Common Mom

A fun time was had by all . . .

We are Twins fans!!!

I remember listening to The Twins games on the radio with my Dad every evening in the summer while we were out camping. I can still hear that voice on the radio. I hope my kids love summer baseball as much as I did and still do.

Actual real live baseball players - just to prove that we were there

What’s a baseball game without cotton candy and see food with your friends?

This was an unexpected treat after the game. How fun!

We’re on the move for a few days! Here are Princess and Dude watching Enchanted on my iPod during the flight. They’re gonna need glasses anyway (Hubby and I are both blind!) so I figure I might as well ruin their sight now

Once again, it’s time for Random Recipes with Pam!

 

Thanks to my SIL for introducing me to this yummy and easy Margarita over the holidays. Be sure to stop by Pam’s place to check out the others who ware participating!

Now, here ya go - just in time for Cinco de Mayo

Ingredients:

Method:

Pour the Corona, thawed limeade, and sprite into the margarita pitcher. Fill the limeade container 3/4 full with Tequila and add it to the pitcher. Stir well. Pour into the lovely margarita glass filled with ice and rimmed with fun green salt

Enjoy!

Want it to be a strawberry margarita? Simply throw it all in the blender instead of the pitcher, add some frozen strawberries, and VOILA! Be sure to change the salt rimmer to a fun pink sugar rimmer

For the previous installments of the Adoption saga of Princess’ teacher, go here, here, and here.

Ms. Lupita travelled to Mexico again last Friday and guess what - she came home with a birth certificate for her little girl! Woo hoo! That is the best thing she could have hoped for - it basically means that the Mexican government has approved and recognized the adoption. Now, she has to go back to Mexico in June and complete the adoption through the US Embassy there. There really is no reason why it shouldn’t be a smooth process . . . the US was not being real helpful convincing Mexico that they should let the adoption happen, but the US wasn’t putting up any roadblocks either - basically, the US wouldn’t get involved. So, now that the Mexican government has approved the adoption, there should be no issues.

So YAY for Ms. Lupita, her family, and her daughter! Please pray for her and her family that the rest goes smoothly and this adoption is complete in June, with this little girl at home where she belongs.

My daughter got yet another birthday invitation sent home with her from school today. We get lots of them and it’s fun to go and meet the kids outside of school and actually meet their parents, too.

I looked at it and thought, hmmmm . . . Monday is a weird day for a birthday party. Then I looked further and thought, hmmmm . . . 10:00 a.m. is a weird time for a birthday party. Then I thought, wow . . . nobody’s going to be going to that party - 10:00 a.m. on a school day? What was this mother thinking? Then, I read on . . . and thought “What the hell?!”

The location of the party . . . my daughter’s preschool classroom. Yup - a mother scheduled her kid’s birthday party for during the school day in my daughter’s classroom! Said specifically that it was during school hours and that parents are not required to attend. Are you friggin’ kidding me?!

Um, TOTALLY NOT OK! This is a Montessori preschool - not a daycare - and I’m paying for it. The kids have fun, and they learn a lot. I love their little class parties and celebrations and always attend and volunteer. But I do not think it’s OK for a kid to have his birthday party in the classroom during the school day. There are 20 kids in that classroom - I think it’s a bad idea to set that precedent - for many many reasons.

I am VERY surprised Princess’s teacher agreed to it. I will definitely have to ask her about it when I drop Princess of at school.

UPDATE: Turns out Princess’s teacher did NOT agree to it. She said no. Then the mom went and asked the school administrator, who said yes. When Teacher said no again, administrator said yes, you will do this. WTH! So the mom goes above her kid’s teacher? Wow, that creates a great relationship. Administrator was not there this a.m. So now I get to have a conversation with her this afternoon to see why this is OK. AND, the party is at 10:00 a.m. . . . morning recess and snack are from 9:15-10:00. 10:00-11:30 is their morning work time . . . so the whole morning work time is some kid’s birthday party. We all know I love birthdays - and I love to celebrate birthdays - but I’m so not OK with this. Bring the treat like everyone else.

