Seaweed

As I mentioned before, my daughter, Evie, started half-day kindergarten last week.  She is the biggest ham at home, but around groups of kids or almost any adult, she is exceptionally shy.

Evie has one amazing friend who lives an hour away and there's also Princess Davis, her pet rock...but that's about it.  As you can imagine, I was ecstatic when she told me she made a friend at school this week!

"I made a friend."

"You did!  What's her name!?!"

"I can't remember."

"What did you talk about!?!"

"We didn't talk."

Yesterday morning Evie informed me that she had found yet another friend. He was hiding in our nightstand drawer, all wrapped up.  I strongly encouraged her to dispose of this new friend.

Instead, she made him a swimming pool.

Evie even named him.

Seaweed.

 I inquired about the name choice.  She logically responded, "He really looks like seaweed, I think."

You wouldn't think Seaweed would be very versatile, but Evie played with him for several hours.  After his swim, she filled her new friend up with water and made him into a baby bottle.  Seaweed was also transformed into a fish hook. 

"There's just so much he can do Mom!"

It was sweet...sort of.   

Sadly, Seaweed is no longer with us.   He swam away while Evie was at kindergarten.   I'll be moving all other Seaweeds to a high shelf in the closet.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Just being grateful for my creative children.

The Playdate

Since the commencement of second grade, my daughter, Dani, has made a new bff.   After much pleading and promises of good behavior, we had a playdate with the bff on Friday.

Playdates with my daughter are always...eventful.  She morphs into ENTERTAINMENT mode.  Dani is constantly offering her guests treats, coming up with silly games, messy crafts, and looking for the craziest things to do!

Halfway through the three-hour visit, the bff was giddy when she noticed our trampoline.  My three kids and the bff raced outside to jump.  Perfect!  Trampolines are easy entertainment.

My toddler was sleeping, so I stayed inside and started mopping.  I left the kitchen door open to our gated backyard and listened to their happy jumping squeals.  We have an additional door going to the backyard from a bedroom, and I could also hear kids going in and out of that door several times, maybe to use the bathroom.

The giggles and even screams of laughter just kept increasing.  They were definitely having a fun time.  Maybe too much fun? 

It had been about ten minutes.  I checked on them.  The hose was turned on full blast and white foam had transformed our trampoline into a giant sudsy slip n' slide.  "It's soap Mom!  Isn't this great!" my daughter enthusiastically hollered.

 I was feeling overly generous with the new friend visiting.  I let them play and prayed there would be no sliding injuries.

I then surveyed the damage.  My daughter didn't just use soap.  She had also confiscated every shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottle in our two upstairs bathrooms.  The empty bottles were strewn all over the yard.  Here is just one of the casualties.

After I sent the soapy bff home, more damages were discovered.  In addition to the sudsy trampoline, somehow our play clothes bin had exploded in the downstairs living room, and an entire full bottle of freezing hair mousse had ended up in Dani's hair.   It was rock solid.

Dani and I had a loving, but serious chat.

There had also been numerous selective listening incidents during the playdate that I was especially not happy about.  I informed her she would be cleaning up and missing her much anticipated dance party that night.  She didn't even argue, "OK Mommy."  She knew.

That night, after taking a soapless shower, my husband questioned Dani about the reasoning behind her great soap caper. 

Her wheels started churning for a response, "Nobody was using the soap.  It was just sitting there."

"I use that soap everyday, Dani."

"Really???"

The kids had also confiscated some food coloring at some point during the day.   My young artist got his mitts on it.  He attempted to clean up his mess before I noticed, but wasn't fast enough.

The purple color on his hands faded to stunning bright pink.  We will be acting out the book Pinkalicious tonight with Dax as the star. 

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  I will be appreciative of my especially clean trampoline.

Tomatillo Ranch Dressing! Try me!

 

Have you heard of Cafe Rio???  Their salads are one of my favorite addictions.   And their salad dressings are immensely popular and delicious!  I was going to stop posting recipes due to my cooking defectiveness, but I'm fickle.  Our tomatillos and jalapenos were begging to be picked this morning, so I had to make some Cafe Rio-like dressing for our late lunch today.

