Tired Mama.com

Yeah, it's like that...

On Sunday afternoon, my husband came downstairs from his office where he'd been all morning working on income tax stuff. 

'I need a break,' he told me while rubbing his neck.

'Okay,' I acknowledged from behind my laptop.

Moments later he reappeared in front of me.

'I want to check the score on the football game,' he announced.

I waited.

'Youngest daughter and her friends are watching a movie in the family room and our son and his friends are playing a video game downstairs,' he said.

I looked up at him and tried to be helpful.

'Costco was clearing out TVs when I was there yesterday.' I said.

He just huffed away.

It's hard to be the king when the kids take control of the remotes - and just about everything else.

Sigh.

 

Tired Mama's Organizing Tips

The night before my entire extended family came over to my house to celebrate Christmas I took a large cardboard box and filled it with all the clutter in my office.

I then lugged that big box to the basement and shoved it into the back of a closet and closed the door on it.

What can I say? I was out of time and my office is at the front of the house, people were going to see it and I needed a fast way to tidy it up.

It might not have been the best office organizing idea but it sure made that space look a heck of a lot better.

Now, about a week later, I am still enjoying a less cluttered office and I've just realized that I have not yet missed a single thing that I shoved into that box.

A minute ago, when I remembered this box, I contemplated going and digging it out and rummaging through it to see what I actually threw in there.

But I have now decided that I should probably just put the whole box out for trash pick-up or donate it to a charity shop. If I haven't missed it yet then I probably don't need the stuff in it, right? 

And I'm also contemplating doing it with every other room in my house. I wonder if anyone in my family would even notice?

The sad part? I honestly don't think they would.

Sigh.

 

 

Materialistic Mess

My hubby just finished dragging three large bins of cardboard recycling to the end of our driveway for pick-up tomorrow.

It is a good job to have done, and my less cluttered garage thanks him.

But there it is, outside my office window - the waste of Christmas.

And, while I love the gifts I received, and I love the family time we had together, those big bins of cardboard seem like such a waste. 

It just doesn't seem like we really needed all the stuff that cardboard once housed.

It just seems like too much uh, excessiveness.

I'm glad it's getting recycled but we still need to cut back.

And that, going into 2012, is my new year's resolution.

To use less and do more with what we have.

I have no idea what I'm going to do exactly, but I've got an entire year to figure it out. 

Are you making a resolution?

My list for today...

Picked up one daughter from a sleep-over that left her teary and over tired - Check.

Decorated one sliver and blue Christmas tree - Check.

Watched my son and husband play 'keep it up' with the soccer ball in the backyard for thirty seconds - Check.

Got ready and almost out the door to a piano recital - Half a Check.

Helped husband into the van and drove him to the ER after injuring himself playing 'keep it up' - Check.

Spent four hours in the ER - Check.

Missed the piano recital - Check.

Bought a shiny new pair of crutches for hubby - Check.

Comforted one overly sensitive daughter, who was frightened by her Dad's hospital visit and pain - Check.

Heated one frozen pizza for dinner - Check.

Proof read and commented on two high school essays due tomorrow - Check.

House tidied? - No Check.

Laundry done? - No Check.

Dishes done? - No Check.

Christmas crap still spread all over the house? - Check.

Tired? - Double Check.

Sigh.

Meh. It's Christmas.

I tried to set aside some time over the last few days to get the Christmas stuff strewn around the house.

I haven't done it though, for some reason I just haven't felt like it.

I did a little, but I should probably do more, but meh....

You know that feeling?

Meh?

I'm going to go into my daughter's elementary school tomorrow and help wrap for the Christmas bake sale that's scheduled for this weekend. Maybe that'll help get me in the holiday mood.

If that doesn't work I think I'll go and buy some egg nog.

Because with egg nog? There's rum.

And if rum and egg nog can't get one in the mood for the season, then nothing's gonna work.

Happy holiday preparation, everyone....

 

Words to Live by...

I bought this sign last week and hung in my kitchen.

Yeah, I like cookies...

 

It's just good to be nice...

