Motorcycle Mama!

After much cajoling by my husband, I decided to try to learn to ride a motorcycle.  It does not come naturally to me.  At all.

Seriously.  At all.

However, I am still trying.  Hopefully I will get my license someday. 

And then I can be a true motorcycle mama.

My son has ADHD

"My son has ADHD."

I never know what kind of reaction I will get with those words.  Accusatory looks from people who assume I'm a bad parent.  Looks of sympathy from other ADHD moms.  Misplaced advice that starts with "Have you tried.....?"  Yes, we have and no, it didn't work.

I am actually giving them the shortened version because most people don't want to hear it.  But my son has ADHD, OCD, SPD, gross motor delays, and is possibly gifted.

My life is exhausting some days.

What's up with camping?

Supernatural: Paper Moon

Supernatural is in it’s 10^th season.  This show has been on since my daughter was a baby.  Apparently they’re doing something right….and in this episode it seems like they’re going back to their roots:  saving people, hunting things…the family business.  And I like it.

As much as I’ve enjoyed watching Supernatural over the years, there are certain story lines that I’ve enjoyed less than others.  While I adore Misha Collins, and the angels have given us a lot of good episodes…I really miss the beginnings of the show.  The roots.  Driving around in the Impala, hunting monsters, and eating pie.  Because who doesn’t fantasize about that lifestyle?  And about eating that much pie and not weighing a ton?

(Side note:  Mark Shepherd is awesome too.  How can you be a sci-fi fan and not love that man?)

But Paper Moon brought us back to those roots.  It also gave us a glimpse of the brothers’ old relationship.  Underneath all of the bullshit, they’re still just two brothers looking out for each other.  I miss that too.  Over the past few years their relationship has gotten too complicated.

The question on everyone’s minds, however, is what does this mean for the show?  Is it simply a nod to the show’s roots?  Or are the writer’s purposefully focusing back on the show’s roots?  And if so….is this the beginning of the end?  Because taking the show back to it’s roots would be a nice way to wrap it all up in a little bow, wouldn’t it?

American Girl underwear

I’m sitting here, looking online at underwear for a doll that costs more than the underwear I buy for myself.

Why?  Because it’s an American Girl doll.  And my daughter needed one, because all of her friends have them and she got left out when they play with them.  And I’m a sucker.

But really….why are these dolls so expensive?  And why are their accessories so expensive?  It’s a doll.  You wouldn’t have caught me playing with a doll at 11 years old. 

And….why do these dolls have an almost cult-like following?  Especially among adults?  That’s right, adults.  I was browsing a forum this morning where people were selling dolls and accessories and one person had listed a doll for sale because she had not “bonded” with the doll.  What?!?  This is not a child or a dog.  It’s a doll.

And then….Katrina and I were at Target this weekend and I offered to buy her an outfit for her AG doll.  Of course, the outfits were in the aisle with the knock-off dolls….and she tells me that she would have been happy with one of those.  And then I seriously wanted to kick myself.

I just don’t get it.  At that age I was watching Star Trek and making a to-scale model of the solar system on the ceiling in my bedroom. 

Although I did see someone selling a ST:TOS uniform for these dolls the other day…..

What is it about Doctor Who?

What is it about Doctor Who?  I’ve been a Star Trek fan since I was a kid and watched the animated series on Nickelodeon as a kid.  I used to tape ST:TOS on my parents’ VCR and painstakingly edit out the commercials.  I was 10 when ST:TNG premiered and had the biggest crush on Wesley Crusher (and I still think that Wil Wheaton is extremely handsome).  I was young enough when I first watched Star Wars that I don’t remember watching it for the first time, and I’ve always been a fan.  But last year I was introduced to an old, but new to me, science fiction series.  One episode of Doctor Who and I was hooked.

The popularity of Doctor Who has been steadily rising in the United States.  This is obvious from the amount of items for sale on sites like ThinkGeek and Amazon.  Heck, you can even find Doctor Who items at the mall.  And it’s not just popular with adults.  I know a lot of kids who are big Doctor Who fans – my own ten year old among them.

