Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Free Association! It's Free!

I'm so glad the weather's cooling off. Our air conditioner up and quit, which wouldn't have been so bad, except Summer forgot to watch the calendar and hung around until, well, yesterday. It's been warm and stuffy in the house in the afternoons and evenings, though the nights have been cool enough. Nobody complained and we all enjoyed the fans my mom so generously loaned us. Which reminds me...

I have the greatest mom ever. We didn't have it easy growing up and I was a royal pain to raise so I really wouldn't have blamed Mom if she had bought a one-way bus ticket to a Land Far Far Away once my sister and I were grown. But she didn't. And now, as a retired widow, she does things like drive half an hour just to come sit in my house and hold my baby so he doesn't have to get hauled all over Kingdom Come. She came up last week to sit with him for two hours so the older kids and I could have a special lunch with my mother-in-law. Which made me remember...

When I have kids-in-law and grandkids I want to be more like my mom than my mother-in-law. 'Nuff said. On that note...

If being gracious to my mother-in-law is the price I have to pay to me married to The Best Guy Ever, I'm okay with that. He takes better care of me than I take of myself. Having grown up without my dad around, I am grateful to the point of tears when I think of what an outstanding father he is. He works hard at two jobs, but will hurry to get home early enough to ride bikes around the neighborhood with the kids before dark. He will come in after working at his second job and spend an hour in the older girls' room just hanging out and chatting about the day. Speaking of the kids...

Claire is getting low on candy. I think the older kids have been helping themselves to her stash, but I can't prove it. Today Claire got out her frog costume and was frantically pawing through the closet in the entryway. When I asked her what she was looking for, she said, "I need my punkin bucket to go get summore canny." I had to break it to her that, except for that one magical evening a year, ringing the neighbors' doors and holding out a bucket makes you a beggar. She was not easily convinced, but I was able to distract her by offering her her pick from the big kids' candy bag. Darn that candy anyway...

Jesse seems to have a sensitive tummy, so I've altered my diet in an effort to help him be more comfortable. All I've had to give up is caffeine, chocolate and dairy in all forms. He's a much more content little fellow, which is wonderful. I, on the other hand, am about to perish from the earth! There is a copious amount of chocolate here, and I haven't had any. AT. ALL. I'm about ready to throw it all away and tell the kids that we were robbed by Oompa Loompas. I miss chocolate...

I also miss cheese. And milk. And ice cream. And everything that tastes any good at all. A major part of my problem is that to me, certain foods just go with certain other foods. Cookies go with milk. If I'm not drinking milk, you can keep the stinkin' cookies. Quesadillas are just better with the quesa- part. Chicken and salsa on a tortilla is just...wrong. And don't even ask me to meet you at a Mexican restaurant right now, because the thought of it will make me cry. And speaking of tears...

I'm pretty sure that's what a person would have to be bored to in order to still be reading this, so I'll quit. You're welcome.

8 comments:

  1. I'm not bored. I'm nodding my head with you.

    In my 14 years of marriage I can't seem to have a normal mother or mother-in-law at the same time. One will be fine and the other one off her blooming rocker. Must be one of those strange Murphy's law.

    I don't know how you go cold turkey like that. Jesse must have had some serious reactions for you to go to that extreme. May God give you the grace to do it!

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  2. I love random thoughts...stream-of-consciousness is how I roll, baby!

    Sorry about all the dairy-less-ness. You're a better mom than I. I think I'd be tryin' to talk Jesse into formula. Because I'm selfish, you see, and...sigh...but then I'd see that little face, and I'd probably be dairy-less, too. Godspeed.

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  3. aww, I didnt get bored at all! I am a fella Okie and love the blog, your very funny!!! Great to meet ya, LA

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  4. Oh the no dairy, chocolate and caffeine is so hard. I remember doing it with Jake and it being very worth it in the end.

    I once heard that Dairy Queen (do you have them there?) has little or no dairy in it's soft serve ice cream. I had a friend with a life threatening allergy to dairy who could eat their soft serve.

    Of course you have to be careful not to think too hard about what's in the soft serve other than dairy...

    Regardless I found Jake tolerated their vanilla soft serve as long as I didn't go too often. And by too often, I mean daily. ;-)

    You're doing a great job - hang in there!!!

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  5. Oops, according to the DQ website (which I should have checked before commenting) their soft serve does have milkfat and nonfat milk in it. Sorry for leading you astray.

    I still maintain that it worked for me as Jake seemed to do just fine with an occasional indulgence.

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  6. I love free association. And? You are the best parenting role model I know.

    It's so amazing to hear from another woman who loves her husband as much as I love mine, btw.

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  7. The fact that you are giving up dairy and chocolate for your son makes you Mother O' The Year. Seriously. I would do it, if I had to. But just the thought of NOT having my daily (or twice daily) bowl of cereal makes want to weep.

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  8. Blogging honors to you, lady. This is exactly how I think. I'm the proverbial mom/mouse with a muffin wandering through the corridors of my scattered brain trying to make a coherent thought. Let alone complete. I come here and finally feel normal.

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