Single Mom

Answer Honestly

clothedwithjoy 5 Comments

Answer honestly. Captain-America-Poster

It’s Friday night and you walk into a 6:45PM movie, for example, Captain America, The Winter Soldier, and see a woman seated along with 1,2,3,- four children. What comes to mind?

“Oh crap.” ?

“They’re gonna be loud.”

“How cute.”  Hahahahahahaha, (wipes tear) that was a good one.

Oh, you didn’t even notice?

Just curious because, I might have possibly been at the movies at 6:45 last night with four children watching CA, TWS. Now, granted, my seven year old was ticked and whiny when it was after 7PM and the actual movie hadn’t started yet. “You said FOUR minutes!”

Sheesh.

Never-fear, it’s not nearly as bad as you imagine. Ten minutes into the film, both the five AND seven year old were sound asleep. On me. I’ve just now regained feeling to my left arm.

Why do I even buy tickets for these people?

We made it through the next 2 hours and 3 minutes of movie without a peep. Well, almost. The little one whined for something to drink the entire last fifteen minutes, but it was intermittent and somewhat quiet whining. I did finally pay attention to her and realized that my eleven year old was harboring nearly two gallons of Sprite just two seats down.

Alls well that ends well. And, let’s face it, we could have been watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Everybody should be counting their blessings.

the-amazing-spider-man-2-movie-posters-1

 

So, be honest, what DO you think when you see a child/row of children in an older audience movie? Inquiring minds want to know.

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I’m a Mess

clothedwithjoy 11 Comments

Earlier today I confessed to the blogosphere that I’m a thief, so I may as well come all the way clean. I’m a mess.

I came downstairs into the office area this morning to have my brother (who works here) help me carry a table outside that I am selling at my yard sale tomorrow. He noticed my wrist was wrapped. Yes, my hands, my most valuable assets for yard sale-ing (and typing) are a mess. I have Ganglion Cysts in both wrists and the left side was flaring up. ganglion

Later, as we were maneuvering the large table out the small door my brother commented on my “bad back.” Yeah, that’s a mess too. Thankfully, I rarely have back and wrist flareups simultaneously.

My eleven year old daughter stayed home from school today because she was sick with d-reah all night. Probably because she had a headache yesterday and I didn’t have children’s pain medicine so I gave her Excedrin. Twice. I probably killed her stomach. Worst mom ever. I’m a mess. She’s definitely a mess.

My shower is a mess. I bathed today with a Lalaloopsi doll looking up toward my privateness and the scooper from an Easy Bake Oven.

1284Speaking of showers, my seven year old hasn’t bathed since at least Monday (possibly longer.) I did, however, make her wash her face on Wednesday.

What a runny, stinky, painful, cluttered, happy mess.

 

This post was written for 5 minute fridays, the word was , you guessed it, MESS. Find link here.

5minutefriday

 

 

 

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Making It Happen: GLITTER

clothedwithjoy 6 Comments

MIH glitter

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

Put some kind of sealant or another coat of paint on my bedroom vanity. It needs it.

(Two weeks ago I chose this as my next project, as you may know, last week It Didn’t Happen. However, if you were a stink bug on the wall you would have seen me  finishing this up this morning.)

ML

I found this cool Glitter Glaze type stuff at Home Depot. It worked wonderfully! Unfortunately, it also brought out the major flaw in the entire paint and shabby chic the vanity project – I didn’t sand first. After putting on this super fantastic subtle glitter, the brown, original varnish bled through. ML1

 

 

 

NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED!

I now have in my possession an electric sander. Which leads me to the project for next week…

Projects for Next Week:

Sand entire vanity. (I am sanding, repainting and reglittering, not shabby chic-ing this time. Live and learn.) This week I plan to sand this and an antique desk I bought at a Thrift Store.

From Sunday I will also be spending two nights and three days away. Alone. Just Being-ing. Quiet.

Therefore, I am not giving myself too much in the way of projects. Oh, and I’m holding a yard sale. W/e.

😉

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Vows & Vidalia Onions

clothedwithjoy 6 Comments

Vidalias, where have you been all my life? If only I could find a man like you…

At two weeks shy of my 40th birthday I discovered Vidalia onions. I’ve been a long time onion crier and for the first time in my life I cut an onion that didn’t bring me tears.  Could there be a man out there like a Vidalia onion – one who doesn’t make me cry? (in a bad way, good tears are totally cool)

Would he need to have been born and bred (possibly conceived) in Georgia?

Would any Southern gentleman do?

If I ever do find my very own Vidalia onion of a man, I have one addition to the traditional vows that I would like him to add.