Tomatillo Ranch Dressing

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not buttermilk)
1 c. mayonnaise
(I use olive oil mayo.)
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
3 medium-sized tomatillos
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 2 limes
1 jalapeno
(Seeds are optional, dependent upon hotness capabilities.  I used about half of the seeds.)

Blend everything and enjoy!

This dressing is ultimately spectacular on a copycat Cafe Rio Barbacoa Pork salad.  Here's my version from a couple of months ago.  The pork is buried.

I based my dressing and my salad off of a recipe found here.  I was too lazy to make the salad today.  We just used it as veggie and chicken dip.  This plate didn't last long.  Evie abrubtly ended my photo shoot and devoured everything!  

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Appreciating our weed-filled, but productive garden.

Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Life Lessons: Headaches, Husbands, and Power Rangers

It's been an educational time for me.  

Here are:

11 Ways I've Been Enlightened this Week

-Attempting to lie down when I have a headache will only encourage my toddler to sit on my back, yank my hair, and bounce up and down while giggling.

-No matter how cool and calm I feel before the first big kindergarten drop-off, I will still get teary-eyed as my little girl walks away.  Thankfully, the principal gave all sobbing moms kleenex and a cookie.

-If I'm given a cookie, my three-year-old, Mase, will snatch it from me and eat it.

-I love my newish neighbor.  I stopped by her house this week and it was messy.   I felt right at home.

-My toddler, Dax, discovered he could push around chairs this week and get into anything!  I've learned that if I remove all chairs he will just use an upside-down laundry basket instead. 

-This week, even after his tire fiasco, my husband gave me a hard time about splurging so much on my slightly pricey favorite ice cream.  The next day, in a moment of toddler-induced stress, I went to the freezer in search of said ice cream.  But!  It was gone! My husband had a late night ice cream snack!  I've learned that, if this happens, all my stress will be channeled into a not-so-sweet phone message for my ice cream-thieving husband.

-My husband and I have both agreed not to apologize, as neither of us is sincerely sorry, and I've discovered we can still continue on happily in our marriage.

-Though, I've learned to hide my ice cream.

-Even if Mase is the last to bed, he will be the first up in the morning, demanding breakfast and Power Rangers.

-After finally watching an episode, I've learned that Power Rangers, while amazing, is not the best choice of entertainment for my three-year-old (already battle happy) boy.

-Most importantly, I realized that I don't have to be mother or wife of the year.  But, I'm grateful I get to spend each day with my crazy family, and I think they're grateful for me too...most days. 

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Trying to be nice and learning to share.

Linking up today:

Toddler Professions

I hate to brag, but my toddler Dax is truly gifted.   His professional future is bright!  Just check some of his current options.

First, he could be an

Artist

This may be the only time a live canvas was decorated with chia seeds.  I think it turned out beautifully.

 And I'm not quite sure how he could use this next particularly impressive skill.  Maybe a

 Grocery Bagger

Dax is a top rated stuffer.  He has now stuffed (and broken) our Wii disc slot and our DVD player.  Here's his latest stuff, my van tape player.

We're moving on to his most practiced talent,

Toy Tester

He could start this career right now!  My one-year-old has an awe-inspiring knack for finding out how many ways a toy is NOT safe.

Now for an intensely competitive field,

Food Critic

This meal was sent back to the kitchen.

And finally,  of course,

World Famous Dancer

Grooving has been his passion for many months now.  Here's a blurry, but captivating shot of Dax doing the river dance.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Having gratitude for my gifted little guy.

If you made it through this, you might also endure: The Top 10 Loves of my One-Year-old.

Pshhhhhh...

I have a special calling in life.  I am my husband's personal driving assistant--for free!

"Um, your blinker may still be on."

"Do you see that person?"  

"Watch out!"

 
As I have mentioned in an earlier post, he is utterly unappreciative of my assisting and can't see what an asset I truly am.  If only I had been there this weekend.

My husband decided to take my two girls to a local water park.

A couple of hours after he left, I get THE CALL.  They had been in a bit of a driving mishap. 

This was my husband's story and he's sticking with it.

