Christmas Showdown

Does anyone else feel as if they are in a competition with their significant other when it comes to getting gifts for each other.  Who can get the biggest and best gift for each other??  I worked hard this year with the budget given by said hubby to get him items I thought he would really like.  Now all of the guys at work are like, "ohhh you should get him a recliner, or a great pair of socks, or..." Its tough... it is the thought that counts right??  I think one big (expensive) gift and a couple of other things are good for xmas.  No need to go all nuts on each other. 

What do you think??  Do you and your partner get this way about Christmas (holiday) gifts?? 

~Kim

Mom Stereotypes

There are so many different kinds of Moms out there.... they worried Mom, the overprotective Mom, the all about family Mom, the motherhood comes easy to me Mom, the carefree, let the kiddos do whatever they want Mom, and so on.  Its amazingly interesting to see what kind of Mom your friends become. I have each of these kinds of mom friends (granted i don't have a lot of mom friends yet). 

It makes me think... what is the type of mom-dom do I portray to others?? The frazzled Mom??  The Overprotective Mom??  The Crazy Mom??   I mean, I look around at my friends and how they interact with their kids and then look at myself as being kind of a mis-mash of all of these types of Moms.  It kind of depends on the day.  I do find myself wanting a mom friend just like me but... at the same time I love all of my different mom type friends.  They keep me sane. 

Who is to say that stereotyping of moms is an OK thing to do??

I guess its a natural thing as we tend to stereotype a number of different things. Right??

Do any of you ever put your mom friends or yourself into a mom type category??  Are all of your mom friends the same type of mom that you are??  Or do you much rather have mom friends of all types to keep you level headed??

Let me know your thoughts!!

~Kim

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back... Christmas Tree Set Up

In true holiday fashion, every year I drag my hubby and my in-laws to the local fire department to pick out the BEST Christmas tree that they have. I normally take about 45 minutes to an hour checking out their inventory. This year I recruited the firefighters to follow me around the lot pulling out each tree, spinning it and putting it back. My spec's for a tree are quite intense. The tree must be triangular, full, about 6.5 ft in height and have NO holes or sharp needles. You would think that it would be easy to find but no ma'am.  I need the BEST tree for our family. I'm sure you all go through this every year, right? ;)

This year, after about 35 minutes of searching, the firefighter pulled out this one tree, it was perfect in shape, fullness and height! It was our tree. I couldn't believe it, and in record time too!  I knew because, the white light came from behind the tree and "Santa Claus is coming to Town" started playing.

Dramatic, I know, but it feels good to get what i want. :))

"Ill take it," I said.

"Really? This is the one?" the guy asked me in disbelief.

"Yes, that is our tree!!"

With a sigh of relief, he cut the end off and we were off!

Now comes the set up.... LOL... this is where it gets good. We have a great stand, it has an area that fills with water to weigh the tree stand down.  So we begin to fill it up and pour more and more water in there.  We put the tree in and turn the 4 prongs to get the tree to stand upright.  My father in-law was holding the tree and my hubby turning and turning away.  Ok, the time comes for father in-law to let go, TIMBER!  The tree fall over.  It wouldn't stand up.  Come to find out, despite the gorgeous shape, etc of the tree the trunk looks like a snake making it fall over every which way we situate it in the stand. LOL. What comes next??

Well my Father in-law goes to driveway to get some gravel, yup gravel, in my house, to dump in the stand to hold the tree up.  Ok, fine whatever it takes... even though he is dumping gravel all over my floor.  Take two of the holding and turning the prongs...Did it work?? NO! Oh my, what are we going to do?? 

Long story short, we ended up having to hang the the mama jamma tree from the CEILING!  The Ceiling!! I have never heard of this before, Mr. Tree left us with no choice. After an hour of trying to stand our "perfect" tree up, we ended up hanging it from the ceiling. Unbelievable.

Next came the lighting of the tree.  Did you know that not all LED lights are created equal??  Nope.  Each lights a different color and shade.  I found this out after systematically placing the LED lights that I had from last year on the tree.  My 2 year old, my hubby and I counting down to plug in the lights to see the beauty that was our tree...

3, 2, 1...Ahhhhh.... all different colors!!

I simply couldn't keep it as it.... I had to unwrap all the systematically placed lights, run to Kmart and get different lights, re-wrap the tree, count down to plug in again and what.... they were all different colors again... OMG, by this point I was ready to scream.  Of course, my hubby was reminding me that none of this would happen if we had an artificial tree.  All I wanted was a perfect xmas tree and to have my family take part in the fun of putting it all together.

I felt like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation...

