my ass is grass

It's all about me and the hose these days. The weather has been absurd and we are just hanging out inside, watching too much television (El has an on-again-off-again fever) and eating fig newtons. Occasionally I'll go outside and sprinkle the grass seed with water and sweat up a storm. Altogether it's so hot that we can't even entertain the thought of visiting a playground - but we did venture to the market and the library today. And I went so far as to make a yummy grilled pizza dinner. The girls were delighted to roll out the dough and sprinkle cheese to help cook, but when it came down to eating it they were more interested in playing under the table and running around. I guess I should appreciate the fact that they are such great buddies for one another. They are so totally in love with playing together, shouting, twirling, shoving, laughing and the new big favorite: hide and seek. The problem now is that they gang up on me and I have a hard time asserting myself to gain control of the situation.

Well, we are trying out a new babysitter tomorrow morning. She's a 19 year old RISD student... which seems crazy young to me, but if she's fun and likes to do projects then Ru and El will most likely dig her. I told her that she had to be neat and tidy in our email correspondence - was that creepy of me? I don't pride myself on my cleanliness. But at this point I know what a good sitter/nanny is (ahem - AUDREY!) and how they should conduct themselves to make it financially worth my while. I'll report back and let you know how it all turns out, because I could really use a break. One more session of play-doh-rama and I'm going to keel over with Child Overdose...

For the Dr. Myles update: we have seen him a total of 4 hours in the last 5 days. I think. At this point it's silly to keep track, but I do want Ruby and Eloise to have SOME Dad time. Every morning Eloise gets up and says, "I'm going to go wake up Daddy." Then I have to say, "Oh, Dad left for work already. Maybe we'll get to see him tonight." She's usually pretty positive after that and replies with a "But we can make him dinner though." And she's sometimes right, but tonight we were all alone. I wonder how much they register Myles' radically different schedule, and whether they expect for him to miraculously stop working again and resume spending every second with us. I will admit to having these fantasies about Myles' schedule, where POOF! - the required hours of an intern will become 9-5 with free weekends (and then I can complain about that lifestyle like the majority of the U.S.). What do I do while waiting for that dream to come true? Keep busy trying not to kill the lawn, combatting the onslaught of fruit flies in my kitchen (they love to drown themselves in my wine glass), excavating blackheads in a dingy mirror, dabbling in mildew management, fluffing couch cushions, combing the cat, cleaning up spills, removing stains, sweeping crumbs, changing diapers, taking the trash out and fighting with all of the atrocious smells that this house seems to produce in a 24 hour period. (You know you want my life... you SO SO SO want to be me right now, I know it.)

For next week the plan is to head to the Adirondaks to hang with the Webster clan... however this will involve a 6-plus hour drive in the famous Black Rocket. And that means just me and the girls. Solo Mom. (Oh, and then we have to drive back 6 hours.) Great-Grandma Betty is celebrating her 90th birthday and honestly, she's my hero. I have to let her know what a role model she is for someone like me - I mean, she raised 4 kids with a doctor husband in the days when you sewed your own cloth diapers and scrubbed them clean in a wash basin. PUH-LEEZ! Can you fellow Mammas even begin to imagine? Think of how radically our roles as women/mothers/professionals have changed in the last 90 years... it's so dumbfounding to me that I think a 6 hour drive is definitely in order to honor her totally bad-ass life. Rock on Grandma Betty... 90 is the new 40.