The water park has a parking lot fee, which my husband paid online.  As he arrived at the parking lot, he was glancing up at the slides and somehow didn't notice the intended fee-paying entrance to the parking lot.  Nor did he notice the "Do Not Enter" sign.  Nor did he notice the spikes jutting out of the ground that were there to stop him from entering.  (He doesn't drink, I swear!)

Three tires immediately blew.  When he opened the car door all he could hear was, "pshhhhhh". 

Dani was the one to initially tell me the story on the phone.  As usual, I could tell she was loving this adventure!  Most of their day was spent at Sam's Club getting new tires.  Goodbye $600.  I will miss you!

Thankfully, my girls filled up on a good $10 worth of free food samples.  Yes, we do hope to make up the entire amount of the tires by taking advantage of samples.   A mere 60 trips to Sam's Club should do the trick.

They did finally make it to the water park, but Evie was too terrified to go near a slide.  Hopefully eight trips down the lazy river was adequate reflection time for my husband to realize how valuable his driving assistant is.

Though next weekend, we'll all stay home and let the kids run through the sprinkler.

Grumpy Grateful Wife Goal:  Attempting not to make fun of my sweet husband...too much.

Check Out My New Look!

I was waiting for just the right moment to reveal this, but today's the day.   My five-year-old Evie was playing Beauty Salon last week.  Sure she's had some problems earlier this year when she turned my hair into a bird's nest, but she had earned back my trust.  I volunteered to be the day's first victim client.

I was even enjoying it.  Relaxing.  Almost asleep.  Then, I heard the most horrific sound!  I have no idea how to spell that sound.  It was the noise scissors make when they cut hair!  I was frozen in shock for a minute.  Then jumped away!

Evie looked surprised.  Why was I stopping her beauty efforts?

She was so proud of her work.

Her sister was hysterical with laughter.

And I have a very hip new style.  (Ignore the gray roots.)

Now a bonus.  Here's my sassy windblown look.

The hair's a little too far back to be bangs.  I think that makes me a trend setter.

It could have been even more beautiful.
If only I had fallen asleep.

Grumpy Mom Goal of the Day:  Locking up all scissors.

Oh and while you're here, check out my awesome new blog look.  Thanks to April and Laura from April Showers!  Unlike my hair, this style is still a bit under construction, but I think it fits.

What I Want My Kids to Know

A few years ago I watched a talk show that had a great impact on my life.  There was a mother and daughter on the show. The mom was extremely self-conscious about her appearance and her weight.

The mom constantly berated herself;  although, she was just the opposite with her daughter.  The woman would tell her daughter how beautiful she was.  The mom would go on and on about how she would love to have her daughter's figure.  She really heaped on the praise. 

The well-meaning Mom was then surprised that her daughter didn't believe a word of that praise.  Instead, she took on her mother's insecurities, even developing an eating disorder.

 I think about that show a lot.  I have plenty of insecurities.  I believe there are certain times to share some of those struggles with my kids.  Still, I want my children to know me as someone who focuses on my strengths, not my weaknesses.

I want my kids to know I am:

Completely addicted to ice cream.  Attempting to eat more fruit.

Craft impaired.  Able to make the cutest origami paper cranes.

Always fearful about shaking when I speak in public.  Still making myself speak in public and even enjoying it...occasionally

Intimidated by certain people. Loving the new friendships I'm making.

Often struggling to remember things.  Able to recite all 50 states in alphabetical order.

Thinking I look several years beyond my age. Looking ravishing with my new haircut.

Frustrated by my cleaning inadequacies. Impressed that I can see glimpses of the laundry room floor.

Very guilty about not being the best Mom.  So sincerely grateful for my life as their mother.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of a Lifetime:  Remember to focus on my children's strengths, and my own.

The Sock Puppet Difference

It's been so fun to see the unique personalities of my children develop.   Sometimes it's the simple things that make those differences stand out.

I attempted to play sock puppets with my daughter Evie (age 5) and my son Mase (age 3) yesterday.  Real sock puppets.  No eyes, just socks. 

My sock starts talking to Evie's sock.  Evie's sock bites my sock, but gently.  Evie's sock then gives my sock a hug and they play together.  Nice sock puppets. 

Then, I give Mase a sock.

