7 Quick Takes Friday, #40

1. Earlier this week, Emily at The Keeping Time posted something about tricks she has up her mama-sleeve for when she's sick and not up to majorly child-intensive days. One thing in particular she mentioned was letting her girls watch videos of Royal Ballet productions. "Mia would love those," I thought. "But where on earth can I find something similar?"

Then a little lightbulb went on over my head (Don't worry. I'm almost sure it was a CFL.) and I quickly pulled up some Youtube videos. Now we're all enthralled with The Paris Ballet's Sleeping Beauty. So lovely.










Of course, Mia has all sorts of technical questions and since the ballet doesn't follow the Disney story I know (can you BELIEVE that?!), I'm more often than not just flying by the seat of my pants. I know squat about ballet. She wants to know the names of movements and costumes. I think some studying is in order.




2. I let Mia watch some of the ballet on my laptop at the kitchen table one day during lunch. She's so interactive during the videos that I didn't worry about her spacing out and becoming a droid; she was eating and talking the whole time -- but to have the video playing during a meal was quite the special treat. She loved it.

While I was talking about which video number we were on in the sequence, Mia said, "Mom, I just want to watch all HUNDREDS of these, OK?" Smiling at her sweetness, I made some agreeable sounds before turning to Lauren to see how her lunch was coming.

She had smeared ketchup between both hands and was creating a messy masterpiece on her plate. At least I stopped her before she'd had a chance to move to her hair.

How's that for a juxtaposition? One daughter inquiring politely about cultured and civilized ballet, while the other daughter plays in a delightfully sticky, yet terribly un-cultured, condiment.




3. This weekend is the weekend I've been looking forward to for months. It's our Annual Ladies Shopping Retreat weekend! That sounds more formal than it is, but I think an entire weekend devoted to shopping with other like-minded ladies -- both family and friends -- deserves a title. Also, I said our shopping weekend, but this is only the third time I will have ever gone. Once before kids, once when Mia was almost 2, and now when Lauren's almost 2.

We're leaving this evening, going to a beautiful area of the state to wander around a giant outlet mall until our feet swell, our backs ache, and our tummies are overflowing with Coldstone Creamery deliciousness.

Truth be told, I'm not much of a shopper. I get worn down by too many choices and too many flying dollar signs, but this trip is wonderful despite all of that. I mean, I guess I'll probably find myriad ways to spend my fair share of money, but the real reason I go is for the getaway -- the vacation aspect. I never leave my kids. This will only mark the second or third time I've ever traveled without Mia and the first time without Lauren. I already feel both free and heartbroken. Is there a name for that feeling?



4. On a related note, pray for Justin's sanity this weekend. He's not used to having both girls all to himself, and Lauren is currently The Toddler From Hyper-ville. Wish them luck. And patience.



5. Up above, when I mentioned CFL bulbs, it was because they've been on my mind lately. We had two floodlights go out in our kitchen and living room a while back. Like, months back. It's been infuriating to not have enough light especially in the kitchen, but I kept forgetting to check and see which kind of bulbs we'd need to replace them with, and it just never got done. At the store this week, I just decided to get something and hope for the best. I have no idea if bulbs are pretty universal or more specific, but whatever I got worked just fine. And they are CFL's, so they should last awhile.

But, after installing them, I'm not so sure I like them all that much. The new, bright whiteness is highlighting every stray cobweb in the corners of my ceiling. There's a tall wall dividing the living room and kitchen that doesn't quite reach to the ceiling, and I can see dusty tufts lining the top of it. I'll have to climb up there and get them down, and that just depresses me. What if there are spiders up there? Who cleans the tops of walls for pity's sake?

New lightbulb owners. That's who.



6. Mia was playing with a few of her fairy dolls this week, and I overheard some of her narrations.

Blue Fairy: I loooove being God! You can be my angel!
Pink Fairy: You're not God, you're just a fairy!
Blue Fairy: But I have hands like God...I have feet like God...I LOVE like God...I have to be God!Pink Fairy: Weeeellllll...OK. If that's what you decided.

Surely there's some fabulous life lesson here about being God's hands and feet, but I just can't see past the cuteness. I wish you could've heard her sweet, airy voice as she pretended to be a fairy, pretending to be God.



7. This week, I've noticed a wonderful trend: more free time. I haven't been staying up too late (most of the time) or feeling extra pressure to accomplish things quickly. I've felt leisurely. Fulfilled.

In wondering where all this has come from, I remembered that I haven't been on Facebook all week. Maybe even 2 weeks -- since whenever they changed the format and confused me, I haven't felt the desire to log on and read random sentences about people's lives. While I didn't feel like I spent much time there, I guess it was adding up to more and more minutes out of my day, making me lose precious time that I could be using for getting real things accomplished (like commenting on your blog. That's truly important, right?). I'm not saying I'm still not a champion procrastinator, but I'm taking this as a sign to just let FB fall by the wayside. I'll still check it for messages -- some friends and family members use FB instead of email -- but I just don't feel inclined to bring a big time-sucker back into my life right now. This sense of leisure feels too good to dismiss.



You know what you shouldn't dismiss? More Quick Takes at Conversion Diary. Check them out and have a wonderful weekend!