Maybe This Is The Reason Why We Moved

Today my small group was talking about ways to renew ourselves physically, emotionally, & spiritually.  Over the last 7 months I’ve really struggled with the emotional renewal as one of my biggest outlets, Mom’s Night, has disappeared.

I loved Mom’s Night.  One night a month, we would gather at a local restaurant, sans kids & hubby’s, to eat & laugh & relax.  Sometimes we’d extend the night with a trip to DQ, other times we’d all run our Walmart errands together.  Once we did a mass grocery shopping trip.  Of course, a lot of times we wouldn’t leave the restaurant until really late so there was no time for the ‘after party’ errands.  For me, it was always a wonderful opportunity to leave my responsibilities at home & be off the clock.

When I mentioned this today, more than a few people looked at me like I had 2 heads.  A lot of the woman just don’t do that.  Taking time for themselves feels wrong so they don’t do it.  Or they feel guilt about not spending that time with their spouse.

During the conversation I discovered  two things;  my purpose in this move – introducing a new set of woman to the joys of leaving it all behind, at least for an evening, & that I have a really great husband who has never balked at Mom’s Night & has always encouraged me to take time for myself.

There was definite interest in getting out.  We’ll see if we can manage to drag the most reluctant along & go out more than once.

K~

 

 

My Buttomous Hurts Alotomous

It’s now 2 days post workout & I am still hurts-to-climb-stairs-&-sit-in-a-chair sore.  I have no idea where the Monday aerobics instructor gets her sadistic workouts, but OUCH!

Tuesday was awesome.  Tova & I had no scheduled plans so we spent the morning curled up on the couch reading books & watching a little tv.  We went on a leisurely search for Gavin’s birthday present & had a nice lunch followed by a 2hr nap.  A school day doesn’t get much better than that.

After school the kids had a snack & we headed out to go costume shopping.  Toys R us had a decent sale & everyone is happy except for Tova who doesn’t like the boys Star Wars costumes.  The other purpose for our trip was to spend the birthday money that was burning a hole in Ethan’s pocket.  He has talked about nothing but the AT-TE Walker for a week now.  He was able to pay for it all by himself & was over the top excited to finally have the box in hand.

He didn’t have much time to build last night & I had to shoo him back to bed at 5:20 this morning.  I think he snuck out of bed around 6:30, dressed, ate breakfast, & emptied the dishwasher so I’d have no arguments.  What a nut.

I generally hate shopping by myself with all 3 kids.  Usually I spend our time out & about feeling like I am herding cats.  Yesterday was actually fun.  Toys R Us was laid out so the Lego’s & the Playmobil, the boys two favorite things, were right next to each other.  For supper we ate at Fazoli’s.  It’s not my favorite place to eat but wow, the service was excellent!  The counter staff was super friendly & helpful.  It was an absolute pleasure to eat there.  Ethan was so excited he even told one of the workers that this was his favorite dining experience in all of Metropolis.  He didn’t phrase exactly like that, but I was impressed he felt compelled to say something.  He’s not usually one to do that.

The evening ended with me getting an Ugly Cry headache.  The Biggest Loser usually makes me a little weepy but, sheesh, last night was tough!  Good thing Jason wasn’t here to make fun of me…

K~

I Hope You Like Bullets

Even though Jason was home most of the weekend, he still wanted a blog post so he knows what’s going on around here.

My life in Bullets:

• The Proposal was better than The Hangover or Year One, but not by much.  At least is was sweet & had no gratuitous crotch clobbering
• The laptop is sort of not working.  It probably needs to have a bunch of stuff moved off it to the external hard drive but that is safely locked in The Safe Which Cannot Be Opened.
• Don’t buy a Honeydeepplacewhereyoudrawwater firesafe with an electronic keypad.  It eats batteries & when it dies, it dies.
• On the other hand, if you are a burglar, a Beenectarwell with an electronic keypad can be opened with a drill.  You have no idea how reassuring that is…
• I hate typing on the desktop.  The keys are too soft & are at an angle.
• I need a recipe for Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup.  There’s a restaurant here that serves it on Thursday’s & I should probably learn to make it instead of going broke buying it by the gallon.
• I’m really looking forward to Tuesday – no MOPS, no volunteer workshop at school, no class at the Y;  Tova & I might just stay home.
• Ethan is very patiently waiting for his aunt (*ahem* Jenny) to get her check in the mail so he can buy his ridiculously expensive Lego Star Wars thing.  He’s very cute about it.  Whenever he talks about his future purchase, he always phrases it “If I get any more birthday money, but I’m pretty sure Jenny said she was sending me some…”
• I was looking at ESPN The Magazine’s Naked People Edition & Tova was reading over my shoulder & singled out Adrian Peterson.  Peterson, as he’s known around here, (he even has 2 Mii’s, one is a righty & one is a lefty) was moderately dressed.
• Jason is very proud.  Not that Peterson was dressed, that Tova knew him by sight.
• I’ve decided to paint the trim in our house.  Yes, I realize it’ll probably take me a year & yes I’ll be sick of the project in a week, but it needs to be done.  The house looks so dingy & beat up, I think fresh trim paint will go a long way.
• I keep seeing more & more Rural City people at Target here in Metropolis.  A friend said that always happened to her at about 6 months post move.  Today it was you Jen E.  I have no idea why you didn’t say hi
• Facebook’s Visual Bookshelf recommended Somebody Else’s Daughter.  I read the whole thing but it was not enjoyable.  The author tried to pack way too much stuff in the book & didn’t cover any of it well or make me care for the characters at all.  I finished it but only because I hate to leave books unfinished.
• Tova’s bedtime routine now consists of a story with milk, prayers, a song (I’ll post a video of her singing it later), tucking in, & now counting to 10.
• She can also skip, just not in her bed.
• Gavin has impetigo & yes, I’ve been sending him to school all week with it, because I thought he was getting Kindergarten acne.
• I fully expect to start some sort of epidemic at the boy’s school.  We tried Hand Foot & Mouth earlier this month & we hoped to introduce the plague that has ravaged the Rural City schools, but that didn’t take, so we moved on to Impetigo.  After that, it’ll be strep or pink eye.  We haven’t had those yet this year.

