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?
Reader suggested posts. Other blogs I write and prompts from my readers.
Showing posts with label Dad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dad. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Friday, July 19, 2013
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?
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?
Thursday, June 13, 2013
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?
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?
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Tsk, Tsk, shakes head in "no-erly" fashion
I understand that priorities of everyone are different. They are as stark as opinions, style, even the way we walk. However, I want to believe that respect should come in the same form no matter who you are. I want to start my rant this morning talking about respect in general. I know, I know, I said I would start with the suggestions but I have to give those time to build and I need to reflect a little. Ah, but I digress.
Back to my "concern" for the day. I can conceive that people treat their own belongings, also, with a different type of care than the next person. I get it that you do not care that your grass is never mowed or that you simply toss your trash out the window instead of properly disposing of it when you get home. What I simply cannot understand is how do you believe it is up to you to destroy something that does not belong to you? That is lacking in respect to the nth degree. Why bring this up? Wonderful that you asked.
I come outside this morning and note tire tracks ALL THE WAY in our yard and the tree that was planted in my fathers name nearly laying on the ground and the bark skinned off one side of it. I was alarmed NOT because they took it upon themselves to use our yard to turn their car around, (because this is not something new) but because of the lack of respect that our yard was clearly not theirs. Further, I also happen to believe it was someone who did not live on our street.
The adage goes that you never know a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. Well, obviously nobody knew the tree they ran over either. I have a special attachment to this tree and it was planted in Dad's honor because it was HIS tree. When he was living, this sad little thing began to grow at the end of his place of residence. Whenever we could come by, next to that tree is where he stood when he was getting some air. He even told Calvin not to mow it over one day when he went to cut the grass for Dad many years back. Well, that sad little thing, wild as it was, took root and began to grow. The ground around the outside of Dad and Mom's place is not the most root friendly so it grew slowly. It was about 12 inches when dad passed. But I believe he loved it none the less.
The year dad passed, I decided to uproot the tree and bring it here. We are planting our own roots here and it would be nice to look out the window and be reminded of one of the better people that this planet had the privilege of presence. I brought it here and it flourished. While it is still a slow grow, it is about 3 feet tall. Instead of growing an inch a year, I believe it to have grown about 8-10 inches per year. I love "my" tree.
Imagine my horror to see one of the things in the world that give me happy thoughts nearly destroyed by someone with a gross lack of respect.
So, dear friends, it may not matter to you BUT it matters to someone and imagine how you would feel if someone did something similar to you. If more people thought about things like that, then, this would be a much better place to live. Don't you think?
Feel free to comment below: **Cheers**
UPDATE: Since this was written, I am happy to say that the little tree survived and is a happy three feet tall now. No permanent damage. My belief is that dad came down and used his angel powers to touch the tree and heal it. You know how it is. Daddy's little girl always believes that their fathers have superpowers! Mine is just now an angel! :)
Back to my "concern" for the day. I can conceive that people treat their own belongings, also, with a different type of care than the next person. I get it that you do not care that your grass is never mowed or that you simply toss your trash out the window instead of properly disposing of it when you get home. What I simply cannot understand is how do you believe it is up to you to destroy something that does not belong to you? That is lacking in respect to the nth degree. Why bring this up? Wonderful that you asked.
I come outside this morning and note tire tracks ALL THE WAY in our yard and the tree that was planted in my fathers name nearly laying on the ground and the bark skinned off one side of it. I was alarmed NOT because they took it upon themselves to use our yard to turn their car around, (because this is not something new) but because of the lack of respect that our yard was clearly not theirs. Further, I also happen to believe it was someone who did not live on our street.
The adage goes that you never know a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. Well, obviously nobody knew the tree they ran over either. I have a special attachment to this tree and it was planted in Dad's honor because it was HIS tree. When he was living, this sad little thing began to grow at the end of his place of residence. Whenever we could come by, next to that tree is where he stood when he was getting some air. He even told Calvin not to mow it over one day when he went to cut the grass for Dad many years back. Well, that sad little thing, wild as it was, took root and began to grow. The ground around the outside of Dad and Mom's place is not the most root friendly so it grew slowly. It was about 12 inches when dad passed. But I believe he loved it none the less.
The year dad passed, I decided to uproot the tree and bring it here. We are planting our own roots here and it would be nice to look out the window and be reminded of one of the better people that this planet had the privilege of presence. I brought it here and it flourished. While it is still a slow grow, it is about 3 feet tall. Instead of growing an inch a year, I believe it to have grown about 8-10 inches per year. I love "my" tree.
Imagine my horror to see one of the things in the world that give me happy thoughts nearly destroyed by someone with a gross lack of respect.
So, dear friends, it may not matter to you BUT it matters to someone and imagine how you would feel if someone did something similar to you. If more people thought about things like that, then, this would be a much better place to live. Don't you think?
Feel free to comment below: **Cheers**
UPDATE: Since this was written, I am happy to say that the little tree survived and is a happy three feet tall now. No permanent damage. My belief is that dad came down and used his angel powers to touch the tree and heal it. You know how it is. Daddy's little girl always believes that their fathers have superpowers! Mine is just now an angel! :)
Monday, April 1, 2013
Its yet another holiday...Bah humbug.
