Alabaster Mom

Last Saturday, I took my daughter to a sewing class at Jo-Ann Fabric. The objective of the class was to create a pocket owl - essentially a felt owl with button eyes and a kangaroo-like pouch sewn onto his lower half. What I didn't know was that this was a hand sewing class.  I signed her up so that she could keep learning how to use her sewing machine. At first I was disappointed (and so was she) but it soon became clear that the class would be helpful to her regardless since she would be learning sewing terminology, learning how to pin a pattern, etc. While she was in the class, I wandered around the store, talked on the phone, and then signed the kid up for another class in August.  This one does require the use of a sewing machine. Two-toned pillowcase, here we come!  I am hoping she will start to use her sewing machine and start creating stuff on her own. She and I have been watching Project Runway together and who knows, maybe she'll be on there someday! And I betc

We took Little Miss Crossbite to her first appointment with an orthodontist this morning. We were the first appointment of the day.  When we got there, I spotted a bunch of run-of-the mill cars and an Audi in the parking lot. The orthodontist and his staff I assume.  I wondered if I should just call the bank and start making payments on the Audi directly. Oh, who am I kidding. That thing is paid in full.  It probably only took two or three parents-of-children-with-crooked-teeth to cover that bad boy. Fancy car aside, the doctor was very nice and did a great job of explaining everything to us. He started by examining our daughter's head and mouth. Then he explained what needs to happen next.  We have known almost since her birth that the kid would need orthodontia. It's been in the cards all along. I made P come to the visit because he tends to think of braces as something that's strictly cosmetic.  However, I think he now understands that having a misaligned jaw means tha

My daughter is in a summer camp program for which she gets to choose a different theme camp each week. One week it was Junior Lifeguard, for example. This week she was in Irish Dance. At the end of each week, the various camps (there are usually four different themes each week) gather in the auditorium for a recap and/or performance. My daughter asked me to come to the performance today, so I added some extra time to my lunch hour so that I could attend.  However, I need to tell you about the fun events before the big dance recital. A few days ago, the kid announced that she needed a black skirt for the recital. Done. Her fall/winter clothes are packed away but I dug around  in the basement and found the perfect black skirt. "Now I need a white, orange, or green shirt," she stated. She has plenty of white shirts so I figured we were in good shape. Then two days ago she made a new announcement: "I need some Irish dance music so that I can practice." "No pr

Well, we got our girl back Monday night. I had a bit of drama when I picked her up at the airport.  The airport is two hours away and her flight was scheduled to land at 7:00 p.m.  I left work at 3:30 just to give myself plenty of time and to compensate for traffic. As predicted, I hit quite a bit of traffic but still had plenty of time, so I was fine. I got to the airport at around 6:15 and parked my car in the hourly lot. I then made my way to the ticketing area for AirTran/Southwest. When you are picking up a child flying as an unaccompanied minor, you have to stand in line just as if you are boarding a flight yourself. The line was loooong.  I took my place at the end and waited. And waited.  Because the ticketing area is for outbound passengers, the display screens only list outgoing flights.  So, I pulled out my phone and checked my daughter's flight. Son of a biscuit! The damned plane was landing a full half-hour early. I continued to inch along in the line, watching the m

I just had to take a few photos before Her Highness returns and trashes the joint. I found another vitamin earlier (this one was hidden behind her bed), so that brings the grand total to six. I also found her Hello Kitty sleep mask, which has been missing for at least a year. Since she's going to be a fourth grader this year (her school goes up to fifth grade so I think that makes her an upperclassman now?), I thought I would remove some of the Disney Princess paraphenalia and whatnot from her room.  She's too mature for such things, you know. I also removed this red castle mirror that I got at IKEA when she was a toddler. She ruined it long ago with a sharpie so it's not like I can even give it to someone.  Anyway, part of me is tempted to save it just in case she does 'merry' Jack someday.  If you see this, do not ask her about Jack because she will kill me if she finds out. She's known Jack since 4K, I think.  She's had an on-again, off-again crush on him

. . . the cats will clean out her room. Seriously, I haven't written much because I haven't been doing much. Tonight, P and I could have gone anywhere (since we didn't have to get a sitter and all) and what kind of wild and crazy shenanigans did we get into?  We went to Red Robin (that's right, a place where we can take the kid any time).  On the way home, my other half made me stop at a candy store so that he could get some treats. He's been dying for some chocolate all day. I'm pretty sure he's getting his period. Anyway, we're going to top off the evening by staying home and watching an episode of Breaking Bad. We're steadily working our way through the seasons. After that, we'll probably argue over whether or not we should keep the air conditioning running overnight. So, as you can see, we've got a pretty full evening.  The kid comes back on Monday. We miss our tiny boss. I'm so glad she's having such a fun summer. My sister has

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. I'm busy unpacking and sorting through mail and whatnot. Some medical bills from my surgery arrived while we were gone. Yay! On Friday morning, after leaving the beach, we met my sister in Annapolis and transferred our kid to her. While we endured the endless drive home, A was hanging out at a water park and whatnot. She'll be visiting family in Northern Virginia until the 21st. I hope she is having a wonderful time. Her dad and I have to work, but there's no reason why she can't go out and have a ball. Operation Room Clean starts tomorrow. There will be garbage bags involved. Shhhhh.  The drive home was pretty uneventful. I scoped out  (and stopped at) a couple of vegetarian/vegan restaurants on the way home, so at least we had some culinary adventures to break up the tedium. (Confession: I purposely ate one thing on my vacation that I knew was not vegan: dark chocolate covered Oreos. I'm pretty sure that was my only slip-up

Ahhhh, vacation. I didn't think about work once today.  Woo hoo! We are currently hanging out at my dad's condo in Ocean City, Maryland. Don't bother robbing our house while we're gone because we have a fourth grade girl and her fifth grade sister watering our plants and watching our house. Just know that they will cut you just as soon as look at you. We made half the trip on Thursday the 3rd and arrived at the beach on Friday the 4th. The drive was mostly uneventful. It's amazing how smoothly the drive goes when you don't have a nine-year-old in the back seat advising you of your driving faults and asking to stop for ice cream every five or ten minutes. She flew out a week ahead of us so it was just the two of us for the thousand-mile drive. The three of us were reunited on Friday and P and I immediately had to start reprogramming her so that we could stand to be in the same room with her. For the week prior to our arrival, all the kid had heard from my dad

Good news - I can resume yelling at my kid tomorrow, when she'll be reunited with me and her dad. We're joining her (plus my dad and his girlfriend) for a week at the beach.  I've been packing for a couple of days. My other half packed in about five minutes flat yesterday. He did have the audacity to ask me if I plan to do any laundry while we are on vacation. I think he was planning to go with is tried and true "bring three pairs of underwear regardless of how many days we will actually be gone" method of packing.  I shot him a look to indicate that laundry isn't really on my agenda next week. Having my toes in the sand, however, is. As for the kid, as far as I can tell she hasn't been too stressed out.  She's been going out to dinner, visiting water parks, hanging out at amusement parks, and so forth.  My dad sent me a text that said something like "she keeps us busy."  I think that is code for "we didn't think this through too c