Streetlight Rule

Remember when we were young and we had to be in when the streetlights came on? I remember the rule being that I better be IN THE DRIVEWAY before it even finished flickering all the way on.

Runnin' Man has that same rule. Only, he decided to push it and twist it to meet his own little needs today.

Sir-Talks-A-Lot comes in around 7:06pm. Well, this could have been for 3 reasons.

1.) He'd twisted his foot on his friend's trampoline.

2.) He was hungry, as he undoubtedly is when he smells something being microwaved. (Yeah, dinner was nuked today)

3.) He "TOLD Runnin' Man the streetlights were on! I TOLD him, Ma!"

I must have stepped out front 3 times thinking that Runnin' Man just had to see the streetlights were on, the sky was getting dark and the bats were out.

Waiting for a kid to come home isn't easy when you wanna jump on them like a spider monkey as soon as they walk through the door!

At about 7:20, I decided that I'd give him 5 more minutes, which actually turned into 10, and he came trotting through the door without a care or concern.

Me: Runnin' Man, did you not see it is dark outside?

Runnin' Man: The streetlights weren't on.

Me: SOOOO, you're telling me that I didn't see the streetlights on when I went outside 20 minutes ago? Almost confused myself.

Runnin' Man: Well, the one that I could see wasn't on yet.

And the Spider Monkey couldn't contain itself any more.

What the HECK did he mean the "ONE"??? What about all the other 29 lights up and down the street? Were they not shining bright, lighting up the streets like a Christmas Tree?

See, with Runnin' Man, I have to be specific. He knows daggone well that the streetlight rule means to come in when the street lights come on, and he twisted to make it mean come in when ALL the streetlights are on. So I suppose if there was a broken one, he'd still be out there until the morning?

AHHHHHH KIDS!

Okay, so fellow bloggers, you give a kid an inch and they take a yard. Runnin' Man is currently on hold, waiting for his punishment for this stunt he tried to get over on his mama. Any suggestions on the appropriate consequence?

It's Day 36...

Okay, I'm not walking around looking pitiful like I lost my best friend, but I have.

There are times when I miss Hubs most.

Usually during the times when the TV is on and certain shows are on that we use to watch together. During dinnertime, we use to watch My Wife and Kids, Wheel of Fortune (which I was always better at! LOL) and Two and a Half men, which he reluctantly watch because I wanted to. On Saturdays we spent mant many hours watching HGTV and DIY (which I reluctantly watched because he wanted to). Didn't matter what was on HGTV or DIY. It' s just that every since we bought our house, HGTV and DIY have been the channels to watch for ideas that we vow that we will one day do, know that we are really never going to get to.

I hardly turn the TV on anymore. Except of course to watch Army Wives, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and House. Those are my absolute favorite shows. The ones where I take no calls and answer no questions.

Mama?

Shhh.

Mama? Can I...?

SHHH!

MAMA. HE.....

SHHHHHHHHHH!

There are other times when I'm really missing Hubs. It seems that I'm super-duper busy after putting the boys in football and claiming that it clearly was not going to be as bad as Hubs said it was going to be for me. WELL, I have to admit that he was right. Chaufeuring around 2 boys on two different teams in two different age groups BY MYSELF proves to be much harder that I'd let on, but as a mom who obviously has it all together (ha ha!) I get the job done!

This was his thing though. Of course we worked together last year, but practices and team pictures were really his thing. I tried to go on some of the outtings, simple because I'm the mom and I felt like I needed to be there with my boys, but he'd try to talk me out of it. Now at first I was a little offended and felt like I wasn't wanted, but quickly realized that even though I'm THE MAMA, I have to step back and let him be the DADDY and have his father-son time.

And that's just it! Football is father-son time and it's hard for me to see them out there being one of the few without fathers to coach them and gently guide them when they mess up on the field as only a dad can. Gently as a ROCK! It's football dammit!

And because it's football. I have to take on that hard core attitude and remember that when one of those 200lb 4th graders rams into my 64lb baby like I frieght train, I can't get run on the field, tackle the kid and pull out my beat-em stick for hurtin' my boy!

Nope I have to stay on the side lines and yell to my boy to "MAN UP! Suck it up! This ain't Ballet!"

And you know when I REALLY miss Hubs??? Laundry Day! Laundry is my all time worse chore. The FOLDING part. I can't STAND to fold laundry. That's the one task that I most appreciate Hubs for taking over. Some wives can complain that their husbands don't do anything around the house, but that's not the case with mine. I don't have to say anything about doing laundry and before I know it, it's already done. Somewhere in between washing the cars and maintaining the lawn, the laudry was done every weekend by Hubs. For that alone he is great. For that alone, I miss him.

