Just Because It's Funny the First Time

The Doodle is getting into a habit that was funny last night, and annoying this afternoon. Last night, after My Hero put her to bed, we heard her rustling around downstairs, and a little later there was some really-and-truly crying. He went down to investigate; he found her in her room, in the process of changing her pajamas. We'd put her in a snap-up sleeper, and she'd shed it in favor of some fleece footie pants and top. Problem was, she couldn't get the top on. She was standing by her closet, crying, "It's too hawd f'me." Cutest thing ever.

Until just now, when I find her trying to put on a random assortment of clothing when she should be taking her nap. Bedtime tonight will include a short lecture on "why we don't get out of bed once we're put in it." And I think I'll put away her laundry this afternoon, too.

What if

The Doodle watches Disney's Cinderella somewhat regularly - talking mice and no scary witches - and both of us can recite large portions off from memory. Whenever I've seen a movie enough times to know the plot well, I start speculating:
What if Cinderella had been able to go to the ball in her pink dress? Would the prince have noticed her if she'd shown up with Anastasia and Drusilla?
What if she had realized during the first dance that she was dancing with the prince? Would she have told all and averted the subsequent hunt?

Et cetera. I love speculating what-ifs, even about my own life. It's purely idle, but interesting to consider nonetheless. What if My Hero and I had opted to not get together? What if our original daycare situation had worked out two years ago? What if...?

That thing that's a virtue

In 2007, around Thanksgiving, I was laid off from the hospital I'd worked at for almost five years. I got six weeks of severance, and found a job at a construction company as their office manager that started the week my severance ran out.

In 2008, around Thanksgiving, I was laid off from the construction company job. No severance this time - I'm lucky to get paid for the hours I'm there, the way things have been lately. Dude, looking for work sucks. Starbucks isn't even hiring.

So this week I found a good-looking job and sent in my resume and got a response (which is better than I've gotten with any of the other jobs I've applied for) and have been looking forward to interviewing for it. But this morning I finally heard back from the hiring director and she's away until mid-February and won't be interviewing for the position until then. So...I supposeI keep looking and applying and see if something shows up in the interim.

During both holiday seasons when I've been between jobs, God has said to me very clearly, "Wait". So I guess I will. I'm not very good at waiting - I prefer to fill my time with something(anything, really) so I can either stop waiting or at least stop thinking about what I'm waiting for - but the past couple weeks, I've had the, uh, opportunity to practice waiting, and it's not so bad. My Hero and I have been talking about what it means to be living in the present; we both tend to talk about the present as the thing to be gotten through in order to reach whatever is on the horizon. Lately that's been grad school and a big garden, but we've both been reminded in the past week or two that our future is shaped by our present - if we're just impatiently muddling through our present, won't that impact our future?

So I'll work harder at enjoying my time to myself on the days G is in daycare, and playing hard on the days she's home with me. I'll get a job one of these days, and everything else will take care of itself.

"Don't worry about tomorrow; tomorrow has enough trouble of its own."
"Life is what happens when you're making other plans."

Triumph

No, not the Insult Comic Dog. I mean my first attempt at freezer-paper stenciling. Our niece and nephew got t-shirts this Christmas; I bought them at the thrift store (do you know how hard it is to find t-shirts with nothing on them??), picked up a couple bottles of acrylic and 150 square feet of freezer paper, and voila:

Our nephew is way into sprinklers, the way most four-year-old boys are into dinosaurs or trucks.

Now I'm itching to stencil something on all my t-shirts, and those of my immediate family as well...

A Girl and Her Papa

The Doodle loves spending time with her papa. Sometimes when he comes home from work she's not prepared for the transition - she cries and tells him to go away. But I've been reminding her right before he gets home that she needs to be nice to Papa, and she always is if she's reminded. The weekends are glorious - Papa is way more fun than Mama, probably merely by virtue of being gone more often. I also think, though, that My Hero has the ability to Play with this little human of ours more readily than I do. I'm all about the chores and the tasks - "put the little toy girl on the merry-go-round where she belongs (see in the picture on the box?)", as opposed to "let's pretend the little girl's in timeout; now give her a hug and let her get up."

He has taught her the merits of eating snow; I stress out about parasites and dog pee.



He sits with her in front of the fire and teaches her how to warm her hands; I make supper.



Obviously this isn't a super-balanced picture of how things are in our house - I happen to make superior kitties out of Play Doh, for instance - but I love how they play together.

His grandmother is dying; she's 101, so it's been a good life. It's hard to watch her die, though. We went to the hospice tonight to see her, but she's unconscious and her systems are shutting down. We'll miss her.

Cardigan

I knew it.

You Are a Cardigan

You are traditional, old-fashioned, and even a little conservative. More than anything else, you are a creature of habit. You haven't changed much over the years. You shy away from flashy ideas, people, fashion, and foods. You have simple tastes. You go for established quality and longevity every time.

What Kind of Sweater Are You?

I particularly like the juxtaposition of the photo with the first line of text. I'd like to say right now that I never wear my cardigans that way.

Chicks for the Chick

When we were in Illinois in October, my mom and brother and I took the Doodle to a farm to pick up some apples, and they also had a few animals you could check out. The Doodle thought the chickens were terrific:

Can you see it in her body language? Big smile on the other side of that head.

I'm glad she likes chickens, because I've been reading this guy's books. He's convincing me that if we only had a little yard, we could raise our own pasture-fed chickens. Someday...