The scene of the crime

Today, I was greeted with a small, tiny, dead bird on my bathroom floor. Buddha, our cat, our indoor cat that NEVER goes outside, snagged himself a birdie for breakfast. I'm the cause, I'm the one who fills the bird feeder each morning!

Books Beware

Today I finished up Julie & Julia. It was a wonderfully entertaining book! I borrowed the book from a friend, as I couldn't find it at any local library and just didn't want to spend the money to buy it as I knew I wanted to see the move and wanted to save my money for a Coke, popcorn and Junior Mints when I went. (shout out to Kathryn, thank you :) Any-hoo. The book was given to me in I-just-came-off-the-store-bookshelf-quality. I even wondered for a minute if my friend had read it, though I know she did. She is anxious for me to finish so we can talk about it. The spine didn't have a crack to it, the pages weren't bent and the cover didn't curl up on the sides. My MIL also gives me books she's read, "trashy novels" that I read in two days. LOVE THEM! They too come to me in excellent shape, all of them!

I've finished reading the book, like I said way back at the beginning of this, and now I must return the book to my friend. I'm looking at the book and I'm wondering what happened to it in the week I had it? I mean the cover is bent in two places and the edges curl up at the sides, the spine is all splintered and some of the pages even curl up a bit. I know there's some greasy finger prints on the inside, I was enjoying the pizza & the book at the same time! And it got wet! I just picked it up and it's wet a bit and so now the pages will curl up with that I got wet look. Wow, I'm not so nice to books when I read them!!

I take the books with me on the go, into the car, they get thrown into my purse, on the seat of the car, sometimes they even land on the floor of the house and get knocked around a bit. I take books to the gym and read as a cycle away, holding on to the book w/sweaty hands. I put books on the icky gym floor to use the weights. I put books through the ringer.

I was going to pose the question, "is this normal?" But really, I have my answer. I'm the one who is unkind to books. I have two other people who read books and then hand them over to me in pristine, bookshelf quality and after I've read them there is NO question they've been read. I use our local library a lot and most of those books are hardback thank goodness or I'm sure they'd come looking for me.

I contemplated learning a new way of reading, maybe even googling the subject of how to read a book without trashing it all to hell. But ya know, that's just not my life, that's not how I deal with things around me. I touch things, I squeeze things, I carry things, I bend and twist things, heck I put holes in perfectly good Tupperware so my son can keep the beetle he just caught! I'm on the go, I'm stuck in the car while my youngest son naps. I'm at the gym trying to work off that "baby weight" from my five year old. I turn to a book as something to help me relax and recharge and yes, escape! If I also had to worry too much about how I treated them all the joy of reading might get sucked away.

So, though I'm not so nice to books, I love them just the same. I guess when it comes to handling books I'm like a boy on the school playground with the girls, I hit you and push you, but deep down I love you.

Traditional?

Last night I took to the huge pile of rubber bark that has been resting on the side of our house, resting patiently waiting to go under our new play structure. Here's a shout out to my friend who let us scoop it up and bring it home with us, as it was not going to be shipped to ID when they moved. Last night I'd had enough of the site of the bark lingering and gathering leaves and just looking ugly that I began hauling it into our back yard, even though we don't have a special something-or-rather that's suppose to go under it, or the special trim to keep it in place.

I grabbed the Mega Blocks wagon and began loading exactly 3 shovel-scoops of rubber bark, then rolled it into the back yard and dumped it under the play structure. Hells bells! Now the back yard looks like a magazine ad for rubber bark. It makes the play structure shine and the whole scene screams, SAFETY FIRST!

I was wicked dirty when I finished, I jumped in the shower and then sat down at the table to enjoy the yummy pork chop dinner my hubby had prepared. I laughed when I sat down. I mean, I was the one who was outside doing manual labor, getting filthy dirty, and sweating like pig. Meanwhile, my hubby was inside making pear vinaigrette salad dressing, baking up some candied pecans and trying out a new recipe for pork chops.

I stay at home and husband works, that statement sounds very traditional on the surface. But there are many jobs that I've taken on in my "core roles" that he as the man of the house would be doing under the term "traditional". For example, I take the trash to the curb, I use the chain saw when the trees need trimming, and I haul rubber bark! I'm not a cook, I can get the food from the can, to the pan, to the table. My husband is the chef in our house, he's the chef and I'm the sou chef. I wonder sometimes do other families have such an abstract concept of "traditional". Is there a new definition of the word? And if I work outside the home, would we still be a traditional family if I did all the manual labor and still didn't cook well?

It works for us and it's been working for the past 9 years so I'm not looking to change things! I would never complain too loudly about taking the trash to the curb, as then I might be expected to make the fabulous meals my husband makes. Here's to non-traditional!!

Is napping a thing of the past?

