You win some, you win some?

I was recently surprised with this Kretiv Blogger award from Two Toddlers and Me . This site is one of my newly discovered blogs, but one I enjoy very much. Check it out for some great reads!
Now the rules for this award are:
1. Thank the person who awarded you.
check
2. Copy and paste the logo into your blog.
check
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
check
4. List 7 things about yourself that readers might not know.
che... Ooh. Well let's see.

My 7 unknowns are:

1. I was painfully shy all through school-but I changed in college. (There's no going back now!)

2. I was what my husband refers to as a band geek in high school.

3. I once loathed any exercise that caused a sweat.

(Changed that too!)

4. I hate spiders and anything that can crawl or slither faster than I can move, but after the initial scream, I feel badly about them and I either bravely scoop them up with a tissue and toss them outside, or I get one of my kids to do it.

(Yes, I know-they probably turn and head right back in, but I feel like such a good guy when I spare their lives!)

5. I do not feel the same for ants or flies. I can kill them on the spot!

 

6. I am a sucker when it coms to sappy movies. I actually feel cleansed somehow after crying my eyes out during one. (Plus, no matter how many times I may have seen the movie, I cry in all the same places!)

7. I always wanted to learn how to tap dance, but since I have two left feet, that may never be possible...

I am also supposed to get a list together of 7 other Kreativ blogs, but that will have to wait for another post-I need to rescue my son's stuffed snake. The dog decided he wanted to see what made the thing fluffy so I am off to do an emergency "snakedectomy" so my son doesn't find out. (It's been a long week and it's only Tuesday!) Thanks again 2 Toddlers and Me!

Best Laid Plans...

I am excited to report that I am a happy mommy today after getting some much needed time alone in, you guessed it, a mall. I bought more than a few new things for myself, thanks to some handy plastic, but relax because I actually have credit on this card thanks to some miscommunication with my husband. We both mistakenly paid the last bill so I was really shopping with “found” money, right? Unfortunately, I went a teensy bit over the card’s credit (at least I think there is a credit... or was that two months ago? Well, at least I know there isn’t a balance-phew, now I feel better!), but I felt entitled because the last time I did any shopping it was for my daughter-she was carrying an armload of stuff to the register while I carried one measly t-shirt. Boy, I still get depressed just thinking about it.

What about some shoes?

Now I also had a few dollars on me because I got paid Friday, so it was off to the shoe stores, because you just can’t enjoy a new outfit wearing old shoes, and I needed them-at least I tried to convince myself it was a need. But since my previous purchase total was still looming in my brain, I ducked into Shoe Depot and Payless in the hopes I could find some attractive but comfortable, and incredibly cheap shoes. I had better luck at Shoe Depot, and though they weren’t as economical as I would have liked, I still thought I made at least one good purchase. (I found a two toned brown patent with a 2 ½ inch heel and I was in love, but I am not sure about its twin-a two toned patent in black and grey. One shoe seems wider in the heel than the other, so sadly, this pair may be going back.)

You get what you pay for

I waltzed into Payless, and couldn’t have been happier when the sales lady announced the buy one pair and get the other half off. I was only looking for a brown wedge to replace the one the dog chewed up, but if I could get two pairs, it was like Christmas-see my logic when it comes to my love of shoes? I found a rather plain but still attractive fake leather-is that what they call “pleather”– wedge that was pretty comfortable, so it was time to find my bonus shoe. I picked a black patent flat with silver loop buckles, and after paying for my two-but really one-purchase, I believed all was right with the world, until I got home. I anxiously tried on my patent flat for my daughter so that she too could “ooh,” and “ah,” but when I started walking around, I heard this strange squeaking and it was coming from my feet! My daughter said, laughing, “Mommy, your shoes are farting!” Very ladylike, I know, but she was sort of right in her observation because it did sound like my very cost-effective pleather shoes were, well, you know. So let’s do some simple math-4 pairs minus 2 pairs leaves only two lovely new shoes, although suddenly I am not so crazy about the plain brown wedge...

At least you'll get that chick flick movie

I grabbed a quick shuteye before it was time to get dinner started and get ready for the Homecoming dance. The kids were thankfully preoccupied, and so was hubby, so I collapsed on the couch hoping for about 20 minutes of non-interruption, but my daughter had other ideas. “Mom,” she whispered so loudly that it was almost not a whisper, and she did it inside my ear! “What?” I answered without opening my eyes with the hopes that this little intruder would realize that she was disturbing me, but it didn’t work. “You know, you took me to your Homecoming dance last year.” Oops, I completely forgot how much my daughter had enjoyed getting all dolled up and accompanying me last year while I snapped some shots. She loves seeing all the “big girls” in their pretty dresses -pretty skimpy dresses if you ask me, but anything goes (almost) at Homecoming- and I think helping me makes her feel pretty important, so I had a dilemma. If I took her I could get my shots, get her back home, change, and still meet my young teacher friend back at the school. (We only live 15 minutes away...) So I agreed and looked forward to spending some quality time with just my daughter.