Tomorrow is Random Acts of Kindness day here in my hometown. A local community group printed up 60,000 kindness cards for the day and the idea is that each card is to be passed on when a random kind act is done in hopes that the person who receives it will do something equally kind and then pass the card on again. 

Now, where I live is pretty nice and I honestly do see people here practicing kind acts most days. I often see people smiling at each other, opening doors and giving to charities.

But you know what? 60,000 cards is a lot of cards.

Which got me wondering. How many people actually live in my town?

The answer I found (thank goodness for web sites) is 165,000.

So, that means roughly every second or third person I know is going to get a card.

Which means that if we all get kind and pass these 60,000 cards around it could potentially be a very busy day in my town tomorrow.

I mean I can see everyone running around passing out the cards and just trying to get rid of one before someone is kind and hands them another.

It could be a kindness passing card frenzy!

My town might just get kindness crazy.

As for me?

I'll be hiding at home.

I'm not up to this kinda pressure.

Sigh.

Double Whammy

Wham!

That’s the sound that woke me up this morning at about 3 am.

I was alone, up here in the woods, with just the cat and the dog for company so I couldn’t just roll over and nudge hubby. I had to investigate myself.

So, I dragged myself from bed.

The dog was sound asleep. So much for being my guard dog – she obviously heard nothing.

The cat couldn’t be found – another helpful animal.

So, after a quick walk about and after sleepily finding nothing really out of place I decided my silver feline must have knocked something off a shelf and was now in hiding so I took my groggy self back to bed.

This morning I went to open the sliding glass patio doors and one pane looked like this:

Yes, it's beautiful but it’s also going to fall all over my walkway and so it's now something I've added to the ‘needs to be fixed list’.

Yeah, that list.

That long long looooong list.

Sigh.

Where have you been?

Yes, I know I haven't been around much. I've been here (p. 96) and uh, here too.

And when I haven't been writing I've been trying to stay on top of all the other stuff that comes with parenting three active kids.

So, things have been busy and the more I've been writing the more I'm finding that things at the house have been falling a little off the tracks.

Yes, the place is a mess. 

So, today in the interest of getting things back on track I made a list of what I need to get done.

My list is long.

I am now sorta tired and a little depressed too.

But the sun is out so I have decided to ignore my list and go outside and dig in my garden for a while.

And just to make this whole digging thing legit I'm going to put gardening on the list.

And while I'm at it, I think I'm going to put, 'sit in the sun and drink some wine' on my list too.

Good thinking, right?

Clink. :)

Milk is a start, right?

Things have been a little chaotic lately.

My youngest is involved in a music festival that has been taking up all my time, my hubby has been travelling, I've taken on more work, and all three kids have school, numerous activities and their friends.

It's just been busy and because of that the household stuff has been left to slide a little.

Okay, things are sliding a lot.

I finally had a few hours free this afternoon so I started picking up around here, going through mail, doing dishes, throwing in laundry and I stopped on the way home and got a few groceries too.

Then, I got back to the house and started to put things away.

But when I opened the fridge I discovered that we had milk.

Now I know yesterday we were almost out of milk, but today?

There is milk in my fridge.

There is milk in my fridge that I didn't buy or ask anyone to buy.

That never happens.

I questioned my oldest daughter and discovered that she and her father had stopped on the way home from swimming last night and bought milk because they noticed we were out.

'It was no big deal, Mom', she informed me.

Well yes, it actually is.

You see, I've been the 'part-time-stay-at-home-Mom-trying-to-do-everything' around here for so long that I wasn't really sure what my family actually knew to do for themselves.

But now I am thinking maybe we really will survive if I go back to work full time. Maybe my family really will notice when things are running out or things need to get done around here. Maybe my family really can take the initiative for completing household chores. 

Maybe it won't be as chaotic as I fear around here.

Or maybe, we'll just have lots of milk.

Sigh. 

Up and up and up.

My oldest daughter is two years and ten months older than her brother and my youngest daughter is two years and six months younger than her brother.

