And Just Like That

"Why is our Christmas tree still up?" asked my daughter.

I thought to myself, "What do I tell her?"

Because I dread taking it down. Because I am not ready to drag out all the boxes and sweep up all the faux pine needles from the floor. Because holding on to the prickly branches of the artificial tree gives me the heebie-jeebies. Because I know that there is probably some dried cat vomit way back there somewhere that I have been avoiding. Because taking down the tree will force your dad to have a conversation with me about what to do with the tree we've had for most of our marriage -- a tree that is falling apart, a tree who has missing branches and broken branches strung up with green ribbon (camouflage) to other branches for extra support. Because the thought of hefting that Charlie Brown Christmas tree up into the frigid attic by myself does not sound like a good time. Because taking down the tree signifies the end of the year, and I'm just not ready to face 2011 -- the year I turn 40 and have my 15th wedding anniversary -- the year I have to seriously consider going back to work.  Hmmm.

"Yes, why is it still up?" asked my husband.

"I don't know," I replied.

"Do you want to help take it down?" he asked our daughter.

"Sure!" she replied enthusiastically and raced over to the tree to start removing the very ornaments she's been playing with since the day after Thanksgiving.

Hmmm. If my three-year-old is ready to move on, then I guess I should be too.

And just like that, Christmas was over.

Halloween. I'm either really clever or really lazy.

Last year my daughter wanted to be Foofa (a character from Yo Gabba Gabba) for Halloween. Since I did not take home economics in high school, I figured I'd better use my resourcefulness to come up with a costume that could pass for Foofa. I finally decided that a pink fleece jumper with a matching hat would be a great base for the costume and, if I played my cards right, she would be able to wear the jumper and hat the rest of the season. (But did she? Not too much. But that's beside the point.)

On the days leading up to Halloween, I worked hard on that jumper and hat. I have very limited pattern reading skills, but I managed to make the outfit (thank you, Simplicity). Considering my sewing machine was made circa 1970 (that's a liberal guess), I feel like I spent a large amount of my time fighting with the machine (perhaps even raging against the machine). I will not include a paragraph on the button holes I tried to make with said machine, but I will rejoice in my cleverness of "faking it" by sewing on Velcro for the closures with  pretty (large) buttons on top to disguise my error.  (Yay for the limited amount of community theater experience I have.) Once the fleece jumper and hat were made, I used felt to make the rest of the costume. Oh, I was so proud of myself! Fleece scraps and thread drifted about the dining room, the tacky glue on the felt flower was barely dry, but she had a great costume last year.

This year, my daughter said that she wanted to be a brown cat. Hmmm, said I. I could go all out and make a cat costume. Or not. What to do? One day, we happened to be in Target and I saw a cat accessories set for $5. The set included a tail, a headband with ears, a nose with whiskers, and a bow tie. I am not sure why cats need bow ties, and I was sure that my kid wouldn't wear the nose. But for $5? I would have paid $5 just for the tail. I thought it was divine intervention right there in Target telling me to take the easy way out this year. The only problem was that the accessories were black, not brown. But for $5? Come on.

Feeling lucky, I made my way over to the clothing section to see if anything might work for the cat body. Lo and behold the cheap sweats were on sale: two for $7. And they had brown. To hide the graphic and to make the body look fuzzy, I could just turn the sweats inside out so that the fleecy/fuzzy part was on the outside. Could it really be this easy, I thought? This is just not right! Where is the stress in this? Where are the late nights and phone calls to Simplicity?

I almost felt guilty as I paid for the simplest of items and made my way home. So far, the costume has been a success. She loves her soft and fuzzy outfit, but she especially loves the ears, the tail, and the nose and whiskers Mommy draws on her face with the black eyeliner pencil (Didn't even have to buy face paint!).

We are looking forward to a fun day tomorrow visiting friends and neighbors. I'll be sure to post her picture here after all the candy has been dished out and we turn off the porch light. Until then, relax!

Cosmic Shift or Tee-Tee-ing in the Sand

We borrowed our neighbor's canoe today and took a little paddle up the local river. This was our first canoe adventure as a family. We have two kayaks, but ever since we had our daughter, kayaking has been on the back burner. It's not so easy to paddle with someone sitting in your lap, especially a wiggly little girl!
My husband is trying to convince me to sell one of the kayaks, and I think today's trip was his secret ploy ( I'm on to him!) to convince me that canoeing as a family is a good thing.

Theoretically, I agree with him. It was certainly easier for me to have my daughter sitting in her own seat in the canoe than it was for me to have her sitting in my lap in my kayak. But canoeing is just not the same as kayaking. In a kayak, you are completely in control (hey, I am not afraid to admit that I enjoy a certain amount of control in my life...). In a canoe, you have to communicate (what?) and work together (huh?) to get somewhere. Have I made my point?
And in a canoe, all of this happens while your three-year-old is leaning over the edge of the boat exclaiming about the cool things she sees in the water!

Quite frankly, I think I enjoy owning the kayaks as much as I enjoy using them. They represent the kind of Title-Nine-catalog-girl life that I can only daydream about while folding laundry or scrubbing a toilet (so much for that advanced degree, eh?). And the thought of selling one, while practical, has not been an idea I have been able to wrap my head around. But I am working on it.

My daughter seemed to enjoy herself on the canoe adventure, even if she was a little bored on the paddle home. I think one of her favorite parts of the whole trip was when she got to tee-tee in the sand. That's got to be a pretty cosmic shift for a kid, right?

Speaking of cosmic shifts, I think I am beginning to see the light. While kayaking is a glorious way to spend time on the water, canoeing does have its merits. Even though you are a few inches higher off the water, you still get to see blue herons, eagles, osprey, turtles, jumping fish, and so much more. The biggest difference is that you get to share them with the people you love.

Hmmmm. Maybe a canoe is just what we need.

What the World?

"What the World" is a phrase that my three-year-old daughter adds to most of her made-up songs and ramblings. We are not sure where it comes from, but it does flow rather nicely off the tongue!

Of course, what comes to mind for me is the 1965 song "What the World Needs Now is Love" (lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach). Ha. Now you'll have that song stuck in your head for days!

And, now that I'm thinking about it, I hear a slightly different version of the phrase from my childhood: "What IN the world.." Usually this was followed by ..."are you doing?!" or "...is that?!"

My dad had a completely different version of this statement altogether. His was: "What in the Sam Hell..." but I didn't think that would go over very well as a blog title. Which brings me back to "What the World."

I hope you'll check back frequently to see "What the World" we're doing. (Hey, it's a stretch, I know.)