parents — 16 comments
08
May 12

What’s black and white and read all over. My mother’s love.

My mother’s handwriting.

A letter with my name penned with my mother’s handwriting arrived yesterday.

It was filled with newspaper clippings.

This happens fairly often. Some recent article have dealt with the dangers of Facebook and how to protect yourself from picking up a bedbug infestation from a hotel stay. (They latter which has scarred me from ever placing a suitcase on a carpeted hotel floor for life.)

First noteworthy article was titled:

Video games and the risk of becoming nearsighted.

Part she highlighted in yellow: According to a new study, it appears that too much time on video games or TV raises your child’s risk for nearsightedness.

Fair enough. Standard mother advice.

 

Second clipping: How do you teach stick-to-itiveness?

She had covered in yellow ink the phrase: “Bright kids who spend a good chunk of their time doing things that come very easily to them typically shut down when they hit something difficult.  Good point.

Part of the problem is inexperience at being truly challenged.

Okay,  standard passive-aggressive long distance helicopter grandparenting.

 

Article number three: 4 Risks of Gel Manicures.

No highlighted part here. I’ve never heard of such a thing and I never pay to get my nails or toenails done any more. Budgetary constraints. All I gather is that someone thinks these gel things are bad.

Consider yourself forewarned by my mother.

And consider the source.

 

 

The last and final clipping threw me. Titled:  Alcohol, vinegar treatment gets rid of lice for some, I thought she was pointing to a Listerine treatment for head lice.

But oh contraire, the highlighted portion read:

DO NOT apply blackstrap molasses to hemorrhoids.

I am utterly confused. I did suffer from a horrible said affiction 19 years ago after giving birth.  And once when I was in a health food haze, I choked down a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses daily.

But what on earth did she think I was doing with it these days?

I love you mom. I love your letters.

And don’t worry. Not buying the blackstrap molasses these days.

What are some of the weird things your mother does that you love?

Pets / Sleep — 19 comments
07
May 12

First Thing Monday Morning. And I mean first thing.

Monday Morning you sure look fine ~ as Fleetwood Mac would say.

But only 45 minutes into Monday morning, I’m not so sure.

Joining up once again with Monday Listicles. This week we are to link up with An Hour in a Day and list 10 things that happened in a wonderful hour of our lives.

So….

10)  12:45 a.m. this morning, I awoke after hearing the dog whimpering.

The dog who had been having going to the bathroom problems.

Get up take him out.

Stand around waiting for dog to do something in the dark and start to become bit creeped out. Something never happens. (With the dog and nothing happens to me either.)

See cat hanging out in dark.

 

9)  Drag him in at 12:59.

Realize I am wide awake.

Get laptop and start to work.

 

8)  1:09 a.m.  Cat looks at me… “feed me.”

 She always gets canned food first thing in morning ~ Like 4:30 first thing in the morning.

NO. It’s one o’clock in the morning.

 

7) 1:17 a.m. feed cat.

Rescue my son’s flip flop from dog.

Dog comes and sits down beside me.

I pet the dog. He seems way too awake.

Lots of shaking, scratching with loud jingling of collar.

 

6)  1:19  a.m. I take collar off dog.

Check weather.com to see if any chance of rain for my garden since I saw it was cloudy when out walking the dog.

 

5)  1:22  a.m.

Realize dog had made a very bad smell when by me. Contemplate walking him again.

Go back to work.

 

4) 1:26 a.m. Insert page numbers

Print out story.

Paper jam.

3) 1:34  a.m. hop back online.

 Looked through a “Can’t believe they are the same age?” feature.

I must be old because I didn’t know who half of those pictured.

 

2) 1:40 a.m.  I’m cold. Go get a sweater.

Realize I’m procrastinating.

 

1) 1:46 a.m.

The dog and cat have settled down. I’m still wide awake.

Time to get something done.

How about you? What do you do when you find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night?

