ice cream cone

He knows what he wants.

Illegal

Remember my last post about having my own car and getting to do whatever I want this summer?

Scratch that.

I went to get a Texas license yesterday.  And because I'm dumb, my current Idaho license had expired a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't think it would be a big deal, but it was.  I got to the DPS nice and early when the wait was only 20 minutes, and I had brought the things that their website said I would need.  Just kidding!  They lied. They sent me home to get my SS card, birth certificate, and another proof of residency.  The only thing was that I didn't have any other proof of resiency.  I am basically a nomad.  We have moved at least every year since we have been married, and that doesn't count the four times we moved for just a couple of months for Brandon to have work. There are no utilities in my name.  I don't have a job, and don't go to school.  I'm not married to a Texan.  I don't request bank statements.  I'm not on medicaid or WIC, and my health insurance card doesn't have my address on it.  Even our rental contract was done electronically, so we didn't have a hard copy of it. This was a problem.  When I finally got something figured out and went back to the DPS, the wait was over 2 hours.  (To make things worse, I had someone watching my kids the whole time.  It was definitely better than having them with me, but my poor friend had to watch them for much longer than she signed up for.)  My turn finally came and I was asked to surrender my Idaho license.  Surrender.  Like we were at war or something.  The lady then took my picture and had me take a written test-- which I passed.  When I walked up to do the last thing, the lady told me I would have to schedule an actual driving test, and that their next available appointment was JULY 23.  Yes.  Six freaking weeks from now.  And did I mention that they took my Idaho license?  So I had to drive home illegally, and I can't legally drive until I pass a driving test, even though I have been driving every day for the past 9 years.  I spent six hours at the DPS and left in a worse position than I came.  I guess the best part of yesterday was getting this text from my sister: "Lol.  Like you aren't going to drive.  Screw the government."  Amen to that.

I've discovered the secret.

Let me take a moment to publicly thank my sister for giving us her car.  This summer has been the best one in three years.  The past two summers we have had to move out to either corporate housing or my parents' house for Brandon to go to work, and he would take the car every day (unless I wanted to wake myself and the kids up at 7:00 to take him.  Nope.) I was away from my friends and on most days, stuck without a car in a house that wasn't mine. I honestly started to wonder if I had some kind of reverse seasonal depression during the summer.  No, it wasn't depression.  I just hated it.

It was much better during the school year, but since Rice charges $400 per semester for a parking pass, I still had to drive Brandon to school every day.  It doesn't sound that bad, but I couldn't leave the house before he was ready to go each morning, and I couldn't start making dinner until we were back every night (which was at least 6:00).  The worst part was when Violet would fall asleep in the car on our way to pick him up and then think she could stay up till 10:30 because she had a 15-minute nap.  

Now, since Brandon's company is nice and doesn't charge him $400 for a parking permit, Brandon drives himself to work every day.  He also works close to home, so we didn't have to move out for the summer. Oh my gosh, it has made such a difference in my life.  I can start making dinner at 4:30 instead of 6:30.  Last night we had TWO sides with our dinner.  That's two more than I normally make.  Since we eat earlier, I get the dishes done right after dinner instead of having to put the kids to bed first.  My house is actually clean before I put the kids to bed.  And since I can leave the house earlier, we can get more done and still have Charlie home on time for his nap each day.  Is this how all the other moms manage to stay on top of things?  Is this why everyone else seems to have a handle on things while I could never seem to get myself together?  Well, now I know.  The secret to keeping order in your house isn't in waking up early, or doing a full load of laundry every day.  It's having a husband who drives himself to work.

Cutest nightstand ever

I posted on my sewing blog.  I'm really proud of this project, go check it out.

Retraction

It was unplugged.

Poor Shady, tough decision

Say that in a french accent and it makes way more sense. 

