An old conversation

I have a beef. It's an old beef (eew, old beef?), but a beef nonetheless. I have discussed this with my mom and she could offer no satisfactory answer...

Did you watch this? Since when are M&Ms more than just cute little candy characters? When did they develop a sexual appetite and WHY does CANDY need sex appeal to sell??? It's utterly ridiculous. Honestly, what the hell do Red, Yellow, and Blue think they are going to do if confronted with a willing Green? Smack shells until they crack? Melt one another?
Furthermore, I don't understand why it is necessary to sully an otherwise innocuous, innocent treat for children. Granted, you aren't going to be buying M&M Premiums for your kids...or at least I won't. But still, I remember the greens being my favorite and whenever Mom and Dad would take me to the mall, I knew I would get an M&M cookie in the food court. I always looked for the one with the most green candies and, on one occasion, gave my dad a bite of my cookie only to cry inconsolably after he unknowingly bit the only green M&M off the cookie. Must these memories now be marred by sex? *sigh*
This is a short post, but something that has been bothering me since they started these inane M&M Premium commercials... Thanks for letting me vent.

Until then,

AC's Mom

Christmas with Ms. Daisy

Unbeknownst to her, my mom bought the ace Christmas gift for AC. Included in a cute little three piece outfit was a tan faux fur coat with animal print lining. AC immediately wanted to don said coat and continued to wear it all day. Literally. Dad took her outside (as we had such unseasonably good weather) and drove her up and down the sidewalk in her little pushcar. She would shoot him a haughty look over her faux fur clad shoulder and instruct him to "Go". And go he did, back and forth over and over.

Later that evening, she had her bath and put on her jammies only to go and get her coat again. I found her wandering around the living room in jammies and her coat, sucking on a sippy cup of juice hilariously akin to an old woman drinking gin in her nightgown and fur. All we were missing was the smeared orange-y pink lipstick and cheap perfume!

Christmas went without incident for the most part. My M.I.L., Michelle (a.k.a. Nana), was in the hospital after having surgery, so we had Christmas with the in-laws in the lobby of the 3rd floor of BSA Hospital. I got myself and AC dressed soon after eating breakfast on Christmas Day and we headed off to visit Nana.
Because of my lack of funds this Christmas as well as the stress of missing Clayton, I didn't do as much to keep our holiday traditions like I would have wanted to. Mom did a bit in bringing us all pajamas for Christmas Eve...a staple for family Christmases.
My family usually wakes up and is not allowed to go downstairs until Mom sits us on the steps in our matching Christmas jammies to take a picture. Joe, my youngest brother, will run around the house, much to our delight and my mother's chagrin, in his underwear with one sock on heralding the arrival of Christmas morning. After the giggles have receded and the picture taken, it's quiche, cinnamon rolls, coffee, and volcano pancakes for breakfast AFTER dumping out the stockings packed with small gifts and treats. My house (with it's lack of stairs), Joe being at BMT, and Ben and Nichole (my other brother and his wife) staying with her family, made it impossible to keep that morning picture tradition. We had bacon, pancakes, and hash browns as that is what was already in my pantry. No quiche or volcano pancakes this year. There was coffee, however, and cinnamon rolls, but the cinnamon rolls weren't in the shape of a Christmas tree like every other year. Because of my aforementioned lack of funds, there weren't stockings for everyone either.
With presents unopened until well into the afternoon and the warm weather, it just didn't feel like Christmas. Funny how all those little things we take for granted every year have such an effect... Maybe next year I can recapture that Christmas feeling. Then again, maybe it's something that fades as you, yourself, are responsible for keeping the traditions alive and is apparent only when experiencing the holidays through your children...

Until then,
AC's Mom

A lot to make up for

I have been told, by my mother (who is totally unbiased, mind), that others should benefit from my acerbic and witty prose... I have also been counseled (I'll give you two guesses as to the "counselor") that I should keep a log of sorts of the funny and endearing things my 16 month old daughter does. As I see the wisdom and benefit of the latter suggestion, I am combining the two efforts. This should stand as a testament, not to my sense of self-import as I don't see WHY anyone would deem to read this, but to my laziness.
As aforementioned in the title of my VERY first real blog (Myspace doesn't count), I have a lot to make up for. But where to start? There are so many things my daughter has done to make me laugh, well up, and shake my head in a combination of agitation and extreme tenderness that only a mother understands. How do you choose which moments are worthy of posterity? How do you decide that one moment is more precious than another? As her mother, ALL her moments are those that I want to immortalize and hold dear for the rest of my life. If I could only make these moments tangibly available to myself as a comfort for when she becomes a teenager and, God forbid, I am not the most important person in her life. *sigh* I had intended for this first blog to be clever and humorous. It has quickly taken a turn for the sentimental...
AC is a beautiful mish-mash of all the good my husband and I have and will ever posses. She is, in turn, aggressively friendly, shy, flirtatious, cautious, mischievous, and born performer. Her love of country music is a continuous source of hilarity to me. She loves the Marty Stuart Show on RFDTV...something my husband, Clayton, and I would never have watched if left to our own devices. It is her classic country loving "Pawpaw" who has introduced her to this genre of music. I must admit, however, that I am coming to appreciate some of the more "twangy" aspects! The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band and Old Crow Medicine Show have, after repeat exposure, wormed their way into my good graces. AC loves her music and takes it, and her dancing, seriously. The look of extreme concentration on her face as she alternately bobs up and down and sways from side to side captures my attention every time.
She also loves to snack...where she got that I will never know...*ahem* One of her favorite activities is rummaging in the pantry. I was loading the dishwasher, confident in her total absorption in the Muppet Movie (that we have watched CONTINUOUSLY for the past two weeks). Behind me, I hear the pantry door open. I told her to close it and heard little feet pad back into the living room. I naively assumed she hadn't absconded with any contraband... Not so! I walked into the living room to find her attempting to hide herself between the Christmas tree and leather chair while shoving Fritos in her mouth with all the vigor of a starving man. How do you NOT laugh? Furthermore, how can you discipline your child while you are laughing?? Needless to say, she got away with that one.
Another one of my mom's favorites happened very recently. We were having a dinner playdate at a friend's house. AC had finished eating and wandered into the playroom with another little boy her age. After a while, I realized I hadn't heard the telltale cacophony of toys and babbling that assure any mother that nothing untoward is going on. I turned the corner to find AC (who, at present, won't touch anything not consisting of bread or cheese) happily rubbing her face with the dog's water and chewing. Chewing, to my complete horror, dog food. *insert disgusted coughing and gagging* She won't eat a pea, but she will eat dog food??? My friends, of course, found this VERY humorous as I am the mother whipping out wipies to obliterate all traces of filth from every high chair, shopping cart, and restaurant table AC comes in contact with. It would figure.
I don't intend for this blog to be totally absorbed with stories pertaining to my daughter. I have, as the title of my thread of blogs suggest, many superfluous thoughts meandering about in that frightening cavity between my ears!
Until then,
AC's Mom