The Parking Situation

As I write this blog entry, I am sitting in the middle row of my mini-van with a cozy blanket and my mp3 player, listening to Bieber Christmas. Just in case my laptop loses power before school dismisses in an hour, I have packed snacks and a reading book. It’s raining here in Huntington Beach. When it rains, school dismissal is obnoxious. I admit that I am not a strong driver. I do not like making last minute decisions like “Should I drive through that puddle or slam on my brakes and splash the pedestrians on the sidewalk?” I play it safe and arrive early so we (the kiddos of the carpool that I affectionately call “Make Way for Ducklings”) can walk a short distance to my car and I can just hit the slider door button and they can rush in. I don’t like crossing busy streets with that many kids. I only have 2 hands. It looks weird holding onto 2 hoods with one hand and a backpack of another.
Last time it rained, I could have just driven around the neighborhood, gone home, parked in front of my house and then walked to school. It would have been closer than the parking spot that I took. Water rushing on both sides of the street made it difficult to even cross to get onto the sidewalk. I made it to the front of the school but once I got the kids and we made the return trip to the car, it became somewhat of a challenge. We attempted to cross the street, but the kids ended up in water to their shins. The current almost took them away and a stranger, teenager…or just a strange teenager ran over to grab the littlest one and carry her to safety…in the MIDDLE of the street where there was a small pathway of road that was dry. So we walked to the car in the middle of the street. I had them by their backpacks and jackets. The bus was driving slowly behind us.

I am determined not to ever repeat that day again. And so I sit here….2nd car in line to the school ready to grab those kids and make our get-away in dry socks and without assistance from strangers.

On un-rainy days, the parking situation can also be a bit hairy. There are so many cars! There is no parking! I still come early. I don’t mind sitting in my car. I like to craft. It gets me away from my sweat-shop sewing that I’ve been doing lately. I can’t use my machine in the car…but now that I am utilizing the back of the car for blogging, I think that I can possibly set it up in here. OMG! I know where my new craft room is going to be now!!!!!!

Here are a few items that I have made while waiting in my car for the kids:

Cute Halloween ornaments:


Cute peacock ornaments:


A pretty necklace:


I've even cut paper kimonos (and got a bestie to help me) as we sat and waited at soccer practice:

Extreme Couponing????!!!!!!

I know, I know. Those people, generally women, on that Extreme Couponing show are CRAZY! I am amazed at how much they get for a "dollar" as well as how much they can store behind their tv and above their book shelves.

A year ago, we had a little family crisis that threatened our expendable budget. The future was unknown regarding my husband's job and that was the gentle hand that guided our family to more practical spending. Less frequent dinners out. No new clothes. I searched for more budget-friendly bean and rice based meals. I also started to clip coupons.

At first, I was just excited that I was able to remember to use the coupon that I clipped. My excitement led me to stacking coupons, using the manufacturer and store coupons together to get almost double the savings. Now I've stepped it up a notch and I've been watching sales. I've been pleased with what I've been able to find on sale that I can use my coupons with.

Yesterday I went to Vons. Not my favorite place to shop, but they had what I wanted on sale. Not 10 minutes in the store and this is what I came out with for just under $9:
2 boxes of Fruit Gushers, 2 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars, A box of Honey Nut Cherrios, A 2-liter bottle of Dr. Pepper, a bag of Kettle brand potato chips, 4 lb. bag of C&H granulated sugar, and a bottle of 409 kitchen cleaning solution. It was like shopping at the dollar store, but coming out with "better" stuff!!!!!

I have to say. Saving money can be fun and now that I am the official manager of the household, it feels good knowing that I am saving money so we can do MORE fun stuff, like pay our library fines or plop pennies into the fountain at the mall.

Just a small facet of our new lifestyle. I love that we are teaching our kids to use their money wisely. They are by no means, poor starving boys. They still get a good meal and junk food. We still step foot into McDonald's on occasion.....but they know that it will always be with a coupon.

A Little Note About Eggs....and other stuff

The economy is bad. The budget is small. As you may have read in previous posts, our family has been transitioning into self-sufficiency. We have organic produce growing in our garden. We compost. We don't use the tv or internet on Sundays. We force our kids to fly kites and run around at these grassy places called parks. Our sons DON'T have cell phones! (Last week I lectured them all on how to make an emergency collect call from a pay phone-if they can find one) I've been teaching myself to sew...my own clothes. Our greatest joy, lately, has been the lovely eggs that one of our hens has been leaving us just about every day. I call her Fluffy-butt, but in my mind I have named her Mother Clucker (I don't say it out loud anymore because it would be considered a little inappropriate...so my 14-year-old says).