Anyways, I have come to a point where I actually do have a tough decision to make. My sewing machine broke today.  It has broken twice before-- one was something that we got fixed a few years ago, and the other time was last week and Brandon managed to fix it.  But this time it won't even turn on, and I'm seriously considering whether it would be worth it to get it fixed.

From a financial standpoint, it doesn't make sense to get it fixed.  My machine was worth $320 brand new, four years ago.  The first time I got it fixed, it was sent out for 2 weeks and cost me $95. That's almost a third the cost of the machine.  This was a very minor repair, too.  Who knows what it would cost now, or even if I could find someone to fix it.  Buying a new machine isn't something I would care to do now, either.  (Honestly.  I broke a $300 machine twice.  Just imagine what I would do to a cheap $100 machine.)  Also, in this day sewing only saves you money on clothes if you don't know how to get clothes on sale.  And I'm so good at getting clothes on sale.

I don't really love sewing. It's tedious. It takes up SO MUCH ROOM that I just don't have.  I also don't have that much time for hobbies, and to be honest I would love to just focus on painting, because that one gets neglected a ton. But one thing I do love that would be hard to leave behind is the creative aspect of sewing.  I love that I made Charlie's crib bumpers.  I love that Brandon reupholstered two chairs for our house.  I love that Violet can come with me to the fabric store and pick out exactly what she wants and wait in tense excitement as I finish each stage of her new dress.  I really love that I never have to throw any peice of clothing out because it doesn't fit perfectly. 

But even that becomes a problem.  I buy so much fabric for projects that never even get started.  I buy clothes that don't really work on me because I always assume that I can just fix them.  I waste so much money and thought on things that will never get done that it almost excites me to imagine what it will be like to never think about sewing.

It will be sad for me to think that I won't be able to sew Violet a Halloween costume this year.  But I've decided that putting away the sewing machine and thinning out my piles of fabric, at least until I have the space, energy, and money to commit to it again, is the best idea.

Why I'm going to like 25

I have this weird fear of getting old.  I can't really justify it, but I was a little distraught about turning 25 because I can no longer say that I'm in my "early twenties."  (I know 25 isn't old.  I just liked being super young.)  But sometime in that past few weeks I came to terms with turning 25 and decided that it's going to be my favorite age yet.  Here's why:
-- I can hang out with 30somethings and they don't feel like they're babysitting me. At the same time, 21-year-olds don't view me as a mother figure.
-- I've figured out how to have kids but not let them define my life.  The day before my birthday, my friend was talking about how she sees 21-year-olds with a baby but very little other life experience and she said, "I'm so glad that wasn't me."  So, teasing as I always do, I replied, "So you're saying you're glad you're not like me?"  Imagine my surprise when she said, "But you have so many other interesting things you do that don't involve having kids." Right then I did a victory dance and took a bow in my head.
-- I'm much more comfortable with my life than I was when I was 21.  Back when I first had Violet, when I would get the question "What do you do?" I would say "I'm just a mom" and secretly wish I had something more interesting to say.  Now when I get that question, I can say, "I take care of my kids."  And I don't really care what anyone thinks, because if they don't consider that work then they've obviously never been around my kids.
-- I've stopped feeling inadequate for not doing all the things that other moms and the internet tell me I should be doing.  A few months ago, I found this blog post that listed 10 things you should be doing every day to maintain order in your house.  It tried to feed me crap like waking up early, going to bed early, and getting an entire load of laundry done--start to finish-- each day.  A younger Lindsey may have been sad and discouraged and thought, "I'll never stay on top of things.  I love sleeping in too much. Boo hoo."  But instead I scoffed and said, "I am a GROWN UP!  NOBODY tells me when to go to bed!"

Maybe that should be my motto this year.  I am 25.  I am a grown up.  NOBODY tells me what to do.

Oh yes.  I'm going to love this age.

Have a great day

If you're ever weighed down by the cares of the world, you can sleep soundly at night knowing that Charlie has just discovered fans.

