It's Fall!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, a crispness to the air, the leaves beginning to change. I love it. Here in Michigan, it means cider mills and fresh warm cinnamon donuts. There is nothing like fresh pressed cider and warm donuts. All the fall decorations are coming out and the soup pot has returned.

Yesterday was the first crisp day of the year and I made chili. Yummo. Chili with lil smokies in it with cheese on top and sourdough bread with butter. I ask you, does it get any better than that? Why yes it does because there was apple pie for dessert, made by my own little hands. Oh yeah, and I got to get out my down comforter and sleep under the weight of loveliness. I love sleeping under a bunch of blankets, makes me feel all burrowed in and comfy. I have to find my slippers and my cabin socks.

Cabin socks are these hand knit socks my mom makes and mails to me from Arizona. I love them, but I also wear them out. Every year I wear out the heels of them. They really are not repairable, so I then call my mom and I get more sent to me. Unfortunately, my brother in law and sister in law also love cabin socks. Being the generous person I am, I will give them a pair or two a year. But I think they have stolen some extras and are hoarding them in secret.

So what do you do for fall? Do you live in a state where it is actually a season, or just a feeling? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

new week, new possiblities

Okay, we all hate Mondays, me too. But today, I will take the position of a brand new week means brand new opportunities. I will try my personal best to be positive. This will, of course, last until someone cuts me off in traffic, but hey, I can try.

Our attitude is directly related to how our days are going. I have good days and bad days. And sometimes (like the week before my period) the smallest thing will set me off. I don't have to be rational if I am right. Case closed.

I do try to be as positive as possible. Mostly because I work with the most miserable person on earth. This person is bound and determined to make everyone's life miserable around her. At first, this angered me, but as I have come to recognize their attitude, I actually pity her. I am convinced she will die alone. This isn't some seventeen year old idiot. This person is approaching thirty, it should be figured out by now. I am not saying I was little miss mary sunshine in my early twenties. I was and idiot, but usually in a good mood. As you age, you learn lessons in protocol and reading people. I have always said, when you hit your thirties, you learn to close your mouth more. Just my opinion.

So where is your attitude this morning? Can you rescue it from the pooper? Can you pull it out of the monday blues and find a little sunshine this morning? Let me know.

God bless you and yours.

A staple to the head

Sound worse than it really is. Grant called me from middle school yesterday right as the bus should have been pulling away from the school. I thought he had missed the bus. So he tells me that he was hit in the head with a chair. Again, sounds worse than it really is. Grant was bending down to get his chair to put up at the end of the day. Another kid was picking his chair up, and it met Grant's scalp in a perfect storm of end of the day chaos.

Some points to make............Grant himself called me. Not a teacher, not a counselor, not anyone in authority. He was bleeding from the head. As I was waiting for him in the hall, in front of the assistant principal and the principal, they had no idea Grant was even hurt. Once I told them why I was there, they asked all the right questions. Also, my pediatrician, even though he has been in practice probably thirty years, does not do stitches in the office. I was referred to the ER, in the same medical building.

So as I await treatment in the ER, I have already called my backup, the one and only Janet, mother-in-law supreme, to get my other children where they have to be. You see, as you and I both know, if a monkey wrench it thrown into our days, we must then re-arrange the rest of our day. We are not free to just go willy nilly to the ER. Silly moms, chaos is our lives. We must make the calls, inform the dads, let them know you have it all under control, make sure all the kids will get where they need to go. This can then involve friends stepping in, family being roused from their routines, any and all help is called in. Because you have probably been called and stepped in when needed. We get all this done while waiting for the triage nurse to look at our kid.

They take a look and get us back to "minor" treatment. Clean it up, and tell Grant it would hurt more to numb it up and stitch it than to just staple it. The physician's assistant talks him through it, and one staple later, we are on our way. I did go to the pediatrician first, just trying to save some money if he did not indeed need stitches. Which he did. Which I knew, but money is tight, so off to the pediatrician first. Long day. One clue, if your child is hurt, always let them explain what happened. They know the story and then it does not look like you are trying to cover something up. The very last thing you need is CPS knocking on your door because you talked over your kid to explain what happened. That's just my two cents thrown in for free.

