Two Plus Two Makes For...

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noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:13:00 +0000

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Jelly Belly Shop - Superfruit Mix - 5.9 oz bag

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:04:00 +0000

Jelly Belly Shop - Superfruit Mix - 5.9 oz bag

Throwing streamers

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:39:00 +0000

I really outdid myself with the twin's fifth birthday party. I felt like Kate from that train wreck of a show on TLC.

After postponing Disney indefinately, we decided that we'd have pony rides at the party, and I invited the entire preschool class. The weather was perfect, I think most everyone had a good time. But as my husband and I raced around that morning, blowing up more balloons and revisiting the rules of 'balloon stomp' and 'pin the tail' games, (we still forgot the blind folds), he looked over at me and said, "let's never do this again".

And I felt the same way. It was so much work, and the kids, I think they had a great time, but they were so overstimulated that there were a few less than pretty moments. And I was so busy hosting, I barely got two photos and didn't get to see my own kids ride the ponies. I felt like I was trying to make time stand still by throwing streamers at it.

The gift opening, despite my best efforts, still turned into a free for all where cards, carefully selected and decorated, got thrown aside as they ripped into wrapping paper, and I frantically tried to write down who gave who what.

I do it at Christmas too. I work so hard, trying to make 'perfect' memories (yes, I realize how ridiculous that is). And ultimately, I end up stressed and exhausted, and they get overwhelmed and overindulged. And I know, as I am doing it, that it is my own fear of missing something. Or some attempt to make up for the times I yelled at them or had to be the big downer voice of reason.

But is it better to stop trying? I guess we'll just do what we do and deal with any mistakes later on when we are called out on them. Parenthood is, well, you know, it's challenging, on levels that haven't been challenged before. You can't hand it in all typed up like a term paper and get a grade. You can't follow a recipe, as the ingredients keep changing.

At five, life is easier in a lot of ways. But I am seeing how it evolves, into something much more complex and dynamic that it was when food and sleep were the main issues.

And as I type this, I know, I'll keep trying. I'll try to remain calm, try to keep things flowing and expectations low, but I am too hands on not to plan and execute. I guess I'll hear all about it when they turn 15. Until then, pass the streamers.

Huge clothing sale March 13th

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:57:00 +0000

Chester County Mothers of Multiples
Semi--Annual Sale
Saturday, March 13, 2010
9 a.m. til Noon
The School at Church Farm (CFS)
1001 East Lincoln Highway
Exton, P.A.
Check out our selection of gently used items, including:
clothes
toys
books
nursery Items
outdoor play equipment
car seats
strollers
maternity clothing
and much, much more!
We accept Cash and Personal Checks for purchases.
We do not accept Credit Cards.
For additional information and directions, please visit our website at

and click on “Clothing Sale.”

S'no fun

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:15:00 +0000

Another snow day? Are you kidding me? And this snow isn't even fun to play in... it's blown on high winds over hard, dirt encrusted old snow sprinkled throughout with dog poop land mines.

And as we all struggle to remain entertained and active on yet another cancelled day of school, I find myself staring longingly at the kindergarten registration papers.

Days like this are filled with highs and lows. When I get us all sculpting with clay I feel like a success, and then when two almost-five-year-olds melt down in tears and a cacophony of whining because they cannot perfectly render the visions they had in mind for their artistic creations, I end up leaving the room to calm myself down.

I do not think perfectionists are setting themselves up for a happy life. Nothing is perfect, and to believe it can be is to be ultimately disappointed, philosophically, right? However, I want them to want to achieve great things. Where is the line? How do you teach flexibility? Yoga classes? Are there workbooks for this?

Anyway, I have them settled for the moment on a Leappad and a Vtech art desk and am appeasing the guilt I feel for not posting more often. I want to, but day to day seems to leave less and less time for a simple email or phone call. Time is flying by and I can barely keep on top of the basics, like groceries and laundry.

I remember processing patents for high tech companies, and while I felt pressured and at times overwhelmed, I never had this degree of combined stress, overwork and an underlying sense of failing a little at everything. I know, I know, the woes of the stay at home mom, but seriously... I never thought it'd be this hard, mentally.

Could it be that this sense of failure is my own perfectionist streak rearing it's ugly head? The apple doesn't fall far, as they say. So, I suppose the lesson here is to be easier on myself, and through example, teach my kids to be more lighthearted in their own lives.

