Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

The Twins Are 12

November 25, 2015

I’m sitting around this morning crying because all of my children are now either teens or young adults. My “babies” are now 12 and it is hitting me really hard. Don’t get me wrong I love my kids as teens and adults – you can have a real conversation with them, shopping with them is now fun, and you can share movies and books that you enjoyed when you were that age. Nevertheless I do miss the sweet smell of a newborn. I miss carrying babies with their little heads resting on my shoulder deep in sleep. I miss their sweet baby toes and giggles. I even miss the busy toddler stage where everything was new and exciting and “no” was the big new word they liked to toss around.

All too soon though, they grow, start more formal schooling, grow some more and BAM there it is. Teens. And just when you’re getting good at that stage – BAM – they move out and on to college, jobs, and travels. Sigh. It really does go fast.

So, while my daughters are celebrating being big girls now, I’ll be remembering days gone by. Yes, I have had eight children and you’d think I’d had my fill (and some days I do feel like that), but overall it’s not true. I love them all and I’m so very glad I had them all.

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Weekend Gallery

November 22, 2015

Welcome to Weekend Gallery – where I post pictures of things that are happening in my life or pictures of weird crap I see in stores. Shall we?

Here we have the tale of two Kens…

This one is Suave Ken – almost reminds me of the 1980’s!

And this is Geek Ken. The tie’s not bad actually.

See that cheese guy on the box? Doesn’t he look an awful lot like Spongebob? Or maybe he’s just trying to look like Suave Ken.

I actually thought these were cute – Ninjabread Men! My daughters want me to get them. I dunno – every time I let them decorate gingerbread men we always end up with ones that are missing limbs or zombies. (Actually – I don’t mind.)

Ah – Darth Vader and Stormtroopers! My oldest daughter put the arms up like that. Whoo – go Darth!

And now a couple of items for those who enjoy playing video games.

Animal Crossing Amibos! From left to right we have Cyrus, KK, and Reese. I’ve also seen Mable and Sable around as well. I have to say I love Animal Crossing! We got the first game in January of 2004 for the Gamecube and there hasn’t been a year when someone has not been playing some version of it. In particular, I have really enjoyed it – lots to do and it’s not ompetitive.

And last, Baby Mario and Luigi – awwwww aren’t they cute? My kids played Yoshi’s Island for awhile. The music was really good and it was just a really sweet game. Except for that fuzzy part – blech – made me dizzy just watching it.

There you have it – a little bit of everything. Stay tuned for more from Oh Crap land!

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Wednesday Wisdom

November 18, 2015

Today’s quote is from “A Little Princess” written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and is timely seeing how Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost upon us.

“If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that.”

In other words, even when you have nothing physical to give, you can give out of the capacity of your heart. This could be time spent with a lonely person. Or helping someone across a street or getting them something from a high shelf at Walmart. Little acts of kindness can really mean a lot. We usually equate giving with actual things, but sometimes the thing is intangible but means infinitely more.

So, let’s remember to give what we have when we can this holiday season. Even if all you can put in the Salvation Army bucket is a dollar, remember that if 100,000 people each give a dollar then that’s $100,000. Your dollar combines with the others to make a lot. It’s all good. I’ll end with a familiar nursery rhyme that wraps up this sentiment:

Christmas is coming
The goose is getting fat
Please to put a penny in the old man’s hat
If you haven’t got a penny
A ha-penny will do
If you haven’t got a ha-penny, then God Bless You.

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Weekend Gallery

November 15, 2015

I’m going to call this the “you gotta be kidding me!” edition. Over the last two weeks my kids and I have seen more stupid Frozen stuff than I would like to look at in a lifetime. In fact, one Frozen item is two much – the movie was out 2 years ago for cripes sake – who the hell cares anymore???!!! My disclaimer – this stuff makes for good blog fodder. Roll ’em – and pass the antacids.

Kleenex. Oh and if you look on the box they are “cool touch” – just like Elsa. *oh snap*

Okay, here’s the promised string cheese picture. Each cheese stick package features a different character. Spare me.

Bagels – did I show you the bagels?

Did you see that they are BLUE? OMG…

Frozen Yogurt – HA – see what I did there? Better hang on because it’s getting worse people. How about…

CHICKEN NUGGETS!! In frosty Frozen shapes.

And the piece de resistance – Pasta and peas!! Really? REALLY?? Be thankful I didn’t take pictures of the Olaf pasta shape stuff. I wish he’d just melt away but unlike Frosty never be back again any day.

Well folks, that’s enough of the Frozen stuff – NO MORE! And I mean both on my blog, but more importantly, on the local store shelves. As if.

Next week will be fun stuff – I do so enjoy finding weird stuff and also cool stuff to take photos of. Come back when you can.

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A Tuesday in November

November 3, 2015

I’ve been enjoying the wonderful fall weather we have been having lately. The temps have been cool to almost cold and on really nice days, the sun comes out showing the tree plumage off in all its glory. Fall has become one of my favorite seasons although November comes with a price. For Catholics it is a time to remember the saints and the souls. For our family we mourn the loss of a brother and father. On a more personal level, there was the loss of a wonderful man who gave so much to so many.

Lately I have been watching a lot of Nigella Lawson’s old shows. I watched all the Season 2 episodes of Nigella Bites and now I’m going through her Feasts shows. The ones I want to watch the most at this time of year are the Christmas Kitchen episodes but they are not online anymore and no cooking channels show them which is a pity. They were amazing and it really fired you up with your own ideas for Christmas cooking and baking and decorating. Not to mention that visually they were just plain relaxing and lovely to look at. At least I have her Christmas cookbook and I’m glad for that!

I’ve been treating myself better too and realizing that I might actually be getting to know myself and who I am by allowing myself to listen to and do things that I really like without fear of guilt or judgment. It’s about damn time!

I’m still on a roll with my own brand of self-help (which is just helping myself) without anyone else’s ideas to sway me one way or another. That has been very freeing and far less confusing. I will say Flylady’s way did help me to get uncluttered once and for all and to set and maintain some routines so that was helpful. But I graduated that and am on my own and can do it on my own. Once in a while I read all my cleaning books but realize I know how to do all those things so I just need to do it.

Relationships are something altogether different and I do need more help with those so books can be incredibly helpful – it’s just hard to find the right books and even then it’s take what you need and chuck the rest. It really has been better to me to stop relying on these outside sources to tap the wisdom inside myself. Cliche? Maybe, but we all have it.

Anyway, off to start my day with a shower then housework and school. Routines, yes, but done in my way in my time.

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