Tired Mama.com

Horrible Holiday Greetings

You wanna know a secret?

I hate Halloween.

I do. I know it's rotten, but I do.

On Halloween morning, getting three kids into costumes, pulling together party snacks and getting them out the door in one piece and happy is impossible. Some child always melts down on me about something not being right.

I love tears at 8 am. Not. 

Then there's the candy and junk they bring home. What the heck am I supposed to do with all that crap junk? It just sets me up to be 'evil Mom' as I try and control the gorging of it. Did dentists invent this holiday?

I love Christmas, it's more spread out and I can handle it and even though there's a ton more to do, I find Christmas manageable. Halloween is just condensed stress.

Is there a Halloween Grinch? That's my costume for next year.

Boo Humbug.

Spooky Days

It's almost Halloween. The costumes are done, the house is decorated and the kids have figured out who they want to go out trick-or-treating with. It's all complete except for one thing. I haven't bought any candy.

The reason?

If I buy it, I will eat it.

I don't need to eat candy. I need to lose weight not gain it.

I thought about giving out little toys but I don't want to end up with stuff left over that I have to store for another year.

I thought about chips but I would eat those too.

I thought about giving out apples but that's just well, lame.

So, I have decided to pick up my candy on Friday at the last possible second before the kids want to go out. That way I can't eat it.

This means of course that I will end up buying the candy that no one else wants or I will pay triple what I should for it, or I will end up with nothing to shell out at all.

Sigh.

This losing weight thing is really really REALLY hard.

Where is the time going?

When my eldest daughter turned two she told me that one day she was going to draw pictures for a Disney movie.

I wrote this down in her baby book. It was one of the few things I did write in that book. If you were to look at her baby book today you would not know if she ever grew any teeth, but you would know that at two she had decided what she wanted to be when she grew up. 

Tomorrow I am driving this same daughter to the local 'arts high school' for an orientation. If she wants to apply to their fine arts program she needs to submit an application by November 28th and be ready for interviews, skill evaluation and portfolio submissions in January. The competition I'm told, to get into this school is tough.

Yes, my almost fourteen year old still wants to draw for Disney.

If she gets into this program it will make my life a logistical nightmare as I have no idea how I'm going to get everyone to school on time next fall. But if my girl wants it, and I mean really wants it for herself and gets accepted, I will move any mountains needed so that this happens for her.

I'm thrilled that my daughter has a dream - a passion. On the other hand, the fact that she is old enough to recognize this and work towards it makes me want to cry.

She's not a baby anymore, but she's still my baby.

Anyone know how to slow down time?

Sigh.

Birthday Parties

Today is my son's eleventh birthday. I'll spare you the whole 'where does the time go' speech, but I assure you I'm thinking it.

He's a great kid - thoughtful, warm, bright and everything I could have hoped for in a son. I love him more than anything and he and his sister's are the world to me.

Happy Birthday Buddy. I love you.

To celebrate the event we had five of my son's buddies over for a sleep over yesterday. It went well and because my son has good, well behaved friends there were no problems.

I organized this event by talking personally to all the boy's Moms who were invited. I didn't send out invitations because we weren't inviting many kids.

I also didn't send out invitations because I didn't want to get involved in the whole 'who's invited and who's not' thing.

Is the whole birthday party invitation thing a big fiasco where you live too? Do the popular kids get invited to everything and the quieter kids sometimes get left out? How do you handle it?

My youngest wasn't invited to a large birthday party a few weeks ago but she wasn't upset as she didn't know the birthday boy that well. She's also fairly confident and happy-go-lucky so it really didn't faze her at all. I am blessed. There were tears though from some of her classmates who weren't invited, and some of the other Mom's were furious at the 'birthday kid's Mom' for handing out the invitations at school but not including everyone. Yep, words were exchanged.

I get the other parent's frustration and angst over their kid's disappointment but you know what? It's a kid's party. Not everyone is going to be invited, budgets just aren't always going to allow that.

Besides, shouldn't we be teaching our kids to handle disappointment and loss? Isn't that a life skill we need to teach them young? In real life you don't get a trophy just for showing up.

