Entries from December 2007 ↓

When I first got married my in-laws came to visit us in New York. By the end of the trip I had to ask my mother-in-law, Peggy, to please hand the religious tracts to the waitress with the tip so we could still get refills.

I’m all for religious conviction, but some things are just socially inappropriate.

Remember that religious tract Ainsley got with $20 in it?

Mommy, how do I save this? Can you copy 67 of these so I can hand them out to people?

She had taken a children’s book with The Lord’s Prayer and typed every single word of it.

She’s definitely your grand-daughter, I told Peggy. They shared a high-five.

Saturday she and her cousins are going to perform their Christmas Pageant (which Peggy directs) at a nursing home. I think that will be the most socially appropriate time to let Ainsley pass out her religious tracts.

Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to hand out $20 with them.

When I was a little kid my parents moved a lot. It was the 70s and 80s. When we moved to a new neighborhood I would go out and knock on doors asking,
Do you have anyone my age that I could be friends with?

Can you imagine letting your little kid go door to door in a neighborhood you just moved to? As I said, it was the 70s and 80s and things were different then.

We just moved to a new neighborhood and I caught a glimpse of a little girl around Ainsley’s age up the street.

We’re going over there to meet that little girl and make you a friend. Get your shoes on.

I’m scared Mommy.

It’s okay to be scared. But, we’re doing it anyway. You’re brave.

Knock, knock, knock.

Hi, this is Ainsley. We just moved in up the street. We thought she might be friends with you. What’s your name?

Bernice.

How old are you Bernice?

Seven. Ainsley’s six.

Are there other girls on the street to play with?

Nikki. She’s across the street.

Would you like to go over and introduce Ainsley to her?

And that’s how Ainsley had two instant friends in the neighborhood. I wish it was still that easy for adults to make friends.

How long would it take me to make the whole neighborhood Christmas cookies? Just because “people don’t do that anymore” doesn’t mean I shouldn’t right? I mean, if it was effective then . . .

Sundays are for bonding and resting. Oh, and a spa manicure-pedicure in front of the tube.

Learn to groom, but be frugal about it. That’s the lesson here.

Ainsley bites her nails and lets her cuticles grow out to the point where a manicure is a big painful task. Turning it into a fun spa girlie time avoids the holding her down while she’s screaming as I push back the cuticles episode.

After the red nail polish, we add some Bite It. It’s supposed to stop her from biting the nails down to bleeding by making them taste like dirt. It’s probably more effective if you put it on more than once a month. I noticed this morning that she’s already bitten most of the polish off her nails.

Perhaps your daughter shares this problem. You might try Control-It! 3 Jar ~ 21 Day Fingernail Biting Treatment OMEGA3 Extra Strength. I would not care that she bites her nails if she were not complaining that they hurt from hang nails and infection quite often.

Do you allow your daughter to participate in grooming activities? (To be fair, we very democratically did Zack’s nails too.)

Who doesn’t love A Christmas Story? It’s my favorite Christmas classic.

So, about those Barbies Ainsley keeps praying, wishing and asking Santa for. . .

Ralphie needed that Red Rider BB Gun just as Ainsley needs some Barbie dolls. I have overlooked the fact that Mattel makes the Mattel High School Musical Gabriella & Troy 2-Pack dolls for Ainsley. I also balanced it out with a Hairspray Deluxe Singing Tracey Turnblad.

I did not order the Link Larkin doll because Troy and Link are both Zac Afron and I am fundamentally too frugal.

It is unlikely she’ll shoot her eye out, right?

I think they will come from Santa. Or should I get the credit?

by Tracee Sioux

I’ve been afraid that if I tell you about our good fortune it will vanish. That, I just could not bear. But, maybe it’s real. Maybe God is going to let us keep this dream we’ve worked so hard for. Please God, let us keep this.

We just moved, this week, into the most marvelous and perfect Dream home.

The best part is – there are too many best parts to pick just one – is it the central air and heat which greatly improves our health?

Is it the massive 30X28 foot living room? Where Ainsley is jumping rope and Zack is actually riding his scooter and I have plenty of room to do yoga and exercise? The original parquet hard-wood floors and the vaulted lighted ceilings with a white and dark walnut beam contrast make such a cathedral effect I can’t help but pray, “Thank You, God,” when I walk into it.

Is it my own office? Giving me a legitimate and valid place to write and work?

Maybe it’s the storage space? The kitchen is brand new and has two walls of cabinets – enough space for everything.

The massive living room has wall-to-wall original 1950s build-in shelves, drawers and cabinets. I’ve always gotten lusty over shelving.

The children have their own rooms and wait for it . . . . their own bathrooms! Yes, the house has 3 bathrooms! Ah, the frivolity of it!

I’m almost at a loss for words, except that I could literally write pages and pages of gratitude for every shelf and hook and cleanly painted wall (in exactly the colors I would have chosen) and cabinet and blind and appliance and strip of new carpet.

This is better than I’ve ever had it. Even when I was praying for it, I never dared to dream it would be this marvelous.