So, who cares that my bedroom looks like the fallout zone from a recent civilian uprising, or that my husband and I have eaten so many chicken nuggets in the last four years that we both have to battle high cholesterol? It's a snow day, the light in the winters of children throughout the western world... and damnit, I am sure there is more fun to be had. And my son just called in to me from the other room. He said, "Mommy?"
"What?" I answered, distractedly.
"I love you."

Brandywine Museums FREE day

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:42:00 +0000

Seven participating attractions of the Brandywine Museums & Gardens Alliance offer FREE admission this Sat., Jan. 23:

· Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA
· Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
· Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington
· Delaware History Museum, Wilmington
· Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington
· Rockwood Museum, Wilmington, and
· Winterthur Museum & County Estate, Winterthur, DE.

In addition to Free Museum Day, you can enjoy free admission to the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, DE every day, and the Delaware Art Museum waives admission fees every Sunday.

Prince and the Princess

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:05:00 +0000

Two four-year-olds, brother and sister, a morning to play dress up.

The game is Prince and the Princess... a slight spin from Mom and Dad, because in Mom and Dad they take care of animals and go on trips. In P&P, the Prince tries to fight off dragons and monsters while the Princess attempts to set up a wedding ceremony in her plastic high heels, yelling at the Prince to stop swinging his sword around.
Hhhmmmm.
Perhaps I have overdosed them on Disney?
Time will tell.

I read an interesting book called The Sixties, in which the author reminisced about starting up an alternative school in London, and of how they believed in free form education. They were rebelling against the soul crushing uniforms and endless memorization of the straight schools.

And then she said that in her sixties now, looking back after raising her own child, she can see that the mind develops over time, and that a small child cannot get through all of the conceptual layers at once. So it is actually preferable to have them memorize. She sees that it is really, more helpful in the long run to just get the rules of grammar and mathematics down, as tools to use later, because they have the rest of their lives to ponder the deeper meanings of things.

And the days get shorter

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:08:00 +0000

“Mommy, are their skeletons in that graveyard?”

“Yep.”

“Will they get up and walk around?”

“No, no – that only happens in stories.”

“So they are just bones?”

“That’s right.”

(2 hours later)

“Mama, do you go to school?”

“Oh, I did, but I am finished now.”

“Our school?”

“No, I lived in a different town, so I went to a school out there.”

“You lived with Mommom?”

“Yes.”

“In her house?”

“No, we lived in a different house back then.”

(2 hours later)

“Are we moving mama?”

“No sweetie, we don’t have any plans to right now. Why?”

“I don’t want to move. You moved as a little girl, right? (pause) I want to keep our dog.”

“Honey, if we moved, we would take her with us.”

“How?”

“In a truck, we would pack everything up and take it all with us.”

“Who would live here? New people?”

“That’s right.”

“And we would go live in their house?”

“Well, we wouldn’t swap… we’d probably be in a different house.”

(4 hours later – bedtime)

“Mommy!!” (sobbing)

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to grow up!!”

“What? Oh, honey, why?”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“You don’t have to leave me. You can stay as long as you like.”

“But you left Mommom.”

“That was my choice. Maybe you might change your mind when you get older. You can do anything you want to do sweetie.”

“I don’t want to grow up! How do I stop it?”

“Well, you can’t. But it takes a long, long time… just go slowly and enjoy where you are now.”

H1N1, not in my house

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:21:00 +0000

Shots.
My kids hate them.

Last year, at four, I thought we were over the screaming agony, but I was very, very wrong. They recovered by the time we got home, but their absolute wailing and screams of terror flooded the first floor of Paoli Hospital with echoing gloom.

So, here I admit that I really was going to blow off the flu shot this year. Why go through all of that, since they are big enough now that the flu, while unpleasant, would probably not be life threatening?

I was generally ignoring the whole H1N1 thing - especially since no one had the vaccination anyway. My reservations ranged from an aversion to medication in general when not completely necessary, and a mistrust of media hype surrounding things we are 'supposed to be afraid of'.

However, as more and more cases cropped up in Downingtown, not Mexico, not New York, but right here in my hometown, I did my homework:

Guillain Barre syndrome, it turns out, can also be caused by contracting the flu, so I ticked that off of my list of concerns, along with the one in a million chance of it happening anyway.