Which I grant you, is easy for the mother of the 'happy-go-lucky' one to say. My daughter wasn't in tears, but I wonder what I would have done if she was? I wonder if the Mama Bear in me would have come out then too. I hope not. But honestly? I wonder.

Sigh.

Movie Choices

We're going to the movies this weekend.

Seeing how I am over forty you'd think I'd be going to see Clint Eastwood's chilling child-swap drama, Changeling. It got decent reviews in my town's newspaper.

But I'm not.

I can't because I'm a wimp. Any story about losing a child makes me break out in hives.

Much as I sometimes want to give my kids away, the whole idea of them going missing makes me want to curl up into a little ball of jelly in the corner somewhere. Yep, can't even think about it.

So, like the stupid good Mom of an eight year old that I am, we've got tickets instead to see High School Musical 3. Yep, we got tickets.

Now, can someone tell me what that's all about? It's a kid's movie for gosh darn sake and I needed to get tickets? The only way I can explain it is that us going, us as in a family, has made my youngest daughter VERY happy. 

So, I'm taking in the feel good movie this Sunday and I'll probably be walking out of the theater singing Disney songs and cursing the amount of Disney crap stuff my daughter will want with this movie's logo attached to it for Christmas.

Sigh. I need to toughen up.

Don't you wish you were me?

My girlfriend Dee and I met for lunch today.

And then what did we do?

After lunch we went to the dump.

Yep, the dump.

I bet you wish you were my girlfriend.

Actually we had our reasons. This week is 'E-Waste Amnesty Week' for our area so we filled up Dee's rather large truck with assorted old computer monitors, CPU's and printers and responsibly got rid of them - for free.

Trust me, we tried the charities and schools in our area, this stuff was so old we couldn't even give it away.

After the dump?

Well then we went and looked at hardwood flooring as I need to pick some out for my renovation.

What can I tell you? We're just a couple of wild and crazy gals.

The worst part?

We were both actually very impressed with how well the 'municipal waste' people were organized. They unloaded all our stuff and got us in and out of the landfill site lickety split. 

Scary what impresses us.

Sad too. Really sad.

Sigh.

When the moon hits your eye

I've spent the last few days trying to get caught up on a number of things.

I think I'm sorted out now.

The house is tidier, the paper I had due at school yesterday is handed in, the renovations are set to start the week after next and, even with all this going on, the kids and hubby all seem to be still talking to me.

I think I've checked some of the boxes anyway.

The one thing I have let slide a little is the whole 'eating dinner' thing. I've been pressed for time lately and so we've been eating out a bit too much.

You know what? Eating out is expensive.

So, now that things are easing up I need to find a grocery store, plan a few dinners and actually find some time to cook a meal for my family.

The question is, what will I make?

I can think of lots of things to prepare and cook, unfortunately  someone in my family won't eat all the things I am dreaming up. And if that special someone (a different child each night) in my family doesn't like what I make for dinner then I get to listen to them complain.

Sigh. I get tired of being complained at.

Except pizza -  no one around here complains about pizza for dinner.

But, in my opinion pizza is the food you eat when you don't have time to make food. If I make pizza when I have time to cook then what will I order when I don't have time to make anything?

So, I'm thinking chicken, tacos and um, lasagna instead.

Hello, kids? Deal with it. 

Let the complaining begin.

It's back

I've posted about this before.

My family has a strange recurring disease that I'm not sure how to cure. Its technical name is ' walk-in-the-house-and-drop-everything-wherever-you-want-itis'. I'm not sure how that translates into Latin.

Just as a warning to my new blogging friends I thought I would point out some of the symptoms so that you can watch for it in your own abode.

The first symptom is a messy house. Everything is everywhere and nothing is where it belongs.

The second symptom is that no one can find anything, and often children will accuse another family member of stealing, taking or moving some of their things. When this symptom goes to the extreme it can result in tears, temper tantrums and severe melt-downs.

The third symptom is that the door to EVERY room becomes blocked with crap stuff. Stuff that has just been dropped there and then left to, oh I don't know - rot maybe? Be eaten by the cat? Or (shudder) be picked up and put away by the maid Mom?

