Silly Girl

A collection of a few of my favorite Audrey quotes lately:

*Commenting on the Volunteer Firefighters who stand outside at stop lights, etc. where our parents live to collect donations*
My brother: "They should just have a hot girl stand out there, they'd collect more money."
Audrey: "No, I don't want to stand outside."

"Get your whole life out of my business!"

Audrey: "How come you let me sleep in your room last night, Mom?"
Me: "Well I didn't feel well, and I wanted to go to bed early."
Audrey: "Oh. And you wanted a friend?"

Me: "So did you have fun today?"
Audrey: "Yea, don't you remember? You were there too."

Me: "Audrey, do you want to play Whack-A-Mole?"
Audrey: "What's Whack-A-Mole?"
Me: "A game where you smack things with mallets."
Audrey: "Yes! I want to smack things!!"

"I can't hug you. I'm Elsa. I'll freeze you."

Audrey's Birthday




Audrey's party was this past weekend. She had a blast, and it was worth the expense and all the planning, but I'm glad it's over. Unfortunately, Audrey and I both came down with a stomach virus a couple days before the party. The worst of it was over by Friday, but I couldn't do anything in the days leading up to the party. I had made a schedule for myself in order to get the cake and favors done and it all went out the window. By Saturday, the day of the party, I was finally feeling like a person again, so I was able to finish the cake at the very last minute. Last minute as in, I had planned to leave my apartment by 2:45 and I was still sticking fondant snowflakes on the cake in my yoga pants and tank top at 2:40. Needless to say, it made things even more stressful.

Everything ended up fine though. Most of her classmates came, everyone had a lot of fun, and I got a lot of compliments on the cake and cookies. I didn't even love how the cake came out. I wish I had had more time to work on it, but I'm not going to stress it anymore.

Frozen Cake

The finished snowflake sugar cookies

The finished party favors: Troll Magic and a cookie

 

 I was really happy we did the party at Chelsea Piers. I hadn't been to a party there before, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but they did a great job. For the first part of the party, the kids did various races on one of the basketball courts. Then they got to play in a huge, awesome bouncy castle. That part of the party especially was a huge hit.

The Coolest Bouncy Castle.

Later, they went back to the party room we were set up in and had pizza and cake. The staff was great - they were on top of not only serving everything, but keeping kids away from the cake and favors. I didn't have to do much, I could just enjoy it.

The next day was her actual birthday, but we had a very low-key day. Audrey loves bacon, so I had bought some for her birthday breakfast, planning to make pancakes to go with it. We were both still feeling run down and neither of us had much of an appetite, so I made the bacon and asked her if she wanted anything with it. She requested a slice of leftover pizza (from her party the day before). So Pizza and bacon it was. Ookkk. She opened her last few presents, and we spent most of the day playing with her new stuff. We went out to dinner, Audrey's choice. She chose the diner, haha. Fine with me. I do wish we had had a little more energy to do more, but she seemed to have a great birthday weekend anyway.

Happy Birthday, my wonderful girl.

Comic Relief

Whenever I've had a bad day and need a good laugh, (or even when I've had a good day but still want to laugh) I have a handful of websites that don't disappoint.

Hyperbole and a Half: Allie Brosh's hilarious stories, mostly about her own life, accompanied by so-bad-they're-good drawings. They're all awesome, but "This is Why I'll Never Be an Adult" is probably one of the most well known. Unfortunately, Allie doesn't update frequently, but the content is funny enough to read multiple times. She also released a book last year: Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened.

The Oatmeal: Another website of comics, created by Matthew Inman. This one is updated pretty frequently. The topics vary - observations, stories, even educational stuff presented in a funny way. One of my favorites: the Minor Differences series. He has several books out: How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You, The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, and a few others.

The Bloggess: Jenny Lawson's blog, comprised mostly of funny stories from her life. One of my favorites is an old one, but the first time I read it I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes: "And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles." Jenny also has a hilarious book: Let's Pretend This Never Happened.

Tumblr Post Compilations: Not any specific site, the link is just an example. For some reason some of these are ridiculously funny.

Pinterest: Browsing the Humor pins on Pinterest is always entertaining. These are too wide ranging to summarize, but I think Pinterest is how I initially came across Hyperbole and a Half.

Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese

Yesterday, I made a pot of Roasted Tomato Basil Soup. I had a bowl for lunch with a grilled sharp cheddar cheese sandwich. Ultimate cold weather comfort meal. Shockingly, I actually didn't even eat this as a kid. I was so picky. I only learned to appreciate this combo as an adult.

I put a couple servings in the fridge to have for dinner with Audrey one night this week and the other half in the freezer. It's one of my favorite soups - it's easy, healthy and of course, delicious. There's actually no cream in this soup. There's only 2 tablespoons of butter in the whole pot, and even that could probably be omitted if you don't eat dairy, and the chicken broth could be replaced by vegetable broth if you're vegan/vegetarian.



