Mommy's Pen

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Archives for October 2010

Supermom? or Superfool?

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Here’s how my internal monologue went:

Oh, we have to bring all that clean laundry back to Nora’s class on Monday, and we are flower fairies for this week, too.  It’s going to be tough to carry all that on the bus.  Maybe we can drive. 

But wait, Ben has an appointment with the chiropractor in the afternoon and needs the car becuase the truck won’t start.  I really don’t want to get home so late if we wait for him to pick us up and I really don’t want to take the bus home because we won’t get home til after six if we do that.

I know, I can bike!  I can put Nora and all the laundry and the flowers in the trailer instead of schlepping them on the bus and then we’ll be able to get home faster and I’ll build exercise into my day!

It’s about nine miles from home to Nora’s school.  Most of it is on beautiful riverfront bike trail.  The last mile and a half is uphill pulling a 20 pound trailer, 30 pound child and 5 pounds of laundry and a ten pound backpack.  I’d forgotten about the uphill part.

Anyway, we made it.  Another parent from Nora’s school who watched me on the last hill actually applauded when we got there.  Red-faced and sweaty, I smiled.

 But now I’m sitting at my desk at work on a break.  My feet are still cold.  I want a nap.  And in just six short hours I get to do it all over again.

At least it gave me a justification for eating pizza for breakfast.

5 Things I Learned While Cleaning for Company

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1.  My kitchen tile grout is beige.  Not dark brown.  In related news, I bought a steam cleaner.

2.  If you have a wood stove, you stand zero chance of having a cob web free home, even for a day. 

3.  When you start looking for cobwebs, you realize how desparately your trim needs painting.

4.  My husband has the coolest cleaning tools, we’re talking a little toothbrush thingy with brass bristles.  He’s been holding out on me.

5.  Magic Erasers (TM) will occupy my child longer than back to back Dora episodes.

Beware the Barbacoa

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I was contemplating what to order at Chipotle for lunch today and remembered a story from when I was pregnant.  Since page visits are down, it’s high time share something embarrassing to get my numbers back up.

While I was pregnant, I practically lived on Chipotle burritos.  One day, in my first trimester, I had a barbacoa burrito for a late lunch; marinated, delicious beef and lots of it.  I ate the entire thing quite quickly and got a tummy ache.  As many of you know, your body can do some strange things during pregnancy, and even though your baby is in your uterus, your tummy and digestion go all nutso.  I spent the rest of the afternoon stepping away from people.

Ben, being supportive and a nervous expectant dad, was picking me up from work everyday, so I would not have to ride the bus home. 

It was a cool fall day, Ben had been working outside and was anxious to warm up.  He objected to the open passenger side window.  But my colon was busy objecting to the Barbacoa burrito.

“Can you close that window?  I’m freezing over here.”

“I can, but I don’t think you want me to, because I had a barbacoa burrito for lunch,” as I was saying this, Ben was rolling up my window and I let go of perhaps the stinkiest fart in the history of the Pacific Northwest.

“Oh, dear GOD!” Ben cried as the smell wafted to the drivers side. ” You had a what?  A FARTAcoa burrito?” 

My body convulsed with laughter, releasing even more gas as Ben groped for the switch to roll the window back down.

And down it stayed.