Join Me in Snarkville

I need to know who you would think is still standing (and napless) today?

1. A 35 year old who was up past his bedtime two nights straight.  The first of these was at a formal event and the second was to pick someone up at the airport at 11:10pm and he arrived home at 2am.  Factor into this that he also got a nap yesterday prior to the late night pick up of a few hours (presumably to pre-sleep).  He was up and out the door for work at 6:30am this morning.  He is bleary-eyed and a bit grumpy.  In addition, the person he picked up had the joys of a lost/delayed bag that will not be delivered until after 6pm (window is actually 6pm to 10pm) tonight — at which point he will be taking it from our home to the guy he picked up.
2. A 34 year old female.  She was up late for the formal event too — after which she was not able to sleep well and woke up hourly until the alarm went off at 6am.  In addition, she had spent the day prior to the formal thing cleaning the house.  She worked all day yesterday, went to knit night and left early.  Tired from the lack of sleep, she tried to go to sleep when the guy above left to the airport.  She thought she’d sleep.  But no, she napped for about an hour and then woke up to wait for him to return.  She was wide awake at 2am when he returned and slept fitfully until the alarm again.  (We don’t like that alarm anymore.)  She walked 2 miles and played at the playground.
3. A 4 year old boy.  He stayed up late with a sitter — who he LOVED.  He had run around like a banshee while the sitter was here then was up about an hour late.  He went to school and played hard all day the next day.  He was still awake at 9pm (which is 2 hours after bedtime) when the knitter came home.  He was up at 6:30am and playing.  He went on a mile tricycle ride to the park and played for an hour and rode a mile back.  (more…)

When I was young, I dreamed of singing on the Broadway stage.  Yes, you read that right.  I have a deep, burning desire to perform (always have) and I thought the ultimate performance feat would be to sing on Broadway.  There’s a few problems with my deepest desire:

1. I can not sing.  Nope, not even a little bit.
2. I dislike starving, waiting tables, being poor, or anything else that goes with paying your dues to make it in show business.
3. I can not carry a tune in a bucket.

So my amazing Broadway career was over before it could even begin.  But you see, despite the fact that my voice will never ring out from a stage anywhere (and frankly, you are all better for it), I do like to sing. (more…)

I know this will come as NO shock to you, but Duke was on a sugar high yesterday.  A sugar high that found him unable to stop spinning for HOURS.

So, in the morning, I declared, “Everyone up and dressed we are going outside to enjoy this beautiful day.”  Prince determined this meant “Let’s pull weeds in the backyard.”  Duke thought this meant, “Oh good, I get to wear my boots and ride my bike.”  I had thought it meant, “Let’s go to the park so Duke can run his butt off and I can sit on the bench and do nothing.”  Alas, we communicate SO well. (more…)

So, Daylight Savings Time has hit one member in this house harder than the rest of us — Duke.  Poor Duke, is sleeping LATE every morning.  He’s not been his cheerful self in days and getting him moving has, in a word, sucked.

Since I have also been less than perky in the mornings this week (hello late nights, no sleep — AGAIN, and Daylight Savings Time) Monday and Tuesday were more about pouring a boneless child into clothing than a good morning.  But today, I woke up and thought, “I want to go back to sleep”  — no wait, that doesn’t help us.  I thought I’d try something different…something like FUN… (more…)

When I was little, the Queen Mum would tell me that “Falling Back Weekend” was her favorite all year.  It was a 49 hour long weekend.  Thus, by deduction, “Springing Forward Weekend” is her least favorite.  I agreed with her.  I loved the extra hour of delightful Sunday in the fall and hated the loss of that hour in the Spring.  Then I had a child. (more…)

I have a basic English question — when did we shift from using the word “respect” to “honor”?  In my way of thinking, respect and honor are not in fact the same thing.  Oh, yes, they seem to have similar components, but at their core there is something different.  To respect someone (or in the case I’m going to talk about once my rant gets full force — my time) means that you believe this person to be no less than yourself.  You would treat them as you want to be treated and nothing less.  To honor someone means more about the public acknowledgment of achievement or even of respect — but at its core, it is public.  We honor someone with a parade or a citation.  However, we show our respect in our daily dealings with this person.

Yes, yes, I know this becomes grey when I tell someone that I’m honored to meet them.  You don’t say, “I respect the pleasure of meeting you.”  Or how does, “I honor your wishes.” come into play with this?  English is an odd, odd language.  But I tend to think of honor is something you feel and respect is something you give.  (more…)

…and we have ONE clean room, as long as you don’t look in the closet.

How we got there is the important part — who knew cleaning, purging, and screaming are growth experiences? (more…)

Ok, ok…so sleeping may have been too much to ask for last night, what with my need for nightly sleep and you know 3+ months of not getting it.  So, yes, I had to pry my eyes open this morning and beg to anyone who cared to “not anger the mother, she’s on thin ice today.”

In fact, Duke crawled into bed this morning and hugged me with a HUGE “HAPPY VALENTINE’s DAY!!!” which melted my cold, dead heart right there.  (more…)

Yet again, I have to share conversations with my Duke.

Him: I want to watch Electric Company.

Me: No, buddy, it is 20 minutes before bedtime and there’s no time.  Let’s do something else…

Him: No, Electric Company.

Me: Don’t argue, I’m the Mama.

Him: No, I the Mama.

Me: Really?  You can’t be the Mama.

Him: No.  You Duke, I Mama.

Me: Ok, if your the Mama will you go to work and earn the money we need to eat while I go play at school?

Him: I the Mama.  I put you in bed, read you story, hug and kiss goodnight, and then I go to work.

Me: Work?  What will you do?

Him: (Points at my laptop on the coffee table) Something with that.

Ok, when you work it out get back to me.  I’m off to cut and paste and maybe a connect the dots for a bit.

Is it wrong that I’m just really happy that when he pretended to be the Mama that he did tell me to clean my room?

What an amazing word “ask” is. It is a word with power that reminds us all that should we need anything, we need only “ask.” I’ve known my whole life the importance of ‘asking,’ because often the sheer act of the asking is the hardest step in the process of ‘getting.’ Never in my 34 years thought that the little, three letter word ‘ask’ would have the power to change my life — yup, I’m feeling a little over-dramatic, why? (more…)