I can hardly contain my excitement…
It’s hard to stay focused because all I can think about it Thursday.
Thursday. That’s like two days away! And I would put a little countdown button on my blog, but that’s so juvenile… and I’m above being juvenile. That and it would require extra effort on my part and right now? I have no extra effort to spare, because I need it all to stay focused so that I can get all my work done so that I can leave Thursday morning and take two days and spend time with the people that mean the most to me…
and…
(OMG it took me FOR.EV.ER. to find a picture of them not in the same suits so I don’t have to read yet another comment from the BFF on their attire and how they never change. Becki, I swear you will see them in something other than those suits Thursday night!)
Ok, so… the plan stan…
The kids and I are leaving here Thursday morning at o’dark hundred to quote Miss Jo-Lynne. (See, I’m so excited I can’t even come up with my own funny words.)
Why, yes. I am taking the kids.
Why not? They aren’t going to the concert but when Mr. BFF offers to watch the kids in the hotel while we are at the concert then I’m going to bring them. We can spend two days with friends, in DC, and have a good time. (I knew there was a reason Matthew got hurt and couldn’t play ball… if he were playing, the original find a sitter for the kids, jet up to DC, hug Becki, Stalk Donnie, come home to VA in less than 24 hours would be a go right now.)
But it’s not!
School?
Oh yeah. They should be in school on Thursday and Friday but I’m taking them with me to witness HISTORY and go to educational places like the Smithsonian and the Spy Museum.
My Dad’s rule was always that if we were out of school for a trip then we had to have some sort of educational lesson which might explain why I went to the Wright Brothers Museum every.single.year. as a child on the way to the beach. I can tell you more about Orville and what’s his face than you probably ever wanted to know…
Except What’s His Face’s name.. because I said Orville and suddenly Reddenbacher was the only thing that came to mind…and he didn’t fly the first plane, he can just make darn good popcorn.
Anywho…
The BFF? She’s a BFF for a reason, and not because she’s going with me to this concert even though she really has no desire to see the father of my future love child Donnie and the rest of the band formerly known as Nynuk. (Seriously, is that not the dumbest name, ever?)
She scored us a room in a four star hotel in DuPont Circle, just 4 stops on the red line from the concert… meaning, I can stay longer… (but not past midnight, Donnie, so don’t wait backstage for all of us to clear the tour busses, k? The last train leaves at midnight. Thanks much!)
Four stars. We’re paying like $25 a star…
It’s a hotel that my mother loves and prior to Thursday, I’d only ever seen the lobby.
But that’s all going to change on Thursday when we cram 3 adults and 3 children in that room. (But don’t tell the hotel, because we didn’t tell them that we’re all coming.)
OMG. I think I’m just as excited about the hotel.
And the spy museum. Apparently, I’m going to learn if I would be a good spy. I don’t think I would be. But maybe if this blogging gig doesn’t work out, I’ll have something to fall back on.
Wilbur.
That’s Orville’s brother’s name.
Phew. I was beginning to think that my father’s attempt to educate us so many summers ago was all in vain.
And, if Becki would go pick up the Flip Video camera that she won a few weeks ago because she knows what kind of cookies Martha Stewart likes, or some stupid trivia question she knows because her TV is permanently set on the Food Network, then I might have a REAL dorkumentary to share with you upon my return Friday.
Because we have to be back Friday by 7 because it’s Matthew’s first dance.
And I might be chaperoning. After coming back from a New Kids concert.
Pray for my son please?
Are you reading this as fast as I’m typing it? Because I’m excited and if I were talking to you right now, your head would spin. I talk fast when I’m excited. Wait. I talk fast all the time. It comes with being a yankee.
Ok, so I have to go work now. Even though it’s going to be hard. 48 hours from now, I’ll be making my decent upon Washington, DC and I don’t think the city will ever be the same.
Until next time…
Did I ever tell you about the time that I had a major dating faux pas? I don’t think I have. I’m not overly proud of it, but had I had a blog at that time, I probably would’ve blogged about it. It was a typical “Heather Moment”.
You see, I was very much involved in the dating sites at that time… the time being late 2006. I was talking and “playing the field” I guess you would call it and there were two men who were at the top of my list. We’ll call them Stalker and Guy I Should Have Picked (GISHP for short).
