Shoes

Things are a bit harried right now, so this will be short. In brief, kids keep having real or mystery* illnesses, my aunt passed away on Friday**, and work continues along at a good clip. Which is why this post is about nothing but fun! I present to you the clothing item of SC's that I completely covet:


Yes, I am a shoe whore. To be more accurate, I am a comfy, funky shoe whore. And these fit the bill. It seems that the little one might be on to me, though, because as I was taking these pics, she struck a pose that, to me, says, "Go ahead, make my day."

*SC had to come home from daycare on Friday with a high fever (103.2) that magically disappeared by the time we got home. Yeah, I need to miss more work.

**We are, of course, sad, but she was 92 and her health had been failing, so it was far from a surprise.

Grrrrrrrrr

I decided on Sunday that we would try a little rice cereal for SC. She was officially four months old and by even the most casual observation one could tell that she wanted FOOD and she wanted it NOW NOW NOW. Outcome? Well, she gobbled up every bit of the half-ounce of milk with cereal, had no trouble with the spoon, and by the end had grabbed the spoon out of my hands so that she could put it in her mouth by herself. Yes, folks, my girl fed herself at her very first feeding! That’s my little barbarian.

Week's Wrap-up

I have lots of random thoughts and nothing terribly blog-worthy this week, sorry. But, because I'm a sharing kind of person, I'll empty my brain for you.

*Monday I got a battery for my new toy, and I am completely smitten. It does me good like no other, and I love it even more because I wooted it. (BTW- its AFW content. What were you thinking I bought?)

*Monday night I slept in my own bed. All night. Wow.

*Tuesday night I slept in the rocker recliner. All night. Erg.

*Wednesday I played the "Bad Mom or Resourceful?" game as I stored the pumped breastmilk in an empty (and washed) Diet Pepsi bottle.

*Thursday morning SC rolled over for the first time. Cool.

*Thursday night I slept in my own bed for most of the night. Good.

*Friday morning I was told, "Mommy, I need a kiss" as I got out of the car for work. That starts any day off right.

*And throughout the week, if the princess is not hungry, I get to see this face:

*Life is good.

Me me me meme

Dawn posted an interesting privilege meme on Wednesday, and I decided to see how many of the items apply to me. In the same style as Dawn, I have bolded the ones that apply to me and made comments where appropriate. Then, just because I noticed a striking difference, I posted the meme again but answered it from the perspective of my children. Obviously, some items for them cannot be answered at this time, but I’ve done my best to guess.

It’s interesting that I answered yes to 14/34 and my kids will be able to answer yes to at least 21/34. How do you score?

The meme from MY perspective:
1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor (This one is tough because technically, I do have a relative who is an attorney. But he is a distant cousin I barely know, so does that really count?)
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home. (Children’s books- and the collection grew along with my interest in reading)
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 (I took dance lessons—tap, ballet, and jazz—and also learned to play the violin and the organ)
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them. (When I was 19 and in college, my parents bought me a car to get to and from school. Prior to that, I took the Greyhound bus, and I think it made them nervous.)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
25. You had your own room as a child
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 (All of our vacations were car trips, a habit I still prefer.)
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

Now here it is again from my CHILDREN’S perspective:
1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 (I assume that this will be true)
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 (Again- probably true)
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp (Summer daycare for kids ages 8-12 is pretty much nonexistent, so I expect that both kids will eventually be spending time at camps)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels (Actually, most family trips involve visiting friends and family, and then once a year we stay at a discount hotel for the gaming convention. So I should probably answer this as “sort of.”)
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home (If we maintain status quo, the house will be ours in 2016, and Gabe will be 11)
25. You had your own room as a child
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 (Gabe has already flown, but I still prefer the car trips.)
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. (I plan to educate the kids on the cost of living in the process of teaching them how to save money, budget, and be responsible citizens. But is the fact that they will know this as a teaching tool another sign of privilege?)

(From What Privileges Do You Have?, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.)

HNY

Sorry for the extended silence, but with all of the preholiday chaos at work (huge deadline on December 21), in our house (houseguests arriving on Dec 21 and baptism for SC on the 22nd), with travel (headed off to see the in-laws on the 23rd...with a 12.5 hour drive each way), and the postholiday lack of internet access, I haven’t really had a chance to catch up. I am still attempting to regain control (and do the laundry).

There is so much talk about resolutions at this time of year that it seems as commonplace as breathing. Will I be working on weight loss in 2008? Absolutely. But the only reason that it waited until 2008 is that the new WW@Work session only begins at the end of January. I don’t view that as a resolution, because it is just a life process that took a hiatus while I was pregnant and subsequently establishing my milk supply. What I do resolve to do in 2008, however, is declutter. We started the process in December as outgrown/outdated/outlived clothing went into boxes and bags. The whole clothing purge is still not over. Mr. D and I have a habit of only buying “classic” styles and then keeping them forever and ever. We are also pretty easy on our clothes, so they tend to stay in pretty good shape. The problem is that we still buy more clothes as if we need to freshen our wardrobes. Capitalist pigs are we. We have, therefore, decided to nip the bud on both ends of the problem. Stop buying new clothes and get rid of clothes that we haven’t used in a while because of size, style, or any other reason.

Once we finish the clothes, we need to tackle books and papers. Given that we are both Ph.D.s, we have a LOT of books and a LOT of papers cluttering our house. Too many. For us, getting rid of a book is like cutting off a limb- something we don’t take lightly. I’m certain that this process will be the slowest and most painful of all.

And I won’t start talking about our hobbies, because those alone are a great source of clutter. We have decided that the hobbies can stay if they are organized and we only add to the hobby stash when absolutely necessary (to finish a project, play a game, give a gift, etc.).

The thing about The Great Cleanup of 2008^TM that makes us sure to succeed is that we are approaching it in baby steps. None of this “we’ll finish clearing out the attic tomorrow for sure” type mentality. Too large a job in too small a time. But promising to fill a box with trash from a particular room or clear out a drawer in the file cabinet? Those tasks are completely manageable. And if you do enough small tasks, the large task is accomplished.

So, what’s on your list this year?