Must Share Overheard Conversation of a 5 year Old

As I try to surf, DH is reading to DD from a Disney story book we borrowed.
The story of the "Aristocats" just mentioned that the butler decided to take the cats to TIMBUKTO.

I hear my 5 year old interrupt Daddy and ask "Where's TIMBUK-1?"


(Be sure to my other blog for today on TAGGING....)

I've been tagged

Okay, a friend "TAGGED" me. That's ok. I don't usually like junk mails and all that stuff but I thought this is a bit different. It's guided me to today's BLOG. Made me stop to think about a few facts in my life.

Here is how TAGGING works --
The rules:
*Post the rules before you give the facts.
*Post eight random facts about yourself.
*At the end of your blog post, you need to tag 3 people and list their names and their BLOG addresses.
*Leave the people you tagged a comment on their blog, letting them know that they've been tagged.

Unfortunately, I only know 2 people with BLOGs and one of them sent this to me. So, unfortunately, I'm going to TAG her right back! :) I hope you like this idea and spread the concept to your friends.

Here are my 8 RANDOM facts:
1) I LOVE CHOCOLATE. (I bet you're surprised)
2) I met my husband thru a personal ad in the newspaper. We had talked for several hours on the phone and then met in person. The spark was so strong.
3) I wish I had not listened to a certain person in my life and instead, followed my dream for the career I really wanted – to be a teacher.
4) I had started a “playing card” collection. Thought it would be neat. But then I had no place to keep the cards. So I thought “what good is this?”.
5) I love making gifts for others (crochet, quilts, etc) but, when it is finished, I have extreme anxiety that they will be overly critical of it and not like it. And I also start to think the gift has little value so I run out at the last minute and buy a nice gift too. (BTW, I have rarely finished any craft that is for myself.)
6) I LOVE the following TV Shows: The Simpsons, Fraiser, Family Guy
7) The hardest thing I have had to do in my adult life was taking my cat of 16 years and having him put down when he became too sick (BTW, this happened on my birthday in 2002 – one month before my daughter was born).
8) I became an aunt at the age of 6 and was punished by my first grade teacher for telling lies in school. Spent the day in the corner.


AND NOW FOR THE TAGGING:

I tag Weebles right back. See her blog at: http://ifionlyknewbetter.blogspot.com/

And I tag Kiki - also known as Kim - whose blog is out in Bingaland.... http://bingaland.blogspot.com/

Best made plans.... are not....

Sometimes going with the flow is better.
I had envisioned a weekend of accomplishing things. Nothing on my list is done.
The long weekend is over. But it was a fun time.

DD didn't even want to go to the parade. She wanted to go to the big playground at the local park. We went for almost 2 hours. Stopped for coffee and donuts and went and ate there. I brought softball paper work to do. But she made some friends, played around in the sun, got great exercise.

We got home and she went on the computer while I finished the softball work and watched "Fraiser" on DVD (how I love that show!!). Then she was willing to watch "The Muppet Show" (another of my favs) but I think it was because she just wanted to share time with me.

We played outside yesterday - catch and a bit of soccer. We played Uno (it's actually "My First Uno with Pooh" - it is only about 50 cards and just a wild card and draw 2 - no draw 4, no skips). We played Uno more today -- and I swear she inherited my mother's ability to play the game!!! I have not mentioned strategy to her at all - but she had saved 3 wild cards for the end of one game to ensure she could just go right out!!

How I wish I had even more time to spend like this with my daughter. She'll only be this age once. The messy house can just wait.

Last night as she went to bed - mind you, her bedroom is not "finished". There are baskets of laundry and buckets of storage stuff on one half. But last nite, as she was going to bed, she said "I love my room". I think she meant she loves the "love" in the house. And that is the only thing that needs not be "messy"! The rest of the mess just doesn't matter.

...and now the weekend is flying by too.

