Category Archives: Treasures from the Archives

Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

In the Category, “What Was Chloe Thinking?”

Leave a comment


This photo, believe it or not, depicts Chloe’s spelling homework.  Out of sheer laziness, because her regular pencils needed to be sharpened, Chloe decided to use a yellow pencil instead.  I am old and over 40, but the words on that piece of paper were nothing less than illegible, even for a 28-year old 2nd grade teacher (I don’t know how old her teacher is, but that’s an educated guess.  She’s a lot younger than I am in any case).  

When we asked our dear daughter to demonstrate how the teacher would be able to decipher her prose, she had to hold the paper about 3 feet away from her face.  This is an eight-year old with perfect vision.

I told Chloe that she had a choice.  She certainly didn’t need to rewrite the homework, but if she didn’t and turned in the yellow blob, the teacher would likely have her redo it anyway.  That appeal to her common sense worked – to a certain degree.  Until she tearily confessed that she simply didn’t like recopying things.  Solution:  I squinted my eyes, held the paper up to the light at just the right angle (because if too much light fell on the paper, the yellow pencil disappeared entirely) and dictated her scribblings back to her.
I love my girls.  Why?  For all of the usual reasons, but also because on a night like this, when I’m tired, cranky and not particularly in the mood to write, one of them inevitably provides me with a laugh and an irresistible theme for a blog entry.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Another Milestone

Leave a comment

Sophie is visibly very proud of her first homework assignment, especially the fact that she received a “great job” sticker from the teacher.  This is the assignment I wrote about here.  

I hope that her happiness about the end result will make the next assignments a bit easier for her to swallow.  She’s ever the rebel, our little Sophie, wanting to do things her way, and her way only.
I love that about her – but it can certainly be exasperating when she refuses to take direction.  Chloe is the opposite in many respects, and much more like I was as a child.  Always following the rules, wanting to impress the teachers.  I’m not convinced Sophie will follow that path.  But that’s ok, because she’s as cute as can be.  And as smart as a whip, in her own Sophie way.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

How Much Do I Love Thee, Camera?

Leave a comment


It is so very nice to have a camera again.  We took a bunch of photos today, between our twin cousins’ birthday party and dinner with our neighbor and her son, our fingers were very busy capturing lots of future memories.

Sophie called the police earlier today because Papa was being silly.  Not the real police, of course.  The imaginary police floating around in her head.  
Papa took Sophie jogging today.  It was the first day over 40 degrees that we’ve had in weeks.  Sophie and Chloe thought it was spring.  Anyway, he pulled out the jogging stroller and off they went.  I don’t think Sophie understood what she had gotten herself into, though.  I think she believed that she’d really run with her dad.  Instead, he ran and she sat.  Not particularly exciting.  He’s going to have to do better than that next time!  

Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

New Camera

Leave a comment

It almost didn’t happen.  Best Buy almost let us down today.  We decided on the Canon model we wanted to purchase.  Amazon was offering it for $50 less than Best Buy, but I wanted to test it out before biting the bullet.  

Best Buy has great selection of cameras on display.  At least 30-40 models in different brands.  I went to test the two cameras that made our shortlist.  However, the models on display didn’t work because the circuit board controlling them was broken.  I also noticed that the batteries were dead for most of the other cameras in the store.  Why bother selling cameras if customers can’t try them out?  So I complained to both saleskids, who couldn’t give a flying f**k that the cameras weren’t working.  
At that point, I became cheeky – and commented that I was ready, willing and able to buy a camera today in their store but they were losing an easy sale because I couldn’t test any of them out.  I quickly saw that I was talking to two human walls, so Chloe and I decided to leave.  At the exit, however, I thought I’d lodge a formal complaint.  The security guard found me the supervisor of the camera department who offered to let me test the two cameras.  He apologized for the sorry state of the cameras on display and the sorry state of his saleskids, and proceeded to take new cameras from their respective boxes.  I got to do what I had come to do and test them, he agreed to meet me halfway on the price and made the sale.  I left the store happy that I had a new camera in hand and he was a couple hundred dollars closer to meeting whatever sales goals he needed to meet for the month.  
Stupid saleskids.  Don’t they realize they’re lucky to have jobs in this crummy economy?  That if they don’t provide good service people won’t buy the store’s goods, the store will close and they’ll be out of jobs?  I suppose that’s too much thinking for them.  The two teens spent more time talking about the candy they were eating than trying to help potential customers who wanted to put money into Best Buy’s coffers.  
Needless to say, I took the photo of Chloe with the new gadget.  So far, so good.  Now, if I can just prevent it from getting stolen or broken or lost…at least until 2011.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

Leave a comment


Chloe is eight today.  I can’t really believe it.  It seems like I was giving birth to her not so very long ago.  My mom and I spent the afternoon with her, and we went to the local bead store where she made herself a necklace (and I made a necklace for Sophie).  For dinner, she chose to take us to a local pizzeria and Coldstone for ice cream afterwards.  Not what I would have chosen, but it wasn’t my birthday, was it?

