Pour Your Heart Out

Another link up with Shell at Things I Can't Say for a Pour Your Heart Out Wednesday. Like always, show some love and visit the others that are linked up under her post today. You can never have too many followers!

Who decides what makes a "good" parent? You? Your parents? Your parent's parents? The experts? The doctors? Who decides if you're a good momma or not?

I often wonder this. This isn't a post to "toot my own horn," but very often I have people tell me that I'm such a good momma. That because stay up until midnight making fun, homemade snackies for school snacks, I'm such a good momma. That because I sew my kids fun jammie pants for holiday's, I'm such a good momma. That because I have the kids choose a dinner one night a week and then let them help me make it, I'm such a good momma. That because my house looks like a pre-school room, I'm such a good momma.

These comments are usually followed by something along the lines of, "I couldn't imagine doing that," or "I don't know how you do it," or "I could never do all that."

The people that say these things...do they think I'm any better than they are because I do do these types of things? Do they think they are bad momma's because they choose to go to bed at 10:00 instead of sewing or baking until midnight?

I had a conversation with Mrs. Best Friend the other day. She called. It was around 10:00pm, and I was in the kitchen. Baking. 2 cakes for a class party McKenzie was having the next day. And I had just put the first one in the oven. I still had to bake a whole nother one, frost and decorate both. In other words, a few more hours of cake baking left.

She says to me, "What the hell? Why don't you just go buy a couple cakes from Meijer?"

I told her I enjoy doing it. I like to do this kind of stuff. It's my thang, my knack. She went on to say something along the lines of, "No way. It's 10:00 at night. I'd never do that. I'd run my happy ass to Meijer, fork over the $20 for a couple cakes, and call it a night! You're such a good momma."

Does she think that because she chose to have Meijer bake her cakes, that she won't be as good of a momma as I am? I sure hope not. I'm no better than she is. Because she chooses to use her extra time for a hot shower every day, and I don't...will that make her a better momma than me? Because I shower every other day instead? No, it doesn't.

You can't compare yourself to other mom's. There are some basic things that qualify you as a good mom...like teaching your kids right from wrong, teaching them manners, helping them learn to read, providing them food, clothing, and shelter. Pretty much if you do that, then I figure you're a good mom. All the extra stuff is just that. Extra.

Every one's extra is different. Mine happens to be baking/cooking with my kids and sewing. Yours may happen to be an extra shower every day and teaching your child sign language. Or taking a bike ride together every day and playing basketball.

What ever your thang is, don't ever let another momma make you feel like you're less of a momma to your kids. As long as the basics are met, you're a great momma. No one's better than you, and you're not better than any one else.

Tuesday Trivia

Here's some more useless trivia for you on this fine Tuesday morning!!

1. What Great Lake state has more shoreline than the U.S. Atlantic seaboard?
2. What country has more tractors per capita, Canada, Iceland or Japan?
3. What explorer introduced pigs to North America?
4. What continent has that fewest flowering plants?
5. Who's voice was used for dubbing Dopey in the 1937 classic Snow White and the Deven Dwarfs?
6. How long does it take light from the sun to reach earth?
7. What color is an octopus's blood?
8. What was the baby's name in the 1987 hit movie Three Men and a Baby?
9. What type of cat doesn't have a tail?
10. In what hit blog show were McKenzie, Jacob, Dylan, Carter, Christian, and Tyler Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia, Jan, Peter, Cindy, and Bobby known?

Well? How do you think you did?

1. What Great Lake state has more shoreline than the U.S. Atlantic seaboard?
Michigan

2. What country has more tractors per capita, Canada, Iceland or Japan?
Iceland

3. What explorer introduced pigs to North America?
Christopher Columbus

4. What continent has the fewest flowering plants?
Antarctica

5. Who's voice was used for dubbing Dopey in the 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?
No one's....Dopey was mute!!

6. How long does it take light from the sun to reach earth?
Approximately 8 minutes and 18 seconds

7. What color is an octopus's blood?
Pale bluish-green

8. What is the name of the baby in the 1987 hit movie Three Men and a Baby?
Mary

9. What type of cat doesn't have a tail?
Manx

10. In what hit blog show were McKenzie, Jacob, Dylan, Carter, Christian, and Tyler Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia, Jan, Peter, Cindy, and Bobby known?
Wading In Goose Poop The Brady Bunch

Pour Your Heart Out

Pouring my heart out with Shell over at Things I Can't Say.

