Boys-n-Fairies

Yes, I inflict fairydom on my teenage sons.  I don't think I'm gonna stop, either.  Well, as long as I'm driving and they're trapped in my car anyway.  Tonight I picked up my little guy from a UIL band thing, drove him by Taco Bell (I became his instant hero...at least for a few minutes until...), and as we got into our neighborhood I pulled into one of my favorite places on this planet, Fairy Alley.


Little dude:  "Again?"

Me:  "Yup...I love it here...What do you think of it?"

Little dude:  "Well, it's too sparkly-ee, it's too butterfly-ee, I don't get it."

Me:  Silence as I peer around, soaking in the magic.

Little dude:  "I guess it's OK."


"OK"?!?!  Hooray!  In teenage boy land, saying something fairyish is "OK" is super high praise, indeed.

Teaching vs. Pregnancy

I've heard that being pregnant is a lot like being a teacher.  Hmmmmmm...I dunno.

I suppose that there's a similar time component, nine months-ish.  And, of course, children are involved.  Both require a lot of flexibility.  Mood is definitely affected by both.  At the end of the day putting one's feet up sure helps.  Both yield a HUGE reward.  Course the peeing thing sets them apart.  Pregnant ladies always need to pee...teachers hardly ever get the chance to pee.  Then there's the thing I've heard from some teachers that we need summer to both recover from and forget just how challenging our jobs are so we're willing to go back...yeah, I definitely had to forget how uncomfortable pregnancy was before I was willing to "risk it" again. 

With spring break almost here, and the end of the school year fast approaching after that, I'm finding myself getting a little sentimental about my students and my job.  So, I went and dorked out and made a little sign to hang in my classroom window. Yeah, I love, love, love my job...even if it is a lot like being pregnant.

War and Peace...the Music Version

So, I've gone on and on about my kids' music preferences and my admitted love of it.  Well, all this time I've been thinking that I'm SUCH a cool mom as I sing along and do awesome dance moves to Pitbull, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, and on and on.  I mean really, coolest mom ever, right?  Well, turns out I can't win on this one.


Scene 1
Little guy:  "God, mom, stop it!  You look like a dork!"

Me:  "You're lucky kid, my parents totally did NOT like the music I was in to."

Little guy:  "I'd prefer that!"

Me:  "Really?  You hate my moves and singing that much?!?!"

Little guy:  "YES!"

Me:  "So I should be like my parents were?"

Little guy:  "YES!"

Me:  "OK, here's how music went.  KMFA was on the radio...all the time...in the car...in the house...in the morning, afternoon, and night."

Little guy:  "Uh-huh."

Me:  "So, that's what we'll do, right?"  I turn the dial to 89.5 and we cruise home in silence.  Except for the Mozart, Strauss, Haydn, or whoever it was.


Scene2
The next morning when we got in the car so I could take him to school.  Tchaikovsky or some such thing came on the radio as I backed out of the driveway.

Little guy:  "I can't take this."  He turns the dial to a hip-hop station.

Me:  "So my singing and dancing aren't that bad, eh?"

Little guy:  No response as he stared out the window.


Hmmmm...maybe I did win after all.  "Boom badoom boom, boom badoom boom..."

Let's go fly a kite!

Kites freak me out.  They always have.  I think it must be related to my fear of heights...guessing my empathy for the kite is way too strong and totally out of whack.  That and I don't relish the thought of a kite plummeting toward earth and hitting me smack dab in the middle of my head, point first.  Well, I faced my fears today and met them head on and volunteered to walk down to the annual kite festival with my little guy.  You know, I've never thought about this as I avoid all things kite as a rule, but flying a kite requires a personal assistant.  A gopher.  And, yup, this was me.  I embraced it as it kept me looking at the ground rather than the sky.  After being there a while, running back and forth, untangling lines, giving the kite lift-off support, I found myself becoming quite relaxed.  I was able to look at the sky, gaze upon the hundreds of kites, lie down on the ground with Hazel alongside me, and have a darn good time.  I think I'm over it, people!  Maybe all the rocketry fun has been kite phobia therapy...hmmmmmm....

Hazel the Hoarder

A laundry basket, whether designated "clean" or "dirty," is a veritable buffet for Hazel.  She's not picky...she loves it all.  She will very deliberately go to the laundry basket in our bedroom and pick out Dave's socks (I think they're her faves!) one at a time and take them to her bed.  She will make many return trips to a basket of clean towels and pick out cloth napkins or pot holders and lay them where she sleeps.  She loooooves them!  One dare not leave laundry beside the tub or shower as when you finish, none of it will still be there.  And, just this morning she pulled the napkin right off of my lap while I was still eating breakfast!  The girl is out of control...she's in serious need of a twelve-step group.

P.S. No items were harmed in the making of this blog post...they were simply moistened, nuzzled, and snuggled.

Sexy and I Know it...

...but for some reason I'm not allowed to show it.

OK, so apparently there's a fine line of distinction...somehow it's OK for my kid to be watching the YouTube video of "I'm Sexy and I Know it," singing along to it quite loudly, his friends listening as he does so on Xbox live or Skype, or some such thing.  But, I walk in, stand behind him, start makin' a little noise, doin' a little dance, gettin' down tonight...he catches sight of me through the miracle of peripheral vision and...


"Oh, my god, MOM!"

Vomiting sounds.

"Aaaaaggh, my mom is dancing!"

"Make it stop!!!"

"Aaaaaaaaaa!"


Freaking my kid out...check!

Got my heart rate up and burned a few calories...check!

Feelin' sexy and I know it...well, as my kid would say, "ish".

This design available on shirts/bags/mugs/cards and more:  Purple Curly Tree

When daddy's away...

...this mom turns into her kids' fantasy culinary artist (please pronounce that "arteeeeest").  Yes, Dave had to work late tonight, so...being the amazing mom I am, I did make tater tots for dinner!  It absolutely was the main course.  As I small side dish I added half a breaded fish fillet AND some chicken sausage to their plates.  Veggies, you ask?  But of course!  What the heck do you think ketchup is?!?!  And, to top it all of, no, I did not shout out that the meal was ready.  Rather, I texted my boys, "DINNER!" and they came a runnin'!


Little guy:  "Ooooh, yeah, mom...this looks awesome!!!"

Big guy:  "This is definitely the best meal you've ever made!!!"


...and that Uchiko guy thinks he's the Top Chef 'round these parts.  Ha!

uber.cool.mom