Here we are 1/2 way through the 3 day holiday weekend.
And where is here?
My plan had been to try to be alone in the house for one day and attempt to get a bunch of things accomplished.
But Saturday we had Softball practice then met our good friend for dinner and went around the mall. Got DD new sneakers - size 1 and she is 5 1/2 yrs old. That seems awfully big to me! Took our time, did the kids play area, did the jumpy mat. Got Auntie Anne's cinnamon pretzel sticks.

Sunday, DH slept late - very late -- and by the time he was done shower and all it was 1pm. Too late for him to head with DD to his mothers. In the morning DD and I played a little barbies (I hate playing barbies) and then I talked her into playing Uno (we have "My First Uno" deck - just a draw 2 card and a plain wild. Works great for learning!). I did enjoy that. then we started to watch a movie when DH was finally ready to face the day. I ran out for McD's and we ate outside - on our new table and under our new umbrella. Played a bit of catch with DD and now set up her Soccer/Hockey goal we had bought for Christmas and then forgot to pull it out on Christmas Eve. I just left them outside. I am so NOT a sun person. I had enough sun now. So in I came.

I know DH wants her to be more active but I can't stay out in the sun like that.

And for Monday's holiday - there's a parade not to far, and we missed the St. Patrick's Day one so I think we should go - but then that will shoot my idea of a day alone right out the window.

I wish I had more energy. I wish I didn't feel lost sometimes in depression. I wish I had more hours where I could be home doing things.

Where did the week go?

Time really does fly by. How does it do that?
How can it be Saturday already?

Today, we had a practice for softball. Another team was practicing too so we got together for a scrimmage. It was fun. But at first, I could feel my anxiety going right up -- why? Because I didn't have my Clipboard. I did not have a batting order list. I did not have a plan for who could play where in the field. I had to wing it. And wing it scares me. Why? I'm worried about being critiqued. Being judged - especially badly/poorly. If i spend an hour with my paper work and try the hardest I can and then someone questions it, I can say, "Hey, i go over this stuff and over it again. I'm trying to be fair all around and get everyone in every position. If you think you can do better, you do it." But today, I was winging it. I had spent no time preparing. Ok - I made it through. I got the the girls in different positions on the field. I remembered the batting order I made up. I had to let go the anxiety. I did it. It just was not easy to do.

Real Mothers Shouldn't Pump Gas...

I was so scared on Sunday.
We were on our way to a birthday party and I stopped for gas.
In the 5 1/2 years of my daughters life, you can count the number of times I've stopped at self serv gas stations with her in the car on your two hands. My fear has always been that if the printer was not working, I would have to go in to the store to get my receipt - and DD is in the car seat. I don't want to leave her in the car and it's a pain to bring her in.... So I have always tried to get gas when I'm alone.

I mentioned this to some friends recently who thought I was silly esp since DD is 5 1/2 now. So Sunday I stop with her in the car. And I think as I pull up to the pump -- open window (it was gorgeous out), leave CD playing (Disney songs we were singing), reach down to release the gas cap, get out with charge card, swipe card, start pumping. Sounds ok, right?

After about 2 gallons, the mini van starts moving. I can see DD is still in the back seat with her computer game. I try to remove the gas pump and it's stuck. I can't reach the door because the hose is between me and the door and I can't get the pump out!! And the van is still rolling!!!!!

I climb over the hose and try to reach the door.... I miss but get it on the second try, and open the door - and just as I am about to slam on the brake with my right foot, I hear this *bang*/*thud* sound. I think the rear fender has torn off the mini van or the hose has been pulled out of the pump and gas is spewing.

After pressing the brake, I see the problem -- I left the car in DRIVE! I throw the lever into park AND put on the parking brake. I think what an idiot I am. What was I thinking? I wasn't, obviously! How could I do that?? Leave it in gear like that???

So now, I look back. The van seems okay - the fender is in place. My gas cap went flying but I could still see it. And the hose -- about a 5 ft section of hose is lying on the ground. No gas is spewing - Thank God! They have this "break-away" valve!

There are several men at the pumps near me. All looking at me. I say I must not have put it in gear completely and it slipped out and that my daughter was in there which is why I was after the van, trying to stop it.

