would check on us? Well, you didn't."

That was last night. And I did check on them, but she fell asleep so fast she was already snoozing when I got there. She makes me sound like a real piece of work.

~ 3 ~

This morning, I tried to go to the store to buy milk. It took an hour and 15 minutes to complete the job, beginning with three girls who couldn't find shoes, including time spent explaining why I was not going to be buying any gum, and ending with me cajoling, threatening, and pleading with a four year old to get into her booster seat. It would be easier to buy IV equipment, so I can inject the coffee straight into my veins when I find myself out of whole milk.

~ 4 ~

This morning, I realized that the baby and toddler years were a complete and total cake walk. The teenage years, all 14 of them stretching out in front of me, are going to kill me. Anyone have a guide to the Proper Care and Feeding of Teenagers?

~ 5 ~

This morning, my 6 year old is wearing a spaghetti strap t-shirt underneath a regular t-shirt, and the spaghetti straps keep sliding down onto her upper arms. Sliding on their own or deliberately placed, I'm not sure which. But I do know that the very sight of those straps has me working overtime to control my tongue and not use the word "trashy" every time I see her in this state.

~ 6 ~

This morning, my front garden looks like this:


~ 7 ~

And yesterday (no, not this morning), The Writer's Almanac included this quote from birthday boy Thomas Hardy: "The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest thing." I love that. And I would add that the business of the parent is to teach her children to see both.

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Visit our host, Jen at Conversion Diary, for the original 7 Quick Takes, and links to other bloggers playing along.

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5 comments:

Laurel said...

For #3 I always have some powdered coffeemate on hand - definitely not the same thing BUT at least I get my coffee.
For #4 - I have a friend who said this "I need to write a book about teenagers. Oh wait, it's already been written "What to expect the Toddler Year." except the vocabulary (and sarcastic comments) is better, the tantrums remain the same. Can you write a book so it's available for me when I get there.

Shelley said...

Hi there. I got here from "The More, The Messier". Your kids are cute.
I have a lot and no advice for the Proper Care and Feeding of Teenagers. I have successfully raised one (she's in the army now), have a current one (she's 16), and have one in training, she's eight.
What I have to show for it is a lot of gray hair that my 16 year-old keeps insisting I should dye. I told her that if I pulled out all the ones that had her name on them, I wouldn't need to dye my hair. Laurel is right about What to Expect, the Toddler Years...it's pretty much the same, except with a lot more eye rolling and sighing and screaming.
For real, there's a book called, "Get Out of My Life, But First Can you Drive me and Cheryl to the Mall?" It's pretty good, look it up on Amazon. :) Thanks for letting me visit!

Teacher Mommy said...

I swear. Eleven years of working with teenagers every day, and I'm at a loss when it comes to the one we have (or almost have) at home.

If you ever figure it out, let me know. I'll be rocking in the corner clutching my bottle of xanax.

Jackie @ Blueberries for me said...

Haha, the straps thing reminds me of when I was getting wedding dress fitted with my mom. I don't like my bra straps too tight and they get loose throughout the day, so when I got down to my skivies the straps fell off my shoulder. She immediately starts tsk-tsking and yanks them up (despite my pleas for her to not touch my bra!) and says "there isn't that better?" NO! The bra is supposed to cover/lift some things, and so when the straps are this short it does not fulfill it's intended purpose! NO TOUCHING! (arrested development, anyone?)

My point is, that will probably bug you for the rest of your life. And you could try dry milk, though its not as good as milk for creamer. A trick I learned from my JVC days though.

linda said...

I wonder if that is why growing up in Catholic schools, the girls were never allowed to wear anything with spaghetti straps.

What a lovely garden you have.

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