You can see where this is going, can’t you?
For the rest of my biggest dating embarrassing moment that happened at the CIRCUS of all places, click here… and while you’re there, pick up a coupon code for 20% off tickets to the Greatest Show on Earth (that would be the circus, not my dating life, which is also highly entertaining, but it’s free… for you anyway… 
)
Until next time…
That’s what Gary said on Twitter in reply to my message… “beat Cave Spring 14-8, beat the mean coach 6-5 in soccer (he cheated)… and taught my youth group… and I’m smiling”
Supermom is a stretch, I think it’s more along the lines of crazy. And short of pulling my kids out of sports, which is NOT an option, it’s nothing that I can control.
Are you lost yet? I should proably explain.
I went in to today knowing that it would be a crazy evening. Sam’s game was scheduled at 5:30, Matt’s at 6, but he had to be to the field by 5. No problem. I’ll drop Matthew off, take Sam to her game, and by the time Sam’s ended, I could jet across the street and catch the last half of Matt’s game.
Both kids are happy and so is Mama.
But then my youth pastor called to let me know that he was sick and asked that I cover.
Knowing that he could not come and teach and knowing that we were short to begin with and knowing that I’ve been to all the games, so it was okay to miss part of a game, I said yes.
This afternoon, in addition to working, I pulled together a lesson. One that unbeknownst to me is one that I would encounter later on in the evening.
So I did what I was supposed to do. I dropped Matthew off at 5. I took Sam to her game and at halftime, when we were leading 3-1, I left and went over to watch 15 minutes of his game.
We were down 6-0 when I left. I was worried, but I had to get to church. I had a group of teenagers waiting on me. I pulled into the church parking lot on two wheels and parked, well the car was parked but not within the lines that it should’ve been. After much joking, they quieted down and we began.
My lesson was on running the race, not giving up and not taking short cuts. Little did I know, while I was teaching that lesson, my co-coach and soccer team were facing that battle.
You might remember during softball, I faced a coach who played by his own rules. And you might also remember that while he won all the regular season games, my team took him, and his cheating ways, down in the eight year old tournament.
Tonight, at soccer he was the same. He played by his rules. His girls were rough. Sam got punched in the face and hurt her leg and she kept on going. Another girl was kicked purposely in the goal box while she was holding on to the ball.
She kept on going.
We played a good game. We played a fair game. We won.
I wish I would’ve had that example for the youth while I was teaching.
All in all, it was a good night, despite the running around like the proverbial chicken with my head cut off. But in the end, I know that I did well.
My tweet before I left the house was “it will be a win if I’m still smiling”
As for ending the day of Supermom?
No, it’s just beginning. And that’s okay.
I supported my children today and influenced (hopefully) the lives of 20 other kids today ranging from 8-16. That makes this all worth it.
And I’m smiling.
Until next time…
Labor Day weekend for me means a trip to a local state park with 10 other families from church. It also means laboring. Which always strikes me as odd. It’s supposed to be a break. And while I have two children that are more than capable of helping, they don’t. I can’t wait until they take their children camping and realize just how much work goes into camping.
I seriously think they think we hop in the car and go. I know they don’t know the amount of planning and coordination that goes into a little trip to the woods.
This trip started out really bad.
To the point that less than 30 minutes after we left, I was ready to come home.
Know why?
I wrecked my car. My new to me SUV that I was so excited about taking camping for the first time because we wouldn’t have to have kids sitting on pillows or blankets.
It was packed perfectly. Everything had a spot. Of course it did… since I bought it I’ve been arranging the camping gear in the back so that when the time came, it was just a matter of loading it up. And it worked just the way that I planned it.
But because I had 5 gazillion things going on in my head I failed to realize that just because the lane next to me was moving doesn’t meant that mine was. I got up close and personal with the van in front of me.
And of course, there’s a very small dent in his bumper and my car is sitting in the shop.
I was less than 5 miles from my house, on a major road, thereby proving the statistic.
And feeling REALLY stupid.
Fortunately, we’re all okay. And the car can be fixed.
My pride was the only thing that was bruised. Three days with no internet and no cell helped fix that. Not totally, but alot.
