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Hi friends! Itβs finally the weekend! And guess what?
We got an offer on our house and we are officially moving! π©· Iβm so excited/tender/anxious/delighted about it all. Itβs a good story, but I wonβt tell it yet. Too many words. Iβll tell it soon, though, now that I can calm down and stop frenzy-cleaning our house every day for potential buyers. I swear the place has never been this clean, even when we bought it. Canβt wait to mess it up again when we start packing.
I hope you guys have had a wonderful week! Thanks for sharing some of your time with me today.
P.S. Apparently, Substack has a new DM feature. So if you have a question, comment, or other (nice) thing to share, you can message me here ππ».
Point #1: Donβt worry about when other kids learn to read.
Gosh, I loved this piece from about the need for flexibility concerning important milestones such as reading. It doesnβt really matter when a child learns to read so much as it matters that they learn to love reading. When we push hard for kids to meet specific age requirements, we risk pushing them away from books altogether.
Point #2: Leave our faces alone.
Iβm so glad Iβm not famous. Itβs awkward enough to note the appearance of gray hairs and wrinkles in the privacy of my bathroom; can you imagine what it feels like to be a celebrity who has her face scrutinized, to no oneβs satisfaction, every day of her life? This misogynistic view of older womenβs bodies needs to die a long and painful death.
Point #3: Risky play makes us happier and healthier.
I wrote a piece recently on allowing our daughter to go on short solo walks in the neighborhood, and it seemed to resonate with a lot of you. We want our kids to take risks and learn to navigate the world on their own, but it feels so hard. How do we do that well? This important essay from Dr. Mariana Brussoni is a good place to start:
βParents are worrying about the wrong causes of injuries and harm. In fact, the very strategies that parents use to try to keep their children safe β driving them around, maximizing supervision, and minimizing freedom β are unintentionally increasing the likelihood of injuries and even deathβ¦Letβs break out of the paradox, and give children the freedom they need to thrive.βΒ
Point #4: No damsels in distress here.
Millie Bobby Brown is starring in a movie that is Enola Holmes and (a less disturbing) Stranger Things combined and I am here ππΌ for ππΌ itππΌ! Time for a mother/daughter date night πΏ.
Word of the Week ποΈ
Cingulomania: (n.) The strong desire to hold a person in your arms.
Receipts from a No-Buy Year π§Ύ
Coffee: $11.28
Iβve been in and out of the house so much this week that coffee (at home) has been out of sight, out of mind. (Literally. Our Keurig was hidden away to protect the eyes of potential buyers from clutter. So glad thatβs done!) I bought two coffees this week and promised myself to rein it in once house showings were over. Guess I need to make good on that promise now.
Food/Clothes/Home Decor: $0.00
I bought a breakfast sandwich with my coffee one morning, but that doesnβt count towards personal spending. I had to be out of the house for four hours. A girl needs to eat.
I also went to the library twice and the park once to avoid getting my steps in at the thrift store, where I would have inevitably bought another cute dress. Look at me! Evolving and shit.
Total: $11.28
Reading in The Nook π
I finished With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson, andβwhile it pains me to say thisβit wasβ¦not great. Entertaining? Absolutely. Actually good? Not on the same level Iβve come to expect from a brilliant writer like Jackson. The twists were painfully obvious and the ending was all sorts of disjointed and abrupt. Three-ish stars.
Now this book. Oh, this book. I finally snagged a copy of Maggie Smithβs bestselling memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful and, wow, this woman is a writer. Delicious turns-of-phrase. Gorgeous prose. Heartbreakingly sharp wit and tender insights into grief and loss. Stunning all around. I love prose poetry and wrote tons of it in college. The limited space you have to take a point and make it something beautiful (see what I did there?) forces you to consider the value of each and every word. I think thatβs why I loved Instagram captions so much and miss that format at times. Maybe one day Iβll write prose poetry againβ¦
What are you reading right now? ππ»
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βNo tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.β
βRobert Frostβ
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Thank you so much for the mention! Flattered beyond belief! I canβt wait to dive into your work on here and also, isnβt it amazing that TWO coffees cost almost TWELVE DOLLARS?!
Iβm reading so many things right now! But I recently read the Maggie Smith book and had some mixed feelings. But also, she was so effective at making me FEEL which is such a great accomplishment.
βThis misogynistic view of older womenβs bodies needs to die a long and painful death.β Amen, amen!
I wrote about many related issues in this piece: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2024/03/our-bodies-our-anger