My sock tries talking to Mase's sock, then leans in to give his sock a hug.  But!  My sock is attacked! Then, his sock is no longer just attacking my sock.  His sock's attacking me!  

I laugh and play along for a couple minutes, but finally try to reestablish sock puppet civility.  It was not meant to be.  Mase's sock puppet starts tooting and saying random potty related words.   My sock is not impressed.  My sock even tries to leave.

There's no escape!  Mase's sock and Mase jump on top of me with endless giggles.  Truly endless.  My happy three-year-old (and his sock) attack again and again and again...and again.  We wrestle for at least twenty minutes!  That's about twenty years in sock time.

And there you have the sock puppet difference. 

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day: Appreciating the differences in my children.

Precarious Pious Predicaments

Our church starts at 11 a.m.  You'd assume that would give us plenty of time to get ready.  Wrong!  Yesterday, it was still a wacky race out the door! 

The minute we arrived at church, I left my family to drop off a bag in a closet, down the hall.   When I met up with my husband in the chapel, the meeting was starting and my two older girls were missing!  They had gone searching for me.  Then I went searching for them.  After we all got back, as usual, I was chasing and unsuccessfully attempting to entertain my one-year-old, Dax. 

About fifteen minutes into the meeting--that's when I remembered!  I immediately felt the back of my dress.  Oh no!  I had forgotten to zip my dress.  A quick plea to my husband solved my problem, though he chuckled as he zipped and made a "witty" comment.

To my relief, I had randomly decided to put a shirt on under my dress.  Here's my unzipped look.  It could have been MUCH worse.

My biggest grumble about this?  Couldn't anyone have said something before I showed off my unzipped self to half of the congregation!?!

Still, this is minor compared to last year's church predicament.  My then two-year-old, Mase, kept messing with my swishing skirt as I was talking to someone in the hall.  Afterward, I walked Mase to his nursery class and happily dropped him off.   I spoke to one of his male nursery teachers before I left, then passed a couple men in the hall and said, "Hi."

 That's when I felt something was off.  Whoa!  Mase had somehow hooked the front bottom edge of my skirt to the top elastic of my skirt.  I was wearing tights underneath, but my tights had a hole in a very precarious position!  No photo reenactment for this story.  I can feel myself cringing as I write.

On a positive church humiliation note: You may remember that large spoon my husband accidentally stole from a Christmas church potluck in 2009.  I am guilt free!  I returned it!  Yesterday, I boldly announced my husband's spoon theft in a church women's meeting.  Sadly, no one spoke up for that beauty of a spoon.

I ended up leaving it in the church kitchen among a hundred other serving spoons, where it will be so unappreciated.  I may steal in back if it's still there in a few months.  

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Next Sunday: Attempting to be predicament-free.

The Audacity of Sunscreen

We have a sign-up sheet in our house entitled: Whose turn is it to be difficult today?  At least it seems that way.  Yesterday morning, it was my five-year-old, Evie's turn.  It was all my fault.  I had the audacity to switch from a spray-on sunscreen to a lotion sunscreen.  Here's how my choice went down.

Evie (as I started applying sunscreen): What are you doing!?!  What is this stuff?

Me: Sunscreen.

Evie: That's not sunscreen!

Me: It's lotion.

Evie: You said it was sunscreen.  Yuck!  It feels all slimy.  Get it off me!!!  Stop!

Evie (as I covered her neck in sunscreen): Ehh, eh eh eh.  You're choking me!  Quit choking me!

Evie (after I'm finished): Moooom!  I'm all white and slimy! I don't like to be this white!  Ick! Get it off!  Get it off!

Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Appreciating the gift of sunscreen and the gift of Evie.

A Toddler, A Van, An Adventure, No Plan!

As you might have guessed from my hoarding post, my family occasionally misplaces things.   Last week we misplaced our final set of minivan keys.  You'd think I would have made a copy when we were down to one set.  Nope!

I knew some set of keys had to show up soon, except I couldn't go anywhere until then.

This Monday, while I was getting frustrated with my immobility, my one-year-old, Dax, was happy to be home.  This gave him the opportunity to follow his latest obsession--our minivan.

He was watching and waiting.  Any sign that the door leading to our garage was cracked open and he was ready to bolt (lightning fast) straight for the van.

