Book Review: History of Wolves

This book made the short list for the Man Booker Prize this year. It's really no surprise after reading it. The characters are so well written that I wanted to throw this against the wall several times, much like Gone Girl. Ha! This book weaves together so many little things that I hope I didn't miss any small details. Told from the viewpoint of a grown woman's perspective of tragic events while she was a teenager. From the very start the reader absolutely knows that something tragic is going to happen, but what you just don't know.

There is one storyline in the book which I think I might have missed the point - Linda involves herself with another character, Lily. This part of the story baffles me because the main story is about the little boy that Linda was baby-sitting. The family is Christian Scientist and from this, I'm sure you can deduce exactly what tragedy will take place (though to be honest, I thought it might be a drowning at first but...I was wrong!). As Linda grows up, what happened to her as a teenage affects her relationships as an adult, I'm so glad this book tackles that as a subject because I think so many people have unresolved issues and really aren't sure what to do or how to cope with those feelings.

In short, this book was a fabulous quick read. It went by so quickly, I really wished there was more to read. Not all the storylines were wrapped up, so I'm hoping there's more to come (like maybe a prequel?). This book also made me want to delve into the details of Christian Scientists and definitely makes me want to read more books by Emily Fridlund. Her writing was lovely and a pleasure to read.

I would recommend this book, especially if you're looking for a present for the upcoming holidays.

Friday Finds

Oh, I've been having so much fun wandering my way through the internet and finding fun things to dream about buying or things that I just love. 

Found while surfing around the interwebs today:

Anthropologie Textured Drop Sleeve Cardigan $128

West Elm Chenille Rib Throw $39

Title 9 Por Vida Sweater $129

Women's Small Batch Bean Boots, Chelsea 7" $129

Drexler 6-Light Sputnik Chandelier from Wayfair $354.90

Oh, and once you get to the Wayfair website, you may have problems leaving that website. It's a little addicting looking for fun home goods! Happy shopping!

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Happy December!

I have decided that I know exactly why it's been a bit difficult to blog.

Chewy is nuts. Certifiably. Why?

Because he climbs on everything. He wants to walk everywhere. He wants to do everything his big sister does. He is into everything as well.

But I guess that sounds like a typical toddler! Ha!

In any case, I rarely find time to blog because we're on the go a lot - with two kids, I swear, time flies by so fast that at the end of the night all I want to do is climb into bed and read a book and then fall asleep. 

Then morning comes too soon!

New Year's is coming up soon and also New Year's Resolutions. I don't think I have any, and in general I'm not a huge fan. I think if you know you need to change something or want to change something then you can start at any time of the year, and besides, any of the change of seasons is a great time to start or at a New Moon. 

Now that I feel a bit more caught up with housework, schedules, and kid crap, I think I'm going to add blogging to my weekly list of things to do. I'm going to try to write more about what I want to and not about catching you up with my life every few months (because omg, we really do live a boring life!). So I'm wishing myself luck.

1st Day of Kindergarten

Chewie. HE GROWS.

He grows! Way too fast, but I have to admit that having gone through the toddler years once already...I'm ready to move past the toddler stage and into the preschooler stage. Chewie will talk, I will talk, we will have conversations, and all will be more fun!

He just started throwing toys at people. It totally sucks. And he tries so hard to talk so we can understand him, but some words just come out so strange. He says something close to "cargo" for airplane. "Da-eee" is for Daddy. "Da tuck" for any type of truck that's around, including school buses and fire trucks. His personality is a riot - I can tell he likes making people laugh so he definitely does stuff to get smiles (like playing peek-a-boo by covering his ears!). 

Kids.

Holy Shit. It's October

OMG. So I guess I fucking disappeared over the summer. Well, from May until now.

This past summer went by SO FAST. Preschool ended. Kindergarten began. ECFE started for Chewie. We joined the YMCA. We went to Colorado. My gardens went nuts (and I keep a journal for it, I've discovered that it's easier stapling seed packets to a sketch book than the computer for blogging). We went to the pool, parks, biking, beaches, hiking.