As my three children have grown there has always been roughly about a head difference in height between them.

I must admit I always thought it was cute that when they stood in birth order there was a step pattern by age in terms of height. I have literally thousands of pictures, taken through the years, of them lined up from oldest to youngest - girl, boy, girl - tallest to shortest.

Until now.

I was looking at them yesterday from a distance, as they did something with their father, and I realized my thirteen year old son is now much taller than his ten year old sister. In fact, my son is quickly catching up in height to his sixteen year old sister.

And you know what? It made me sad.

That height spacing is now gone - forever. It won't be long until my son is as tall and then taller then his older sister. That step pattern might come back at some point but it will no longer be by birth order because soon my middle child will be the tallest of my children.

They're growing up and up and up.

And I know it's a good thing and it's something that has to happen, but honestly? Tonight it's just making me sad.

Pass the wine.

Sigh.

One-on-one time

My kids are off of school this week for their spring break.

Yes, all three are home together and we have nothing planned. This is the first time EVER that we've had a spring break and not gone somewhere.

Weird.

Surprisingly enough there's been no real fights or problems. They must be getting old. Older. Old enough? Old something.

Anyway, tomorrow we're going to drag them all out TOGETHER for some family time but over the last few days I've managed to carve out some one-on-one time with each child - just each one and me.

It's been nice, we've talked, we've shopped, and we've fixed some stuff. I've had multiple uninterrupted hours with just one child at a time. I've managed to do it with all three.

Points for Mom/Me!

Then tonight? Hubby was home and I suggested we take in a late movie. Since I had time with the kids I thought he and I should share some one-on-one time too.

He agreed, but later when I suggested we get going to the show, he informed me he wanted to watch the end of the hockey game instead.

Hockey.

Sigh.

So, I sat down with him and watched the game too. Just me, him, our son and uh, forty guys on the TV with helmets and sticks.

Romantic? Uh, no. One-on-one time with hubby? Uh, not really.

But I'm giving myself points for effort and for knowing that you can't fight a guy when his team is in a playoff run. 

Besides, we still have four days left of spring break....

A whole heap of love.... and other stuff

When we renovated our back hall last year we put in a mud room.

In this mud room we built three locker type closets - one for each of my children. Each locker has hooks inside it so that my kids can hang up their coats, backpacks and school stuff. Each locker also has two shelves where my kids can stack their boots and books.

I really didn't expect anything to get neatly put away. I did however naively assume that each child would open their locker door, throw their stuff inside and then slam the door quick enough so nothing fell out.

Nope.

My kids still walk in the back door, drop everything inside the entrance and then carry on about their business.

Why?

It. drives. me. crazy.

Yesterday I almost took up the heap of boots, coats, books, mitts and assorted crap and threw it out the back door into a snow bank.

But I didn't. I didn't because it's wet and snowy here and some of that EXPENSIVE stuff that I have shopped, bought and paid GOOD money for could have gotten ruined.

So, I yelled instead and I threatened my kids. And yesterday everything got slowly picked up and put away by my kids.

And today?

Today, everything is in a big heap at the back door again.

Sigh.

May all your dreams come true.*

'I have two dreams,' my youngest informed me as we drove home from school today.

'Really? What are those?' I inquired.

'Why do you want to know?' she asked suddenly suspicious.

'Well,' I said. 'As your mother I'd like to help make all your dreams come true if I can. I kinda see that as part of my job.'

My daughter thought about this for a bit and then proceeded to tell me what her two dreams are. 

Now, I won't tell you exactly what she said, but I will tell you that I now have to have a long talk with hubby about getting a puppy.

Yep - a dog.

Because I honestly do think it's part of my job to help make my daughter's dreams come true.

And, my youngest?

She knows exactly how to play me to get what she wants. 

Sigh.

 

*Alternate titles considered for this post were: 'Just Shoot Me' and 'Sucker Mama'.

Is there a rating system for bumper stickers?

I was following a truck today that had a bumper sticker on it that read, 'Dodge the father. Ram the daughter.'

Yeah, it was on a Dodge Ram 4X4 truck.

