BUSTED!!!

Abby decided to start pursuing a possible vocation last week... hair stylist. Her own hair stylist to be specific. I could have died...

The location for her new salon is under her father's desk at his office. It is a nice, small, private salon, big enough for only one person. It could use some sprucing up and decluttering but it seems to do the job just fine. I could have died...

This is the child who earlier in the week cried (tears and all) telling me that she didn't want David to cut her hair because she needed long hair like Kayden's (a little girl at school with the most beautiful hair and Abby's newest "best friend forever"). I could have died...

Have I mentioned that I have hair issues? Seriously! As a kid I had the worst hair, while my sister Lindsay was allowed to have cute pigtails with Shirley Temple ringlets I was forced (sorry Mom this is the way I remember it) a short Afro that was unmanageable and not cute. I could have died...

Growing up I swore that if I ever had a daughter I would not pass on my hair issues to her (like some mothers pass on their weight issues). She will have beautiful curly hair. She will get to wear hair clips, bows, and ponytails. I will buy her hair products that will help us both manage her hair with ease. I could die right now...

For some reason my sister shares my hair trauma. She put it best when she saw Abby on Friday...

"Abby, you know when your mom and I were little girls we NEVER cut our own hair? Your hair is precious, you need to take care of your hair, Abby. " Abby could have died...

Let's just hope my daughter has learned her lesson. If she cuts her hair again, I will surely die.

***I apologize for no after pictures. A major virus has taken over our media computer. I will post pictures after it is repaired and Abby's hair is repaired. :)

The Routine...

There is something comforting about a routine, the familiarity and rhythm of the monotony of doing the same thing the same way over and over again. Sometimes the predictability is annoying because the precedence has been set and enjoyed by most. Time to air dirty laundry... again... Our Sunday routine goes something like this- 6:40- First child wakes (the specific child changes from week to week). 6:55- First child awake wakes second child. 7:00- Both children wake parents, with requests of breakfast and / or television. 7:01- One parent says to the other parent (this alternates also), something to the effect of "they wake up before 7 on the weekend and you have to drag them out of bed on a school day". *** Some time around 8- children return with demands of food. 8:10- the parent that feels most guilty (usually Steve) rolls out of bed and again mumbles the parent mantra. 8:30- breakfast served. Television is switched from the Flintstones to NASCAR Raceday. I am not sure what happens between 8:30 and 10:30 because I am asleep. After all I am the parent who gets up the other 6 days of the week and drags the children from their slumber, makes breakfast and lunch, and gets 1 1/2 children ready for school. 10:30- 3 excited family member wish the last person awake a "good morning", the early riser parent and the late risers do the parent equivalent of a relay exchange (signifying that the first parent is not longer responsible for the needs for the children for at least 3 hours). For the next few hours kids play, parents read and use the computer, and the TV drones in the background. Jack asks no less than 10 times what time the race starts (this happens 52 weeks a year, even though racing only takes place 36 weeks out of the year. Between 12 and 1- One adult convinces the another adult to go pick up the obligatory steak sandwich from our favorite sandwich shop. By 2- Dad is asleep on the couch, comatose from the lull of racecars and the sandwich hitting the right spot. Jack is expertly keeping notes on the race. Mom and Abby find something to do. By 5- Dad is awake, race is over, Jack has downloaded the race, and Mom and Abby are bored. 6:30- Dinner (in or out). Maybe a trip to Target to pick up supplies for the week. 7- BEDTIME for kiddos. Clothes are set out for school. Jammies on. Teeth brushed. Homework is looked at. Kitchen is cleaned up. 7:45- Mom and Dad settle into a night of catching up on reality TV and sitcoms. What is your Sunday routine? *** I think that this has been a statement made by parents of school aged children for generations and for generations to come.

Day 3 of the sick kid forecast...

I am a mean mom. I readily admit that I deny my children luxuries that other kids take for granted. Being that I am in the middle of day 3 home with a sick kid (or so she claimed this morning when she cried about the possibility of throwing up at school), I am climbing the walls! I feel that if I have been home with a sick kid for 3 days (and eluded the germs) I am entitled to a few luxuries like:

• pay per view movies.
• hot cocoa upon request.
• getting a pass on cleaning the bathrooms this week.
• not going to the grocery store.
• eating take out.
• reading my book all day.
• taking a nap.
• long , hot baths.
• warm just out of the oven Tastefully Simple Beer Bread with homemade strawberry jam.

• Dad picking up Jack from karate and bringing home a dinner that I didn't have to call in, request, or have to make a decision about. (Hey! a girl can dream can't she?)
• And a new red Kate Spade handbag. Wouldn't be so bad either! Kind of like a "push present", but a "vomit gift".

It Doesn't Get Better Than...

Valentine's Day! If you are a 4 year old girl that is. This 34 year old girl can think of a lot of things better than Valentine's Day, but this blog isn't about me... Things heard coming from the backseat of my car today...

