me: one photo at a time

So.. lately my trusty hair (wrist) bands have been dying on me… snapping one by one. :( I finally had to force my cheap ass to the store and buy some more.

Name that band.

(Psst… Presidents of the United States of America.)

My son is a lot like me. He’s like the mini boy version of me, really. Except he looks like his dad. Two of his (our) favorite things are books and miniature things. Recently Riley discovered the Mr. Men series (we’ve had a few of them for awhile but for some reason he’s just now started to really like them). So I bought him Mr. Small and gave it to him yesterday, thinking he’d like it. I was right. The boy was positively GIDDY over the idea of a miniature mr. man.

The way he was talking about Mr. Small after we read the book made me think of when I read Indian in the Cupboard so long ago and I used to daydream about having miniature figures come to life, haha.

“I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It’s so fuckin’ heroic.” -George Carlin

We went out to breakfast for Father’s Day this morning. It was Boo’s first time in a restaurant, she did really well. Until it was time to pay – she started getting restless (bit of her father in her, hehe) so I took her outside and we sat and watched people coming and going.

It looks like it’s just dirt dirt there, where the grass is growing, but it is actually just a really messy cement job.

…how I’m feeling by looking at my socks.

I’ve noticed that when I’m tired (or cranky or depressed) I tend to go for my comfy Hanes socks. When I’m happier then I wear my fun socks. My husband is the one who pointed it out – and it’s true.

That little figure on my feet is a Homie. These stupid little toys that you can get in the machines at the supermarket. My son loves them, they are the perfect size to ride in his trucks. I don’t know why I stuck it on my feet for the photo.

I know the picture sucks but whatever, it’s the only one I took (of myself) today.

Since the menu planning has been going so well (seriously, that isn’t sarcasm) I started thinking about doing the cleaning the same way. I clean a lot. Especially when I’m upset or sad or angry or stressed – anything but perfectly happy, really. I figured that I may as well just do a schedule for that, then I could spend a little less time cleaning and a little more time doing more enjoyable (or at least more normal) things. So I sat down this morning and made one out. I only have 2 or 3 things to do each day (aside from the general picking up) so I’m hoping it works.

I have reached a point where I have got to make some changes in my life. I am so stressed out lately that my head hurts all the time, I’m depressed and pretty much downright miserable. Which, while no picnic for me, has got to be horrible for the people I live with.

Kent’s vacation was a bit hectic and I’m not the kind of person who thrives on things like that. I’d rather keep to myself and have the world keep to itself. I’ve recently discovered that if I break down my days (and weeks) into manageable pieces then I DO have time for everything and everyone (with less stress). Plus I’ll know what needs to be done ahead of time and there won’t be any of that frantic last minute crap that I tend to pull.

I’m babbling. I’ll stop now.

Lately, despite my best efforts to steer Boo toward more boyish activities (like cars & trains and dirt piles, which is what I am used to) she has been really into DOLLS. It is just weird to me because there aren’t any babies around (none that she would have seen get fed with a bottle anyway) and still she knows that a bottle is to feed a baby, and she wraps her doll (it’s a cabbage patch newborn, she calls it “snuggle baby”) in a blanket, puts it down for a nap, pretends to change the doll’s diaper, etc. It’s really cute but I’m just BAD at stuff like that. I’m all right with real babies but I was never one to play with dolls. I suck at pretending.

So ANYHOW (I sure know how to make a short story long) we’ve found a middle ground – the Little People. She LOVES this house and anytime I suggest playing with it she jumps up and says, “Yeah!” and runs to it. She’s too cute. With the doll house I don’t have to do much except do a mommy voice (you know, a high pitched “Hi baby!”) and knock on the door once in awhile.

I have so many little gifts from Monkey. I’m not the kind of person that can just toss them to the side, either. I usually take a photo (pretty close to this one) and then I put the gift (whether it’s a rock, a flower, a feather, a leaf or something else) in one of the keepsake boxes. It drives Kent crazy that I keep all of them (he IS the kind of person who casually drops things like that on the ground as soon as the kid turns around) but oh well! :)

P.S. Quite a few people on flickr thought this was a tooth… it’s not. It’s a rock that he gave me.

Yes. I’m mean. That’s Boo’s hand reaching to take it away from me.

My yard’s not ALWAYS so messy. We just had everything all out because Kent had just mown the lawn.

I get half the titles for my photos from Boo. (Only she actually said “pwibby hay-ah.”)

It’s too fucking hot and I’m in the middle of breakdown #873 so.. yeah.