So what do you think?

I’d like to thank my IT buddy here at work for fixing my blog. Thank you thank you thank you! I’m going to reserve judgement on the low-life nobody who thought it would be fun to hack my blog and put that lovely page up for everyone to see. Obviously that person is sorely mistaken in thinking that more than 10 people actually read my blog and that my blog was a great forum for the spreading of a world message.

I’d like to thank my hubby for being home with the kids this weekend so I could go play in the mountains! We hot tubbed, we drank margaritas, we enjoyed the amazing views from the condo, and we scrapbooked . . . I completed 33 pages front and back (so 66 in our world). Definitely productive!

I’d like to thank my friends for chipping in for the gas for the drive to the mountains . . . If we could fit all of our stuff on a motorcycle, we would have, just to save gas! But alas, the three of us barely fit our stuff in the back of my Jeep Grand Cherokee . . .

Those two duffels in the driveway? Um ya - those are our clothes . . . the clothes almost couldn’t go . . . really . . . we are sick.

I’d like to thank the other 7 women who took a weekend to come play . . . it was a blast having everyone around . . . it was fun to look at everyone’s pages . . . it was great to catch up with the busy mommies . . . and it was cheap with 8 of us . . . only $32 per person for the entire weekend!

I’d like to thank my hubby again for making us a wonderful pot of chili to take to the condo for dinner.

I’d like to thank Mother Nature for the AMAZING mountains, great white snow, and deep blue sky that I got to see every single day.

And lastly, I’d like to thank my scrapbooking friends for being women - I can only imagine what that condo would have been like had 8 MEN eaten chili for dinner and then holed themselves up for the next 8 hours in a single room ;-)

The date on which I was born

A card game

The number of blogs on my blogroll

A movie worth watching

The number of completed scrapbooks in my hobby room

I’m off for a scrapbooking weekend with the girls! However, with all the hot tubbing and drink breaks I’m pretty darn sure the number of completed albums in my hobby room will not increase as a result of my weekend

A father passing by his son’s bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to ‘Dad.’ With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is 25 years older than I am. But it’s not only the passion…Dad, she’s pregnant. Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter! We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it for ourselves, and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it.

Don’t worry, Dad. I’m 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I’m sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love,
Your son Jeff

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Tommy’s house. Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a report card. That is in my center desk drawer.

Call me when it’s safe to come home.

I have a sock gremlin. Unfortunately, it is not a nice sock gremlin. It is not like Dobby the House Elf, who dutifully takes care of everything in the house. No, the sock gremlin steals socks. And apparently the sock gremlin is a very wet little gremlin because I think he lives in my dryer.

Well little sock gremlin, steal as many socks as you want, because I’ve got a use for those sock orphans. No longer do they get put into drawers waiting for you to steal another sock so they can finally have a mate. No, they get put onto my kids’ hands, and squirted with Pledge . . . and then they dust. Yes, that’s right . . . the kids wear sock orphans on their hands and dust with them. And when they’re finished, they scrub their hands with soap. Wouldn’t want to poison them while making them do chores now, would we!

So take that sock gremlin! You will annoy me no more, because replacing socks is so much cheaper than buying bag after bag of Pledge Wipes!

Dude is going through this phase where he just can’t seem to listen and he just HAS to have the last word . . . he just can’t stand not to say something - and usually, at the most WRONGEST time. He just can’t help himself. He even told me the other day that I wasn’t the boss of him . . . ummmm, last time I checked, I was the mother, I was the one making the money, and I was the one he was asking if he could go play at Hayden’s house . . . so I think that yes, actually, when it comes right down to it, I AM the boss of him! I don’t know how many times in the past month I’ve told him to shut the friggin’ door when he goes out to play or take Duma out to go potty, or when he comes back in for that matter! Every time I go downstairs after work, the back door is wide open, and nobody is outside. Or how many times I’ve told him to take her leash off when he comes back in instead of just letting her run around the house with it in her mouth. Grrrrrrr!!!

