Surviving At Home

“…women are very careful about how much credit or attention they give to themselves. But we all certainly deserve praise and recognition. And so, right on the heels of Mother’s Day, this “Woman to Woman” is an opportunity for us all to admit that we are amazing, and to share our strengths with one another.”

This is my third time sitting to write this post. Even writing the title made me feel awkward, as though I wasn’t deserving of a little self-praise. I can’t remember ever having a writing assignment that completely stumped me like this one has. Apparently, I need to examine my inner self a bit more and gain some self-confidence.

Rather than using the word “celebrate”, I prefer to tell you know why I’m “proud” of myself. To me, “celebrate” brings about thoughts of parties and awards and I’m not a center-of-attention type of person. I much prefer a few quiet pats-on-the-back.

*I’m proud of the fact that I’ve been married to my college sweetheart for 14 years and have known him for 20 years. That’s not to say we haven’t had our ups and downs but it’s a big accomplishment in the age of quickie divorces.

*I’m proud that I’m a laid back parent. I can worry about my kids like every other mom in the world but I don’t hover over them, entertaining them every waking moment or protecting them from every misstep. As babies, I let them have their alone time to explore their worlds and learn how to entertain themselves and now they can make up creative stories or play pretend with Polly Pockets for hours on end.

*I’m proud that I hear “Mommy, I love you” multiple times a day. It’s not a sentiment that was openly expressed when I was growing up so I’m glad I changed that pattern with my own little family.

*I’m proud that my girls have a loving relationship with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Apparently I’ve done a good job of teaching my girls that family is most important.

*I’m proud that my 10-year-old still wants me to help at her school. Not sure why or what I did to get this response but it warms my heart.

*I’m proud that I receive compliments about how well-behaved my girls are in public. I guess some of my good manners talks are sticking with them.

*I’m proud that I am a sister to three great brothers and that we all have a mutual respect for each other and our respective families. We definitely don’t agree with each other on many issues but we don’t let little things destroy these precious relationships we have with each other.

*I’m proud that I’m a loyal friend with a strong shoulder to cry on. I’m happy that my few closest friends can share their innermost thoughts, fears, and problems with me without fear of being judged.

*I’m proud that I ran my first 5K race and met my goals of finishing it and not having a heart attack while trying to finish!! That was two years ago and I haven’t run since but it helped reinforce that I can accomplish what I want.

*I’m proud that I found the courage to apply for a work-at-home position and that I got the job! This was an idea and a goal that I’ve had for a few years but now that my youngest is nearing full-time school, I had to put this idea into action.

Wow! Look what one little word change can produce! Now I feel like I’m rambling.

Thank you to Lei and Morning Glory for offering this as a topic this week. It was quite cathartic!

Thank you to the other women in this group who have already posted very inspirational and exceptionally well-written posts on this topic. You’re truly talented with your writing skills and each post has touched me and made me think differently about life in general.

Wasn’t there an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry thought he was Mr. Even Steven because every bad thing he did was countered with a good thing? I have a vision of him losing $20 and then finding a $20 bill in a coat pocket or something. This weekend was our chance to be Even Steven…

It actually began yesterday when our lawn tractor suddenly broke down and a wheel fell off another lawn thing (I know there’s a more logical name for “lawn thing” but that’s hubby’s domain and I don’t mess with it!) He was cursing the fact that the repair guy can’t come until June 19th and that we’ll have to borrow a mower for the next five weeks.

Skip forward to today where I took my youngest to a Doll Tea Party. It wasn’t “officially” called an American Girl party but that was the idea. It was a fundraiser for a friend’s school and my daughter had been looking forward to it for weeks. Finally, after a day of crafting, eating, and waiting in line for face painting, they were ready to draw names for the raffles. Now, we’re not “into” American Girls although my daughters love looking at the catalogs, but there was something in the air that called for me to spend $30 on raffle tickets. They had nearly 20 prizes, including 4 AG dolls, and don’t you know, my number was called early on for a boutique gift certificate. Lovely, I thought, but I was secretly disappointed because I really wanted to save all our “luck” for the doll drawing. A few minutes later, don’t you know, they picked my number again for a spa gift certificate. The good person in me declined the gift, since I had already won something, although I later noticed plenty of people going home with multiple gifts.

But my good karma paid off because they called our number AGAIN for the very first doll they raffled!! This after my daughter had tears in her eyes for not winning the princess fairy dress up package. She was just beaming with joy and could barely carry the box by herself! Here she is, the proud new mommy to an offical American Girl Elizabeth doll:

For 5 hours after the party, every other word out of her mouth was exclaiming her joy at winning this doll and her utter disbelief that she could have been so fortunate. On the way home we had a long talk about how careful she needs to be caring for Elizabeth and we don’t draw on her or comb her hair for fear of ruining her. My daughter felt like quite the big girl when we discovered the “for ages 8 and above” stamped on the box! She’s five and thinks she’s getting away with something but I’m sure she’ll rise to the responsibility.

So I guess that’s our version of Seinfeld…we started the weekend off rocky but then it turned happy in the end. Of course, it truly would have been karma if we had won a new lawn tractor, but we’ll find our silver linings wherever we can.

Only 25 days until preschool ends and only 32 days until my 4th-grader becomes a 5th grader. Is it any wonder why I’m quaking in my boots?

While the children always look forward to their 11-week summer vacation, many parents (including myself!) dread the thought, wondering how to keep their children occupied and happy without hearing the dreaded, “I’m bored!” or “There’s nothing to do!”

For parents to keep their sanity, it’s very important to have a plan in mind and to really study your kids to know what activities will help them stay happy.

This summer I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on camps, so at the moment, our calendar is pretty empty. We attempted this a couple of years ago and I wasn’t well-prepared so we didn’t last a week before the moaning started. Then we found out just how busy all of her friends were with camps and activities, so we were hardpressed to find friends with spare time for playdates. So step #1 for us is to schedule visits/playdates with family and friends.

I discovered during the school year that my 4th grader is a visual person and likes having a printed schedule to follow. She’s a bit fanatical about adhering strictly to the times but at least all the homework and music practice was getting accomplished. So step #2 is make up a summer schedule for her to follow. I love the Google calendar function and maybe this can be a project for her to complete since she loves the computer. And this way she can make her own decisions about when certain things will get done rather than have me decide her every waking move.

Step #3 is print out our tv and computer tickets so we can start using them soon. I make them kind of fancy on the computer and each child gets 4, 2 for 30 minutes of tv and 2 for 30 minutes on the computer. It’s their decision if they use the tickets together for 1 hr of viewing or break it into 2 separate times. A friend of mine tried this idea and she added the caveat that her kids could earn an extra 30 minutes of tv or computer time during the day if they did 30 minutes of reading or workbooks or something else educational. I think I’ll try that tactic this year.

So this is the start of my pre-summer planning. I guess I’m also a visual person like my daughter because I feel better seeing the calendar fill up and my panic about summer lessens. I’d love to hear some other coping strategies!

Although I am a self-declared “non-cook”, I do love food. I love getting my FREE issues of this magazine because it’s FREE (always a good thing!) and I’m always on a quest to find easy recipes that my kids might actually eat (the picky little buggers).

The recipes aren’t exactly healthy but they can be adapted using low-fat items and the pictures are great.

Now, if only I had a personal chef who would cook for me everyday!