My Windows Are Sooooo Sparkly!

It was another gorgeous fall day, and we spent it . . . cleaning. While I do admit to having a certain sense of satisfaction now that the garage has been swept, the yard edged, trimmed and mowed, and the windows washed, another part of me feels like we wasted a perfectly good day. It's frustrating to try to juggle the girls and get things done at the same time, so any cleaning task takes approximately 8 times longer than it would have before kids.

When you first have a baby and your life is turned upside-down, you are faced with a few choices about how your cleaning will proceed. They are:

1. Keep your house less clean than you used to.
2. Use most of your "free" time for cleaning (in the evenings and any time the kids nap or are not around).
3. Pay someone else to do it.

So far, I've been using a combination of #1 and #2. When I find myself with a few moments during the day or after the girls go to bed, I try to throw in a load of laundry or clean a bathroom. However, the house just never really seems "together," so I'm probably keeping things less clean than I used to. After all, if I spent all my "free" time cleaning up, when would I talk to my husband? When would I read a book? When would I blog? =)

I try not to care, but I do have the good, clean Dutch genes in me somewhere. And those Dutch genes are what's keeping me from using solution #3. The guilt! The horrors of paying someone hard-earned money to do what you could do better than they would do it! Seriously, though, after one recent Saturday cleaning-spree episode, I sank onto the couch at night and asked Jason, "Does it really take this much work to run a household?" We thought about it, and then decided that, yes, it does. A little depressing, I think. How many more years until Annie can wash floors?

Go, Jemma!

Today marks Jemma's 9-month birthday. Truly, the time is flying by (and I never thought I'd say that about any part of raising an infant). She celebrated by puking a little on the Cook's carpet and taking two, 30-minute naps total today. Also, by rubbing her pear-and-pea-covered hands vigorously through her hair at dinnertime. She's adorable and spunky, and I love watching her turn from a baby into a toddler.

Last night's dinner out was a treat. We tried a new restaurant in East Hills called the Green Well, and it was a great combination of good drinks, interesting food, and a fun atmosphere. It's so exciting to go somewhere and feel like grown-ups for an hour or two. Plus, the girls never knew we were gone . . .

Tonight, by contrast, was the first night this week that Jason's been home early enough to eat dinner with the family. We had chicken stew while Annie filled him in on her day, which was full of Twinkle Toes dancing, a grocery store trip, and playing with Ben, Alex, Grace, and some other friends in the Cook's toy-filled house.

After putting Jemma to bed, I came upstairs to find Annie in the shower, happily singing "Doe a Deer" to Jason and mostly getting the words right. We are finding that bath/shower time is some good one-on-one time with Annie, and we usually have some notable conversations. Last night in the tub, for example:

Annie: "Mom, why doesn't that frog have cheeks?" in reference to the frog-head on the hand soap dispenser.

Me: "I don't know, I guess frogs don't really have cheeks."

Annie: "Why, Mom? Whyyyyy?"

Me: "That's just how God made frogs." (This is a variation of my standard answer when I have no idea . . . blame God.)

Annie: "Who's God?"

Me: "You know, God's the person who made the world and you and me and frogs"

Annie: "Like at church and Sunday School?"

Me: "Yep, that God."

Annie: "When?"

Me: "When, what?"

Annie: "When did God make the world?"

Me: "A very long time ago."

Annie: "Oh. Before Sunday School?"

Me: "Yes, before Sunday School."

Perhaps I am not so qualified to be helping in Annie's Sunday School classroom if this is the best I can do with the God explaination . . .

Honorary Anniversary

Nope, it's not our wedding anniversary (that was back in June). It is, however, the 11-year anniversary of our very first date. For some reason, as silly as it all is, Jason and I kind of hold a special place in our hearts for September 25th, a.k.a. The Day It All Began.

Well, technically, it all began the previous New Year's Eve (that would be 1995!), when Jason caught my eye at a dirty Treehouse basement party and we made out at midnight on the dance floor. Right before I made out with some other guy . . . and then we mostly ignored each other until the following September, when he came knocking on the door of Gilmore 207 to ask me out. Hilarious.

