The Ethics of Lent

So... it's lent and thus the time to pick something to give up... At first I thought I should really be more sacrificial and give up something really major - like diet coke (yeah - still trying to ditch that demon, very unsuccessfully it appears) but... ummm.. no I did not pick that. Instead I picked fast food  - because it's bad and the amount of nutritional value = the time it takes to make it (i.e. little or none) - it makes one need a larger pant size over time, etc... etc.. etc... 

Anyhow, the problem is this (i.e. current ethical dilemma), this week I ate pizza because in my head pizza does not count. It is not fast - it takes a whole 30 minutes before you can pick it up and pizza itself is relatively (ok kind of sort of) healthy"ish".  However, after I ate my pizza I was talking with my mom about Lent and she said and I quote - "you just ate pizza, you cheated" (imagine it in cool slow mo like Yooouuuu Chhhheeaattteeddd) ha ha not really but it sounds fun right? Anyhow - Hands down, stamp it on my forehead cheater. 

Now, the pizza was from Round Table - but I can't help but wonder if it would still be seen as cheating had it come from a local pizza place, or what if I ordered the pizza from a restaurant? hmmm?? you see the blurry lines created in this grey area of a thing I gave up. In fact could not then fast food be anything made in the microwave because it's fast... 

I feel like it all boils down to semantics - but perhaps I am leaning toward that because it suits my purpose. What I meant by fast was "I can sit in my car and get it" - but then there are restaurants with drive up take out - oh where will it end!!!! 

As I type this list I realize I probably very well cheated... Are there Lent do overs??? OR maybe as an overthinker I should just not "give" things up - maybe instead I should pick something I will do instead (that of course, counteracts something negative I do currently). 

OR... I can just say I will not eat fried food - haven't had any of that this whole time - so... yep I can have success with that one. OR I need to be completely concrete... Suggestions / thoughts / get out of lent free card anyone??

On a related note - Morgan said she will give up making messes in ANY room - I repeat ANY room... I believe this too will easily result in a "greyish" area dilemma along the way. Like mother / like daughter. 

Oh - and see dad the world is in fact not just black and white! one point to the child. ha ha

"PS" Phineas

PS - The fish has a new name - and I think "he" has also been reassigned to his original gender. The name is now Phineas - and so far it has had staying power. The inspiration - these two little cartoon boys with fairly odd head-shaping - Phineas to the left / Ferb to the Right (and Perry the Platypus at front).

I'm a fan of the name choice for many reasons - first the relation to the word "fin" which our fish has some of those, and should we branch off into getting that second fish (she has not mentioned going back for the goldfish - so perhaps our Beta is it). But, if we do - built in name awaiting him (or her). :-) 

And... I think Morgan would quite enjoy the title of this post - she is a fan of the PS. Every time we write a letter she mentions adding a PS (you know, for when you forgot something you wanted to say the first time...).

TV & Teeth

Here's the thing... sometimes TV is a major distraction and that is a bad thing, BUT sometimes it is actually a great thing.  When is it great - how about this morning when a certain little person sat on my bed, zoning out to some curious george, and brushing continually for at least 3-4 minutes straight. 

TV Distraction + Tooth Brush = Great cleaning results!

Great cleaning results + my observation of how this came to be = new routine plan for teeth cleaning! :-) 

You've Got Mail

Valentine's day.. a little late 

For my daughter I left a "secret surprise" and she was indeed impressed by my craftiness of being able to hide her gifts from her. I am impressed at my finding abilities and the fact that the deep dark back of my brain storage space comes available for memories now and again (i.e. I remembered where I left the mailbox I hid from her). She is the epitome of a woman on Valentines - loving every ounce of her fancy chocolate and foliage. 

Our ideas run in parallel it seems as she too was hiding her gift for me. She left it on my door knob early in the morning and surprised me with breakfast (yogurt and coffee creamer). I think I will always laugh when I see the bottle of coffee creamer out on its own! :-)  

Grossology

Today we went to the Grossology exhibit at a local museum... It is three rooms full of science-based info on all things gross about the "ins and outs" of animals...

Some of the things we learned today:

* The male Darwin frog carried the eggs in its throat until they hatch and them actually burps them out..

* That cows spend 75% of their day eating and digesting - and they actually have to chew their food, swallow, throw it up, and then they can finally eat it...

