Guess what?

I'm moving to a new, slightly more anonymous blog. Please email me at lifetwokeys at yahoo dot com if you'd like the URL. Thanks!

On hand-me-downs & tag sales

I just heard about a huge annual tag sale that takes place in a neighboring town; the sale is tomorrow morning. One of my work parents told me that it's an excellent sale, great for getting gently used kids' toys and clothes. I've always been big on the secondhand stuff, but I'm even bigger on it since becoming a mama.

Wanna know something weird? I think that being a thrift shopper/hand-me-down aficionado is hurting one of my friendships. I'm trying to suck it up, but when friends who are expecting their first child told me they don't want any of Hester's hand-me-downs, I was really offended. I tried to be gracious about it, but inside I was all, "What, you're too good for our hand-me-downs?" They said that since this is their first child, they want the baby to have all new stuff. They're not accepting any hand-me-downs or doing any thrift shopping, which boggles my mind.

All this thriftiness goes deep for me. Some of my favorite outfits in childhood came from other people's trash cans, and it never occurred to me to be ashamed of that. On the contrary, I was proud that my mom got for free something that other people paid good money to have. Garbage picking made sense to me, especially when I saw the rewards. It was only when I got older that I began to understand that many people value paying full price for new things over paying pennies for used things. All I can think now is that all of us learned these attitudes somewhere, probably from or in reaction to our early experiences with shopping. I know I did; I bet my friends did, too, though I'm too chicken to open up that can of worms with them.

Whatever. The bottom line for my family is that Hester needs a winter coat and some teeny tiny winter boots (because OMG she's a biped now!), so we'll be doing some thrift shopping. And regardless of other people's attitudes, I'm hoping we'll pass on the value of thriftiness to our daughter.

It should be South Side Story

Tonight I let inertia take over and skipped a trip to the grocery store. I might regret it tomorrow, but I doubt it: I just overheard Petunia sing to Hester a medley of songs from West Side Story, including "There's a Crib For You" to the tune of "There's a Place for Us," "Your Sleep Sack" to the tune of "Maria," and, "The Baby's Gonna Have Her Way Tonight" to the tune of "Tonight." Priceless, I tell you. Priceless.

Random thoughts

--I am so happy it's November: I have 4 days off this month! I'm feeling v. burned out on my job.

--I'm having a strange craving for canned chicken soup and goldfish crackers. Gross, right? But DELICIOUS as well.

--One of my work kids made a spontaneous turkey hand print this morning in celebration of November. I got all sentimental, like, "Oh, turkey hand prints! Hester will make her own turkey hand print in a couple of weeks! It'll be the first in a long line of turkey hand prints," etc. I'm such a dork.

--Has anyone ever tried the Peapod service from Stop & Shop? Is it worth the $7?

--I still haven't met any new moms in my area. I'll resort to Gymboree et al. if necessary, but I really don't want to go there. Any ideas?

--Every year I itch to go to New York in the fall (I usually go in the spring). I don't think I'll get there this fall, either. Blah.

--Wouldn't it be awesome to swim in a hot spring right now?

--I love Halloween in my neighborhood--it's such a fun holiday and there are SO many kids in the neighborhood! We had roughly 150 trick-or-treaters last night, many in big groups with parents/older kids supervising the little kids. My pet peeve: Kids not saying thank you. My favorite thing: Teens trick-or-treating alongside preschoolers.

--I'm knitting a sweater for Hester that's fluorescent yellow with fluorescent pink accents; it's v. 1985 and obnoxiously bright. I hope to post pictures soon, but in the meantime just try to imagine a sweater this hideous/beautiful! Hells yeah.

Happy Halloween!

(This last one is my favorite!)

Uh-oh

Dudes, I totally screwed myself: I have a work interview tonight with a prospective family. I really don't need a new family right now, but I got hooked because the 5-month old baby (!) is the grandson of a woman at church. I keep telling myself that the family's just looking for drop-in care for a few days in December, but it's still rough. Here's the thing, though--drop-ins usually morph into part-timers, and part-timers sometimes morph into full-timers. I have 2 kids who'll be moving in late spring/early summer, so I need to be thinking about adding a part- or full-time family to my roster for that time frame. Sigh. I just wish I had more energy for all this. But on the other hand, there's the possibility of another BABY! So exciting.

Another meme

This one's from JPP!

5 Things I Do Well

1. Organizing: I'm not an INFJ-emphasis on-the-J for nothing! I make lists, I sort, I prioritize, I plan. I'm totally Type A, can you tell?

2. Finding bargains: I'm a v. thrifty shopper--I use coupons, shop at secondhand clothing stores, and buy on clearance.

3. Managing crises: I can obsess for hours about minor things, but I'm calm and reliable in a true crisis. I did this work professionally for years and even was trained as a community responder in critical incident stress management. My brother likes to tell this story from when we were little: I was babysitting for him when he barreled into the living room, hand covered in blood, screaming, "HELP--I cut my hand real bad!" He claims that I took one look, sighed, and said, "Apply direct pressure and keep your hand above your heart. I'll call 911." It turned out that he was playing a joke on me--the "blood" was actually ketchup--but the joke was on him when I didn't freak out like he'd anticipated. Ah, sibling love!

4. Keeping in touch: I grew up an Army brat and learned early on that if I didn't make an effort at keeping in touch with my friends, I'd lose them. I'm proud that although I'm an Army brat, I still have a friend today whom I met in 4th grade.

5. Seeing: At my last eye exam I had 20/10 vision. Now I think it's more like 20/15, but still--I have great eyesight. Hello, Hawkeyes!

And now, for good measure...

5 Things I Do Poorly

1. Cooking: I'm lazy and picky and don't have any sense of which foods taste good together. I'm also bad at knowing when food is done, so I usually overcook or undercook. I hate cooking and I'm pretty awful at it, too.

2. Math: I suck at it, really and truly. An example: When I took the GRE the first time, my math score was in the upper-30th percentile. After I studied like crazy (again) for the math section and retook the exam, my math score dropped to the low-30th percentile. Whaaa? At any rate, I'm glad that Petunia's good at math cuz I sure as hell won't be able to help Hester with her homework once she's out of 3rd grade.

3. Confronting people: This goes against my nature. I'd rather run away than call people out. However, getting older, running my business, and becoming a mom are helping in this regard. I'm getting more assertive all the time.

4. Art: I'm a terrible artist. Painting, drawing, sculpting, etc.--I'm just no good.

5. Running: I once took an F in gym class rather than attempt a 5-minute mile (yes, it was an Army school). If you ever see me running, you'll know that A) there's an alligator on my tail, or B) I'm taking steroids for a tenacious sinus infection. I suck at running.

The end.

Hester hearts fall!