Category Archives: My crazy life

Dec31

Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Heather

Dear 2014,

You rocked on a lot of levels- I’m so glad we got to be such good friends. 2013 stunk- we were hit with ill health, some house problems, job loss and financial uncertainty so when you arrived you were welcomed with open arms and high hopes. You did not disappoint. You brought:

> Kindergarten graduation & First Communion
> 2 new jobs that I adore
> A brand new kitchen and bathroom> Vacations- including one that let us see all my nieces and nephews in one week (that one was by far my favorite).
> Good health for my immediate family
> Health scares for my extended family that were, thankfully, relatively minor and resolved quickly
> Amazing books and stories that helped to expand our imaginations
> and so much more.

But now you’re out the door and 2015 is coming in. Here’s hoping it lives up to all the fun you brought along with continued good health and happiness for us and our families and friends. Here’s what I wish for all of you as well:

Thanks,

Heather

Dec11

Winter Wonderland

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Heather

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We got our first major snow storm earlier this week. It’s still early enough into winter that I find the snow charming and gorgeous. Don’t worry, Mother Nature will suck that joy out of me soon enough. But for now, it’s picturesque and I love rolling around in it with my kids. Have I mentioned how much fun 6 and 8 year old kids are? Because they are. They are funny, quick and really enjoyable to be around. Too bad I can’t freeze them at this age because I totally would if I could.

The only down side to this weather (you know, outside of the treacherous roads, shoveling and car doors being frozen shut) is Crazy, our dog. She’s 12 years old and refuses to spend longer then 2 minutes outside when it’s 60 and sunny. But give her 28 and snow and she’s a puppy again. That’s her to the left of the Bean in the picture above after a long winter’s romp through the yard.

So my day has been spent today trying to distract the damn dog from wanting to go out over and over and over. Most of the time I failed because when you’re trying to work from home, a barking dog isn’t exactly a boon to productivity and professionalism.

Dec4

Snippets

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Heather

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The Bean is playing flag football. She said she wanted to play, so we signed her up and then she lost her mind over the fact that we dared to do what she had asked us to do. Needless to say, getting her to her first practice involved a combination of lying (“Coach won’t have a full team if you’re not there- you don’t want to let the other kids down, do you?”) and bribery (hello dinner at Friendly’s!). But we got her there and she loves it. Can’t-wait-to-go, why-can’t-we-play-every-day loves it.

She’s the only girl on the team full of sweet, funny, nice 5 and 6 year old boys. Last week during the game, one of those sweet boy went up to the Hubs and asked completely out of the blue, “Coach, can I date your daughter?”

The look on the Hubs face was priceless. “No, you can’t. Pay attention to the game.” Then, as an after thought, “Plus, you’re too young.”

That sweet little boy walked away, then came back 2 minutes later and very seriously asked the Hubs if he could date the Bean in 10 years when they are both 16.

I melted and the Hubs had an internal panic attack.

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The other day I was with the kids and we stopped by a Catholic school. The kids read the name of the school, written on the building in old fashioned script and promptly informed me that it was a Pinocchio school.

It took a lot of persuading to convince them that, no it wasn’t a Pinocchio school- it was a parochial school. Still not sure they believe me.

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We have an Elf on the Shelf, Buddy. Buddy’s been with our family since Scorch was 3 and his return every year after Thanksgiving is a Big Deal in our house. Thankfully Buddy is a lazy elf, so he doesn’t get into trouble or make messes- he just moves from spot to spot every night, finding a new vantage point from which to spy on the kids and narc to Santa.

Except for last night. Last night, Buddy didn’t move. He stayed right where was was because he didn’t want to go to the North Pole to have to tell Santa how rotten the kids were. Instead, he left them a note telling them (nicely) to shape up or face the consequences. I wasn’t sure how my delicate snowflakes were going to take Buddy’s letter this morning- but damned if we didn’t have the most peaceful morning in recent history today.

I’m hoping that elf is feeling verbose and isn’t afraid to drop a stray threat or two as needed the rest of the month!

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This morning on the way to the work, I passed a field of cows and sheep. So, as I’m wont to do, I pulled over, hopped out of my car and took some pictures with my phone (all the while cursing the fact that I didn’t bring my good camera today). As I got closer to fence separating me from them, all the sheep turned tail and ran away. Then they all stopped at pretty much the exact same time and all turned to look at me. The absurdity of the group-think going on cracked me up, so I laughed the whole walk back to my car.

Is it any wonder that I got texts from 3 different people asking if I was OK by the time I got back to the car? Gotta love small towns where everyone driving by knows you and wonders at your sanity.

