Completely Random Stuff…

1-The meanest/craziest/most annoying people on Earth shop at the Costco near me. They will cut you if they think you took their parking spot. Every time I go I come out cranky and ready for a fight–but they have free samples! And coupons for Organic juice boxes! And three people can eat in their ‘food court’ for under $5!

2-We had an awesome weekend of hiking and picking strawberries and making foods with said strawberries. I loaded the pictures onto the computer and realized that I have a frumpy middle-aged body. I had to crop myself out of all the pictures.

3-Every time I try a new eye cream I think it makes my eyes more wrinkly. Then I wonder if they are exactly the same but I’m looking at them more than usual so they just seem more wrinkly.

4-I am addicted to ebay.

5-The left mouse button on my laptop broke. We thought it would be a good idea to switch the left & right functions. It works, but after 15 years of left-clicking you can’t just switch over night. Really. Try it. It is less fun than you’d think.

Can Seven Billion Parenting Books Be Wrong?

When I was pregnant the first time I read every book I could find about pregnancy, birth, parenting, etc… To the point that one time I mentioned something I’d read to a co-worker/mother of three boys then asked: ‘What do you think?’ And she replied: ‘I think you read too much’. We laughed and I went on with my life. That was 8+ years ago…

The other day I was in line at the store and my kids were jumping around like…well, like them. I suggested playing shape searchers, or color searchers, or that game where we all take turns telling a part of the story. And, they kept jumping around as if they couldn’t hear me…

That is when it occured to me. All of the books, magazines, and shows I’ve watched have had all of these wonderful ideas: going to a restaurant? bring a stash of crayons & paper, standing in line? play a game, waiting in an office? don’t forget the magnet board! And I used those ideas. So now my kids are 8, 6, & 4 and they don’t know how to just BE!

I am going to take responsibility, of course, but I am also going to send that old co-worker an email to let her know she was right. Then, I’m going to teach my kids that you can be still for five minutes without permanent damage. (Wish my luck on that one.) And, I think, I may start reading more craft magazines and fewer parenting ones…

Know What’s Awesome?

Playlists.

Sometimes I open a playlist on the computer.  It’s my playlist.  I made it.  The title of the playlist is Amy. Yet, every time the song changes I am excited because ‘I love this song’!

And one of those songs?

Happy Friday!

The Best Story Ever!

I sometimes hop from blog to blog using blogrolls. It got me thinking: I usually decide which blog to visit based on the current post’s title. Even if I know that I love almost everything about a blog, I might skip it if the title isn’t interesting. Then I started thinking about my own post titles and realized: I’m not interesting. Well, my titles aren’t interesting. Thus today’s title. Sadly, I don’t know the best story ever. I know some good ones, but not the best…

You know what’s a good story? Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It has a great beat.  We have a cd of Ray Charles reading it. I really love it. It’s a great book for that pre-reading exercise where you read the book to your child a couple times then you let them ‘read’ it to you. That’s actually why we bought it. And, also, because my oldest son was obsessed with coconuts when he was four…

The story of how my son said coconut so often in Pre-K that the entire class used the word all the time is a good one, too. But, for today I’ll stick with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom…

Cursing in my Head…

Yesterday I used the tag: cursing in my head.  As I was typing it I thought maybe I should go back and add that one to every post I’ve ever written.  It would definitely fit.  There is a really good chance that the second time I found crayons in the dryer, or when my son drew a truck on the back of the couch, or when my son fell through a frozen lake that I thought some bad words. 

All of this leads me to a funny story…

When my oldest son was about three we were driving on an interstate.  Someone cut me off and I called him an unpleasant name.  From the back seat my little guy wondered: “Why is he a dump truck, Mommy?”

I’m pretty sure that’s the day I transitioned to silent cursing.  I know it’s the day that I started calling people Dump Trucks in traffic instead of what I’d really said…