Good Enough

Before the break down of my computer which caused me to find my happy place in the form of this dot com, I had an urge…

If you are familiar with my habits you would understand that this was not an urge I get every day.

It happened while I watched my kids tear apart my couch once again, and refused to go up to their spacious rooms and play with their toys. For some reason that day I had had ENOUGH! If the couch was going to be their favorite play thing, then why did we have all those toys in THEIR ROOM!!!!

I have to say I was somewhat inspired by this post. I decided it was time to pull all the toys from all remote locations of the house, yard, and bath tub and dump it all in my living room. Never have my children’s rooms seemed so clean and clutter free. It was wonderful. My husband and I gleefully sorted books, and toys, we happily tossed 1/3 of what they owned.

When I look at the picture I realize my children already have fewer toys than the average child. I think that comes from years of asking grandparents to donate to their college fund instead of giving presents. Mr.Good and I try to pick toys that aren’t going to blow our budget or our sanity, and I think I have finally dialed in on what each child will really play with.

Buster likes toys he can put together and change with his own two hands. Missy prefers animals that she can carry around in a purse. For Bubba it is only balls and books. Anything else he just flushes down the toilet.

I have to tell you this is the kind of house work I can really sink my teeth into. I felt wonderful that weekend. If only I could find that kind of passion in my regular chores.                                  

Yes I’m still here. My husband has made it back safely, and we are SO happy to be a family again.

I miss my blogging time and will resume normal posting after we wrap up this vacation with a little 3 day camping trip.

Pictures will be posted, anecdotes will be written.  School will start. A schedule may resume  be constructed. I don’t want a repeat of last years Kindergarten fiasco.

So class, what did you do this summer? What was your favorite story of the summer? I realize we all can’t get away. But tell me you at least neglected your housework and ate take-out for a four day span?

The first week down here was a little rough, to say the least. We were sunburned, missing Daddy, Grandpa went to the hospital and Grandma, of course, went with him. My best friends were on vacation. It was just mom and kidlets. Not so much fun.

To illustrate…here are my children

If you are wondering what they are up to sitting in this sad little gutter by the road…

That’s right folks. We are having a SNAIL RACE! Very exciting.

Things have become progressively better as the weeks wear on. Friends came back from vacation. Grandpa and Grandma are home from the hospital and Grandpa’s in good health now.

This is how we’re rolling now…

YEAH BABY!

My stomach is feeling extra squishy today.  I don’t think that travel was kind to me. Yet here I am not even three days left before We hightail it out for another adventure.

It seems like the whole world has had at least one road trip before my family heads out on ours. It feels like the whole world has complained about driving anywhere from 8 hours to 15. I guess in my crazy competitivness I have decided to go the distance no family dare travel with three young children.

That’s right! We are traveling not 8, not even 15, but 22 hours straight with few stops in a minivan with three young children.  I don’t even want…I just need. I need to head back to where the pavement is abundant, and the trees are sparse.  I’m craving some ocean air tinged with that lovely Southern California smog. I will sacrifice my sanity and sleep for 22 hours straight to be able to feel those UV rays shine abundantly on my skin.

I know I’ve mentioned TOO many times that I was born to be a Southern California girl. I’ve a pit in my stomach when I think of what the Washington winters hold for me this year. I’m scared. Last year left me crying, begging to go back to the land I love.

Western Washington is deceiving. It’s SO amazingly gorgeous in the summer and fall, one can almost forget what the winter may hold.

And why am I waiting till August to go? It seemed the most convenient. We had events, family in town, and then a wedding down there. I’m staying for four weeks. I have to make it worth that 22 hour drive.  When I get back there will be no down time before my 6 year old transitions into a full day of first grade. I’m a little frightened for him.

After August there is nothing but anxiety for me.

I have to get this together people. I have to do it right this year! Get me a generator for the next winter storms…get me a schedule where I’m not waking Buster up at the last minute for school. (Note to self…Buster had exactly 15 tardies last year. What does that say about me?)  I have to make sure he’s got clean clothes by morning and a lunch packed the night before.

Do I sound a bit frantic? I don’t even want to think about what’s coming my way after August…I need to enjoy this trip.
 

Last night if you peeked into my room on the 19th floor of the W in Chicago you may have noticed that I was there by myself, in front of the television, under the blankets with a chocolate bar on my lap.

If you came back in an hour and a half later you would have witnessed a tearful phone call, followed by another call that made me laugh. You may have pitied me, this sad little figure tucked away in her blankets whilst the busy city nightlife went on without her.

What you would need to understand is this night came after one with only 3 hours of sleep, and the night prior to that held only 5 hours of shut-eye…I was craving the solace of a good movie, which was allotted to me for $11.98 on pay per view. I was craving my children which I needed to shed a tear for in the solitude of my own room. I was enjoying my good cry, I was embracing the fact that I missed my family, and for the LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY I was kind of exhausted from my networking efforts and just decided I had earned my hermit rights for the night.

