here i sit. it's the beginning of the weekend.  i love the weekend. although i do have a moment that i think to myself, o.k. what can we do, what can we accomplish, where will we go, let's make the most of it.

then, i breathe.  i think to myself, is that really how i want to live?  i like the structure. structure is good...especially for our kids....especially to keep biff and i to keep focused.

we're both a tad overwhelmed since we still drive up the driveway to see two giant dumpsters filled to overflowing.....it's more the look of sanford and son than marthastewart http://www.magazine-agent.com/martha-stewart-living/magazineor 

country home magazine!
http://www.countryliving.com/homes/ 
we have stuff...we have stuff in the yard...we have workers who promise to come back....they are tending to bigger and better flood families!

so, i am torn.  do i try to clean up the lawn, the inside, the garage, shop for the new washer and dryer, walk the dogs at the beach, mail e-bay to customers, sell e-bay 

or shop for new clothing that was lost in the flood...just askin'

we seem to be temporarily frozen in neutral. we do little bits at a time. we get interrupted by life. we have your average interruptions...  family, dogs, cats, meetings, appointments...and some time to just be.  just quietly be.

we all need to have balance. balance keeps us "centered!"....the overused sensitive new age word of the day. peace. hmmmmmm. core. flax seed kind of words that we have integrated into our daily vocabulary to let people know that we are hip to the health culture. we don't mention when we eat chips. by the way, don't mention the peanut m&m's in the company of others either!

it's a dead giveaway that you are not conscious of life choices.

use words like, granola, bran

greens, bran, water, soy, tofu.

be subtle.  very subtle.  these are my own personal suggestions

use them quietly. do not shout these out. stand proud while the others are in awe of what a great parent you are!

*mention your health food store...

*better yet, carry your eco-totes, 

*wear yoga inspired tops or organic tees. 

*mention your recycle bin....the $ your kids have saved at the bottle recycle center at your grocery store...

*mention that they're paying for their own trip to a random country, other than the u.s.a.  the $ from their recycled bottles will be paying for! 

*when you're asked about the vacation  destination.... be sure to nod your head no because your kids will going to a country with no running water or dirty water...tetanus shots are required.

just sayin'....you'll be way more interesting than if you talk about your kids and their new blackberries, cell phones,

i-pods

i-tunes accounts and their shallow shoppinghabits of conspicuous consumption....and their diet of starbucks frappechinos and blueberry muffins!

just sayin'.

back to us and our plans for the weekend.  we can't order pizza, we did that last night.  we will do our best.  i will try not to crack under the pressure and stress and eat peanut m&m's.

 

we will begin our saturday morning with starbucks coffee.
tp://www.starbucks.com/ 

biff and i might have more than one cup...maybe, living in the fast lane that we do...we will have 3 cups.  not to be confused with yuppies, which we were but cannot admit.  we're not proud of it anymore....it lands like a cannonball in conversation rather than  a darling dive. that's when i talk of my outward bound trip and my personal growth....

oh, and i did train for a marathon!  oops, at the last minute i chickened out. that's not good in today's conversation.

it's way better to have blown a knee at mile 24 on my fourth marathon for cancer or diabetes or world hunger. better ix-nay on the marathon-nay!

make a note of that...it will save you lots of stares and discomfort after the cannonball

today. this is my life. ready. go.

wake up.

talk to biff about our lives...maintenence life...

kids,

dog walks, 

list my vintage on e-bay, 

pay the dog sitters today, 

kid schedules, bank,

post office, 

biff work updates...he just got another order, my e-bay updates, sold some, mailed some.  sold the tracy porter 
http://stores.ebay.com/littlemarymixup?_rdc=1 
cake plate. sold the j.crew cardigan sweater. sold the tracy porter cake knife. sold the tin kitchen sign.  oops. gotta mail it

out!  that's my biggest challenge....but, i'm getting it done!  mom would be proud since i didn't get her organizational abilities or her good post office karma....but, i'm learning...finally.

oops. gotta mail it out!

that's my biggest challenge....but, i'm getting it done!  mom would be proud since i didn't get her organizational abilities or her good post office karma....but, i'm learning...finally!

http://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/storage/around-the-house/ideas-for-garage-organization/ 

pick up kids=when?

sleep over kids=yes or no?

sleep over kids= time?

grocery shopping=

need milk,

need cereal

biff and i=need a

exercise and a date, not in that order. 

 

oops. i stopped to write here on my blog and stopped listing my e-bay vintage! 
http://stores.ebay.com/littlemarymixup?_rdc=1 

gotta go. what was that i was saying about structure?  

oh, by the way, t.j. ended up going to a friend's house....and also had a spontaneous sleepover!

grace has 2 fun friends sleeping over...one who's afraid of dogs. just an hour ago, grace asked me casually, "oh and could you do something with the dogs? macy is afraid of them...terrified actually...so, could you move them somewhere?" then after my directions, she left the room.  i wonder where she thinks the dogs will go?  a spa for the night?  a movie?  the girls are all revved up to watch "marley and me".... 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG6zQypICH8

and they've got the tissue.

