She’s a flyer (and a yeller!)

 

Photos courtesy of the lovely and talented Sara Gamble! Thanks Sara. I owe you big!

Real Moms

real moms sometimes have children you can’t see.

this meme goes out to all the mothers who don’t get tagged for
things like this. the ones who’ve given birth but had no baby to take
home. who sit on the sidelines of conversations about mucous plugs and
back labour, with stories to tell but no room to participate. who have
a little gravestone or an urn or just a memory in the place of a child.
who have adoption papers saying “relinquish all rights…” or ultrasound
photos but nothing more. or who have two smiling school photos on their
desk, but really, inside, count to three when you ask “how many kids do
you have?”

this is for all the real moms with children invisible to the eye.

~ cribchronicles.com

Of Satisfaction and Succulents.

So today's weekly column is all about how you have to learn to embrace what you have – the things that matter. Home, health, family. While I am not your "go to girl" for anything related to health (God forbid – I think gummy bears are a fruit-based food group in and of themselves) I am able to share how I keep my love of hearth and home alive on approximately seventy-six cents – per month.

I keep the fabulousness that is this falling-down-Old-House from reducing me to tears with the help of great web bloggers like Chatting at the Sky and The Nesting Place. Both provide real-life inspiration to work pleasure and happiness and warm feelings of fuzzy goodness into your home – without breaking the bank.

You know you want to go there. Really, you do.

The Nester is decorating with succulents today and really now? How can you not want more succulence in your life?

Bribery

Is it wrong of me, as a parent, to say I won't attempt to influence my child in any way, shape or form in her choice of extracurricular activities? To claim
that I won't allow my own hopes, dreams, and
dread-fear-of-rabid-pee-wee-football-types to influence my child's
choices? That I absolutely will not attempt to live vicariously through my child?

And then say "Mommy will buy you a car AND a pony if you promise me you won't cheer this year?"

Mike and mini-Mike

So I may have inadvertently kidnapped the neighbor boy …

So I may have inadvertently kidnapped the neighbor boy. Hey, it happens …

Look,
I have a LOT of kids around here and cannot possibly be expected to
keep track of ALL of them at ALL times can I?  I don't get PAID to
watch these kids, mind you. I do it for free because I'm a Good Person
and, more importantly, that's a big lie, I'm actually kind of mean and
pithy a lot of the time and frankly, need the karma to balance out.
Frankly, when you provide free childcare for a variety of people in the
'hood you could go around skewering kittens and people might look at
you funny but then they'd be all "well she does watch those kids for free … and shrug and give you a pass.

So
I've been watching THIS particular kid for nearly a decade now. He
sleeps over a few nights a week and goes to school from here. Or not.
Sometimes he gets picked up in the wee hours of the morning, or dropped
off. Who can keep it straight?

Anywho, so our school district's
2-hour delay morphed into an actual All Day Snow Day (cue the screaming
fans of this – who are most decidedly Loud Children). So we are here
ALL DAY and having a lovely time dismantling our home for fun and only
recently did neighbor boy say "I wonder if my mom knows we had a snow day and that I'm here and not at school?"

And
I realized, with a start, that no she probably didn't and she's going
to be really confused when this kid doesn't get off a bus in the next
half hour or so.

Schedules

Indoor Soccer Session I

All games played at the Salem Community Center’s Center Circle unless otherwise indicated.

Kassie’s Schedule

Thursday, November 13    7:00 p.m.

Matthew’s Schedule

Saturday, November 15    5:00 p.m.

Mike and Kym’s Schedule

Saturday, November 15    10:00 p.m. (beer, whining, and wings to immediately follow).

Ahoy ye Matey’s

Originally uploaded by writermom1

My mom needs all the Kit-kats you can spare …

You gotta kiss a lot of frogs …

 

Yet more proof that Kassie is about 1,000 times cooler than I could ever hope to be. At her age, I wouldn't have picked up a bullfrog on a dare. Here she and Donna are showing off their mad frog whispering skills. I think sticking her tongue out like a frog on the hunt for a big juicy fly shows an amazing amount of frog empathy don't you?

