Maternal Perks

Just so you know, I basically wrote an entire post for you on Friday afternoon. But then Caelyn woke up and Chris decided to quit work early, so I put off the last paragraph and revising, and now the whole thing’s obsolete.

Well, not exactly.

It’s about how Chris and I are watching the Indiana Jones movies in preparation for the 4th installment and how I figured we would be watching Temple of Doom that night. I went on to talk about the quality of Temple of Doom versus the other two and about my viewing history with it. I went off on a tangent about my childhood fascination with hidden rooms and the make-believe games I would play as a preschooler at the mall with my mom, then rounded things off with a list of movies I watched a lot prior to 13.

I’m sure you’d just love to have all that info in its full glory right now, but here’s the thing. I wrote that post prior to watching Temple of Doom again and to make it relevant (and accurate) right now, I’d have to add my thoughts during this viewing and edit out speculative statements. . . .

Let me just give it to you straight: I don’t feel like doing the work.

So instead I (swallowed my inclination to feel too materialistic and) scoured the web for pics of all the stuff I bought yesterday on my Day Off Extravaganza.

Oh, you don’t Twitter? So you have no clue what I’m talking about?

Well, for Mother’s Day, Chris gave me “The Day Off.” Since I’m a full-time mom, that means I spent the day away from the apartment without a kid. Cristin watched Caelyn for the entire afternoon and evening on our anniversary last year. But, otherwise, this was my second time to spend more than 3 consecutive hours “alone” in the last 23 months. (Actually, I wasn’t “alone” on our anniversary! But that was a long babysit.) The last time was the day before Mother’s Day last year, when Chris took Caelyn over to his parents’ house for the day and I went to the bookstore, ate a couple good meals, took a bubble bath and a nap, and caught a movie.

This year Chris decided I should expand my wardrobe too. This was a great gift, considering my wardrobe has become very limited. You see, I’ve lost all “the baby weight” and then some, so none of the (few) clothes I’ve purchased since Caelyn was born fit any more. You might be tempted to think all my pre-baby clothes would fit. Not so fast. I’ve got 2 pairs of jeans, a few skirts, and maybe 1 pair of dress pants that fit pretty well. There are more hanging in my closet, but they’re (as much as I don’t understand it) too big.

But the major problem is lack-of-shirts. I don’t have a single pre-Caelyn shirt that fits (other than 2 sweaters, but in case you didn’t know, it’s gonna be mid-90s this week). Explaining why might make us all feel a little awkward, so I’ll just say that you can lose all the weight you want after a baby, but for a few women, some things that get bigger just stay that way. I’m apparently one of those women. So I’ve got 3 t-shirts that Chris bought for me when he was in Austin a couple months ago, a handful of now-baggy (supposed to be fitted) t-shirts that I bought last summer, 1 shirt to go with black pants for every single dress occasion, and 2 “nicer casual” shirts.

I know what you’re thinking: “Well, at least you’ve still got all your shoes.”

Not a chance. I’m also one of those women whose feet got bigger and stayed that way, so 20 to 30 pairs kicked the bucket last summer. (Yeah, I know I had too many to begin with.) My mom’s feet grew a half size with each kid too. But she went from a 5 to a 6 1/2. Have you seen my feet? Seriously. I’m not just self-deprecating for self-deprecation’s sake. All I’m sayin’ is shoe size really might factor in to how many more children we have.

Anyway, I needed some clothes.

And I got some:

The one I got is an orangy-peachy color that they don’t have on the web. And I layered mine with a lacy cami.

I barely recognized this shirt in this picture, but I’m pretty sure that’s the right one.

I’m not sure if I’m keeping this skirt or not because I’m in between sizes. I really like it, but I don’t want to not be able to wear it in a few months, because it wasn’t on sale or anything. So I’m keeping the tags on it and the receipt and reassessing in 30 days.

Linen means ironing, but I haven’t had a pair of shorts that I’ve actually liked (besides exercise/lounge shorts) in at least 5 years, and I think I might really like these. (I don’t like the excess space accompanying their picture, but oh, well.) They were on sale too!

Wrong color again. Mine is actually more aqua.

Not at all the right color. Same family, but add more purple and about 10 shades of depth.

This is self-explanatory, right?

I also got this black, flowy, sleeveless top that I can’t find. I know. You’re devastated. And I’m ridiculously spoiled!

We got a new toaster oven over the weekend too, but not for Mother’s Day.

And I got some bonus PJ shorts like these . . .

. . . but in gray, while I was picking up some Smart Balance Light at Target since I had to return a blowdryer anyway.

Oh, yeah, and I snagged a few candles for the apartment . . . and b-day presents for my niece’s first birthday this coming weekend, but I’m not showing them to you, since she and JSmo read my blog.

In the middle of all that shopping, I grabbed a turkey on wheat from Subway. After all that shopping, I went over the The Angelika Film Center and watched Young@Heart, a documentary about an internationally traveling chorus of senior citizens, who average 80-years-old and sing their own renditions of songs by artists like Radiohead, James Brown, The Clash, and The Ramones.

(Sorry for the trailer catches. I can’t tell if it’s the video or Time Warner’s fault. You don’t have to watch it if it’s jacked.)

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a documentary in the theater, and I’m certain I was the youngest audience member by at least 30 years, but I enjoyed it. Of course, I’ve got a huge soft spot for senior citizens.

Basically, the movie follows the chorus as they learn new songs in preparation for a big show. The film’s peppered with a few music videos like this one:

Between the rehearsals, the documentarist interviews the chorus director and members, travels to their homes, talks with their family members, visits them in the hospital, laughs at their jokes, gets the inside scoop on love after 70, barely resists a 93-year-old’s advances, and even lets the only one with enough eyesight left to have a driver’s license take him for a spin.

Watching them perform and learn new songs is entertaining, but the heart of the movie is in the twinkle in these old timers’ eyes as they unleash the charm and most especially in what they have to say about living and the power of making music. In fact, I wish they’d spent even more time behind the scenes than they did.

And that was my day off. When I finally made it back home, I walked into a clean, laundry-free apartment! Chris even made spaghetti for Caelyn!

Yeah, ladies, I know you’re jealous.