14

Happy Birthday to R!!

Let's all enjoy some photos of her through the years....

**click images to enlarge**

I never thought she looked much like me, or my side of the family, but in a couple of those earlier photos, you can tell she's my kid!

Do you remember when?

Another poem I dug up from a box that's been put up on a high shelf and forgotten.

I'm surprised I haven't been emailed this 5 times in as many years!

Remember When?

Hippie meant big in the hips?

And a trip involved travel in cars, planes or ships?

When pot was a vessel for cooking things in?

And hooked was what grandma's rugs would have been?

When fix was a verb that meant mend or repair?

When to "be in" meant merely existing somewhere?

When neat meant well organized, tidy and clean?

And grass was a ground cover, usually green?

When groovy meant furrowed with channels and hollows?

And when birds were winged creatures like robin and swallows?

Fuzz was a substance real fluffy like lint?

And bread came from a bakery, not from the mint?

When rock was a stone and hang up was something you did on the phone?

When swinger was someone who swung on a swing?

And pad was a soft, sort of cushiony thing?

When far out meant distance - a long way away?

And no one thought twice when you said you were gay?

Angelic

Today I did some more packing.  Well, more cleaning than packing actually. 

And I only broke out in a tiny sweat.

When I took some trash out to the alley.

I'm going through every box, bag, drawer and container.  I am no longer going to cart from house to house stuff we do not need or use.

It's time to simplify.

In the process, I'm finding little mementos I'd forgotten about.  Like drawings and paintings from when I used to be an artist.

Like this little gem ~

It's not dated, and I think I copied it from a Greeting card.  Most likely it's from the mid to late 1980's when I was doing the majority of my drawing and painting.

Sometimes I wonder why I ever stopped.

And why I don't start up again.

 

This pretty much sums it all up

I found this poem while cleaning out boxes of junk.  I hand wrote it on a piece of paper torn from a spiral notebook.  I do not know the original author (I'm pretty sure it's not me!) and I think I wrote it in the early 1980's.

Anyone with kids can totally relate.

Anyone who was a kid can totally relate! 

And I'm pretty sure I've said most of it at some point since S was born.

A Mom's Life

Take your plate to the kitchen, please.

Take it upstairs when you go.

Don't leave it there, take it upstairs.

Is that yours?

Don't hit your brother.

I'm talking to you.

Just a minute please, can't you see I'm talking?

I said don't interrupt.

Did you brush your teeth?

What are you doing out of bed?

Go back to bed.

You can't watch TV in the afternoon.

What do you mean, there's nothing to do?

Go outside.

Get off the phone.

Tell your friend you'll call her back.  Right now!

Hello.  No, she's not home.

She's still not home.

She'll call you when she gets home.

Take a jacket.  Take a sweater.

Take one anyway.

Someone left her shoes in front of the TV.

Get the toys out of the hall.  Get the toys out of the bathtub.  Get the toys off the stairs.

Do you realize that could kill someone?

Hurry up.

Hurry up.  Everyone's waiting.

I'll count to ten and then we're going without you.

Did you go to the bathroom.

If you don't go, you're not going.

I mean it.

Why didn't you go before we left?

Can you hold it?

What's going on back there?

Stop it!

I said stop it!

I don't want to hear about it.

Stop it or I'm taking you home right now.

That's it.  We're going home.

Give me a kiss.

I need a hug.

Make your bed.

Clean up your room.

Set the table.

I need you to set the table!

Don't tell me it's not your turn.

Please move your chair into the table.

Sit up.

Just try a little.  You don't have to eat the whole thing.

Stop playing and eat.

Would you watch what you're doing?

Move your glass, it's too close to the edge.

Watch it!!

More, what??

More, please.  That's better.

Just eat one bite of salad.

You don't always get what you want.  That's life.

Don't argue with me.  I'm not discussing this any more.

Go to your room.

No, ten minutes are not up.

One more minute.

How many times have I told you don't do that?

Where did the cookies go?

Eat the old fruit before you eat the new fruit.

I'm not giving you mushrooms.  I've taken all the mushrooms out.  See?

Is your  homework done?

Stop yelling.  If you want to ask me something, come here.

STOP YELLING!  IF YOU WANT TO ASK ME SOMETHING, COME HERE!!

I'll think about it.

Not now.

Ask your father.

We'll see.

Don't sit so close to the television, it's bad for your eyes.

Calm down.

Calm down and start over.

Is that the truth?

Fasten your seat belt.

Did everyone fasten their seat belts?

I'm sorry that's the rule.  I'm sorry that's the rule.  I'm sorry that's the rule.

**The answer I now get to most of the previous questions are "I don't know", "It's not me" and "No one".  I've been convinced Idontknow, Itsnotme, & noone are living with me, and have been the past few years.**

Open door policy

I'm not claustrophobic.  In fact, although I'd rather not be in a small confined space (who does?), it doesn't freak me out.  And I can ride in elevators with no problem, even full ones.

But I can not use the bathroom with the door closed. 

Part of the reason is most of the bathrooms I've had were fairly small, and they get all steamy and humid after a shower.  

Another reason was, after having my first daughter, leaving the door opened allowed me to hear what she was up to.

Which also lead to me always having a kid follow me into the bathroom.  When they were toddlers I didn't mind.  This was, after all, the perfect opportunity to teach them all about using the potty. 

But I think it began to become something that was "normal" to my kids.  As they got older, my "open door policy" started to come back and bite me in the ass.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I was in there and a kid just walked in.  

"Hey Mom! Do you know whe.....Ugggg!  I'll ask you when you're done."

I can't really blame them.  They were taught that my door is always open, and an open door is an open invitation to enter.

Which has caused us to have some "oops!" moments where they're usually way more embarrassed then me.

Now that they're much older, they've learned to ask if I'm using the bathroom, or doing my hair.

It's saved them from those embarrassing moments.

And now, when I need to escape, I go in and close the door.

I've heard that's what many mom's do.

It just took me until my kids hit their pre-teens for me to catch on!