The eggs are brown and smaller than the grade-A extra large Costco beauties, but whatever, they are NOT from Norco and they taste better. The ritual is that we wait for an awful sound coming from the back yard (to which even the bunny is confused by because she always stops, stares at me, and gives me this look that I interpret as, "WHAAAAAATTTTT???!!!!") and then all go running to the coop and lift the nesting box and either go back to the house sad, but with anticipation that she will lay soon, or happy with a little, warm, tan egg in-hand. Those waiting days are pretty pathetic. Usually 3 of us stand looking out through the patio door and 1 of us leaves crusty finger and lip marks all over the glass.

Today was an especially "fun" day because we had our first tragedy. Yes, we were excited! Yes, we ran to the coop. The little guy held the egg so gently all the way to the kitchen, but by some divine inspiration from the egg-laying-god, he decided that jumping up and down would be a suitable activity. So the egg was jostled in his tiny hands until it dropped and cracked on the tile.

Needless to say, he had a scrambled egg for breakfast....and proclaimed, "tastes just like a REAL egg."

The Huxtable Experiment

Problem/Question: Does Huxtable discipline work in "the real world"?

Observation/Research: I have watched many episodes of The Cosby Show and have found similarities between the Huxtable family and my own. I have noted that when there is a dilemma, Claire and Heathcliff resort to routine problem-solving skills.

Formulate a Hypothesis: Maybe, but not always within the 30-minute time frame of an episode. 20 minutes if you count the commercials.

Experiment: Over a short period of time (1 day) I have applied the discipline method of Claire and Heathcliff Huxtable with my own children. Patience, kindness, love, self-control...blah, blah...all the Fruits of the Spirit...then also included a smirk on my face and a bit of silliness such as wide-eyed eye-dancing and talking slowly with solid word-enunciation.

Collect and Analyze Results: The subjects responded well to the discipline. There was less grumbling and arguing. In the case of the teenager, it was not quite as simple to get positive feedback. Even with extra "love" (very scientific), there was some resentment in having to do the dishes twice in one day but they got done. With the 5-year-old, a lack of sleep may have effected the outcome of his response when asked to turn off the X-Box. Although he did turn it off, there was a bit of sulking and a few tears shed...not a normal response for this subject.

Conclusion: Yes, Huxtable discipline can work. It it effective. More research needs to be done when having to discipline 5 children at a time. I only have 3.


So I just used the "Scientific Method" to try to remind myself that there really is a way to discipline my boys through love and patience and I was reminded of this while watching The Cosby Show with my boys. I always "got" the Huxtable family. They were perfect, but in an imperfect way. Take away their professions as a doctor and a lawyer...Take away their fancy brownstone house...and what is left is a normal family, just like my own. I've sewed the ugly shirt, the boys have fought so badly that they should have been locked in the basement like Vanessa and Rudy. The lies that kids tell to cover their butts, the messy rooms, and the funeral for the goldfish....it all really does happen.

I love the Huxtables! I love sharing The Cosby Show with my boys and husband. I love being reminded that the issues of "real life" really do have solutions and that they not always easy to find. I love that there can be evenings when you send all of your kids to bed and you can lay in your own bed with your Honeybee and can have a discussion, turn off the lights, kiss each other "good-night", and then fall asleep in an embrace and with a smile on your face.

Half-Baked

I am sure you have no idea what this blog entry is about. I am sure that it will shock you when you realize that I am writing about my kids. But before you move on to MSN's Wonderwall of celebrity pictures, give my story a shot.

My friend Mari and I took our kids to the beach today. It was beautiful. Our boys played in the surf and sand, as most normal kids do, but then there was "the visitor" that accompanied. Needless to say, there is always DRAMA when Mari and I are together, but this day's DRAMA came from one sole source....."the visitor". A bee sting, a cut on the ankle, and then a few flips and turns in the waves. Mindless sand catapulting from his shovel at our own kids as well as other unsuspecting beach-goers. He was a little immature, but he was having the time of his life. So Mari and I sat there attentive to his every move because it didn't seem like enough assurance that the lifeguard was just 20 feet away. While all the other boys dug in the sand or kicked around the soccer ball, he kept busy making sure that we were watching him brave the waves that crashed on top of him but mostly, swept him off his feet. This boy is almost 9 years old, but had the heart, soul, and smile of a 5-year old.

So the part about being half-baked, I think that many of us moms see our kids and we think, "normal" or "perfect" or sometimes "better". But I will admit that there are so many times in which I thought to MYSELF, "immature", "behind", and "slow". Half-baked doesn't mean to be lacking in brain cells. We don't ever call a half-baked potato mentally deficient. If your chicken roast is half-baked, it just means that it isn't done yet. It hasn't reached its full-cooked maturity. It just needs more time.

