You are here: Home / 2008 / Archives for November 2008

Archives for November 2008

Nov 28, 2008

Haiku Friday: Black Friday Revisited

By ·
Haiku Friday
Black Friday is here
Want a digital frame cheap?
Only ten in stock!

I am thankful for
the huz, who wakes up early
to shop the big sales

But this year we’re poor
so no crazy spending – just
looking for cheap gifts

I’m cheating today. I started to write a haiku about Black Friday, and then checked my archives and found I was writing a nearly identical haiku to last year’s. So I revived last year’s haiku for today, adding one new haiku to the end.

We’re going out into the madness again, hoping to score some inexpensive items to wrap up for holiday gifts. Our list is far shorter than last year’s, with the biggest difference being that most of the items are in the under $10 range.

Are you shopping for deals this weekend?

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON’T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will delete any links without haiku!

Filed Under: Haiku Fridays, holidays, money, pop culture ·


Nov 27, 2008

We’re Thankful For Everything But The Germs

By ·

I’ll never understand why my children can’t be like other kids, even if just for a little bit. Mira is sick – again – this time with a simple cold, but the snot is a continuous stream coming from her nose, with no way to turn off the faucet. She’s also running a fever and clearly looks miserable.

So is she sleeping more? Or maybe just more quiet and interested in laying on the couch all day, like most kids (and adults) I know? No way – she’s got things to do, living rooms to trash, and a mommy to climb all over.

The only difference now is she’s getting snot on everything (including me), and instead of going about her destruction merrily, she’s grumpy and whiny and complains about everything in short shrieks and grunts. If I walk into the kitchen and leave without bringing her an edible offering, she falls to the ground and flails in a fit until you succumb to her will. Of course, when I offer her food, she takes one or two bites and then drops the rest on the floor, unwilling to eat any more.

Show no mercy

Somehow, we have yet to celebrate a holiday without at least one sick child. I’m not sure what the odds are, but I’m thinking with two children under five who can’t understand why handwashing is important, my real surprise should be that they aren’t sick every single day of the year.

My only hope is that Mira will be close to healthy by Saturday, when child development specialists will be taking over our living room to do a full evaluation for Mira. Ever since her screening, we’ve been urging her to say anything that might show up in Webster’s, but Mira has her own method of communication, with the few words she says free of the burden of complicated consonants.

I’m secretly hoping for a speech therapist like Henry Higgins, just so we can teach her to say The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain with such a lovely accent. Nah, who am I kidding? If she would say mama, I’d be overjoyed.

Have a great Thanksgiving, US readers. We’ve got two family T-Day events to attend, driving from one end of the county to the other. In this time of thanksgiving, I’m thankful that despite the suckiness of this year, we still have our house, we’re staying on top of our bills, we have wonderful family and friends (including many of you) who are supportive in so many ways, and even though my relationship with Aaron has been through the wringer recently, I still have my family intact. Oh yeah, and I’m thankful I finally got the president I voted for.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. May you avoid cranky and sick children in your travels this weekend. (Those of you we’ll be seeing tomorrow not included. Sorry.)

—–
PS – In the mood to win something? Come enter my contests at Mommy’s Must Haves – I’m currently giving away a $100 Home Depot gift card, Lands’ End clothing, and ten pairs of Lee jeans! I’ve got several more contests coming soon, too.

Filed Under: holidays, Mira · Tagged: ,


Nov 24, 2008

So That’s Where I Got My Competitive Spirit

By ·

When I was little, my mom worked full-time and so she had to find a babysitter for me. She found a sweet older lady who only charged $25 a week (!) and was available pretty much anytime mom needed her.

This woman’s only hobbies, from what I could tell, were doing word searches from giant word search books, buying useless stuff from catalogs and watching TV. Since my mom worked all different shifts, I got most of my early 80’s TV knowledge from my time spent at my babysitter’s house.

While she loved Lawrence Welk and Fantasy Island, what my babysitter loved most of all were game shows. I remember her yelling at the screen whenever someone would place a bid $1 higher than another bid on The Price is Right – because we all know that’s just rude.

It didn’t matter how strange the game show was – she was into it. And I learned a lot of game show strategy from all of my time there. I learned the value of nearly every household product from The Price is Right. I learned prioritizing and quick math from Wheel of Fortune when winners had the chance to pick the prizes they wanted from the revolving showroom. I knew more songs than my friends thanks to Name That Tune. I could even figure out clever license plates from some game show that was all about reading license plates. (I can’t remember the name of it.)

