Author Archives: Heather Shoberg

About Heather Shoberg

I'm many things... I'm a wife, a mother, a book lover, a movie lover, a photography lover, a music lover, a coffee lover, and a chocolate lover. I have cute aggression and I'm an introvert. I love mangoes and my favorite flower is the sunflower. I got married in Converse sneakers and love fairy lights. I love the mountains and when I was little I wanted to be an astronaut.

What a week…

I was going to do a week in review yesterday, but didn’t get around to it.  It’s been busy overall, but the really fun stuff has only been happening over the past few days.  Josh is limping the van to a mechanic today – thankfully only for a new tire, but it’s still a pain. I’ve never gotten a flat tire or had to change a tire in my life… and we don’t know how we got this flat. It was just suddenly flat when I went into the garage to warm it up.

Anyhoo… there’s that.  Friday wasn’t so bad because the kids’ day care was closed, so I worked a half day from home that morning.

We’ve watched Moana a couple times over this past weekend. Haha!  It was cold out, so we decided to go to the zoo because in my infinite wisdom I figured it wouldn’t be that busy on a Friday afternoon. Wrong!  I don’t know how many kids were there on field trips, but there were a lot on top of what I would consider the typical mom and kiddo groups.  We found a decent spot for some people watching, though.

My popcorn was fiend was satisfied for a while and then we made the rounds through the Tropics Trail (yay warmth!).

The kids wanted to get ice cream, so I compromised and told them we could go to Target and do some shopping and pick up whatever treats they wanted there.  Phoebe used her red Popsicle as lipstick.

Josh had to work really late Friday night and then early again Saturday morning, and on top of that Enzo woke up not feeling well, so I figured it would be a low-key day.  At some point we took his temperature and discovered it was 102 degrees. I can’t remember the last time he was this sick…

Clearly a fever calls for another movie in bed, right?  I thought so too.

Sunday was a lot more of the same, though I tried to get a few things done around the house as well.  One thing after another, and it’s only Tuesday and I wish it were Friday.  Time to pull up my big girl britches and get through the week… and the month.  Let’s do it!

The Handmaid’s Tale – Review

 

It’s no secret that The Handmaid’s Tale has become rather popular recently, despite being written 30 years ago.  Without getting into current political debates, I will just say that there are some interesting parallels and I can see why many women are deciding to re-read this novel or read it for the first time.

Okay, so… I find most dystopian novels really depressing so I don’t read that many – unless they’re YA because those usually seem less realistic to me and I can more easily separate myself from the book.  The Handmaid’s Tale is downright depressing overall.  The story is told by Offred and is a mixture of things she is experiencing presently and memories of her past. If anything, that was something I found to be the most interesting about this book.  Unlike many dystopian novels, Offred remembers the way things were and experienced them personally rather than just relating stories of how things were as told to her by others.  She was there to witness the division in time between Then and Now.

As for the representation of this new American society, it’s an extreme one, to say the least. Is it perhaps unrealistic that in such a short amount of time society as we know it could leap from what freedom women have now to having zero freedom and prized strictly for their ability to produce offspring… probably, but then again, maybe not?  At the heart of this new regime is religious fanaticism, which as history has shown can lead to great extremes which includes violence and misuse of power. Food for thought.

From Goodreads:

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…

InnerActive Play Area

Last weekend the kids and I needed to get out of the house for a bit, so I had the brilliant idea to take them to an indoor play area so we could be out of the chill and also go earlier in the day. Everything is at least 30 minutes away from us, but most indoor play areas are further. Thankfully, however, a couple have popped up in that 30-40 minute range and so off we went!

Honestly I wasn’t sure what to expect at 10:30 on a Saturday morning, but my heart sank a bit when we drove up and the parking lot was packed.  I took a deep breath and warned the kids that a lot of other people were there.  We managed to find a cubby to put our things in and off we went to brave the play area and people. Immediately Enzo and I shared a look and he said, “There’s too many people, Mommy.”  Phoebe was not bothered, though, and took off running.  Even she had a few moments of panic, though, when she couldn’t spot me right away after getting off the slide.

We got used to the amount of people fairly quickly and to my pleasant surprise it started clearing out and the amount of noise and activity was more manageable.  We all were more comfortable and Enzo and Phoebe were all over.  It’s a pretty cool place too.

I didn’t get pictures of everything, but there’s a fairly large play area with slides and climbing toys as well as the favorite of both kids – the bouncy pillow. Both kids spent a lot of time on the slides and were having a blast.

