When You Just Don’t Have It In You

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

This has been a tough week for me on a professional level. I lost my biggest client and being self employed, that’s a huge hit both mentally and financially. I would honestly rather just go into our room, draw the curtains, grab a bottle of wine and just hibernate til it all goes away.

But I can’t.

Because no matter how crappy today is, the alarm will still go off at 6am tomorrow and there are 3 girls and a Rooster who live in this house that expect me to be at my best. They expect my help picking out their school clothes, finding all the things that belong in their backpack, get them to school with a smile and a kiss and help with their homework when the school day is done. They expect food to be ready and conversations to be had.

And they rightfully deserve that.

Days like this make it hard to put on that smile and to listen intently about their day when my mind is wandering off to thoughts of how am I going to bounce back from this loss? Will I be able to keep my company open? Will I be able to afford the things we need? But they don’t understand these stress points and while I don’t sugarcoat things with them, I also don’t think they need to know everything about the stress levels I am under.

They see me as their hero.. that I can do no wrong.. that I am their ray of sunshine.. their go-to person when things are broken when in fact, that’s what they are to me. If it weren’t for them, I would never laugh on days like this. I wouldn’t have hope that things will get better. I wouldn’t have the motivation to MAKE things better.

So for them, I trudge on when I want to run and hide. I put on my happy face and pretend that all is wonderful with the world and life couldn’t be better. Because that’s my real job.. to be there for all of them.

I wonder if they’ll ever know how grateful I am to them for that.

Kristen
Are you raising a teen or a tween? Join the conversation over at Ten to Twenty Parenting!
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Commercials I Love to Watch…

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

I can tune out of a show quicker than anything but I am one of those crazy folks who love commercials. Sadly, commercials today just aren’t what they used to be. I mean.. even those crazy Bud frogs could never quite match up to Spuds McKenzie.

Or maybe I’m just a true child of the 80′s and they give me warm fuzzies. Whatever the reason.. here are a few of my favorite that are guaranteed to make me laugh each and every time:

Terry Tate – Office Linebacker

This entire series of commercials cracks me up. I love when he quips “Hey Janice!”

Oh Snap! Guess What I Saw!

Couldn’t find a good copy of this.. how can anyone take a 16 second commercial and make it 10 minutes long?!

1987 Spuds Mackenzie

We seriously wore our hair that way?

Monster.com Need A New Job?

Because we all have days where we feel like we’re stuck under a moose’s butt.

 

I know there are a ton I’m missing but these are the ones that popped in my head tonight… Do you have a favorite? Share it!

Kristen
Are you raising a teen or a tween? Join the conversation over at Ten to Twenty Parenting!
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Little Mama – The Contest Queen

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

I will never forget the first time my mom won her first “big” prize.  And by big, I mean it wasn’t being the 10th caller for a pair of tickets to Olympic History on Ice.

I was living in Chicago at the time, tending bar at K’s Dugout which was nothing more than a Cop-Shop - a bar located across from the 20th Precinct of the Chicago Police Department. I wasn’t working that night which means I was on the other side of the bar so when my roommate walked/ran (no cell phones at this point) up to the bar at 10:00pm on a Friday night to tell me that I HAD to call my mother I just knew someone had died so I was freaking out. And freaking out when you’re 22 and half-lit is not fun. So I did what any good daughter would do.. I told the bartender to “watch my drink” and ran home to call my mother.

Turns out no one had died but she had, in fact, had a heart attack because she HAD WON A CAR!! Oh my God, she was SO excited and my reaction was – you made me run home to call you, in the middle of the night, scared half to death because you WON A CAR??!

I obviously missed getting the shock and awe gene where you say exactly the right thing at the right time. I’ve tried to get better over the years.

Since that big win, she made contesting a serious hobby/job of hers. People are always amazed and jokingly ask “what’s your mom won lately” but she puts a boat load of time into the job. Way back in the day before I convinced her to take the internet plunge, she would sit for HOURS filling out envelopes and postcards… strategically going thru her sweepsheets and determining which contests she really wanted to win and which ones would be an okay win. Her Christmas list would include things like stamps, envelopes and postcards which my Dad would gladly supply her with while he was alive.

She’s won trips, jewelry, gold coins, enough t-shirts to clothe a small town, TVs, iPods, an iPad, a giant Nascar gas can, beach towels and a bazillion other things that I could never keep up with. Lucky for me, she has a small library of scrapbooks documenting all her wins which will make for memorable and lovely reading for years to come long after she’s gone. I have said that the only thing she hasn’t won is a major cash prize and knowing her, it’s just a matter of time before that happens.

You would think that I would take after her in the passion for contesting but as I mentioned, she puts a TON of time into and that kind of time is just not something that I have a lot of. But I do dabble and have won a few things myself.. most notably the amazing trip that the Rooster and I went on last September to Big Cedar Lodge for an entire weekend of fishing with some famous anglers. Which of course, I entered because Little Mama sent it to me. If I don’t say it myself, she’ll say it in the comments so there you have it..

