Hilary

Take 5

I know I haven’t been around in a few days. Not only have I been neglecting my own blog, I’ve skipped out on my favorite bloggers, too. I’m going to have some serious catching up to do.

What it comes down to is that I have been playing taxi service to two very scheduled little girls. To and from camp, to the pool, to the grocery store, to the Y, back to the grocery store, to the library and all points in between has left my literal and figurative gas tank drained. I’m slightly cross eyed writing this.

Hopefully, a little respite is in my future. It may not include a poolside hammock and a good book, but so long as I don’t have to get behind the wheel and navigate drop-off and pick-up lanes, I’ll be happy.

IN: ON: August 9, 2011 TAGS: summer BY: Hilary

Odds and Ends

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Our kitchen has been painted a color called “Apple Crisp”, which is a cross between a rich orange and smooth brown. It sounds hideous, I know, but it’s really quite stunning. I found a shadow box in a complementary frame that has two rows of 4 granny smith apples in it. Against the wall, it’s just stunning. The apples make me think of Magritte.

I have been reaching deep into the recesses of my how-to bag of tricks as we get settled into our new digs. We’ve re-painted and re-organized. Craig and I have tag teamed the bathrooms, switching out hardware, hinges, and the like. I even upgraded my relationship with the regular ol’ Philips and flat head screwdrivers to a borderline obsessive one with the Black and Decker cordless drill. I’m all about the screwing and the drilling. As in home repairs, HOME REPAIRS, you filthy folks!

Having a house to decorate has me trolling all kinds of DIY blogs for inspiration. I’m trying to repurpose as much as I can instead of calling Pottery Barn and having them send the entire fall catalog, next day air. Monograms have caught my eye and I’m thinking of doing this to include in a collection of images over our bed.

Speaking of trolling on DIY blogs, I really think I need a “pintervention”. This site is ridiculously addictive. No matter how much I try to dress it up under the guise of “research for home projects”, it’s the biggest time suck since FaceBook. *le sigh* I love it.

While I haven’t totally jumped on the Pinterest Challenge bandwagon, I have tried this. It came out really well. I found a frame similar to the shadow box with the apples and mounted my keys on an apple green mat. I hung it on the wall and below it, I hung up these typeset letter hooks that spell out our last name. I scored those from A. Dodson before we left Norfolk. The whole thing makes me feel very accomplished and somewhat design savvy.

All this creativity leaves me hungry, so when I’ve gotten the munchies lately, I’ve been trying to reach for something a little better for me. I tried these bars on a whim and my mouth has been thanking me ever since! It’s like a preview of fall with every bite. And you know how I love fall!

It’s been so hot and the plants have been suffering. I switched my routine from watering when I remember (oops) to watering first thing in the morning. In the afternoons, though, the soil is kind of dusty, like elephant knees. I don’t want to overwater the plants, but I fear they’ll crumble after they survived the move and the re-potting. I flipped open my Real Simple and ta-da! Ice cubes as a soil soaker.

All of doors in the interior of the house are equipped with locks. You know, it ensures privacy and also that the girls will get into some kind of high squealing foolishness thwarting my ability to stop them. Somehow or another the girls locked themselves out of their room. They were playing so nicely on the landing for a good half an hour before it occurred to me to just ask them what they were doing out there.

“We’re locked out,” Morgan said, simply enough. I jiggled the handle and yep, it was stuck fast. Thinking quickly, I got out the drill piece from my new best friend, the Black and Decker Cordless Drill. I chose the thinnest bit I could find, popped it in the lock and with a few well placed wiggles — *click* — open sesame. I have to admit, I felt really cool having jimmied open the lock in like two seconds. The girls were duly impressed, too, which is very cool. I love looking like a superhero in their eyes.

IN: ON: August 4, 2011 TAGS: random, summer BY: Hilary

You Can’t Handle the Tooth

Last week, the girls were visiting their grands. The second day of their visit, we checked in and Morgan announced, “And guess what I have a loose tooth?”

I send my baby away with a full set of firmly secured chompers. Two days and one state line later, they’ve come unmoored!

