Monday, February 9, 2015

at the mall



We went to the mall yesterday.  To the mall....

Don't get me started.  As I said yesterday the mall is the one place you can see everything that is wrong with the world in one place.  I don't know what was worse the girls standing in clumps together but all separately listening to ipods or looking down at phones, the woman who walked past a display and knocked down about six necklaces with her bags and when her daughter said "Mom" the mother replied, "Just leave it" and walked on, or the shopkeepers who walked around products strewn all over the floor,  the Starbucks cup left in the middle of a shelf display of children's clothes in Target or the lady in Forever XXI who when the lady behind the counter called her over asked her to throw away her two drink cups.  The saving grace was the book store which we saved until last.  Ahhh, the peace of a room full of books.  The girls were annoyed by a bunch of boys their age who were getting a kick out of raucously riding up and down the escalators, but I managed to lose myself in the religion and poetry sections while the girls browsed their own section.  The bookstore was our biggest prize, with my getting a book I had been wanting and this adorable copy of Little Women, the girls talked me into buying for myself (you never get anything for you).  Em came out with a collection of Sherlock Holmes and K brought home three books she had loved.  Normally we get our books at the library and save buying books for the ones we really want to hold onto, so we did allow ourselves a little indulgence.

In the end, we didn't spend too much.  Em got a few buttons for her knapsack, a red hair bow, some brush markers and the Sherlock Holmes book.  K got some hairbands, earrings and her books and I got a couple of books and a birthday card and gift for my sister.

It was nice to get out.  We've had too many days sheltered inside from the cold.  The temperature climbed up to 58 degrees and so brightened our spirits past the annoyances of the "mall people".  

The girls are spending their own money which means that I don't get annoyed at the things they buy and they get to decide what is really worth spending their hard earned money on.

We survived.  The best part was that my girls were annoyed by all these uncaring and disrespectful people as well, so at least I know I am training them up right.



 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

the morning hour




Morning.  My time.  The girls are on their way to school.  So grateful that as they have grown older I have been gifted this hour between when they and I leave.  So much happens in this hour.  I breathe for one.  Getting two girls out of bed, dressed, breakfast in them and out the door can be irritating on the best days like World War III on the worst.

But here sits this hour.  I can browse online, wash dishes, throw in a load of laundry, brew a batch of tea, listen to some classical music and write this.  This is a gift this hour to someone like me who works best in small batches.  I remember learning about "transition" time for wee ones when my girls were young.  How you give them that little warning/window before you move onto something else.  I find as an adult I need that even more.

So here is to those little bits of time we find.  The ones that mean the most.  Small blessings.

The blessing of clean dishes in the sink.