I’m proud of her and her wins and it excites me when she wins something because of the sheer joy it brings her. I know she was always so excited to share the big news with my Dad when she won something, and now that he’s gone I have really tried to up my game and reaction from when she won her first car back in 1990.

Yeah.. I said her first car… because you see…

..that photo at the top?

That was the THIRD car she’s won.

She’s lucky and I’m proud :)

Kristen
Are you raising a teen or a tween? Join the conversation over at Ten to Twenty Parenting!

 

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24

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

Yes, I’m posting AGAIN late in the day dagnabbit! Stupid worky-work keeps getting me off track and off my mojo of writing for the next day the night before. Maybe I’ll feel the inspiration to write again after I do this. We’ll see.

So since I’m late again, I’m going to write about the number 24.

Why 24?

Well for one, it’s in the top 5 of my all time favorite TV shows and any chance I can stick a gratuitous picture of Kiefer Sutherland in a post is good with me. In my 9-5 life, I adore one kick ass lady named Gini Dietrich. When I found out her dog’s name is Jack Bauer, she rose to Idol status in my eyes. No joke.

24 is the day that H#1 was born.. on a beautiful day in September with her crown of bright red curls.

24 cookies are better than 12. Seriously.

24 hours in a day ~~ each one an opportunity to do something bigger and better with yourself.

And this is the 24th day of my first round of NaBlogPoMo.. of which I’ve learned a lot.

  • I’ve learned that I really CAN put a decent post out every day. Two of which were good enough to have the fine ladies at BlogHer make them feature posts. The first one stands at 3,145 reads! WHAT?!! That’s INSANE to me and also makes me very proud of myself. I was thrilled to the moon when I was picked the 1st time and equally as thrilled when I was chosen again (today!) the second time.
  • I’ve learned that there are some amazing bloggers out there that don’t get much attention and  a lot of “superstars” with huge followings who can’t write for crap. You can tell that they’re writing for their audience, which unfortunately are brands.
  • I’ve learned there aren’t many places for moms like me who have ZERO interest in bottles, binkies or blankies. I’m interested in keeping babies OUT of my house at this point. So I started my own site (Ten to Twenty Parenting) that will hopefully cater to those of us raising teens & tweens. <<shameless plug – go sign up if you haven’t already and POST!!>>
  • Since I’ve started THAT site, I finally found a few other sites that DO cater to my group of moms but that’s okay — there’s plenty of room for all of us.
  • I like to mess around with the layout of my blog. A lot. Just can’t leave well enough alone.
  • I look forward to the day where the thoughts that are in my head really DO make it to the pages of this blog.
  • I am kinda obsessed with Google Analytics now.
  • I couldn’t care less if I didn’t get an invite to #DisneySMMoms (apparently a huge issue today….lots of ticked off Moms who didn’t get their Mouse Ears)
  • I think that I will sign up for the February NaBloPoMo to make sure that I keep up this pace. I may never be a “rockstar” but since this blog’s been around for over 8 years, I could be one of the oldest middle of the road writers in this hemisphere. I’m cool with middle of the road.

Okay… that’s it for the number 24. And I still have time to get another post ready for tomorrow and get back on track.

Word.

Kristen
Are you raising a teen or a tween? Join the conversation over at Ten to Twenty Parenting!
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Musings From A Cabin Fevered Mom

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

No Snow In NC - And I’m quite thankful considering all the 3 day weekends we’ve had lately are making all five of us a little stir crazy. While I love the break from the monotony, it really wreaks havoc on our schedules (which I’m a big fan of) and quite often all it does for me is turn me into a taxi driver on a 3 day long shift. Can’t imagine if we were REALLY stuck.

The oldest will line up sleepovers pretty much every night (I still have a hard time not saying play dates) either here or there, which means the other 2 think that it’s their right to also have one. H#3 tends to have more friends who can drop everything for a come as you are slumber party, while H#2 struggles to find anyone at all. So then I’m left playing chauffer AND counselor.

SuperBowl FortySucks – Anyone else completely underwhelmed (again) by the upcoming Super Bowl? If I were in charge, I’d grab the tape deck from 2007, push play and take a vacation. We were already invited to a party and I cannot imagine having any desire to even participate in the festivities – no matter how banging the food is or witty the commercials are(n’t).

Waterboard Torture – I think they messed up the name on this one. Should have been Washer-board Torture. Any family that has 5 or more people in their house will tell you that if you really want to torture someone, make them do the laundry – then argue with kids to sort and put it away and explain that “no – you cannot just wear the same 3 outfits over and over again”.  And for the final touches of torture – if you thought changing diapers was a smelly job, try the sniff test to determine if those kiddie undies are supposed to be in the clean or dirty pile. Instant surrender.

Finding Nemo 3D – Was excited to get my first press release from the folks at Disney today. This is a tough one for me because I’m not a fan of 3D AT ALL but love, love, love Nemo so I guess that will outweigh the 3D. Plus I’m betting of all the 3D animation, all the underwater shots will actually be pretty cool in 3D.  Here’s the trailer.. movie comes out September 14th, so mark you calendars and grab your glasses!

 

Kristen
Are you raising a teen or a tween? Join the conversation over at Ten to Twenty Parenting!

 

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