Sentimental journey
Okay I just feel like I need to say something.
Or write something.
Whatever.
I woke up yesterday morning feeling a little out of sorts. Partly because I had the same headache I’d gone to bed with the night before and partly because we were completely out of bread and I had to fabricate some semblance of a healthy lunch for Caroline without a sandwich option. And partly because sometimes it’s just a woman’s prerogative to be a little moody for no reason.
And then I got a few complaints, comments, etc. about the giveaway post I had up. Some people said they didn’t like the blog anymore because it has just turned into a marketing thing.
Y’all.
I promise I am not trying to indoctrinate anyone into any type of pyramid scheme. There is no Amway bubble bath for sale on my blog. (I’m not saying Amway is a pyramid scheme. I have no idea. Please do not email me if you sell Amway.)
But I’d mentioned at the beginning of January that I was going to be doing a giveaway every Wednesday until the end of February. And no one has to enter or read or anything on Wednesdays. Click away, my friends. CLICK AWAY.
The thing is that I’m under a lot of pressure to get my book finished. And, contrary to what P believes, I do occasionally run out of words. I knew there was going to be no way for me to post five days a week and get the book finished. So when the opportunity came up to review health-related products and give y’all a chance to win them, I figured that was a good solution and better than just writing nothing.
Anyway, I just wanted to state for the record that it’s a temporary thing. So I’m asking for a little grace. I didn’t mean to make anyone feel marketed to. I just thought the giveaways might be fun. And I don’t make one dime (or even a nickel) if you buy the product and have no vested interest in it at all. It was more of a HEY! POTENTIAL FREE STUFF! for my readers thing. And my intention was to do it because I appreciate y’all.
So enough about that.
Let’s talk about what’s going on around here. Because it has been a week chockfull of first world problems. Beginning with Monday when I went to Starbucks and someone was sitting in my chair. I’d never seen this person before and clearly she wasn’t a regular like Susie or David or the rest of my normal crowd. And she was in my chair. I realize she had no idea but it was like my brain short-circuited because I like the velvet chair with the nearby electrical outlet and the round table next to it.
But I sat in a different chair and every time she even shifted I got ready to jump up and reclaim my seat.
This probably explains why I’ve had to keep a thesaurus handy while writing my book so I can find alternate ways to say “neurotic”.
In non-OCD related news, Caroline announced a few weeks ago that she only wants to wear running shorts, t-shirts, and leggings to school. On cold mornings she also wears a zip-up hoodie that she wears zipped all the way up to the top because I think she secretly knows it drives me insane. And so I threatened to sell all her cute clothes that she never wears and she looked at me blankly and said, “Okay”.
Which didn’t do much for my blood pressure.
She also told me that she and her daddy could just shop at Academy from now on.
I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong.
The problem (other than the fact she chooses to dress like an athletic hobo) is she really needs a few new t-shirts to wear with her running shorts. But I think the t-shirts at Gap and Old Navy are kind of lame. And there is no way she’s going to wear a Hello Kitty shirt at this point. So I’d love any suggestions about where to find cute, funky t-shirts for girls.
We did a little shopping after school yesterday because I told her she could get some earrings that dangle. I meant a little stud earring with a very petite heart or something hanging down. Apparently she envisioned enormous peacock feathers hanging from her ears. Because that would really set off that whole running shorts look she has going.
Anyway, we didn’t find anything that I felt was appropriate for an eight-year-old girl and she sighed deeply as we got in the car and said, “Well, I will just have you know that I am REALLY DISAPPOINTED in Charming Charlie’s earring selection.”
But I think what she meant was she was really disappointed that her mother won’t let her wear earrings bigger than her head.
I know those of you with teenagers are going to laugh at me, but I feel like everything is an argument right now. The other night I was helping her with her homework and we were looking at two shapes trying to figure out what they had in common. I explained what parallel lines are and what right angles mean and helped her work out the entire problem. And then she looked at me and said, “Okay, but I’m going to go see what MY DAD says.”
Good. Go see what YOUR DAD says. And tell him Mama is in bed.
But then last night I tucked her into bed and she asked if I’d bring her a few storybooks to read. “Not chapter books, Mama. My old storybooks.” So I brought in several of her Little Golden books. And a few minutes later she came out of the room and walked over to me with tears shining in her eyes and said, “Those books made me kind of sad, Mama. They reminded me of my childhood.”
I resisted the urge to say, “You’re eight. This is your childhood.”
And instead I said, “What do you mean, Love?”
She said, “It just reminds me of the good times when I was really little and you’d read these books to me every night.”
And so I walked back into the room with her, tucked her back in and read one of the little books to her just like I did when she still fit into my lap in the rocking chair.
Because Mama may not know much about math and right angles and the proper size of dangling earrings, but she knows a lot about being sappy and sentimental.