"see ya" soon....here or e-bay!
http://stores.ebay.com/littlemarymixup?_rdc=1 

thanks for stopping by! sorry i'm not going to have too much to say because i have a little eye strain right now.  the computer is hurting my eyes!  e-bay, blog and facebook!  

earlier today, i had some time with some real computer literate people!  i learned so much that my head was spinning...

so much learning and trying to think left brain for 3 hours when i'm right brain.....no wonder why i have eye strain!  i have brain strain too.  

i have lots of kooky things that have happened this week. what else is new.

my eyes are still not back to normal since the concussion.  sun light and eye strain continues to upset me.  It's not something that i've ever had to deal with before.  I've always had perfect eyesight...until some of the  40 something stuff kicked in!  so, now just some reading glasses.

now, reading glasses aren't the problem...it's the concussion snow globe head i have.  it's still here!  mind boggling.

i'm tired.  i'm going to sleep.  too much strain on my eyes after a long day.  

ha ha!  the doc said to rest...sure!  was she kidding?  how? where? when? someday?

so, never take your beautiful eyes for granted.  be grateful. everyday be grateful for your gifts. whatever they are. little=big grateful!  it makes my days better!

even with eye strain!

good news...i got some more blonde today!  after the month of flooding troubles, it's time!

i have happy hair! that's what biff says!  he knows that my blonde is relative to my happiness.  feel good, ya look good...ya look good, ya feel good!!  so, on that note....i'm going to sleep on my color and cut!!

Happy Earth Day! It's a wonderful day to stop and be thankful for the beauty around us. Today we can recognize how precious our abundant 

resources are to us.  much of what we do have we have to work tirelessly to keep and do our best as individuals to be an active participant in caring for our own small world. We can be mindful.  we can keep and inner checklist running throughout the day. Check. Check. Check.

We have many places to volunteer, organizations  and groups to join...sometimes that can be overwhelming.  that's why it's a good thing to start in our own homes....check.......our own lawns....check......and our town.....check......before we individually go global!  

If we haven't changed our light bulbs at home, it's a bit much to conquer the global warming issues.  we can begin with our own heat....lower the heat in the winter and the air conditioning in the summer.  Check.

We can continue to constantly remind our children to turn off their lights and their radios, ip ods and computers when they leave the room. Check.

It's the little things.that I can take care of to feel I am actively making an effort to respect the resources that we have today I think of the fish when I run water while brushing my teeth, taking a shower or watering the plants. Check.

When I am in the car waiting  for endless hours, days, weeks,  months and years for our kids to find their sneakers, hats, cleats, wrist guards, helmets, backpacks, lollipops, lacrosse sticks, homework, favorite blankets, socks, ipods, flip flops, team shirt, snorkel gear, elmo, cell phones, sippy cups, boogie boards, good night moon book, sunglasses, mittens, best friends, water bottles, beach towels, ballet shoes, brothers and sisters over the years......i turn off the engine of the car.  I figure that alone must save enough gasoline to fuel a spaceship to the moon. Check.

Since i'm very visual, i imagine the spaceship with my monogram on the side. brushing my teeth, i think about dora in flushed away....i like to think about the cute cartoon fish rather than the fish in the window of the fish store with his bulging eyes staring at me.  While changing a lightbulb, I like to think about having an idea for a new joke about how many blondes  it takes to get the job done. Check.

last year, while feeling particularly earthy crunchy, i went to the fancy pants kitchen store....a shock to my inner becky home ecky, who dreams of cooking extravagant feasts.....

to find a compost bin for our kitchen counter!  I realized my inner earth biscuit when I chose the bamboo bin and natural bamboo is bamboo color....which is a shade of the brown family.  I bit the bullet/bamboo when I paid full price for a compost bin that did not meet my inner color goddess' approval.  actually, it was a struggle just to take it off the shelf....but, I was cool! I was hip! I was down! I was on it! I was with it! I was all over it!  Until my hippie/artsy/crunchy factor clashed with my classic/traditional/prep factor!

I managed to get out the door with the new compost bin...i took a deep breath and lugged my pricey bamboo bin to the car.....I drove home feeling pretty earth conscious and groovy....it was just after that that it hit me.  The conflict within was real!  As I placed the bin on the black granite counter, on top of the old white cabinets, next to the new white sink, above the white tile floor, in front of the bead board walls, across from....YIKES!...conflict...

SAPPHIRE BLUE walls....

conflict...conflict...above the white bead board!  It was scary for me.  I felt like I was in a which fish is different picture.

