Shopping with 3 Boys

Who did I think I was this morning? I decided that I should take the boys to the gym and then to the grocery store. The gym trip went off as planned until the sprint to the parking lot. Having just got off the rowing machine, my legs did not move nearly as fast as 6 sets of legs all under 2 feet.
Once everyone was securely tied to the backseat we proceeded to the grocery store. I had not even backed out of the parking space when the questions about where we were going to eat started. It was noon, so although we were undoing all our good works at the gym we drove through Whatburger, the closest place to said grocery. From the backseat I heard "I love Whataburger" then, " I hate Whataburger, can't you take me somewhere else." whines the prince. Since "shut up and eat" was not a valid option I chose to breath deeply and order. The Prince, Brendan, The Pauper, Trevor, and the Court Jester, Connor were all duly satisfied with their noon meal which was served as a car picnic.
We reviewed the rules of the land before entering the grocery store and I was sure there would be peace. I had Brendan pick fruit to add to the basket and he was quite pleased with being able to help. Trevor, who was driving the car basket, then wanted in on the action. Food and various other things were all flying into the basket at lighting speed. Things like Soy Ice cream. Who eats that? After all extraneous things had been removed from the basket a steady stream of "No" was uttered through the 15 or so aisles. The court jester all the while is trying to open the unpurchased groceries as fast as we can take them away from him. I can finally see the finish line. While in line the prince and the pauper take off. I can no longer use the breath deep technique and at the second attempt to wrangle my renegades I yell,"Get your butts back over here now, I'm not afraid to yell at you in the grocery store." Yes the glances from other shoppers made me self conscious but what choice so you have? You are either the mom that's going to lose it or you hear," I can't believe she let's them get away with that." I believe they should offer tall boys in the coolers at the checkout kind of like gas stations.

Bag of Bones

I would like to formally file a complaint with the makers of the human body. While my 1970's model came with many bells and whistles, I have to tell other consumers to be on the lookout for faulty parts. I was told that it had a lifetime warranty. While your body repair shops gave gotten better over the years, after 30 years, more visits are necessary than I have time for. Obviously I have only used a little over 1/3rd of the life expectancy for this product. I am hereby invoking the lemon law and expect to be issued a new model as soon as possible. Should a new model not be available, a complete overhaul on the chassis will be required immediately. Please do not make me take up this matter with your supervisor.

Painfully Yours,
K

Unsettled

Have you ever gotten a wild hair and decided that everything in your house suddenly needs to be somewhere else? This was my Sunday!
The cable company called because we wanted to add an outlet in our bedroom on the opposite wall. We were not expecting that appointment until next Sunday. Within 30 minutes my nice relaxing Sunday morning with Baileys and Coffee was suddenly turned into a whirlwind of epic proportions.
The very large entertainment center needed to be dismantled in the living room because that TV was going to the newly installed outlet in the bedroom. Brad sprinted out to blow 2500.00 on a new flat screen for the downstairs and a cool remote that controls everything including the weather. The mammoth entertainment center was so big it had to be laid down on its side to be taken to the garage. The current 500 lb bedroom television had to be taken downstairs. Our nice neighbors came over to help us remove this state of the art 2001 television from the house. Bonus they decided to buy it for their playroom. Minus their playroom is up a steep set of stairs. As the 2 brave muscular men made their way upstairs the dolly strap slipped and 500 lbs of technological wonderment was almost certainly going to die or kill someone trying. In an feat of heroism fed by an adrenaline rush, Brad was able to single handedly save the monstrosity and our neighbor. Margaritas were then a must as we rushed off to Maudies . Once home again it was time for round 2. In our bedroom alone we moved a dresser, a large armoir, a couch and a king size bed. All in a days work. Nothing that 2 Aleve and a dip in the hot tub can't overcome. The next time you think I am getting bored or complacent please direct me back to this blog immediately.

Searching for Mary Poppins

While childcare for my 3 boys continues to be ongoing saga, I thought that I would write about the process. When searching for a nanny you must first decide what you want. Deciding what you want is harder than it sounds. What role will the nanny play? Mother, Grandmother, Big sister, Wicked step mother, or employee. With each of these role comes advantages and disadvantages. Then comes the selection process. It's like an opportunity to interview a future family member and you can only hope to make that determination in an hour or so but whatever decision you make can have far reaching consequences.
You come to expect more out of the nanny than you expect from yourself as a mother and if they can't live up to that fantasy in you head, somehow you have failed. This is very unfair to both the nanny and the mother and causes inner turmoil and guilt. Childcare is one of those topics that wasn't really discussed during my first pregnancy and I think that I just thought that it was really a non issue. I was so wrong. You only have a limited amount of time to shape the clay God has blessed you with and if your hands cannot be used you must examine and the new potters hands for firmness, gentleness, cleanliness and very few stress lines. My clay has a mind of its own and needs hands that are willing to shape with gentle hands as the wheel turns but not be discouraged if the masterpiece falls in on itself.

Book Club

I love my book club! In my book club there is very little talk of the antagonist, protagonist, foreshadowing or even plot development. While the books we read have these things, we seem to discuss these elements as they relate to our own lives.
There are no expectations from this group of women, in fact I don't them personally very well at all. Yet last night I felt very connected to these women as we told our stories of various events that had taken place over the holidays. Though last month's book was Stephen King's, The Body our discussions were light and full of laughter. We discussed the child that got naked during a play date when playing dress up, the boy who colored various body parts with a permanent marker, and my favorite, the evangelical father in law wearing a Hawaiian shirt covered in pot leaves, that of course he thought was just tropical foliage.
Our book club is definitely full of characters and I can't wait to see how these characters and the denouement plays out. I can only hope that each one of us is blessed with our own deus ex machina.

High Hopes

What will we do with next 364 days? I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what I am going to do in the 364 minutes. I can feel my internal list of expectations getting longer by the minute. Some of these expectations have actually existed much longer than the previous 365 days. What will make 2009 "the" year to have all those expectations fulfilled?
I sometimes wish that I could follow Brad's lead on how he deals with life. He is much more responsive. He doesn't worry about what will happen he only responds to what is happening. I think he has mastered living in the moment. I am more about forcing the moment and if the moment doesn't happen the way I have it pictured in my head then I must have missed something in the planning or execution. I've got it! 2009 will be the year of being.
I must start a list on what it takes to "be" and make sure there is a time line to measure the success of my being.
This might be harder than I thought.