Mother of the Year Award

The 2010 Mother of the Year Award will *not* being going to me this year, and my almost 6 year old keeps reminding me of this fact. Her 6th birthday is on Monday, and she is SUPER excited. There seems to be so much more anticipation for six than past birthdays. Anyway, I leave for a work conference on Saturday and don't return until Wednesday. Yes, I am missing my daughter's 6th birthday. It gets worse. The conference is in Orlando. At Disney World. See, no award for me. I realize that this isn't the best planning in life, but this conference is important to me, and I have mandatory meetings for the national committees on which I serve. She gets to spend the entire time I'm gone at Grandma and Papa's house, we are having these amazing disney decorated cookies delivered to the school, she will have a family birthday party on her real birthday with everyone except her mother, I'm getting her a bigger than usual present, we are having a birthday blowout at her gymnasitcs gym with all her friends, but I still feel guilty. I know she will be fine and will love how it turns it to being a birthday week rather than day, but right now she is doing a good job of making me feel guilty.

I grew up with a mom that spent lots of time telling me that she wasn't concerned with winning mother of the year, after I had spent lots of time being upset with her about something. Not getting to go somewhere, do what my friends did, or her excessive (at least I thought so then) punishments. She never seemed concerned about making me the world's happiest kid, just with making sure I was raised with good values, strong convictions, and behaved as expected. Pretty smart lady. I'm sure K will find many more reasons to be upset with me in the future, but hopefully they don't include missing birthdays or leaving your kids behind to party with Mickey.

It's a big deal mom

Last week K's kindergarten class was learning all about apples. Each day, a few children were assigned to bring an apple treat of their choice to school to share. On our day, I asked her what we should take and listed out some options. Most were pretty low key, and easy to throw together either the night before or the morning of. As a busy working mom that works 50+ hours a week and has pretty much been in single mom mode the entire summer, I was hoping for something easy. Like buy a jug of apple cider easy. K tells me that these snacks are a "big deal" and that I needed to make something good. I found a fun recipe for apple streusel muffins, but since they'd make pretty large muffins and other kids were bringing snacks the same day, I tried to adapt them to our mini muffin pan. This worked really well for the muffin part, but the streusel topping part was a little more difficult. There isn't the same amount of area to cover over the mini muffins and since the topping is part cold butter, it spread out a little more than desired. My oven was a mess, the pan was a disaster, but K reports that the muffins were amazing. She says the class voted her treat their favorite AND she wants me to "remember how to make them". This last statement is because I am a recipe adapter type of cook and things don't always come out the same way twice. I just make a lot of adjustments depending on what we like and more importantly what we have on hand. No kidney beans? No worries, throw in garbanzo. No sausage? How about smoked turkey keilbasa? That kind of thing. So I think it was also a big deal that she was impressed enough with my baking skills that she asked me to make it again. Here they are, cute right?

Things are running amuck

Meet George and Libby. These are my two running buddies, well they are supposed to be. Now I realize that they look like two LAZY bums, but they actually love nothing more than a morning run with me. This summer we had a great routine going on. I'd take them out for a run when my grandma arrives before getting ready and leaving for the day. Since school is in session, and K rides the bus, there just isn't enough time. Well, I could do it at 5am before the hubby leaves for work, but then I'd be running on our kinda scary road in the dark, which just seems careless. In theory, I could do it in the evening, but since he is still wrapping up hay season, I just can't count on him to be home before dark for me to get out there. So we've been playing lots of catch in the back yard and I'm hoping they aren't too mad about our morning runs.

I on the other hand need to figure out something. I haven't found any other form of exercise I can continuously stick with, so I personally need to get back to the running with the dogs. It helps my migraines tremendously, plus my stress, and let's not kid around, my waistline. I'm hoping that as his season comes to an end, that M can take the reins on the evening stuff and I can go then. Here's hoping to enough energy after a long day of work.

George, as maybe you can tell, is a cattle dog. He is a blue heeler/Catahoula stock dog mix. M brought him home as a puppy (while I was on vacation, without any discussion at all mind you) and he has been wonderful. Our previous cattle dog, Jack passed away from cancer in 2006 and George is the spitting image of him. He looks like this big protective bully type dog, but he is the biggest snuggle-er and sweetheart.

Libby is a rescue dog. We aren't sure of her breed, but the vet suggests some sort of a retriever/shepard mix. We got her this summer after the passing of my long time buddy, Seth, a jack russell terrier. She was adopted from a wonderful foster rescue group here in town, after having puppies in a shelter. She has been the BEST dog for our family. She is so sweet and patient with the girls and just loves to be wherever we are.

Not pictured, is little Marley. She is a miniature schnauzer and is the craziest, most spastic little dog you'll ever meet, but also SO sweet. She is so eager to please, and sometimes shakes with the anticipation of doing what you ask of her. The girls love to drag her around the house and treat her like one of their dolls. Marley is convinced that she is a big farm dog like George and manages to find every sticktight on our property on a daily basis.

As you can tell, we are a dog loving family. They are such a wonderful asset to our lives. I hope you have such a wonderful pet in your family, they bring you much more joy than they take effort. I am a BIG supporter of adopting your pets. If you are looking for an addition to your home, consider supporting a local humane society or rescue group to do so. The love you give a rescued animal comes back to you many times over. :)

Sunday Funday

I know this term means different things to different people, but for us Sunday Funday is a day for relaxing, hanging out with the kids, and taking a breath before another busy week. Today is not supposed to be like that, we have a bunch of different places we need to be. But K is a little bit sick and could really use a day of rest, and I think I might make the decision to keep us at home and stick with the theme of Sundays. I have often had guilt about making these decisions over the years that make us miss a family event (and we are talking extended family here) but have decided that I won't be guilty anymore. Life is full of choices and my responsibility is to make the ones best for my kids, right? In other news, I have started attempting to sew again, after a 20 year hiatus. I went pattern and fabric shopping with my mom and she baulked and my choice to jump back in with. I am attempting to make a matte jersey 3/4 length sleeve wrap style dress. Needless to say, it has been a challenge! I will post pictures once it starts to come together. For now, I just mostly stare at the pattern and shake my head. I have other projects on the horizon (and any one would have probably been a better place to start), like a dog bed, a dresser top jewelry organizer for my sister, an apron, and a cute little sleeve for my iPad. I will keep at it though!

sweet!

Just got an app that will let me update my blog by iphone. So yipee!