Happy Holidays!

Here I am on my 'vacation' . . . No, the kid's vacation from school. We need to re-label that time of the season for moms, because as we all know, it is NOT a vacation. Funny, I was just wondering to myself what the actual definition of a vaction would be, so I did dictionary.com and sure enough, I was RIGHT! "No Dictionary Results" Huh. Must be mothers who are in charge of dictionary.com!

In all seriousness, I haven't gotten to blog about my real vacation in the islands because since I've been home, I've pretty much been dealing with my kids' vacation. Obviously, I can't even post a picture because I havent figured out how to get those on my computer!!! But I will. And let me just say that waking up when I wanted to wake up, eating when I wanted to eat, sitting for as long as I wanted to sit, finishing a full conversation whenever I wanted to, THAT was a vacation. Didn't even have to be in the islands, although that surely did help!!!

So New Year's is the next obvious holiday, two days . . . which Dec. 31 is also our Wedding Anniversary . . . 14 YEARS!!!! Shinia Twain's song 'Looks Like We Made It' surely is appropriate for us . . .

Anyway, I was talking with a young female client the other day, who happens to be single. If you are reading this and either under 30, single, or not a mother, feel free to skip this part, you might not relate. So this gal was sad and worried because she didn't have anything to do for the first time on New Year's Eve, or more importantly, anyone to be with. This was my first moment of jealousy. So I talked with her about how she might make the night special for herself . . . and she planned to do yoga (second moment of jealousy), make a new recipe just for herself (third moment of jealousy) and then get some art supplies and do a vision board (through the roof jealousy). Now she was kind of feeling like a loser for having 'this' plan for New Year's. I confessed to her my jealousy, because at this point of the conversation, this self-disclosure seemed appropriate. I told her I'd think about her New Year's Eve when I was surrounded by MANY children of all ages while we played games during my Mother-N-Law's family game night.

Don't get me wrong: I like games, and I like kids. I even really do like my Mother-N-Law! But the combination of all this, including kids up way past their bedtime, fueled up with Sugar, Salt, and Fat . . . Oh Boy. If a magic fairy offered to let me trade places with my client, I would be awfully tempted . . . Luckily I won't have that option.


As I shared my New Year's Eve plans with her, I saw her face change. Her feelings about her own New Year's plans were shifted into a new light. The grass is always greener . . . I think I'll work on appreciating all my family fun chaos!

I hope that all my readers (all 6 of you - I learned of another one!) have a blessed and safe and happy New Year's Eve and a happy New Year with many new beginnings!

Learned Something

Well, after my dream vacation, which I'll write more about later if I ever get the chance, my kids continue to pay me back for leaving.

Particularily Jacob . . . the 4-yr-old ever-changing-weather-pattern. Day one of my re-entry, he decided that paybacks were necessary. So as soon as the snuggles were over, which was about 2 minutes, the oppositional behavior began. To just get to the point of my story, because once again, at present moment, he is lying beside my chair crying b/c he can't make a ramp for the ice-skate christmas ornament b/c it fell on Julia's head . . . Anyway, He was crying and screaming so hard the other day, about nothing, that I finally decided if I wanted to stay sane, I had to get hime out of the house. So I did. I locked the doors before he could come in from the car. He stood in the garage, kicking the door as hard as he could. Then he went to the front door, and pounded the doorbell repeatedly, a joyful noise to my ears. I had decided much earlier that we would likely either be visiting the hospital or protective services that day, because he was probably going to hurt himself and I wasn't in the position to stop him. Either that, or I'd be in the car shop b/c he would have dented the car with his kicking. I was prepared for either/both.

Luckily, and here is my point, popping him outside in the freezing weather when he is throwing a fit seems to work. I actually just threatend it, and he cried "But I'll be alone and cold!" "Then quit crying," I said. He did. It's a Christmas Miracle.

If any of you know people that have strong willed little boys, please forward them my blog. We need need a support group!

I'm The Maid

After picking up all my family members clothing from the bathroom floor and dumping it in the hamper, I stated loudly, "I'm not the maid, you know!"

Julia (7) sweetly said, "Mom, I know you're not the maid, but you'd be really good at it if you were."

