Coping Devices

The goal this week was to survive. On Monday, my cleaning day, I thought that resolve would go the way of all good intentioned New Years’ resolutions. I was tired of being on my own. I was tired of being the only one who cleans anything up. Truthfully, I was just down right grumpy and I knew it which makes it even worse. Tuesday we fled to Longwood Gardens. I took the girls into the orchid room and I just stood there amidst the beauty and fragrance taking huge deep breaths. We spent the whole day exploring: discovering bird houses, smelling flowers, playing in fountains. We even bought ourselves lunch. So, we did survive. Now we only have two days until Grandma Shelly comes to visit, seven days until my birthday, eleven days until Thanksgiving, twenty-one days until we go to Boston, and twenty-seven days until we fly to Utah for Christmas! That right there, is something to look forward to!

The Orchid Room in the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens. It is floor to ceiling orchids on all sides. The fragrance is amazing!

One of my coping devices must be baking because I did plenty of that this week. First, we made banana bread. After removing it from the oven, I put the loaves on a cooling rack and ran upstairs to do a few things. Then my sister called. Then I realized I hadn’t seen either of the girls for a few minutes, a sure sign of trouble. I went downstairs to see the table neatly set for two. Jane was eagerly waiting and Kate was just putting a LOAF of banana bread on each plate. I literally caught Kate as she was less than an inch away from taking a bite right out of the middle of the loaf. Laughing, I tried to persuade her that a slice was as good as a loaf. She was not convinced, however, and for several minutes was in tears crying, “I want the whole loaf!” The emotion in that plea was as close to brokenhearted as a three-year-old can get.

This is one plant--over 700 blossoms!

A few days later we made wheat bread. I made a huge batch of dough only to realize that I only packed two bread pans to bring with me to Philly. I had to bake the bread in two shifts and use all my little bread pans in addition to the regular ones. The following day, since we had ten loaves of bread, I decided to wrap a few up and take them to friends. I was telling Josh that evening who I had taken bread to when he asked, “What about the one Jane took a bite out of?” I told him that was NOT funny to which he replied, “No, I am serious.” I stood there silent as the humiliation of the moment crept over me. He, helpfully, started to laugh so hard he was crying. I sent out an email to my friends and sure enough one of them opened her loaf to find a bite taken out of each corner. Being a mother of two children exactly the same age as mine, she said it made her smile. They ate the whole loaf for lunch and loved it. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Kate wanted to smell all the flowers. I was in no hurry so I think she got to a pretty good number of them.

We drove down to Washington DC yesterday with several families from Wharton to attend the temple. We took turns entertaining children and going to sessions. It was a long day, but a nice day. We know every inch of the visitors center and the temple grounds. When I told Kate we were going to the temple she said, “Do I have to get married today?” with a look of genuine concern on her face. I’m glad she’s not quite ready for that.

"Hiding from the bad guys."

I finished reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin this week. From other books I have read I didn’t have the best opinion of him, but living in Philly I figured I had better do what I could to overcome that. He is pretty much the hero of Philadelphia. So after finishing the book...I certainly don’t want to emulate his family life, but he was a great mix of wit, wisdom, common sense, scientific curiosity, patience, and determination. One of my favorite parts of the book was the description of the constitutional convention. After days and days of debate that was going nowhere Franklin, who was not a particularly religious man, suggested to the assembly that they pray. “Franklin was never known to pray publicly himself, and he rarely attended church. Yet he thought it useful to remind this assembly of demigods that they were in the presence of a God far greater, and that history was watching as well.” I think that is the perfect description of the Founding Fathers--an assembly of “demigods.” It is nothing short of a miracle that this country exists and was established in the manner it was. I do have a better opinion of Benjamin Franklin now.

Jane jamming at the Please Touch Museum. She went wild for the drums.

To conclude I have to include two tidbits from that font of all knowledge and wisdom Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me: The NPR News Quiz (can you hear Carl Castle?). First of all, to mourn with my city over the defeat of our Phillies in the World Series and in response to the invitation of Brian Cashman, the Yankee’s general manager to “call us anything you want,” I will join with the Wait, Wait staff and call them “a group of wildly overpaid, egotistical mercenaries whose pinstripes are actually artfully lined up steroid needles sown into their uniforms.” Go, Phillies! Secondly, I have found out why my children are so incredibly brilliant. There was a study in Toronto that proves that children whose mothers were sick when pregnant with them perform better on cognitive tests. Every time you puke while pregnant your child’s IQ goes up! I knew there was a reason to handle pregnancy the way I do. ☺

Have a great week getting excited for my birthday.