My first phone call was of course to my beautiful family. They were all at a party. Buster asked me if I was on my way home, and when I replied that I would be home in two more sleeps he said he saw a car he wanted to play with and handed the phone to Missy. Missy told me she was at Carson’s party and well, bye mommy! Bubba could only exclaim “I’m bopping da balloons! I’m bopping da balloons!” My husband texts me pictures of the perfect job he did on Missy’s pigtails. He even put barrettes in the front. He also sent pictures of the Sesame Chicken he made over rice. Oh yeah, and tonight they’re building a bonfire in the back yard. They really would be fine if my plane took an unfortunate dive and crashed over the Midwest on the way home. (sniff sniff) 

My second phone call was to my long lost friend Shana, who’s known me since the beginning of time. I love and miss her but there is nothing like a phone call to an old friend to lift my spirits. I was laughing by the time it was through.

This is not to say that I spend the last three nights hidden away in my room.

I have roommates with whom I would love to start a commune with. The bloggers have been friendly and interesting and the conference has provided great food for my pie-hole. The classes have been informative and diverse. I was forced to ride on a 150 foot Ferris Wheel that moved at 2 miles an hour and at which I closed my eyes and screamed show tune songs the ENTIRE RIDE because I had to distract myself before having a panic attack. It was horrible and I seriously have sworn off all future Ferris Wheel rides. I don’t care who’s begging! Lake Michigan is more beautiful than I could imagine and tonight we danced on the beach and watched the sun set.

Tomorrow my yummy roomies and I shall tour Chicago by water, say our good-bye’s to new acquaintances, and get on the plane to head home.

I have loved this trip. It has filled up my well and given my a fresh slate to once again return to family matters. It’s helped me discover what I want to achieve as a blogger and what I will define as success for myself. I just want to write. I have to say I was put off by all the talk of numbers and search engine strategies, tales of stalkers and trolls…I think the theme of this blog for me should have been “mo blog, mo problems” that’s what I’ve noticed.

I love my little blog.

XOXO everyone. Be back in the Emerald City in no time.

What is Good Enough?

I feel like I stand for the women that leave dishes in the sink on most nights, that don’t vaccuum and dust every week, the women that don’t want to climb the corporate ladder, the women that are happy with where they’re at in life.

I’m not crafty or very organized…I’m not tech savy or an amazing chef. I definately know nothing about how to grow a business and I would never write about what happens in the confines of my closed and locked bedroom door between my husband and I.

What I am is someone that believes and strives for less guilt in my life. I believe as women our greatest downfall is self doubt, and it will never get us what we ultimately want to achieve.

I believe that we need to plan and live for the future, but as a mom of young children I have to constantly remind myself to live every day to the fullest and enjoy the NOW. I don’t want to hold my breath and hope life gets more enjoyable when my kidlets are older.

So for now Ladies and Gentlemen, when you come to my house you may find a dirty kitchen, the laundry may be piled on my bedroom floor, and hand-prints on my windows. Hopefully you will also find a family that loves each other, who love to be together and create adventures for ourselves, and a husband and children who know if mommy is happy, then that’s good enough.

So before I even OPEN this book that is laying on my couch…that half the world is obsessed with, and so I grudgingly admit that I am obsessed as well…as you shall see when MY story unfolds…

We actually had a REAL date tonight. My sweet man turned 30 last week. On his birthday I was puking, along with 2 of our children. He kindly took care of us. So tonight I pleaded with the family to babysit.  We had dinner, a movie, and all night to wait in line for this book.

We went, we ate, we saw a lame movie, and then got in our car and rounded the corner to the book store. We spied the line, we saw the weirdo’s. We decided to try our luck at Safeway. We were about 15 minutes away. We called. They said “we close our doors at 1:00 am” We looked at the cell phone clock…8 minutes. “No problem” said my husband. 

With ninja like reflexes he drove through the heavily wooded forest to the outskirts of town, where the Safeway stood waiting…lights blazing and doors…LOCKED!

“What! IT’s 12:58! 12:58!” I screamed meniacly, pounding on the glass doors. I caught a glimpse of myself in the store monitor. Not pretty. I could see the small town newspaper headline. “Crazed Harry Potter Fan Throws a Fit!” I called the store.

And annoyingly calm voice answered the phone. The very same annoyingly calm voice that told us to hurry because the doors closed promptly at 1am. “You said 1!” I cried, trying to sound as intimidating as possible. “You said to be here before 1 and we were here at 12:58. You closed early.”

“I’m sorry but once the doors close, only the night manager can open them again.”

“Where is the night manager? Let me talk to her.”

“She’s stocking the floor right now. Our tills are closed.”