I needed a break.  Came back to this project later on that evening by myself with a glass of wine to sooth the nerves.  I had found another box of mini lights in the basement that matched some of the other lights I had around the house.  I wrapped the tree by myself and waiting for the fam to do the ornaments.  It came out as beautiful as I had expecting in the beginning. 

HARD WORK but it paid off.

Do any of you make a production out of getting and decorating your tree??  OR have you had a hell of a time getting the tree just the way you wanted it??  or am I just to OCD??

~Kim

Everyone’s career has that one defining moment

Everyone’s career has that one defining moment.  Well that moment has not hit me yet. Quarterly meeting in which I get noticed for 3 years of dedicated service, the CEO does have one good thing to say about me.  “And here is Kim, three years…” crickets… ugh… makes me want to scream because not only am I here doing the best that I can in the role given, but I am away from my lil one.  I should have been recognized for ONE friggen thing that was memorable during my time here… Have you had that one defining moment in your career yet?

Airport Horror - Crazed and Confused

First, Picture a crazy woman running through the airport with a car seat strapped on her back, a stroller full of bags, and a wild toddler running around away from her while she waits for her flight.  Next, visualize a flight in the middle of the day, and all you want to do is sleep but there is some wild child behind you screaming at the top of his lungs kicking the back of the seat.  Well, these were just two scenarios of our adventure to and from Florida this past week.  The trip was amazing and totally worth the oodles of stress that came from trying to get to and from there but I thought I would share.

As a mom, I know that flying will not be as enjoyable as it once was and I mentally prepare for flying with a 2 year old months in advance.  So when that day finally comes I can act in control and composed.  I check out the many flying with kids websites to make sure I have everything I need.  Sounds like a good strategy, right?  Well, not so much. 

The day came and went and I was neither in control or composed.  My son was running wildly through the airport before the flight and I was running, yes running, after him for about 1.5 hours.  My initial thought was, great, this will wear him out for the flight and he isn't hurting anyone or getting hurt, so go for it! Oh no... He was not tired.  He was hopped up on something the entire flight.  What did I do??  I whipped out my bag of tricks asap to try to engage him in something quiet.  I did have a HUGE bag full of stuff.  He wasn't having it.  He was kicking the seat in front of him, yelling "don't want plane" over and over.  I just couldn't bring him back down.  So as you can imagine our fellow passengers on the plane began turning around and giving that "control you child" look because they wanted to enjoy their flight.  I couldn't control him.  I tried to have him watch a movie, didn't work.  Play with new toys, didn't work. Play with my phone, didn't work.  I tried everything.  When we hit the ground at our final destination I was relieved that it was over.  I made it through.

We went on to enjoy the week away... no flaws, fights, or anything.

Then it was time to pack up and leave.  The anxiety sets in.  Did we really have to do this again???? Our flights were later this time so we had our fingers crossed that lil man would be tired.  You think he was??  Nope.  This time though to HIS bag of tricks he added cold cock punches to his fit.  Man, I must be missing something here on this parenting gig if i cannot get him to calm down.  This flight was filled with death stares, punches to the face, flight attendants bringing treats to make him happy, and 2 very tired parents.

After the last flight, my husband and I were spent.  My in laws came to pick us up and as they hugged me hello I lost it.... tears came flying out of my face.  I couldn't hide it or explain it to them.  The overwhelming emotions and feelings I had were indescribable.  They must have thought I was a crazy person.

I did make it out alive (with some bruises).  I do want to know if there are any other mom's out there that have had similar situations and/or have any solutions that have worked well for their "wild" child on a plane??

So little time to be Supermom

Working Full time is great when you want to help provide for your family.  I personally thought that I would never work when I was a mother but desperate times call for desperate measures, or so im told.  I envisioned myself in an apron cooking a delicious wholesome meal for my family… not scrambling around last minute searching for something somewhat healthy to whip up after work.  By the time I'm done though I am ready for a glass of wine! 

I know I am not alone with these feelings as we all like to enjoy certian lifestlyes but at what cost?  I debate this daily.  You?

Being the wife I always thought I would be… or so I thought.

As a little girl we were taught to play with dolls, care for a doll house and cook fake food, it was called “playing house”.  You could take care of your little dolls the way you would your child and make them dinner and clean the house, etc.  As you grow up, you aspire to model these behaviors that were set upon us as youngsters.  Fast forward to the future, current day, working full time, out of the house, to help pay the bills, child in daycare away from you, house is a mess on a pretty regular basis and dinner is NEVER ready when we get home.  Ugh.  It’s time for a reexamination of how to be Mommy efficient.  Here's the plan... Prep meals on the weekend to have each day during the week.  As laundry piles up during the week, wash it asap instead of leaving it for a whole weekend days activity.  Clean at night it’s the only time to do so when others in the house are not moving around messing things up behind you.

There should be a manual in this thing we call life. Don't you think?