Busy Mom Blog

Back in the blogging saddle

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:46:33 -0600

Well, hello there.

I haven't written much in a while. We've been on vacation as you can probably tell from the pictures and the sideways video in the previous entries.

We went to Navarre Beach, FL and it was a lot of fun. It's a small beach town, but it has all the stuff you need nearby. Check

I even found our accommodations on Twitter. Do contact the nice people at (has sound) Navarre Listings (@navarrebeach) if you're headed that way.

No, that was not an advertisement. There is no authentic! voice! violation here. It was our family vacation, and these were some nice folks I happened upon and I wanted to share. That's all.

Sigh.

At any rate, we had beautiful weather, the beach was gorgeous, the condo was great and I think everyone had fun.

This was kind of a weird year since it's the first time we've been to the beach where there's been things to do nearby since my mom died in 2006.

My dad vacations with us, and the past two summers we stayed someplace pretty remote and there wasn't anything to do without driving 30 minutes or so (including the grocery), so I didn't have to think about what he would do if we took the kids to a water park or whatever.

It all kind of worked itself out, but he did end up on a very hot trip to the zoo, a couple of trips to the mall and a geocaching run.

He's also discovering he has a few limitations at the beach that he didn't used to have. Though he's 76, he's far from feeble or anything and he teaches school full time. He had back surgery a few years ago and has a few balance issues on the sand that are kind of new.

He also insists on baking on the beach for hours at a time and, for some reason isn't big on drinking a lot of fluids, so I spent a good deal of time ~~worrying~~ passing him Gatorade and spent a fortune on smoothies from the beach store trying to keep him hydrated.

And, well no one should drink a smoothie alone, so I felt compelled to have one as well each day at 3. Funny, no one has served me one here since we got home.

The beach was very populated compared to where we've been going, but it was a good energy. I have conflicting emotions about the concept of a beach service where they set up the umbrellas and chairs for rent across the entire beach, leaving most people to set up camp far from the water and with an obstructed view.

On one hand, it doesn't seem fair, but on the other hand, it is what it is and we just forked over the money. It was nice not to have to haul an umbrella and a ton of chairs out there.

But, if they are going to charge that kind of money, you'd think they could at least spread the things out a bit, they were way too close.

As the week progressed, people wised up and must have gone out there at sunrise to put their tents and umbrellas up since the end of the week saw a mish mash of rented umbrellas and other types at the water's edge.

A little piece of advice for a certain group though: if you are among a large group of beach goers and there's not a lot of audible music going on, I guarantee you that the group is NOT thinking you saved the musical day upon your arrival with your iPod and large speakers.

Just sayin'.

Now it's back home to the reality of all volleyball (Busy Girl) all the time and Busy Boy's impending 13th birthday (I know) and he's off to camp next week and football starts back the day he's done with camp.

Before you know it, it'll be time to go back to school again. Several times recently I've said, "This summer, we need to..." and, it's already well into "this summer".

We're also processing this whole Steve McNair death thing.

I know many of you are glazed over reading that or feel like it's just about some athlete nowhere near you, but around here it's a big deal, particularly in light of all the other celebrity deaths recently.

Even though the details are a little more clear now, it's still just really hard to believe.

Back to the work grind tomorrow, but I'm excited about going to BlogHer in a few weeks. I am bold enough to say that it will be my vacation where I only have to worry about myself.

OK, I grant that I may have to worry about you over there...but still.

Meanwhile, I'm going to finish unpacking (allegedly, as this will probably all sit here for a couple of weeks), wish the boys would take whatever they're doing outside and peel off a couple of sheets of skin.

You're welcome.

Busy D. exploring

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:03:27 -0600

Checking out the video on my new phone

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:27:29 -0600

Checking out the video on my new phone

Originally uploaded by Busy Mom

New skim board

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:47:52 -0600

Vacation?

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:13:56 -0600

We're preparing to go on vacation and, as many of us have found out, the great secret of adulthood is that vacations don't happen by themselves.

At the risk of being a middle-aged cliche (no, really...shut up), sometimes vacation can be anything but when you are the parent or the otherwise designated adult.

And, my status as the Sandwich Generation Poster Child has earned me the right to factor my dad into the planning as well.

Now, please hear me that I'm not complaining about that. I have lost a parent, I get it that many of you would give anything to have your dad go on vacation with you.