All reports verify that the mercury levels are as safe as eating a big helping of fish.

...And my pediatrician called to say that they have the nasal spray available. So when they asked if we would like to come in next Friday for dose one, I stared down at the letter from our preschool reporting that they have one case verified (and would we all please keep any possibly ill children at home?),
I said absolutely.

Sticking it to you

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Isn't there some joke about certain people enjoying any food served on a stick? Well, apparently it applies to my children. Grandma turned them on to corn dogs (ick!), so after school in a panic to make people happy, I skewered a couple of hot dogs onto bamboo skewers and voila! happy four year olds! We then moved on to rolls on a stick, PBnJ sandwich squares on a stick.... I think I am on to something here. Next - broccoli on a stick!

So, a lot of parents I know are freaking out about the date change for kindergarten enrollment. it used to be 5 by 9/30, now it is 5 by 9/1... what did my friend at preschool say today? FOUR years of preschool seems a bit much, doesn't it? Her son has a 9/9 Bday date and she just got the news.

I am lucky that way, we are March Bdays here, so no gray area. But what to do for the rest? Further consideration had me leaning toward two or three days of preschool, and then, hey, take advantage of the time to offer your child karate lessons, or swim lessons or a combination of skill building things they would otherwise be too busy for. Granted, there's the financial issue, but do what you can do, right?

Sticky situations abound... and I know, preschool and K are now considered the blocks upon which educations are built. But I am of the opinion that life lessons can come from anywhere, a preschool teacher may have some, but there are always other avenues to be explored.

Trade in old baby gear for toy coupons

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:17:00 +0000

Toys R Us trade in on baby gear

I just saw this on Good Day Philly... Goodwill doesn't take strollers, so it is a nice alternative.

A relevant review I wrote went live today on Feminist Review.org

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:15:00 +0000

Just Like Family: Inside the Lives of Nannies, the Parents They Work for, and the Children They Love

By Tasha Blaine

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Like Tasha Blaine, I once took a job working as a nanny. Also like the author, I thought it would be a relatively easy gig that would allow me the freedom to write while working in a nice, supportive environment. We both quickly realized that working as a nanny is one of the most intense, draining, undervalued, and emotionally taxing jobs in our modern society.

In Just Like Family, Blaine combines her personal insights, her MFA, and several years of research to closely follow the lives of three different nannies in three different cities over the course of one year. The portraits she paints read more like a novel than the sociological study they really are, and that makes her book as entertaining as it is informative. There is Claudia, a young mother who came to New York City from Dominica and still dreams of a career in nursing; Vivian, a college educated career nanny in Massachusetts running for nanny of the year; and Kim, a nanny with twenty years of experience who accepted a live-in position in Texas on the eve of her second divorce.

It is the intimacy of these stories that make the book so compelling. That level of absorption allows a unique opportunity for Blaine to educate readers about how complicated it is to work in such an emotionally intense environment. A nanny is not only charged with raising young children, but must navigate the complexities of another family from the inside, all the while enduring the stresses and hardships of a primary care giver in a society that still holds childcare near the bottom rung of the economic food chain.

Whether or not to have children, and then how to go about raising them, will be a central issue of feminism as long as a feminist movement is necessary. Childcare is simply not very highly valued here in the United States. It is not monetarily valued, and it is not socially valued. The author Ann Crittendon said that someone once asked of her, “Didn’t you used to be Ann Crittendon?” when she was home with her first child. I know how she felt.

When I decided to stay home with my twins, I found that even those closest to me suddenly treated me as though I’d died and been mysteriously replaced by a cardboard mommy cutout. Having no idea how completely consuming it is taking care of small children, they assumed my sudden loss of interest in pop culture (and personal hygiene) must have had more to do with my giving up on life than with not having time to spare for it.

There is a widespread cultural bias against the work of childcare that completely ignores how much time and energy it takes to raise a child. And in a culture where human resource and intellect is fast becoming the most important currency, it is astonishing that childcare is dismissed as something less than absolutely crucial to our survival. If I could afford a nanny, believe me I’d have one, but I’d be a much better employer for having read this book.

Review by Jen Wilson Lloyd

Farewell not oft-used enough treehouses

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:28:00 +0000

I finally got the nerve up to drop my kids at the Giant grocery store 'Kid's Treehouse' play area a few weeks ago.