And I’m glad that I went, although I don’t think that I had much of a choice. I called Pastor Man to let him know that I wasn’t coming (because coming would require me to ask for help) and he said that I needed to call another family that hadn’t left yet and see if I could hitch a ride with them.
As I called, I prayed that they would say they couldn’t… after all, they are a family of 5. But, they were hauling their camper and could fit us and our crap in the car.
So off we went.
And we had a blast…
I didn’t miss the phone.
I didn’t miss the internet.
I kinda missed Twitter, but not much.
And I was reminded that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be because my church family took care of me, from offing me a car to drive, advice about a body shop, feeding me, cooking for me, hugging me and reminding me that I’m not stupid.
I can deal with almost any feeling except feeling stupid.
So, I’m going to end this here… because I have lots of pictures to share with you… and then I have mountains of laundry to do and fold while I watch the taped segments of NKOTB on my DVR.
We went Fairy Stone hunting (there are these stones that look like crosses… and we found many.. and now they are all over my desk…) but Samara didn’t find any at first.. she was a little bummed…
Matthew and I being silly….
You might wonder why my family of 3 has two tents… well, my site contained 7 people… me, my kids, and lots of other kids. I had two of the youth group members bunking with me. The little red tent in the back housed the boys and the bigger one housed the girls. I have my dining tent so the youth group and I could sit up there and play cards until their parents made them go to bed.
And the flamingo? It’s an “in” thing… I had to be invited into the group to proudly display the flamingo at my site this year and I can’t believe I even knew where it was, let alone remembered to bring it.
We canoed. Not my thing, but I’m glad I tried it. At one point in time Dr. M told me to just sit still and not row at all. I was scared that I would get distracted and flip us over. And Samara had no faith in me, whatsoever.
The beauty of going with a group of people is that I can’t give this to Matthew. But other men at my church can. He canoed… and loved it.
He also kayaked and loved it….
Miss M and I stuck with the little ones and took them on a nature hike. Miss M is a wealth of knowledge and the kids (and I) learned alot!
We even found horse shoes, which we compared to our shoes…
And… when I took six kids to the lake (yes, I did), our fairy stone sandcastle won third place.
Not that I’m competitive… but I really think we should’ve taken second….
Today, after everyone else left, there were three families that stuck around to spend some more time at the lake, none of us ready to come home.
It was then that I truly came to realize just how blessed I am, and no matter how much I labored this weekend, no matter what happened to deter my time of fellowship, it was worth everything.
We’ve added more memories to the book that we will carry with us for a lifetime…
Until next time…
When I was a child, my birthday was in January and my brother’s birthday was in August. Well, that hasn’t changed now that I’m an adult. I guess I should’ve worded that a little differently.
When I was a child, I was jealous that my brother’s birthday was in August. There seemed to be so much to do in August for a birthday and blizzards were never a threat to cancelling a party.
It seemed that something always hindered my birthday celebrations… weather, Sadaam Hussein, etc. (And yes, I say Sadaam because I lived on the Navy Base and when there was a threat like there was with Desert Storm, they close the base for civilians, meaning that people can’t come to spend the night unless their parents are military and they carry a dependant ID.
Sucks, I know.
Anyway, I’ve explained to Matthew (whose birthday is also in January) that Samara will probably always appear to have better things to do. And for the most part, that’s been the case. We’ve had pool parties for Samara’s birthday and one year we were at Disney, not to celebrate her birthday, it just so happened we were there for it.
I always felt bad for him because I’ve been there.
But in the last three years that’s changed and I now feel for Sam.
We’ve had the hardest time scheduling a birthday for her.
Here’s why…
Tomorrow is her birthday, but Matthew has a game. And even if he didn’t, he’d have practice. The rest of the week is filled with practice or church. We go camping next weekend, come home, and then we have pratice/games/church every night. The following weekend they are with their dad. They come home and we have practice/church/games every night.
Essentially, we have three weeks at least before I could do something for her for her birthday.
Sucks, right?
So tonight is the ONLY night that we could do anything and since we had free tickets to the last Avalance home game, I invited everyone we knew, and then some to come to the game with us. I allowed Samara to invite four friends and then there were a bunch of people from church, Matthew and I.
Fourteen people.
