Blender Blunders

or

How I Know I Am Not Alone

Our afternoon snack today was a fruit smoothie, a favorite around here. Lola and I happily blended together OJ, yogurt, pineapple, bananas and blueberries. Frustratingly, I couldn't find the cover to the blender anywhere. No matter, I grabbed a small plate and put it over the top, and noisily blended away.

At a certain point, I decided the shake needed a little more pineapple, so I took the plate off, reached for the pineapple, and then watched in slow motion disbelief as my 10 year old stuck his finger out at that precise moment and pressed the 'on' button.

A fruit shake tsunami hit my kitchen. And my son. "Why on earth did you do that?" I gasped, incredulous. My spouse decided to pick that moment to channel me, in my sanctimonious moments: "Well I'm sure he didn't wake up this morning and decide he wanted to spray fruit shake all over the kitchen." Thanks for that bit of wisdom; in the future, when I want your input, I'll tell you what it is.

Anyway, the funny part comes later. While we were at Lola's futsal game this evening, I relayed the story to two other moms, both of whom also had blender mishaps with their kids within the past 24 hours. I found this to be amazing. Here I was, thinking inane things like "why doesn't my child have more sense than to turn on an open blender" and "how is he ever going to actually live somewhere on his own" and "does a sticky kitchen floor really mean that I am a loser?" when all the while, it turns out that children all over the place are making messes with blenders, even when they have really nice, normal parents who are raising functional, capable children! Who knew?

I've been surrounded by good news lately.

So go ahead, share a story of family ridiculousness with a friend. Chances are you'll find out what good company you are in.

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Grab Bag

And summer comes to a close.

Ours ended well, with the arrival of Tule, a six year old beautiful black lab who needed a new home as much as we needed a doggie. We started Labor Day weekend with no inkling that by its close we would have a truly great dog. But she's here! And it has been an amazingly effortless transition so far. We haven't had a dog for six years, but it seems to be much like riding a bicycle; you never forget how. She fits in around here like a long missing puzzle piece. As I type, she is curled up on Sam's bed, cozy and happy after a day of chasing a tennis ball to the delight of some happy children.



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Two funnies from my second son today.

Funny #1: While we were at the park trying unsuccessfully to tire out our new dog, he needed to use the bathroom but I had forgotten the key. (Our local park system sells a key, for a nominal fee, that opens all the public park restrooms; funny thing about them though...they don't work if you leave them at home.) So he headed up to the wild area of the park to answer the call of nature. A few paces away, he turned and announced: "I will be back, when nature stops yelling at me." I guess he really had to go badly.

Funny #2: After complaining bitterly that he had to wash the dishes tonight, he shifted into overdrive and began what can only be described as aggressive dish washing. I walked back through the kitchen and he shouted at me: "Mom! I am ROCKIN' these dishes!" Whatever works for you, son.

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Sustainability. I've been thinking about sustainability today. Not in a green, eco-friendly, love the earth way, but in a domestic sense. I cannot seem to sustain any of the systems I come up with for handling laundry, housecleaning, grocery shopping and meal planning, chores, or anything else. Sustainability is breathtakingly hard. It seems to me that establishing systems and routines for smoothly running a household is a great gift for children, a gift I wish I were giving my own. Maybe homeschooling will be my opportunity to do this, as I hope it might be. But I have to admit, I am skeptical about my ability to really sustain a well-run home.

What strategies have you used for any part of running your home that works well for you? Please share. Please. Share. I have lots of ideas, but am always looking for more. And then, how do you turn it into routine, habit? That's the toughest part for me.

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I have also been thinking about the balance between selflessness and self-care. I am terrible at taking good care of myself, and I wish I were better at this. I am also a somewhat socially challenged person who experiences anxiety and worry on a regular basis, which I attribute to an inability to "lose myself" and an overemphasis on my insecurities. So...where is the balance between taking care of yourself and not worrying about yourself? I'm not sure where that is, but I'd sure like to live there.

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So that's my Grab Bag to mark the close of Labor Day weekend and Summer 2010. Don't let me catch any of you wearing white from this point forward. (You're exempt, Nurse Laura: sorry.)

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52 T-Shirts

I am in the process of weeding through my children's clothing. This week, I’ve been focusing on the boys' clothes. Without finishing the laundry and before counting whatever t-shirts might by on their floor, behind their beds, balled up in their closet, cast off in the minivan, stuck God knows where, I have so far counted 52 boy t-shirts.

There is something seriously wrong with two boys owning 52 t-shirts.

I wonder how many shirts the average 10 year old boy in Haiti has. Or had, before the earthquake, and then how many he has now. I wonder how many shirts the average South African 10 year old boy has. How many shirts did he have to choose from to wear on the day he watched his countrymen play Mexico in the opening game of the World Cup? For that matter, I wonder how many shirts the average school-kid has in my own urban and afflicted city.

I'm guessing none of those three hypothetical boys has anywhere near 26 t-shirts (52 divided by my two male offspring).

I figure I'll find at least 10 more shirts scattered far and wide around this house. There are probably at least 1 or 2 in the backyard.