Maybe there's a future for me here!

Dream Vacation Begins

My LONG awaited for vacation began this morning at 3am. UGH! First stop: the beautiful Detroit Airport where we boarded the cheapest most uncomfortable airline in the world, Spirit. The seats did not even recline, and somehow I managed to sleep for two hours with my head bobbing to and fro! Next stop, Ft Lauderdale. With a 3 hour layover, I thought "Great, we'll get some exercise, breakfast, and find the bookstore for leisurely browsing!" My Bad! As I set out for our walk, attempting to get out of the multicultural crowd where we were a minority, I knew the first stop needed to be a restroom. There was one right there in all the congestion. However, there was a line, and the bathroom appeared small. No worries, I thought, there will be anotherone up the way. Chris had been successful with the mens room. We began walking again, for about 20 seconds, and came to a sign that said "do not go any further". Oh....we must've gone the wrong way. We turned around, through the crowd, a 30 second walk, the end of the airport. That's it? One hallway? One restroom? One magazine stand? No starbucks? A million people? Three hours!

You'll be happy to know that we survived. We bought coffee from a Maxine look-a-like
(hallmark cards) and sat and decided to talk with zero children interruptions.

Current status: our flight to St Thomas is being delayed!!!!

I have no business complaining about any of this! I know how lucky I am to be going to the sweetest place on earth. I'll only complain if we don't make it there!

The Gate!

I finally finished, and now it's too pretty in my opinion to hang crap on. Back to the old drawing board!

We are Masterpieces - Wow!

Ok Readers of my blog, (all five of you) I know I am usually pretty darn funny . . . well, at least I crack myself up. Which is a good thing, really, because I rarely get lonely or have to go looking for fun. Anyway, I actually had something seriously beautiful happen this morning. I began to write about it in a journal so that I could possibly remember it in days, weeks, years to come. After my first sentence in my journal, I thought, "This is one for everyone." So here it is.

To give the background, last week, I was at Treeside (where I work) and was chatting in the garage with Renee, who was doing some yard work. Yes, I was just standing there watching her and NOT helping. I had a good excuse. Anyhow, suddenly I noticed an old and rotting wooden gate leaning against the wall. I pretty much screamed "Can I have that?" as quickly as I could get it out of my mouth. Renee quickly glanced to see what I was freaking about. She of course looked past the old, rotting, gate, because it was in the 'Take to the Garbage' pile. "The gate!" I said. "Yeah," she said. "Just text Jim and make sure it's OK."

I texted Jim, who was out in the middle of nowhere - shooting holes in his vehicle (another story here) but really trying to shoot a deer . . . anyway, Jim's exact response was (in text language) "u can hv the gate with my blessings!" I didn't realize what the blessing would be.

I was so excited, you'd have thought I'd won the lotto. I was literally calling a couple friends and raving about this old rotting gate I was now the proud owner of. I was even scared to express my excitement and plans to Renee, for fear that she would then see the value and want it back!

I picked up the gate, brought it home, and carried into my house immediately because if it settled into the garage, even for one day, I knew it might end up as one of those projects that never gets done.

After work last night, I had my mind set on painting the gate. Now, anyone who is a mom knows that it is risky to even try to have a plan for yourself, such as completing a project, while your kids are home. As soon as I walked into my home at 6:30 pm, my kids were hyped up about some pretend monster they had 'created' to mess with Jacob. They wanted to tell me all about it. In fact, they were following me all over, even the bathroom, b/c they were so darn excited. The monster? It is called a WangDoodle, it has stripes, it's habitat is the common home, and it feasts on Thanksgiving Dinners. Jordan had even drawn a picture and Julia was creating pretend messes (from the monster) and then cleaning it up. They were setting pretend bait . . . . anyway, I did the minimal mother duty and made sure that Jacob wasn't really and truly scared, and then continued to 'pretend' I was listening, but really began obsessing about painting my gate. Oh yeah, I also did the obligatory preparing of dinner, pancakes and sausage. But as soon as my last bite was taken - and yes, I was the first one done - I was setting up my paint.

