Blog a la Cart

Because I’m a sore loser. Literally.

James is one of those individuals that is competent at just about everything. He can pick up a new sport, or instrument, or skill with much ease, and very little frustration.

This drives me batty.

We’d be dating only 6 months, and took a trip to Bermuda to visit his grandparents. They offered for us to take a golf lesson at their club.

“FUN!” I thought, “A new activity that we can learn together.”

Remember, it was too early in the relationship for me to know any better.

He of course took to the sport like a duck to water, while I hatcheted the ground, and sent balls sailing into other members. I remember walking the course and threatening to throw the club into his head when he nearly hit a hole-in-one.

We have never golfed together again.

In general, I am not a sore loser. But it’s different with James. I’m all competitive and crazy. And it’s best if we just avoid situations wherein he can school me or one up me or generally kick my ass.

It also drives me nuts that he can gain 10 lbs over the course of a month (say, THE HOLIDAYS, i.e. now), and then loose double that in a weeks time just by willing it so.

Or that time his boss had been training for a half marathon for MONTHS, ya know, as one is supposed to do when running a marathon. He kept urging James to do it with him, and James toyed with the idea. About 2 weeks prior to the big race, James woke up and was all, “I think I’ll go for a run today. See how it feels. Maybe I’ll run that marathon with Tony after all.”

I giggled to myself, because there was NO WAY IN HELL the man was going to be able to run 13.6 miles with ZERO training, let alone physical activity, for the past 2 months.

Oh, how wrong was I.

James not only ran the half marathon, he came home claiming that he’d had to slow his pace to hang with Tony.

WHAT A THOUGHTFUL GUY!

I had refused to go watch on principal. Had he actually had some discipline and properly committed to the race, I could have been that passionate spouse on the sidelines with my butt checks painted in the letters J-A-M-E-S to cheer him over the finish line.

Maybe it’s for the best that things played out as they did.

The race was on a Sunday morning, and Monday at the office, James’ boss could barely move his limbs from the overall beating of running the race. James, however, strolled in, all hunky dory, free from pain, or waddling, or any form of discomfort.

I imagine Tony felt much the way I do 99% of my life: Incredibly jealous.

On Christmas afternoon we all went skiing. Neither James nor I had been since senior year of college. That’s six winters sans skiing. A couple hours in, my thighs had turned to Jell-O and I could feel the exhaustion of every muscle. But, not James! He was eager to keep going, and ski me into Gumby-like oblivion.

While I’ve been limping around the house for days, soaking in salt bathes, and massaging my sore, out-of-shape limbs, James has been strutting around, urging me to think about the next time we can go skiing, because MY GOD! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

And secretly, I find all of this totally swoon-worthy, but let’s keep that between you and me, okay?

Notepad

I’ve had this DIY on my To Do list for some time. Since I’m in the midst of a winter vacation from work, and am hunkered down thanks to the blizzard that hit MA, I decided that this afternoon was a great time to give it a whirl while the babe, husband, and pups napped. Ever since I had Feel Good Lists created for two of my girlfriends, I’ve been needing to bind together the pages of their lists. I thought about having a company like Kinkos do it, but when I did some research, it seemed that making your own notepad wasn’t brain surgery after all! Give it a try – it is remarkably addictive.

Materials:
Paper for notepad
Paper cutter
Adhesive (all-purpose Elmers, Rubber Cement or Padding compound)
Paint brush
Cereal box or left over cardboard for backing
Magnet (optional)

Directions:
1. Determine what you’re using for your notepad, and cut all pages to the desired size. In my case, I printed the lists on blue linen paper, and cut them into sheets sized 4″ wide x 11″ long.

2. Next cut a piece of cardboard to the size of your pages. This will be the backing of your notepad. I used an old cereal box, and had the cereal box image facing to the back (what would go against a fridge, for example).

3. Line up all the pages on top of the cardboard piece, and clamp between some heavy books, or between large paper clips, or if you’re really jazzy, proper padding clamps. It’s most important to clamp the top end of you notepad, where it will be bound together.

4. Apply glue to the edge of the pages that will serve as the binding area. I used all-purpose Elmer’s spray glue because I live in the boonies and could not track down padding glue, or even rubber cement, at a reasonable distance. The spray glue went everywhere, so I would suggest applying the adhesive with a paint brush, to control the mess. Allow plenty of time to dry. I let mine sit for over one hour. If some of the pages don’t bind together the first time through, just apply a second, or even third coat, if necessary. Padding compound is of course the best medium to use, but my all-purpose Elmer’s worked great, too!

