When plans go awry

So today was the big "Beyond the Gates" event at our church. Lots and lots of people volunteered to go out into the community and do service and outreach projects. The three of us signed up to go to a local retirement community to spend time with the residents there. I thought it would be a good way for us to participate, plus Emma could come, too.

I got an e-mail from the team leader a few days ago, who suggested maybe making some cookies or having candy to pass out to the people when we're there, or bring games or cards or something like that to play with the residents. I made two different kinds of peanut butter cookies yesterday (it took all morning), and while Emma was napping today I put them into little baggies and tied them with ribbon. I figured she could pass them out to people. Cute.

Everyone who participated met at the church at 3:00 so we could meet as teams and get directions and any other instructions we may need. We didn't feel that our group was extremely organized, but we figured it would all work out at the Sunrise Retirement Home, which is where we were headed. I grabbed a printed out sheet of directions that was sitting on the table next to a box that had a big stack of directions and put it with our stuff.

After a lot of confusion - it seemed - we finally took off to our destinations. We followed our directions to exactly where they said it was. We never saw a sign that said Sunrise, but we saw people with green shirts (the shirts for the event), so we figured that was where to go. It was a convalescent hospital. It was not what we thought we were looking for, but we had followed the directions, so we went in.

The residents were in wheelchairs and/or bedridden and/or using walkers, and most of them couldn't hear us. We didn't recognize any of the people in the group from our church. Something was terribly wrong. They gathered some residents in the "rec room", and we sang old hymns for a while, then the leader said to chat with people. We had been singing with and holding a songbook for a woman named Pamela, so we chatted with her a bit; but Emma needed juice so I went over to the diaper bag and got it with her. We got cornered by this lady named Sybille (from our church group, by the way) who just started talking my ear off. I finally got away from her and went back over to Chris. She followed us. She was talking about how I need to volunteer with Mops and Emma can become a Mopette (or whatever she said), and she asked if we went to a Sunday School class. I said we used to go to one, but now we didn't. She said we HAD to come to her class and get involved. Said it over and over and over, and then her husband came over and pretty much started to read Chris the riot act about how important it was to get involved with the church and we needed to come to their class immediately.

By this point I was so angry that 1) they were talking to us when they should have been talking to the residents of this convalescent home which we were there to do in the first place, and 2) that they were being such zealots about joining everything when they didn't even know us and had no business talking to us like that. So I took Emma's hand and we went over and talked to one of the ladies sitting near us in a wheelchair. Her name was Flora. Then we started singing again, and we decided we'd had enough, but there was still enough time to figure out where we were supposed to be and find it. So at the next chat break, we left. Just walked right out.

It's important to mention that I couldn't pass out any of my cookies I had made because some of them might have nut allergies or whatever.

So we drove BACK to the church, and I ran in to see if anyone knew where the place was we were supposed to go. A nice woman told me where it was, and when she said it, I knew exactly where it was. So we went over there and arrived with only about half an hour left before we were to come back to the church for the potluck and celebration. So we went inside and saw the group leader and told him what had happened - I had picked up the wrong sheet of directions, which just so happened to be sitting on our table - then we went and chatted with a few of the nice people there. The people were really sweet and could communicate back with us. They loved seeing Emma. A couple gave Emma some candy, which was really sweet, and she sat next to them on the couch. So we finally got to do what I had thought we were going to do in the first place, so the day wasn't totally a bust.

I didn't even take the cookies in this time because I figured it was too late.

We went back over to the church and had dinner and heard a little of the stories people were sharing of their experiences, but we just wanted to go home. Plus Emma needed to get a bath and go to bed soon. So we came home.

Didn't go as I had planned, but maybe it wasn't meant to. Who knows?

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Near the box does NOT mean in the box.

My personal stylist

A lot of times it's easier on days Emma needs a bath for the two of us to take a shower together. Saves time. She loves standing next to me and sharing the water. We both have a tendency to stand under the warm water and put our hands behind our backs and just stand there. Chris says it's really cute. Just take his word on it.

After we're finished showering, I turn off the flow of water to the shower and plug the drain and fill up the tub to let Emma play while I get ready. These days she has to have 4 plastic balls (like in a ball pit) - one red, one blue, one yellow and one green - and two Dixie bathroom cups in there with her to play with.

After I get clothes on, with my hair still wet, I get Emma out of the tub and lotion her up and get her clothes on. Then she HAS to get my hairbrush and a Q-tip and begins to "give me a haircut", i.e. brush my hair. Why the Q-tip, you ask? Beats me. She usually says, "Need earwax," or something to that effect when she gets in the drawer to get the Q-tip, which makes no sense to me because she's not cleaning out her or my ears, but whatever. It's still really funny.

