I thought I would give you a laugh

Sometimes I am just really, really dumb. Occasionally I get these feelings of self confidence but then they end up a mess and I feel like the stupidest person alive. Let me explain. Up until recently I was really against cutting Mia's (my daughter's) hair. I was just loving how long it was getting. Often times it was in her face and it drove me and my husband crazy. Dan had been wanting to get it cut for a while. He wanted to take her somewhere to get it cut but no way was I going to let a stranger mess with it. One day he was complaining about it (as he frequently did) and something came over me. I said, "Fine I will cut it when we get home." I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Are you ready to see what I did? Okay here it is:





The first thing my sister Tara said was, "Well you could always tell people she did it herself." Because that is exactly what it looked like. The picture doesn't even do it justice. What was I thinking?

Well two days later I decided to work on it some more. It was difficult with how wiggly she is. Luckily the hair cutting gods were shinning down on me and it turned out okay. The goal was to make them look like side bangs:

Not bad right? Today my friend Abbie said, "Michelle, I know you were really embarrassed about Mia's bangs but they really frame her face nicely." That made me feel good. She saw Mia the day after the disaster when her hair was clipped to the side. So, the moral to this story is...stupidity can be turned into success, just give it a couple of days.

Just Another Day at the Museum

There is nothing us Wright fam loves more than a competition. We are all competitive, whether we want to admit it or not. Even when we are hanging out at home we can't help but get into a debate; and it's always a competition over who's right vs. who's wrong. It can get pretty heated. Fist pound the table and tears are inevitably shed. But that's how we are. Intense. Opinionated. This is where I feel sorry for the in laws who marry into the family (minus Keith and Kris because they are just as opinionated as any of us). The last time we sisters were all together in February we had a little competition in the standing long jump. . .

From oldest to youngest:

Aliece (didn't let nursing w/ a 2 mo old stop her)

Eliza (didn't let being prego stop her)

Me (Tara)

Mich

Brit

I'm pretty sure Mich won the contest.

Way to go!

But, I might have had an honorable mention with my signature pose:

Of course, I am vying for extra attention, I blame it on my middle child syndrome.

We missed you Kindra and Emilie.

Rain check?

What's in a Name?

What's in a name? A whole heckovalot if you ask me. It's why I stress to no end in picking out the names of my children. Your name influences people's opinions of you, there is no getting around it. I once knew a girl who said studies have been shown that people with more common names are more popular and have more confidence than those who don't have common names. I can see how this might be. Although, I'm not sure if that holds much water in this day and age.

We live in a time where unique names and derivations of names are all the rage but then that has a seemingly reverse effect causing them skyrocket to the top of baby name lists. Take Nevaeh for example, it's heaven spelled backwards and I've never really been able to figure out why this name has become so popular. To me it's awkward and a little strange but apparently people love it because it has gained rapidly on the "lists".

And then there's someone like me. I'm named after great-great grandmas on both sides. Growing up I never knew another person with my name. And I LOVED it. I felt unique and individual, special, really. I was never popular though, so I guess that lends a little credence to my friend's theory. It wasn't until I was 14 that I met another Eliza and it kind of bugged me. Nowadays, I'll be at the park or a restaurant and hear my name, turn to look and realize it's a mom calling her young daughter. I haven't quite squared away my feelings over my name gaining a little popularity, but it doesn't bug me as much as it did when I was a teenager. I guess I feel a little like a pioneer, like I was one of the first one's with the name so I'm still special.

Now I am struggling with the task of finding a name for our new baby. For some reason girl names are really difficult for me, I agonize and search and ponder and ask people for their opinions. Sheesh, we had a boy name all picked out already and I'm even kind of a little sad that we aren't going to get to use it (well, I'll never say never but...). Maybe it's because I didn't dare let myself hope for a girl. I don't know though, because I suffered through this same agony with my first daughter. We didn't even have a name picked out after she was born and felt all the pressure at the hospital to get it done.

Then there's your last name. It's no secret how much we Wright girls loved our last name growing up. It's catchy, positive, it inspired a degree of confidence and pride in us, it came in handy for student council campaigns. We are proud of our strong family heritage and wanted to carry that on. And then we all went and got married and had to give it up. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love having the last name of a Sesame Street character now, but it just isn't quite as cool as having Wright for a last name.

And then our brothers had to go and get married and their wives got to take on our beloved last name. Now, that was kind of a weird feeling and talk about being a little bit jealous over that. But what do I know, maybe my sisters-in-law weren't too thrilled about giving up their maiden names? Don't worry girls- I have no hard feelings over you having Wright as a last name! :) And anyway, it doesn't really matter what last names we have now because we'll always be "Wright Girls" no matter what.

Ahhh, such is life! I guess I'll go back to playing the Name Game and hopefully in the end my daughter will wind up with a name she loves as much as I loved mine. (Both first and last!)

What do you think? How do you feel about YOUR name(s)?

All of us Wright Girls from left: Kindra, Aliece, Eliza, Kristi (she's not a Wright girl- that's Michelle's sis-in-law, and the only girl in her family) Michelle (the bride), Britny, Tara, and Emilie (and cut us some slack- half of us were prego at the time- Kindra, Aliece and Eliza; and Tara and Emilie had just given birth less than a month before!)

