Category Archives: Run Da House

saint nicholas feast day

Posted in Run Da House, Shopping by

we celebrated the feast day of saint nicholas with darla for the first time yesterday. it’s time for a little history lesson:

most of us 80s babies have been so far removed from the history of christmas that a lot of people don’t know that santa claus and many of our christmas traditions stem from a third century benefactor hailing from what is now modern day turkey. i found this website today and i have to say i’m digging the art by elizabeth jvanovsky.

to make a long story short, most countries celebrate the gift giving of st. nicholas on december 6th unlike in the u.s. where we simulate it on december 25th. the most common practice is for children to leave their shoes out for st. nicholas to stow treats and treasures inside.

this was always one of my favorite christmastime traditions in our household. my mother had little shoes from the netherlands that she would put out for me and i was always so excited to see what i would find the next morning. i think i was even more excited than christmas morning. well, probs not but st nic’s day always felt like a BONUS. i usually would have some candy, money and my commemorative christmas tree ornament for the year.

we’re not raising darla to be any specific religion but i thought keeping this little tradition in the mix was essential. i think the spirit of generosity was conveyed to me much more for st. nic’s feast day than christmas morning. i hope we’ll be able to teach darla the history behind the gift giving season and not just shoot her up with consumerism that is inescapable, even for myself.

anyway, i’d highly suggest adding st. nicholas feast day to your christmas traditions if you want to give a little extra push on the emphasis of charity and goodwill toward all. here’s darla’s feast day festivities:

darla received a pair of new toms from st. nicholas and a coordinating pair of socks. green corduroy with orange soles!!! ahhh they are too cute for words. there’s plenty of room to grow so i’m hoping we’ll get lots of use out of them to make the price sticker worth it. but i think it’s appropriate that st. nic brought her toms since a pair of shoes is donated to a child in need everytime a pair is purchased. st. nic would approve of that business model. maybe he’ll bring her a pair every year. also, the toms sticker is already on her bike helmet. BONUS.

i’m trying to get her a book every year to augment the collection passed down from my parents. Eloise at Christmastime was the only suitable option for this girl. she really, truly admires eloise and i think she and the little Plaza dweller have a lot in common. thanks again to fraunty amanda for introducing us to the world of Eloise.

we rounded it out with The Muppets Christmas Carol. this is my favorite version of the christmas carol. it is really just superb and does a great job following the verbage used by dickens. I admit this gift was really for me.

 so far everything was a success. we read eloise, we watched our movie and she wore her new shoes all day. i’m thinking this girl will like st. nic’s feast day every year, too.

if you’re interested you can find these items for your household here:

the muppets christmas carol
eloise at christmastime
toms toddler

stocking stuffers

Posted in Run Da House, Shopping by

over the next few weeks, i thought i would share a few of the stocking stuffers that darla will be receiving come christmas day. the internet is for sharing ideas, right?

a new toothbrush to brush up after all those holiday sweets. i got darla’s new toothbrush from a company called Preserve. they make household products from recycled materials. i already use their razors, which are made from recycled yogurt cups, so i thought we’d give this little guy a try for darla’s hygiene needs.

i’m unnaturally excited about giving practical gifts, especially ones that promote loving mother earth.

the program

i am about out of deodorant and so it occurred to me that it’s time to share with you all what cousin and i call “the program.”

so arm and hammer make two different kinds of deos. one is Ultra Maxx and one is Essentials. ultra maxx is the anti-perspirant aka contains aluminum and essentials is natural deodorant.

your momness, why are you sharing this information?

be patient, my pet, time for getting personal.

so i’ve tried and tried to go all natural with deodorants and even au natural without but let’s face it, sometimes life calls for a deodorant with anti-perspirant. once darla was born i had to suck it up for the 13 months that i was breastfeeding and ban the aluminum from my body but oh my lawd….my body did this weird thing where my left underarm was on overload and it just reeked. sometimes it would rub off on darla’s head while i was nursing and i’d pick her up afterwards and get a whiff and i’d know that i wasn’t a pleasant lady to be around on hot summer days.

but, something else happened while i was going non-aluminum. i stopped caring. as much. not completely because i’m not that bad ass but i decided that if i smelled like A NORMAL HUMAN BEING with NATURAL BODY ODOR it doesn’t really matter. i mean, i shower frequently enough that i’m not going to clear out a restaurant or anything so why did i need to subject my body to the harmful effects when the truth is it isn’t so bad. and no one else seemed to notice it as much as i did.