Eventually I convinced the kids to take a break for snacks, which we had brought, and had to promise several times that we weren’t going to leave right away. For almost $8 a kid I had already decided we’d be here for a few hours. There wasn’t enough seating at actual tables, but we found a bench to sit at over by another play area that was for toddlers.  Then we had to go bounce on the bouncy pillow, which admittedly was a lot of fun. I was probably one of only 2 or 3 parents who was openly enjoying it.  There was also a big basketball court and a smaller soccer “field.”  Enzo was hooked on shooting baskets and got 5 while we were there. He was so proud of himself.

I have a feeling we’ll be going back there, especially whenever the temperatures drop.  They have monthly plans and yearly plans which is also nice, but I don’t think we’d be there often enough for one of those. Maybe if we lived a little closer.  For an un-staffed place, I was impressed at how clean it was and how involved parents were with their kids. Hardly anyone on their phones (except to take pictures) and everyone was respectful, which was a huge win for me.

Week in Review – Outside and Inside

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Meghan from Clean Eats, Fast Feets for another Week in Review!

The week was another interesting one, so prepare for utter randomness!  Monday started off fairly normal – the weather was nice and all seemed well until about dinner time when Phoebe randomly puked all over the kitchen floor.  It ended up not being an isolated event and happened 3 more times that night… which meant lots of sheet and pajama changes.  Poor lady.  I kept her home with me Tuesday morning and we watched movies while I worked.

Thankfully it was a short lived bug, though, and I ended up taking a half day as she was feeling rather active by lunchtime and there was no way I was getting anymore work done. So we went for a walk!

It was chilly with the wind, but so nice to get outside and even nicer that Phoebe made it almost the entire walk without needing to be carried. I knew I was taking a risk not bringing a stroller just in case. Ha!

It was Tuesday night or Wednesday when Josh started to feel under the weather.

At that point I was just crossing my fingers that Enzo and myself would be spared, and thankfully we were.

In other events on Friday night, Phoebe had a sleepover in Enzo’s room, which they were both very excited about and we had high hopes that it might help them both sleep better if they weren’t alone.

Phoebe still woke up at around 9:00pm, but she laid back down in bed and didn’t wander into our bedroom until 4am!  Success!  We’ve been keeping it up and Phoebe still wanders into our room, leaving Enzo to ask each morning where she went, but we talked to the kids and we’re going to make the switch more permanent and turn Phoebe’s room into a playroom.

With everyone’s appetites being all over the place a lot of my dinners looked like this…

What’s not to love about Girl Scout Cookie cereal?

Saturday I got the kids out of the house, and since it was still pretty cold out we went to an indoor play area where we hung out for a couple of hours and went and got ice cream as well.  It doesn’t matter how cold it is outside, these kids will always ask for ice cream.

Sunday was a very lazy day, which I’m okay with and I played games with my mom, brother and sister-in-law via the computer.

That’s a wrap!  How was your week?  Happy Monday!

At least we didn’t get a foot of snow?

I was supposed to get a lot done this week, but that didn’t happen.  Phoebe and Josh had a stomach bug, so our week was thrown out of whack a bit and never really turned around. On the bright side, our original forecast for today was almost a foot of snow, but I am pleased to report that we received none whatsoever. Unfortunately, our warmer temperatures have ceased, though. It’s been hard explaining to the kids why we could wear short sleeves and then suddenly it’s freezing again. You can see the looks of indignation on their faces and that really says what we all feel.

See that look, Mother Nature?  Enzo is displeased by the thought of snow in our future.  Also notice Phoebe happily skipping about in the background, absolutely clueless.  She was actually more unhappy about the cold weather this morning and made me go back inside to grab her blanket for the car ride.

I’ve promised the kids that I would take them to an indoor playground tomorrow. There are a couple that aren’t too far away, so I’m picking the one that looks like it has more space for them to run around like wild animals as opposed to the one that looks better for more crafty/imaginative play, which we can do easily enough at home.

Phoebe is excited to wear shoes that aren’t snow boots. She was ecstatic to show everyone her cute shoes that she was able to wear during our warm streak. Also ignore our mess of an entry way. I’m looking forward to summer if only so we won’t have gloves, boots, hats, and a million different jackets and hoodies scattered everywhere.

Okay, lets end this rambling session here and now.  Have a productive and fun weekend!  Or procrastinate like I enjoy doing and simply let dishes stack up and read a good book instead!