The manager came out. She was not really concerned because it is designed to handle it. No biggie - so it seems.

But I couldn't get over the feeling. Seeing the van moving, not able to stop it, knowing DD is in the back seat and the van is rolling to a major road (granted, there was a curb then a bit of a hill but still.....).

I go to another pump and finish filling the tank.
I get back in the car to head for the birthday party. I burst into tears.
DD is all concern, "Mom, wants the matter? Why are you sad?"
I tell her I'm not sad. I tell her that I was scared. She says, "But Mom, I'm ok. I had my seat belt on. I was safe."
I tell her I made a mistake and forgot to do something which is why the van started rolling away.
She says, "That's ok Mom, I still love you. You are a good mom."

Cherish the moments

I feel like I'm always on the go with DD. I work all day while she is at Pre-K. I pick her up after work and there is barely enough time nightly to spend time doing things with her. We have to have dinner, and bath, and read books. On weekends, it seems we need to visit relatives or we try to make plans with friends -- so it seems we are always on the go.

And now we have softball taking up time. Well, yesterday we did have a 1:30 softball game. It went until 3pm. DH had made plans to go to a movie with a friend he does not get to see often. DD wanted to do something. I tried calling one friend who was not home but then I decided to try for some "Mommy and Me" time. There are so many places I think of that I want to take her and never have time -- Bowling, Movies....

We went to an indoor golf place called "Monster Golf". It does have some scary decorations but nothing outrageous. Everything is glow in the dark and black lights. Of course she cheated like crazy to get the ball in the cup - but we had to wait until we could move to the next hole anyway so I let her take 7 or 8 tries.

Then we went to Friendleys for dinner. Just the two of us. Alone. In a booth. She made a lovely picture while we chatted. We ate our dinners and had ice cream. It was nice. It really made me feel good.

Slow down. Cherish the moments in Life. Remember your children are only this age once.

Family Fun Night - and parents....

I am thoroughly exhausted.
It is 9:30 pm. I have been on the go since I left the house at 8pm. Work, then out to dinner and back to the Pre-school for Family Fun Night! I offered to help - they asked parents to volunteer for 1/2 slots. I was in the arts and crafts room then I was able to go around with DD to the other rooms (Dance, Tattoo, Snack, Games, Bingo). It was fun. As DD said on the way out "That was a WILD Party!".... LOL

But my brain stops to ponder -- about people. Other parents.
I see some volunteer to help in the room. They do nothing. One woman in the game room just chatted with other parents - didn't try to lure kids into play. For example there was a "stick the ice cream topping on the ice cream cone" game. No one was even showing kids it was there. I looked at it with a friend and it looked like just 6 stickers could be used and they were not removable. Later while in the room, I noticed on the counter that there were PACKAGES of other sticker toppings - so yes, all the kids could have been trying that game. But the parents were physically there but not really there. Granted you could say they might not have received instruction -- but they are parents and should know how to wing it!!

As opposed to me. One of the assistants of one of the other classes was in the Crafts room. I asked what she wanted to do. She didn't know - said one of the teachers is doing it. But then she asks them and they tell her basically to just run the room.
One of the crafts was a white cardboard mask that could be decorated. There were boxes of markers. I suggested putting markers and masks on one table and let them just come in and make the masks. I put all the masks in the middle of the table.
The other craft was a foam picture frame. There were three different packages to choose from... One that had like 20 jellybeans, one that had about 8-10 flowers and one that had 10 ladybugs and each bug was 4 or 5 pieces! Well, that's alot of pieces for 3 to 6 year olds to do when there are other rooms and other stuff to do in the short time of the event. On top of that, in each package, you had to punch out the pieces. And then use glue and foam and glue just don't work well sometimes.
The person from the school in the room wanted to just put one package at each seat. I first suggested at least making 3 piles of packages in the middle of the table so kids could come in and choose.
The first girl to make a frame picked the ladybugs but only but 3 bugs on her frame so there were many, many pieces left over. I think - lets open up kits - open up all the pieces and let the kids mix and match the pieces! I start to do that and more people showed up and I think it seemed like the kids liked coming right in, sitting right down and start the craft -- instead of coming in, having to open the package, punch it all out, then put it together. To me, it seemed like common sense in order to make the activity fun and quick so kids move onto other areas.

