Mommy of Many®

Have you ever done something and immediately thought of what the consequences might be?

Last night I took Arianna shopping for some school clothes. While she headed into Old Navy to try things on, I decided to take a few minutes and go into Marshalls to look for some shoes for myself. I wasn’t carrying my purse, just my wallet, keys and phone. I decided it would be a good idea to hook my keys onto the the basket so they wouldn’t fall through and get lost. I made a mental note not to forget them. I need to remember that my mental notepad is out of paper and needs to be replaced! So off I go trying on and ultimately finding a pair of shoes to purchase. Then off to meet up with Arianna to see what she’s found. We spent a bit of time debating a pair of pants she wanted. We didn’t bring them home. Once we were checked out at Old Navy, I remembered that Mariah needed a book for school and hey, there’s a Borders right next to Old Navy. So into Borders we go to find the book. After buying the book and some coffee, I was beat and ready to head home. We headed for the van. WAIT A MINUTE! Where are my keys? In the bottom of the bag? My pocket? Where the heck could those keys be? AHHHHHH! “Jen, remember (remnants of the mental notepad trying to speak), you hooked them onto the basket in Marshalls so that they wouldn’t get lost”. No!

We started walking briskly back to the store in the hope that the basket would still be sitting in the same place I’d left it. Yeah right! No basket! I went to the counter and asked if any keys had been turned in. “No”. I explained what had happened and an announcement was made asking everyone to look at their baskets for keys hanging from it. I made a mental note to start listening to announcements because, hey, they just might be important! No one else made that note!

So begins my time in Marshalls, looking like a stalker. I sent Arianna outside to check the baskets that were lined up. Then I started walking the isles looking at each basket. Sometimes I had to say things like, “Excuse me, could you pick up those clothes? I just need to look at the back of the basket”. Ever try to explain something in 2 seconds? Not so good! I had people make many a comment to me. But after checking as many baskets as I could, I felt dejected and headed back to the front to see if they’d been turned in. Nope! It was time to make a phone call. The most frustrating part was that the other set of keys were sitting inside the van in my purse. If I would have just carried my purse in, I would have had 2 sets of keys and not had to worry about them falling through the basket to the floor. Another mental note, “carry your purse!”. I decided to check the baskets of the people in line. I uttered a little prayer to St. Anthony (patron of lost things and a good friend of mine) and headed to the line. “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, YOU HAVE MY KEYS!”. Poor man! I am positive that either he didn’t speak english or he was dumb-struck. Every head turned to look at the crazy lady shouting a joyous shout at this poor man. “No, really! You have my keys. See, they’re right there”. He unhooked them and handed them to me. I held them high, gave them a jingle and marched victoriously out of the store. Whoo Hoo! I’m a lucky girl!

Thanks St. Anthony! I owe you!

DON’T HOOK YOUR KEYS ONTO A BASKET AND THEN WALK AWAY. Unless, of course, you want to play a game of hide and seek!

Have a great day~

I just read this article about a couple with 5 kiddos who were taking a vacation with them and left their 3 year old in the airport. I am sure that there will be a host of places that scorn them for their absent-mindedness and the lack of parenting skills. Really?! All I can say is that I feel for them! I can’t imagine the sinking feeling they must have felt when they realized what had happened and that the whole world was going to know.

Let’s all take a minute to remember the challenges we face each day and make an effort to be less judgmental toward other’s mistakes that we might not be judged so harshly on ours.

Sometime I’ll take a little time to share some of my “less glorious” parenting moments.

Have a great day~

It’s been a couple of tough weeks around here and I’ve had to face up to the fact that part of the problem is that I wasn’t taking my own advice. When summer began and the kids came home, I stopped writing the Morning Memo, stopped writing a detailed schedule and didn’t do a very good job of enforcing the chores. I, somehow, thought that everything that I had put into place would just keep running itself. WRONG! So, now I’m picking up the pieces and getting back to business. In letting things slide, I’ve realized that some of my kids’ behavior also slid. Geesh! Everything is connected!

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Good night~

 

 MOM 38 [10:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (210)

Well, it’s official, there will be no parenting awards given to me any time soon! I have been increasingly off these last weeks and today took the cake.

Maddi has been at a Girl Scout camp since last Sunday. I have it written in my planner. I knew the name of the camp and what she would be doing there. Tomorrow, I planned on being at the pick-up site at 5pm. One problem….pick-up was TODAY! That’s right, today.

And where was I instead of picking my daughter up? Um…..at Bunko! Luckily Kateri was also on the pick-up list and was able to run over and get her. That’s a fine, “Welcome home” for you!

I did, however win $40 at Bunko. Does that make it better?