Nov20

For Everything

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Heather

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Earlier this morning, the Bean and I were playing, having a half dance party / half martial arts battle when she started taunting me. I teased her and told her that if she kept that up, I’d pull her tongue out of her head and fry it up for dinner. She promptly burst into tears, horrified that I would ever think about doing such a thing.

After a long conversation, I finally convinced her that it was joke, that I would never pull her tongue out and her body would remain intact. A pinky swear or two later, and all was well again.

Later we were driving home, listening to Ramona Quimby, Age 8 in the car. The Quimby family was eating dinner and everyone was remarking about how delicious the roast was until Beezus discovered that the family was, in fact, eating tongue. It was cheaper, Mrs. Quimby explained, and the Quimby’s were trying to make every dollar stretch as far as possible.

Bad timing, Quimby Family, bad timing.

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I’ve sucked at this whole blogging thing this month. I wanted to focus on gratitude this month and instead, I froze. Life is crazy busy (as always) and frankly, I didn’t know where to start when I’m thankful for everything. The family that birthed me, the family that I married into, the man who made me a wife, the kids who made me a mom, the friends who make me a better person. My little, warm, snug house hours away from the snow in Buffalo, the jobs that I so enjoy (95% of the time), the books that fill my imagination and the books that spark my children’s minds. The animals that curl up on my toes at night and the body that keeps moving every day. There is so much to be thankful for that frankly, it’s overwhelming this year.

So I’ll cut myself some slack and hope that this whole blog (or at least most of it) exudes gratitude. I hope that even when I’m complaining about the kids or the Hubs that the amusement and the love ultimately shine through.

Nov9

Appreciating Good

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Heather

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Sometimes I struggle because there is so much pressure for life to be extraordinary and amazing every day. We must see the magic in our children and appreciate them for all their specialness every second of every day. Our marriages must consist of flowers for no reason, mushy notes on Facebook and sweeping declarations of love every night. Our house must sparkle and our meals be home cooked (and organic and nutritious) 3x a day.

And that would be wonderful and lovely, but that’s not my reality.

Tonight, I’m feeling thankful for good because that is what my life is right now. My marriage is strong and healthy – and the biggest declaration of love I’ve gotten today was when the Hubs emptied the dishwasher unprompted. The kids are awesome and healthy – and I only had to send 1 kid to timeout all day and only 1 kid ended up with a bruise from unapproved sibling wresting. Tonight meals was home cooked and amazing- but tomorrows will probably be leftovers and McDonald’s will most likely be dinner once this week. As for the house? Well, we have a fabulous cleaning person to make sure we don’t wallow in too big of mess every week.

So you know what? Good is awesome and good is amazing. I truly appreciate the moments of astounding grace and beauty and love in our lives, but I also appreciate the steady, quiet hum of good that makes up 95% of my life.

Nov3

A Month of Thankfulness

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Heather

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Yes, as cheesy as it sounds I’m going to try to talk about all the things I’m thankful for in Nov. Prepare yourself now. In reading over my last month or so of posts, it’s been a lot of complaining and whining which isn’t at all who I want it to be. So it’s time to shake off this funk and concentrate on the good stuff. I’m keeping things simple today – here are 5 things I’m thankful for this very minute:

1) My warm house. It’s really starting to get cold and I’m so thankful for a warm house full of comfortable furniture, thick blankets and cats to snuggle up with.

2) A good book. I started reading a new series that I’m really digging and got another great recommendation yesterday. I pity anyone that doesn’t fall into reading like I do- what a boring life they must lead.

3) The kid’s school community. I had a PTA meeting tonight and while being a PTA officer can be really frustrating, it’s also a great chance to see every month how amazing and giving people can be with their time, energy and talents.

4) Friends that speak their truth. Whether it be a dear friend’s moving, heartbreak essay in Salon about the long term ramifications of his sexual abuse at the American Boychoir School or another friend’s mission to education all women on the lesser known facts about breast cancer during the month of October, I applaud all who speak their mind.

5) Skinny Cow’s Dreamy Dark Chocolate Clusters. These make any night better. God bless chocolate.

Oct19

There’s No Place Like Home

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Heather

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Last weekend I flew to San Francisco for 5 days to attend a conference. The day before I left, we were at a party with quite a few friends and the running joke was whether or not the house would be still be standing when I got home. The Hubs had never spent this much time parenting solo before. Ever.

Because of the flexible work-at-home nature of my job and the inflexible nature of his, a lot of the domestic stuff like shuttling kids back and forth, making dinner, grocery shopping and doing laundry falls to me. I’m the homework task master, the CEO of permission slips and lunch making and the czar of family logistics. It’s a system that works for us and keeps everyone happy. That’s not the say the Hubs doesn’t help out because he does quite a lot, but this is the first time he’d have to wear both hats at the same time for so long.