I brought her friends home with me from soccer practice, that ran long, I might add. I arranged for Matthew to ride with Pastor Man (in his new car) and one of the other boys.
I knew that when I got there, I was in need of four more tickets.
Someone gave the boys two tickets while they were waiting for me and the girls. And so I was down to needing two and some man had tickets that he was selling 2 for $5.
I bought them.
I paid $5 to take 14 of us to the ball game.
Oh, but it gets so much better.
I stopped at the bank to get cash so that I could feed the kids. I can’t take them to the ball game and not get them a hotdog… that’s un-American.
But, when we walk in the door, they hand all the kids a vocher for a free hotdog, chips and soda.
I fed 7 children and took 14 people to the ball game for $5.
FIVE DOLLARS.
And they had a blast to celebrate not only Samara’s birthday but the last day of summer vacation.
And for those of you who wanted to see how my hair turned out? There it is… right next to all that cheese…
I like it. It’s not dramatic, a little more red, but alot LESS gray. Which is what I was going for. It could be purple for all I care, as long as it’s not GRAY. I’m too young for grey.
And so…
After the game, I deposited all the kids and went to purchase the cupcakes and a splint. Because I’ve decided that I know more than the doctor when it comes to my daughter’s finger and after she fell on it twice, the tape just wasn’t working for me.
But it does look better…
See?
Big Mo signed her hand. He’s the stuffed dog at the ball game.
And, I scored major cool points tonight when I gave her one of her gifts before we left the house to head to the ball field…
We jammed to the new Jonas Brothers CD all the way there and Miley Cyrus all the way home.
The girls were in heaven.
So, for the girl that gets slighted on her birthday, she didn’t make out half bad… some cash in her pocket, a night at the ball game with her friends, the Jonas Brothers, a new dress, and the Hannah Montanna 3D movie that her brother bought her…
I don’t think she’s complaining…
Until next time…
If there is one thing my children love, it’s amusement parks. They are becoming quite the connoseurs as they have been to more than a few various roller coaster filled parks around the country.
They will tell you that Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana is their favorite, however, due to the fact that it’s 10 hours away, I’ve not been able to go, nor take them. Maybe next year.
This weekend, we ventured north, back to where I was born to see my grandfather, visit with the BFF and take the clan to Hershey Park. Home of all things chocolate and they aren’t lying when they say it’s the “sweetest place on earth.”
Did I ever tell you that I’m not a chocolate person? I’m not. Unless it involves peanut butter.
We knew going into this trip that it would be on the cheaper side… the BFF (did you know her name is Becki? I just always call her the BFF… it’s a joke between us, but for the record, her name is Becki) had 4 tickets. So I pay for 2 children… $60.. not bad. It would cost us $130 if I were to pay for the three of us. (And since when is my eleven year old an adult?)
However, she scored 2 50% off coupons… so I’m down to $30. Not bad…
But then?
We’re standing in line and someone comes over to us and gives us a free ticket… so now, it’s cost me $15 to take all of us to Hershey Park to partake in rides, food, shutter stalking (oh yes I did!) and fun times.
To make it even better, her son qualifies as a VIP meaning we could accompany him on any ride without waiting in the long lines. But really? The lines weren’t long at. all.
I couldn’t believe it.
We couldn’t have picked a better day. The temperature stayed in the low 80s.. it didn’t rain… the kids were amazingly good… and like I said, the lines weren’t long at all. (And yes, we did have to stand in some lines… Kaleb was a Reeces Cup (which determines what you can ride on) and he couldn’t go on everything!
(And I have to settle a debate… do you say rEEcEEs when you pronouce it? I do. And I was told I was wrong.)
For the record, Matthew is now a Jolly Rancher (did you know Hershey’s made Jolly Ranchers? Me either.) which is the top of the line for him and Samara is barely a Twizzler (just below the Jolly Rancher and I didn’t know Hershey made twizzlers either.) and I hope she’s glad I made her wear her tennis shoes because that’s what gave her the height to squeeze past the Hershey Bar group and into the Twizzler group.
Although, there were rides that she wanted to go on that she was too big for. I know. Sucks, right?
