The Return of For Real.

I'm fully aware that it is no longer Friday.....as it was when this post was started....rendering the name a bit moot.  But.....I was so distracted with a hundred things this weekend that I just didn't get it done.  But it's done now.....so it's getting published.  

You know how there are things that you do for your kids that make you want to gouge your eyes out and curl up in a fetal position?  But you do them anyway--because it's the mom thing to do and other moms everywhere would think you pretty much failed the mom pop quiz if you admitted to not liking them?  Even though......even though.........I bet there are more of us in the same camp over 'said things' than anyone will admit?

Let's come clean together, shall we, in a long over-due episode of 'For Real Friday's.' Judge me, think horribly of me, or ............. join me.

1.  Playing outside.  I was the kid in elementary school who would do a cheer on rainy days because it meant indoor recess.  Now, I understand the teacher-me loathed rainy days because it meant indoor recess and indoor morning duty, but the kid-me.....that's a different story. And the mom-me...........

Playing outside for me is one of my least favorite ways to pass the time with G.  It's usually either too hot or too cold, and it involves a lot of me running into the street to get a ball.....after I've just sat down from killing a spider..........right after I filled up the pool (which of course involved wrangling a hose)............right before I got out the sidewalk chalk and killed myself drawing a 'to-scale' version of 28th street..........which was interrupted by a frantic run to the ice-cream truck........all the while fighting over sun-screen, why Georgia can't drink one more 'special juice,' why we aren't walking to the park RIGHT NOW, and topped off with begging to just go inside and watch a show.

It's really delightful.

2. Playing dress-up.  Inevitably this is accompanied by a list of requests demands regarding who I will pretend to be, what my character will say, how she'll say it, what I'll do while playing the part and how I'll look.  And for the love.......it's never right and ends up in a crying fit.  And it's not always Georgia who's having that fit.

If I'm told I have to be the mean lady (ha!  I love that I get assigned that prophetic role) I'm usually not mean enough, if I'm relegated to play a princess I'm not happy enough, if I'm supposed to be a ballerina I am a huge failure at it because I can't squeeze into a tutu made FOR A THREE YEAR OLD, and if I have to portray Maximus (yep--the horse) from Tangled I don't gallop the right way.  Seriously?

A lot of the times when Georgia asks me, "Who are you going to be today mommy?"  I reply back with, "Mommy--that's it."

I grant her a, "Mother Gothel, King Triton, or horse," once or twice a day.  It's really all I can take.

3.  Playing with food. By this, I don't mean cooking and baking with Georgia.....that, I love and think is crucial to a child's food education.  But playing with food at the table while she's eating?  Ridiculous.   And I think it's a huge joke that's been played on American parents by pediatricians and even some chefs who think they've found the cure for picky American kids. "If they play with the food, they'll learn to love it."  Really?  So smashing things into a paste and mixing up mashed potatoes, cherries, and ketchup helps kids learn to love cherries?  Or just hate them because they taste like a mashed potato ketchup brew?  I'll go with the latter.  Kids learn to love food by trying it....when it's prepared in a delicious way.  And trying it often.  I just can't get behind the whole-playing-with-your-food movement.

I'm sure this will come up in therapy one day.

Now lest you go thinking I don't like doing the typical mom things with Georgia, rest assured......I love.....

• Play-doh
• Art projects
• Dolls
• Taking walks (I know.....it's outside....but it's different)
• Reading books
• Playing vet & doctor
• Practicing letters
• Going on bike-rides
• Glitter
• Playing hide n'seek
• Decorating cookies

And of course......letting Georgia play with my hair.  I've been waiting for a personal hair stylist for....forever.  Just ask my sister.  

Agh.  And while we're coming clean....I have seriously fallen off track with my running.  So sad.  Just....why can't it be more fun?  

Out for blood.....

yeah, that's how I describe all of you who can't be satisfied with my For Real Friday's that "aren't gross enough."  People!  You would have done well in a Roman coliseum watching people fight with lions and thinking it wasn't gory enough.  You would have been the ones screaming....'let's add some bears into the mix too.'

I can't please you!

But......never one to be called a quitter (actually that's not true--I'm okay with being a quitter--I've quit a lot of things) I'll keep trying to impress you. However, I will admit--it's been a long week so this is definitely sub par effort and I'll claim that.  "A" for effort though that I thought to snap this picture a few days ago, right?

I actually thought about pulling my stove out to clean behind it (I've never done it once since we moved in eight years ago) and show you the remnants but then I thought, "Nah.....I bet a lot of people never clean behind their stove--that won't pass."

I thought about showing you the mop after I scrubbed my slate kitchen floors for the first time in over a year, but again.......it seems no one mops their kitchen floors either so it wouldn't be all that impressive.  And then there's this discrepancy of what it really means to mop your floor--hands and knees, a wet mop, a swiffer.......and it goes 'round and 'round.

So instead.......