I pushed on despite the crazy color wheel spinning inside my head....i left the fancy schmancy bamboo compost bin on the counter. I began using it after dinner. I was justifying the color clash because I, alone was going to change the world one paper filled with coffee grounds at a time, one sorry salad  leftover at a time, one banana peel at a time, one apple core at a time....and the bamboo began to blend in....slowly.  The clash was fading....slowly. i was too caught up in my compost contribution to care. I was a crunchy prep combo platter and there was no going back. Check.

I was contributing to the big picture....I was proud.  I began to recycle a bit more.  Check.

A few years ago, we got new windows installed in the house.  We were tired of our hair blowing in the wind on cold winter days! Check.

Shorter showers. check.

Lights out. check.

Drug free lawn....even though it's not as green as the jones'. check.

 

My love of the earth...for real, not for crunch chat....began at polliwog pond.  Polliwog was the place the kids got down and dirty.  there were always girls and boys down at Polliwog Pond. 

The Dinosaur Tree was the  challenge of champions....it was shaped like the long curvy neck of  Dino the Dinosaur, on The Flintstones.

Polliwog is where I learned to fish...like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.....with a stick and string and a hook....we all fished there.  That was where I learned about nature.  In it.

Biff and I chose our house in Connecticut when we saw the house on the hill with the stone wall in front....it was like the beautiful stone walls at the big ol'1700's brick house farm  where he grew up. The trees ,the stone walls and the gravel drive was reminiscent of my polliwog  days written all over it.  I attribute our love of nature to polliwog and Brick House Farm!  We're here because of the earth...it was subliminal for Biff and I.  It's always the little things.  

Happy Earth Day! Think about the little things!

this is still my dream....a fun vw and we're off!  i love the colors it comes in.  i love the cute shape.  i love quirky. as long as there's some color and whimsy.  i enjoy nice little things in life...things of all kinds...i'm a material girl....but, i'm surprisingly not needy for some of the flash. 

some people need cars, big or small, euro names or big fill 'em up trucks....no status there for me.  who really cares. just the finer things...that don't need to be shouted from the top of a building.

funny, biff and i both feel that way...when we met, we both had jettas.  we bought them within  month of each other a year or two before we met.

at that time in my life, i had some of the craziest dating of my life....the bakery theory again....try a little bit of everything!  there was a phase of "ers" and "ors" that i lived through....barely......yawn.  and it wasn't with a stutterer.

like a bakery cookie at a baby shower, i had a bit....but the touch of almond made me put it aside in the pretty party napkin.  oh, come on! you've done that too!

the "er"phase included a walter and the "or" phase included a victor.....

my story would be so different with a "er" or an "or".....my biff is much better for me.  certainly biff goes better than the others with littlemarymixup!

for real.  not just because of the name.  the "er" was way too arrogant and the "or" was a fun guy that may still not have grown up.

"or" and i met while i was selling men's clothing to retail stores. we sold to saks 5th avenue
http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/Entry.jsp?site_refer=360i+G&kw_refer=saks+fifth+avenue, brooks brothers
http://www.brooksbrothers.com/,
nordstrom
http://shop.nordstrom.com 
lots more. we sold private label to them all.

there were some days, while i was in the factory, an individual would take the subway over to brooklyn to buy a suit wholesale...."such a deal!"

some of the best dressed men in connecticut like a deal.  one day while at the factory, a nice guy came in looking for a suit...a friend from wall street had referred him .....i helped him select a suit.  we had it fitted. was fun...we had some friends in common.  it's a small world in new york.

off went the "or"....back to the city.  that was that.  on to the next thing.  he would be back in a week to pick up his suit, a classic glen plaid.

again, "or" was back. he came to pick up his suit. it was perfect. alfonso, the tailor did a great job!

"or" and i exchanged pleasantries and he was off to the city...loving the deal and the fabulous well tailored suit!"  i was always thrilled to have sent one more man out in the world with a high end, properly tailored suit.  from the chairman of the board to the new trainee, i felt a sense of pride in each of my "boys" i sent out to be an emperor in his new clothes...feeling like  million even though he spent a lot less.

the next day, the phone in my office jingled. "i have no pants!"  the voice at the other end of the phone blurted. "excuse me?" i questioned.

it was the "or"...he had gotten home and he had no pants.  he wanted me to account for his pants.  "well! certainly, it's your job to keep your pants on!" i exclaimed.

it seemed his new pants had slipped off the hanger while on the subway.  he told a great story...we laughed and laughed that "or" lost his pants"

and our relationship grew....into dating.  it took weeks and weeks for "or" to get his new pants altered....

back and forth and phone calls and mutual friends....and let the dating begin. 

i was at the bakery...my good friend had told me, after a serious break up,  that i should 

live life like a bakery and try a bit of everything!

and that's when the "ors and the "ers" began.  

after that"er" fun stage, i moved on...to the "or stage"!