Le sigh. And then now it's raining and fall. Weird. Just weird.

The people who say "The days are slow but the years go by fast" are so right. I feel like I blinked and I need my fleece jacket. I also feel like having a toddler makes everything a little bit harder - he's a climber, a monkey, hangs from places he shouldn't, climbs everything, smashes his face. Oy, we're going to end up in the ER with that one.

The Monkey started Kindergarten. I feel like I don't see her that much anymore! Ugh. But it is so good for her - she's no longer bored and whining, she's learning and loving the social aspect. I'm so proud of her. Along with school comes another set of challenges - our weeknights are filled with crazy chaos of homework (um, maybe 3-5 minutes worth, so not a big deal!), dinner, baths, reading, bedtime routines, cleaning, and of course...DANCE CLASS. I discovered that a little girl in her Kindergarten class is also in her dance class, I think the Monkey is seriously loving that - I think she'll continue with dance for awhile. But some of her classmates play soccer, so that may be on the list to try next year. We shall see! Children are fickle beings.

Blogging has been on my list of things to do but it just hasn't been done, unfortunately. Mer. Plus the Blogger app no longer works for iPhone so I'm still trying to sort out what I can do to be able to update from my phone. It would be so easy to upload photos!

Bye for now.

This is How Our Days Go

Wild and crazy. Irritating and annoying. I feel like I can pull my hair out at some points. Yelling happens. HELLO? PUT YOUR SHOES ON. HELLO? IT'S TIME FOR DINNER. SIT ON YOUR CHAIR. HELLO? I'M RIGHT HERE. JUST LET ME SHOVE FOOD IN MY MOUTH SO I DON'T GET HANGRY. And OMG, the amount of times I hear "MAMA!!!"

Sometimes these days go by so slowly - I'm not exactly sure that time really moves. Other days go by so freaking fast and I don't want them to end. But in general, these photos sum up our days together.

The Monkey goes to Kindergarten in the fall and I'm both excited and sad - I'm excited that she will make new friends, learn new things, and not be bored at home, but I'm also sad that we won't get to spend our days together. She's so bright, fun, curious, creative, and loves to play pretend and drive me insane but that's ok, because she's an awesome person to be around - which makes me think I'm doing something right as a parent. So onward to summer we go, with crazy days ahead of us!

VEGAS

So much fun! If only for 31 hours...it was an absolute blast and I'm so glad I went!

Dirty Keyboards

When you share a computer with your husband who brings the computer out to the garage...you end up with seriously dirty fingers.

OMG.

Pyrex Lids

Somehow we've lost two Pyrex lids.

I really don't know where they are - and I didn't know this until THIS MORNING. Who knows how long they've been lost - which begs the question "when did you last use these Pyrex containers, Pattymctatty?"

Short answer: Um?

Long answer: Well, it could have been last week, or maybe the week before. Or maybe last month? It could have been the week that Chewie shattered a Pyrex measuring cup when we had to move all the glassware from a cart to the cupboard and the lids out to the cart. In the meantime I have made food that I would have put into the Pyrex though so...they've been used at some point in the last month.

I'm not actually going to look for the lids.

Because I think they're under either the fridge or the stove - I'm not sure which, I don't particularly feel like getting on all fours with a flashlight while having children crawling/climbing all over me and trying to take away a flashlight.

So they're staying put for awhile. And I'm going to have to put the Pyrex containers aside so I don't one day try to put leftovers in it with no lids - like Bimmer Man did this morning.

WHY. WHY. WHY. Why do kids lose everything?

Follow Me on Facebook!

If you want to follow me on Facebook, that's cool.

I don't have ads on my blog (I think they're annoying on other blogs so I try to avoid anything and everything that annoys me on mine).

I don't push other people's crap on you - unless I actually use it and I bought it myself. Seriously.

I don't always link to my blog from Facebook.

I definitely post different things on Facebook than here on my blog - like Borage - did you know that I planted Borage this year?

