An Attention Deficit Post

Arielle has her first birthday party today, which has me wondering what to expect. What exactly is a mom supposed to do at a preschooler birthday party? Would I look pushy and overprotective if I stayed? Would I look selfish and uncaring if I dropped her off and left for the library? Luckily the husband is home, so I don't have to worry about what to do with Gabrielle.

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The husband and I had a date Saturday night. (A date! A date! An actual date!) I had a whole new outfit and everything (while taking Arielle to the store to pick up a present for her friend I saw they had a bunch of stuff on clearance. Hooray for $5 shirts!). Anyway, while getting ready to go out I thought of some advice for Kira:

When the husband and I were dating but not yet engaged I decided that when/if we got engaged (it was a pretty sure expectation at that point) I wanted to do something that would be useful later on in our marriage. Our sense of smell is far more powerful than we usually think about, and I knew it was a great way to bring back memories. So, I decided that I would wear only one scent throughout our engagement and honeymoon. I chose rose because I figured that was a scent that would never go competely out of style.

I have to tell you, all these years later, it has proven to be a very good decision. When I wear rose it has a tendency to make the husband feel very romantic and happy. He knows all about what I was doing back then, so sometimes he'll pick up on the scent I'm wearing and laugh about it. Other times he doesn't consciously realize what I'm doing, but he'll still react.

So that's my advice to Kira. Pick one scent and stick with it for a few months. You'll probably get sick of it (after our honeymoon I wasn't sure if I'd ever want to wear rose again!) but you'll reap the benefits down the road.

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It has been so warm here lately that I've been letting the girls go out to play not only coatless, but shoeless. It feels like spring, not the dead of winter. While I enjoy the warmth, it worries me about what the summer will bring. I'd be much happier right now if there were a couple of feet of snow on the ground.

Did you know that many fruiting plants need a certain amount of cold temperatures to produce fruit the next summer? It's called the chilling requirement and it's measured in units of an hour. One chilling unit is accomplished when the temperature is between 32F and 45F for an hour. Apple trees can require up to 1700 chilling units to bud and blossom normally. That's about 70 days.

Now you've learned something new! Aren't you glad you wasted some time reading my blog?