The afternoon has approached, lunch has been served and cleaned up, and now it is time to begin the nap time routine. It usually consists of my youngest son laying down with me on the couch as we watch HGTV and he slowly nods off. "Usually" is the operative word lately! Today, after 30 minutes of laying down, no nap. My son didn't stop moving even for a second. He wiggled, tossed, turned, stood up, elbowed me, stuck his knee in my gut, and wiggled some more. I was outwitted, I had lost, the window had closed. Today, I gave up and sent my son to his room rather then continue the battle. Now that older brother is in school, the room is available for today's emergency.

Wow, loosing naps at 2 is... so many things...

1. As it relates to me, it's me loosing those few moments of alone time in the middle of the day. Time I use to catch up on emails, check FB, read a book, and time I us to just sit, alone.

2. It means MY napping during the day has come to end. My youngest still doesn't get the concept of sleeping through the night, so some days I'm exhausted by mid-afternoon and need a power nap. Kiss that good-bye.

3. Nap time will now begin to be referred to as "quiet time". Which means I send my son to his room, where he proceeds to play instead of nap. Which also means the room is destroyed and I add another cleaning project to the To Do List.

4. My little boy is growing up. Loosing the last nap is a huge leap out of the toddler world and into the world of a preschooler. I know he's only 2, but he thinks he's ready for the big time!

5. Looking on the bright side, maybe now bedtime will be earlier! Wow, the possibility of BOTH my kids asleep by 8 pm. I'm giddy with excitement just thinking about it!

The biggest question remains, is this for real? Has my 2 year old really dropped his afternoon nap? After a quick search on the parenting sites, I've come to the conclusion it's temporary - insert sad face here. Most children by age 2 have shortened the length of their naps, but not dropped them all together. I also discovered that this transition of no napping could take a while, up to six months. That being said, I think we are going to be getting more non-nap days then nap days, but there will be some nap days - insert happy face here.

Maybe today I can check the nap box, but tomorrow might be a different story. Tomorrow, I'll research things to do to help napping continue - that's if I get the time.

Things I thought of today to Blog about

Today my mind raced with ideas to write about, to start off my blogging life. It started early in the morning as I was reading the paper waiting in line at the drive thru of Starbucks.

Later my mind raced again with ideas and questions and this time I pulled out a pen and paper and began to write them down.

1. Article in the Daily Bulletin about Army recruiting on the rise, due to the economy. I had many thoughts about this, including the selfish thought of gratitude that it's them and not me. The warm fuzzy feeling of living in the USA where I'm free to choose. Yep I could do a list of reasons why that article aroused questions with in me... another time maybe.

2. Lists. Are you suppose to blog in terms of lists? Is that how it's done? Is that the best way? Is there research to support this? Again, for another day.

3. Pondering statements, questions and other personal stuff that comes out only when moms are alone with other moms. Does someone eventually write that stuff down? Should it be me? Would my mom friends be upset if I blogged their "question"?

4. After reading an article in a parenting magazine about teeth healthiness for kids that use a pacifier at age 2; I began wondering, does a sippy cup count as something that kids suck on that can ruin their teeth? Should I look into this as I know I'm going to have to get braces for my boys? What do braces cost? I could do a listing blog here for sure!

5. The many reasons I love reading Cookie Magazine! It could also include the many reasons why I shouldn't read it, along with reasons why it's over the top in and probably does more harm then good to my self esteem when I read it. Here's a list in a list: 4 articles that I read more then once in the Sept 09 issue: The optimist Child, Open Wide, Mommy Warrior, Jenny McCarthy is interviewed - she might get a show through Oprah!!, and Back to Work. Yet another list... should I do this one first?

6. After reading the article in Cookie, Back to Work, I'm even more conflicted about thinking about looking for a job. A list of pro's & con's would work well for a blog here. Gosh, I guess lists are the way to go!

7. Fretting about how to teach my son about stranger danger/don't let people touch under your clothes/and all that yucky stuff about yucky people who are out to hurt kids. Are there books? Websites? Do I ask friends? Would this be a topic that goes on the list of things that moms talk about when their alone with other moms?

8. What are the "normal" levels of anxiety when your oldest goes off to Kindergarten for the first time? This one I'm almost afraid to look in to as I'm seriously afraid of where I might be placed on the list!

9. I'm on #9, so I guess the list thing works. And why do lists go to 10?

10. Blogging. Can this be my job? And Facebook would probably fall into this blog, though I'm sure it could have it's own! The computer, me and the future - endless possibilities.

11. The words a mother ushers into her vocabulary as others leave, "K-chow", "To infinity and beyond!". I could then do another list, which I could probably be #12 on this list, of phrases such as, "No, don't stick______ up your ______!". You could add to this list all the different ways you bribe your kids into doing things. I should probably make that #13, but I'm still keeping them all together as they are the things that get squeezed into a moms brain, while other stuff get's squeezed out. Here's a very good example. I clearly know it's called a restroom, but still my mouth blurts out potty quicker then I can correct it!

12. I could fill up a whole blog on weight, food, too much weight, too much food - enough said there!

13. Now where do I start?!

Yep, I'm quitting at lucky #13. This is where my list ends for today as I now feel my mind is free of these thoughts & ideas. They are on paper, online, I own them now as I've written them down. I can now begin a list!