Archive - May, 2005

victorian ladies

By on May 6, 2005 in Home, homemaking 36

Once upon a time, we had a horribly outdated and badly damaged bathroom that I hated. Some of the damage was done by the previous owners and some by us. When Lydia and Jessica were toddlers, I thought they were giggling and playing in their room. I was frantically trying to get some things done while they were occupied. What I didn’t know was that they were in the bathroom, with cups, dumping toilet water on each others heads! They were soaked and so was the entire bathroom. This incident along with a hot water heater leak and a plumbing leak, did the bathroom in.

One day, I could no longer take it and I began to gut the thing. That was several months ago. Last week we had a remodeler come and replace sheet rock and the floor. They laid ceramic tile on the floor and tiled around the tub. I am sooooo excited to have this bathroom back. It can’t get done soon enough. I want to take my bathroom back from the kids! One toilet is not enough for 5 people! The new toilet is being installed on Monday! I took before pictures and I can’t wait to take pictures of the finished product. The above picture is a sneak peak! It is the wallpaper border I ordered today!!! I love the paint color, too!!!! It will be green with a bronze metallic top coat!

It was soooo fun shopping! Karen went with me. I think she was as excited as I was. She’s that kind of friend.

I found a couple of great decorations at a garage sale last week. I’m delighted about a mirror and shower curtain that I saw at Lowes. Gotta have them! Karen bought me some awesome shower curtain hooks! They look like those old fashion glass knobs. I wanted this bathroom to be girlie for my little ladies but also something they wouldn’t outgrow. It’s been a while since I have decorated, which you can probably tell from my excitement!!

“You may be a princess or the richest woman in the world, but you cannot be more than a lady.”
Jennie Jerome Churchill

poetry reading

By on May 5, 2005 in friendship, Home 8

My dear childhood friend, Elizabeth, came over a few weeks ago for lunch. We drank cappuccinos, regular coffee and Pepsi and ate vegetable soup and warm Italian bread dipped in olive oil and sea salt. We had very relaxing conversation. (this sounds like news from a little hometown paper from the 1920′s!) The best part of it was the poetry reading. Elizabeth has a car full of literature and poetry. It’s stacked all over her seats like a messy portable library. She saw my blog and my T.S. Eliot quote. She went to her car and found the poem that the quote comes from. I sat and sipped coffee while she read me poetry. It was soooo relaxing… I thought this poem by Benjamin Alire Saenz was incredibly beautiful. She gave me a copy. She’s a college literature/comp teacher! She has copies of everything!

TO THE DESERT

I came to you one rainless August night.
You taught me how to live without the rain.
You are thirst and thirst is all I know.
You are sand, wind, sun, and burning sky,
The hottest blue. You blow a breeze and brand
Your breath into my mouth. You reach-then bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
You wrap your name tight around my ribs
And keep me warm. I was born for you.
Above , below, by you, by you surrounded.
I wake to you at dawn. Never break your
Knot. Reach, rise, blow, Salvame, mi dios,
Tragame, mi tierra. Salva, traga, Break me,
I am bread. I will be the water for your thirst.

busy toddler days

By on May 3, 2005 in Home, homemaking, kiddos 17

I had this post all written and Anjelia climbed onto the computer desk and deleted it, so I guess I’ll try again!!!!

As Mother’s Day approaches, I am reminded of how thankful I am to be a mom. Especially since I am the mom of four little daughters. I am so glad that James and I took risks to form our family!

Anjelia has been keeping me so busy. Last week she learned how to climb onto my kitchen countertops. She gets into things before I have time to notice. All my makeup has been dug in with her little fingernails. My lipstick tubes look like they have been half eaten. If she gets a chance to get out the front door, she is halfway to the street before I can get through the door to run after her. Everytime she sees me coming she runs faster and throws whatever she’s not supposed to have. She got in trouble at MDO for getting mad and hitting 3 or 4 other toddlers.

The fourth one has definitely been more difficult to keep up with than the others!! It’s been that way since infancy. One morning, I left her at home in her car seat. Imagine my horror when I realized she wasn’t in the car. It was so embarrassing when I pulled up to Mother’s Day Out and an old youth group friend wanted to see the new baby and she wasn’t in the car!! I’ll never fully recover. It haunts me everytime I go somewhere. I have to keep looking back to make sure she’s still there! I think that day caused permanent psychological damage.

You’ve probably read this before and I’d hate to bore you, but this a great description of life as a new mom.

Before I was a Mom -

I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mom -

I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunization.

Before I was a Mom -

I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Spit on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom -

I never held down a screaming child
So that doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom -

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much,
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -

I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
The joy,
The love,
The heartache,
The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

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