Thursday, October 04, 2007

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Thursday shopping... Current mood: calm I love Thursdays. Sylvan goes to Miss Sunny's in the mornings and then hangs out with Mr. Bill in the afternoons. He is gone from 8:30-3:30. Talia and I have a day filled with adventure and shopping. Talia does not cry the whole day. No big brother to yank something out of her hands. No big bro' to punch, poke hit, push, or generally hurt her body. She does say her word for Sylvan (Saucy) at least 33 times during the seven hours he is gone. Such is the plight of the subsequent born. She does not understand that she has missed out on this pure and premium mama time. Sylvan had me all to himself for almost three years. On these mama and Talia days we visit a coffee shop, go to the coop to get our groceries, and often we visit a thrift store. I have had a long love affair with thrift stores. I was a farm girl and got my license when I was fourteen. That is when I started to really explore the thrifties around Fargo. I think most folks who frequent thrift stores have their own personal ritual they perform each time they walk into a thrift store. My own ritual has changed over the years as I have refined my style and my life has changed. These days, I slowly walk down the clothes aisles with my hand outstretched brushing each garment. I am feeling for silk, wool, linen, hemp (if I am in a thrift store in Eugene), and my personal favorite CASHMERE!! I am not looking for clothes to wear, but fabric to use. I am a glutton for wool and take apart sweaters and make diaper covers (for those cloth diapering folks out there), childrens clothes, doll clothes, leg warmers, arm warmers, hats, stockings, whatever comes to my mind. I felt the smaller sweaters by putting them in the washer and letting the hot and soapy water do its agitating thing. The sweaters shrink up and I embellish them with needle felted scenes, wool pockets, embossing thread accents, buttons, etc.... I usually have made a few stops in the toy section adding new and interesting things to keep Talia occupied in the cart. We then head to the music and books area where I need to let Talia out of the cart and by this time it is almost all over. Bringing children with you anywhere is like carrying along a ticking explosive device that has a hidden timer. Sometimes it goes off and thankfully in my case it usually does not. It has happened once or twice when Sylvan was younger. I have definitely been that parent who has abandoned their cart in the middle of a shop, and fled with a wailing child out of the store. I am blessed with a more fiery child and a bit mellower child (though I would never tell them that to their sweet faces.) Today, I will bring Ms. Mellow out and about and hope the hidden timer does not suddenly go off. GK p.s. While I wrote this, Talia spent her time dressing me and herself up. She adamantly wanted me to wear Sylvan's "firefighter" headphones. My new profile pic is a picture of what we looked like while we were "playing."