Life is Full of Awkward Moments.

I am finally realizing this. We aren't supposed to "sail" through life--it's meant to test and try us, and be SERIOUSLY awkward at times. Sure, there's awkward moments like the time you might realize you have no cash to tip the guy who just spent ten minutes detailing the inside of your SUV, or that time when your slip falls down around your ankles in the middle of church. Or when you get a popcorn popper for your wedding and you send a detailed thank-you about how you've already made popcorn with it and thank you SO much blah blah blah, and you open the box a month later to realize they've recycled the box to wrap six gorgeous crystal goblets inside. THOSE are awkward moments.

Then there are the BIG ones--usually happening in front of large crowds of people. Like flubbing your lines at a play when you know the director for the next part you want to audition for happens to be in the audience. Or sending a query letter to one of your dream agents and you accidentally leave the name of the previous agent you queried at the top. Or singing in church in front of a LOT of people and you lose your place twice and your voice cracks because you have a COLD. Or my personal favorite: you are sitting on a bus with your toddler and she points to a well-endowed woman and says in her very loudest outside voice: "MOM! LOOK AT THE BOOBIES!!!"

AWKWARD. Even the word is a bit...well...awkward. I have finally realized that instead of collapsing into a puddle of embarrassed melted goo when these moments happen, you need to Get Over It. Soldier on. Life is too short. You have lots of more awkward moments waiting to happen, so you might as well greet them with a smile. 

Right? ;-)

A Not-So-Bueno Morning...

Had to go to the store early this morning because Thing One needed a package of napkins for her class at school, and guess what we just happened to be out of? Yeah.

So, I drive to the closest Harris Teeter in a DOWNPOUR. We're talking fishhooks and hammer handles, people. I had my windshield wipers on super fast, and I could still barely see. I get to the store, park as close as possible (there's only one other lady in a minivan waiting for the rain to thin out) and of course I'm on a time crunch so I take off my glasses, slip them into my rain jacket, and RUN to the doors.

Then I reach in my pocket to get my glasses and...they're gone. NOT. IN. MY. POCKET.

So, I groan and retrace my steps, realizing that there are at least two torrential rivers of rainwater I ran through on the way in, and the realization hits me: they dropped out of my pocket and were carried by the torrent into the stormdrain!!

Now, anyone who has read the novel "IT" by Stephen King would understand my hesitation/dislike of stormdrains. Anyway, I rush over to see if they are caught by the stormdrain (remember it's pouring outside and I am officially soaked through now) and I see nothing. I've lost my glasses. They are gone.

I am now hopping mad. I look all around one more time before I go in, and nothing. I go inside, pick up the napkins (and weird looks from the checker I'm sure because I was soaked to the bone) and get back in my car. FUMING. The only prescription glasses I had in the car were sunglasses, and it was already dark.

Then I decide to look under my car. Don't know why, just do. I get out again (still pouring like crazy) and peek underneath, and there are my glasses, underneath my car in the MIDDLE. How they got there, I'll never know, but they are there. So I get on my knees (in two inches of rushing water) and crawl underneath the car and fish (ha ha) them out.

The drive home was...uncomfortable. I took off my jacket so at least the top half of me was dry, but my jeans were soaked and I have leather seats so I was not happy. But at least I got my glasses. And you know I made my daughter feel totally bad about needing napkins on such short notice.

I'm hoping the way my day started isn't the way it ends. Please?

Open Letter to 2012: PLEASE SLOW DOWN!!!

I can't believe it's March 1st already. Makes me think of all the things I haven't started/accomplished yet this year, and it also brings me closer to the release date of my book (July 10th! WOO!). So, good and bad.

Kids are signed up for Spring sports, too early for Swimming and Tennis yet. I want my kids outside this summer. Yes, I know it's hot and muggy and blah blah blah, but the best way to get acclimated is to GO OUTSIDE AND BE IN IT. At least, that's my theory.

I am nervous. My good friend asked me to sing a duet with her in front of a BUNCH of women at our church R.S. retreat this Saturday. Talk about rusty pipes! But we sound awesome together, if I do say so myself. I don't think I've sung in church for about fifteen years. How sad is that? Oh well. Singing is like riding a bicycle, in my opinion.

I've finally cracked open The Hunger Games. I'm only about 30 pages in. It's good--I'm reading it on a kindle because Thing Four has basically absconded with my iPad for his own use. (That's what I get for downloading Team Umi Zoomi stuff on it!)

It's going to be 80 degrees today. I will be turning on the air conditioner. Don't worry, I already have. I am ready for Spring!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Oldies but Goodies.