I usually grab my giggling, then crying, baby out of the van after only a minute or two.  This time, however, I was cleaning up the kitchen and sent my seven-year-old, Dani, to extricate him.

But!  Instead of coming back with my crying little guy she yells, "Maw-um, Dax locked himself in the van!"

I ran out to the garage.

"Who shut the doors!?!"

"Mase."  I see my smiling three-year-old, Mase, peek his head around the outside back corner of the van.

Thankfully, it wasn't too hot, but I was still a bit concerned.

Dax was NOT concerned.  He was the happiest I'd seen him as he giggled, jumped, and squirmed around in that van.  He couldn't believe I was letting him play!

 When my five-year-old daughter, Evie, saw the predicament, she started jumping around, giddy to have some entertainment. 

Dani took charge.  "What are we going to do!?!  I'll call 911 right now Mom.  Or we could break a window!"  We held off on window breaking and 911.   I knew I could call a locksmith, but those keys had to be somewhere!

I had my kids try to lure Dax to the door lock, while I searched.  I was having no luck and started to get irked.  Dani came back inside, "Mom, you just need to say a prayer to find your keys."

"In a minute Dani."

"Mom, that's what you would tell us.  You really need to say a prayer."

"In a minute!"  Enter sudden guilt.

"OK!"

I half-heartedly prayed, requesting key location assistance.

After my prayer, I immediately went to check on my toddler.  Dax was still as jovial as could be.  When he saw me, he bolted over to the door furthest away from me.  My partying dude didn't want me to get him out yet!

Dax started pushing buttons.  Then, a beautiful sound.  The door unlocked.  Then quickly locked.  Ahhh!  Then unlocked.  "Open the door!" 

I had the kids open every van door, just on the off chance this would happen again.

We all headed inside, except for Mase.  He straggled behind and guess what he brought me just a few minutes later?  My keys.

I'm adding this a couple of hours after posting:  Mase found the keys in the van.  I'm so glad Dax unlocked the doors!

This photo was NOT taken on the day of the lockup.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Making multiple copies of our van key.

Summer Essentials!

My kids go back to school this week.  I have mixed feelings about this.  I have loved having all of my children home this past month, but I think my five- and seven-year-old daughters appreciate each other much better when they have a sister break.  And less squawking for me!

Maegan at Chesterrific has been doing a superb summer feature this year.  I've had fun reading her blog for a while now and am there today talking about my favorite summer essentials.  So, head on over!

 

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal:  Cherish my last full week of sister squawking.

comments closed

The Great Hoarding Experiment

Like many kids, my children are not so consistent when it comes to putting their stuff away.  Dirty clothes just land on the floor.  Toys often get left--everywhere!  They'll take off their shoes only a few inches away from our shoe basket, then drop them on the ground instead of in the basket!

I'm totally to blame.  I know I need to be consistent.  Being ill and pregnant or having a newborn most of the last eight years hasn't helped.  Now I have neither, but still haven't been as consistent with my kids as I should.

Would it be weird to get pregnant so I can have an excuse for my bad example?  Only kidding...mostly.

So, my husband came up with this ridiculous original idea to help the kids.  He wanted me to just let the living room pile up with stuff to prove a point.

 I was completely against this idea! 

The living room is the one place I DON'T want stuff to pile up.  Yet, he was very persistent with his plan. He wanted to have an impact.  

I finally agreed out of the desire to be an occasionally agreeable wife, but I would only allow the build-up for one day.   Amazingly, that was more than enough.  Still, the kids didn't seem to notice.

He then sat the kids down and we all watched part of a 20/20 special on hoarders.  It was truly disturbing to watch people shovel the stuff out of the houses and talk of fleas and dead cats being found amongst all the junk.

My children were mesmerized.

The only survivor was my seven-year-old daughter, Dani.  My husband told her we were no longer planning to pick up anything.  We were going to become hoarders and had already started with the living room.  She gave the desired performance, "Nooo!  Do we have to?"

My husband quickly told her we didn't really want to do that, we just want her to help by picking up her stuff.

She was relieved, then demanded a snack for her time.   

The next day, as you would expect, no change in my children, including Dani. They are still lovin' their drop-it-anywhere lifestyle.