“I used to work at Safeway. I know she can open the doors. I know she can open the tills.” The bantering went on like this for what seemed like an eternity.

This is what I hear her say in a hushed voice away from the phone…”she’s still outside…she’s very angry.”

“YOU’RE RIGHT I’M ANGRY! THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT! AND YOU CLOSED EARLY!!”

“We are open at 5am and we have plenty of books.”

“We don’t want them at 5 am…we want them now! It’s my husband’s 30 birthday…we have three little kids at home. We RARELY get a babysitter. We rushed here from the other side of town instead of staying at that book store…waiting in line…with the TRUE fans and all because YOU said you closed at 1am. ”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Yeah, not as sorry as I am. I don’t think I will be able to patronize your establishment again. And I shall slander your name ACROSS the blogosphere to my WHOLE 10 READERS! YOU’LL NEVER WORK IN THIS SMALL TOWN AGAIN.  Of course I’ll shop here only if I REALLY need something. Goodbye! Not even GOOD! Just BYE!”

Boy did I let her have it.

Why do I have a book you’re wondering? Because we drove back up through the dense forrest and saw a light shining through the trees in the form of a Quality Food Center. They welcomed me in with open arms, dried my tears, handed me TWO copies of the book so my sweetie and I wouldn’t fight over them, and directed me to the diapers.

I loved them.

HAPPY READING EVERYBODY!

…wait…food…sustinance…a shower if I have the strength…then I may be able to tell my story…

Okay so I was SO tired last night I couldn’t shower, I could barely manage to fall in to my bed. I hope I’m able to convey my story in a way which you will understand the HORRORS of what I went through…

“Hot Yoga”  my little sister mentioned. SHE wanted to try it. I told her I thought it was admirible, but it sounded horrific. Needless to say I found myself going with her last night.

105 degrees  I’ll let that sink in…

“…105 degrees and we ask that you don’t leave the room until the very end of class.” They said.  I was terrified. Just walking into the room was torture for me and I didn’t know how I would work out in such conditions.  I paced the hallways, went to the bathroom twice, and finally commited. I walked in. They shut the doors behind me.  All I could do was stand helplessly on my mat while I gulped water.

A skinny, hairy man taught the class. I knew the type. I’m no stranger to yoga, but this wasn’t your momma’s yoga. His voice wan’t the soft calm voice of a yoga instructor but rather fast and bossy, like an auctioneer. 

I found that movement was my friend in this furnace. When I moved, I could create a small breeze. We went through the different standing poses and I found myself enjoying the class. I’ve always loved yoga, I love that it’s personal. You must only work at your own pace. Everyone seems to have their own strengths and weaknesses. I had many weaknesses this night.  Usually I have great balance. But my chi was thrown off by the heat! Then we went down to floor poses. I thought this meant the class was almost over. I spent the next 45 minutes struggling to survive this class…

I’m reminded of this road trip I took with a loser ex-boyfriend.  He drove a junky little Toyota with no AC.  We drove from California to Yuma, Arizona, in the summertime, with no AIR CONDITIONING!  We had these gallons of water with us in the cab. They were supposed to be for the radiator. In my desperation I started pouring the water on us as we drove. To me it was quite hilarious. It annoyed my loser ex-boyfriend. He didn’t want his back all sticky. This brought me much delight, and made me pour more, and laugh harder.

I really wanted to pour what contents I had left in my water bottle over my body. I don’t know what stopped me. I was already drenched with sweat from every pore of my body. I felt like Ebeneezer Scrooge in the Disney version, of course, where he’s pushed into a firey grave. I almost started shouting in delirium…

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”

Finally after much inner torture the teacher declared “Namaste.” I practically ran into the fresh air.  I felt a bit nauseous on the ride home.

The worst part is my little sister LOVED it and is ready to sign us up for the next 4 months of classes. Maybe I need to give it a chance. Maybe the first class is the worst? I don’t know. I’ll let you know how the journey goes.

Yesterday morning I dug my cell phone out of my purse, where it had been buried for the entire weekend. I decided that calling back the 6 people that had tried to contact me would be a good way to avoid the 20 piles of clothes in my laundry room.

I keep forgeting how ambitious my friend Jen is. She’s always up to something. When I had called, I caught her in the midst of this little game she was playing. Let me preface with the fact that she has four children, spanning the ages of 5 through 12. They’re gone during the day, and she can’t sit still. (Hmmm, sounds like a personal problem.) So she has time to invent games like the one she had busied herself with that day.

She had found herself with much laundry to do, and it was a Monday so the house had it’s usual Weekend clutter collection. To take care of them both in a timely manner here were the rules to her game…

• start a load and set the timer for 30 minutes. That way you make sure you are rotating your laundry in a timely fashion.

