# 367

When your three year old requests a haircut, take her to get the f'n haircut, like immediately.

What I've Learned from Sparkle #350

Self-adhesive postage stamps may be the most expensive "stickers" ever.

Note to self: Buy stamps that have to be licked until Sparkle gets past the sticker obsession.

When you stop learning, you stop living.

#305

It's never a good sign when you walk into a room and your 2 year old starts yelling, "Do not see!! Do not see!!"

#292...No Need to Thank Me

When your two year old decides during "nap" time (when she doesn't sleep) to trade her pants for tights, make sure she still has on her diaper.

Hmmmm. I think I could come up with a daily tip - The things I've learned the second time around.

Tidbit #291 That I've Learned from Sparkle

Did you know that all of the stickers on Rubik's Cube squares are white? Yeah. The colors are actually translucent stickers on top of white stickers.

Sparkle's nickname may become "Destructo".

Trusting...Trusting...Trusting...

OK. Pictures of samples sent. Quotes sent.

Breathing....

Two In a Row, Huh?

After I finished reading The Shack, I read another book that my mom had. This book is called Redeeming Love. It's the story of the book of Hosea set during the California gold rush.

My first reaction was, That's nice. What's the book of Hosea about? As you may or may not know, in the book of Hosea, Hosea is led by God to marry a prostitute. Hilarity ensues. Just kidding.

In Redeeming Love, Michael Hosea is in the same predicament. The girl doesn't feel worthy of his unconditional love and Michael has several conversations with God along the lines of "Are you nuts?" and "Why are you doing this to me?" She leaves, he goes back and gets her. More than once. It's a pretty interesting read (I read it in 3 days). But what struck me most was that it's another "trust God and stop worrying; you aren't in control anyway" book.

Internal monolog: "Hm. Two in a row. I don't feel like I have many situations in my life that I try to wrest control from God. My life is pretty calm and uncomplicated. I'll try to remember these books should the situation ever present itself. Now, I need to figure out what I'm going to do about that request I received for a quote on tags."

You see, a week ago I received an email. It was from a person who has a shop on etsy who makes clothes and accessories. In the email she tells me that she works at a boutique in Houston that wholesales to over 80 stores across the US. She would like me to give a quote for making 1000 - 3000 small aluminum tags for them.

"Gulp. Not possible. I can't cut that much aluminum. Where do I get that much aluminum. Can I stamp that much? No way. Great opportunity. Scary opportunity."

I have been searching high and low on the internet to find aluminum that can be cut, pre cut tags the size they want. It's driving me nuts. Mr Swizzle helps me realize that they expect me to be the one to tell them what will look good, if it can be done, etc.

I seem to go straight into freak out mode when presented with things like this. Hey wait, could this be one of those "trust God" moments? Duh.

So last night I emailed her a couple of options since the size tag they want doesn't exist and the letters wouldn't fit on that size anyway.

We shall see. If she likes the option that I hope she likes, I'll then have to boldly come up with a quote without selling myself short. Putting a number out there and hoping they don't balk. I think. Do I want to do it? AAAAAH.

Oh, wait. Trust God. Right.....

The Shack

Have you read it?

If you have, what did you think?

If you haven't, check it out.

I don't usually flock to the books that "everyone is talking about". I happened into a store with a prominent display of the book, and decided to go ahead and give it a read. I'm visiting my parents, so I have a little bit more time to read than usual.

I think this book has life changing potential. I like it when authors present a different way of looking at something you've seen all your life. C. S. Lewis has always been a favorite. I may have mentioned before that his version of the salvation story seems to stir me more than the one in the Bible. I don't know what that says about me. Maybe I'll figure that out one day. His description of heaven in The Great Divorce is fascinating.

This book struck me the same way. I finished it yesterday and I'm hungry for more. Hungry for ways to apply some of the ideas to my own life. I think I'm going to read it again when I don't have as many distractions.

I can see this book becoming well worn and creased from reading over and over.

Tell me what you think if you've read it too. I'm curious.

Thoughts?

This just kinda hit me as...odd? funny? disturbing?

Regarding Miss California and her same sex marriage beliefs and her nudie pics online:

The pageant would "never want to take away a girl's beliefs or her voice," he said. "We try to make these women capable of being free thinkers."

"But when you wear the title that says 'I represent everyone,' you can't then polarize the people you represent," he said.

"Girls"? "MAKE theses women CAPABLE of being free thinkers"? That little phrase just muddles my brain.

Does anyone really feel "represented" by their respective Miss USA contestant?

How odd is this whole "incident"?

Reading and Reading

I'm pretty proud of the amount of reading I've been able to do this year. When Mr. S and I went on our anniversary trip in January, I read 3 books. I've been reading almost every day. Of course, most of that reading takes place between 9pm and midnight, so I guess you could say my sleep patterns have been affected.

