#40silverlinings: a list
It's Friday night.
I just got back home after a lovely dinner out with my two sisters-in-law (sister-in-laws ??) and for tonight's post I have a little list of silver linings for you.
#3. Today I finished a book! This is a big deal because for the past six months I have had about 3-4 books all ongoing at the same time and I have not finished one, I have not finished ANY of my book club books before the actual date of book club. This book, How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, is now DONE and it is done a whole eight days before my next book club night! Oh yeah!! I rock. And I can't wait to see what kind of discussions we are going to have about this one!!
#4. Good hair days should always be celebrated and today was a darn good one. Most of that has to do with a healthy dose of Maui Wowie Beach Mist by Philip B. (and now that you have my secret, go pick up a bottle of this hair magic locally from the lovely ladies at Lux Beauty Boutique) and also that weird point in my hairstyle's life when it is somehow the perfect length. Who know how long this "perfection" will last, so it gets a silver lining status for today!
#5. Wine. A nice Pinot Noir. Enough said.
#6. Finding that missing $50 iTunes gift card from Christmas. Today is now officially dubbed New Music for Natasha day!!
#7. It's a long weekend!! (In Alberta, we celebrate Family Day in February) Three days of chillin' with my little family and so many silver linings to look for in the days to come!
Cheers all,
Natasha~
I have been up to...
... a whole lot of nothing really. Just what I needed.
Well, aside from travelling halfway around the world that is...
First we went here.
That is a very busy {and clean} China Town in Singapore.
And then we went here...
The beach outside our rental house in Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii.
I was planning on writing while I was away, but that just didn't happen. I am back home, I am relaxed, and I am hoping that the year will only get better from now on. (And I am already planning our next trip to Hawaii! I love it there SO much!)
Aloha folks,
Natasha~
five reasons to become a parent
There is a pretty hilarious video circulating on the interwebs these days called "The Parent Rap". Seriously, go watch it here, it is worth a few giggles. What is interesting is the reaction of the singletons to this video. There seems to be this feeling of "way to convince us to NEVER have kids" that is accompanying said video. Dad trading in his sports car for a more practical sedan. Yup, that happens. Mom doing most of the cooking, cleaning and kid wrangling. It's the truth, even for the moms who work out of the home.
Parenting is all THAT and a bag of chips folks. Really. It IS!
BUT...
Just in case you need more convincing, dear singletons of the universe, I have put together a list of 5 things that are so fantastic about being a new parent that you will all be clamouring to start the process IMMEDIATELY!
1. Poop.
You know how now you just never get to talk about it? It is simply not something that comes up in casual conversation, unless of course you are telling that story about your crazy German cousin on his cross country tour and the unfortunate yet highly hilarious incident at that hostel in Montreal after an all-night rave in 2003.
Well, no more worries for you my friend! When you have a baby, poop is pretty much the number one thing that everyone is talking about. How was your first poop after birth. (FYI-doesn't hurt AT ALL!) How often is your baby pooping? What color is the poop? How chunky is it? How much poop can a diaper actually hold? How do you actually get poop stains off of popcorn ceilings? Is that mustard? So many ways to talk about poop. And most of the time with a completely straight face too. It is awesome! Trust me.
2. Sleep.
You know all those crazy drinking and partying "all-nighters" you've been pulling up until now? Well guess what!? You get to keep doing them! You get to stay up till all hours of the night with a fellow drinker! One of you is going to pass out and likely pee your pants. I won't say who. Chances are you will flash your boobs a few times during the night and at some point someone is going to be completely naked and screaming their head off too. See? Just like the good ol' days! Just remember to rehydrate. And sleep it off during the day.
3. Advice.
You know how sometimes it is hard to ask people for help or get some advice? Well, you need not worry about that anymore! Not one little bit. You won't even have to ask. The slightest twitch of an eyebrow or hint of confusion in your face is enough for almost anyone to understand that you truly do need their ever-so-gracious tidbits of life lessons. You will be surrounded by so many lovely people just aching to give you advice on pretty much everything you do as a parent that you literally won't have to think for yourself for at least one whole year. It's so great!
4. Sex.
Sexy time. Doing it. Making love. Whatever you want to call it, you can stop fussing and thinking about it so much. Sex is not going to be taking up any more of your precious time. No more hours of foreplay and having to do it in every position imaginable. And that romp in the morning before work? Gone. You won't have to sneak out of bed to brush your teeth in the wee hours ever again. Oh, you will have to still have some sex, but now it will be more of the sea turtle kind, really, really quiet and likely scheduled into your iCalendar (cause see turtles all have iPhones, DUH!). Just think of all the time you used to spend having sex. Now you get to spend all that time doing other fabulous parent-y type things. Your life will be richer for it.
5. Your body.
You know how self conscious you are about that little bit of a roll over your jeans? Or that mole that is in that weird spot under your left boob? Or how there is the hassle of having to close the bathroom door every time you want to go pee. All that is over and done with. No longer do you have to worry about not letting random strangers touch your boobs. Totally taken care of. And all that 'private parts are private' nonsense? No worries. A few stitches in you nether region will heal you of any and all dignity you once had. It was just holding you back anyway. Now you can be free to pee with the doors WIDE open and you will also (at least for a few years) always have an audience to perform you shower singing for! Nudity FOR THE WIN people!!