The job went quickly, because I was going for rustic and weathered look, which the gate already had. I was just trying to add some artistic color. What took more time for me to deal with was Jacob, who was insisting on helping me. So I was trying to find a way to let him help and get it out of his system . . . all efforts failed. So Chris, my DH, kindly too him away and got him dirstracted.

My plan for the gate was to paint and decorate it with collection of unique hooks. Then I was going to put it in the hallway, where you would only see it if you went down the hall. You all know the problem: coats, backpacks, scarves, sweatshirts . . . all those things that end up on the floor all over the hallway, no matter what kind of organization system you have! I had always resisted putting hooks in my hallway, even down by the garage door and laundry room because then there would just be a bunch of crap decorating my hallway. But NOW, I thought this would at least be a classier way of hanging the crap. And if I got special hooks for each child, they might even WANT to hang their stuff.

So as my rotting-gate-now-artwork was coming together, I began to think it needed more of a special place to be displayed. I was more and more excited, even tried to call a friend over to see it - just like a new baby or something. So far, no one has seen it. But it's only been a day, I need to relax. Anyway, just for fun, I cleared some things out of the spot you first see when you enter my home, and I placed the gate there . . .Wow. Even Chris - who had rolled his eyes when I first mentioned the gate, which meant "here she goes again, collecting more garbage!" even Chris thought it looked pretty good there. He had previously thought putting it 'there' would look junky. Go figure. When I woke this morning, and came down the stairs, this being the first time I saw it in the morning light, IT LOOKED AWESOME!!!! I was so happy!

So I sat down to read my morning book, Jesus Calling, and it was about how God loves us more than we can imagine, regardless of our performance. It even said 'We are His Masterpieces' . . . a work created magnificantly.

I don't know about you readers, but I know that DAILY I fall short from being a perfect person. In fact, I am often really down on myself for some of the selfish decisions I make. But this was reminding me that NONE of that mattered when it comes to God's radiant love. The book said my responsibility was only to be receptive to His unconditional love, regardless of my feelings or behavior.

Of course my thought's went right to my new 'masterpiece' . . . it's new placement being in a spot where it is highlighted. And old-decaying-falling apart-rusty-garbage-bound-gate, NOW a masterpiece (in my opinion) displayed in the prime spot of my home. I thought about my excitement of 'finding' and 'claiming' and preparing, and valuing this gate. My desire to show others and share my joy!

And God was showing me He knows the feeling, Pride in His Masterpiece. Humbling.

PS: I will of course post the photo once I get it complete!

Unexpected Weather

Just like checking the weather report in the morning, I check the 'mood' of my son, Jake, who is 4. Unfortunately today, it was one of those 'weather reports' that you can't trust. It was just like looking out the window and seeing blue skies, sunshine . . . Jake woke up singing and smiling at 6:30. Then, he fell back asleep after coming into our bed. We snuggled - ie - enjoyed the weather report and planned for the sunny day! So I got up, began moving, smiling, making coffee, reading, and then I heard the thunder. It came from upstairs, in my room. It was more like a crack of lightening and thunder. It screamed, "I want Chocolate Milk!" "From Mommy!"

Uh Oh! Clouds are blowing in from nowhere! Where did these come from? It was blue skies a few minutes ago. Let's just wait out the storm, hopefully it will pass quickly.

"Hey Buddy! Are you just waking up?" I say in my sing-songy voice.

"I WANT CHOCOLATE MILK!" Jake says in his thunderous voice.

"Ok, can you ask nicely?" I say, in my sunshine-and-blue-sky voice.

"I WANT CHOCOLATE MILK!" He screams in his dark-cloud-no-chance-of-clouds-breaking voice.

"I'm not going to get it if you don't ask nicely," I say in my, Crap!-the-weather-man-is-wrong-again! voice.

Then, a tornado came through, and I can't tell you what happened because I lost my footing. But luckily, after that passed, the rest of the day was the calm after the storm.

Hopefully, tomorrow, regardless of the weather report, there are no tornados expected!

My break ends, His begins!

