You Name It

Before I even opened the box that contained our Christmas decorations today, the first memory I had was of a small wooden angel ornament. It's not an ornate ornament. And my reason for liking it has nothing to do with the holiday. This ornament has my name on it. I know, it doesn't seem like a big deal. (And as you can tell, Grace wasn't quite so impressed with it.) The thing is my name was spelled right on this tiny piece of wood.  And that was  -- and apparently still is -- a big deal to me. Here's why.

These days I go by Kate. I was born Katherine and was called Katey. As a grade school kiddo, I had a heck of a time finding anything with my name spelled right on it. Many other kids had folders and pencils displaying their names. One of those kids was my best friend Katie. Everything had her name on it, not mine. The spelling of "ie" was much, much more prevalent than "ey." (And mind you, back in the late-70s, early 80s it wasn't so easy to get things personalized like it is today. Heck, you can even have your dog's name embroidered on a pet bed.)

I rather liked being Katey with an "ey." It suited me and I was proud of it. And it was especially fun once I learned to write in cursive and could use the tail of my "y" to cross my "t." That said, I still longed for seeing my name on things. Oddly enough, when I started my newspaper journalism career in college, I decided to change the byline on my stories from Katey to Kate.  I finally had the chance to see my name -- Katey -- in print and I changed it. Sometimes I kinda want to go back to my Kateyhood.  Back to the day when I first saw my name in print, on an angel ornament. 

Turns out that Grace got her own angel ornament with her name on it this year, a snowman angel, but an angel nonetheless. I'm sure she loves seeing her name in print as much as I do. Or she will. Once she's old enough to read, that is. 

Doing Once Done

Seems like everyone has some version of a summer to-do list but since I have this one thing that needs to get done this summer, I thought it made sense to write a Post-Dissertation To-Do List. And here it is. The items are in no particular order, just the order they popped into my head.

• Plan Japanese-esque garden for our yard 
• Minus the water features, otherwise known as mosquito breeding grounds.
• Relaunch the blog 
• Perhaps under a new name, how exciting.
• Get a quilt rack 
• It's the little things, I tell ya.
• Hold a garage sale in spring
• Oodles of stuff -- baby stuff, my stuff, random stuff, stuff-stuff -- piling up.
• See some great bands/hear some great music
• Ok, so I've already been doing some of this, this summer. I have to stay sane somehow.
• Take some time alone with Jay 
• It'll be great to be able take some time together where I'm not even the slightest bit distracted by the everlasting, looming project.
• Take an improv class 
• Bet that took you by surprise. Very much outta my comfort zone.
• Do some training activity with Ella Puggeroo
• She deserves some one-on-one attention from us -- at least that's what she's told us.
• Play soccer 
• Not as easy as it sounds. I need to learn more about the game first and all the lessons around here are for kiddos.
• Do a weekly cool craft or adventure with Grace
•  This is one of the most motivating items on this list.
• Write a kid's book
• Have had some ideas bouncing around for awhile. Just need the time to pin them down.
• Write my own book(s)
• Something I would love-love to do, or at least be able to focus on it. 

Ah, focus. That's what's been shifting so much over the last five years. So much of what has happened in the last half decade was never on a to-do list, but I'm so glad it was done.

Dissertation Haiku, For All of You = Part II

Only six more months

Until the final deadline

It needs to get done.

The sooner I get done, the sooner I get to
spend more time with this little face.

How's that for motivation?
** Yes, those are socks on her hands.

Hello to Good Buys

So, I'm not really a shopper.

My parents, husband and best friends can attest to how not-fun it can be to shop with Kate. I'm frugal and I don't like crowds. Recently I've come across a shopping experience that helps address one of my shopping issues: the multitude of consignment sales that pop up this time of year. There was one near my hometown a few months ago so I decided to partake in full force as a consigner, volunteer and buyer.

I hadn't really gotten rid of very much of Grace's clothing and so we had two bins and two huge boxes of her clothes and two other boxes of miscellaneous items (this isn't including any of the big items like swings and bouncy seats). So I decided it was time to let some stuff go. If (if, if, if, if, if) we decide to have another child, I kept some favorites and some necessities, but I winnowed the "stuff" in half. That left me with over 150 items (mostly clothes) to sell. Those of you who've priced things for a garage sale know how tedious the task can be, even more so for a consignment sale where there are particular rules, good rules but ones that make the process slower than you'd like.