The final symptom, and perhaps the most scary, is that the female parental unit's (in some cases I understand it could be the male's) face suddenly turns purple, steam starts to come out of their ears and then the yelling starts. At this stage the children will usually scatter to the far corners of the house, only to emerge much later to quietly put a few things away. They won't tidy up EVERYTHING but just enough to calm the purple parent down to a more attractive shade of red and reduce the yelling to muttering.

I'm finding that this disease keeps reoccurring at my house with alarming frequency.

And this time around? It's honestly driving me CRAZY.

Anyone know of a vaccine? A purple face is not my best look.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

Look at me - yes, again! I won an Amazon gift card over at Sherendipity's site for being her 1000th commenter. Yes, I'm having a VERY good week. 

Thanks Sherendipity.

Now, if you've never visited Sherendipity, head on over there and comment away. Who knows what she'll give away to her 2000th commenter! 

Should I tell you?

Look at me.

I wrote something and someone published it.

So, you are cordially invited to drop by the premiere issue of Mom Blogger's Club's 'Cliq Magazine'.

The link to my article is below. Oh, and if you could comment I'd owe you big time.

http://www.mombloggersclub.com/page/page/show?id=988554:Page:122966

Um, and if you're on my blog roll? I wrote this piece with you in mind.

I shouldn't laugh but....

I was in the grocery store today and I overheard a very nice sounding Mommy tell her kids,

"If you don't stop whining for that I'm gonna call out the cereal monster and he's gonna come down this aisle and chew off your face."

Do you think I heard her wrong?

Who do you think the cereal monster is? Snap, Crackle or Pop? Tony the Tiger? Oh, the possibilities.

You bet I laughed.

I actually guffawed. If I'd been drinking milk it would have come out of my nose.

Oh, it's such a relief to know that I'm not the only bad Mommy in my little town.

It's dark and scary in there

The family that owned our home before us had the master bathroom redone in grey.

Yep, and they used lots and lots of dark grey tile in it.

It's um, kinda dark.

The small shower in this bathroom is especially dark. It's kinda like a small cave.

It hasn't been too bad up until now as there is a light in the shower. A few days ago however the light went out. I assumed the bulb had burnt out. 

So, this morning I got a new bulb but when I went in the shower to change the light bulb I got a small electrical shock.

This shock hurt and now I'm afraid to use that shower because I'm thinking water mixing with this electrical lighting problem could um, KILL ME.

Sigh. 

I guess I'm gonna smell for a few days until I figure this out.

Sorry, everyone.

Procrastination

Today is my 'let's get caught up' day.

I need to vacuum the main floor of the house, get groceries, pick up a gift, take the cat to the vet, pick out flooring for the renovation and do all the silly little stuff that needs to get done in a day but no one does in my family but me.

I'm okay with this, I guess.

I mean at times I resent it but I'm the one with the flexible schedule so I guess it makes sense that I do it.

I've also left my basement in a heck of a mess. I need to get down there and finish the 'purging' I started yesterday. There are also these assignments sitting here on my desk that I've got deadlines coming up for - I should get on those too.

I don't want to do any of it.

I wonder what happened to the important stuff I used to do? I mean, is this my life? Surely my time would be better spent saving the world from poverty or feeding the hungry or something.

I need to get some motivation, and coffee just isn't doing it today.

I need to exercise and eat better - but here I am at my computer.

I think I'll go for a run.

I'll let you know if I decide to come back.

Do we really need all this stuff?

We're starting a renovation to our house in about two weeks.

The renovation consists of having the wall between the family room and the kitchen knocked down to combine and open up the two rooms. We're also taking out a pantry and a bathroom and combining them to make a big 'mud room' on the main floor. It doesn't sound like a lot but when you start putting in support beams and new floors and ceilings it becomes a bigger deal. I'm told the whole renovation will take eight weeks to complete.

I spent part of today trying to rearrange the storage area of my basement so that I have some place to put all the stuff we have to move out of the kitchen, back hall and family room while the renovations are going on.

You know what?

I have too much stuff.

You know what else?

I'm having problems purging.

I'm trying to be good and pack up some stuff for charities and give up some more for the garbage man but it's hard.

Usually I'm pretty good at getting rid of stuff but today it just wasn't happening. I wasn't in the mood so I spent a lot of time just taking stuff off of one shelf and putting it on another.