Umm, can I make it an hour? My washer fills up SO slowly because we’re on well water, and my dryer takes at least 70 minutes.

• Yes you can make it 60 minutes, what ever works for you, just so that it’s consistant.
• during this 30(or 60) minutes you must plan ahead what you are going to be doing in each alotted time slot
• for 30 (or 60)minutes she was going to speed clean, that consisted of picking up anything that was out of place and throwing it in it’s correct room.

Jen, wait! I have a question! Do you put the childrens stuff away?

• “NO! Absolutely not, this is a speed clean, don’t stop for anything, and the kids can put their stuff away at the end of the day, it’s their responsibility.”
• one of her time slots might be for gardening
• one for the kitchen
• and so on…

Jen! Wait, what about lunch?

• yes, you can break for lunch.

And when do you fold your laundry?

• at the end of the day you fold all the laundry that you’ve thrown on your bed (for wrinkle prevention) and that’s when you can talk on the phone or watch T.V. but it’s nice to get it all folded at once.
• But don’t do more than 5 loads in one day, because 5 is PLENTY!

The key thing to remember is to keep rotating the laundry, and speed clean, don’t concentrate on details…(at this moment in the conversation Jen screamed that she only had 2 minutes left and she had to run, but she was “kind of having fun with it.”)

This sounded like something I could possibly, maybe handle? At this point in my homemaking career I am really ready to try anything new.

So here’s how this game worked with Eve as a player…

10:30~Hang up with Jen, pumped. Set timer…began putting dishes away. (I think I’m  already  breaking the rules.) 

10:40~daughter hungry because she refused to eat breakfast. What does that girl have against cold cereal? I ponder. And then I make her a sandwich.

10:50~check the rest of my phone messages. My dad had come for a visit on Sunday but we weren’t home! This begs for an IMMEDIATE return call! Dad was sweet about it.

11:01~ I find a glitch in the system. No matter where I go I have this little shadow, my Bubba, and he wants whatever I have in my hand!

11:10 succumb to temptation and put the children in front of electric babysitter. ALARM GOES OFF! Aaaah! Did I only set in for 30 minutes? No way my clothes are dry!. Check the clothes, they aren’t. Restart timer for 30 minutes more. Decide I’m going to just take a “peek” at my e-mail. I’m waiting for a possible babysitter and it’s of the UTMOST importance.

11:35~ get up from e-mail. Kids of course want a computer game because I’m using it. Take some time to get them started on some “educational entertainment.” 

12:09~ check laundry-1 load down, 4 to go.

12:20~ pick up kindergartener from bus stop. Decide to walk to the park for lunch! SHE SAID I COULD BREAK FOR LUNCH PEOPLE!

2:21~ Back from a lovely day at the park, it was refreshing and I feel ready to face 4 more loads and the speed cleaning.

2:49~ finished rotating 2nd load. If I’m supposed to rotate 5 loads in 5 hours I have exactly 40 minutes left! Hmmm…not doing so well…

4:40 Start dinner. I have thus far accomplish folding 1/2 a load (of towels) AND putting it away. (which is totally against the rules but there was something good on pay per view.) 

4:45~Rotated 3rd load, put in 4th.  I’m optimistic I will finish 5 by the end of the day. 

End of the day summary…so the game didn’t quite work out perfectly but it was a means to get me jumped started. I did get my downstairs picked up and company appropriate. I did get the laundry organized. The clothes are still in my room, and SURPRISE! Not folded yet, but tomorrow is another day right?  I did do yard work with my family (which was a lot of fun) and I cleaned up the dinner dishes, which is not a normal habit of mine. I think that this game was in the very least a good influence on me. The reason I liked this game was it did get me jump starting and in a cleaning mode…which is VERY HARD to kick start sometimes. I sometimes have a hard time focusing on just one task which is why if I did this correctly, it would help that problem.

So try it yourself…see if it works for you and if you like working against a clock. For those of us who are procrastinators and love to work under the gun this may be the perfect thing.

Maybe next time I’ll do even better because I’ll be mentally prepared, and have a clear picture in my mind of what I want to accomplish.

Cheers Jen! My family thanks you.

I’m a blubbering idiot.

When am I going to be able to handle my children’s rights and passages in life with some grace?

I held in the tears as best I could. But I could NOT wipe the HUGE grin off my face as I watched my first born hoola- hoop for his P.E. assembly last week.

He gets it from his momma! I was Good Enough family reunion hula- hoop champion when I was, like…9?  

It couldn’t have been easy for him, a 6 year old, with his daddy’s physical disposition towards…well…girth. And he was one of two asked to participate out of his class. It was very exciting. To make it into the performance he had to hoola-hoop for over a minute straight!

I was so thrilled.

But honestly, I would like to stop shedding tears over matters such as these and just have a pleasant, un-embarrassing afternoon! So help me!