Misc. stuff

O's school had a fun run this morning.  He won 1st place in the 1st grade division!  He is a great runner.  Now I'm trying to figure out how to use that to my advantage.  Can we train together, logging mother/son time training him to be a great runner and shaving pounds off of mommy's butt?

C said I looked like a homeless woman.  I was wearing my sleep shirt with socks.  I was cold.  I put on sweat pants.  Still cold.  Put on a sweat shirt.  STILL cold.  Put on a stocking hat.  Slept dressed like this all night long.  Very comfy, toasty warm.  Screw fashion.

Spring cleaning the house tonight for our Stupid Bowl party tomorrow.  I actually vacuumed the window blinds.  I plan to polish my stainless steel fridge tomorrow.  Been up since 6 am.  Am going to bed.  Goodnight all!

January Birthdays

Just wanted to take the time to honor those friends and family who have January birthdays!  Between the post-holiday food coma, C's birthday cake and 2 different batches of Magic Cookie Bars  for two different occasions, I chose not to make a birthday cake/dessert.  But know that you were all thought of just as much when we were eating the other stuff.  We sang too.

Hope you all had/have a wonderful birthday!

Craig M

Mom/Nana/Trudy J

Karen N

Grandma J

cousin Sydney V

cousin Tom J

cousin-in-law JoLyn J

cousin Charlie M

Uncle Ron J

Uncle Jim S

Uncle Jim M

cousin Ricky P

Marisa M

Nina R

Todd W

Eric R

Love to you all!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Just wanted to wish my wonderful mom the happiest of birthdays.  You are and have always been a great inspiration.  Thank you for being my mom.  I love you to pieces!!

Thank You

There are two posts on other blogs this week that I wanted to share.  

Thanks LW for this reminder of NASA's fallen heroes.

Thanks to Da Momma for helping me get past my feeling of inadequacy for being unable to breast feed my kids for more than a few months.  

Have a great week everyone.

25 Random Things About Me

I was tagged twice in the same day on facebook by 2 different friends to make a list of 25 random things about me.  They gave their list and tagged 25 friends to do the same so we may, perhaps, learn something new about our friends.  I thought it sounded like something fun to duplicate on my blog so here goes nothing.

25 Random Things About Me

1.  I HATE WalMart

2.  I regret that I shop at Sam's Club (same company as WalMart) because the closest Costco is 22 miles away from my house.

3.  Some days I almost drive the 22 miles to the other side of downtown Houston just because I really hate WalMart that much.

4.  I try my hardest to be environmentally friendly.  I recycle everything I possibly can, I drive a Prius, I use a Sigg water bottle, I use cloth grocery bags, I used cloth diapers on my oldest child...  I really work hard to tread lightly on this earth.

5.  Contradictory to #4, I am a HUGE fan of zip-lock bags.

6.  I am afraid of loud noises.

7.  I have near panic attacks in crowded spaces.

8.  Toilet paper MUST feed from the top of the roll.  (And don't come over here and change all of the toilet paper rolls in the house, PC!!)

9.  My children are the biggest challenge I've ever experienced.

10.  I would love to become a vegetarian.

11.  However, I believe I would die if I were restricted from eating a good burger or a steak.

12.  It is hard for me to ask for help.  

13.  I slept naked for 7 years before the kids came along.

14.  I've visited France 4 times.

15.  And I'd go back again tomorrow and live there for a few years if I could.

16.  I've also visited London and a small area in Germany.

17.  I would love to visit Ireland, Austria, Italy and Australia/New Zealand.

18.  I prefer the mountains to the beach.

19.  I prefer the cold to the heat.

20.  I always wanted to be a doctor.  However, I knew I couldn't handle having people die on me and abandoned that idea.  Well, that and I could never pass the science classes.    

21.  I have huge mood swings and I will cry at the drop of a hat.

22.  My favorite thing to do to relax is to watch t.v.

23.  I've gone skinny dipping in a high mountain lake in August when there was ice still on the lake.  Yep, it was cold.

24.  Grand Teton National Park is the most beautiful place on the face of the earth if you ask me.

25.  I'm an insomniac.  That explains #21.  Well that plus those evil things called hormones.

The Gods Granted My Wish

There is a store in the mall called Club Libby Lu.  It is supposed to be a store for 'tweens and has all of this girly, fu-fu stuff in it like lotions and glitter stuff.  Young girls have parties there and get makeovers.  90% of every birthday party I've seen when going by the store ends with a bunch of 8 year old hookers.  I swear these girls have their hair all done up and makeup on like a 20 something woman.  It gives me the creeps.

Then I gave birth to a girly-girl.  I anticipated that within 10 years of her birth we would be arguing about whether or not she would be allowed to either have her birthday party there or attend a birthday party there.  To be fair, I've seen one or two parties over the years where the girls come out looking cute and age appropriate.  They have cool hairdos, lots of glitter and maybe lip gloss.  Like I said, it just gives me the creeps and I didn't want M ever going there.

We were in the mall on Monday and walked by the store.  IT IS CLOSED!!  WAHOOOOOO!!!  I checked online and they closed all of their stores.  It is a small victory for mom but a terribly important one.  Thanks be to the Gods of mothers with 'tween girls.  

I've taught my kids the "F word"

I've tried to parent with the idea that I never want my kids to hesitate to talk to me about anything.  I hope to be able to speak without hesitation to them if they ask me a question about what shoes to wear or if they ask me about sex.  I don't want them to see any flicker of uncertainty in my eye nor do I want to display any discomfort about any topic.

With that in mind, O, M and I were watching the Biggest Loser from this past week.  I had already seen it but O has become quite a fan so I saved the show on the DVR so he could see it too.  I knew in advance that Bob, the trainer, was going to have a bit of a melt down and use some bad language.  In teaching my kids about bad language, I try not to make a big deal out of it.  I use bad language.  Not to an extreme.  But I have cussed in front of the kids.  I feel like if I make it some sort of forbidden thing that they will gravitate towards it as they grow up.  So, if they use bad language we have a chat about how some people see those words as "bad" and they need to be careful about where they use those words and who they say them to.  So far it isn't a huge deal for them.  O is now getting to that concrete stage of development where the rules are the rules period and he is the first to point out if anyone breaks them.

So, as we are watching the show and Bob is screaming at one of the contestants, O says, "Oh, I know what he said.  He said shoot."  I kind of laugh and neither confirm or deny his assumption.  Then he realizes that Bob probably really didn't say shoot.  So he starts pressing me, "what word did he say, mom?"

What was I supposed to do?  So we had a chat about the F word.  How it is a really bad word and the kids need to be careful not to say it.  Then he wants to know what it means and we touch on how it is slang for sex but we also use it in other ways.  The whole time I'm thinking, "how do I get into these conversations with my 6 and 3 year old kids?"  I feel like I explained things to their satisfaction and at their level.  I asked if they had any questions.  We also talked about alternative words to use.  I told them that a lot of people use the word "frick or freak" instead.  He giggled and laughed as we watched Bob have his fit and we all knew what he was saying even though they beeped it out.  

I think it was a good bonding experience for us.  I also took the opportunity to remind them that they can always come and ask me about anything.

Now I wonder if frick and freak will become a regular part of their vocabulary!  I can't wait.