• "Oh that Sayler, she is such a sweet girl."
• "What a beautiful card Maya picked!"
• "This is the cutest puppy card I have ever seen!"
• "I am going to have to thank all my friends for all of my Valentimes (note the spelling) cards!"
• "I wonder how much candy I got. I certainly need to share some with Jack!"
• "Who made this delicious cake?"... that comment almost prompted me to swerve off the road to save the nice black leather in my new car.
• "Sienna gave me my favorite kind of candy. She is my best friend in the whole World forever!"
• "That Jacob is such a nice boy!"
• "Hee! Hee! I gave myself two Valentime's! That is so funny!"

Now I know who Valentine's Day is for... the 4 year old girl who could eat all the sap and then some with a spoon.

NASCAR on VDay...

Every year my friend Sara and her husband host a Daytona 500 party. NASCAR like football has nothing to do with what women want or like, this year is no exception- the Daytona 500 takes place on Sunday, February 14th- Valentine's Day and if you are as lucky as I am smack dab in the middle of a 3 day weekend. While some women are romanced with these...

We get to suffer through 500 laps of...

... while our husbands drink beer, talk about racing, race cars, and the next race and we get to supervise the kids, serve food, and clean up after the men. Good times!

This year Sara decided to put a fun little twist on the party, to make it more interesting for the ladies. Each lady is supposed to select her "favorite" (i.e.- the best looking) driver to be their NASCAR boyfriend. The goal is to see who can make their husband made first about the attention that said woman is paying to her NASCAR bf.

I am sooooooo excited because "my NASCAR bf" will be joining me at the party! I have big plans for C.E. and I this Valentine's Day, he will be very impressed by my creative use of frosting on his good luck gift. I can't wait for the Daytona 500! See Sara it worked!

Working Girl...

As a teen I had big dreams, high hopes, and lofty expectations that I would someday be one of those super chic, working for my money, city girls, you know what I am talking about like Melanie Griffith in the cult classic "Working Girl". As things work out I never was really good at the chic part, and there is nothing hip about teaching, and Iowa was far from the city... and then you add a husband and 2 children and I realized that there wasn't even time for the working part.

Until last September, when Steve proposed that I help him "man a booth" at Wal Mart (not chic- in the least bit!). I agreed to help because 6 or 7 weeks wouldn't be so bad. Shortly after my booth sitting began, Steve came to me again because he needed someone to call "some people" (489 people to be exact, with a marketing plan that involved calling people no less than 8 times before considering them a "dead lead"- morbid I know! Especially when we are talking about the Senior market), I agreed to do it. By Christmas we were all running out of steam (everyone but Steve, who put an amazing 12,000 miles on his truck in the last 6 weeks of 2009 and signed 150+ new clients).

So now the Medicare season is slow, so I have graciously agreed to recruit and contract new agents to work for the 2010 Annual Election Period, what was I thinking! Because most of my days are leisurely. And then there are days like today I called 20 agents, 30 potential clients, and baked 20 dozen (the math is a little blurry) cookies for the kids Valentine Parties tomorrow. I also worked out for 30 minutes on Wii Fit Plus, took Steve's down coat to the cleaners, got my car washed, made copies of Valentines games for Jack's class, went to the bank, the post office, the office supply store, and the grocery store. I even cleaned out the totally gross clog in my bathroom drain! The only thing that didn't get checked off my list was putting the furniture back after having the carpets cleaned--- WHY? because the guy never showed up to clean them!

I have to say I think that I am most definitely a working girl.

Demoted...

February and March every year stresses me out! Preschool, which class, money, Kindergarten, AM? PM?, summer school, reading levels... the list is a mile long! This year I was quite certain that I was going to be able to make is through February and March without coping through all the decision making with acne and binge eating, because Abby is going to Kindergarten and she will be going to school with Jack next fall! (The cheering section of moms goes wild!!!) Or at least I thought she was until she did this...

After some serious soul searching and excessive eating... I came to the conclusion that another year of preschool for my little Miss. July would not be such a bad thing. Now just to convince her father.

Boy!!!

My sister has 2 boys which I think qualifies her to write numerous blogs about the joys of parenting 2 future men. I have one boy which only makes me ponder if there is something wrong with my model or is mine just like everyone elses'. So it is time to air Jack's dirty laundry... literally.

My boy-

• You must ask him no less than 10 times to brush his teeth every morning and then again every night.
• He has to brush his teeth no less then 3 times before he goes to school and I still pick food out of his teeth at the bus stop.
• I tell him that he can't sleep in the clothes that he wore to school AND he definitely can't wear the same thing to school 2 days in a row.
• I have to remind him of the merits of personal hygiene (ie- you must shower more than once a week, and no less than once).
• We keep his hair short to avoid the battle of the curls, and the more frequent shower war.
• I count the number of pairs of underwear and socks in the laundry basket and wonder if I should start to tell him that he needs to be sure to change his underwear and socks no less than once a day.

So many rules but I don't want to raise one of those really icky boys, or am I already?