Alone Time - What?

The transition from homeschool back to public school did not come without a caveat.

Sure this getting up at 5am is killing me, but someone has to do it.

Sure, getting them to bed early every night is a battle. I fixed it, I decorated their rooms looking like classrooms, they fall asleep the minute they walk in them.

Sure, I'm making lunches EVERY single day, sometimes throwing a cheese stick and apple in there.



Sure, I'm dealing with the extra time in the mirror for my eldest because there are GIRLS at school.

But guess what?

I drop them off it's, it's

quiet.

Like, no one complaining about my Classic Rock station (since when did all my childhood songs end up on the Classic Rock station?  About the same time all my childhood toys end up in the antique store)

No fighting over the front seat.

No dueling songs on phones.

Silence.

At first it was unnerving, I wasn't used to conversations with myself again. I wasn't used to thinking uninterrupted. I wasn't used to going to the bathroom with the door open and not worrying about someone screaming.

I was supposed to miss them, right?

Now I feel guilty.

Making myself feel better involved:

A hot cup of coffee consumed before it got cold while reading the morning paper.
A trip to the bathroom without someone banging on the door.
A hot shower long enough setting off the alarms at the local reservoir.
Reading People Magazine on the toilet without someone walking in on me.
Walking around the house naked because I can. (Do not drop by for coffee before 9am)
Breakfast of Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate.
Actually applying makeup.

I think I could get used to this. I have to, there's another 165 days left in the school year.

What do you do with your "alone" time?  Do you have "alone" time?

The Birthday Cake Incident

A whirlwind of two weeks here, with two birthday's one week apart, and of course, Easter in the mix!  Did I tell you that both boys were due on the same day (must look up the 9 months earlier and see if it has any "significance") one coming right on time while the other chose a week early (thank God!).

So one birthday was celebrated with bowling and pizza in Park City, Utah, because yes, if we can chase the snow we will chase it as far as we could go.  The other here on Beech Mountain because most of their friends are in this proximity or can get here if needed.

RC Excavating came and dug out a hole for the trampoline, complete with stone steps and other amazing touches while we were in Utah, setting us up for the perfect surprise for their "second" birthday party.

Boys birthday party memory was not the trampoline, not the amazing food, not the friends that came to visit but "the cake."  I decided that it was time to sing happy birthday and cut the cake, walking in the house and setting up candles and lighting some fires.  All the kids stood around me as I proudly, like the Queen of England, started out the door.  At the last minute one of the candles went out (OK, a child blew it out) and I turned to relight it.  Of course, the cake, with candles, slid right off the travel and conveniently down my steps.


We all stood there looking at each other, like, "Did that just happen?"  Then of course a child wailed, "What about the cake?"

I looked at the blue icing and the cake down the steps and shrugged, "Well you better go eat what you can before I start cleaning."

There was a Who concert style dash along with a little cake in the face as most of the salvageable stuff ended up in someone's belly.  Then I was stuck trying to get Smurf blue icing off of my carpet, while tasting the cake myself.  (It was a little gritty but delicious)

My husband's infamous question still makes me laugh.  "How did you let that happen?"

Oh my dear sweet husband, sometimes cake happens.  Sometimes when you are standing with a light tray and realize there is nothing on it while your carpet is permanently blue, you one of two choices:
Laugh at the situation or,
Shrug and salvage (Go and get it kids)

I think I made the right choice as all the kids the next day at Carowinds were still telling their friends they met there, "You are not going to believe this story about cake!"

So yes, I can have my cake, I can throw it down the steps, and I can eat it too.

Does "cake" happen for you too?

Yes, those Moms

We all know the different Moms of the carpool lane....

Vinegar Mama -  this one was probably running behind from the moment she woke up in the morning. As the minivan door opens, a few toys fall out of the car as she is screaming at her kids to "Get out."  The drive back home even with the kids out of the car carries a scowl that makes us think of sucking on lemons.

Hiding Mama - this is the one that after pulling in wearing her pajama pants and hair still pulled up, that she has to walk her child into school to sign a specific paper - how quickly she turns into vinegar Mama.

DoItAll Mama - this is the mama that followed the bus to the school to make sure Little Timmy made it safely.  She jumps out of the car to hand him his pinterest inspired homemake rocket lunchbox, complete with organic snacks in handmade reusable bags.  When she realized that he forgot the lunchbox on purpose to eat the cafeteria food, she also turns into Vinegar Mama.

NachoMama - the youngster that forgot she was a Mama.  She's still in the juicy shorts, with the half the booty hanging out.  The white fur Uggs on a 60 degree day completes the look.  The child walks into school in the same white fur Uggs, but luckily, juicy shorts are not allowed.

Bowya Mama - this is the Mama we wall hate - she's the one with the baby at home that's kept her up all night for 3 straight months and she still looks perfect.  We all turn into Vinegar Mamas when we look at her.

BabyBus Mama - this is the queen of the carpool, the belle of the bus, the master of the minivan.  She can herd 7 kids, bookbags, lunchboxes, and science projects into the van and hit the carpool line ON TIME.  Of course this is the one time when the van is rocking you can come a knockin.

Terminator Mama - this one has three different seat belts holding the child into the carseat, so many clicks that even the teacher meeting the kids can't get the car seat open.  The car is one encased in steel, and before anyone can touch the child in the back seat, hand sanitizer, glued to the side of the window and doused.

Yeehaw mama - dressed like Nacho Mama, wishing we looked like Bowya Mama, trying really hard to not be Vinegar Mama - we're the ones turning up the radio with a big smile of relief as we exit to our 6 hours of freedom.

What Mama would you add to the list?

So many dreams...

Happy New Year to one and all.  

There is nothing like the feeling of a new year, a new page, a new beginning.  

Whispered resolutions that will weigh on your mind because they are what you should be doing but some part of you does not want to do them.  

I love knowing that on the first day of the year I can do anything.

I have plenty of time.

Now to get going.

What are you going to do?