I suppose it is about time, though I am kind of surprised. Maybe two months ago, Morgan had complained that her teeth had been hurting her. This went on few a few days until I thought, “Maybe she has a cavity!” I whisked her to the dentist, the ironically named, Dr. Morgan (seriously). Dr. Morgan checked out my Morgan and attributed the oral distress to growing pains. Basically, her adult teeth were making their presence known, but weren’t quite ready to evict the baby tooth squatters.

“It’s going to be some time before they get wiggly,” Dr. Morgan said in parting. “Probably nothing until the fall or winter.” I made a mental note to myself and them promptly moved on to the next thing that needed my attention.

The kids in kindergarten had teeth falling out like they’d been knocked in the mouth with a hammer à la Tom and Jerry. It seemed like everyday Morgan came home with a story of how someone had a wiggly tooth or their tooth fell out in class. Morgan was desperate to join the ranks, but her teeth remained staunchly in place. Her classmates were turning six, some even seven, in rapid succession while Morgan remained 5. I told her that kids grow at different speeds, just like kids have different birthdays. We talked about different people grow older at different times, hitting development milestones at different times. She asked me if that’s why I wore a bra and had hair in places other than my head, but I delicately redirected the conversation back to teeth. She understood, but wasn’t happy about it.

But back to our original conversation. It wasn’t until after I hung up the phone that I thought to remind her that the Tooth Fairy only comes to the house where you live, not where you lose the tooth! I know, that’s so bad, but I really wanted to share this experience with her. I remember what it was like to lose a tooth. I had a special, heart shaped pillow with the words “For the Tooth Fairy” embroidered on it. There was a small pocket in which to slip the tooth in exchange for monetary gains, usually nothing more than a quarter or so. I don’t know what happened to that pillow, but I had seen this:

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It’s an official Tooth Fairy Kit! What the what?! How awesome is that? It comes with a letterpress Certificate of Record for filing with your local Tooth Fairy and sweet cloth deposit bag for your teeth! I had planned to get one for Morgan when her tooth was loose, but after our conversation, I all but had one FedExed to the house.

I was surprised enough when she told me her tooth was loose. Imagine my surprise when we picked her up and learned she actually has two loose teeth! They’re right next to each other and I guess her tongue couldn’t tell the difference.

For all her talk about wanting to loose teeth, however, Morgan does not want any assistance with having them come out. She prefers au naturale I guess, and would rather wait for them to jump out on their own rather than have me apply my ministrations involving thread and doorknobs.

Morgan already knows that it’s the parents that supply the funds for the tooth. That information came courtesy of kindergarten, as well as the truth about Santa and the Easter Bunny. I’m hoping she’s hung on to a particle of that childhood innocence and has a scrap of doubt about the veracity of what she’s heard. Wouldn’t it be nice to think there’s some magic left?

Whether the teeth fall out or are “coaxed” out, I should probably Google what the going rate on baby teeth is these days. I have a feeling, there’s been significant inflation over the years.

IN: ON: July 31, 2011 TAGS: growing up, my girls BY: Hilary

Feeling Boxed In

Moving really forces you to take inventory of all of the things you own and decide really and truly which things matter most. At first, everything is significant. Every scrap of paper scribbled by a toddler hand. A vase from a floral arrangement five years past gets wrapped in bubble wrap. That magazine with the scallop and bacon recipe you plan to try gets saved, that {insert ill fitting piece of clothing} you vow to fit into once again, even the boots that are too small for your feet — but hey! you never know — goes into a carefully taped, clearly marked box.

Then, it gets to be the night before the move and all hell breaks loose.

You take the shovel out of the shed and just start scooping junk into boxes, taping them with scotch tape and writing “misc.” in a broken crayon across the top. Garlic powder, yesterday’s gym clothes, two cereal boxes, a half torn permission slip from last fall, and a canister of Clorox wipes in one box. Swiffer pads, the Keurig, the telephone, taco seasoning and two boxes of tampons go into another. In the end, stuff has multiplied despite your vain attempts to either box it or trash it. Stuff is everywhere and stuff is no where you’d expect it to be.

We’ve successfully moved in, though. Of course, if you define success by putting all the randomly labeled, who-the-hell-knows-what’s-in-here boxes on the uppermost floors and out of sight, then yes, we have achieved it in spades. I had a dream, that one day, as a veteran of moving, I’d conquer the last minute chaos and discover the orderliness that comes a well-thought out move.

