The Life and Times of.... BusyMom!

BusyMom here...


Yeah, I know it's always me and I'm always Here.


But sometimes, okay, a lot of times...


I wish I could be somewhere else.


Like...
When I come in from a long night at work to find TeenBoy asleep in the dark on the sofa instead of on the school bus I just passed coming up our street.


When I come down in the morning only to find half-eaten bowls of cereal and cups of hot chocolate on the computer desk and breakfast room table, milk and cereal splashed everywhere, covered in ants who believe they have found The Promised Land and quickly sent out word to family and friends... all one million of them! 


When I get in my van and am hit with the noxious fumes from the dirty cleats and sweaty t-shirts and shorts and Under Armor soccer and football gear someone, Not Me most likely, has shoved under the back seat.


When I walk into the living room only to discover I am standing in yet another puddle left by StupidDog for me to find... usually the day after I steam cleaned the carpet, of course.


When I look at my day planner and calendar and try to sync them only to realize the computer program just won't let me be in 4 places at the same time... Silly computer! Doesn't it understand that I am BusyMom- a Super Hero in my own eyes?


I have been known to think derogatory thoughts about women who walk away from their children, their maternal obligations, to live lives unencumbered.
And yet...
Sometimes...
Just Sometimes....


I think that maybe I can understand the need to just be somewhere else...


And then the kids come home from school...


And SIX gives me a hug and a smile and that daggone dimple in his chin and the twinkle in his baby blues just gets to me...


BratChild hands me an order form for her soccer uniform sweats and I am so proud of her starting position on the High School soccer team I could cry...


ManChild drops by to spend a few hours before going to work... something we don't get to do now that he has moved out and is making his own way in the world like a real ADULT...


When GoodMom calls just to tell me BabyG smiled or FancyPants is finally interested in potty training...


When SmartGirl has a day off and goes to TeenBoy's football game with me and I see her cheering for him and the pride that shines through for her not so little brother... 


The same pride and love that all of my children show for one another... on occasion and not usually in public


I cannot imagine being anywhere else, living any other life, having any other family...


So...
BusyMom here...


And Here is where I'll stay.

I Will Survive... October's Theme Song

In the words of Gloria Gaynor-


You think I'd crumble?  You think I'd lay down and die?


                        OH NO!  NOT I!


                         I WILL SURVIVE!


These words, this song has inspired millions of women...
and men...


To overcome incredible odds...
To fight the un-winnable fight...
To Dream the Impossible Dream...

Choose to Support Cancer Research TODAY!!!!

                                              


Music is a strong motivator.


Music is a strong sensory memory trigger.


Just hearing the 3 opening notes to Queen's Another One Bites the Dust 


transports me instantly to my childhood


to the county football field


to a sunny Fall day


to yet another win for the team I cheered for


and the team I played street football with


and the tackle that really messed up my knee


that I didn't tell anyone about because...


well, I was a girl in a cheerleaders costume playing tackle football with the football team...


I Will Survive...


just those 3 words...

inspire
uplift
give hope
give strength


So...


For all of my friends who are searching for...


In need of...
Praying for...
The strength to carry on....


This is me...
sending a little bit of mine...
To You...

I HEART BOOBIES.... available @ Keep a Breast Foundation

                                           and Zumiez

Writer's Workshop... Where I am From

Well Hello.


It's been a while.


I. Know.


To get back in the proverbial saddle I am doing a post using a writing prompt from the ever popular and always insanely witty Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.


This is the template ( fill in the blanks style) from the SITS Girls- masterminds behind Bloggy Bootcamp- the one I did not get to go to...
So Here Goes!                   (pssst- it's a lot harder than it looks!)

I am from metal clamp on roller skates that never fit the way they should, from Hostess HoHo's and Wonder Bread, tins of Charles potato chips and Coca-Cola Dad traded for Twinkies with the Coke man around the corner.

I am from the middle of the road, one-story oozing Patriotism, of  Soap Operas and the voices of Beau and Hope and the songs of Sonny and Cher, the comedy of Laugh-In, where windows stay shut and curtains are never opened.

I am from the New Dawn roses in the front garden, from the lilies and crab apple tree that bloom out back in the Spring, from the land of weekend lawn mowers and running through sprinklers and climbing trees with the boys next door.

I am from Summer visits with Grams and Grand Dad, month long family vacations and standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon,  from Black Irish and blue eyes, from Raymond and Irma and Toy and Kate.

I am from quick tempers and long memories, from too many brothers and not enough sisters, from being the middle child in a family without one. 

From Good, Better, Best... and Do Unto Others... and what will the neighbors think...

I am from perfect attendance in Sunday school and questioning the Old Testament and Adam and Eve and people who see you on Sunday but see through you on Monday. Finding a way to find my way again.

I’m from the East Coast by way of Pennsylvania and Ohio and Poland and Germany and Ireland, sauerkraut and pierogis and golabki and Whoopie Pie.

From the one-legged turtle that terrorized Grandpa and the school where he worked, the way he could tell the story that had you convinced it was coming for you too, and Uncle Joe shooing the rabbits out of the tomatoes like Farmer Brown with the Flopsy Bunnies and the soporific properties of lettuce.

I am from vinyl photo albums with plastic sleeves instead of pages, family portraits and graduation pictures hung over the fireplace, family trees and genealogies written and published by Mom and favorite recipes meticulously compiled for each child,  grandchild and our foreign exchange sister complete with family stories and pictures of ancestors long gone but not forgotten. From keeping those who have gone ahead in our hearts and in our lives through our children and their children and the generations to come.

