Heroes July 3, 2008

This is my daughter with her Uncle Jeff and Aunt Cindy. They are wonderful people and my daughter adores them.

We all have heroes. Sometimes, if we are really lucky, we are someone else’s hero. Today I came across a survey where Madison had listed her Aunt Cindy as her hero: “fo sho.” As much as I adore her aunt, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad. So, I’m going to comfort myself by posting something I’d written almost two years ago:

September 17, 2006
motherhood and private compliments…
Current mood: grateful

I was straightening some things up the other day, and I came across a paper my daughter filled out for school. It was a survey of sorts, and one of the sections asked for three people who she admired most and why. I was number one. The reason: My mom because she is everything I want to be. I felt so unworthy of such a comment.

As children grow up and change, so much happens. Friends begin replacing the role parents have at around age 10 or 11. I had experienced that with my daughter a lot this past year. But something changed several months ago, and we began getting closer again. It is such a wonderful feeling to hear your child tell you how beautiful you are, how much they love you, and how much you mean to them for no reason at all.

As they get older, normally comments like this only come when they want or “need” something. So when you find out what they are saying about you behind your back, those are the rarest and best of moments. And in these moments you realize that your child is still sweet and loving, and everything is going to be alright.

Despite how worthy her Aunt Cindy is, I can only hope that one day I am able to regain that title. Isn’t that every mother’s dream? To be her daughter’s hero?

Scaredy Squirrel July 2, 2008

This is one of my new all time favorite books! If I were a squirrel, I would be Scaredy Squirrel. The illustrations are adorable, and the text is hilarious! Five stars all the way! If you have a child, or if you’re still a child at heart, you must run out and buy this book! I have not read a book that makes me laugh the way this one does in years. I have read it several times already and cannot get enough of it! You can click here to preview parts of the book.

NPR: My lifesaver! June 28, 2008

Lately, NPR has been my lifesaver in so many ways. It is what blasts out of the alarm clock every morning at 6:00 so that I know it’s time to get up and get ready for work. It is what I listen to while laying in bed contemplating on getting up and going to work. It is what I listen to while getting ready for work. If it weren’t for NPR, I would be clueless as to what is going on in the world.

I also discovered that NPR keeps Chris and Noah quiet in the car. Noah is notorious for asking questions in the car, and Chris is notorious for answering and elaborating on Noah’s questions. This can become a bit overwhelming for Maddie and me. They discuss everything: politics, religion, war, computers, etc. Most of their discussions are debates, but they sound like arguments to Maddie and me. We like it quiet and peaceful in the car. Maddie escapes by way of her ipod. I don’t have that luxury. I must have quiet if I am to to hone in and point out any mistakes the driver may be making. I cannot afford distractions.

I discovered that NPR fascinates Noah (and Chris). If you turn it on in the car, neither one wants to talk. They’re too busy listening and soaking it all in like the sponges they are. During the occasional commercial, the two may discuss something mentioned that they both found interesting, but as soon as the program resumes, …. silence! It’s heaven.

But NPR doesn’t stop there. Apparently, they know that I’m not the only mom who is doubling as a taxi service. In fact, they sell survival kits for other moms just like me! Yeah, NPR rocks.

HTML for Dummies June 26, 2008

I think it’s time I consider buying this book. As I become more computer savvy, I want to do more with my blog than wordpress will allow to without knowing how to write html. Fortunately, I married a computer science major who understands html better than English. Unfortunately, I’m stubborn and don’t like asking him for help with things on the computer. I don’t know why. I think it has something to do with a simple question turning into a thirty minute long lecture, I mean lesson. If I would just patiently sit through his explanations without yawning every half second, I would probably learn something.After helping me work out some of the kinks on my page tonight, he noticed I had written some html in some of my posts concerning font size and style. He asked me if I had done it myself, and when I answered yes, he was rather impressed. Then he asked me where I learned it from. Uh oh. Do I tell him what he wants to hear, or do I tell him the truth.? I decided to come clean. I confessed that I had “consulted” another man by the name of Google. I can’t help it! This man has an answer for everything!

The thing is, Mr. Google doesn’t sit me down and go into all the different possible scenarios I might encounter, like how to “cut off” things like italics or large font sizes in a posting so that the command isn’t carried out on the rest of a webpage. No, I learned about this through trial and error.

