The Death of Wednesday

Dear Wednesday,

Here it was Thursday and you wouldn’t leave me alone.  You just had to follow me, like some crazed stalker. You tried sucking me back into that dismal state that only Wednesday drama can do. You followed me into Thursday, clutching onto my sanity and peace of mind. You suck, Wednesday.

Normally I don’t consider Wednesday ”hump day” or get-me-to-Friday-already day, because when you’ve got two kids the days sort of blend together and they sort of lose their feeling. You don’t realize what day it is until you turn on AMC and see what’s playing. Although sometimes I wish my life was an hour-long drama or better yet a half-hour comedy. It could be wrapped up and resolved by the end of the episode and I’d be drinking coffee at the end of the day and smiling as the credits rolled. It’s too bad I don’t drink coffee. Everyone I know drinks coffee and they seem to be getting passed Wednesday just fine.

I normally let go of 24 periods that suck. I try not to have too many emotional hangovers because they rob me of the chance for a better day when the sun rises. But not today. Pinche Wednesday.

I needed it to be neatly wrapped up already. I didn’t feel like re-winding the events of the day and going through all the what-if scenarios. I was so wishing that Jack Bauer would swoop on in and save this nuclear mess that I call life. But Jack Bauer did not come.

It’s days like this that I don’t like gray hair or wrinkles or age 37. Days like this make me look in the mirror and wonder if I have any brown hair left willing and able to take on any new adventures out there. I know there’s Nice N’ Easy, but that’s like cheating. I don’t mind having gray hair. I like them when they are born out of excitement and living an awesome state of existence. Stuff like bungy jumping, zip lining, paddle boarding or anything ending in “ing” really. But when these gray little fiends rise out of the depths of despair during the ”for worse” part of your days I’m not so much a fan.

No Wednesday you suck. You gave me a few new ones, and I wasn’t really happy about it.

And then it happened. The death of Wednesday, just like that and it was all because of a tea party.

A tea party.

I had forgotten that  I was invited to a pre-Mother’s Day Tea Party at my son’s preschool. In truth I wasn’t sure what to expect with some of the Children of the Corn parents planning to attend the festivities. But I promised my son I would attend, so I braced myself and forged on.

It ended up being exactly what I needed. Thursday rocked. It was definitely a cure to my emotional hangover.

 

The Invite

 

The treats await.

 

On my place mat.

 

The snack at the tea party.

 

These were gone by the time I took my second sip of tea. Most of them eaten by my son of course. I was glad that each table had its own … I didn’t want a riot to ensue.

 

While snacking on treats I explored the Mother’s Day folder created by son.

 

His notes amused me.

 

This was his how well do you know your mom quiz. I wondered what the teacher thought as she wrote down his answers. It definitely got a smile from me.  I think he’s too young to know about AMC and HBO, so he stuck to the PG rating show.

 

My portrait. I’m smiling, can you tell?

 

On our way out the little goodie bags await.

 

Thursday … yeah … definitely the cure.

Super Friends Rock the Book Festival

I never knew how powerful masks, capes, and superpowers could be, but I was enlightened this weekend at the annual Festival of Books.

We had a great time last year but failed to stop by at one of the booths, and we missed one of the readings.  We missed it. We missed it! I heard about for days. My son’s long-term memory was a little too amazing for me. So seeing how I didn’t want a repeat performance this year, I prepared all the snacks, packed all the avoid-toddler-meltdown accessories, and gassed up the care the night before. This time … this time I would see to it that we would arrive early enough so that we would not be mauled by the masses as we tried to get a glimpse of the Justice League and browse through all the Super Friends adventure books. And even though I slathered everybody with Coppertone Sunscreen, we were still baking in the sun and I felt that SPF 50 might not have been enough. My in-case-of-emergency chocolate was melting.

But despite all the heat my kids managed to wiggle themselves into the front row, and they stayed in the front row, regardless of all the sweaty kids, red-faced parents, and loud speakers surrounding us. My little Guats stayed in the front row fascinated by the reading performed by Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern, The Flash and Batman. I guess Superman was out saving the world, but even without The Man of Steel the event was packed and some of the books were sold out. Luckily my son was able to snag a few of his favorites, and this put him in a great mood for the rest of the day.