On our way home from that party, the Hubs remarked that those jokes weren’t funny, they were going to do just fine without me. So with that ringing in my ears, I hopped on a plane and flew across the country to have a fabulous week in one of my favorite cities.

I learned a lot, saw some amazing speakers, got to hear Bruno Mars live and ate so much good food that it makes me sick to think about it.

And when I got home, the house was still standing, the kids and all the pets were still alive and the Hubs had it all under control. I missed them all like mad, but good lord it was so much easier going away now that the kids are older! Taking care of them isn’t a guessing game, we can catch up on the phone every night without someone crying and they can tell us exactly what they are thinking.

Coming home was awesome- and crazy- as we left the next day for a weekend away to see Disney on Ice Present Frozen (more on that later)! Scorch and the Hubs were thrilled to have me back, as was the Bean, although she’s made me pay for leaving at least once a day since I got back. At least my little spitfire is predictable in her unpredictableness.

Sep16

Picture Pages

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Heather

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Scorch was kind enough to bring home a cold last week. Then he was even kinder by sharing his cold. I think I’m dying thanks to this damn cold. Because of that, you’re not getting words, you’re getting some of my favorite pictures from the past month or so straight from my camera.

Here’s the kiddos jumping waves when we were at the beach back in August. Good times (*sniff*I miss it*sniff*). Full disclosure, I may have suggested (strongly) that they hold hands for these pics.

I have had the good fortune of finding shells with heart-shaped holes in them on our last day of beach vacation. Here’s the 2014 edition (2013 can be seen here):

We took the kids fishing a few weeks ago. The light was spectacular:

This weekend I realized it had been a good two weeks since I took out my camera, so while the kids played at their favorite playground, I played in the garden:

Send soup. I’ll be back when I don’t need to have tissues stuffed up my nose. You’re welcome for that visual.

Sep1

See You, Summer!

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Heather

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Summer 2014 will go down as a simply fantastic summer. And after last year’s hellacious summer, we were owed a good one. This year we didn’t have to deal with the Hubs having the flu and mono at the same time, trees falling on our property, the dog destroying our bathroom or a rained out vacation. Instead, we all stayed healthy, we had two amazing vacations and we haven’t lost a piece of property (knock on wood). We traveled, we spent time with family and friends and we generally enjoyed the heck out of this season.

However, that doesn’t mean that come Labor Day weekend we didn’t freak out and insist on jamming in as much more fun as humanly possible. So Saturday we went up to my father-in-law’s cottage for the day. The lake was bumpy mess but we thew the kids on the tube anyhow. The brain damage was minimal, I think.

Yesterday was a day filled with the rest of our families- starting with breakfast with my extended family and dinner with the Hubs.

Then today it was time for our first ever kayaking trip – which was just as gorgeous as it looked. The Bean rode with me and Scorch had his own boat and rocked it.

Then the kiddos and the Hubs fished while I read a book. I didn’t have to touch a worm or a fish, so it was just about perfect for me.

Returning to a routine will be good for all of us because as this summer has been as chaotic as it has been fun. Doesn’t mean I won’t miss it terribly though.

Aug15

And Just Like That…

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Heather

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…Summer is almost over. How did that happen?

Well, I know how it happened. It was a very fun combo of baseball + vacations + work + never, ever sitting still. Ever. We have never had such a busy summer and the craziest thing is I know that this is just the start. We only had one kid with a 3x a week commitment- soon it’ll be both kids and bigger commitments.

We just got back from a wonderfully relaxing vacation to NJ. We started going to the Jersey shore 12 years ago or so- it was a place the Hub’s family went to yearly when he was a kid. I admit- I was a snob about it, all I knew about NJ was what I saw on TV, which was not favorable. But here’s a little secret I found out- NJ is gorgeous.

Even when it’s grey, it’s gorgeous.

But let’s face it, it’s a heck of a lot more gorgeous when it’s sunny and 85, which it was for 5 days in a row:

Scorch and the Hubs were on this trip with us but you don’t see them in these pics because they spent hours every day playing in the water. The waves were huge thanks to an offshore storm and Scorch, oddly enough, loved being pummeled by them. The harder they knocked him down, the more he laughed. He walked away from vacation with skinned knees, elbows and a raging case of swimmers ear (to be fair, he was nursing that before we left- we just thought it was an ear infection).

We ate wonderful seafood, saw some spectacular sunsets, rode the ferris wheel a million times, rammed each other in bumper cars and spent at least 5 hours a day at the beach. It was just about perfect.

So here’s to 2 more weeks of summer!