The volunteering part was motivated by my desire to get into the sale early. Volunteers get in a day before regular shoppers. This was great for a crowd-avoider like me. Or so I thought. As I was hanging up some items on the rows and rows of kiddo clothing I overheard some one say: "Then when they open at 5:30 everyone just runs." I inquired further and yes, they were indeed refering to the volunteer pre-sale, not the sale-sale. I started calculating how many volunteers were working my shift, times the number of shifts ... yikes. This was going to be over a hundred shoppers.

I showed up to the pre-sale 15 minutes early and had to park on the street and stand in an already parking lot-long line. I happened to stand next to someone who was in the same mindset as me. We both were not fixated on needing to get any one thing. No "Cabbage Patch Kid/Tickle Me Elmo/Toy Of The Moment" stampeding for me.

Once inside the pace was brisk, but no one was rude at all. Big ticket items where gone quickly but I did snag a few choice deals for Grace. And found some cute outfits that were higher-end brands that I'd never ever buy at full price but would spend 2 to 5 bucks on.

Then my bag and shoe obsession kicked in:

They were just too cute to pass up. Those that remember my True Colors post are likely shocked to see the pink theme in these items. And then there's this ... I bought her a play kitchen. But wait! I also got her a chair that looks like a tree stump with a lizard on it.

Domestic chore-themed toy + outdoorsy reptile-themed seating = my very own Little Miss Muffet. 

** Ok, I know a spider isn't a reptile and the little girl didn't likely make her own curds and whey ... but still : )

Strolling into Spring

"Peoples! Peoples walking!"

Peoples were indeed out and about yesterday. I felt the need to get outside with Grace for a bit, so we took a stroller walk around in town. I contemplated jogging, but that urge left me quite quickly. Just being outside without a bulky coat was refreshing enough.  We went around a few parks and through a college campus so there was a lot for Gracie to see.

As we strolled I realized in many ways this was Grace's first spring -- at least a spring that she could interact with. As we took our walk she took on the role of tour guide calling out things and pointing:

"This way." (Directing me to cross the street to get a better look a what some "peoples" were doing.)

"Ooo, ooo. Catch." (Commenting on some college "kids" playing Frisbee.)

"Birdies! Aww. Awww." (That's her bird call.)

"Ooohhh." (In reaction to a skateboarder.)

"Go Mommy!" (Directing me to go faster up a steep hill. Great little personal trainer : )

Guess I didn't need to go for that jog after all.

Cutting Remarks

Grace had her first (real) haircut this weekend. Jay and I have trimmed her bangs a number of times over the past months, but she's never had a haircut-haircut.

Gracie has these curly curls. Very cute, but tangly. Her hair was almost to the middle of her back. It was getting caught in bibs and stuck in her mouth. And it was becoming great collector of stray bits of food. It was time.

No beauty salon for this girl. We took her to SportsClips where her dad goes. They have little TVs that we thought might help keep her distracted if things got a bit sad.

She had a few seconds of tears, but then caught a look of herself in the mirror. Then she was distracted by the others getting their hair trimmed -- two young boys. And then she realized there was a TV right by the chair. As a true 2010 mom, I brought my ipod touch with as well (that's my hand in the picture). I've loaded some Sesame Street podcasts and other toddler distractions on to the gadget.

Three inches were taken off and it made for the perfect length for a toddler. I kinda wanted to go a bit shorter, but didn't have the heart to have them cut out all of the curls ... yet.

** And of course she was offered a sucker before we left : )

Healing Words

I've been sick and/or injured for almost two months now and just so you know, I don't deal well with not being healthy. I don't whine about it -- I get frustrated with it.

A perfect example: I was coughing so hard a few weeks ago I pulled or tore something in my lower back. I felt a pop and knew that movement wouldn't be particularly fun from that point forward. While I spend my workdays at a desk, I spend my nights and weekends with a toddler. We spend so much time on the floor playing. We also spend time running around -- mostly doing races down the hallway. Some time is also spent on me picking Grace up to console her after a fall, give a hug or transport her to her time out spot. This back thing limited all of that.

Grace and I were alone (well Ella was there : ) in the house when my injury happened. As I forsaw my limitations I started to cry out of pain and frustration.

Gracie looked at me with her concerned face all scrunched up and asked, "Mommy sad?"

I explained, "Mommy's got an owie."

She looked at me and said, "I kiss it."

And she did.

The pain, of course, was still there, but my state of mind and heart were all better.