Join me on staceysmotheringmoments.com

Children — 5 comments
04
May 12

Shoeless Joe. How do these things happen?

Tonight we went to eat Mexican.

This doesn’t happen often because my husband is not a fan.

Which is a good thing.

Because I really love it.

So I don’t get the chance to overindulge very often.

We get to the restaurant and put our name in.  I see my friend Karen who asks, “Jamie, why are you taking a picture of the floor?”

Here’s why.

How do we not notice our child is barefoot?

Well, he made it to the booth.

And we actually made it through the meal.

After a filling platter of tacos what do you want to squeeze down your esophagus into your tight belly?

Ice cream.

Yes, Shoeless Joe made it to the ice cream parlor.

And after getting home and putting on a pair of socks and tennis shoes, he got into bed.

Do you have a shoeless joe in your house?

Pets — 8 comments
03
May 12

I heard the toliet flush.

Another death in the tank this morning.

Every Thursday, our high school starts an hour later.

So it was just me, my senior (about to leave me forever) and Tebow (the black lab, who will never leave me for I am the only one who runs with him.)

As we were walking out the door, I heard the toilet flush.

“The black goldfish died.”

What we just bought him?

So my high school student disposed of the fish before the eight year old got home.

*  *  *

Much later in the day, the eight year old and I were in Wal*Mart.

“Your black goldfish died.”

Why, oh why do I say such things?

We ended up looking at the fish.

“Here get some guppies. They always have babies,” I hear myself say.

I mentioned how they have babies as much as we have ground beef for dinner.

That’s all he needed to hear.

“Mama. When you are working, you need to take a chair and sit with your computer and watch the fish. When an egg comes out you race over to the little tank and put the egg in it.”

Oh dear.

“Joe,” I explained, “they don’t lay eggs they have live babies.”

His eyes got wide as pecan pies.

“You scoop them up the minute they pop out.”

Great.

This morning we were down one animal.

Tonight we are up five.

Who knows where we’ll be tomorrow?

Who has guppies out there? Can you really keep their babies?

Children — 11 comments
02
May 12

I wanted drama. So I lied.

I lied.

I just wanted to feel more important and most importantly, wanted Bitsy Beckham (name changed for the Facebook age) to think I was important.

It’s time again for MamaKat’s writing workshop and I’m choosing Number Two: Tell about a time an adult caught you doing something wrong.

image credit

*   *   *

I was five and Bitsy was seven. Our house were separated by a chain link fence.

Bitsy would play, play, play with me ~ until it was time for her older school friends to come over. I stared at them dancing around her backyard at a Brownie meeting thinking if I looked pitiful enough surely they would ask me over.

Nada. No invite ever came.

Bitsy only played with me when it was convenient.

I had enough.

I wanted Bitsy to invite me to Brownies d*mnit!

So I thought up a lie and I thought it up quick.

I was going into the hospital on Friday to have my tonsils extracted — or so I told Bitsy. As the week went on, the story grew and grew.

But Brownies came and went that week and I was still on the other side of the fence. Curses.

*   *   *

A rainy Thursday night.

I lay in bed saying prayers with my Mama when there was a knock on the front door.

Very odd.

“Tracy, could you come out here?” my mother’s voice echoed down the hall. (I went by Tracy back then but that is a whole notha’ story.)

I tiptoed down the dark hall, turned the corner and saw Mr. Beckham, Bitsy’s nice-looking, terribly kind father, clad in a all-weather coat, dripping wet.

His arms bursting with presents.

“You don’t look like a little girl who is having her tonsils out in the morning,” was all he said.

ARGHHHHHHH!

The most humiliating moment of my life and it happened at age five.

What about you? Has a tale ever come back to bite you BAD?

 

Mama’s Losin’ It

The garden — 7 comments
01
May 12

Annihilation. My babies must be protected from large rodents.

Dreams.

They are as much a part of us as sleeping.

Last night I dreamt I was in a hotel room staring out at the sea.