Best Laid Plans go awry,

After dinner and a quick shower, I started wondering why I hadn’t heard from my young teacher friend all weekend, and why she hadn’t said anything to me before she left school on Friday. The last time we had talked about our plans for Saturday night was Thursday, and I was still pretty wishy washy about the whole thing-remember my blog? But what I didn’t tell you was that she had been hinting around about me actually staying the whole night (margaritas were also discussed so I was tempted)-she was pretty freaked out in her house without her fiancé-but I thought that a night thing was a bit much, so I suggested just a late night movie instead. Now that I think about it, I don’t know if she really liked the idea or not. I was curious about what her reaction would be to having my daughter along, and I decided to keep quiet about our plans.

I am not sure if she was upset or not when she saw me with my daughter, but I didn’t care because my daughter was so excited, and I was really having a good time with her. I did finally approach my young friend when I saw her by herself, and I explained that I was going to drop my daughter off then change, and I wanted to know if we were still on for that movie. Well, she said if she called me before 9 it was still on, (there were family things she needed to take care of), but otherwise... I let her off the hook and said that we could do this again some other time, and she agreed, but as I walked away, I was more than a little disappointed. I expressed my disappointment to my husband later that evening as we were hovering over the pictures I had taken, and he reassured me that my friend might have been disappointed as well, and it wouldn’t be long before we moved passed this. Sometimes men can say the right thing.

maybe...

I thought I missed something Saturday night, but as I write this I am remembering the look on my daughter’s face as she watched the parade of fashions go by, and how she held my hand tightly as we made our way through the throngs of (at least to her) giants, and about how nice it was to hold her hand since I do so little of it anymore. I remember kissing her forehead and leaving a rather large lipstick smudge that she quickly worked at removing, but she still held onto my hand. She wants to be a big girl and a little girl all at the same time, and I now understand this after Saturday night-I didn’t miss a thing.

Here Sits a Guilty Mommy

I am sitting here contemplating the “me” time I will be having tomorrow, and to be honest, I am feeling more than a little guilty. I am finally going to get my shopping trip while my daughter is at practice tomorrow, and as the school’s photographer (one of my many extra duties) I will be attending our school’s Homecoming dance to snap a few shots of the king, queen, court, etc. A teacher friend of mine will also be there serving as a chaperone, and when her two-hour sentence is up we are going to head over to her house for a late night chic flick! (Her fiancé is out of town, so she decided to spend all her free time this weekend with her friends.)

So what's the problem?

I am worried about a few things though. The friendships I have formed with non-moms never seem to last because they just don’t seem to understand how motherhood changes everything. I mean it affects how you think about situations-that mommy radar is always on- and the fact is, you need to be where your kids are in order to be involved in their lives. There is no “spur of the moment” dash anywhere, as all events must be carefully planned and synchronized, and mothers instinctively understand this.

And?

I also worry about our age difference because even though I have many friends (especially co-worker friends) who are older than me a good 10-15 years, I am fourteen years older than her, so it feels different, and there’s something weird about all this. See I feel young around my older friends, and even though I feel I don’t look-or heavens act-my age, I can’t help feeling old around her.

She’s wearing all the latest fashions while my fashions are a couple years old (I’ve got to get to that mall!), she’s planning her spring wedding while I’m planning doctor and dentist visits, and even though our personalities seem to click, I can’t help but wonder if I should be acting my age.

We are finally going to get together sans kids (she has been over my house three times but I have never been to hers), but the truth is, I don’t know if I can hold out that long! By the time we leave the dance it will be around 9:00 p.m., my usual wind down time, and I probably won’t get home until around midnight, and this mom is going to be tired.

And guilty…the bedtime ritual is pretty important to me, plus since I work, my weekends almost always revolve around my kids. The tired feeling will probably snowball into Sunday, and a tired mommy isn’t a good thing.

Why do I feel so weird?

