Just trying to obey my president
/
I feel proud in admitting that my life is anything but glamorous. Our daily routine is about as far as you can get from the paparazzo-stalked lives of those I see on the covers of my favorite smut mags at the grocery store.
Unlike a lot of the celebrities on those covers, I am not thin and starving. Vera Wang does not dress me. I have the unfortunate privilege of having to style my own hair every morning. And nobody is standing out on my front lawn hoping to catch a glimpse of me in juicy sweatpants, wearing no make-up.
Lord help us, that would be quite a fright for the paparazzos now, wouldn't it?
But what my life lacks in spontaneous excitement, it definitely makes up for in predictability.
And being the OCD freak that I am, I like me some predictability. It's reassuring and familiar. A warm blanket of routine and order. You can count on it to be there, come rain or come shine.
For instance, I can predict, with almost one hundred percent certainty, which of my three children will not like dinner on any given night.
I can predict who will be bored at which movie. And who will whine the most when dragged through which store. There is a certain comfort in the familiar and habitual behaviors that we all have.
Take this girl, for example. I know thatmy mini-me she will not willingly utter a word in the morning to anyone until after she's been fed:
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0005-2.jpg)
[Sadly, I know that because she gets it from me. I feel you, girlfriend!]
I can also predict that each week, one of the little people in this house (whose name just happens to rhyme with 'Base') will always have a larger pile of laundry than the others. There's the same number of days between washings, but magically he seems to dirty more clothes.
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0024.jpg)
(I'm pretty sure that he's just adverse to actually hanging the clean clothes up.)
And I feel confident in predicting that this little fashionista will never stop raiding my closet. Doesn't seem to bother her that our shoe sizes are not remotely the same either.
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0032.jpg)
Who am I to deny the diva her most critical knee-high boots for afternoon playtime?
But in all the predictability, there is one area which is a source of constant scrutiny for me. It is my eternal struggle between what I want to do and what I know I should do.
Help me, dear friends.
Why is it that when I know I should be eating this:
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0008-2.jpg)
All I really want to be eating is this?
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0029-1.jpg)
I think Woodrow Wilson said it best when he said, "If you want to make enemies, try to change something."
Well, Mr. President, I definitely don't want to be making any enemies.
Warm bread and jam it is. If you insist.
Unlike a lot of the celebrities on those covers, I am not thin and starving. Vera Wang does not dress me. I have the unfortunate privilege of having to style my own hair every morning. And nobody is standing out on my front lawn hoping to catch a glimpse of me in juicy sweatpants, wearing no make-up.
Lord help us, that would be quite a fright for the paparazzos now, wouldn't it?
But what my life lacks in spontaneous excitement, it definitely makes up for in predictability.
And being the OCD freak that I am, I like me some predictability. It's reassuring and familiar. A warm blanket of routine and order. You can count on it to be there, come rain or come shine.
For instance, I can predict, with almost one hundred percent certainty, which of my three children will not like dinner on any given night.
I can predict who will be bored at which movie. And who will whine the most when dragged through which store. There is a certain comfort in the familiar and habitual behaviors that we all have.
Take this girl, for example. I know that
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0005-2.jpg)
[Sadly, I know that because she gets it from me. I feel you, girlfriend!]
I can also predict that each week, one of the little people in this house (whose name just happens to rhyme with 'Base') will always have a larger pile of laundry than the others. There's the same number of days between washings, but magically he seems to dirty more clothes.
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0024.jpg)
(I'm pretty sure that he's just adverse to actually hanging the clean clothes up.)
And I feel confident in predicting that this little fashionista will never stop raiding my closet. Doesn't seem to bother her that our shoe sizes are not remotely the same either.
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0032.jpg)
Who am I to deny the diva her most critical knee-high boots for afternoon playtime?
But in all the predictability, there is one area which is a source of constant scrutiny for me. It is my eternal struggle between what I want to do and what I know I should do.
Help me, dear friends.
Why is it that when I know I should be eating this:
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0008-2.jpg)
All I really want to be eating is this?
![](http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/stiesta/IMG_0029-1.jpg)
I think Woodrow Wilson said it best when he said, "If you want to make enemies, try to change something."
Well, Mr. President, I definitely don't want to be making any enemies.
Warm bread and jam it is. If you insist.