* That a fly can carry 1,250,000 different types of bacteria around on its six little glue-ridden feet - hence the displays suggestion to throw out any food a fly sits upon...

* Owls can't chew - so they swallow their food whole and then barf up the "packaging", i.e. bones, fur, etc...

...and so much more! Morgan now knows a few fun facts, understands what intestines are and how food travels out of the body, knows that animal blood comes in varying color options (blue, red, yellow, and white), and can put an after dinner bones puzzle together with the best of them. :-) 

Thought for the Day..

Buying items in advance is super great, you get exactly what you want, you know it's taken care of - no stressful running around later... And while all these things are 100% true, in my case buying things early also means needing to hide them from little one. In this instance, a cute metal mailbox to put her valentine card and candy in. Problem is - I not only hid it from her - I hid it from me too! 

Inadvertently I have created my own personal Friday night hide and seek game for myself... Next time I'm going to leave myself a clue - I've always liked scavenger hunts better than hide and seek anyhow. :-) 

 

You Know How Sometimes....

...you just know there's a reason you do things a certain way / at a certain time. I had a reminder of this fact tonight. The scenario goes like this:

* Arrive home from school / work

* Mom gets idea - why not take a shower right now? Get it out of the way, avoid snacking in the kitchen while dinner cooks in the oven - genius!

* Mom takes said shower only to hear mid-shower "OW!!! Lily!!! (small whimper type cry) followed by shuffling feet into the bathroom)...

* Mom peeks from behind shower curtain and sees small child holding her bangs back with scratch on forehead.

...and how did this scratch occur? The story is Morgan was laying down and Lily was having a "crazy" moment where she runs around all over the place - which she does have upon occasion, in this case probably because she did not get enough attention from me like usual - because, I veered away from the schedule. I defied the schedule that is there for a very good reason.

Does Lily know what she did - of course not. She had that dog look where they sink their head down a bit because the small person has let them know there is a problem and the big persons face has that stern look attached to it. :-) 

And Morgan, Morgan is just fine - she does have a scratch on her face from Lily's nail and I am just SUPER thankful her eyes were avoided. SUPER THANKFUL.

Will I ever shower immediately after work again - probably not. And, will I sway from my normal week night schedule - if I had a magic 8 ball I think it would say "all signs point to no".

The A to the B to the C

No there are no code words that go along with those letters - they are in fact letters.. letters that represent my ever-existing alternate plans, that become implemented as a result of my none-too successful and or lacking in materials original plan(s). 

Case in point: valentine cards.

Plan A - well, okay I'm not going to lie - Plan A was almost buying valentines because I saw some I thought Morgan would like, but then... I just couldn't do it. Not yet - not now, not while kids will still appreciate a homemade item. (I think)  And, ok also not going to lie about the fact that I kind of sort of love doing this stuff. :-) 

Plan B - make crayons - no not by actually melting wax and adding color and all that good stuff - by using old broken crayons and making into cool mixed-color shapes. Problem here is that I simply did not have enough broken / worn down crayons (what's up with that Morgan - taking care of your stuff and not breaking your crayons - ha ha).  And, I can not in good conscience use perfectly good crayons that have not yet even hit paper. 

which means.. on to Plan C (where the rubber hits the road and the store shelves serve as my guide)

Plan C - whilst perusing the shelves I am thinking - alright self what are we gonna do here? To which self answered - why not buy crayons? Not a bad idea self - let's head to the crayon aisle shall we? (I promise I stop referring to myself in third person now AND I also promise I do not speak aloud to myself in the actual store) 

So me, myself, and I arrive at said crayon aisle - fail! Unfortunately someone else and their self decided they needed small boxes of crayons too and they were all gone. Hmmmm what to do, what to do? Party supply aisle by chance - success! I looked through the party favor bins and found wonderful individually packaged crayons (three primary colors to a pack) and perfect size / weight to attached to a card.

For only $4.00 the valentine project came together. I used cardstock I already had on hand, printed a valentine themed character on the front (that can be colored  - the whole card can if they like) and a printed message inside. Crayons stuck to the inside-front with double stick tape and voila Valentine cards ready to go! 

Morgan was consulted through the process and is quite happy with the end product as am I...

*ps - we put the children's actual names on front - just made it generic for this post! 

