Endless Pursuit for Mom of the Year

As a child, my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it. ~ Buddy Hackett --------------------------------------------------------- I used to love cooking.  I would spend hours combing through cookbooks for new recipes.  Countless hours in the kitchen left me creating masterpiece meals.  I even fed the majority of my husband's co-workers on an ongoing basis.  I loved making people happy through food.  Hey, it's a family thing.  Then, something happened.  I had kids.   Now, before you judge me, eating healthy food is important.  However, there are days, when trying to please the pickiest of eaters like daughter of the year #1 seems simply unattainable.  I suppose this is the ultimate revenge from my mother.  She survived raising me, the second pickiest eater on the planet but, not without casting some sort of motherly hex to be sure I had a child just like me.  Blessing or a curse - I haven't decided yet. ...

When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.  ~ John M. Richardson Jr. ---------------------------------------------------------- There are three women in our household.  One is simply going through an emotional phase and another is going through terrible two's.  No, I'm not either one of those.  If you count the dog, dad of the year is simply outnumbered!  Our nights are often filled with no-no's, random screaming, incessant use of shirt tugging followed by "mom...mom...mom...mom", searching for homework and tripping on shoes left in the middle of the kitchen.  While it's hectic and loud, I can't imagine it any other way.  Ask dad of the year, and he'd simply like a little less emotion, or as he refers to it - estrogen.  I'm what some may refer to as a child of the 80's.  If growing up loving Madonna music, remembering the Challenger ...

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.   ~ Frank Sinatra -------------------------------------------------- She's back!  No, I'm not talking about mom of the year, I'm talking about my dear daughter of the year #1.  Huh?  You are saying.  It's OK.  Here's the deal folks.  I've been asked to work with another blog to post my endless pursuit for mom of the year there, so in true mom of the year fashion, I'm changing names to protect the innocent.  But also to save me time from writing a blog twice.  I guess it was time for me to do that anyway.  Now, back to my dear daughter of the year #1.  Oh, I love her so!  She knows me better than most anyone.  She can even order my drink at Starbucks and lovingly corrects dad of the year if he doesn't order right.  She knows my favorite shows and screamed this morning to allow daddy to let he...

We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears.  We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.  ~David Sarnoff ---------------------------------------- With children comes questions.  All kinds of questions.  Maddie sent a whopper and, on all days to ask, 9/11.  Hang with me here, I know my blogs have taken a serious turn but well, things have just been serious lately.  Humor will return soon.  Cancer.  It's a word that really takes on a different meaning to everyone.  Yesterday, I had to explain what that is to Maddie when she asked about our neighbor across the street.  I hadn't told her she died almost a year ago.  I guess I was hoping she would simply forget.  A new family would move in and that would be that.  But, the house did not go up for sale and her bird feeders remain unkempt.  I just had to be honest with her.  After all, that is my philosophy. "Cancer," I said, when Maddie asked ...

If children have the ability to ignore all  odds and percentages, then maybe we can  all learn from them. When you think about it,  what other choice is there but to hope?  We have two options, medically and emotionally:  give up, or Fight Like Hell. ~Lance Armstrong ----------------------------------------------- I love parenting blogs.  Not your traditional ones that talk about discipline or the proper diet to give your child.  The brutally honest ones.  Some of my favorites are Moms Who Drink and Swear, Scary Mommy and my new favorite is Mary Tyler Mom.  Who knew that one of these blogs would shake me back to a time long ago and a lesson to love every day.  Let me start by saying I have a busy career and a work ethic I some days wish I didn't have.  But I also know those are two parts of me I cannot change and some days, I do like them.  Most days, I go a hundred miles an hour, stopping only when one of my kids does some...

    Children begin by loving their parents;  as they grow older they judge them;  sometimes they forgive them.   ~Oscar Wilde ------------------------------------------------- He-eeee-llll-oooo!  Whew, it has been way too long!  I took a bit of some "time off" you could say.  Not time off from good blogging, but time to devote solely to work.  The rest of it to screw up my kids just a bit more.  The rest of it to whine and complain.  And a few leftover minutes to love my husband.  Have I mentioned how much I hate the month of August? Well, you've all asked about it, and I teased you a bit on Facebook, so...it's time to talk about parent teacher conferences.  I know what most of you are thinking, it's barely September.  Our school district does a mini-conference very early on to discuss any potential issues but also to give you a chance to tell your child's teacher things about them they may not have figured o...