I need to focus.

I need...ice cream.

Or chocolate. Yes, chocolate might help.

Or I need a flood that'll just destroy everything and make it easy to figure out what to throw away.

Or I could always just break open a bottle of wine. I may not get much more done, but at least I'll feel better.

I'm lovin' me some 'unseasonable temperatures'

It's Monday. It's October too.

It's actually Thanksgiving Monday but the weatherman tells me that by noon today it should be sunny and over 25 C degrees. That's about 77 F.

I need to clean up the leaves outside, but more importantly I need to go out today and pretend that it's still summer and I'm still on vacation.

So, I'm going into my backyard to bask in some fall heat and sunshine.

It's supposed to rain for the rest of the week, so I'll be back to blog tomorrow.

Right now?

I'm off to see if there's any sun screen left. Oh, and does anyone know where I left my sunglasses?

Happy Turkey Day

I'm off doing the 'family thing' for the next few days.

And yes, I'm going to spend this afternoon making a double decker chocolate layer cake.

Sigh.

So, seeing as how I'm in the holiday spirit, I thought I'd leave you with two Thanksgiving jokes.

Q. What did the turkey say to the computer?

A. Google. Google. Google.

and

Q. Can a turkey jump higher than a building?

A. Yes, because buildings can't jump.

Badah Bum.

I'm thankful that you dropped by. If you're Canadian - Happy Thanksgiving.

And to everyone else, have a great weekend.

Stand back. Tired Mama's throwing that pie.

I am baking pies.

I am actually not a bad pie maker. I can't cook all that well but I can bake.

So for Thanksgiving dinner this weekend I am putting together two large apple crumbles and two over sized pumpkin pies to take over to my family get together at my sisters.

Sounds good, right?

Why is it then that everyone wants to know where the chocolate is?

Um, listen up family! It's apple season here so I am making apple crumble. It's also Thanksgiving, so I am making pumpkin pie too.

I will also bring cheese, ice cream and whipping cream on Sunday. There are seventeen of us getting together; wouldn't you think that this is enough?

But noooo. My family is complaining. They want chocolate.

It isn't my kids who are whining either - it's my siblings.

My brothers and sisters are all over forty and they are whining about the fact that I'm not making a chocolate desert for Thanksgiving dinner. They are whining to my MOTHER too.

What the heck? Are we all four flippin' years old again?

Sigh.

Anyone ever made a chocolate pumpkin pie?

Enough.

B I N G O

That is the song my daughter is playing on the piano right now.

She is playing it well. She is playing it loudly. She is playing it REPEATEDLY.

I suppose I should be happy as she is practicing the piano and I didn't have to badger her about it.

BUT

I can only listen to B I N G O being plunked out on the piano at full volume so many times.

If I have to listen to her play it one more time I just might scream.

You've been warned.

Kittens

For some insane reason I let my kids talk me into looking at the 'Adoption Rescue' kittens that are up for adoption at our local pet store today.

The store had eight tiny little balls of fluff up for adoption. These little guys had been dumped in our local Whole Foods dumpster and are now looking for a better home. Yep, some idiot decided to dump SIXTEEN six to seven week old kittens in a dumpster. Thank goodness someone heard their cries and dug them out.

These kittens are now looking for homes and I must say I'm tempted to get our own eighteen month old cat a buddy.

My resolve to have no more pets (right now) gave way yesterday when we found that one of the kittens was a small male silver tabby  - an almost identical match in looks and, as far as I could tell, personality to our own current loveable cat.

This tiny guy was too cute for words and he was crying out that he needed us.

What stopped us?

The kittens had to be adopted in pairs.

Two cats I could maybe convince my hubby to house.

Three?

That would require serious uh, persuading. I might even have to do something like this. (Yes, I've been wondering how to work this story into my family 'E' rated blog for a while now.)

We came home without a kitten.

I love my husband, but honestly? I don't think I'm up for this type of persuasion technique.

It's almost time for turkey!

Thanksgiving is coming.

In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October - that would be a week from today.

My sister is hosting Thanksgiving dinner at her house this year so I'm off the hook for that. My kids are also off from school this Friday and next Monday so we have a four day weekend coming up.