Then the parents that sort of guide their child from room to room and then leave. Maybe spending a 1/2 hour at most to visit all the rooms. Not letting their child stop to play. I don't understand. This is a special event - it may become a yearly thing - who knows. But I know DD has been talking about this "Party" all week long.

And then there are the parents who have to be "adults". They can't let loose and enjoy the moment. Like dance with your 5 year old and not care who else is watching. In fact, a little boy in DD's class asked me to dance with him and I don't think in a million years his mother would do that in a situation like this - with people watching. Besides, she was too busy chatting with other mothers.

As for me, I chatted a bit, but I stayed with my daughter. I played Bingo when she asked me to, I danced, I helped with the arts and crafts -- even later when we went into the room to "visit" I still helped some kids out.

Children are our future. They will be the ones controlling the world someday. We have to invest in them - invest our time and energy.

I feel a parent is responsible for trying to raise a responsible human being. If you are not ready to do that, to help mold a person for a productive life, then don't have children. Just my 2 cents.

See "JUST STUFF" - number 4.....then read this...

And more on this co-worker....

The other night, after I was home, I emailed where the information could be located to the co-worker. I was going to just fix the problem but I thought maybe, just maybe if I let him Find the Info, Read the Info, and Do It Himself, he'll remember something about it in the future. At the last minute, I decided to CC my boss. Just so she was aware a problem was reported to our team blackberry/pager around 2:30 pm but at 9:30 pm, it may not have been resolved.

And I was right.... he didn't call anyone else. And it took two hours after my message went to the blackberry/pager before he got on to fix the problem. I was out of the office on Monday but I was told my boss searched around for information to verify if and when the problem was corrected.

I decided I would say nothing else to my boss regarding this issue.

Granted, the computer problem was not major - but you can't have a problem sit there for 7 hours until someone calls you or contacts you. There are other people you can check with.

Today, my boss calls the coworker into the office -- and from the person that sits closest to the office, she told me that the boss was letting him have it. Someone else overheard him trying to make excuses which the boss was quickly discounting.
He was quiet the rest of the day.

Perhaps, he has learned his lesson.....
and perhaps I'll be a size 5 in the morning......

Do Unto Others....

It is so true.
Be nice. Pay It Forward.

Yesterday, as I drop off DD at Pre-K, a friend is dropping off her DD. Told her I had the day off and was planning on shopping. No place real exciting. But I added that I was going to go out for breakfast. Her eyes lit up so I said "Wanna come along?". So we went together. And it was great to be able to chat without two 5-year olds going "Mom" "mom" "MOM".....

When the bill came, I said I'd treat. Consider it a Mother's Day gift (besides the 5 year old, she is expecting in about 8 weeks and has had a very hard pregnancy).

Today, I go to lunch with another friend. We split a pizza and have salads. When it's time to pay, she says she's got it. So I said "Is this my mother's day gift?" and she said yes.

So remember to treat others nice and get nice treatment in return.

(MORE) Just Stuff.....

So I'm all settled in for the evening after my day of shop-til-you-drop (and mind you, I did not go hog wild. I was very conservative on what I did buy but it's the fun of the search that is good too!) and I send an email to the Softball Coach I've been assisting. He also coaches Soccer and DD has decided that is her next adventure. I wanted to know about cleats -- what is the difference between baseball cleats and soccer ones. etc. etc.....

He answers me back and then ads "I won't make the meeting tonight...." - UGH! I said I was going and I forgot all about it! And now he can't make it and someone *should* represent our team (though out of 11 instructional teams, only 4 teams were represented). It is 6:55 pm so I throw my jeans back on and go flying across town -- and I get there like 7:05 -- but the meeting room is empty, there are not that many cars in the lot. Hmmm.

