Tired Mama.com

What was I thinking?

Tonight my daughter dances in her dance recital. Again.

Tomorrow she dances twice - once for an afternoon show and once for the evening show.

On Sunday my youngest is singing in the local singing festival's closing ceremonies.

My son has a baseball tournament both Sunday and Saturday this weekend.

My eldest daughter is going to be spending the weekend studying for her exams that start next Friday.

Everyone is going to be tired and crabby by Monday.

Sigh.

This is the fun part of their childhood, right?

Make up, smake up

It's dance recital time.

We changed dance places this year so that my nine year old daughter doesn't have to dress like she's a twenty year old hooker for her dance show. That has worked out great. My youngest daughter's dance costumes this year are really cute and are totally appropriate for her age.

Tonight when I was getting her ready for her dress rehearsal I had to put make-up on her though and I must admit I didn't use much. 

She's nine, she's adorable and I didn't think she needed a lot of make-up. I put on just a tiny bit so she didn't have a shiny forehead on stage and that was it.

I'm just hoping now that one of the ladies back stage doesn't go and plaster more stuff on her.

I'm planning on going a bit early to pick her up so that I can check out what's going on.

I'm also taking make-up remover.

You know, just in case some 'dance mother' went crazy and I've got to remove two or three layers of face paint before I can figure out which little girl is mine.

I mean it'd be really bad to come home with the wrong kid, don't cha think?

Sigh.

Lists. Again.

Between the dance recital this week, the piano recital next weekend, the guitar show, baseball, soccer, synchronized swimming, school parties and gosh knows what else going on in June, I have had to start making lists again.

I'm making big lists too. I seem to have the kinda lists going here that usually only happen at Christmas time.

But each event I mentioned has a hundred little pieces to manage for it and so I've started making lists to try and keep on top of things.

I was even thinking of making a master list to help keep track of the lists.

Yep, it's official - I have lost my mind.

Oh, but for everyone who asked after yesterday's post. YES! We got the perfect grade eight graduation dress. It is pretty, age appropriate and looks stunning on my daughter.

That is a big huge enormous thing off the list.

That would be the uh, graduation list.

Does anyone know where I put that list?

Sigh.

Gone Shopping

Tomorrow we're going shopping for my daughter's eighth grade graduation dress.

We're having problems finding a dress. All the dresses we've found at our local malls are either made for four-year olds or twenty-four year olds, there's really very little out there that's appropriate for a fourteen year old.

My problems are exasperated by the fact that my eldest daughter really doesn't like to shop all that much. She has about an hour long attention span at a mall and then she's ready to leave. I've always considered that a good thing - until now.

Our plan is to head out early and drive over the border to see what we can find in the American stores. We'll spend the day at the local malls in New York and hopefully get the dress, shoes and accessories all in one go.

Yeah, right.

Well, there's nothing wrong with being optimistic, right? Right?

I'm tired already and I'm still only thinking about it.

Sigh.

Got fluff?

I love to read. I really do.

I also read a lot.

I haven't been able to read what I want lately as I've been too busy reading the books for the University courses I just finished.

In the last four months, I've read Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede, Cranford, Mary Barton, Shirley, and just about everything written by the Bronte sisters.

If you asked my family they would probably tell you that I've done nothing BUT read over the past few months. And um, if you were to take a quick look at Mt. Laundry you might just believe their claim.

But for the next few weeks, before I get my reading lists for my fall courses, I can read what I want. And that my friends is totally different.

Today I can go to the bookstore and pick out any piece of fluffy silly literature that I desire. I can read romances or mysteries or magazines or just poorly written, badly edited trashy books. I can pick ANYTHING.

You know what? I am very happy about this - pathetically so.

Any suggestions?

Don't examine me, mkay?

I just got back from writing an exam.

I have decided I am too old to write exams.

I have another exam to write next week.

While I want to finish this degree I don't want to write any more exams.

I have one exam and two courses to go and then I'll have this degree.

Yes, I'm counting.

My mind is so full of exam facts tonight I can't think of anything to blog that's witty or even remotely interesting. I am seriously burnt out.

Blah.