Anywho…
We had a great day, and I have pictures. Because I’m over the fact that at lunch when everyone was stating what they HAD to do before we left, Becki said that we all had to go on the Canyon River Rapids ride and I got soaked and I don’t like to get wet. I’m like a gremlin. It’s not pretty.
So, pictures… right?
I sent a tweet on Sunday that asked if I was a bad mom if I neglected to tell my children that the roller coaster they were about to embark on was an upside down roller coaster. I still don’t know if I am, but here’s Sam after the ride. And she wanted to ride it again. So I think I’m safe.
This guy just does NOT look happy… at all. How can you not be happy at Hershey Park?
I made Becki’s husband take the kids on all the rides that went around in circles. It was either that or go with them and puke my way through the park. Fortunatley, he doesn’t mind those kinds of rides.
I made Becki take them on all the rides that threatened me getting wet. I think I mentioned why. In fact, there for awhile, I’m not sure why I even went to the park. They were enjoying my kids. But I eventually went on some rides. Like this one…
In case you can’t tell, that pretty much goes straight down. Don’t ask me why I said I would go with Dale. Weak moment. The entire time we were waiting, I kept reading the safty guides which clearly stated to keep your head back and center at all times. I spent the entire ride focusing keeping my head back and center which was hard. And when it was over, Dale, with a huge smile on his face looked at me and exclaimed, “Wasn’t that the coolest?” I responded simply with, “I don’t know. I didn’t see anything.” Because I not once opened my eyes and it wasn’t until we were on the Ferris Wheel (what I wanted to do before we left) that I actually saw what the coaster looked like.
Dale says it’s the best coaster ever. I’m glad I experienced it with him.
Now, I have lots more to share about Hershey Park… and pictures too, but seriously?
This one is long enough… so you’ll just have to wait…
Until next time…
We made a fairly impromptu trip to Pennsylvania this weekend to see my Pap who is in the nursing home and to visit the BFF…. and oh yeah! We went to Hershey Park too.
But the main point of the trip was to see my Pap. His health is not good and with the school/sports season kicking back in, I knew that I wouldn’t have a free weekend to go in the foreseeable future. The BFF and Hershey Park were simply a bonus because they are so close.
My grandfather was not how I remembered him the last time I saw him… when he lived on his own… in his own home.
He was noticably weak. His hands shook. And while he appreciated the milkshake that we brought him, it was hard to see him struggle with it.
He shares a room with another man. They both have buzzers that for whatever reason, chose Saturday to malfunction.
His room is fairly empty except for the little trinkets that my mom sends and the pictures that she’s hung on the wall. He has a television, but is sat in the corner, off.
He didn’t talk much. In fact, he nodded off quite a bit while we were there visiting.
And the bad thing about it is, I didn’t inherit my mother’s gift for the elderly. She is a saint. She knows what to say. She knows what to do. She has a heart for older people. It’s why she’s a geriatric nurse… although she’ll tell you that she does it because she’s just as confused as they are.
I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say and I was very uncomfortable when there was silence. And there was a lot of silence.
We took pictures to show him. We talked about the kids. We watched the kids push one another around in the wheelchair and when I noticed that he was continually falling alseep, I decided that perhaps we better go.
I felt so terribly guilty. I had no where to be. I could’ve spent more time with him. But I didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to go for a walk around the building, it was raining outside. No, he was quite content to sit in his recliner, where I’m told he spends all his time, and listen to me while nodding off.
As we left Chambersburg, we stopped for lunch and decided to actually go into McDonald’s and sit down as opposed to flying through the drive through and eating on the way to Harrisburg. And as we were sitting there, I looked at both of my children and asked them to please not put me in a nursing home, that I would be content and good if one of them would take me in when I was no longer able to care for myself.
And that is when I heard the chorus of “not it’s”.
The lady behind me started to chuckle.
I spoke… almost as if I wanted them to decide right then and there.
“Just remember… my money goes with me.”
It was then that Matthew looked at Samara and Samara looked at Matthew. I waited for both of them to fight over who would take me in many many years from now.
But she looked back at her Polly Pocket and he his transformer.
And I still don’t have anywhere to go when I’m old.
Until next time…
I asked you if I was crazy…
I should’ve waited until after the clinic tonight. Because then I would’ve had my answer and I wouldn’t of had to ask. The answer would’ve been perfectly clear.