So there you have it singletons. Get on out there and start your procreating so you to can reap all of these incredible benefits and SO MANY more of being a parent!
Also, learn to laugh at yourself.
A LOT!
Sincerely,
Your poop-talking, booby-baring, peeing with the door open, too many bodies in my bed, parenting guru,
Natasha~
Thankful for silliness and sinus medication.
I am in a bit of a fog, so please forgive me. I have a head cold, I have already taken the night-time meds, and I may be a bit delirious!
And for the past two days, I have also been {finally} finishing up my books and accounting for the store.
To say that I am bug-eyed, number crunched and reconciled completely OUT is a severe understatement.
Although I have to say that I am 99.2% DONE and ready to pass it on to my accountant.
That being said...
To further procrastinate some more take a break earlier, I headed over to @schmutzie's blog and saw this post!
And I cracked up BIG time!
So, in honor of her and because I am high on cold medication.
Here I am in my #HideousSelfie glory!!
I think the sinus cold bags under my eyes really takes it to a new level, don't you?
Good Night All!
Natasha~
something I am SO thankful for...
My kids still nap.
THANK GOD, the Goddess, Mother Earth, Allah, Buddha and everyone and everything else that is divine and holy!!!
Because it means I can still nap too.
And I really, REALLY needed one today!
All rested and refreshed,
natasha~
Giving Thanks
It's October. And for some reason Thanksgiving is THIS coming weekend. Which seems odd to me because 9 years ago I got married on Thanksgiving weekend, but my anniversary is not until next weekend.
And this whole not doing Daylight Savings time until November thing is throwing me for a loop too. We set our alarms a half-hour earlier this morning and the kids refused to believe that it was indeed time to get up, because it was still so dark outside.
Anyways...
As I was saying, it is October and because I like a challenge and because I like my friends AND because I really do have so much to be thankful for in my life, I am joining Zita and Kevin and blogging all month long about THANKFULNESS.
And forgive me if this is not really in the spirit of things, but man, oh, man, am I thankful that September is DONE! That was a long, hard month and it zoomed by so quickly that I don't even remember most of it!
We have all finally settled into our routines and things have calmed down and I feel like I can start to breath again.
Which brings me to my thankfulness today.
My kids are in a fabulous dance/yoga class. The teacher is fantastic, the yoga studio where it is held is wonderful and my kids are learning about different cultures and cultural dances and movement and they are both loving it.
And in their class is an amazing little girl. She is 3 years old and has the energy of at least 3 other kids. She is bright and fun and GO, GO, GO.
And she is losing her hair.
Her long strawberry blond locks are falling out because she has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Her mama told me yesterday that her chances for remission are very good (like 97% good), but she still has 2 years of chemotherapy ahead of her.
I have been thinking about this little girl for the past 24 hours and the thing that I can't get out of my mind is her spirit and her energy. And then today, it hit me and I finally understood why I could not stop thinking about her.
She is 3 years old!
She is like my own little girl. She runs, she plays, she sings, she dances, she fights with her older sibling and at times she does not listen to her mama and gets into trouble.
She is just a kid, being a regular kid , doing regular kid things and who, on some days, also happens to have to deal with some highly irregular cancer treatment stuff.
I am thankful to be able to see this little person's incredible joie de vivre once a week. Because that is what it is like for most three year olds, right? The sheer JOY OF LIVING!
Not the constant worrying about every little thing and all the craziness that we subject ourselves to and the rushing from here to there and back again, just to get it all done, just to have days or months or years fly by without really living them.
Today I am thankful for that little whirlwind of a girl, who is a reminder to me to celebrate the JOY that is this life I am living and all the wonderful (big and small) that is in it!
Natasha~
And baby turkeys, I am also thankful for baby turkeys!
chasing the sun
I have one tattoo. I got it when I was 20 years old and I thought long and hard about what I wanted to be permanently 'inked' on my body, where I wanted it and why I wanted it.
And then it came to me one sunny day.
I grew up without a father. My mom and dad separated when I was 7 years old and even before then, I don't remember him being a big part of my life.
It wasn't always easy being the oldest of four kids with a single mom working full-time to keep us all housed, clothed, fed and happy.
But I always had the Sun.
Even during my darkest times, when life would overwhelm me, when the teasing at school would get to be too much, when it felt like no one was on my side or I had no one to confide in or tell my deepest secrets too...
I had the Sun.
I could go for a walk on a sunny day, find a patch of grass and just sit there. I would close my eyes, sit directly facing the sun and let the warmth and the rays wash over me like a beautiful embrace. In those moments I felt loved. I felt warm. I felt like I was the only person the sun was shining for. In the midst of whatever chaos was consuming my life or my mind...
I had the Sun.
Throughout the years, the sun has been my constant. Like Superman, it is often the source of my strength. Nothing makes me feel more alive than waking up to the sun on my face and days without it are extra dreary for me. Winter months are hard, but I will take minus 25 degree temperatures as long as the sun is shining. I have travelled across oceans and back and have seen it rise and set over land and sea and always...
I had the Sun.
And for the last twenty years, every day, rain or shine or sleet or snow. Sorrow or pain or joy or happiness.
I have had the Sun with me and ON me.
And I always will.
Natasha~