Good night~

I’m a planner. I want everything laid out in detail so that I don’t have too many surprises. You can imagine that I have surprises and schedule changes all the time, but I, sort-of, build those in. You know the kind, you’ve sat down to write the budget and the baby gets into something icky and you have to set the budget aside and give him/her a bath. Those, I deal with pretty well. But the other day, I’d planned out the day around work schedules and activities and recording my show. So, I get everyone out the door and get everything set up and my phone rings. The second I looked at my phone I knew I’d made a big mistake. It was one of my sisters and she was at the door. I had TOTALLY forgotten that she had planned to come down to visit! My mind began to race! I was happy that she and my niece were here, but I was frantic about what I was going to do about the show and how my whole plan was blown. I took a big breath and said a little prayer and decided there wasn’t anything I could do. It was my fault for not writing our plans down in my calendar! So, I thought that I better just enjoy this time with family and figure it all out later.

Guess what-It was great! All my fretting and anxiety over my foiled plan-of-the-day were for nothing! I went outside with them and enjoyed the San Diego Saturday. My kids came home and ran around in the yard with their cousin, we made a nice dinner and ultimately, my show still got done.

So Lesson# 7 is; Be Flexible! Don’t get so boxed into your schedule or plans that a nice surprise can’t be enjoyed.

Have a great day~

The way I see it, I had to have a little nuttiness to finish out the week. Right?! Well, today’s dance feels like a Mexican Hat Dance! Two things going on; First-when I returned from my trip, I quickly went to the squadron to retrieve a box from Clay’s truck that had the last Girl Scout cookie order in it AND all (I do mean ALL) the cookie order $ in it. HMMMM……….looking under the seat, nope. Looking behind the seat, nope. Looking under the seat one more time, NOTHING! There was no cookie $ anywhere. I had no choice but to drive to the leader’s house and write a personal check for all of the orders. ~Big Breath~ So, I’m hoping (really hoping!) that everything is in the hall of my church, where I passed out orders last Sunday. Otherwise, it’s gone. ~Another Big Breath~

Secondly-yesterday I sent all of my kiddos on a nice, long walk to get shaved ice. I needed the time to record this week’s show. No problem! They all went together and enjoyed a long walk on a beautiful day and then some shaved ice. I recorded and then went and picked them up. Too easy! I should have known that something would be wrong. The show sounds like I’m sitting in a tin can. Kinda fitting for the week I’ve had. So, today-another long walk for the kiddos so that you don’t have to listen to me sounding all tinny. Ick!

You know, this all just makes me laugh. Seriously! If I couldn’t look at times like these with a little humor I’d be in the looney bin! So, everyone sit back, take a big breath and chuckle with me. This is what life is all about right? Right! After-all, I did invite you all to come along on this crazy ride of being a Mommy of Many and military spouse.

Hold on tight!~

I drive a large, white van. It’s actually a 15-passenger van and it’s come in handy for bringing extra kiddos to events and when we have company, so that everyone can go places in one vehicle. But, it looks just like one of the vans that they use for getting teams places or govt. vehicles that you’d find on base. Well, the other night, I went to an event on base. I was about 1/2 hour early because I had gotten one of my kiddos to volleyball practice and it left me with extra time. I decided to pull into the parking lot of the Exchange and finish my make-up (I’m always doing my mascara in crazy places!). I found a well-lit area and pulled in. There were almost no vehicles there because it was getting ready to close. So, I settled in with my iPod playing Rod Stewart (you know it!) and started my eyes. I started hearing people talking and laughing, but I just turned the music up and kept primping. Then, came a knock on my window! I about jumped out of my skin! My first thought was that I was going to be told I couldn’t be there by an MP. But when I looked at the guy at my door, I realized that he was carrying a soda and chips and that there were several more guys at the van. They thought I was their ride!

The dangers of driving a vehicle that looks like every other govt. van!

Have a great day~

When I picked the kids up from the school yesterday, Tristan met me at the van looking very worried. He came around to my window and said that he needed to tell me something. My first thought was that he had gotten into a fight (no history of that, but that’s where my head went). Then tears started to well-up in his eyes and he started to say he’d made a mistake. I got out of the van to be with him and see why he was so upset. He said that whoever made the lunches didn’t put his name on the bag, so when lunchtime came around, he couldn’t find his lunch and thought he had left it at home. He then went to the teacher, very upset, and explained that he forgot his lunch and didn’t know what to do. She told him to go to the office to borrow $ for lunch truck. He started to cry and said, “How can I tell my mom that I borrowed $?” So, even though he was upset he borrowed the $ and bought lunch. After school he noticed a bag in the classroom and decided to look in it. It was his lunch. He started crying to the teacher that he had borrowed $ and his lunch was right there! She assured him it would be ok and to take the lunch home to show me that it had no name on it. When he got to the van, he was so upset that he had borrowed $3 and that I was going to have to pay it back and that his lunch was there the whole time.

All I could do was comfort him and let him know that he’d done the right thing and that I’d never want him to go hungry. I told him that $3 isn’t very much and that it’s not a problem for me to pay it back. But, when you’re 8 and you don’t get an allowance $3 seems like a lot of $. His big tears over this were so sad and so cute all at the same time. I couldn’t help thinking what a sweet kid he is and how good life must be if that’s his biggest worry!