Misadventures of our trip

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you'll know that I don't feel the need to portray my life as perfect.  So how could I post about our camping trip without including all the things that didn't go our way?  I couldn't.  So here goes.  And I should warn, if you're uncomfortable hearing potty stories, stop reading.  Now.

We stopped at Horseshoe Bend by Page, AZ on our way out of the Grand Canyon.  At this stop there was a breathtaking view of one of the goosenecks of the Colorado River.  Unfortunately, there were no bathrooms and NO trees to hide behind.  Violet and I had both been in the car for hours and had to do our business when we got there. I had to resort to squatting over Violet's froggy potty (yes, we brought a toddler toilet on our trip) INSIDE the car, since there was no cover outside.  I thought I would be safe in there, but just as I got bare-bummed, another car with 4 passengers and no tinted windows pulled up right beside me and parked there.  In this situation there is really only one thing you can do: avoid eye contact.  I dodged glances like a pro.

When I caught up to the rest of my family, Violet informed me that she had to go, too.  She is really good at doing her business in the wild, but I was a dummy and forgot to take her skirt all the way off.  So, she peed all over it, and I spent the rest of our time at Horseshoe Bend holding a peed-on skirt and following around a toddler wearing only a shirt, a camelbak, and panties.

We are back

We just got back from our 2-week, 4,000-mile camping trip.  I got a lot of different reactions when I told people about our plans, but most involved people calling me crazy, brave, or saying that it wasn't a real vacation.  I'm sure many wondered whether the trip would be worth it for me, and to be honest, I wondered that before we left, too.  There are a lot of things that can go wrong on a camping trip, and a lot of things did go wrong.  I know that camping isn't exactly everyone's thing, and I wouldn't advise everyone else to take this trip.  But one thing I realized when we were out was that there really is no other way to see the world the way we did.  These are not places you can see by taking a flight and staying at a hotel.  It's going to be hard, because anything in life that's really worthwhile is.  But is it worth it?

 

YES!

 

I got to see my daughter experience the Grand Canyon for the first time.  She loved it.

 We were able to play on the beautiful dunes of White Sands national monument (this was one of the kids' favorite stops).

 I learned that my three-year-old is one of the best hikers I've ever met, simply because she loves climbing over rocks so much.

And all these were only a few moments out of our trip.  It was amazing.

A conversation

(As we were packing for our camping trip)
Brandon: Do you have enough socks?
Me: Yep.  I packed three pairs.
Brandon: Three pairs? That's not enough socks.  You can't just wear three pairs.
Me: Sure I can.  I only own three pairs.  That's all the socks I've worn all winter.
Brandon: You really don't wear shoes very often...

Grab my button, if you please.

Brandon has made a button that links to my website. If you want to grab it, follow these instructions:
1. Go to "Layout" on your blogger dashboard.
2. Click on "Add a gadget."
3. Choose "Add html/java script."
4. Paste the code below (the entire thing, exactly as it is):

<a href="http://50mmlinds.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMAWoGc6zHpc3SJBKVCAVT-gvx5vQM_rci0FPRtqT1BYt7orN5elgjsd0TdRLsFprdPbNqeBCA5lvJY-dzuPbZBukFyJG76PIhc9GbswWhqqyjO5l-yLN2z2KqAMYguePHiTZG/s1600/50mmlinds+button+reduced.jpg" /></a>

5. Save, and enjoy your new button.  And thanks for promoting me!

HMNS- through Violet's camera

She took this picture.

Last week we went to the museum and I let Violet bring her little camera along.  She wanted to walk through the garden and take some pictures of flowers before going in.  As soon as Charlie saw the roses, he pointed and said, "Fwawahs! Fwawahs!"  He learns new words every day.

I took this picture of her-- I made this dress for her last week.

We had a great time inside the museum, too.  They now have a T-rex that you can pay to ride which roars and moves around.  Charlie roared back at it and loved it until I brought him up for a closer look-- then he buried his head in my shoulder.