Why is everything so expensive? I mean, like, everything.

Everything fun to do seems to cost an arm and a leg. Or more like an arm and two legs. It's frustrating y'all.

For example, I have all these grandiose plans I'd like to do with the kids this summer. We love to camp. And every summer it seems like we never make the time to do it. We may get in a trip or two. But I'd like more. So just the other day, I'm surfing the net trying to find some cool new campgrounds for us to visit this summer. The cheapest one I could find was frickin' $28 per night. Are they kidding me??? I wanted to camp from Monday night until Saturday night. Pffft, riiiiigh! $168 to camp for a week. Is that expensive to anyone else? Cuz I feel like that's highway robbery!

We have a local amusement park about an hour away. Think Cedar Point, but smaller scale. It's got a water park and a roller coaster park. I'd love to take the kids there. Buuuuuut....tickets are $26 per ticket per day. Plus a $10 parking pass. Ha...$218 for one day of roller coasters. I think not. Again, is this expensive to anyone else?

We have a local gravel pit that has been turned into a beach. It's got a small lake, beach, and splash pad. We go there quite often in the summer, because it's only about 15 minutes from our house, where as the "official" beach is about an hour away. We purchased a family season pass for 50 damn dollars!! Again, I feel like 50 bucks is out of control to go to the beach for a few months.

So, I have to fill 2 1/2 months of activities for 6 kids. And just for a week of camping, a day at the amusement park, and a day at the beach it's already going to cost us $436. And that's not including all the convenience foods that I'll have to buy to go. Cuz, you know everyone buys convenience foods for trips like this! I'm not going to be out there cooking from scratch for a week in the wilderness!

I have a great imagination. And I know there are plenty of things to do that are free. We go to the parks, we go on walks every night after dinner, we make up cool crafts and the like. But, let's face it, there are also things our family wants to do that costs money.

I'm just irritated that it cost so much money!

Be sure to check out Shell, and see what everyone else is pouring their hearts out about today!!

Tuesday Trivia

Another instalment of Tuesday Trivia....Useless interseting trivia for today...

1. What was OJ driving in the famous police chase?
2. Who decided there were 50 Way to Leave Your Lover?
3. The song Bright Eyes is about what animals?
4. How is Carlos Estevez better known?
5. What joins a bone to a muscle?
6. What finger has the fastest growing nail?
7. In the 60's, what American city were you supposed to were flowers in your hair?
8. If it's 10:00 pm in Colorado, what time is it on Louisiana?
9. What was the first bird domesticated by man?
10. How do you wake Lady Ga-Ga?



OK, how'd we do this week? Let's find out....



1. What was OJ driving in the famous police chase?
Ford Bronco

2. Who decided there were 50 Ways to Leave Yours Lover?
Paul Simon

3. The song Bright Eyes is about what animals?
Rabbits

4. How is Carlos Esteves better known?
Charlie Sheen

5. What joins a bone to a muscle?
A tendon

6. What finger has the fastest growing nail?
The middle finger

7. In the 60's, what American city were you supposed to wear flowers in your hair?
San Francisco

8. If it's 10:00 pm in Colorado, what time is it in Louisiana?
11:00 pm

9. What was the first bird domesticated by man?
Well duh...a Goose!!

10. How do you wake Lady Ga-Ga?
Poker Face **snort*snort** My 7 year old Dylan told me that last night!!

Monday Miss-Haps!

Embarrassing story forthcoming....

So this week's Monday Miss-Hap has to do with me. In an embarrassing situation. Here it goes...

So Mr. Goose Poop and I had just ordered our new bed, and it was to be delivered in a few days. We upgraded from a full to a queen, so none of my sheets and what-not were going to fit (plus I really wanted a new get-up!!). So I search town. Can't really find anything.

One day I'm out and about, no kids, and pass Burlington Coat Factory. I hadn't been in there in years, and thought maybe they'd have something. It was worth a shot.

