Endless Pursuit for Mom of the Year

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.   ~ John Vance Cheney ------------------------------ Like many parents, I sat for days and watched the news with information littering the screen about the Boston Marathon bombing.  I felt numb.  By numb, I don’t mean in a way that makes me have no feelings, no thoughts, no irrational fears, nor emotions.  However, I do fear this numbness is a kind of desensitization, and the thought of that scares me a little.  In my opinion, we’ve seen too much tragedy in my lifetime including Oklahoma City, 9/11, Newtown, the Boston Marathon and countless more.  All things I never feared whatsoever as a child.  Then again, I walked to and from school at the age of 9.  Cell phones didn’t exist.  I grew up thinking nothing could be worse than the Challenger explosion and hijacking airplanes in foreign countries.  All things that I knew deep down would never touch me ...

Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. ~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin ------------------------------------------------- No, we are not having another child.  Let's get that outta the way now.  This is the ultrasound photo from daughter of the year #2, who we called our zen baby.  It only takes her flashing this peace sign to know, she would be teaching us a thing or two.   I have been thinking a lot this week about life.  About being flexible and embracing every moment in a way I maybe haven't been doing.  It all started with a little story about a duck.  It was innocent enough and about being flexible and going with the flow when life hands you situations that make you want to crawl in a hole.  Let's just say, all week, I've been reciting to myself, just be slippery.  Meaning, let it roll off your back.   Now, the story had another little twist in there and a bit of a slip of the ton...

  Hair is vitally personal to children.   They weep vigorously when it is cut for the first time; no matter how it grows, bushy, straight or curly ,   they feel they are being shorn of a part of their personality.    ~ Charles Chaplin   --------------------------------------------- Daughter of the year #1 is selling Girl Scout cookies.  If you have never sold them, never met anyone who has, nor had any contact with them whatsoever, you have no idea how difficult it is.  Next time a cute little Girl Scout knocks on your door or greets you at a store selling cookies, please be kind.  Unlike a certain someone in my very own neighborhood who felt it was appropriate to scream at my daughter that she'd already bought cookies.  Perhaps we should have recited the Girl Scout law?  She was not embodying any of that!  Seriously people, just be nice.   Goals are a great thing.  Daughter...

The art of love...  is largely the art of persistence.     ~ Albert Ellis   -------------------------------------- What?  No photo for this post?  I haven't let you down!  I just felt it best to write the story this time around.  You know, really build you up. Then slam the image of the most beautiful and the insane letter dad of the year and I received from daughter of the year #1.   As you know, it's nearly Valentine's Day, which in our house has never quite been romantic, filled with aching love, nor with sweet love notes.  Last year, you might remember, I blogged about dad of the year's very first attempt at getting me flowers which went cruelly awry.  This year, he let me pick our my very own brand spanking new Coach purse, which is red patent leather.  Yep, THAT folks is freaking romance!   Speaking of love notes, daughter of the year #1 has mentioned many times for several weeks that she had to...

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.   She never existed before.  The woman existed,  but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  ~ Rajneesh -------------------------------------- Nine years ago tomorrow, I became a mother for the first time.  I can hardly believe that daughter of the year #1 is going to be 9 years old.  Where did that time go?   I posted on Facebook this week I was feeling sappy.  I couldn't quite figure out what was making me that way and I was quite positive I could cry at the drop of a hat.  Then, I realized, it was the way I had been reminiscing in my mind about becoming a mommy for the first time.  It all started with a very big snow storm ! Don't worry, I'll spare you the details.  But I do love telling the story of my father forging through snow drifts as high as our car.  No sleep, panic at being a mother, a huge snow storm, a new ba...

I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist.   ~ Tammy Faye Bakker ----------------------------------------- I love to shop!  Seriously, I do.  If I had an endless supply of cash (and patience) I would shop all the time.  But, since I have neither of those, I must do this in moderation.   Daughter of the year #1 had a gift card that has been burning a hole in her pocket since Christmas.  So we decided to head to the mall for some fun and shopping.  The girls and I immediately headed to Justice so she could spend her gift card.  Now, the mall was busy today but I've never let that stop me.  However, I seemed to step into some sort of pre-teenager hell when I crossed that threshold.  First the music was LOUD!  Second, daughters of the year decided this would be a good time to start screaming.  And, third, I had a stroller. YIKES!  I left a bit of my soul and my sanity on the cheap tile in that...