The Feminine Mistake

Marketplace money did a feature on Leslie Bennetts book with above title. As I was reading the interview, I got interrupted by a phone call with a friend. Before going into anything else, we started to talk about our take on this. We both agreed that the author made very valid points. Points that I, as a stay at home mom, am just starting to explore. It isn't a mistake to stay home, it is a mistake to stay complacent believing that just keeping house (I know just is riling) is enough. It isn't, the reality is that many scenarios can play out in one's lifetime and if we aren't prepared, life can be pretty unforgiving. Hmmm okay so that wasn't very clear but I imagine you get my gist. Divorce, death, serious illness to name a few scenarios can occur pushing a stay at home mom back into the workforce before being ready or prepared to take over that aspect of the financial reins.

Now that my youngest is two and I am starting my coaching business, I am beginning to see how much more I need to learn. It isn't enough that he has a 401k or that we IRAs. We need to make more plans for a future and the steps we need to take to bring those plans to fruition. But beyond that, is figuring out emergency funds so that we can be safeguarded as well. Anyway, can you tell that I need to see a financial planner so that I can get my finances more under control. I want my kids to want but I don't want them to need. And right now, I think we are leaning to far to the want side. Okay well enough of my spouting.

Guess What?

This is something I like to ask the kids in the car as we are driving here and there.

Maggie has caught on after some time. I, generally, flash the 'i love you' sign to them and say it. So now, she says it before I do and just giggles waiting.

Then it is my turn to say, 'I love you.' And then I go on to say, 'You tricked me.' Okay who knows where I got that from. I don't think I meant to say that but oh that is what came out. So now, she giggles again and says 'I tricked you!' She loves this little car game of ours. It makes me feel so good and I love to see her try and make the sign as well.

And then there is Max who likes to correct her sign or just say 'Mom (or Mama depending on his mood) she holding up all 5 fingers. To which I reply, 'That's okay, I know what she means.' And then he adds in his 'I love you's as well.

When we were in the Philippines, their great Grandfather would say 'I love you too too too.' The youngest of the grandkids would say this to him and he loved it. His english, not so good, but I wouldn't expect an 85 yr old to know English when he doesn't need to. My kids were kind of confused by him saying this, but now all of a sudden they have jumped on his bandwagon. I just really wish that they could say it to him so that he knew that they understood.
I loved that they got to have so much time with him. Max loved hanging out in his room and watching tv with him.

The case of the 1000lb pig

While we were in CA, we went to the San Mateo County Fair with two of my sisters in law. I have not been to a county fair in forever. I kept having flashbacks to my childhood of going to our county fair and I think we even went to the state fair once or twice. I thought it would be fun for the kids to go and see the rides, food and animals.

We got there and of course, I had no cash. Hmmm Thankfully they take credit cards for the entrance fee and one of my s-i-l had cash to cover us. We walked around first to get the lay of the land.

After we got the lay of the land we headed over to see the animals starting with the camels... Did you catch that? Yep I wrote camels. That was a new one for me being an iowa girl, I didn't really think of camels as being farm animals. Maybe that was my limiting perspective. The camels seemed a little warm and were pretty drowsy in their pen. The kids got to ride a couple of play tractors. And before you get up in arms, I know the gender universe got the better of me and I stuck my kids on the ahem 'gender appropriate colored' tractors. Ugh. Even though Max loves pink.

After that we got to check out some sheep and a cow. And a pony. And some ducks, turkeys (they were pretty magnificent to look at.) Then there were the porkers, I mean pigs and the show cows. It was great to get up so close to the animals and watch the 4H kids taking care of their livestock for the judging. I think I pointed that out to the kids as we walked. After that were the chickens and rabbits. It was really fun to see so many animals.Then it was time for funnel cake. The kids have not had funnel cake before so we were looking forward to initiating them to the funnel cake. They thoroughly enjoyed it. As we finished, a little 3 man band was setting up and playing. Max just stood there in awe watching them play. Usually he is all dancing and enjoying the music physically. This time, he was stock still, open mouthed just watching them play. I could see the wheels in his mind turning and registering that if he continues with violin, he could play like they do and have others enjoy his music. It was cool to watch.

After that, it was time for the merry go round. The kids love this and I like that it doesn't make me ill!

Oh I guess I should explain the title... Before we got the funnel cake, we saw a booth saying they had a 1000 lb pig. You had to pay $1 to see it. They, also, had a tiny baby pot belly pig that we could see. Well, Max decided he needed to see the pig while the rest of us were 'eh'. So we paid and he went back. When he came back out, his eyes were wide and we asked if it was big. He just nodded. The money guy grinned.


PS... Nope I did not get a picture, I did not go back there remember?