So, for all of those times in which I thought to myself that my children seemed a little awkward, maybe less mature than their peers, or even outright annoying, it was mostly because they were just half-baked...and not quite ready for the situation at-hand. I am learning though, because I have had 3 times the opportunities to be a good mom and have failed many, many times. You learn so much more from your failures (and that is why I write a blog filled with my advice of what NOT to do). Expectations are good, but they are so much better when they are realistic. It leads to less half-baked moments. I have also learned that comparison of my kids leads to, well, comparison and that can be hurtful to my kids.

There is nothing more sobering than having a half-baked moment yourself. I have them quite often, which leads me to think that I might be drinking alcohol instead of water, but that can't be because I don't have a job to pay for my Top Ramen, let-alone alcohol. As you may recall, fell under the trash bin and I vaccumed my hair and most recently, I took a tumble down my hallway that led to some kickin' bruises all along my left side. I have had many half-baked moments and have learned from them. When I taught the algebra classes at a middle school, I didn't know algebra. I was half-baked. I was almost there. I taught myself and became a master blackbelt of the quadratic equation. But that didn't mean that I wasn't humbled by some nice questions about how a vertical line couldn't be a function....blah, blah, algebranese.

So please don't think I am insensitive when I call your kid half-baked. I would just be stating that there might be some growing up to. Maybe an observation that the situation may be a bit much for him/her to handle for their age or ability. We all know that kids have growing up to do, right? How else are they going to be perfectly mature adults....

You know what? I think I'll just keep my mouth shut and not say anything...but if you see my eyes rolling to the back of my head, it probably means that someone around me seems a little half-baked.

Thoughts From My Experience of Being Pinned Under a Trash Bin

I sit here, typing an entry because I am too sore to do anything else. I tried and FAILED miserably at completing a SUPERWOMAN task yesterday that has left me bruised, bare-knuckled, and unable to bend.

It may be that I am in my 30's and have this grand desire to be "the best" at everything. I may be trying to overcome these things called "age" and "growing up". It may be that I am tired of certain people telling me that I am a "wimp" (this list includes a parental unit and at least one offspring, just to mention a couple). For whatever reason, I thought that I was strong enough to roll out the 200 pound trash bin and, with no luck, ended up on the concrete pinned under it.

So, screaming like a baby I cried for anyone. My husband was at work, my oldest son was away at camp, my middle son was in the bathroom, and the little guy was busy eating his cereal. There is no neighbor living next door to us. The side gate was left open with a clear view to the neighbor across the street and I imagine that they could have been taking pictures or laughing at my expense, but it was obvious that no one heard me at 7:30 in the morning. I mustered up what strength I had left and was able to lift the top of the bin off my chest and shimmy-ed my way out from under the dirt and weeds.

Superwoman, I am not. I have learned an important lesson. It is my husband's job to take out the heavy trash...and he does it so gracefully (part of the reason why I thought that it would be a "cake" job). I think that I just need to suck it up and live with my gold-plated, "wimp" crown on my head and enjoy NOT taking out the heavy trash. I have found other things that I can be "SUPER" at. I make "SUPER" greeting cards and "SUPER" pillow covers. My son loves my "SUPER" chicken soup and my husband loves my "SUPER"-toned thighs. I happen to think that I have a "SUPER" singing voice but save it for car rides and showers. I actually am striving just to be normal....Normal would be pretty "SUPER"!

So if you are interested in taking advice from a 30-something that is struggling to be normal, I'd say, "Don't get pinned under the garbage and remember to turn off the vacuum before you lean down to grab the pencil under the bed."

Time Warp

I haven't blogged in a while. I've been a little caught up in my little time-warp. It started with the garden....it grew to having chickens, and now, we have technology holidays on Sunday. Just yesterday, I was thinking, "Where did those overalls go? I could really use them right now. Hee-haw!"

These technology holidays consist of us not watching tv or using the internet. My husband and I turn off our cell phones and we use as little electricity as possible. We don't consider ourselves Amish....yet. We still use our fridge and enjoy the blessings of what Thomas Edison gave us every time we switch on a light. We do though, try to use natural light as long as we can and spend time outside. Last night we tried to play Yatzee by candlelight until I couldn't handle the flickers of the candles anymore(They were messing with my one good eye).

As we continue to thrive through this simple life for one day of our week, we have found that it has brought us closer together. We spend time gardening as a family. We have been eating lunch together. The kids have more interaction with each other...or fighting, if that's what you want to call it. We all pick up these spinal-bound things called books and magazines. Maybe it's out of sheer boredom, but everyone is about ready to go to sleep once the sun goes down.

A day of rest. Be it Biblical, or just to get back to a more simple life, it has been refreshing. We were able to survive without 4G and Survivor at one point in our lives. Our family plans ahead on most weekends (Friday and Saturday) to complete as much work for meals and house-cleaning so we can concentrate on what is most important: Our relationships with each other and our devotion to the One that gave us each day to live.

So...if you see my green light on my profile picture on FaceBook on a Sunday, I might have some explaining to do.