Hmmm.

It looks like I might get to sleep in one day next weekend AND someone else is cooking me a hot meal AND cleaning up after it's done too.

I am very happy about all of these things.

I'm starting to think that Thanksgiving just might be my favorite holiday of the year.

It'll be our little secret

"The Nebraska legislature's new "safe haven" law for unwanted babies, like other states' laws, allows them to be dropped off anonymously at hospitals to discourage abortions (and neglect by unfit parents). However, unlike other states' laws, Nebraska's applies not just to infants, but "minors," because, said Sen. Tom White, "All children deserve our protection." In September, the first two non-infants were abandoned, as exasperated parents gave up on rebellious sons aged 11 and 15, and critics say the law could apply to those up to age 19." [Lincoln Journal Star, 9-15-08]

Hmmmm.

I know this isn't meant to be funny. I mean not being able to look after your children is terrible.

But giving up your teens? Where do they get dropped off? At the hospital coffee shop? Maybe you just leave them loitering in the magazine section of the gift shop?

Mmmkay.

But then again, maybe this is useful information to have.

I mean when things get really crazy around here from now on I'm just gonna announce that I'm going to buy my kids a one way bus ticket to Lincoln, Nebraska. 

I'm thinking that just having this threat available might give me the upper hand in some of my future 'negotiations' with my kids.

I like having a plan.

I'm gonna vote

I watched the debate tonight.

The Canadian one.

Yes, in twelve days Canadians will go the polls to vote for our next Prime Minister.

I'm trying to figure out who to vote for. I will vote, I'm just not sure for who yet.

I watched the entire debate tonight but it didn't help me much. Actually it muddled me more, so now I've got to go on-line and do some more reading about the five three different options.

Yeah me.

While I was watching the five candidates talk however I really, really wanted to flip over to the Palin/Biden debate and see how that was going.

I'm not American. I can't vote in that election.

Sarah Palin fascinates me however and I have no idea why. Maybe it's because my son plays hockey? More likely it's because she's a Mom struggling to succeed in a man's world.

We have a woman running for office up here too.

Her name is Elizabeth May and she's running for the Canadian 'Green Party'. The name says it all. Now, I don't believe that she will be the next Canadian Prime Minister - Canadians aren't ready for that yet, but I still want to find out more about her and her platform. 

Am I interested in what May and Palin have to say because they're women?

Yes.

Would I vote for them based on their gender?

No. 

I don't agree with everything I've heard Palin and May saying but I can tell you I really admire them for getting out there and running for office and I admire them enough to listen closely to what they have to say.

You go ladies, and may the best person win.

Just chill

I'm trying to sort out my kids today.

My eldest daughter got a 'call back' for a musical audition lead which has just put her over the top on the stress scale.

My son has a French Geography test today which has stressed him out too.

Thank goodness my youngest is still her usual sunny self.

But tell me; shouldn't thirteen and ten years old be too young to feel stress?

If I tell my kids to 'chill' a bit about this stuff does it mean I'm going to raise under achievers? Does teaching them how to keep things in perspective mean I'm a bad mother?

I want my kids to succeed but really I'm okay with them not getting a lead in the school play. I want them to do well at school too, but I'm also pretty certain my son is not going to need to know how to describe cold and warm fronts in French in order to succeed in life.

When does challenging kids become too much?

I think a stop at Dairy Queen after school today is in order.

As for me? They're stressing me out because I'm worried about whether or not they're doing okay.

Does Dairy Queen sell red wine?

I am soooo out of shape

I have a new friend. (Yes Moms, I know this makes you proud.)

My new friend is very nice and I like to spend time with her.

This new friend of mine moved here from the USA last March and we've bonded over lunches where we've spent many hours lamenting the lack of Target and Kohl's stores up here.

Today however this friend and I went to the gym.

This new friend of mine is in great shape and has even written tests and stuff to become a personal trainer.

Me? Great shape?

Not so much.

My back side is aching tonight.

Explain to me again, why is it a good idea to do lunges with weights?

I can't wait to see how I feel tomorrow.

If I don't post for a few days it's because I can't move.

Exercise is good for me, right?

Sigh.