Day 23: Dad's Little Red Car (Originally posted on WP)

Dad had a little red Fiat. Fiats are notorious for being little cars. If you think about it, have you ever seen one all grown up? Yeah me either. I remember he had this car for many years and It certainly seen many miles of this country. This is also the same car which was the instrument of my near death at the ripe old age of seven. Let me digress from my story by retelling this little snippet of my life. (Hrmmm, now that I think about it, from ages six to nine, I was a pretty persnickety child. But I digress from the digression. Haha, now THAT is talent!) Car…death…seven…ok. I used to spend time with Daddy by playing nearby and bombarding him with questions about what he was doing while working on the cars. He fiddled around with them a lot. I believe he was good at it because I don’t have a recollection of taking a car to a shop for repair when I was a kid.

One sunny afternoon, Daddy was working on something kn the interior of the car. This was different than sticking your face under the hood or sliding on a box under the car with your back. Curious, I hopped into the passenger side of the car and started berating him with questions. (After I gave birth to uor daughter, he told me it helped him figure out tough fixes sometimes. :)  ) This conversation is very clear to me because it was the day I received my education about the meaning of the letters next to the gear shift. Park, drive, neutral, reverse, one, two. Got it. Daddy warned me to neverr messwith the gear shift; even when the car was off because it could roll away.  Ok. Got it.

Remember I told you I was seven? Remember I said I was curious? Remember I was persnickety? Yea. One could say I was an “amazing child.” Keep this in mind as I lay out the scene…

We lived in a Seattle neighborhood in the community of White Center. We didn't have a traditional driveway. Instead, we had a gravel/dirt area that ran along the street at the front of the house. Sort of like a parking lot, you would just pull onto the dirt and park the car. There was a wooden fence that divided the parking area from the front yard. Our house was two upper stories that could be seen from the street. There was a slight opening that went from the street to the house. What you could NOT see from the street was a sheer drop to the back yard. If you were to look at the house from the alley, it would be a three story house as there was a full apartment in the basement. There was a wall on each side of the house which had stairs leading up to the front yard.

Back to the front yard. Looking from the street, Daddy parked his Fiat on the right side, perfectly in between two bushes that were on peering over the fence from the front yard. This means there was nothing but grass and open space to the wall that dropped to the back yard. Note seven year old Micaa playing nearby. (Ya that's me.)

I decided to hop into the drivers side of the car and pretend to drive. After about ten minutes, I looked down at the gear shift. Surely the car wont move while it is off. Daddy just told me that so I would not mess with it whole he was working on it. I reached out and pushed the button and pulled the gear shift back. It stopped in neutral. What happened next seemed like five minutes but it was more like five seconds.

The car began to roll. It crashed through the fence. Just flat ran it over like knocking over a domino. It quickly rolled across the yard toward the wall leading to the back yard. At first I panicked. I just watched the crab apple bush get bigger as I rolled toward it faster and faster. I snapped back into reality, looked down, and popped the gear shift into park. The Fiat came to a jarring halt. The wheels inches from the edge of the wall. The fiat was a millisecond from dropping 12 feet into the back yard with a seven year old driver.

Whew! I got out of the car, looked around, making sure no one seen me and went to my room to play. Later, when asked it I knew what happened, I pretended I didn't know. The car was put back and the fence taken away. (Breathe!!! Mini digression over. But yea, not so mini.)

Dad had this Fiat for many years. When he could not fix it anymore, he traded it in for something else. It was still in “driveable” condition. He drive up to the lot and swapped cars. A few days later, the owner of the car lot angrily called the house and gave my mother what for. Now Daddy is a smart man. He told my mother not to worry about it. He went on to tell her that “I proved to hom tha Fiat was driveable. He never asked me if the bottom was going to fall out of it 45 minutes after I left the lot. Its his problem now. The papers say as-is, Pat.” He then flashed that smile and did that Douglas giggle only a Barrett can do.

That was the end of the Fiat.

What do YOU think?

Day 21: Reality Smurf Hunting

The elusive Teen Smurf lives amongst the trees in the Miles house forest. She grumpily migrates from Meadow Room to the Kitchen Watering Hole when she is in search of food. It is custom for this creature to play a game by which she bounces a sphere upon the ground and amazingly tosses it into the hoop tree. The hoop tree is outside of her natural habitat in an open meadow called Street. While Street is very dangerous, Teen Smurf takes great care not to bother other creatures visiting at the same time. Munchkins, trolls, behemoth v6 creatures and the random wheeled mice all share Street Meadow with the Teen Smurf.

Let it be known we have been observing this creature for almost seven years. When she is aware of our presence, she growls and even snaps. Similar to other curous creatures, she will, on occasion, come close and be nice. However, it never lasts long. I have only observed one such creature with these characteristics. I am certain there will not be another.

Here we see Teen Smurf observing us through the forest near the Kitchen Watering hole. Amazing.

What do YOU think?

Day 7: Glitter sticks because it has phantom super glue

Anyone with a little girl or a child who loves to do arts and crafts knows the fight of the glitter fairy. If you have someone in your home that uses glitter, you KNOW to what I am referring. Even if you forbid glitter from being used in your home, should you have kids, the glitter fairy will still pay your home a visit. This is certain to happen around the holidays. Silver for Christmas, orange for Halloween, red for Valentines day. You get the picture. Once you find that you have come in contact with glitter, it is like a contagious disease. The chit gets EVERYWHERE. Not only that, it is often worse than sharpie markers. It sticks around and is impossible to wash away.

The last time I painted my fingernails,  (not something I do often, but I find it relaxing. I should do it more. Maybe....) I used a clear top coat with glitter flecks in it. Every single time I use this stuff I fail to remember how difficult it is to get off. Its like it becomes imbedded into the nail or something because fingernail polish will not take it off. I have to scrape it off and damage the heck out of my nails. No amount of rubbing with a rag or cotton ball or tissue drenched in fingernail polish remover will get that chit off. I imagined once, using turpentine or kerosene to try to get that glitter junk off but I was too chicken to try. My nails may fall off! These are MY nails and they are real. Not something you see everyday. They are "salon length" too. (Just about the only part of myself I take pride in currently, but after yesterday, THAT will change. Yes, I digress.)

So here I sit. At work. Scrapping glitter that the glitter fairy has seen fit to adhere to my nails simply so I can paint my nails to match my shirt. Note: New fingernail polish has even tinier glitter pieces in it. The removal of THAT should be just as fun!  I am certain I have done enough to my nails to ensure the next color I paint them will become a permanent part of them until it grows out. Thank gosh my nails grow fast.

