Traveling Gloves

The cold icy snow clung to me on the outside while the hands held me on the inside. After several hours plunging into the snow, I was drenched through and through. With no heat and left behind, the nightly cold temperatures started to drop. Being outside all night long gave no relief to the coldness inside and out. As the sun rose offering no more than a few degrees change, the chill and heavy dampness surrounded every ounce of fiber.

When the movement started, the wind wasn't too bad. It was the icy rain water kicking up from behind ending any chance of dryness. Then the movement stopped, but the icy rain didn't. Relief was granted when I was finally picked up and put inside.

This was the adventure of Child #3's gloves. Traveling on the back bumper of my truck this morning, I discovered the gloves after I got to work. Having children is an adventure along with occasional entertainment.

Life's an adventure. Live it up. Have a great weekend!

Early Christmas Presents

Through tireless efforts to get through the day, the Handyman and I fell asleep on the couch after I thought I had put the girls to bed. I know it sounds all sweet until the sounds of feet and giggling wake me up. By the time I reached my bedroom, the feet had scattered and the lights were off except for my bedroom.

The scene of the crime was left with all of my shoes pulled out of my closet and possibly worn. The covers and sheets to my bed were pulled back as if someone or many someones had slept in it. Finally, several bags were disturbed that contained Christmas gifts I had tucked behind the chair.

Lining up the pretend sleeping suspects, I threaten to take all gifts back to the store. On second thought, I threaten to keep all the gifts for myself and they can watch me enjoy using their presents.

Yay! Early Christmas presents for me. I'm not actually going to do this, but you have to admit it's a good threat.

Fully Integrated

You know you're fully integrated into the workforce when your website girl resigns, a current event needs to be addressed on the website along with emails to drive traffic to the website, and the entire process defaults to you.

After you accomplish the whole process in less than a twenty-four hour window, you wake up on Saturday morning at 4:30 AM in a panic that all the links are broken on the website. I checked website. All is good. At least now I'll be able to train the new hire thoroughly on how to manage our website content. Check out my do-it-yourself content management www.4lpi.com. The loss of a great humanitarian, Nelson Mendela.

Enjoy your weekend!

Fashionable Pain

Out of all my children, Child #3 is the most patient. Though she has moments of impatience, she is by far the winner in our family. She has been inquiring about getting her ears pierced for over a year. My response last year was "You'll have to wait for your birthday." Well, her birthday was in April. I didn't exactly fulfill the promise. Every time she would remind me, I had an excuse.

"You can't get your ears pierced during the soccer season." (Rule: no jewelry while playing)

The Spring soccer season came and went. Then Summer appeared.

"You're going to be too active and you won't be able to keep them cleaned properly."

Then the Fall soccer season caught us.

"You'll have to wait until after the soccer season again."

I know my excuses are completely unfair, but it comes down to our lives are busy and a little bit of laziness on my part. There is a lot of maintenance when you get your ears pierced. I don't want to have to remind her twice a day for six weeks to clean and twist the earrings. There are already twenty other things I have to constantly repeat throughout the day. It's exhausting.

Since soccer season has ended, I don't have anymore excuses so I finally fulfilled her birthday present. Considering Child #3 has been driving this crusade, Child #1 and Child #2 are going along for the ride (they never expressed an interest in getting their ears pierced before). So off to the mall we go. 

All three excitedly pick out the earrings they wanted. Love how the ear piercing is free, but the earrings are approximately fifty dollars each.

Child #3 wants to go first. She hops into the chair. The technician does all the necessary things. Child #3 doesn't even want her to count. She just wants her to punch the hole. The sound of one quick punch silences our posse waiting for Child #3's reaction. As her mother, I can tell it wasn't pain free for her, but she held a straight face and was ready for the other ear. She says they feel warm, but it didn't hurt.

Child #2 hops up on the chair. The technician gets her situated and punches the first hole. All the color drained from her face and her mouth contorted into a painful ow. Child #2 braved through the second hole punch, but wasn't exactly happy about it. She hops off the chair and is happy she got her ears pierced once the temporary pain has gone away.

As we all turn to Child #1, she is shaking her head no and slowly stepping away from the area. The protesting begins. Shoot, I should've made her go first. She has made up her mind that she does not want her ears pierce anymore and refuses to get on the chair.

We all try to sweet talk into it, but nothing we say is working. Then I try to guilt her into it (no refunds). That doesn't work. Then her Aunt tries to bribe her. Nope. Nothing. We're at a stand still. Fortunately, there was a twenty-one year old girl waiting for her turn. We let her go in front of Child #1. Though this girl was getting four holes, she had just the right personality to entertain Child #1 enough to make her relax. The girl was extremely funny. After the girl got her first two earrings in, she wanted a break. Child #1 lightened up and sat in the chair.

Child #1 wanted me to hold her hand so I stood next to her while the technician prepped her. Once everything was in place, Child #1 wanted the technician to count to three. We all held our breath while the hole was punched. Child #1 instantly turned to me with a scrunched brow and says, "That's it. That didn't hurt." Our posse all busted out laughing. So the technician quickly punched the other hole and we were done. Child #1is tougher than she realizes. Then we stayed to watch the girl get her other two earrings in. We were all entertained.

So now we wait six weeks. The true test will be if they can keep up with the cleaning maintenance. The goal is not to get any infected ears. I'll keep you posted. 

I have to say it was all worth it to see their big happy smiles when it was all done.

Peer Pressure

Through my adult years, I've prided myself for never stepping foot into a Starbucks ever (I had to Google the history of Starbucks discovering Starbucks started in 1971-I would've never guessed that one). That even goes with never purchasing a single item from Starbucks (not even a gift card for someone else). Most of you aren't surprised by this statement, but maybe you'll be surprised by the next statement. I made several purchases from Starbucks this past week due to meeting up with others while I was in San Francisco. Apparently in San Francisco a Starbucks is located on almost every corner. Since I was there, I decided to go ahead and make a purchase.

Since I'm not fluent in coffee shop terms, I defaulted to a Chai Tea Latte because the pressure to decide on something different was too overwhelming for me. Plus it's hard to justify trying out something new when it costs $4.50 a cup. Granted I could've purchased a simple coffee, but I do enjoy Chai Tea a lot at home. I have to admit their Chai Tea Latte is awesome and addictive.

Now the question is will I continue to make those purchases at home. The cost is a huge hurdle for me. I can't justify spending that much on a cup of tea everyday when I can make it at home for a fraction of the cost. I guess the penny pitcher in me is showing in this blog post, but we all have priorities on where our money is spent. Mine is just not coffee or tea.

Enjoy your choices!