Charlie would not put his cone down to climb the stairs.

 Afterwards I bought our ritual ice cream cones at McDonalds.  Charlie's started melting a bit, so I took it and licked it a little so that it wouldn't drip.  And let me tell you, you do not want to get between that boy and his ice cream. He screamed like I was tearing apart his very soul when I took his cone.

She loved it so much that she took a picture of it.

Violet also got a letter from her cousin last week.  When she found a picture of Caroline inside it, she clutched it to her heart and wouldn't put it down for a good hour. Later, when Charlie would try to touch the picture, she would yell, "No, Charlie!  Don't touch Caroline!" That letter definitely made her week.

The dumpster

Tonight I did some cleaning and ended up with several large things that needed to be taken to the dumpster.  It was around 11:00 PM, and since I couldn't take it all in one trip and I don't like walking through alleyways in the dark, I decided to put the items in my car and drive them to the dumpster.  When I got there, I was worried that if I left my keys in the car, someone would drive off with it (not a far-fetched concern for where I live) so I took them out of the ignition and carried them with me.  But as I was throwing the last thing into the dumpster, I heard a familiar jingle and realized that I had flung my keys in there, too.  I'm not going to share what I thought at that exact moment; suffice it to say that it started with S.  Now I had a car that I couldn't move, right in front of the dumpster, in the dark.  I knew that there was no way to avoid having to get in there, so I wasted no time in running home to retrieve a flashlight and a stool.  Fortunately, there was nothing terribly gross in there, and I found my keys pretty quickly. But I can no longer say that I've never been inside a dumpster.

Violet's sense of direction

This girl's got skills.  One of them is her uncanny sense of direction. Before she was even two years old, she could tell me the way to the zoo and her favorite parks.  Last summer, we lived in corporate housing which she referred to as our "splash pad house."  In December, more than four months after we had moved out, we passed the exit to our old corporate housing and she pointed to the exit and said, "Mommy, there's our splash pad house!"  You can't even see it from the freeway.  She just still remembered where it was.  Nowadays, when we go to a park that we haven't been to in months, she will ask what park we are going to.  All I have to do is explain where it is, and she will remember what park I'm talking about and tell me which way we have to go to get there. 

The best story happened when Brandon and I were in Belize and my sister-in-law Lena was staying with Violet and Charlie.  Lena lives in Utah, so I gave her directions to a park and to Target, but she really didn't know how to get anywhere else.  One day, Lena took the kids to Target and Violet told her that she wanted to go to HEB. (Violet loves HEB.) So Lena got in the car and told Violet to tell her the way to HEB.  (Target is nowhere close to HEB, by the way.)  And Violet got her there!  The best part is that I mentioned to Lena that I didn't know that Violet knew how to get to HEB from Target, since we always go to HEB after we drop Brandon off at school, never after we go to Target. And Lena said that Violet actually gave her directions to Brandon's school, and then gave her directions to HEB from there. When Lena would try to turn a different direction, she would start crying and yell, "You're going the wrong way!!!!"

Not bad for a 3-year-old. 

Why I shouldn't be cheap

I'm cheap.  *GASP* Really? I'm sure this comes as a shock to everyone.  For awhile there I was getting better at not being cheap, but then I thought about how Brandon graduates in a year and I really want to buy a house right when he's done, so I started being frugal again.  I've been eyeing this really nice camera lens for awhile, but I was always too cheap to fork out $500 for it.  Last week it went on sale for $400, and while I was tempted, I was STILL TOO CHEAP.  I gave myself the same party-pooping lecture about being frugal.

