Thursday, October 21, 2010

Eva, Interview & Errands

Since Michelle's flight to Denver was at 9:55 this morning, she needed me to watch Eva this morning until it was time for kindergarten. As soon as I arrived, Eva began listing all the fun things we were going to do together. I appreciated her enthusiasm and was flattered that she considers me a fun playmate (really she should know better by now). I suggested that we get out the mini craft table that Michelle stores under the couch so we could work on our projects.


Eva was delighted with this suggestion and gathered her "paleontology" (the packed-dirt ball with plastic fossils inside it) and her dinosaur workbook, then divided the table in half so that I could have room to cut my coupons (I still had to catch up on last week's papers, and haven't even taken this Sunday's papers out of the plastic yet).

We watched Martha Speaks and Willa's Wild Life while doing our projects, so I learned all about being a journalist and having a good imagination. Is it just me or do all the cartoons now make the ones we grew up with seem like the result of somebody's drug trip?


When it came time to do Eva's hair for school I offered up a French Braid, but she said, "No thanks, how about 2 braids pulled back". So that's what I did. I have no hair-doing skills whatsoever, which is part of the reason I like to keep Whitney's hair in a cute "Bob". Eva's hair is so long that even doing basic braids was a commitment considering her delicate scalp (I hear her yell at Michelle every Friday remember) and her tendency to fidget while looking in the mirror. I felt victorious that she was presentable at all!


She shnockered me into playing dinosaurs (as in we ARE the dinosaurs) for awhile and I did amazingly well for someone who has lost all her make-believe playing skills. I credit Whitney for my stellar performance because she chose to watch Jurassic Park 3 on Monday night for her birthday. My knowledge of certain dinosaur behaviors and sounds was right on, though Eva filled in all the details I didn't know...she has got serious dino-knowledge. I'm embarrassed to even try to pronounce some of the dinosaur names around her because she has to correct me!

We barely ended up having enough time to paint her finger and toe nails. She chose 10 colors (Michelle has quite a variety of shades) and I painted each finger with its corresponding toe so that they matched. She was thrilled with the results and so was I. Michelle's inventory puts mine to shame both in number and hues. All of my nail polishes are shades of hot pink and mauve. There is no yellow, no lime green or blue and there certainly isn't any sparkly brown at my house. Poor Whitney.

Fast forward to 2:00, I had an interview for a Teacher's Assistant position at the Junior High. Apparently they had over 65 people apply for the job and only talked to 7 of us! I'm sure the only reason they called me is because the woman I interviewed with at the district on Monday called them for me. That was mighty nice of her to do, but I really have no idea what they thought of me. As I walked out of the school, I felt my body turn to mush which means I must have been way more clenched than I realized. Good grief.

The rest of my afternoon was spent running the kids around. We stopped by Crystal's house to bring a birthday party invitation to her daughter, then Whitney and I went to Target to find cheap treats to fill her party favor bags. After all of this I feel totally spent, and had a crappy dinner of tortilla-chip crumb nachos and a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

**How was your day?
Do you have hair-doing skills?
Are you ever shocked to find that you were tense?
What did you have for dinner?**

Good Mail for Me and You Winners
4--Jane
11--Nikole
(email me--stuart_jill@hotmail.com)
13--Julianne B. (email me--stuart_jill@hotmail.com)
6--Anna
5--Jenn

Comment Window Tidbit:
This week has totally flown by for me!

16 comments:

Melinda said...

I actually had a really great day today. I finished up my last to vt apts and then picked up a friend and took her to Kneaders for the first time and then to Costco to use up the coupons together.

I have no hair skills. I feel like I have been tense for so long I don't know how to feel normal.

We ended up going out because I had a 15 min warning that Cam had football pictures and by the time they were done it was time to pick Blake up from basketball and then time for Cams football game. We didn't get home until 7:30.

Good look with the interview. I am sure you did great!

brooke said...

Just hearing about how you played with Eva the whole time you babysat her and did her hair and nails makes you the world's best friend.

I think her hair looked amazing.