So, now he is affectionately called staple head by one and all. Thrilling, thrilling day. Just one more reason we as moms need to stick together.

Any staples in your life? Share the metal.

God bless you and yours.

Waffles

For reasons I have yet to understand, some of my son's friends from our youth group, have decided to come over this morning for waffles. Let's get something straight right away. I don't make homemade waffles. I never have. I owned a waffle iron once, and never used it. These will be Eggos from the freezer. They just want to come over and say hi to "Momma Kay". Okay........

The teenage mind in hilarious. I am sure this started as some kind of joke. They don't even go to my son's high school, but to one farther away. Yet, they are coming over for waffles. I realize this is just a ploy to be random, but hey, I do love these kids.

So I must go and warm up the toaster. I thought briefly about getting some sausage yesterday to compliment the waffles, but where is the randomness in that? I will get out my Costco size syrup and the butter and the plates and make them waffles. Hilarious. If you have not hung out with teenagers lately, let me tell you, "random" is one of their favorite words.

Literally, five kids are getting up earlier than they have to, all in the name of crappy waffles from a wild haired, not had enough coffee, crazy lady. Okey dokey. Gotta love it.

What is random in your life today? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

Hubby's birthday

So tomorrow, my husband will turn 40. He will tell you that I will always be older than him. While that is true, and somewhat cruel, he is hitting the big four oh. I have asked him what he wants. He wants new white t-shirts and underwear. That's it. Don't go all out. Just some new underthings.

Whatever. I will get him his underwear. This brings up a great question. Why are guys so hard to buy for? How much cologne and ties can we buy? How many audio books (they mostly hate to read), money clips, even six packs of their favorite beer can we buy? How many stupid t-shirts with some kind of stupid saying about something they used to joke about? He was a golf professional for fifteen years, so he needs no clubs, no shirts, no tees, nothing regarding golf. I have, in the past, gotten him an official Tiger's jersey. An official Red-Wings jersey, and we don't buy Lions anything, they are horrible. Even Detroiters don't buy Lions stuff, it's just embarrassing to own. He likes the Suns more than the Pistons, and he has a Suns jersey.

What do you get your hubby for his birthday? Father's day? Christmas? Just curious. I need more ideas please.

Have a great day, God bless you and yours.

Different Parenting......

We have all run up against another mother that parents their child differently than we do. I always try to respect what they are doing. Aside from beating the crud out of a kid, I usually just shake my head and walk away. I don't want someone interfering with my parenting and I will respect someone else's style, even if I don't agree with it. Sometimes, though, I get totally perplexed.

I am a youth leader at our church. We have some kids whose parents don't come to our church, but the kids do. Most are fine with that, we don't sacrifice cats in the basement or require you to give up your oldest child for service. It's just a non-denominational bible based church. Nothing weird going on. But I have actually been to the church, and researched the children's programs before enrolling my children in them. There is a family whose teenagers are fighting with their parents to come to youth group. The parents let them go to church camp, go on a mission trip, cross state lines with us, but now, they are "too into" it, and it has to stop. Too into church. Too into getting close to God. Too into not fighting with each other and doing good. Not that they are perfect or that our youth group spits out perfect kids, not gonna happen, but we are trying to get God into the center of these kids lives.

So riddle me this.........why? I want you to know that when these kids have asked me, I always tell them, that though this is hard, they must respect their parents. I do not encourage them to disobey their parents or sneak out or anything. Nor does any leader, we respect the parents role in the family. We have offered to speak to the parents to address any concerns to no avail. We are going to be doing a purity bible study in small groups for both the boys and the girls. I would love my kids to be exposed to that. I read the book and I am blown away at the challenges that this study encourages these young people to address and handle. I think it is going to be amazing.

