Today’s my birthday. I’m not a huge fan of spending my birthday at home because then I just end up cooking and cleaning and doing all the normal mom things I do every single day. I like to spend my birthday being spoiled and doing nothing more difficult than decided what to order at a restaurant. So when Mister announced that he had to go to New Orleans this week for business and asked if I wanted to come along and be there for my birthday, I only had to think about it for about three seconds. I had never been to New Orleans and was super excited to go.
Since Mister had to bring a ton of his video equipment it made more sense to drive. It’s only eight hours from Austin which is not a huge deal. I love to research stuff online so I found us a great Bed & Breakfast. It is so cute and the hosts couldn’t be sweeter. And the chef who makes breakfast is phenomenal. The name of the place is Maison de Macarty and while it’s a bit far from the French Quarter, that’s not a problem if you have a car. We stayed in the former coach house out back and it was delightful.
I have heard almost universally about how gross and dirty New Orleans is, and how nobody really likes it. I have no idea what these people are talking about because I love this place. The architecture is delightful and it makes me want a brightly painted house with shutters in the worst way.
There is such a sense of pride and history in New Orleans. If you think Texans love where they live, you’ve never met a New Orleanian. They’re crazy about their city. I’ve already been on two walking tours that were both fascinating (Tastebud Tours features a great eating tour, and I really loved the historical tour by Bill at Monde Creole.) Culturally, not many cities in America can compare. I mean, Jazz was invented here! If you’re a history buff New Orleans is the best. The Presbytery Museum (on the right side of St. Louis Cathedral) has really fascinating exhibits about Hurricane Katrina and Mardi Gras. The Cabildo Museum (on the left side of the cathedral) features the history of Louisiana and New Orleans. Lately Ada and I have been reading the American Girl books about Marie-Grace and Cécile who lived in New Orleans in the 1850′s and those stories actually got me kind of primed for a visit.
I’ll admit that there are a lot of tacky bars and souvenir shops in the French Quarter but there are also endless rows of lovely houses, quaint courtyards and cute little museums tucked away. Bourbon street gets packed with drunk people every night and the it and urine are hosed down each morning. We stayed away from The Quarter after dark so we never saw the debauchery. We have spent our evenings at nice restaurants located in the more charming neighborhoods of New Orleans. Last night we ate a place called Coquette and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life.
Mister had to work the first two days that we were here so I wandered around by myself and not once did I feel unsafe. The humidity has made my hair look hideous but that’s about the worst that I can say about this place. If you have a chance to visit New Orleans you should certainly jump at the chance.
My youngest four kids have all outgrown their bathing suits so I had to do some suimsuit shopping before we left for Spring Break. Being in Texas I take swimwear very seriously; in the Summertime the kids practically live in it. If the kids want to play outside when the heat gets oppressive (round about May-September), the only way it’s going to work is if there’s water involved.
You probably disagree with me but I find little girls in bikinis completely appalling (hey, pedophiles, check out my sexy 5-year-old!). A naked jaybird frolicking in the waves somehow seems less sexual than a child wearing a bikini. Don’t ask me why I feel this way, I just do. Especially for the older girls. I like a nice one-piece for my daughters (or a modest tankini) and lucky me I get to dress them however I like.
I’m seriously in the minority when it comes to preferring one-pieces so that means I have to get most of the girls’ swimwear online (one-pieces are like the red-headed stepchild of the swimsuit world). Unlike the rest of the year when I wait for deals, when it comes to swimwear I just bite the bullet and pay full price. Especially this year since we needed them at the beginning of March. Swimsuits sell out fast and with all the wear and tear they get, I feel like we get our money’s worth.
In the past we’ve been let down by the quality of swimsuits from the Gap. They have never made it a whole season without losing their stretch so I avoid them if possible. Target bathing suits aren’t the best in quality but they’re cheap and pretty much available year-round so we always end up with at least one. They also do quite a lot of one-pieces. Arabella settled on a stripey Target bathing suit and a flowery one from Land’s End. Land’s End really makes the best quality suits. They’ll easily give you two years of wear, although it’s rare to have kids that will stay the same size that long. This year they dropped the ball and of all the suits Arabella liked, none were available at the beginning of March. She really had her heart set this flowery one so we ordered it just recently.
We did pretty well at Mini Boden this year. They always have plenty of one-pieces. Ada loves red and she fell in love with this suit:
Ada also went gaga over this suit from Children’s Place. It has a cute matching rash guard too. I love rash guards because kids with sunburns are the biggest babies of all time. If it’s between 11-3:00 my kids have got to have a rashguard on. Of course they’re slathered with sunscreen too, but rashguards keep sun exposure from getting out of hand.