The hotel room caught on fire. I escaped through a wall of flame to stand in the parking lot.

Yay! I survived.

Only to look out across the calm sea to witness an EXPLOSION and twin mushroom clouds.

I had the distinct thought “I hope somebody had the presence of mind to have already pushed our button” then I awoke.

Super start to morning!

I promptly woke up and googled sea, fire and world annihilation.

I knew this meant only one thing.

It was a sign.

Today I was to protect my babies before they were gone.

So I bought these and ringed their pen in it.

Sweeney’s Deer Repellent in no way asked me to do this. I’m just some crazy lady in Central Georgia trying to keep her garden safe.  And these things work!

It had been awhile since I had changed out the “bells” so after my foreboding dream, I did so today.

Here is some of my corn. Teeny things they are.

 

So now that I know my corn’s crib is guarded, hopefully my dreams will be less explosive tonight.

What about you? How do you protect your garden? Other than dreaming about nuclear war.

Attitude Matters — 18 comments
30
Apr 12

A Top Ten “Rah” for Me.

Praise. And Stasha’s Monday Listicles.

I mentioned how I don’t do praise well in a recent post — so in an endeavor to stretch out of my tiny rubber room comfort zone I chose:

A. LIST ABOUT THINGS WE ARE GOOD AT over

B. THINGS WE WOULD DO IN 48 HOURS WITH UNLIMITED MONEY AND NO RESPONSIBILITIES.  (That would be way to revealing and send me scurrying back to the rubber room for sure.)

*   *   *

So with a deep breath, here’s a stream-of-consciousness list of things I do well.

 

10.  Write in stream-of-consciousness.

Thank God for this blog for it releases the pressure behind whatever dike holds back all the billions of seemingly unrelated, related thoughts that bounce around in my head.

 

9.  Have fun with my children.

Maybe because I’m still a big kid, but I love to just go play. Whether hiking the beautiful trails at the Botanical Gardens, ooohing and ahhhing at giant sleeping pythons at the reptile house, ride crazy roller coasters (preferably after a beer first because I am a huge chicken) or driving seven hours to spend one day at an awesome water park,

I love playing with my kids.

7.  Tan.

Horrible curse in life to be good at something so bad for you. But I love sitting in a chair at the ocean’s edge doing anything or nothing at all. (With proper hat and SPF.)

 

6. See the talents of others.

I have always had a sixth sense about people and part of this gift is recognizing their talents. I hope I do all that I can to encourage those that I see…but some days I get too trapped in my thoughts to do the best at this one.

 

5.  Write good notes.

This has really suffered with the digital age but I always tried to write a sincere note once again tapping into my people sixth sense.  I need to sit, be quiet and write notes again.

 

4.  Interrupting.

My husband — where ever he is at the moment — is nodding his head vigorously. Over the last five years, I have tried to be aware of this and shut-the-heck-up when someone else is talking.

 

3.  Creative things.

Not like being creative with quantum physics or unlocking the genetic code of shark’s to find a cure for cancer, but your standing doodling, painting, photography, sewing, experimenting with new concoction of trail mix creative.

If you like undisciplined creativity, I’m your gal. That’s probably why our walls are covered with framed children’s art and primitive creations I’ve collected along the way.

 

2.  Gardening.

I’d so much rather be outdoors than in (and my housekeeping suffers).

My love of flowers has taken a big back seat to my vegetable garden the last few years but I love watching things grow and being a part of that experience.

 

1.  Love.

I’m a quiet, introverted lover of all things.

People, places…the lovely birds I watch as I type this…the silly turtle that I’ve just laid in her outdoor pen.

Maybe that’s why once I started writing and began getting approval, I can’t stop.

When you care deeply for things and are more the introvert — writing is the perfect way to let all that love pour out.

 

That’s it. Gooo Jamie!

What are some things you do so very well?

Huh?

I know there’s a bunch.

Children — 2 comments
29
Apr 12

Sometimes you just got to roll with an 8 year old.

