Little Wrigglers Wreaking Havoc in God's House (The Best Thing Ever)

I went to early church yesterday so my 16 year-old could help teach the little bitty kids during that service. The littles really seem to like her and a couple of them always insist on sitting next to her when they do crafts. It’s nice for all of them, I think.

I watched her stand in the front of the sanctuary, waving the kids to come forward, to leave their moms. Some ran, some clung, some spun in circles. 

I remember very clearly being THAT MOM in church, pregnant with two unruly toddlers, hoping that the other people - the ones all around me who had showered and slept and didn’t have weird crusty baby stains on their best shirt - weren’t giving me The Righteous Sniff. 

I lived for the moment when the nice people would take my children for Sunday School, so I could slump in the pew, desperately needing a break from being the chief wrangler in the 24/7 goat rodeo of raising small children. 

Now my unruly toddler is the one wrangling the unruly toddlers. (IT’S THE CIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIIFE.) And I’ve found that watching the little kids wiggle around in church, trying so hard to behave themselves, while their parents shake their heads and whisper admonishments, is one of my very favorite things. 

The Purge (Middle Age Mom Version)

I am currently purging and donating ALL OF THE THINGS. I am not doing my usual emptying out of a closet, creating a huge chaotic mess, getting overwhelmed and then leaving bags of crap all over the basement & in the back of my car for 3 months. Dropping off today. TODAY.

There was no thoughtful Marie Kondo-ing happening. It was more like “GET THEE INTO A BOX OR TRASH BAG AND GET THYSELF LOADED NOW NOW NOW BEFORE THE CAFFEINE WEARS OFF.”

In this the year of our Lord 2020, I say unto you bye bye garage sale Barbie Houses and stuffed animals and random framed artwork from 15 years ago.

I need less shit in my life and a clean house and so help me THIS YEAR, I WILL HAVE THAT. 


(c) Mommyland Blogs 2013-2019

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The First Day Back

Today is the Feast of Epiphany, which means the holidays are officially over. It should probably be called Re-entry Day this year, since it corresponds with the first day back after winter break, or The Day No One Would Wake Up On Time and Everyone Was Grouchy As Hell.

The next few weeks are always hard at my house. There's not a whole lot to look forward to. Spring Break seems reealllllly far away. The sun sets almost as soon as the kids get home from school. Sometimes it's hard to feel cheerful or optimistic when it's dark so early, and the weather is cold, and homework is piling up, and school kind of sucks, and all the other reasons. 

The first day back is rarely a good one for us and today was exceptionally bad. So I made seven-layer dip and chicken tortilla soup. And I tried to be nice even though everyone was kind of cranky at me. 

And I reminded them, and myself, that even though today starts a long stretch of real life and hard work, that every day - even those that seem short and dark and gray - is getting lighter. The longest night is behind us.

Though it may not seem like things are getting brighter right now, they are. But you won't know it's happening unless you look for it. You have to pay attention to the changes, even if they happen slowly, or all you'll notice are the things you always see. 

It reminds me of what Dumbledore said about finding happiness in the darkest of times. The light is there, even if we can't see it. And things are going to change, whether we want them to or not. Spring is always going to come. Bad days (or weeks or months) can be followed by good ones. 

Tomorrow, we'll have about a minute more daylight than we did today. I'm grateful for it.

(c) Mommyland Blogs 2013-2019

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The Ten Year Challenge

The most recent social media trend appears to be reflecting deeply on the past decade and speculating on the personal growth that will occur during the next. This started last month with something called the "Ten Year Challenge.” Here's how that one worked: you find a photo of yourself from 2009 and compare it to a photo from 2019. This was supposed to demonstrate to the world your weight loss, or your progressive journey to total enlightenment, or possibly to provide our big data overlords with opportunities for their nefarious facial recognition efforts.

I'm ashamed to say I succumbed to online pressure and began looking through pictures from 2009. A search of our photo library for that year shows approximately 4,326 photos of my children, 398 of my pets, 47 of my husband (usually with our kids piled on him), and maybe 4 of me. I'd just given birth to my third baby in five years and I was exhausted and deep in The Blur. In most pictures, I'm either hiding from the camera or looking really confused about what the hell was going on.