After our little superhero experience, we continued to explore the Festival of Books and found a lot of little great surprises that made this adventure a good one.

 

This year’s Festival of Books poster.

 

The excitement builds as we make our way toward the entrance.

 

The masses waiting for the Super Friends to take the stage.

 

What everyone was waiting for And as the audience was silent, eagerly listening to every word the Super Friends read you could see my one-year old daughter waving her arm and hear her say … HI BATMAN! HI! BATMAAAAAAN. BATMAAAAN. BATMAAAAAAAAAAN. There was no use shushing her.

 

My son engaging in super hero acts as they read aloud.

 

Happiness sets in as my son was able to find a few of his favorites.

 

After we bought our books, we explored the rest of the festival and ran into other surprises … Captain Underpants being one of them.

 

As we kept walking, we came across the Warner Bros. booth and decided to participate in the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine Scavenger Hunt.

 

My son completing one of the scavenger hunt activities.

 

My kids dressing up the potato heads in the best superhero costumes they could find.

 

Once we finished all the activities, we got in line to collect our prizes.

 

After all those people and kids, and heat,, it was time for a juice box-sandwich break. As we ate, my son browsed the books he bought. This one in particular was my favorite — Steam Train, Dream Train. We got a chance to meet the authors and have them sign his book. I was so excited, probably more so than my son. I think they enjoyed my Guat energy.

 

As I began to pack up and search for a place to change my daughter’s diaper, I saw something awesomely wonderful for parents courtesy of Target. A baby changing station. Dude … Dude.

 

I didn’t even need to unpack my ginormous diaper bag and search for baby powder. They had it all … sanitizer, diapers of every size, wipes, aloe, lotion, butt cream, and baby powder. It also provided a private area for feeding, which included a rocking chair and fan. Dude. I’m surprised there wasn’t a line around the block.

 

In the end it was a good adventure, filled with superheroes who rocked the festival, scavenger hunts, plenty of Coppertone SPF 50, book signings, free diapers, no traffic on the way home, and sleeping kids relaxing in their car seats.

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life

I wake up to the California sun

Got to check out what Matt, Al and the morning crew are up to.

The kids get hungry and I stumble into the kitchen surrounded my cereals, but they request pancakes.

And the morning adventure begins as my daughter begins riding out the door before I’m even ready.

We finally make it to the grassy knoll at the end of the block and commence our sports for the morning. Apparently I lose 9-1.

After we’re done, the kids eat pasta and I sneak in my fix for the day.

It’s nap time. Woo-hoo for nap time, because nap time means “me time” for mom. But my son decides he’s too big for naps. So it becomes Play-Doh time.

After nap time we change and head out for more sports.

Once I feel like I’ve tired them out, or once I’m exhausted, which ever comes first, we head home. Nickelodeon time for them while I prep dinner.

I’m in the home stretch…after dinner it’s bath time.

The countdown is on … three or four bedtime stories and then it’s lights out.

It’s me time. So I relax with a cup of good tea.

After some relaxation the creative juices start flowing.

And I finish off my night by checking my DVR and getting ready to watch my shows for the night.

Sandbox Adventure List IX: I’m Glad I Didn’t Push The Snooze Button This Time

Just because I’m awake at the crack of dawn doesn’t mean I like it. I know some parents might think that waking up before 7 a.m. is awesome. But I fall under the category of snooze-button advocate.

When my son has a day off from preschool I really don’t feel the need to get up and go. I’m all for the “give me five more minutes” routine, which eventually turns into an hour of PBS Kids, The Sprout Channel, or Nickelodeon.

Don’t judge me.

But this weekend, the morning routine was a little different. And I have to say that the blame wasn’t on Curious George this time. It happened to be children’s author Laura Numeroff and her partner in crime Felicia Bond.  After reading If You Give a Pig Party and a few others from that series he decided that some of those adventures were pretty cool. I mean he always thought they were cool. We’ve read them hundreds of times, so I don’t know what it is that sparked the inspiration, but the fuse was lit.

What adventure? What specials tools or props on this one?  Pillows. This one happened to involve pillows.

Now normally I only use pillows to rest my weary head, or bury my head in an attempt for deep uninterrupted sleep. But my son thought differently. At 7:03 on Sunday morning … he thought differently.