If you could see me now, you see me slumped down in a chair by the train table at the library. Once again, it's another beautiful November day, but my boy wanted to come here to read books. What an intelligent and gifted child to beg to go to the library at age 4! Yeah, the truth is that he hasn't touched a book since we got here. Becuase his sole purpose was to play with the trains. My sole purpose was to slump in this chair as long as I could. He's actually yelling me he wants to leave, his 15 minute attention span is over. But I'm not leaving! It is quiet here. Since it so nice outside, I haven't seen one other patron here at all. Big yawn. I wonder what these librarians think of me sitting here (lying here really) oh well, if they are moms, they get it. I remember my mom taking me to the library all the time. To read. To write. To participate in library activities. I'm guessing her goal wasn't ever to get rest, but I could be wrong. Well, now he's more than ready to leave. Guess my break is over!

The photo? Jake-on the way home. Guess his break is just beginning!

Beautiful Day

It is an absolutely perfect day . . . Sunday afternoon, warm, sunny, slight breeze - just enough to make the day interesting. Every creature in the home is happy. Except Tiger, our cat, who attempted to bring in a new playmate, a chipmunk. We dashed his plan pretty quickly. Hudson and Tiger (both cats) had a sweet little wrestling match, and Sammy (dog) even tried to get in on it, which they didn't allow.

Anyway, beautiful day, and I am still in my PJ's, lying in bed, obviously blogging. Why am I in bed? I think my 90-miles-per-hour recent lifestyle gotten the best of me. OK, 90-miles is probably an exaggeration. But for an almost 40-year-old mother of three, our perspective is different. My 90-miles-an-hour last week includes working Monday morning, beginning to prepare for my Colonoscopy, shopping, cleaning, and packing for my retreat, continuing to prepare for my Colonoscopy (no need to describe this!). Then Tuesday morning, having a Colonoscopy (which I got a perfect report in case you are interested), then packing up, picking up my colleague and great friend, Renee - yes, I did drive shortly after the Colonoscopy, but the anesthesia was pretty worn off. Anyway, Renee drove up to Alpena, which is where I am from, and we spent a couple hours with my Best Friend from childhood, Heather, and her baby (my God-daughter) Julianna. From that late night, we had planned on staying with my parents and busting out at the crack of dawn for Mackinaw Island where the retreat was. But of course, we slept a little later than we thought. And THEN, Renee started asking questions about my parents antiques and treasures. And they started showing her, one by one . . . Let me just say that on that morning, I think my parents may have been wishing that Renee was their daughter instead of me!

So we get to the Island, rush to the Grand Hotel, where my tiredness catches up with me and I request to stop all activities to take a short nap. Five minutes into the process of TRYING to nap, my phone rings and we are up and at em. I can't complain here, however, because I got to go shopping without children around me. Realized (again) that shopping without children is an enjoyable and financially dangerous activity! But-everything was on sale b/c the shops were all closing for the winter. Exhaused, we hiked ourselves and our bags back to the Grand Hotel to prepare for the dinner, which you were supposed to look nice and be dressed semi-formally. If you know anything about me, my idea of dressed up is wearing a nice pair of jeans . . . including the fashionable holes! Luckily, I had found (and of course purchased) three long skirts while shopping. So now in total, I own three skirts! As we were walking down to the dining area, I commented to Renee about how I was feeling totally anti-social. Here I am with hundrends of Christian women at this retreat, a wonderful opportunity to enjoy socializing, and I am cranky, tired, and don't even feel like making eye-contact! To top it off, as we go into the dining room, I realize we don't even get our own table. We have to sit with 'other' people. UGH! Must Socialize. Kim, another colleage/great friend, and her mom (now a valued friend too!) were with us, so we sat in the middle of an 8-seater. I'm sure the Grand Hotel, in all of it's fancy grandness, has another name for this table, anyway . . . I sit next to two people whom I don't know. I'm thinking "Great. I have to be nice, we are at a Christian event after all." Well, by the end of dinner, I think my original friends were annoyed with me and feeling ignored. All I did was BLAH BLAH BLAH to these people, who were very fun and social! I guess my other personality popped forth just when I needed her.

