Ingredient house?

 I have a fun know yourself better question inspired by a friend’s Facebook post. 

Are you an ingredient house or a meals house?

We are definitely mostly an ingredient house, although we do have a pantry cupboard of granola bars, pretzels, goldfish, etc. We stock frozen pizza on the regular and sometimes Uncrustables, but we generally are not a prepared meals/snack kind of place. Harry goes through Hot Pocket phases, and Ben bought a box of frozen cheeseburgers on buns (BARF) at Costco the other day, but generally, we just don’t buy that stuff. We do eat chocolate chips out of the bag and put frosting on graham crackers, so it’s not all clean living or anything silly like that. I just tend to buy ingredients at the store— which is why PB&J with Doritos or a salami sandwich with corn chips and mustard are 2 of my favorite snacks from childhood through college to now LOL.

Growing up was the same— as you can tell by my ridiculous sandwich penchant (unless my dad was shopping— then it was all Bagel Bites and mini corn dogs and frozen egg breakfast trays— but my mom was a SAHM so the groceries were almost always her responsibility).

I wonder if this is a gendered/default parent thing- do women or family caretakers buy ingredients? Are we socially shamed for selecting pre-made stuff in a way that the partner who is in the role of household helper is not?

What about you? Ingredients or meals, and is your partner the same? Is your shopping preference about gendered expectations or is it a result of the way you grew up?

Souvenirs

It is not possible, in my experience, to explain to a 2 year-old that the fresh new snow is not actually snowman snow. I heard my neighbor tell her kindergartener a couple weeks ago that the snow was not sledding sow, but that’s crap. Any snow is sledding snow, but sometimes parents don’t want to go sledding. Only wet snow can make a real snowman, though. But powder? Makes a pretty good snow blob. Also, we have gotten OVER A FOOT of snow since that picture. GAH.

Other things we have: A SICK KID. It’s Dorothy, who spiked a 101-degree fever on Saturday afternoon but was feeling fine when I snapped this pic of 2 sisters choosing earrings (it was pajama day at school, hence Dorothy’s pajama pants. Minnie goes absolutely nowhere on Fridays, so she wears he princess nighties as long as she wants to).

Dorothy and Cooper have not had COVID yet, so every time one of them gets sick, I am really worried. So far, D is negative on home tests, but I might take her for a strep test just to make sure it’s not that. She just had flu-A, but maybe she got lucky and now has B?

She had dance, swim, and cheerleading on Sunday, so her illness simplified a busy day #silverlining

On Friday night, we got to watch Jack dive at a home meet, and he made the final round! It was so fun to watch him excel at something he loves. I can’t believe he’s a high school athlete already. HE WAS JUST A BEBE.

So, Minnie adores this library dollhouse so much, I kind of want to buy one for the basement. But will she love it as much if she can play with it every day?

Minnie kept stage whispering I BE SO KIET (quiet) and I WEALLY KIET at the dive meet, so she and I watched the majority of the action from the lobby instead of the bleachers. Coop has a dive meet in Chicago in a couple weeks, and I think one of us is going to have to stay home with Min because despite her declarations, she is not actually so quiet, really quiet, or even KIND OF quiet.

She has had basically no practice at eating out, but we are sloooowly working on that, one plate of pancakes at a time.

Pro-tip: If you ever need your toddler to sit still for a few minutes, give them a mani pedi they really like and tell them to be super careful while it dries.

4th place in oratory!

Someday I will love telling Minnie that she liked to play in her teen brothers’ dirty sheets while I changed their beds.

Strings concert (that we got to watch on YouTube- thanks for real, COVID) on pajama day—ha!

We definitely ordered a sugar cookie appetizer.

Another thing I got recently? A really unfortunate dye job. I was just supposed to get my existing gray-covering high and lowlights retouched, but I ended up… a brassy blond. Probably I should have called the salon back the next day and asked for a fix, but is there one? And won;t that make everything awkward?

After I dropped Dorothy off at dance last week, Minnie and I went to Ulta in search of purple shampoo and conditioner to tone it a little, so it’s not brassy anymore. But still very blond.

Minnie LOVES Ulta, BTW. I think it’s because the merch goes all the way down to the ground, and all of the makeup is open on display. Minnie licked 2 blushers and a powder compact before I could stop her. And she found her hold-still nail color

 

5 (new dresses) on a Friday

 Amazingly, all of the super clearance dresses I ordered from LOFT are AWESOME, and I am keeping them. Well. I am keeping them all. A couple of them are not maybe awesome and one is super cute IRL but photographs poorly. I wore one with leggings to The Little Gym on Thursday, and it looked pretty terrible in the full-length mirror there, but I blame my hair and earring choices, really. 

ANYWAY. Let me show these dresses because I can’t even believe I liked them all. We have a LOFT nearby, so I figured I would just return what I didn’t like, but I am pretty sure I liked them all. Enough to keep. For less than $30/dress.

Smocked flounce dress: I am a petite medium in this one, and I like it A LOT. It looks kind of meh IRL with leggings, and mini Uggs TBH, but I think it will be really cute in the spring with a jean jacket and Air Force 1’s. 

Plaid swing shirt dress: I also got a PM in this one but I really should have bought a small. It’s tricky with button-ups at LOFT because sometimes they gap, even though I have small breasts **shrug** This is my very favorite style of dress and one I have bought a million times in my life from childhood, through high school, through RIGHT NOW. I plan to do gray tights and red ultra mini Uggs with this one, but my red cowboy books would be cute, too. It is WAY CUTER in person than in this pic (but I could size down).

It’s super soft flannel and I heart the  teeny red stripe

Yes. We have separate beds.