I know I am "in" the church, so my view may be skewed, but when my kids wanted to get involved in this group, I researched it. Just like I would soccer, or band or whatever thing they were interested in. That's my job, so I don't understand any parent who would say NO, and not do their research. It also confuses me that these kids have freedom in just about all areas in their lives, just not for God. There are worse things these kiddos could want to be involved in.

Share your opinions, am I off base, right on, or should just stay out of it. Again, I have always encouraged these kids to, above all else, respect their parents. Let me know.

God bless you and yours.

So, every now and again

So, from time to time, I turn on MTV to see what's on. What happened to all the videos? And why does every rap video have high priced cars and higher priced women? And where is rock and roll? Do they even show videos anymore? I am trying to catch up on what my kids are into and there are no videos, just reality shows. And the reality shows are pretty staged, don't you think.

On facebook, a friend of mine posted the video that started it all, Video killed the Radio star. This for me, brought back nostalgia from high school, my first concert and all that. Do you have any 80's memories that stand out?

Big hair? Parachute pants? The horror when Eddie Van Halen started playing the keyboards? The final acceptance of the same. The Go'Gos and Thriller? Hair bands, the good ones and the not so good ones who had one great song. What hits it for you? I actually found a picture of me in my Catholic School uniform............tragic.

Are you an 80's chick? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

Okay, I gave in to coffee

So, I was off caffeine completely for nine months. It took five horrible days filled with headaches to get off the stuff. Just proof that my body was addicted, right? Well, I had just sort of slipped in August, one cup on Saturday, that was it. Then school started. How in the heck am I supposed to wake up every day at 5:30 in the morning with no caffeine? So I have allowed myself one cup a day of coffee. Okay, it's a big cup, but still, I need some caffeine.

So, I love it. I have missed it. I need it. I work at Starbucks for cripes sake, now do you feel my pain of giving it up? One beautiful cup of java in the morning with two sweet-n-lows and some cream. Yep, cream, not milk, not skim milk, not creamer, but real, honest to goodness cream. That is my indulgence. Real cream in my coffee. I don't know if that is a midwest thing, but people here put half-n-half in the coffee. We stopped putting out whole milk and non-fat at work and we really only have about three people a week ask for it. Everyone else puts in cream. It is an indulgence, but since I am watching everything else, cream in my coffee is worth it.

So, I have officially fallen off the wagon of caffeine. There are worse things I could be addicted to. Okay, I love chocolate too, so kill me. Life is good with a great cup of coffee (I grind my beans every morning) and a nice piece of chocolate. Yum.

What do you indulge in? Or are you sticking to your guns and being good? Either way, good for you.

God bless you and yours.

A bee sting gone wrong....

So I get home from working last night at five thirtyish and my niece is here to do my hair (went a little blonder) and I am told to look at my 15 year old son's hand. He had gotten stung by something on Sunday. By five o'clock his had was hot and red and swollen. Believe it or not, I had to take him kicking and screaming to our night owl clinic at the doctor's office. I had to threaten him with missing youth group and band practice.

We arrive at the night owl clinic at six o'clock, we got called back at 7:45. Every five minutes, Tyler asks me to leave, I absolutely refuse to leave until a doctor looks at his hand. Finally, the doctor comes in and take a look, not happy. Puts him on antibiotics because it looks like cellulitis (sp?) and tells us to keep an antihistemine on board. Oh yeah, if streaks start going up his arm, emergency room. A little more red today is normal, but streaks up the arm, ER.

All this from some kind of sting/bite from some sort of flying insect who remains anonymous. What the heck? Bee stings are supposed to hurt and you put some baking soda paste on them and they go the heck away. Not red streaks up arms and emergency rooms. I did not like the look of the hand this morning, but the doc says a little worse this morning is normal. I am very worried about what it will look like when he gets home from school today.

So anything weird happen to your kids from a bug bite? Share the swelling.........

God bless you and yours.