This pair of "I had an accident" (Georgia--not me) underwear laid in my shower for almost a week before I did anything about them.  And two times I moved them into my sink while I gave Georgia a bath and then put them right back into the tub when she was done.  Yep, Chris and I just showered around them and over them.  And then I figured they were clean anyway, after eight or so showers had happened in their presence, so I just let them dry out and put them back in her drawer.

Kidding.

But they really did lay there in all their "accident" glory for about a week before I took care of them.  Rest assured....it was just pee.  But knowing you all........that's probably not what you wanted to hear now is it?

And I'm guessing this is all a little tame for you--but please know--if you could have watched my behavior as a lazy, turn on the TV, cranky, no patience, yell about play-doh, and yearn for something to break to unleash my frustration with typical three old shenanigans you'd know what the real 'For Real Friday' was.

It's a good thing Georgia has learned how to say, "I forgive you," from me.......because it sounded nice coming out of her cute little face when I apologized to her for losing my patience and being grumpy.

Here's to a better weekend.  And some favorite pics thanks to my iPhone this week.

How great are candy aisles?

35 baby........35.

Babe, 

This very flattering picture of us is a great memory.

Downtown Detroit on a blazing hot night in July for a Tiger's game--just us.  I love going to Tiger's games and I love being alone with you..........alone time is a commodity lately.  Within a matter of seconds the sky opened up and drenched that city with rain made for an ark.  And it lasted a long time.  And we ran out of that stadium as fast as we could and splashed through dirty Detroit puddles and huddled in doorways so I could wipe the mascara out of my eyes and laugh hysterically.  You weren't laughing as hard as I was.  When we finally made it back to the car in a muddy parking lot we just looked at each other in that, "What do we do--we can't sit on the seats being this wet," kind of way.  And it was still raining.  And I was wearing a white t-shirt.........plain white.

You took your clothes off right in the middle of the parking lot and got in the car in just your boxers.  I pulled a floor mat out of the back seat and sat on it hoping to save the seat from getting soaked clean through.  And then it started to hail.  And I kept laughing.

And right before we pulled out of the parking lot I made you stop and we shot this picture.

I love memories like this.  Memories that are unplanned, a little ridiculous, that one of us thinks is funnier than the other, and that I'll never forget......ever.  We'll be telling our grand-kids about the night we ran through downtown Detroit in a torrential downpour and couldn't even see where we were running to get back to our car.  And we'll laugh..........and they'll just stare at us.

But they're our memories.  And I'm so thankful I have fifteen years worth of memories with you Chris.  I've known you almost as long as I haven't known you.

I'm looking forward to years and years worth of memories like this one.......that are just ours.......

I love you.  Happy Birthday.

And......for everyone else.......that delightful picture at the top?  That's my "For Real Friday" moment for you this week.  Have a great weekend......I'll be dancing down a yellow brick road at G's birthday party, pink Glinda crown and all.  Pictures Monday!

It's Friday.....you know what that means....

it's time to be for realz..........

And seriously people.......if you don't find this gross........what is WRONG with you?  Apparently my gummy/dusty shelf last week wasn't disgusting enough......I tried harder this time.  But really--are you not going to be happy until you see a picture of my daughter wading through piles of dirty clothes with no carpet in sight, eating off the bathroom floor, and a picture of me straight out of bed in the morning (yeah--that's not happening)?

So here goes this weeks installment.......

Here are my basement steps:

Nothing too crazy about that.  The carpet is new too--not even a year old.

And here's a little back story for you.  One of my least favorite chores assigned to me while growing up was "wiping down the stairs."  I wanted to wilt into the floor when my mom told me I had to wipe down the stairs and/or gauge my eyes out.  It involved a wet washcloth and a lot of elbow grease into the seams of the stairs.  And what you unearthed when you wiped down the stairs in the form of pet hair, human hair, dust, unknown grit, and random food particles was so unpleasant.  I promised myself one day while I was saying mean things under my breath about "wiping down the stairs" that I would never do it when I was an adult---I mean, hello?, isn't that what vacuums are for?

Well...........come to find out, "wiping down the steps" actually does get the staircase cleaner than a vacuum as much a I hate admitting it................good 'ol (er....young) mom was right.......again.  (My sister and I always say, "That Marcia--she has an uncanny way of ALWAYS being right in the end.) So, it's true--you can find me in a game of "wiping down the stairs" on occasion.

However, the last occasion must have been..........never.......since last June when the carpet went in.   So here you go.....today's finds.

That's all cat hair baby.  And a few of mine.  But mostly cat.  And I promise--that picture of the staircase was taken first; prior to a good wipe down.  Like I said--you think a vacuum is doing the job.  Nope.  It's not.

Oh, but no worries.....because I just popped over to Amazon and snagged myself this book...........

My sister is always looking out for me in the book department.

No cat?  Just a dog? No problem.  There is also this one:

I'm sure if you have stairs and a dog you could wrangle up enough hair for a nice scarf or some cozy mittens in one simple "wipe down the stairs" session.

That's it!  Happy Friday!