This is where I get to the point. The glitter fairy has this secret superglue stuff that she lovingly coats each piece of glitter ever created. This is why it has that lovely permanence. Mind you, it is purposely done. Glitter Fairy Super Glue has this chemical in it that allows for it to time release (I mean let go) of any Elmer's glue, paste, or glue stick simply so that it can be found every single place your child's art work or craft has been. This is where you have to be careful. If your child grabbed the toilet paper roll and used some during arts and crafts, think twice before wiping your rear. Gosh forbid you go to a colonoscopy and your Doctor find glitter in your crack! Yipes! Haha. Remember that story of the lady who had a "woman's" appointment at the OB/GYN and her daughter had placed glitter in a wash cloth near the sink?  How mortifying. Also, you don't want to go to an interview or a court date looking like you had been puked upon by the Glitter Unicorn of Shinydom either.

Point is, glitter is horrible stuff. While it may look good and is very shiny, it is DANGEROUS!

What do YOU think?

Day 5: Giggles make me happy

I guess the rain still has me feeling blue. I simply was unable to get motivated to get up and get my day going this morning. After finally convincing myself that I must do what I have to do, I was going through my morning routine. Because it is quite early and the kiddos are still on winter break, the house is unusually quiet and all I hear is the jingle of the dogs bell when she walked into the kitchen to check the water bowl. (I don't know WHY she does this but she will get up, walk into the kitchen, sniff the water bowl, and walk away. Sometimes she will drink but it is like she is making sure it is there. Has it gotten up and walked away or something? Ah, but I digress. You know me.) While I was brushing my hair, I heard a small giggle. O.o.  Nobody is up at this time when they don't HAVE to be! I shrugged it off and continued what I was doing. "hehehehehehe!"

Yes, I am sure of it. That giggle made my heart dance and smile. This is something only a mother can know. Those little giggles only last about ten years or so before they morph into teenagers. I know that giggle anywhere. It was the laughter of our youngest. Number 7. Apparently, he got enough sleep last night to be back on track and get up at a normal time instead of 1 p.m. every day. He had awakened and was watching TV in his room. Uncle Grandpa or something. As I walked down the hallway, I could only smile. I must say, hearing that happy guy made my day. It was only 5 a.m.!

I never miss an opportunity to tell the children (and the husband too) how much I love their happiness, grins, and giggles. When I told him he made my day by just being himself, he lit up like a Christmas tree. Its funny how our children try so hard to make us happy as parents and their innocent kindness is the sweetest ever.

I hope to never lose that in my children. I am proud of them all. I just sometimes forget that they are little ones in this big world and do not yet understand things as an adult would.

Love your little ones. Embrace their effort and pure joy. Get to know them and take time with each and every one. Let them know you are happy with them and accept them for who they are. They will grow and blossom into loving human beings as a result. THEN and only then will there be hope for humanity. (And the ants wont move forward with their plot. Hehehe)

What do YOU think?

It will take a lifetime to fix this mess we are in

I was having a thought process before coffee this morning. (I know, dangerous right?) It all started the other day when my daughter and I were discussing an injury she had at one of her million (exaggeration but it might as well be) athletic activities through the local high school. She was telling me how the trainer told her to do this exercise and that and then both hot and cold therapies. All I could do was sit there and listen to her recite the list of things she has to do to get "better." I was amazed at what she was telling me. Not because of what she had to do but because the injury was a twisted ankle. I don't want to negate that it could have been worse because the back-inside of her foot turned purple after about a week and it DID swell the first couple of days.  I am certain it was painful and a legitimate injury. I do believe that some of what the trainer told her helped it heal but lets be realistic here.


I remember being a kid, we fell down, "shook it off" and got back up. When I twisted my ankle as a track athlete in high school, the coach wrapped it up and told me to get back to running. My running may have been a bit slow during the first couple of days, but so long as I stayed off it as much as possible for the next week, I was fine. Mind you, this comes from someone who can fall off of something that is not there and nearly BREAK her ankle.  Anywhoo, the point is, they basically told her to baby the thing. Were it when I was an athlete, it would have turned purple within 24 hours and then began to heal and I would have been back to normal in a week. No hot and cold therapy, not exercises to ease back into using it. That stuff is for when you have surgery or a real break. Personally, I believe it delayed the healing process and it is nearly 2 weeks later and the purple is JUST starting to go away. Hrmm. Shaking it off made it heal faster folks. As Numba Ten would fondly blurt out "Jus Sayin!"


That led me to the next thing. The WHOLE reason the thought process occurred to me, in the kitchen, making coffee, at 5 a.m.  I began thinking about all of the people who have lawsuits against schools recently for the coaches and trainers not being sensitive to medical needs of their athletes. If you think about it, everyone has some sort of medical issue they are fighting these days. Is it all really necessary?  Yea, medical science is taking us into longer lives and such but at what cost?


It all starts with mother nature and this planet we live on. We have poisoned the very planet that is supposed to sustain us. Traditional methods of farming and growing food are not enough to sustain the insatiable (and wasteful) population that controls it. This means we have to grow more, faster, and bigger. Man has found that chemicals can do that. The food we grow is no longer "of the earth" the earth is just a petri dish where we grow the worlds largest squash to feed 100,000 people instead of a whole field of wholesome, flavorful, natural squash. No, we cant do the latter because it takes to long and we need to do this NOW. So, bring out the miracle grow and other chemicals and make it grow overnight. We fill our livestock with steroids and lock it up in tight little prisons so they cannot move and are destined a horrible death. Never mind that their life may be filled with pain and rage due to the chemicals we are forcing into it. This monster we are raising to eat is filled with chemicals that would kill a human being. We wear full body protective suits just to use the chemicals we are putting into our food. What happened to the habanero pepper being the only thing that would burn your skin when it came to food? Finally, let me get started on the water and sugars. We wastefully use so much water that we have to make it a chemical cocktail just so that we can drink it and hydrate our bodies. How much of that chemical remains when we ingest it is questionable at best. Sugar. Let me have the unrefined, nothing else added sugar. All this "high fructose corn syrup" is for the birds and it is FAKE PEOPLE!  If you want that, just eat the plastic container that your milk comes in. Its probably the same thing.


With all these chemicals and fake things we are putting into our bodies every day, (don't get me started on the highly processed stuff) it is no wonder there are so many people fighting illnesses and on medication for this or that every day. In another post, I talked about how the advent of electronics has created a whole generation of ADHD children (yea, small digression there, it was bound to happen.) This leads me to thinking about what it would take to eliminate society's need to rely so heavily on the pharmaceutical industry. A side note-pharmaceuticals are yet another round of chemicals we are putting into our bodies to fight the very chemicals that likely caused the issue in the first place. Ugh. Circular.


It would take a lifetime.


