Travel Products for The Savvy Among Us

Guys! Marc and I are going on a trip! Without the children! I'm so excited and also COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY EXHAUSTED from getting ready to keep my children alive from a distance. I want you to know that when I itemize all the duties I would have been doing while gone, it is clear that I should be making roughly $560,000 a year after taxes. I am amazing. I know this because I am needing to involve no fewer than EIGHT (8!!) friends over the course of three days to help keep my children alive. And this is only carpool! This is not food or water or putting kids to bed or feeding and walking the dog or general wellbeing. I'm talking transportation only.

So to the parents among us: GOOD JOB RUNNING WORLDS. You are fantastic and grossly, obscenely underpaid. Go itemize.

When I finish the last four loads of laundry, clean the guest bedroom and bathroom, pack, buy two birthday presents and a package of tortillas, and print out the three-page document for the babysitter, I'm going to go on a trip with Marc. I love him and I love travel, so I expect great things. I also expect him to be sweating when he finally sits down on the plane because Marc tends to get a little whipped up about travel. Happily for him, I have done a little research and have found some travel products that will make him the coolest Midwesterner in any exotic locale. First, I give you...

1. The Ostrich Pillow

 Right. So. This is a great option for those of us who want to blend into our new environment. Also practical if you want to have a head Koozie while you sleep. That can of Schlitz will be ready for you right when you wake up!

2. The Super Cool Fanny Pack

Because the fanny was only the beginning! Strap one of these bad boys around your breasts, under the armpit, up your back and over your shoulder. It's that easy! And tourniquets are ALWAYS in vogue!

3. The UpRight Pillow

This also comes with a drool cup. I'm kidding. But it does double as a neck brace after severe spinal cord injuries. It's that comfortable!

4. Laptop privacy hood

Listen, no one needs to see what you're typing. Or that you're watching The Gilmore Girls again. Or that you sweat when you wear wool head wraps. All of these things are very private and your business alone. No peeking, sicko business traveller sitting next to me. And stop staring!

5. And when you get on the plane....

 ...put away the wool Sneed hood and slap up one of these babies. No need to interact with your seat mate (even your spouse!), and no need for anyone to see your facial expressions during a plane ride. Because transportation should be isolating, and sometime I just need some ME TIME.

6. The Face-Kini

Break out that Midwest winter skin with confidence. No need to char when you can look like a terrorist AND keep wearing your goggles!

7. The portable spa

So sleek! So streamlined! You can be on Instagram while steaming those pores. And you can pop that squat right in the middle of Terminal B! Gwyneth Paltrow ALWAYS saunas after she flies. She probably uses this.

8. And finally, what every woman needs: a portable urine funnel.

Do you see that dancing girl on the box? She feels this light-hearted because she is no longer peeing down her leg AND she gets a snappy fuchsia carrying case. Skiing down a mountain and no restroom in sight? Climbing a rock wall and no potty in view? No prob! Just disrobe entirely on the slope or cliff face, put this bad boy into position, and you're good! Then carry the refuse with you for the next six hours! It's as simple as that!

I feel I have done you all a great service. Bon voyage, Godspeed, and enjoy your adventure!

Prince

Let's talk about Prince.

He was a genius.

Also, the hair. 

(Please note: This is Prince's most recent passport photo. MY most recent passport photo was taken when I was pregnant. I'm so happy I get to use it for a decade!)

But Prince. And the high heels.

And the fact that for awhile he was "the artist formerly known as Prince." 

Is it too soon to make fun of that? Yes? Too soon? 

When I was a young girl and my revered teenaged Aunt Jana was getting ready for her prom, she wore a purple dress. And the theme was Purple Rain. So Prince has always been associated with glamour and nail polish and Aqua Net for me. The trifecta of happiness.

Prince lived in Chanhassen, which is a suburb of Minneapolis. This endears me to him. No offense to L.A. and New York, but any alarmingly petite musical icon who chooses to spend his time in Minnesota gets a point or two for swimming upstream.

So I've been seeing the tributes, the odes, the love for Prince, the Spike Lee dance party. And I just have to wonder how people will remember me when I'm dead. I vote dance party after a really lovely unaccompanied Bach cello number. And man, do I hope there's some laughter. And lots of making fun of my bad hair years. Too soon? I don't think so.

I feel to the fiber of my being that this is not all there is, this life, this time. I love the spot in Ecclesiastes that says God has put eternity in a person's heart. We aren't wired for short gigs but for the long haul, for the after, for the real life and freedom God gives with open hands.  

I may or may not have made my junior high daughter listen to "Let's Go Crazy" this morning on the way to school. She seemed considerably less moved than I was. She's a little wary of a mother who can turn the death of a rock star into a discussion of mortality and God's goodness. 

She'll come around. I'll hit her up with "Raspberry Beret" and "Kiss" after school. Pretty sure that before long, I'll get her to dance.

Spring Fashion Report 2016

Spring has sprung! The buds on my viburnum smell delicious, my daffodils are in full bloom, and this sentence sounds like I know what to do in a yard. That's the prerogative of a blog writer. You get to lie at will.

To help you get the most out of your life, I here offer you a guide to this year's spring fashion. You're probably going to want to take notes.

**NOTE: I want you to know that I found these items when I searched "wearable spring fashion." 

Let's let that sink in a little bit. 

