You might argue that this is a grass is always greener situation, but I think we’re all missing the boat with these big houses.

We have 6 people in our family so downsizing to a teeny tiny house isn’t really workable right now but I swear when all these kids are grown we are going TINY TINY TINY.

There’s also a tiny houses blog HERE, if you’re so inclined.

Here are my two most recent “movies”.

A few weeks ago, Zoe’s teacher emailed begging for help with their Valentine’s party. This is not something I really enjoy doing (despite having a million college credits in early childhood ed) but her email was so desperate I caved and offered to help. She asked me to bring a craft – something like fun foam (like I know what the fuck that is?) would work well. I proceeded to procrastinate wildly and ended up with a plan to “swing by” the craft store on the way to school on Valentine’s day. Ha.

Of course, there was a whole shitload of Easter crafts and very slim pickins on V-day stuff. So I cobbled together a bunch of weird foam things with sticky backs and took them in to preschool, cursing myself for being such a ridiculous procrastinator and for giving this craft zero thought. But, I could provide the alpha moms with something to snicker about, so hey! bright side!

As it turns out, the helpers for the party were me, a couple of bewildered looking dads and a foreign mom with a thick accent. Everyone seemed pleased with my stupid craft and there was a general feeling of “this is fine” which was fantastic.

This is fine. I think THIS IS FINE is my new gold standard.

This experience made me love Zoe’s preschool even more. What I love the most about it is its total average-ness. In this age of “is my kid going to the BEST preschool?” and “my kid has a preschool INTERVIEW next week” and “they’re directing their own learning at this preschool!”; I love the normal, run-of-the-mill preschool. Nice ladies, show n’ tell, circle time. I don’t want awesome. I don’t want frills. I want a place where a stupid craft is just fine.

I think we’re overdoing this parenting thing. Not that this is news. Helicopter parenting. Generation Me. How to Land Your Kid in Therapy. ETC. We are seeing that trying to give our kids the best of everything isn’t really helping them out much in the long run. Parents calling to follow up at businesses where their grown children have sent resumes? Gross.

I’m trying to focus on the beauty of low expectations both in my kids’ lives and in my own. If you have low expectations, you are often surprised and delighted and rarely let down and disappointed. Most things are fine. Not everything needs to be awesome. I let go of my iPhone a few weeks ago and the new stupid phone I have is just fine. Junie doesn’t need to wear the $40 perfect-for-growing-feet-that-she’ll-outgrow-in-two-seconds shoes; the Target ones are just fine.

The best part of this is that I think it comes naturally to little kids. My kids are perfectly happy playing in the laundry basket.

This is Fine. Should I trademark it?

Here’s what’s really going on (an installment of my anti-lifestyle blog as referenced HERE).

On Thursdays, Zoe has preschool most of the day which gives me a little alone time with Junie. I took this alone time to read the book club book for book club TOMORROW while Junie trashed the house. She did one of her favorite crafts, empty-the-wipes, which involves pulling out all of the wipes and spreading them around. See below. Click to enlarge.

The other day when I tried to unload the dishwasher she climbed all over it and threw screaming fits when I tried to get her down. But look at her outfit!

I guess that’s all I can write for now because she is trying to pull the laptop off my lap and I’m worried she’ll spill my beer. Yes, I’m drinking beer. It’s happy hour.

Smooches!

My friend Liz is full of good ideas. I love being friends with people who have good ideas; it makes life so much more interesting.

Anyway, she came up with the idea to create a website that would provide people with a way to express gratitude daily. Why? Because expressing gratitude daily will actually make you happier. It’s all scientifically proven and shit.

I believe in this project and so I offered to help where I can.

Go check it out.

THINK THANKS. 

]]> http://mommalou.com/2012/01/think-thanks-in-the-hizouse/feed/ 0 http://mommalou.com/2012/01/iphone-no-more/ http://mommalou.com/2012/01/iphone-no-more/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:57:32 +0000 Chelsea http://mommalou.com/?p=1427 This week I’m going to give up my iPhone and replace it with just a regular old phone that rings and texts.

If you know me in real life, you may be shitting your drawers.

I am, in no uncertain terms, addicted to it. And I realized today that it’s pulling me away from my real life. If something is going to pull me away from my real life, it had better be valuable.

Don’t I sound so sure of myself?

It’s all for show. I’m kind of scared.

I know I need to do it because I want to be more deliberate about how I spend my time, but it’s going to be hard. I’ll miss the camera and the easy filters and the easy upload to Flickr. I’ll miss the baby monitor app that allows me to see a sleeping Junie in her carseat in the car (in the garage) while I am in the house. But I don’t think I’ll miss the other things. Not really.

I’m thinking of it as a gift for the people in my life; especially my kids. They deserve my full attention. They don’t deserve a mom sitting on the floor playing Words With Friends while I pretend to pay attention to a story about Barbie’s broken leg.

If Barbie needs help with her goddamn broken leg (try some sensible shoes, idiot), I will be there to cast it.

This is our third year – we take our photos right around the new year.

I love seeing how much the kids change in just a few years. Josie goes from kid to teenager. It’s funny how I go from sort of pleasantly plump in the first picture to pregnant and so-swollen-I-look-like-my-head-might-explode in the second picture to sort of hipster lesbian in this year’s picture. I swear I’m not a hipster lesbian. Hipster lesbians (even the ones who live in the ‘burbs and drive mini-vans) probably still go to rock shows. I got the Phil Collins Hits CD in my stocking.

I think 21 days is too long because it is January after all. It felt really good to get everything back to normal there and eat in a nice and clean way for a few days. BUT – January and February are, in my opinion, the lamest months out there. Seems unfair to take away some of the things that make life fun during that time. For example, Travis and I are going to see Sherlock Holmes today (our first bit of alone time in probably 3 weeks) at the fancy eat-in movie theater. What, I’m supposed to order a fruit plate and drink water? No, thanks. I’d like to at least have a beer FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.