6 word Saturday

Don't know how she does it!

This week was so crazy busy!
I had my Parent Conference Night with 11 conferences, my daughter's Open House, Car pick up line in the rain, bible study, a trip to the costume store, finally made it for my allergy shots (3 weeks overdue), swimming practice and I still have to make it to a workshop this afternoon!

I'm exhausted just typing it all!

Can you describe your life in just 6 words?

Are You Angry?

On Sunday mornings at my church, I teach a middle school class.   Right now we are using "Talksheets" for our curriculum.  I really like them because once you do a little icebreaker game, they are just the right length of time to hold the attention of a middle schooler!  
Today our topic was anger, and there was about 4 of us adults, (one of which was a guest speaker) and about 9 kids in the class.  We started off with a little ice breaker game where the guest speaker described several situations, and asked if we would feel angry or not.  As she was reading through the situations, I realized that I am usually pretty easy-going unless someone is being hurt that cannot stand up for themselves.  

You see, I went into Sunday school angry this morning because my daughter's father was supposed to come get her at 10:30 and did not show up until 11:15 (typical), at which point she was crying and worried that he was not going to show up.  I get so angry because he doesn't realize how much he hurts my daughter and lets her down over and over and treats her like she isn't a priority.  So, is my daughter being hurt by someone she cannot stand up against?  Yes.  Am I good and mad? Yes.  Did I let him know it?  Yes.  Will he ever change?  Probably not.  

The other thing that the guest speaker at church said was that your words leave a imprint on someone's soul.  Emotional hurts are remembered far longer than it takes for physical hurts to heal.  I am sure all of us have had someone say something hurtful to us that we can still remember to this day.  Why do we forget all the good things we hear, and can't seem to forget those hateful little nuggets?
  
The speaker ended with the question: is it possible to control your temper?  I think you definitely can control your temper.  Is it an easy thing to do?  No!  I used to have a lot of anger- it is hard raising a child on your own, with no one around to help when you most need it.  I started reading my bible each night and really asking God to help me with my temper, and it has made a big difference.  I also can feel when I am already boiling up at around an 8 on a scale of 10 (usually around bedtime), and take a few moments to calm down before I do anything else.  The times when I do blow my top, I head straight to the bathroom or bedroom and shut the door until I am calmer.  
How do you handle your anger?

What I like about ME!

Why is it so hard for me, probably most women, to do this?  Where did my confidence go?  Well, I guess I can't say where did my confidence go, because I don't think I ever had too much.  Most people don't know that about me, but I guess most women try to hide their lack of confidence.  Maybe we would be much kinder to each other if we knew that everyone we looked at feels the same way that we do!  Anyhow, I think where I stand at this point in my life, my confidence is better than it's ever been, and things that used to sort of embarrass me have become things I am rather proud of.  So, on that note, here is my list:
1. My ability to tell a good, funny story. 
2. My sense of adventure- usually how I get my good funny stories!  When I was very young I would not do anything on my own, but now my motto has become "It will either be a good time or a good story" and I will try out anything!
3.  That I am sensitive.  I used to hate how often I burst into tears- angry, sad, commercials.  Now I know that my tears show how much I care and love, not that I am a silly girl.
4.  My big green eyes.  When I was younger they leaned more toward hazel, but now they are truly green.  I love green eyes!
5.  My intelligence.  Always learning, always google-ing, always reading.  No, it does not make me a nerd- it makes me smart and that is beautiful : )
6.  That I am a born teacher.  To my daughter and to my students.  My daughter is so smart, and since I have raised her alone, I know it is mostly from me- reading to her, pointing out the names of flowers, birds, practicing times tables even over the summer!  The other day this guy found a huge alligator snapping turtle and some kids (and of course, me) ran over to check it out and I ended up telling the kids all about it, how they have a little appendage under their tongue to attract fish and then, SNAP!
7. My athletic body.  Sure I may not look like a supermodel, or even a plus size model, but I can hike and swim and jog and even think I have some pretty hot legs.
8. I am a great cook.  Even if my daughter does not appreciate it AT ALL.  I took cooking lessons when I first moved out of my parents house.  (I think they were afraid that I was going to starve!)  It gave me great confidence.  Also, growing up, my mom cooked a family dinner nearly every night and that probably has something to do with my skills as well!
9.  I have a green thumb!  In the past few years, I have gotten really good at gardening.  My garden has given us squash, cilantro, basil, strawberries, tomatoes and eggplant.  I have also grown bananas!
10.  I am strong.  A few months ago I lost my best friend, my buddy, my dad.  But my faith hasn't faltered.  I have not fallen to pieces.  I miss him terribly but I can make it through.  I am a single mom.  I am a middle school teacher.  If I can make it through that, I can survive anything!