So here's the link if you want to Follow me - https://www.facebook.com/OrganizedMcTatty

Seedlings

The garden is off to a craptastic start.

Well, sort of.

Last year because of Chewie, I couldn't bend over much to garden because I didn't want to pop any stitches so that means that I wasn't able to weed as much as I wanted - instead I mulched and covered what I could, I dug up what I could and I sprayed vinegar at least twice per week.

But we have fucking ridiculous weeds - Creeping Bellflower (that has weird roots - it's like they're tubular, but creeping as well, you don't EVER get the whole thing by just pulling up the flower or the top, you literally have to take shovelfuls of dirt and throw the whole shovelful away); I found Ragweed one year and eradicated that; and I found a bit of Creeping Charlie in our front yard.

So this means that I was digging out lots of dirt in the gardens just to get rid of the bad soil - I'm still not done, I need to get more yard waste bags.

I also need to tackle the job of getting rid of grapevine. That shit needs the strong weed killer so I was forced to buy Roundup. This is the first time I've bought it and I am absolutely disappointed that nothing else will work on the grapevine and bellflower. I'll be wearing gloves and boots to use it - it's a carcinogen and quite frankly, I'm actually more pissed that people let their fucking weeds wander so that gardeners like myself are forced to use this shit so that I can save other plants and fences.

BLERG. GARDENING.

I do love it,

Streak of Gray

HAIR. I HAVE GRAY HAIR.

I suddenly saw a streak of gray hair. OMG.

I'm not quite panicked yet but still.

SHIT.

Does this mean I'm old? Does it mean I stress out too much? Or does it mean I just suck it up and get my hair colored every few months so I don't have to see it?

I'm thinking I just go get it colored. So that's on my list of things to do today - make an appointment at Aveda and get my hair colored. I should just book standing appointments for massages too. That might make my grays disappear. Or alcohol. If I drink enough then my vision will be blurry and I won't be able to see it, right? No, that won't work. Good grief.

Mer. Meal Planning.

If I don't plan out meals we end up eating frozen pizza.

Does that happen to anyone else? Yes?

Plus we eat Blue Plate Special.

Approximately 5:30.

Yeppers, that's right. Babies, toddlers, children, and old people all eat at the SAME TIME. If dinner isn't on the table at 5:30 I pretty much have a revolt on my hands. And I'm not outnumbered.

So I need to meal plan.

I'm trying something new - I've pinned so many Pinterest recipes and I do want to try quite a few but the problem is now finding them and TRYING them.

I started a Weekly Meal Planning Board.

How this is going to work or even if it will is still something to be determined. So far what has worked for me is just putting ingredients that we have on post-it notes and then determining what I can make out of what needs to be used up. Is it perfect? NOPE. I'm hoping for more organization, more crockpot meals, more easy meals, etc...

We'll see what happens. We'll see if it sticks.

2017 Gardening Thoughts

This year there's a shit ton of stuff that I want to do in our garden - it's just that I don't have the time to do them.

I need to start seeds in April -

Peas
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Radishes
Herbs - Basil, Dill, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, etc...

Except that I can't start seeds unless Bimmer Man is home or I have to hire someone to watch the kids. Chewie is into everything and during his naps I try to spend as much time with the Monkey that I can AND do all the housework. Bimmer Man is busy with work and his track car. SO. Seeds may not get started until mid-April. Or possibly not at all. It's been a bit of a tornado around here.

We also are getting estimates for a new fence - Chewie needs a fence so I'm not on suicide watch all the time with that kid. The south side fence is falling over and we pulled out the fence by the driveway so the backyard is currently open to the alley - and it's not like all of our neighbors have kids so a few people are pretty speedy down the alley. I'm thinking I need to put in a stop sign.