So here it is, day 36 and I have washed and folded at least 36 loads of laundry and missed 25 episodes of Wheel of Fortune since his departure.

Watch out Mike Vick!

Do you need a good laugh today? Visit my friends' blog here for one of those kid moments when you can't do anything but grab the camera and laugh.

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So my baby had his first football game yesterday.

He has that gangsta-lean thing goin' on cuz he's cool like dat!

He was one excited kid. It's his first year in Tackle so he got to wear the full gear this year.



If you ask me what position he plays I would have to twirl my hair around my finger and go blonde on you because I don't know nothing about no darn football. (double negative, I know) All I know is that he blocks, on both defense and offense. Yeah, he's just that good! (well, maybe it's because they only have 14 players, but who cares.)



He made a TOUCHDOWN!! First game and he made a touchdown! The boy is GOOD!



Okay, well, he kinda didn't follow the play, but he got the point so why does that matter???



You see, all I saw was my child run into a group of kids and come out with the ball, hauling tail towards the goal line. No one could catch him.



When I asked him about his totally awesome point scoring event, he said, "Well, all I know is that I saw *the quarterback* surrounded by a buncha people, ma. And I saw he needed help. So I just ran in there and got the ball out of his hands and made the touch down!"



Okay, so maybe that's not exactly the right way to play football. Maybe you're suppose to play your position.



BUT WHO CARE! My Boy scored a touchdown!





He's officially Da MAN!

If a tree falls in the woods.....

Why is it that why you have something really ingenious to say, no one hears you?

**If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?**

That's what happened with my previous post entitled "I'm Coping...."

Okay, so it wasn't THAT ingenious, but it was one of the good ones, and when I pushed post, for some reason it only posted the title and my ingenious poem and my super-dee-dooper words ended up lost somewhere in The Lost Words of the Blogosphere!

It's disappointing. And it kinda ranks up there somewhere with how I'm always thinking of these perfect blog posts when I'm nowhere near my computer or totally unable to write anything down. Many times these ingenious writings come into my head while I'm taking a shower. That seems to be when I do my best work. I'd have the perfect post all thought out in my head, then by the time I'm all washed up and dried off, it's disappeared! And what's left is..."Duuuhhh, we should have mashed potatoes today, heh heh!"

I've actually considered that when a great thought comes into my head, no matter what I'm doing, I should just make a mad dash for the computer, load it up and get to typing. I'm pretty sure that it may terrify the kids to see their mom running butt naked covered in soap through the house to the computer room. It would traumatized them! But it sure as heck would make for a great post! LOL!

I'm coping......

Can't spoil the fun.

I told a friend of mine that I'd take picture of her and her kids.

I have the nice camera and I'm hoping to be able to learn to really use it one day.

So, after some pushing from an awesome photographer friend, I decided to ask a friend whose husband is also deployed if she'd let me practice on her and her 3 girls.

Open Mouth. Insert Foot.

She wants pictures of her kids but more than that, she wants pictures of herself.... in costumes... for her husband. 12 poses, 12 costumes, for a calendar.

Okay, I'm all for the happy little family pictures, but I don't know that I'm ready for the freaky deaky stuff.


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Hubs seems to think that I do too much for the kids. He feels like kids should have it like we did back in the days when kids didn't get an opinion, when they just had to go with what the grown folk decided and speak only when spoken to. Whenever I say something like, "The kids want to have a movie night, so I'm going to get a movie," or "The kids want Hamburger Helper. We're gonna run to the store," he says that I do to much for them.

I totally disagree! I mean, my kids work hard around the house just like I do. I'm so sure that on many occasions you have read how I call them my slaves. They are responsible for their room and their bathroom, folding their clothes, taking out the trash, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the porch and sometimes washing the dog.

They are not spoiled by any means because we only buy them toys or games on gift-giving occasions. So for me to allow them to decide on occasion what we should do for the day or what we should eat, take them to all the birthday parties they can attend, and chauffeur them to all kids of fun days and events, does not make them spoiled and does not mean that they are running me over.

I enjoy doing things with them.

They are only young once.

These are days they can never get back. It's not me spoiling them.

It's me doing something for them that makes them happy, because God knows they make me happy without even trying.

Is this why PTOs have a bad name?

You know, I really had to step back and take a breather today after getting an email from a fellow PTO member, The Prez.

Now, I had to take a step back and breathe because honestly, I have to make sure that I was careful with how I approached this situation. I'm still not sure how to handle it and I'm not sure I can talk about it here without saying my REAL feelings, but I will say this. I now see why PTO/PTA's have a rep all over the US. I see why when people hear JOIN PTO they run in the other direction. I understand now why PTO's/PTA's are often considered cliquish and many parents don't want to get involved.