Thing Two surprised me the other day. He asked me if I knew where the cd for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PC game was. I was like, seriously? You really want to play that? We have a Wii. We have Nintendo 3Ds's. We have iPods. All very exciting. But no, he wanted to play a PC game he used to play when he was a little kid.

Then I realized why he wanted to play it. Because of the good memories. I have great memories of certain toys and books from MY childhood, why else would I scour Ebay looking for them? Yes, I have a circa 1978 Barbie Perfume Maker, don't you worry. I also have a complete set of Sweet Valley High books, with the original vintage circle covers. I bought Richard Scarry books for MY kids. Why? Because of the great childhood memories. For Thing Two, it's a memory of his first time he really played a game, and it was Harry Potter on the computer.
He loaded it onto the computer and Thing Four watched him play it. It brought back memories for me, too.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. It can make us smile, or frown, it can motivate us, it can depress us. When we were kids everything was so tactile: smells, sounds, tastes--I honestly can smell a smell or taste something today that will resurrect a powerful memory once in a while. No one is immune.

What did you like to do as a child? Maybe you should revisit that hobby, and see how it makes you feel. :-)

Rainy Day.

I wish there was SOMETHING to blog about, but my weekend consisted of basketball games, running around, and the usual stuff.

And it's raining. Kind of depressing. Here's hoping there's sunshine everywhere else!

Something's Not Quite Right...

I was doing bills the other day, and I was shocked. SHOCKED by how much money we spend on gas every month. I was looking at the total, and it was almost as much as we spend on food! How crazy is that?

I tend to stay away from personal things on this blog, like Politics and Religion (two things you may be surprised to know I feel VERY strongly about) so I'm not going to say much, but I will say how grossed-out I am by the fact I spend $85 every time I fill up. Luckily I live really close to the South Carolina border, and gas in SC costs an average of twenty to thirty cents less a gallon. So I just zip there to get my gas. CRAZINESS.

Have had a rough week. My foot is injured so I've been hobbling around. I feel like I can't get a lot done unless I ingest enough Ibuprofen to kill a horse. This weekend is going to be crazy. Basketball season is winding down, but I have three kids with games tomorrow and it's going to be a little interesting. Luckily most of what I do involves running around in a car, and my left foot is the affected foot, so I can drive no problem. It's getting better every day. I'm just ready to be BETTER.

Soccer season starts up soon! Thing Four (who is four) told me yesterday he doesn't want to play soccer. He said "Mom, I want to play T-ball, because I want to be a baseball player!" This surprised me, because we've never encouraged him one way or another in sports. I figured micro soccer would be a fun outlet for him. But he wants to do T-ball. I'm down with that. As long as he's doing something. ;-)

I hope everyone has a great weekend! It was 80 degrees yesterday. The trees are blooming in Ballantyne. Of course it gets BUTT cold over the weekend again, but Spring is around the corner!

Change is Good.

Unless it really isn't change at all. So, I've been eating Yoplait yogurt since High School. Which means I've been eating it for over twenty years. Only Yoplait, none other. I decided to make a change yesterday, and try something new. Just to see what's out there. I bought Dannon Light n Fit yogurt and...*drumroll please*...they taste the SAME!

They really do! I was surprised. It was Yoplait in a Dannon package. Whether this is strategic or not, they are identical to me. Hmmm....

Busy week for me. I wrecked my foot and I've been hobbling around on it, and last night it was so bad once I was in bed I started whining. Hubby told me to elevate it, and it totally helped. Today I'm trying to function with a gimpy foot and it just isn't fun. I must have sprained it. It's the same foot I chipped a bone in a few years back, and it feels like an identical injury. If it doesn't get better by the weekend I'll be taking a trip to Ortho.

Oh, in FABULOUS news, all three of my older children need braces. Well, Thing One doesn't really "need" them, but she is extremely self conscious about her diastema, which is a natural gap in the front teeth: 

These aren't her teeth, just an example. But she is VERY much hating the gap, so we are getting it fixed with braces. I told her it could be worse. Her teeth could be like this:

This would be Thing Four. (who is four years old. ) He has severe diastema. And yes, he will need braces too, eventually.
Anyway, I learned something about Orthodontia. It's EXPENSIVE. As in I-Need-A-Money-Tree-Planted-In-The-Backyard-Immediately-Please expensive. Oh well. It's Life, right?

Time to do laundry! There's no changing THAT, unfortunately.

I'm a Woodworking Carpentress. (NOT.) Oh, and I'm Avoiding Pinterest...

