Boxes and Shoes Cure Winter Blues

Sometimes being a stay-at-home mom can make a girl feel frumpy and boring. Don’t get me wrong… I absolutely LOVE this job and feel like I should have 4 more kids just to make sure I can keep doing it with good reason, but there are those days…

Especially in the winter, when I can’t muster the energy to put together a cute outfit, or even leave the house because the weather is so gross. Yes, those are the sweatpants days. The days I said I would never succumb to unless I was sick and bedridden. But alas, times change. Not to say that I was ever a fashion diva- far from it, but I find that especially since we moved from the city to a more suburban area, I have become a bit more, well, boring. My mind is occupied by other issues, like feeding and entertaining a 16-month-old while keeping the house clean, laundry done, dry-cleaning up-to-date, and cooking meals for our family. But there are days that I miss looking cute and spending a millisecond on my appearance.

I was having just one of those days today, as I picked up the 5-7-year-old high heels off the bedroom floor. Not because I had been sorting through them trying to pick out an outfit for a big night out on the town, but because Milo had been doing so. I realized that my shoes are way out of style and really worn out, and I got a little bummed. But fast forward about 4 hours… I am downstairs cooking a marinade for an Indian dish I have planned for tonight, with Milo sitting on the floor sorting markers (?) while I cooked, when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find a package, addressed to me, from my “Fairy Godmother.” I opened the package to find a “just because” gift from my good friend Kate, whom I have known since we lived in Philadelphia, long before my baby days. She had sent me, just because, a size-7 pair of beautiful, adorable, totally functional little heels!!!! And they fit perfectly! Yeah! I was so excited I wore them around for a while with my frumpy outfit as I finished cooking. Seriously, don’t ever forget how a friend can cheer up your day just by knowing, somehow, just what you need.

I am so, so lucky to have a good bunch of girlfriends who know me so well. They always seem to call me at just the right time. They somehow know when I need to talk, or hang out, or receive a cheerful letter (I know, a letter these days… how cool!). I am so lucky to have a few “Mom friends” now, too, and it seems that the more I hang out with them, the more I love them. And as great as it is to be in the defined role of mommy and wife, it is so refreshing sometimes just to be “friend.” Thanks, Kate, you made my day! More than the shoes, just for thinking of me.

And I’m sure by now you are wondering about the “boxes” part of this title. Check out Milo’s new houses, made out of our old moving boxes. Apparently Andrew likes them, too.
At least the shoes will last longer than these houses. Yes, I duct-taped them for extra hillbilly strength, but they are no match for my Captain Destructo, who is, as I write this, doing his best to flatten the larger of the two boxes with his hobbit feet.

I love my life.