There has to be a balance of control and many times among women, that's a hard task.

Last year, being a part of PTO was fun. This year not so much.

Last year, I was quiet about a lot, agreed with a lot. I was a worker bee and I pretty much did what I was asked.

This year, I have opinions and ideas that I want to share, changes I'd love to see happen. This year I want to get more people involved, have more people taking charge of events. Give people the opportunity to fully be a part of PTO. I feel like if you put the opportunities out there for people to get involved and let them put together their groups and plans then you get more involvement than just that of the board members and the people they beg to help.

When you have a president who wants to be in control of it all, doesn't want to step back and give others a chance to shine, my ideas for a better PTO go right out of the window. When you're dealing with a control-freak-micro-manager who feels that she should be the chairperson for every event or at least someone "she knows" should chair, PTO will never work the way that it was truly intended.

Oops, I guess I said more than I wanted to say. Hope I haven't hurt any one's feelings here.

My Blog.

Deal with it!

From Barbecue to BaDonkADonk

Having a deployed husband means that there are many days the kids' dinner is going to consist of hot dogs or some other processed meet, mac & cheese or crackers. Many nights it might be that they just have to figure out what they can get out of all three of those choices. With Hubs gone, there is little reason to cook every day for a buncha picky twerps who would rather be at McDonald's.

Then there are those nights when I just have to say LET'S GO OUT TO EAT!

Today was one of the go out to eat days. I needed an excuse to get out of the house. Since Hubs left it has been hard for me to sit inside because the house feels lonely, even during the times when he would have been at work anyway.

We ate at Shane's Barbecue and I have to say it was well worth it. The food was good, and the discount with 3 free kids meal coupons and a 20% off military discount was awesome, but the best part was the conversation. We talked and laughed about much of nothing.

My best friend was texting me about her son's up and coming birthday and after about 5 texts, Sir-Talks-A-Lot just said, "Ma, you need to tell whoever that is that keeps texting you that we are having dinner!"

Well, ALRIGHTY THEN!

Sir-Talks-A-Lot is just one of those kids that says exactly what he is thinking when he is thinking it and suffers the consequences later.

I just laughed and relayed the message. The texting stopped.

So as we watched football on the flat screen TVs strategically placed around the place, you woulda thought that my boys actually knew what they were talking about as they sat eating and whooping and wowing and calling out plays while Miss Missy and I pretended to know what a "reverse left" was.

As we were leaving, Sir-Talks-A-Lot walk towards the door and said, "TTKA! Time To Kick...."

"BOY!" I think he knew better than to finish that thought, but I'm not sure....

"What does TTKA mean?" I asked, mpt sure I heard him right, but I pushed him toward the door, not even bothering to look around to see who heard him.

Both boys responded with giggles and repeated, Time To Kick......."

Silence. (No profanity shall pass those lips)

"Don't ever let me hear you say that again."

Okay, that one surely didn't come from me, which is all the more reason that I know I have to more closely monitor my kids TV intake. They are likely to pick up the best of the worse and because it is in cartoon form, they think it's okay to repeat.

I don't know which one is more humorous. The fact that Sir Talks-A-Lot is now speaking in text, or the fact that Runnin' Man told the dog to get away from him because she smells like Ba-donk-a-donk!

Politics in Pre-K?

My My My! I just can't get off politics this week.


I picked Miss Missy up from her Pre-K Class, which, by the way she is LOVIN', and as we were walking to the car I started teasing her about her little bitty shorts. I'm trying to get as much wear out of her clothes as I can because the cool weather is a comin'!


This morning, she picked out her clothes. She decided on our Family Reunion shirt.



The shirt has a picture of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Obama and it reads "Rosa sat, so Martin could walk, so Obama could run"

Cute black history concept. All of my kids love those shirts and I hadn't let them wear them to school yet, but this week I was like, go ahead. They are proud of their shirts!

Well, a Miss Missy is skipping to the car and getting in.

As usual, she started going into what happened today.

Miss Missy: "Miss D was like, is that an Obama shirt? And I said YES and she said, Oh, that's nice. Then another boy said is that an Obama shirt? And I said yes. But then this girl named Madison was like, is that an Obama shirt and I said yes and she said I don't like Obama. He's a bad president. And I told her, (she put her hands on her hips) NO HE'S NOT! And I didn't talk to her NO MORE!"

