Always On My Time

This past weekend, we celebrated our middle child's 4th birthday. Poor A, he has seen his big brother have a couple of big birthday parties, and now that he is in preschool I couldn't not  have a big to-do. Well, big to him. It was a glorified playdate with 7 of his friends from school. There was no pony or rocket rides, but he had a great day, and that is all that matters. This year was the first year I asked our oldest son what kind of party he wanted. He finally decided on Minecraft, because duh, he is 7, and what else do 7-year-old boys want out of life? Nothing. Just unlimited iPad time with Minecraft PE (Pocket Edition, you fools!)...I don't think I can say anything more about that party. I might write a post on the Minecraft cake that I made, but other than that, I never want to think about that party again. 16 or so 2nd grade boys + silly string + pizza and sugar=the 7th circle of hell. When it came time to ask A what kind of party he wanted, at...

See, you have to know where one comes from to understand where one is now. Or not.  How many of us still cling to those wonderful memories of grandma feeding us butter and sugar sandwiches on white bread? Just me? Um...I'll, uh, be over here then. Because I would totally eat one if it magically appeared in front of me. Ok, just one bite.  I never thought I would be the kind of crazy mom who thinks and agonizes over the long-term health effects of the shit I feed my kids. I never thought I would do a lot of things as a mom, but didn't we all?  Growing up, I was not exactly fed the best diet. As a young child, doted upon my grandmother and great-grandparents, I basically ate whatever I wanted. I will say though, that I don't remember ever being picky, especially if there was even a hint of that white stuff in it. You know, those little crystals that are practically considered poison by hippies. It's ok. I'm a little bit of a hippy, too. Maybe n...

My kids working together to find ghost crab dens. My home has been on the brink of a full-blown meltdown lately. I imagine it's like the clingy air and green skies during the late spring in Tornado Alley-you just never know when the weather is going to turn. Mornings are chaos, homework is a nightmare, boys are fighting, baby girl has learned to say "uh uh." My husband doesn't get home until around 10pm twice a week, and has had Army commitments the past few weekends, and next weekend as well. So I've been on my own a lot recently.  Remembering the happy, calm, easygoing time we had this summer on our first family-of-five vacation is the only thing keeping me from drinking pinot until I pass out every night.  Here's to passing the storm, and for a refill of patience in my soul.   

We are preparing to put our house on the market within the next six months to a year, so the process of decluttering and boosting the functionality of the space available is in full swing. Mostly out of necessity as we have 3 kids who seem to collect crap by the minute, and a 3 bedroom home which I KNOW is fine, but we definitely have some needs that our home doesn't provide anymore. My grandmother is currently visiting and since the weather was shitty, I "suggested" to my husband that we execute my new furniture- and toy-moving plans, so we rearranged the (finished) basement and brought down a lot of the kid's toys.  We have moved toys to and from the basement several times a year, each year, always changing our minds about where we want the stupid train table to be or where it makes the most sense to have the kids play. Our home office (computer, printer, bookcase) is also down there, as well as an extra bed, the husband's makeshift man cave (a ...

I knew this would probably happen.  I start a new project, and boom! Three days later and I'm struggling to keep up. That first day was so exhilarating. I had so many post ideas in my head, my fingers were chomping at the bit to develop their first typing-related injury.   If you are to make blogging a full-time job, how do you get to the point where you consistently crank out posts that people enjoy enough to share and subscribe, while sticking to the boundaries of what you want to share? How do you stay excited about writing and editing, reading feedback or taking photos of your latest Pinterest fail? I mean, those baked, scrambled eggs in the muffin tin did not just 'pop right out.'  I know I will probably not be able to post everyday, and that is fine. But I love, love the feeling of having something new going on, something to get excited about. Something for me.  It is a welcome feeling in a life that is consumed with kids, chores, homework, work...