Have a great day~

Well, that’s how the saying goes. But for me, I was actually working a day ahead. You’d think that would be a good thing. The problem was that on Tuesday after lunchtime I decided it was Wednesday. Seriously! I did everything as if it were Wednesday. Normally that wouldn’t have meant much, but I pick up the carpool on Tuesday, but NOT on Wednesday! When my daughter called to find out who was picking up (they had been waiting around), I even went into the whole schedule and told her who was picking up. She then reminded me it was Tuesday. YIKES!

It actually scared me a bit to realize I could have been so off. Where was my head?! I took 2 vitamins before I went to bed that night, instead of just one.

Have a great day~

Yesterday was a very nice day. Some wonderful people thought of our family and a “Secret Santa” showed up at our door with some gift cards to help with all that comes with Christmas. I was dumbfounded! We always manage, but there are certainly times when we wonder HOW we’ll manage. I was just trying to think of a creative and tasty chicken breast recipe that would seem festive, because I had forgotten to buy a turkey when I did the grocery shopping and I couldn’t go get one, because the food budget was gone, when this Christmas Angel shows up at the door. See what I mean? We would have had a perfectly good Christmas dinner, it just wouldn’t have been turkey. But now…….turkey! So, I want to say that I am very thankful to whomever thought of us and to everyone else, I want to say, Merry Christmas! The Spirit is alive and well!

Here’s a little story that Clay thinks I should share; A few days ago, his squadron had a Hail and Farewell that was a tailgate party before a football game. He invited JJ and some friends to go along. After the game, he called me to say that JJ was on his way home with our neighbor, who had gone, but that he was staying behind because there was a full keg and some BBQ left. Well, I went high and to the right! He had been gone for several hours, enjoyed the tailgater and the game. Why in the world did he need to stay behind to drink himself silly?! I let him know that the doors would be locked if he showed up drunk…..blah, blah, blah and a little yadda, yadda, yadda thrown in for good measure. JJ showed up about 1/2 an hour later and said he’d had a good time. Well, Clay came through the door about 1/2 hour after JJ and started to ask why I was so upset. I yelled that I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t have just come home with JJ and why he had to stay behind just because there was a full keg?!!!!! Well, he REALLY made me angry then, because he started laughing. Yes, laughing! Then he says, “keg?! I said that they had a full cake!”

So, my New Year’s resolution?……………working on my listening skills.

Good night~

I’m constantly handing out extra chores, or punishments. There always seems to be someone pushing someone else, or yelling at someone else or telling me that they are NEVER going to do what I just told them to do or say. So, all of these things result in either getting an extra chore or being punished ie; no phone, no computer or in extreme cases, blackout. Now, when I’m at the top of my game I write up a Morning Memo for the family that lays the day out for all of us and tells who’s doing what and also lists the extra chores, should anyone need one for the day. However, some days I get thrown off and don’t have the time to type up the magic document the keeps all running smoothly. Yesterday was one of those days. So, I ended up giving one of the older children a “blackout” for a period of time and then wrote it on the calendar. Well, I took the other kids to run errands and during that time the kiddo who is in blackout calls me and says, “If I get such and such done can I do such and such tomorrow”. My overloaded, I don’t have my calendar or Morning Memo in front of me response, “sure”. Then I get home, realize I’ve just overridden my own punishment and feel stuck. I don’t feel like I can say, “Sorry, but you CAN NOT do such and such, because you are in blackout.” Because then I will hear, “You SAID I could!”. Ok, but I also SAID and WROTE down, “blackout”.

Alright, in taking the time to write this all down, I realize I just have to endure the yelling from the child and go over to the calendar and point to it and say, “You called me while I was out with numerous other children, trying to run errands and so my brain was mushy. But, you are clearly in blackout for this period of time and CAN NOT do anything today, even though you caught me off guard, yesterday and I said yes.”

Ok, wish me luck!

Have a great day~

P.S. While searching the web, after writing this post, I came across a few interesting sites on parenting; Pocket Parenting and this one. Ok, and THIS one (miracle worker?!)

There is just NO excuse for what I found in my purse tonight! I reached in and pulled out all the papers that had accumulated in the last month and found an envelope with a very large check in it. This actually made me cry because it was my daughter’s loan check for her college tuition. I didn’t cry because she’s away and it made me miss her. I cried because I had mailed it in a special envelope and paid for tracking weeks ago! I made a point of mailing it before I went out to see her because I didn’t want it in my purse while I was flying because it might get lost! We have been in a panic over it because the tracking showed that it was delivered on the 8th and Kateri said she received it, but that it was just junk mail and that she threw it away. So, we’ve been in a tizzy! Now, I find it and it’s expired! Dear Lord, help me! It’s definitely time for prayer! Let’s hope they are amicable to replacing it. So now I just need to figure out what happened in this mushy brain of mine. Do I need more vitamins? More sleep? 6 more hours in each day? Less to do? Hmmmm……..Probably all of the above.
Lesson of the day-everyone makes mistakes. YIKES!
Good night~