May 27, 2003 - 7:02 p.m.

Feeling Groovy!

Yesterday was just what I needed. I left the house before 9AM and didn't return until after 9PM. Even though the weather stank, it was great to get out and spend some time with the girls.

First I went to the gym, though I only did 30 minutes of cardio. Still, I figure getting out of bed early to get in a workout on a rainy, chilly day before meeting up with the nanny crew was pretty good.

Said nanny crew and I then hit some outlet stores. We refused to let the rain dampen our spirits, and had fun trying on all sorts of trendy and expensive clothes. We scored some good finds, but still didn't spend as much money as we expected to. I found the perfect denim jacket, which I have been wanting for several weeks, for under $25 and a dirt cheap skort as well. I am picky about skorts. Frankly, I don't see the point in wearing an article of clothing that is masquerading as another and doing a half-assed job of it! Those skorts that just have a flap of fabric to wrap around the front making that side look like a skirt while the back is still just like a pair of shorts are not for me. Maybe they're good for people who enjoy the surprise factor: "Like my skirt? Ha! It's a skort! Gotcha!", but they don't appeal to me. On the other hand, the rare skort that is more like two garments in one, a skirt over and attached to shorts, is a true find. With one of those I can have all the style of a cute skirt (which is more flattering on me than shorts anyway) with all the convenience and modesty of shorts. Since I spend a lot of my time either on the floor playing with the kids or bending over picking up spilled pretzels, stray bandaids, and nice sharp edged lego pieces (which seem to be powerfully attracted to my bare feet), the modesty factor cannot be emphasized enough.

Anyway, after returning from our own patriotic Memorial Day observance (hey, we were stimulating the economy in service to our country!) one of the gals and I went out to dinner and a movie. We saw A Mighty Wind, which was a bit disappointing. It had some very, very funny moments, but it wasn't nearly as funny as, say, Best In Show. The characters weren't nearly as well-developed and the parody element wasn't as pointed. If you are thinking about seeing it, I would wait for the video or at least see a matinee.

Today was a great day at work. My attitude adjustment is really paying off. All three kids were very affectionate, I didn't yell at all, and I didn't even need to nag. I spent a bit of the day working with B on a dinosaur puzzle he likes. He's only just starting to use strategies other than trial and error to place the pieces, so he needs a lot of guidance to actually complete a puzzle without getting utterly frustrated. It's been a satisfying challenge to find a way to help him learn to use the picture and edges of the puzzle as guides without just doing most of the puzzle for him or telling him where to put pieces. And he has already improved.

I also had one of those conversations with B today that is fraught with pitfalls. He asked why there were flags hanging all over town, so I had to try to explain Memorial Day on a four year-old's level without glorifying violence. I settled for, "Memorial Day is when we celebrate all the soldiers who help protect us and our country." I didn't really want to focus on the death aspect of things, though it came up later anyway. He leapt mentally from my horribly simplistic answer to ask, "What was the revolution?" This may seem like a surprisingly sophisticated question for a preschooler, but he's seen several episodes of a PBS cartoon called Liberty Kids which centers on the Revolutionary War, so it didn't completely come from nowhere. So then I got to explain that one in a similarly simplistic manner. We continued talking about how the American soldiers had fought the British (who B kept referring to as either the Red Feet or Red Socks, clearly getting "redcoats" confused with my beloved baseball team), and he wanted to know if the British soldiers were killed. Oy. I was honest, though I fear it might come back to haunt me someday, since B has a hearty helping of the little boy obsession with violence. A bit later in the conversation B observed that if any soldiers ever needed help in a war they should ask him because he knows Taekwondo! :) That certainly eased the tension of the challenging conversation. :)

The "free" cruise is finally booked. Yippee! Barely more than a month from now I will be sailing away from San Juan, Puerto Rico with my lovely man. I am very excited about fun in the sun and the waves, but I am even more happy to get to spend more than a week of real qulaity time with Sam. If you want to check out the ship we will be on or our itinerary, click here I cannot believe I am already going on another cruise. Especially since just two years ago I was working two jobs to pay the bills, driving an 87 Honda Rustheap, up to my somewhat prominent ears in credit card debt, and thought I'd never get to go on a cruise!

Time to go decide between watching BBCAmerica's "What Not To Wear" or curling up in bed with my latest cotton candy read, The Devil Wears Prada.

today's project: Puzzle Strategy 101 for B

musing about: whether the lump on Percy's chin is growing again or it's just my imagination...

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flutter back - fly ahead