Indescribable Love

It's the national week of love and I just have to say... I LOVE MY DAUGHTER.

Like Big, HUGE makes your heart want to jump out of your chest can't even begin to describe it because there are not enough words kind of love.

It's that strange utter-happiness feeling that somehow is so powerful and overwhelming it makes you want to cry (and sometimes you do) kind of love.

My most amazing gift... God is good indeed for giving me my Morgan and the blessing of Indescribable love!

The Most Important Word(s)

Tonight as we were driving home we were talking about virtues (peace, patience, kindness, etc...) - at first we were just discussing each word and she was relaying to me what each meant - as we talked about peace she said "but peace is not the most important word in the world" 

And, while many many beauty pageant contestants may whole-heartedly disagree - I of course had to ask what then IS the most important word in the world? 

To which she answered: please, thank you, and you're welcome (yes more than one word...and she acknowledged that) - but it was a pretty spot on answer. I would definitely have to agree that those qualify as some of the most important words in the world.

Success and an Identity Crisis

So - two things happened today. First:

Morgan's listening ears were fully functional today. When we were leaving school she saw a friend outside and wanted to go "see inside her car" (they have this obsession right now with seeing inside each others cars) anyway, I said her name once and she looked but kept heading toward the direction of her friend and the car - then, said her name a second time with the "mom look".  She stopped and called to her friend - "I'm going to listen to my mom - because I don't want to lose my dessert or TV".    ha ha ha... it's funny in the way she said it AND wonderful that my mom look and restrictions work.... sometimes. :-)

Second.... our fish has had a name change AND gender change apparently... "His" name went from beautiful to Lulu. When I asked about naming a boy fish Lulu (which is wrong of me I know - let the child's imagination and creativity lead the way - especially when it comes to a fish) she said he was actually a she so Lulu works. I tried to explain that he is a boy fish - but she responded with "well, it can be a boy to you  - but I want the fish to be a girl so it's a girl to me".

So - now we shall have a confused fish - although I doubt it will matter much to Lulu - the fish formally known as a boy.  

Fishicide...

It's true - we were almost the perpetrators of "fishicide".. why?? As you know Morgan has been saving to buy a fish - and as of this week (and a very special report card gift - thank you Auntie Ellen) she was able to buy her fish and all the things she needed...  When we got to the store we picked out the tank and gravel, found the fish food and water treatment solution, and then headed to find the perfect goldfish.

Now I don't know about you but I have always thought goldfish were the easy fish of the flock - they're made for kids to have right? Well - I learned I was quite wrong. Morgan surveyed the gold fish case and then found her favorite fish (in fact our PetCo friend had to chase him around with the net while Morgan tried to talk him in). He was all bagged up, ready to go... and then, our helping friend saw the fish tank in our cart. 

It turns out goldfish are super finicky and you have to have their water prepped for like 4 days - she recommended even adding feeder fish for a couple of days to get the water bacteria levels right AND they have to have a filter - because they are also one of the dirtiest fish. SO, long story short there we were fish in bag, about ready to take our goldfish friend home for a quick death. 

The minute I tried to explain it to Morgan she started bawling - like BIG bawling... she wanted this goldfish so badly, but she also understood she did not want him to die (it was that unfortunate and simple - you take him, he dies). Our fish helper felt very bad - she had not known we did not have the tank set up (she asked if we had one and I said yes, I meant in the cart - she meant at home) - so, she quickly tried to divert Morgan to the beta fish. At first she wanted nothing to do with them then, after a bit she started to gain more interest and finally found one that would suffice - for now.

So now we have a "starter fish" - his name (as of tonight) is beautiful...  And, he will be prepping the tank for goldfish (yet to be named) when he gets to come home next week. The fish helper friend promised to take good care of him for her until she comes back - I really just hope that dang fish is still there - but how many people buy goldfish on an average week really??? Especially now that I know what diva fish they are.   Turns out they are not the "run to the store and replace before your child notices them floating because they only live a few weeks kind of fish" - they are actually just high needs fish that have been misunderstood.

So friends - morale of this story is - not all fins are the same and a little research can save a lot of heartache later (and counter space when you end up with two fish - ha ha).

** the tank pictured above is the one she chose - and what it will look like once a goldfish lives in it. :-)