OK. Here we go:

1. The practical neckline. 

Listen, I love me some checked and I love me some plaid. But in my life, I do need to tie my shoes, pick up toys, and walk. I can't see the groceries staying put with any of those activities if I'm wearing this particular V-to-navel cut.

2. Face masks. They're not just for Spidey anymore! Think of the approving looks you'll get in the carpool lane. Nothing says "school safety" like the minivan mom rocking this look!

3. Florals and sadness. I just want to include this person, not only because of her winsome pairing of florals, but also because her tired and naked face was the one image with which I totally identified. This is the exact look I typically sport when hauling my daughter to 6:30 am choir practice. I also grab my beaded face mask because I don't want to be recognized. It never works.

4. Breast mesh. Again with the practical! I love this look! Perfect for book club!

4. Bows. I really do love these shoes. But I chose this photo for the pink bows. Pink bows of any size are VERY FLATTERING, but when they span the width of a woman's torso, you know you're on to something.

5. No comment.

6. Sometimes I worry about whether I should wear boots with a particular outfit. I can see I have been over-thinking. Also, let's be humanitarians and get this woman some lip gloss.

7. Everyone needs highlights in the spring. Please remember this. Also, everyone needs to trust bang cutting with the professionals. Also, Thea wants you to know she's worried about the eye make-up.

8. And finally, boob cut-outs. Just to remind the boobs where they need to land. Middle age is tough, friends, and sometimes we need direction.

Happy spring! Now go shop!

How much wood...

It's that time of year again.

The time of new shoots pushing through the dirt, the time of blue skies (if you don't live in Iowa this week), and the time of the woodchuck.

That's right. The woodchuck. That disgusting, weirdo animal that follows me wherever I go. I even moved houses a few years ago, but Chuckles followed me. Remember Chuckles? 

He's back. He loves me. I hate him.

I watched him emerge from under the deck yesterday and toddle around like a drunkard through my backyard. Don't ask me why he walks like he's just getting home from an all-night bender at Sigma Chi Omega. He just does. And then he suns himself on my deck.

The struggle is real and the hatred is strong.

HOWEVER, there are three bright spots with regards to Chuckles this year.

1. He is not a raccoon or an opossum. These are the two animals that win in the Make Kim Whimper department.

2. He is scared of our mini-Schnauzer. I like to let Scout out and then watch Chuckles run. Woodchucks, I will have you know, are not elegant sprinters. 

3. I'm onto Chuckles and his ways. And guess what? CHUCKLES IS A PLAYER.

This completely true tidbit is courtesy of my friend, Dawn, who knows my woodchuck angst and tries to lighten my burden by giving me incriminating dirt on Chuckles.

Here is how Chuckles lives his life: He hibernates in the fall. But then in February, he rouses from his nasty slumber (I'm sure he drools), and he straps on his Don Juan. Chuckles lumbers out of his lair (like all villains) and he checks on his ladies. Not joking. He pays visits to his possible shags, ALL CURRENTLY ASLEEP, and gets the lay of the land. Just checks on the girls, peeps in on their sleeping quarters, and then heads back to the lair to sleep another month.

CHUCKLES IS A CREEPER. He is a stalker. He is the guy living in his mom's basement and spying on all the pretty girls while they're sleeping.

What a sicko. Not only does he eat my deck footings, he's a Peeping Tom! He's a wannabe polygamist! He has no moral compass! And he's insecure!

I hope you're as disturbed as I am about this. Watch out. The world is full of deviants. Be careful, lock your doors, and if I were you, get a Schnauzer.

A Week in the Life

Good gravy, I'm tired. Why am I so tired? Are you tired?

You know this means we are old. We never used to be tired. Old people are exhausted. Probably because they have been walking and talking and processing and thinking and parenting for so long. And probably also because just seeing famous people gets wearying real fast.

One of the byproducts of being tired is that I don't journal. Don't say it. I already know. I'm a writer and I don't journal?!? I don't capture the life of my family with the written word?! Um, no. I write about fake people and their fake lives and giggle a lot at my own jokes. But I do not journal about my own family.

Maybe I should start. Like right now.

Here's our week in review.

1. Show choir costume checks. Black with "pops" of red and good twirling radius. All good. Plus, she's adorable. Put her in the front row. (P.S. Teenagers LOVE being called "adorable." I'm sure she won't mind this public post.)

2.  I got a massage from our in-house masseuse.  This was the "inforemashin" sheet provided. As you can see, I required everything offered, including magazines. I like to be entertained while I get "loshened."

3. Scout had LOOSE BOWELS. IN HIS KENNEL. So I took him to the vet and begged for the puppy version of the B.R.A.T diet. Or, I said, they could also take him to a farm and teach him to herd sheep. Either way, I wasn't leaving without something to solidify what needed to solidify.

He watched me as I negotiated.

I left with glorious little pills and extras that I am now rationing for the next time Chernobyl pays a visit. And a puppy is once again saved by his cute face. I am a shallow person.

4. Spring cleaning in kids' bedrooms. Here are two treasures that probably make you fly into a furious fit of jealousy. I know, I know. My life is better than your life. I hear that ALL THE TIME.

5. Fourth graders got to take home their new recorders this week. I think he's a natural.

No wonder I'm tired. Fake people are way less demanding. They never poop in their kennels and they don't care if I toss their collection of crusty, deceased insects.

 Happy weekend, everyone. And happy journaling. :)

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