I am almost tempted to call this off, but even though I have a lot of “all-purpose” friends, I have few that I consider to be close, and I have turned to her more this past summer than any other friend. I just hope I have the nerve… So, until tomorrow, “Here’s looking at you kid.” I always wanted to use that line…

Check out these sites

I am very behind on my listing of 15 great new blogger sites that win the lovely blog award, but better late than never I always say. Now remember, you need to do the passing as well (I will spare you the list if you received this award recently...) So here they are:

Check out Widge at My Guide to Surviving and Enjoying Life's Mundane. Widge is from New Zealand and she found and followed my site first. I connected to hers and was more than pleasantly surprised. For one, her site is beutiful, and her posts contain a mixture of topics all moms would find interesting, so go check her site out.

Katie from Ladybug Mama of 2 has more than a few followers. In fact, I think it is over 100, but don't let that stop you from stopping by her site. Her posts vary from heartfelt sentiments to fun, family centered topics you might enjoy.

Katie from Savvy Moxie has a truckload of good advice and money saving tips. Check out her site.

Check out Two Toddlers and Me for a very attractive site with wonderful posts about being a mommy and some of the every day events that involves.

Land of Mama Grits contains some tear jerking posts as well as mommy tales with a little bit of humor. You will really like her page logo!

Lisa at All that and a Box of Rocks has a very attractive site and is heavily followed. Check out her latest post detailing a very long to-do list.

I have recently been enjoying the posts of September Mom at My Voice My View. You will enjoy the lovely paintings decorating the side of her page, as well as the topics she writes about-some funny, some sad, some in the form of poetry.

Check out things at the The Chic Geek I just stopped by the other day and her sight is full of beautiful pictures and a variety of topics.

Here's another at I've Become My Mother The title alone drew me in and I read a couple funny blog posts.

I also looked at Thoughts of a Smother Mother and enjoyed her last posts.


If you are into give-aways, check out Stacie at The Devine Miss Mommy and a second Stacie at Simply Stacie

And there's one woman whose site offers both giveaways and heart warming reads. Check out (she probably is not a stranger to you), Theta Mom
Here are a few more blogs worth a look:
The Woman Driver at Non Traditional in More Ways Than One
Her other site is Life Domestic
Phew! That was work. Time for bed-5:30 AM rolls around quickly...
(Oh, and I want to thank all of you that stopped and commented on my new design. It means a lot!)

How Not to Go Shopping

Well, I made one of the biggest mistakes a mother can make: I said to my family Friday night that I wanted to go shopping for myself sometime this weekend. Big mistake, and I knew it too as soon as it escaped from my mouth, so I tried to cover myself with a lame, “if I get the chance.” Now those of you new to motherhood may not know that in order to get some alone time in the mall, everything has to be cosmically perfect, and one way to knock the planets out of line is to voice your wish. This has happened to me way too many times for it to be just a coincidence.

Ilness strikes

Everything seemed to be ok, but early - very early- Saturday morning, my son comes in complaining loudly of a sore stomach. Now since we had a pretty early dinner Friday night and the kids didn’t have a snack before bed, I just figured he was hungry, so I fed him. Oh how wrong this was… The only plus in all this is that he finally can get to the toilet-or at least he did that first time. (His small garbage can took a beating the rest of the time and is now sitting on the back porch after I hit it full blast with the hose. I got some back spray in my face, and after gagging profusely-I better not get sick-I started questioning my choice to clean the thing. Don’t they have these in Wal-Mart for only a couple bucks?) I won’t go into too many details, but I will say that when the boy gets sick, he gets sick, and he makes sure everyone knows it. (He is not known for curling up in a ball in his room, quietly suffering-he writhes in pain, with more than a little moaning on the side.) My husband and I were losing patience with this illness by Sunday evening. Strike one.

The weather

Now my husband had also made a proclamation around the same time I mentioned my possible shopping trip. If the weather cooperated, he was going to replace our front door with the one we purchased not too long ago, and maybe get it primed and painted on Sunday. Yippee! Sounds like fun to me-not! How can I complain, though? I was the one who said we needed a new door, and I was the one who was nagging him about putting it up, but the fact is, if he did this chore, I would be involved as well, and I wanted the mall. I was secretly hoping for rain, but weather wishes never come true, and it was warm and sunny all blasted weekend long! And, just as I predicted, I was the "hold it here honey" girl, while he tacked and cut, and got the door in. Strike two.

All the other stuff

In the midst of these two memorable weekend events, I was running my daughter back and forth to practice, and then to Old Navy for a couple clothing exchanges. I also noted that since the weather was so nice and I had to be close to home due to my "hold it here honey" and nursemaind duties, I could hang the laundry out on the line to dry, and then there was painting the door Sunday, and I might as well work on the design of my blog, and we needed whites washed, and groceries…Strike three.