Click on this link to participate in C.Mom's "Things I like about me" blog hop or for more information!

Not Sleeping Over

Something about me that you may not know is that I am a single mom, and I have raised my daughter on my own since she was born.  My daughter only sees her father every other Sunday.  She has only spent the night over there twice in her life.  Lately she has been very interested in slumber parties.  She had a friend spend the night here once, and she spends the night over my mom's house or her godmother's house once in a while, but has yet to spend the night over a friend's house.  So, she got on the phone with her dad the other day, and I wasn't really listening to what she was saying, and apparently she asked to come spend the night.  He has two other kids and I know that she wanted to have a slumber party with her brother and sister, but I know she was also worried about sleeping in a strange bed without her mama.  She was stressing out about it for two nights, and almost backed out, but finally decided to stay the night anyway.  And guess what?  Oh yes, I get a phone call at 9:45 pm with her tiny little voice crying and begging me to come get her.  So, my question is, what would you do?  Would you tell her to suck it up and stay the night, or would you go get her.  Can you guess what I did?  Yup, I went and got her.

my dirty little secret

I have a secret to share with you.  It is the secret of how I manage to keep it all together as a single mom and middle school teacher who is always, always, always on the go.  Are you ready?  I have a house keeper.  Yes, I do.  You may think it is expensive or extravagant, but I would eat ramen noodle soup every night if I had to, to be able to afford to keep her.  She takes great care of us!  She helps me catch up on laundry, dishes, cleans the bathrooms and floors and even helps in the yard sometimes.  She always moves knick-knacks around, or hangs things up that I never thought of, or didn't get around to.  My daughter follows her around and helps her, and she fixes all the stuffed animals and babies on her bed just so!  Having my house keeper allows me to come home to a tidy house where I can make dinner and hang out with my daughter, without having to worry about sitting in a big mess or cleaning up after a long stressful day teaching teenagers.  And more time with my daughter is worth every penny to me.

single, married and in between

I read an article the other day about a lady whose husband worked all the time starting up a restaurant, and she stayed at home and pretty much raised the kids on her own for a few months.  She called herself a "single married mom".  Lately, I have seen this term popping up all over the place.  And I have a problem with it.  First, if you have a husband, you are NOT single.  You have someone who is with you through thick and thin, who you can talk to when things are challenging, even if it is only on the phone.  You have someone who has your back, both financially and emotionally.  Really, I am flattered that now even the married moms want to call themselves single, but stop being disrespectful to your husband and call yourself what you are, married.  Because until you have actually been a single mom, you would not understand.

to do lists and car tires

Like everyone else, I always have so much to do.  Sometimes it is hard to keep up with it all!  Usually I take care of one errand every day before or after work, but lately it has been wearing me out not getting home until late, or doing too much before I go in.  This weekend I decided to make a to-do list of all the little things that I needed to do, and knock it all out in one day.  That way I can just go straight home from work this week without having to stop off anywhere.  So, I packed up my daughter and her DS in the car, and we started off strong, heading out about 9:30 dropping items off at the church yard sale, returning overdue library books, stopping at one pet store to exchange a recalled aquarium heater, and another one for more coral for our tank.  Then we hit a roadblock- the car place.  I had never been there before and had some great coupons, but they were slammed.  It sucked about an hour and a half out of our day, wore us out, and added another 2 items to the list!  Apparently, when you get new tires, you should get an alignment as well.  I could barely afford the Z rated tires I got last spring, so I declined the alignment.  Apparently it would have paid off, because I ruined 1 front tire and the other one isn't looking so good either!  So, here is the moral to my story: Don't bother trying to accomplish all of your errands in one day, more errands will only arise, so pace yourself.  Oh, and rotate your tires every other oil change!

5 question Friday

Hi! And happy Friday! And it is a happy Friday for me because there is no school today FOR NO REASON! What makes it even better is that there is no school Monday FOR NO REASON either!!! A 4 day weekend just for the heck of it! Whatever will my daughter and I do with ourselves? I bet you can guess...

Here is my 5 question Friday for this week:
1. Have you ever testified in court? For what?

no

2. Do you still have your wedding dress?

not married- I have never even tried one on.

3. Is there a special place you like to go when you're happy, sad, stressed, etc.?

I love to go to the beach or lay by a pool. The smell of salt water or chlorine and suntan lotion just melts all my troubles away.