I've read a couple Grisham books. I'm reading Angels and Demons now. I read all four of the books in the Twilight Series. Ah, to be a teenage girl again.

Now, I've picked up the books on Twinkle's summer reading list. Here's what she'll (we'll) be reading: Charlotte's Web, The Wind in the Willows, The Railway Children and Augustus Caesar's World.

The only one of these that I've read is Charlotte's Web and...it's been a while, though I do remember bawling at the end. Twinkle has seen the movie, so she won't be surprised when we get to the end.

The Railway Children was written by a woman who was a socialist and apparently quite a rabble rouser, so that ought to be fun. I think I'm actually going to read the page at the beginning that tells about the author's life to Twinkle.

One of the books (gasp) has the word "ass" in it several times (my neighbor across the street said that the year her kids read it, one of the other moms was in quite a state the first day of school).

The Caesar book seems like it could be pretty dry reading, BUT looking through it, it does look like there are some interesting parts tying together several things going on at a particular time.

So, any tips? Have you read any of these and liked or disliked them? I'm trying to figure out if we start with Caesar, or if we start with one that's more story-like.

Twinkle's last day of school is Monday. We'll be starting reading (and math review) on Tuesday. Lots of pages to digest this summer.

Hey! I'm Alive!!!

Yeah. I just haven't been motivated to post lately. I have people asking for pics from our trip on my other blog. That was only 3 months ago.

Bullet points for now? ('cept I don't know how to make actual bullet points)
- Twinkle is still ever so Twinkly...which includes sweetness and arguing and silliness and tenderness.

- Sparkle is sparkling more and more every day. She's really blossoming. More people than just myself can understand her. She's such a happy little child. AND she's trying to give up naps - not so wonderful.

- I'm feeling constantly worn down by both of them. I know that I do in fact LOVE love to be called "mom" in all its forms, BUT OMG!!!! the sound of "mom" and "mommy" REALLY grate on my nerves sometimes because they are never ending.

- Hey, guess what! I became a stereotypical soon to be 40 year old and went in for a tune up. I never thought I would do such a thing. BUT here I am with boobs that may not be able to hold a pencil under them once they're healed. They're probably a little bit better size for my small frame, too. I also got rid of a pooch of fat under my belly button that I've had since I started developing, so...Jr. High? Not gonna miss it. I was feeling quite secretive pre-op, but now that I have bruising from swelling on my arms and legs I've come out. I REALLY wanted to come up with a good story to explain the bruises...fought a bear? fell down the Grand Canyon and survived? fell down some stairs? I'm 2 weeks post op and have been told not to go nuts buying clothes or anything for about 10 more weeks.

- I've been feeling closer to my friends and family lately. The other day, I actually called my mother - gasp. Don't get me wrong, we have a wonderful relationship, we just usually email or talk on birthdays, etc. I think I'll start calling my mom more often. I've been willing to do normal ol' friend stuff with more people. Playdates, just hanging out doing nothing. I think I'm most comfortable with others when they expect nothing from me. Is that odd? I would much rather sit with friends and chat while our kids play than plan some big outing or do anything that involves a schedule.

- And finally, today while IM'ing with Mr. S about random things, he asked if I was OK. Not because of anything negative I'd said. He asked BEFORE I told him that I was going to start dinner without him by going ahead and eating some chips and queso and drinking some whiskey. Strangely, even though we've been married 20 years (or maybe because we've been married 20 years) it was the sweetest thing I'd "heard" all day. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it sounded so wonderful because MOST of the time, I'm wondering if anyone can hear the words coming out of my mouth.

OK. I think bullet points are not supposed to be long paragraphs, but these weren't real bullet points anyway. They were little dashes. And now I feel so much better because I've posted on my blog, I've gotten the therapy that I started this blog for in the first place, and I'm a little more relaxed....until the basketball that Sparkle is playing with hits the piano anyway.

You're Never Too Old To Learn

It's not even 4:30 pm. Boy am I tired.

Really?

I've learned two things today. One of them I already knew, but chose to not pay attention to my instincts. The other is not something that should surprise me.

The first - If it seems like your two year old is too quiet, run, don't walk, to where she is. Don't think, "Hey, it seems too quiet. I'll check on that in a minute."

My girly girl, Sparkle, decided this morning that she needed to open some lotion and put it on. (Thanks, pre-school, for perfecting those fine motor skills) Not a big deal. BUT given the amount of time she had, it wasn't pretty. She came to where I was. She smelled oh so good. She had lotion on her hands, arms and face, but not a ton. It just wasn't rubbed in. The office smells good too. That'd be because Sparkle decided that the panes on the french doors were a bit dry and needed a nice coating of lotion as well. So did the desk. I'm hoping that the dog was able to steer clear, though she could stand to smell a little better.

The second is ALMOST exactly the same thing. Almost. Sparkle has been fighting naps lately. Every now and then she'll take a great nap in the afternoon. I am not one to give up, so she gets an opportunity every day to take a nap. USUALLY, it's a good thing when she finally stops playing/singing and gets quiet in her room. USUALLY, it means she's gone to sleep.

