Just a Little Drama

March 12, 2011 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

Anyone who’s met my girls knows they’re a bit dramatic.

Alright, a lot dramatic, but I’m holding out hope it’s a phase. That doesn’t last until they’re in college.

Tonight, however, they’re experiencing some great drama without actually having to create it themselves because Annabelle wanted to sit in Madelynne’s chair.

Mimi passed along some DVDs she no longer wanted and in the collection was The Wilderness Family.

Tell me I’m not the only one who remembers watching this as a child. Now granted I had a bit of an obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder and anything remotely pioneer. But I love this idealistic idea of shedding the trappings of civilization. Except, I’d like to do it with running water and electricity.

But back to the drama. These films are filled with it. Blizzards. Grizzlies. Wolves. Avalanches. Fevers. Fire. And that’s just Part II which we finished tonight. The girls were very worried…

but like all things family-friendly cinema, in the end everyone lives happily ever after.

If only real life were such an ideal.

But you know, this ever after is worth every moment. Even if I’m not skipping through a meadow in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.

vent

The Vent

March 9, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

Does anyone read the vent column in the AJC? I love how random it is. Maybe I’ll start my own link up weekly post where we can all vent about something randomly annoying.

Today’s vent? TV.

Why does it cost so much money??? Does anyone remember the days when you could have an antenna on your roof and you got whatever you could pick up? We had a little box on top of our tv-in-a-box that we could turn to change the antenna’s directions so that we’d get better reception for Saved by the Bell in the afternoons. I mean, seriously, I’m not that old and I can remember that a satellite tv bill used to not be part of a household budget.

Disclaimer: I am from a very small town and my parents did not actually get anything other than local channels and what could be picked up by the antenna until after I was already married and out of the house. And even then they only caved because my sister was on Endurance, this Survivor show for kids on Disney. And that’s our claim to fame.

Back on topic. My vent.

A year ago, I caved to my mother who wanted to watch Anton Ono skate for gold and my own selfish desires to have something mindless to do while nursing every other hour and we added television back to our family lineup. For 18 months previously it had been movies and series on DVD and lots of Disney princesses occupying our talking box. And we didn’t miss regular programming. We enjoyed it when we were with others but that was it. Until last February, our kids had no concept that you couldn’t pause and rewind television shows. (And they still don’t think you can pause real tv because we don’t have DVR.)

But it’s been back for a year and I’d be lying if I said we didn’t enjoy it most of the time. But I can count on one hand the channels we watch: HGTV, Food Network, Disney, PBS, and local news. That’s it. They gave us free Starz for a year for being such good customers. I don’t even know what channel that is.

So clearly, it’s not worth our $46.26 a month which is what the new bill was when our “new customer” plan ran out. So I just down graded to the “family” plan. Why is it that the family plan has no actual family channels? No Disney. No ABC Family (I would have thought this was a given). No HGTV. So what’s the point? It’s ridiculous the hold these companies have over my family time, my checkbook, and my relaxation.

If I want channels we’ll actually watch, I have to upgrade and spend more money. If I want to cancel, I’m stuck with a monthly cancellation fee until next year.

But I have a solution. At the same time we added back tv, we discovered how truly awesome NetFlix is. And we got a Wii. So now we can stream anything. So bring on the cancellation fee, Dish.

I’m done with you.

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · madelynne · motherhood

Careful What You Tell Them…

March 7, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

Everyone knows you have to watch what you say around children because they have the most uncanny knack of helping your words come back to haunt you.

Saturday morning we were actually managing to accomplish the task of sleeping late. This was due in part to the rain, in part to the fact that I’d already been up for an hour at the crack of dawn with fussy baby, and due in part to the lovely childhood development of my big girls who are finally old enough to entertain themselves.

Which they did.

So there we were, me, Joshua, Amelia all snuggled up in the bed (this is not a regular occurrence but is the reason we were able to get her back to sleep) when I heard the pitter-pattery stomp of four little feet.

“Mommy!” Very loud whisper. “Me and Annabelle are bleeding!”

What?!?

Giggles. “See?” Holding up a foot covered in red stickers. A way to circumvent Mommy’s don’t-come-out-of-your-room-unless-your-bleeding rule for naptime and early mornings. Ha, ha.

I’m just thankful for the next antidote of wisdom I shared once I recovered from my shock. Wonder how long before this one haunts me?

“Mommy, we’re hungry,” says the girl who cried blood.

My response?

“You know where the cereal is.”

thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday

March 4, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

How I need this today. A chance to remind myself that I have so much to be thankful for even when I want to throw couch cushions in frustration.

Sigh.

Today I’m thankful for lessons learned. Such as…

1. It’s impossible to entertain three kids to their fullest capacity by myself. However, it is possible to keep everybody moderately happy and satisfied for at least 75% of the evening if I put Amelia down early and let the big girls stay up late.

Later. Watching movies. Because I’m not perfect but I am thankful for DVD players.

2. You really shouldn’t cook rice in the crockpot if you’re going to turn it on at 7 a.m. and not return until 5:30. Really. Don’t try it. But it makes me thankful for minute rice and alfredo in a jar, both of which contributed to salvaging that meal for another day.

Don’t ask for the recipe. Anything that starts with “don’t do this” isn’t worth sharing.

3. Candle are soothing. (especially when trying to rid the house of a burnt rice smell) I’m really thankful for the Slatkin & Co. candles from Bath and Body Works. Joshua got me the winter scent for Christmas and it’s as calming as that first snow fall after you’ve stocked the pantry and made soup (without rice) in the crockpot.

Ahhh…..I feel better now.

Link up your thankfulness at Black Tag Diaries.

perfectly imperfect · reflections

Like a .99 Burger

March 3, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

Forgive the title. We’re working on understanding figurative language in my super-exciting 7th grade reading class, so as I thought about what I would post tonight, I considered how I feel smooshed.

What? It’s a word. You know, smooshed. Smashed down. Flattened. Like a .99 hamburger that’s not worth much because, let’s face it, it’s hard to get quality for less than a dollar.

Unless you’re stacking a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon on triple coupon week and its B1G1.

That’s never happened to me because couponing is one of the many things I attempt but don’t do perfectly.

My problem is I’m doing too many things. This has been a flaw of my life. I was in nearly every club and organization in high school, but I wasn’t outstanding at anything. Nowadays, I juggle home and church and school and play practice and blogging and quiet times and friends and facebook and family and laundry.

Oh, the laundry.

This is last week’s picture. That laundry basket is still in the same place. It’s just full of different laundry. It never ends, does it? And I just remembered that I put a pile on my bed thinking I would fold it. Yeah, right.

I’m not perfect. But I’m always trying to be. I have this misconception that perfect people can handle lots of activities and still have a clean house and a happy family.

I think those people only live in my tv.

Unfortunately, I’m as flat as they are right now because I’ve let life flatten me out rather than letting love fill me up.

I’m beginning to make commitments to things I love. Family. Friends. Writing. Scripture.

But I’ll never be perfect.

Thank goodness, because if I was, what would I blog about?