I didn’t see it flying high above the bed, and I sure didn’t hear it, but I felt it. Smack! The red Angry Bird pillow happened to hit my face. Normally pillows are soft in nature, but when they’re thrown at you at 7:03 in the morning? Not so much. I think they’re made of hard cotton, or something. Waking me at this hour in that manner would usually get the Incredible Hulk in me all riled up. But as I looked up I saw both of them with their morning hair and sneaky smiles.

Then I heard it … PILLOW FIGHT!

 

My son heading for cover.

 

Dude it was on.  For the next twenty minutes pillows of all sizes were flying high. As you all know I’m not the greatest morning person, but I made the exception that day. Groggy, tired, and exhausted. But I cowboy-ed up and went with the flow. Going with the flow … it’s something that I’ve been constantly reminded of during my recent meditation challenge. It was the first time I hadn’t hit the snooze button … it proved to be a good decision.

 

Little sister surveying the situation, trying to grab the Angry Bird pillow before her brother.

 

I tackled the Angry Bird pillows and flung them over. Sometimes his little Flintstone Vitamin body would withstand the blow, but other times he’d wobble and fall into the covers, only to be bombarded with more pillows and victory screams from his sister. It was one of the loudest and most fun mornings we’ve had. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t done this before, definitely a good addition to the Sandbox Adventure List. I’m glad I didn’t push the snooze button this time. I would’ve missed out.

 

 

 

Related articles

• Sandbox List Adventure VIII: Bubble Wrap Makes Me Cool (thewishfactor.wordpress.com)
• Sandbox List Adventure VII: The Price I Pay for Wearing Flip-Flops and Sunscreen During Winter (thewishfactor.wordpress.com)
• Sandbox List Adventure VI: Curious George Strikes Again (thewishfactor.wordpress.com)
• Sandbox List Adventure IV: The Big Splash (thewishfactor.wordpress.com)

Sandbox List Adventure VIII: Bubble Wrap Makes Me Cool

For me, it releases tension and stress. I guess it’s the smashing part.

My kids were probably attracted to the pop-pop popping of it all. It’s something you see and have to do. You can’t just throw it in the trash, you have to pulverize it first and then throw it in the trash … well the recycling bin.

I know they had seen it before, but it was the small 5×7 sheet that came with a box of chocolate, at which point they cared more about the chocolate and less about the packaging.

But when I changed the dimensions and provided a full floor-length sheet, you know that the smiles and laughter came out, even without the chocolate.

Bubble wrap … it’s the mom’s miracle worker on a rainy day. Usually I pack the rainy day with plenty of activities, but for some reason our agenda was not welcomed by enthusiasm. They were done with Legos, trains, balloon volleyball, hockey, Connect 4, Play-doh , Transformers, coloring, cars, books, and pretend play. They were done with it and seeing how my little one had a serious runny nose I wasn’t in the mood to escalate it into a full on cold or flu by letting them splash in puddles and be hit by hail. Yes. Today sunny Southern California was at 50 degrees with hail attacking our palm trees.

So I needed something else, because you know kids … they don’t stop for hail. They’re just like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep going all day. So I tried to step up the level of fun and found success with bubble wrap and some awesome 80s tunes. We started off dancing and then just ended up racing up and down the bubble wrap strip. I figured when my Uncle Erick introduced me to bubble wrap back in the 80s it was an awesome way to pass the time. We had no Nintendo, no Atari. We had Lite Bright, Monopoly, Sorry, Battleship and bubble wrap.

And it rocked.

I figured,  since I had such a good time, maybe my preschooler and toddler would get a kick out of it. I was worried because sometimes as parents we think we have the best plan for fun and then realize that it wasn’t as cool as we thought. Thankfully I was as cool as I thought … well at least for today.

 

First we began the setup and it took a little longer than it should have…you know with all the help I was getting.

 

Then in no time at all my son was racing up and down the bubble wrap strip, feeling ecstatic as the pop-pop-popping happened with every step.

 

My daughter tried the running, dancing and stomping but when she realized that she wasn’t getting the same sound effect or smashing as many bubbles as her brother, she took a new approach.

 

She found that squeezing with her hands and tiny fingers was a lot more productive. So then the smiles began.

