House of Estrogen

This Can't Be Good

I just returned home from book club, came upstairs to the office, and found several clumps of cut hair about four inches long lying on the floor. They are too long to be Elise's hair. The color looks about right for Nina, Addison, or any number of American Girl dolls. It really doesn't feel like doll hair to me though.

J.C. was home with the girls, so I asked him who cut their hair. He said, "Elizabeth". (Yes, he knows the American Girl dolls by name). He said clumps of her hair were coming out while they were brushing it. These aren't clumps though. They are undeniably cut hair, and Elizabeth's hair is curly. These are not. There is no way Elizabeth was the source of this hair.

The girls are all asleep, so I guess I'll have to wait until morning to see who gave themselves (or their little sister) a trim. I don't have a good feeling about this. I may be making an emergency trip to the salon tomorrow. I'll post tomorrow morning when I find out the source of the clippings. Stay tuned...

Simple Woman's Daybook, August 29, 2011

 

For Today...

Outside my window... our poor flowering plum tree that was leaning at a 45 degree angle after Hurricane Irene. J.C. staked it upright, but I'm worried its roots may have been damaged.

    I am thinking... about how to renovate my master bathroom on a budget. I think I may have a plan. It just involves paint, hardware, and mirrors, so it should be significantly cheaper than the "rip everything out and start over from scratch" plan that I'd really like to do.

 I am thankful for... Irene not being worse than she was. There could have been so much more devastation everywhere if she had made landfall as a category 3 as originally predicted.

 From the kitchen... chicken pot pie and fruit salad.

 I am creating... plans for Elise's big 10th birthday blow-out.

I am going... to go through the shoes in the attic sometime soon. I'm sure there are some up there that I saved from Elise and Nina that Addie has already outgrown. I need to scale down the stash.

I am reading... Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I was in a bit of a reading slump this week, so now I'm trying to quickly finish this before book club on Wednesday. It is a pretty good book but not as good as the first one.

 I am hoping... Nina's new brownie troop turns out to be a good one.

I am hearing... our housekeeper's radio.

Around the house... everything should be cleaner soon!

One of my favorite things... Etsy.

A few plans for the rest of the week.... volunteering in both girls' classrooms, book club, and two Girl Scout parent meetings.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Addie planting a plant she brought home from preschool in the planter on our deck. Notice the lip gloss in her left hand. She carries that around with her everywhere and reapplies lip gloss at least once every half hour. She has quite the sparkly lips. J.C. finally got it through her head that boys only wear chapstick and not sparkles after she kept hounding him to put some on.

 

To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Three Random Whys for the Week

(and as a sidenote, is "whys" a word? Would it be "whies"?)

1. Why does my husband insist on using military time on his alarm clock? He has never been in the military. He is not a firefighter or police officer. He never speaks that way (i.e. "I'll pick up Nina at seventeen hundred hours"). Why the clock? Last night, Addie woke up at 00:06 with a nosebleed. Yes, I can do the conversion, but when I'm barely awake trying to deal with a nosebleed, why should I have to? WHY?

2. Why did Kim Kardashian choose white bridal gowns for her bridesmaids? I get that it was a black and white wedding, but really - check out Kourtney's photo. Doesn't she look like a bride? Why would you want four other people walking around looking like brides at your wedding? I just don't get it. And while I'm on this topic... black tiers on the wedding cake? Blech. Nobody wants to eat black frosting. Ever.

 

3. Why do Elise and Nina need more pencils at school already? Elise took 48 on the first day of school. Nina took 24. They have only had 19.5 school days so far. Where are the pencils going? Has Elise really gone through 2.5 pencils per day? I think the pencils must run off with the goggles, water bottles, and socks. Somewhere, they are all hiding out laughing at me.

Hunkered Down, Riding Out Irene

 

"All By Myself"

Remarkably, there wasn't a drop of fingernail polish on the counter or floor. Clearly, we got lucky somehow.

I Survived the 2011 East Coast Earthquake

OK, so maybe "survived" is an exaggeration. That would imply the ground actually opened up, swallowed streets and buildings, and trapped people under rubble. This was more of a "knock a few picture frames off the walls" sort of earthquake, but it was rather amazing to live through nonetheless. It is being called a "once in a century" earthquake for the East Coast - felt from Canada down to South Carolina. Considering I have no aspirations of living another century, this is a once in a lifetime event for me. How is it that the rest of my family completely missed out on it?

These were our earthquake experiences today:

Me: I was sitting in my office on the fourth floor when I heard a loud rumbling sound. At first I thought furniture was being moved or work was being done on the building. Then, I realized the entire building was shaking. I looked outside expecting to see some horrible wind storm, or hurricane Irene arriving early, but it was bright and sunny without a whisp of wind. Bomb? Earthquake? What the heck was it?

J.C.: Sitting in his office one floor below mine in the same building, he was listening to loud music through headphones and tapping his feet to the music. He received this message from me: "Holy crap!! What was that?" To which he responded, "What was what?"  "The entire building was shaking. It felt like an earthquake. Didn't you feel it? Everybody is out in the hall talking about it!" "Uh... no."

Elise and Nina: We showed up at their school for a parent teacher conference and asked, "So, did you guys feel the earthquake today?" With shocked looks on their faces, they said, "Earthquake??? What? What are you talking about?"

Addison: I picked her up at preschool today and asked her if her room wiggled at all during nap. She said, "Mommy, rooms don't wiggle. That's silly." True. Good point.

