motherhood is.....

What does motherhood mean to you?

does it mean hours of screaming, crying, fighting, talking back...?

did Rosie the Riveter go to work in the factories to avoid all that racket?  I wouldn't be surprised - especially if Daddy was an ocean away and she had no other way to get a break!

you see, I'm not suggesting that mothers don't love their children every moment of every day, I'm suggesting that most of us need a balance to keep us sane.  I have great kids, really great kids for certain, but they OFTEN drive me absolutely crazy!  They are at an age where they can do an excellent job of keeping themselves entertained - there are no more diapers, I don't need to remind them to go potty, they are capable of getting their own snacks!  Life is good!  Of course there is always the other side of that coin!  They are also very capable of talking back, refusing to help each other, fighting as if they are Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land and my favorite, refusing to clean their rooms!!  Tattling is at an all time high - and don't get me wrong, it has it's place!  There are some things that I may never know about if they weren't expert tattlers; but I don't really care if one of them made a face at the other or if someone won't scoot their chair over 3/4 of an inch!  What's the deal with this selective independence?  Shouldn't there be some rule that if you are under 18, how about under 10, that you shouldn't be allowed to say no to your parents?  At the very least, you should have to do what you are told without a puss on your face or stamping your feet or having a temper tantrum.  I'm just putting that out there!!

Ash Wednesday

Go Get your ashes everyone!!!  Hope you had a fabulous Fat Tuesday yesterday cuz the season of Lent is upon us now!!

 

Have you thought about what you are going to do for Lent this year?  We talked to our  PRE class about the GUS and TOM method. Give Up Something and Take On More.  My family has decided to pick a different GUS and TOM for each of the 40 days during Lent.  We have 40 slips of paper in the GUS jar and 40 in the TOM jar and ever night at dinner we will draw a GUS and TOM for the next day.  All 5 of us will do those 2 things for the entire next day - give up tv, give up computer (say it isn't so!), pray a decade of the rosary, tell everyone else in the family one reason shy you love them...  The lists are endless, just give up something that is a sacrifice, an effort for you and take on something good that will help you keep your focus on God and the reason for the season of Lent!!  Share with me some of the things that you and your family do during Lent - it's a long season and there is a lot to share I am certain!!!

My visit with Ranch Girl part 2... the pictures

As I said before, my visit with Ranch Girl was fabulous!!!  It rained almost the entire time, which was fine because we didn't have to make excuses to just sit around and talk and knit and eat yummy food and drink lots of coffee and then switch to champagne (Ranch Girl's favorite!) after the appropriate hour!  It was like a mini Girls' Weekend of the TOETAT5 but just the 2 of us! 

 Ranch Girl's son took these pix right before I left - a full day of travel ahead, I was dressed for comfort not looks!!!

 the bottle of pink champagne I brought with me - pink for me (my favorite color!!) champagne for Ranch Girl (her fav beverage!!) it was actually quite tasty

  This is the chair that I claimed for my own while I was there!  Tiger often joined me for a little snuggle!!  With my laptop, cup of coffee, knitting and Tiger I could spend all morning in the chair chatting with Ranch Girl!!  Not a bad life!

  this wonderful family took me into their fold and made me felt like one of them while I was there!  It was no more evident than when they introduced the game of "Aggravation" and then proceeded to try to kick my butt!! I did not win, I won't lie, but I did not get my butt kicked either!  I can hold my own - especially when you come after me!!  There will be another round when I return - take me at my word Rand Family!!  Until next time!

Not me....

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week, no matter what anyone else tells you to the contrary, I most certainly DID NOT:
tell the girls that as long as there was no "visible dirt" on their clothes, I was perfectly fine with whatever they wore!!
take a big fat nap on more than one occasion in the middle of the day just because I could
laugh out loud at the school psychologist who suggested that we should start making Little S ride the bus to school in the mornings, thinking that having lunch with me on friday would be enough motivation to help her overcome whatever it is inside her that SERIOUSLY does not want to ride the bus
wait until the very last possible second to mail my nephew's birthday present - his birthday happens to be today!  Happy 10th Birthday Wack!!!
shamelessly heckle customers at the grocery store in an effort to help the girls sell more cookies at the girl scout cookie booth!
make the kids watch their movie in the living room so me and my friend could watch our movie in the theater room in the new chairs
make a few "changes" on the DVR 'to do list' that may perhaps have been to my advantage
Feeling very pious reading my 'not me'?  Trying doing your own - be sure to link back to mckmama!!!

a smile from God

Isn't it a lovely thought?  That God smiles at us all the time?  Do you take the time to notice and smile back?  As we approach the beginning of Lent, it is an excellent opportunity for us to re-examine our relationship with God and things that we can do to lead better lives here on earth.  Instead of computer time today, spend some time with God - you might catch him smiling at you!!

TGIF!!!!!

TGIF!!  Why?  I'm not really sure, fridays in and of themselves aren't especially exciting, but the pending weekend can be - unless you're a mom with 3 kids running in 15 different directions, then maybe TGIM would be more appropriate!  We don't actually have all that awful of a weekend ahead of us - 2 birhtday parties, shopping for gifts for those parties (one is a sleepover tho so bonus points!), working a girl scout cookie booth (with Little S who is painfully shy and not totally digging asking strangers to buy cookies, but we'll work it out), PRE for all 3 girls preceded by mass of course, hubby flitting off to the UK for a week in the middle of it all, homework for everyone, tons of laundry (and I think the washing machine is trying to die and it is only 6 years old)

The rose, by any other name, is torture......

I just love Mama Kat from Mama's Losin It!  Although I enjoy all her posts, I especially like the writers' workshop prompts every week - there's always tons of variety and creativity and although her husband Pat suggested that we write about the NBA all star game this week, I think I'm going to go with #5 "write about something mean you did to a sibling".  I am however going to take creative licence and instead tell you about the super meanest thing that my one and only beloved sibling did to me.  This story continues to be a source of joy and uncontrollable giggling for her and now also for my husband and eldest daughter - they are all terribly insensitive if you ask me!  My case in point......

When I was in junior high, we lived in this house that had this fabulous little rec room in the basement for me and my sister to play in.  I loved this room and spent a great deal of my time in there during those years.  One of our favorite things to do was to put in a mixed tape of our favorite music and sing at the top of our lungs and dance around the room.  I thought it was an activity that my sister and I enjoyed equally, until that fateful day....  

I had a favorite song that I played over and over again.  Hint....

ok, another hint.....

think the late 70s.......

can you hum a tune?

Ok, so it was....

 yes, Madam Bette's The Rose.  A classic today, I know, but back then my absolute favorite song, recorded directly off the radio onto my cassette tape for my listening pleasure 24-7!!  It was pure joy to sing along with Bette, UNTIL.  One day I was belting it out and about halfway through the beautiful ballad, there is a break in the music and I hear my "darling" little sister's menacing voice saying "Helloooo Gayle", I scream because she has just defaced my beloved Bette in the middle of my favorite song, do you hear me, do you understand the implications?  That evil little girl (4 years my younger, so I'm not even allowed to beat her) has destroyed the only true source of joy I had in my life at that time.  AND she has been sitting on the stairs WAITING to hear this little plot of hers go down and when it does, she is cracking up on the stairs - fits of laughter.  That is until I take off after her!  Then both of us are screaming.  I don't remember much after that - I believe that my mind blocked it out because it was all too painful - but I know I was sobbing and yelling trying to explain this travesty to my mother who I am certain was having difficulty masking her amusement.  Thirty years later, I still bear those scars, tho they are not visible to the naked eye, of my sister's merciless cruelty.

That is my story.