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Sunday Tidbits

by Ginger on May 19, 2013

We finally watched Argo on Saturday night. I can see where some of the criticisms came from, but I can also see why it won a bunch of awards. But mostly, I’m not entirely sure that I’ve unclenched from the tension of the last hour.
Today Jackson went without a nap, and hooboy did that end up exhausting. It was our own fault–we didn’t even LEAVE for brunch until about 11:30 (at which time, it’s really just having breakfast for lunch)–and it could have been way worse, but still. By the end of the day, *I* needed a nap. It also served to remind me that I will weep when Jackson drops his nap. As it is now, most days he still sleeps for 2-3 hours during naptime, and he NEEDS that time. When he gives that up, I have a feeling we’re all going to have a rough adjustment period.
We bought a couch cover this weekend. Our couch has survived the kid fine, but the dog has jacked that thing up. The cushions are so stained from mud and dirt that the dog drags in, but we’ve dealt with it. But recently, the HOA had a bunch of trees trimmed in our area, and that included cutting some huge branches from a couple of pine trees right outside our house. Which resulted, lucky us, in SAP everywhere. Everywhere. The dog unfortunately tracked that nonsense in, and I really think the couch fabric is unsaveable. So! New couch cover it is! We opted for a dark red one, to go with some of the red accents in the living room, and it basically makes it look like we have a completely new living room. It’s a nice change. We’ll see how long it takes before it’s destroyed.
I am going to New York for work in one week, and I am in severe denial about this fact. I’m so unprepared for this trip, or at least the business part (I’ve got some great plans for dinner, and am super excited to get to see Jennie while we’re both there). I’m…actually starting to panic a little about everything I need to do to get prepared to leave, for the business stuff while I’m there AND the work stuff that will continue to go on during the week I’m gone AND for the actual travel part (things like finding my plane ticket come to mind). I know I’ll get it all figured out, but…yeah, I’m a little stressed about it.
I want to bring back Reads From Around the Web in some form or another–I read a lot of great stuff–but I’m trying to figure out a way to do it that I’m going to keep up and not just abandon in 2 months when I get overwhelmed (ha, 2 months. It’s cute that I’m so optimistic about myself). I’m not sure what that is exactly, but it’s on my to-do list to figure out.
I am 3 days away from finishing 30 consecutive days of the 30 Day Shred. I…have not lost any weight, or, to my eye, any size (I really should have taken measurements). But, I’m feeling stronger, though this go round has been murder on my hips and knees. I don’t really recommend doing consecutive days of this particular program if you have bad knees or joints. I will not be doing this one this way ever again. That being said, it’s been nice to get some strength back up. And, when I finish, I am buying myself a little something, for doing this damn program every day. Including Friday nights after a long week, late at night after a long day at work, and yes, even Mother’s Day. I think that calls for a little prize.

The Post Birthday Party Crash

by Ginger on May 18, 2013

I had big plans to write this whole complicated post about family size and being an only child, and then I went to a birthday party with a zillion 3-6 year olds at a jump place after my kid had a short nap, and now I am exhausted from the fallout, so yeah, big complicated post will have to wait.

What is it about birthday parties that makes these kids into absolute mental patients? With the exception of the cake, it all SEEMS like it’s going to be a good plan–this party was 1.5 hours of playing in the jump room (4 different HUGE jump structures, including an obstacle course and a slide), followed by pizza, then cake, then done, all from 3:30-5:30. Theoretically, the play time is going to wear the kid out, he’s going to get most of his dinner taken care of, and you’ll be in for an early bedtime. Instead, what seems to happen a fair amount of time is that the excitement, chaos, cake, and other kids lead to this giant physical and emotional crash that gets buried in absolute jackassery, and you end up with a crazy, defiant, exhausted, over stimulated kid who can’t regulate his emotions and ends up pushing you all to the brink of insanity.

Or is that just in my house?

We’ve been discussing what to do about Jackson’s birthday this year, and every time we have another birthday party that ends this way it really makes us think a little harder about doing a party for a zillion of his friends. We’ve talked about maybe doing an amusement park (like, perhaps one that’s a little ways to the north perhaps? That’s all happy and stuff?) as just a family instead of doing a party, and while those sorts of days have their own fallout, it just seems sometimes like the birthday party itself often is a bit overrated.

Or, maybe I’m just exhausted after today’s party. I don’t know. All I know is that kid’s birthday parties would be WAY easier to handle if they included a beer for the adults.

Tags: #bringbackthewords

My Top 10 Favorite Books of All Time

by Ginger on May 17, 2013

in Entertain Me

Today’s prompt comes from Shalini:

How about a list of your top ten books?

Hahahaha, Shalini thought this was going to be an EASY one. Yeah. That’s funnnnny. But I’ll give it a shot anyway. I will give the following caveats though:

1)I can barely remember what I read last month, much less last year, much less 15 years ago (I probably did some of the most reading of my life between the ages of 8-15 and 19-27). So…

2)This list is my all-time top ten, which means that it’s going to *mostly* end up being books I read over and over and over and over again during my childhood/teen years and/or continue to reread as an adult.

3)This list is mostly going to be books that make me smile and feel cozy like a warm sweater and cup of tea on a cold day. They are the books that are my friends and family. They may NOT be the best books I’ve ever read however.

So here are my (current, off the top of my head in the moment) top 10 books, in no particular order.