I go in and head for the Linens Dept. On my way, I see racks and racks of sun dresses. I'd been in the market for some new sun dresses, so I stopped to browse. I found one I loved...and it was $10 (or was it $15? I can't remember, all I remember was it was cheap). So I pick up the large. I usually wear a large. I hold it up to myself, and it seems way, way too big. So I take a look at the medium. Looks like it'll fit.

I meander over to the fitting rooms, find an empty room, and undress. Here's where it gets embarrassing....

I usually put a sundress on over my head. So, like always, I did. It was a little hard to pull over my head, but like I said...I'm usually a large you know, for my big boobs!, but I was trying on a medium.

I get it on, check out my butt in the mirror and decide that I absolutely can't live with out it. I'm totally getting this dress.

Deal's done, right? Well...

I go to take it off. Ha...

Double Ha....

I go to pull it over my head. Ain't happening.

So I pull it back down, slip my arms out of the straps and was going to pull it down. Triple Ha...

Now I'm panting, trying to tug the damn thing off. Thinking how embarrassing it'd be to have to go pay for the dress....THAT'S STILL ON ME!!! See the thing is...it wasn't even tight when I had it on. I could breath just fine. There wasn't fat spilling over the top of the dress or anything. Just a normal, cute sundress.

No way was I going to walk out of that dressing room letting anyone know I got myself stuck in it!

Or was I???

So I take a deep breath, exhale ALL the air out of my lungs (you know, to make my chest smaller), and try to tug over my head one more time.

Shit.

Stuck.

Totally, completely stuck.

As I have this dress stuck just under my boobs, my arms raised in the air trying to tug, I throw my head back, chanting a little prayer to God to please let me get out of this dress unscathed.

Then I see it....

A little sign stuck to the top of the mirror...

TO PREVENT THEFT, THIS DRESSING ROOM MAY BE MONITORED BY SAME SEX OFFICERS

You've got to be friggin' kidding me!! Now I'm looking around the ceiling frantically looking for the security cameras. Why? What was I going to do? Give a little wave or something?

Then I realize, when I approached the dressing room (right in between the men's clothes and the women's clothes), there was a middle aged Mexican man standing there. I assumed, waiting for his wife. You could go to a bank of rooms on the right, or a bank of rooms on the left. I looked around, looking for a sign saying which side was who's, but couldn't find one. So I just took the closest open room.

Now, as I'm standing there, arms reached up to the heavens, dress stuck at my boobs, looking for the security camera, I'm wondering if I accidentally walked into the men's side of the dressing room, and there are a bunch of male officers laughing their asses off!! And what social networking site will I be found on in the morning?!?

"17,643 views. Check this fat chick out. Must see. First she walks into the men's fitting room, then she gets stuck in her dress!"

I feel my face turn 4 shades of red. It's burning. My legs are getting shaky. I feel like I can see little stars in my vision. But what's a girl to do?? I gotta get the dress off!! I yank and pull and the dress pops off!!

Hallelujah there is a God!!

Now a normal person would high tail it out of that store like it were on fire.

Not me. I wanted that dress damn it. So I keep the size medium with me and head back to the rack. I find a large, and head to the dressing room.

A different one thank-you-very-much!! Certainly there is a separate security room for each set of dressing rooms. Shut-it...it's my story, and that's what I'm telling myself.

I try on the large, and I'm swimming in it. Like I can do the pretty, pretty princess spin and my body moves, but the dress doesn't. It's way too big.

I totally bought the medium size!! I high-tailed it home, and Googled any phrase I could think of about girl getting stuck in dress. I'm happy to report I'm fairly sure I haven't ended up on Facebook, Twitter, or TMZ.

And I even wore the dress yesterday. I got tons of compliments, and by the time I was done wearing it, I must have stretched it out enough, because it wasn't nearly as hard to get it off this time as it was the last.

Moral of the story....before you try on something that is a size smaller than you usually wear, check to see if the room is monitored by security. Then do so at your own risk!!

Friday Flip-Offs

No time for the introduction shit today!!! I'm so pissed off right now I can't even remember what I usually say....

