Counting Your Blessings

It was an epically bad week that began with the ex texting me constantly to remind me how irresponsible I am. (This while I was on a field trip with approximately 100 middle schoolers to an amusement park 3 hours away for a chorus competition.) It ended with my dog being bitten by a copperhead snake in the back yard. (Her face is swollen so badly she looks like a different breed, but she's ok.) Somewhere in the middle were huge setbacks at work. So somewhere around the middle of the week I began feeling sorry for myself. And this morning I sat down to whine it out in my journal. I love writing; it gives me a chance to step back from my whatever drama is taking place in my life and get a little perspective. And this morning was no different. As soon as I started writing about how terrible my life is I remembered an acquaintance who is a teacher telling me this week that one of her former students had committed suicide. He was in 8th grade. She was concerned because one of the boy's friends had my last name. She wanted to know if it could be my son? I remembered how badly my daughter was bullied two years ago and gave thanks that my children are happy and healthy. Then I remembered The Hunger Games. I attempted to read the book a couple of weeks ago. And while it is a fictional story, there are so many children who know that kind of desperation. There are children in our world who have no choice but to kill or be killed. And I gave thanks that I never have to worry about how to feed my children and that they are not exposed to constant violence. And my outlook on the situation changed completely. Yes, I have challenges. But I am infinitely blessed.

Soundtrack of a Slaughter

I'm pretty musically inclined, so when The Boy called out "hotel one" as we played Battleship I thought of " Hotel California". (Obviously) I kept trying to sing it but I sounded so awful I had to have some accompianment to cover the sounds of my joyful noises. So I found a karoake version on my iPod and the lyrics online and set up my own karoake party while my son destroyed my fleet. All I was missing was the adult beverage (although I did sound like I'd had one too many). I may not have given the game my full attention, but I sure had a good time getting slaughtered. (Even had to have The Boy tell me how to spell "slaughtered".)

I Must have Done Something Good

School started yesterday. My oldest started her last year of middle school (Ack! I'm not old enough to have a kid in high school!) and my baby started his last year of elementary school. I was missing the babies, so I helped out with the kindergarten lunch at Junior's school. Aaah, such joy to be needed for little things like opening milk cartons! I stopped by Junior's table on my way out. I try to be respectful of my kids' personal space, I know they're getting older and its their job to learn to be their own people. I asked for permission to give him a kiss. Not only did he grant his permission, he told me that he wouldn't be too old for that kind of stuff until he was 18! Wooohooo! Score one for mama! When he came home from school he said he had to write about what he would do if he were a millionare. When I asked him what he would do with all that money he said "pay off all your debts." Isn't he sweet? Being a mom is a bittersweet job; training your kids to leave you. They bring me so much joy, its worth the pain.

The Joy of Organizing

Have you ever noticed that when you try to organize, it only makes things worse? With T-Minus 1 week to school starting I was feeling the pressure to get something done. So I decided to take the bins out of our storage room and inventory them. I would know where things were! What a brilliant idea! An hour later I'm thinking what the what? How crazy do I have to be to think this was I good idea? I have stuff strewn all over the living room. I'm dangerous when I clean.

If Mama Ain't Happy...

I had this crazy notion that this was going to be the summer I was finally gonna get my stuff together. I was gonna lose twenty pounds, finally get organized and have my home and family running on a schedule that would put Martha Stewart to shame. Summer ends in two weeks and I have done NONE of that stuff! And people, I am in a Panic. I'm an emotional girl anyway, but right now I am one big hot mess! In every household that I know of, the mama is the center of the universe. Everything revolves around her. This is true in our house where my panic state is slowly spreading. One of Ben's favorite sayings is "water off a duck's back" which is generally how he deals with my meltdowns. But even he's getting a little case of the crankies. So, I gues its time to have a sit down with myself and tell me to put on my big girl panties!

Meet the Wonders...

We're sort of a nerdy version of "Modern Family." (Let's pretend I look like Goria.) We like science, especially astronomy, history, Harry Potter (Legos + Harry Potter= epic win), Monty Python, Star Wars, technology and gaming. I'm the mama of the bunch. My partner is Ben (he reminds me of Ben from Gizzly Adams, remember that show?) I have two young Wonders, Buffy (think Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Junior (Junior Asparagus from Veggie Tales). These are our tales from the true final frontier- family life.

One Winter Night..

I admit it...I usually don't take my kids places. On the weekends the lure of computer games is just too much for them to resist. Removing them from the house results in much whining and misery, so I usually don't do it. But tonight we had a break in the cold weather and I insisted we go to the park. After the initial whining everyone had a great time. On the way home the dog yawned in my face and gave me a blast of nasty dog breath. The kids started discussing her habit of eating cat food and came up with the idea of starting their own dog food company. They discussed this idea earnestly; what kind of ingredients should be included (which led to an unpleasant conversation about animal by-products) and whether making canned foods would allow them to provide a fresh product. I was so impressed with their ideas. Now we're back home and they're both sitting on the couch reading while the smell of chicken soup wafts through the air. Mmmm. What a cozy winter night.