Mad Mommy? Or Mean Mommy? You Decide....

School has officially been out for my kids for a little over 5 hours and already I am "Mean Mom". Phew! That must be some kind of record.

Why - you ask? Because I am making them go to swim practice today.

Even though it is pouring rain (you swim in water, right?)..................

Even though they already went twice this week (um, practice is actually all 5 days)...........

And yes, GOD FORBID, even though it is the first day of summer vacation..........

Does "I hate you" and "You are mean" signal that I am officially doing my job?

Honorary Degree in Logistics....

....I'm waiting for mine.

It has been my premise for some time that any parent with two or more children who participate in extracurricular activities (or one child in 3 or more activities), should automatically be awarded an honorary degree in logistics.

For instance, at any given time my oldest might be playing softball (travel, naturally!), volleyball and/or swimming. At one point this past Winter into Spring - she had all three going on. My son is my "easy" one - with only Drama and swimming. The youngest was in gymnastics, jazz, ballet and Daisies this past year. She has a new "life plan" and will "only" be in swimming, Irish Dance and Brownies this upcoming year.

And those of you who know me well are hopefully mentally noting that I am not facing this schedule in a vaccum - OF COURSE I have my own things going on - PTO, Book Club, etc. Not to mention, my "real job".

Now, this is all afterschool and on weekends. Often either simultaneously or, worse, at precariously staggered times in opposite ends of the city. Dinner time? Surely you jest. Does it count as "seated for family dinner" every night if we are all sitting in the same car for 10 minutes noshing?

I've never felt I am particularly talented. I'm not at all artistic, don't have a flair for decorating, not very adept at housecleaning, pretty average cook, smart - but not brilliant or even all that witty.

Family logistics is my one superpower, I think. Keeping all the proverbial balls in the air (read - getting everyone where they need to be) is something I am pretty good at. I can't say I do it alone - I certainly have my "village"! But I count figuring out where I need help as part of my skill. I found a great tool to replace my endless bulky catalogs - cozicentral.cozi.com - through the Parents magazine website. An online color-codable calendar - NIRVANA!!!!

I figure at this point, not only do I deserve the Logistics degree, but it should be summa cum laude and coming from a fairly prestigiuos University.

So, I'll be waiting.... Probably in a minivan similar to the above.... Possibly checking my Blackberry for the next stop.... Perhaps munching on a granola bar to tide me over.....

But waiting nonetheless!

My Little Shopper

Last night I hosted a Butterfly Boutique (jewelry, purses, scarves, etc) at my mom's house for a handful of family and girlfriends. My daughters ended up at the house, along with our friend, Em.

Not surprisingly, we adult "girls" gushed over the products, modeling and taking turns in front of the mirror.

Somewhat surprisingly, my 13 year old glanced about a bit and then headed outside to play. She later came in and looked more carefully at a few things, but wasn't "over the top" enthusiastic.

Very surprisingly (ok, this is a little laughable for those of you who know Natalie.), my 7 year old was DEFINITELY enthusiastic! First she was my shadow - insinuating herself right into the circle of women at my side. Then she abandoned me to shadow the Butterfly rep, chattering relentlessly about all of the things she wanted from the product line. This savvy and kind lady redirected some of her energies with small tasks, but it did not slow down her commentary. She completely rejected the notion of playing outside with the older girls - way too much fun inside!

Her benevolent (sucker?) Nana purchased a trinket for her and for her sister, saving me the agony. But her dedication and persistence have me wondering if she should just start direct sales for them now. She'll need the consultant discount to pay for all the things she wants.

Lord, are we in trouble!

Six more mornings....

....until school is out! And the sixth one doesn't really count because there are no backpacks and no lunches involved. Hallelujah!

I am NOT a morning person. I am pleasant enough. I just resist waking up and getting up with every fiber of my being. Once upright I'm fine. But that resistance thing slows me down so I am always running late, always pushing the clock, always behind.

Of course, that means my children are also. Poor things. Because, while I can be very effective, even in my tardiness....they are less so. They don't deserve the drama that is inevitible.

I should resolve to wake earlier and fix this situation. It hardly seems worth it for six mornings.

Maybe in September?

Finally found my way back....

Even the nagging of my wonderful and encouraging sister somehow did not inspire me to make this BLOG a priority. Yet here I am again - like a bad penny!