Amazing what kids are saying, huh? What does a Pre-K kid know about a bad president? My kids really only know that Obama is a big this because he is the first black president, although Miss Missy did say when we got home and talked about her day more in detail that McCain only wants money. I asked her where she got that idea from and she said she heard Sir-Talks-A-Lot say it. She's 4!

I think it's crazy that our children's young minds are absorbing so much of this political battle and they feel the need to defend the side their parents are on because that's what they hear in their homes.

The one that really got me was after the election, Sir-Talks-A-Lot comes home from school and when he tells me about his day he looks like he wants to cry because some little girl in his FIRST GRADE CLASS told him that Obama was a baby killer. "That's a lie, right mom?"

It's not easy trying to explain to a seven year old that Obama does not and has never killed any babies, and that his classmate doesn't know what she is talking about.

It's not easy explaining to a 7 year old that Obama is pro-choice and thinks that women should have the right to choose if they want to have a baby or not. So he pretty much just let it go amd he didn't ask anymore questions.


Thank goodness, but I can imagine all the MY MAMA SAID comments he made on the playground the next day!

Too much for a comment response!

Know that when you come to my blog, you can respond to what I say however you see fit. I'm not gonna erase ya unless I feel your response is too vulgar or just outright horrible. But also know that you may very well say something that may become the subject for another post and I may very well put you on blast!



My last post on The OBAMA Speech made a few people stand up and say exactly what was on their minds. I HAD to respond in detail to one:



La Pixie said...


first of all, I think throwing in the race thing is just laughable. people dont care for Obama because we dont like his policies. I would be the first to say that he is an excellent speaker. I just dont like what he is saying.second, the outrage is mostly over the materials that were given to teachers to cover with the students. I definitely have a problem with teachers in public schools telling students that they need to think about how they can best serve Obama. NOT their country, mind you, but Obama. if I have been updated correctly, that bit was removed from the materials, as a result of the outrage from people.the smallest part of the madness is the fact that parents werent given a choice. just like you should be able to have your kids watch it if you want, parents should be able to not have their kids watch it. now, some parents did have a choice, but some, like in Tempe, AZ, didnt. personally, I think this issue needed to be taken up with the school districts.







Oh, come ON, La Pixie! Really? So you really believe that there was NO race issue what-so-ever in this? Obama's entire presidency has been nothing but a race issue!



How many democratic presidents before this have been harassed, by the GOP the way Obama has?



How many were asked to legitfy (it's a word, im MY DICTIONARY :-) ) their birth certificates? (*crickets*)



How many times has a soldier been allowed to OPENLY NOT SERVE HIS TERM because they were against the president?



How many previous presidents have had a hard time trying to get EVERYTHING to pass?



How many? NONE! That's how many.



Why is that, do you think? Why is Obama having such a hard time in office? Why? Because he is the first BLACK president, that's why.


And as for the GOP.... because those are who have the problem with everything.... to try to stop the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to speak positive to the children of America, is absurd! Never have I heard of such a thing! And if the problem was that he asked the students to write something based on what they could do to help the president, what's the big deal with that?

"What can you as a child do to insure that the country runs smoothly by your president?"

"What ideas do you have that could help the president make sound decision to insure you have a better future?"

"What can YOU do to help me make this a better world for all of us to live in?"

What is wrong with asking the students to THINK?


Have we not been asked the same types of questions in history or social studies class when we were growing up? The only difference is that we now have technology in place that allows the president to ask these things "face to face".


Funny, though, you say that the parents should be allowed to have a choice of what their kids should NOT watch. Sex education is taught in the classroom and if a parent decides that they don't feel sex education appropriate for their seed, they take them out of that lesson. The school, the COUNTY, doesn't decide not to teach it! If I have a problem with my child learning about the dinosaurs because I don't believe in evolution, but the bible instead, are those teachings going to be bypassed and taken out of the curriculum?


So, La Pixie, I've always known that we don't have the same beliefs as far as politics goes, and I really didn't expect you to understand why I felt my children would benefit from hearing a positive message from the president. Maybe when you have children of your own (don't rush it, though. Enjoy that new marriage!) and want them to understand the importance of securing their future, you'll see why, in this situation, Obama was doing the right thing!



** Special Thanks to La Pixie for leaving an honest comment. Visit her cute little blog, Pixie Dusted, for some fresh and tasty cooking ideas from a newly married girl.

Tell It Like It T-I-Z Tuesday: Obama Speeks, Our County Refuses to Listen!

