MommyCoddle

Alt Summit NYC-bound

People! I totally flaked out on my daily posting. I was doing so well. But apparently June has had other plans for me. Between getting ready for the Alt Summit in NYC, my third flat tire in two weeks (!), sending a little one off to “grandma camp”, and general summer farm craziness, I’m feeling totally swamped.

I want to catch up, but today, I’ve got a bit of butterflies in my stomach as I head out by train this afternoon to New York City for the Alt Design Summit at Martha Stewart Headquarters. I’ve been up to my ears in “what to wear”, business cards, and “is there something in the fridge for dinner while I’m gone”.

Emily + I had planned to go to Alt together. But after….

Emily + I had planned to go to Alt together. But after a death in her family, I’m going alone. I’m sad she won’t be by my side through all this, but know she’s making the best decision. So now, I’m having to make sure I’ve got all the details down–you know, little things like “where’s Martha’s headquarters??” and “What time does it start??”.

This morning, I’m putting final touches on my business cards which has been incredibly soothing to my nerves. People go all-out with their business cards and it’s a little intimidating. But I figure I’m a simple girl. The girl you just met, but can lean over to and ask, “do you have a piece of gum?”. So my cards are coming with an extra little treat washi-ed (yes, I just used washi as a verb) to the back. I’ll be the girl with the gum.

Though I’m kinda freaking out on the inside, I’m so excited about Alt. When I’ve traveled in the past few years it’s always been for “work“. This is the first time I’m doing it for me. I’m trying to put on my brave face and get in touch with my old, out-going self that’s pretty rusty these days.

More soon, my friends. Send me some confidence mojo, would you? xo.

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June 12. A list.

It’s another late night but here we go with another list. They’re working for me lately.

*No flat tires today! Yay.

*My mother-in-law is visiting all week and today she took the girls to the bookstore for a little shopping trip. Of course, along with books they also came home with this. I put Birdy to bed tonight with cow-spotted fingernails. Seriously.

*Made homemade stromboli for dinner tonight. So good. But, in my opinion, so much better tomorrow. Cold.

*That moment when you look up at your dining room ceiling and see big blobs of paint chips falling down? And then you go upstairs and realize….

It’s another late night but here we go with another list. They’re working for me lately.

*No flat tires today! Yay.

*Made homemade stromboli for dinner tonight. So good. But, in my opinion, so much better tomorrow. Cold.

*That moment when you look up at your dining room ceiling and see big blobs of paint chips falling down? And then you go upstairs and realize the toilet above that chipping paint spot is leaking. And then suddenly you find yourself at Home Depot trying to choose the correct wax ring for the toilet at 8 o’clock at night. Yes, that was tonight.

*But while I was there, cans of turquoise and pink spray paint also fell into my cart. I have no idea what I’m going to do with them. But I feel armed and dangerous.

*I’m giving serious consideration to doing a post on how I check my children for ticks, how we remove them, etc. It’s not exactly a glamorous topic, I realize, but I get asked questions all the time. And I feel like we have a pretty good system/technique down. It seems like something worthwhile to address. Stay tuned. I need to find a small volunteer that will let me borrow her head for photographic purposes.

*Tomorrow, if this weather doesn’t do major damage, I’m getting my hair cut. That always feels like a mini-vacation. In a perfect world, I would figure out a way to get my hair cut while lying down. In my bed. Or no, in a bed in a quiet room. With soothing music. And the shades drawn. And twinkle lights.

*I am once again embracing my late night quiet office. Which at this exact moment is being disturbed by a rather large moth banging against the window screen. In the car tonight, on the way to the store to get a wax toilet ring, (which is one of the grossest sounding products) I also embraced the quiet car to balance out the fact that my toilet was at home, leaking. It kinda worked.

And now, my quiet office is being puntuated with the sound of a baby crying….must go.

We are bracing for big storms tonight and tomorrow and I’m thinking of my midwest and local friends. Stay safe.

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home / life (in general)

June 11. A list

I’m wiped out from this day. So tonight, you’re getting a list. Here goes.

*Woke up to a flat tire. My second flat tire this week. But, despite the fact that my tire was shot, my tire guy just happened to have a decent used tire that he sold me for twenty-eight dollars. Done. And thank you.

*Was behind on work, so I thought I’d take my laptop and my little hotspot with me to the tire place. Turns out when you want your laptop to charge overnight in your office, you have to plug in both ends. Productivity while waiting for tire repair? Not so much.

*After the tire place, zipped across the street to the feed mill…

I’m wiped out from this day. So tonight, you’re getting a list. Here goes.

*After the tire place, zipped across the street to the feed mill to get feed and minerals for the lambs, and small feed tubs to put the minerals in. Got home. Me: Emma, I got minerals, feed and feed pans. Emma: Mom you got all that stuff last week. It’s out in the barn. I only needed minerals.” I will now carry fifty pound bags of feed in my trunk until we need feed again. And guess who’s chickens got new feed pans today? This girl’s.

*Mary was migraine-y. I let her have a glass of Gatorade (a supposed migraine deterrant. The jury’s still out.) Filled up her glass to the top. Tipped over the glass onto my newly mopped floor and into the kitchen cabinets. Lovely. Not so much.

*Dinner, on the other hand, was excellent. A made-it-up-as-I-went-along version of southwest egg rolls. Yum.

*Pulled four deer ticks off Elizabeth. Total ugggggh. Put an alarm on my iPhone to check her tick bite spots daily and check her “symptoms” in one week.

*Stayed up super late (right now!) catching up on work from today. Usually I listen to Pandora while I work because (okay, I admit it), sometimes the super-quiet house creeps me out when I’m the only one awake. But tonight, I opened the windows, turned off the music and the quiet is just what I needed.

Here’s to a fresh twenty-four hours tomorrow filled with potential. Though I’d simply settle for normal. xo.

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