First, we have to get back to basics. Pay attention to the people who say grow your own food. Grow it with love and time. Use that garden to spend time with your family and get off the electronics. Sun is good for you. Work at home people will heartily agree. Use it to learn patience and caring and it will taste sooo good! No chemicals, just unadulterated (albeit a little smaller than the trend) wholesome FLAVORFUL goodness. You can garden year round. This will start something. You will spend less money at the store. The stores will rely less and less on the farmers and the farmers can go back to being what they should be. Farmers. They wont have to have a PHD in chemistry to poison the land with chemicals and sprays and will be able to grow a whole field of the good stuff and not the worlds largest squash. This will also prevent the farmer from feeding his livestock chemical ridden foods that ultimately end up on your table.


Next, livestock producers should raise their livestock the way it should be raised. Because their crops will be better and they wont have to spend so much on chemicals for their crops, they will not have to sell off their land and will be able to sustain their livestock on larger pieces of land and can sell the good stuff like they were supposed to do. Its all about give and take. This puts less chemicals in the meat that ends up on your table and the earth is beginning to heal. It is going to take a lifetime for the poisons we have put into this planet for food purposes to go away. It will reduce the freaks we see...two headed snakes, unusually HUGE bugs. Plants and trees will begin to grow again. Another thing that would help this planet heal is to use the land that already has development on it and relief it. Stop building on the farmers land and clear off that old building further into the city and build the same thing. Leave the farmer to what he should be doing well in the first place.


Another thing that you can do is build your own water filtration system. Honestly you only need 1x1 posts, plastic, buckets, rocks and soil. You filter your own water. So much better than the stuff coming out of your tap water. Getting used to non chemical water can take a couple of weeks of getting used to but with all these chemicals removed from your body, you will likely find that the medicines you are taking are no longer needed. You are eating, drinking and living healthier and due to the fact that you are spending less at the grocery store and less at the water payment center and less at the pharmacy, you find you have money for other things and can create memories instead of less gratifying images or words on a screen. You are LIVING.


So go forth. Live life. Do things the way mother nature has wanted us to do all along. Be tired of seeing "mother sick in bed." Help her heal. Be HUMAN. LIVE!


What do YOU think?


...And yes, my coffee is almost done.....**Micaa walks off to grab that first glorious cup.**

When you are in the right.

It is everyone's nightmare. Bad neighbors. I recently had a discussion with a relative who just had some bad neighbors move in just across the street from them. Due to the fact that they live on a dirt road that is basically a driveway, their houses are closer to one another than they would be were it a typical street. This couple has no children but everyone else in the neighborhood does.


It is not very often that my relative and her daughter go outside. They are so busy! However, when they are at home, they both love to be in the front yard a great deal. The daughter is quite popular with the other kids in the neighborhood. When she does come out to play, there are about a handful of children in my relatives yard. They play tag, kickball, and stand around and have typical girlie chatter. This drives the new neighbors absolutely insane. Mind you, it does not bother them when it is other children. Just my relative and her daughter. Every time this neighbor sees my relative outside, she tries to start arguments and yells obscenities at her. At first, the relative was trying to have a conversation with her and even yelling back. This did not work so my relative would sit on her porch and just let it happen. It was fine until the neighbor started calling her inappropriate names in front of the children. It has even gotten tot he point to where the cops had to come out and tell the new neighbors to stop yelling obscenities at people. While the cops advised both parties to get along, my relative does her best to say nothing at all to the new neighbor and keeps her children away from that side of the street at all costs.


Since the relative has been doing everything right, the new neighbor continues her assault of screaming and making rude gestures toward the relative every chance she gets. This is not fair to the relative and when incidents do occur, they are very taxing. The relative is usually thick skinned but is unable to handle such an unhappy human being hurling offensive assaults at her every chance she gets. Everyone on this street either owns the homes or is there for a term of longer than a couple of years. My relative has a beautiful home and she loves it very much but she is considering taking a loss on the home and moving away because of this neighbor.


From my point of view, this is unfair for someone to make a persons life THAT miserable when they are not even part of the home. What right does the new neighbor have to take out her frustrations on my relative when there is no issue at all. My relative has even went so far as to mark off the corners of her property to let her daughter and daughters friends know what the boundaries are when it comes to the neighbors and to eliminate any accidental trespass by her daughter. Why should someone have to go that far. The incidents where the new neighbor does her screaming have become more frequent and occur about every three days now. As a result, the relative is on medication for stress and depression. The Dr advised that she just needs to stay in the house when she sees the neighbor come outside. The only thing is, the neighbor ONLY comes outside when the relative is there.


What would YOU do in this situation?

I give you my Awesomeness!

Alas, it is Mothers’ Day. That special day where we celebrate all that is mom and let her know that, even though we act like we hate everything you say, you are STILL Mom and we love you!


I had to work today. Of course, I  was up before everyone else in the house so no fabled breakfast in bed for me. I think that is why they keep you in the hospital at least overnight when you give birth. This way, you get at least one time in your life that, as a mother, you can have breakfast in bed! For me the best one out of our brood was the last one. I was lucky enough to find a channel that played “Castaway” with Tom Hanks about a million times before I left the hospital. I actually watched it while eating breakfast. Good times. Gooooood times! Ok, well maybe reflecting on giving birth is not the best “good time” that anyone can think of but it is a pretty awesome experience.  Ok, so on to my Mothers Day story for the post…


This morning, my lovely daughter came into my office to wish me a Happy Mothers Day. I asked her “What did you get me?”  Mind you, she IS a teenager and teenagers get up to some persnickety stuff sometimes. She just grinned really big at me, turned her back to me and then said:


“The only thing I got you was my AWESOMENESS.” As if that was well deserved.


Well, guess what? I accept that. She is Awesome. She has more talent in one fingernail than any kid I know for miles around! If Awesomeness is all she has to give me well then, I am going to BATHE in it! She has already been up (going against her character) and soaked the dishes and helped out with her brothers. All without asking and I have not had to mute my headset and scream like a banshee through the wall to get her to tell them to stop fighting.


All in all, good Mothers Day so far.  Now, because I don’t normally take a lunch on Sunday’s, lets see how hard it is for her to come and get the coffee and reheat it. It got cold while I was telling you my story. Ugh. I need a coffee warmer in my office.


/micaa yells….DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!! I NEED MY COFFEEEEE HEATEDDDDD!!!!!!
Heard through the wall:  UGHHHH!!!!! **Stomp Stomp Stomp..(yes, they are womens 13s!) Typical Day in the Miles household.
What do YOU think?

What ever happened to human interaction?

My name is Michele, and I am addicted to the Interwebs.