Major Flip Off & Screw You to the damn Sleep Doctor Today!!!! So last week Friday I told Mr. Goose Poop if we don't go buy a new mattress I was moving out until our awful mattress was gone. Okay...I didn't say that in those words exactly, but c'mon...what girl ever says what she really means? We always beat around the bush and expect our men to know what the hell we're talking about. Anyway, Mr. Goose Poop got the clue. And we went mattress shopping.

We finally found one at The Sleep Doctor. Now it wasn't some top of the line, extra spectacular Postra-Pedic or anything. But it was nice. And we could afford it. And it wasn't in stock. But was supposed to be delivered in 6 days. They were going to take down our old bed and (broken) frame, dispose of them, and come in and set up our new mattress. First of all....that pisses me off. The salesman said that this was their most popular selling memory foam mattress. So why not, oh I don't know...KEEP THE DAMN THING IN STOCK!!! Why do we have to wait a friggin' week to get it delivered. The thing is....I went mattress shopping last Friday. Wanna know why???? Cuz I wanted a mattress last Friday. Not a week later!! If I wanted it a week later, I would have gone shopping for it a week later. Whatever! They told us they'd call Thursday morning to let us know they were on their way. Mr. Goose Poop counted down the nights every day until or mattress would be here.

At any rate...I spent the better half of the week cleaning up our room. It wasn't a disaster by any means, but if I was going to have some strange men moving my bed around, I thought I should at least vacuum up the dust bunnies that had set up shop under our bed. I also had some other crud being stored under there, and found a new home for it.

Thursday morning I took all the old sheets off our bed. Took pillow cases off. And waited. My phone never left my side. I didn't want to miss the we're-on-our-way-call. So I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I wanted to call so bad, but didn't want to be that crazy lady that calls every 5 minutes wondering where my shit was.

So I waited.

Finally around 1:00 I decided it wasn't morning any more, and called the store. Turns out I should have called a hell of alot sooner than I did.

"A mattress delivery for Mr. Goose Poop? Hmmm....Nothing on record to be delivered to Mr. Goose Poop. Not sure what you're talking about. Let me call my delivery guys and give you a call back."

Over an hour later, I still hadn't heard anything back. So I was that girl, and called again. Calmly explained that I hadn't received a call back yet.

"I'm trying to get ahold of my delivery guys to see if they have your mattress. But they usually make their last delivery at 2:45 (which was in 3 minutes), so I should hear back from them soon. I'll call you back."

30 minutes later...

"Yes, Mrs. Goose Poop...I haven't heard back from my delivery guys yet. So I'm going to ASSume your mattress won't be delivered today."

No I'm sorry. No apology of any kind. No we'll make it up to you. Nothing.

So I asked what the hell I was supposed to do. I was supposed to have a new mattress delivered today, and have already disassembled my bed. Now I have no bed for the night. I don't usually take it out on the messenger. I understand it's not usually their fault. But they are the ones representing the company, and the man didn't even try to apologize to me at all.

I asked when the mattress was supposed to be delivered.

"Well, I'm not sure. I'll talk to the delivery guys when they get back here tonight, and I'll call the warehouse in the morning. Hopefully someone will be able to get it to you tomorrow. But I'll call you in the morning."

I told him that I PAID for the bed a week ago, I'm not waiting 2 weeks for a damn bed. And if it wasn't delivered to my house tomorrow (today), I would be in the store for my money back and go somewhere else for a mattress set.

Let me mention....it's 10:20 the next morning, and I still haven't gotten a call from him!!! Arrrgh....

I understand things happen. Mistakes happen. I get that. I'm usually calm about it. But I'll for sure tell you, this guy would have gotten alot further with me if he were a tad bit nicer and maybe offered up an apology. Maybe something like...why don't you stop in tomorrow and we'll give you $100 off. I probably would have refused it, but it's the thought of trying to make it right that counts.

Mr. Goose Poop just called me, and is walking in the store right now, going to see what's going on.

The problem this brings us to is....if we have to go get our money back, where will we buy a mattress from now? We shopped around for the best mattress we could afford. If we have to go somewhere else, I don't know that we'll find another mattress at a price we are willing to pay for.

So I say....

