Day 317.

Friday, November 13, 2009.

Today we started a whirlwind weekend of fun, celebrating two very dear friends getting married. My parents arrived in town last night for a work event my dad had downtown. And so today, we spent the day together. It was wonderful, and again reminded me why we need to live closer to them.

Part of our morning involved visiting a school option for Dylan for next year and my mom went with us. It was great to have her perspective and another person looking out for red flags (or lack thereof).

I am grateful for a positive school option.

I don't know if Dylan will go there next year...I hope so because I loved it. But the money is a big deal breaker. We'll hope that someone doing the financial aid takes pity on us and decides we need a big break.

I have no energy to go into why I liked it so much, but I remember looking at my mom and us just being like...Whoa...this is good. And I commented afterward - I kind of wish we wouldn't have gone there because now I can't see her going anywhere else. Here's hoping for acceptance and financial aid!

Day 316.

Have you seen Mad Men? If not, go directly to your Netflix Queue and move it to the top. Now.

This show is my new favorite, and I am just amazed how good it actually is. Afterall - it's on AMC. Apparently that is the new place for well-done TV shows. It's so cool to see what it was like in the early 60's (well, it is a TV show, not real life but sometimes I forget!). I often think of my mom and dad, growing up during this time period and it's so hard for me to believe - things have changed so much since then and simple things folks used to do, like drinking during pregnancy, are so taboo now! I also think - wow - will my kids see a show made about growing up in the 80's or 90's and think that what we did was so crazy and ancient? Strange to think about.

I am grateful for Mad Men.

That's all I can say right now, cause we have the season finale to watch - so I have to stop blogging and start watching. Yay!

Day 315.

Wow, I really only have 50 days of gratitude left. Seriously, 50 DAYS?! That seems hard to believe considering that means I've been doing it for 315 days. Yeah, I know that I type that in every day - Day ____. But really stoping to think about it - that I've been grateful for 315 things - is pretty amazing.

I am grateful for my readers.

I haven't wanted to quit ever, but I have gotten in a few valleys - mostly times when I leave two or three or six days without posting and have to sit and do them all at once...that sucked. But, I'm back on track and plan to finish strong. Who do I have to thank?

You my dear readers. Yes, I did this for myself, but you have kept me going. I still find it hard to believe that you all think I'm interesting enough to keep reading on a daily basis...you know, more than my husband, sister and mother.

Day 314.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009.

I vaguely remember my high school and college days when money was a little more abstract, and going to the mall was the best way to pass my time. I wasn't buying designer jeans, just enjoyed perusing Old Navy, so while my purchases were cheap, they were plentiful. Fast forward to today, and the only shopping I do these days is in three categories:

1. for my children - they are the way I make a fashion statement - and lately that means hand me downs and whatever is on the $4.00 table at Target.
2. for gifts - Christmas or birthday or wedding shopping is still VERY fun for me.
3. for myself on impulse, usually less than $20 and with a huge mega-dose of guilt on the side.

So, to shop (mostly) guilt-free for myself is divine. I occasionally long to be the cute, hip mom in skinny jeans and tall boots with dangly earrings and a fun top. Usually I am the mom in the 5-year old Old Navy sweater that has shrunk because I've dried it out of laziness too many times, paired with designer jeans (because that's the only thing I do spend time and money on these days related to fashion).

I am grateful for shopping!!

My aunt Jeanie here to help with the kids, I stole away for 2 hours and rushed downtown. I hit five stores in an hour and a half and tried on about 30 things. I walked out of there with a complete outfit: skinny jeans, fun dressy top, dangly earings, cute bracelet. Now all I need are the boots, and I'm hoping to secure those tomorrow.

So, my credit card bill will be moaning for awhile...but me...for now (until I read the credit card bill) I'll be stylin'.

Note: for those of you that are reading this and might see me in this new outfit this weekend, please be kind...I'm making it sound like it's transformative or something...it's just an outfit. So, lower your expectations now.

Day 313.

Monday, November 9, 2009.

I am grateful for the Secret Clubhouse.

Dylan has been wanting her own Secret Clubhouse for several months now. She wanted to build one - with wood. Yeah...not so much happening in our condo or in our shared urban backyard. So, I convinced her that a big huge cardboard box would suffice. I told her we could still paint it and she could decorate it however she wanted. I called an appliance store and asked for them to save me a huge box, and we went and picked it up! So easy!


Here is our beautiful creation. It's only partially done (we were going to paint the roof, make curtains, put a door knob on, paint shutters...), but I have a feeling this is maybe how it will stay. Just because it's functional, they play in it all the time, and so any further aesthetic is probably for my benefit only. It's hard to get motivated to finish something that is functioning, well, perfectly.

Day 312.

I've mentioned my tendencies to worry incessantly on this blog. Mostly about my kids, but often about, well, anything. It's who I am.

Enter the best book I've ever read. Ok, so I say that about a lot of things. My husband makes fun of me because I'm always speaking in superlatives. "This is the best sushi I've ever eaten!" or "That was the best movie I've ever seen!" or "This is the best thai restaurant we've ever been to!" I'm just a passionate person, what can I say? When I love something, I LOVE IT. (He should be thrilled right? Afterall, I LOVE him!) Anyways, it might not be THE BEST book I've ever read, but it's the most timely and might turn out to be the most important book I've ever read. As my friend Megan (who thankfully recommended the book to me) put it: In reading this book, "I feel like I've been hit over the head with a brick. In a good way."

That totally sums up this book for me too. I love it on so many levels, even though most of what she's saying is common sense. It reveals this common sense in a humorous, insightful way that makes you redefine how you parent. Yikes...not another book to help me redefine who I am as a parent!! But stick with me - it's not in an overwhelming "I have to say this and do that or my kid is going to be totally screwed up" kind of way. It's a "trust your kids, let your kids walk to school, throw out all your other parenting books and just RELAX" kind of way.

I am grateful for Free Range Kids.


Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry, by Lenore Skenazy.

This morning, as my kids watched Backyardigans, I read this book and drank tea (that's a good sign too, when I choose READING over internet time in the morning with my tea). I was in the chapter "Get Braver: Quit Trying to Control Everything. It Doesn't Work Anyway." And I just started tearing up. I was so grateful for what I was reading.

It's funny - Lenore isn't a parenting expert (in fact she's been criticized by many), but she's written one of the best parenting books I've ever read. She's a columnist and humorist, but because she let her 10 year old son ride the New York City Subway and got dubbed "America's Worst Mom" by the media, she wrote a book that gives me great hope. For less worry and for more living!

Day 311.

I am grateful for some self time.

Thanks to Jason for encouraging me to go out and do something just for me today. It was so great to get out of our messy house for a few hours! I started my day at a Make Your Own Toys workshop which was incredibly fun. We learned wool felting techniques and I was shocked how much I loved it. It was extremely fun and I am really excited about the possibilities. I really want to try and make some more toys soon! Then I went to my fave Hyde Park lunch spot, Z & H Market Cafe for lunch - the ducky salad is DIVINE there. Yum. Then off to do a bit of shopping up on North Ave. I got Jason two shirt/tie options for an upcoming wedding. I bought a wedding gift at Crate and Barrel, and I just enjoyed being in a store by myself. :)

I do admit I was ready to hug my kiddos by the time I got home six hours later. But those six hours were very special. Thanks, Jason! Let's make this a habit.