 

Seeing how he was getting tired of all the running and hopping, my son decided to join his sister and use his hands to attack the bubble wrap. He had some assistance from a rolling pin.

 

In the end the bubble wrap was everywhere, but it was all good. Everyone had fun in the process, including mom.

 

Sandbox List Adventure VII: The Price I Pay for Wearing Flip-Flops and Sunscreen During Winter

Now while most people are suffering through cold rainy weather and snow storms with temperatures in the 20s or 30s, here I was in Southern California with a 70-degree day. Sun shining and just the right amount of poofy clouds. I thought … I really need to get out of the house. I’m taking my sunshine for granted. I could be shoveling snow and using all kinds of Chapstick, but instead I have the opportunity to wear flip-flops and use sunscreen.

And so I showed some appreciation. I dragged myself out of bed and gave in to my kids’ break-of-dawn excitement on Sunday morning. Normally I just want to sleep in, you know every parents dream. Sleep in until 9 a.m. without disturbance. But today was not the day for that dream. I woke up just like every other day  …  at 7 a.m. and instead of rolling over and turning on Sunday morning cartoons — the awesome human snooze button for parents trying to savor another thirty minutes of sleep in the morning – I dragged myself out of bed and declared a beach day.

But this beach day would include an adventure to be crossed off the Sandbox List. And in truth it was an adventure for three. It’s been four years (almost two years for my daughter) of summer beach trips, and I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t done this. I’ve always wanted to do that myself and I know my kids thought the idea was pretty awesome. There was sand flying everywhere and getting everywhere. But I took one for the team and they were ecstatic about it. After completing a pretty awesome sandcastle, our biggest one yet, complete with seashell decorations, I ventured into the all-time parent duty: Letting your kids bury you in the sand. Now no matter how tightly I tucked in my shirt, sand seemed to creep its way into various body cracks and breathing passages. But with my kids giggling, smiling, and laughing the grains of sand didn’t seem to bother me as much. It’s the price I pay for the privilege of wearing flip-flops and sunscreen during “winter”. This adventure might have only lasted fifteen minutes, but it was a quality fifteen-minute span. Something I hope they remember enjoying.

 

It first started with the sandcastle. They had to practice working with sand and placing it in the right spot. I really didn’t want to get too much sand in my face.

 

After completely destroying the castle Operation Bury Mom began. They started at the bottom.

 

This is where I thought … well maybe this might not be a great idea. However my son and daughter disagreed, they continued using their green and blue buckets, dump truck, bulldozer, hands and any other sand toys they could find.

 

The final step of Operation Bury Mom complete. My son wanted to add seashells, but I told him my face wasn’t a good place for decoration. So he added a little bit more sand.

 

Happiness Project Update 20: Paying It Forward One Penny at a Time

“Feel good, be good and do good.” Author Unknown.

I’m all for this. I’m all about the good. I mean who isn’t, right? So while working on expanding some of that good, I continue on my Happiness Project quest and finished the Buying Some Happiness section in Gretchen Rubin‘s book. I liked the fact that she was realistic in most of the chapter, admitting to the fact that money does help provide options for happiness or moments of happiness, but it’s not the main mojo for it.

I concur. Money plays a factor. Most people don’t think so, or might not admit it. But I do. I came clean about it in my last HP Update.

But as I kept reading she brought up an interesting point …

“It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that if you have something you love or there’s something you want, you’ll be happier with more.”

Dude. This would never happen with chocolate. Never. I know they say “never say never,” but I’m saying it. I could never buy enough chocolate. There is no limit to the powers of the cacao bean. However, when talking about parenting and kids, curbing your enthusiasm is a definite must.

Image via happiness-project.com

As adults we know that there’s a line when it comes to buying things for yourself as a reward or special splurge, and turning into a crazed shopaholic with 12 different credit cards all maxed out. We get it. At least some of us do. But when you’re at the train store, or Target, or Best Buy, or Costco and your kids want you to buy them something every single time you go somewhere, that seems to be the path of a shopaholic for sure. We all want nice things and we all want them for our kids, but when it comes to them, sometimes buying them more “stuff” can do more damage than good. Sometimes teaching your kids about modest pleasures instead of instant gratification can help in their own happiness. It can help produce an atmosphere of growth, appreciation for the “good things,” and fiscal responsibility. And then you feel ecstatic as parent because you think you did an awesome job of raising someone who isn’t materialistic in a very money-oriented label-minded world. You raised someone with values and that makes you extremely happy as a parent.

