some not terrible things

I've been in the throes of a really ugly baditude lately. Really!! ugly!! Or as Julia would say, "riddy ugwee". I'm just kind of ready for the super tough days to be the exception and not the rule around here. I wouldn't be acting all sorts of Anne Shirley post Diana Barry's raspberry cordial/currant wine debac if only Simon's schedule were a little more forgiving, if only my clothes would just fit semi-properly, if only all three kids could stop timing their wake up times to perfectly coincide every single morning, and if only it wasn't the worst kind of weather ever: COLDER THAN CURSE. If .......... times a trill.

So ... I've been really dreading this weekend with every fiber of my broody being because Simon is working so many MANY hours. Fortunately I've (finally) come to realize that the anticipation of these types of weekends is usually worse than the actual weekend. Of course I start the anticipation a solid 5-7 full days prior to the awful because my name is Grace and my childhood heroine was Rainbow Bright.

Cutting to the cheery chase ... soon. Here is a list of some surprisingly happyish things that have been going on around here. Just let me stray into the land of optimism and promise for a few ...

We got to visit Simon twice today I think the van could easily get itself to the hospital sans driver by now. Julia's thing of the day yesterday was a friend's birth announcement which she (of course!) clutched and took to the hospital to visit Simon. On the way out tonight she purposefully opened a drawer in one of the lobby side tables and retrieved said announcement. I guess she had tucked it away for safekeeping away from big bad Bash? Hopefully she starts depositing some other 'things of the day' in her secret drawer as well (little Dora doll, medium Dora doll, and big Dora doll .... for starters).

Julia-led potty training I know. She's been asking and I've been obliging. I don't expect it to last and I think I'll probably never leave the house with her not diapered but ... it's a start.

Theo takes a pacifier sort of for short periods of time. I really really appreciate it because the Julia-led potty training requires a lot of Grace's time and talent.

Nine dollar boots from Forever XXI and they don't even have that signature plastic heel that's meant to look like wood. My trips to the hospital cafeteria just got a little bit fancy and ridiculous looking.

Two songs on repeat this one (the coolest. I played the violin many moons ago but now I wish I'd taken up the cello. One of the kids can do it for me ... perfect) and this one (judge me, please).

I worked out for 15 unenthusiastic minutes this morning in between runnnnning upstairs to replace Theo's pacifier and breaking up the 99 fights that Julia and Sebastian (HOW? Sebastian knows two words) got into. I didn't do much more than march in place and lift one three pound weight as high as my clavicle one time but again ... a start.

I made something sort of healthy because while I'm not ready to give up my multiple daily handfuls of chocolate chips, spoonfuls of peanut butter, or general gluttony altogether I saw that Janssen had made these No-Bake Brown Butter Quinoa Bars and I was intrigued. We'll see if they pass the Simon "I hate quinoa" test tomorrow.

Julia is making a concerted effort to say "Sebastian"and it sounds exactly like "Sir Bastard".


Smile.