Yes, there, step one of the program. Well, I have been told that the first step is denial. Yup, I can tell you I have said the fabled verse "I can quit at anytime!" Pssshhhhh. I would be lost without my interwebs. No, wait, so long as there are books around, I can certainly rehabilitate. (Isn't that leaving one vice for another? Oh yes, as I STILL chew all my pen lids as I did when I quit smoking over a decade ago.)


I have noticed that most people these days interact with one another via some sort of technological device instead of getting up off their lazy rumpus and go into the other room to tell them something. How horrid is that? Albeit I have been known to text my child to get her to get up off HER rumpus to come here (to no avail) or to ask her a silly question, it is something that seems to be rampant.


When I go out with my family, I try in vain to convince them to leave their electronic devices at home. They should see the world some and become disconnected from the technology they rely so heavily upon. What they fail to see is that the rest of the world does not do that. Everywhere you look, there are phones or some music device attached to people like they are self aware robots or something.


I also notice that when people are constantly interrupted from their devices, they become quite angry. I have become bothered severely when I am constantly interrupted to. However, I am like that as well when I am into a good book. Go figure.  I wonder how much more peaceful this country would be were it for the fact that we did not have any cell phones, tablets, ipads, laptops, or music devices to occupy our time. We would be forced to do what the world intended for us to be in the first place.


We would get to know each other and we may even be more kind. That and the makers of things like Monopoly and Jenga would not be a struggling unit. :)


Brought to you by board games. What ever happened to family interaction?


What do YOU think?

Never stop smooching your children's faces.

Small children love to give their parents kisses and hugs.  As they get older, that enthusiasm tends to wane and, for parents like me, makes us sad.  Therefore, I still like to catch them when they first open their eyes.  They are still full of love for mommy or daddy and that first morning hug makes anyones' day.  I still even sneak into the teenagers room and kiss her forehead whilst she is sleeping.

I never miss an opportunity to tell them that I love them. Just one more time. There will come a day when you will not be able to as they will have their own lives and will not remember the joy of a hug from mommy or know the thrill mommy gets from that unconditional love of her child. 


Some children are great and that love for their parents never falters. Those are the rare diamond in the rough. However, know that each child loves their parents in their own way. Maybe just not like the parent wants them to.


Children, remember that your parents are your biggest fan and when it comes to you being successful, they will move mountains for you to get that one opportunity of a lifetime.  I think this is where the disconnect comes with teenagers.   Teens want so much to do their own thing but still need guidance of their doting parent. They just don't know that yet.


This one is short and sweet.  What do YOU think?

Well if that doesn't condone a Hitler-cannibalistic attitude toward life.

Have you ever paid attention to that cereal commercial where the cereal devises underhanded ways of eating each other?  In a world where bullying is a real issue in schools and the great movement to actually curb such behavior, we sit back and laugh and snicker at these fool pieces of cereal.  To what end?

Is that not the very thing that we are seeking to prevent the children of today from doing?  Is it not condoning cannibalism?  What if some child, who knows no better, ends up doing that to a peer?  Then what? Blame the parents?

Yes, the parents are to blame but only partially.  It is up to the parents to talk to and teach their children the difference between right and wrong and it is up to the parents to certainly tell their children that cannibalism is not something that people in this society do anymore.  We need to talk to our children about the things they are exposed to and to let them know what is reality and what is simply make believe. We also need to teach them that some forms of behaviour that are seen on television are certainly not appropriate for action in real life.  Would you not agree that the same needs to be done when they see one of the cartoony poptart commercials?  Those commercials are teaching kids that it is alright to treat a certain type of living thing a cruel way simply because it is funny.  Those kids trap pop tarts (who are personified) in toasters and devise ways to get them into a warm place simply to toast them alive.  Well if that is not teaching torture methods, then what is?

Yes, it is funny to watch but you need to realize that some children are exposed to this and are never taught that it is wrong or immoral.  They are exposed to these behaviours and see these characters laugh and giggle at their own behaviour and believe that off the wall things like locking someone different than you in a creamatorium is funny.  What the children aren't exposed to is that you cannot take behaviour like that back. 

Exactly, it does not show the consequences of said "funny" behaviour.  So tell me, who is going to guide our future generations along the path of salvation and non bullying behaviour.  Well, it certainly starts at home, with the parents that HAVE TO TALK TO THEIR CHILDREN. We were talked to growing up.  The only difference between then and now is that we had to live life and not be sucked into electronics hours and hours a day.  As a parent, you have the control to change that and encourage our children to treat each other with respect and as human beings. Put the electronics aside and let them know, cannabalism-you can't take it back and it is wrong. Toasting those that are different from you-you cannot take it back and it is wrong.  The latter even being Hitler like......eck.

What do you think?

The Marshmallow Test

I recently seen a thing on TV where they took a group of 3 year olds and gave them a marshmallow and told themt hey had to hold it but wait to eat it. Those that did wait about 15 minutes or so were rewarded with a second marshmallow and they could then eat them both.  Those that didnt wait only got the one.  Simple enough.  They they followed these children through out their lives and into their early 20's or so.

They found that those that could accept delayed gratification were less streesed and better off in their lives than those who did not, overall.

O.o all over a marshmallow? 

Well, not really, it was an experiment related to parenting styles and that the parents that successfully taught delayed gratification to their children were setting them up to take disappointments in life with great stride.  Wow, such a simple thing can teach us wonders.

It makes you really consider how your parenting style affects your children and exactly how much they imitate what they see and how they adjust to life depending on the life lessons we teach them.  I try to teach my children to be survivors and I am guilty of the instant gratification thing. However, I wonder how whiners get away with it. I mean if a child will whine enough, most of the time they get their way and if they catch on to that, watch out. A lot of nerves will be pinched and a lot of teeth will be grinding.

I mean think about it. Children are great at manipulating their parents in some form or fashion. No matter the parenting style.  They are also great at imitating what they see and the stories they hear about "when I was your age."  I have seen it happen all to often that a parent will say to a child:

"Do as I say and not as I do"

Then the child will grow up and be exactly like the parent or even worse and then the parent wonders where they have gone wrong.  I can assure you that if you talked to them a lot along the way, they will file the good things away and reflect upon them when they make their own mistakes.  So long as you have not been abusive, or horrible to them, they still may turn out ok.  They do have to make their own mistakes and learn from them. Even when they are grown you can still talk to them. Still teach them by giving them the marshmallow and delaying the second one to see their response, if they cannot wait to eat the first one before getting the second one, then you have some work to do and we as parents can still work with our children to make them better people even if they are fourty years young.

They are still your children no matter how old they are.

What do you think about the marshmallow test?  See the link below for more information:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2012/10/16/science-marshmallow-test-delayed-gratification/1636207/

Explore with your children. Let them get dirty.

