Reflection

So I dunno if it's this stage in life that I'm currently in or something else, but I find myself often thinking of my mom and grandmother. Mostly about how they would prolly be horrified (ok, maybe that's a little extreme). I usually think that say like, at the dinner table that still has gunk on it from last night's dinner. And I just had to kinda make 4 little clear areas for us all to have some sorta food in front of us, and the rest of the table has bills from last week, a screw driver, Hubby's bluetooth, Aggie ring, wallet, and phone, art projects from the whole week at school, Baby's comb, and some loose change. I've got both elbows on the table and Baby is talking with food in her mouth. At some point Little Baby will throw food on the ground and the dogs will start eating it so Hubby will yell at them and then Little Baby ends up on his lab eating his food. And Baby tells us how either she doesn't like dinner or needs ketchup and helps herself, while I sit there and wonder why I even bother and think that Grandmama would just roll over. And then I remind myself that at least we are all at the table eating food that came from my kitchen instead of a paper sack and I feel a little gratified.

I also have the same thought of horror at breakfast (why is this all centered around food? I must admit the women in my family are always thinking about the next meal...prolly because we have to make it happen). And I think about how I never not even once saw my mom in pjs and a robe at breakfast, or my grandmother without a silk dress and lipstick. How is this possible??? Am I lazy? Mmmm...maybe. It's still hard for me to roll outta bed. I got up at 7 this morning, and this was a full 20 minutes after I started hearing both Baby and Little Baby. I hit the ground running, and I'm not in workout clothes. It's pjs and either a robe and flip flops. An hour and a half later, breakfast is cleaned up, but I still haven't gotten dressed. And neither has anyone else, but I figure that's OK for these preschool days. Back to breakfast. It's pretty much a buffet around here. Everyone gets something different (unlike dinner, where you get what you get). Which makes the process sorta long. At grandmama's breakfast was civilized. If it were a simple cold cereal breakfast, the milk would be in a ceramic pitcher. None of this shoving the milk carton across the table.

But on occasion, I feel like both mom and grandmama would be satisfied. Like how my children can easily look outside, which for some reason was important to my grandmother and I remember that. And how I read classic stories like Grimm's fairy tales. And how we regularly take them to church.

The house, on the other hand. Well. I dunno what the difference is. Except for the help my grandmother had. I'm sure that made some sorta difference, but come'on, she had polio and couldn't even walk. I think it's OK someone else was doing her laundry and washing her dishes. She actually probably did a lot of that herself, anyway.

So, here I sit. I can see her dining room table and credenza. Familiar pieces in my life. A happy reminder of my childhood. The laundry I can also see, and the dog hair? Mmmm....well a reminder of what needs to happen today, but probably won't ;-)

Hands

I've always had a fascination with hands. From childhood until just recently I wanted to be a hand model. I guess I still sorta do, but I don't think my hands are as lovely as they used to be (sniff, sniff). They look a little older and puffy now (I had some odd hand issues post pregnancy with Baby, and my hands have never been the same!). I notice hands. Maybe a little odd, huh? But here's what I got to say on the topic.

I love my children's hands. Their tiny fat hands. My very most favorite thing is when they rest one on me. My arm, my leg, my back. Where ever. In that moment of stillness with a hand upon me...heaven. I also enjoy holding them. Those sweet little hands clinging to mine. Little Baby as he's got a death grip while going down steps, or Baby as we jauntily walk along. I love my children's hands! I know they will one day have hands as large as mine and they probably won't rest a hand on me or even hold mine. But I just had to write about it so that I would never forget the sweetness I feel over there small sweet little hands.

Opening Day

Whoo hoo! I absolutely love the State Fair. I know that I'm not alone, but I do feel that Hubby and I are above your average fair lovers. You probably know we got engaged there, on the ferris wheel no doubt, but in case you didn't know, now you do. I've gone every year for the past 12 years, but never have I gone on opening day. We've decided to make it a tradition. It was awesome! Maybe it's because I set my expectations low, but we truly did have a great time...with both the kids in tow. Which isn't really our style. Hubby and I like to do all the fun awesome things without the kids saving it for "when they can actually enjoy it." But we can't help but pass on our love of the fair. I was hunting around for deals and found that on opening day you could get in for 5 bucks with a coca-cola product donation on opening day only (regularly $16...ouch!). Hubby already was planning to take the day off, so we set out for our adventure. Next time we'll plan to be there when the gates open, but we got there about an hour after opening, so that's pretty good. The weather was nice (not blistering hot), the sun was out, and the crowd was light. Plus we got Opening Day pins. And did you know it's the 125th year? Of course we headed straight to the corn dog stand, and Little Baby had his first taste. He's already in love. Next we hit the Texas exhibits and got lots of free food samples including the ice cream. And Baby got to pet Elise and her baby. Then Baby went through the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit. Next we were ready for more fried food, so we made a stop at the fried bubble gum stand. Ewe. Don't get it. I think it won the award for most original. Blech. Interestingly some official looking guy with a camera took photos of me and Baby trying it. I wonder if a photo of me is floating around out there. Let me know if you see it. Other foods we had were Belgium waffles, tator twisters, fried pineapple upside down cake, and an ice cream bar. Surprisingly we actually had dinner when we got home. Baby played her first game on the midway and won a stuffed pink whale, and she also got to ride ONE ride. She waited forever to ride the flying dumbo ride. All in all, we had a super duper time, and Hubby and I are planning to return on date night. Just don't tell Baby. She loves the fair and would be so upset if we didn't take her back!