7 Quick Takes

Fashionably joining Jen one day late.

1. First of all, I hate going so long between posts. It seriously annoys me and sometimes I wonder how I could possibly not have found enough time to write a post but somehow I managed to stay up-to-date on all my shows. I guess it’s because I almost never watch my shows with out simultaneously doing something else more productive, which further confirms for me that I am too busy. And this post is going downhill fast because holy boring so let me entertain you with the list of shows I watch on a regular basis and include a clip from each because it’s Saturday and I know you need to fill your useless video quota:
   -Parenthood – Maybe my favorite show ever. It is so real and relate-able and I’m pretty sure I’ve cried in at least 50% of the episodes I’ve seen.  If that’s not a recommendation I don’t know what is.
   
   -Parks and Recreation – Not entirely appropriate – full disclosure here. But it is HILARIOUS. (this clip contains a bad word)
   
   -Big Bang Theory – because my husband IS Sheldon Cooper.
   
   (And perhaps I am Leonard.)
   -Downton Abbey – because the British accents and cool outfits fooled me into believing it wasn’t a shloozey soap opera for about 10 seconds.
   
   I’m just gonna do us all a favor and stop there.
   .
2. K so. We went camping. All four of us. And thankfully we waited until mid-October so the weather would be nice and fallish and Virginia accommodated us by being 86 degrees on Saturday. But the nights were cool and Malachi got to go swimming so it all worked out. The kids had all sorts of fun swimming, hiking, getting dirty, playing on the playground, notsleeping in the tent, and doing really rustic, campy things like watching the iPod for hours on end every time we needed one of them to be still long enough to cook dinner. It was really great though – we will definitely do it again.
   .
3. So. You know how people say things sometimes like, “She’s so happy she poops rainbows” or whatever? Well.  Pooping rainbows is not a skill that any of the Dillingers possess, and believe you me, if it was this whole potty training thing would be a lot more exciting. I think rainbows would be easier to clean out of the carpet. And I know you are thinking, “Yay!  More potty training talk!” so I will be a good little blogger and indulge you. We started again yesterday and after I declared that the star chart would fill up faster if we renamed it “I went on the carpet,” Malachi finally got the message and has done really well since. Let’s hope he gets it down by Tuesday (don’t pop my bubble, I know) because this whole sitting at home all day staring at your naked kid thing is getting kind of old. Kind of fast.
   
   .
4. Although yesterday I did venture out of the house to go grocery shopping.  I waiting until the kids were in bed and dragged my exhausted self to the store to buy a flipping MOUNTAIN of groceries because I knew it was better than waiting til Monday and taking both kids. Got all the way through the check-out line and got carded for the first time in a looooong time (my theory is that they never card women with kids) and discovered….crap. No wallet. No ID. No money. No card. No dignity. The nice woman behind me offered to buy my “mommy juice” because “you need it” (I blamed my brainlessness on potty-training) but I had to put my cart in customer service, drive home and get the wallet, drive back and pay for groceries whilst having a panic attack when I realized I had almost 0 gas, get gas, drive back home, put groceries away, and then collapse on the couch with crackers and cookies and TV. But the whole time I was just grateful. Thank you God that the lady behind me is nice. Thank you that I wasn’t buying ice cream. Thank you that I didn’t run out of gas. Thank you that no one hit me when I ran that red light. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU that my kids weren’t with me. Thank you that they didn’t make me start over. And let me tell you – that was totally a God-thing because God-in-Allie is grateful even when life stinks but Allie-in-Allie is just ticked off. And then I got home with 29 bananas. I’m not sure where the 21 came from that I didn’t pick up but I’m pretty sure some other late-night shopper is pretty annoyed now that they have to go back to the store before they can make their banana pudding or whatever.
   .
5. I bought a new pair of Tom’s this week and I’m so excited. I joined ebates and their cash back combined with the 10-dollar coupon and free shipping Toms was offering caused the rational, must-save-the-most-money-possible-at-all-times part of my shopping persona to feel like, THIS IS IT. BUY THEM NOW. But after I bought them I started feeling really conflicted because, although Tom’s one-for-one thing sounds great in theory, in practice it actually can be really dependency-producing and local-economy-stunting. But on the other hand, maybe it’s still better than buying shoes made by some underage kid in a sweatshop somewhere? I really don’t know.
   .
6. The steam…. it runneth out. Oh! Let’s make a case for impulse buying because it’s Saturday and you all just got paid. A few months ago my sister and I went to an Avett Brothers concert and I said it then and I’ll say it again – if you don’t like the Avett Brothers you are no longer invited to my life. Anyway, there was this awesome poster they were selling there – designed by an artist, unique to the city we were in, numbered, high-quality, etc. My sister bought one and I thought, “That’s appropriate. Her house is all musical and quirky and it fits.” And then I looked at the price and thought, $25 bucks for a poster? Uh. No. And you know what? Three months later I STILL regret it. Like, you’ve heard of buyer’s remorse? This is called tightwad’s remorse. Anyhoo, occasionally I’d look on ebay or something in vain but yesterday….I FOUND IT. And it’s beautiful. And I will either buy it or beg for it for Christmas but either way… it’s 40 bucks. FORTY. And if I had just bought it on impulse in the first place it would have been 27.5% cheaper but:
   