So, how did I solve the problem? I got a second opinion. I swallowed my pride and asked my old man for help. The outcome? Another thirty minute lesson in html. Only this time I listened. Now if he can only get through to Noah…

Oh Darn! June 25, 2008

I’ve had my eyes on these buttons for several months, but I could not bring myself to pay $100 for them despite their cuteness. The other day I stumbled across them on sale, and thought I would be frugal and wait until pay day to purchase them. Well, I just went on Pottery Barn’s website to see if they were still on sale, and they are gone!! Darn, darn, darn.

Get Away from Home Awhile to Restore Your Energy! June 24, 2008

This statement was in my fortune cookie on Friday. Noah excitedly screamed out, “Yep, Mom. You got the right fortune this time. I was afraid we got ours mixed up.” His said “Fame and fortune are in your future.” Figures.

For the first two weeks of my summer vacation, my boss sent me to a writing institute. It was wonderful! I learned so much about teaching writing, but it was my first two weeks of summer. (I’m kind of stingy with my summertime.)

Doesn’t this cartoon rock? Unfortunately, my children were hesitant about spending time away at camp this summer. Instead, they wanted to stick around so they could spend their time hanging out with friends. This sounded great to all of us at the time, but no one told me that tweens and teens were as high maintenance as babies and toddlers. My used to be independent children are suddenly very dependent on me! I am their ticket, their ride, and their chauffeur to wherever they need or want to go. Oh believe me, they would rather me just be their taxi, ready to drop them off and pick them up whenever they call me, but Maddie has a boyfriend (there’s no way I’m leaving them alone!) and Noah has a natural curiosity that makes him prone to wander. Nope, it’s best I stay nearby and keep my eyes on them… I guess I do love them after all

And then there’s summer school…. for the next month! Ahhhhh, the money’s nice, but Ohhhhh, the hours are long. Plus, I am teaching fifth graders. Apparently my memo stating that I only work with fifth graders I’ve actually given birth to was overlooked. Anyone that has ever had or spent time with a tween knows what I’m talking about. (Since I’m saying this on the internet, it’s probably best I state that I’m kidding. I’m actually fine with teaching fifth graders. I love a good challenge!)

The good news is I have two weeks off once summer school ends before I begin a new school year. The bad news is Noah has day camp both weeks. This will require me taking him and picking him up every afternoon. I guess my energy will have to be restored a little bit each day along the way. Any suggestions? I’m wondering if purging items in my garage for thirty minutes on a daily basis will help?

I should also mention that I am also obtaining my master’s degree. Time spent on assignments due every week is time not spent cleaning/organizing my house. Maybe I can talk Chris into hiring a maid? Now that’s an idea… What dear? I can’t hear you! The laundry pile is muffling your voice!

My little girl’s not so little anymore… June 23, 2008

Maddie then…

Maddie now…

A lot changes in twelve years.

Look at how far he’s come!! June 20, 2008

This is Noah last summer. He took swimming lessons nearly every day all summer long at our local YMCA. Even though he was ten, he had never overcome his fear of water. If I managed to get him in the water, there was no getting his face wet. For ten years I could not convince the boy to learn how to swim. In his world, he thought he knew how. Finally I forced him into reality and literally drug him to swimming lessons. As soon as he graduated from the Pollywogs class, I enrolled him into the Guppies. By the end of the summer he could float, swim with a flotation device, and blow bubbles while his face was immersed! We were so proud of his progress.

Fast forward to this summer. Talk about a complete turn around. He begs to go to our local pool almost daily. He gets on the large water slides one after the other. I got on one of them the other day and it liked to have scared the dickens out of me. But Noah, he can’t get enough of them! The other day he began eyeing the diving board. I clinched in fear. I could just picture him jumping…, and then… sinking. Noah tends to have an unrealistic view of his abilities. If he can dog paddle for 3 seconds, then he thinks he can swim well enough to dive into 13 feet of water unsupervised. I don’t think so.

Instead I encouraged him to practice swimming in the eight foot section until he was comfortable with swimming in water over his head. Up until this point he had never done that without a flotation device. Today we went back, and he practiced a while. Then he looked up at me and confidently stated: “I’m ready to dive now.”

I threw down my book and jumped to the edge. In a very mommylike fashion, I asked, (well, probably begged) him to jump out toward the ladder so that he had less distance to swim. He climbed up the ladder, he walked across the board, he bounced up and down a few times, and then SPLASH! into the water he went. I waited, and to my amazement, he resurfaced, and dog paddled right to the ladder!

