Hi! Before we start, I have to take a moment to give three cheers for me. If I don't, my accomplishments of today will go unnoticed by the world at large (happens often with this occupation.) Anyway, 3 cheers because domestically speaking, today I kicked butt.
I managed to, over the course of the last 7 hours:
Do multiple loads of laundry
clean the kitchen
deep clean the stove
clean 2 bathrooms
sweep and mop the tile
paint my kitchen cabinets (yes, I'm still doing that. More about that nightmare in another post)
prepare a delicious dinner for my family which included not one, but two versions of Sloppy Joes- spicy for us grown ups and non-spicy for the littles
AND
clean the kitchen
deep clean the stove
clean 2 bathrooms
sweep and mop the tile
paint my kitchen cabinets (yes, I'm still doing that. More about that nightmare in another post)
prepare a delicious dinner for my family which included not one, but two versions of Sloppy Joes- spicy for us grown ups and non-spicy for the littles
AND
as I type this, I have this yummy dessert in the oven from the Pioneer Woman.
That list up there is the Donald Draper equivalent of landing a big account at the office while knocking Peter Campbell down a few steps on the business ladder, nailing a girl or two in the city, and then heading home to cohost a dinner party with his wife in the suburbs.
Actually, it's more than what Donald Draper could've done, because he has his secretary and wife to do half that work for him.
(If you're totally confused right now, Mr. C and I have been watching Mad Men on Netflix all summer. I'm a bit obsessed. You'll probably hear more from me about Mad Men before the summer is over. It's taken over my mind.)
Anyway, that list above actually makes me cringe because it's a bit too domestic for my taste. However, I was motivated by a Facebook friend of mine who wrote something similar on the newsfeed. I responded with a joke about how she was making the rest of us look bad, and then I felt like a jerk because I realized I sounded like those lame people who chastise celebratory statuses because of their own insecurities. I hate those people. So, it's possible all my housewifery was done out of guilt. Either way, my family got a chocolate cake out of the deal, so it's all good.
Has anyone else noticed that lately my introductions are often more than half of my post? Geez.
Here's what I was going to share tonight: My parents recently gave me a huge box filled with my childhood mementos, pictures, report cards, art projects, and best of all, stories that I had written. It was so much fun going through that box. I laughed, and sometimes I even cried. There were so many memories of being a kid in there- little things, that I had forgotten about.
For example, here's a thank you note I wrote to my mom one Christmas after receiving a calligraphy set.
"Thank you for spending about $250." How incredibly.....heartwarming? Also, how rad is the Garfield stationary?
Here's the corresponding note that I wrote to my dad:
I love the banana chicken sketch on the bottom.
In the box was also an old yellowed piece of paper titled "The Herrington Herald". It was my version of our family newspaper. As far as I remember, there was only that one edition. I'll just tell you a few of my favorite lines. From the editior's note: "If you would like to place an ad in the newspaper, it will cost a penny. If you would like to put in your own column, it costs five cents, but the Herald later on pays you."
I wonder why no one ever took me up on that bargain?
Besides a very upbeat column describing a birthday party my sisters and I threw for our Cabbage Patch kids, there is also an update on the window seat my dad was building for me in my room. I think though, that the Lost and Found section is my favorite: "Lost: Curling Iron, High Energy, Conair. Last seen in Diana Herrington's hair." Diana is my mom and one of the 2 receipients of the Herald. Apparently, subtlety is a trait I have always lacked.
And finally, I enjoy the complaint section, handwritten in as an afterthought, which reads "COMPLAINT: Sara Herrington is leaving dishes in the sink until dinner so Tacy will clean them up."
It's too bad I didn't go into the newspaper business. At age 11, I was already adept at manipulating print media to push my own agenda.
I do regret to inform you that the very best, most embarrassing, most tears-of-laughter-inducing piece in the whole entire box has unfortunately been lost. It was a persuasive letter I wrote to my parents when I was in the sixth grade to convince them to let them go to my first boy-girl party. It was the crowning jewel of the whole box, and I can't believe I lost it. I'm still hoping it turns up, and if it ever does, I"ll publish it. For now though, I'll share that one of my arguments in the letter was that my friend was Armenian, and "how much more religious can you get?"
(My apologies for my 11 year old ignorance about Armenians, their religion, and how the morals of all that would play out at a sixth grade boy- girl party.)
(I'll also skip any Kardashian references at this time.)
