Wijvenweek post #4. Today's topic is about children.
Where to even begin with this one? To say that my world completely changed when I had kids is too cliche, as is to say words can't explain how much I love them. Saying that they also drive me crazy at times is obvious and cliche. I could say that I see the world differently now that I have them. Or how about that I have the world's greatest kids? It's true!
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Wijven love their children.
Wijvenweek / Household: An Ode to My Washing Machine
Wijvenweek post #3. Today's post is about the household, and the biggest household event this week related to my washing machine. Thus, this ode...
I bought you when I was still single. You were cheap and people (specifically those who wrote reviews and product ratings) spoke highly of you. I felt like you were a good deal. I later found out that your relationships typically had a life expectancy of only two years. You were willing to stay with me for longer.
I moved to MA with you, and you continued to serve me well. We had one blow-up in which you trashed a pillow and strewed what looked like feathers from five dozen plucked geese across my basement, but that was our only real fight. Even then, when I brought a professional in to mediate and told him that you had been manufactured by a company that rhymes with "Me E," he was blown away that we had stayed together for so long. That appliance repair man was the one who told me that you had already outlived your life expectancy. My cousin who used to work for the "E" confirmed that.
I have to admit I have been waiting for your time to come. You have demanded a lot of me in terms of energy and water. I have been eyeing a hot little front loading number that is willing to do everything for me that you have done, but is a little "lower maintenance." But you kept chugging right along. In the past couple months you started to moaning and groaning, like our family's dirty laundry was becoming too much for you to handle. We really thought your brother would be the first to go, though. Not only was the dryer also griping whenever it was asked to perform, but it was kind of acting like a wet blanket, or perhaps it was just leaving us with wet blankets, as it became less and less effective at actually drying.
But you wanted to be first, and you wanted to go out with a big bang so I would always remember you. You did. Monday my older son (OS) had pink eye and my younger son (YS) ended up in the ER for swallowing a paper clip. Tuesday morning I threw in a load of laundry, added the soap, and pressed start. You took your last drink of water from me, but then decided to end our relationship. You wouldn't even stay with me for one last spin. Just before the spin cycle you stopped, holding water and wet clothes. I was sad. I felt like I needed to breathe into a bag. Then I spent the afternoon on the phone looking for a replacement. That evening, I went out and invited your replacement into my life.
I thought things had ended on your terms. I thought you had what you want. But you were unwilling to get out of the way for your replacement. When the delivery men told me that they didn't think they would be able to get you out of the house, I wanted to breathe in a paper bag again. Fortunately you relented, and the delivery men were able to get you out of the house.
As excited as I am to have the new washing machine in my life, it was not easy to put your replacement on a pedestal. Why? Well, because the delivery men brought the wrong pedestals. In the end, it did require a second visit, but the new machines are resting comfortably. Well, not so much resting, as I have already put them to work for me.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: A lot of effort is involved in dumping one appliance and picking up another one, but it is well worth the effort.
I bet you'll find that your clothes weren't getting as clean as you thought with the old machine either. That's what happened with us anyway. I love my "new" machine (that's now 6 years old!).
I parted with my old friend when I sold my home 3 years ago... but must admit that the stacking, front-loading, digital, fits in a closet (literally) washer-dryer duo doesn't make me feel like a cheating whore. It's a whole new world.
Sorry, old friend. I hope you don't lose your controls!
Oh the thought that the old one would not have been able to leave the house would have stopped my heart for a minute as well! Scary thought. Well, good that your relationship lasted that long after all!
Wijvenweek post #2. Since my post yesterday, I got the link to all of the other participants. While most of the participants in Wijvenweek appear to be Belgian, there are posts in a number of languages. Today's topic is about men.
Where to begin? Not with a stereotype. My husband's favorite color is purple. He loves decor with flowers on it. In fact our quilt is purple with darker purple flowers on it. He loves watching Army Wives and Lipstick Jungle even though he claims he would never admit it. He's the one who set the season passes though on Tivo. He'll mumble and grumble when I say I'm putting on a Lifetime Television for Women movie, yet he'll sit down and watch the whole thing with me and discuss it with me during commercial breaks. (Yes, fellow New Englanders, he was listening to the Red Sox game on the radio on the way to work this morning, and he swears he wasn't rooting against the Sox, but was neutral, despite being a Yankees fan.) My sons like playing with train sets and Matchbox cars, but also like to play with dolls and My Little Pony. Not to mention the toy whales and dolphins they bathe in the bathroom every day, usually in the sink or bathtub.
