(A somewhat belated) Stuff Portrait Friday: Regrets, Obligations, and Distinctives

(I wanted to get this up earlier, but Blogger ate my post. Argh! Figures...)

What was I thinking? (three parts; parts 1 and 2 go together)

Part 1


Part 2


The Parenting magazine in the second picture is an unintentional irony. We acquired Linus and Lucy before Audrey was born, so they are definitely family pets, not exclusively hers. That means that, although Audrey does help care for them, as the adults in the family, it falls to Leo and me to make certain they are healthy and well-cared for. I had a cat as a child, but she was also a family cat, so I was not fully aware of all the responsibilities (read: hassles), of pet ownership, even relatively low-maintenance pets like cats, until I was an adult pet-owner. I love them, don't get me wrong. But the days when I step in cat puke, when I note 20 small chunks of black fur on my light-colored carpet, when one or the other has to be taken to the vet for pee-problems (which once almost killed Linus), those are the days when "What was I thinking?" goes through my head.

Part 3


We live in Indiana. In the spring and summer, we sometimes have tornadoes in Indiana. When we were looking for our first house (this one), I was determined to have one with a basement to retreat to when the storm warnings hit. This is the door to the basement...the only door. Note that it is on the outside. I was fully aware when we bought the house that if a bad storm hit and there was a tornado warning, the implication was that we would have to go OUTSIDE INTO THE STORM to get to the basement. I was infatuated with the cute little house, though, and my better judgment lost to infatuation. My "what was I thinking" moments come when the courthouse siren is wailing that a funnel cloud has been spotted in our area, I am trying to remain calm while telling Audrey, "Get your shoes on now NO DON'T ASK WHY OR WHICH PAIR JUST DO IT NOW!", and strapping my octopus-like baby into her carseat to carry down to our basement (which is NOT finished, has bugs and cobwebs and much dirt and dust, and, as I noticed a few days ago when we were down there during such an incident, has a small stream leaking into it. At least the little stream is just inches from the sump pump.)

Something I feel obligated to display:


It's not such an obligation to display Audrey's artwork, as anyone who has read my blog this week knows. This one has been on my fridge for over a year, though, because it's a picture she drew of her own birth. I can't bring myself to take it down. On the left is the midwife that caught her; her daddy is on the right. And in the middle, that's me in the "birth tub", the inflatable kiddie pool I gave birth to her in. (That's a longer post; I'll post her birth story next month around her birthday). Note the look of horror on my face (though I did not and still do not feel that birth is such a horrific experience!). Also note that if you look closely enough, you can see HER inside me. Feet first, don'tcha know, as if she were breech (she was not). Her birth was an incredible experience, pain and all, and I'm committed to raising both my girls to believe birth is NOT all about pain and fear and losing control. Hence, I am compelled to leave the picture up to show her how much her birth meant to me. I'll probably frame it someday, along with her Zoe picture.

Something I have that I don't think anyone else does:


A calendar featuring Chinese propaganda posters from the Cultural Revolution. Am I right??? You don't have one, do you? Aren't you jealous? (Leo got me this for Christmas; I was thrilled that he was at the point that, even having lived through the Cultural Revolution as a child, he could see the kitschy humor in this.)