costume creation blues

i hustled yesterday to finish making nissa's main costume, so she can be a werewolf on sunday. i hustled saturday to clean the house so we won't be embarrassed when my parents visit on thursday. adam hustled both days to do cleaning. monday morning comes too fast. but like i learned last monday, even taking a day off doesn't always help, because all i accomplished last monday was printing out, assembling and cutting out the pattern for nissa's costume. no fabric cut, sewing machine never left its box. everything takes time and it's just plain hard to find the time. which made this morning's facebook flashback that much more of a reflective moment. five years ago, i posted this picture:

and my first thought was hey, who wore it better? then dug up this shot from two years ago:

then i remembered that neither girl actually *wore* the costume on halloween to go trick or treating. i kinda got ani to wear the hat (under protest):

adam wore it for a minute:

and nissa was willing to at least try it on, way back when:

but seriously. . . i put a lot of time and energy into that thing and it barely saw any action. sigh. i was really proud of it too, because i designed it myself! no pattern, just a guestimation of attaching a large stuffed globe to a tube-like dress-thing. and i even made a coordinating goodie bag. adam says i only have myself to blame as i crunch through making costumes year after year. but at the end of the day, i love the challenge of making these costumes. i just wish i had more time or less other stuff to do. let's see how much i can pull off this week!?!?!

NPR + children

last year, when nissa started riding in the car with me twice a day to get to school, i'd put on music for her, then switch back to NPR for just me. at some point, one morning "the news" was still on and she asked me to leave it on. "ok cool," i thought. on few occasions, i will change the station when a story gets prefaced by "this story will contain graphic language/descriptions." mostly, i let it go and be sure to talk to nissa afterward. with "the news" on, we've talked about the results of the state election, what "bitch" means, the immigration crisis plaguing europe, "black and white" as it relates to people, and the prospect of hilary clinton for president. the last one is getting to me. "mom, have we ever had a girl president before?" no. "it would be really cool to have a girl president." i agree, but i don't think hilary is the best candidate to choose from right now, i like bernie better. "but it would be really cool to have a girl president." yes, it would. i told her about the republican candidate (couldn't remember her name), but then i mentioned Elizabeth Warren. now that's a woman i'd vote for in a heartbeat. but here i am, being all adult-y: do i vote for bernie because i think it's the best thing for our country right now, or do i vote for hilary, because it would be the best thing for my daughter. it's a stumper. why can't Elizabeth run?????

some reasons why being a mom sucks

i feel terribly guilty that ani pulled her hair out yesterday (sunday). we were trying to watch a movie as a family and ani really isn't ready for that type of activity, she's much too active for that. so we said it would be ok to go upstairs and play, where she could sing as loudly as she liked. after 15 minutes or so, she came back down and handed me a fistful of curly hair. i asked her if she used the scissors (again), but she said no, she just pulled it, "like this." she then demonstrated how she pulled her hair tightly away from her head. i did a terrible job explaining to nissa last week why she got two wrong on her spelling test because she made her p's backwards, even though backwards numbers or letters aren't marked wrong elsewhere and even though she knows perfectly well how to spell the words. i have to defend my boring job and making nissa having to be there with me. a way doesn't suck - hugs. even surprise ones.