To put it mildly, times have changed. But on September 25, 1996, we were having burgers and Cokes together (I couldn't even drink at restaurants! I was a baby!) and having an amazingly great first date. Jason was driving his old Civic (yes, there was another, older Civic than the current one) known as "old one-mirror," I wore this giant Abercrombie flannel shirt, and I believe there was a mix-tape involved on the ride home.

Who knew we'd date, get engaged, get married, move to the tiniest, ugliest Ann Arbor apartment, run a marathon, travel to France, buy a house, have a baby, buy another house, have another baby, and build this fun little life together?

Last year, we actually celebrated our 10-year first-date anniversary by going and doing the same things we'd done ten years earlier - same restaurant, same walk afterwards, different clothes. We might even have resurrected the mix-tape. This year, Jason's working late, so we're headed out tomorrow night instead. I can't let the day go by, though, without taking a minute to be glad for all the things that came my way because of that first date.

Unusual Objects of Our Affection

I realized today that Annie, Jemma and I have all recently been "into" some unusual items. So, in no particular order, the objects of our affections:

1. Anytime Annie gets a balloon (choking hazard, I know - we keep them far from Jemma), she must have someone tie a string around it and drag it around as though it's a dog on a leash. Last week, she was busy playing with the two sad, sorry remaining balloons from her party. She had named them Baxter and Bao (?) and was very busy getting bowls for them to eat from, tucking them into bed, reprimanding them for yelling in the house, etc. Then, Saturday, she must have looked extra-cute and deserving at the grocery store with me, because an employee spontaneously gave her a blue balloon. Now, she has three balloons, and they're all named Baxter. As I type, they're on the upstairs couch, carefully covered with a big blanket. Asleep for the night, I guess.

2. Jemma, in her newfound mobility and speed (she stood up by herself today a few times in the yard!), mostly enjoys licking and touching things that she really should be leaving alone. To be specific, the toilet and the kitchen garbage can. I know, disgusting. But she really, really loves both of these items and no amount of redirection on my part can distract her! So now, we've taken to keeping the toilet lid down at all times and the bathroom door closed as much as possible. As for the kitchen garbage can, it's so shiny and sparkly, she can't resist. I've resigned myself to the fact that she's going to lick the outside of it and giggle at her reflection in it. I guess I'll just have to keep it as clean as possible, which I'll be able to do because of . . .

3. My new Dyson handheld vacuum! In yet another scary sign that I'm slowly turning into my mother, I can't stop vacuuming with it. Jemma had been making such a huge mess at every meal, and I was so tired of hauling the big vacuum out every day, so we bit the bullet and bought the Root 6. It's spectacular. My cleaning has gone beyond the dining room floor and right out into the front entry, the fireplace tile, and the baseboards in the hallway. Who knew you could feel so much cleaning satisfaction in just 6 minutes with a cordless vacuum? This weekend, I might even vacuum the carpet on the stairs, which I will admit here that I have not done once since we've lived in this house. (Don't anybody tell my mom!)

Sunday Sermon by Steph

I'm glad to say that I'm starting this week feeling ready for it: clean house, clean laundry, clean dishes, stocked groceries, and happy children. So worth a weekend at home! And, we did manage to do lots of fun things, too - a tailgate party on Friday night, neighborhood barbeque on Saturday night, and some good outdoor/park time with the girls.

Annie's mood today was inexplicably good, and so we treasured it. So many people lately have been telling me, "Three is worse than two" in reference to their now-three-year-old girls that I'm bracing myself for more ridiculousness and treasuring the days that are like today, when she gives out lots of unprompted "thank-you"'s and "I love you"'s and remembers that Jemma is a real, live person instead of a Weeble to knock over.