Yet, unexpectedly, there was one person who was impacted--me.  

Yesterday morning, I suddenly had this over-the-top urge to toss everything!  And, I was consumed with the need to finally set a (better-late-than-never) example for my children.  Maybe it was the dead cats.

In retrospect, I think my husband's sly plan was meant for me all along!  Grrrr.  Sadly for him, the overwhelming feeling to change my lazy ways subsided after a few crazy minutes.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Stop my hoarderish habits, but definitely not because of my husband's ridiculous plan. 

Science Marathon!

With four hyper active children at my house, science can be a little dangerous.  So, I like to find experiments that are easy, amazing, and low risk.

The fabulous Bruna at Bees With Honey has a great segment called Mamma Teach Us and is featuring my crazy experiments.  Head over there to see the trial and errors of making elephant toothpaste and magic milk.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Invest in safety goggles.

Comments closed here so you'll go over there. :)

Family Treasure Hunt

Have you done this before!?!  Geocaching.  I had read several blog posts about this and decided my family had to go!  After a long day at work, my husband took some convincing, but I am a smooth salesperson and he couldn't refuse!

There are over a million different geocaches or "treasures" hidden all over the world.  Once you sign up on their website, you can see just how many are near you.  

Then download the app and use your GPS to find the hidden gems.  Sometimes there are even photos or hints to help you out.  If you want to keep your geocache, you need to replace the item or items with a treasure of your own.  Surprisingly, there were a bunch, just minutes from my house!

Our first adventure led us to a nearby park. 

We searched...and searched, then gave up. Uhg!

On to the next crusade.  This one was dangerous as it was on the side of a busy road.   We searched...and searched.  Suddenly!  Evie was sure she found the geocache and wanted to show me...snail shells.  Drat!

Maybe we were not meant to be treasure hunters, but we forged ahead to yet another geocache.  The destination had a brutal terrain.

Once again, we searched...and searched, for at least half an hour.  Still!  Nothing!  It was getting dark, but I was undaunted and wanted to look for just one more.  

My husband was so not impressed with my geocaching idea at this point and insisted we go home. But, I explained, "Lucky for you, this last one is on our way home."  It was...sort of.  He stayed in the car with the baby.

I was excited because our final treasure hunt was a special geocache, just for kids.  We searched...and searched, and finally....under the dog poop collector...success!   My 7-year-old was the one to find it.  You would think she would be jumping for joy.  Not exactly.

 "I found it!  It's all MIIIIINE!" 

The above photo was taken after I threatened eternal room doomation to my daughter and yanked the jar out of her tightly gripped fingers.

Ah the joys of family togetherness.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Convince my husband to go geocaching again.

This was, unfortunately, NOT a paid review for geocaching.  But, because I know you are all dying to go now, here is their link.  

GEOCACHING.COM



our stash

This is a late addition to my post:  We did replace the geocache with some very cool Happy Meal toys. 

Ripley's Believe It or Not: Motherhood Edition

Come one!  Come all!   Here we have the odd and unbelievable happenings unlike any you've seen before.  Enter, if you dare!

First, we have two spectacular spectacles.

My five-year-old Evie handed me my glasses with a remarkable tale, "I just found these like this." Yet, when I probed further and explained to her I would be rewinding my super spy camera to see what really happened, she confessed to the artful bending. 

And these are my seven-year-old Dani's glasses, or at least they were Dani's glasses.   This inexplicable damage occurred with suspicious timing...just after the warranty expired.

Now prepare yourself for a spine rattling case of deja vu.  Last week, my daughter broke a bowl on our filthy kitchen floor.

 

Then! The very next day, my husband had an identical mishap. Same type of bowl.  Exact same spot.  And the floor was still filthy.  Eerie.

There's more! You've probably seen the unexplainable crop circles, but have you seen this!

The creator of this unusual makeup circle is still unknown, but we are taking fingerprints.

And finally, a frightful mystery.  Smashed egg--on the couch!  It was a team effort between my 3-year-old and 1-year-old little guys.  But where did all the shells go?

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day: Planning to prevent further mysterious happenings.

#SummerBlogSocial: Blogging Surprises!

