Evidence
For anyone who ever asks why I don't do crafty things, here's your evidence. A few weeks ago, we painted mugs at MOMs group and I cautiously decided to go with one solid colour (with a tiny little heart inside the lip). What could go wrong, right? hehe
It should have been foolproof. And it ALMOST turned out great. But the end result was laughably bad...
I'm using it anyway. I'm convinced there's a lesson in there somewhere about trying new things, beauty in imperfection, or SOMETHING that's bound to leach into my tea and make me a better person :)
Labels: MOMs Group
Random Kindness
What a gong show week.
I'm up to my eyeballs in work projects and we're slowly getting used to life without Libby again. We're managing. I'm just EXHAUSTED from all the juggling - and praying that I'll be able to make this weekend a real, work-free weekend so that I'm ready to tackle an even crazier week next week.
This morning, I skipped MOMs group (BOO) to work and try to fend off a flare-up, then made lunch and rushed off to an afternoon of meetings at the office. I stopped at Starbucks to quarantine myself for 90 minutes in hope of hitting a few deadlines today before I need to go home and manage dinner, family time, and bedtime.
I made it to the front of the line and barely had my order out of my mouth - a Gingerbread Latte and Cranberry Bliss Bar - when I realized that I had left my wallet at home. No one had even marked my drink on the cup yet, so I quickly explained the situation and said I'd run home and come back. The barista (not the one from the other day) looked at me and said, 'Don't worry about it. I hate when that happens to me. No charge. If you really want to, you can pay for it next time. Or just leave a good tip when you stop by again.' And without another word, he made my latte and grabbed my snack from the case, handing it to me with a smile and a wish for a good day.
I'm sitting here now, trying to work, and trying even harder not to cry. What a simple little act of kindness in a crazy busy day.
Labels: MOMs Group, Random Joy, Starbucks, Working Girl
Um, WHAT?!
I painted a mug today at MOMs group. This involved deliberately participating in activity that the majority of the world would consider to be a 'craft' - and what's even creepier is that I actually found the process to be somewhat enjoyable. That's right, folks. HELL FROZE OVER. Granted, I wasn't very crafty about it - it's basically one solid colour (hey, you can take Lindsay to a crafty MOMs group meeting, but you can't make her crafty!).
Photos to follow after said mug has been fired and returned to me next week.
Labels: MOMs Group
Bento-rrific
MOMs Group was fun (and super practical) this morning... After spending a few minutes catching up with some other moms, having uninterrupted conversations over cups of coffee that were still hot while we were drinking them (ANGELS ARE SINGING), we learned about bento lunch boxes and other ideas for getting sometimes-picky toddlers and preschoolers to eat new and healthy foods. After that, we headed for the kitchen and made lunches to bring home with us.
I ended up with one that looked very cool when I made it, but looked like crap by the time I got it home. It involved a two smiley egg men (a hard boiled egg sliced in half) holding mini waffle balloons on thin carrot strings, standing on cucumber grass. Oh, and the waffle balloons had grape-slice polka dots. CUTE. And surprisingly easy.
For my other lunch, I just put together some cucumber and cherry tomato flowers, some bread and cheese and half-meatball sandwich flowers, and some grape halves on skewers. Briony had this one for lunch and she loved it... Who knew that eating the same old stuff in a fun new way would make it that much more exciting for a toddler.
Actually, when I stopped to think about it, I can remember how excited I was when we'd have pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse (or our initials) when I was little. Who am I kidding... My dad totally did that again when I was visiting earlier this year and it STILL made me smile :)
I'm totally inspired to experiment with some of the ideas that Corinna introduced - likely not anything big and crazy, but if even cutting cucumber slices into flowers with a cookie cutter makes it 'special' then I'll totally start adding some fun little touches to Briony's lunch every once in a while. It took *seconds* longer than doing it the regular way. I just added some fun-coloured silicone baking cups and mini cookie cutter sets to my list.
Here are some links to our bento lunch box inspirations:
20 Easy Bento Lunch BoxesBento Lunch IdeasAnd here's Briony enjoying her lunch today!
I'd call that a look of success. ALL HAIL THE MOTHER OF THE YEAR. Better cheer now, in case this never happens again ;)
Labels: Briony, Food is Yummy, Mommy Stuff, MOMs Group, Photos
Searching for a Speaker
Just throwing this out there...
I'm helping organize our MOMs Group this year, and we're looking for someone who'd be willing to come in a talk to us about better understanding our kids' personalities and temperaments (or even love languages) and how to adapt our parenting styles to be the best mommies possible for each of them.
If you can recommend someone who'd do a great job (and who'd be available on Thursday, September 30 for about an hour in the morning), please let me know! Thanks :)
Labels: Can You Help?, Mommy Stuff, MOMs Group