Yes.
I am crazy.
(But thanks to those of you who told me that I was not crazy and a wonderful mom. It made me all warm and fuzzy.)
So, I arrive at the clinic tonight wearing, what else? My Desperately Seeking Sanity shirt that says, “I love giving homemade gifts, which one of the kids would you like?”
I would like to say that it was because I wanted to advertise my site, but the reality of it is, it was the only clean tee-shirt that was big and long…
And the reason that I needed a big and long tee-shirt? Well becuase the only shorts that I have are my gym shorts… kinda like the bicylce shorts? And well, I don’t like tight things or shorts, so I needed something to cover my hips.
Coach Betsy makes all the coaches come stand with her and introduce ourselves. Guess who forgot what her team name was?
FURY. (The stupidest name for a team.)
As I look down the line, I realize that short of Coach Betsy, the head of the organization, Jennifer and I are the only two women.
I also realize that my shirt has a huge stain on it. Which I did not realize that when I walked out of the house and now I’m standing in front of all these parents with an odd, off-white mark covering my boob.
Wonderful.
And so Jennifer and I stood there while they showed the kids a few moves.
First up the Matthews… big toe, big toe, little toe. I couldn’t figure out what they meant by big toe and little toe. Eventually it dawned on me that we’re talking about the toe that you hit the ball with. Silly me… I thought you hit the ball with your foot.
I was not aware that we got specific. Now I know.
Then the rollover. Okay, I think. I can do this. When they break us up, I can help them with these moves.
Hold up! Wait a minute….
What did he just call that move? A Queef? No… a coif? I don’t know… I tried to look it up and couldn’t find anything but I do know that when you’re doing this move, the way you stand much resembles how someone would stand if they had to pee.
It’s not attractive.
At all.
So they separated us. Jennifer (my co-coach) had the brilliant idea that we should separate because we would both be learning different things. I panicked. I didn’t know the guy that I was with. I didn’t know how to play soccer. I didn’t know what I was doing.
Wouldn’t be so bad if the kids would have.
But they didn’t. Except the 10 year old boy who came over and showed me how to do the moves in slow motion, repeatedly.
I’m thinking that it should’ve been the other way around?
When we gathered back up as a group before the games began, I looked at Jennifer and might have mentioned that I felt like crying. I had no clue what I was doing.
Her response?
Neither do they so don’t feel bad.
And then we paired up and played games, but my group had an odd number of kids, so I got to be a partner to Fancy Feet. This is what I will always call her. Because her feet do things that are unnatural.
The rules were simple. Get the ball away from your opponent. Easy enough, right?
I chased her around for a good 10 minutes. She was nice though… she slowed down when she realized that I was huffing and puffing, dribbling the ball and doing all this fancy foot work. And when I got my second wind and revved up again, she took off.
I never did get the ball.
An hour and a half later, we were done. I hobbled to the car and when Sam asked if we could stop for ice cream, I didn’t think twice.
Crazy people love ice cream.
Until next time…
Before you jump out of your seat and scream “YES!!” let me explain the situation in which I am contemplating my sanity this time…
My children are both involved, heavily, in sports. They just are. And I’m so very grateful because studies show the importance of sports in a child’s life. They are active. They love them.
My daughter is trading in her pom poms for real sports. (I know, cheerleading IS a sport, but I just can’t seem to say that…we all know how I feel about cheerleaders…)
Last season she played softball and did amazingly well. I coached. I loved it. Period.
So, when soccer season rolled around, she wanted to play and the league was short on coaches. I know NOTHING about soccer except that you kick the ball, can’t touch it with your hands (unless you’re the goalie) and that shin guards are a must. I didn’t feel that I would be a benefit as a coach, but I also knew that unless they got enough coaches, there was a chance that my daughter (or some other little girl in the county) would be deprived of a fall sport to particiapte in.
One of the moms who helped me in softball and attends my church coached last year and we talked and decided that we would co-coach a team. This would also ensure that Sam and Haley were on the same team… something very important to both of them.
On more than one occassion I have mentioned to someone that I am coaching soccer this year and on more than one occassion I am looked at funny and the question is asked…
“Are you crazy?”