This was the only picture I could find that had everybody, it just happened to have one extra. :)

Feeling Like a Hoarder

We have been living like we will be moving any day now, since about September. That's what happens when your landlord's let the house go to foreclosure! (A topic for another day, or not!) The boxes feel like they are closing in on me some days. Boxes I have packed and boxes waiting to be packed. I try to ignore it. It can be frustrating. Why don't we just move? Well, right now we are saving money and I don't want to have to deal with driving kids to school or changing schools right now.

I have been slowly packing at this point. And trying to get rid of more stuff. I give away a bag of stuff every couple of weeks. I love that charity donation centers are always sending postcards about their trucks coming to our neighborhood. So the morning of the pick-up I always try to have a box, a bag or two out on the curb. You'd think I wouldn't feel like this because I am always giving stuff away. Is it 5 kids? A husband who can't throw anything away? Or is it me?

I like to blame Wal-Mart! The great retailer making everything more affordable so we have more of it. Or maybe I can blame China?

Most of it feels like clutter. Don't get me started on the mail. I despise mail. I never seem to throw it out fast enough. I pay bills and get more bills. I go paperless, but more paper keeps coming! Papers from the school too!

I am looking forward to moving. I'm craving a fresh start. But in the meantime, if you don't hear from me for a while, I may have packed myself into a box!

My Multiple Personalities

I am really not sure what has been up with my multiple personalities lately. They have really been getting out of hand. I have a couple of idealistic days a week where I am the Michelle I want to be.

I wake up refreshed, go clean the police department in a good mood, go jogging right after, come home and unload the dishwasher, take a shower before noon, run errands, take Mia to the park, maintain a clean house, stay ahead of the laundry, practice piano, make dinner, give Mia a bath and get to bed early while reading a book. I guess I can see why these days don't happen all the time. The thing is, I feel so great when I have awesome days like these, I wish I could be like that all the time.

The other Michelle has a couple of bad days a week. I wake up oh so tired and grumpy, clean the police dept but I feel like crying the whole time, come home and lay on the couch, get Mia and let her watch tv while I fall in and out of sleep, we lay on the couch and watch tv for a good portion of the day and we eat really low maintenance food (lot's of sugar), and I usually have Dan pick up some fast food for dinner.

The other portion of the week I think I am somewhere in the middle. Don't even ask about when I am on my period, I always say to my husband, "Remember you are supposed to cut me some slack when I am pmsing?!" So which one of these is the real me? I am trying to figure that out, I think I am somewhere in the middle. But I really want to be the idealistic one all the time and not just a couple of days a week. What about you? Do you have any alter egos? I sure hope you do, because that would make me feel a whole lot better.

Food Review

I am definite fan of trying new things. When I used to work in the otc pharmacy at Walmart every time a new lip gloss or chap stick would come in I would buy it. So whenever I see something new on a commercial I always want to try it out. Good thing we have DVR or else we might be broke. I am also a fan of tasty healthy snacks. So when I saw these Special K cracker chip things of course they went right on my grocery shopping list. When I picked them up off the shelf I was worried there might not even be anything in the box (it's only 4 oz). I do like them. I wouldn't say I am in love. They kind of remind me of sour cream and onion Pringles except they are a little bit thicker and have more of a crunch, but they are also light at the same time. The best part is that you get to eat 27 chips and it's only 11o calories, that's about 4 calories per chip. The truth of the matter is that I probably won't buy them again until they go on a sale.

Picking A Different Battle (Or Trying)

They say to pick your battles. I'm sure every marriage has those issues you have to choose. It could be the ole' putting the lid back on the toothpaste, taking out the trash, or putting your shoes away. I'm sure anyone could be nitpicked apart, and I'm sure I could be the girl to do it. Call me negative Nancy. I like to think of it as having a detailed eye.

I know I can annoy my husband. But, boy can he ANNOY me. All it takes is a bit (more than a bit) of facial hair. For years I have been in distress over my husband's side burns! They aren't just sideburns, they are chops that would make Elvis' burns look weak. I don't know what it is, they just bug me. Like so bad. I mean, I really throw a fit over this one. We call it a B fit. Just talking about it makes my blood pressure rise. And my heart pound. And my head swirl with angry thoughts.

And let me tell you, it's only HIS sideburns. I like them on other guys. I don't know what it is, maybe it's a control issue. I keep my hair longer-ish for him, so why does he to have the ugly burns? I try to manipulate the situation anyway I can.

He thinks growing facial hair is the defining thing about a man. I've caught him looking at facial hair websites. I've seen him admire other men's in public. The longer he went without burns, the more his fetish grew. We even had a public debate over it on Facebook. And the majority agreed with me.

I've cried to my sisters about it. I've cried to my friends about it. Hell, I even cried to my parents. I even thought about calling Dr.Laura But, deep down I know what she would say. (But, she seems to side with the husband most of the time anyway.
I knew what I had to do. I had to let it go, and accept him. I mean he is the best husband and dad, this is such a trivial issue. So, I've given up. And am letting him be him.

Last night, as we climbed into bed together, I reached over to gently stroke his cheek and ended up petting a patch of hair. "It's like petting a cat," I said. And then he started purring and meowing. And we laughed. Here he is proudly showing off his man chops on our family hike just this morning. And I am telling myself he is completing the family photo, not ruining it with his burns. ;)