Saturday, March 27, 2010

pink sparkly hearts

last saturday pete and I got to go on a real date.  his mom was in town and we took a few afternoon hours to ourselves...it was really nice to be together.  we went to the mall so that pete could get his new glasses looked at, and I happened to make a stop at claire's.  because I am secretly still 15 and like to go look at all those earrings and glittered hair accessories.  I bought some little metal flower ear bobs that came in about 10 different colors.

when we got home eden was enamored with my purchase.  she wanted to wear those "beautiful earrings" like mommy does.  I told her she had to have holes in her ears and it would feel like a shot, and that she would cry.  she said she wouldn't cry...and that she wanted holes like mommy.  she'd said this before, but I just dismissed it like the other times.  the next morning she kept saying the same thing.  she wouldn't cry...she wanted to wear mommy's earrings.  so, to walmart we went.  I was prepared for her to see the little ear hole making guns and turn the other way.  but she didn't!  they put little dots on her ears, two walmart ladies stood on either side of her, and she kept smiling. until...they fired.  then the tears flowed.

thankfully, they were short lived.  and her beautiful pink sparkly heart earrings (that she picked out) look so sweet in her little ears.  I had to wait until I was a lot older to get my ears pierced.  it was a family rule.  a right of passage into grown-up girlhood.  I guess I have decided that my girls can get them done whenever they ask and are willing to go through with it.  in el paso little girls get their ears pierced right after they leave the birth canal.  I think it is all just cultural. 

and in case you were wondering.  I won't just let her get a tattoo whenever she asks.  I got one when I was 17 and am going to advise all of my kids to wait a few years after that to decide on permanent inkage.  I won't let her do a lot of things whenever she asks.  but earrings, I'm cool with.

Monday, March 08, 2010

wooden clothespins

"we should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry" --E. B. White

I tore that quote out of a real simple magazine, and put it up in my kitchen. I don't agree with it completely, but I really really like it.  we should do what gives us joy, but we should also bring joy to others, and serve, and a lot of other things.
we used to have a grape vine at the house I grew up in on milford church road.  but I remember liking to pick honeysuckle better than picking grapes.  and sorting laundry was NEVER my favorite.  however, the smell of fresh laundry dried on the line, or watching my mom hang it with wooden clothespins in her mouth in the big backyard...those memories definitely bring me joy.  
since I started cloth diapering charlotte we recently put up a small clothesline.  and it makes me happy every time I see it.  I love hanging her diapers up to dry in the sunshine.  we have had some beautiful weather and I've taken advantage of it as often as I can.  swinging, sliding, drying diapers, and just being barefoot in the yard bring me joy.