Dear Journal,

{September 8th, 2011}

I don't think there is anything as wonderful as an ordinary day. August's party after party after party lifestyle completely did me in. Today, I reveled in the simple things:

A chaotic breakfast with the kids {where I, admittedly, woke up on the wrong side of the bed and thus was snappish and mild to moderately - okay totally- unpleasant for 15 minutes or so... and Tennyson outdid my grumpiness, like, times a million...lil' turd nugget.} I made zucchini and mushroom omelets and wheat toast. {And, in case anyone was wondering, none of it was organic, and I bought most of my food stuffs at Walmart. Yep. I'm "that" mommy blogger, and I'm not even sorry.}

Pulling school bags together, making a school lunch for a high schooler, {Did you know that I am temporarily housing a high schooler?*} squawking at Kort to get. in. here. and. get. his. gosh. darn. hair. combed. not. in. five. minutes. but. now. now. now!

Scriptures, prayers, read a few inspirational poems from Grandpa Headlee's "Be What YOU Want to Be" book. Hugs, kisses, send 3rd grader off to school.

Pile into the new mini van {and yes, I am still on cloud nine about my new mini van, and yes, I have rather enjoyed the absence of all those crusty looks I was getting from concerned parents everywhere whenever I drove too slowly through their neighborhood streets in my pedi-van. } with Tentens and Jojo, and listen to Jojo talk about how:

"She's always wanted to name her son Boston and it has been, like, her favorite baby boy name for forever and ever, but recently she started liking a different name even better, so it was totally fine with her when her bestie called her up the other day and asked Jojo if she would be mad if she totally stole "Boston" and used it for her adorable new little 6-week-old weenie dog puppy and of course she was fine with that because she is so over Boston so...no biggie..."

Do you remember when you dreamed up names for your future children? Did you just dream up names or did you get all crazy and act like you were going to even call shots like having EXACTLY four kids and they were going to be birthed in the order of boy, girl, boy, girl and spaced precisely three years apart?  {I'll give you one guess as to whether or not I did.}

I, personally, felt that I had beautiful names picked out:

For a girl? Crystal.
A boy? Tyrone.

Yep.

As you can imagine, I thank heaven every. single.day. that I didn't have babies at 12 or 13 or 15.
{And my babies would be wise to do the same.}



Tens stayed in his jams all day, puttered about the house, and let his diapered butt show my polka dot pillow who was boss {20 times over} while I delved into the book:

"Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World." 

{Which, thus far has been a mixture of fantastic, and completely stupid. Go figure.}

It's a wee bit rife with liberal feminism, and while I am all about equal pay and opportunities and overall treatment of women, I am SO TIRED of being told that stay-at-home motherhood is degrading. Frankly, it's glorious. It's also the epitome of what the fruits of feminism are {or at least should be} about. Just as I should have the right as a woman to go out into the world and become some ball-busting, law-changing, highfalutin'  attorney, I should also have the right to LOVE motherhood and all that it entails. And I should have the right to do so without any hint of shame or apology for purportedly setting back the women's movement some 30-odd-years via my love of all things domestic.

On the other hand,  I find Ms. Bloom's assertion that women need to stop mutilating their bodies and risking their very lives in pursuit of unattainable standards of physical beauty set forth by the corrupt and misogynistic visual media to be spot on. Due to this, I will keep reading, {I'm sure she really cares...} but I am setting my liberal feminist filter to a ten as I do so.

I helped a neighbor pick out outfits for her family pictures, ate a bread-stick-lunch-snack-thing with her, and chatted and laughed, a lot. {Cause she is very, very funny.}

The hubs grilled hamburgers and I toasted burger buns with butter and garlic salt, and we smothered those suckers in pickles and guacamole. Kyle's dad joined us for dinner, and I couldn't help but smile at my full table. A little over a year ago, It was just the three of us. Now our table is pushing capacity with a baby, a teenager, an 8 year old, a loving grandfather, and two beaming 30 somethings who are still so in love after 10 years of marriage that it's bordering on ridiculous.



We cleaned up dinner, got kids into the bath and into their beds, then Jojo and I set to work glamming up a cork board that she wants to make into a vision board for a project at school. Then I tidied up, showered, climbed into bed, and tickled the hubs' outstretched arm with one hand as I read the book I was holding with the other. I just love all of the small daily moments that weave threads into the gorgeous and satisfying tapestry of a simple life. And I'm so glad that life is getting back to something a little more NORMAL!



*My niece Jordan is currently staying with us whilst her mother is receiving intensive treatments for her bone cancer at the "Cancer Treatment Centers of America's" Chicago facility. She has been with us for three weeks and will be with us for about four more, and OH how we love her... I'm seriously contemplating sending God a letter recommending that he change his policies just a wee little bit and start allowing moms to start out with a 15 year old daughter {but only ones that are as sweet and helpful as Jojo}and then add some babies to the mix after. Cause lemme tell ya. It is WAY better that way, y'all.