I'd Like to Thank the Academy

for:

1. The wonderful smells coming from my yard right now. Basil, thyme, rosemary, lavender. Would it be weird if I started rubbing a bunch of rosemary in my arm pits instead of using deodorant?

2. And thank you to all fonts in general. Except for Papyrus and a hand full of others that I really don't care for. I could waste a lot of time on this site. And by that, I mean I do waste a lot of time on this site.

3. The writers of Modern Family. That show always, always make me laugh: "If an accident does happen, I hope he kills me, because I don't think I would be a very inspiring disabled person."

4. The week Go has off in a little while. We're driving 7 hours to Toronto and staying for a wee bit! And then we're driving 7 hours back home to wash our clothes and go to the bathroom and shower in our own shower which I would bet money, has even lower water pressure than the humble hotel in which we will have just come from! And then we're driving 12 hours to Nashville! And staying for a wee bit! And then driving 12 hours back home! All within a week! Also, we might be insane!

5. Olive, who is inseparable from her baby lately. It's one of those little ones with the cloth bodies and plastic head and limbs. She keeps it inside a beanie like a little sleeping bag. All day long, she carries it around, kisses it, loves it, cuddles it, feeds it, sings to it and puts it to sleep on anything soft she comes across, giving it a kiss goodnight, says "Ni-ni, bee bee!" gives it a couple of pats for good measure, then picks it back up 10 seconds later. She requires that I give her baby kisses about every 15 minutes. My kids have done lots of cute things in their day but this might take the cake.

6. The constant singing in my house during the day by my two youngest. May's always been prone to wander around in her dreamland singing, making up songs with lyrics consisting with phrases such as "in your heart", "truly believe", "madly in love", and "forever and ever" , which I really don't know where these cheesy lyrics come from since Go certainly doesn't listen to songs with such sap and I'm a total tom-boy when it comes to music (and well, most other things) but I love it. What I love more is that while May is on one end of the room (or often, car) singing her heart out to random melodies, Olive is on the other end crooning away as well, a completely different melody and lyrics with eyes squinted and brow furrowed, giving it her all and often holding out the length of notes for an impressive amount of time. I want to secretly record these two one day so they look back and listen to their weird duets.

7. Chicks with acrylic nails. I like watching them try to things and look normal while doing those things. I am reminded of an SNL skit with Kristen Wiig where she worked up in an air traffic control tower. She had long acrylic nails and was trying to open a bag of Sun Chips. She's so genius.

8. Kristen Wiig and the other funny ladies out there that I have girl-crushes on. This includes but is not limited to: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and my pal Alisa. (Alisa, if this makes you feel uncomfortable reading this, I promise to keep it platonic this weekend.) And though she's not funny, Nigella Lawson. Just because.

9. Again Olive, for being a really fun age. She's becoming extremely verbal, which is a great vehicle for her vibrant personality, always cheerfully saying "Thank you! Your welcome!" as she hands you random stuff she's found around the house. It sounds like "Deek Doo! Wow Cuh!" She has also started saying little sentences. Here are some of her latest words: (and this list, I am aware, only interests my mother and my husband)

-most of her sentences start with this: "I want...": (Uhhh)
-"cookie": (tee-tee)
-"peanut butter": (pee-a-bow)
-any sort of liquid to drink is "juice" (which is odd since she never has it): (joo)
-"May-May": (Mah-May)
-"Ruby"-(Woo-Bee)
-"I want down" (which means go down in the basement): (Uhhh dowww)
-"bath": (bow)
-"toast": (tow)
-"shoes": (shee-yews)
-"Me too!": (Ah do!)
-She has started letting me know when she has a dirty diaper: she walks to where I am, says "poo-poo" and turns right around for me to check her diaper. I think potty training is in our near future, which doesn't mean much since after my experience with Ruby and May (struggled and struggled for months when Ruby was 2, threw in the towel and 6 months later, she trained herself and May just trained herself when she was about 2.5, so I'm a big believer in letting the kid lead the way, although I'm aware it always doesn't go this way, and I don't expect to be as fortunate with this every time, but so far, we're off to a good start.)
-What a kitty says: (eee-ow)
-What a doggy says: (fff-fff)
-What a cow says: (noooooh)
-puppy: (bob-bee)
-yogurt: (yo-gee)

10. Scheduled mail carrier pick ups for packages, which require me to stay away from the post office, otherwise known as My Own Personal Outer Darkness.