I love a teachable moment with the kiddos. Especially about life lessons and doing things the way they were done without electricity.  I can assure you that, if the world were to go to shit, my children could plant and grow their own food. They could raise farm animals, purify and store their own water and rig up the house to fend off anything short of a nuclear holocaust.  They can shoot and throw and clean with the best of them. 

They can also do their math homework without a calculator and they certainly know how to read.  They also know that if there were no power, they can use their imaginations to play and make their own toys.  We have also discussed how to survive should there be no houses left either.  No, we are no survivalists and there are no "bug out bags" randomly stored throughout the house.  It is nothing like that. What this means is that we are teaching our children the basics of being self sufficient.  They can also make their own cooker out of wood and aluminum foil and other things. Yes, they know all about technology and can fix a computer with the best of them and they have their electronic gadgets and know how to operate a computer and a calculator. We do not prohibit those things, but if there were ever to come a time for survival. I know that our children can survive without assistance or help from a stranger. I know that they can grow up and figure out things on their own.

We let them get dirty and dig holes and let them color and paint with melted crayons.  That is what children do.  They argue and fall down.  That is what baths and band aids are made for.  They are allowed to fix their own disagreements with each other to learn social graces and human skills.

This is all something that many kids do not know.  I cannot tell you how it makes me cringe for a mother to break out the hand sanitizer every time her kid touches something off the ground.  They do not have to get up off the ground at the playground rolling a ball back and forth because it is "dirty."  I am here to tell you if you stop treating them like porcelain dolls, there would be a lot less asthma, allergies, and other things that people spend their whole lives with.  Did you know a vaccination is an injection of the disease it is seeking to prevent you from getting? If you take your children outside on a regular basis and let them get dirty from time to time, they will be a lot less sick in the long run.  They will be exposed to the stuff that gives people asthma and allergies at an early age when there are no issues and they will not become allergic to them simply for a lack of exposure.  It will also give them room to grow because they will run and play and simply be children. 

Each of my children went on an exploration day in the yard with me  when they were crawlers.  I found a nice day, took the baby outside and we explored the REAL world around us.  We lifted our faces and felt the warmth of the sun. We felt the bark on the trees and watched the ants crawl in the cracks.  We felt the grass with our hands and our feet. We felt the warmth of the sidewalk in the sun and the cool of the driveway in the shade.  We twirled a leaf between our grubby little fingers and blew a dandelion weed and watched the seeds. We pointed at squirrels and birds and bugs.  We felt the wind in our hair.  We felt the difference in the feel of the shiny leaves from the trees and the roughness of the rocks in the ground. We let dirt sift through our fingers and felt the running water out of the hose from the side of the house.  We didn't die.  We didn't get sick.  We went inside, washed our hands and went back to playing with our things.  However, the baby learned about the world and learned more than anyone will ever know.  Further, there was a special time only you can share with your child.  For me an mine, it was a day of discovery.  A couple of our children hated the way the grass felt on their feet and one other loved rubbing his feet in it. You learn something about your children.  How their curiosity works as well as discovering things on your own about how they perceive the world.  One of ours shied away from the bugs we were looking at.  This helped me figure out what would give him the willies-he seen a bug and they make him spaz out because he is afraid of bugs. 

I exposed them to the REAL world and I let them get dirty a little bit. That is what children do. It is in their very nature to be curious. They want to play and jump and run and explore.  While it is up to you to keep them safe and be their parent, let them play and jump and run and explore.  Further, explore with them. It is one of the best things you can do. 

What have you done with your child today?

Don't move to the beach. Its a trap.

Living at the beach is not all it is cracked up to be. Sure, if you have lots of money and are in the upper middle class it is a whole lot easier than living amongst the cogs that actually make this place work. For the longest time, I could not understand the idea of someone coming here for a visit and getting left then fully believing they are "stuck" here for no lack of a way home.  You have feet right?  Wrong.  Once you become a cog of the machine, it reels you in, sucks the lifeblood out of you and never lets you go.

Never.

The work is seasonal, you cannot afford anything and you have to work like a slave during the season just to barely scrape by in the off season. Even then, it only works if you can save your money and not let anyone know that you have a nickel to spare.  That leads to the lifetime beachers.  Those that have accepted their fate that they are here for life or those that have spent their entire lives at this beach and have no ambition to see other places or simply leave.  They are like vultures sitting on the side of the valley just waiting for you to drop dead so they can peck your eyes right out of your face.  They move in on you at the slightest twitch of weakness and then they hone in for the kill and suck the lifeblood out of you and then you assimilate and become one of them. Lifeless, bloodsucking, feelingless wretches that do nothing but suck you dry and leave your carcass for the wind to carry it out to sea.

For a long time I loved it here. It was nice to be able to go to the beach whenever you felt like and I love hot summers so this was a great place for me. But then we moved here and I still loved it but it slowly changed for me.

They became the predators and I became the prey.  There were other factors that led to the change however, this is the overpowering cause. My family was happy and we had everything we needed.  While we had not yet purchased a home, we had each other, we got along and there was not any strife among us. Then things began to change. These people are needy.  No, I am not talking about the ones that have things going for themselves.  I am talking about the cogs of this society that have to work for a living and scrape by from check to check.  They look at us 'outsiders' and say, "hmmmm....they have more than me.  We shall change that." And like vampires in the night, they do everything they can to make that happen.  They call at all times of the day and night and expect you to take them all over hell and creation.  This runs up your phone bill (if you are on an allotted minute plan, otherwise, it is just nuisance,) it puts a great deal of wear and tear on your car if you become their taxi service and they want to borrow shit.  ALL THE TIME.  You get promises of gas money and for return of your things and that will never happen.  Then they figure out what your schedule is and do everything they can to interfere with your home life with the incessant ringing of the phone (shut it off, now NOBODY can call you,) dropping by, take me here at 3 am.  Its bullshit and rubbish and needs to stop.

But it doesn't beause you write this person off then the next one does the same thing.  How can people live like that?  Do they not want better?  I have lived many places in my life but never one like this.  They also like to play mean jokes on people but that is for a different day.  Have you ever lived in a place that makes you feel like you have found Rancid Armpit, USA?  Tell me about it....

Sesame street got me to thinking.

 I just sat down and my little desk racking my brain.  I had a severe case of writers block this morning. I had to take the day off because of an ill child. (Not a happy day for my pockets.) I came across a post from a Lawyer I am acquainted with and it made me think a little bit. (Ugh, and I have only had TWO SIPS of coffee.  Ya, I had to turn the fan on from all the smoke.)  At any rate, it is pretty sad that we have to add a new muppet to teach children about how to deal with and talk about incarceration.  Yes, it does rank right up there on the "that sucks" ladder with death and divorce when a child has to deal with a parent being locked up.) 

