St. Joe!

Last night, I convinced my family to go with me to an Alumni event from my college (Saint Joseph's College, Rensselaer IN). It was nice to see a few people that I knew. However I felt a lot a little out of place.  Here are all these professionals, who were in many ways "networking" and then there is me...stay at home mom.

Now, I don't in anyway mean to imply that I feel bad, or useless, I've said it before and I'll say it again..."This is a sweet gig."  But in that specific situation, I was certainly...unpurposed  is that a word?   Unless they were desperate to find someone who cleans up bodily functions, helps with elementary school homework, and knows  instantly which dinosaur her children are play acting...because you can't confuse a stegosaurus with an ankylosaurus...

It is tempting, I suppose, to say that my college education was wasted.  But I certainly don't feel that way, not by any stretch of the imagination.  I am after all in graduate school, and one day I will return to "work."  I use my college education everyday, in one way or another.  "Use" isn't the right word..... I live my college education everyday.   That's more like it, my fellow SJC folks will know exactly what I mean.

Go Saint Joe!

Kitchen Witch

My husband asked me last week, "So Mary....um when are we taking down Halloween decorations?"

Halloween Decorations?...It's January. There are no Halloween decorations up. Then he pointed out my Kitchen Witch:



The poppet is supposed to depict a "good" witch who inspires productivity and safety in a kitchen. --from Wikipedia

An old European tradition, my mom always had a Kitchen Witch, they are good luck; Keep pots from boiling over, keeps food from burning, etc...

Just think how much worse off we'd be WITHOUT a kitchen witch...maybe I should get more than one?

"Me Time"

This school year has been really interesting for me. For the first time in 8 years, I get regular alone time. 30 hours a week usually. When I look at that number it seems luxurious and excessive. Of course that is six hours a day, five days a week while the boys are at school. Time I fill with my own school work, house work, errands, computer and television time, and yes...sometimes naps..you may or may not be surprised how fast those six hours go each day. But it is my time, and I can squander it, or use it efficiently at my discretion.

Chief on the other hand, gets very little alone time. He works all day, spends his evenings and most weekends with us. Sure, he's got a long commute, but he still has to pay attention to the road, and watch out for the ones that don't, etc... So really the only alone time he gets is jumping.

Jumping? You ask? Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. So he jumps out, and for a minute or so, he is alone. Training takes over for a bit to get him positioned right, but then he is perfectly alone with his heartbeat. He is literally above worldly concerns..can you imagine?

I think that is a different kind of alone, different from just having the house to yourself. That is a kind of alone that I think only the bravest can handle...even if it didn't require jumping from an airplane.

Ready. Set. GO!

These words are banned in our house. Because, without fail, after these words are spoken, someone is always crying.

Is it my boys or all boys that love to race? Do girls do it? I wouldn't know......

In our house there are on average 10 fights a day about "who goes first"...its not even important stuff like who gets first choice of yogurt or who get to get the first cookie.... Here it is ridiculous stuff like who goes through a doorway first, who trims their toenails first, and who gives me a hug first. That last one bugs me the most because whoever has to go second is then not in the mood to give me a proper hug, because being first is more important than the hug itself. Really?! Just hug your mother!

So I've been asking other people what I should do:

I asked H's kindergarten teacher; since she deals with MORE than 2 kids the issues are different. She has a point, here in our house it is either first or last, there is nothing in between.

I asked a woman from my stitching group. This was the best (I am being facetious). Take an opaque jar and fill it with red and blue marbles, then with their eyes closed have them pick out a marble, and whoever gets the red one goes first.

Besides the obvious problem of each picking the same color marble....the problem here is time. So when it is bed time, I have to carry this jar around with me to determine the following things: who goes up the steps first, who uses the potty first, who brushes their teeth first, who goes through their bedroom door first? (I am not exaggerating, this is what they fight about!) Even if I use just one marble of each color it is still the worst idea ever.

I asked my mom. She laughed in the I'msogladmykidsaregrown way...you know the one.

After that, I figured it was hopeless and just went back to what I was doing. Ignoring when I can and yelling when I can't.

Chili-Slaw Dog

I don't like condiments and I am not an adventurous eater.  Truly....I don't even like mayonnaise on my BLTs.  That is not to say that I don't like all different kinds of food, I just don't see the point in mixing them all up.  I know,  I know they all get mixed in my stomach, but fortunately you don't "often" taste the contents of your stomach ( that grossed me out a little typing it).  I just don't understand this whole fusion thing, I'm sorry country-fried squid with cheese sauce sounds like a terrible pregnancy craving. 

Anyway...I like my foods plain.  I don't need butter or cheese to eat broccoli, just give me the broccoli.  You get the idea.   So imagine my surprise when I saw on TV a hot dog with cole slaw and chili, and my first response was....hmm I bet that is good.  Most surprising because I REALLY don't like cole slaw. I did some basic tests first to see if I was dreaming...no.  Then I checked to see if I was under alien mind control...too soon to tell.  So what did I do?  Well as I was making a trip to the commissary anyway...I got all the stuff for a chili-slaw dog. 

Chief made one up for himself, and I figured I would try one bite, hate it, then he would eat the rest then I would have a plain (burnt...because hot dogs must be burnt!) hot dog.  The chili-slaw dog was amazing.   I ate the whole thing  AND there was mustard on it....mustard is worst of all condiments.                         

I am also thinking that cole slaw on a barbecued pulled-pork sandwich would also be good.....what is happening to me?  Darn aliens.

New Year's Resolution

Things around here have been pretty stagnant, which may account for my few and far between postings (and even those few are pretty weak.). 

I suppose, all things being equal, stagnant is good.  I am comfortable with there being little change in our lives, that makes thing pretty smooth actually.  Smooth, but also as far as this blog is concerned painfully boring.  Don't get me wrong, I am not inviting drama, or turmoil of any sort, but maybe just some humor which I think I may have lost somewhere.....

I've noticed in myself a change over the last few months, or maybe longer, of feeling really cynical and pessimistic about things I am a real "Debbie Downer"  so one of my New Year's resolutions is to balance those with positive and optimistic statements (it may be too much to actually feel optimistic, right at first anyway).  So my intent is that for every post I write that feels like a complaint or sarcastic, I will write one that is thankful or sincere....fingers crossed!

I have other resolutions too.  Like run at least 4 5Ks, lose weight...blah blah blah, those I know I CAN do, but the optimistic one.....not so sure.  But to start out on the right path, though I feel somewhat cynical of my ability to NOT be cynical, I will say:

I can do it...and it's going to be great!