And then there are the swimsuits for teenage girls. Good grief. India is pretty cool about wearing a modest bathing suit. She is not they type who: 1) cares about wearing the same exact thing as everyone else, and 2)doesn’t have that insecure teen-girl need to wear as little clothing as possible (I swear they’re thinking, “If I dress like a hooker maybe boys will like me more!”) The good news is that every year it seems like there are more and more tankinis in the Juniors department. I’m hoping this means that not every teenage girl wants to look like a skeeze. We wound up with a couple of cute tankinis from Kohl’s. Easy Peasy.
(Obviously modesty and good posture do not go hand in hand.)
As for me, I’ve been sporting the same bathing suits for the last four years. The thought of swimsuit shopping is enough to send me reaching for the Valium. I can barely handle trying on pants these days. My weight loss isn’t coming along as well as I’d hoped; I’m thinking of moving on to more drastic measures. Which do you think would work better: a tapeworm or tuberculosis?
Happy almost-swimsuit season!
We finally made it to Arizona. I love this place. Even though the weather is similar to Texas (they are the same temperature at this exact moment), Arizona–especially where my in-laws are–looks so different. People here take great pains to make it look all lush and gorgeous: palm trees and flowers everywhere and grass that is so obnoxiously green. In Texas we treat winter like it’s winter. Nobody overseeds their lawns because that would mean watering and mowing all winter long. Flowers are relegated to the spring when wildflower season starts (in a week or two. It’s so gorgeous!)
The drive was actually pretty great. Even though I had seven kids with me there was pretty much no fighting. When I was young my parents would give us five or ten dollars at the start of every drive. Each time we fought or sassed my parents we’d get 25¢ taken away. We sure tried to stay in line, although I’d usually lose half of my money. I told my kids we’d be doing this and they moaned and groaned. But I only ended up taking a quarter from three of them. So now I have to pay $70 for nothing. York told me yesterday that I didn’t need to pay him anything because he already has enough money. What a sweetheart! (In case you didn’t know, raising kids when money is tight and letting them know that money is tight is actually very beneficial. They are so grateful for anything they are given and are completely missing that spoiled sense of entitlement that many of their friends have.)
In case you’re wondering there are about five gas stations in all of west Texas. It took me a while to learn the law of the frontier: if you see a gas station, fill up! I’m glad I brought lots of snacks because restaurants were even fewer and far betweener. We stopped at a Taco Bell at one point that was closed on a Saturday night because they ran out of food. Yikes! Especially because you know what that means: McDonalds. Now that the kids aren’t in extra-curricular activities we rarely eat on the go. I can’t say that I have missed eating there.
But we didn’t starve to death or run out of gas. We made it OK, despite a two hour traffic jam in El Paso. I spent most of the day yesterday shopping and settling in. So today is my first genuinely lazy day. Here it is 9:30 am and I’ve only gotten out of bed once (and that was just to turn on the pool heater and get a yogurt). And, gloriously enough, there is cable TV. I’ve watched about a jillion episodes of Pawn Stars and Duck Dynasty. It’s been pretty fantastic.
I don’t know why I wasn’t born as a 18th century aristocrat. This kind of do-nothing life really suits me.
Our Spring Break is officially underway! York is at track practice and India’s taking the SAT but soon all the kids will be FREE! For the first time ever we will actually be going somewhere over Spring Break. Just to Grandma and Grandpa’s vacation house in Arizona, so it’s not terribly fancy. The grandparents won’t be there so it’s just us. Well, Mister can’t get away from work so by “us” I mean “the kids and I”. And India’s friend, Summer. She only has one sibling so her head might just explode after spending the week amidst our noisy chaos. (Mister’s brother and his wife will be showing up at some point too, with a bunch of their friends.)
Oh yeah, I should also mention that we will be driving. We never drive anywhere. We do little day trips all the time but as for driving more than three hours in a row? Hasn’t happened since we moved to Texas, lo these many years ago. I’m a little nervous but I think we have enough ipads and electronic gadgets to make sure that there is as little interpersonal involvement as possible.
The temperatures look great next week so my days will consist of sleeping in, lying by the pool (in the shade! Don’t want to lose that vampirish pallor), taking naps and watching lots of TV (There is cable! Such a luxury for us!). I might cook some food. Or we might just eat quite a lot of cereal.
Right now I’m hollering at the kids to keep cleaning out the car. One is Windexing the inside of the windows, one is vaccuming, and one is on petrified-chicken-nugget patrol. I suppose I should think about packing. What am I talking about? I’ve got two new pairs of yoga pants and my bathing suit. I’m totally set!
Snacks for the drive are already parceled out. Yes, I do this myself rather than buying prepackaged snack-sized stuff; What do you think I am, made of money? Pretty much everything is totally sugar-y. I’m quite a mastermind and have decided to pump the kids full of sugar while keeping them confined to an incredibly small space in close proximity to the people they fight with the most in the entire world. Brilliant plan, no? Wish us all well!