5. If desired, apply magnets to back of pad.

6. And voila! It’s a great way to repurpose scrap paper for grocery lists, or create drawing pads for your kids. A nice gift idea for a parent or teacher is to have your child do a drawing, and then have it printed in the lower corner of each piece of paper that you compile into a notepad. An easy, personal present!

Photo: Courtesy of Ashley Weeks Cart

Sunshine.

Sampling snow drizzled with local maple syrup for the first time. Nom nom nom. See, there are totally perks to winter in New England. Remember this when you go questioning why we removed you from Los Angeles.

Thought.

Not such a bad view, eh?

Obsession.

She’s getting back to her Newfoundland roots.

Annoyance.

Too cold to actually walk outside and nab this shot. This will have to suffice.

BOOB! JUICE! POT-TY!

As I’ve mentioned, Addison’s vocabulary has exploded. James also would like me to mention that she’s learning approximately 10 new words a day, not just one as I implied in her birthday letter.

OUR KID IS NOT SLOW! That is ultimately the message.

Regardless, it has made for some truly adorable and hilarious communications. And we must all remember that she is absorbing every dang thing we say.

For instance, when changing Addison into her clothes for the day, I will often have her standing on the changing table facing me as I pull her shirt or sweater over her head. She likes to take this opportunity to examine and play with any buttons or zippers on my shirt, which she calls “Butts” and “Zippies.” Adorable. I know. She also likes to pull my shirt away from my chest, and peer down inside. 99% of the time, at the hour of the morning that I am dressing her for the day, I am sans bra. The other day, I said, “Yep, those are mom’s boobs. You ate from those bad boys.” To which she responded, “BOOB!” clear as a bell.

Of course she did.

It is now her favorite thing in the world to chant BOOB! as she pulls at my shirt or gropes at my chest. And when my family was out visiting for Christmas, she reacted similarly to Auntie Kimmy’s chest.

She’s our very own party trick.

She is also being weened from her addiction to juice. Because, not surprisingly, we had created an addict to the sweet stuff (even though we water it down 1 to 10) and the doctor advised us to move away from giving her any juice at all, and instead offer water.

Like she would buy that.

You see, juice is a word she’s had mastered for awhile, so we now have a child who pitifully wanders around the house moaning, “Juuuuuice. JUUUUUUUUICE!” like she’s calling out for her long lost love. If you open the fridge, and she catches a glimpse of a container even remotely resembling the packaging of apple juice, we have a stage 9 meltdown on our hands as she screams and desperately fights our efforts to close the door.

And the kicker was the other day when we couldn’t find Elmo. This resulted in her padding around the house muttering, “Elmo. Juuuice. Elmooooo. Juice.” Mourning the loss of her two dearest companions.

Pathetic. Adorable. Perhaps problematic that those are the things most dear to her. Fortunately, Elmo was found. So the wailings reverted back to those of just “JUUUUUUUICE.”

Probably my most favorite new word is “potty” which she has learned because that is what daddy and mommy gifted her for Christmas. Every kid’s dream.

A potty.

I think it was more a gift to ourselves, assuming we can lure her into using it.

For now, she says “POT-TY” very deliberately, and points to the adult toilet and says, “Mama, POT-TY.”

Apparently I use the John more in front of her than James, eh?

But she has resisted our coaxing to try sitting on it. She is, however, quite open to her stuffed animals using her new potty. She’ll cart Elmo over, state, “Elmo, POT-TY,” and plop him down on the seat. Then she’ll squeal, “PEEE PEEE PEEE PEE!” and when James asked her if Elmo did a poop, she shrieked, “POO, POO! UGH!”

I blame James for her mastering of the associated grunting. But at least she’s getting the idea.

Annoyance.

Annoyed that I’m not actually clever at all.

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

Sunshine.

Should probably call it Snowshine. Bahaha. I’m so clever.

Alright fine, just watch the video of our wacky canines experiencing snow of this magnitude for the first time ever.

Sunshine.

Christmas 2010: A montage. Or series. Or other word that adequately describes a grouping of photos.