Yummmm

 


Excuse my paper plates - classy, I know. :)

Patience

I read two great articles lately that were similar to what I had in mind when I wrote the "Overwhelmed" post a while ago, although these are much more eloquent and in depth. "To the Furious Mom in the Target Parking Lot" and "The Difficult Empathy of Parenthood" both sum up an incident the writer witnessed in which a mom lost her patience with her child and snapped at him/her. Instead of judging the other woman, though, the writer sympathized with her and recounted incidents in which they too lost their temper momentarily and the guilt they felt afterwards. (To be clear, I'm talking about snapping verbally, not physical abuse.)

Taking care of another human being is hard. Recognizing how hard it is, sometimes, can't be done unless you've been there yourself. There is no such thing as a perfect mother, and I love that these articles show that everyone has their moments.

Favorite quotes from each:
"Having a child is a series of tiny successes and failures, all microscopic to the onlooker, all specific to our households alone in ways that cannot quite be explained. We are luckiest as parents when there is no audience to our failures. Failures are the hardest to explain, and yet those are the very instances when we are most desperate for a little understanding, a little empathy."
-The Difficult Empathy of Parenthood

"My anger leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and guilt in my heart. I hate that feeling, and I bet you do too, but sometimes the world just bursts into flames and you can't do anything but stand there, burning."
-To the Furious Mom in the Target Parking Lot

And remember ...

:)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas ...

... But if the white runs out, I'll drink the red :)

I'm going to give a few of my coworkers a bottle of wine and these wine tumblers for Christmas this year. I'm really lucky that the four women I work with on a daily basis are awesome. Being a single mother has obviously affected my work life - long lunches for court errands, leaving early to pick up a sick child, having to alter my work schedule to accommodate my daughter's preschool schedule, and most importantly, just being there for me to vent. So I wanted to do something small to show them how much I appreciate it.

I came across these wine labels on Etsy and would love to add them to the wine bottles, they're awesome.

"Your family is backing away slowly, maybe calling a priest. Take me upstairs & lock the door to the bedroom. Drink until the homicidal thoughts pass." Haha!

Bits of Our Weekend - Halloween!

This past weekend was Halloween. I loved Halloween as a kid. Dressing up and trick or treating was a blast of course, there were always Fall Harvest type events going on at school and in the community, and most memorably, my family had Halloween parties every year.

Two of my three siblings and I are close in age but our birthdays are spaced out through the year. Instead of having three individual birthday parties, my parents held one big Halloween party. Back then we lived in a big house with a semi-finished basement, so the party was set up down there. One part of the basement was turned in a little haunted maze, another area was reserved for games and the main area was set up for dancing. My parents owned their own DJ company back then, so they provided the entertainment. Even my grandmother got involved. One year she did up her makeup to look like a corpse, popped her head through a hole in a table and scared kids walking by.

So I have fond memories of Halloween as a kid. The excitement wore off as I got older, but now I get to enjoy the holidays as a parent. Not only is the holiday itself fun, but the build up to it is exciting - parties, Halloween themed events at preschool, checking out decorations in our neighborhood. I decided to take off work for Halloween this year so we could head out to the Poconos. Our neighborhood has awesome decorations, but its so insanely crowded. It has apparently become known for its Halloween enthusiasm, because people from other neighborhoods/boroughs come to Chelsea. Last Halloween was the first year we really went trick or treating (the year before was Hurricane Sandy, so we stayed in and the prior year Audrey wasn't even a year old so we didn't do a lot). We could barely walk, so I wanted to try somewhere less crowded this year.

 

Some awesome carved pumpkins at Chelsea Market

We went trick or treating in Stroudsburg, in the neighborhood I grew up in, and I'm glad we did. There were a ton of kids, but the streets were closed to cars so it was easy to walk, although the sidewalks weren't bad. Audrey had an entourage - my parents, sister, younger brother, man-friend and a family friend Audrey adores. My stepfather also invited his coworker and her daughter, who is only a little older than Audrey. The little girl showed up in the exact same costume as Audrey - same Elsa dress and crown. So the two Elsas had a blast together. It seems every other little girl was Elsa - I counted 30 in an hour and a half of trick or treating :)

Queen Elsa and Uncle Ian.

 

Audrey and her new friend. They called each other Elsa all night

 

Audrey said I should be a princess kitty

Post trick or treating dinner at good old Friendly's.

The weather the rest of the weekend wasn't great, so we didn't do a lot outside of my parents house. I ran some errands Saturday (party preparation - snacks and baking supplies and decorations, oh my) and Audrey hung out with my mom. Saturday evening man-friend and I had some grown up hot chocolate and watched Chef. We went home Sunday afternoon.

Mmmmm

Our Halloween in the Poconos increased my indeciveness about living in the city. The build up to the holidays in the city is unbeatable, but the day of - holidays you go out to celebrate especially, 4th of July, Halloween - are always intolerably crowded. I could never move back to the Poconos, but there are parts of New Jersey that are appealing. In a perfect world, I'd keep my apartment in the city but also have a country place, as well as a car to make getting back and forth much easier. But since I don't live in fantasy land, I obviously need to make up my mind sooner or later.