Send wine and chocolate. Please.

Neat Freak I am.

Dear Son,

Yes, I am a neat freak.

If that means that I want your crap picked up off the floor and your laundry put away then yes, I am a neat freak.

If being a neat freak means I want you to clean out the guinea pig's cage weekly so that I can't smell it the minute I walk in the freakin front door then yes, I am a neat freak.

I am also a neat freak if it means I don't want your sports equipment spread out all over the kitchen table. I mean come on, it's a JOCK. 

Neat freak.

At first I was sorta upset when you called me that.

Now? I like it.

Now, go put your stuff away. Quickly. Before I decide I don't like it again and get mad.

Love,
Tired Mama

Don't wanna, not gonna.

It's after midnight and I should be in bed.

I should also have gotten the kid's stuff ready for tomorrow and I should have tidied up the kitchen.

I don't want to.

I realize this is a childish response.

You know what? I don't care.

I don't feel like being the Mom tonight.

I just want to stay up, surf the net and live in complete denial that the alarm is going to go off at six tomorrow and that I'll have to get up and deal with everyone and everything.

Denial is good.

Sleep would probably be better.

Sigh.

Yes, I have a teenage daughter.

So tell me, what's better?

Sending your teenage daughter out to school in the morning with a chocolate frosted Pop-Tart and glass of milk in her, or letting her start her day without eating anything at all?

Yeah, I get that a bowl of cereal, fruit, toast, juice or just about ANYTHING would be better but you wanna know the one thing I have learned about parenting?

You can't make kids eat, sleep or go to the toilet if they don't want to.

Sigh.

Notes

My two girls are over five years apart in age. Right now at eight and fourteen the age spread seems larger than it ever has.

Sometimes at night, when my youngest daughter is supposed to be in bed, she will write notes to her big sister and slide them under her door. If her big sister isn't too busy she will often reply and shove the note back out under the door.

I could hear this happening last night and I let it go on for a while. Finally, after about ten minutes, the sound of feet running up and down the hall suddenly stopped and I heard my youngest climb into bed.

When I went up later to tell my older daughter it was time for her to go to bed she showed me the last note.

My eldest daughter had written,

R- Please stop annoying me.

My youngest had replied,

J - Never. XOXO.

We're keeping this one. 

Date Night

I have a date with my husband tonight. Yep, a date.

It's been a long time since we've been out together. We're planning on heading out to dinner and catching a movie.

I don't want to do anything fancy, I just want to hang out with Tired Papa without the kids along. We might even get to talk to one another without distractions too. Wow.

The toughest part will be picking the movie. I like the standard 'chick flicks' while Tired Papa likes the 'car racing, shoot 'em up stuff'.

Dinner should be easy, we both like the local chicken place and the kids don't really like it so we'll go there and enjoy time together with wine, instead of whine.

I'm excited. I could get used to this dating stuff again. I wonder if he'll bring flowers? No?

Okay, do you think he'll open the car door for me then? No?

Hmmm. Okay, well at least he'll probably pay for dinner and the movie and if I'm lucky he might even buy me some popcorn.

Yep, life here is exciting and simple.

And uh, good.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Clean to the extreme

What I should be doing right now is writing my essay that's due next week.

I'm not. I'm here instead blogging and reading blogs.

What I did to avoid writing the essay this morning was went over to the gym to do a quick work-out. Don't be too proud of me, it's the first time I've been to the YMCA in almost three weeks.

When I work out at the YMCA on a Thursday morning I am the youngest person in the place. Yep, it's just me and the geriatric crowd.

At the YMCA it is standard etiquette to use a spray bottle of disinfectant to quickly wipe off any piece of the weight machines you might have touched while you used them. This usually takes me about ten seconds.

As the grey haired ladies at the 'Y' this morning moved from one weight machine to another however they scrubbed the heck out of each and every part of the machine before they moved on. I swear these ladies were removing the oil from ball bearings on the machines.

I waited and waited and WAITED while they cleaned and disinfected each and every machine they used. My work out today was not quick.

As I was standing there I considered inviting these little old ladies to my place, goodness knows we could use some serious cleaning over here.