But really, what is it about this show?  The actors?  The directors?  The storyline?  I really don’t know.  All I know is that it seems to draw people in with an almost cult-like following.  Are you a Doctor Who fan?  If so, what are your thoughts about what makes it so irresistible?

For years, my daughter told me that she didn’t like to read.  I tried threatening her.  I tried rewarding her.  I bought her tons of different books only to be told they were “boring.”

And then one day last year she came home with a book she liked.   It was Captain Underpants.

A lot of parents would have been horrified.  They say that Captain Underpants is “gross” and “toilet humor.”

I was beyond thrilled.  My reluctant reader was reading.

I am a voracious reader.  I have over 200 Star Trek paperbacks alone, and I have read them all.  The fact that my daughter had proclaimed for years that she didn’t like to read was a constant thorn in my side.  I simply do not understand people who don’t like to read.

Since that day, I’ve become well-versed in books written in comic book style.  And to try to help my daughter explore her interests in that area, I took her to Free Comic Book Day.  And lo and behold, we found other women who like comics!  Yay!

Seriously though, finding women who like comics, science fiction, or anything else "geeky" can be a serious endeavor in our very rural, conservative area.  But they are out there.

And...I was conned into buying my daughter two Doctor Who comics and a poster.  

But if she reads them.....I will be thrilled.  And I will buy more.  And one of these days, my daughter may read a "real" book and enjoy it.  But I will be forever grateful to Captain Underpants for showing her that not all books are boring.  

New job

So, I got a new job.  Which for most people isn't a huge deal.  But when you have serious social anxiety like me...meeting new people can be a very daunting task.  I had recently hit a point in my life, however, where I was facing a choice.  I was either going to stay where I was and let my education and certifications go to waste or I was going to make a change.  I originally thought that change would be going back to school.  But when I got a message from a friend about a job opening and that they were looking for someone with exactly my background...it was time to make that decision.  So I did.  And I hope it was the right one to make. 

Girls can do karate too!!

We went to a karate tournament this weekend for my daughter.  She's taken karate for 3 years now.  I would say about half of the kids at the tournament were girls.  No one in the "karate world" thinks too much about it.  But apparently people who have never had children in karate think it's a big deal that a girl takes karate and, even more, does well at it. 

Some of the questions and comments that I get are very, let's say, interesting.

"Your daughter takes karate?"  Yeah, she also wears pants on occasion.

"She got first place in the girls' division?"  The look on their faces when I tell them that there is no girls' division is awesome.

"Aren't you afraid of her getting hurt?"  Because that wouldn't worry me if she was a boy?

There are more, but those are some of my favorites right now.  I'm sure they'll get even better as she gets older.  These questions always help to remind me of how far we still have to go until we stop stereotyping girls and boys.  And it makes me sad.

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary.

I just thought I'd put that out there.

:)

I have recently started crocheting and have discovered that I'm actually fairly good at it.  Here are some of my creations.

 A spiderman hat for my son

 A baby pom pom beanie

A football hat that was supposed to be for my son but he doesn't like.  Hence the spiderman hat!

If anyone is interested, here is a link to my Etsy store.

Hope to see you all there!!!

Things parents say

As I was cooking last night, my son was systematically removing my spatulas from the kitchen.  As I asking him, "Is there a reason you're taking all of my spatulas?" I realized that this phrase, along with at least thousands of others, are phrases that only a parent would say.  So I've decided to try to be conscious of the things I say that I would not say if I didn't have children.  For example, I later had to remind him that we do not touch our butt while we're pooping.  Seriously people - if I didn't have kids, I would (hopefully) never in my life have to say such a phrase.  So what weird phrases do you say to your kids that you would never say to another person?

Pee in the Potty

Katrina had her Barbies out tonight...which are one of the very few "toys" she still plays with.  Somewhere along the line she acquired a pink plastic Barbie toilet.  It looks like this.

So...Katrina is in practicing her piano, and I was watching to see how she's doing on a song she's supposed to memorize.  All of a sudden Emmett comes in carrying the Barbie potty...and it's dripping.  

Yep, he peed in it.  He was very proud of that fact too.

Of course, a Barbie toilet only holds so much water, so after he filled it up the pee went all over the floor.

