I’ve mentioned before that I’m a closet fan of heavy metal. My parents didn’t let me watch much MTV (back in those days, VH1 played more tame music), so when I would spend the night at my friend, Tracy’s house, we’d stay up late and watch Headbanger’s Ball. (My mom reads my blog, so here is where I need to offer my apologies for disobeying: Sorry, Mama!)

At any rate, there is a song that gets stuck in my head sometimes, and it has to do with what propels us forward when the odds are against us. When I feel frustrated or wonder why things are happening the way they are, this song reminds me that much of life is what I would dub character-building experiences. Life isn’t a lolly-gag stroll through a park on a spring day. Some days are tough … heck, some years are tough. But, in the end, what doesn’t kill us will make us stronger.

A kick in the teeth:
What doesn’t kill me only
will make me stronger!

(Bad language warning:
but Papa Roach sometimes sings
what I’d like to say.)

Mudding and camping,
bag full of dirty laundry:
that’s Spring Break – fun times!

My brave dad took the younger three home with him for a few days during Spring Break. He lives out in the woods, so they had a filthy, fantastic time digging holes in the dirt (which they filled with water to make their own mud pools). They came home with tales of llamas at a petting zoo and camping in the yard with PawPaw.

After he brought them home, my dad told me that he realized why I suggested that he only take two boys instead of all three. :p  They were a handful, but I’m glad they had a fun time!

Oh, the irony!
I prayed our flight would be late …
But not by an hour.

Whew, what a full weekend! We were blessed with an opportunity to travel to Pittsburgh (more on that in another post) and had a tight connection time on the return trip. I was afraid we’d miss the last leg home (which is also the last flight of the night to our small, regional airport), so I prayed that it would be late to accomodate us. An hour after we ran (quite literally!) to the terminal, they announced boarding. Alas — thank you, Lord, that we didn’t miss the flight! 🙂

Bless you, all teachers!
Monday before Spring Break, and
the countdown begins!

This year, the giddy eagerness is even worse than usual, because we are going on a cross-country trip (on an airplane!) to visit Dad where he’s currently training and participate in some pre-deployment activities with other families in his Army Reserves unit. The boys are beside themselves with anticipation!

Pray for my sanity, y’all! 🙂

Meetings, meetings … snore!
One conf’rence call and one live?
Two places at once?

Left Hand, please meet Right Hand. Right Hand, this is Left Hand. It is essential that the two of you work closely together. Ideally, you ought to be connected, somehow – as if the same central nervous system guided both of your actions. Now, that would be something! Just imagine – Left Hand and Right Hand, in sync, working as one body.

I have a conference call at 8:30am today. I also have a live meeting at 8:30am today. Some of the meeting participants overlap, so I do not know which one is priority, or if one supersedes the other and no one bothered to inform me. Ironically, the “live” meeting is taking place in a conference room that comfortably seats 12 or has standing-room-only space for about 20. There are 60+ people included in the meeting. Thankfully, there is also a phone-in option (for folks out of town), so I do believe that I will stay in the comfortable-by-comparison Frozen Tundra that is my office and participate by conference call.

Now, which number shall I call?!?

Paper is my nemesis. The boys bring home so many papers from school (often duplicates, since two go to one school and three attend another) that is is difficult to keep the study tidy. (And by “difficult,” I mean that it is seldom tidy. Ever.)

I like having to-do lists, primarily because I think of random things that I need to do when I’m not in the position to take care of it right then and there. I usually have a running list on a piece of scratch paper on my desk at work, but at home, scraps of paper end up where mismatched socks, single puzzle pieces and AA batteries go … oblivion.

The boys each have a plastic basket to hold the random assortment of school papers, but it takes time to go through the baskets and decide what is special enough to keep for posterity (which then goes into a plastic folio thingamajig for that school year), and what needs to go in the recycle bin.

I also use a magnetic whiteboard that I keep on the fridge. It has two columns: one for meal planning purposes (ie, “What’s for dinner?”) and the other for daily activities, such as school programs, birthday parties, etc. We have another magnetic pad of paper for a running shopping list, and it works out pretty well; just add to the list as you think of things and rip off the sheet when you head to the store.

I know that I need to sort through the paper baskets more often, but with everything else there is to do after school/work, time in the evenings gets away from me. I’m open to other suggestions for managing the paper monster. Please share!

You get it now, eh?
You realize how it feels —
It’s no fun, is it?

My 8yo was upset because his two younger brothers drew on blank pages in his personal notebook. He was ranting and raving and stomping through the house, hollering at them for “ruining” his notepad. I understood that he was upset, and it wasn’t right for them to draw on his paper, but it was also a teachable moment.

I calmed him down and directed him to his room, where I pointed at his dresser. I told him that  I realized he was angry, and it was wrong for his brothers to mark on his stuff, but now he knew how I felt when he put stickers all over his dresser. I reminded him that I bought the dresser with my money; therefore, it belongs to me, even though it’s in his room. He didn’t ask my permission to put stickers all over it; he just did it. The dresser is, essentially, ruined. I suppose I could scrape off the stickers, strip off the varnish and repaint it, but he ruined it.

He was still upset, but the raging stopped. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll think twice the next time he wants to “decorate” his room without asking me first.

I read a fun new book over the weekend, Getting Dumped, by Tawna Fenske. If you have a Kindle (it isn’t available on other devices, unfortunately), then I highly recommend it. Plus, it is on sale this month. (<<D’oh – I bought it in January!)

The format is kinda like a choose-your-own-adventure book, except there is only one major decision point, and it happens around the middle of the tale. The decision is important, though, and what’s really cool about the story is that the aggregated choices of readers will guide the plot for future installments!

Getting Dumped is a fun, romantic adventure that leaves the reader wondering what the heck is about to happen (!!!), which is, I suppose, the whole point to get you to want to read the next book. 😉

I have an older-model nook that I bought a couple of years ago, and I really like it. However, since my husband is preparing for another deployment, I thought it would be nice (and totally selfless on my part, LOL) to give him the nook and buy myself a Kindle. Anyway, he liked the arrangement; besides, he can now read the entire Game of Thrones series and dozens of other books that I’ve already read or downloaded free/cheap. Win-win, right?? 🙂