Anyhoo, with the Jeep fiasco early last week, I ended up getting the car from the airport, so I had both vehicles, and Hubby had nothing to drive home from the airport on Monday. So, the kids and I had to drive down and get him. As usual, Dude is out in the cul de sac with Duma when Keira and I get home from work/school. Here’s how the rest went . . .

Me: Hey Dude. Dad got on an earlier flight, so he’s at the airport right now. We need to go get him. Please walk Duma around out here to make sure she goes potty and poop, and then hang out outside with her until I come back. I’m just going to run my stuff inside.
Dude: OK.

So I go inside, change clothes, and use the bathroom. As I’m walking down the hall, I hear Dude and Princess in the kitchen, picking out a piece of candy. I look at him and it goes something like this . . .

Me: Dude! Why are you in here? Aren’t you supposed to be outside with Duma?
Dude: Welllllll, she went potty and poop, so we came inside.
Me: But didn’t I ask you to walk her around a bit until I got out there?
Dude: Um, I don’t know. When you’re telling me something, then you pause, then I don’t listen anymore.

Oh Dude, that was SOOO not the right thing to say!

Me: What?! Totally unacceptable. When someone is talking, you listen. Especially when they’re giving you directions. And, where’s Duma?
Dude: Downstairs by the office door.
Me: Are you sure? Because I don’t hear her collar jingling. And I’d have to guess that you probably left the back door open. Are you SURE your dog is still in the house?
Dude: Well, I think so.
Me: Well, I think you better get your butt downstairs and find out!

Turns out Duma had let herself out through a wide open door and was prancing around the backyard with her leash in her mouth. And Jason is out there trying to catch her. And I’m fuming mad because we HAVE to get going and if he would have just listened instead of turning me off after the pause, we’d be out the door to go get Hubby. I send him inside while I lure Duma into the house. Then we get in the car and I go through the events of the past 15 minutes, asking him whether he thought he made good choices or not. Then it goes like this . . .

Me: Dude, you HAVE to start listening. You left the door open, you didn’t stay outside with her, and you didn’t take her leash off.
Dude: Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t take her leash off! It helped you catch her because then you could step on her leash instead of having to try to get right up to her and grab her when she was running around the yard.
Me: Nice try, Dude. But how is it that I could step on her leash when she was running around with it in her mouth? And, if you recall, if you had stayed outside with her like I said, OR if you had even shut the door like I’ve been asking you for the past month, I wouldn’t have been outside trying to catch her! Right?
Dude: I guess so.
Me: So, since you can’t seem to listen at all lately, you’re grounded from playing with Hayden when we get home today. You need to work on your listening skills instead.
Dude: That’s fine. I don’t care. He can’t play today anyway.

Really?! Did you REALLY just say that? Did you really just tell on yourself and MAKE me have to ground you another day? Sheesh . . .

Me: Dude, why would you say that? Now you’re grounded from playing with Hayden tomorrow, too! If you had just kept your mouth shut instead of just having to have the last word, you could be playing with Hayden tomorrow after school when it’s so nice out.
Dude: Well, I was just saying I didn’t care because he couldn’t play today anyway.
Me: Well, now do you care that you can’t play with him tomorrow, as well?
Dude: Um, well, I guess . . . well, it’s just that . . . like . . . (pulling out a story) I just really wanted to do what you said and not get to play with Hayden, so I thought I’d tell the truth.

Um, what (pause for dramatic effect) EVER!

I love that my little Dude is having opinions and voicing them, but we also have to teach that lesson that there is a time and a place for it . . . talking back to your mother when you’re in trouble is not the time or the place. Arguing with your teacher about a homework assignment that he marked wrong that you’re certain you got right when in fact if you’d just listen you’d understand why he marked it wrong is not the time or the place. I just never thought I’d be going through this with my Dude . . . I am, however, CERTAIN I’ll be going through it with my Princess!