Put a Cork In It!

Tee-hee…I couldn’t resist a little pun. It doesn’t really go with this post (because I opted not to blog about the woman whose face I wanted to smack tonight when she belittled my “job” as a stay at home mom and my “hobby” as a “writer”…pardon the excess quotation marks!). But this post is all about Cork, the place!

We spent the weekend with Mom in Cork, Ireland, and had an absolutely incredible time. For the most part, the weather cooperated, and I cannot believe what a great job the kids did! We tried hard to pay attention to their cues and their needs, and instead of running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we set realistic goals for what we could accomplish in a given day.

It was incredible. Except for the last day when the girls were starting to wear down, and the flights home (Why did we try to do a connection? Haven’t we learned?), they were really good. In fact, someone even commented to us at a restaurant that the girls were so well behaved.

They really are growing up…sigh!

I haven’t taken the time to upload the pictures yet. We did a driving tour of Cork City, spent a day in Cobh, walked around Youghal, and visited Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney Stone. Hopefully, I’ll have some photos for you to look at later this week.

So, expect Cork to come to you in the next few days. And to the woman who doesn’t get what a stay at home mom and writer does all day long…stick a Cork in it!

Mothers and Daughters

A dear friend recently blogged about Mothers and Daughters.  I was quick to respond, commenting that though my relationship with my own mother is excellent, I spend most of my days now worrying about my relationship with my daughters.

I wonder if they’ll remember the days I was depressed and couldn’t get out of bed, or the days I took them to McDonald’s as a special treat and we ran around the playground.  Will they remember the mistakes that I made as a mother, or that I tried so hard to be the mother I wanted for them?

My girls are my life.  But I’m quick to accept that there are days where I want nothing more than to be selfish.  For someone to help me with them.  For them to just play quietly and let me knit one more round.

Add in, of course, the struggles that I’ve had as a mother.  Should I discipline more, or less?  Should I spank or not?  Will one more lollipop really hurt them?  I don’t want them talking back…but how do I handle it?  Should we let them sleep in our bed?

Parenting is no easy task, that’s for sure.

Mostly, I hope that the girls know how much I loved them. That even with all of my shortcomings, they’ll remember that.

I flash back to a fight I had with my mother once when I was in high school.  Driving home after school still mad at her, and finding a note that she, my quiet and reserved mother, had placed on the seat next to me.  Reading it and hearing her say that she knew that she wasn’t perfect but that she tried her best.  And when I sit her trying to remember the bad, I can’t.  All I remember is this.

I pray that when my girls sit down to remember me one day, they’ll have the same realization.  That I wasn’t perfect, but that I tried my best.

My Girls

My Mother, My Girls, and Me

My Mother’s Daughter

I’ve always gotten a chuckle about my mother’s daily trips to 7-11.  Not that she goes of course, because if I’m lucky she’ll pick me up a Slurpee.  But I laugh about how she’s there religiously.  So religiously, in fact, that they know her at each of the local 7-11s within a ten mile radius of our house in Annapolis.

So yesterday, when I walked up to the local Co-Op to pick up a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread, I couldn’t help but smile when the woman stocking behind the counter raised her head when she heard my voice and said, “Oh!  How are you tonight?”  And she and I chatted for a few minutes because I hadn’t seen her much since I’d gotten back from my trip to the states.  Before that she’d gone on her honeymoon in Wales, which she said was fabulous.

On the walk home, I smiled when I realized that even with an ocean between us, I’m still my mother’s daughter.

If You Knit It, She Will Come

OK, not exactly.  But it feels that way!

My mom is coming to visit next week!  She’ll be here for Mother’s Day, Erica’s birthday, and 10 days of quality time.  I haven’t seen her since October, which we’ve determined is just way too long…we won’t be doing that again.

In the meantime, she’s put in an order for an iPod cozy out of malabrigo’s oro y vino colorway that I used for all of Courtney’s Christmas gifts.  Luckily, I have a teeny tiny bit left.  For those who aren’t familiar with malabrigo or this colorway, take a look:

Otherwise, I have made some serious progress on my WIPs lately!  In fact, I’m down to three things on the needles!  I am about 1/3 of the way through my second Strawberry Shortcake sock.  I’ve just started knitting the left arm of my Cardigan for Arwen.  I’ve stalled on my Forest Canopy Shawl, but expect this to be a knit that will last me until Christmas, as it’s a gift.

I’m hopeful that when my mother arrives next week I will only have two things on the needles–Arwen and the Forest Canopy!  Wish me luck!

Yay for mothers!