I haven't done a TILIT post in quite a while. For those you that didn't have the pleasure of reading any of my TELL IT LIKE IT T-I-Z Tuesday post, these are post where I post about anything that is of great concern to me with all the honesty that my little heart can muster up. I tell it like I see it with MY opinion because, well, this is MY Blog! I touch anything in the news, politics, Hollywood, or my everyday world. It may be hard to accept or hard to handle, your opinions and comments are always welcome and I encourage you to TELL IT LIKE IT T-I-Z on your own blog!

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After hearing so much controversy over the Obama Speech being shown nation wide in the schools via web cast this Tuesday, I had to email our school principal to find out if our school would be participating in the viewing.

For those of you that have been living under a rock, as I had before Saturday, and have NOT heard about this, President Obama will be speaking at a school in Arlington, VA and it will be shown via web cast in ever participating school in the nation.

The key word is PARTICIPATING.

Back to my email. I wanted to know if we will be participating in showing our students this web cast, as I believe that it is a wonderful opportunity for the students to hear the importance of staying in school, working hard, and being responsible for their future from one of the highest powers in the United States.

The answer I got back was a NO. Our COUNTY had decided that our students were NOT to participate in watching the President speak. The words of President Obama obviously are not important. What I'm wondering is what is it that these people are afraid of what it comes to the President.

Perhaps it is a horrible thing for the kids to hear that they should stay in school and work hard. I would never want my kids to hear that they should take responsibility for their own future and decide now whether or not they choose to be successful in life by doing the right thing, finishing their homework and listening to teachers now.

Is that code for vote for the VOTE DEMOCRATIC when you turn 18? Subliminal messaging? I gather that the county is afraid that after hearing the speech, kids are gonna start walking around sporting either a red bandanna or a red one. Not representing BLOODS OR CRIPS either.


The speech has been released for America parents to draw their own conclusions. Read it here.


"What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future." How sinister is that! How could he say such a thing to young impressionable children?

For all of you those parents that are taken their kids out of school and expecting an unexcused absence for that day, what are you truly afraid of? To think that this wretched president, whom America voted for, will encourage your kids to set goal and do everything they can to achieve them, to volunteer in their communities and get involved in extracurricular activities. WOW! What a demon!

I'm considering taking my kids out so that they CAN see the speech tomorrow. Are we excused???

Coming from anyone else, that would probably be a standing ovation speech. Coming from anyone else the speech would be welcome with open arms, but because he is a BLACK PRESIDENT, everything he does is scrutinized. Everything he does HAS to be a bad thing.

Now I am the LAST person to throw in the race card, but TODAY, I am disappointed in my COUNTY and my COUNTRY for the racism I see in this nationwide situation!

Can you say FOOTBALL!!!!!

I've been trying to WALK on a daily basis with my neighbor. Because we have so many hills in our 'hood, it's been a true workout.

So, I'm proud of myself for doing it for 4 days in a row, overcoming the excuses and DOING IT!

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It was a bad day for Sir-Talks-A-Lot with me yesterday. When he got home from school, the poor boy was complaining of a stomach ache and a headache. So like a good mother, I let him go lay down and take a nap before doing his homework.

WRONG answer! When I let the child take a nap at 5pm, waking him up an hour later to do homework before dinner causes a child to be SUPER whiny.

So on top of the fact that he had to do homework, THAT HE JUST DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO DO all of a sudden, I'd gotten a call from his new football coach, who was NOT the coach he wanted, and he was NOT picked to be on the same team as his best friend.

Can you say WATERWORKS?!?!?!

The poor boy was so distraught (and probably still sleepy) that he cried full streams of , bawling his eyes out, for 45 minutes.

I tried to console him, I really did. I told Sir-Talks-A-Lot that he must have just done so good that his friend's dad couldn't get him in the draft before the other coach snatched him up. Even my words of encouragement didn't help. After about 45 minutes, I couldn't take the pitiful child's crying anymore and I just said,

"Look boy, MAN UP! This is football. There aren't any crybaby wimpy boys in football!"

Okay, so maybe I was a little harsh. No chance for that Mother of the Year Award now, huh? But there is only so much boo-hooing a person can take!

I personally can't WAIT for football season to start. I really enjoyed being out at night, bundled up in a coat and a blanket cheering on my boys from the sidelines. It was awesome! This year, it will certainly be a lot more difficult with Hubs being deployed and having 2 boys on 2 different teams and 2 different age groups, many games and practices on the same nights, at the same times, at DIFFERENT fields.

can't be in 2 places at once.

I really hate that if they do something totally great and they look up for me to be on the sidelines screaming their name and giving them the THUMBS UP, I might not be there. That's really hard for me as a mom who is ALWAYS there for them no matter what. But it is sure to work itself out. I'm excited about the upcoming season. Probably more than they are.

And this year, I have a CAMERA for ALL the photos!!!