Leopard print midi shirt dress: THIS IS NOT LEOPARD PRINT; I think it is important to note. ALSO, this dress is my least favorite. It’s just kind of blah. I was torn on a 4 or a 6, and I went with a 6 because it buttons up the front. It fits fine and is super comf. I have a really cute pair of strappy-ish suede leopard heels and a pair of really cute navy booties that would look good this one, and I think I have some earrings and eyeliner that will make it pop. I do love a petite midi dress, though, because that length is so fun but SO TRICKY when you are super short. I think I could do sweater tights, mini Uggs, and a chunky white cardigan, too, if I want to be cozy and teach my class.

Cute

I think

Cuter on her

NOT LEOPARD— also NOT a tummy pooch but the pattern is questionable.

Vine smocked flounce dress: I also have a TON of dresses like this— sheer arms, floaty with a belted waist, rando floral pattern. I got a medium in this one, and really a small would be better maybe but the belt makes it work. I have purple tights and purple booties to wear.

Can I just say, I am using wrinkle treatment on my lips to help exfoliate and moisturize EVERY SINGLE DAY and they are still chapped little nothings?! Also, if you have proportionately heavy arms like I do, sheer sleeves are SO GOOD. Also, clearly I will not wear ANY of these with a sports bra IRL.

Flecked button back swing dress: I have an almost identical dress from Anthro that’s striped, and this one is EVEN CUTER. I got a PS, and it was the right call FOR SURE. The back buttons are too cute. I will do blue booties with this one or maybe my ancient Frye riding boots, assuming they still fit my calves (LOL but also crying face, and not the happy one).

My class only meets once a week this semester, so this haul takes me just about to spring break. Definitely shop the LOFT super clearance— it’s so good. Anybody buy anything cute lately?

Toddler life lately

Oh, Minnie. She’s the most wonderful thing to wake up to. After 6 am. She’s so boisterous and ridiculous. You should see her do yoga with me. It is such a joy to look at the mat next to you and see 35 pounds of toddler hugging her knees to her chest or holding her fat little hands at heart’s center. Today the video told us to feel our bodies, and she started patting her stomach. I can’t get enough. Which is good because she is my shadow.

Minnie and I are loving our routine, you guys. Swim class! Gym class with a cookie after! Trips to the library, watching tons of TV while I answer emails. Every day is a delight.

Can you even believe she made me take this out and just do a plain old low braid over her shoulder? NOT ENOUGH VISUAL INTEREST IN THE FRONT, she said. (She is the funniest person I know).

Sometimes butterflies need to make a call, you know?

Have I shared this amazing lazy mom enrichment hack? Store all the puzzle pieces in one basket and dump them all out at once. (I keep the boards on the bottom book shelf) Not only does she have to do the puzzles (which individually are a little too easy for her), but she also has to sort the pieces. Takes a loooong time and holds her interest. WINNING.

She loves to bake. Every day she asks to make something specific, and I am here for it. This was a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

This week, she really really really wanted Ben to go to The Little Gym with her, and he was able to make it work on the way to a meeting (like he left the big red mat and went straight there— I had to tag team and help Minnie get her stamp, etc— as soon as Ben was done banging that drum (it’s a Little Gym joke--maybe too niche), he was OUT). How adorbs are these pictures? I forgot to mention to Ben that Minnie NEVER does the warm up, so he cajoled her the whole time and took her non-participation personally

Why is my bag always such a mess??

 Even though I am lifting weights 5 times a week (THEY ARE SMALL WEIGHTS, and I DO NOT LIFT THEM VERY LONG. BUT STILL), I could not even carry my work bag up the stairs to my office the other day. Like, instead of putting it on my shoulder, I sort of held the straps with both hands and lugged it in front of me.

The first thing I did when I got to my office was sort out the mess because that was an untenable situation if ever there was one. (Hello, dear. YOUR PRIVILEGE IS SHOWING).

Ok. Seriously though. IT WAS BULGING when I threw it (heaved it, really) onto the table in my office:

Sooooo, I took everything out

It’s a big bag that holds tons of stuff, but I was astounded by the amount of just unnecessary and odd stuff in there. A potato postcard from a supper club? An empty sunglasses case that went with NEITHER of the 2 pairs of sunglasses? Why???

I also took out the bag organizer I bought on Amazon that briefly changed my life before I gave up and let my purse become a trash can again.

And I organized all the junk into rough piles by sort-of type

Do I need to carry enough maxi pads for a junior high health class and 8 lightly used KN-95 masks? No. 5 pairs of glasses? Probably not. I left most of the pads, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of driving glasses, the big thing of wipes, the fork, one of the hand sanitizers, and all but one of the most salvageable masks in my office for later. Then I drank the coffee and water and ate the food, so at least I don’t have to carry that stuff around anymore.

I contemplated moving some lipsticks to my desk, but you just never know when you might need one of 4 that are practically the same freaking color, so I left them just to be safe.

Lancôme Caprice, MAC Ruby Woo, Lancôme French Tea, Maybelline Enjoy the View

(I moved the Clinique classic Black Honey to the cute little wristlet part of my bag, along with my keys, because that’s the part I take with me when I go for a walk, etc)

Also room for gum, AirPods, and my wallet— what else could I need? (Also this is the part of my bag that I grab if I am going out in a non-work context and don’t want to take a larger purse— love it).

SO MUCH RANDOM stuff still. But who’s to say when you will want a Golden Girls pin for your lapel or some allergy eye drops? MUST BE PREPARED.

The final result is still too crowded (the library book is for my hair appointment after work and should have stayed in the car— I resented its weight the whole way up from the garage)

BUT!! I found a $10 swim school snack card that I lost after just one punch, and that was an excellent surprise.

Better??

Anyone else a hoarder inside your own purse? How do you pare it down to the below-ridiculous level??