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Mother’s Day

  • Posted on May 7, 2010 at 5:36 pm

Happy Mother's Day to those of you who enjoy this holiday!

please, don’t wish me a happy mother’s day.

i don’t like mother’s day.

the first time i felt special on mother’s day was when i was 8 weeks pregnant with my son. as i was exiting a store in the now drowned Opry Mills Mall, a store employee asked me if i was a mother. i said i would be in 7 months, and she handed me a little bag of jelly belly’s and said “Happy Mother’s Day!” i felt special at that moment. i felt the inner glow of life, and despite the stress of the whole situation i was in, for that moment i was happy.

that was the last Mother’s day i enjoyed.

i don’t really remember the Mother’s Day’s after that. we never really celebrated it in my house outside of the quick “Happy Mother’s Day” and a kiss on the cheek. it’s been much the same in my household since i became the recipient of that kiss on the cheek. i like it that way- i’ve always been a sufferer of major holiday blues, and i’d rather not give my depression another excuse to surface. we’ve been pretty good at keeping it low-key so far.

until the year before last.

the year before last, my MIL decided she just had to go shopping on Mother’s Day. she dragged my husband along, and i elected to stay at home with my son. thank goodness i did, because right after dinner, he began vomiting. then my husband caught the bug the next day, and was like that for 3 days straight. it was the worst stomach virus to hit our house in a long time. that stomach bug is the reason why you won’t EVER see me allowing my children to play at the train table in a book store. 24 hours before my son began uncontrollably vomiting, i had let him do just that. my mistake.

fast forward to last year. my entire family was sick. we all had head colds, and my poor infant daughter with a fever of 102 was definitely not the exception. we made it all the way to bed time before she started vomiting. a trip to the doctor’s office the next day showed she had a really bad cold, ear infection, and urinary tract infection.

this year? i’m scared. i’m wondering who’s going to gift me with my annual mother’s day puke fest. i have this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that it’s going to happen a day early- we spent the day at the zoo with the first graders today. tomorrow, my MIL has decided that we’re all going to meet for dinner… my family, and her mother and her husband’s mother. it’s going to be quite a crowd… the perfect setting for a stressful situation.

can i please just hide under a rock until mother’s day is over?

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Earth Day

  • Posted on April 22, 2010 at 12:32 pm

admittedly, i don’t do much to contribute to a healthier environment. i’m the idiot who doesn’t vote partly because my one single stupid vote won’t mean much. (but mostly because, i never know the whole side of issues, and don’t like to take sides without knowing the whole story) i’m the girl runs the water while i’m washing dishes because i hate dirty dishwater, despite knowing it’s raising our water bill. don’t get me wrong- i support a change in our habits to  make our beloved Earth healthier. if a bio-degradable, environmentally-friendly cleaning product that works just as well as bleach AND has a price tag cheaper than the generic brand i buy at Walmart, i’d buy it in a heart beat. but in the end, i go for price tag, not earth friendly.

i do, however, do a few things that could actually be defined as earth friendly. i don’t think you should hold it against me that i….

….cloth diaper because i think they’re really cute. i don’t mind the extra clean up, and i think babies in cloth diapers are absolutely adorable. oh yeah, and they help save the environment. uh…yeah.

…use re-usable shopping bags, when i can. i like to use re-usable shopping bags… the long handles make it easy for me to sling over my shoulders and free up my hands to do exciting things, like carry a baby and open the front door at the same time. you won’t see me using them all the time, though. sometimes i get paper- because i keep the paper bags around the house for school projects and use as package wrapping. sometimes i even get plastic… because rather than waste $$$ buying trash can liners that fit my bathroom trash cans, i use the plastic grocery bags, which fit perfectly. the handles also make them uber-easy to keep in my car so it doesn’t explode with school papers, wrappings, and other things that tend to collect in cars. i’d like to think that by re-using my plastic and paper shopping bags instead of just throwing them away, i’m cutting down on waste. when my supply of paper and plastic is full, i use re-usable… and that’s earth friendly.

…am trying to cut down on power costs by keeping the television off most of the day, turning lights off when they aren’t necessary, and use those special light bulbs that last forever. (or a long time at least) when the power station doesn’t have to work as hard to keep your life full of sunlight and little whirring gadgets, it pumps out less noxious gasses and helps the environment.