So, apparently, I am the lone survivor in this family.  I have yet to figure out how the rest of them all missed out on this historic event. How do you not notice when an entire building is SHAKING? 

My mom didn't feel it either, but I give her a pass because she was driving at the time. My poor old dad was glad to hear it was an earthquake. He thought he was hallucinating that the couch was moving... quite a relief to find out it actually was.

So, if you live on the East Coast, what's your earthquake story?

Simple Woman's Daybook, August 22, 2011

 

For Today...

Outside my window... crickets or cicadas making a lot of noise.

   I am thinking... that last night's finale of the Glee Project was SO good! Did anybody else watch it? I loved it! I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but I don't think I could have come up with a more perfect ending.

 I am thankful for... caffeine.

 From the kitchen... honey lime chicken on the grill, mac&cheese, cinnamon apples, and salad.

 I am creating... a photobook.

I am going... to see "The Help" tonight with my book club.

I am reading... Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I really enjoyed Freakonomics, so I am hoping this second book will be good as well. I've just barely started it. I finished War by Sebastian Junger this week. This was such a good book. Junger's writing is so accessible and makes a heavy topic easily readable. His insights into not only the physical aspects of combat but also the physiological and emotional components are really spot-on. I highly recommend it.

 I am hoping... that the tooth fairy does better next time. We have the biggest slacker for a tooth fairy around here. She missed two nights in a row which left Elise in tears. Fortunately, she had a good excuse. She and all the other tooth fairies had come down with a bad case of fairy pox over the weekend. They were covered in purple pox and felt miserable, so all tooth fairy visits were delayed a couple days. It is always some excuse with her though!

I am hearing... Sam Tsui's cover of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"

Around the house... a few new organizational touches seem to be working.

One of my favorite things... Tim Gunn, Project Runway, and Tom and Lorenzo's post-show commentary each week.

A few plans for the rest of the week.... on top of the usual kid-stuff.... volunteering in Elise's classroom, a parent-teacher conference with Nina's teacher, and an initial consultation with an orthodonist for Elise where we will learn how poor we will be in the coming years with all our money going to orthodontia.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... a short little cell phone video of Elise doing "umbrella" at jump rope. There are four people turning ropes. The two ropes are perpendicular to each other, so it makes an umbrella-like effect with Elise in the middle.

 

To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook.

He's Back, But...

Where is my morning person to the rescue? J.C. arrived home safely from his Canadian mountain biking adventure, and I expected mornings to just fall back in place without the no-morning-person-chaos that we had the eleven days he was gone. Unfortunately, I neglected to think about the fact that he had been biking nine days straight, all day, every day, and that he was on the left coast in a totally different time zone. Dude was tired when he came home. Evidence:

• The girls still have not made the bus once since he got back. I'm glad there are other kids at our bus stop, otherwise the bus driver might decide to just quit stopping there completely.
• Two nights ago around 7:30, Nina asked to read to me at bedtime. I said, "You've read to me all week. Why don't you read to Daddy?"  She skipped off to find him, returned quickly and pouted, "I can't. He is all snuggled up in his bed asleep."
• The night before that, J.C. went in Nina's room to tell her "lights-out." She said she just had one more page until the end of the chapter, and wanted to read that. He said that was fine and crawled in her twin bed with her. Twenty-five minutes later, she started poking him, saying, "Dad! Wake up! I finished my book, and I want to go to sleep!"


Nice. At least he made it home safely, if not exactly well rested. Monday starts a new week. Maybe he'll be back to his usual cheery morning self by then.

 

Simple Woman's Daybook, August 15, 2011

 

For Today...

Outside my window... things look a little greener. We had a crazy storm last night with lots of rain.

 I am thinking... about chocolate. I wish I had some.

 I am thankful for... J.C. not getting injured on his big downhill biking trip. He's not home yet, but today he is spending the day disassembling the bike to pack it up for the flight. Since he isn't biking, I'm going to assume the major threat for injury is over.

 From the kitchen... nada. Elise has been begging to go out to a Mongolian grill place. Tonight was kids eat free night, so we  headed there.

 I am creating... a tidier house.

I am going... to bed early tonight,  I hope.

I am reading... War by Sebastian Junger. Technically, I've only read maybe 3 pages this week. Does that still count as reading?

 I am hoping... that J.C. has a safe trip home.

I am hearing... quiet - my favorite sound. Everyone is tucked in bed.

Around the house... there are no groceries. We are out of everything. We may be eating frozen edamame for breakfast tomorrow.

One of my favorite things... playing Words with Friends on my iPod Touch. Send me your userid if you want to play!

A few plans for the rest of the week.... let J.C. do all the parenting when he returns while I get a pedicure, get my hair cut, watch TV, go to a movie, read a book, and sleep in.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Addie's favorite "water gun".

 
 

To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Because Three Aren't Challenging Enough?

Because I'm a sucker?

 

Because I'm not worn out enough yet?

 

Because I'm used to ordering pizza for five?

 

Honestly, I'm not sure how I let the girls con me into bringing along a friend to the pool this evening.

 

We almost always have an extra kid on the weekends for lunch and/or dinner each day, and that is fine. An extra kid at the pool though means an extra head to count every few seconds, an extra life to guard, and one more person who you hope doesn't crack her head open on the diving board. 

 

We all had fun, but I'm wiped out. I will sleep hard tonight.

 

I give props to all the single moms out there. Your job is exhausting!

 

Good-night.