Hey hey hey, y’all!
Mama’s back! I hope you
thoroughly enjoyed the past two guest posts from B. They were a little more personal for me, since
I could somewhat relive my family’s 2018 trip to Disney World, but I believe
they are helpful for anyone planning a Disney trip. Since most of my readers are moms, parents,
or (at the very least) kids at heart, I wager that at least some of you will be able to take
advantage of B’s veteran tips. They’re
boss.
Now that I’m back, I once again have some catching up to do
on my monthly “New In 2018” posting. I
last left you with reviews of my June experiences so, since we are already
nearing the end of September (!), I figured I’d dump July, August, and
September into one monster post.
Admittedly, I have been quite a bit less mindful of these new
experiences since Jammy started school again and my month off work ended, but I
shall make no more excuses. So here it
is…
New in 2018 –
July/August/September Edition
In June, I mentioned that I taught an art history class
based on works in the Louvre’s permanent collection. This particular class included objects from
various artists, points in history, and parts of the world. In order to appeal to a wider audience, I
taught this first summer class in English.
After all, you don’t have to speak French to enjoy the beauty of the
Louvre. However, for the second part of
summer, I offered a course on three of
my favorite European things: Châteaux,
Églises, et Cathédrales (Castles, Churches, and Cathedrals). This time, I taught the class exclusively in
French. While I am certainly not new to
teaching exclusively in French, I have never taught an architecture/history
class (just short lessons). Much like the art history class
that preceded this one, I was beyond psyched to get the chance to teach a class
on these topics. It was so dope. However, both of these classes were A TON of
work, especially the second one. The
research necessary, the collating of my materials from years past, the
organizing of my thoughts and themes, the production of slides and images that
were both didactic and aesthetically appealing, implementing my desired
approach to the most relevant topics, and the paring down of literally hours
and years of information was way more than I had originally bargained
for. On top of this, I far exceeded the
number of hours worth of class prep necessary to present in a fully informed
way. But I would do it again in a
heartbeat, because I finally -after years out of the field- got to work with
art and architectural history in a meaningful way. And I got paid for it. Double win.
Speaking of nerds, you guys know I’m a sucker for a good
book. I can’t help myself when it comes
to Charles Dickens. Something about the
way he writes really speaks to me. Yes,
sometimes his stuff can be a tad bit formulaic (I submit: crippled underdog
characters like Smike or Tiny Tim; surprise family relations), but he can pull
it off somehow. Maybe it’s his humor,
his wit, the touch of the “gothic”, or even his deliciously demented
antagonists like Wackford Squeers or Smallweed (“Shake me up, Judy!”), but I
like to pour out a drink every once in a while for my dead homie Charlie. So, on this topic, I discovered on Amazon Prime two different Dickensian treasures: Little Dorrit (a BBC miniseries,
starring The Crown’s Claire Foy) and The Man Who Invented Christmas. The first of these tells the story of Laura
Dorrit, the youngest daughter of a man who spends years of his life in the
Marshalsea, a London debtors’ prison.
“Little Dorrit” as she is lovingly called, was born here, and considers
it her only home. However, a series of
events puts an interesting twist on her life, leading her to cross paths with many other classic Dickens characters.
It is this web of individuals whose lives all intersect around this one
character that gives the story such life and intrigue. This story does have one major downfall, however: a dog gets hurt and later it dies. It doesn't show that part, but it still really really upset me. I now have a bone to pick with Mr. Dickens...
While we’re on the subject of Christmas, my family also
experienced our first Christmas in July
celebration. My mom held a Christmas in
July for some of my extended family back when I was pre-school aged, but I have no memory of it, other than
what I have seen on our family home videos.
This year’s celebration, however, included the family that I have
created for myself (Habibi and the kids). My parents hosted a
party for my sister, brother-in-law, my little foursome, as well as my
mother-in-law, where we ate my immediate family’s traditional Christmas Day
foods and even recreated a few of our usual Christmastime activities.
We did a small gift exchange, unwrapped stocking stuffers, decorated a Christmas tree (made of paper for this special celebration), and watched A
Christmas Story. It was so much fun
getting to share in those delightful traditions in the midst of an unusually
hot summer!
Shifting gears a bit, Habibi and I truly discovered the magic of shopping at ALDI this summer. ALDI is not new in our area (we have had one in a nearby suburb for well over a decade), but they didn’t used to be all that exciting. However, the two that are now near our home are much better than that old one used to be. Plus, that shit is CHEAP! Berries for under two bucks? Yes please! Cheese and dates that won’t break the bank? Don’t mind if I do! Decent wine that doesn't exceed $12? (That's special occasion wine, folks.) Ummm...YES!!! We have saved so much in our grocery bills since we began shopping at ALDI. They don’t have all of our items/brands, but we can still get quite a bit there and save money for more fun things, like…
…Oui Ones! This is a children’s French program designed
by my friend and former classmate. It is
absolutely adorable. We meet once a week
to learn a little French with our kiddos through songs, games, and
fingerplay. Unfortunately, it meets when
Jammy is at school, so she cannot attend.