Well the weekend ended, I didn’t get in a shopping trip, and I stayed home with my son today because he still hadn’t really eaten anything other than a banana. I am looking into the future and I see a shopping trip sometime in the days ahead, but this time I will wait until I am in my car heading down the driveway before I shout from an open car window, “Hey,dear, I’m going to make a quick run to the mall.” You just don’t mess with those cosmic forces...

What do you think?

Since I had plenty of "at home time" this weekend, I was determined to finally take the time design a new background, fix my new logo, and customize coloring for my site. Let me know what you think... (Be honest. I was worried that my bubbles in the background may look like pills, so the site "family formula" would have an entirely different meaning, LOL! I may make them molecules instead...  I am also unsure about the outside border.  I wanted blue with a pop of yellow, but things are looking pretty bright.)

By the way, some of you have grab buttons with the html code to go with them. How do I get this on mine? (I have the button.) Thanks a bunch. (New "real" post coming later today.)

A Word Between Friends

Ok, Janie B from Life Not Wasted or Lost offered a chance at a little word play a few days ago where she would provide the words and I could write my feelings pertaining to these words. Take a look...

1. October : This is one of the months (next to Christmas and birthdays that is) that my kids look forward to the most, and truthfully, I have always enjoyed it too. When I was younger, the thought of "being someone or something else," even just for one night, was pretty exciting, and when I was first married, I often dragged my husband to Halloween dances and costume contests. The last time I did this, I was four months pregnant with my daughter, and I was a corpse in a casket with my husband as a gravedigger. We won first place in one contest and third in another, and this is something I want to get back to when my kids are older and don't want to spend time with old mom and dad.

2. computers: I have a love/hate relationship with technology. On the one hand, as a computer science teacher, I love what technology can do and I often find myself comparing new technology "toys" with my students. But when something doesn't work, it just about drives me crazy, and when it comes to computer problems here at home, I am the one who has to keep things running. (My kids got a virus in their computer and I was up until around 1:00 trying to keep from having to reformat the hard drive. Well, long story short, I fixed their computer, but I felt I never left work.)
I also know that too much of even a good thing can be detrimental, and I know some of my students stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing all these tech games. Lack of sleep = poor performance = poor health = poor personal relationships. (Unfortunately, I do this as well, like when I was working on my new blog logo and site appearance-and I am still not satisfied with it...)

3. parenting : I would like to say that I have this parent thing mastered, but everyone would know I was lying. I checked out a video that Heather at Theta Mom had on her site about some mothers being alpha or beta, but I don't like labels especially when it comes to what kind of mother you are, just like I feel that not everything in the world is black or white. There are many in-betweens, and I think I am one of those mothers. I feel strongly about some things when it comes to my kids, but there are other times that I take more of a laid back approach with situations that I don't think are dire. Just take one thing at a time, right?

4. holidays:  Holidays with a family, especially a family with small children, are wonderful, and my husband and I go all out to make things magical. Since my daughter is beginning to out-grow some of the childhood fantasies such as the Easter Bunny and unfortunately the tooth fairy too (I had to fess up recently after she saw her tooth sitting in a glass on my night stand-ok, I know it's gross, but I didn't want to save a bloody tooth, and I forgot about it. I think Sarah at Mommy Lite jinxed me because I haven't messed up a tooth pickup in a while... Check out her site for some cute tooth fairy stories!)

Santa Clause is now in danger so last year we really freaked my daughter out. I got some bells, and my husband grabbed my exercise ball (finally it was good for something other than sitting in a corner), and come midnight my husband jingled the bells outside the kids windows while at the same time tossing the ball on the roof. He did pretty good until he threw the ball with a little too much gusto and it bounced pretty rapidly along the length of the roof and off the other side where it continued to roll to the street. He took off as fast as he could because it was heading in the direction of a passing motorist! The ball was saved, my daughter described how she heard Santa's sleight skidding on the rooftop, and my son heard nothing-he slept through the whole thing. (Oh well, there's always next year!)

5. popcorn:  Well, what's not to like about popcorn? I buy this in bulk because it's the favorite snack for our movie nights. I only wish that our microwave wasn't so unpredictable. I can't just plunk the bag down and wait for the timer. Too many batches of scorched popcorn (yes, it took more than one scorching-I'm not a quick learner) taught me this fact, and because of all the starving people in India (at least this is what my mother told me when I was younger) I can't just chuck the bag and get out another. I try to pick through the burnt kernels and salvage what I can. (Notice I said I not we-I pop everyone else another bag. I can be weird sometimes...)

Now Janie, how did I do with my first homework assignment? I really enjoyed this exercise, and I hope everyone else did too.