We Interrupt

We interrupt what?  For starters, my vacation blog post in which I dump tons of photos here.  That's on hold.  Also, packing.  OH MY GOD I SHOULD BE PACKING!!!  We closed on our new house on April 29th (yea!), left for Florida a few days later (yea!), and are moving in in early June, and I feel like I have done NOTHING.  I walked backed into the house after vacation and let out a sigh of overwhelmedness (that's a word now) after just looking around me and realizing that every single object in sight must be packed and moved.  And God dammit, the children still expect to eat every day!  The nerve.  And like, play.  And occasionally be read to.  And have diapers changed.  ETC. ETC. ETC. 

So, I had every intention of really digging into the packing this week, except all of the above got interrupted because of LICE.  It's officially lice week here.  There's been an outbreak in Georgia's classroom, and they called to send her home Monday after discovering her head was infested.  Then, in the yuppiest of all possible yuppie moves, I immediately, (and I do mean immediately), signed us all up for screenings and treatments at a pricey salon that does nothing but lice eradication.  In theory our insurance may eventually pay for it, but even if not I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Bugs on heads creep me out beyond belief, and I just couldn't figure out how on earth I could methodically pick through Georgia's hair for hours without June and Waylon wreaking havoc in the meantime.  Oh, and pick through my own hair, too, I should mention.  Turns out that when kids get lice, 80% of the time their mothers do, too, and I landed squarely within that statistic.  Ah, the indignities of motherhood.  Plus, I am supposed to be PACKING! So despite the cost of going the professional route, I needed to minimize the time lost to dealing with lice this week, although I'm not sure whether this salon solution has really accomplished that or not.  Thank God for Frances, who generously (and bravely, considering the circumstances, I might add) babysat June and Waylon while Georgia and I got treatments that ended up lasting 3 hours!  Joe also swung by the salon but was declared lice-free.  June went today and had only a few eggs discovered, which resulted in a full, albeit much shorter, treatment.  Waylon thankfully was found to be in the clear.

In the grand scheme of things, lice week will not go down on the list of life's biggest problems, but right now?  Pain in the ass!  Joe is swamped and working late every night, which means I'm running out of gas generally speaking.  I am starting to drown in laundry that is piling up, because our washer is so occupied with cleaning all of my and Georgia's bedding that according to protocol must be changed daily through Friday.  I'm considering going to one of those drop-off laundromats where you pay by the pound to catch up on the rest of it.  Is that crazy?  Things are really out of hand.  I couldn't keep up unless I started doing laundry around the clock.  

So, that's what's up around here.  Plus a parking ticket, a shark tooth, an injured toe, and a case of mystery hives, but I hate to complain.  : )  Venting I'm great at, though.  What's up with you?

P.S.  Yes, this is so totally gross, but if you comment only to say "Gross!" then that is not helpful, and in fact, rather karmically risky.  Besides, this is my PSA, because I've learned a lot about lice myths this week.  There's really no good reason for stigmatizing it any more than say, getting a mosquito bite, and yet it is its stigma that helps lice spread, because people are embarrassed to tell school teachers when their kids have had it!  I'm sure none of you would do that anyway, though.


That face!


Happy homeowners on closing day. Thank you, Grandpa Dave, for mowing our grass in our absence!

And in the meantime, life goes on. At least we were able to bring a little bit of Florida weather back with us.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do?

You're lucky you're cute.

Thanks for sleeping the last 10 minutes of both flights. And for the awesome Mother's Day present: a full diaper to change in an airplane bathroom stall.
Love you.

P.S. Thanks to the awesome gate agent who got us an extra empty seat both ways!  I'm sure the poor sap who otherwise would've been squished into row 19 with our small circus also thanks you.  

If you need me, I'll be in the ocean

Our rental condo is on the first floor this year.  The latch to the back door is broken.  Waylon has plans.

