HAPPY TURKEY WEEKEND

Dear Olive,

Did you have a palatable Thanksgiving?  (In case you cannot tell by this photo, I have made Ella a rotisserie turkey headband).

We rang in the day of the bird with Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Special and a breakfast of pretzels, jelly beans, toast, and popcorn.

Never did get around to making the pilgrim hats for the deer heads on the chandelier.  Can't wait to see you next weekend!

LEGGINGS ARE NOT PANTS

Dear Olive,

This made me laugh.  And reconsider my wardrobe.

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CRY BABY BLUES

Dear Olive,

What did I do before we had kids?  I think about this often and seriously cannot remember.  And then; today, I sat in the bathroom, with Ella on the potty, singing her songs, and looked at the wall in which I had painted hundreds of individual ginko leaves.  And I thought, "Oh, that."  I can't tell if I was crazy then, or if I am now.

LIGHT ON MY FEET

Dear Olive,

I can't stop watching these city.ballet. shorts about the New York City Ballet.

Reminds me of when we took that ballet class together a few years ago.  Remember how we couldn't stop laughing that I couldn't get my foot above my knee without falling over?  I had to be consoled Chinese food after each session.  I love our adventures.

EAT PLAY PLAN: ITALIAN AND MARBLES

Dear Olive,

What we did tonight:

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DINING ROOM MAKEOVER

Dear Olive,

Speaking of sparkles, chandeliers are just engagement-rings for the ceiling, right?  A whimsical edition to our family was slotted to be my birthday, anniversary, and Christmas present.  I've finally pulled the trigger on this chandelier-friend which; I'll admit, not everyone gets.

This month, I had it rewired and hung.  I totally plan to dress up each of the deer for holidays.  Do you know how to make tiny deer-sized pilgrim hats? 

The dining room redesign isn't finished, but we're getting there.  Remember when it looked like this?:

We're not entirely done, but below is some progress. 

Right now, I'm contemplating these chairs (from Craigslist instead though!)

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SECRET GOOGLING

Dear Olive,

Do you ever still look at engagement rings?  Ten years later and I can't stop.  They're just so.... shiny.  I'm pretty much just a crow chasing sparkles.

And so the solution must be girls proposing to guys.  This video makes me laugh-cry.

EAT PLAY PLAN

Dear Olive,

How satisfying it feels to wake up with an idea of what to make for dinner and to have actual food to make it.  Perhaps this is because it happens so rarely.  How is it, that with all of life's challenging tasks, the last meal of the day is the most elusive chore? After a long day of work and parenting problem-solving, my mental energy fizzles at dinner.  So, I've been devising an Eat Play Plan.  The intention is to reduce the regular cortisol-attacks induced by trying to enact a dinner out of a can of chicken broth and a red pepper.  And while I've made gamely attempts at pepper soup and pepper pasta, there must be a more reasonable way to tackle this life detail.  Here are my rules for Eat Play Plan:

• All dinners must be 5ish ingredients
• Meals should take 20 minutes or less to cook
• No "boxed" pre-prepared dinners
• Must be kid-edible
• All work will be side saddled with a kid activity that is easy enough to pull together in about 5 minutes.

The goal is to have the kids engaged in something while I make dinner.   Having a pre-planned activity assuages the mom-guilt that I feel from focusing energy on anything other than them after being gone at work.

Here is Monday's plan:

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