Well, yesterday we went to my mom's house for Easter dinner.  She throws a great party.  And during this party, she had an adults-only easter egg hunt where she warned us that there may or may not be cash in some of the eggs and one of them had a BIG prize.  But as part of the game, during the hunt she would ring a bell every so often and when that happened, you would have to trade one of your eggs with someone else.  Although I may be cheap, I'm not generally greedy.  But for some reason, I got REALLY into this game and I thought, "I don't care how bad this looks; I am getting as much cash as I can!"  I devised a strategy of hoarding all of the light eggs and giving away all of the heavy ones, because I assumed they just had candy in them.  Well, after awhile I got sick of being cheap and greedy and decided to just let myself have fun.  I stopped hoarding eggs and traded whatever ones I happened to pick up. 

The game ended and the moment of truth arrived-- we all opened our eggs.  One had candy.  Two each had $1 inside.  And the heaviest one-- the one I would have easily given away-- had A HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL! 

I want you to look long and hard at this face.  This is the face of pure greed.  Oh man, I loved every minute of it. And just for the record, Mom said my reaction was worth every penny.

And here's a picture where I look slightly less like the devil.

After the excitement died down, Mom asked me what I was going to do with my money.  I told her that I was going to buy that lens.  $500 was way too much, but $400 was reasonable, and the cash would have brought it down to $300.  I was so excited. Brandon told me that he was glad I won, because I seemed so thrilled about it.  Shamelessly, I smiled and admitted that I was glad I won, too.

And the next morning, I wake up and find that the price on the lens has gone up exactly $100.  And I thought, Why do I have to be so cheap? I should have bought that freaking lens! 

For Carrie

Why didn't I get your love of cooking?

Recent excitement

Ah, the excitement of normal life. Last weekend, we went to a s'mores party hosted by a friend.  I was a huge fan of the idea. Violet was, too, and she went home asking when we could have a s'mores party in our backyard. I told her we could when we have a backyard.

Charlie insisted on roasting my marshmallow for me.

Violet wouldn't touch the burned marshmallows at first, but she got used to the idea. 

 And for the most exciting news, Violet finally earned her bike! She had been putting stickers on a chart for a month and at last filled it up.  She is beyond excited about it.

Watch out, world, here she comes.

This is what we do

I'm going to preface this post by saying that some of these pictures have nothing to do with the content.  I just had to announce to everyone that today Violet put on these clothes, struck a pose, and said, "How do you like my outfit?" It was priceless.

 What I was really going to talk about is our family time lately.  Have you been checking out my photo blog?  You should.  It's awesome.  I was afraid of running out of ideas but I realized that's never going to happen.  I'm not sure why I didn't do this awhile ago.  Anyways, back to family time.  Lately it has been revolving around taking pictures, and that has actually been quite fun.  We let Violet have her own camera (Brandon's shock-proof, water-proof camera) and she joins us on little nature walks.  Charlie is too young to manage a camera, but he enjoys picking the flowers while we are out anyways. There are few things as fun as getting to share your interests with your kids, so this has been a great thing for us to do.  Pretty awesome family time, if you ask me.

Picking the flowers

This is not the camera we normally let her use, but she looks so hardcore, I couldn't help myself.

How could I NOT put this picture up?

Charlie has the prettiest eyes, even if the booger is a bit distracting.

A blog-worthy bedtime story

Violet loves telling me bedtime stories.  She often takes events from the day and forms them into a more colorful story.  Today was not my day, as Charlie fell out of the stroller and had an injury that almost warranted a trip to the ER. The ER trip was only called off after I called my mom and she assured me that they couldn't do anything for a mouth injury at the ER.  (Don't worry, Charlie is fine now.  By the time I got home, he was talking and eating happily, so obviously there was no serious injury.)

But right when I thought I was getting over the trauma of the night, Violet told me a bedtime story. Here's how it went:
Once upon a time, there was a brave queen named Mommy.  She was riding her horse and she fell down and broke Charlie.  She rode to the castle and the other brave queen, Dr. Reed, put a bag of ice on Charlie so his broken heart could be glued back together.  The end.

So there you have the day's events told through Violet's eyes.  You're welcome.