Life Lessons Month of March: Blog 2- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Good Morning Ellie!

After successfully completing two years of blogging to you, today we are starting our third year and yes… with a new theme!  Last year’s creative story writing was so much fun that your mommy and I plan to revisit that theme again, just down the road a-bit.  So this March through next we will be blogging about Life Lessons Learned.  Your mommy and I talked in great length about this Ellie and have decided that we, as the writers, must be honest and not make ourselves look like angels without fault.  So with that being said… let’s get started since I get to go first!

Lessons learned, lessons learned… hmmmmmmmmm… which to choose.

Ok.  If I am to be honest Ellie, I could probably write ‘one’ a day for…. forever.  But many of them I am not sure I could truly share for fear of embarrassment so I will start with something I do frequently and to whom others it may relate.

Life Lessons Learned #1.  Stop procrastinating and stay on task.

OK Ellie, I am not exactly sure at what age I started applying this ‘unavoidable’ phrase to my life… (And I am not saying it is a bad character trait to have because there are many people, who are able to work within its very narrow parameters.)  It’s just not a trait that I should possess because it sends me into another character trait, which is ‘over stressing.’  Hmmmmmmmmm… I guess I could write about that in Life Lesson’s Learned #3 since your mommy gets to write about Lesson #2!  But for now back to #1… your mommy suggested that I stop my blog writing at this point and go do whatever it is that I am procrastinating about, which is cleaning.  But before I do that, I would have to sign off.  And I don’t want to because my week’s blog will look pretty pathetic.  So I’m not.  Signing off that is.

OK, so between the last paragraph and this sentence I have taken one phone call and made three (two of which were to answering machines… drats).  So I went back into the kitchen and did wipe down the counter tops but only because I tried pulling the price stickers off the backs of the washable placemats I just purchased from Target.  And wouldn’t you know they didn’t peel off very nicely.  I had gummied-up balls of paper stuck to everything!  Including my fingernails!  Ugh.   I guess I should just “bite the bullet” as they say and get out my cleaning supplies.  But before I do, I must tell you that up until this moment I had absolutely no idea and nor did I care who and where that saying originated from even though I myself have properly used it in its correct context when I really don’t want to do something.  So now that we have Google on the computer… I just googled what does bite the bullet mean and I got the answer.  It means dear Ellie “days before effective anesthetics; soldiers were given bullets to bite on to help them endure pain.”  Just so you know, I was never one to question much.  If you told me that the world was flat I would probably say ok.  If you told me that cleaning was detrimental to my health I would probably be thrilled!  But since it is not, I have no choice but to go into the cabinet and pull out the Windex and Pledge bottles.  However, I could vacuum first.  (I have to go down the hallway to get it and there are a lot of distractions that may peek my interest on the way!)  I’ll let you know!

Hi again El.  Fast-forward a few hours.  Yep, I started this blog at 3 pm and it is now 9:30 pm.  And no, I did not vacuum.  I did walk down the hall but as I passed the bedroom where we keep lots of files and greeting cards, I remembered that I had a dozen birthdays coming up this month and needed to browse through my card stash.  Once that was taken care of, I did clean the bathroom sinks and then started rummaging through drawers of clothes.  That got boring fast and I figured it really was an all day job so I quit.  I took another phone call and then went to your house for dinner and also to play with you.  After taking off my coat and giving you my undivided attention, per your directions I sat down with you to play with your dollhouse.  That lasted about five minutes.  You suddenly had to go to the bathroom and while upstairs decided that we were going to play house in your bedroom instead.  So of course I followed you and sat down next to your play kitchen.  Being the wonderful homemaker that you were El, you served me a delicious looking vanilla cake (actually a white tissue on a plate), and yourself one too.  Not ten minutes passed when all of a sudden you eyed your doctor kit.  That quickly I went from playing house to patient.  I was to go out into the hallway and pretend to fall down and break my leg.  You were the doctor and you fixed me up with great speed so that we could switch roles and you could be the one to fall down and I fix you.  Once that scenario played through your mom called us down to the kitchen for dinner.  At that point you became Kalena and I became your mother and we were off to Miss Kimberly’s Restaurant.  You were a terrific patron Ellie and even gave your mom, I mean Miss Kimberly, a (pretend) $5.00 tip!  Once we helped her clean up the three of us went to the mall where you got the cutest haircut!  

Now looking back on my evening, I am thinking that you my dear child remind me of me.  Staying on task is not your strong point either, but I guess that could possibly be because you are only three years old!  As for me, I can always get up early tomorrow and start cleaning then.

As I look back to the beginning of this blog and the Lesson I chose to write about, I think I need to change it slightly Ellie.  It should read Lesson Learned #1. Don’t fret; just finish your task when you can.  In time it will get done.

I love you Bean.

And just so you know… you are my favorite distraction of all!

Love, Mimi