March 17, 2012 · 9 comments
in Family, Good Things, Hildie Likes, Kids, Making Stuff, Places I've Gone, Texas, Things We've Done, Vacations, Why Hildie's tired, Yum
You know what’s nice about Texas? Strawberry season starts in March. It’s been Spring Break this week and our big outing was driving over an hour to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls. (“Forget Disneyworld, kids, we’re going to pick strawberries in the middle of nowhere!”) You’ve got to get there early to get the best berries, and go on the right day (they’re closed on Wednesdays, so Thursday morning is when the most ripe berries are out.) The weather was lovely, the bluebonnets and wildflowers were showing off everywhere, and Mister played hookey from work and went with us.
Sweet Berry Farm has several varieties of berries and Chandler is one of my favorites for making jam. They’re a little on the soft side and very juicy, quite unlike grocery store strawberries. Because of this they turn to mush within a day or two so you’ve got to eat them or use them right now. The taste is out of this world. It’s like a strawberry explosion.
I’ve had my work cut out for me over the last couple of days. I made a strawberry almond pie and 36 jars of jam. Not to mention eating lots and lots of berries.
Massive strawberry overload.
But in a good way.
P.S. If you do go out to Sweet Berry Farm, be sure to stop at Peete’s Mesquite BBQ in Marble Falls. It has the best brisket I have ever tasted. And I’ve eaten BBQ all ever the place, even at Franklin BBQ which was voted the best in America by Bon Apétit magazine this year. Peete’s ribs were second only to Franklin’s. And their peach pie and macaroni salad are phenomenal! Seriously, go there!!!
I must say, my 40th birthday has been stellar. The cruise with six of my girlfriends was fantastic (my BFF Tiffany even flew down from the Arctic Tundra of Minnesota for it). We left behind six husbands and 29 children who all survived.
We departed out of Galveston so we only had to drive a few hours from Austin.
Our cruise was on Carnival, the vacation equivalent of Golden Corral (a tacky buffet restaurant, for the uniformed). You get what you pay for, and our cruise was cheap. Which was fine. But that meant there were a lot of . . .uh, interesting people on board our ship. I have never seen so many tattoos and fat ladies in bikinis. But this was how we spent most of our time: in lounge chairs reading and talking. And eating. It was glorious.
We had a lot of fun in Cozumel, Mexico. I did stuff like kissing lizards (no frenching allowed!) . . .
. . . and driving a dune buggy
. . . and eating freshly made salsa and guacamole on the beach in this cute little hut. Paradise.
But like I said, we sat around most of the time. Occasionally we napped. And swam. I may or may not have sat in the hot tub eating a plate of french fries and cookies.
We did not drive children anywhere. We did not cook anything. We did not wipe any bums. We did not make any beds. (I did hang up my wet towels, though. I’m crazy like that.) We spazzed out occasionally because nobody lets loose like Mormon moms without kids. Such occasions call for Nacho Libre masks and rag curlers.
My transition to the downward-facing side of the hill has been pretty painless. Rock on, 40′s!
Yeah, have fun! Because I’m headed down to Mexico for my birthday cruise. I will be hanging with an elite group of superpowered mothers. We will not cook food, drive anywhere, sort laundry, make beds or listen to quarelling. We will try not to feel too bad about the six hapless husbands left behind to run the gauntlet of field trips, meals, baseball games and birthday parties while we get sunburns and gain back all the weight we’ve lost in the last three months (and hopefully not get kidnapped/beheaded as seems to be all the rage in Mexico these days).
It should be a wonderful way to spend my birthday. See you next week!
It is March 10th. I have one exactly more month of being 30-something. I never in my wildest teenage dreams imagined being this old. I could see myself being 26 and after that things seemed grey and hopeless.* I’m actually a teeny smidge excited. Mostly because I think I look pretty good for 40. I don’t know what all the women who lie about being younger are thinking. I’ve found that if you say you are older than you look, people really slather on the compliments, Which would you rather have?
I am 39 and that’s what I tell people:
Response:
“you’re almost 40? No way! You look fantastic!”
I am 39 and tell people I’m 32:
Response: “Really?”
[thinking: "Boy, she looks terrible for her age."]
I’m going on cruise for my birthday with a bunch of my girlfriends. I’m trying to lose 20 lbs. in the next 30 days but I have the niggling feeling that I might not be successful. Not that it matters because I plan on eating A LOT over my birthday and gaining it all back.
*I wish I could tell my teenage self, who felt so unattractive and untalented, that at 40 I would totally be hitting my stride. Late bloomer, I guess.