Viewing that post made me think about a time when I had to teach a group of girl scouts about divorce and being a step parent.  I actually got thrown into that discussion and was caught quite off guard. I had went on a weekend camping trip with out oldest girl and about 60 other third, fourth, and fifth graders.  While I loved to tromp through the woods, many of us were quite worn out by the end of the first day.  We did a scavenger hunt on the grounds of the camping area. When we were all hunknering down in our sleeping bags on the floor of the cabin, I chose a great place where I could sleep up against the door. Strategically chosen so as to be quickly ruffled when an intruder decided to open the door.  Looking back, I guess that was the perfect place for me should I have chosen to bolt when one amazing child decided me to ask a doozy of a life question.

This lovely little girl looked me square and said "How come you are here and her mother isn't? (As she points to our oldest child.)"  O.O  I wanted to run at that point because it did not occur to me that every single child that was in that room had BOTH of their parents still and I was a step mom. As I scanned the room, every single set of eyes was upon me awaiting my response. This included the half dozen other moms that were accompanying their respective children on the trip.  In hindsight, this was one of the first of many obstacles of being a step parent that no body tells you about or mentions when you read the accompanying pamphlets advising you of what you should and should not do.

Being the child that I was, I took this and went with it instead of being mortified.  After my initial shock at such a question, I talked only to the child who had the query but spoke loud enough for every one to hear.  I began to explain to her that sometimes, mommies and daddies are not happy together and that they have to move on or separate and live apart.  I went on to explain that while some mommies and daddies do not live together anymore, they are still mommies and daddies and that they do not love or want their kiddoes any less than before.  It was like story time because everyone remained silent until that one little girl was satisfied with my explanation.   I told of how they make separate lives but still want to include their children and how there are now two houses that most children have.  Kind of like having two rooms and two separate sets of stuff.  I even told her the ones that really have their childrens feelings in their mind all the time, even get along better when they are living apart because they do not want to fight all the time in front of their kids.  Sort of like best friends who are not best friends anymore but just ok friends.  I explained also how important it was in our situation for me and Anessa's mom to get along and that she could not make it cuz she had to work so I was like the "substitute teacher" that everyone likes.

That little girl finally had a lightbulb moment and said "OK! I get it now!  You are still a great mom!  Even if you are not a real one!"  I took that as the best compliment I was going to get because I believed that some of those kids thought me to be an intruder as I may have been perceived to be an intruder of sorts.  Later on, I was told by some of the other moms that I did wonderful with the situation from the night before and how they could not have handled that so eloquently.  PROUD MOMENT!!!! 

So, for those of you who are step parents.  There are moments that only you will have and only you will endure but hold your head up and prosper.  Because it is in those moments that we become stronger and even closer to the children that are ours but they are not.  Each step family has their own challenges but you are still just that: a FAMILY and while I love mine, they are still MINE in my heart!  We may not always get along but we do have our endearing moments and that is when the appreciation for each other shines like no diamond ever can!  I will never trade that weekend for anything in the world.  Anessa and I became closer that weekend and it was a good beginning for us as her father and I had only been together for about a year or so.  We had a blast and each child and both Anessa and I learned something.  It is one of those great step family moments that are few and far between.

I raise my glass to my fellow step parents and children of such. It is a learning process, indeed.  Remember, your kids will even call you Mom sometimes.  While the meaning is different, it endears just the same. :)

Proud moments as a mother.

Not long after we moved to the beach, I had set a cheese board to smoulder on the stove.  Calvin was at work and I was sitting with the oldest son and youngest daughter assisting them with their homework at the dining room table.  It was dinner time. You know mw, Ms. Multi tasker (even at seven months preggo, I was pretty good at it.)  Well, the dining room table was off from the kitchen, sort of in the living room.  It also happened to be about five feet from the back door.
While cooking, I happened to turn the wrong burner on to boil a some water.  Ikept a small, wooden, cheeseboard on the back burner and THAT was the burner I turned on instead.  While we were not in the kitchen, it had a chance to fill our small kitchen up with a great deal of smoke. Then the AC kicked in and smoke just ROLLED out of the kitchen.  Everything else seemed to happen at the same time.  At the instant we noticed the smoke, the smoke detectors went off.  I immediately knew what I had done as I do that chit all the time. So I got up an took two steps toward the kitchen.  My mind was racing and focused on getting that cheeseboard off there and into the sink before it burst into flames. At the same time, I also thought of the kids. I turned around, and CJ was still sitting at the table...totally not knowing what was going on. I am certain he knew exactly what I did.  There was not a fire....YET.  I turn to look for Alyssa and all I see is the back door swinging.
I lean just a little bit to my left and see a tiny face of a five year old, about twenty feet outside the back door trying to get a glimpse of what was going to happen next.  I will take the time to tell you I could not have been more proud of our baby girl in that moment. I immediately took care of the cheeseboard, no fire, just a lot of smoke. Whew!  Then retrieved our daughter and covered her face in smooches and filled her ears with praise.
She had done the right thing.  In hindsight, it was cute and funny because she got the Hell out of Dodge Jack!

Now, lets move forward ten years:

My dear readers know that I am a WAH professional and I work from home.  The other night, I was working and a thunderstorm came through.  Just after I shut down my computer and systems, there was a terribly bright lightening strike as well as horrible thunder.  I heard my kids in the next room scrounging around.

When I finally got everything settled, I walk into the hallway to a pitch black house. What happened next would have been a good scream scene for a horror movie (provided that I screamed, of course.)
The darkness began to speak to me in children's voices. O.o....I held up my phone as I was not near a light switch and seen that my children were all sitting on the couch, in the living room, in the dark.  Well, well, well.  I found out later that Alyssa corralled the children to the couch and turned all the lights off to be safe during the storm.  Another proud moment, I must say.  However, when the ten year old got up to use the bathroom, (I had joined them in the darkness, of course, it was quiet and I was NOT going to pass that up) he turned the light on so he could see.  Here comes Alyssa "All that electricity!!!!"  Hahaha.  Yes, she was being overly cautious, but she was being safe all in the same breath.  Yes, Momma is proud!  Daddy taught her that and she absorbed the safety knowledge well.

I am confident, as a parent that she will be safe and have an emergency plan when it comes to nature bringing forth her rage.  I can only hope that it will spill over into her interactions with people when she goes off to college or begins to have a more colorful, (yikes, and even less structured) social life and as an adult.  We parents spend our entire lives teaching our children to be safe and to be their own person and can only hope that the values we establish for them to mirror are the good ones and that they apply them to their own lives and go on to be productive adults who get to live long, healthy, and happy lives.

This is the direction I believe our daughter is heading in and I could not be more proud.  What proud moments have you had (like these) with your children?