16 Stitches

Not 10, not 11, nope he got all the way to 16, lucky boy! Our weekend started out innocent enough. We were going camping, in fact, we were supposed to go camping on Friday but plane delays kept us from leaving that day. (Okay, so I had no desire to set up a tent at after 9pm and try and feed two children while interacting with the other families along on the trip besides my husband flying in from Kentucky with little sleep while he was away. Hmm that seems awfully long to be bracketed!) So we leave bright and early.
Max wakes us up at 5:10am and we hit the road by 5:50am. We pull into the campsite a little after 9am. We get the site set up and the Krismon takes the kids fishing. I get to mingle and visit and relax a bit before they come back hot and bothered needing water.
The ranger comes by and tells some of the others in our group about an old abandoned homestead that we can get to off road. Around 1 or so everyone except Krismon and the dogs leave to go and check it out. It was pretty darn cool. There were two houses and one chicken coop. And a dog house or something like it. We did pretty good looking around and then the guys went up behind the house.Max decided to follow and I didn't notice the barb wire. Do you know where this is leading? Yes, he asked to follow and I said he needed to wait for an adult. Did he? Nope

I could end it there and just leave you in suspense but I won't. He sliced his left leg open on barbed wire, yep a pretty proud moment for me. I, then, handed over the honking camera and ran up to him and carried him down the hill. We got over to everyone else and poured water and I was just amazed. Okay more like I wanted to break down and start weeping like he was doing but I held it together for him. Now, you may ask, where was Maggie during all this. Thankfully, she was asleep in the car unaware of anything wrong. We got back to the car, my friend, Michelle and her husband, Bill, thankfully had butterfly bandages so that we could close up the wound. Then they drove as quickly as the rough road permitted to get us back to the campsite. And they had a gps that found us the closest hospital. We drove Max to this little hospital. We had to burrito wrap him and hold him while they numbed his leg and gave him the stitches and voola!

The rest is history. Yeah right. We went back to the camp. We ate, we let the kids stay up way to late. We got to relive the moment when Max had a nightmare that took forever to wake him from and then we were up around 6am.
Still and all it was fun. It was nice to relax with friends to sleep under the beautiful stars and to walk down to the water and watch the birds in the sky before the sun truly breaks.

Did you think that was all? We guess again... While we were gone to the ER, Maggie decided to run on gravel err I mean fall on her face in the gravel so she could get road rash on her pretty pucker, cheeks, etc. Ah she is fine and truly it helps give her that rough tomboy image that she so craves as she pours dirt in her friends' hair!

The end...

Bay Area drive

So we have been visiting the relatives since late last Wednesday... So yes we were crazy.

Let me explain. I had scheduled to have the kids, okay my, playgroup at my house. I had only expected about 4 moms and maybe double that in kids. I ended up with a houseful of moms and kids. It was a great time, all ages, it felt like. The kids had a ton of fun and so did I. I had all the bags packed and ready to go just not in the car. After playgroup, a couple of friends stayed and kept me company until I was packed and ready to go. We hopped in the car, grabbed Krismon from work and were out of Vegas by 2:30pm. The trip went well since the kids were tuckered. That is until after we stopped for dinner and Maggie blew chunks. Yep, salsa and milk do not mix well in the stomach, poor girl. We got her cleaned and the seat cleaned as best as possible. She pretty much passed out for the rest of the trip. Max got incredibly whiney at one point and then he dropped off. Ahhhh was that nice. We even got in before midnight. We each ended up with a kid once we got to my in laws but that was fine. One good thing came out of poor Maggie's getting sick... The car seat had a crack so we tossed the whole sucker, they don't recycle. So she has a brand spanking new car seat with a cup holder to boot.

Water aerobics with the over 55 set

Last Friday on my vacay with my mom, we went down to do water aerobics in the community pool. It was a great time. I so thoroughly enjoyed myself. The candor, the laughter, the goofiness and just plain fun. It makes me look forward to getting older when I see the interaction and how un-self conscious they are. I know there is a better word for it but lack of sleep from sick dog is inhibiting my brain. Our class was doing all the exercises and enjoying themselves at the same time. I was the youngest by more than 2o years but felt at ease because they were so comfortable with themselves. It was a pretty amazing experience which kept me entertained for the whole 60 minutes. I was happy to contribute how to make bacon in the oven which went over well. And who knows how we got on that subject....

And then the next class showed up with their drill Sargent of an instructor and the fun got sucked out of the pool area. We were shushed on our way out which made us all giggle!

walmart, Walmart, WALMART!!!!

So this getaway was supposed to be about painting and relaxing and just grooving without the kids and hubby. Now we did do some of all of that but each day a certain amount of time has been spent in, you guessed it, walmart. Now that time spent probably wouldn't have seemed like much if yesterday's visit hadn't last a few hours! Yes, that is right, we were in there longer than I think I have ever been in walmart total. We would fabric that would work perfect in my house as curtains but they did not have enough so they called around to other stores and kept disappearing into the back. Now, granted they were just as frustrated because they kept getting hung up on in other stores but I have this feeling we should have just called it a day long before we got to the point where we thought a rescue crew was going to need to be called in to get us out of there.

I did leave with two good things, knitting needles and thread. Last night, my mom and her friend taught me how to knit simply and so I have been working on a scarf for the kids. Hopefully, I will be able to figure out how to make a second scarf so they don't have to fight over the one. And now I know what everyone will get for xmas! lol So watch out world I am adding to the collection of knitted scarves...