How was that J?  Are you caught up now?

K~

Art or Mess II

I'm so glad I have my own bathroom

How is it a toothpaste pump can be so unbelievably messy?!  I’ve cleaned toothpaste off the wall, off the rug, off the faucet, & of course, off the sink basin & counter.  That’s to say nothing of their clothes.  Oh well, at least it’s pretty.

K~

Dear Metropolis Swimmers,

I know what you’re thinking.  It’s going to hit the mid 80’s today & it might even be sunny.  The perfect day to head to the pool.  Only could you please avoid Old Mill Pond?  My kids are extremely excited to try Metropolis’ newest pool (which is 5yrs old so not that new) with all the fun waterparkish stuff.  My plan is to leave the house a full hour before Old Mill opens so we have a shot at getting in so please don’t mess it up for me!  I’m trying to be Fun Mom today & it’d be nice for the rest of the city to cooperate with my lofty goal.  I hear there are lots of pools in Metropolis & maybe you could go to one of those today?

Thanks,

K~

5 People, 1 Mid-sized Truck, The Smallest 5th Wheel Made, & 8 Days.

That’s right.  It’s time for VACATION!  For the first time as a family of 5 we will be hitting the open road & camping for a week.  We’re heading to Michigan – both upper & lower.  I’m excited to get away.  I’ve told Jason no work calls or his phone ends up in either Lake Superior, Lake Huron, or Lake Michigan, depending on which body of water we’re closest to when the offending call comes in

As always, our first line of defense is the attack cat.  Because it’s a new house, we had to get a whole new set of curses.  Just so you’re aware, the new curses came with an extra nasty set of consequences.

For your reading pleasure, I have written a rebuttal to my first nasty comment.

