for the record

4th of july weekend: 3 days "off" equals 9 day time slots. a slot is either breakfast, lunch or dinner time.

i define my days and time (and existence?) by my meals. what?

7 of 9 of these we had plans taking place outside of our house for all 4 of us.

as a consequence the following are true:

-we still havent tracked down whatever it is in our car that makes it smell like dead marsh-fauna whenever it sits in direct sunlight. we did find an old bottle of laylas that was now fuzzy and blue on the interior. we had high hopes that this was the culprit until hopping in after a pool party yesterday. the search continues. we laid the fuzzy blue bottle to rest without opening it or breathing through our noses during the haz-mat de-con chunking process.

-all of our beach towels and swimsuits are sitting damp in the garage right now. will the heat dry them before the humidity finishes the mildew process? toss up! certainly me washing them is a distant 3rd in this chronology of likelihood.

-i made the entire drive to work this morning with my gas needle well below E. i couldnt stop for gas or i would have been late(r?). we were out until 11 pm last night. i like it better when july 4th is a sunday and monday is bonus off-day. i was kind of pissy at america for making me celebrate its birthday so hard without the gentle padding of a recovery night. i do not mean that i was drinking. i mean that i was in a bra and mascara after 7 pm. that is enough for me to really need a recovery day.

-lay went to sleep at the party we were at last night. one of my high school friend's family hosts this awesome party every year and she also has a baby girl who is 8 days older than layla (they got in an AWESOME fist and yelling fight when they first met...video to follow). we were lamenting waking her up and getting her in the carseat (layla; not my friend) and back home when michelle said, "why doesnt she just spend the night here?" all of my instinctive mommy "no, that wont work because..." reasons were immediately silenced because, hello? she is 100% perfectly equipped to handle a 7.5 month old's every need....and then some. which means i gave her the go ahead to breastfeed layla if she wanted. mostly because that isnt weird or creepy at all to me but it so is to some people and i wanted a little revolution of my own. it's the founding father in me. suck it...layla.

-judah stayed up the entire time last night (he loved the "sparkle booms"). until 11:30 pm when he went down like a dream. he came wandering down the hall at some point in the middle of the night before jesse took his little disoriented self back to bed, and then we woke at 7 to find him playing quietly in the living room. this beats last week when he was watching cable access TV at 4:30 am. door lock bought and sitting on our counter. who taught this kid to open doors?

-we stuck 90% to our monthly meal plan for fru-ju (frugal july? i got nothing cleverer than that). i took a detailed inventory (with a clipboard!) of our freezers'--deep and shallow-- and our pantry cabinets (we dont have a real pantry) and planned a TON of meals using only what we already had and had forgotten about. i ran out of days in july LONG before i ran out of food. the 10% deduction came when a last minute opportunity presented itself for us to see some of my old volleyball coaches/teammates and we had to eat out in ATL. worth it. people are worth it.

-ran 11.8 miles between friday night and monday morning. nothing makes me feel worse and then better. jesse ran twice too and looked like a mighty kenyan compared to me and my speed.

-i painted my toenails for the first time in 2 years in a fit of crazy on sunday morning while watching tennis (nadal, baby, love your biceps, but that effort was not okay). after breathing the fumes i went even further and painted my fingernails for the first time since...my wedding? and that day they were very light pink. this time they are bright coral-y red. i feel like some fancy lady keeps reaching over and getting up in my business. wiping baby poop and picking dried food particles out of the carpet has never looked more feminine.

-tonight is AVOTACO NIGHT! you will never hear me talk about this or see me write this with anything less than the bubbly fervor of all caps and an exclamation point. somehow i literally forgot about these for a good 9 months. it was like finding $100 in a coat pocket when i remembered the existence of this recipe. that worries me slightly about what other awesome things my brain is keeping from me. do i have a 3rd kid, yall? a 3rd nipple?!?!

-someone owes me about 6 hours of sleep, 2 loads of laundry, and a clean house. where can i submit my reimbursement form for these items?