Have you ever had a moment that was potentially catastrophic and hilarious all in the same moment?

Write letters to your children. Often

This morning, I woke to some movie where a group of kids were graduating high school. I imagine it was one of those where they did some epic journey to get there and they have come to the realization that their lives are all about to change. No wonder I was pondering the things I sat on the side of the bed and realized.  As a parent, they were very sobering thoughts.
While I know everything that my children are doing right now, something finally sank in.  In the same year, we have one (our youngest) graduating Kindergarten and another about to start high school.  Still the third is about to transition from the little kid to the big kid and enter the fourth grade.  I have one word for that.
                                                                            WOW.....O.O
Our children really do grow up so fast!  I know that they will always be my babies.  My heart holds that to be a fact but they are becoming their own people.  While this has been quite an eventful year so far (for lack of a better description,)  I cannot help but celebrate their achievements and be their biggest fan.  Even with the oldest two out and doing their thing, they are all still my children and I am still their mother and I could not be more proud.  Love your children folks, no matter how distant you are and no matter what they have done.  They are a reflection of yourself and you should be so proud.
One thing that I have done over the years is I write letters to our children.  No, they don't get them and I am not sure if they will ever read them.  However, if they do, I certainly hope that their love of reading will kick in and it will be the best read ever!  I know, you are all like: Wha?????  What I mean is that I do write them. I write them often and every chance I get.  While this was supposed to be some exclamation on my death bed, I want them to know right now that their life stories will be chronicled through my eyes so be on the look out for that when I go home to live with the angels.  I write these letters and I keep a chapter for each of them.  Sort of my gift to them when they are grown.
I write these and I put them aside.  I want them to know the joys, heartaches, and celebrations I had as having the best job on earth. Being their mother.  No holds barred folks.  Anger, joy, revelation, and simple observation encompass each page and I can only hope that they will even read a few.  I have always believed that the best story is your own. No matter what ups or downs you may have had.  I think it to be the best thing I can leave them. No amount of property or money or bequests can replace what your life story is.  Oh, it is illustrated too. Pictures, school work, write ups, little things from the heart they gave me.  That is the whole purpose of a file cabinet.  Not to hold receipts and important documents but to hold MEMORIES!  I love it when I go through my moms things and she has the little things I have given her over the years.  Especially true as a kid.  For example...She has this treasure chest thing.  She would always let me play with it when she would clean out her jewelry box.  Fond memories there.  Inside it right now is some trinket I gave her as a little girl.  Some years back, some lovely person created this "floam" stuff.  We allowed our daughter to stay the summer with my mother and when we picked her up, that treasure box was covered in  the stuff.  Artfully done, it still has that intrepid junk on it but I look at it and imagine the memory of MY daughter sitting next to her grandmother on the bed as they went through the jewelry box and the treasure chest was given new, colorful life with floam.  Memories are the best. Even a bad day is made better for just a moment by a great memory.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNGGGGG, mini digression there. (Pun intended.) It is never too late to write letters to your children.  Even if they are teenagers or grown for that matter. WRITE THEM!  You have so much to say if you are not starting the day they were born!  Most of us do it (in a fashion) anyway if we keep a baby book through age five.  Why stop there?  No, there is no strict schedule.  Just when the moment behooves you to do so.  They can be a half a page, a few sentences, or a mini chapter.  Write them!  Let them know where they are in your golden years and make them promise not to peek until you are their angel watching over them.  It will enable them to remember the good times and to see themselves in a different light. Through their mothers eyes!  Yes!  Nobody sees them quite like their mother.  What a wonderful gift to give your child.
Write them when they are little. Write them when they get married.  Write them when they fell down and got the "biggest boo boo ever."  Write them for no reason.  Write them because you have started when they are adults and you have so many stories to tell.  Write them to say "I love you and I am proud" and nothing more. Anytime will do folks!
I know that many may not even like to write and that is ok.  Leave them something for them to know you were in tune with them no matter how busy you may have been.  Over the years, there are flowers, drawings, simple little what nots that were given to you from the heart and for your children to see them again when they become their own people it something that would bring joy to their hearts.  All of the no's, and groundings, and attitudes will be forgotten and, just for a moment, they will remember what you are...........Mommie! (Dads can do this too, it is not limited.  Just because I am a mother, I am writing to the fellow moms out there.)

The Future of Tech Support

Many of you already know that I am a technical support representative by trade.  Good times.  Goooooood times! (Cosmoism) It never occurred to me that the children pay attention to what I do when I am at work. Yes, I work from home doing this stuff.  In every technical support situation or any electrical "fix it" situation, you begin with checking that it is plugged in properly and unplug everything and then plug it back in one piece of the equation at a time.  Simple stuff.  That will fix about seventy five percent of your issues then it goes into the more complicated stuff.

Before I began to do this, the way to fix things was to beat the holy crap out of the thing or kick it and pray that it continues to work for at least the next three months or so as you begin to save funds to replace the thing being stupid in the first place.  What did your television ever do to you?

With all that background, let me get to what I am ranting about.  I often worry about what our number nine is going to do when he becomes a functioning member of society.  I would hate to think that he is going to work at a fast food restaurant for the rest of his life as a burger flipper.  I know he loves his video games and taking things apart and he can pick apart a game to the very stitch.  That is something.  There are actually jobs out there developing video games and what not.  His math skills are excellent and he loves math period!  If reading were to be as fun for him as math, he would be dangerous! (The next Dr. Sheldon Cooper???) So we talk about that a lot and he loves electronics.  Great!  There is a future there at the moment.

I was sitting in here on FaceBook (what else do I do with my free time?) and there must have been some issue with the living room tv as I heard the following conversation:

Nine: Joshua! Don't hit it! That won't make it stop!
Six:  But that fixes the other TV!
Nine: I know but we are going to try something else.
Six: OK.
Nine: Turn the TV off first, then the cable box and let me check something.
Six: ***turns off the TV then the cable box***
Nine: I have to check and make sure it is plugged in to the wall. We may have knocked it loose playing Xbox yesterday. ***Grunts and mumbles as he crawls behind the TV stand to check the plug***
Six: Can I turn it on yet? I wanna watch Robot and Monster!
Nine: NO! Let me get out of here first. We are going to turn things on one at a time!
Six: ***pouts*** Ok.
Nine:  Ok, now, Turn the cable box on first
Six: ***pushes button***
Nine: Now turn the TV on.
Six:  Yay!!!!! We did it!  It works!
Nine: Told ya to listen to me, we have to do it one at a time or it wont work. You don't have to hit it.

For my fellow WAH peeps that have worked in Tech Support. You can imagine how proud I was sitting here listening to that interaction!  I was beaming so loud you would have thought the Sun came to visit my office.