Classy.

I'm all for free speech, but really?

Really?

It's icy in my part of the world, but I found myself leaving even more space between this truck and my van so I was very sure that I wouldn't slide into it and then be forced to stop and have to find out who the person was that puts this kinda stuff on their vehicle.

Maybe that was their whole point.

Personally, I hope they were just passing through.

I have a cold.

I ab a old.

My eyes are all gucky. My ears and nose are clogged.

My head feels like it weighs ten pounds.

I want to lie down and relax but I can't stop sneezing.

I plan on taking it easy today but first I need to take the cat in for dental surgery, tidy up the kitchen, put gas in the car, throw over the laundry, grocery shop, type up, proof and send a school e-mail and shovel the driveway. I also need to take and pick up my three kids from school and then take them to math class, swimming, piano and hockey tonight.

Somewhere today I will also take a call from my hubby, who is working on the west coast this week, who will mention that I sound kinda funny and then will completely forget about it until he calls again - and I still sound funny.

It's just a cold. It's not bad enough for me to shut everything down.

All I probably need is a kiss on the forehead, an afternoon on the sofa wrapped in a blanket watching cartoons with someone to come along once in a while to check me for a temperature and to try to get me to eat some soup.

That's what I need.

But it's the Mom that does that.

And that would be uh, me. 

Hmmm. I guess I'd better go look for a can opener.

And crackers. I like crackers in my soup.

Ah...choo.

Sigh.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We survived.

My kids went back to school about an hour ago. Hubby is back at work and I'm supposedly working again too.

Yeah.

So, with the holiday over it's now time to get back to normal uh, life. 

But first, I need to finish putting away the Christmas stuff, take the cat to the vet, update the day-timer, get rid of the returns, empty out the fridge and do the million other little things that I put off doing because of the holiday celebrations.

And let's not even talk about work, school or laundry.

Let the spin of the hamster-life wheel begin!

Again.

Did I say Happy New Year?

Sigh.

Merry Christmas! (Love, Sloth-Mama)

Do you know what my favorite day of the holidays is going to be?

Tomorrow.

Yep, the day after Christmas.

Why?

Because I don't have to be anywhere or do anything.

Because I can sleep as long as I like and dress however I want.

Because the house can be a mess and I can eat holiday cookies all day.

I love Christmas but, like the turkey, I'm done.

Done, done, done.

Enjoy the rest of your holidays - I'm going to bed.

Ho ho

Zzzzzzz.

Carry on

I've hit my Christmas slump.

I've got lots of things done, but I still have more to do.

I just don't want to do it all.

I'm hoping tonight's elementary school Christmas concert will get me back in the mood.

Sigh.

At lunch today, Tired-Papa called and asked me what I was doing on my lunch hour. 

'Shopping,' I replied.

He paused, and I knew that he was thinking about our Visa statement.

'Are we almost done?' he asked.

'We need toilet paper, milk and a green vegetable for dinner,' I replied.

And that, my friends, in a nutshell is the problem with Christmas - everyday life stuff still needs to happen too.

Somebody send me some cheer, will ya?

Un-subscribe, un-subscribe and just go AWAY.

I just got an e-mail that asked if I had made a meal plan for the week.

Seriously?

I mean, seriously.

Do I even know what I'm having for lunch in an hour?

No.

I hate these 'get-your-stupid-family-organized' e-mails I get from Mom blogs and magazines.

I know they are intended to help, but really? They just make me feel bad.

Have you ever noticed that 'You make me feel inadequate' is never an option that you can check when you're un-subscribing from a parenting magazine or blog list?

I mean give me a break, I'm doing the best I can over here.

As for a meal plan? We plan on eating.

Halloween candy maybe. I know I've got lots of that. Will that do?

Sigh.

Out with the trashy

In his home office in-tray Tired Papa usually keeps the bills that need to be paid and any pending family correspondence. Tonight? There's a Barbie doll in there too.