Frida Be You and Me/I Went to Two Years of Private School and All I Got Was This Palm Tree

Thank you to my wonderful party planning friend, Maggie, and her creative daughter Anna, for throwing an "around the world" themed birthday party.  You gave me the perfect excuse to whip up a Frida Kahlo costume for my daughter.  Or costume(s) for my daughter(s), as the case turned out to be.  June did not attend the party, but when she saw Georgia trying on her getup on Friday, including makeup (woohoo exciting!), she had to get in on the fun.

I'll readily admit that I steered Georgia toward picking Mexico after remembering having seen this costume done elsewhere online.  So fine, it wasn't a shining moment of allowing for independence on my part.  But too bad, so sad, we'll have to make up for that later, because she loved it, plus, we all learned a little more about the famous Frida, so there.  Georgia's other considerations of Canada or Brazil will have to wait until next time.

Of course when we got home from the party we had to have a little portrait session in our bedroom.  How convenient that we had just "won" this ginormous palm tree at a silent auction.

Oh, here it is on the ride home.  Thankfully there are no pictures of me wrestling it into the house.  


First we needed to procure some fake flowers.  I love it that Georgia finds it socially acceptable to wear this crown in public.  And that June is sitting cross-legged in a tiny cart. 


Looks like I almost had to make three Fridas! 



My two Fridas.

I just have to include these next pictures because they crack me up.  But first, before you scroll any further: do NOT get impressed by our children cleaning.  Our front room/kitchen was an abject disaster, resulting in us putting on a 15 minute timer and Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (aka, "Just Clean" as it is known around here) on repeat.  And for once in their lives, the girls went to town on the job.  So, I give you, mini Frida Kahlo cleaning.  Here she comes!



And now, for that post-party photo shoot I was telling you about.  She sure makes a mean Frida face, but the outtakes prove she was still having fun. 


Thanks again, Maggie.  I guess I never realized how much I still love playing dress up until I had kids. 

P.S. Almost forgot:  You should've seen the look of confusion on the swim coach's face the next day as June told her (in the middle of a lesson) all about the "pretty eyebrows" that she had gotten to have.  : ) 

All Part of the Process

You recall the clean house pictures, right?  Um, yeah, so, about that...


{Joe, distracted from packing, reading months' old, out of state newspapers.}


{Better get that puzzle finished quick before it heads to storage for a few months, sweetie. Oh, and we'll need your costume, too. And maybe some of those blankets, thanks.}


{Managed to lock ourselves out of the house after the first showing. So here we are killing more time.}


{We should be in birth control ads.}


{Now killing more time in the pet store, which we basically treat like a zoo.}




Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... [This is why I can't keep the place clean for more than five minutes at a time.]

{I have been trying to adopt a, "Don't get angry, get the camera" attitude.}


{Broken glass.}


{I have an idea. Let's get out every shoe.}


{What's that? The fancy photographer is coming over? Okay, we'll go to the park even though it's only 34 degrees out.}


{The weekends come, and we take more loads to the storage unit.}


{You may wonder why we've dragged the whole family along, but I think it has been really useful in helping the kids to understand that all of their stuff is just "on vacation" and that they will see these things again. They've been pretty cool about the whole thing, with the exception of a few stuffed animals that they changed their minds about and we had to go retrieve.}

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

{Ah, yes. An increase in processed foods has definitely been a part of this process. I'm less than thrilled about that. But fyi, these taquitos are delicious.}


{A big special treat: everyone at Starbuck's during a showing.}


{And then back to the pet store. We really have spent an inordinate amount of time there for people with no pets.}

{Who's on the caged side?}


{Chinchilla}


{There's always the library, too. I don't really recommend spending too long there with a one year old boy, though.}

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...


{Snack time held on the porch when it's not really warm enough for dining al fresco. But seriously, our kids are the world's messiest eaters.}

And finally, one more shot for good measure: hiding out at our neighbor's during a showing.
May the force be with you! (And also with us!)

Our place is currently under contract, and we're under contract to buy a house in the suburbs.  That's all I'm going to say, for fear of jinxing anything.