Witchy Woman

My sister had her first child when I was 7 years old. I remember when I was about 12 and my sister, who at that time had 4 children, said that she couldn't wait until the coming weekend. You see, my sweet brother-in-law had offered to take all four kids for a visit to his sister's. She was going to be alone, for the entire weekend. She enjoyed being alone?! At 12 years old, I couldn't imagine, why anyone want to be alone with nothing to do, for an ENTIRE 2 days? Yet, here I am. Mommy of 3. Teacher of 20. Doctor. Co-worker. Laundress. Dishwasher. Cook. Bad singer. Friend. Wife. Plus a bunch of other things, depending on the day. And I CAN'T WAIT to be alone. I think I would be perfectly fine ALONE, for many, many days. Does that mean I'm becoming anti-social? A hermit? Some grumpy old woman who lives in a haunted house, that everyone will be scared of? Bring on the scare!!!

I never thought, as a young person, that I would ever look forward to quiet. I've always loved the sort of chaos that comes with a busy household and a classroom full of explorers. However, this evening as I was helping my dd3 fill out a book of addresses for a fund-raiser, DD2 was taking a practice spelling test while I called out words, DS1 was asking me to spell a word for him, DH was asking me about a bill while I was folding a load of clothes and trying to figure out what to make for dinner. BRAIN OVERLOAD!!!

I have a wonderful friend who is currently taking college classes, keeping her 2 children as healthy as possible, and all while she and her husband are living with her mom trying to figure out how to build a house in this less-than-terrific economy. If I think my head is ready to explode, I should send out a salute to her!

It's no wonder that when we are constantly under fire from the needs of our families and jobs that sometimes we forget to do a little something for ourselves! If you're reading this and feel a little less than appreciated.. take it into your own hands. With all you do every day you deserve a hot bath, a new nail polish, or a massage. Wow! Sometimes I have the best ideas!

Hey, sis! I finally got it! I'm all for a weekend alone. How about babysitting?

Mommy Brain

I'm sure if you have children you know about this phenomenon. It's that lack of concentration and utter brain-deadness that comes with pregnancy. It usually goes away after pregnancy also, but I seem to have developed a horrible re-occuring case that just comes along when I'm least expecting. Like today for instance, I got everyone ready for school and was contemplating the wonderful time I was going to have (insert sarcastic tone here) during my teacher in-service today. I just LOVE (there it goes again) sitting on folding chairs listening to someone talk about what to do in an ideal classroom where all of your students are carbon copies of the perfect little students. Anyway, I walked down the hallway toward my classroom door, chatting with my daughters and trying to juggle my computer, miscellaneous food (it takes lots of energy to get through these days), drinks, and my keys. As I approached my door I grabbed my car clicker and hit the unlock button, what? no little click? Hit it again, jiggle the doorknob. WHY isn't this working? One last hit... and my 9 year old dd says, "Mom, don't you think the key would work better?" There it is, another instance of mommy brain, and it hit when my youngest is 8 years old. Some days you win at this game and then there was today!

Yep, I'm a dork, too!

Oh, the fun of writing! I've always enjoyed words. They hold so much power. They can persuade, manipulate, criticize. All by little symbols on a piece of paper. I used to write often, when my children were little. I also tried a little bit of blogging a couple of years ago, but kids take an enormous amount of time (do I hear all the mom's saying, "well, duh?!). Now that they are 8, 9, and 11, and all fairly independent, I decided it was time to do it again. I used to be able to do all kinds of things, like jump rope without my breasts hitting me in the eye, run a 10-minute (ok, maybe it was more like 12 minutes) mile, and read a romance novel from cover to cover. But, after children, well... things sort of went by the wayside. Anything that wasn't necessary or took any extra effort (shaving my legs) went out the window. So my new years resolution was to find out if I still have it, and my husband is really appreciating the fact that I'm shaving my legs again. Seriously, I think writing is a powerful thing for not only the reader, but the person laying it all out there. Who needs therapy?! NOT me! I'll just write it all down and let everyone in on a huge secret! Yep, I'm a dork!