Told a friend today I was busy building drawers for my boys, because they share a closet, and the closet if full of two dressers, and since I want them to be super organized, I bought two sets of plywood double drawers from Target to build and add on to their existing dressers. (For socks and underwear, because all their shirts and shorts and jeans and blah blah blah don't exactly fit into ONE dresser.) And I went with the plywood cheap kind because they're just going on top of the dressers in their closets, so no one will see them but them. Yeah. I'm cheap sometimes. But I don't care.

AnywayI'mtotallyrambling, when I say I'm "building drawers" I guess I should say they're the "assemble it yourself" kind, so people don't think I'm one of THOSE moms who goes out to the lumberyard and has all sorts of jigsaws and woodworking tools in my handy shop in my garage where I BUILD DRAWERS.

Ha ha, see? Major difference there. Guess I should clarify. ;-)

I'm avoiding Pinterest. OH. MY. WORD. have you BEEN on Pinterest???? I salivate just looking at it. I think if I seriously sat myself down (I have an account but that's as far as I got) and started looking and "pinning" I'd be on it for hours a day. HOURS.

I don't have time. I want to, but I don't have the time! I already check Facebook about 5 times a day, Pinterest will sink me. Want to know what I'm talking about in case you live under a rock and don't? Click here. And consider yourself warned.

Happy Monday everyone! The sun is out!

My Boys are DOIN' LAUNDRY.

I have three boys. And I'll be danged when they leave this house if they don't know how to take care of themselves.

I am an impatient person. I get frustrated when people do things slowly. Not exactly the best trait to have as a mother. Slow tying the shoes? Don't worry, I will jump in and finish. S-L-O-W-L-Y folding the clothes? I will take over.

Shame on me. I've had an epiphany of sorts recently. I don't want my boys to go off to college and have their roommates HATE them because they're "those" boys--you know, the ones whose mamas did everything for them and they can't clean a dish or pick up anything. Nope. Not my boys.

My boys are learning how do wash their own clothes, cook basic food, and CLEAN STUFF. My boys will not be "those" boys.

It will be hard, because I'm an impatient teacher, but I need to do it. It would be a huge disservice to them if I didn't.

This week has been quiet--Hubby is gone Sunday to Sunday. I'm ready for him to be back home. Even though his absence has made it easier to watch my Grey's Anatomy episodes on Netflix into the wee hours of the morning. Ha ha!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sports are Like Harry Potter Books--They Get Darker As the Kids Get Older...

I have four kids. I love them all equally. Their skills, however, are not equal. They are all different. I have one child who played sports when younger, but isn't really interested in them now.  I have another child who tried sports, and realized they just aren't for him. I have another child who excels at any sport he tries, he's fast, quick, and coordinated. Then I have another child who LOVES sports, but doesn't have the coordination to play them. And he wants to, so bad, and I will put him in every sport he wants to try, and I will support him no matter what.

I think when kids are younger, it is "cute" when they play sports. We're in if for the fun. Parents are more relaxed (in general) at games. There is a spirit of fun and enthusiasm. Take Micro-soccer. It's basically a bunch of toddlers running around and if they manage to kick the ball any distance at all, let alone in the net, we bust out with pride.

Then they get older. There's usually a good mix of kids. The super talented athletic kids, the mediocre kids, the flat-out NOT athletic kids, they are all put together and although the atmosphere is more competitive, they still manage to work together as a team and the parents cheer them on. Only one or two tend to be uber-competitive.

Then, they become tweens/teens. Sports become cutthroat. Parents get annoyed when the less-talented kids get put in. Because points get lost. Parents yell at the coach to keep the talented players playing, to heck with the feelings of the less-talented players. They want to WIN. Parents scream at refs. They throw their hands up and yell at their kids when they aren't being "aggressive" enough. They criticize. They insult. It's a pressure cooker of barely contained, hypertensive, seething, boiling competition. And one false move can result in the lid getting blown off. Literally.

When they're older teens, there aren't any "bad" players on the team. Because if you aren't super talented, you simply WON'T make the team. Play badly? You get cut. Because when you're older, fun time is over. You are in it to WIN, and everything else is just second-best. You think stage moms are bad? Try the parents of talented athletes. They can be downright poisonous.

It's like Life, right? When you're young, everything is fun and everyone is special. Then as you mature, things get darker, reality sets in, and the kid gloves come off. Sports are like this. Life is like this. Sometimes we wish we could turn the clock back. Lately I've been wishing I can turn the clock back.

If only we could...