When you have two children close in age it’s easy to always lump them together in outings. At least for me.

With our busy lives, efficiency indicates that after school, we go to the library together. We go to the pool together. Heaven forbid, we go to Wal*Mart together.

Lately, I’ve tried to reverse this trend and on Sunday afternoons and when my daughter has play dates, I  spend a part of the afternoon with my son alone. (But not on the pipe together. I’ll stay on the bank with the camera phone, thank you very much.)

 

Though I suggest the activity, I’ve learned that things run smoothly if I let him set the tempo, the rules – basically run the show. Without being disrespectful for the most part.

Today I suggested tennis.

Great.

For my son, this equated to a crawfish catching expedition.

 Just roll with it.

As I walked into the television room to find two of the hotdogs I’d planned on feeding the family tonight in a homemade crawfish catcher….I just rolled with it.

After walking to the park…

When he crept back in the bushes slipping and sliding in the teeny creek to set his trap – in his new shoes we were to play tennis in….I just rolled with it.

 

He's in there somewhere....

 

When we got on the court and batted the ball back and forth, running here and yond…well, you know.

The same went for taking a break at “half time”  to run down to the creek to see two hotdogs still floating in the cage in the creek.

And here I sit typing away…for I’ve learned to bring my laptop whenever there might be a possibility of water and crawfish.

 

 

Yes, best to be prepared even when rolling with it.

Can you roll like an 8 year old or are you more squarish?

 

 

Life in Madison / The garden / Uncategorized — No comments
28
Apr 12

Strolling around MadisonFest.

A busy day in Madison, G. A.

We started things off at the primary school track meet where Joe raked in the ribbons ~ as did all the participants.

Then I decided to walk downtown to MadisonFest. A plant sale, craft and art sale extravaganza.

So many cute things….

There were tons of activities for the kids, painting, having their face painted (which always freaked my kids out), eating blue snowcones.

The Rutledge Garden Club had a great booth which in addition to lots of plants had lots of cute craft ideas.

Eugene Swain was painting. I kick myself I didn’t buy a little cardinal for $25 at a booth when we first moved to town.

Just goes to show you….sometimes you need to go with your gut. I would have loved looking at that painting for the last 10 years.

This is the one I would have bought today.  Alas, my checkbook didn’t have much in it.

But I did have enough to visit my good spin friend Lisa Hamilton’s booth. I arrived just as did Phyllis,  another Monday night spin regular…

Lisa, a high school literature teacher by day, jewelry designer in her heart.

I found two cool necklaces and got to take them home in a one-of-a-kind bag by her daughter.

One of those great small town days. And a beautiful one at that.

What did you do this Saturday?

Midlife / parenting — 5 comments
27
Apr 12

No more brace face. Or I’m a bad mommy blogger.

I don’t brag on my kids. My dad bragged way too much on me and if anything, I am too slow to praise mine in front of others.

No, I don’t brag about my kids. I blog about them…which is probably far worse.

My son, my dear almost-ready-to-graduate-son got his braces off yesterday.

Before….

 

And when I picked him up an hour later.

 Yes, I am taking pictures these days not only for material for posts but because…

He is leaving me!!!!!!!!

A friend who has another senior son has been posting pictures on her Facebook page of their middle school and high school years.

Every time I’m tagged in a post and I look at some great moment in my child’s life, I can’t help but think…

WHERE WAS I? WHERE WAS MY CAMERA?

Maybe this blogging thing is my record.

Like scribes we are recording our families’ evolution…for whomever in the world happens to click on the blog.

Is it right?

I really don’t know. When my father saw me vigorously twittering on my phone he said, “It’s just not natural.”

I don’t know if it’s natural but my son turning into a young man is very natural — but most unnatural to me.

After four years he got his braces off yesterday.

What I’m really wondering is how did the rest of him change so fast in four years — without any money or brackets or wires?

What about you? Are there things you won’t post on a blog or Facebook?

 

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