FLIP-OFF SLEEP DOCTOR!! YOU DONE PISSED THIS GOOSE OFF TODAY!!!

Thursday Three....For real this time!!

1. Excited

2. Disappointed

3. Optimistic

Mr. Goose Poop and I have been talking about buying a new mattress set for over a year now. But there were three things stopping us....he wanted a memory foam mattress, and I didn't. He wanted a king size mattress, and I was content with our full. And, more importantly, holy sticker shock batman!! But the time finally came when we just couldn't get a good night's sleep on our mattress any more. It's finally to a point where my toes ache when I get up in the morning. So last week Friday, we broke down and went mattress shopping. We compromised....we got the cheapest, good quality, queen size memory foam mattress set that we could find. And it's being delivered this morning some time. I'm so excited to finally sleep on a normal mattress where we don't roll into the middle "dip" every night!! I have my phone attached to my hip this morning, as to not miss the we're-on-our-way call. New comforter & sheets are washed and awaiting patiently in the corner, ready to see their new home.

2. My sweet, helpful, crafty, patient, loving daughter has been struggling lately. She's been lieing and stealing. Not from stores. But things around the house. I've caught her going in my purse and taking gum that's not hers. I've caught her sneaking in my room and taking my hair things/make-up/perfume/what ever tickles her fancy. I have a stash in the basement of things I find on sale that I buy and stash away until I need a last minute gift. I've caught her going into the stash, opening gifts that she wants, then throwing the packaging under the shelves in the basement. Last night I had a come-to-Jesus-talk with her. I faked calling the cops, I told her that maybe she could go live with another mom who would be able to teach her better than I could. I'm so disappointed in her. I just don't know how to teach her.

3. As you know, we're in the middle of building a new garage. Wait...I take that back, we haven't quite gotten to the point of building yet. We're still in the middle of demolition of the old one, and building of the retaining wall for my new garden that needs to be done before we can start the garage. But I'm optimistic that one day we won't live in the middle of a construction zone every day of our lives.

Friday Flip-Offs

Who do you have to flip off today? Let's hear it...yell, scream, cry, or vent. Do what you gotta do to get it out. You'll feel better, promise!

Flip-Off Rain...All the "stuffings" of my shed are laying in my backyard. Mr. Goose Poop doesn't have to work today, and was planning on working on the new garage all day. But now it's raining. So he can't. Boo hiss...

Flip-Off Tyler...You know momma love you very much. But all this crying? Really? You have been crying about everything lately. I can understand crying if you've gotten hurt, but crying because you have to finish your cereal is not acceptable. C'mon kid, get it together.

Flip-Off Kitchen Floor....I can never keep you clean. And I'm sick of sweeping and mopping you. I'm going on strike.

Flip-Off Front Yard...We've literally tried to get grass to grow on you, at the very least, 8 times. We've had professionals out to tell us what to use. Gotten professional grass seed. We've remembered to water you every night, no matter how tired we are, and you still won't grow grass for us. You're making us look trashier than we already look. Something's gotta give here.

Thursday three one?!?

1. Screw

I say screw the Thursday Three, and lets talk about what's been going on for the past few weeks!!

(This is in no particular order. Adding pictures to posts using Blogger is a pain in my ass, so I loaded them, and what ever order they showed up in is the order I'll explain them in!!)

A few weeks before school gets out our 3rd grade teacher has a tradition of taking the class to the local One Room School House for the day. Jacob was the second on of our kids to take the trip. All the kids have to dress as they would in the early 1800's. And a lunch has to be packed just as it would have been back then too. Meaning, if it wasn't made then, the kids can't have it in there lunch. All things had to be wrapped in either cloth or wax paper. They did have bottled Root Beer way back when, so they were able to pack a bottle of that. Other than that, we packed a cheese sammie, peanuts, pickles, strawberries, beef jerky, and homemade cookies. And they didn't have lunch boxes or paper lunch sacks, so it had to be packed in a basket. The kids had a typical school day as it would have been in the 1800's. Complete with bobbing for apples, a dunce chair, and learning to write your ABC's with a quill pen ink. Jake was adorable, and had so much fun!

