Monday, June 1, 2009

The Game of Life

We've just had a few of those days. The days that make you want to surrender to whatever force is opposing you, since it obviously is winning.

The same day we got $25 in bank fees, Elisheva knocked over a standing living room lamp that Avram and I bought with wedding money four years ago, and broke the victorian style glass shade - although the lamp still works, even if it is a bit glaring now.Notice the innocent lamp awaiting its doom in the corner, while Elisheva plots her evil plans in the foreground. My life has so much foreshadowing, if I only could read it.

Then on Friday Elisheva broke part of the base off from my Alabaster mortar and pestle that I bought in Egypt. Don't let the cuteness fool you. She has the full unleashed destructiveness of a toddler.

And Lydia, who has had access to 'craft' scissors for months, and has always been very responsible with them, and has only cut paper, Lydia planning the dastardly deed
got ahold of the kitchen shears, and gave herself a personal layered look, along with some bangs. As well as chopping up into dozens of pieces a favorite tie that emphasizes the waist that goes with a favorite sweater cardigan of mine.
She won't have darling hair-dos anymore, but she also won't have the common difficulty of hair in the eyes.I ended up chopping off all of Lydia's hair, to eliminate the odd layers. I almost cried. Lydia has had bangs cut twice, a year ago, but otherwise her hair has remained untouched. At first I didn't like the cut at all, and felt that I was seeing a stranger, but then today she looked cute in it - a little Fraulein Maria almost. Or perhaps a child of the depression.(She actually is happy in this picture. You just can't tell. Also, I do not know why a computer chip is her best friend.)

And several people at church commented on how cute she looked, and asked me where I got her hair cut. One sister even said she reminded her of how all the little French girls looked (she lived in France for a couple of years). And so I felt better, since I was worried the haircut looked bad, as cutting wiggly girl's hair is very different than cutting my own or Avram's hair. (Although Lydia was very good and stood still for the cutting, and did not seem to mind at all the disappearance of her hair.) (Which somehow this all reminds me of the time that my older sister Camilla, who was very young at the time, was found in the closet, cutting one of a swimming suit up into pieces, because she was trying to make a bikini out of it.)

Also I heard odd splashing, and went and investigated to see Lydia and Elisheva standing around the toilet while Lydia was ladling out dirty toilet water with a bath-time cup, and then pouring it back in streams. Yuck! I flushed the toilet, and it overflowed all over the bathroom floor, including onto the bath mat. Double Yuck.

My sister has asked me how I manage to read all the books that keep appearing on my sidebar. I tell her I just do it while parenting, and that they go together very well for me. Well, I may have been reading a book on Friday morning. And as we can see, apparently I don't parent and read at the same time. I just have wild hooligans instead.

Then Avram came home after a day spent writing a paper due on Monday (tomorrow), and as he started helping me rejuvenate from the disaster of the day, and rolled up his sleeves to do some dishes, it came out that the finished ten page paper he had emailed himself home was actually only the very first draft he had written, which was a page long. So we all piled into the car and raced down to campus to see if somehow the finished draft was still saved on the computer he had been using while on campus.

It wasn't.

Avram spent the next several hours trying to recreate his paper, while I herded the girls through dinner time and bedtime routine.

And then thankfully ended a Friday I never want to repeat. Forces that be: Six. Thora: Zero. What's your score?

8 comments:

  1. oh man thora!! i am so sorry about the lamp! and i think all kids try to cut their hair at some point. Porter cut his.. but we just buzed his head. Theo cut his beautiful locks and started his short hair looks, i was actually really sad about his hair cut even though he is a boy and ti was silly but i loved his long hair! and i think its funny that you put that story about me cutting the swim suit on there but didnt mention the times that i was actually cutting your and mary's hair??

    I think lydia looks cute though. and she does look like a little girl in WWII times. a verry cute little girl! hey at least you dont have to worry about the hair in th eyes. its like your hair after mom cut it because you wouldnt stop sucking on it so she made it short enough you couldnt! remember that?

    Oh and BTW i love the little red dress that Elishava has on, she is so darling! ( oh man i sound like mom!)

    okay off to read your saga as ordered. and sorry to call you so late! i have mom brain and forgot we are different time zones!

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  2. For what it's worth, you turned tragedy into pure comic gold. This was unquestionably the funniest post of yours I've read (starting with the shot of Lydia plotting in the foreground). Please try not to be annoyed with the fact that I found your horrible, bad, no-good day both amusing and entertaining. I truly am sorry about all the damaged items, particularly the mortar & pestle.

    Also, please tell Avram that I feel his pain — I had the same thing happen to me on a major history paper back in the day. I wisely (tongue in full cheek deployment) decided to write a paper that counted for 30 percent of my grade the night before it was due. Computers were a new thing for me then, and I wasn't real clear on the whole "saving documents" thing. It was a masterpiece, and was almost done with time to spare, until the power went out. It only went out for an instant, but as the darkness consumed me, I remembered that the last time I'd saved was on page ten, some twenty pages back.

    They heard my screams in Memphis, some 150 miles away.

    Long story short, the class was at 1 p.m., and I wrote the rest of the night and through the morning. The last page cleared the printer with just enough time for me to run out the door and be right on time for class. Never, never again.

    In short, I would let the forces that be think that they have won this round, then move to another town without leaving a forwarding address.

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  3. What a joyful sequence of events. Sheesh. I'm sorry! Lydia's hair looks super cute, though. And I'm so sorry about Avram's paper. We've all been through that and it's AWFUL.

    I think you guys will have to make a trip to Egypt to replace your mortar and pestle.

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  4. I heard the whole sad story on the phone but I really liked the accompanying photo essay.

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  5. Oh, man. Just caught up here. I think you're spot on with the whole loneliness thing and young Mormon Mommy bloggers. I think it's sometimes the only way we have to connect with other people. Sad, but true.
    ALSO, loved the Saga post. I'm glad to see you're still continuing with that. I'm still hooked!
    I'm so sorry about your lamp and mortar and pestle getting broken! I'm just waiting for Peter to be mobile before our house gets torn apart. I have a feeling he'll be a lot more destructive than his older brother. Our house is so not child-proof- I was spoiled with Benjamin.

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  6. Oh ouchie! What a stressful series of events!

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  7. Wow, that sounds like one of my weeks. (This week I think I'm about 3 to 3, as long as I don't count things I'm not getting done.) The haircut really did turn out adorable, even if it wasn't what you chose, though.

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  8. I love that picture of Elisheva. She's so spritely!

    I should let you know that my mom reads your blog regularly, now, and she always tells me how much she loves it.

    I really should get your direct email - mine is ithilien at yahoo dot com. I've been having prelabor for about a week so my kid could come pretty much any minute now.

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