Thursday, December 07, 2006

Damn snow ruined my plans

9:00 am: I herded the girls into the car and head off in the snow and ice for school.
9:05 am: AFTER we get to school, school is cancelled. Damn.
(I was supposed to go to my Mom's to help her put up her tree. She lives 45 minutes away on a big hill that doesn't get treated except with sand in the winter.)
I now have the girls, which was not the plan. Mom and I would have had no problem getting the tree up as long as the girls weren't there. Double damn.
So, we sat in the house, unable to really go anywhere because of the road conditions. We watched the birds....

...and played hide 'n' seek...

(She thought I couldn't see her. Maybe she isn't as bright as I thought?)

Male house finch and chickadee flying out of frame on the left.

The wren, again. I love their colors, their almost round bodies, that jaunty eye stripe.

"Can't a girl get a fur coat around here?"

Can't seem to get enough of my chickadees. And if you look closer, you can see snow falling on the bottom right part of the photo. Have I said already that I love my camera?


Time to pull out the big guns...when in doubt, make chocolate cake.

Lorelei helped with the icing. And she actually put more on the cake than in her mouth.

Word of warning to those of you with kids: Fall asleep on the couch in a fit of boredom, and your kids may just do this to your shoes:

Isabelle" "Mommy, I was practicing my knots!"

But damn, she put like 17 knots in it!

And finally, a cautionary tale of shopping with young children who didn't get a nap:

A little background...Geoff has finally received the advance for his book. He made me swear that I wouldn't reveal how much. (Good grief, honey. Don't you trust me?) So let's just say that Christmas will be good this year...maybe our best ever.

Anyhoo, after receiving this, Geoff cut us loose and since the roads were dry the girls and I went shopping. I wasn't really in the mood to, but I had to get out of the house. We went to the local Kohl's, and the girls love the double carts they have, so two kids can sit in them at once. Well, there were no double carts, only singles.

***Enter chaos***

The girls fought. They threw punches. They screamed. They refused to listen. They lay on the floor refusing to move.

I have never seen them like this. Even on their worst days, I can get them to at least see reason. Not today.

But all of you would be so proud of me, if you could have seen me in action. I could have turned into one of those "Wal-mart Moms", you know the ones, who hit their children in public and scream. But I actually saw the humor in it. At one point during Lorelei's attempt to reach optimum decibel level, Isabelle belted out, "Mommy! Take a picture of her!" And I broke into hysterical laughter. It was so damn funny. And it only made them madder. And I laughed harder. (think that maybe Isabelle will be a Blogger someday?)

We left the store as fast as I could get out.

I won't be taking them shopping again until they are 30.

And now, I am off to take my "brainwashed, institutionalized, schooled" mind to go do some online shopping, because I am all about "mindless consumerism".

13 comments:

LauraHinNJ said...

Hey, Susan Gets Naive (had you noticed they called you that?)

I think my mom used to just walk away from us when we did that, like to the other end of the store. Don't guess you could get away with it these days.

In your quest for shopping nirvana, could you find me an answer for why people that live off the land and shun tv and the world in general have internet access? Does that make sense to you?

Anonymous said...

LOLOL!! Susan, you and LauraH are baaad! "brainwashed, institutionalized, schooled mind"
Puh-leeze!

Actually, I think Isabelle had an unschooled moment during your nap when she self-learned all about knots!

Susan Gets Native said...

Laura:
I hadn't realized that that's what they call me. Petty.
Why do they have internet access? I'm sure if we asked, we would get our heads bitten off and told we were under government mind control.

Lynne:
We are bad. Bad to the bone. :)
I WAS rather impressed with her knots. But did she have to do 17?

The Swami said...

Susan,
Why did you post the one photo of the floor lamp. I didn't see anything or anyone else in the photo so I was just curious. By the way, where did the girls hide during hide & seek?

Mary said...

You kept me laughing from beginning to end. Your ruined plans turned out to be a great post!

Anonymous said...

People totally need a sense of humor to be parents. You have a great one (witness the lamp photo, the shoelaces, and the laughter at the store). Really great. I love coming to your sight. (And your new camera photos are fantastic. Camera envy here).

