Dorothy's Seventh Birthday Party

Because I am a totally terrible mother, I tried SO HARD to talk Dorothy out of having a birthday party at home.  SO HARD, you guys. 

But, alas.

(Seriously, though. Told her she could have it at any party place in town, reminded her that she could have a way bigger party if it was someplace besides our house, etc).

She wanted a sleepover, but we did that for Cooper's birthday, and I just. It was. Nope. So, and this is GENIUS, we had a sleepUNDER. The party was late (5:30-7:30-- these are six-and-seven-year -olds here), and we told everyone to wear their jammies. We had pizza and watched a movie and then THEY WENT HOME AND SLEPT IN THEIR OWN BEDS.  Perfect!!

The theme was llamas and unicorns and llamacorns (BUT MOSTLY LLAMAS, MOM), and I patted myself on the back for days about these rainbow llamacorn jammies from Children's Place.

 She told me she wanted a tall teal cake.

 SO TEAL. OMG.  I have to tell you, teal frosting? Just does not do it for me. Call me crazy.

 Party favors! Llama coloring books.

 And unicorn glitter crayons.

 Super cute, huh?

We made a quick balloon run the morning of the party, but otherwise, this was a chill party.

I raided our art bin to set up a little bag decorating table so the kids could decorate lunch bags to use for their pinata candy (and then Cooper jumped the pinata line and no one really even got a turn, so that was awkward).

 Posing with her monstrosity of a cake before her guests arrived.

 And of course the balloon she's in love with

 They greeted each new arrival by opening the door and running screaming outside, which gave the new kid a pretty good idea of what to expect.

 We sent most of the balloons out the door--phew!

 Making a wish!

 I was out of red food coloring.

Seriously, this was a just fine party.  They had pizza, popcorn, juice boxes, and fruit snacks downstairs and watched--- I am not sure.  Dorothy wanted Dora the Explorer, but someone was scared of it. Then they almost watched Ugly Dolls, but I think they went with a Wimpy Kid movie? Not sure.  Cooper threw on a dragon onesie and went downstairs to supervise. They also played with random basement toys and had a dance off before finishing the night with cake, ice cream, and presents.

Ben and I had everything cleaned up by 8, and everyone went to bed at their normal time.

And guess what?  She wants a home party again next year because of course.

Everything BUT Dorothy's Birthday Party

I know this is not the place you come for breaking Internet news, but you guys! If you haven't seen Elizabeth Warren's SNL Tik Tok, you must spare literally 10 seconds to watch THIS.

Worth it, right?

I am actually sadder than I thought I would have been now that my choices are two old white guys. I voted for Hillary in the 2008 primary and then in the primary and general in 2016, and I just love walking into a voting booth and knowing I am voting for a woman president. WI doesn't vote until April, so I knew it was a long shot that Warren would still be in, but she's been my top choice this whole primary season, followed closely by Amy Klobuchar. Klobuchar's concession/endorsement speech nearly killed me, and it looked like she had spent the whole day Hillary-by-the-hotel-elevator-ugly-crying all her make up off, too, which made it even worse. I cried a little during Warren's driveway press conference and her Rachel Maddow interview.  But then she explained why the Trump administration is so ruinously horrible with their coronavirus response in such clear and easy-to-understand terms, and I was like WOAH. AMERICA IS NOT READY FOR THIS LEVEL OF TRUTH.

I have been mainlining cable news and The Circus on Showtime and any Crooked Media anything, and you better believe I am so excited to vote blue in November, but I do feel a bit defeated already.

As I write this (on the elliptical, walking 4 miles an hour, so that's why there are always typos), I hear Harry and Jack crying at each other in the family room.  Usually in the morning, they fight a little getting dressed, but this actually sounds like crying.  The days after spring forward are ROUGH. I usually get 50 minutes in, but this morning I will be lucky to slog through 35 because I could not get up.

I just said, "Guys, be nice. I don't care who's doing what.  Just from now on be nice," and that was just about as effective as you would think it was.

OMG it has been like FIVE HOURS since I started writing this, ad now my office hours are coming to an end, and I am getting ready to teach! my! class!

Gah. Mondays.

I want to tell you all about Dorothy's birthday party, which she had at our house, despite my pleas that she have it anywhere else in the universe.  But, alas.  OK.  Here's pictures of everything BUT Dorothy's party.

Dorothy discovered Britney Spears and is a HUGE FAN.  I feel like I am doing my job.

 Ben and I have started going out to dinner at least once a weekend.  I like it.

 PANIC SHOPPING

 Harry had his last hockey game as a Polar Cap.  He got a hat trick.

 WE CAN PLAY OUTSIDE AGAIN. It;s like y tiny house has doubled in size.

 My pedicure is 6 weeks old and still perfect.  Also, I am a Dr. Scholl's addict.

 THIS BOOK is every bit as good as it used to be, and Dorothy and Cooper agree.

Anxiety shopping

After writing a really even keeled pandemic shopping post both here and at Madison Mom, I went apeshit today and BOUGHT ALL OF THE THINGS. Like, we have to organize our shelf by TYPE of canned good like it's a supermarket.  Anxiety FTW!