It was an entirely new experience shopping without the constant back and forth dialogue we usually have about who is hitting who and what snack items we can and cannot purchase and why we won't go to the aisle with the princess stuff.

Well, today I rolled in, jubilant that I had convinced my kids to play there again, and a sign was posted announcing the closure of (almost) all of the treehouse locations as of July 30th. I think Morgantown and one other (too far to justify a drive for us) will remain open.

Too little, too late for me I am afraid.

Campus Outreach Services

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:08:00 +0000

Ok, so I have not been very prolific here of late... but I have a great reason. I found some contract employment! Very, very part time work-from-home writing assignments, but still - in this climate, I am fortunate. And not only in just having projects to work on, but even more fortunate in how I feel about the employer.

Campus Outreach Services is an organization that you may or may not have heard of. If you have a senior in high school, they probably had Katie Koestner speak to their class this year. Ask them. If they did not, find out why their school is not offering these presentations.

Before taking on some assignments for COS, I went and heard Katie speak to Downingtown West's seniors. Unlike the students, I had an idea of what they were about to witness... but like them, I was astounded at the relevance, the poignancy and the power of the live presentation.

I am sure I will be blogging a bit more about this in the future, but for now, I just wanted to share what has kept me so busy and why I am so excited to be involved with it.

summertime stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:25:00 +0000

Here is my local list for the free kid movies this summer... Downingtown Stadium 16 100 Quarry Road Downingtown ,PA 19335-3062 610-518-3404
06/23/2009-06/24/2009	Curious George (G)
	Kung Fu Panda (PG)
06/30/2009-07/01/2009	Mr. Bean's Holiday (G)
	Spiderwick Chronicles (PG)
07/07/2009-07/08/2009	Wallace And Gromit (G)
	Evan Almighty (PG)
07/14/2009-07/15/2009	Clifford (G)
	Barnyard (PG)
07/21/2009-07/22/2009	Charlotte's Web (G)
	Madagascar 2: Escape To Africa (PG)
07/28/2009-07/29/2009	Horton Hears A Who (G)
	Inkheart (PG)
08/04/2009-08/05/2009	Space Chimps (G)
	Surf's Up (PG)
08/11/2009-08/12/2009	Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Veggie Tale Movie (G)
	Star Wars: Clone Wars (PG)
08/18/2009-08/19/2009	The Tale Of Despereaux (G)
	Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep (PG) Also, I just found out that the YMCA offers summer only memberships, WOW!

Confessions of a mother about Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:32:00 +0000

It's almost Mother's Day again... and once again I admit, sheepishly, that what I'd really like for Mother's Day is a day off. Horrible right?

And then I realize that I can't exactly tell my kids that I don't want to have Mother's Day dinner with them as they give me their little hand made cards and say "Happy Mother's Day" in their best party-time voices (well, that may be wishful thinking, but you know what I mean).

I love my kids. I mean I practically worship them, seriously, I miss them when they are at preschool for 2 hours, I really do. But as the seven days a week, twenty four hours a day go by week after week, month after month, I am slowly coming to terms with the enormity of it all.

I am realizing that it will never end, it will only change. I will never, in any way, return to the person I used to be, because they will always be in my mind and heart, wherever they are, no matter what happens from here on out.

People used to tell me that four was the magic number. "Oh yes, those terrible twos are difficult, but when they turn four they will transform into compliant, delightful creatures, just wait!"

It is great.

But they are hardly compliant.
Delightful, yes, but the challenges become more complex. Now it is more than "no", now it is the "why not?", and "but last time you said...", and " Well if I can't have it then I'm moving to grandma's".

I remember when the twins were small(er), telling mothers of older children how hard it was, and seeing in their eyes sympathy, but also something more, something I didn't understand at the time. (And yes, I was a bit of a whiner)

Well I get it now.
What I saw there was a silent "just wait".

They heard what I was saying, but they also knew it wasn't going to get easier, and in fact the dynamics of motherhood get trickier as your children grow up. Sure, it is frustrating to negotiate snack time with a four year old, but I can only imagine negotiating the social life of a teenager, or trying to find the proper amount of space to keep from an adult child, or for that matter, a daughter-in-law.