While at dinner, we were talking about the passage of time and I found myself projecting into the future again.  First, to her 18th birthday, and the milestone of being able to vote.  But what caught her attention – enough to make her set aside her new Nintendo DS – was what will happen when she turns 17.  “Driver’s license!  Cool!” she exclaimed.  When I told her that we’d save the minivan for her, she grinned and cried, “Cool!  Nice!  That’s great! Really, mom?  Will I get the minivan?”  Which made the three of us adults laugh.  And made me realize that, despite the feeling that she’s grown up so fast, we still have a very long way to go before she turns 17.  
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Still No Photos

Leave a comment

I was really hoping to have a camera in time for Chloe’s birthday tomorrow.  But we didn’t make it to the store.  And I’m bummed about it, because I will be in Chloe’s class serving cupcakes and won’t have the evidence to prove it (ok, they’re not homemade)!  

What Chloe doesn’t know is that I plan to take her out of school early so that we can enjoy the afternoon together.  And this is a good thing, because I’m really ready for the weekend to begin.  And I’m looking forward to having some mommy time with my big girl.
Sophie worked on her first homework assignment this evening.  It was a coloring page highlighting the letter ‘r’.  The instructions dictated that Sophie color all of the letter r’s red.  Try explaining that to a 3-year old.  It took several minutes to make her understand that purple r’s, green r’s, pink r’s or yellow r’s were not going to do the trick.  When she finally realized that she could color the rest of the picture whatever colors she chose, she relented.  And took out a sparkly red crayon and did what she was supposed to do.  And proceeded to go crazy on the rest of the sheet.  Go, Sophie, go.
I honestly had forgotten what it was like to teach the concept of homework.  That there are rules to follow.  That’s a difficult lesson to inculcate in a toddler.  We’ll see how it goes.  The good news is that she’s starting to remember the names of her new friends, Ava, Alice and Jonah.  And she was invited to a birthday party, too.  Sophie’s social life is blossoming…
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

More Mop Action

Leave a comment

I really can’t get over the fact that my girls actually made a go of mopping the floor the other day.  I had posted a photo of Chloe at the handle, but think it’s only fair to showcase Sophie channeling Cinderella as well.  

The more I think about it, the more it might make sense to stop the cleaning team every other week and hire my girls instead.  They need to learn the value of working.  And with our college savings accounts tanking, they’re going to need to be ready to earn a living sooner rather than later.
Chloe’s 8th birthday is quickly approaching and I can’t believe how rapidly the first eight years have passed.  Which scares me – because before I know it, she’ll be 16 years old (and I’ll be 48) – a junior in high school, taking SATs, thinking about prom (or not) and getting ready to apply to college.  But I’m getting ahead of myself – something I’m often prone to do.  
Back to the present, Chloe decided that she was going to start rereading the Harry Potter series.  She didn’t have school today (snow, yet again), and opting not to pursue a play date, read for most of the day and finished the first volume while ensconced cozily in the corner of the couch.  High school seems a long way off…
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Sophie at School

Leave a comment

This is a photo of Sophie slipping and sliding in our rejuvenated sunroom (now officially called the “den”).  Shortly after that photo was taken (prior to the theft of our camera), she fell on her butt.  Luckily, she has a lot of cushioning on her butt.
Sophie started her second week of school today.  So far, so good.  Although she’s still a little shy, apparently.  Which is funny to me, because she’s such a pistol when she’s in a small group.  I think she’s naturally feeling a little overwhelmed by the noise and activity.  And tomorrow, she’s going to ride in a school bus for the first time to go to a local children’s museum.  Not sure what she thinks about that – when I mentioned it to her this morning she seemed a little nervous about the prospect.  
I still can’t believe she’s in school.  Probably because we made the decision to enroll her so quickly and didn’t have much time to mentally prepare for the milestone.  But she’s going – and our schedule is more complicated than it used to be – and I’m not sure how we’re going to manage in the fall when she’ll be in school full-time, but we’ll figure it out.  We have a few months to get used to the new routine.  
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Our Camera Was Stolen

Leave a comment

I am disappointed in my fellow humans today.  Our camera is gone, presumably stolen from a bench at the American Museum of Natural History as the girls were taking a break from running around the exhibition space.  This is a place that’s swarming with children, for god’s sake.  We had just taken some adorable pictures of Chloe and Sophie as they frolicked among the butterflies and gleefully pointed out the Tibetan tribal masks.  And quicker than you can say “Cheese!” the camera had disappeared.  

Of course, the girls immediately realized what had happened – it didn’t help that I was cursing up a storm.  It was an interesting experience actually. I’m a cynic, and I had to rein myself in after a couple of minutes.  Although I didn’t believe for a second that someone had “found” it and would turn it in, I felt the need to mention that such an outcome was a possibility (even though it was clearly an afterthought) when Sophie started to say, “A mean man took our camera.”  
We went to the security desk and filed a lost and found report, and checked in before we left.  Nothing, nada, rien.  A mean man (or woman, no need to discriminate here) took our camera.  Where do people get the nerve to do something like that?  Needless to say, I am not posting any photos tonight – I’m symbolically mourning not just the loss of the camera, but people’s ugliness.  Melodramatic, I know, but I am so pissed off right now…