Reality Check - Spouse Style

A little background - when I came home today, my hair had taken a turn for the worse and was hanging across my face.  I don't like anything touching my face, so I wandered around the downstairs looking for a hair clip.  No luck.  I grabbed up a random kitchen clip magnet and took care of the situation. (I'm not going to dwell on how lazy I am and how easy it would be to go upstairs and GET a clip)

-Ron comes home.  We greet each other, sit on the couch, watch some television, discuss our day.  Finally, I give up and say, "It's been half an hour and no comment from you about the fact that I have a chip clip in my hair."  He looks up at me for a second - expressionless - and replies, "Well, I've seen so many strange things over the years...."

Well played, dear.  Well played.

True Love

Open any magazine and you will find an article about how to find true love.  Go to a bookstore or library, and there will be aisles of materials about what true love is, how to find it, what it looks like, how to improve it, etc. etc. etc.

I know what true love is. 

And it isn't roses and champagne.  Or diamonds and gold.  Those things are nice - sometimes - but REAL true love looks quite a bit different.  At times, it is a husband that carries all of the groceries up the basement stairs so the wife doesn't have to.  On another day, it is a wife that comes home after a long day at work and takes the time to make homemade fried chicken because he loves it.  It shows up as compliments first thing in the morning, ignoring bedhead and old makeup that she forgot to remove. And as endless hours of watching football (or endless reruns of The Golden Girls).

This Christmas, true love looked a lot like this:

This is a Comfort-U pillow.  And yes - it is HUGE.  -Ron knew that I had been suffering from some sort of crazy insomnia for two months, as well as trying to deal with a shoulder injury that made finding a comfortable sleeping position impossible!  THIS is true love.  He put actual thought into what was making my life miserable, and then found a way to fix it.  I don't use it every night, but when I do, I magically don't lie awake from 2-5am.  And NAPS!! Oh, the glory of an afternoon NAP!!  As an added bonus, -Ron, JC, and all the pets seem to like it, too.  This evening, I was laying on it for a minute and within minutes both guys were on either side, the cat was wrapped around my head, and both dogs were near the bottom.  Being surrounded and snuggly with your entire family.... I dare you to define LOVE better than that!!

Defeating the "Frumpy Mommy"

**Warning to all male readers - you are probably NOT going to get this one. Sorry.


I have been a mommy for eleven years now. Periodically, I find myself going through something that I have dubbed "Frumpy Mommy Syndrome".  This manifests when I find myself crazy-busy with EVERYTHING else in life except taking care of me.  My hair is usually the first thing to go.  It grows longer and longer, totally out of control, while I ignore the encroaching white areas.  Then I stop wearing make-up..... because WHO is LOOKING?  (this is what I say in my own mind) Next comes the overwhelming urge to wear only t-shirts and lounge pants.  By the end, I'm shuffling zombie-like around the house with a 1980s side-ponytail (gray/brown to be precise), wearing VT lounge pants, one of -ron's old sweatshirts that looks like moths had a feast, and my blue fuzzy slippers. And I may or may not have food nearby.  Okay - I have food nearby...


The good news for me is that I have -ron.  He has the guts to look at me and say, "Please go spend some money at the hairdresser. Or Kohl's. Or anywhere that will fix this."  It's amazing how that works, too.  Everything ends up being connected somehow.  I get my hair done and the next thing you know, I put on make-up every day.  I trade the lounge pants for slightly more stylish clothes. I start making MUCH better choices about food and exercise.  Hmm.... so this is what self-esteem feels like. :)


Happily,

Red-Headed Mo

THE PLAN - Step 1

Quick recap - the last time we were together, I stated that I don't do resolutions... but I do make plans. So it's time to take action and get the plan started. Something I really want to do this year is make more time for ME. I know, I know! If I had a nickel for every guru who told you that "me time" was the answer to all the world's problems, well, I'd have enough money to BUY "me time"!