…don’t litter. it may sound kind of silly to say “i don’t litter”, but it’s true. i don’t. it really, really pisses me off when i see garbage on the ground, especially at playgrounds. cigarette butts, (which is a disgusting STUPID habit you should stop right now if you’re a smoker) food wrappers, cups, etc… why can’t we just put it in the damn garbage can? or how about carrying around one of those plastic grocery bags in your car so you always have a place to put your trash, other than out the window?  leaving crap on the ground is bad for the environment, unhealthy for us, and just plain ugly. who wants to look at a bunch of garbage on the ground while you’re trying to have a nice family picnic or while driving down a “scenic” highway? who wants to get the vomitous feeling when your toddler proudly hands you a dirty cigarette butt they found on the ground? NOT ME. i don’t litter. it’s just better that way for the environment. although, i will admit that i do throw food… such as fruit and veggie cores, peels and rinds into the back woods. the animals deserve a treat sometimes too.

admittedly, there is a lot more i can do to help the environment. unfortunately, the companies have made it difficult for people living on a moderate income do so. the green cleaning products are too expensive for my budget. recycling in my neighborhood is very expensive, and even reusable shopping bags still cost $$$. (i’ve gotten all of mine for free so far, by catching promotions) hybrid cars = mucho dinero (to buy AND maintain) and solar and wind power still cost too much money to implement in a single home. even getting a cloth diaper good enough to last the night right now wouldn’t be worth the high price tag, because the disposables i buy for night time are incredibly cheap, and it won’t be too long before my daughter is potty trained.

meanwhile, i will plant a tree, water my garden, and wash the diapers. i’ll turn the tv off, and when a green company asks for no strings attached support, i’m all for it.

Happy Earth Day!

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All the Colors of Easter

  • Posted on April 4, 2010 at 9:24 am

some days, i feel particularly blessed to have such a wide variety of friends and family. some people surround themselves with people who are similar to themselves, but i have always been attracted to people who are wildly different… i’m always thankful for my friends and family, but as with all things, it’s not always in the forefront of my mind. today, it is. i won’t be seeing anybody except my kids today… my husband’s at work, my family lives many hundreds of miles away, but through the miracle of social networking, i can still feel close to all of them today.

this morning, i got to experience the joys of Easter in the many different ways my very colorful set of friends and family express it.

i’ve heard lots of “Happy Easter!”s and seen lots of pictures of my friends beautiful children in their Easter finery.

i’ve also heard a lot of bible quotes, and other religious exclamations of thanks and well-wishes that remind me of Easter with my mom… back in the days in which i dressed up for church and always brought home a palm-cross.

but my favorite, my absolute favorite Easter greetings that i woke up to this morning, were:

1) “Happy zombie awareness day!” it took me a minute to catch onto that one. i admit, my first thought was “is this some sort of goth/atheist protest to Easter?” and then i got it. and i literally LOL’d. i’m gonna have to use that one next year. seriously.

2) “Happy Easter! May the giant Magical rabbit poop colorful eggs for all of you!” that piece of Easter magic came from none other than my wonderful husband. it reminded me why i love him so much… he’s so different from me, that he never fails to surprise me with the funny things that come out of his mouth. yes, i LOL’d, then i *headdesk*

Labeled "Easter Pooh Basket". I thought it was appropriate for my husband's Easter quote...

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EUREKA!!!

  • Posted on March 31, 2010 at 6:27 pm

not the show. i am going to miss the show terribly now that we don’t have cable, but that’s a post for another day.

my son won’t shut up about earning his Wii. he got a whole lot closer today when his Thomas the Train ebay auction sold for WAY more than i could ever have hoped for (yay!) but he still has a little farther to go , since we divided his ebay earnings into his “car”, “save” and “spend” envelopes. yes, my 7 year old is already saving for a car. anyways.

he won’t quit jabbering about the Wii, and he keeps talking about about Mario Brothers. he loves Mario Brothers… before we had the PS3, we had a Gamecube. when he was admitted to the hospital for a kidney infection many, many years ago he played one of the first “Mario Party” games. he loved it, and when he finally got discharged, we bought him Mario Party 4 for being such a good boy in the hospital. since then he’s played a few other games, and to this day one of his favorite things to chat about is all the Mario characters, and his notebooks are full of Mario doodles.

just yesterday, he told me that he really wants to buy Mario Party 8 for his Wii when he gets it.

then it hit me.

MARIO PARTY 8!

he’s gonna be 8 this year….

how perfect!

for my son’s 8th birthday, we’re gonna throw Mario Party 8! i can already see the banner….

*whew* now i just have to figure out everything else.