My favorite, though, had to be Press Your Luck. There was something about the Whammy that sent me into giggles. I think I knew every little skit the Whammy performed as he took away contestants’ money.

My babysitter always talked about how she could do so much better than the contestants if she ever had the chance to go on one of the many game shows she watched. I somehow doubt she would have done well, unless it was a show about the products in the Lillion Vernon catalog.

And that trait seems to have rubbed off on me – if I ever had the chance to go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, I think I’d leave a very wealthy woman.

What was your favorite game show as a kid?

This post is part of a weekend blog blast sponsored by Parent Bloggers and Oliebollen.com. Join in before midnight for a chance to win a shopping spree (a la the old Toys ‘R Us timed shopping sprees) at Oliebollen.com!

Filed Under: memories ·


Nov 23, 2008

Three Years Ago

By ·

Three years ago today, I thought to myself Hey, I don’t have enough to do, with working and taking care of Grumperella, why not start writing intimate details of my life on the internet for all to read?

And poof, just like that A Mommy Story was born.

No, that wasn’t the name I wanted for this blog. I tried a few others first (can’t even remember what they were), and after several attempts I had nothing left but a reminder of TLC’s show A Baby Story, and thought, well, this is MY story, not hers. Eh, I choked.

I just went back to look at my first entry, and this was my very first sentence:

Yeah, I should probably say something really meaningful or inspirational for my first post, but, well, that’s just not me.

Whew. Good thing I didn’t set the bar high. That would have been disappointing, wouldn’t it? No way I was setting myself up for that kind of pressure and risk for failure. The post was supposed to be a placeholder that I would fill-in with something more grand at a later point. Well now, you see how that has worked out. (Ah, forgetfulness and procrastination!)

And by my third post, I was already writing open letters to idiots. Blogging came to me naturally, it seems.

Now three years later, I’m still here, still putting much of my life out on the internet, still writing my opinions for an audience larger than my immediate family who are tired of hearing me. (The immediate family that is – if you’re all tired of me, you are clearly lazy in pruning your feed readers.)

I don’t know if I expected to be writing here three years on. Blogs were all the rage three years ago, and I happily stuck out my thumb and lifted my skirt to show my knee when that bandwagon rolled past me. I certainly didn’t expect my life to be where it is today. I had no immediate plans for a second child back then, and autism was still a long way from our thoughts. Everything was easier back then.

But I’m glad I’m still blogging. I’ve met an amazing community of people and I’m proud to be a part of that community. It has been an up and down three years, and I’m glad to have shared it with all of you. I can only imagine Cordy and Mira someday reading these stories written by their mother of their early lives. They’ll probably wonder why I didn’t start anti-depressants earlier.

I’ve had some amazing opportunities thanks to blogging, and I’ve found many good friends from all reaches of the continent and beyond. I’ve cried with people I’ve never met in person, and have found great strength and support from complete strangers during difficult moments in my life. It probably sounds trite and cliche, but with Thanksgiving days away, I can say I’m thankful I started this little blog. It has been a life-changing event.

I never expected anyone to take an interest in my writing. So thank you for continuing to read and for sharing the experience with me.

Filed Under: me me me ·


Nov 21, 2008

Haiku Friday: Another Few Minutes From My 15

By ·
It’s said that we all
have our 15 minutes of
fame in our lifetime.

I’m now using a
few more of those minutes for
a news article.

Three pictures and one
quick quote from me about the
lessons my mom taught.

I’ve written about
the topic before – wish they had
used more of my thoughts.

I was interviewed last week on the topic of drinking around your children. I’ve said many times that I think drinking in front of your child occasionally (in a responsible way, of course) is not harmful, and probably teaches them responsibility with alcohol and takes some of the taboo away. I’m not talking getting drunk – more like having a glass of wine with dinner.

I knew I’d be in the article, since the AP sent a photographer, but I was still surprised to see it sitting in my Google Alerts this morning. While it’s cool they used three photos of my family, I wish they would have included more than one sentence from the 20 minute interview. Maybe that’s just my vanity talking – I always feel like I have a lot of good things to say. I suppose that’s why I have a blog.

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON’T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will delete any links without haiku!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Filed Under: Haiku Fridays, me me me, shameless promotion ·