Forgot Cooper's Lunch

Sorry so late today, apparently I am a horrible mom. As I went to get a tea bag down, I noticed the brown paper bags that are used to pack Cooper's lunch. Then it hit me. I did not pack his lunch. Now you may say, "That's okay, he won't starve". Let's remember, this is my Aspberger's boy and his schedule may not be interrupted. He will not eat cafeteria food, not because he may not like it, but because the entire cafeteria smells like a cafeteria. So I scrambled myself into the shower because I work today, and I cannot go out looking like death. If I had the day off I would have just thrown on a bra and gone and delivered his lunch.

If you can call it lunch. He has the same thing every day. Pretzels, wheat thins and a Capri Sun. Goldfish crackers for snack. Do not deviate from the menu, ever, ever ever. Well, I delivered his lunch and scrambled back home to write my blog before work.

What have you forgotten lately? Make you cry or make you laugh? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

The homework dilemma

Okay, I am old. I am not ashamed to admit that I have reached the ripe old age 42 and that I went to middle school thirty years ago. That being said, I believe that I am not an idiot. I am educated, and keep up on current events and such. I often say I am full of useless information. My husband and his brother, in an attempt to stump me, took out a dictionary one day. They picked words at random and I knew the meaning or what it was about in every case. I do read a lot. I love to read. Okay, so I am what I would call intelligent. Mostly.

So, the homework of a middle school child should not be that hard. I mean, the Scientific Method and all that jazz. The problem was that a packet was sent home to be completed, all these blank spaces, but no book or workbook or hand out to go with it. So, how am I supposed to help with this stuff? I could not. Let me give you an example.

"1. Ask a question. Also known as __________. This step is what puts the scientific method into action and is based upon___________. Involves a defined question. (what, why, how statements).

No book, no workbook, no nothing. So what do I do? It only got worse from there. The first page has two definitions on it, nothing really to do with the scientific method. There is a page with some type of graph type thing about the scientific method and a paragraph kind of explaining it, that being said, no book, no specific words to help out. I know I wasn't in class and that no notes were taken. It is seventh grade and the first week of school. These kids barely know what day it is at this point. They can't figure out their locker combination and can barely find their way around a new school with new students from four or five grade schools. Basically, the don't know their elbows from their you know whats.

So I have to make a call this morning and Grant is going in before school to talk to the teacher and possibly do the homework at lunch. Am I out of line to expect my child to be properly equipped to do his homework? I am not that mom. I do not excuse homework, he has to do it, but he needs the proper tools to complete it. Help me out here moms, am I out of line? Just asking.

What challenges are you facing this school year? Share the love.....

God bless you and yours.

The Beautiful Silence...

After a chaotic summer of petty arguments, back biting, fighting over the gaming station, fighting over which show to watch, finally, a little silence. You see, all my children went to school and I did not have to work until later in the morning. So after forgetting backpacks, putting on shoes, getting all lunches packed, etc., I sat on the couch and listened to the quiet.

I believe there is a wonderfulness to the quiet. The perfect balance of a dog at my feet, a cup of coffee in my hand and the quiet. I used to laugh hilariously at the Cosby show. Every fall, Cliff and Claire would have this huge celebration on the first day of school. Taking back the house. Yeah, baby. Celebrate. Kids are in school. If I clean a room, when I walk back into the same room, it will still be clean. That alone is a minor miracle. I can go to the store and not come home to two kids beating the crud out of each other. Life is good.

I think that it is okay to like the silence. There is nothing wrong with liking the peace and quiet of an empty home. I love it when they are home too. I love having a houseful of kids, I just like it better when they are so tired from school, they don't have the energy to fight. Or they are so bogged down with homework, they don't have time to fight. That's what I call peace and quiet.

Do you ever find yourself listening to the quiet? I am all about it.

God bless you and your quietness.......

Oops, First day of school blocked my blog

So as I got four children off to three different schools yesterday, I also had to get myself ready for work at 7:30. That's right, mom of the year here forgot to take the first day of school off. I did not go with my youngest to the bus stop. Bad mommy, bad, bad mommy. Although, they are in the fifth and sixth grades respectively, so I don't feel too bad. My middle schooler wanted to take a shower in the morning, even though he had taken one the night before. We had to adjust his way of thinking, because I am not washing that many towels every darn day.

