Loser Mom

I had a week of Loser Mom occurrences. Let me tell you, it was not very fun! Here's a recap:

Tuesday was Celeste's GS cookie booth after school. Here was the plan: pick up Celeste and Sophie from school (3:30), meet at the other GS mom's house (3:45), drive to the booth (4:00), sell cookies (till 6:30), drive home. Simple, right? WRONG! Alexa has softball practice everyday after school, and it is each parent's responsibility to get them there. I asked her to get a ride with someone else this time. Well, I get a call from her at 3:15 that she and 3 others do not have a ride! OK, refocus. I called Celeste's school and asked them to get a message to Celeste for her and Sophie to walk home with the GS friend. I would just meet them there. So, I picked up Alexa + 3, took them to practice and headed to the GS's house. On the way, Celeste called to figure out where I was, as it was now about 3:45. I was almost there. When I got there, I went in and made my apologies to the mom, told them what happened, and said "where's Sophie?" Celeste had a really weird look on her face and told me she did not come with her! (FYI- later she showed me the note from the office, and it said for Celeste to walk home with the friend, no mention of Sophie at all!) So, I called my neighbor, and good, she had Sophie! That meant she had to watch Sophie for me for the next 3 hours! After all this, we were off to the booth and all went well. Alexa got a ride home from softball, got Sophie, and put dinner in the oven. What a girl!

Now for my next (and worse) loser mom moment. On Thursday, after dropping the girls off at school, I was home having breakfast, coffee, and reading. Why not? I did not need to be anywhere that day until lunch time. 9:40 the phone rings:

Celeste: "mommy, where are you? you are supposed to be here for my PACE conference."
Me: "what!?! there is nothing on my calendar? When?"
Celeste: "now, I think, all the other parents are already here"

We proceed to discuss the issue, Celeste was upset and crying a little, so the teacher got on the phone and yes, all the 5th grade PACE parents had a group conference at 9:30, the next group was not til 11:30, so I should head over and come now, late. I got there at 9:55 just as all the other parents (including to GS mom from Tues, she must think I am a total loser!) were getting ready to leave. Celeste and I were rushing through her conference when I felt wet/cold on the side of my leg. Well, my water bottle was on it's side in my leather purse and had spilled all into my purse. It was so wet, it soaked through the leather and was dripping out the bottom of my purse. I started pulling out the contents and realized it had been pouring on my camera, I lifted it out and water was streaming from it. Both my checkbooks, receipts, etc all soaked too! I tried to focus on Celeste and her conference, fill out the paper required of me, and not cry! When I got home I spread everything out in front of the fan, switched to another purse, and went to lunch with a friend. Much better!

I was remembering when my kids were littler how things like this used to get me so upset and crying. This time, no tears at all. I guess I go with the flow much better now! I just hate days like these that make me feel inadequate, but my children are all fed, clean, clothed, and pretty damn smart, funny, and responsible, so I guess we're doing all right!

Sweethearts

We all know Tony was gone for my birthday, so I told him all I wanted was him to take pictures with me for this book. We finally got to it on Valentine's weekend (he got off easy, don't you think? My birthday AND Valentine's day and that is all I wanted!). Alexa took the pictures of us at a park in Tempe. She did such a good job! We took over 100 pictures, so I would have a lot to choose from. The book is a mixed media book, with acrylic, chipboard, cardboard, and cardstock pages. We used Glimmer Mist, Texture paste, silver leaf, vinyl, paint, and lots of cutouts, flowers, buttons, and bling. I love how it turned out. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

We really had a great time and could not stop laughing. There were so many pictures to choose from, I had a hard time narrowing it down.

Later that night, we went to dinner with 4 other couples at a Brazilian steak house. It was so cool! It is all you can eat, with hot appetizers and salad bar (which had really random things like calamari, squid, crab legs, etc,). Then they come around with 16 different meats on skewers for you to have pieces of. There was prime rib, tri tip, chicken, ham, turkey, lamb, and more. They also served us fried bananas, grilled pineapple, rice balls, beans and rice. It was really great food and such a fun experience. I would definitely recommend it as a fun date for all you carnivores!

The Cutest Thing You've Ever Seen....

Introducing Sadie, Alexa's new Bichon Poo.

Alexa has been wanting a small, indoor dog for a long time now. Tony was not sure about another pet, so he has been resisting the idea. He finally gave in since that was all she wanted for her birthday. There were some problems, however. Alexa likes small toy breeds like Yorkies, but has a mom who's morals/ethics will not allow purchasing an animal from a breeder or pet store. There are just too many animals that need homes, I refuse to support an industry that creates more pets. Tony and I visited the local shelter. There were quite a few dogs there, the only small ones being chihuahuas(SP?) which Tony can't stand! Alexa was given the job of searching Craig's list, Humane Society, PetCo adoptions, etc online. She spent hours searching the net for the perfect pet. We found her on Craig's list, needing to be adopted from a family that worked full time and did not have the time to supervise her properly. They also had a larger dog that did not take too well to the new pup. I still feel a little torn since she did originally come from a breeder, and feeling a little hypocritical, but she did need a good loving home. And look how happy she has made my girl:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is a peak at the little girls' Valentines for school. We really had fun making them together. The paper is made by Fancy Pants and had 12 images on the 12X12 sheet, all ready to cut out and use! The backs say To and From, but we mounted ours on a card, made from our new red dotted swiss cardstock (which has raised polka dots), instead. All available at "Scrapbooks, Etc" of course!

With new, stricter school food policies, we opted for fun Valentine pencils (from the dollar store!). Gone are the days of baking cupcakes to take in for your birthday or a party. All food brought to share must be STORE BOUGHT! Yuck! Also, they are now suggesting only "healthy" treats be brought in to share. So, for last years' birthdays we brought fruit cups and juice boxes, this year we made goodie bags with stickers and pencils in a decorated brown lunch bag. I know they will still get some of the red heart suckers, conversation hearts, etc., but not like when I was a kid! I hope their friends all like the pencils instead of candy. I'm sure they will, who doesn't like a brand new pencil?

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day with their sweethearts, and to my mom and dad who were married on Feb 14, 1970, Happy 39th anniversary!

T.M.I

This might be too much information for some, but I thought I would share. Tony was in New Mexico for 2 weeks, working. He had to be there during my birthday, even. It was hard on me because our schedules were off, when I would call he was busy working, and he was sleeping at odd times when I was awake. After a few days of hardly speaking more that a few moments to him, I broke down! I texted him that I was not OK and needed to talk to him. He did call at about 2 am when he got off, and I was still tossing and turning, not able to sleep. It was nice to talk to him and he made me feel better. Well the next morning I woke to this text (edited slightly for general audiences!):

"These are the things that I love about you, you're smart, sexy, nice, thoughtful, understanding, great wife and mother. I like the way you make me feel about you, it's the same feeling I had when I first met you. You do everything for me and let me do what I like to do. I think about you all the time, I just don't tell you. There are a lot more things I love about you......(edit)...........
I love my wife more than anything in the world and I am sorry I don't show it. You're the best!"

Wow! For those of you who do not know Tony, he is a man of few words. He, himself, does not like praise, especially empty praise. He is not one to really praise others or say a lot so this was really hard for him, I would guess. It sure made my day!