Today I'm linking up with Liz from  a belle, a bean, & a Chicago dog  and Jessica from Four Plus An Angel for their #SummerBlogSocial.  This is my first prompt post, ever!  So, be kind.

As you reflect back on your time blogging, tweeting and Facebooking, what has surprised you most? 

When I started my blog (exactly six months and seven days ago) I had no idea what I was getting into!  I was just having a rough mom day and wanted a place to vent, but blogging has surprised me in so many ways...or at least six.

I was surprised...I had so much to ramble about!  The first couple of months, I didn't actually think I would keep blogging.  I kept telling my husband, "I've got nothing else to write about after this."  Yet, here I am...still writing.

I was surprised...that I can reread my post ten times before I publish and still NOT notice several ridiculous typos!!!  Thankfully, my mom always calls me a few days after I have published a post to point them out.  Love you Mom!

I was surprised...that I've made friends.  I initially enjoyed reading other blogs, but I had no expectations of actually getting to know these strangers.  Now I consider many of the people I read about friends and even (gasp) met a blog friend a few weeks ago.   She turned out to be even more fabulous in person.

I was surprised...that someone would be anything but truthful on a blog.  Yet, as you may know, I was blog buddies with a woman who claimed to be pregnant, then later found out she was deceptive and even stealing pictures from various flickr accounts.  Lesson learned...I think.

I was surprised...OK, y'all are going to hate me for this one, but it was a welcomed surprise.  I've lost about 12 pounds since I started blogging!   I've found it's hard to type and eat at the same time, so my late night snack binges took a hit.  And that seals the deal.  I will be blogging--forever!

I was surprised...at how much perspective blogging has given me.  I've read so many stories about women whose struggles are far worse than my own.   Despite my consistent complaining, it's hard to blog and not count my blessings! 

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal: Try convince my mom to edit all posts before I publish.

I'm Committing!

I have an exceptional skill: goal setting.  Sometimes weekly, but always on the first of the month, I make goals for myself, lots of them.

 I'm going to eat healthier, exercise (at least once a week), spend less, turn off the Bachelorette TV,  be sweeter to my husband, have more patience with my kids, stop complaining, learn Italian, write a novel, pray with more sincerity, meditate, shovel out my van, then deep clean the entire house!   And, I usually stay on task with my goals, 100% successful even, for at least...half a day.  (sigh)

So this month, I'm cutting back, working on maybe only eleven goals, instead of twelve, and today I'm going the extra mile.  Here's the additional list I'm committing to:

Six Things I Am Absolutely Not Going to Work on this Month

Goldfish Crackers 

I have discovered I love these heavenly little beauties.  The cheesy whales--also addictive.  I am going to be swimming in fishies this month! 

Dinner 

I'm in a dinner group with two of my neighbors which forces gives me the opportunity to cook dinner for everyone once a week AND I get two meals made for me.   I'd like to be one of those families who has a balanced and beautiful dinner every night, but not this month.   Instead,  on many of my non-dinner group nights, I'll be feeding my family tantalizing main courses of canned ravioli and fruit cocktail, maybe even scrambled eggs if I'm feeling extra ambitious.

Weeding 

My garden is in my front yard.  I planned to have it looking pristine, but I am giving up.  I'm now going for an 80/20 weed-to-plant ratio.  Weeds can be beautiful I think.

Bedtime (mine) 

I've been staying up to an unseemly hour recently.  I write blog posts, fold an occasional load of laundry, pick up the disaster zone living room; but after that, I still want some true vegetation time, so that keeps me up even later.  I'm not fixing that right now.  I prefer to be a vegetating zombie. 

Early Loveliness 

I've been told that if I shower, get dressed, and throw on some makeup first thing in the morning, I will be more productive and possibly chipper, but I just don't have it in me to get ready early!  I also believe flannel pajama pants are perfectly acceptable in public.  Though, my makeup-free face may not be, as I have huge circles under my eyes from staying up too late!

Acquiring Sweetness 

OK, I'm grumpy--too often!  Thus the name of my blog.  But, the sweetness is going to be put on hold for now, unless I'm eating goldfish crackers.  Then I'll be extra sweet.

  Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Stick with my real goals, at least until the end of the day.