Always Remember That

I'm posting this picture because I like the way my hair looks: And this one to show that good hair is temporary, but the cuteness of Phoebe is not: And this one to thank my husband for hanging out with the girls at Girl Scout Family Fun Day while I manned the "Time Capsule Signature" Station: And this one because I like it:

The thing is, without my blog, how will I remember that the other day, Phoebe said something about a desperate housewife, and Mallory said she bet that Phoebe didn't even know what a housewife was, and Phoebe said, "You're right...but I think it's someone who's always grumpy." And I don't want to forget, either, that recently Phoebe has started to say, "I love you as much as a pickle!" And then a few days ago she raced to the bathroom shouting, "I need to pee as much as a pickle!" and slammed the door. A few seconds later the door opened and she poked her head out and said, "There I go again with the pickles!" And -- Mallory has to do a report on a famous North Carolinian, but her first choice -- Virginia Dare -- was taken by another kid in her class. She was working on some other homework and asked me to look up some other possibilities for her. I googled and discovered that Betsy Byars was born in Charlotte. "You c...

It's an odd thing, not wanting to give up one's blog but also never really feeling like updating it. Anyway, I'll take the easy way out and highlight the past few weeks of our lives in pictures: Phoebe. Is there anything funnier than a Phoebe? Above she is dressed up for her half-birthday at school (since she's a summer baby). (She did, in the end, decide not to wear the hat.) Every outfit, every clothing changed is thought out with precision detail. Where she gets her fashionista tendencies I do not know. A few weekends ago she suddenly announced that if I did not get her a pair of jean shorts she would just die. This was alarming, but since we had to go shopping anyway, I said I'd see what we could find. Luckily we found some on sale. She has taken them off only to go to school --she wears them to bed! -- and she thinks they look best when she wears them with a skirt-shirt, as shown: ...and is frustrated by the fact that she mostly has skorts, which cann...

Because I have all the time in the world and unlimited patience, I want to make this: The flowery one on top, not the stripy one on the bottom. Even though I've never crocheted anything larger than a scarf, and I only made the scarf this weekend, and before that I'd never crocheted anything larger than a cell phone case. Even though this afghan is made of two-hundred and twelve separate blocks that would have to be stitched together, and my least favorite thing about crocheting is stitching pieces together. Even though I don't need another blanket in my house, I have plenty. Even though I'm afraid I'm going to become a crazy crochet lady who keeps making things that nobody needs and foisting them on people. Here, have a scarf! Have an afghan! Have some booties! People will tire of me. If I'm going to make an afghan, having never made one before, it would be smart to start with something easier: or at least with something smaller: But what if I hate ...

No, not like that: I am way behind here. I don't think I ever posted about Mallory's birthday, and I had some thoughts about Christmas decorations which I guess I'll save until next year, and I should tell you about the fab time I had with my family last week, but instead I'll just sum up 2011. Best Books Read: There But For The by Ali Smith Chime by Franny Billingsley The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan The Boy in the Moon by Ian Brown Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin Worst Books Read: Obedience by Will Lavender The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown Sister by Rosamund Lupton The Sherlockian by Graham Moore Best Movie: Bridesmaids Fave TV show: Modern Family; also Prime Suspect but I think they're taking it off the air Proud of myself for: Teaching myself how to crochet Losing 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas (now need new pants) Best new experience: Riding a Segway with Aimee through downtown Charlotte New places travel...

A few weeks ago I sorted through the girls' books and set aside some to donate. I put them in a Bruegger's Bagels bag because it was big and sturdy and had big sturdy handles. Naturally, the bag has been sitting in our hallway ever since. Phoebe noticed it last Saturday. "Mommy, why is there a Wubbzy book in this bag?" she asked. "Because those are books I'm going to donate," I said. "To the poor?" she asked. "Yes." "I don't think that's a good idea," she said. I was about to launch into a lecture about how she had too much and other children had too little and she hadn't read any of those books for ages and -- But then she added, "Because if the poor children see this bagel bag, it's just going to make them hungry." ---------------------- Twenty-five people were laid off from my office yesterday. Luckily I was not one of them, although there were a few tense moments when I thought...