Tag: personal

What I Learned on Vacation

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We spent the holiday weekend in Coronado, CA. We’ve take a trip there, long or short, every year since I can remember. It’s our happy place and it’s so much fun to get to share it with Baylor.

We met my mom, sister Ali and her husband Gary (or Jerry as he was known for most of the trip) and my step sister Nancy and her kiddos Blaise and Madi. It was a big group with high expectations for doing as little as possible. Which we did quite well.

Our first day on the beach, we pulled our wagon full of toys, boards, towels and snacks to the perfect piece of sandy paradise. We ran out into the water, caught a few waves, threw the football and then settled in for some gossip magazine reading. I kept waiting for B to run over to me and demand a new activity, snack or some other form of entertainment, but it never came. I watched her and Madi contently dig in the sand. They dug, poured, washed, filled and held the sand. All while silently enjoying each other’s company.

It occurred to me that not only does Bay really love Madi, but the reason she was so content to just play was because it was just play. No one was asking her what color the shovel was. Or how many buckets had sand in them or if the water was hot or cold. There was no overt learning going on, it was just quiet play. I realized that had I been sitting there, I would have been making it a teaching moment – and not that that is a bad thing, but sometimes we just need to sit and dig.

So the next day we did just that. No talking. No fuss, just patted sand castles into place and washed them away with a watering can. All while just enjoying the sound of the waves.  Lesson learned: less talk and more play.


Back to Life…

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At 5:30am this morning, the alarm clock went off. The following are the thoughts, in order, that went through my head:

1. what the hell is that noise??

2. where am I??

3. why did I set the alarm clock on vacation?

4. oh crap, vacation is over and I’m home. So what was the alarm for?

5. oh right, wake up Peter so he can go run. I wonder if he really wants to run….

 

Ah the day after a fun and relaxing vacation is never easy. It’s back to the reality of emails, bills and work. And a serious amount of laundry and ironing. Sigh…

I mean seriously. And this isn’t even all of it.

Also, be sure to catch my new post on Scottsdale Moms Blog. Super cute DIY kids calendar that I made for Baylor. She still thinks every day is Friday, but really, don’t we all?

http://www.scottsdalemomsblog.com/

If You Can’t Stand the Heat…

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This is officially the hotest summer in Arizona history. Like by actual meteorologist standards, not just by my “my calfs are sweating it’s so hot” standards. Granted, our centenial isn’t even until next year, but still, that’s saying something. There have been 30 days of 110+ heat this year. The average is 10 days. Even my cacti is looking feeble.

The solution? Retreat. Retreat and don’t look back. Go west. Go west until you hit the water….

Scottsdale Moms Blog

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Today I am so excited to share with all of you an article I wrote for Scottsdale Moms Blog!

I met Joy (a co-creator of the site) a few weeks ago and noticed her email address was @scottsdalemomsblog. I asked her what the site was and if they took contributing writers. Several conversations, ideas and weeks later, my first article on nursery decorating is up! I’m hoping to write more kid related Do It Yourself articles for them too. Don’t worry, you can get your fill of snarky mommy stories in The Goon Room like always – this will just be for my creative, less sarcastic side!

If you are a local mom, be sure to subscribe to Scottsdale Moms Blog and also like them on FaceBook. They have amazing playdates, great giveaways and insightful articles, all new and fresh every day. Enjoy!

www.scottsdalemomsblog.com

Why Does Saving the Planet Have to be so Ugly?

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I hate CFL bulbs. There. I said it. I am not an environment hater, I just can’t stand the ugly, orange glow from CFL bulbs.

Don’t get me wrong, I see all the benefits of these ugly, little beasts; the cost savings, the lower use of energy, the saving of the planet, blah blah blah. All do not add up to pretty light. And yes, it does make a difference. I do not want to look like a drag queen all day because I couldn’t tell that I had too much blush on because it was drowned out by the orange light.

Not to mention that the opposite on the CFL color spectrum is so bright and sterile white, it gives me flash backs to the operating room when Baylor was born.

The solution? GE Reveal CFL bulbs. We have bought two forms of these now and I love the color. Yes, it still has a little of the orange glow when the bulb is warming up, but not so harsh as it’s offensive CFL friends.  And we put a flood light version in the kitchen and it blends in seamlessly with it’s incandesent cousins.