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Another Year…

  • Posted on March 29, 2010 at 7:01 am

along with the changing of the digits in the year, my internal “birthday alarm” has also reset. i don’t think about my kid’s birthday’s at the end of the year, but the farther into the year we get, all our birthdays are stuffed into the months of July, August, and September, so i have to plan carefully when it comes to party planning and gift giving so that nobody misses out.

i still have no idea what i’m going to do for the kids this year… oh, it will still be simple, but i like to throw  some sort of special theme in there, even if the only people here to see it are immediate family members.

-the first birthday in the household is….  my daughter. she will be 2 years old. i’ve already used my Tinkerbell party pass with the Tink party plates and napkins, but i think i’ll be doing it again this year anyways. i ordered her first birthday cake from Walmart, and was very pleased with the results. i’ll probably flip through the book this year and pick out a Tink cake. i’ll be getting Tink napkins, plates and maybe i’ll even go all out this year with a Tink tablecloth. ;) if we have any other kids over, maybe i’ll even make some little wings for them all to wear. i won’t go all out with the wire, this time. some flexible crafting foamboard and a few elastic straps oughta do the trick. i swear, i’m not just trying to re-live my own childhood fantasy… (even though it’s pretty cool that i get to!) my daughter LOVES Tinkerbell. she has Tinkerbell bedsheets, blankets and a toddler couch. all this was bought because the only movie she’ll actually sit down for an hour and a half just to watch is…. Tinkerbell I & II. i hope they come out with a III.

- the second birthday in the house is my husband. unfortunately for the grownups in the family, we never do anything special for our birthdays. every once in a while one of us will get a gift that requires spending, and we’ll all go on a fun shopping trip, but for the most part we just get a verbal “Happy Birthday” on the special morning, and leave it at that. this year, however is my husband’s big 3-0. i’d like to do something a little special for him, but since we don’t have more than 1 or 2 friends around here, a surprise party with all the trimmings is out of the question. i’ll probably end up stocking up on steak and salad and we’ll have a nice family grill out in the yard. i still haven’t figured out what i’m going to get for him, but everything that comes to mind that he’d really love is all X rated and for me, not him. that’s okay, right???? ;) i’m sure he’d really like it. :P

- birthday #3 of the year goes to me. :) i have a passionate dislike of holidays; my birthday included. i almost always come down with a major case of the holiday blues, and i don’t like all the standards i feel i have to meet to make the day good. i’d rather just ignore my birthday. besides, the people who should really get the credit for my birthday live in Virginia. my birthday just isn’t the same without my mom, dad, brother and sister. all of whom i probably won’t see at all this year. the best birthday ever would consist of nothing more than a sweet, thoughtful gift from my husband and a homemade card from my kids. the only way you could convince me to have a party, is if it featured this cake… (courtesy of Mike’s Amazing Cakes, in Redmond, Washington. if i lived there, i’d make it happen…) …and all my friends and family.

minus the corn dogs and the gaming dice, of course.

-birthday #4, last but not least is my son. he’ll be 8 years old! i know. OMG he’s getting so big. in year’s past he’s had a Thomas the Train cake, Wall-E, Curious George, even just regular old cupcakes- but last year he asked me to make his cake. the cake tasted great, but kind of looked like a big pile of poop and was so rich and chocolatey, i ended up throwing most of it away… so this year i’m hoping he’ll agree to pick a theme so i can get a cake from Walmart. if he decides to pick another one from my Hershey’s Chocolate Cookbook, then i’ll suck it up and go through the process of a test run and the real thing, but i don’t like the idea that the magic of the 8th birthday cake would be completely in my mediocre baker’s hands. whatever makes him happy i guess… that’s what matters. i really have no idea what kind of theme i’d incorporate into his party…  all of his character likes are growing and changing every day. since we got rid of our cable TV, a Clone Wars birthday (the obvious choice) is kind of out… hmmmm… unless of course, i decide to get him the movie as one of his gifts. i dunno. i also saw this really adorable Milk and Cookies themed 1st birthday party… it shouldn’t be too difficult to ramp it up for an 8 year old. that kid just loves my chocolate chip cookies. :) although i bet he would really love the Star Wars party too.

regardless of what i decide to do, at the moment i have plenty of time to plan it out, so i’m not in panic mode yet. of course, we all know what will really end up happening… i’ll buy the necessary stuff one week before the party, and randomly throw it all together while scrambling to wrap gifts and coerce my MIL to leave her bedroom long enough to make an appearance for more than 30 minutes.

what themes or special things have you done for your kids birthday’s in the past? what do you plan on doing this year?

my son's 4th Birthday Cake

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