But seriously, I really do need to work on that. I just found a list on my computer of "Things to Do When I Finish My Masters". I haven't done any of them.  None. Zip. Zero. Nada. A year and a half of ZILCH. Well, not that I've done nothing for all that time. I keep busy. I believe that God gifted me with a love of people and a servant nature. This has translated into a job teaching young children the joys of music, leading those children in performances, volunteering extra hours after school so kiddos can have a choir, leading church children's choir (yes, more small children singing), teaching youth Sunday School, singing in the choir and praise team,going on a mission project, leading two new mission projects, participating in a teachers' sorority, volunteering with Relay for Life, leading the talent show, being a wife and mother (ie: cooking, cleaning, laundry, groceries, guitar lessons, homework, playdates, sleepovers, haircuts, doctors, dentists).... tired yet?  I sure am! Sometime in there, I managed to pull off getting that masters degree - usually from 9pm-2am.

Time to implement THE PLAN. Step 1: Back out of some commitments. Done.  Did it hurt?  Yep.  Am I sorry?  Time will tell, but as of right now the answer is a resounding "NO", which is a word that I just learned.  Step 2: Cut out some of the technology addiction that wastes what precious little free time I have.  Last night, I closed my laptop and watched a new show with JC. I even played some X-Box with both my guys. (yes, that is still technology. but it was family technology. hush.) Tonight, though, I took a big step. I deleted all of the games that I play on Facebook.  No more farming. Life on the Frontier is over. I lost the Mafia War. I wonder if I'll have the shakes tomorrow?  Step 3: Find a hairdresser and get there asap. My current mane looks exactly like that - something that should be stuck to the rear of a horse. I already have a young man at church calling me "Grandma" and I currently have the white hair to back it up. (love you, Bunky!)

There are a lot more steps, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

P.S. Did you know that if you type "Feliz Año Nuevo", you wish someone a "Happy New Year"... but if you don't have a tilde and type "Feliz Ano Nuevo", you wish someone a "Happy New Anus"?  Yeah................ awkward.  For the record, I apologized to, well, pretty much everyone on Facebook.  I'm an idiot. :)

Backpacks Ready :(

Thanks to snow days and winter break, JC and I haven't had to get up and go to school for 18 days. And to be honest... we only had a two day week before that! (I love snow) Facing the reality of routine was quite off-putting today. We repacked our backpacks, checked the lunch menus, filled out forms, packed snacks, planned our after-school activities, freaked out over a project that's due Tuesday, practiced for talent show auditions, did lesson plans, researched webquests, loaded up teacher/colleague Christmas presents that were "snow-delayed", laid out clothes, and set alarm clocks. Oh, and we took naps, played video games, and watched some mindless television. NOW we're READY!

Here we go!!

Another Year - Another Chance!

So it's January 1, 2011. WOW! Time really does move right along, doesn't it! I have been contemplating whether to delete this (tiny) blog altogether, or actually start posting frequently. I have to admit, I have been inspired by an awesome teacher-friend who challenged herself to post every single day of 2010... and then DID it! I keep thinking about how blessed she is to be able to look back and remember what was going on each day. Me - I can barely remember last week, much less what I was doing on any given day in May. So I'm going to try again. I can't promise that it will be everyday, but even a weekly summary will be better than nothing. That's one of the great things about a new year, or a new day - you get to try again. Oh, and I'll even try to figure out how to add pictures. At least my mom will enjoy the updates!!

I don't do resolutions. I have a most wonderful uncle that always said that his resolution was to not make any resolutions. Me too. I do have plans, though. -ron and I have agreed to participate in our first 5K in April. Walking, I'm sure, but at least we'll be moving together! We are headed back to Peru in 2011. I get to go twice, while -ron and JC will go once. I'm practicing my Spanish for those trips. The hardest thing I have planned is to consciously control my mouth. It tends to lose its filter A LOT.

So, I'll let you know how these plans progress - and which have hit the skids! Comments welcome!!

Buenos Noches!
Mo