I am from a past that is present and traditions that I make up as I go along, to parents who did the best they could in a world where change happened in the blink of an eye, where  children grew up too fast and childhood was left behind far too soon.

I am from places and people that I will never know but who I am sure have always known me.

It's Great to Be...

Today was a busy day. 

And tomorrow?

It promises to be even busier than today.

Why? 

Why do I do this summer after summer, football and soccer season after football and soccer season?

Oh, you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?

Then I envy you.

No, I ENVY you...

You must be one of those lucky families whose kids don't play sports or join clubs or have friends who all seem to live across town...

I SO want to be that family...

I think...

Or not...

Never mind...

You can keep your life...

and I'll keep mine...

Shhhh...

Don't tell the kids but I think I would go mad with the inactivity of those other families lives so...

Back to being BusyMom to TheBusyFamily...

Ahhh... It's GREAT to be back! 

The Grand Tour... yeah, it's about culture

There is a reason that in the old days girl children were sent off to finishing schools when they were about 12 and only returned home long enough to try on the trousseau before the wedding took place and she was whisked away to spend the rest of her life nagging some poor unsuspecting guy to death.

If not for this quaint little custom I firmly believe that the human species would have died off long, long ago.
There are 2 reasons for this...

1)     if the girls had remained at home throughout the teen years... and please remember that beating children was still very much legal... well, I doubt many girls would have made it to the age of marrying off. Which is sad as they only had to make it to 14!

2)     by sending girls to live in all-girl boarding schools where they had no contact with guys of any age, but most especially anyone they would actually be interested in hanging out with, made them so starved for attention from any guy that they were much more amenable to an arranged marriage.

Of course, now that teen aged girls are totally horrendous beings, and beating them into submission is not an option, Swiss finishing schools are no longer in fashion. And let's face it, even if they were who on earth could afford to send their whiny, bratty, spoiled little angel to one anyway? Other than the obscenely rich and famous that is?

And then there is the Grand Tour. This is something that those of good breeding and culture did every year or so beginning around the turn of the century and on into the late 1920's...The Great Depression and all that.

Bribery is what the Grand Tour was. Honest to goodness basic bribery. I mean what girl doesn't want to go to Paris and Milan to buy their clothes? Who wouldn't be thrilled with the thought of meeting a rich and handsome guy with an accent who would sweep them off their feet?
Yep, sure wish that kind of thing was still done, or at least affordable enough to come back in style.

But no, instead we get to ground our children. We deprive them of their possessions until they earn them back with good behavior. Like a PlayStation or Xbox 360 or iPod can even come close to the bargaining power of a trip across Europe.

And the sad part is that this generation of bratty, spoiled teens has no idea what they are missing...
guess it's cuz they aint got no breeding or culture.

Mama's Losin It... post prompts to get you in the mood...

For WRITING ...


Each week the masterminds at Mama's Losin It come up with several thought provoking, imaginative, or just plain old silly ideas for blog posts.


This week I am using #5 as my inspiration to get back into the blogging routine...
Enjoy! 

 It's hot, the kids are home and crazy, our pets are panting, the days are long...share your number one Summer Survival Tip.


Okay. 
First, let me start by asking you a question... a serious one, I swear.


What makes anyone think that parents actually survive the summer school vacation with any of their mental faculties intact?
Yes, we are the grown ups.
And yes, we make the rules in our homes.
And again yes, we wanted these precious little miracles of nature ...


But that in no way means that we actually have any survival tips for making it to the end of the summer holidays without going insane from the constant litany of ...
"I'm bored"
"There's nothing to do"
and the ever popular... " it's too hot to go outside"


Here at TheBusyFamily home we have all the amenities of a four star hotel.
We have central air. 
We have a lovely, large outdoor pool.
We have an enormous deck leading to the afore-mentioned pool and...
We have a large, predominantly shady back yard that is just filled with wild honeysuckle and butterfly bush and the butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, rabbits and deer to go with it.


And yet, even in this wondrous environment where a child can play soccer or volleyball or shoot some hoops; where breakfast can be eaten poolside at noon before a quick dip in the refreshingly cool water; where a tent can be pitched in a matter of minutes for an impromptu camp out complete with fireside scary stories and s'mores...


Yes, even in this haven of summer school vacation fun and laughter the children of  TheBusyFamily grow bored. 


They complain.
They bicker and argue.
They spend a lot of time in their rooms, staring at the ceiling.


While I, BusyMom of TheBusyFamily, take the opportunity to soak up some sun, take a dip in the pool, read a book or just sit and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature that I am lucky enough to have here at TheBusyFamilyHomestead.


So... for those searching for the secret to surviving the summer months my tip for you is simply this...


Do not seek to just survive...
seek to enjoy every minute you have to the fullest...
let your children see this joy so that they may learn to enjoy and appreciate what they have through your example.


Spend time with them. 
Get to know them.
But most importantly, do not be afraid to make them go out and get hot, get dirty, do chores around the house and yard... 


Be spontaneous. 
Be fun.


Be the kind of parent you want your children to grow up to be...
And you will do more than survive the summer...


You might even find out that you actually LIKE your kids...
but do not expect them to like you in return... 


At least not in public

Where Have All the Friendships Gone...

Time marches on.

Or so I have been told.

The proof is in the footprints it leaves upon the soul.

Friendships, like Time, march onward too.

They last as long as there is a need and then...

They too...   

Are gone.

Yes, Time marches on...

But it leaves behind Memories that will last a lifetime

Of the Friendships that helped shape us.

That helped make us.

Who we are Today.