For instance LEGOLAND. It is the be all and end all of trips when it comes to my four-year old. It is his mecca. It is his chocolate. Now some people have the ability to take their kids four or five times a year. We go once a year. I explained that the trip usually comes as a result of all his good behavior throughout the year and I mention some of his achievements, like sharing with his sister knowing full well she’s probably going to stomp on the toy in the end, being able to finally master penmanship and write his name, being able to transition successfully into preschool even though they have Children of the Corn-like parents roaming around,  like working hard, practicing and doing well in his little golf competition, and for being an overall good kid.

I also make him aware that we save all year-long. We put in all our spare change from every purchase into his makeshift piggy bank we created out of an old Kleenex box. We got Martha Stewart creative and thus was his LEGOLAND box was born. Quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. Even some dollar bills. Every day we’d add a little something and he’d see his savings grow.  And he wouldn’t take any money out of it no matter what. He knew he was getting closer to his goal. We ended up with about 250+ dollars last year. And he enjoyed spending every bit of it on the entrance to the park, hot dogs, chocolate cake, Lego souvenirs, and Lego memories.

Once the morning came and he saw his empty box, he said … “We need to start saving money in my LEGOLAND box so we can go again. It’s gonna take a long time. But we can do it.”

I like his perseverance. It makes me think that I have taught him something, hopefully it’s in the realm of appreciating good things when they happen to you and being able to be responsible enough with your money that you can save up for what you want and enjoy it with the people you love. Hopefully I’ve paid the happiness lesson forward, one penny at time.

Related articles

• Happiness Project Update 19: It’s All About Options (thewishfactor.wordpress.com)

Sandbox List Adventure III: Conquering The Angry Birds

$2.99. It only costs $2.99. I didn’t think that something at the end of the CVS aisle would be worthy enough of a high-five moment from my son. But seeing how it involved something called Angry Birds it was on.

For some reason Angry Birds has taken over my life here. That little theme song, forget about it. I hear it every weekend. For some of you that aren’t aware, it’s a game that can be played on an iPhone — A knock-down castles kind of game using slingshots and wingless birds with special destructive powers who are in search for their eggs which evil green piggies have stolen. But seeing how I don’t have an iPhone, I hadn’t been aware of the phenomenon until a few months back when my dude purchased a fancy phone. I’d like to think it’s a game of logic, skill and a little bit of physics. At least that’s what tell myself as a justification for letting him play that particular video game in the car.

But apparently the game has become so popular that they’ve branched out beyond the video game. They’ve got coloring books, pillows, folders, stickers, towels, temporary tattoos, pencils, card games, graham crackers,  and hacky-sack thing-a-ma-jigs. They even have Angry Birds Star Wars. We have all of these either through gifts or purchases of our own, these Angry Birds have crept into every room of the house.

So when my son saw the puzzle, he felt the need to add it to the collection. I felt the need to strongly disagree. But then I realized, he’d been talking about completing a jigsaw puzzle for a long time now. And seeing how this particular puzzle would probably interest him more than a landscape with horses on it, I figured I’d give it a second glance. So I looked at the package. It was small enough. 100 pieces. Might not be too bad.

“You could use a coupon,” he said.

And seeing how I had a CVS bonus reward coupon for five dollars, I thought why not?

I thought we’d be using it for a rainy day. But no, the sun was shining, and it was a cool 65 degrees today. And while his sister was napping he took out the pouch and said it was Angry Bird puzzle time.

The 100-piece portrait of the three Angry Birds and their arch nemeses was waiting. It didn’t seem like much, but once out of the bag, I thought yeah … this may take longer than nap time. I might need a little chocolate for this one.

 

It looked small and innocent enough, but 100 pieces of anything is a lot. No matter what.

 

The Beginning.

 

We found the corners.

 

After a while he was getting a little frustrated that it wasn’t looking like anything. Just a bunch of green and brown background. But then he found the eyes, the beaks, and the piggy noses. And then it was on. The puzzle excitement was on.

