A Room Of Her Own

I like to rock a parrot with my tartan plaid too, Jean Shrimpton.

Lightening and Thunder have decided to share a room, and despite the ensuing hijinks during their first week bunking together (poking the screen out of their "child-safe" second-floor window, flipping over Lightening's former changing table, and one-who-shall-remain-nameless shoving a band-aid up his nose*) it's been going swimmingly.

I couldn't be happier.

The Mr. and I are both only children (truly, it is a miracle that we have learned to share so well, although he still complains that I sleep in an "L" shape--wha?) so we had no idea weather this was a wise decision or not. I firmly believe our pediatrician is a mensa-level genius, so I promptly sought her guidance. "Go for it," she said, "They will look back as teenagers and remember the times they were able to bond as brothers."

{sob} What mommy would take that special opportunity from her children??

Especially if the net result is that I get an office.

I am so very, very happy in my new quiet room (formerly the playroom). No one colors marker art on my bills, dribbles juice boxes on my computer keyboard, or even realizes I am home whilst the babysitter stands on duty.

I have decorated the room in soothing shades of bisque, cream and chocolate with touches of sky blue scattered about. There are matching 3 ring binders labeled for each child's school's PTA and my various community responsibilities as well as for my own creative endeavors. I've even salvaged my youngest's old nursery rocking chair and added a cozy throw and reading light for some "me" time with Star magazine. Only the best for Speed Chic, my dears!

Now Thunder has a "protector" from any bad dreams, Lightening shifted his 4:45 AM wake up call to 6:15 and Mommy has a place to rest her frazzled mind.

And we all know, ain't nobody happy if Momma ain't happy.

Here's to not hearing "Dora" sing about maps happiness!

Remote control? What remote control??

Women have sat indoors all these millions of years, so that by this time the very walls are permeated by their creative force, which has, indeed, so overcharged the capacity of bricks and mortar that it must needs harness itself to pens and brushes and business and politics.

Intellectual freedom depends on material things. Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom, and women have always been poor, not for two hundred years, but from the beginning of time ... That is why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one’s own.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, 1929

* Should you have a curious child who likes to shove things up his nose, learn as my 5 year old did from "Despicable Me": Gently but firmly place one finger up the non-blocked nostril to seal it, and blow out heartily through the other side. Continue to snort outwards until the offending item is dislodged. I am obviously not a genius pediatrician here, so by all means go to the doctor if there is any problem. However, Universal Pictures did save me a(nother) trip to the ER.