Mandy’s Motherhood Musings

Thank god for Peapod. I needed something to go easy today. After shoveling and shoveling and then locking ourselves out of the house yesterday, we didn’t think things could get worse. This morning I was counting my lucky stars when I successfully made it out of the driveway and down our still unplowed street. I dropped off Liam, then skidded right past our driveway and got myself stuck sideways in the street. Normally the tiny Fit wouldn’t fully block the street, even sideways, but our neglected street only had one lane of packed down snow and ice. Hence the stuckness. It took James and two of our neighbors to get me back out again. We decided our safest bet was to park down the block on the adjecent street that was actually plowed. And as we were walking back, wouldn’t you know it, a snow plow came by! Before we could get excited, it motored down the street at top speed, barely skimming the surface, and then it was outta there. WTF? No sand, no salt, no nothin. I’m calling the city tomorrow to complain.

In the meantime, again, thank god for Peapod. My friend Lisa is borrowing my NYC hobo cart, and I wasn’t looking forward to the icy trek back and forth to the car to carry in a trunkful of groceries. It’s soooo worth the expense. And I’ll have all my groceries in time for a yummy, merry Christmas.

So I got to the Maryland Circuit Court building, which was nothing like I pictured it — no mahogany benches, just utilitarian gray carpet and chairs. We sat through a 15-minute video detailing the jury process, and how important it is we are doing our civic duty. Then the woman in charge said there was one big case they were seating jurors for that would last for at least three days next week, and might even spill over to the following Monday. And I realized the timing of this really stank — I’ve gone weeks without any appreciable freelance work, and I’m lined up to do some work for Penton next week. Enough to pay for a new TV for our bedroom. Merry Christmas to us. And this could ruin everything. Thankfully, there was an easy out. With the holidays next week, she said those with vacation plans could let her know, and we’d be exempt from that case. So I stood in line, rehearsing exactly how I was going to, erm, bend the truth (in a court of law, I know, shameful!). But then as I approached the end of the line, she wasn’t giving anyone the third degree. Just juror number and dates we would be unavailable. Then I sat back down and read my book, waiting to hear if there would be anymore cases called. She explained that they also do “instant jury selection”, in which a case for that day gets handed in and they need a steady pool of jurors to pick from for that case. One did come in at about 2:30, but I was again passed over. And at three she announced that we could all go home, not to be called again for at least three years. I picked up my check ($15.00, woo-hoo!) and headed home. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get called — I was hoping for all that trouble and waiting around I’d at least get to sit in on a one-day civil suit. But, if it had turned into a longer case, it would have been terribly inconvenient for us. Not only for my freelance work, but also affording childcare for Liam on the days I’d be gone. $15 a day would hardly cover that.

In other news, I’ve been a baking fiend this week, baking several dozen of my favorite cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms. You know, the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey Kisses? I’ve got, like, 100 of them, all ready to go to a mommy group cookie swap tomorrow. And wouldn’t you know it, they’re calling for the blizzard of the century. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but they’re saying we’ll have a foot on the ground by the time this party starts. It hasn’t started snowing yet, but they say it should start getting heavy around midnight. A one hundred percent chance of snow. It doesn’t look good. So James may be taking six dozen or so cookies to work on monday, lol. Lest I eat them all myself.

Am I weird to be excited about this? I know it’s not like the movies, but ever since I saw Runaway Jury, I’ve wanted to serve on a jury. I’m sure it’s not even as glamorous as Law and Order. They said on the phone recording to bring reading material. I get to read?! Yes! Lately I can barely keep up with the two monthly magazines I subscribe to. Now I can start re-reading Eclipse like I said I would last week. Or start on the stack of books Jill sent me for Christmas/birthday. I’m sure James won’t be thrilled — he’s got to take a sick day and take care of Liam. I’m not even sure how this works — is it just for one day? Will I need to come back next week? Will I be serving on a murder trial? Oh, oh, will I get sequestered?! Sweeet.  

I know. I’m totally setting myself up for disappointment here. Whatever. At least I can read.

Note to self for next year: order Christmas cards before Thanksgiving. Sheesh, what a fiasco. I’m a graphic designer by trade, so it would make sense for me to design my own Christmas cards. But with all of the other urgent to-do’s I had to accomplish this week, plus losing four or so days to the flu, my Christmas card task kept falling to the bottom of the list. Thursday I finally got around to picking out a photo (my dad-in-law set up his own little photo studio in his living room while we were in Lexington for Thanksgiving, so I had a lot of great shots to choose from), but I soon discovered that even if I ordered them right that very minute, I would barely get them shipped to me in time to mail out. Rather than dash some design off in an hour, I just picked one of their templates. Just as well — I haven’t been feeling the creative juices lately.

Tonight I’m researching baby haircutting places. Liam’s hair is getting out-of-control long — I combed it all forward, and some bits are all the way down to his nose! Poor kid always has hair in his eyes. If he were a girl, a secure barrette would do the trick. But I’ll never hear the end of it from James if I try that with Liam. I was thinking I could try cutting it myself. I mean, how hard can it be? But then I realized Liam’s birthday is coming up, and I’ll be wanting to take lots of photos. I don’t want his first birthday photos to be known as the “funky haircut” photos. Course, it would make good blog fodder… is that what I’ve turned into? The mom who puts her son through hell for good blog fodder? I hear that builds character. 

I also wanted to share my latest post from Tiny Tidbits about baby wearing. Enjoy!

Wait, what? Less than three weeks until Christmas? When did this happen? Where did the time go? I had all of these plans, all of these things I wanted to do while Alice is still watching the boy. And the clock is ticking. Every day this week I’m imagining how much harder the day would have been if I’d had Liam with me. Yesterday I did laundry, planned two weeks of meals, and made a lengthy grocery list. Then I spent about an hour making acorn squash, carrots, and mango baby food. I sent some emails, applied for the requisite jobs for my unemployment, hung out on Facebook. I tried to imagine accomplishing all of that during Liam’s fleeting nap time. Some days he doesn’t take a nap at all. Boy, am I in for it. But, like all moms who came before me, I’m sure I’ll find ways to get things done with a toddler hanging on to my legs.

Today I went to yoga, then went to see New Moon, which I’ve been dying to see since Thanksgiving. I agree with my friends’ general consensus that this installment was loads better than Twilight. Funny enough, it was my least favorite of the books. But they did a nice job adapting it for the screen. I love that kid who played Jacob — not only for the obvious eye-candy factor (yes, I know, he’s a teenager and I’m in my, eek, 30s. But whatever, I’m not the only 30-something thinking it.)–but I love his character. Bella and Edward are always so deathly serious, and Jacob livens things up and injects a little humor. Books 3 and 4 sort of meld together in my head. Probably because I read them both in a matter of days. I think I’ll reread Eclipse to refresh my memory.

Tomorrow I’m off to the store. Trying to put my meal-planning into practice, and it’ll help to have a fully-stocked pantry. I’m actually excited about getting back into cooking. I’m dragging out a few old shrimp recipes (tomatoes are back on the menu, yay!) and that yummy shepard’s pie I made for the Harry Potter party last year. I’m even thinking of roasting a whole chicken for Christmas…so ambitious!

So in less than three weeks I’ve got to finish my Christmas shopping, design, order, and mail out my Christmas cards, set up my tree, bake cookies for a holiday party, attend a baby CPR class, and possibly serve on a jury. So little time!