For Real Friday's {Part II}

I almost feel sacrilegious posting about some disgusting corner of my house for "For Real Friday's" right after my post from Tuesday regarding Sharon Miller's story about choosing adoption. If you haven't read it yet--please do!!

And for those of you that did read it....and passed it on....thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you to the moon and back, thank you for helping to get the word out, thank you for supporting adoption awareness, and thank you for sharing a story that has changed my life and one that I can only hope will help to change the life of another child and family somewhere else.  On last count it was shared over thirty times from my Facebook link alone and from there more times than I could count by people I don't even know.  I love the reach of Facebook........I love seeing something as amazing as this burrowing its way into avenues I didn't even know existed. 

I received a number of Facebook messages from people I've never heard of letting me know their story of adoption (as adoptive parents, adoptees, and birth parents) and what a life-altering experience it has been.  They were confirming for me what I already know and want to do--keep talking about adoption--over and over and over again.  It's only through constant conversation about a topic that we can raise awareness and hopefully change the mind of a society that is so far in the other direction.  When something is so evidently positive once it is said and done I believe it is possible to make an impact on the 'winds of change' that might just be a random breeze right now.  I'll keep stirring up that wind.

****************************

And now to the "For Real Friday's" portion of this post. (If you're new and wondering what I'm talking about....check this out.)  I'm really mortified at myself for this. Really and truly.  There is no excuse on God's green earth for these pictures and I hope I don't lose any friends over this.  Dramatic?  Perhaps.  But for someone who loves to dust and touts dusting and obsesses over dusting as much as I do--this is a vulnerable moment for me. 

This is a shot of my bathroom--part of it.  Can you guess what I'm going to zoom in on?  Just try....before you keep reading. 

See that shelf above the toilet?  That nicely displayed one?

Here's what it looks like when you stand on the toilet or stand under it to throw something away in the trash can that is to the right of the toilet..........and look up at its edge. 

Seriously?  What is wrong with me?  I spray hairspray (aerosol of course) directly in front of this, toilet paper particles flying off the roll float directly up here, and add tot that the steam of the shower to the left and you get a beautiful gummy, dusty concoction.  One that I know is up there.  And I just choose to ignore it for weeks, months, and now going on about six months at a time.  Lovely.

I can't even believe I'm posting this--so show me some comment love or something to build up my dusting ego--because it's pretty deflated about now.

I think I believe that because it's not out there and in your face it's okay if it looks like this--I'm just wrong.  This is flippin' ridiculous.

It's dusted now--promise.  What I can't promise is that it will stay that way.

I'm not calling this "For Real Friday's" for nothing.  

For Real Friday's.

I'm going with this new idea I've been rolling around for a few days.  Could be fun.

Here's the deal.  Mom blogs get a lot of flack for highlighting the best parts of a day, week, month, life.  People complain that whoever the blogger is only lets the world see the best parts of their house, their appearance, their kids, their husbands, their pets, and on and on and on.  

Uh, yeah.  Is that so hard to understand?  

And I stand firmly on the belief that doing so helps me appreciate what I have amidst the tough days, messy kitchens, naughty toddler, puking cat, hairy bathroom floors, and a bathtub full of peed on Dora underwear.  I have never assumed that "those" mom bloggers who paint a pretty picture really live in that beautiful world all the time........and what they choose to put out there for public consumption is generally just fine with me.  

But........sure........on occasion I might feel like I should buy a new top, invest in something new for the house, get Georgia something more original to wear than her Carter's shirt, play with her one-on-one twenty hours a day, and get a facial after reading various blogs.  It's a fleeting feeling, but it's there sometimes.  And really, I'm a pretty neat and tidy person--I'm not ashamed to admit that--I like clean stuff and my house usually reflects that.  But of course there are hidden corners of every house, really bad hair or skin days, a temper tantrum, or a destroyed kitchen that are frequently absent from a blog post so................

here's what I'm going to do on "For Real Friday's,"...........

I'll post the most recent picture of that For Real thing going on in my house, on my head, on my face, with my kid, in my laundry room, and in my fridge--you get the point.  You can laugh, commiserate, feel better about yourself, feel disdain for me, or whatever you need.  

I'm a little scared.  I mean, there is this amazing facade I've worked so hard to build of my perfect existence (ha!) and now it's going to crumble.  The mystique will be gone (whatever).  

So to start..................
I'm actually going to give you a few.......you know........that whole "hit the ground running thing?"

It's about 8:45 a.m. here (this morning) and Georgia is watching a movie--The Wizard of Oz--for the third time since I purchased it from On Demand two days ago.  Getting up and watching a movie--that's what it's all about.  I hate myself for this picture.

Here's what Georgia ate for lunch.......today.  Target popcorn.  Packed with protein and vitamins.

My laundry--taken about half n'hour ago.  And it's been laying there like that for about a week.   Oh--and moments before this was taken Georgia was jumping in it.

And just for fun--the closet where I keep house decor stuff.  It's one fake flower arrangement away from an episode of hoarders.  There is literally no room to walk into this closet......not at all.

I guess it's three cheers for........honesty?

Have a great weekend!