Then I decided we should just give them all big bottles of Fantastic and a J-Cloth and let them loose on disinfecting the entire city.

I tell you, swine flu wouldn't stand a chance against this group.

Sigh.

I was a better Mom before I had kids.

I used to look at Moms doing certain things or saying certain things with their kids and think to myself, I'll never do that.

Yeah, right.

Today another one of those things I said I would never do with my kids got done.

I always thought I would never have my kids so over-scheduled that they would have to eat in the car as they went from one activity to another. Today my son had a swimming lesson from 5 to 6 and a baseball game that started at 6:30. Yep, he ate his dinner in the car as I drove him from the pool to the field.

I want him to play baseball this summer. So far he's having a great time too. I also want my son to learn to swim though. Why everything had to happen at the same time today was just a schedule glitch. Next week his baseball game is on a different night. So I'm hoping this eating in the car is only a one time thing.

The good thing about it was my son did tell me that Subway sandwiches taste better in the car than they do at the plastic tables in the restaurant.

Who knew?

Derby Day

We're off to a Kentucky Derby Party.

I've never been to one and I'm looking forward to it.

Our hats are ready. The appetizer I'm bringing is wrapped and ready to go.

I've picked out something appropriate to wear for the crazy weather we're having and I've arranged to have someone drop off my son at the party after his baseball game.

My eldest daughter is coming along to keep an eye on some of the younger kids at the party and we're picking up a friend of hers on the way there to help out too.

Now, all I have to do is google a few horse names so that I know something about the horses running the race.

Remember the days when going to the party meant only having to pick up beer on your way over?

Sigh.

She is perfect.

Ever want to just smack someone? I wanted to do that yesterday but I'm adult now so I didn't.

The part of this that's bothering me is not that I didn't smack this woman, but that I didn't put her in her place verbally. I was tired, and I didn't have a good put down ready.

Yep, twenty four hours later that's still irking me. That's how I roll.

Here's what happened.

Mrs. Smug-Toned woman and I were watching our eight and nine year old girls run around the playground when she smugly informed me that my youngest daughter is a tomboy, not a girly-girl like the rest of the girls she was playing with.

My daughter was in capris and a t-shirt with her wavy thick hair all mussed up and out of its ponytail holder. She was dusty and bright eyed and in my eyes, beautiful.

The rest of her buddies all had sun dresses on and had their hair scrapped back tight but as far as I could tell they were all playing just as hard as my youngest.

I stuttered in reply at first that I didn't think my daughter really was a tomboy.

Then I said, well maybe she is I hadn't really thought about it.

Then I said, even if she is, that's not a bad thing.

What really got me was not what was said but what this woman's tone implied. Her tone implied that somehow my daughter was in some way uh, wrong.

Um, no.

Could my baby be a tomboy? Possibly. Let's see.

My youngest plays sports. Yep, she does and she's good at some of them too. She's high energy; loves to play and I encourage it. Sue me.

My daughter also wears pants to school most days. Um, I know a lot of the other girls in her grade only wear the school uniform skirts but shesh, we live in Canada, it's cold. My kid wears pants 'cause that's what I buy her to wear. Now that it's warming up she'll start wearing her skirts again.

Finally, my baby is VERY outgoing and confident. Is that supposedly a male or tomboy trait? She's not rude or bossy so I let her be. 

My youngest however can also be a girly-girl.

She sings all the time. She wants to be a singer. If you ask her, she'll tell you she's going to go to The Juilliard School one day to study music.

My daughter takes three different types of dance and loves to be on stage in full makeup and costume for the recitals.

My baby's room and most of her non-school clothes are pink and purple. That's not a tomboy thing, right?

Is my youngest a tomboy or a girly-girl or something else entirely?

Does it matter?

She's a little girl, my little girl. Does she need to be labeled?

Other smug toned Mama? Leave my daughter alone. She's perfect.

And other Mama? I never really liked your kid or you anyway. You're both prisses. Go out and have some fun will ya?

I hate it when I haven't got a good put down ready when I need one.

Next time I think I'll just hit the other Mama.