As my high schooler walked down the driveway, I stood in the doorway and asked if he was okay. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Uh, yeah......." I could not help it, it was his first day of high school. Big bad high school. He was absolutely fine.

It brought back the memory of his first day of kindergarten. He went to a small private preschool/kindergarten. The classroom was too small for the parents to go inside, so as they lined up our little ones, and marched them into class, we moms and dad just stood outside and waved and smiled. Then they closed the door. For many of us standing there, this was our first child going to school all day for the first time. The door closed and we all looked at each other and started to bawl. No sissy crying, true bawling our eyes out. Our babies were in school. So many of us had our younger ones in strollers, I personally had Grant and the twins in a triple stroller. After a couple of minutes and many hugs, we dispersed to run our errands or whatever. Our babies in kindergarten, sigh........

Now my "baby" is in high school, has his driving permit, and plays guitar. Where did it all go? Don't blink, next time I open my eyes he will be walking down the aisle.

How was your first day? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

The Last Hurrah....

Ah, Labor day weekend. To those of you whose children have already started school, you are thinking, big deal, to those of us in Michigan, we are gearing up for the last fun time of summer. Temperatures are already cooling off and some of the leaves on the very tops of the trees are beginning to turn color.

So as people hurry off to get "up north" and get all the food necessary for a proper barbecue, I shall sit on my deck and relax. Of course I am working two of the three days, so goes the chaos of retail, but I will still get my barbecue on.

My main goal this weekend is to get the kids ready for school on Tuesday. Yeah, they are going back. All the moms shall sigh a sigh of relief and go out to breakfast and smile and the silence in their homes. It's the most wonderful time of the year. I love back to school, love it, love it, love it. I just wish my chicas from AZ were here so we could go and have some coffee. Yeah me! Miss my gal pals there.

What do you do on Labor Day weekend? Share the love and the recipes.

God bless you and yours.

You can take the kid out of the fight......

But you cannot take the fight out of the kid. I told my children that bed was at 9:30 last night. Getting ready for school on tuesday. Grant fought me tooth and nail. Man, that kid has tenacity. But MoooooooooooOOOOOOOm, I won't be able to sleep. Mom, no, listen, Mom, Mom, Mom. Gosh, you never listen to me. MOM, it's not fair. I am older than Tatum and she is still up. Mom, what about Tyler? Mom, how come? Mom, just listen to me for a minute, MOm. Geez, no one else is going to bed this early.

The only thing that worked was telling him if he did not get in his room and stay there, he was grounded until school. Please note, you do not see Cooper in that conversation. That is because, creature of habit that he is, he was already in bed. He goes up, brushes his teeth, goes to the bathroom, asks for prayers and goes to bed at 9:00 every night. Sometimes earlier if he is tired. All summer he has done this. I know my day with him is probably coming, but since he likes schedules, maybe not.....

Do you have one certain child who will fight with you about something until the end of the earth? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

I did it!

I just received my second notice on a second story that will be published! Now I am up to two stories published in three books. My newest accomplishments come from the Chicken Soup for the Soul enterprise. I will have two different stories in two different books. And it's a paying gig. Yeah me!

So what is my advice to you at this point in my life? If you have a spark in your heart for something, try it. Go for it. Branch out. Life in not only about paying the bills and trudging through it. Try. What has been your dream? What has held you back from trying.

I have always wanted to write, but having three kids in diapers does not leave any time to do anything except keep three kids in clean diapers and make sure your fourth child is not running amok breaking stuff in the house. I understand if your children are very little that living in that season of your life leaves you very little time for anything else. But as your children get older, you may find that burning desire in your heart becomes stronger. Don't let your dream drown in your life. If I can do it, anyone can.

So what is sparking a small flame in your heart today? What do you want to be when you grow up, even though, technically, you are grown up? Spread your wings a little a jump out of the nest. Try.

God bless you and yours.