Memorial Weekend Mr. Goose Poop and I headed up to the cottage with Best Friend, Mr. Best Friend, and Best Friend's sister. It was cold, rainy, nasty, icky weather. But we made the best of it!

Best Friend and I at the fire.

Mr. Goose Poop and Mr. Best Friend had to put the dock in. It was freezing cold, so they suited up for the cold water.

Trying to figure out what post goes where!!

The icky, nasty, scary creature Mr. Goose Poop found in the water while putting in the dock that he tried to scare me with show me. It's some dog-something-or-another I think he said. What ever it is, it's gross, and I'm never getting in that lake again for as long as I live!!

Mr. Best Friend can't sit still longer than 4 seconds at a time. Here he is playing with the empty carpet roll tube in the fire. He was thoroughly enjoying himself!

McKenzie wanted to go get her hair cut at a "salon", cuz mom cutting your hair just isn't cool enough I guess. She was in the middle of a report for school, so I told her if she got a B or better on the paper, I'd take her to get her hair cut. She got a B...we were literally at the "salon" that night!!

Cute, eh?

I spent the 2 weeks prior to Summer Vacation sewing 18 pairs of jammie pants for the kids! Yea, Suzie Homemaker, I know!!

Last week Friday, our second to youngest "graduated" Kindergarten. Can't believe he'll be in 1st grade next year. Blows my mind!

As you can see, we dressed him all fancy and stuff, in his camo croc's and all!!

His great big "graduating" class of 8!! Haa haa...

Receiving his "diploma" from our Pastor and his teacher.

Christian and his teacher

Last weekend us two Girl Scout Leaders took our troop horseback riding. It was 127 degrees hotter than billie-blue-blazes outside that day, and we were all purely melting into sweaty little blobs. But we had a blast, and I'd love to go back!

Mr. Goose Poop and I decided that it was time for the shed to get the boot, and for us to build a real garage. Ya know, with a real door and all.

Good bye old shed, I never loved you, and you won't be missed at all. But after the old shed has been demolished, and before the new garage has been built, all of our outdoor crap needs to go some where. What better place than strewn all over my back yard? White trash much??

The day before the last day of school was blistering hot. I was sitting here thinking to myself my kids must be melting, I bet they'd love to eat a popsicle right about now. Then I figured, I bet ALL the kids at school would love to eat a popsicle right about now. So Tyler, Christian, and I grabbed my new personalized soft sided cooler, headed to the store, bought 90 popsicles, and delivered them to the whole school. Cuz we're cool like that!!

On that same day McKenzie's class had a little end of the year shin-dig. She told me two nights before that she volunteered me to make enough cake for the class. I was busy the first night and couldn't make a cake, so I was baking cake at 11:30 at night the night before she needed it! This is what 2 cakes look like when make 12 hours before needed!! Hey, they're 4th graders....they don't care what it looks like, as long as it's there, right??

The last day of school is always a half day, with an awards ceremony the last hour of school. A whole bunch of us mom's always go to someone's house for one last coffee chat. While there I always decorate the van for the kids to see when I go pick them up for the last time of the school year. This is what this year's decorations looked like!

It was, again, blistering hot yesterday, so staying true to what the van says...we quick came home after school, changed into bathing suits, packed up some snacks, drinks, towels, and beach toys and headed out for a day at the beach!

I brought some cherries to the beach for a snack. Then proceeded to let the kids spit their pits in the sand. I'm sure the people next to us thought I was nucking futs...but what-ev. The kids thought it was fun!

And now it's truly summer vacation. So happy that I'm done having to drive the kids to school and pick them up every day! I don't care if they wake up at 6:30 every day the whole summer, as long as I don't have to go anywhere before 9:00 am, I'm good with it.

Here's to lazy, sun filled, dog days of summer. Make it a good one...

"For great is Your love toward me: You have delivered me from the depths of the grave." ~~Psalm 86:13~~

Monday Miss-Haps!

I'll give you one clue...and one guess!

Hint: It involved Tyler, a button, and a pair of tweezers.

So, what's your guess????






Why, yes, you're right!!! Tyler did shove a button to his brain up his nose last week, how'd you guess? Is it because it's the third object I've had to dig out of his nose?

Lord, help this child!!