Laundry and Children

What I've Learned

How do survive this kind of loss?  I don't think that you do.  The you that existed before is gone.

There are moments in your life that change everything in an instant.  Some are joyous: your wedding day or becoming a parent.  Some are devastating: the loss of a loved one.  There is the you before the moment and the you that exists afterward, forever changed.

I will never be the same.  I might get to a point where I am ok, but I will never be the same.

Any Given Sunday

 

 

Because I Can Only Say that I Am Sad So Many Times

I know that I have been a bad poster.  It has been hard to get motivated lately.  I mean , how many times are people going to be willing to read about how sad I am.  That is just not how I roll.

So, here are some happy videos that my children LOVE.  And when I say love, I mean that they love them in the way that only a child can.  The love that allows them to watch these videos over and over and over and over and over and over....loudly.

What Are Your Essential Songs?

I finally reached a point last year when I could not take any more childrens music.  However, I also got off the cool music train at the station marked 2001, popular radio just doesn't do it for me.  Plus, you can't listen to half that stuff with kids in the car.

So, lately I've been hearkening back to my youth and making mix CDs for the kids and I to listen to in the car.  The music either matches the time of the year (upbeat for summer) or marks a season like Christmas (we actually got through the whole season without hearing It's Christmas Eve in Washington or that terribly sad song Christmas Shoes).

I was just putting together another mix and I realized that there are certain songs that children should be exposed to in order to have a well rounded cultural experience.  It goes without saying that children should be exposed to the Beatles and Elvis in their original form (the bastarization of classics masquarading as Children's Music is sickening).  However, there are so many more songs that kids should know the words to and learn to appreciate so that they will remain woven in to the fabric of our cultural collective.

Below are some of the songs that I recently put on our "Songs You Need to Know" CD.  It is an eclectic grouping that includes classic rock, musicals, country, ect.  Please give me your suggestions and then make sure that your kids don't grow up only learning I Love You, You Love Me from Barney.  That would truly be the end of American civilation as we know it.

How Do I Live- LeAnne Rimes
I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston
We Are Family- Sister Sledge
Under African Skies- Paul Simon (but really the entire Graceland album)
You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman- Aretha Franklin
Yesterday- Beatles
Hey Jude- Paul McCarney
I Enjoy Being A Girl- Flower Drum Song
Your Daddy's Son- Ragtime
Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond
Swining on a Star- Bing Crosby
Phantom of the Opera
Memory- Cats
Unforgetable- Nat King Cole
Children Will Listen- In to the Woods

Come on people.  I have given you a jumping off point.  Show me what you got!

Our Christmas in Pictures

January 20th Can Not Come Soon Enough

You read that right.  A Republican is counting down the days until Barack Obama is sworn in as President.  However, it is not for same reasons as a lot of other people.  While the rest of the world is counting down to Hope and Change, I am feeling a lot like Nixon waiting for the time when the country won't have the Republicans to kick around anymore.

To listen to the news every problem under the sun was caused by Republicans.  Global Warming, blame the Republicans.  Economic Crash, blame the Republicans. Hurricanes, blame the Republicans.  Fires in California, blame the Republicans.  Zit on your chin right before a hot date, blame the Republicans.  Quite frankly, it is a bit redundant and tiresome.

The Democrats have had control of BOTH the Senate and the House for two years.  They swore in the first female Speaker.  They promised to change things in Washington.  Well?  Where are the sweeping changes?  Why haven't any of the catastrophes of the Bush administration been stopped or changed?  Why didn't they see this economic mess about to hit the fan and stop it?  Why haven't they fixed it?  Why didn't they stop the wars by controlling the purse strings?  Why haven't they changed anything in two years?  I guess they need to control the Senate, the House AND the White House before they can roll up their sleeves and get to work.

After January 20th the Democrats will have run out of excuses.  It is their show.  They control it all.  I wish them all the best.  Still, I am not holding my breath that we won't still continue to hear a chorus of "Blame the Republicans."  The media has a lot of hours to fill and we all know what team they bat for.

I'm Feeling Lost

I am really feeling lost without Jean.  Everyday something happens that makes me think of her.  Either it is a song that we used to laugh about or one of the kids does something that I want to tell her about or there is some political thing happening that I want to complain about.  It's a hundred little things all day long.  Like pin pricks on my skin.  Not so bad that I can't get through the day, but constant and painful.  Eventually, the pricks and pokes become too much and I just have to let it all out.  Then it starts all over again.

Because of this crazy life we have, she was one of the few people who I could be completely honest with.  I knew I never had to censor myself or worry that what I said would go beyond us.  We had a vocabulary that comes with being friends, real, true friends for a long time.  Sure, she used to drive me absolutely nutty when she would try to finish my sentences...literally.  I used to have to say to her sometimes, "Do you want me to tell you or do you want to keep guessing?"  Still, she was right sometimes.

I visit her Facebook page several times a day and have to stop myself from going over every picture.  The photographs lie because in them she is so full of life and it is incomprehensible that the person in them is gone.  Jean lived every moment of her life.  She really lived it.  She knew that people and shared experiences were the secret to happiness, not things.

Not long ago, Jean sent me a meme telling me to write 16 random things about myself.  For anyone else, I would have just hit delete.  I really don't like those sort of e-mail forwards.  But for Jean I did it.

As I was trying to wrap my brain around living without Jean (still a completely foreign thought), I thought that I would turn the tables on her and do 16 Random Things about Jean.

My Year in Pictures

2008 was plugging along just fine until the end when it just fell apart.  But in order to give the old year it's due, here is a review in pictures.  Not the big events like birthdays and such.  Just snapshots of our life.  It's a good life.

Let's Get the New Year Started Right