I think let me call home and ask DH to check the website. No phone. Left it on the counter. Darn it! So I drive back home. And the meeting is today but at 8pm, not 7pm.
So I eat supper and off I go again.... And the meeting lasts like an hour and 15 mins and I'm exhausted but I'm sort of wound up.

I cannot believe I --

• forgot about the meeting
• Misread the time
• forgot my cell phone

I'm just lucky my

**MOMMY BRAIN**

is attached or I'd leave home without it!!

Just Stuff....

1) SHOPPING. Today was a "badly needed" Monday. I took the day off of work - and Shopped, Shopped, and Shopped.
All those places you want to go browse, the sales you think you want to hit, -- the things you just don't have time for.
I feel much better. It really is therapeutic. I don't know if most people can understand that. B.C. (Before Child) I would do that practically every Saturday. Have a small list of places with dreams of other places I wanted to go. Sometimes I go alone, sometimes I'd call my mother , sometimes it was with a few friends and we went a farther distance too. But it was no schedule, just go, go, go. And that is what I did today.

2) Mother's Day. It was just another day really. DD could not WAIT to give me my gift she made me at school. DH gave me a lovely card. We have been over-due a visit to the mother-in-laws so we went (we haven't gone the past couple of Mothers day because DD and DH were there usually the Saturday before Mothers day -- but Saturday was a birthday party so they did not go).
We did stop at the beach before going to MIL's house. That was really nice as DH tried to teach DD how to "tease the wave". And I was craving some clam cakes and chowder so we stopped, I bought a huge batch and we brought it over. It was a good visit - it was not as stressful as Easter felt.

3) Time. Where does it go? It seems just like yesterday DD was a wee baby. Here she is - 5 1/2 now. She is 49 inches tall (which is an average 7-8 yr old). Sometimes she is so funny, so amazing. For example, stopped at local ice cream place. Her favorite - a Tutti Fruitti Lemonade. As we are driving back home, I inquire "How is your Tutti Fruitti?". the reply - "It is just the way I like my Tutti Fruitti!". And yesterday, as we went to go see DH's Nana in the nursing home and had the great-niece with us (who is 5 months old) who started to cry in the car, DD said "I really wish we had brought the binky!". I do wish I could just freeze moments in time. They are so short, so fleeting.

4) Frustrations at Work. I'm fed up with one co-worker in particular. here he is - getting paid what I get paid. He could actually be making slightly more than me because he's been there a couple years more. He falls asleep 85% of the days for a good 1/2 hour. He talks on the phone with his "girlfriend" that is in the midwest for 40 mins to an hour. Why? She calls in on the toll free line. They have discussed schools for their son, they have discussed every single transaction made on the bank account, they have discussed movies, passports, basketball stars. Gee, maybe DH should call me during the day so we can chat and plan our daughters future!! NO, no, no.... I'll wait until after hours -- when my husband looses his energy and can barely stay awake to talk to me after dinner. this coworker will also not look up anything on his own and no matter how much i try to document things, he will not use the documentation. Just wait for someone to do it when we are at work.
So this weekend, this coworker had coverage (beeper/pager what ever you want to call it). He called and missed me as I was out doing errands before a b-day party. Then my boss called about 40 mins later -- just to confirm if this problem was similar to one the previous week.
On mother's day, we left around 12 noon and got in about 9:30 pm. There was a message on the answering machine (remind me to tell you about why I think I should get rid of this thing someday!) from the coworker. Called like 2:30 pm with a problem. Said he "searched the Internet" and couldn't figure out what to do. Said it couldn't be too big a problem since things seem to be working.
Well, the info on how to fix this is in two places on our system at work. Including what we call the "Information document". UGHHHHHH....
Of course, I have pointed all these things out. But to no avail. someone told me the manager is on top of everything - yet, here the coworker is still slacking and nothing is happening.
I have also asked to have my seat moved because he sits right next to me and seeing him slack all the time is driving me crazy!!!!

I will end this for now.