I'm her mother, not her sister

I was recently out with a friend and her kids. She's got two girls that flank the babes in age. The three of them are great friends. We were eating out and D and I got into a bantering match and my friend burst out, "Oh my gawd, will you two just stop! You're like two siblings bickering!" And then she tried to share a strategy as to how we could calm ourselves down and engage in a respectful way.

Two outstanding recipes

Hi! I am saying these two recipes that I am sharing below are outstanding because they are! I've made them several times for different groups of people and they ALWAYS comment on how delicious these two dishes are! And they are both super easy.

I love...myself!

Yep. Lately, I've really been loving on myself. Might be the laboradorite bracelet I've been wearing...might be because I follow a lot of motivational/affirmation personalities on IG. In any case, this NY Times article found its way into my inbox and as I read it, I thought, "Yes, it felt great the other day when I complimented myself on a job well done."
The other day, I had a packed morning schedule. I had a lunch date with a friend who was recovering from knee surgery so had planned to make some healing soup and bring it to her. Then I also had planned to bring baked goods to the babe's classroom to celebrate her assistant teacher's bday. The back up was just to buy the goods if I ran out of time. But, I got it all done! Woke up in the morning, make brekkie and lunch for the babes and the hubs. Put a pot of beans in the slow cooker. Took the babes to school and started making the soup. While the soup was cooking I made mochi cupcakes for the class. When all was done, I felt like giving myself a high five!

Advocating for others

Hmmm...sigh. I've been meaning to write this post for a while. Seems I can't seem to get online to blog! Shame.

We recently had the opportunity to stay at the Hotel Bel Air. This is a very lovely hotel. Our first time there. The location is tucked away in a residential neighborhood and it's so quiet and peaceful there. I highly recommend it for a staycation.

Boundaries

Our lovely teacher held a Friday circle last week and the topic was "boundaries." We each have personal boundaries and it's respectful not to cross another's boundaries. It's interesting because apparently, my child shared that people touch her hair all the time and though it bothers her sometimes, it's not enough that she would make a fuss.

The culture of silence

This summer, my child got to participate in a vaulting class, which she loved. Vaulting is basically gymnastics on horses. We decided to enroll her in classes at the one she went to over the summer, but first, we took a trial class. At this trial class, the instructor, who is a male made an inappropriate comment, such that we now will not be enrolling her in the class.

Insights gleaned from the playground

D shared with me a conversation she had with some of her friends last week. M was lamenting, "The boys always just hit us or kick us when they play."
T replied, "M! The boys basically just act like we are their toys...we might as well just dress up as toys for Halloween."
Now that struck me as rather insightful. The boys play with the girls as if they were their toys. And does that ever really change? Does the objectifying start then? Thankfully, our girls are not pushovers. The ones that do play with the boys certainly hold their own. The ones who don't, make it known it's because they just aren't interested in being punching bags. All good traits for our girls.
It's really interesting to me how this particular class has such strong girls. Despite the ratio being 14:8 boys: girls, these girls are strong. In games class, the teacher had boys against girls and the girls tied and tied two times and just last week, they actually won! Now that must've been a good feeling. #girlpower