Anyone else have a WAH story to share?

What is with the whole girly thing?

I remember when I was pregnant with our first child together. We found out we were having a girl and I had so many fears! Not the normal fears of a healthy child with all digits, no. Fears like, how am I supposed to play Barbie and nails and hair. Uck!  When I was a child, I was nothing like that. I hated to wear dresses and loved to collect slugs in a coffee can. Yes, Tomboy all the way.

Now I was faced with a creature that had the potential to be something that I wholly was not.

To my suprise, while she was a dainty little six pounds, she was perfect in every way!  I often tell people she was born with a football in one hand and a pair of sneakers in the other because she was my little tomboy!  She loved to dig in the dirt, play ball, and hang out with dad while he was fixing the cars. Every thing that I did as a little girl.  Certainly the twinkle in my eye and the diamond in the rough! I still had my fears. Make up, boys, etc.  However, as history proves, she is still such a gem!  She loves to do her own thing. Hates dresses, loves to throw the ball and uses very little makeup if any.

I could not be more proud.  For those of you who are new moms, fear not. Your child will be perfect in your heart no matter what they do and it is even more fun when their interests are right up your alley!  All of our children are wholly different from the next and that makes each of them perfect!  We have the shoe lover, the ladies man, the football player (our girl!), the soldier and the peace loving hippie. Each very special and very perfect in their own way.

I just had to write about that this morning. You know this is not my normal Rant but, sometimes, you are just so overfilled with love or emotion about something, you simply have to put it in words. Isn't that what blogging is all about? I think so!

No life should be worth less than another

I was contemplating the meaning of life this morning. No particular reason but the answer 42 does not satisfy the curiosity I have about the meaning of life. I see how people treat each other. Some men believe that women are less worthy of things because they are women. Racial divides are another way to devalue a life. Others believe children are less than the rest of the human race. I hate to say this, but we all come from a woman. Even test tube babies do. Everyone is in some sort of racial class, being black, white, Irish, or American. Lastly, we each were a child once upon a time. Oh, there are also religious divides. I happen to believe that so long as your religion works for you and you are not forcing your religious opinion on me, then why should I waste my heard earned air tormenting you about it.

Everyone's life is worth something and it feeds into the circle of life on this planet. Also, because human beings on this planet choose to have pets, those domesticated animals should have the same regard from their people or people in general. If you are utilitarian, treating a dog or cat as less than worthy is going against the total units of happiness for society. Therefore, you should treat pets as part of the family and not as some nasty disease in your home.

It just hurts my soul to see people being treated so badly and animals being neglected because people have no regard for the lives that are in the carriages of the bodies that are being mistreated. Everyone's soul has a purpose. No matter what you may believe, they were created for a reason and that is not for you to decide whether or not they are better, equal to, or less than you. It would be nice if everyone would assume that each life on this planet were an equal. This way, there would likely be a whole lot less hatred in this world and (out of selfish reasons of course--->) my anxiety attacks would likely come to a halt.

I simply cannot stand to see, read, or hear about atrocities people inflict on other living things on this planet. It simply makes me sick. Even old people are being treated badly.  Those people have been around long enough to EARN respect. When they become invalid, why beat them? They are defenseless. Just like children and domesticated or farm animals, beating them will get you nowhere. It is evil and mean and should not be tolerated nor should it even occur.

I am not sure if  all of these things that we read about in the papers have been going on en masse like this for all of history but it seems to have become more rampant as time goes on. Maybe there is a correlation between the acts and the growing population but it just makes me sick.

What do you think?

Shh! Your Children are Trying to Tell You Something!

NOTE: This was posted across my other social networks under different titles. Here, this title is fitting.

With this technology saturated world, it is quite easy to stop and admire the beauty we have around us every day.  Each time we have to go somewhere as a family, the children do not understand my reasoning for making them leave all their "devices" at the house.  I feel like a drill sergeant or a prison guard checking pockets for stuff as they go out the door. I want them to have to look up and see what is going on outside the car window.  Apparently it is too much to ask that they leave the phones, ipods, and gaming devices at the house for the ten minute ride to the store because the clouds in the sky or the tractor riding down the street is not that exciting. Or is it?

When they do see that cool car that has the Froot Loops logo on it they are all "oohhh  aaaahhh, woooowww."  That is what I want them to see. Preferably, I want them to see that clouds can make shapes and how the leaves turn toward the sky when it is about to rain (that was something I didn't notice until my late twenties.) Or to even notice the homeless man pushing his cart down the street so we can have a conversation about that. You know, stay in school, don't give up, or some other character builder like that. What about seeing the lady in the motorized wheelchair. We can talk about understanding that each of us is different and that does not mean it is a bad thing.  I love those moments. They make us communicate face to face and that is something that is lost in the modern world today.

I know what you are thinking. 'What in the world has gotten into this lady! She is normally so on it, so silly. What happened?'  A mothers love for her children and a wife's love for her spouse get in the way of the skewed version of my life sometimes and I have to remind myself that I am human and this is a living planet.  This planet is beautiful. I see so many times how parents refuse to let their kids get dirty. I mean from REAL dirt. You know, go dig a hole or make mud pies or find a worm and pick it up.  It is not going to kill you! The great benefit there is that they learn real life lessons, they have fun, and they build up immunities and NOT develop things like allergies and other illnesses that everyone seems to have now a days.

Further, active children that play outside and use their imaginations are quite fun to watch. You can see them observe the world around them and have their own inner teachable moments. It is a beautiful thing.  You are not going to catch some disease by rolling around in the grass chasing a ball. It is not the end all if they get a little bit of dirt on their clothes. Whatever happened to changing into your 'play clothes' and going outside!  It is beautiful out there! Trees, grass, dirt, fresh air, and fun. Oh yea, and flowers.  So what if it is a dandelion. Show them how it turns your chin yellow when you rub it there. Our boys bring me flowers for my desk every single day. Dandelions, and other such weed flowers are fine. They think they are pretty and are sweet enough to pick them for me then I am going to let them. Even the dandelions thay blow away when you pick them up, you know, the little snowball things. We blow them. Yes sir.  Look at your child's face as they marvel in the fact that the wind carries the seeds away.  It is beautiful.

I must admit I am guilty of the electronic addiction. We all are. Just remind yourself to step back sometimes. Your children are trying to teach you something that you have forgotten. They are trying to teach you that the world is a marvel and we need to be in awe of it. They are trying to teach you that it is a beautiful place and to enjoy it because life is simply too short. As my husband says, that phone will be there when you get done, those messages will not disappear simply because you are not tending to them.  That electronic gadget will operate the same when you get back and it will not get lonely.

Put it down, smell the roses for childs' sake!