since then i’ve experimented with different natural deodorants and arm and hammer is by far the best i’ve come across. plus, they are one of the cheaper choices in the deodorant aisle. BONUS!! (btw, isn’t it ridiculous our country has a whole aisle just for deodorant???) most of their scents seem to be a little less offensive. i’d rather just smell like baby powder mixed with b.o. not some synthetic freesia masking the b.o. that still permeates through anyway…so i pick up the natural kind and the maxx and use the maxx on the days that i know i need to be more ummm presentable but mostly just stick to using the naturals.

smelling just a little is definitely better than breast cancer.

and if you’re a nursing mother, please! don’t use deodorant containing aluminum while you’re nursing your little one. you just can’t do it. don’t even get me started on the clinical strength stuff that deters your body from sweating at all…

cousin and i discovered that we had come to use the exact same deodorant schedule without communicating with each other. henceforth we called it “the program.” ok, well, we called it the program once and then i just kept calling it that in my head and she’s just now finding out about that, if she’s reading and SHE BETTER BE!!!, but that is all irrelevant.

hopefully you and your cousins will find this deodorant system to be a compromise that works, too.

o tannenbaum

Posted in Run Da House by

tree trimming

what do you wear to decorate a christmas tree? apron circa 1985 and not much else?

i can tell this christmas is going to be a lot of fun and a whoooole new consumer ball game. darla reminds us on a daily basis that santa will bring her LOTS and LOTS of presents because he’s so nice. it’s nice to experience things from this side. needless to say, she was erupting with excitement while we trimmed the tree. she hung all the ornaments in one spot so i had to come in and move them while she was busy unwrapping the next one.

looking forward to more holiday magic…

packing for nashville instagram

Posted in Run Da House, Travels by

that’s supposed to sound like the before and after category on wheel of fortune. just imagine some overly excited texan shouting this phrase into pat sajak’s face. yeah. now it’s funny.

all i can say is it’s going to be a very patterned thanksgiving.

and OF COURSE the cowgirl boots are coming.

happy packing to all you travelers!

dear salty internet friends,

oh yeah. i know you’re salty, too. mike’s back but the weekly updates won’t stop. smiles!

somethings that need to be said about life now that mike is back:

i spend my more self righteous moments making claims that i hold my family together by taking darla on single-handedly while mike is away. the reality that i love and abhor to admit is that i’m barely half the equation. the things mike does for this family are amazing. AND he does it without a thought of recognition. i, on the other hand, always want to hear my praises sung from the castle tops. reminder: i’m self centered. he’s gone for 3 months, works 12+ hour days when he is on tour and then comes back home to us and ALWAYS jumps back in without missing a step, like he’s never been gone.

if we switched places i would probably get a divan from rent-a-center for my first week home and place it right in the center of our most used room. i’d then commence with a big theatrical performance of how hard a transition it is. i’d repose on that divan all week sighing and squinting a lot. and my hand would probably be draped across my forehead 93% of the time. i’d also be wearing a hoop skirt just because… anyways, that’s the difference between us and that’s why we’re best suited for our current roles.

with that being said, i have to do the public acknowledgement thing again and say thank you to my husband for his help around the house. you have no idea how much it means to me to have a partner running this house.

i recently used the analogy of the wizard of oz to describe how mike being home revolutionizes my world. it can not even be described as a 180. he picks me up and sets me down in a completely different land when he returns. his twister blows in and stirs things up, carries us away, and then we eventually settle into a life routine that is really beautiful, vivid and full of adventures. yes, he is a storm. i mean, having a third body and mind in the house is a lot to recalibrate. more ideas and thoughts to be listened to. another body to be danced around. and oh the syncopation of the bathroom schedules. ladies, you understand? sharing a bathroom with a boy….ewwwww! but i’ll take it!!!!!

i’ll leave you with a few pics and then one last thought. more pics from our week will be added later. running a busy life means less time to blog about busy life.

some of my favorite pics of the week

i feel like sharing this thought:

there’s a big focus and push to continuously make life easier in our culture. i’ve learned that it’s the times when life is hard, so difficult that you don’t know if you can go on any longer, when your life has spun so far out of control that all you can do is dance in the eye of the storm – those times are the most important. those are the times you can’t afford to miss. those times are the living, breathing, oozing, pulsating elements. because even if you fuck it all up today the sun will still rise tomorrow. live for the hard times.

lookey lookey

20111115-130953.jpg

look at what happens when i have some time alone. see the decadence i provide for myself when my lovely husband takes the child out for some daddy + daughter time? peanut butter and nutella toast! and yes, i did make a heart out of the nutella on my own toast b/c…

women, they get weary. young girls, they get weary toooooooo…..

and then i listened to all five versions of “try a little tenderness” that hubster has on his itunes while i danced and folded kitchen towels which somehow turned into ribbon-twirling-like props. then i got sad thinking about all the hundreds of thousands of amazing vocalists that have passed on throughout time that i’ll never get to witness live. i miss you, otis! BUT THEN a more upbeat version of “tenderness” came on and i just twirled and sang again.

see what happens when i’m left alone with my thoughts????

three things i love

Posted in Run Da House by

ONE!!! the local food effort of central ohio.