 

Then we hit a road block and nothing seemed to fit. But as I stood up to get the baby who had woken up from her nap, my perspective had changed and then a lot more pieces started falling into place. Just like life. I didn’t think I’d get a life lesson reminder while conquering Angry Birds.

 

And now we were getting close … the excitement was building and to my surprise after about an hour he was still very much into the project.

 

And wouldn’t you know it … just as we were about to finish the last piece was missing. Duuuuuude. Do you know what that does to a person like myself. Ugh. The agony. I searched for that piece for about 15 minutes and was victorious when I found it under the couch, where the baby had probably thrown it.

 

Our masterpiece. Hi-fives and juice boxes all around. Another sandbox list adventure complete.

 

What Every Parent Needs to Know

It’s light. It’s crispy. It’s buttery. It’s my savory savior.

I never realized the importance of Ritz Crackers until I became a mom. Goldfish Crackers are awesome. Yes. But Ritz Crackers take it to another level. They don’t tell you this in parenting classes, magazines, or books. They talk about nurturing kids, the importance of play time, and nanny cams. They tell you that you need to always pack wipes, diapers, a pacifier, and an extra set of clothes in the diaper bag. But they don’t tell you to pack the Ritz Crackers. They failed to mention the power of the Ritz.

It should definitely have its own chapter in a book, or a at least be a bullet point in a magazine article. It’s definitely bold-letter worthy.

Image via Nabisco.com

I found out about the power when my four-year old was just a toddler. But seeing how he wasn’t really high-strung, or suffering from the terrible twos when he was younger, the power of the Ritz Cracker didn’t reach its full potential until my daughter hit that I-can-go-crazy-in-public-places stage.

So what’s a mom to do when this happens? There’s no reasoning at age one. There’s no ‘hey look at that airplane in the sky’ speech because then she goes crying and reaching for the plane that she can’t have, and so you have another battle.

So what do you do? She doesn’t want you to hug her, she doesn’t want you to hold her hand. She wants to run around in circles and probably hang upside down somewhere. So what do you do?

You reach for your Ziploc bag of Ritz crackers and give her one. It keeps her busy for about ten to fifteen minutes. She savors every bite of that flaky awesomeness, and you have some peace.

But what happens when you’re on a multiple errand run where you have to hit Costco, Target, Best Buy, and Sports Authority? You just bring the entire packet.

What if you’re in the car? On a long road trip or traffic jam and there’s no Maroon 5 or Wheels On The Bus songs to save your life?

Ritz.

What if your making a trip to the doctor’s office where vaccinations may take place? There’s no sticker big enough, colorful enough, or shiny enough to dull away the pain. So what do you do?

Ritz.

What if you’re actually trying to enjoy yourself and decide to take a trip to the stadium where you want to watch at least five innings, three quarters, or two periods of exciting hustle and bustle offense and defense?

Ritz.

What if you go on a trip to your mother-in-law’s?

Well then you probably need some Ritz. The whole box.

Anxiety and stress, they can follow you anywhere. Festering, making the gray hairs accumulate, so how do you prevent this old age attack on your body that could eventually lead to the meltdown, of both parent and child?

Ritz. The mighty Ritz. Don’t forget to pack them.

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Resolved

Laemmle Theatres

 

Some people call them resolutions … they resolve.

Resolve to lose weight.

Resolve to quit drinking.

Resolve to stop smoking.

I don’t have resolve.

I have plans, promises, thoughts, guidelines, projects … hope. I had hope.

Hope for sanity.

Hope for quiet.

Hope for peace.

Hope for humor.

Hope for rejuvenation.

Hope for recognizing yourself again.

What does this all add up to?

Hope for me time.

And in week one of 2013 … hope was granted.

Ticket for one please.

One.

One is awesome when you’re a mother of two, working 14-hour shifts, being a chef, a laundry folder, a dishwasher, a bathroom cleaner, a taxi driver, Lego truck builder, fun maker, Great Outdoors adventurer, diaper changer, bubble bath maker, and story reader.

That’s me. All day, every day.

Laemmle Theatres represent me time. Two hours of me time.

Ticket for one please.

One.

Me time … the great hope in 2013.