Jemma was adorable today. She really wants to stand up and does this crouching/squatting thing in the middle of the yard all the time. After dinner tonight, she got a second wind and was crawling and cruising all around the house as though she was seeing it for the first time, touching everything, squealing with glee while banging on the glass panes in the door, hiding under the dining room table and giggling when I played peek-a-boo with her. We are slowly trying to push her bedtime back to 7:00 (it's been 6:30 for the longest time) and I think it is working. Hopefully, she'll make up for the lost sleep by taking a slightly longer afternoon nap so I can managed to sit down, eat my lunch, and perhaps read a little during the day instead of at bedtime, when I'm exhausted. We'll see.

And speaking of reading, I read the most depressing story on npr.org today. It's called "Why Women Read More Than Men," but the main premise of the article was not what bummed me out. What did make me do a double-take were these statistics:

-Only 57% of Americans had read a book during the entire year of 2002

-Among people surveyed who identified themselves as "avid readers," the typical woman had read 9 books in the previous year, while the average man had read 5.

What?????? That would be like saying you were an "avid" sports fan and then admitting you'd only watched 9 (or 5) games during the whole year. And, I am especially concerned that nearly half of the US population can go for an entire year and not even read one book. People should be throwing their TVs out the window and reading something, anything! So, in the spirit of inspiring my broad readership to enjoy a fantastic book, here's a random list of some of the best things I've read in the past couple of years:

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Theory of Relativity by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon
Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Saturday by Ian McEwan
short stories by Alice Munro
poetry by Billy Collins
anything by Ann Patchett, but especially Truth and Beauty
anything by Barbara Kingsolver, fiction and nonfiction, but especially Small Wonder
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedmann

So go! Read! And write me to tell me what you're loving, too.

Fisher Price Dollhouse Rant

I noticed something interesting the other day about our plastic Fisher Price dollhouse. It came with some removeable items, such as: Mommy, Daddy, baby in a stroller, cat, bed, table, and chairs. We've had this toy for at least 9 months, but here's what I just noticed.

The Mom figure is holding a bottle, with a burp cloth slung over her left shoulder.

The Dad figure is holding a newspaper and a to-go coffee cup.

Thanks, Fisher Price, for promoting to a new generation the idea that, even when both parents are home for the day, the Mommy is taking care of the baby while the Daddy enjoys a latte while browsing his Sunday paper. Seriously, couldn't the mommy have gotten to hold at least one of the fun items?

That's all.

Frosting

For the second time this month, I made some cupcakes. I love to bake, and cupcakes seem like a good treat for all ages. And, for the second time this month, the cupcakes themselves were nothing to write home about, but the frosting . . . . my goodness. Or, as Annie would say, "What the heck in the world?????" (Don't ask.) Tonight, the cupcakes were pumpkin and the frosting was the most scrumptious cream cheese concoction, spiked with a little cinnamon. I'll post the recipe here, courtesy of Williams Sonoma, because I really think that anything pumpkin would benefit from a quick spread of this. Make it, please, and then write me to tell me you loved it, too.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cold cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter, firm but not cold
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter, salt and cinnamon on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, gradually add the confectioner's sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat just until incorporated. Do not overmix or it will incorporate too much air; it should be creamy and dense, like ice cream. Add milk, 1 tsp at a time, if frosting is too hard to spread.

On other pumpkin-related notes, I tried the pumpkin ice cream at Jersey Junction this week, and it is not as good as the Sherman's brand that I used to get in South Haven. (But I'll eat it anyway.) Also, I might have to boycott Starbucks because they won't sell me their Pumpkin Spice syrup so I can use it in my lattes at home. Either that, or I might have to go there every day between now and Thanksgiving, because nothing I squeeze out of my FrancisFrancis tastes quite like the Starbucks PS latte. And lastly, we had a family outing to an adorable, family-run nursery this morning where there's a whole fall kids' thing going on: hayride, inflated pumpkin to jump in, pumpkin painting (with glitter paint! Lucky Annie!), hardy mums galore, popcorn and apples to eat. It was the highlight of Annie's day and a great photo op.

Jason's off being a rock star, so I'm headed downstairs to enjoy 'What Not to Wear' and eat some of the leftover, aforementioned frosting straight out of the fridge. Yummy.