Spontaneity and the Library

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away...  (or it could have been another planet, even... I'm pretty sure...)  There was a New Year's Eve party.  I went on a whim.  The Sugar Bowl was in New Orleans the next day and a few of my friends were going... on a whim.  Meaning, no tickets... well, one had a ticket... the other two were going for the hell of it.  I decided I'd go for the hell of it too.  Went home, packed a change of underwear and a tshirt and.  just.  went. 

This baffles my mind.  Spontaneity.  I had it.  I did things like this:
 

 and this:

 and this:

and then this happened...

true story:  a guest at one of our parties once saw this picture and asked "who's this?" WTF.  Have I changed so much?

and this...

and finally

this.   

No, the former me wasn't skydiving or anything... but the former me used to say she wanted to, at least.

So you say, Damn!  What's your point already??  Besides digging up pictures today that didn't make me want to puke... (did you see my boobs in the one??  Hells yeah.  Boobs don't look like that after 4 kids... I'm just sayin...) 

I went to the library today.  The effing library.  For story time.  Where once I'd decide and pack it up to go to New Orleans all in an hour... I planned this for a week.  Maybe not consciously, but last week I began thinking...  can I do it?  Single stroller or double stroller?  Can I get both the 2 year old and the 3 year old safely across the parking lot while pushing the 10 month old in her stroller?  Will they sit still?  Is it worth it to go?  I'm not even gonna lie...  if I work I wear scrubs, if I sleep I wear jammies... somewhere in the middle is a very gross uniform of smelly tshirts and hole-y jeans and shorts... what will I wear??  Granted.  This may all sound ridiculous.  But there's 2 in diapers... pack a bag!  I'd like to be all, "Dude.  Whatever."  But they're little people and while people have been doing this forever, the logistics of it can be overwhelming sometimes.  Truth is, it was only in the last few days that we were able to get a vehicle that the Hubs could take back and forth to work so that I would have a vehicle during the day... so this was one of the first times I did it all myself.  When he got his truck I thought, "FINALLY!" and then it crept in my head, "oh dear God... that's a mess.." 

But we did it.  We're home.  The house is in shambles.  Super Nanny always advises to write up a schedule and adhere to it.  Done and done.  Awesome.  Now my kids and I are completely unable to accept spontaneity.  Good job, mom.  Or maybe I should learn to accept just not getting it all done?  Hard one.  But we did get out, smelled the roses and what-not.  And Maximus Prime was just beside himself getting to hang with other kids and be all... social... and stuff.  The other mothers were wearing the appropriate uniforms:  jeans.  tshirt.  baseball cap.  (but then there's always one, right?  dressed to the nines.  curse you.  you make us all look frumpy.)  I think we'll do it again next week...  then our spontaneity will become... routine? 

Puppets.

Obedience.  Big O.  Capital.  ROAR!  Dogs do it.  Obey your master.  Master!  Thousands of hands.  All in unison.  Master!

I have a big confusing problem with OBEDIENCE.  I also have a problem with LACK O' OBEDIENCE.  Its all a part of my circular thinking lately.  See here.

I tell Sammy-dog sit.  He sits.  Stay.  He stays.  He doesn't have much thought beyond that.  Sit.  Get treat.  Yum.  This is obedience.  Doing something because you were told to.

I know what dis-obedience is.  Its the kid in the back of church.  Running around.  Screaming.  Ignoring his embarrassed parental unit.  Annoying me because my kids are in the nursery and I was hoping for a few minutes of "quiet".

Where's the middle?  The non-spirit-squashing middle?  The other day Z came to me and told me he was going outside.  Fine.  But no mudpies, I said.  I'm not all mud-pie-hatin', but it would be twice in the last three days and the clean up is RI-DAMN-DICULOUS.  This is what I found 10 minutes later:

I'm.  Tired.

But shouldn't little boys be able to make mudpies?  All playin' with the worms and learning about nature?  Isn't Charlotte Mason based on this?

But I freaking told you not to.

I talked to my co-worker about this yesterday.  She's a 'seasoned' homeschooler and parent and I LOVE HER.  I told her lately we've had 'issues' and I think

OBEDIENCE

is confusing.  Her answer?  Well, God did tell us to be obedient to Him and we need to teach our children to as well.  ......Thank you, but now you're talking about ME.  I'M supposed to be obedient to someone.  Do as you're told.  Because you're told.  Don't think about it.  I don't know where I stand on that... and it's just one big rabbit hole if you dwell too long.

Call it by another name then, she said.  Followed up by, "Nobody likes that kid in church that doesn't know how to behave."  Mmm.  Hmmm.  Point made.

Itchin' to Etsy

I am not necessarily 'itching' for these things.. just wondering...




Do people make money off this stuff??  Are they incredibly creative in a very simple way??  Am I the freak because I didn't think of it first??  Candy man.  Candy man.  Candy man.



Mayhaps if money is being made so simply on Etsy, I should get my ass in gear and get to craftin'?  (find these here.)