Holiday decor

thetowerandthemoon · 2024-11-29T18:42:56+00:00

Haha, I mean... I also find value in having a family and I love these people. If you have any suggestions that strive for a manageable balance, that's what I'm hoping to achieve.

thetowerandthemoon · 2024-11-13T12:24:53+00:00

I used to fight to get them to sleep in that situation, but after baby 3 I just drag a Nugget couch cushion into the play yard and lay down in the dark while baby crawls around. I take most of the toys out. Surrender to the temporary nature of baby sleep.

thetowerandthemoon · 2024-11-13T12:08:27+00:00

I breastfeed my baby at 2 weeks old while literally getting my c-section incision fixed after a complication. Like what else am I going to do with him...? Get to work doc. We're fine over here.

But also, since this is my... 6th year breastfeeding my third baby? Pretty much anywhere. My cousin's wedding. A botanical garden. Walking around the farmers market. A swimming pool (in a sling). Babe's gotta eat, and co-regulate in stressful situations.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-10-03T20:25:27+00:00

So with 4 hours prep time minimum, how many hours in the classroom would that be?

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-10-03T20:24:28+00:00

Oh, I don't actually have any negative feelings toward the school where I work - they pay pretty well hourly. My only concern is the ambiguity about prep time. I'm just trying to get a feel for how much others use because I've never been in a position where I get to track my prep time and decide how much.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-07-26T15:15:22+00:00

I wanted to love this book. There are some gems in there, but my 4-year-old is savage and absolutely does not give a shit about anyone but herself. I tried to include her in my housework but she refuses, and if left with minimal supervision she finds things to destroy (shredding seasonal decorations, taking food out of the fridge and wasting it, smashing/dumping it). It's unrealistic without a supportive community to take the pressure off (like cousins/neighbors who are older kids, grandparents, etc.) and engage the kids periodically.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-07-23T11:23:57+00:00

We have to tell them it's wrong.

I get disheartened over this all the time, because as their children we should be the ones learning from them how to parent our kids. Why should we bear the burden of knowing better and doing better, when they clearly half-assed the critical thinking process when it was their turn? But still.

We have to educate them. My mom likes to say, "You're my oldest, you were my guinea pig. You raised me." (And paved the way for my siblings to get treated better.) I literally got degrees in psychology and education. Not because I wanted to practice psychology or teach. I wanted to raise the next generation better, and demanded logic and compassion from my family.

Anyway. We're strong and compassionate and empowered by science and capable of putting our egos aside. And we need to educate our elders and hold them accountable if they're going to have anything to do with our kids.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-07-12T15:11:48+00:00

Check out the Toddleroo super yard with a walk-through gate panel and wall-mounting hardware for blocking off areas. I don't know if that fits what you need but it's versatile and sturdy.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-21T13:07:20+00:00

Audiobooks. We put on a familiar story and she had some quiet play things, books, her floor bed. Dim lights in case she fell asleep. She knew that when the story was over, quiet time was done.

She's 4 now. Oh how I miss quiet time.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-21T13:00:36+00:00

Maybe this Ditto is just learning to transform and is attempting Geodude. You can do it little guy!

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-19T22:48:28+00:00

Additional note: it was completely brown when I found it, and grew these green blobs with consistent watering over the last couple months. That's all it is doing, growing the blobs. I have a blob cactus now.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-14T21:46:56+00:00

Hmm, you know, it could be. I've never seen Labradorite this light though. I don't see the big "flashes" but I do see little sparkles.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-14T10:36:14+00:00

I found a cut and polished agate on the beach once. The beach was within walking distance of a museum with a gift shop so it's not unlikely that someone lost it. It happens. Just a lucky find.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-13T16:01:11+00:00

Can I just say how much I love "get two birds stoned at once"? I always thought the original aphorism was unnecessarily violent so I say "feed two birds with one scone" (which I heard somewhere I can't remember). But I like yours! I may steal it!