   .
7. Well look at me getting to number 7 already (already = hours later). I’m getting new glasses today for the first time in four years and I am super, super psyched but also nervous to pick them out myself for the first time ever. Hopefully I don’t post a picture of myself next time looking a hot-mess, but hey! At least it will be a different kind of hot mess and I guess that counts for something.

L8r t8r.

7 of ’em

Linking with Jen and this is gonna be fastfastfast because I wasn’t even planning on posting and I really don’t have time.  And if THAT doesn’t say, “I love you dear readers” I don’t know what does.  So let’s make this a linky list instead of the usual. (I tried to say “uszh” but I’m not sure how to spell it….)

1. This blog post is one of the BEST I have ever read.  Even after she had to remove her hilarious pictures (sob!) I still love it.  I don’t talk about it often (ok, maybe I do) but I am a huge breastfeeding supporter/promoter/believer and it’s awesome to hear so much support and also so much humor that I TOTALLY get. And since I won’t be getting 1.5 million unexpected views on my blog, here is my favorite picture she had that she later removed:
   
   .
2. Books I want to read: Fight (A Christian Case for Nonviolence) because it is veeerrrrryyyyy interesting (for lack of a better term) being a usually-anti-war (but always pro-troops!), anti-death-penalty, mostly conservative Christian in the south.  Wow, I’m revealing all sorts of new stuff about myself today.  Also, the author of this book co-authored a book with Francis Chan that I dearly loved, so.  There’s that.  I also want to read Grace-Based Parenting because that concept was rolling around in my head verbatim since I had my first child and it’s something I aspire to and fail at daily.  I’d love some perspective and clarity.  And on a much more shallow note, Death Comes to Pemberly.  Because I am a Jane Austin addict but she is dead and I need SOMETHING to fill in the gap.  Book donations always appreciated.
   .
3. Ok, number three and I’m already out of links (and brain cells). Speaking of being out of brain cells, I almost forgot about Malachi’s pre-school orientation today but thankfully I DID remember and it was great. I think he’s going to love it but I dread the crying leave-taking that I KNOW is coming. He starts Tuesday so, prayers for myself and him and also myself much coveted.
   .
4. For the 98% of you who linked over here from Facebook, this is old news (yawn) but I’d like to just point out that since my daughter started solids less than two weeks ago she’s eaten an entire butternut squash, 2 sweet potatoes, a whole pear, a whole banana, 2 jars of peas, 2 jars of prunes, and 2 jars of blueberry applesauce.  And she’s heeeee-yuuuuge.
   .
5. Maybe blogging at 9:45 at night when I should be getting ready for bed and a 4-hour trip tomorrow is not a great idea after all.
   .
6. For some reason this week a lightbulb turned on and Malachi has figured out how to pronounce things correctly(er).  For example, he now says “ba” for ball instead of “dee.”  He can say “Fo” (four) and “dah-puh” (diaper) and “chich” (church). This is a big leap for him and it makes me really excited.  If he can say “music” soon instead of “da-sich” I will be one very happy mother.  He’s been pretty behind in his development all along, so it was also encouraging today when the preschool teachers talked about focusing on a color a month and I’m like, “My son KNOWS his colors and is VERY familiar with ye-yee already, thank you.”  He also is really, really interested in letters and reading and is watching Wheel of Fortune with even more rapt attention than usual.
   .
7. If you’ve lasted this long I feel like I should reward you so let me send you on to happier and funnier pastures.  If you like to make fun of dumb Pinterest pins, this is your new best friend.  If you want to feel really old when you’re not that old, check out this one.  Refreshing perspective on dealing with curse words here.  And trust, me this is a good idea.  I know because I said the mother of all curse words once, was told not to repeat it, and promptly asked my other parent what it meant who was so taken aback that that was the day I got THE talk.  The birds and bees talk.  And on that note….. Bye.