The estimates seem to be a shit show to me - $4600 for 100 feet of cedar fencing, $5600 for 100 feet of cedar fencing. GAH. That much much for a seriously small footage of fencing. I'm waiting on one bid, the third which will really tell me if one the two above is talking shit. I left a message with one person, which I'll call again today but he hasn't called me back. I'm thinking the person that referred us was kind of a dick to him and he's thinking we'll be dicks too. No, I JUST WANT A FENCE TO KEEP MY CHILD IN MY YARD.

Bimmer Man also complains about the garage - so I'm going to call a few cement/concrete contractors for estimates for a french drain in front of the garage. It can't be that expensive - just dig out asphalt, then pour concrete with a drainage ditch to go into the alley, cover it with a grate so the water doesn't go in the garage.

So that's what's going on here garden-wise.

Out of the Fog

Finally.

Last Tuesday it was about 9:30 in the morning and I suddenly felt as if I had come out of a fog.

I realized that my postpartum hormones had finally leveled off. Gone away. I felt fucking free. Like I was swimming under water and running out of air to suddenly pop up and take a deep breath again.

It's nice to be back.

I don't feel like I'm REACTING anymore - I don't feel like I'm in fight/flight mode anymore - I don't feel like I'm running all the time.

It's a great feeling to have ME back. I have no idea if that makes any sense or not - but I always tell other new mothers, that it's 40 weeks to grow a baby, and it's 40 weeks to get yourself back - not just your body but YOURSELF. If there's something that is indescribable it's really the hormones that affect you. You can feel happy, then suddenly not. You can feel irritated, then suddenly not. And you just can't describe any of it. It's weird. It's weird. It's something that mother don't talk about - but if you're affected by postpartum crap, don't worry, I understand.

So now that the haze has lifted, I'm ME again.

January. Nope, February

The days have seriously flown by since Christmas.

Not only have I been freaking busy, but it's been a weird winter. There's no snow on the ground. It rained a few days ago. Ice is melting like crazy. It feels like in a few days I'm going to have to clean up the yard. I dunno - the weather is nice but climate change is not good. It doesn't feel like we're going to have many generations of people left on Earth - maybe 4? That's my guess with all the crap that's going on and the non-renewable resources that are being gutted from this planet.

But enough with that.

It's finally sunny outside for a few days. We've been able to walk to school, go to the park. Bimmer Man got the snip-snip which means we're DONE having kids. SO THAT MEANS I GET TO PURGE ALL THE CRAP. That's exciting. Like, super exciting. I'm currently waiting for Chewie to wake up so I can go grab a bag of maternity clothes and pass those on to another friend.

Unfortunately I'm still wearing a safety pin. The local JCC has had two bomb threats. Babies and toddlers were wheeled out into the parking lot in cribs. Swim classes were evacuated with older children carrying younger children out into the parking lots. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Yes, I'm going to swear - it's been that bad since Trump has been elected President. People suddenly think they can be racist as HELL and get away with being a terrible person. I've marched, I've stood on a walking bridge twice, I will not back down. I will stand up to terrible people.

I've taken up watercolor painting again - and teaching The Monkey to do some awesome painting too. It's been an absolute blast. I actually painted her a Valentine's Day card yesterday filled with sparkly hearts. She makes me so happy!

And the Fisher Price Kick & Play Piano era has come to an end. I sold that AWESOME piece of children's equipment last week. It was Monkey's favorite AND Chewie's favorite toy. Now there's more room for more kid stuff. Sort of.

Next to be sold is the changing table - I've been having to wrestle Chewie to the ground for diaper changes and basically changing him upside down and backwards because he refuses to lay still. I tried strapping him onto the changing pad but that didn't work either. So I'm stuck with wrestling a baby until he's potty trained. So I think I'm going to try potty training him next summer so I'm not putting a death grip on a kid so he doesn't get shit all over the house. Because cleaning shit is the WORST. 

And that's all for now.

PS - the Monkey is going to Kindergarten in the Fall and I AM SO EXCITED. I think I might be the only parent to be SO EXCITED though. She gets bored at home and keeps asking to watch My Little Ponies so IT'S TIME FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO ENTERTAIN HER.