White trash = laundry

Ever since my friend Jennifer (hi Jennifer, I know you're reading this) told me that her husband doesn't want to have an outdoor clothesline because he thinks it's "white trash", I've been calling our laundry white trash. "Time to take down the white trash", or while driving up to the house, "Oh there's our write trash". Plus Doug likes to point out "See that dilapidated house? They have a clothesline." At least now he allows me to leave the lines up when there's no company. Only the neighbor Mr. Plow (à la Simpsons), can really see it, plus they have a permanent clothes line tree in their backyard, so I'm sure it's OK with him. Certainly better than our dandelion field that blows onto his perfect lawn.

It is still a source of great joy when I put out the clothes. I've learned to just leave Dova in her bouncer on the deck where she can see me. I've also managed the perfect attachment parenting / save the environment scenario that I strived for earlier (it was dry and 70° that day).

White Trash is also a story in the Joyce Carol Oates book, Heat, which I am currently reading. Jumped ahead to read that story just for this post. Of course it has nothing to do with laundry. Written in the voice of a supposedly white trash woman, it is was very gritty and had a violent undertone. Upstairs, I'm also trying to read Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. Completely difficult to read. Who is the narrator? How old is he? It skips back and forth and you have to figure out everything from the dialog. I gave up once after 14 pages, but then skipped ahead and found it was more interesting, but now I'm still stuck on p. 24. Just read the reviews on Amazon, maybe it is worth the effort, but maybe I'm just not up for the task. Thought I did really well to read through Steppenwolf, but that was difficult mostly because of the complex language. I was really impressed by the fact that this book was a translation and it managed to throw in all the English words that I have never heard of. What if the translator did not have such a vast vocabulary? Is it that difficult to read in German?

OK, way to go off the topic!! Too late on a nice vacation day!!

Mothering Magazine Poem -- Baby At My Breast

Just testing the Blog this button on the Google toolbar. This poem is cute. Too bad Adam doesn't remember being in Mommy's tummy or being born or even nursing!!. Mothering Magazine Poem -- Baby At My Breast. OK, it didn't work so great, still had to edit it afterwards.

Air Conditioning

You can tell when you leave the idealistic days of youth by your attitude towards air conditioning. When I got my first car (my beloved 318i), I got it in white, partially to keep the car cooler in the summertime and not use the A/C so much. I would watch outside temp and would only turn it on when it was 90°F or higher. It was my way of sucking it up and saving the environment. Besides, it was more natural, why shouldn't I be happy with the environment that nature provides, we do live in the "temperate" zone after all, not the tropics, not even Texas or Florida!!

So when it was warm, I would open the sunroof and the windows and enjoy the breeze. I never understood why my parents would always use the A/C in the car instead of opening the windows. The 90° cutoff temperature for the A/C quickly dropped down to 80°, not so extreme. And I was happy with that for 8 years or so. Then the kids came. It started when I was pregnant, and after hearing that you always feel hot while you are pregnant. We installed central A/C in the house, and I was comfortable at home in the summer for the first time in a long time.

It may be the protective instinct to make babies as comfortable as possible, after all, they cannot regulate their temperatures as well as adults. When I drove Adam as a baby, the A/C went on as soon he started sweating. And that would happen quickly, often by the time it reached 77° outside. Now driving Dova, the A/C goes on immediately at the sign of heat and humidity, even as low as 69°!! Plus the amount of additional gas that gets used while the A/C runs in the car is minimal (of course I know from my detailed mileage spreadsheet)!!

Now that I think back, I always did have A/C growing up. Room air conditioners in the apartments, central in the house, a room air conditioner in my dorm room (certainly not everyone had that!!), and every car since I was 4 had it!! Only recently did we live with only one room air conditioner in the house until the central (and a few years we didn't even install it - what dummies!). So was I spoiled or justifiably pampered as I am doing so with my kids? Adam is really spoiled, he even as central A/C in his preschool.

Now we always say that the central A/C is the best thing we ever did for the house. I realize now that it is not a crime to be comfortable!! It is nice not to be grumpy from the heat. Everyone in the house benefits when it is comfortable. We all deserve to be comfortable if we can. I always said that there is so much trouble in the Middle East because it is too darn hot!!

The joys of siblings

It finally pays off to have two kids. After a hectic night of greasy chinese take-out food everywhere, Doug disappears back into the garage to work on putting a short throw shifter into my car (which is awesome, thanks!). The kids need all sorts of attention, so I run through Adam's nighttime routine (potty, pajamas, brushing teeth, 3 stories) while Dova is fussy on our bed below. I was at my wits end with such a mess in the kitchen, so I put Adam and Dova together in our bed and told them to keep each other company and go to sleep. Adam complained that Dova wasn't sleepy (she was flailing her arms and legs around), but I said don't worry, she will fall asleep. I went back to the kitchen and started the massive cleanup - counters, stools, floors, dishes, etc. After about 15 minutes, it was quiet. I peeked in the bedroom and both of them were snuggled together asleep. They actually kept each other company without my help. It was so sweet :-). I carried them back up to their own rooms.

It ended up being a night of musical beds as well. Since Adam fell asleep on our bed, he woke up in the middle of the night and climbed back into our bed. Then a short while later, I heard Dova on the baby monitor and went to her room, and fed her and fell asleep with her.

(this draft was from 6/27.. finally getting around to completing it!!)

Party Party Party!!

This summer has been great for get togethers. All the pictures are up on Webshots, so check out the link on the left <---. Please post your comments here!!