Groom: “Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore… 

…and take out the trash whenever the need may be? 

trash 1

This should never happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do.”

🙂

I’ve enjoyed spending the month of April writing through the alphabet with the A to Z Challenge. I’ve been waiting for “V.”

I Don’t Like This, So I Wrote About It

clothedwithjoy 5 Comments

God-of-My-Emotions

 

Clenched Chest. Unclear mind. Randomly upset.

My moods and emotions are pretty steady most of the time, but there are days when my chest feels clenched, my mind can’t focus and I feel upset for no reason. Believe me, I try to find a reason, and often times I don’t. I don’t know why something will bother me more on one day than another – hormones? Maybe. Whatever the reason, I. Do. Not. Like. It.

I don’t like it at all.

I don’t like it so much I wrote an article about it at momsoffaith.com. Find it here. (God of My Emotions)

Be encouraged. 🙂 If you struggle with this, I’d love to hear from you.

I write articles for Moms of Faith twice a week. Find me there every Wednesday and Saturday. PS – You don’t have to be a Mom to visit. I promise, no one is checking. 

It Didn’t Happen

clothedwithjoy 4 Comments

It didn’t happen this week.

Every Wednesday I put up a post with household projects that I planned to do during the coming week and follow-up from the previous week. See example here. This REALLY helps me get projects done around the house – and I am LOVING it.

I knew this past week would be busy and I shouldn’t have planned anything, but I did. Aaaaaaand, it didn’t happen.

Oh well, it can wait til next week and instead of painting a vanity I had a ton of fun with my family celebrating Good Friday, Easter, Spring Break and my daughter’s eleventh birthday. (I told you I shouldn’t have scheduled anything.)

No Before’s and After’s this week my friends, however, I leave you with lovely collage of our week (mostly yesterday.)

the one

Sometimes, Making it Happen is building the family. 

See you next week when I will be back to the grind.

Making It Happen: Closets

clothedwithjoy 4 Comments

mih closetsFact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

1. Clean fridge.  DONE! (No pictures, come on, nobody wants to see that. You’re welcome. )

2. Clean out dining room closet.

Before                                                After

closetclo

 

stuff

Pile of crapola.

squ

Squirrel trap. Seriously.

 

clean

Everything that’s supposed to be in there, back in.

It has become apparent that I have a bag issues. I save them. All of them. Big, small, decorative and utilitarian. I might need a special counselor – cleaning out forced me to throw most of them away. I kept a few…

Projects for Next Week:

Easter, Good Friday, Spring Break and a child’s birthday loom ahead of me. Plus, we are getting closer to moving into the other half of the apartments since Bill’s daughter finished cleaning it out today. All this to say – I have 1 project on the list for this coming week:

Put some kind of sealant or another coat of paint on my bedroom vanity. It needs it.

Seriously – 99% of what I have posted over the last several weeks WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED (OR STARTED) without this blog series. 

So, whoohoo!

Making It Happen – HOME

clothedwithjoy 10 Comments

HOME

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

 

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

There is no one coming home.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

I’ve lived in this apartment for the last three years and it’s really only been over the past six months that I’ve started to feel like this is my home. (I briefly wrote about this in my post, Dwelling.)

Then, a recent post where I discussed my cleaning habits got me thinking that maybe what I need is motivation. Since no one is coming home to motivate me, dear readers, YOU have become my motivation. I plan to post two small home improvement projects that I would like to work on during the next week and then follow up with you next Wednesday to see if this kind of accountability works for me.

Projects:

Gardening. Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions last week! I did get out and clean up and made some decisions for the planting. STARTED!

seeds

 

I’ll also plant tomatoes. Planting for the Northeast is May-June – so I have a few weeks until these go in the ground.

My 5 year old, P, chose the sunflowers. They’re my favorites, so she didn’t have to convince me. 🙂

Garden 2

I’ve decided to take this plot out and put in a glider or picnic table. Bye bye.

lilac

 

My beloved lilac tree is blooming. ❤ P and I mulched the front of the house this week – squirrels are already digging it up. Furry Monsters.

Earlier this week I wrote about my neighbor dying (here) and how that affects my Making it HAPPEN posts. Home improvement projects are on a short hiatus until we can move into the other half of the apartment later next month. (we hope) Then it’s gonna get CRAZY.

 

Projects for this week:

Clean fridge. (No pictures. You’re welcome. )

Clean out dining room closet.

closet

Welcome to my life. This is why I need this weekly post, without you, Beloved Readers, cleaning this out DOESN’T happen.