4. If you have kids, do they sleep with you? If you don't have kids...will you let your kids sleep with you when/if you have them?

As a single mom, the only time I have to myself is after I put my daughter to bed, so I have never allowed her to sleep with me. Plus, I am a light sleeper and she kicks!

5. Do you watch late night TV? No, I am usually in bed by 10.

what happens when you try to do to much

My daughter's birthday was today. Which means that last night I was running around like a maniac and trying to do a million things at once. I even took off of work on Friday and spent time getting the party favors prepared and the presents wrapped. But somehow I was still running ar0und at the last minute last night. I finished packing up the car with everything to bring to the party in the morning and (finally) had come upstairs to get ready for bed. I was brushing my teeth when I realized I hadn't taken my allergy pills for 2 days. I figured that by the time I finished brushing, my mind would be on to something else and I would forget the darn pill (again!) so I ran down the steps real fast to get it with my toothbrush still in my mouth- and that is where it all went into sloooww mootioonn. I slipped down about 4 steps and just couldn't manage to catch myself, what with the toothbrush in my mouth and all, and slid into a heap at the bottom of the steps. I laid there for a minute thinking that I might have killed myself but then I realized how badly my butt hurt and realized I was probably still alive. So, this is why people buy those "help I've fallen and I can't get up"- LifeAlert necklace things, I was thinking to myself. My daughter did not even get out of bed to check on me. I said, with tears in my voice, "mommy fell" and she yelled down to me "oh, OK". So much for sympathy around here. And you would not believe the bruise on my butt! But at least I remembered to take that darn allergy pill!

Bad Chick Stuff

The other night I was watching Harry Potter and was thinking about how tough Hermionie is. She fights bad guys, punches Draco and has an amazing little beaded bag that holds everything but the kitchen sink. I was thinking how cool it would be to be such a bad chick.
Then I started thinking about all the things I have been doing lately. Things I never imagined that I would even know how to do, let alone be doing on my own. Things such as:
Pull starting a pressure washer, and pressure washing the entire back porch and walls of my house on my own.
Painting.
Fixing my own fireplace with high temperature stove cement.
Caulking my entire stairway.
Grouting my bathroom.
Installing a new pull switch on a ceiling fan.
Hanging shelves and picture frames.
The list goes on. And no, it is not "guy stuff". It is bad chick stuff.
Especially when you add raising a child on your own and teaching classroomfuls of middle schoolers to the list, I realize now that I really am one bad chick. At least in my own eyes. And hopefully in my daughter's and student's eyes too.

How to Get A Husband... According to 6th Graders

I have a boy in my class who just became a big brother a few weeks ago. We had a few free moments and he was proudly showing us her picture, and mentioned that her room is decorated in a monkey theme. I told the kids that my daughter's room was done up in bunnies, but if I ever have a baby boy, I want to do the room in red with cowboys. Well, they all looked at me and began freaking out: are you having another baby?! when?! what?! I told them to hold on, slow down, that I would like to be married before I even think about going and having another baby. Suddenly, one little girl piped up and said "Here is what you need to do. Get a friend to watch your daughter. Then get a pedicure. And you need to go shopping and buy some of those booty shorts. And get those fishnet things too. Then you go dance at the dance club." Then another kid pipes up, "I hear that Club S is really cool. Are you over 21?" By this time, I was trying hard to keep a straight face, and was not doing a very good job. These kids are so funny!

sleeping over and going with it

Last night was a major milestone for my daughter: her first sleepover! My dad has been battling cancer, and I went to go sit with him last night, and let my girl stay at her godmother's house. She has a teenager who had a few other little friends stay over too. My daughter has stayed there a few other times, but not with other girls there too. First, I let her pack her own bag; in it she put pajamas, clothes, a toothbrush, CD, DS, Magnetix and Oorbeez (because those are the necessities for a sleepover!)


In the car on the way there, my daughter said that she was going to stay up till midnight. "Midnight!" I say. "Well, maybe only 11 o'clock", she tells me. I guess that turned out to be about true, because when they went out for ice cream and then got back, that was about when they got to bed. I gave her a call when I woke up this morning and asked her if she wanted me to come get her and take her to the beach, and that is where things got interesting. She said, "No, we are going to the mall, you can come get me around 6 tonight". (MALL?! TONIGHT?!) When I asked her if she was sure she wanted to stay all day, because tomorrow she will be at her dad's house all day, she replied "Mom, just go with it". UGH!

