Neighbor kids

First of all, let me just say that we have some AWESOME neighbor kids that I adore. I never mind having them over and have no qualms about my kids playing at their house (provided MY kids remember their manners and don't invite themselves in). However... there are, um, other neighbor kids of whom I am not quite so fond.

One of these children is whiney, nosey, doesn't understand boundaries, makes huge messes and a lot of noise and does not help clean up after herself or understand being quiet when asked. She has also been downright mean to my kids and I feel like I need to directly supervise her when she is over. She is also from several houses down the street so I'm not sure her parents even know where she is when she is at my house.

This brings us to tonight. Tonight I am tired... I had a pretty full day of working at the Humane Society with Vivian in tow, taking Vivi and a friend of hers to the grocery store and then hanging out with them at our house for a couple hours, volunteering at the school book fair with Vivian and Cecelia in tow, playing on the playground with them and finally coming home - happy, but exhausted. It was all good stuff - just tiring and when I got home I just wanted some quiet...

Then my least favorite neighbor kids came over. I told them they could NOT play inside since I was doing school work (which I will do once I'm done being a bum). Still, the kid listed above had to come in to use the bathroom. On her way, she saw that there was a strawberry left on the table from the Cecelia and Vivian's snack and asked if she could eat it and I said she could. When she came out of the bathroom she asked what I was drinking. When I told her it was lemonade she said that was her favorite and asked if there was any left. I lied and said no since there's JUST enough for us to have it with dinner tonight. Then I had to help her with her shoes so she could go back outside as her sister and my own kids came through our house to get to the backyard.

Now, I don't want to be the nasty neighbor lady who yells at kids to stay off her lawn or anything. I do want to be the welcoming mom, and I enjoy having kids over when they are respectful. However... there are some times when I just don't want to deal with other people's kids and I do not have the resources to feed the neighborhood every day. *sigh*

Speaking of Stereotypes

Contrary to my stereotype, I had never been to a Whole Foods store... until today.

Oh. My. Goodness. It was like my mother ship was calling me home...

P.S. Are you aware that Whole Foods has dye-free GUM DROPS?! If so, and you didn't tell me, WTF not?! I haven't had a gum drop in 3 years due to my dye sensitivity. Oh ...h...e...a...v...e...n... Happy birthday to me!

28

I turned 28 on April 19th, or as Jake likes to call it, David Koresh day since it is also the date of the big Waco, Texas stand-off. He's a laugh a minute, that one.

My birthday was pretty nice... I slept in a little and stayed in my pajamas for most of the day, which in my book is either the mark of a fabulous day or a really wretched one. Luckily, this was the former. In the evening, my friend Dani graciously allowed my wild banshee children into her home for a couple of hours so that Jake and I could go out to Norton's. I had a great meal with a great dessert... panna cotta with red raspberry sauce. HEAVENLY. I also discovered that, contrary to what I thought beforehand, I had no idea what panna cotta was. (I was pleasantly surprised to have been wrong.) That leads me to this year's birthday resolution...

In my 29th year, I resolve to admit to knowing less. I absolutely love to learn new things and I believe that every day is an educational experience, but the older I get and the more I learn, the more I know how much I don't know. The simple fact is that no one can be an expert on everything, no matter what my grandpa might tell you. I'm now reaching a point where I am more able to be honest about not knowing or understanding something, in part because I have confidence in the things that I DO know. So my resolution for the year involves not BSing people about things I don't really know, asking questions of people who know more than me (which is pretty much everyone when it comes to one area or another), and just not taking myself too seriously.

Stereotype

Yesterday at the grocery store I started thinking about how well I fit into a certain category... There I stood, in my patchwork skirt made of vintage saris and with my patchwork purse with the Om symbol stitched on the side. I unloaded organic veggies, Kashi cereal, all-natural salad dressing, hormone-free milk, cous cous, and all-natural yogurt on to the conveyor. I had the boy scouts who were bagging groceries put mine into my reusable canvas bags which I then carried out to my Honda bearing an Obama bumper sticker. Sometimes I'm just a walking liberal/crunchy stereotype... Not that I mind. :)

And speaking of travel...

Have you seen the blog The Lost Girls? Check out their story and prepare to be inspired to hit the road! I can't wait for their book to come out.

Along a similar vein, anyone who longs to travel the world should read One Year Off by David Elliot Cohen. He and his wife travelled the world for a year WITH children.

Mexico

Voy a estudiar en Mexico otra vez este julio.

I'm going to study in Mexico again this July.

While the kids are at Camp Grandma, I'll be studying Spanish for 3 weeks and then Jake will be joining me for a week of travel. In our 11.5 years of being together and almost 8 years of marriage we have never taken a big trip together, just the two of us. We've been on vacations with my mom and with Cecelia and Vivian, and pre-kids we went camping once and visited friends in Madison but that's as close as we've ever come. So this will be our first REAL vacation. Naturally we're both very excited. I'll be playing tour guide, showing Jake around the few places I know and we might check out some places that are new to both of us. I can't wait!

Originally we weren't sure if we were going to be able to afford it, but we've decided to dip into some of our house-project savings for the occasion. Fixing up our house is important, but taking some time for us is also important. We're generally pretty frugal and responsible - and we have been since we were 21/22 and became parents. We deserve to live a little!