See? Not to shabby:

So if you would like to save the environment and a few dollars without sacrificing your mental state to orange light, try a few of the GE Reveal versions of CFL bulbs. Your non-drag queen looking self will thank me.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=bvec&cp=10&gs_id=1h&xhr=t&q=ge+reveal+cfl&qe=R0UgUmV2ZWFsIA&qesig=eP4CnWzXF5ZufUbw6xqVeQ&pkc=AFgZ2tmOQHcrGfJRaGJctv6_bApU4IonbkKau8IcVTNievtpA6Ke-rdDmIdLsoiA_AInzNgslVNsnAbXV6DL9W63AX6HsiLkSQ&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1366&bih=600&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=16967538321504657852&sa=X&ei=4b9bTrGzIOeLsgKXqsnFDA&sqi=2&ved=0CHkQ8wIwBA

It’s a Good Thing You’re Cute, Kid

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Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe she’s got a molar coming in. Maybe her new-found independence from preschool is being demonstrated at home. Maybe she’s just two but the munchkin is making me crazy this week!

This is an actual conversation that happened this week in the car:

“Baylor. Shoes. Off.”

“No, please leave your shoes on.”

“Shoes. Off. Now.”

“B, we’re almost to the store. Please leave your shoes on.”

minor meltdown and then reluctantly the shoes go back on.

“Yea!! Good listening!!”

“Shoes. Off. Again. Mommy.”

dirty look from the front seat…..

“Yea Baylor!!! I did it! Shoes! On!”

“I think you’re missing the point kid…”

 

That is a nice version of the battles and lessons of the week! If I say yes, she says no. If I say do it, she says no. If I say no, she says yes.  If she gets rewarded for listening well, then she does the bad behavior all over to get the reward. I either need her to move on to the next phase or for it to cool down so she can go out and, as my mom would say, blow the stink off….

What’s in Baylor’s Bag – Crib Edition

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On Monday night, I was at a meeting for the water company during Baylor’s bed time. I snuck in her room when I got home to give her a kiss and pull a few of her stuffed animals out of her crib. What I found was this:

Not just your average crib fair. Here’s what she was snoozing with:

Cat

Minnie Mouse

Franchesca the doll

Baby

Baby’s bottle

A moose

5 books

A plumb

A banana

3 tea cups and saucers

2 angels

A pillow

And the flowers that are on the table next to crib that she can grab and pull in

Sweet Sweet Insanity

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I just finished The Help  and absolutely loved it. It was so well written, you could almost hear the characters speaking (not to be confused with the normal voices in my head). The part I liked the best was that the there was still story after the climax – I hate when you get to the best part of the book and poof! It’s over.

I noted a favorite line from the book:

“…it was like something cracked open inside of me, not unlike a watermelon, cool and soothing and sweet. I always thought insanity would be a dark, bitter feeling, but it is drenching and delicious if you really roll around in it.”

I read it aloud to PW – which got me thinking. Why do I like this phrase so much? Is it because it’s so different and so beautifully written? Or because I feel it’s so true?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the answer? Is that it really just depends on the day 😉

Momversation

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While at a Scottsdale Moms Blog playdate last week, I was standing in line to get a balloon animal for Baylor. Yes, I was standing in line, Baylor was running amok near the wild animal table. She pretends to like the animals, but really, she’s just there for the hand sanitizer. I had an eye on my wild woman and was chatting with my friend/neighbor and another mom who were also waiting in line.

After a few minutes, I stopped to let the ladies I was speaking with know that I was in fact listening to them, I just needed to keep both eyes on B so that she didn’t free the Chinchilla or something more creepy crawly from Jungle Jill. They both laughed and said “I haven’t had a conversation while looking at the person I was talking to since my oldest was born!”. It dawned on me – this was not a conversation, but a momversation.

A momverstaion is a conversation between two or more mothers that A. does not require eye contact with anyone but your kids B. is paused more than once to wipe a hand, pick up a crying kiddo or yell “stop with the hand sanitizer already!!” only to be picked right back up like nothing happened and C. can be had doing any kind of activity including nursing, feeding, changing a diaper, etc.

It is a skill that is honed among moms. It’s difficult to learn and requires much patience and practice. Especially when there is a severe drought of sleep in the household. But it is a necessity if one ever wants to have a meaningful conversation with a friend, husband or anyone for that matter. So next time you’re talking to a friend who is a mom and she does not look at you, just know that she is using her honed skill of multi tasking, or momversating.

How Not to Use the Potty

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Good God I hate potty training. A lot has to do with trying to convince Baylor that this in inappropriate:

She gets it. She totally gets what she’s supposed to do. The problem is that she wants to sit on the potty ALL THE TIME. It’s a constant routine of sit, wipe, wash and then re-diaper and dress. I’m talking like 6 times an hour. It is making me craaaazzzyyy!!!! I vote for diapers and let her college roommate show her the ropes.