How is it that I can say one thing and another is heard?  Is this a prerequisite for marriage?  The ability to translate words in your head so they mean what you want or to fill in the gaps between the snippets you did hear...

I don't recall this part of the vows we took.  For richer or poorer.  In sickness and in health.  I will pay 70% attention to you.  On a good day.

I once heard it said, by my husband, that being married means finding the one you want to annoy for the rest of your life.  I have to admit that at the time it amused me.  Amuses me still, I guess.  Until the annoyance is to taken to new heights.  Joking around, teasing each other...I can handle these things, enjoy them even.  But not this whole thing with hearing half of what of I say.

Yes, you are busy and there are countless distractions with little kids running around, messes to clean up, laundry as far as the eye can see.  But c'mon...once in awhile, pay some freakin' attention!  Really.

Thanks.

Here is a sampling of today's funny Lily moments because, well, they're funny and, let's face it, I can't think of anything else to write lately.

While we were pulling weeds from the flower garden:

[CRUNCH]

Me:  [spots Lily holding a large weed with both hands and her teeth]  What are doing?!

Lily:  It's broccoli!


About 10 minutes later:

Lily:  [smacks me in the rear]

Me:  What was that for?

Lily:  Something on your butt!

Me:  What was on my butt?

Lily:  Your shirt!

I spent the day cleaning/organizing/being frustrated with the basement.  We've been having water issues down there (hehe, that sounds bad).  There are boxes that need to be sorted through.  And I've been putting it off.  Do you blame me?  It's a frickin' mess.

But I finally declared that I'd enough.  Enough!  I burned up a vacation day and the super-awesome babysitter agreed to watch the kids even though I was off of work.

I just wasn't really prepared be emotionally exhausted by the dreaded chore.  The first box was mostly birthday cards from when I was really little, less than 5, I'd say.  It was kind of cool to see names I had almost forgotten--second cousins, friends of my older brother and sister.  I kept the ones that weren't moldy or mangled.  There were also my letter books from kindergarten and a chronicle that my dad had written when my mom was in labor.  It started when her water broke and she went to the hospital (2 days before I was born) and ended the next day.  I was disappointed but not surprised that it wasn't finished.  He wasn't exactly a commitment and follow-through kind of guy.

The next box was cards and letters from when I was older, 13 to 19 or so.  Yikes.  Most were salvageable, though I had to throw out some pictures from 8th grade and a few letters from a friend who had moved away.

I sat there and read through everything.  There was a letter from my sister's first husband.  She's 14 years older than me and got married when she was 20.  When I was little, I idolized her husband.  When they got divorced, I was 16 and I hated it.  He wrote me a letter.  I still miss him sometimes.

There were notes from my friend Cheryl from highschool.  She used to write me nonsensical letters all the time.  We still keep in touch.  I had forgotten about the letters.

There was a kooky letter another friend had mailed out of the blue the year after I graduated.  I talk to her once a while still.  But I miss her, too.

There was a pile of napkins that a friend of mine and I had written on in a coffee shop when we were seniors.  It was all about God and homosexuality.  It was the first time I realized we had differing views on such things.  We still talk a lot--though not as much as I'd like, of course.  She rocks.  The napkins were way moldy, though, and barely readable.  Farewell napkins.  :(

I found a couple cards from an old boyfriend.  They were sweet.  I try to remember him how was then, not how it ended.  But I don't miss him.  Good riddance.

Then there was a whole bunch of letters from a girl who was a very dear friend of mine.  When I was in grade school, I never had a good friend.  I was always on the periphary.  I got along with other kids, but I was on the outside for sure.  It was a very small school; there were only 10 kids in the class most years, so most of us had been together since kindergarten.  In 8th grade, a new girl came.  Her dad had been a missionary in Japan, and they had just moved back to the US.  We hit it off immediately.  Then right after the year ended, they moved away.  Not real far, but when you're 14, even a couple hours away is too far.

So we wrote letters.  Tons of letters.  All through highschool, there were the letters.  We saw each other a few times, mostly when we went to the same summer camp where we were junior counselors.  We kept writing until about a year or so after highschool.  The last letter I got, she said she was moving to Colorado and gave me her new address.  Right after that, I moved and lost that last letter.  I don't know why I didn't just write to her old address where her parents still lived.  It was bad, bad, confusing time.  I have no other explanation.

I didn't realize until I read through all those letters how much I miss her.  So much time has passed...

Ack.

I can't help but notice that all of a sudden, my littlest little girl is starting to take notice of the world she's in....it is amusing yet sad.  Amusing because, at 22 months old, she has an incredible sense of humor and her sense of wonder is awesome is watch--the excitement in the car the other day when she realized that the sky, THE sky, was outside her window, right there.  Sad because it makes me realize that a part of me really wants her to stay a baby forever--this is a milestone I don't feel ready for yet.  She is perfect as she is now...why change?  But in the spirit of focusing on the amusing and not dwelling on impossibilities, here is the transcript of what might be the longest/most involved "conversation" we've had....

Lily:  I got boots!

Mom:  Boots?

L:  Yeah!  Boots!  Letters!  Right there!

M:  Where?

L:  There!  Right there!  Blue!

M:  Yep.  Blue letters...

L:  Sky!  Clouds!  Cars!  Right there!  Cars!

M:  You see cars?

L:  Cars!  Letters!  Ms!  Letter A!

M:  OK.  We're here [grocery store].  You're going to have to ride in the cart.

L:  I want walk.

M:  I know.  But you need to ride in the cart.  I can't push a cart and hold your hand and chase you when you decide to run.

L:  I want walk.  K?

M:  Nope, cart.

L:  Walk.

M:  Cart.

L:  [Insert looooong baby-talk sentence with lots of head shaking and a furrowed brow]...cart.

M:  Yep.  Cart.

L:  I got boots!



Don't grow up too fast, little lady....

I miss xanga.  There are two (main) reasons for my absence.  Care to know?  Sure you do!  It's fascinating, trust me!

Life
Real life leaves little time for fun things like bar hopping, pasta picture making, movie watching, xanga, etc.  I'm sure y'all know what I mean.  Y'all?  What?  I don't know.  It seemed to fit.

Facebook
This is probably the mainest of the main reasons.  I'm not sure what I do on Facebook.  But I do it a lot.  I know I play a lot of mindless games.  I also do a lot of quizzes, especially lately for some reason.  Here's what I've learned about myself in the last week or so:
1.  I am like Gonzo and Big Bird.  Crazy and helpful...I suppose that's good.
2.  I am really 24 years old.  Take that Wii Fitness Test!  You said I was 56!
3.  I am a Grammar Master.  That's right...Master--with a capital M.  Bwaaah!
4.  I am Micheal Scott as well as Claire Huxtable.  Inept and a super mom?  Okaaay...
5.  I might mention that I scored higher than Matt's engineer cousin on an IQ quiz.  Take that!  Does that mean he'll stop acting so superior?  Unlikely.
6.  Apparently, my life is most like the movie "Footloose".  Duh.  I'm always saying, "If Kevin Bacon doesn't show up to teach these old foogies how to dance, then I'm going to have to do it."

Well, now Life is taking over and demanding I go put jammies on a tired little girl.  This was fun.  Let's do this again some time.