Then I woke up and discovered the children had wrapped themselves in packing tape because they were playing “Curse of the Egyptian Mummy”. While they’d had the foresight to leave their noses and eyes uncovered, they had forgotten to tape up their mouths. “Just like really mummies,” I said, wrapping it around their lips. . . but I digress.

Back to the business of the boxes and boxes. It’s been three weeks since the move and all of the more carefully labeled boxes have been unpacked. Our dishes are out. Our clothes are put away. The cable is in. Yet, boxes remain and I’m breaking out in hives over it. I can’t find anything! I don’t even know what I’m looking for! I’ve got a large tote bag with a very primitive filing system in place so that I can keep all the medical records, summer enrichment enrollment forms, photography contracts, and the latest issue of Real Simple at my fingertips. This ain’t going to work much longer. We have an office, one of the boons of this new house, however, it looks like that warehouse scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It’s exactly like that, especially when I ask Craig who’s going to shift all those boxes around. I need boxes out and office furniture in. I need some organization! I aspire to that state of bliss I get when I look at images like this,

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and this. . .

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and this. . .

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I keep thinking, if I just get 1) a desk, 2) an empty room in which to put it and 3) some really cute desktop accessories to go with, I will achieve it. Success! Independent wealth! A personal chef! Omnimedia! 20-20 vision! They will all be mine! {insert evil laugh here}.

IN: ON: July 26, 2011 TAGS: random, sharing BY: Hilary

Popsicles

A visit to the nation’s capital.
One of the hottest days on record.
That certainly deserves a cool, patriotic treat.

Somehow, Morgan was able to rim her lips with the cherry flavored portion of her pop in order to achieve that berry stained lip effect that’s trending for this summer. Always fashion forward, that one.

Coever had a more practical approach, namely “popsicle to mouth; repeat”.

Miraculously, most of it ended up in her mouth, save for this tiny drip on her knee. It was so hot, we weren’t just sweating; sweat was flinging itself off of our bodies in search of cooler places to reside. It’s not surprising that the red, white and blue colored ice became a blurple-ish soup faster than they could get it in their mouths.

It looks like they’ve been eating Smurfs.

IN: ON: July 26, 2011 TAGS: food, summer BY: Hilary

photography projects & DIY

Painted Walls, Happy Girls

When we broke the news to the girls that we were leaving Norfolk for Richmond, Morgan was particularly vocal in her reluctance to leave.

She listed all of the reasons she didn’t want to leave Norfolk, why Richmond wouldn’t be any fun, and all possible scenarios that would render her post-kindergarten summer the worst on record. Not easily swayed by the drama she puts forth, seeing as she does so on a regular basis, Craig and I heaped reason after reason why a move would in fact be a good thing.

She wasn’t buying it.

So Craig resorted the one, true ~~trick~~ tool every parent calls upon at one point or another: bribery.

And it worked.

We told the girls that with a move to a new house comes a new room for them to decorate. Ever the skeptic, Morgan asked, “Decorate however we want?”

Within reason, we assured her, but certainly, think of the possibilities. Craig enumerated all the ways they could make their new room their own. He mentioned hanging up the Norfolk Mermaid poster we had framed, putting up canopy beds. Then he pulled out the big gun: a mermaid mural on the wall.

Whoa.

And of course, Morgan heard that and well, it was done deal. For days thereafter, “When are we going to Richmond and when are we getting the mural painted on the wall?” became her constant call.

As we boxed up the Norfolk house day after day, as the movers came and carted stuff onto the truck, she kept reminding Coever, “. . and when we get to Richmond, we’re going to get a mural of mermaids on the wall! I’m so excited!” She’d clench her hands together up under her chin and bounce on her toes in anticipation.

When we rolled up to the new digs, you can imagine what she said. When she and Coever raced up the stairs to their room, you can imagine what she said, immediately followed by, “Well, where is it?”

Thankfully, Craig had been in touch with several artists, trying to obtain the best one for the project. We decided that when the girls spent a week with his parents this summer, we’d get it done while they were gone and it would be ready to surprise them when they came home.

Which is exactly what we did.