The Same Thing Happens Every Night

In case you haven't read my blog before, I'm a Bill Cosby fan.

Almost every night after dinner I think about his performance in "Bill Cosby as Himself." The part when he talks about the antics of his five children and wife after dinner every night. I used to play the record and listen to it lying on the living room couch. Little did I know I would one day have five kids of my own and go through the nightly routine myself.

Here are some things that happen (almost) every night at my house.

1. Dinner. This includes me asking everyone repeatedly to stop interrupting each other and "please can one person talk at a time!"

2. Someone spills something. You can set your watch by it.

3. Homework. (Not from home school, only the public school kid has to endure it.)

4. Some sort of performance or musical endeavor. Tonight it was freeze dance.

5. The baby crawls around and gets really dirty.

6. Washing. Dishes, people, laundry...it's always at least one of these or all three.

7. Books.

8. Crying. Someone. Every night. If it's not the kids, it's me. On the inside.

9. Me checking to make sure I have ice cream in the freezer for after bedtime. (I actually never have to check. I always know exactly how much I have.)

10. Phone ringing. Usually multiple times.

11. Yelling. I admit it. It happens. Every night.

12. Rocking the baby. Tucking in and bedtime prayers.

13. Someone fools around instead of lying in bed.

14. The clenched teeth threatening. (If no obedience, as Cosby would say, the beatings begin.)

15. Sleep. This does happen every night. I know. I go in there and look at all five of them every night. They sleep. It is like a deep breath. To begin again.

I am thankful that the same thing happens every night. It is the working gears of a family. In the daily routine you build something. But that fleshed out is pretty ugly much of the time.

Thank you Bill, for going before me. For doing the nightly routine and living to joke about it.

"Think I carried you in my body for nine months so you can roll your little eyes at me? I'll roll that little head of yours down on the floor!" -Bill Cosby

Here is a link to the classic bit The Same Thing Happens Every Night.

"Calgon, take me away!"

A few weeks ago my bathtub was clean. This is not the norm, so I decided to take a bath.

I really enjoyed it. Mostly, the sound of the water slowly dripping from the faucet into the water. There was something soothing about it. But I think the best part about a shower or bath is that unless your house catches fire or someone needs a trip to the ER, whatever the problem is has to wait until you are dry and dressed.

I remembered the Calgon bubble bath commercials from my childhood. The familiar slogan "Calgon, take me away!" that the woman would yell. So I looked up the old commercial on line. It was sort of like that, but not really at all. I do use my time in the shower to escape from it all sometimes, but I don't have my hair bundled at the top of my head 80's style with ringlets cascading down my face. I don't point my toe and slowly lift it out of the bubbles to wash my ankle. I don't have bubbles up to my neck in a bathtub that looks like it belongs in a double wide. I don't "lose myself in luxury" by having soft skin when I get out.

But I understand where they are coming from. Sometimes, when you have so many demands placed on you, being able to close and lock the door in the name of a bath, shower, or even a trip to the toilet is the only escape you have in your day.

Sometimes I have trouble prioritizing. If I have a minute to do something, I look around and feel paralyzed by all there is to do. Do I plan dinner? Do I clean up my room? Do I pick up the 3,468 odds and ends around the house? Do I do laundry? Do I forget it all and rock the baby? Read books? Do I write a blog about the old Calgon commercial?

I think what I'm realizing is that it doesn't matter. It will all get done, then it will all get undone. Then, it will get done again, and then undone. Clothes you wash will be soiled again. Floors you mop will get dirty again. Food you eat will make your toilets dirty and diapers gross. But in the middle of it all you might get to take a bath and come out feeling a little more like you can handle it all. But I don't want to miss much. So Calgon, take me away, but bring me back soon because I have messes to make and clean up. And make again. And clean up. And make again. And clean up...

Eleven Eleven Eleven

I just wanted to post because it is the date that it is. I don't have something specific to say. I tried to do it at 11:11 p.m. but I missed it. I was tucking my children into bed.

They just keep growing and I can't make it stop.

I wonder. Have I kept enough of their sweet notes to me? Did I put them in my special papers file? I don't want to forget that they once were little and would bring me random papers that said I love you mommy.

I wonder. When will I stop tucking them in?

I wonder. Is it possible to forget their soft hair and how it smells after a bath? Oh, I hope not.

I wonder. Am I doing enough to show them I love them? Oh, I hope so.

I wonder. Will we be good friends when they grow up? Oh, I hope so.

It happens so gradually but so quickly at the same time. I have always loved children. I am so blessed to have my own to love. And I do love them.

On 11/11/11, but also on every day of every year at every time of day. Did you hear that kids? Even when I'm asking you to stop touching me, or talking to me, or bothering me, I'm totally in love with you. You are even better than a cool day like 11/11/11.

Haus and Hook

I'd like to tell you about two additions to our family.

1) a dog named Haus (German word for house)


2) a pinball machine named Hook



As if I don't have enough going on in my life. As if I need one more thing to feed and toilet and bathe. As if I need one more thing to break. Or remember to turn off. Or take turns with.



But you know what? I can fight it, and be the wife and mother who complains and whines and lists 100 reasons why we don't need a dog or a pinball machine.



Or I can roll with it and learn to photograph two new things. Pets and pinball machines. I've decided to expand my photographic abilities. And it hasn't been half bad. This is my first attempt at capturing a back glass and I didn't spend much time on it but hey, it's something new. You know...families, kids, babies, weddings, pregnant women, animals, real estate, and pinball machines. There are worse things to take pictures of.


Haus came to us by way of my parent's neighbors...who had other dogs and work during the day and thought Haus would benefit from affection and air conditioning. He is big. A breeding stud with all the right equipment. If he were in high school, he'd be the dumb jock. But who doesn't love the dumb jock? Sometimes the center of the football team can do a little more than throw his weight around. He usually has a gentle heart inside.


Hook came to us for Penelope's birthday this past weekend...not as a gift to her, but on loan for her birthday party, which was a letter P theme. My dad has been collecting pinball machines for about a year now. The kids love to play it of course. Hey, it's good for their reflexes. It is based on the movie Hook, a Steven Spielberg film from 1991. I was a mere 9th grader. Enjoying my year at the top of Junior High. Wearing cheerleading uniforms and taking cello lessons. But I digress.

Just wanted to post what was new around here. Haus and Hook. As the machine says, "What would life be like without Captain Hook?" (...and Haus.) Life would be a little less chaotic but I've never been afraid of chaos. Or Captain Hook. We're not going to grow up around here.