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?