Somebody tell me again why I wanted a little boy?

Showering

My life has become all about how long I can stay in the shower before someone needs me.  I don't dare shower while I'm home alone with the kids.  Any mother who is home alone nightly with small children will tell you that you cannot shower while they are running around the house.  In the time that it takes me to shower, my children would ransack the toy room, draw all over the computer monitor, feed the dogs 20 milkbones a piece, and eat every last chocolate chip cookie in the kitchen.  So I wait until they are asleep to shower.  But this plan still doesn't always work - invariable I will be all soapy and warm and hear a heart-wrenching "Mooooommmmmmm!!!!" only to hurry up and half rinse off, grab my robe, run upstairs...and find that they're already back to sleep.  And tonight, as I was finishing up my shower, I heard someone pushing on the bathroom door.  Of course, my mind immediately leaps to the serial killer that I just know is out there.  I calm down, reassuring myself that if someone came in the house the dogs would bark.  The dogs bark if someone walks down the sidewalk and looks at the house, so I'm pretty sure they'd bark if someone actually came inside.  So I finish my shower, get out, and open the door...only to discover that it's the dog that wants in the bathroom.  So even when the kids manage to sleep all of the way through my shower, the dog apparently can't.  That's when I realized that my life has been reduced to seeing how long I can actually take an uninterrupted shower.  And maybe, someday, I'll actually be able to take a nice, long, relaxing bath.  Hey, a mom can dream, right?

Messy house, happy kids

I used to take a lot of grief from my husband’s mother about the fact that they would come over and my house would be messy, there would be dishes in the sink, etc.  I don’t take grief about it anymore because they don’t come over much and if they do have anything to say about it I just say that it’s none of their business and won’t listen to it.  But I don’t understand why their house was never messy when the kids were growing up.  My house is messy because I like to spend time doing things with my kids.  For example, this summer we would eat supper outside a lot and then they would want me to push them on the swings or play on the trampoline with them.  According to my mother-on-law’s thinking I should clean up the patio, go inside and do the dishes, clean the stove, etc. first.  By the time I would finish with all of that there would be no time left to play with the kids.  So how can I say no to my kids?  When the kids want me to lay in their beds with them and read another book or three to them when I should be downstairs cleaning the house – how can I say no?  I truthfully believe that when the kids are older they won’t remember if the dishes were done or if the floor was swept, but they will remember that their mom took the time to play with them, to read to them, or to just spend time with them.  They will remember that they were important to me, and I believe that is the most important thing of all.

Happy birthday to my baby!

My baby boy turns 3 today! Happy birthday Emmett!

Barbie I Can be President!!!

I thought this was funny....doesn't she look like Hillary?

Pumpkin

I made my first "good" carved pumpkin this year. Here it is: Stormtrooper pumpkin. What do you think?

Bullying response

I recently posted a link to the video of news anchor Jennifer Livingston’s response to a bully on my Facebook page.  This is the response I received from a friend:

“This woman needs to get over it and realize people have opinions she won’t always agree with.  It’s up to her whether or not to share a personal email with the rest of the world.  She could of just deleted it along with the 5000 other spam emails we all get everyday.”

While I am a firm believer that everyone has a right to their own opinion, I wholeheartedly disagree with this one.  As a mother who’s third grader has already been subject to severe bullying at school, I applaud any effort to get the message out that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.  The fact that Ms. Livingston had the courage to publicly address the issue that she is overweight but that this kind of treatment of people is bullying and is not acceptable is to be commended.  I plan on showing this video to my daughter to drive home the point to her that bullying is not to be tolerated and that she can find the courage to stand up and call her tormenters out to the world.

I am finally finishing up about our trip to St. Louis.

Yes, I know I'm slow.

We went to Grant's Farm on the last day.  It's owned by Anheuser-Busch and admission is free.

They have Clydesdales, a safari that you ride through, and a small zoo.

They also have a petting zoo...Emmett didn't want to feed the goats.

 I put this next picture up just because I love the expression on Paul's face.

And that's really it for the St. Louis trip!  Maybe now I can get on with some real day-to-day blogging!