As part of my "Keeping It Real Series", here are my "10 Confessions" for the 10th of May:
1. Raising four teenagers.
Need I say more? No, seriously, I love this age of child-rearing but there is so much stretching and growing and letting go when you are not ready. I truly love spending time with my kids. For the most part, they seem to like to hang with us too. I just get the aching feeling that I am not going to deal well when the day comes for them to leave the nest.
My friends with older kids keep telling me that everyone will be ready, including me, but I just cannot imagine that day. I cried when my parents dropped me off at my college dorm room. Not just a few tears, I sobbed. Maybe I'm just not so great with transitions?
2. Cookbook obsession.
I'm obsessed with cookbooks. I may have mentioned my obsession with cookbooks before but I fall in love with each cookbook in some fashion. I prefer to read cookbooks from start to finish, in bed, with a notepad and sticky notes nearby to mark each recipe I plan to taste. I am feeling especially lucky as my Uncle Harlan handpicks cookbooks he knows that I am going to LOVE and sends them my way.
I was the recent recipient of this stack of lovelies and I will have you know that the Barefoot in Paris cookbook was the missing book in my Barefoot Contessa-obsessed cookbook collection!
My uncle also sent this incredible cookbook, Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi: Recipes From My Paris Home to You Anywhere, and I've been pouring over this treasure and can't wait until the Hubs is done dieting to taste many of these sweets! If you can, you must just at least peek inside this treasure-trove of gorgeous desserts. Ahhh-mazing!
3. Cookie Butter is my secret love!
I am in love with cookie butter in all forms. First it was the Biscoff Cookie Butter, then the Trader Joe's Cookie Butter filled cookies and now, gulp, this is the worst one yet - the Ben & Jerry's Speculoos Cookie Butter Ice Cream. Gah! Watch out waistline. I must not walk down the freezer aisle until next winter. It's wayyyy to good!
4. A new driver in the house.
Okay, I can finally talk about this one publicly. It was scary for the first month of having my 16-year old brand-new driver peel out of the driveway each morning with his sister in tow. Like really scary. Granted an added fear factor was the weather in February in this neck of the woods. We are talking ice...black ice that you can't see, even more daunting for a new, less-experienced driver. Grateful that my dad was willing to do some practice "skids" and ice "cookies" in the high school parking lot last winter with him. I would have been white-knuckled (which is what happened on nearly every practice drive...even on the back, country roads).
Thankfully he's a responsible kid but as a parent with a new driver it's as if you revert back to the baby days - less sleep (waiting up for them), worried that they may hurt themselves, feeling as if you don't know what you are doing as a parent. And I will be really honest here. What I am really missing now that he is driving is our one-on-one car time when I drove him to and from school and every sports activity. I miss his candor and his play-by-play of his day. A lot.
5. Proud.
I know it's not a good practice to be proud, but I am admitting that I'm really darn proud of this girl. I'm not sure where she came from with her speed, tenacity, confidence, beauty, love of science, observant, funny disposition and her sassy-lawyer-like persistence but I am keeping her. This baby of the house, is certainly the most self-sufficient young lady. If she's hungry, she whips up a meal. If she's bored, she whips up a science experiment or mixes up a concoction she has found on Pinterest.
If she wants to do something, she will do everything in her strong-willed power to make it happen. She's stubborn but she gets her work done, she nurtures others and she has deep insight, is loyal and has an uncanny ability to know if someone is struggling and to tell you exactly what she thinks, counselor-style. I adore her.
6. I'm out of shape.
Earlier this week, I was racing against the clock to pick the kids up for an appointment to get their passports because a very strict person on the other end of the phone had told me to be at the designated appointment no later than 3:00. That being said, I left myself 45 minutes to pick up both kids from their respective middle and high school and to make my way 25 minutes away. After driving behind every slow tractor, vehicle, bus and finally making it to said schools, I had to race into the high school at full sprint (there were also zero parking spots in the entire parking lot so I had to park a half a mile away).
Needless to say, that full bore running turned me into one panting, sweaty hot mess. When the high school doors opened and I stumbled in, I realized I am SO OUT OF SHAPE! Connor had the nerve to question why I felt the need to run, while he sauntered along at a snail's pace beside me. Needless to say, we made it to our appointment with 5 minutes to spare. Phew!
7. Altoids make me sneeze.
And I almost always only sneeze in sets of three. (I used to tell my kids that it was me sneezing I love you.) I did get voted most unusual sneeze in high school my senior year. I blame seasonal allergies.
8. I loved the new Cinderella movie.
My nephew, who stated he didn't want to attend a "girl movie", obliged attending this movie (only because Uncle Todd and my dad, Poppy were going so there were more boys than girls in attendance). Let me tell you that he was on the edge of his seat. So was I. It was wonderfully done with great acting, costumes and magic.
9. This quote resonates with me right now.
Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure.
We had a crazy February-March this year with a roof leak turning into an "ordeal", err..."adventure"! All of our furniture (except the bed) was packed into pods and we were without the creature comforts while our house was repaired and transformed. Needless to say, we so appreciate basic things like tables and chairs AND I fell in love with my kitchen, big time after being without the ability to cook for a month and a half! We will probably look back on that time with fond memories as we all spent many hours in our master bedroom as everything else was covered in plastic sheeting and the Hubs and I spent one weekend night ordering take out and watching Netflix in bed! Yes, true story.
Mara received a special ring from her dad to commemorate her day; Connor received a junior golf membership to a nearby course; and Caleb received a guitar last year. But, Bella, who loves everything is the tough one! I'm at a loss to know what will celebrate her success with the last 8 years of school. Anyone? As I typed this it hit me that for the last four years we have had a kid graduate from 8th grade/promote to high school each year and now for the next four years each teen will be graduating from high school each year. Gulp. So not ready for this.
Thanks for bearing with me and my "confessionals". Being transparent with you has been very theraputic for me!
