Coloring Books & Ivory Soap

"Mom do you want to color with me?" Those words are music to my ears. Nick was sick AGAIN, second bought of strep and was home all day today. Late afternoon he asked me to color with him. I LOVE COLORING!! It's kind of a cheap therapy for me. He chose a coloring book from the general stack. I on the other hand went to my secret hiding place and got my OWN coloring book. The book that no one else in the house touches. Am I possessive about my coloring book? YES. Do I share it? NO. I know, I know I am trying to teach my kids to share and what kind of lesson am I teaching them by not sharing my coloring book right? Well, to justify why I don't share it - it is a princess coloring book and would be too "girly" for them anyway. So, Nick and I sat and colored for about an hour. At the end of our coloring session all my troubles were behind me and I was totally relaxed. I think I need to pull out my coloring book more often. Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder if Kurt would color with me?!

We ran to the store tonight to get some supplies. We were out of soap and shampoo. The boys and I smelled every shampoo bottle in the aisle to get the perfect smelling one. Then we moved on to the soap and the smelling started again. Have you ever noticed that every cleaning product has tons of fragrance in it now?? Well, on the bottom shelf there was a stack of plain old ivory soap. I LOVE IVORY SOAP. I grabbed it and threw it in the cart and couldn't wait to get home to take a shower.

Why am I so excited about Ivory soap? Well, the smell of it brings me back to my Grandma's house when I was little. She swore by Ivory soap and whenever you were in her bathroom you could smell it just like all of those fancy air fresheners we use today. Using ivory soap brings back such fun memories of sleepovers and play dates at her house and the fun we had. Ivory soap reminds me of the newspaper my brother and I made on her old typewriter during a snowstorm, of counting cars going down main street on a summer day on the front steps, of waiting patiently for the ground squirrel to come out of hiding with grandpa and his wrist rocket, of picking blueberries and going to the college tennis court, of learning how to make apple potica with grandma, of laying on the floor and learning to play marbles and all of the other warm memories that come to mind.

It's nice to have those memories and smells to hang on to as you grow older. So every time I shower with my Ivory soap I will think of my Grandma and Grandpa and how they could always bring a smile to my face.