The Sound of Silence

The poor librarian took pity on me today. I was the victim of all of their policy changes from this summer. I already knew that the budget cuts had changed the library hours. This has made it difficult for me to get to the library because I try to go between 8-9pm when the kids are fed and on their way to bed. The new hours have the library closing at 8, which is a more inconvenient time for me.

So what else changed?

For starters, the limit on overdue charges went from $25 to $15. I have to say that I tend to have overdue charges because I normally have a stack of books and a few are missing. The $75 I spend at the library a year pales in comparison to what I would spend on the books.

The second change was that the fines went from $0.15 to $0.30. This may not seem like a big deal, but with a 50 book limit (Thank God that didn't change!), you reach your maximum in overdue charges on the 1st day overdue.

The third policy that changed was that I can no longer give my children's library card number and have their books put on their account. I must have their physical card. Since I did not want to carry 5 library cards around in addition to the 5 insurance cards that I have to carry around (why people ever complain about a mother having a big purse is beyond me. As if I could help it with all these extra ID's I need to carry around!!), I had put a label on the back of my library card with all the kids library #'s on them. So much for that idea! Anyway since we were checking out 56 books, I was 6 over the limit. Without the kid's cards, I thought I was out of luck, but the librarian (who was explaining all these policy changes) took pity on me and "forced through" the extra books onto my account. Thank heavens! I really appreciated it.

And what was my reward for (somehow finding) patience with the new policies? --a kind librarian and a car ride home with SILENT children who were all reading their books. Ahhhh, now that was an outing worth taking!!!

Beauty takes root

I believe that no beautiful woman is beautiful by looks alone. Your personality is a large portion of your beauty. How many times have you met someone who appeared pretty at first, but had such a sour disposition that it changed your opinion of their outer beauty? How many times have you met someone who "became" beautiful in your eyes because of their inner beauty? I know my opinion has been changed quite a few times.

Saying all that, my sweet Elizabeth does not like the color of her natural hair. She was not feeling as beautiful as I know she is. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that this was a simple fix and why should I hold her back? I dyed my hair all the time when I was younger (and maybe I still do....). If you hated your dress, wouldn't you change it? Wouldn't you wear high heals (or flats) to change your height? I think that we all have little parts of us that we don't like. Is it your hair color? Your hands? your feet? arms? calves? back? bum? How we react to this aspect of ourselves is important. How much do you care about your ugly toes? Enough to never wear sandals or only enough to want to paint them, so you feel like you make them pretty?

So I decided to let Elizabeth know that if she didn't like her hair color, we could change it. She could pick any color she wanted (uhh, well not purple.... mama's not ready for that yet! But honestly it wouldn't bother me... that much!) I want Elizabeth to know that she has the power to feel beautiful. Sometimes it means taking a relaxing bubble bath with your favorite scented soap, and sometimes it means dyeing your hair. The important lesson is that she take control. I wanted it to be her decision and only hers. Her initial reaction was a happy shock. She hadn't even considered coloring her hair, but she seemed delighted with the opportunity. I told her that she needed to think about it for a few weeks. So after the "waiting period", I asked again.

Elizabeth was very excited and chose to become a redhead!

I stressed to her that she has to love herself both inside and out, and that I thought she was beautiful. I don't want her to fixate on her outside appearance, but I think it is a good opportunity to teach her that small things to make us feel prettier are certainly acceptable. The happiness it brings her help bring out her natural beauty.

I also thought it was quite brave for a 10 year old.

So here are the results!

Both are great pictures in my opinion.

Out of the mouths of babes

Keener is changing so dramatically every day. Her ability to communicate is rapidly increasing, yet the slips of the tongue and opinions of a 2.5 year old are keeping the rest of us smiling.

Example #1: Elizabeth is very good at convincing Keener that certain items are "princess" items. This comes in very handy when we are having trouble getting her to wear a certain article of clothing, eat a particular food, or try something new.

In a typical conversation Elizabeth asks Keener, "Are you a princess?"

and Keener replies with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"

Today Keener replied, "NO!!!!! I'm a KEENER, Not a PRINCESS!"

Well !! I guess she feels very strongly about that! She's NOT a princess, just in case you didn't hear it in your city!

Example #2: Rolo has this very disgusting, very decrepit, blankie that is dying a long and agonizing death. It is SOOOO nasty that I hate to touch it. I do wash it often, but I think knowing it's "history" is enough to make me not want to. We will jokingly call it his "pee pee blanket" (and yes it is because of what you think).

So today while talking with Keener (whose own blankie was temporarily "missing" (childspeak for "I left it in my room and want Mommy to go fetch it") I pointed to where Rolo's blankie had been left on the floor. I said "Why don't you use brother's?"

She turned and looked at me and said in perfect English, "That's Rolo's pee pee blanket. It's disgusting!! I won't touch it!"

Well!! I guess she isn't shy about her opinions, like I need another opinionated female in the house!

Example #3: I was wearing a mud mask that was white when dried. (Very fun to scare the kids by the way.) Keener walked into the room and saw my face. She was quite shocked and said, "Your face is dirty! You need to clean it now! I go get a wipe!"

When I tried to explain that it was okay and that I would clean it off in a minute, she became very angry and said, "No! Now! Clean now! Mommy no dirty face!"

What could I do?

So, I got the washcloth.

Swine Flu

We are finally over the Swine Flu. Lucky us!!! Everyone keeps asking me what it was like. Well...... (drumroll please) it is exactly like the regular flu (You feel like someone knocked you out and you wonder how you ever learned to crawl much less walk!) except with an REALLY annoying dry cough. The flu just seems to knock me out. I literally remember going to sleep on the couch after calling Honey to come home from work, then I woke up 2 days later in my bed. Weird. That loss of time and place.

Thankfully we are all better and had the chance to go get the vaccine for the regular flu, so hopefully (knock on wood) we will last through the winter without any trips to the doctor. ~~~Dream a little dream for me~~~

Doing things in reverse order

So apparently we needed the flu to run it's course through the house prior to us getting the flu shot this year.

"Oh, bother!" said Pooh. *

"Yes, Pooh I agree! What a bother".

I got zonked with it first and then one by one we were all tagged "it". So now I am wondering, should I bother to get the flu shot since we already had the flu? I am so tired of being in my house and being sick and tired. I am looking forward to having a nice healthy family again. (A woman can wish can't she!!!)

I even found the gumption to cook today! I cooked up some lamb chops. We bought a lamb last winter and still have a few cuts left in the deep freezer. There is nothing more tasty than fresh meat from the farm. I don't know what the grocery store does to remove all the flavor from meat, but there is such a big difference. I hope that I can buy another one this year. It was a wonderful treat. If I ever followed a recipe I might share it with you, but alas I am the type of gal to open up the fridge, pantry, and spice cabinet, throw in what I feel like tasting. Then I mix, cook, and serve. Take that Martha and Julia!!!!

* Can you tell I have a 2 year old who is obsessed by Pooh at the moment?