You know those restaurants with “Make Your Own Salad Bars”? For less than $10 you can mosey on up to a buffet-style counter, grab a plate, and scoot down the line creating your own custom-made salad. It sounds simple enough, right? You begin by laying the groundwork with a little lettuce (or spinach if you’re feeling spicy) then accessorize with any of the abundant choices in front of you. You pile on tomatoes, and cucumbers – your favorites. But wait, there's more! This salad bar has avocado and red bell peppers, so you add a few to make your salad feel fancy. On down the line you scoot, adding cheese and carrots and mushrooms. Hoping that this custom-made meal will hold you over until dinner, you add a little grilled chicken for protein. Your 4-yr-old loves broccoli so you throw a few on your plate to make him happy. You spot a mix of melon balls and think to yourself, “This is my lucky day!” as scoop them onto the side of your plate. At the end of the line, you add a little shot of salad dressing and reach for the pumpernickel croutons. But, without even realizing it, you’ve put so much crap on your plate that the croutons – the crunch element of your salad, the carbohydrate of your meal, the ingredient invented with the sole intent to add flavor and enjoyment to an otherwise boring lunch – tumble off your plate. Some fall onto the floor, others into the container of ranch. The sophisticated looking old lady in line behind you gives you the stink eye as you awkwardly try to fish the crouton out.
My point? Even with the best intentions of keeping my salad plate under control, there are always a few freaking croutons that fall onto the floor. I’m one of those people that, even with the best intentions, pile too much crap on my plate and there’s always something falling into a container of ranch – like this blog. But I fished it out, so let’s dive into the craziness that I’ve piled onto my plate since the last time I wrote something.
1. We moved. Just before James’ 2nd birthday we uprooted from our home in the country to a cute little house in town. It’s a work in progress and progress is slow. But it has “character” and memories and eventually a swing set.
2. James flipped on his internal defiance switch – and IT IS STUCK! I’ve seriously considered renting him out to the US government to train various officials how to successfully negotiate world peace. Going to bed at night, getting out of bed in the morning, playtime, mealtime, car rides, what to wear, what to wash, how to wash it, what to read, how to read, almost everything is negotiated these days. It’s exhausting and hilarious but never at the same time.
3. I got knocked up…and, as nature would have it, subsequently had a newborn,
who turned into a toddler in the blink of an eye.
A red-headed pistol of a girl we call Emory, or Em, or…well, let’s just leave it that. I whole-heartedly believe that this diva was placed on this Earth to rule me. There’s no doubt that she changed me. For the first 3 months of her life there was no setting her down pretty much EVER. You can imagine how much more productive and energetic this has made me. More on this bundle of chaotic awesomeness to come!
4. I got a new job. I’ve never met a pharmacist that doesn’t have a touch of OCD. Most crave some kind of routine. So, it’s funny that when I graduated, I chose a job (as awesome as it was) that had a pretty erratic schedule. We made it work, but Emory (see bullet point three) tilted the scale in favor of a pharmacist position not quite as exciting but closer to home and with a predictable schedule.
5. I am no longer 100% sure I could pick Eddie out in a line up. Not that I expect my husband to have any run ins with the law any time soon, but the man is working out of town more than ever these days! Thanks for the paycheck honey! See you at Thanksgiving…
So it’s kind of been Thanksgiving around here as far as plate piling goes. Lately, life has been so packed full of the good stuff that I’ve let some things (like writing) slip off my plate. But the great philosopher Ferris Bueller was right when he said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around for a while, you could miss it.” So while I’m thankful that I have so many things to fill my plate, I regret not documenting them here – the good, the bad, the ugly. As crazy as life still is for the Foy Family right now, it’s starting to feel normal. Routines are beginning to stick, Em is defining her role as a Foy, James is settling into his big brother responsibilities, and Eddie and I are learning to roll with the punches.
It’s time to stop and look around a bit.