So she brushes my hair with the brush - powering right through any tangles, no matter how much it hurts ... thank goodness I don't have a tender scalp - and the Q-tip, which feels similar to when I was in elementary school and had to get the periodic lice checks. Who didn't love the lice checks? You got to take time out of school to get your hair played with.

If she wants me to look down or up or left or right, she tells me which way to look AND puts both hands on my head and moves it the way she wants it, just like she's seen my stylist, Mimi, do when she comes with me to the salon. It cracks me up every time.

Oh, I was watching the Today Show this morning and found out that New Kids on the Block is going to be on the show on Friday putting on a concert! Holy flipping crap! Can I just tell you how incredibly excited I was to hear that and how stoked I am to see those guys again? I was a huge NKOTB fan back in the day. Loved Joey McIntyre. I'm recording the show. I WILL show it to Emma so she, too, can develop a love for the New Kids like her mommy.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: It's not the size of the stylist that matters, it's the quality of the 'do.

14 toddlers and 2 Mother's Day dinners

First of all, happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there! I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Today was a crazy day, to say the least. We were scheduled for nursery duty this morning at church, and we were almost really late because Chris and Emma had let me lay back down in bed and take a nap this morning and I almost overslept. Don't ask why they didn't come get me to have me get in the shower, because there's not a good reason why not. We did make it there, and we were only a few minutes late.

So it started out looking like it wasn't going to be too crowded, but they just kept coming. I had counted at one point and there were 11 kids, including Emma. THEN came the triplets. So 14 toddlers between 26 months and 3 years old, at least 4 of whom were inconsolable at one time or another. Between holding the criers, changing diapers, searching for the culprit of the stinky smell (which turned out to be our own darling Emma, by the way), taking kids to the potty and settling the whose-turn-is-it-with-a-particular-toy disputes, we had a hectic morning.

We stopped at McDonald's on the way home from church and picked up food, as I wasn't in the mood to wait to reheat leftovers, and I wanted to get Emma down for a nap as soon as possible. She loves taking apart her cheeseburger and putting the pieces back together over and over. It's pretty funny, but in all the fun she tends to forget to actually eat. We finished eating and got her down relatively quickly, which was nice.

We did our weekly video chats with both sets of grandparents after Emma woke up from her nap, and then we went to a restaurant called New Moon for dinner. It's very similar to PF Chang's, which I love.

We'd had our appetizer and had pretty much just started our entrees when one of the workers was moving a chair from the table next to us and lifted it over his head so as to not run into anyone by accident. He ended up hitting a light fixture hanging just over me to my left and broke a big chunk of it off. It crashed loudly to the floor and shattered in a million pieces. The guy immediately checked to make sure I was OK and Emma was OK (she thought it was an awesome show and was fine). It didn't hit me at all, but there was a broken shard of glass in my food.

So they took away all our food and replaced all our drinks, plates and silverware. We had new entrees in under 5 minutes. It was incredible. They kept coming over to check on us, and the guy that did it was so apologetic. I felt so bad for him, because it was just an accident. He felt awful. Throughout the rest of our time there, Emma kept talking about the light falling down and crashing and getting broken. It was so funny. Did they give us a free meal? No. You must have to actually get injured to warrant a free meal. But we were stars for the rest of our time there. We had so many people on their way out stop and comment on how beautiful and expressive Emma is. By the way, she was wearing the cutest little dress today. Here is a picture of it.
She wore a cropped white sweater over it and black Mary Jane Crocs. Adorable.

So all in all, it was an eventful, crazy day. But I got the cutest Mother's Day card from Chris and Emma. Here is the picture from the front of it. How cute is this??
That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Sometimes it pays to have stuff fall on you.

Feet, glorious feet

I have a few product plugs here, hope you don't mind. :)

I have dry, cracked feet, and I have been looking for something to fix it forever. My aunt Carolyn gave me this lotion while Emma and I were in Florida with them, and it works really well. It's called Miracle Foot Repair. You can get it at Walgreen. The smell isn't the best, but the stuff works.

When I was at Walgreen looking for the lotion, and the nice girl who was helping me asked if I'd heard of the PedEgg. It looks like a cheese grater for your feet, so I was a little nervous about using it the first time. But I used it a few nights ago, and it works GREAT! Oh my gosh, I was so surprised and pleased. I highly recommend it.

That's all for now. More later.

Always remember: Feet aren't that gross, I guess.