I seriously do not know why I feel like on of the ancient people now that I’m 35. Most of it is probably due to the fact that I have let stress absorb my life and I’m not taking care of myself (ie, eating excellent and exercising enough.) Another factor maybe that the majority of women I work with are under 30. To an 18 year old, 35 is a dinosaur. One of the women I work with is 21 and has a mother who is 38.

Nice.

 I could be your mom, dude.

 

I love the blog, “A Nun’s Life.” http://anunslife.org/ 

She’s a great writer and I find it very fascinating.

When I was a young Catholic girl I dreamed of being a nun. That bit of info was even strange to my sixth grade councilor who I was seeing for picking on my cousin. But from third grade until sixth grade that is all I dreamed I’d be. Then puberty and peer pressure came. I always wonder what could have been. Who knows where I’d be now if I would have known more about it. It could have been a real chance to have that adventure I was seeking in my twenties.  Of course, I love my husband and son, so there must be a plan.

The blog provides a factual representation of what the cloistered life entails. 

She’s pretty funny, cute and looks to be in her early 30s. 

Be prepared to be slightly surprised about what a Nun’s life is really like.

So, again I was looking at my ISU transcript and grimicing. My GPA is 2.53…yikes. Now, I’m at a 3.92. Oh, how the years go by.

I had a dream last night that I got my grades back and my first class yeilded a D+ grade. D+, gotta love it. I do have a couple of those on my transcript. Why, oh why did I not retake those classes and hanker down and pass them? Because I was a selfish punk nosed jerk, that’s why.

I am a different student now. I will churn out and give you exactly the paper you want. I will turn everything in and show up for the classes. Too bad I couldn’t have figured this out 11 plus years ago. Then I wouldn’t have the slacker nightmares.

My son love, love, loves Tinkerbell.

He was sold on Tinkerbell after watching the new Tinkerbell computer animation movie. He also loves both Peter Pan movies. He is thrilled when she shows up at the start of every Disney DVD. Yeah Tinkerbell!!

So, this calender, that he loves was marked down to $1 at the Party Store and I bought it for him. As we flip the pictures, month to month, I’m begining to think that Tinkerbell is a bit of a tease. Some of these pictures are reminiscent of old 50’s pin up girls. Hmmmm.

So, maybe it’s not as in your face “sexual” as things now days, but it does seem a little too coy for a two year old boy, me thinks. But then again, I have never denied being a paranoid mother. If he’s 13 and all he has under his mattress is this calendar, I’ll breath a sigh of relief. Of course, I doubt that’s what I’ll find.

It is not even 7:00 a.m. and I have been awake (not willingly) for an hour.

Zach was sleeping in my bed with my husband. He gets of my to bed and walks to his bed, where I am sleeping to wake me up.

Why  me?! I hate mornings. He had a perfectly acceptable adult sleeping right next to him to wake up. Grimace. 

But no, he pitter-patters down the hall and whines on at full throttle until I wake up and bring him downstairs.

Somedays, there is no glory in being the Mommy. On those days, coffee is the only consolation.

Wow, this is just a case of a bad teacher that this photo didn’t turn out. Who was there just to check my shirt? The collar is out of wack and the sleeve is messed up.

Of course I remember insisting on a ponytail that day to my mother’s dismay. I of course, was reminded that I was wrong when the pictures came back. Still, I was a little scruffy, but a nice kid.

I vow as a elementary teacher, to make an effort to at least fix kids shirts, if not their hair, on picture day.

Today, I stood surrounded by 2 year-olds and a floor full of scattered toys. I had two options: I could start cleaning it up myself, or I could attempt to get these kids to pick it up themselves.

Background: these kids are the room I dub the “ferral children” and have never truly been shown how to clean up. I’ve tried showing them how (”Here’s the bucket for people put the people in the bucket.”) I’ve tried repeating and encouraging (”Clean up! Everybody Clean Up!”) I’ve tried catchy tunes about cleaning up played while attempting the first two strategies.

Nothin’.

Today, I was desperate. I remembered one girl had mini M&Ms in her cubby for potty training and she was out today. I grabbed the bag and began offering one M&M per picked up toy.

At first they were slow to catch on. Soon, they saw their friends getting mini M&Ms popped in their mouths like baby birds, and by the time for lunch the room was clean, every child had picked up something, and I was down only about 20 mini M&Ms.

BRIBES! Who whould have thought? Cheap, little, tiny, non-choking-hazard, chocolate bribes! God bless you mini M&Ms!!

Lately I’ve been on a wasabi pea kick. If you haven’t had them wasabi peas are baked peas with a brush of wasabi (an uber hot Japanese spice.) You only taste the wasabi for a moment if you keep chewing through it and then it mixes with the sweet taste of the pea. It’s quick brush of pain and pleasure, which makes it quite yummy. If you have a few of them they also wake you up a bit and get your blood going.

So the other day I was eating them and Zach wanted one, because if mom has it and “I” don’t, it must be good, right? So I gave him one. He started yelling “It burns, it burns!” I told him, keep chewing. A few minutes later I hear him ask, “Can I have another?” So I gave him another.
From his car seat, again I hear “It burns me, it burns me!” then again, “More.”

I thought, “What kind of mother am I? I find this amusing, they must be bad for kids, I will probably burn in hell.” Turns out, nope, they are just plain old peas and a little bit of vinegar, wasabi powder and a few other natural things. After looking on-line, it turns out other moms have done this as well and found it equally entertaining. Of course this rules out hot saucing techniques in the future.

My sister and my niece were models on the catwalk. Here are some pictures of the cuties!