What Ana Does

I detest the chandelier -- if you can even call it that -- in my dining room. It's dinky, underwhelming and sometimes it just refuses to turn on. It was the previous owner's attempt at modern, maybe? Someday I vow to replace it. But for now ... the only good thing about this chandelier is I can hang stuff from it. Which I do. A lot. I found these glorious silver stars at Target last weekend and they look amazing dangling from the hideous light fixture. Stars for the Holidays Related posts: You'll love my dining room stories

Alice is a bit of drama queen. I think all kindergarteners are, but Alice is especially so. We often catch her in her bedroom alone singing a totally made up narrative in a movie she's creating on the spot. Usually about a mermaid. Or princess. And it's usual very melodramatic and often includes rhyming lyrics. So I signed her up for the park district production of Frozen for 5-6-year-olds, thinking getting her in front of an audience would ignite a love of the theater -- or something like that. This weekend was the final performance. And while it was TOTALLY adorable and she did a fantastic job, she's still on the fence about doing it again for the next season. She's got until this week to let me know. They are doing Pirates and Princesses - the music from Princess Sophia and Jake and the Neverland Pirates . So, it's right up her alley. Meanwhile, Leah (who you can see in the video clip in the white shirt and blue dress) is now begging me to sign her ...

Last week I was on top of the world. I had finally found a job that blended my favorite things (yay!) and was able to put in my two-week notice at my current job -- which I like but isn't exactly in my wheelhouse. The new job was closer to home, so I had visions of getting to soccer practice on time and earlier dinners with the family. Day dreams of just running to the office in the morning, after school bus drop off, in less than 25 minutes. The dreams when psft this week -- as did my entire week. The new job retracted the offer (I needed too much vacation time -- two weeks in the summer. geez!). Alice spent Wednesday night vomiting. My current job has already replaced me. But I now get to stay and train my replacement. My head is whirling as the plans I had for the spring and summer shatter into a thousand pieces. Back to serious job-hunting ... and not just the slow browse for the right thing, as I had been doing for the last year. And, to top it off, I found my favorite...