So the next day was the retreat. I felt pretty alert in the morning - how can you not be when you are listening to a man speak who died in a car accident, went to Heaven, and then was brought back after 90 minutes! But in the afternoon two sessions, this is embarassing to admit, I literally fell asleep sitting straight up in an uncomfortable chair! This happened two different times. I had eyes open one second, and the next I was being jerked back by the head bob. That NEVER happens to me, except at children's movies, like last week at the owl movie. So I should have known a body break down was on it's way.

To get to the point . . . I finally did get sick, just a fever, but enough to put me in bed. And I'm still recovering today. I had to cancel two functions today, pluse churc, all of which I really wanted to attend. The lesson? Even though it's all good stuff, too much is too much. I could be outside enjoying my chilren right now.

Back to the basics for me. I'm simplifying. Once I get through the neighborhood party that I have to plan for next weekend, Oh, and the staff training I am hosting the following week, oh and the Brownie meeting next Thursday . . .

Burst Back Into Reality

So a lot of you know that I was in Texas for a training for PsychoDrama (I know, sounds scary.) At the beginning of the 4-day-stay, I was whining a little about having to sleep in a trailer that didn't have running water. Not to mention that I had to sleep in the small be in the kitchen of the camper while my roomie got a luxorious bedroom with queen bed to herself. My thought? She is 20 years older than me, so she automatically gets the upgrade. Plus she moved right in to the full bath (ok, it was 1 foot by 1 foot), and even though there was no water, women need their primping space. I hold no resentments though, she paid for the 3 bean nachos I had for dinner. Thanks Lori!

Anyway, I came to love my little spot in the camper. I was able to sleep through the night each night - four in a row. That is unheard of for me in these last 10 years of my life. Between having to share a bed and children occasionally wondering in my bedroom, to dog barking randomly . . . . I rarely get a whole night's sleep.
I was excited to sleep in my own be at 1:30 in the morning when I got home from my trip, but I was less than thrilled when I woke up at 5:30 with young visitors. Jordan and Julia had been sick while I was gone, so I kept them home for a day of recovery. For all of us. I heard Jordan on the phone talking to Chris around 6pm, "Yeah, Mom is still in her pajamas." Guess it's been too long since we had a PJ Day.

Day 2? Woke up at 5:30 to Jacob . . . sick. So now, 12:30pm - Still in PJ's. Actually still in bed because I need to monitor Jacob. Wah Wah Welcome home Mom!

My date with two Boys

Today, I CHOSE to bring my son Jacob and his best buddy, Brooks, (both 4)
to the mall. Now, those of you who really know me are wondering why I would punish myself like that! My answer to that is "because it is Wild Wednesday at Jeepers!" All day riding for only $5 per kid.

The best part? Moms ride for free!!!!

So today was my first whirl on the bumper cars. I'm wondering, do other moms feel when they get on bumper cars like they want to DESTROY the other cars? I'm thinking that either I've had too much caffiene today, OR I have some pent up aggression. I was always competitive, but competing against 4-yr-olds doesn't seem like it should be that exciting.

Next stop? The massive play structure. My son would not go to the highest level
with me, you know, the one with the twisty slide that gives you static electricity that is actually painful. Luckily, Brooks would go there with me so I didn't look like a total idiot.

Then, while I was chatting with a distraught friend on the phone (while of course keeping my eyes on two active boys in the play land)-quick prayer of thanks that Women really can multiple-task! I had to interrupt my friend to correct another mother. That's right. See, she had been disciplining her toddler son from 'beating' on the cushy banana while my boys laid motionless on the banana. She was reprimanding him, so I intervened to fill her in that they were playing
Dead Lion. Her son was playing the role of lion whisperer and trying to wake the lions! When I got back on the phone, my friend was cracking up about how we, as moms, go from a serious heart conversation, to handling a dead lion issue, and back to serious-all in one breath!

Anyway, I won't bore you with the details of the other rides and activities, but I will say that this was one of the better days I've had lately.

Who would've thought!

Now I want a Pony!

I've been accused of having too many pets. In fact, I'm worried because there is a new show on TV about Pet Hoarding. At the end of the show, there is a statement posted that says that if you know someone who has more pets than they can take care of, please call 1800-555-whatever.