The Great Pom-Pom War of 2008

Sometimes it still astounds me to realize my 'baby' is growing into a person with her own sense of self.

 

Yesterday at pee-wee cheer they handed out pom-poms to all the girls to use for the season. Kassie was handed a one of the rare and highly coveted "new" pairs (as opposed, apparently, to those used pom-poms that are so devalued the moment you drive them off the lot).

 

During the course of the practice the girls were instructed to set the pom-poms down, get a drink, whatever. When they did so, a new and not-altogether-pleasant girl made an obvious grab to take Kassie's new pom-poms for her own and leave her more tattered set behind. I suggested this was an oversight, mistakes happen, Kassie assured me that was not the case at all.

 

Of course Kassie, having been told by her parents to always handle things in a fair and kind manner and the world will treat you well (ie. having been sold a load of goods) was heard to say "oh hey, those are mine could I have them back?"

To which the pom-snatcher replied "they're all the same it doesn't matter" in what was described as "a really mean way mommy."

Kassie countered with "well if it doesn't MATTER then can I have them BACK please?"

 

To no avail.This chick was keeping the new pom-poms. Oh sadness. (This by the way made Kassie cry when she got in the car because she couldn't believe that someone could be so mean).

 

I had a talk with Kassie on the way home about how if the girl was willing to basically steal to get them then she must want them pretty badly and they must mean a lot to her and we should just forgive her because honestly, it's pom-poms. And that really, this was a big old homely girl so we should let her have the pom-poms. Okay I'm making that last part up – I only thought it, didn't say a word of it to Kassie. I want her to be a better person than I am. There is still hope for her.

 

We are not, of course, a forgiving and forgetting sort of people. We are a grudge holding watch your back kind of people. Still, I try.

 

So today with no fanfare the girls went back to practice. It was noted early in the practice that pom-snatcher was careful to never set her ill-gotten-poms down for even a nano-second (which appears to mean she knew she was vulnerable to a sneak pom retrieval attack).

 

Finally, she could no longer cart them to every break and tuck them under her arm during non-pom routines. Although it was fun as he#$ to see her try.

 

We do not know how or when (I don't stay for practice) but two board members who stay to monitor practice informed me when I came to pick her up that the next thing they knew Kassie had the new poms back in her possession. When asked on the sly "did you get 'em back?" by one of the adults she gave what they describe as the most covert half-nod of "oh you KNOW I did" they'd ever seen on a 9 year old.

 

At the close of practice as we parents sat on the sidelines waiting to retrieve the girls, all the girls were again ordered to leave their pom-poms where they lay and join for a circle dance. The entire time this fun team building event was going on, both girls shot looks at the coveted poms sparkling in the sun. It was clear they could focus on nothing else.

 

We were all chuckling "this is going to be good" wondering which girl would get them. To be my normal mean spirited self, the other child is a big girl and no I don't mean tall. I mean biiiiigggg. Square-ish. I think she could take Mike in a fight. She does not look to be built for speed. Kassie started soccer practice last night. She's known for being fast. At the risk of sounding like a preening parent – my money was on Kassie. Unless they were going to arm-wrestle for them and then that other girl had the edge.

 

We don't know how or when but we literally turned away from the field for a second to greet another mother and turning back saw that the pom-poms were gone! Oh the horror! Never fear … here comes Kassie, already halfway across the field, pom-poms scooped up, and striding toward us with the thrill of victory apparent in her step.

 

The other girl marched right up to one of the coaches to whine "Kassie took my pom-poms!" to which the coach, aware of what had happened yesterday, said without a hint or irony "oh but it doesn't matter, They're ALL THE SAME aren't they?"

 

Moral of this story? You do NOT mess with a soccer player's pom-poms. She'll beat you to 'em every single time.

 

(Honestly, I think the old pom-poms are fluffier and cuter anyway but I think that is probably beside the point).