And also it seems to be helpful to be able to find the humor in interactions with Other Parents who take it all in way too seriously. Yours and Laura's comments are funny and articulate in the face of their extremism.

Rock on.

Heather
Wayne, PA

Anonymous said...

This is why I have furry childern - they piss you off... you lock them in the bathroom

NatureWoman said...

Nice bird photos! LOL over the female cardinal wanting a fur coat! Okay, now I have to go *bake* something - or you could send a piece of cake to the address I sent to you (just kidding, of course!)
Great knots - is she practing to make a rope ladder?
Congrats to Geoff! Yay!
"Take a picture of her!" That is a riot! You rock in how you handle your kids. Wow! And now that I know how you laugh, I can hear you laughing in my brain.
Ohhhh, LaurainNJ has a *good* point about unschoolers having internet access. The whole unschooling thing has frosted my butt too, esp. in the way they treated you - makes you just want to jump to their "side" doesn't it?

Shannon said...

Susan isn't the beautiful chocolate cake for me?? When are you bringing it over?

laura said...

okay, i've been reading along and wanted to comment on your ruined plans for the day that turned out to be a beautiful day with your kids...damn that!!

but you know, it was an accident that i used the word "naive" on CGs blog. i had not done it on purpose..as i just now stated on her blog to clear things up. it was an honest mistake.

laura said...

i'm not real clear on why unschoolers wouldn't want to have internet access.

the internet is a huge resource...lots of valuable things to find and learn about out in the world.

and i don't see why everyone is so upset about the comments on CGs blog...i didn't see the venom. i saw you getting your feelings hurt because you felt attacked...they were simply trying to not sugar-coat the subject.

moderate comments aren't very useful when discussing big ideas and different philosophies. sometimes you have to get outside of your comfort zone to really learn something new.

i know a lot of people when faced with a mom breastfeeding a toddler fall over dead with shock...because it is outside their scope of knowledge and understanding.

try not to take their comments so personally and you might learn something useful. i am not a confrontational person...so i've pretty much kept quiet on the subject. but i just wanted you to know that there is a lot to be learned from what they said...if you can just get past your need to defend your choices.

we all make choices...every one of them different. my choices as an unschooler could be totally different than someone else's as an unschooler so don't lump all the unschoolers together when you strike out at us...okay.

Susan Gets Native said...

Laura:
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Sigh...the post that is too mean to die.

Okay, I would like to address a few things, if that's alright:
1. You didn't see the venom? Please re-read the comments. They degenerated into the kind of pettiness I haven't seen since I was a teenager. And I don't think sugarcoating is ever going to be a problem for them. And yes, my feelings were getting hurt because these people did not know WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT. If they had taken the time to read my blog a bit, they could have learned that I am an educator for a bird of prey rescue. Are you going to tell me that I am wrong in TEACHING the public about the importance of these birds in the environment?
2. Moderate comments are all about politeness. I refuse to fall into the trap that so many bloggers do...since all this is basically anonymous, folks tend to say things in a nastier way than they would face to face.
3. I don't think breastfeeding is such a big deal anymore. And if anyone ever does have a problem with it, that's their problem.
4. I did take the comments personally because I was being attacked personally. They had an excellent opportunity to show me why they were so passionate about it. They could have treated me with the smallest amount of respect and TAUGHT me what unschooling is all about. All I came away with was their anti-establishment bullshit and rhetoric.
"if you can just get past your need to defend your choices"... Huh? Get past my need to defend my choices? Are you seriously implying that I should have just laid down like a dog and let them grandstand and really not actually be saying much? They were rude. They didn't want me to learn anything. They took a "holier-than-thou" stance that made it impossible for me to communicate with them. You have to admit that they were way out of line.
I LOVE choices. I LIVE for making choices. I accept that they made choices and stuck with them, as I stated on CG's post. I was as nice as I possibly could be. The way they treated me was the exact opposite of how I treat others.

You look and sound like a nice person. I don't judge you or them because all of you choose unschooling. I judge THEM by their words towards me. Unschooling isn't even the issue anymore.
Please come back to my blog whenever you like.
:)

LauraHinNJ said...

Re: unschoolers and internet access

I was simply poking fun at you. And enjoying it.

Feels nice, huh?