I'm actually concerned that someday, these people will show up at my door with cameras. Oh, I just thought of a plan! I'll send them to Tenessee where my birth mom, Beverly lives. She collects dogs and is worse than me (I think.) Anyway, I do come by it naturally. Plus, I blame all these pets on my daughter, Jordan. She's an animal freak and I have had difficulty in the past saying 'no' to her.

I'm way off the point. Last night was Octoberfest in Downtown Rochester. I had worked all day, seeing clients with real problems, and actually felt depressed by the end of the day. But we had plans to go out with our friends to Octoberfest, which should be named "Survive in a big sweaty tent with tons of people, and pay loads of cash for rubbery hot dogs, good beer, and cheap wine." Oh, and enjoy the German dancers who look like they are having NO fun! Again, I'm off the point.

The best part of the evening was being outside at the kids activities, where we also spent tons of 'tickets'. My little Jacob was going through the big kids bounce house obstacle course like any other big kid out there! As I watched, I had tears in my eyes: I was shouting to people on the inside to help him out, (there were tall climbing challenges) but Jacob was refusing HELP. Wonder where he gets that! My middle child - of course I haven't mentioned her because she is my middle child - she was walking around picking grass to feed the goats because I refused to pay $1 for feed. And my oldest, Jordan, was stuck like glue to the animals she could pet. Again, the goats. She also wanted to play games, but by the time we were there, the prizes were gone. The adults were trying to blow the rest of the tickes so we could go home to bed . . . so we were pushing the pony rides, a big ticket blower. Well, Jordan, my animal lover, is also nervous to do new things. She was reluctant to get on the pony (or the dance floor for that matter) even though her best friend was physically dragging her by the arm. I decided, "Why try to make her do it, I'll just ride the pony!" I began to beg her for the tickets . . . .she didn't like that idea either. But finally, after realizing there were no other options, she gave in and handed me the tickets.

Long story way too long, in the end, she got on the pony, and I was right beside her. And then, the pony guy could see the joy in my eyes, and he let me hop on a pony too! A freshly bathed in WISK detergent pony! So cute and soft and fluffy! Who is the child here?

I want a pony!

Go Figure

So, my husband is out tonight with friends. Which is actually something we do really well together, I mean, support each other to go out with friends and have time away from family. The problem is that we usually don't go out together! Anyway, that will be another post.

Tonight, of all nights, I get this bug to make home-made Chinese food. This is only strange because I don't recall EVER making Chinese. In fact, the only time my family eats Chinese is when I go out of town!

Once, when I was preparing to leave town for work, I asked my oldest daughter, Jordan, if she liked it when I leave town. She said, "Yes, because we get Chinese food and doughnuts. But when it comes time for you to go, I never want you to leave." Its horrible that food is such a drug!

Anyway, today, I received my shipment of Wildtree - which - if you don't know, is all natural food products that are AWESOME! In my attempt to be a better wife (which backfired this evening) I ordered some Thai Sesame Sun Butter Sauce and some Kickin' Asian Stir-Fry Sauce. All natural, blah blah blah. (I'm a health addict, for those of you who don't know me.) (Side bar, just because I'm a health addict doesn't mean I'm healthy or totally skinny and in shape, by the way. It just means I always try to feel better by focusing on being healthy.)

Oh My Goodness! All I can say is that the dinner I made was so tasty, I literally walked out my front door and over to my neighbors house to see if they wanted to eat over! I had made so much of this awesome food, and my main Chinese Eater was out with his buds. Well, the neighbors were on their way out to eat, but the wife/mom did come over to sample it. And she did agree that it ROCKED!

So naturally, my children, who eat real Chinese every time I go away, well, they really didn't like it at all. And my hubby wasn't home to eat it. So I reveled in it myself!

The lesson? Once again, I'm not sure if there is one. And now I have to go because my kids are asking for snacks (b/c they are starving from their taking only three bites of dinner). Surely my husband is about to walk in the door asking for dinner - anything but Chinese!

So What If I'm Weird!