Jane Eyre. This one actually does occupy the top spot. I’ve loved Jane since the first time I read her, in large part because I felt a kinship with her. Yes Mr. Rochester is an ass and there are some really problematic bits to the romances in the book. But for me, it was never about the romances, it was about Jane, finding herself, becoming the important one, and oh, I just love her.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. What’s not to love? Harry, Lupin, Sirius, time travel, teenage angst? There’s just enough darkness, but without the overwhelming heaviness the later books had.
All the other Harry Potter books. But if I’m really honest, the entire series as a whole should be together, because they all have elements that I love, and I could make a case for any of them to be my favorite.
Little Women. One of the first books to make me sob like a baby. These characters all felt SO real to me, I wanted to be a part of their family.
Time Traveler’s Wife. A rare somewhat current book! But I did love it. It wasn’t an easy ready, and I had to really work to keep up with the timeline/structure, but the story was one of the most compelling I’ve ever read.
The Hobbit. My dad used to read me chapters of The Hobbit when I was a kid–probably 6 or 7 or 8?–and it just stuck with me. I’ve read it many times since then, though probably not in the last 10 years, randomly enough, and it will always be a book that feels comforting, and reminds me of my dad.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Hysterical, in a somewhat odd, English kind of way. This is one of those books that I think people either love or hate, there seems to be little in-between, and I am firmly in the love camp. It is just quirky and fun and smart and weird and a good time.
Anne of Green Gables. Oh Anne. I wanted to BE Anne. I wanted Anne to be my friend. I frankly can’t imagine a world where Anne isn’t a major part of my life.
The Joy Luck Club. Fun fact: this was one of the books that lead me to focus my literature major on minority literature. I know I read it before going to college, and the characters and the relationships between the characters just felt so strong and powerful. I loved it.
The Blue Castle. This book is nothing earth shattering, but it’s a sweet love story with quirky characters and a somewhat bizarre setup, and Ive now read the book so many times that it is literally in 5 pieces. But it’s one of those books that just makes me smile and grin like a fool when I’ve finished reading it.

Some runners up: All the other Anne books, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, The Secret Garden, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Bean Trees, The Diary of a Young Girl, As the Crow Flies, Jo’s Boys, the other three books in the Hitchiker’s Guide series, Heidi, A Wrinkle in Time, Half Magic, Winnie the Pooh. I’m sure I’ll think of more as soon as I press publish.

I’d love to hear what YOUR top 10 books are too–if I haven’t read them, it’s a good way to fill in my “to-read” list on Goodreads!

Tags: #bringbackthewords

The Office Made Me Philosophical

by Ginger on May 16, 2013

in Becoming Myself

We just finished watching the series finale of The Office, a show we came to late, stayed with for years, and then watched sporadically if at all after Steve Carell left. But we wanted to see these characters off, even though we hadn’t kept up with them very well the last year or so. As expected, it was an emotional episode, and, as I should have known, it was Jim and Pam who tipped me over from misty eyed straight over into crying. But it was this line that really has me thinking:

“There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kinda the point?” – Pam Beasley Halpert

It’s so easy in this world to get caught up in big things, to focus on grand moments, larger than life experiences, superstars, celebrities, fame, power, etc. etc. And it can feel, sometimes, like your life isn’t given as much importance or meaning if you’re not reaching all the time for those big things. But as Pam said, there’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. There’s beauty in little moments, in glances, in laughs, in the simple.

There is beauty in each of our lives, if we just look around. The Office was built on the idea of a documentary film crew who happens to capture every moment of these people’s working lives, and in capturing that time, they film friendships and romances and fights and laughter and looks and sighs and everything in between. It’s in an outside perspective seeing these people interact that so much gets revealed.

If there was a documentary film crew following you around, what would they see? Sure, they’d see the hard stuff–the stressful days, the self-doubt, the interpersonal challenges, and yes, the not pretty side of you. But they’d also see the good stuff, the stuff you maybe don’t even notice. Your spouse smiling at you as you walk in the room. You petting your dog while you relax on the couch. Your kid reaching up to hold your hand. Your family “dancing” together in the car. The laugh that escapes when your friend is trying to cheer you up with a silly comment. A hug from your mom.

There are so many small, ordinary, BEAUTIFUL moments that make up each of our days. They may not be grand, but if we could only see them with an outside perspective, maybe it would be easier to give them more importance. Maybe it would be easier to see the beauty they bring to our lives.

And wouldn’t it be nice to recognize and focus on the beauty we are blessed with more often?

Tags: #bringbackthewords

Life With Them

by Ginger on May 15, 2013

in Family, Marriage, Mommyhood

Tonight, we went out to dinner to celebrate N.C.’s very successful Purge show–months of work that has a good amount of sales is always worth celebrating. When we walked into the restaurant, they had a musician (or 2? I never got a good look) who was playing, and the vibe was relaxed and happy and oh so nice.

This is a restaurant we frequent often–enough that we get asked if we want our “usual” table or our “other usual” table, enough that they bring us free appetizers for being such loyal customers, enough that they know how to talk to Jackson directly–and so we have a high level of comfort there. It helps too that Jackson has gotten (mostly) really good at being in restaurants, so we know he can handle himself, which takes some of our stress off. Tonight, he walked over to our table, ordered his drink and food, and then settled in with games on my phone and then crayons and paper while N.C. and I toasted to a successful show and a good payoff after months of hard work.

Later, after we had gotten our food and drinks, Jackson moved over to sit next to N.C. and I got a clear picture of these two together that just made my heart go pitter patter. They both started sort of jamming to the music, eyes closed, bopping around, and I just couldn’t help but smile, to see my boy and his dad, my husband and his son, so clearly cut from the same cloth.

Life with these two is never dull. It’s not always easy, as they’re both big personalities, but it is always interesting, filled with laughter and music and smiles and dancing and happiness. And sometimes, I get a really clear picture of the special things the two of them bring to my life.

Even if it’s just a little chair dancing while we eat french fries.