Single Mommy Math

Here was my math lesson for the day:
1 allergy shot + 1 new inhaler + IWEIGHHOWMANYPOUNDS!!!
+ 1 new car door handle (MOMMY, LOOK WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I GOT IN THE CAR!) + 12 new library books (no fine, yes!) + 9 gallons of gas + 3 stores + 2 birthday presents (Ugh, another invitation?!) + 10 spelling words written in sentences + 6 chicken nuggets + 2 bedtime stories
= 1 EXHAUSTED mommy!

it's not easy being a single mom

I have been having a really hard time lately juggling it all. I am usually pretty good at handling this busy life, but sometimes I just can't keep up with it all. I have my work ball (which as a middle school teacher is a very heavy ball), my mommy ball, my daughter ball, and my friend ball (which I am sure has fallen to the floor!) I had the car ball thrown in also this week when my daughter came inside as we were trying to get out the door for school one morning with the car door handle in her hand. Oops! So, how do YOU do it all? Any advice for a worn-out mamma?

stuff I found in my washer

Here you see one of several silly bands, candy wrappers, a penny, a bouncy ball, a sticker, pink rubber hair bands and a yo-yo shaped like a hamburger. There was also an orbee and a piece of gum stuck to the inside of the washer. I guess I need to start checking my kid's pockets before washing her clothes! I also guess I should have purchased the extended warranty on the washer and dryer, oh well!

SWAN Night!

A few years back a girl friend of mine from work decided to start a tradition for all the single girls to go out on Valentine's Day together. It was called SWAN for Single Woman Appreciation Night. The first year I felt a little bummed to be single, you know- alone on Valentine's Day and all that, but it was pretty fun to have some friends to spend a fun evening out with. Over the years, though I have come to look forward to it. I bring my daughter along (because she is a SWAN too!), and we meet up with all the girls for a nice dinner at a cool restaurant. Last year, I mentioned my plans to a married lady from church, and was surprised that she seemed jealous. She told me that truly she would rather be going out with us because it sounded like such fun to her. So, to all the single ladies out there, call up your girlfriends and find somewhere fun to go out tomorrow night- no sitting home feeling sorry for yourself- IT'S SWAN NIGHT! Happy Valentine's Day!

what a girl wants

Apparently, another kid in my daughter's class was talking about his mom having a date and her teacher said that my daughter piped up and said she was glad that she doesn't have to share me with anyone. So her teacher asked her doesn't she want to have her mommy find a nice boyfriend and she told her no, that she likes having me all to herself.
Then the other day I was visiting my dad in the hospital and I was telling him that I am planning on him walking me down the aisle someday, so he better get well. He said yeah, I guess because it may be awhile. Ha, ha, ha. Then, one of the male nurses comes in and my dad says to him "my daughter needs a man". He said "sorry, I can't help with that". He left the room as I was trying to figure out whether he was gay or married, when my dad looks over at me and says, "hey, your zipper was down". Classy.
I have been single for a while now and I enjoy my life with my daughter, so a guy would have a large bill to fill for me to want to go out on a date at this point in my life. After all, going on a date as a single mom involves finding a babysitter that does not charge an arm and a leg. Picking her up to bring to your house, and then waking up your kid to take her home at the end of the night. Not to mention actually applying makeup to my face and lotion to my legs. (I am still working on that) Oh yeah, and shaving them too. Probably I would have to paint my toenails too. My kid will usually do that for me if I pay her a dollar, but she puts polka dots on them.
Anyway, on to him. If I did go on a date, I would like to go out with a good old Florida boy. I love Florida- being on the water, hanging out at the beach, swimming, fishing, so I would like to date a guy that likes that too. One with a boat. Oh yeah, and a job and car and the liking kids part too. But did I mention a boat?

TAKE YOUR MEDICINE!!!!

My daughter is so bad about taking medicine! I guess she comes by it honestly, because when I was little I remember my mom having to call her brother, who is a pharmacist, to order a special grape flavored cough medicine for me- that I still threw up. But, I think that my daughter has me beat. First of all, she throws up cough medicine and pretty much any liquid medication I try to give to her. I have tried having it flavored, giving her a popsicle to freeze her taste buds, and threatening to spank her if she does not SWALLOW IT NOW!!! A few years ago I tried to get her a flu shot, and my doctor ended up having to chase her around the room trying to stick her with the needle. The next year, my doctor suggested I either look into the one that just sprays up their nose, or just take our chances, but she was NOT going to give her another shot. I even had her speak to a pharmacist, her doctor and my mom about why it is important to take her medicine. So, do any of you moms have any tricks up your sleeve for how you get your kids to take their medicine?