As a child that didn't know any better. Holidays (any of them) were favorite days. They were out of the ordinary and we did things that we normally didnt do. Further, I loved to watch the joy my mother got in decorating for the holidays. When I was in grade school, she had window clings for ever single holiday of the year.
January-Baby new year and hats and other festive new year stuff (I got to stay up late and drink sparkling grape juice and, on occasion, try real champagne)
February-hearts and candy clings for Valentines day (Decorating valentines and eating whitmans samplers that mom always got.)
March-Shamrocks and lepracahns (sp?) all over the windows (New green something bought at the stoore and green cupcakes. MMM)
April--Easter eggs and bunnies on the windows (Easter egg hunts a new dress and shoes and Dressing up all snooty to go out to eat at red lobster or somewhere, we didnt go to church...)
May-Mothers day...Mom didnt decorate for Mothers day but there were always pretty flowers all over the place from dad and me. (Going shopping with dad to find something pretty for mom on her special day.)
June-Fathers day and the end of school. (Mom spent a lot of time outside during this month due to the warm weather and crabapples were to be picked! No decoration but the crabapple jam was the best!)
July-Firework clings on the windows (Also some BIG fireworks show somewhere.)
August- My birthday. Balloons everywhere. (With the exception of birthday number 7 where we went to Chuck E Cheese)
September- Leaf clings for the fall. (No special holiday here but it was also the return to school so we went school shopping for new clothes and stuff.)
October-Scary cat and tombstone clings. (Halloween candy for the kids we would never see because we were out getting the goods and costume shopping was fun too.)
November-Turkey and pilgirm window clings.(Mom LOVES making her famous bread on thanksgiving. There are also many funny stories for Turkeyday. Remember the Becky fart??)
December-Christmas must be her favorite holiday. Not only did we get the present and christmas tree and frosty christmas clings, the tree was always a big to do and moms tree always was (and still is) loaded.
I try to do some of these great things with our kids. However, I try to be a little creative. I did window clings for a while when Alyssa was a toddler but money always seems to be tight when a holiday comes around (hence, the Bah Humbug.) Therefore, we get creative.
Anyone who knows me knows how proud I was of our decorated cieling when we lived on 34th. I also make it a point to have home made costumes for our kids. Kitties, chefs, zombies, and kids are great costumes. One day, I will get all extravagant and put some money into it. I don't feel bad about it when I see kids in hoodies running around with NO costumage at all. Christmas is always a challenge but thank goodness Santa visits grandmas houses and knows we are not home or we would be in trouble! Valentines, we do cards and for a special teacher, maybe some cool home made thing. Fathers day is fishing, and other days we just wing it. Money was tight this year and the easter bunny was busy last year for egg hiding so this year he magically had a hole in his basket and dropped candy EVERYWHERE while hopping around the house hiding eggs. So, yea, we have our own special days. I just hope they remember little things like I did when they get older.
What special things do you remember about the holidays from your childhood and what do you try to do for your kids?
January-Baby new year and hats and other festive new year stuff (I got to stay up late and drink sparkling grape juice and, on occasion, try real champagne)
February-hearts and candy clings for Valentines day (Decorating valentines and eating whitmans samplers that mom always got.)
March-Shamrocks and lepracahns (sp?) all over the windows (New green something bought at the stoore and green cupcakes. MMM)
April--Easter eggs and bunnies on the windows (Easter egg hunts a new dress and shoes and Dressing up all snooty to go out to eat at red lobster or somewhere, we didnt go to church...)
May-Mothers day...Mom didnt decorate for Mothers day but there were always pretty flowers all over the place from dad and me. (Going shopping with dad to find something pretty for mom on her special day.)
June-Fathers day and the end of school. (Mom spent a lot of time outside during this month due to the warm weather and crabapples were to be picked! No decoration but the crabapple jam was the best!)
July-Firework clings on the windows (Also some BIG fireworks show somewhere.)
August- My birthday. Balloons everywhere. (With the exception of birthday number 7 where we went to Chuck E Cheese)
September- Leaf clings for the fall. (No special holiday here but it was also the return to school so we went school shopping for new clothes and stuff.)
October-Scary cat and tombstone clings. (Halloween candy for the kids we would never see because we were out getting the goods and costume shopping was fun too.)
November-Turkey and pilgirm window clings.(Mom LOVES making her famous bread on thanksgiving. There are also many funny stories for Turkeyday. Remember the Becky fart??)
December-Christmas must be her favorite holiday. Not only did we get the present and christmas tree and frosty christmas clings, the tree was always a big to do and moms tree always was (and still is) loaded.
I try to do some of these great things with our kids. However, I try to be a little creative. I did window clings for a while when Alyssa was a toddler but money always seems to be tight when a holiday comes around (hence, the Bah Humbug.) Therefore, we get creative.