When I was a little girl and thought about being a mom, I always pictured a house of males to be crazy with testosterone-filled activities. For the most part, that hasn't been the case. However, as the only female in a house full of male people and a male dog, there is one aspect of being male that I just can't ignore: the pee splash. Nothing a little cleaning doesn't take care of though...particularly when they're the ones cleaning the bathroom.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Men can't be stereotyped, any more than woman can be stereotyped.
I now look forward to potty training a little boy. Oh dear. I like Wijvenweek. Not the least of all because I get to put those three semesters of Dutch I did to good use.
ewww... pee splash. Although (veering into the TMI category) I noticed that recently I have not been so great at peeing while squatting, so I can't really cast the first stone here.
haha, there were a lot of Wijvenweek participants who actually came to the conclusion that the differences between men and women are greatly exaggerated.
Thanks for particpating once again (as you notice, I am greatly behind in reading my feeds :p...but trying to catch-up)
Wijvenweek post #1. Jen at A2eatwrite wrote an excellent blog post about breasts for her participation in Wijvenweek. I had received an email about this week and completely blanked on it, but fortunately it's not too late to participate. Before I can explain Wijvenweek, I first need to define wijven. The word wijven is apparently a negative word for females. To make a long story short, there basically were some blog awards in Belgium. Some female bloggers won them. Some folks who were apparently jealous complained that the winners were all wijvenblogs. This led several Flemish women to show detractors what a real wijvenblog might be. They created Wijvenweek to run from March 24th through March 30th, where women, whether or not they are considered wijven are encouraged to post on a different feminine topic each day. As a self-declared feminist, I am excited to participate. (For more information, it helps to be fluent in Flemish.)
Today's topic is shopping. Where to start? Of course with shopping for my triathlon. Sounds safe to read? Well, this one might make you squirm a little bit. As I have dove into the world of triathlons, I needed to figure out what to wear. I was originally planning on wearing a swim suit and then pulling on biking shorts and a shirt for the biking and running. Then I thought about it. Wet suit under spandex biking shorts subjected to running and sweating...Sounds like a recipe for a yeast infection. How do women triathletes avoid this? Let me tell you, none of my triathlon training books have a section on preventing yeast infections. Yet they all discourage triathletes from wearing underwear under biking shorts because it can be uncomfortable and it can interfere with the "moisture wicking" ability of the chamois (which is the material in the giant pad in the biking pants to protect important parts). Hmmm...interference with the "moisture wicking" sounds like a euphemism for yeast infection!
Just so you don't think my concerns were medically unfounded, my primary care physician told me to buy yeast infection cream for my medicine cabinet because it would be a "medical miracle" for me not to get a yeast infection between my triathlon training and some antibiotics that she prescribed. The real miracle is actually being able to choose a specific cream from the millions available in the pharamacy. My triathlon training books were no help; none of them include Monistat under equipment needed for triathlon training.
After doing further research, I realized that there was something called a triathlon suit that people wear so that they don't have to change. Honestly, it's not something that I would be entirely at all comfortable wearing under normal circumstances because they're not...how should I put this...very flattering. I could risk the wet swim suit under biking shorts and hope that I would be wearing the combo for a short enough time not to have a problem. But that didn't solve my clothing dilemna. There was also the whole issue of a sports bra. I really didn't want to wear one swimming; that would be like swimming with a dish towel shoved down the front of my suit.
I did some more searching, talking, and shopping. I finally chose a two piece triathlon suit. It's got the sports bra built right into the shirt, and the whole thing is made out of moisture wicking material. It's meant for all three sports. I got it in black. Yes, I will look like the grim reaper on a bike. With a red helmet of course. I have to look stylish after all.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: There are many clothing options for wijven doing triathlons.
cool that you are participating in wijvenweek.be !
Wow,...clothing for thriatlon. I seriously had never thought about it before. Sounds like a tough choice indeed. I assume they don't stop the time while you can go change in a fitting room? Bummer huh.
Fascinating. You know, I never would have thought about the difficulties of "what to wear" to an athletic event! Yeast infection aside, I can't imagine how uncomfortable running in a swimsuit would be... I mean, talk about chafing in horrible places.
But, of course there is an outfit specially designed for it. lol
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
It may be cliche, but it is also so true.
No matter how prepared you think you will be, nothing really prepares you for the change in your life and heart for when your child arrives.