Yeah for the interview with the district! I will be praying for you.

Amber said...

Wow!! You did all that with Eva before school? I am feeling like a schlup of a mom. Her hair looks great. I'm glad I'm not the only one who eats those kinds of exhausting day dinners!!

Nikole said...

Wow! I'm so excited to be getting good mail from you!

I'm impressed with that hair. I don't even know how to french braid. My daughter gets the half ponytail or pigtails every day.

For dinner I had Papa Murphy's veggie pizza. I haven't eaten Frosted Flakes in years--didn't know they still made them!

Ashley said...

It's fun to see Nikole commenting! She's one of my best friends from childhood and high school--it's so funny to run into her in the blogosphere!

You really are the world's nicest person for babysitting and playing like that and painting nails 10 different colors! This is a timely post bc I was just thinking about you today and how you babysit for people which I think is the nicest thing in the world!

Good luck with the job. It's nice to know you beat out so many others for the interview. I'll pray for it too!

melanie said...

I've been wound tight for a few weeks. I need a massage or something, ha!

I possess the hair skills but I don't always do them. A quick braid is so much easier.

You are so great to play make believe. I feel I was left out on learning how to do that for longer than 3 minutes.

Bond Girl 007 said...

ohhhh missy this past week from thursday to thursday has been HUGE....need to talk to you, but for now, suffice to say I am EXHAUSTED SPIRITUALLY/PHYSICALLY/EMOTIONALLY/enervated...................................................................................................................

Bond Girl 007 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Price Cream Parlor said...

I love the relationship you have with Eva! I love her fingernails and her cute hair.

I don't believe I have any hair doing skills - basically because I haven't had any experience for the past 25 years since I lived at home with the sistas... I did put in a flower clip in one of my littles hair once - just to see what a girl would look like in my fam. Not cute! ha

Keep us posted on the job situation! One in 7 is better than one in 65!
I once found myself driving around with my shoulders UP. You know what I mean? I think that it took me 3 days to feel better!

Tacos - Use to be Tuesday Tacos - now it is Thursday Tacos because it is fast and easy on Tae Kwon Do night.... :-)

Jessica said...

After having 3 girls, I definitely have newly-found hair skills (though I had none when I was trying to fix my own hair as a kid).

I am usually shocked to discover how tense I was after dental work is over.

I am part of a freezer meal exchange group so last night I had one of those plus homemade rolls I had made during the day (since I didn't have to cook I could take the time for the rolls).

I'm glad that you got an interview -- that's at least half the battle in this job market.

becca said...

You are a VERY fun playdate! Eva is so cute and her hair and nails look great!!

Holy cow....65 people applied for the job?! That is just plain crazy. I will keep you in my prayers!

{natalie} said...

I hope you have a great creative Friday even if it's diff from the norm.

The nails make me happy!

I hope you get the job!

Courtney said...

Wow. That sounds like a long day. We lost power in the area about 20 minutes before I needed to start making dinner, so I had to run the kids 15mi north to get dinner.

I can't french braid, so you have me beat. I can rock a curling iron, though.

Mostly, in the morning. I clench my jaw very tight at night sometimes.

Burger King. Super nutritious.

jenn said...

I have NO hair skills at all- just ask my poor girls. And no imagination. AND no finger polish to speak of, so I have to think Eva would not find me a very good playmate.

Hoping, hoping, hoping the job interview went well!!

Rebekah said...

I wonder how your relationship with Eva is going to change over the years. The time you spend together always provides so many funny stories.

Listen, Michelle has us all beat in the primping department. Ha!

Job interviews = hell.

michelle said...

And now, more tears after reading this post.

I love that Eva was so excited for you to come over. I love that you were willing to take care of her and that you did so many things for her. As I'm sure you could tell, I haven't even been able to manage trimming her nails in the last couple of weeks. She looked darling, and what a great day for Eva!

I am always surprised to find out that I've been tense when getting dental work done. I'm so used to it and think it's no big deal, but apparently my body thinks otherwise.

I love that woman who called and put in a good word for you.