In our feeble defense, I will say that those shirts are mostly divided into four categories: (1) they came from the local thrift shop; (2) they are hand-me-downs; (3) they were gifts; or (4) they came from a camp, event, contest, team, or some other special event that included a shirt. I cannot remember ever once buying the boys a t-shirt from a regular retail shop, just because.

Of the thrift shop collection, we got one for our 2nd son that was spot on perfect for him during this past school year. He was mis.er.a.ble. the entire year, disliking his classroom with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. Rick found him this shirt:



That right there is t-shirt perfection.

We've got shirts from Shakespeare camp (three of them), soccer camp, the garden tour, and the San Francisco Giants (at least 4). We've got the fun shirts, like the one pictured above, or the one that says "You Can Have My Sister." We've got a handful of plain white tees. We've got hand-painted Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell Pittsburg Pirates t-shirts . We've got the One World, One Game shirts, one for every dude in the house; they're like a triptych in those things.

But the situation is out of control, so yesterday, the boys and I pared it down to 20. Well, slightly more than 20, because I decided to keep, for memory's sake, the Clemente and Stargell shirts I painted for them and the Murphy's Irish Pub shirt with my dad’s cartoon image of himself on the back.



We also weeded through their shorts, pants, jeans, sweatshirts, swimtrunks (they had seven!) and pajamas. I am happy to report that now, all of their stuff almost fits in their dresser drawers.

On to the girls next week. I already know I'm going to struggle with this one:



No one has fit into this dress or hat in over three years, and I still can't part with them. The nostalgia factor is just too high.

Why do we get so attached to our clothing? Or is that just me?

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7 Quick Takes Friday: Volume 7

1. World Cup Fever has swept through our house. Almost everyone has been hit, and hit hard, by the epidemic.

Those, my friends, are flags from 25 of the 32 countries competing in the 2010 celebration of the beautiful game. The other seven are still under construction, but will be added soon, I am sure.

And this promo gets played and replayed around here. Give yourself a treat and watch it. My son has taken to telling me to "Write the future, mom."

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2. Do you ever feel like the day is just impossibly short? Why is it that even though I have 3 hours stretching in front of my before I have to pick up the kids from school, I already feel defeated, like there's no way I can get even one thing done? Today is one of those days. I feel like throwing in the towel and taking a nap. That's fine, from time to time; but a stronger feeling I have is the desire to NOT feel monumentally behind when the kids are unleashed from school for the weekend. Really, for the summer. Next week, they have two half days and one super short day, so after today, it's pretty much over. I could get so much done in the next 3 hours if I can give myself some kind of kick start. What do you do for a kick start? I need one, and bad.

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3. And speaking of summer, I got an email the other day suggesting 101 Things To Do This Summer. Most are things you can do without having to go anywhere or spend much money. I think I'm going to print it out and put it on our fridge so the kids can see it and pick stuff. I remember learning the alphabet in sign language when I was a kid, and thought that one, in particular, sounded like fun. I've tried finding a way to link it here, but have been unsuccessful, so I'll give you some samples instead. If you'd like to see the full list, send me an email at mon.alatorre (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll forward it to you. Here are a handful of goodies:

Learn to sew, embroider or crochet.

Maybe your grandmother can teach you.

Every day, look up and learn 2 new words from the dictionary.

Learn about musicals. Watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,

West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof.

Read The Little Prince. This is a phenomenal piece of literature with multiple layers,

and it's a short read. Discover why it has been translated into more than

180 languages and why it has sold more than 80 million copies making

it one of the best-selling books ever.

Walk around your block and pick up all the litter you can find.

Take a trash bag... or two...

Lie outside at night and watch the sky for shooting stars.

Find out why shooting stars aren't really stars at all.

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question12.html

With your parent's permission, redecorate and rearrange your bedroom.

You can get paint for as little as a dollar a gallon at your local paint/hardware store.

Learn the alphabet in sign language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_manual_alphabet

Get up at dawn and appreciate the coolness and peaceful

feeling of the early morning. Compare it to the sweltering afternoon.

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4. Another great read. Perfect for those days when you are feeling like maybe you are not such a great parent. Let yourself off the damn hook already!

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5. Why do we expect our kids to do things that we are unwilling, unable, or nervous to do ourselves? Or is that just me?

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6. I am continually relearning that we cannot raise our families in isolation. For most of the past several years, we've cringed at the idea of anyone coming into our home. It's usually kind of messy, usually kind of noisy, usually fairly chaotic. We try to hide our raggedy band, at least within the confines of our own home. But it's so much better when we don't. Things have been just ever so slightly less messy around lately, and that has encouraged me to open my doors to people, or be more willing to have them drop by, rather than my usual "Oh no, I'm on my way out anyway, I'll bring that item right to you!" My friend Nicole stopped by the other day...and it was so nice to have her here. I am going to work on opening that door more easily and warmly this summer. We are social animals after all; I just need to emphasis the social part more and the animal part a touch less. I am better in the company of friends, and would like to be better more often.

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7. I'm terrible at the QUICK part of 7 Quick Takes. These posts always take me forever. That is so not the point; must work on that.

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Go visit Conversion Diary, the host of the original 7 Quick Takes Friday.

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