You guys! I’m back! I didn’t want to tell you that I was going on a vacation for Christmas because I know there’s that crazy band of robbers who reads mommy blogs until they find one who says they’ll be gone then locates their house and steals everything (just kidding, Mom-in-law! This does not actually exist.) But now it’s safe to tell you that we went to Portland, Oregon to visit the extended family for Christmas (don’t worry, I’m not going to include any blurry pictures of my pajama-clad children opening presents. I like you too much for that.)
Although it was our most successful family visit to date (not once did I hiss at my husband through clenched teeth, “I cannot handle your sister for one more second!” Nor did we get in a ginormous fight where one of us seriously threatens divorce. Tempers flare around family, I’m sad to say), it was still a pain. I would not recommend taking Christmas on the road with six kids. The massive amount of luggage (clothes plus presents) was frightening (yay for Southwest and two free bags per person!) Not only that but I had to bring stockings because everyone knows those are the best part of Christmas. And you can’t have stockings without stocking holders because I’m not about to lay the stockings on the floor. So those had to come too. And then there were the gifts for the grandparents and cousins on both sides. And the birthday presents for the two cousins with December birthdays (poor, poor souls).
Let’s just say that the possibility for screwing up this Christmas was tremendous. But it was a success! I remembered everything! And Christmas was wonderful! And we got everything in eight suitcases! And I remembered to bring jackets this time (we won’t go into the Christmas of ’08 when we went to Utah sans coats. That was a fun one.)
There was a little kerfluffle when Mister told me for real this year not to buy him anything. He “doesn’t need anything” (actually, that’s true so I shouldn’t put it in quotes). So I bought him a couple of shirts and a CD (I don’t want to tell you which CD because it’s embarrassing. OK, Josh Groban. See? Embarrassing. I’m an enabler. But when I bought Josh Groban concert tickets last year I only bought one because I have my limits. And paying actual money to see Josh Groban is beyond them.) Anyhoo, I’m sure you can guess what happened Christmas morning; I had lots of wonderful presents to open up and he didn’t. And then he was pouty about it. So I had to do what all wives do when they don’t give a good present: they have to give A Good Present. A private, wifely present(s), if you catch my drift. I don’t know why it even counts since it’s not under the tree or anything. But if it gets a husband to quit complaining, it works for me.
We had a lovely flight home today and are enjoying both our our cat who just about had a nervous breakdown while we were gone, and the sinkful of dirty dishes because Mister insisted that we leave for the airport three hours early and couldn’t wait just five extra minutes for me to load the dishwasher (it’s better to just indulge his fancy for being at the airport absurdly early).
We put the kids to bed without dinner tonight (well, I consider peanuts and Sprite to be a perfectly good dinner, but they are totally spoiled and wanted something more. So selfish, right?). We’ll be spending New Year’s Eve opening all the Christmas cards that came after we left (I don’t want to throw them away already but you procrastinators leave me no choice!) and going to bed by 11 pm.
P.S. Someone please explain how sitting still in an airplane chair for several hours can be exhausting. Because I feel like I ran a marathon (OK, more like a 5K, but still.)
P.P.S. It was scientifically proven today that a Honda minivan holds twice as much luggage as a Suburban. So all you Suburban-lovers with your “SUVs are so much cooler than minivans” can suck it!
Happy New Year everyone!
My dog is sitting next to me looking out the window. She likes to bark at motorcycles and big trucks. We live down the street from a limestone quarry so she barks about every three minutes when a truck full of rocks rolls by. How can dogs not get tired of hearing themselves bark? Don’t they ever feel like, “this barking is really hurting my ears. I should stop for a while.” No, it seeems. I feel like punching her in the face.
Not really. That would be sad. She’s a very sweet dog. Plus she has a little face so I’d probably miss. Punching something in the face is my way of saying I don’t like something. But it’s very aggressive. And angry. Which is kind of how I’m feeling right now.
I just confirmed our tickets to go to Utah (the kids and I. Mister will be staying home minding the fortress with his giant shotgun.) They have us seated all over the plane. I should call Delta and straighten things out (sidenote: I hate Delta but they have the only nonstop from Austin to Salt Lake, so I am at their mercy. I especially hate their $25 baggage fee. But I hate changing planes even more. So Delta it is.) But part of me wants to sit Jasper down next to a total stranger and had him Jasper’s snacks and toy cars. “If you don’t like it, complain to Delta!” I’ll say as I turn and skip back to my seat.
That would be excellent. And hilarious.
But I still feel like punching something. I hate to say it, but it might be . . . hormonal. I pity the fool who crosses me when I’m like this. Sorry TSA people! Apologizing in advance!
I won’t be taking my computer with me. So I will be blogging very little. I hope you enjoy a little break from me. I’ll see you at the end of the month!
