hunting & gathering

The other day, we went out into the backyard to play. Daniel went over by the swingset and was playing with this long, thin, light-colored stick. "This?" he asks, his abbreviated version of "what's this?" It's a stick, I say as I try to settle the baby in the Bjo*rn. A few seconds later,as I look up, I notice that Daniel is pulling on this "stick" and that it's actually sticking up from the ground. As I look closer, I realize that this "stick" is an arrow. An ARROW. In our backyard. It had a metal tip and seemed to be one that was probably used as a toy, but what did I know. I had never seen an arrow close-up. So, we decided to play out in the front yard. J went and looked at it when he got home and confirmed that it was most likely a toy one.

Today was one of those days, one of those days where I feel like I've gotten nothing done. That I've gotten nothing done isn't objectively true, of course. But that dosen't really matter. I even started exercising again to a DVR-ed Denise Austin Fit & Lite episode. Gotta start somewhere.

This feeling is probably left over from yesterday. I hate not being able to finish things. This is a problem because being flexible is totally what you have to be able to do with kids. Chances are, there are many things that you won't be able to finish and you just have to move on. Anyway, we were at the mall yesterday. I wanted to take Daniel to get his feet measured at Stride Rite and to play in the play area, but frankly, what I really wanted to do was get some new shirts for myself. I'm sick of wearing maternity stuff and feeling crappy about what I look like. Alas, after making two trips to Stride Rite (it took times to get a clerk to help us :/ ) and doing a stint in the play area, Andrew had had enough and was ready to eat and be in mommy's arms for a while and Daniel was sick of the stroller. So, no new clothes for me.

I was hoping to maybe get back there today, but knew I was not going to be able to handle a repeat of yesterday, should that happen. Daniel wasn't going to be too excited about riding around in the stroller again for me to pick clothes out.

It's probably not really about the clothes even. I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed, kinda' down and very irritable. Blah. Blah. Blah. When I feel like this, I love getting out and going shopping. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something -- I can check something off my list, so to speak. Maybe it's the ancient "gathering" impulse. Heh.