Coffee with Kat

As noted in the title of my blog, I have to try really hard to make my family's everyday life fun.  Usually, I have the do it on purpose.  I calculate my workday, the kids drop-off times, pick-up times, and basically every single move we all make down to the nanosecond in order to accomplish everything that needs to be done each day.  So, having fun doesn't necessarily come easy for me.

My attempts to maximize every second of the day are foiled by one tiny glitch in the technical plan that is our life.  Each Tuesday and Thursday, Katherine attends Mother's Day Out.  I drop the big girls off at about 7:40, then drive to Katherine's school and have to sit and wait for the doors to open until 8:15am.  In my book, this is a colossal waste of time that could ruin my entire schedule for the turning of the world, affect the tides, interrupt the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, or even make the world tilt ever so slightly wrong on it's axis.  There is no such thing as acceptable time wastage in my world. 

Enter the idea that I MUST make my life fun - even it it's on purpose.  I do realize that my 4 year old will only spend the majority of her time with me for this one, last year.  I love listening to her talk like Yoda - "Beautiful, I will be".  Yes, she does this all the time.  I don't know if it's a sign of intelligence, weirdness, or some side-effect of being with me too much, but it's really stinking cute.  I love high-fiving her 95 times a day and laughing at her attempts to be angry with me when she doesn't get her way.  I love taking her with me to the office and watching her sweet-talk candy and prizes out of all my co-workers. 

So, I have succeeded in turning the colossal time wastage twice a week into the best coffee with Mom time you could ever imagine.  I pack coffee for me and coffee milk and some breakfast for Katherine, and we sit in the van outside the school and visit.  We drink our coffee and talk about whatever she comes up with that day. Or, I take my make-up along to save even more time my beautifying myself in the rear view mirror while Katherine puts sparkle shadow on her eyes.  Mainly, I just sit and spend time with my youngest daughter while I have the chance.  This is a gift that I never knew I would enjoy so much.

Since the Daddy is often home now when he is off duty from the Fire Department, I allow him the opportunity to spend some of this precious time with the little princess, and I'm happy to say that he takes the time to treasure his last, tiny baby-girl moments with Katherine.  She doesn't do a single cute thing that he doesn't comment on how adorable she still is.  He even got a half-asleep "high-five, Daddy" this morning when he covered her with a blanket in our bed after he got up early to leave for work. 

In striving to make our life fun, I rely greatly on my Heavenly Father to teach me how to exercise patience.  This allows my family and myself to experience the true joy that only comes from the Father.


Colossians 1:10-12 (New International Version)

¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[a] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Wallpaper is Stupid

Wallpaper is stupid.  Most of it is ugly, like the green and red stuff in my bathroom or the flowered junk that was on our utility room walls.  But, I found one really cool wallpaper with red berries to hang in my kitchen.  This wallpaper was not stupid until 4 days ago.  It was super cool, and I was really excited about the stupid wallpaper. 

Then, Monday happened.  We have to go all the way back to the beginning of the downward spiral that ended in screaming and stupid wallpaper.  Five days earlier, I had to stop wearing my contacts for several days before an eye appointment.  I hate glasses just a little bit less than wallpaper, and I only hate them less because I'm pretty much legally blind, and they are necessary.  That bumps them up a tiny notch. 

So, for 4 days, I wore my glasses.  I had no peripheral vision, and every time I thought I saw something beside me, I jerked my head around like our (half-blind) Chihuahua, Sugarbaby, jerks her head trying to catch invisible bugs.  Super cute. 

By the time I had my appointment on Monday, which was Jason's birthday, I was so ready to be done with it and put my contacts back in.  My family was more ready.  I had become so irritated by my sight deprivation, that they were hiding to the back and sides of me because, of course, I couldn't see them there. 

The doctor informs me that the medicine to dilate my eyes would last 24 to 36 hours.  Yea.  That's a long time to squint and wear that goofy plastic sun glass thing in my stupid glasses.  And so begins the problem with the wallpaper.  We were supposed to hang the wallpaper that afternoon, but my eyes were so dilated that I looked like a sad puppy in an anime cartoon.  I had some major coordination issues.

Jason decides that he is going to hang the wallpaper himself.  Cool with me.  He watched the videos online, read the instructions, gathered the stuff, and set to work.  Now, this wallpaper is white with red berries.  Let's list the problems:  the wall showed through the paper because it was not painted first, his pencil marks showed through the paper, and you can not hang wallpaper alone.  It just sticks to itself on the bottom while you try to smooth out the top.  Fast forward a few minutes, and he's cussing.  I finally check out the situation and very sweetly (not) tell him that I'll just do it myself.   I only succeed in doing the same moronic thing he did and waste another strip of paper before I pitch a very grown-up fit complete with choice words.  And, I'm tripping everywhere because my eyes are still dilated. 

We managed to remain ticked off at each other and the wallpaper the rest of the night, crawled into bed frowning at each other, and woke up growling at each other.  So, of course, I made him get up and drive the girls to school.  I didn't want to be alone in my misery. 

While he was gone, I decided that the battle had gone on long enough, and I started to see the humor in the whole mess.  So, I did the mature thing - I wrote him a sorry note and hung it on the garage door.  It read:
I'm sorry I'm being an "jerk"
Will you forgive me and be my friend again
Check Yes or No
PS - you never have to hang wallpaper again

Upon his return from the punishment of having to wake up and drive children, he kindly answered my note with:
No - see back
Which read - But I will be your BFF. Wallpaper sucks!

Funny how stupid wallpaper can make me love him more.  Probably because he's my BFF. 

We'll just have to pay someone to hang the stupid wallpaper.