Making It Happen at Home – BEDROOMS

clothedwithjoy 17 Comments

MIH BR

My neighbor died this week and that will greatly affect my Making it Happen posts in the coming weeks/months. More on this below – like all the way below…

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

There is no one coming home.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

I’ve lived in this apartment for the last three years and it’s really only been over the past six months that I’ve started to feel like this is my home. (I briefly wrote about this in my post, Dwelling.)

Then, a recent post where I discussed my cleaning habits got me thinking that maybe what I need is motivation. Since no one is coming home to motivate me, dear readers, YOU have become my motivation. I plan to post two small home improvement projects that I would like to work on during the next week and then follow up with you next Wednesday to see if this kind of accountability works for me.

Projects:

1. Paint and shabby chic vintage vanity in my bedroom. DONE!

Before

 vanity

 

After

vanity I realize that this looks pretty crappy in the picture – it actually looks pretty good in real life. I do need to put some kind of sealant or something on top, but I’ll get to that. I probably added a little too much baking soda paste to the white paint and I’m sure I should have sanded the whole piece first – which I didn’t – but all in all, I’m happy with it. I found the recipe for the paint here.

 

The part where I tell you why my neighbor dying affects my Making it Happen momentum:

I will be blogging about this in more detail in a couple days, but the short story is, when I say neighbor, I mean the person who shares this residence with me. I live in an old Victorian that is split into two apartments and offices. Both apartments and offices share common areas, so my neighbor is not someone far away, but a person I see everyday and whose kitchen I need to walk into to go down to the basement to do my laundry. Communal like that.

For the last three years my daughters and I have shared two bedrooms and one bathroom, not the worst life by far, but with the death of my neighbor and the other half of the house opening up, we will be expanding into two more bedrooms, a large kitchen and another bathroom. All four of these rooms are in terrible shape and will need much work. Hence – why things are kind of in a flux right now.

My goal, after painting the vanity was to redo my BEDROOM (B for A to Z Challenge). However, my present bedroom is now to become my ten year old’s bedroom – I’m moving down to the second floor, etc. What this means is:

Projects for this week:

Gardening. I’ve got a black thumb, but my neighbor left some nice little plots that need to be cleaned up and planted.

garden 4

There have been tomatoes, peppers and flowers in here in the past. Any suggestions for good things to grow in the Northeast? Keep in mind my Black Thumb.

Garden 2

My own little plot. I’ve only ever gotten cilantro to grow here – I planted wildflowers in the Fall – we’ll see how they work out.

Grandmom's rose

My Grandmother LOVED pink and LOVED roses. She moved these roses from house to house three times before moving them here in the early eighties (She lived in this house for many years.) I cannot wait til they bloom again, this picture is from the Fall.

I realize the news of my neighbor’s passing is glossed over in this post, the reason being, I have an entire post dedicated to it already written and ready to post in a couple days.

Bad Words

clothedwithjoy 16 Comments

This post could step on some toes, but I’m just going to say it – I don’t like foul language. As in, I don’t use it. I think it has a lot to do with what I discussed in my post Dignity.

And as much as I don’t like it, my thirteen year old can’t stand it. The other night I said, “What the heck…” and all heck broke loose. “Mom, you already say ‘crap,’ now this is just too much.”

Sheesh, I didn’t realize I was such a potty mouth.

When I was growing up the “Sh” word meant “shut up” and the “F” word was “fart.” And I’ve kept it that way in my own home, although fart has moved into the “acceptable” language realm. Just don’t say it around my mother.

My seven year old is, of course, totally concerned with what is and is not appropriate to say. At least once a day we discuss words that may or may not be “bad.”

“Mom, can I say ‘oh my?’ Mom, is ‘yikes’ a bad word?”

The word stupid gets brought to the table quite often. Is stupid a bad word? Well, not technically, but like guns, it all depends on how you use it. Occasionally, “stupid” gets back on the list of words they can say but it rarely lasts five minutes before somebody done called somebody stupid and, just like that, “stupid” is once again off the table and back on the list of bad words.

English is a second language for all four of my children, so the discussion of what words are “bad” happens a lot around here. Of course I don’t use “bad language” at home but they still hear it in school and on TV so they are often confused about what is and is not appropriate to say.

The other day my thirteen year old and ten year old were discussing the word “dammit” and if it was a “bad word” or not. I explained the origin and clearly emphasized that it was on the “bad” list. Let’s fast forward to the next day while I am standing with the five year olds and their moms outside of school waiting to go into Pre-K. You know where this is going… My little P decides to hop across the center walk way and very loudly proclaim, “DAMMIT!” for no reason at all.

Mortified

Appalled

Ashamed

The fact is, I was more concerned with what others would think of me as a mother than why my little one said that. Sigh.

bad words

Little Stinker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS: She was, of course, immediately corrected and set back on the straight and narrow.