Wookin' Pa Nub...

eddie murphy does this great buckwheat (little rascals) sketch. in one, he produces "buckwheat's greatest hits", where he sings some of americas's best-loved songs. the classic is "wookin' pa nub in all da wong pwaces..." (for those slower to catch on, 'lookin for love in all the wrong places').

anyway. at times i fear my children are wookin pa nub in all da wong pwaces. as any mother can relate, the concept of "me" time is void. UNLESS... of course, you have a lock on your bathroom door. it is there, the one true place, that a mother should find peace and tranquility. i say "should" because theoretically, it's true. realistically, however, it is not. i don't even think i made it to page 6 of my people magazine before the first knock came. i dismissed the child with mock kindness and read on about the jailed starlet of the week. moments later, a small voice: "mom? can i have a snack?" again, i politely encouraged the child to leave. silence followed, turns out lindsay lohan is back in rehab. "mom? can i have a hug?" the child was invited to wook pa nub elsewhere. i made it to page 13, when a slip of paper came sliding under the door. it read, "mom. hi." thus ended my solitude in the bathroom.

this story is true. it took place in a home where i had a lock on my bathroom door. now, i have one of those doors that slides into the wall, and has no lock. i have had to narrow my sanctuary to the actual shower stall. before i started teaching (and on the weekends after i taught) i worked at bath and body works. my bathroom shelving unit resembles an actual corner of the bath and body works store. it's my one luxury that remains untouched by the rest of the family. no one wants to smell like a girl. we have dual heads in our shower, and i will spoil myself by turning both of them on and using a minimum of four bath and body works products on my hair, body, feet and face. it's divine. but there are still children who are wookin pa nub. i was JUST about to step into my dual stream shower, with some shea butter bead foot scrub in tow, when the door was slid open with gusto and a small child proclaimed "WE MADE OUR BEDS!" this was followed by a banshee shriek on my part, and stunned silence from the child.

i think it's safe to say next time there will be a knock, perhaps even just a note slid under the door. and i can now consider that move an acceptable intrusion into my sanctuary.

me & ann at BBW...

or is that in front of my bathroom shelf?