Also, as always:

SPRIIIIIIING!

It's almost spring!

 We ditched the winter coats! And switched to rain boots for all of the melt.

 We are drinking ice cream for lunch!

 And playing baseball in the front yard!

Even though today's news cycle is a big! fat! bummer! SPRING IS COMING!

Pandemic Prep Shopping. Of course I am.

Is anyone surprised that I am a thousand percent into pandemic prep?

No?

I didn't think so.

I read this Scientific American blog and was totally persuaded (baaaaaaaa), so here's what I did:

1. Evaluated our grocery supply. I think we always have 2 weeks of food in the house on any given day. Is it all food I'd be excited to eat? No way. But it's there.
2. Decided to buy extra dry and frozen goods every week at the store (not a lot-- this week, I bought more processed stuff than usual and spent less than $40 more).
3. Subscribed to more paper products, etc from Amazon. We let our Costco membership lapse, so I have been doing all of my bulk shopping on Amazon, and I really like not worrying about paper products, dog food, this one tea I really like and can't find in town, etc. (Yes, I have ethical problems with Amazon, but I also have ethical problems with the demands on middle-class working women with kids, and if my kitchen robot can help me shop for my things and take away the mental and physical burden of hauling so much shit into the house all of the time, then it's a trade off I am making right now).
4. Stocked up on all of our OTC meds, Cooper's inhalers, and other prescription drugs. What's an FSA account for if not to pay full price for stuff the insurance won't cover because it's not time for a refill (EYE ROLL TIMES ONE THOUSAND)?

Things I still need to do:
1. Buy a vat of hand sanitizer before other panic preppers like me hoard it all
2. Stock up on bleach, Lysol, vinegar, hand soap, laundry detergent, and dish soap
3. Make sure all of the bathrooms are fully stocked with lotion, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc

Again, these are all things we normally have in the house and buy on the regular. I just don't want to be in a position where I have to run out and get them.

Things I am not buying:
MASKS.

Why? Simple. They don't prevent you from getting the virus. Healthcare professionals who are always around sick or immunosuppressed people needs them. They make you wash your hands less frequently and touch your face more often because you feel a false sense of protection.

Am I the only doomsday shopper I know? Anything else I should make sure to buy?

February What I Read

All right, friends. This year's reading challenge is proof that low expectations lead to low performance.  I am creeping along, barely on pace to hit 100 books.

Here's my month:

You can skip these:

7. Tweet Cute by Emma Lord: Meh.  (YA, though, so I am not sure how much more I was expecting.)
6. Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman: NOT MY FAVORITE, but I really wanted it to be.  It's an OK thriller, but don't expect more.

Better than they should have been:

5. Little Darlings by Melanie Golding: A random library walk-in thriller that did not disappoint. Super creepy and good commentary on motherhood.
4. After the End by Clare Mackintosh: This is kind of schlocky, but I was HOOKED.

So confused about this one:

3. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: WHAT WAS THIS BOOK ABOUT? I HAVE NO IDEA. But, wow, she is a helluva writer.  If you are not sure about this one-- and you should not be-- just re-read The Night Circus instead.

WINNERS! READ THEM!

2. Why We Can't Sleep by Ada Calhoun: This was fantastic, and if you are new to middle age, you should absolutely read it.
1. Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener: This is a terrific Silicon Valley memoir.  Loved it from the first sentence-- the author's voice is absolutely perfect, and the whole thing is so dry, biting, sad, funny-- read it!

A long week of nothing much

As you could tell form the approximately ZERO POSTS last week, it was a slow one around here.  

Ben got over the flu, and Jack missed a couple of days with a cough and a headache, and I wallowed in work deadlines and all of the house stuff.  Maybe drowned is a better word?  

Ben threw his back out and was completely out of commission a couple of weeks ago, meaning I had to do all of the things.  Then he got the flu and was SO FREAKING SICK, so more burden-- rightly-- fell on me.  BUT with these 2 things in a row, I am starting to really feel the squeeze at work.

I made a genius solution, though. I scheduled a meeting last week to set deadlines for an amorphous but really time-consuming project I am working on.  Then I made an appointment for the week after next to film videos.  This means I MUST write the scripts for these video lectures next week no excuses. Way to force myself to get the work done, huh?

I have also returned to inbox zero, meaning not only do I clear out all of my emails everyday, but I also do all of the things the emails are asking me to do everyday.  So many letters of rec written the day they're requested! That March 25 exam is COPIED AND READY TO GO.  It's shockingly awesome.

Other things I did last week: learned a new braid technique

 Disinfected the heck out of the living room when Ben felt better enough to leave the couch

 Looked at all of my favorite IG influencers selling spring break stuff and bought this coat:

 Dorothy was busy getting a head start on her school birthday by making this poster.  She worked really hard on it, as you can tell from the fact that every inch of the page is covered!

If you want to hear more about me being a pregnant old lady (AND WHY WOULDN'T YOU?), you can read my newest Madison Mom post right here.