However, Ribbers and I wouldn’t miss it, especially when Miss Erin brings her carotte. (This is not a euphemism. She just has a toy carrot that she used one day, and he is obsessed with it.)
…MOPS! One of my dear friends has been inviting me
to join her MOPS group for the past couple of years. (Our daughters are two months apart, and this
friend has been going to MOPS since her little girl was an infant.) In the past, the scheduling just never worked
out for me but, now that we are without morning naps and the semi-monthly
meetings don’t conflict with pre-school drop-off/pick-up, I get to enjoy a few
hours each month with women who are in the same season of life as me. And, despite being a hardcore introvert and
cynic and this taking a lot of energy and self-motivation on my part, I am
determined to be positive and optimistic.
(I know. Those are two words that
I do not use.) I am trying to avoid
falling into my default surliness and quitting this women’s group because I hated
sorority life in college and don't play well with others. The temptation to revert to my skeptical nature is strong. But maybe, just maybe these women aren't all judging me. Maybe they have concerns and insecurities of their own. (GASP!) Maybe they aren't looking at me and thinking, She is _____ (Insert: a wreck. poor. brown. different. weird. not pretty. too mouthy or sweary. obviously trying too hard. under dressed. driving THAT! not a great mom. a terrible wife. blah blah blah.). The bottom line is, whatever anyone else may or may not be thinking, this girl needs to get over it. People can feel however they want to feel; it doesn't change who I am. It's time for me to push
myself out of my comfort zone if I’m ever going to grow and improve as the
badass mo fo that I need to be to get through the morning with my rotten,
ungrateful monsters dear, sweet children. Verdict? So far, I have only attended one meeting, but I’m honestly looking
forward to future ones, in spite of myself. The morning of the first meeting was a really rough one at home, and I almost didn't go. There were screams, tears, hateful words, and a lot of emotions. However, we were able to rally and get out the door...and I am genuinely glad we did. The women at my table seem like human beings (!) that I would genuinely like and enjoy. Go figure. Maybe I’m not so crotchety after all.
…Vet bills! This summer, our precious “Nana” Alice
started peeing on the carpet.
Daily. Poor Alice has so many
brain issues that we couldn’t even begin to guess what might be causing this
one. She had to have been mistreated in her past. This very idea breaks my heart and enrages me beyond belief. At any rate, despite our profound love and compassion for
this sweet, deranged kitty, we knew that this behavior could not continue. So, before having “the talk” about Nana’s
future, we decided to make a vet appointment.
I dreaded the possibility of this being simply a behavioral thing in an
old, delusional cat. If Nana left us,
who would creepily stalk the kids’ room at night? Who would chase her tail on the staircase,
and hiss at us as we passed beneath her step, sometimes batting at my messy top
knot? Who would keep Al-Qaida out of our bathroom, tearing around
the upstairs like a bat out of hell at all hours of the afternoon? As it turned out, she just had a UTI! GLORY BE!
This was something treatable!
Since she has recovered from this latest issue, she has become much more
herself again, and has started putting her pee where it belongs. I never thought I’d be so excited to give a
cat an antibiotic, but I was. Habibi has
the scars to prove it. Despite his
abiding masculinity, that man is the friggin’ cat whisperer when it comes to
procedures that both of our furballs despise (i.e. meds, nail trimming, etc.). |
| Sweet Nana, playing hide-and-seek at the vet. |
This summer also brought with it some other changes around our household:
- We redid our basement and got rid of multiple hauls of stuff, consigning some, donating the rest. After purging, we were able to reorganize what we saved and create a great open space for me to work out, or for Jammy and her friends to play. (Hurricane Ribbers can use this space under adult supervision.)
- We discovered Cosmic Kids, a fantastic online children’s yoga program, where the instructor often uses kids’ stories and movies (think Moana, Frozen, Star Wars) to guide and encourage children in their yoga practices.
- Chocolate protein muffins became a household staple. When I first searched online for recipes, I really wanted to find something that didn’t incorporate protein powder, preferring something that used whole, real foods as sources of protein. After all, my pre-schooler and toddler are not trying to bulk up, and I’m not an avid fan of putting questionable and toxic chemicals into our bodies. After rifling through dozens of recipes that either used protein powder or loads of artificial stuff, I found this recipe from blogger Trina Holden. These are delish! The only downfall is that they use an entire cup of sugar, but that is divided among 24+ muffins. (Still, it’s easy to down a load of these muffins in one brief moment.) Bonus: I discovered that I can cut the sugar down to ¾ cup for the entire recipe. Next time I might experiment with reducing that a little more. The bananas sweeten it up quite a bit, so I’m not fully convinced that even ¾ cup is entirely necessary. We personally like using coconut sugar, but you can really use whatever sugar or sweetener you prefer. She has recommendations on the original post.
Aaaaand exhale. We are all caught up.
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