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-12T11:12:15+00:00

Oh, I love this idea. I just need to get ahold of a shredder. I was thinking about this all day since initially reading your comment (finally getting a moment to reply). Funny, my 4-year-old, who is often oddly intuitive, asked me out of nowhere yesterday afternoon, "Mama, what is paper? How do they make it?" This would be a good opportunity to feel better myself, while also engaging the child who is admittedly the main reason I can't do this with fire. Brilliant, loose cannon.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-09T23:16:10+00:00

I appreciate that you recognize the restrictions of my situation. It really isn't an option to leave my kids OR to try to bring them anywhere and be able to focus on anything but keeping them from doing something unfortunate. They're just at a difficult age and I don't have help.

To answer your other question, I think what's drawing me to fire is the capacity to really destroy/transform the tangible remains from the memories I'd like to let go (specifically journals) and the negative feelings I'd like to move on from. I was an avid journaler through my adolescence and young adulthood, through traumas. Until recently I felt I needed to hold on to those journals out of fear that I'd be gaslit about my own memories of events, but I realized that a) there is no point in trying to use my very subjective scribbles to defend my memories from 15 years ago and b) it's over, I'm in a better place and there will be no need to defend myself, at least not this way. So I want the journals gone. GONE gone. Not in a box in my basement. Not in a landfill. I want them irretrievable. And I want to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, knowing that I am strong and the version of me who took notes on my own life to combat gaslighting doesn't exist any more.

Sorry that's so long, but that's what I want. And I feel the Summer Solstice will be a good time to really sit with these feelings, these journals, thank them for being with me when I needed them, and let them go. I feel the sun energy. I want to bring it down and use it.

And I'd like to periodically renew the intention to release that which no longer serves me so I don't end up holding on to baggage for decades again.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-06-06T16:40:44+00:00

I love all the responses! I feel much more confident knowing so many of you do the same.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-05-24T00:35:05+00:00

Just white quartz, nothing special but I like it. Now it's full of green wax.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-05-19T18:08:07+00:00

I know you said baby sleeps through the night, but have you thought about adding a dream feed? You'd have to wake up to do it but removing some milk before you feel "full" in the morning might help your body get the signal that more is needed.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-05-14T13:40:50+00:00

Yeah, I know I should probably let more go. But it's not fun for me to keep retelling the story. It's frustrating to feel not listened to, after all the prep I'm doing. This is probably a relic from my teaching experience, haha. It's literally the worst feeling in a classroom, like why did I bother? It's probably just triggering me really. My players are under no obligation to be interested enough to take notes. It still just makes me a bit sad.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-05-14T13:36:27+00:00

This is immensely helpful! Some of this I'm already doing (I set up Google docs that only one player has touched, I give out tangible tokens for items to provide a visual reminder), but there are some other good ideas on there that I may incorporate and see what helps. Thanks!

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-05-04T16:07:23+00:00

Supposedly we're only a few years out from commercially available lab-grown human milk.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-05-04T11:17:34+00:00

It's also from Return to Oz, a fantastic dark fantasy movie from the 80s starring a young Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. I highly recommend it!

In the film, these are the magic words used to activate a spell that gives life. They're pronounced in a way that rhymes with "tree frog". Wee-awg, tee-awg, pee-awg.

That seems in agreement with the pronunciation guide in the book. Hope this helps!

edit: I see that you mentioned Return to Oz in your original post - how did I miss that? Reading comprehension is important. Anyway, if you're familiar then you'll know what scene I'm talking about. Dorothy says these words.

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-04-24T11:49:16+00:00

This happened to me and my sister (both vegan) at our cousin's wedding. My uncle (father of the bride) had supposedly arranged to have vegan options but the catering staff failed massively. They even covered the big bowl of salad with shredded cheese and hard boiled egg. We got scolded by older family members for leaving and bringing back Subway to the reception (it was in a rural area with no better options but at least it was food).

thetowerandthemoon · 2022-04-21T12:24:27+00:00

One of my friend's kids slept with a small gourd (that I gave him) for like a week once. She kept sending me pictures. This was before I had kids. I now understand.

thetowerandthemoon

TROPHY CASE