TWO!!!! my green bean delivery service.

THREE!!! the edible columbus magazine.*

well, daggummit, the planets align for this season’s issue. green bean has a write up for fall!  i really just adore this publication even though i don’t really know my way around the kitchen. i just like the pretty pictures.

and no, green bean does not pay me to plug their service. but THEY SHOULD. i just really revere them for simplifying my life a little. i’m giving them and edible columbus a slap on the proverbial back and a somewhat softer smack on the proverbial bottom. good job, folks. keep it up.

http://ediblecolumbus.com

actually, if anyone would like to try the service i have a coupon code for 50% off. just email me at elaine (dot) tucker (at) gmail (dot) com.

*(in my head this is sung to the same tune as Black Kids – “i’m not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you.”)

F-R-I-D-A-Y

Posted in parenting apparently?, Run Da House by

back in my school-bus-riding days there was a friday tradition to yell F-R-I!!!! D-A-Y!!! FRIDAY!!!! and then bang on the sides of the bus. when i was a wee lass i didn’t join in but once i was a little older and could discern the knowing smirk on Arsilla’s face (bus drivers have the best names, especially in indiana)  i would pound right along. Arsilla was just as happy as we were to not have to ride that bus for two days.

now that i’m a stay-with-my-kid-all-the-time mom i don’t have that same sense of relief that floods in at 4:59 pm friday evening. 33.33 repeating percent of the time i don’t even know that it is friday. but yesterday i tried to have a good ol’ fashioned friday night celebration with my girl.

after a day of errands and a failed attempt at visiting the natural play area at highbanks metro park – located it but atmospheric conditions prohibited proper exploration – we spent some time at the neighborhood park. i’m going to wikileak this photo out before the salty sailor update:

this is a tree at the end of our block that has never received its due notice. today darla exclaimed “look, mom, that tree is all tied in a knot with itself.” so it is.

sensing that it was definitely a soup day, i made broccoli and cheese soup by loosely following pioneer woman’s recipe. ’twas delicious dishes. *tangential story at the bottom of this post if you’re interested.

we finished the evening watching castle in the sky cozied up in bed. pretty subdued. but, truthfully, i need subdued like whoa right now. the little miss was actually pretty good company today but i’m so worn out. it didn’t help that i was up all night trying to work through ambitions and mastermind plans for taking over the world. and not even this world. a future world. that’s how big my plans are!

i feel a little down about not having any big friday night to-do or anything special for the weekend really. at one point i was contemplating just getting into the car with darla and visiting some destination spot in ohio just to feed my gluttonous craving for novelty. then the thought surfaced that this could be the last girls weekend darla and i have together. i am of course thrilled that mike and all his saltiness will be returning shortly but i’m always a little sad when my solitary time with darla is coming to an end. the dichotomy of being a mother is maddening, i tell ya.

so we’ll just stay close to home for the weekend and leave ourselves open to discoveries such as that tree. things that have been there all along but have been overlooked in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

and we’ll wait for a man named mr. mike.

*tangential story time. have i ever mentioned that the universe always gives me what i want? i’m pretty lucky that way. if i voice a want to the universe it somehow makes it to me. not in the “i want a million dollars” way but little everyday graces. such as earlier this week when i noticed we hadn’t made a dent in our broccoli from the last produce delivery and i said, i said to me-self “hmmm, i should look up a broccoli and cheddar soup recipe.” i sit down at my computer and BAM the first post in my bloglovin’ is broc + cheese soup from pioneer woman. added bonus the recipe called for tons of butter!!! thanks again universe. i gots your back and you gots mine!

we share R day

Posted in it's cool to school, parenting apparently?, Run Da House by

when i awoke – to a suprise mr. mike call from roda, spain – it was raining. and i remembered the recyclables were in bad need of transportation. sounded like the makings of an R day.

rainy morning

miss darla helps with the recyclables

restaurant. mmm mmm.

then reading and rest.

railroad.

rainbows.

and after our evening trip to the gym we followed up with a dinner of red beans & rice compliments of our friends. can you tell i love constructing these days?