When Jose's away

Last week Jose went out of town for business for a few days. I decided that this would be the perfect time to paint our 1/2 bath.

Before

A trip to Ikea (I love their free childcare. Seriously, I may just go to Ikea one day to sit in a super hip, staged room and relax for an hour. Do you think they'd care if I brought a book and a cup of coffee?)

Drum major/Doctor Turo makes sure that I'm okay after all my hard work. I did non-paint related tasks while he was awake. I did all of the painting while he was sleeping because I could only imagine what his "help" would look like.

New & Improved bathroom! This was my first solo painting project. I caught up with the top 40 hits on Pandora and had a couple lengthy phone chats with my darling friend Jess. If you do some inspecting, it's far from perfect. So don't look too closely at the ceiling if you come over, okay? But I felt pretty good when it was all done and I think Jose was rather surprised when he got home.

"Helping" in the kitchen

De-frumping

With the long winter and staying at home, I’ve found myself wearing work-out clothes way beyond gym time. If I know I’m going to head to the YMCA at any point in the day, I’ll just throw on some yoga pants, teeshirt and hoodie. Then once I get home, I get caught up in lunch, cleaning, playing and suddenly it’s dinnertime and I still haven’t showered. Now, I’m not a hardcore athlete or anything, so it’s not like I’m drenched in sweat after I finish strolling around the track, reading a magazine on the elliptical or taking cardio pilates. But one day last month, I realized I had worn my yoga pants for 24 hours straight and had been to the gym twice during that time period. Yuck.

When our big outings for the day are the Y and the store, it’s hard sometimes to put in the effort to look more fashionable. And after a winter of this, it’s no wonder I’m feeling frumpy and unattractive. So, in an effort to combat this slobbishness, I’m trying to motivate myself to actually put on non-stretchy pants and some make-up. Not only do I feel better, but I’m sure my husband appreciates it as well.

A Hero Came to Visit

Reconnecting with Brad on facebook has been one of those happy, random surprises of social networking. My college roommate Janis knew Brad from high school, so the three of us hung out a few times during college. Brad has family in San Diego and when we lived there, we went to a Christmas party at their house (complete with an awesome fiber-optic tree, if I’m putting the right memories together). The last time I saw him was at Janis’ wedding, which was almost nine years ago.

But thanks to the magic of the internet, we have been in touch for the past few years. Brad has the most intense job of any of my friends. He is an officer in the Army and specializes in defusing explosives. He just spent a year in Afghanistan. Brad’s status updates range from hysterical to intense to humbling. There were days his posts brought me to tears. And then the next update would make me crack-up. Those snippets about life in the middle of a conflict were a powerful reminder of the human side of war.

A few weeks ago Brad was in Michigan seeing old high school friends. Apparently, he has gotten a kick out of my photos & updates about Turo on facebook and wanted to meet the kid, so he also swung by to see us. Brad and Turo spent a big chunk of the afternoon running laps around our first floor, with an occasional break for adult conversation. After our guest left, Turo declared “I had so much fun with Brad.” It was a great visit, and hopefully nine more years won’t pass before we get to hang out again.

Fun with hats (and a wig)

Today I was looking at photos of Turo from his time at the care center in Ethiopia. This one was from April 9, 2009. So of course, I had to snap a photo of April 9, 2011.

Graham Cracker Meltdown (or why parenting a three year old can be exhausting)

Today on the way home from the gym I handed Turo a graham cracker to tide him over until we got home to make lunch. After his first bite, the negotiations begin.

Turo: “Can I have five crackers?”
Mama: “We are going to eat lunch when we get home. You can have one cracker.”
Turo: “Two crackers?”
Mama: “One.”

At this point Turo busts out with his 99%-fake-I-didn’t-get-my-way-cry. So, I calmly reach into the back seat and take away his cracker. And I tell him he can’t have any if he’s going to throw a fit. This, of course, ticks him off even more. The volume of his crying increases a few decibels, and he emphasizes his point with a couple of seat kicks.

He finally calms down by the time we get home. Once we are in the house, he declares, “I’ve stopped crying. Can I have my graham cracker?”