Chapter 19 - High School Gym or Mexican Cantina??

Haven’t written in a while.  Adjusting to this new life in the suburbs…it has been super hectic, but we’re sort of getting the hang of it.  We are still in various states of unpacking, but have made some progress.  We painted the bottom half of our house (or, I guess the first floor, as most people call it).  So… when you are painting several rooms in your house, I guess you’re supposed to go off of some kind of compatible color palate or some such thing?  Warm tones with warm tones, and all that jazz that goes ridiculously high over my interior-decoratively-challenged head.  I am terrible at decorating, as clueless in this arena as I am in fashion.  I never really advance beyond “dorm décor”  (I’ll admit it, I still sometimes throw a scarf or piece of fabric over a crate and think that’s cool, my design ideas never advanced beyond Freeman Hall circa '95) – But, since I no longer reside in a cinderblock square, I think I might have to admit defeat and get some help. (no, I wasn’t in jail….I’m still referring to the dorm room)

Normal people would get that color palate thing I referenced earlier, or at the very least, ask for assistance at the paint store, but not the Zertuches….no, not us! – We picked out random shades that we thought were fun, and now it looks like Sherwin Williams threw up in our house.  I must admit that I still kind of love it, even as I know it doesn’t all really match.  My husband is taking credit for every room that turned out great (calling my office/the kids play room, “The Amalfi Coast Room”, and taking credit for picking that color since people seem to like it)  But, when we had some folks over for my son’s Baptism and one of the guests told me that our kitchen looked like a high school gymnasium, that instantly became (in Tony’s selective memory) the room with the colors that I picked out  (Drat!! – I was totally going for Mexican Cantina, NOT high school gym….I guess I’ve got a lot to learn!)

In other news, my daughter Lily is adjusting to her new life in the suburbs, trying really hard to fit in at her new daycare.  Yesterday she told me she needed to know what a “justin beiber” was because the girls in her class love him.  She asked me very quietly, like it was a secret no one could know about.  She said her friend told her all about Justin Beiber and that now she has to love him too -

 (for those of you that don’t know, my daughter is THREE!!!!)  We still watch the Sprout channel for heaven’s sake!!! – Yesterday I was changing JD’s diaper and Lily slid up next to me to change her doll’s diaper at the same time, and not an hour later she’s asking about Justin Beiber! – I just can’t have this.  (clearly this is not a result of living in the suburbs, I’m sure Justin Beiber has throngs of toddler fans in New York City as well…I was just not prepared for Lily to be one of them before even making it to kindergarten!)  Incidentally, she learned about Justin Beiber from the same little girl that told her yesterday to sing the words “I’m sexy and I know it, show it show it”. 

Since I’ve last written, my son has turned insane, which also has nothing to do with where we live, but it’s our reality at the moment.  When Lily was his age, I could put something, ANYTHING in front of her and tell her it was a toy or a doll (a paperclip, 2 crayons, a straw…anything) and she would play with it for 20 minutes and NOT MOVE.  But oh….ohhh….am I in for a rude awakening now.  My son will not sit still for 30 seconds.  If there is anything in his line of sight, he must grab it, smash it, climb it or try to put it in his mouth.  If it’s taller than him, he will try to climb it, if it’s small enough, he will try to eat it.  If it’s moving, he will chase it (poor Lieutenant Dan… Lieutenant Dan is my cat, by the way).  At least Lily used to be a little more gentle with him....

So because of this we are learning that our lovely new house is much more difficult to baby proof than our little upper east side apartment was.  Baby gates, and outlet covers and drawer locks, and bookshelf fasteners….and I’m sure that even as I type he is devising new and interesting ways to explore this house in the most daring and dangerous ways possible…ways that the makers of baby-proofing merchandise have not even thought of yet.   Atta boy…

Let’s see, in conclusion I guess our white trash moment of the week was when we finally got lily’s kiddie pool set up in the back yard over the weekend.  We still don’t have a patio set, so we all sat around the little pool….Tony and I on white plastic lawn chairs, Lily on her little purple plastic lawn chair, and JD in his UT Longhorns stroller, all with our feet splashing in the water.  Beers and juice boxes in hand, radio propped up in the kitchen window for all to hear.  “Livin’ the dream” all right… ;)    I’ll take it!