You see tonight my youngest daughter is off at a camp with her school. So while she's away I decided to clean her room and throw out some of the crap  garbage stuff she was stock-piling. At the bottom of her closet I found a broken Barbie doll. 

But this broken Barbie doll wasn't pouting, she was smiling. And this Barbie doll had hardly any make-up painted on her little plastic face, her hair was brushed back in a smooth pony-tail and she was even dressed in something I might actually let a child of mine leave the house wearing.

Wonder of wonders - I found a Barbie doll that doesn't look like a hooker.

So, since my fingers were not strong enough to push the different parts of this doll back into place I gently put her, and her assorted parts, into my hubby's in-basket for him to fix. I think all this doll needs is some major limb realignment and then she'll be as good as new.

As for all the Bratz and other trashy dolls I found? They went into the garbage.

Probably tomorrow night Tired Papa will yell down the stairs to ask me why there's a dismembered doll in his in-basket. I will then yell back ask him to put her back together so that she can be played with.

And he will because he's good with this kinda thing.

And this will make me happy because there's got to be some reward in this world for being wholesome.

Right?

Hello, Mr. Policeman

My youngest daughter got my attention this afternoon when she came in the door crying because the police 'had her brother'.

Um, really?

Yep, that got me out of the laundry room and outside.

It turns out the police had come by to check on my son and his friends who were out playing on some small gas powered dirt bikes.

These are small bikes, fairly quiet and all the kids who were riding them had helmets on. Trust me they didn't look like thugs or anything, the bikes are slow and um, un-threatening - the police weren't needed. 

After some discussion the police basically told the kids that they were not allowed to use these bikes on our public dead end quiet cul-de-sac street without a license and insurance. 

My daughter was soon calm again.

Still, you want my attention? Just tell me the police, with their lights flashing on their cars, are out front talking to my twelve year old kid.

That'll get my attention.

Sigh. 

E-mail from a ten year old.

When the new school year starts in a few weeks my youngest will be going into grade five which is when her school starts giving out school e-mail accounts.

I decided today it would be a good idea to talk with her a little about what was appropriate to send out in an e-mail and how it was done before the school did.

I also wanted her to muck around with it a bit before she started sending things to her friends so I set her up with a home e-mail account and I gave her my e-mail address and her father's e-mail address to practice with.

Tonight I got my first e-mail from her. Here is what it said:

Dear Leanne and **her Dad's name**,

We of the **our surname** kids* would like to inform you that you have not yet gotten us a dog.

I think it is very important that you get us a dog because it would teach us responsibility.

Now I believe that Dad would say " You have stuffed animal dogs!" as for Leanne, she would say, "convince your father!"

So Dad, a stuffed animal dog isn't REAL. As for Leanne, I hope this letter convinces Dad to get a dog.

Thank you for your time and patience and have a good day.

*ME
Sincerely,

**Youngest daughter's full name**, daughter.

I think she's got it figured out.

Now I'm just waiting for her Dad's reply. I'll let you know how that works out.

It just figures...

There are a few 'truisms' happening in my life today.

For example, because I finally found someone who could come to my house and fix my lawn watering system -  it's raining. Hard.

I finally found the perfect tile for the basement bathroom we're renovating and yep, when we called to order it - it's been discontinued.

I cleaned out my purse today and found the receipt for the beach towels I wanted to return to the store - now I can't find the bag with the towels in it. 

It's just been one of those days.

Sigh.

It's too hot for me

It's hot outside.

With the renovation going on our air conditioner doesn't seem to be working properly and so today in my house? It's hot.

When I am hot, I get grumpy.

I'm grumpy.

You've been warned.

I spent the day today helping my youngest daughter get ready for camp so I spent time at the shopping mall- the air conditioned shopping mall.

It is now my favorite place to be.

I don't even want to shop there, I just want to wander around in its sparkly coolness.

Unfortunately the darn place closes at 9 pm.

Is there anyway I can get the local mall to remain open 24-7 during this heat wave?

I might look like a bag lady when I'm sleeping in the aisles but at least I'd be cool and a lot less grumpy.

It works for me.

Sigh.