So, in my quest for better health, which, by the way, is an on-again-off-again love affair for me, I just went for a run. If you can call it that . . . .because I took my unruly dog with me, along with my 4-yr-old son. Of course my son, Jacob, was riding his bike. But his bike had a flat tire. Why not just fill the tire? Yeah. I did. But within moments, apparently it was losing air. It would be no biggie, except that the weak tire causes Jacob to have difficulty starting because the back tire spins out. My first thought was, I'll push to get him started, and then he can just keep going. Wrong again. Try getting a 4-yr-old to keep going. Not possible because there are weeds to check out, paths that need to be taken, and hills that need to be climbed. I thought we lived in a flat neighborhood with no hills. That was, until I tried to get the 4-yr-old boy to ride along with a flat tire. That's when I realized the whole neighborhood is one subtle hill!

So between stopping and starting, and attempting to keep space between me and the dog, and the dog and the boy who was all over the road, I think I probably got a 12 minute semi-jog in today. Just in time for a Friday evening glass of wine!

The lesson? Not sure there is one here, except to think twice before I try to go for a simple run. Because when you are a mom, not many things are simple. And certainly when they are, it's only because it is an unexpected bonus, not because you had any control at all!

One more thing, as I was running, (ok, doing my circus act around the neighborhool) a few boys were playing in a wooded area. As we ran by, they popped out of the bushed and yelled, "Hey! You're weird!" Although I am usually a non-confrontive, peaceful, forgive & forget, it's all good type of person (at least "I" see myself that way!) something came over me. Maybe it was a much needed hormonal surge . . . anyway, I turned around . . . I continued to jog in place, not sure why, it's not like my heart rate was really up . . . and I yelled "Excuse me?" The boys yelled "You're weird!" I said, "What did you say?" They yelled again, "You're weird!" I'm sure they were thinking that I had a major hearing problem by this point. So I took a deep breath, preparing to talk about how name calling is inappropriate, but they ducked back into the bushes. I guess it was their way of saying "Talk to the Bush!." So I turned to resume my vigorous exercise. Then, I heard a door close, and saw a man walking out of his garage at the house near the woods. He was on the phone, but I was on a mission to tell somebody that name calling is inappropriate! I gave him the hand signal for "are you on the phone?" You know, the finger in the ear and thumb to mouth, as I jogged in place to keep the heart rate activated. He nodded yes, but said, "What's up?" He had to be wondering who the heck I was and why was I speaking in sign language to him as I hopped up and down from one foot to another. I said "Are those your boys over there?" He said, non-committally, "Probably. Why?" I reported "They called us weirdo's as we went by." Now, at this moment, I felt like the nerdy tattle-tale kid who can't take care of herself. Ugh, how do I get out of this looking like an adult?!? I wasn't quite prepared for what happened next . . . he yelled over to the boys, "Hey, these people aren't weird, they are nice people!" He chuckled like a jokester, seemingly totally not concerned with his kids behavior. Now, I was speachless, and trust me, that doesn't happen often! So I shrugged my shoulders, said "just thought you'd want to know", felt like a loser tattler, and turned my jog back in the direction of Jacob. One last chance to make my point: I said, "Jake, name calling is inappropriate. That wasn't nice of them, was it." He said, "No mom, come on, let's go!"

All was not lost. Lesson? I had forgotten what our children go through, more-so, how it feels for them to be called names, etc. When my kids tell me that someone teased them, I do always try to listen and validate their feelings. But half the time, I'm also making dinner, folding clothes, or doing whatever. Next time they are picked on by someone, and they come to tell me their story, I will pay closer attention and remember what it's like to be called a weirdo - repeatedly.

Distracting Myself

There are at least a million other things I should be doing right now, starting with preparing for curriculum night, which begins in less than one hour. Not only do I have to ditch the yoga pants and look presentable, I have to man . . . I mean 'woman' a table for recruiting volunteers for Girl Scouting. Do you think I have all that stuff together? Like any good fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants personality, I have done nothing to get ready. But I will show up!

I just figured that my life is so important, millions of people simply need to hear what I have to say. The time to start a blog is NOW! So, more on that later, since my daughter is begging me for help with a project that is due in, yeah, less than one hour!