Anyone who knows me knows how proud I was of our decorated cieling when we lived on 34th. I also make it a point to have home made costumes for our kids. Kitties, chefs, zombies, and kids are great costumes. One day, I will get all extravagant and put some money into it. I don't feel bad about it when I see kids in hoodies running around with NO costumage at all. Christmas is always a challenge but thank goodness Santa visits grandmas houses and knows we are not home or we would be in trouble! Valentines, we do cards and for a special teacher, maybe some cool home made thing. Fathers day is fishing, and other days we just wing it. Money was tight this year and the easter bunny was busy last year for egg hiding so this year he magically had a hole in his basket and dropped candy EVERYWHERE while hopping around the house hiding eggs. So, yea, we have our own special days. I just hope they remember little things like I did when they get older.
What special things do you remember about the holidays from your childhood and what do you try to do for your kids?
Friday, March 29, 2013
Aw, you done went and cursed that child. What did you do that for?
When I became pregnant with our middle son, we happily announced that we were going to name him after my father. Dad was always pretty funny when he was proud of something. He calmly remained seated in his recliner and stated: "Aw, you done went and cursed that child. What did you do that for?" He didn't even blink but continued to watch the car race on the television.
We did not realize how much truth that statement held but it becomes more and more apparent every day.
What made me really take this to heart was that, when dad passed, my mother gave me his year books and other stuff from his childhood. I knew that dad played basketball (DW loves basketball) and ran track (DW runs like he stole something!) What I did not expect is to open the senior year book and look at a basketball picture that was a dead ringer for my son. O.O What in the world! I kid you not. That faded, black and white picture was our DW from head to toe!
As he gets older, I also see similarities in the things that makes our baby tick that are strikingly so "Dad." It is really scary to watch this (Amazing child) strong young man turn into my father. Let's just hope that the bad habits of smoking 4 packs a day and an affinity for burbon are not on the agenda later on in life...
However, that is not all of the story. DW's middle name is Waddell. While I did not know Calvin's brother much, we named the middle name of our son after him. Well, from what I gather, that was a curse as well because the stories. Calvin has told me snippets of when they were growing up together, being besties and all. WOW. is all I can say because the behaviours there are just as striking as the similarities to my dad.
What have we done? We have created this AMAZING child that is going to be an AMAZING adult if we can get him on the right path right now. Yes, dear readers, my mother once told me that I will grow up and have children that are just as rotten as I was to her. While I do not believe our son is of the rotten sort, he is amazing.
You should see him dissect a video game. Yes, DISSECT! DW is not your average gamer. He is definitely a core gamer but of a different sort. He picks it apart pixel by pixel and takes days to get every square inch of the game figured out and taken care of. A little OCD? Maybe. A friend of mine once marveled at our DW when he was but a toddler and said "Watch him look at the TV! He looks at EVERYTHING on the screen. Not just the action! Wow!" Of course, you know I just thought he was watching TV but it totally engrossed him. His whole face is involved. I see that same look when he is playing Left for Dead or Gears of War or some other game that he has ruthlessly talked me into letting him play.
Yea, maybe it was a curse. However, his namesakes were amazing people too! I prefer to look at it as a gift from them to Calvin and me....by way of my mother's (curse) of course! :)
We did not realize how much truth that statement held but it becomes more and more apparent every day.
What made me really take this to heart was that, when dad passed, my mother gave me his year books and other stuff from his childhood. I knew that dad played basketball (DW loves basketball) and ran track (DW runs like he stole something!) What I did not expect is to open the senior year book and look at a basketball picture that was a dead ringer for my son. O.O What in the world! I kid you not. That faded, black and white picture was our DW from head to toe!
As he gets older, I also see similarities in the things that makes our baby tick that are strikingly so "Dad." It is really scary to watch this (Amazing child) strong young man turn into my father. Let's just hope that the bad habits of smoking 4 packs a day and an affinity for burbon are not on the agenda later on in life...
However, that is not all of the story. DW's middle name is Waddell. While I did not know Calvin's brother much, we named the middle name of our son after him. Well, from what I gather, that was a curse as well because the stories. Calvin has told me snippets of when they were growing up together, being besties and all. WOW. is all I can say because the behaviours there are just as striking as the similarities to my dad.
What have we done? We have created this AMAZING child that is going to be an AMAZING adult if we can get him on the right path right now. Yes, dear readers, my mother once told me that I will grow up and have children that are just as rotten as I was to her. While I do not believe our son is of the rotten sort, he is amazing.
You should see him dissect a video game. Yes, DISSECT! DW is not your average gamer. He is definitely a core gamer but of a different sort. He picks it apart pixel by pixel and takes days to get every square inch of the game figured out and taken care of. A little OCD? Maybe. A friend of mine once marveled at our DW when he was but a toddler and said "Watch him look at the TV! He looks at EVERYTHING on the screen. Not just the action! Wow!" Of course, you know I just thought he was watching TV but it totally engrossed him. His whole face is involved. I see that same look when he is playing Left for Dead or Gears of War or some other game that he has ruthlessly talked me into letting him play.
Yea, maybe it was a curse. However, his namesakes were amazing people too! I prefer to look at it as a gift from them to Calvin and me....by way of my mother's (curse) of course! :)
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