Quick Bits.

Ahhhh! I've been a bad blogger this week. I have been busy with Preschool budgets, Strategic Planning communications for our church, and lots of other odds and ends. On top of it all I developed a lovely cold on Tuesday that has slowed me down somewhat. But to let you know I've been thinking about you, here are the various goings-on and random thoughts I 've had this week.
* Michaela has a tough time in the morning getting ready for school in a brisk and efficient fashion. Somehow she manages to be incredibly pokey and in constant motion at the same time. She and I were having a disagreement about something this week, and she, in a very dramatic pre-teen type of move, spun around on her heel, turned her back to me and folded her arms. I walked away from her because I'm not interested in being part of the little dramatic play she was putting on. When she turned her head to see where I was, she said to me, "Mom, talk to my back!" And of course I did not.
* I am addicted to the show Celebrity Rehab on VH1. Thursdays at 10pm. Watch it. It's entrancing and horrifying at the same time. And really fun watching Gary Busey try to be 'inspirational' to the other patients. Note to Gary: You're JUST as screwed up as the rest of them. Heal thyself, brother.
* I am one of the greatest snot producers in all the earth. Note to President-elect Obama: If you're serious about solving the energy crisis, find a way to convert my snot into energy. We'd achieve oil independence by the end of next week.
* I am paying the local YMCA $105 for eight weeks of swimming lessons for the girls and by far their favorite part is taking a long, meandering shower after the lesson. The showers last almost as long as the lesson. Maybe longer.
* Michaela got her school pictures back. They are adorable. We are all struck by how much older she looks than last year's picture. Michaela's reaction: "I LOVE this picture of me!!!"
*We are signing Michaela up this Saturday to play softball in the spring instead of soccer. My brother, a diehard baseball fan, is rejoicing.
* Dan is painting our bedroom this weekend. And yes, I took "Before" pictures so I can post them along side the "After" pics. 'Cause I'm a dork like that.
*Jenna has not stopped talking for the last two days. It is hard to believe I was worried that she would never talk. We have played babies alot, since that is her favorite past time, and it can be quite an ordeal. She likes me to 'feed' the babies, which involves getting out the baby highchair, the baby bowl, the baby spoon, the baby food box, the baby bib and the baby wipes. She sets this all up for me in the kitchen, usually when I'm eating breakfast, and wants me to stop eating my meal so I can feed the baby. And I'm all, My meals were interrupted enough by you and your sister. This is MY TIME. The baby can wait until I'm done with my cereal. And Jenna handles that pretty well. She prepares the baby's favorite food, called binachos, which is some strange compound of bananas and, well, nachos, I guess, which is weird because we've never had nachos. She feeds the baby using the exact same techniques my brother and sister in law used this summer to feed Kate. It's hilarious.

I will leave you with this Flashback Friday-esque ending: I went to a small party at a friends' house with some other moms from Michaela's school to count and sort the Boxtops for Education points that are collected at M's school. The mom who organized us promised alcohol and chocolate on a school night in exchange for counting little bits of cardboard and plastic, and as a result, there were a bunch of us gathered. We counted $410 in 10 cent increments. The lady who organized it commented that with the level of post-high school education sitting around the table, SURELY we could come up a better way to use our time and skills to make money for our school. But we were all too drunk to think of any. Haha! Just kidding! Sort of.
The point of my story is this... we got talking about Halloween and dressing up and someone commented that she wanted to wear her prom dress for Halloween but it didn't fit anymore after having three kids. That lead to a discussion of our prom dresses and someone mentioned the Gunne Sack Dresses by Jessica McClintock that were popular in the eighties. I hadn't thought of them for years... I used to get seventeen magazine and soo looked forward, as a young teenager, to seeing the Jessica McClintock dresses in the ads of the prom issue. All the models had bangs that were curled back and permed hair and faces like china dolls. The dresses were soft and gauzy and beautifully photographed in soft focus and you just ached- ached!- to be going to the prom and looking that good.
It was all very sweet and innocent.

I can only imagine what the dresses will be like when Michaela goes.