Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Embrace the Chaos

Why is Brit actor Kate Beckinsale leaving her Los Angeles house carrying - bizarrely - a teaspoon of peanut butter? I knew immediately. But such is the randomness of my life.

Source

Kate is clearly on the Four Hour Body Diet, as is my husband (which you might have read about here) and this means protein from the minute you wake up: teaspoons of peanut butter before you shower, lentils everywhere and packets of beef jerky at the door.

This weekend I thought about the chaotic wee things that creep into our lives despite all efforts to maintain order by constantly tidying up, arriving at appointments on time and keeping strict meal and bedtimes times for the kids.

Lately my underwear has been found everywhere including the garage, hairbrushes and tennis shoes go missing for weeks and turn up again.

Door of car: how did my razor get here?

Brach's peppermint candy stuck on the piano - do I have to lick it off?

Amid the randomness and spending too much time with dogs and children, I started obsessing about this outfit...

C Magazine

The good (or bad) thing about living in the Bay Area is pretty much every store in America is within 15 minutes of you. Result of several field trips: the trousers showed my cellulite, couldn't find the jacket and snagged the top. In the end it was arctic over the weekend so I wore my new top for a half hour whilst looking for my sunglasses...

Where the heck are my sunglasses? (Re-creation of an actual event)

In a parallel universe, Kevin was obsessing too....over how to keep the birds away from his strawberries. We spent many hours watching this video and plotting what contraption to build over the top. If Damien Hirst had gilded these strawbs gold, they could not be more precious.

Cy, eight, has been doing a project on legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson for the last two weeks. I always make the mistake of thinking that children should do their own school projects. There's been endless tears and recriminations as the project moved from room to room and the glue sticks and poster boards were lost and found.

I told Cy: "You only have three sentences for the biography (birth, marriage, death) "You see!" said Cy triumphantly, thinking I was heaping praise on him: "It's all there."

I glanced at it as he made the finishing touches. He's spelled Jackie wrong. He's spelled Dodgers wrong. He's spelled his own name wrong.

Cy, 8, and his project on Jackie Robinson

Meanwhile the resident lizard in our front yard has the answer; sit on the steps when the sun shines and hide in the bushes when the shite blows in.

Lizard guy; Embrace the Chaos


What small chaos crept into your weekend?




40 comments:

  1. I love the randomness of this post! A little bit of everything. And as crazy as I am, at least I don't have my razor in my car. That makes me feel better :)

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  2. It may be chaos but it your chaos!! We all have it so you know you're not alone in it. Loved the top, very chic!!
    As for loosing stuff, cats are usually guilty of that. We always find a trail of soaks in our house!
    Love Di ♥

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  3. We went to a 1 year olds birthday party, with all the other tiny tots it sounded like the movie the Birds LOL

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  4. Love that photo of you with the sunglasses.

    So funny.

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  5. This post and it's random topics totally cracked me up. Love the top on you and pic of you looking for your sunglasses. I'm always looking for mine (when I ask someone, they point to where yours are in the photo) AND I found a pair of my underwear in my purse recently. Have NO idea how they got there. Kind of scares me! Love, love Cy's poster escapades, really too funny. Our weekend was hot and wild!

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  6. Delightful pictures, all. In comparison to your experience, our life is the epitome of sedate living.

    I do hope things become more placid around your place. Another 10 - 15 years, perhaps?

    In the meantime, blessings and Bear hugs.

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  7. Love this post, the sunglasses, the boy doing project, the knickers in random places. Sounds like me. I found my kitchen scissors in the tool box recently.

    When I was at my mum's we did some clearing out of the garage (as usual) and came across her gardening shears that she hadn't seen for donkeys years in the section she uses for storing food. She was ecstatic.

    I believe boys should do their own projects too. What is funny is that when my son went to stay with his dad and chick he had to do a project and she helped. She thought she knew what she was doing, didn't listen to my son, and he had to hand in a project that basically wasn't his, and got a bad mark for it cos it was not what was required. HAHAHAHA!

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  8. This was great!! I have times like this..things in places they don't really belong, little moments that throw me off, but I try to just go with the flow and do my best!! My youngest is crawling now, so she tears into everything, it drives us all mad, but just have to get on with it. I hope you have a great day!! xx

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  9. Oh God, and I thought I was having a bad week with illness, depression, pathological tiredness,raving kids and psychotic teachers. Plus Ringo.

    I just feel for you Dear.

    I know.

    I'll send you a Feijoa.

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    Replies
    1. You know Feijoas EACH cost $2 here? As precious as golden strawbs.

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    2. My goodness, they're growing off the bush at the back of our section.

      Actually, to be honest, I really don't like them that much on their own, but I love Kapiti Gold Feijoa Ice Cream.

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  10. Holy smokes -that lizard. My life remains random at nearly all times. When we start to settle into a routine my right eye starts twitching uncontrollably. My kids always do their own projects. I've done school. It's their turn!

    xoxo

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  11. I really like this top. My chaos is "moving" into the guest bedroom for two months so my future in laws can take the master bedroom. It's funny how much time and planning it takes to move ten feet.

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  12. So funny! .. and to think that some day we will miss all this crazy chaos!