Anyway, I just wanted to share all that with you. You know what? If you've got kids, won't you keep all those funny little pieces of their personality for them? I can not tell you how grateful I am to my parents for saving this stuff. I felt like I had found someone I didn't know I had lost. Up to going through the box contents, I had been remembering myself as a child being this quiet and shy bookworm. However, in reading through everything, the kid "me" came through loud and clear. I was actually pretty creative and a little bit funny.
I was also totally weird, but that part I remember like it was yesterday.
Oh wait! It was.
Is.
I'll forever be weird.
You have a good night!
That list up there is the Donald Draper equivalent of landing a big account at the office while knocking Peter Campbell down a few steps on the business ladder, nailing a girl or two in the city, and then heading home to cohost a dinner party with his wife in the suburbs.
Actually, it's more than what Donald Draper could've done, because he has his secretary and wife to do half that work for him.
(If you're totally confused right now, Mr. C and I have been watching Mad Men on Netflix all summer. I'm a bit obsessed. You'll probably hear more from me about Mad Men before the summer is over. It's taken over my mind.)
Anyway, that list above actually makes me cringe because it's a bit too domestic for my taste. However, I was motivated by a Facebook friend of mine who wrote something similar on the newsfeed. I responded with a joke about how she was making the rest of us look bad, and then I felt like a jerk because I realized I sounded like those lame people who chastise celebratory statuses because of their own insecurities. I hate those people. So, it's possible all my housewifery was done out of guilt. Either way, my family got a chocolate cake out of the deal, so it's all good.
Has anyone else noticed that lately my introductions are often more than half of my post? Geez.
Here's what I was going to share tonight: My parents recently gave me a huge box filled with my childhood mementos, pictures, report cards, art projects, and best of all, stories that I had written. It was so much fun going through that box. I laughed, and sometimes I even cried. There were so many memories of being a kid in there- little things, that I had forgotten about.
For example, here's a thank you note I wrote to my mom one Christmas after receiving a calligraphy set.
Here's the corresponding note that I wrote to my dad:
I love the banana chicken sketch on the bottom.
In the box was also an old yellowed piece of paper titled "The Herrington Herald". It was my version of our family newspaper. As far as I remember, there was only that one edition. I'll just tell you a few of my favorite lines. From the editior's note: "If you would like to place an ad in the newspaper, it will cost a penny. If you would like to put in your own column, it costs five cents, but the Herald later on pays you."
I wonder why no one ever took me up on that bargain?
Besides a very upbeat column describing a birthday party my sisters and I threw for our Cabbage Patch kids, there is also an update on the window seat my dad was building for me in my room. I think though, that the Lost and Found section is my favorite: "Lost: Curling Iron, High Energy, Conair. Last seen in Diana Herrington's hair." Diana is my mom and one of the 2 receipients of the Herald. Apparently, subtlety is a trait I have always lacked.
And finally, I enjoy the complaint section, handwritten in as an afterthought, which reads "COMPLAINT: Sara Herrington is leaving dishes in the sink until dinner so Tacy will clean them up."
It's too bad I didn't go into the newspaper business. At age 11, I was already adept at manipulating print media to push my own agenda.
I do regret to inform you that the very best, most embarrassing, most tears-of-laughter-inducing piece in the whole entire box has unfortunately been lost. It was a persuasive letter I wrote to my parents when I was in the sixth grade to convince them to let them go to my first boy-girl party. It was the crowning jewel of the whole box, and I can't believe I lost it. I'm still hoping it turns up, and if it ever does, I"ll publish it. For now though, I'll share that one of my arguments in the letter was that my friend was Armenian, and "how much more religious can you get?"
(My apologies for my 11 year old ignorance about Armenians, their religion, and how the morals of all that would play out at a sixth grade boy- girl party.)
(I'll also skip any Kardashian references at this time.)
Anyway, I just wanted to share all that with you. You know what? If you've got kids, won't you keep all those funny little pieces of their personality for them? I can not tell you how grateful I am to my parents for saving this stuff. I felt like I had found someone I didn't know I had lost. Up to going through the box contents, I had been remembering myself as a child being this quiet and shy bookworm. However, in reading through everything, the kid "me" came through loud and clear. I was actually pretty creative and a little bit funny.
I was also totally weird, but that part I remember like it was yesterday.
Oh wait! It was.
Is.
I'll forever be weird.
You have a good night!
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