So this Mother's Day I will be with my family, making sure that they are as happy as they can be. Because this Mother's Day, at four, my children really do want to be with me.
I'll take it while I can.
Enjoy!

Chester County Moms blog

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Chester County Moms - is a good local blog, (more frequently updated than mine! Sorry!) and their calendar is awesome - check it out for spring break activity ideas for your little ones.

Bouncing 'round the room

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:55:00 +0000

On Sunday I took the kids to West Chester’s campus to see a children’s concert offered by the Kennett Symphony Orchestra. Admission was free, so we got there about thirty minutes early.

I wasn’t sure how the twins would do, but at nearly four, I want to expose them to more forms of art and music. The promise of dancers in costume seemed reason enough to brave the journey.

Even walking the campus was an eye opening experience, as they marveled over the architecture and sculptures on the grounds. I have to say that I have lived in quite a few places, and West Chester really is a charming town. The campus has details I had not noticed before, slate roofs and stonework that make for a nice Sunday stroll with the family.

Realizing that it might be a challenge for the kids to sit still for the show, I allowed each of them to bring a toy. My daughter packed a small game in her backpack, and my son wanted to carry a transparent, bouncy rubber ball. Sure, why not? He promises to keep it with him.

We are in a phase of “favorite toys”. At this age, everything is over the top, high drama. Whatever toy they latch onto that day is their “favorite toy EVER”, even if it is a paper clip or an empty camera case. The favorites change from day to day, but for some reason continually get lost or left in pockets or stores or toilet bowls.

Before the concert began, we sat there: Grand mom, the kids and I, reading the program aloud, trying to entertain them and avoiding a mutiny. Then it happened.

“Mommy, my ball!!!”

I felt my stomach sink as I looked under the seats, then up over rows ahead of us. My mom and I got up and searched, a valiant effort, I thought, for such a minor object. But it was the focus object of the day so we persisted. Finally, I had to tell him that it was lost. And I could not help myself… I reminded him that he had promised to hold onto it.

He started to tear up… and just then someone four rows down and ten seats over held up the ball and said, “did anyone lose this?” Eureka!

I thanked her profusely, so happy that the concert hadn’t started yet, and gave it back to him. (you see my mistake, don’t you?) We settled in, expecting the show to start any moment, when I heard it again. “Mommy, my ball!!!”

“Are you kidding me?!” I said, out loud.

I wanted to leave it. I told him it was gone. I wasn’t looking for it again, the show was going to start any moment. He started crying. I started looking. Not my proudest parenting moment, but then I saw it… only a few rows ahead at the foot of a Daddy who was busily texting on his iphone while his son nodded at me that he saw it too. I interrupted the text and had him pass me the ball….

Elated, my son balked when I informed him that if he was going to hold onto it any longer he had to put it in his pocket and keep it there. And yes, I was being generous. But he did it, and I only caught it out of pocket once, to which he hurriedly returned it to its enclosure on threat of confiscation.

The concert was really wonderful… beautiful music, informative, and the dancers did an excellent job.

But we would have had better luck not arriving so early. By the end they were both asking if it was over yet, and loudly whispering, “can we go now?” But I know they’ll remember it, and maybe next year we’ll pack drawing pads instead of bouncy balls.

And then I heard them announce that a musical petting zoo was available up front for everyone to enjoy after the show. That is a petting zoo of musical instruments you can touch, not actual animals as I had glanced at the flyer and told my kids earlier that day trying to psyche them up.

“I thought you said REAL animals?!” My daughter shouted, stomping her foot.

Huge clothing sale March 14th

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:51:00 +0000

Mark your calendars... the CCMOMC semi annual clothing and equipment sale will be at the Church Farm School on route 30 in Exton this year -

Saturday, March 14th, from 9am-noon.

Items encompass everything from Maternity Clothing to Outdoor Play Equipment. If a Baby, Toddler, Child or Expectant Mother needs it, wears it or wants it.....WE HAVE IT!

The perfect Valentine's gift

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Can you guess?
For Valentine's Day my wonderful hubby watched the kids so that I could go up to Brooklyn and spend a deliciously decadent evening with my BFF.

Dinner at a French bistro, drinks at a hip hang out, window shopping at boutiques I could never afford but still enjoy browsing through. (Ah the feel of really, really fine fabrics).