    I can relate Jody! Gota track down that outfit, lost glasses, random stuff everywhere, protein powder and lentils!

    leslie

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  13. It's fun when our children , 7-9 or grandchildren do their school projects when they are just learning how to read and write.

    Your sunglasses-was that during the annular eclipse?

    The lizard knows how to pose.

    The universe started with chaos. There is hope.

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  14. So funny love your top. I have weeks when everything is missing and worse still I go downstairs to look for it and forget what I went down for.

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  15. The small chaos in my life is aged 12!! (A middle child-type chaos)

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  16. hahaha, such a hilarious post! loved it!

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  17. That alligator lizard is wise beyond his years!

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  18. OMG! Love it. Especially about Cy's poster. That sounds like our house. Also, my items everywhere..

    On the bright side, your top is gorgeous! Seriously jealous. The color is so pretty and it'll be lovely for summer. Yes, what the heck with the weather over Memorial Day? Seriously froze at a BBQ and ran home to put on our fireplace!

    My kids would love that lizard.
    xo
    Kim

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  19. So happy that they don't do that kind of projects here. I'd freak out on a regular basis. Or just don't come out again from under the bushes. xx

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  20. I feel like chaos is the norm around here. Haha! My mama did come over to help me organize this weekend which was lovely!

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  21. You should know--- your Chaos is completely normal.

    Allow me to give you a taste of mine:
    - Talking to my mom on my mobile "Lukus is going to kill me, I think I've lost my cell phone!"
    - "Can I borrow a pair of socks for the gym?" I asked Lukus (I wear a women's 6 1/2 he wears a men's 13)
    - "Oh I have the perfect outfit planned! Oh wait, the skirt is in storage in LA"
    - "Don't worry your debit card is in our mail" (The mail I accidentally left in my mother's car in Atlanta)

    I could go on and on.... but I am blaming it on the move, because otherwise I would be completely together ;)

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    Replies
    1. The first one is priceless. You know you can call your cell phone number to find it, don't you? (a la Bridget Jones when she lost in a garbage dump)

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  22. Hi Jodi - your blog rocks! It is so cleaver and I love reading about those charished and defining moments of your life, especially those moments when laughter is the only sane and prudent response. I loved the reenactment of you looking for your sun glasses.

    I'm very particular about my news sources. I've narrowed down my standard fare to The Daily Show and your blog. A little light on world news, I grant you, but otherwise time well spent.

    Donna

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    1. Thanks for popping by Donna! Looking forward to being URL friends as well as IRL friends!

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  23. I actually did wonder about that!

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  24. You make me laugh, Jodi! That does sound like quite a bit of chaos. Not much chaos for me at the beach house. Well getting there is always quite chaotic but once you're there it's easy peasy :)

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  25. I loved that - all human life is there! Your chaos sounds very much like mine. This afternoon, I have seen the daughter off to Dubai. One hour before she had to leave, she hadn't so much as located a suitcase. The house was upside down because the cleaners were here too. And for years I would ask my children when picking them up from school, "so what did I get for my French/Science/Geography project then?" and that LIZARD. Jeez - is that thing safe??!

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  26. Jody, I love your posts so much! You must tell me if that 4 hrs diet works, from the sounds of it I feel as if I'd gain weight...teaspoons of peanut butter are like giving a junkie a puff of pot only to find them hooked on heroin. All I'm saying is jars of peanut butter don't last long around here. And Cy's project cracked me up. Obviously he's going to end up creating something like Instagram or Pinterest.

    p.s. love your new top!

    xo Mary Jo

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  27. Is the diet working? I loooove her hair and your purse! :)

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  28. Great post! I am laughing at the sunglasses...I do that on a regular basis:) Love your top:)
    ~Anne

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  29. Ha, I don't know how often I am looking for my glasses and find them on top of my head!

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  30. Love this post- it's all so true! Chaos is constantly around me! Do I search for it, or does it find me??? I'm so glad it's Friday!! Woo-hoo!

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  31. i always LOL --literally--when I read your posts. Love the recreation of the sunglasses. i also love kate's hair way more than i should.

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  32. I so love this post - you always leave me in stitches with your witticisms!

    Honestly, the small chaos that seems to wreak havoc in my life every weekend is a search for my 3-year-old nephew's Green Goblin action figure. Somehow, this thing disappears every few hours, resulting in an hour-long search, wherein we find it buried in the most obscure location. Chaos! :P

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  33. So funny and I can sooo relate. In fact, there are times I call our home Casa de Chaos! I would have thought that Kate left home with the peanut butter spoon because she just made a sandwich for the kids and forgot to throw the spoon in the sink. Because, that would be something I would likely do rushing out the door. That, and looking for my sunglasses that are perched atop my head. Have a great weekend!

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  34. LOL! It's so true. Once you have kids, life becomes incredibly chaotic. I've hunted around for my glasses when I was actually wearing them. I've even had an underwear hanging out of my pants (I was wearing one already!) like a flag. I was racing in and out of shops all day with the "flag" flapping about. Ghastly.

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  35. Ah! Jody, you are so hilarious! I only have one and he's barely walking but I'm still stunned by the chaos that even one little monster create. This week he mastered the art of removing his own diaper only he is not potty trained. Oh dear.

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  36. That photo is just to cute!! What a great post!

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