so many"ers"and so many"ors"there was so little time!  and about that time....a good friend called and said,"i have this great guy!"

and i listened...and listened to his material well being.  i was bored. he had a jaguar...

he had a beach house...had...had...had...had....
yawn.  he just had.  still, just stuff. 

i stopped my friend from rambling on......"but is he nice?"...."i've had some of the worst times of my life in a b.m.w. and mercedes and porsches(o.k., it was red with tartan seats that even matched my favorite kilt?  what's not to love?  about the car. not the guy.) 

i impatiently said with  smile," i'd date  guy with a 1969 bug car with a ripped convertible  if he was nice!"

i finished up the call with a thank you and i'd think about it...so nice that people cared.it was sweet of my old friend to want to share...what she thought was a catch.

when i hung up the phone, my mom looked at me, over her big reading jackie-os...she said, "what you need.......is a guy with a jetta!"

and that's what i got.  a great guy...the love of my life...who makes me laugh...everyday...and makes me fall in love again...everyday.....

and to think, i could have missed it all.......if i was worried about the hood ornament!"

   http://stores.ebay.com/littlemarymixup?_rdc=1

today i went to the principal! kinda like the old days....only not so much! thankfully, it was by appointment!  i made the appointment, i didn't get called in.

it was early this morning, not early in the school year. after a long year of school with a freshman in high school, biff and i thought it was time to take ourselves to see the wizard!

only, at the last minute....biff could not attend to see behind the curtain.  i was on my own since biff had some big biz to take care of....skype-biz.  now, that i wanted to stick around for....he was calling a meeting with a chinese gentleman in hong kong and a rumanian man in connecticut!  now that was a meeting worth listening to!  the accents listening to accents, with everyone a foreigner to the other! that's what makes the world tick!  no speakerphone......

so, off to the principal i went.  a woman principal....a very diminutive woman with a very soft voice and a big stick!

she was not a nun!

she was not the wizard...she did not have all the answers. she did have lots of questions and so did i. i could talk to a principal of a high school age bunch of students all day long....what an amazing bit of the up and coming world she must see.  

thankfully, we both see eye to eye! we both have children that we care about...and we both have high standards...and we both want to do our best to see to it that our kids get every opportunity to do their best! 

with that said, it was a wonderful meeting.  we're in a wonderful place with wonderful schools and wonderful test scores and wonderful sports and wonderful extracurricular activities.....so, why was i there?

it's not really a wonderful world...especially if you're a teenager.  there is so much of the world coming at them all...everyday!  cell phones, t.v., plugged in phones, i-touch, i-phone, blackberries, i-pads, internet, facebook, you tube, videos, d.v.d.'s....do they even pass plain old fashioned notes anymore?

what about t.v.? 2.3 billion channels.  not in our house. but, they're out there....oh, remember newspapers and magazines...those too.  

today, we talked about freshman and coaches and teachers and community service and activities....and friendships....and real life.

wow! that's a lot to take in... a lot.

it's a long yellow brick road to navigate...for the kids...and certainly for us...the parents! 

we only want them safe.  we only want them taken care of.  we only want them to be with people we trust...and friends that will make good decisions with them.

we want to protect our children...from all that's out there.

and in here...in the nice town...with mostly nice kids...and mostly nice parents...and the mostly nice test scores...and the mostly nice teams...and the mostly nice activities...and the mostly nice everything.....

today, i felt comfort. comfort in the knowledge that we have people who care....not just about all but about the individuals. 

 i don't want special.....o.k., i do.  i would like to have my kids in the safe world at montessori....until college!  i would like to know that they are sitting around the circle...on the neat yellow line.  staying on the line...as the boundary.  our kids liked the yellow line....not all of the kids did.  lots of kids wanted to test the yellow line....they didn't always want to sit at the yellow line at story time. not everyone like to go by the rules...all of the time.  that's  why it was nice to have someone to trust through tumultuous days......and tired times....and cranky kids.  the teacher had a firm grasp of the yellow line...and how it worked...to reel the little people in.  the kids learned from the yellow line.  most of the kids.

 so, today....it was nice to talk about the yellow line...for big kids.  the principal confirmed that that's what they are...just big kids.  in a big world.  the yellow line helps the kids.  it's not drawn as clearly as when they were at montessori.

it's clear for our kids.  but there will be tests. i had tests. biff had tests. some tests we aced....some took longer to sink in and follow the line that was not always in big bold paint.

we just pray. we pray that we have taught them.  we pray that we have taught them well enough.  we want our sweet loving kids, little kids inside....in a big, big world....to maneuver and balance in this big, big world.  we want them to remember the guidelines they've had along the way.  we want to believe they've heard us along the way.  we want to believe they've watched us along the way....we want to believe we've been good models on the line. we want them to be safe. 

it's a fine line.