Enjoy!

~~~~~

While away for my sister’s wedding I had my first bad comment.  I was a little surprised it was on my post about Cartu$, as every other communication I’ve had with people about Cartu$ seem to agree that Cartu$ is a company staffed with people of nominal intelligence & run by people who are just plain evil.

The lone dissenter seems to have found their way to my blog.

The comment is such a gem, I feel the need to take it piece by piece.

First up, the email address & URL.  Can we please come up with something more original than slang for $ex & female body parts?  (I’m not spelling it correctly because I don’t want people who are looking for ’slang for $ex’ to find pics of  my kids).  It’s just so juvenile.  How about something more creative like IloveCartu$@needaspellcheck.com?  See?  That wasn’t so hard.

Onto the comment.

hmmm it seems like someone should learn how to tell a story or blog before they call someone else a moran…

Hmmm.  It seems someone should use a spellcheck before insinuating someone is a ‘moran’.

I checked into Blogging for Dummies & this is their definition of a blog.

Blogs (Web logs) are short, diary-like entries on a Web site that has a chronological, journal format. Fun or informative, but not formal, blogs are easy to set up, maintain, and update. You can share your personal, stream-of-consciousness musings or your expertise on any subject ranging from your family vacation to world peace.

So according to the “Dummies” people, I’m doing okay on my blogging.   But I understand if my blogging style is not for you.  Not everyone will appreciate my wit, humor, & candor.  But I would expect those people to stop reading instead of forcing themselves to do something so unpleasant & unnecessary.

This is the final portion.

what was the point of this story besides bashing a company for no clear cut reason…seems like someone is mad b/c they’re upside down on their mortgage

The point of my story was to give a snippet of info to my readers about what was going on with our relocation & how the misinformation we’d been given was wreaking havoc on us.  I have a clear cut reason for bashing the company.   They made more ‘mistakes’ than one would think would be possible by a company still in business.  As for being mad – you bet I’m mad.  Only not because of mortgage trouble  – & again, can we get a little more creative?  How about I’m mad because a family of rabid raccoons have made their home in the chimney & after smoking them out, we couldn’t get rid of the raccoon pee smell?  That’s much more interesting that being upside-down in a mortgage, don’t you think?

Anyway, yes, I’m mad;  but my reasons are valid.  Too bad you don’t have the password to read all about them!

I’ll tell you what you, Lone Dissenter, should do.  If you are really convinced Cartu$ is such an outstanding company why don’t you hire them to do your next move?  Then you can blog about it & we’ll all enjoy the experience together!  Let me know when you set up that blog, okay?

K~

Things I Heard During My 15 Minutes At Target

• I remember those days.
• Wow, your kid has quite a set of lungs.  I could hear her on the other side of the store!
• Nap time already?

All were said with sympathy, which was nice, as my patience was already stretched pretty thin.

I read a blog post recently which had a great philosophy about parenting.

…A friend once told me she knows God sent her her children because she, for whatever reasons that only He knows, is best equipped to be their mother.  (She is not a self-important person, by the way).  I admire her faith and her self-assurance as a mother (which isn’t to say she never questions herself, but her faith in the fact that God picked her to mother these children because she is good for them helps her through)…

This mom’s belief is very refreshing & one I have been thinking about a lot.  I always feel like my kids are stuck with me, like they somehow were put in the Mediocre Parent line.  But maybe they are mine because something about me is exactly what they need.

So today, when Tova was flipping out because Gavin dared to hold onto the cart as he was instructed, I tried to remember that I was equipped for what she needed.

I still think the kids are ’stuck’ with me for their mom, but maybe, just maybe we were matched together for a reason.

Today I would guess the reason is my many years in Band making me a little hard of hearing…

K~

The Day the Music Died

Or to be more specific.  My headphones.

I really don’t like working out without music.  I have a hard enough time making myself go the way it is & without music to distract me from the burn of the elliptical or weights; well, I’m coming up with lots of excuses to not go.  But my sister’s wedding is in less than a month (hi Jenn!) & I’m wearing a sleeveless dress & I’d like my arms to look a little like they house muscles instead of just flab.

Back to the earphones.  These are what I had.

I liked them well enough until the wiring went bad.  I’ve had them a little over a year – not an impressive lifespan.

I’m trying to find a different set of earphones but am running into a common problem.  It seems most earphones are designed for men.  I have smallish ears, glasses, & thick hair;  most of the ear hooks are quite large.

I need your help.  Do you have a set of earphones that you’d recommend?

My criteria

• A completely adjustable ear hook
• Decent sound quality
• Cheap
• Will stay in the ear during a run

Any suggestions?

K~

Someone let one…

Unfortunately, it was a skunk.  Thankfully the dog wasn’t the cause.

I’m feeling rather uninspired today but I do have a question for you Wii owners.  Have any of you had the Screen of Death yet?

Screen of Death

So far we can’t play Mario Kart, Wii Play, & Wii Sports.  The Wii Fit sometimes works but that’s not really doing it for the boys.  They are missing the racing action.

Any ideas from Bloggy World?

K~

The Dangers of Walking to School

No, not cars.

Or strangers.

Or 5th graders on bikes.

The danger I’m talking about is sidewalks paired with running feet in sandals.

Gavin took a nice spill while ‘walking’ Ethan to school & I had a decision to make.  Gavin’s bleeding from his elbow & his knee & screaming his head off.  Ethan’s halfway to school & I don’ t have anything with me telling me what time it is.

What was I to do?  Hustle them all back to the house, quickly clean Gavin up & then rush everyone into the van for a quick drive to school, hoping we make it before the bell?  Force Gavin to walk the rest of the way there & back with a bleeding elbow & knee, not to mention the wailing?  Or, send Ethan on his merry way & take Gavin home & get him cleaned up?

I sent Ethan on his way.

It was really, really hard to watch him walk away from me.

I know our neighborhood is safe.  There’s a crossing guard & a light at the only major intersection.  There’s usually kids & parents walking along the route too.

But I wasn’t with him.

I refrained from calling the school as soon as I got home to make sure Ethan had arrived.  I also didn’t email his teacher.  I felt like I needed to trust Ethan enough to not check up on him.  It was really hard.  I don’t think my heart dislodged itself from my throat until 9am when I knew the school would have noted his absence.  It felt wrong to let him go on his own, but the kid is 8.5 & was 3 blocks from school in a neighborhood full of kids walking to school.  I suppose at some point I need to trust him enough to do things on his own.  I was hoping to wait until he’s in college but I bet it’ll be harder if I start then…

Ethan wasn’t at all traumatized by his solitary walk.  When we picked him up after school the first thing he asked was if he could walk by himself tomorrow.  HA!  I dont think I can handle the stress!

K~