The lifeguard commented on him jumping toward the side and requested he jump farther out next time. What!? Can’t she see I’m the one in charge here?!! I had everything under control and didn’t need her help a single bit. I gave her the stink eye and had to bite my tongue. I just reminded myself that she’ll have kids of her own one day and then she’ll understand the jump out to the side method! Noah took her advice and to my surprise he made it! Again, and again, and again! You go Noah!! I’m so proud of you!

(Unfortunately I did not have a camera with me today. Next time we go diving, I’ll be sure to snap a picture!)

Take Back Your Neighborhood! June 19, 2008

The other day I posted about fear stemming from crime in my neighborhood. It’s funny because not even a month ago my husband wrote about how much he loved the community in our neighborhood. And then our other neighbor’s fence was tagged right next to my bedroom window. Talk about destroying a sense of community. It took me no time at all to paint over it. It freaked me out that someone was able to do this at night without us hearing or seeing them. I never thought about it before now, but having the house on the corner may be something to avoid.

I am not certain who tagged this corner, or what their intentions were. What I do know is they tagged a lot more than a fence. They tagged shock, fear, anger, vulnerability and a lot of other negative emotions in me. God is already coming through (when does He not?), because the fear is beginning to diminish. In fact, I am beginning to feel proactive. I’ve done a little research, and my husband and I are hoping to initiate a neighborhood watch. I found a great article with tips on how to take back your neighborhood. Although many of the tips seem to be for more extreme conditions, it’s great to know what other neighborhoods are doing. I am including the link in case you too are interested in “taking a bite out of crime.”

Please continue to pray for us. We will gather the most strength in large numbers. We need active participants in our neighborhood who are not afraid to take a stand.

Dog Swapping June 17, 2008

Several years ago my family started a tradition called dog swapping. It started about five years or so ago. When I got divorced the kids and I stayed at my dad’s a couple of months before moving into a duplex that didn’t allow pets. My dad assured me not to worry, that he would keep my miniature schnauzer, Buddy until I was able to move somewhere that did. Suddenly, Buddy began spending a lot of time with my dad. When my dad plowed his garden and mowed the fields, so did Buddy. Not only did Buddy go for tractor rides, but he went for four-wheeler rides and truck rides. When my dad bought a street bike, Buddy started prancing around in little denim vests and hats that sported the Harley Davidson logo. My dad was even taking him to work with him. Even though my time in a duplex was short-lived, Buddy’s stay away from home was not. My dad claimed that Buddy would not be able to handle being separated from my him. “Buddy” was too attached. It was obvious to everyone but my dad. Buddy would adjust to living back at home. My dad wouldn’t.

For a couple of years, I fought this pretty hard, but eventually I gave up. My children and I reluctantly agreed to let Buddy continue living with my dad, and we got a new dog, Gracie. The arrangement infuriates my stepmother because she thinks my dad “stole” Buddy from us. Dad fiercely disagrees. He says Buddy needs someone that understands and can relate to him. You see, both have gotten rather grumpy and snippety with age. So now the agreement is this: Buddy stays at my dad’s, and Dad has to bring him over whenever he comes and visits. The picture above is one of those recent visits. Although Buddy is always super-excited to see me, he never lets my dad out of his sight for long out of fear of being left behind. He comes in, jumps around excited to see me, loves on me a bit, and then jumps in my dad’s lap to sit there for the remainder of the visit. I think my dad has brainwashed him!

Recently my brother, John and his wife, Nohora decided that they needed to get rid of at least one of their dogs. They have a bull mastiff mix that Chris and I just adore. Whenever we have dogsat for them in the past, we would tease that Bruiser ran off, or something of that effect so they couldn’t get him back. Well, my brother decided that Bruiser could come live with us! This was extremely difficult for my brother to do, but it is kind of like the Buddy situation. Bruiser is still in the family, and John can see him whenever he wants. Plus, I sort of got a free security system out of the deal. He is a vicious looking dog, weighing about 120 pounds, but gosh is he a sweety! He’s like having a huge piece of furniture in the house. He is trained and lethargic, super loving, and gets along great with Dooley and Gracie. Here is a picture of him with Dooley.

All you dog owners, beware of my family. Do not bring your dog around us if you think we will fall in love with him. We will find a way to charm you into “giving” him to us.