My response is “no. I just want to be involved in my kids’ lives as long as they want me to be. I have to be there anyway.”
One response was that I should just show up and sit there.
We all know that I cannot just sit there. And Sam and I did very well when I coached softball. I might go so far as to say that we bonded. Maybe.
I missed a good three years of my kids’ lives while I was in school full time and working full time. My parents did so many things for them, and still do, that I was incapable of doing due to time constraints. I wouldn’t go back and change any of that now. I went back to school so that I could get an education and provide a decent life for them.
When I divorced, I was making a whopping $18k a year… do the math. It’s not enough to raise two children on.
And so I did. I moved back home and my parents helped me. I got my degree. I got my own place and over the last 5 years, I’ve moved up the corporate ladder all while being blessed with family friendly companies along the way and finally ending with a job that allows me to work from home… so that I can be more involved in the kids’ lives.
I can feed them before practice. I can take them to practice. I can be here when they are sick and I don’t have to worry about snow days. I am truly, truly blessed to have this arrangement.
And because of this arrangement, I have the opportunity to coach my daughter’s team (and Matthew’s out of the equation because reallly? Could you see me coaching football? And I’m so not the team mom type.)
My children are not always going to think I’m cool. As they get older and get involved in school sports, I’m not going to have this opportunity. I’m trying to make the best of the time that we have and so I’m coaching soccer. A commitment of one night a week and Saturday morning for 2.5 months..(of which I would have to make myself available to be there anyway…)
So, my question remains…
Am I crazy?
Until next time…
The flight from DC to San Francisco was over 5 hours. I had a window seat and I’m not sure that I liked it. Typically, I’m a window seat kinda gal. I like to look out the window.
But on a ride that long, I knew I would have to use the facilities and I hate asking people to move on my behalf. Additionally, because I’m nosey, I didn’t like that I was unaware of what I was flying over. Like, I think I saw the Rockies but I’m not sure and I think that people should know what they are looking at. It gives me the chance to say “I’ve seen the Rockies” or “I flew over the Grand Canyon.”
I did happen to find the Flight Deck line on the built in radio on the plane and instead of watching the documentary on China or listening to music, I listened to the Flight Deck Channel. Sometimes, if you listened closely, you could hear our pilot mention where he was. But not often.
Regardless, it was interesting. Especially when another pilot said, “I can wait to turn a little bit later, but it’s going to put me at a lower fuel level than I’m comfortable with, so if you could turn me as soon as possible, that would be great.”
Thanked God repeatedly that I was not on that plane.
And when I did go to the bathroom, as all of us were congregating outside of the bathroom in the “kitchen” area of the plane, there was a little small talk going on between the passengers and the flight attendants.
Before I knew it, the words “How much longer until we’re there?” escaped my lips. I felt like a complete child.
But not as childish as when the flight attendant (who very much resembled the comic, Ant) replied “about two hours” and I wanted to stomp and scream. I wanted out of there. I wanted to be there. I was highly impatient.
And bored.
And for the first time in a long time, I could understand how my children feel when they are carted all over the country.
This summer, we logged 2431 miles in the car. That was just our trip to Mississippi. They were in the car more than that traveling to camp and then to Pennsylvania from Tennessee with my parents.
That’s alot of time in the car.
My parents and I are both of the “we don’t need a DVD player in the car” mentality. There are so many things to look at on long trips and so many car games that you can play to pass the time. However, my bosses, whom I love to death (how many people can say that?) surprised the kids with a portable DVD player a day before we left.
And for the most part, it worked out well. Only once did I have to take it away because we couldn’t decide which movie to watch and were fighting.
One of the movies that we had to watch was called TripFlix
TripFlix
The best thing about this DVD, for my kids at least, was being able to see all the places that they already have been. They squealed when they saw Rock City, Tennessee had made the list and we all had fun with the trivia questions.
I never intended for the kids to watch the whole thing, let alone watch it more than once. But they would put in the DVD and when they had the choice of selecting a region of the country, they would quickly hit play all, sit back, and I would have two hours of peace and quiet in the car.
I highly recommend picking up TripFlix
In my search for sanity, I was definitely able to find some time while they were engrossed in the movie.
Purchase TripFlix
See what others are saying about TripFLIX…
Until next time….
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