Never say romance is dead!

How to open a juice box without even spilling

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Pull those two side "flaps" up and out at the top of the juice box, give it "wings" and it won't spill when a child grabs it!

Back home, and happy

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:09:00 +0000

The night before we flew to Miami, my daughter threw up all over her room. Her father stepped in a puddle of it and had a hard time not joining the party himself. She amazes me, though. A few hours later, she said she had to use the potty, and as I sat with her I watched her throw up into her closed mouth, hold her hand over it, wide-eyed, and then she gulped it back down with so much effort her shoulders rolled forward and then back. It was totally unecessary, excrutiating to watch, and yet still absolutely heroic in a reality television sort of way. I did have a sudden pang of guilt about whether I had made her believe that the bathroom floor was so incredibly important that such measures needed to be taken to keep it clean, but you can only do what you can do, some decisions they make for themselves.

By Friday morning, she felt so sick that she barely said goodbye as we left her and her brother with their grandparents for their first ever sleep over. It broke my heart. She had been SO excited... and now she just listlessly waved goodbye.

When our flight landed it began to rain. I realized than that the warm water snorkeling I had been dreaming of might not become reality. But we made the best of it. The Bahamas were a little chilly. Mid sixties until the sun warmed the beach. But hey, it was January - and I guess that would explain all of the sales!

Honestly, we had a grand time anyway. And when you have a blast despite most plans being changed (or cancelled like the entire day at a private beach), you know you can have a blast anywhere.

We were only gone for close to four days, and by Monday morning I was so ready to come back and see the kids that I had a nightmare that we had missed our flight. Funny, but I used to travel for weeks at a time and get depressed when I got home, and now, well, a weekend was plenty. And I did enjoy myself and kick back and I didn't stress about them. I just honestly missed them, puke and all.

Cruisin' for a boozin'

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:18:00 +0000

About a week before Christmas, I was sitting at the Exton mall playground sort of mulling life over when I saw a sign advertising a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas for $149. One hundred and forty-nine dollars??!!! Even I can afford THAT.

I had been considering planning a trip, a weekend away. I never thought of myself as a "Cruise" person, whatever that is (visualizing Love Boat meets The Golden Girls with spring break undertones). I began researching 'all inclusives', airfare to Jamaica, I mean I used to be a mosquito net, backpack kind of traveller, so I figured I could get us "away" on the cheap without resorting to a cruise.
Well.... I couldn't, not for that price and not getting away with only being away for a weekend and having meals and N/A beverages included. Anywhere else the airfare either tripled the cost or the time en route made it almost not worth going.

So, I booked a cruise. I had an elaborate scheme to have a different person stay overnight with the kids each night so they could stay in their own beds, while they spent days with my in laws... but when I called my MIL she said she wanted them to stay there for the weekend. After making certain she was absolutely SURE, I agreed.

I then had a series of panic attacks about the house burning down and them falling out of bed and cracking heads open. These were shortly followed by more anxiety regarding my husband and my ability to get along for a weekend alone.

We have spent so much time being there for the kids, working as a child raising team, that it suddenly seemed alien, the thought of us waking to days of quality time together. Would we have much to say? Would we even LIKE each other without the foil of children constantly there? And after all of that, I began to get really, really excited. So we are leaving for our first weekend away from the kids on Friday.

I thought the Bahamas would be a good tropical location. I have been sorting tank tops and making swim suits a goal for a month now. Well, I just checked the weather, and it will be rainy and in the 60's the whole weekend. I almost cried. I would have if I hadn't had a three year old at my leg asking me to play.

But then I remembered that it will still be our first weekend away. We will be kid free, unencumbered by routine, and able to do anything we want (except maybe sunbathe). I am set on snorkeling no matter what the temp, as the water will be the same, but I realize it might be folly.

So if we do have a good time, then cruising will have proved the ultimate in travel advantage for the fiscally and temporally challenged.

...I'll let you know.

Check out local summer camps this Sunday...

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:39:00 +0000

There will be a Summer Camp Fair at Westtown this Sunday, with camps for ages 2-19. Plan ahead!

Oprah is offering Suze Orman's book as a free download

noreply@blogger.com (Two plus two makes for...) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Get a financial kick in the butt for the New Year... offer expires Jan. 15th.

Suze Orman, 2009 Action Plan