Not today. Today, she started knocking on her bedroom door after a small stretch of silence. One in which I thought she was asleep. I went upstairs to get her, opened her door and thought...actually said, "WHAT's that smell?" Not a normal stinky baby smell. Just an odd smell. I looked over and saw a bottle of lotion. Not sure how she got it. The bottle was covered with white. I thought she'd had another lotion party, but the smell wasn't right. And the texture/consistency wasn't quite right. I started wondering if large quantities of lavender lotion would smell that way. At the same time, I also wondered where she would have gotten a tube of white acrylic paint, because that is what it felt and smelled like.

Luckily, I suppose, it was not paint. It was zinc oxide paste. The heavy duty kind. Paint may have been better. She had zinc oxide on her face and hands, in her hair, on shelves in her room, and any number of other places I haven't found.

Currently Sparkle and Twinkle are in the bath tub. Sparkle because she needed it and Twinkle because she can't pass up a potential bath. You know, zinc oxide is made to not wash off easily. I can't WAIT to wash her face. It will be so enjoyable.

I guess the upside is she shouldn't get any moisture related rashes anywhere AND she should be protected from the sun.

Healthier Kids

I need mom advice.

Whenever Twinkle's behavior is off, my gut reaction is, "she needs to eat healthier food." I'm working on having healthier snacks available at home. Now I need help with school food.

I've fallen into a pattern with school lunches of picking various prepackaged foods and dropping them into her lunch box. Some of them "seem" healthy, or at least not unhealthy, but I do wonder about what has been done to that food and how healthy it really is.

We are vegetarians, so I can't send a turkey and cheese sandwich to school with her. I send milk and cheese to school, but I'd like to send more protein with her. The girl doesn't really like peanut butter/jelly sandwiches. I used to send a boiled egg, which she likes, but I need more variety.

Help! How do you keep you kids healthy?

What Do They DO When We Aren't Here??

Mr. S and I just returned from a week in paradise to celebrate our 20th anniversary. It was wonderful. Very relaxing and quiet and ... aaaahhhhh. [Name that movie: "And we're off....to Haiti!" "Not Haiti!...Tahiti!]

While we were gone, the 2 sets of grandparents split the time staying with the girls. I find interesting all the things we find in our house after they leave.

For example, light butter. Not something the Swizzles buy. Why? The ingredients on our butter? Sweet cream, salt. The end. Light butter has 11 ingredients that are marked with an asterisk that says, "ingredients not found in regular butter" like water and modified food starch and tapioca maltodextrin. It felt wasteful, but I threw it away. I couldn't feed it to the family (although they apparently ate it while I was gone). The other oddity about the butter? I bought a pound of "regular" butter a couple of days before we left. No idea how it was all used in less than a week.

Another oddity? A brand new, used once, jar of peanut butter. In the refrigerator. With 2 other jars of peanut butter already in the pantry. Alright.

2 loaves of bread, one with about 6 slices left and one about half gone. Despite the fresh loaf in the bread box in the pantry that we left. K.

TONS of leftovers in the fridge no matter how small. A washed empty sherbet container. (Mr. S's comment was "what kind of storage container-less lives do they live?")

Interestingly, we can tell who bought what. Mr. S's mom shopped at Kroger. Mine shopped at Target. All the Kroger store brand stuff - his mom. All the Target store brand stuff - my mom. All the things that make us say, "huh?" - his mom, but we would have known that anyway.

The thing is, this time before we left I went to the store and shopped for food to leave here. LAST time Mr. S's mom watched Twinkle while we were in China getting Sparkle, one of her many complaints was "there was nothing to eat." Pantry full. Fridge full, though not by her standards. I specifically went shopping simply because she complained last time, even though I knew we'd left her food. Problem solver that she is, she complained instead of...shopping for food.

This time, I guess she thought we did not have things that we did, though she did not complain about it. I can't help but think she left here thinking that WE are odd for not having various items of food that we did, a stocked diaper bag (we did, but she grabbed a big shopping bag and put all the essentials and then some into it), bath wash for Sparkle (she couldn't see it) and all sorts of other things.

I can't help but think that she is so unfamiliar with our house, where things are, etc. because she visits so rarely. But there's also the probability that she wouldn't know even if she lived here. We always leave instructions for everything from what days the girls go to school to how to operate the television, but she doesn't look at those or listen when Mr. S tries to explain a few things while we're still here. No matter how easy we try to make it, we just can't cover everything.

After being married 20 years, I'm used to this. They are merely slight annoyances and kind of amusing at this point. Mr. S's mom is a rare bird. She has lots and lots (and lots) of quirks, but she is the most giving person you'll ever meet. Whether it's actually something you want or not. You'll take it and you'll like it.

So, what's up with you?