It's all good

Tired Papa and I have been married for seventeen years tomorrow.

Seventeen years.

That's a long time. 

As my youngest daughter and I were driving to dance tonight she told me that her Dad and I should do something special for our anniversary.

'Like what?' I asked.

'Like go downtown and go out for a romantic dinner,' she replied.

I reminded her that on our anniversary her father and I would be running between her two dance recitals and her brother's baseball tournament. I don't think we'll even have time to have a burger together tomorrow, never mind a whole romantic meal.

'That's bad,' she said. 

But you know what? I'm not so sure it is. 

If you had told me seventeen years ago that I would be spending my anniversary today still happily married to the same guy and that I'd be spending the day enjoying activities with our beautiful healthy children, I think I would have been okay with that.

I'm still okay with that.

Happy Anniversary Hun.

Oh, but can I get a rain check on the whole romantic dinner idea? That sounds kinda nice too.

Sweet and uh, gross too

We're creating a new laundry room.

I know you're excited to share this news with me. But since I am moving my laundry room from my dark creepy basement to the second floor of my house, where all our bedrooms are located, it's a good thing.

It's a really good thing.

Last Friday my contractor informed me that he would be moving my washer and dryer upstairs on Monday. He told me that I would be without my appliances for the day so that his guys could haul them upstairs, run a gas line and get them hooked back up.

No problem.

I made sure that in between music lessons, baseball, dance, swimming and birthday parties over the weekend I got all my laundry done.

All. of. it.

So, I shouldn't have been surprised when at about 4 am on Monday morning I heard the pitter-patter of medium sized feet enter my room to inform me that their owner's stomach hurt.

Yep, the one day when we don't have a washer and dryer, the stomach flu hit our house.

Sigh.

You know you have good friends when they offer to haul your smelly vomit filled kid's sheets over to their house so they can wash them for you.

Sweet.

Gross too.

But very sweet. 

Spring Fever

Spring fever has hit our town and it's not good.

Nothing is getting done.

Reports from the school are that my boy and his friends are all acting silly. They don't want to be indoors learning math and verbs, they want to be outside. These kids are thinking about swimming and baseball and lying around doing sweet nothing.

I can't say I blame them. I didn't even bother talking to my son about it.

When I reminded my daughter yesterday that she had to practice her music before she could go out and play she gave me a look that would have led you to believe that I was torturing her.

I'm supposed to be working today too.

But here I am.

I'm also looking at the flats of flowers sitting in the sunshine outside my window and thinking I should go out and garden.

That's work isn't it? Sort of?

Sigh.

How many days until summer vacation starts?

Cheshire Cat's Sweet Revenge.

My son loves our family cat just a little bit too much.

Every once in a while my son will just hug our cat to smithereens and when our  independent feline meows in protest my son often just holds the cat all the tighter.

After a short protest, the cat will give up squirming and just wait passively in my boy’s arms until I intervene or my boy gets his hug quota and sets the cat free. 

Our cat is truly the most laid-back, patient and well, BEST family pet anyone could ever ask for.

But today, while my son was on the computer typing up his homework, the cat jumped up on the desk and sent a baseball, that was also on the desk, rolling towards the floor. The baseball fell off the desk and landed smack on the PC's power bar's off switch.

Yep, the son lost his homework and had to start typing it all over again.

Yeah.

Hee.

Hee, hee, hee.

And I swear, when I look at our cat right now? He’s smiling.

I think they've forgotten who they're talking to.

It's not what they say, it's how they say it.

It's their TONE.

It's their ATTITUDE.

Yeah, I have a tween, a teen and my ten year old? She thinks she's twenty-one.

Sigh.

My kids are not being very polite to their parents these days so I've decided I need to clamp down a bit on my kid's 'tudes.'

Yeah, I know this is not going to go well and that I probably won't change much, but I have to try and do something - their sneering is getting out of control.

I truly do everything for my kids and, like all kids, they don't appreciate it. And the reason they don't appreciate it?

Because they are spoiled rotten brats.

There I said it.

How's your week going?

Growl.