I owe this latest motivation to a good friend's husband who writes a great BLOG - definitely worth checking out - Old Wahoo. He is a journalist/dad who shares great personal stories, musings, links, resources, etc. Often regarding parenting but sometimes just random. Always well written and entertaining.

Also generally very simple. Hence the inspiration.

I think I started out trying to hard at this. The point was to exercise regular writing. I quickly pressured myself to strive to be either constantly witty or, failing that, visually entertaining. As hilarious as I find my life at times, it is simply not possible to post consistently and always be dazzling. Therefore, I psyched myself out.

Old Wahoo showed me that posts can be short and simple sometime and still be interesting. So, I'm back to posting, hopefully more often. I will try not to be completely boring but I won't promise "jazz hands" with every post. Hope some of my friends find their way back here!

So much for resolutions...

And to think I was dismayed before about a month passing without a blog! I'm embarrassed to calculate the time from my last entry until now. Oh well, my new resolution is to do what I can and just not worry about it. Come to think of it, that is my new resolution in general!

We are having a nice weekend here in GP. The chill is off and the sun is out just enough to hint at spring. Sending the kids outside does not require half and hour of finding and putting on gear. Also, we had a pretty open weekend for a change. Not completely open - I don't think that's even possible for us. But open enough to enjoy wide expanses of unplanned time. Heavenly really, even if the time is not used as efficiently as I dream it could be.

Saturday morning we were at a Middle School swim meet. Our middle schools have never had their own swim teams. The high schools do and there are year-round swim clubs that utilize the system's pools, but never an opportunity to swim for the middle school itself. A motivated and energetic member of the high school boys' swim team changed all of that this year and inspired a new swim league. My daughter is really enjoying swimming for her school. And every new experience teaches her new things about strokes, conditioning, stretching.

We are now calling her Jaws, thanks to a friend's father. I'm sure the pictures above give you a clue to why.

My Four Year, Three Day Journey

By this time you are probably wondering why I bothered to set up a BLOG in the first place. Why on earth is so much time lapsing between posts? What could I possibly be doing that doesn't afford me a few minutes to jot down my thoughts?

Well, I've already ranted and raved about our schedules, so you know that is a factor. More importantly, however, I was preparing and then walking in my third Breast Cancer 3Day!

About 5 1/2 years ago, just after my third child was born, a very good friend of mine walked in the 2002 Avon Breast Cancer 3 Day and told me all about it. It sounded wonderful, both for the charitable and the health benefits (think post-pregnancy), but I still wasn't getting much sleep with a newborn around.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer just six months after that Walk, in November of 2002.

A year later I had been through a mastectomy, four months of chemotherapy and a TRAM flap reconstruction surgery. I was still chugging Vicodin when I got the e-mail from the same friend telling me about the 2004 Breast Cancer 3Day. She was walking again. Was I interested in donating?

I called her and asked if she would mind if I walked with her. I raised over $4000, walked 60 miles in 3 days in August 2004, promptly lost five of my ten toenails and have never looked back!

In 2005, another girlfriend and I formed Chicks for a Cure to fund raise as a team and potentially recruit more walkers. We ended up with 13 team members - 10 walkers and 3 crew members and we raised over $33,000! We had a lot of fun, even though the weekend was one of the most challenging, weather wise, of all the 3Days. This time my toenails remained intact.

My sister was married in 2006 and, naturally, the 3Day in my home state was scheduled for the weekend before her wedding. It was a very difficult decision and I know my sister would have supported me if I had chosen to do it. But, as Matron of Honor I really felt it would be irresponsible to risk my feet so close to the wedding.

After a year's hiatus I was very eager for the 2007 3Day. This year, instead of in the heat of summer, the walk was scheduled for the fall. While I was delighted that it probably meant less heat (who could have predicted 90's in October?), I was terrified about rain. Rain was my nemesis in 2004, causing a majority of my blisters.

Along the way to the 2007 3Day, I resurrected Chicks for a Cure. To my dismay, the only former teammates I could lure back were Crew (okay, one walker, but she went to Crew). Six new, wonderful women joined on to walk, however. And having five Crew Members as "Chicks" - looking out for us and performing random acts of kindness specifically for us - was a lovely security net as well.

The 2007 Chicks for a Cure totalled 12 and raised just short of $29,000!

The 2008 dates for the Walk have been announced and Chicks for a Cure will be back. Beware your e-mail inbox - I am looking for new CHICKS!!!!!