I am glad he goes with us, however, the fact is that I have to consider some things for him, too and it does add to my to-do list as well as my stress as I am somewhat of a champion worrier.

I also get that I'm fortunate to go on a vacation. Really, I do. But, being fortunate doesn't negate the fact that, gah, I have a lot to do before then.

But, I'm famous for getting all worked up before we go out of town, and everything goes just fine whether I worry or not.

Well, except for the blown tire somewhere outside Montgomery last summer.

If I had just worried a little more, that totally would not have happened.

You've lost that summer feelin'

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:55:44 -0600

Another Saturday of surfing the disconnect between what I want to be doing, what I need to be doing and what I'm actually doing.

This summer has gotten off to a slow start, it's like I'm waiting for it to get underway, and it's actually well into it.

Busy Dad teaching summer school and Busy Boy working at Vacation Bible School (somewhat against his will, but he needs the volunteer hours) really deferred that "summer feeling".

The crazy weather hasn't helped matters any, either. It's like the seasons are offset by one or something, at least in my head, anyway. Winter was warm, spring was freezing and summer started off cool and raining.

I keep thinking that after the next event we have to get through, it'll "really" be summer with some free time, but actually, other than our vacation, we're kinda booked up until school starts back. But, that's not hard to do since school starts at the beginning of August.

I suppose this is one of those things where I have to "just do it" and get up and do summer stuff even when it doesn't feel like summer.

But, I suppose the key is actually "getting up" first.

Maybe in a few minutes.

Busy iPhone for me

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:47:45 -0600

So, I got me one of them fancy new iPhone 3Gs thingys this morning.

What apps do the cool kids use?

Tell me, and maybe Apple will let me use them, anyway.

Why my mental health is deteriorating

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:58:42 -0600

Saturday Evening. With a Bullet.

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:00:10 -0600

Saturday night.

The Internetz has been awfully boring today, so I shall brain dump here for your reading enjoyment.

The only catch is that you get bullets.

- Busy Girl is doing better despite looking like she's storing food for the winter in her cheeks.

- Towel consumption season has officially begun. I have no idea how one small boy has generated so much laundry today. He's also exceeded his lifetime limit for showers.

He has taken a full shower every time he's gotten out of the pool today.

- Accidentally discovered that you can serve a Stouffer's Flatbread Sandwich (Geezum Pete, that was not an ad, though I did have a coupon) to the kids for dinner merely by saying it's your sandwich and they "won't like it".

- Been in a foul mood most of the day. You? You're breathing wrong back there. Bring me an iced tea from Sonic and no one gets hurt.

- Trying to rate limit kids for, "Hey, Mom..." not working.

- If one adult in the house has plans for an outdoor project that takes the entire day and evening, that adult really needs to tell the other adult ahead of time.

- That adult is now on the way to Sonic. Just sayin'.

- I still have some cool giveaways over at Busy Mom Reviews.

- NPR blaring outside is aggravating my homicidal tendencies. (see also: other adult, Sonic)

- Apparently, I'm not alone. Busy Boy has developed a heckuva Garrison Keillor impersonation. And it is not flattering.

- I have no obligation to ensure that a certain teenager sees her boyfriend on a regular basis. That teenager would like to submit a differing opinion. But, she can't! Her face is all swollen.

- Vote for me. Please? I'm the last one. It just takes a second.

- I really, really, really need to fold laundry. Don't wanna. 7 year old is even noticing he doesn't have clothes, though. Still don't wanna. Told him it was a treasure hunting game. Indiana Hanes and the Temple of the Buried Underwear.

- Sometimes, The Internet makes my jaw drop.

- Went to Mass this evening. Busy Boy has poison ivy and a bad habit of picking at his fingers. Immediately before the Sign of Peace (shaking hands) he shows me his bloody right hand and fingers. I may have arthritis like I'm 80, but I don't carry Kleenex in my purse on a regular basis.

No Lifesavers Cryst-o-Mints, either. Raise your hand if you could find both of those in your grandmother's purse.

- Someone is not back from Sonic and is likely spending all our money at Home Depot.

UPDATED: Someone forgot my drink from Sonic. Oh, yes he did. Stay tuned for my new single parenting blog.

Not much to show for my work this evening

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:11:28 -0600

Busy Girl had her wisdom teeth removed today.

It was this morning, so I thought I'd bring her home, settle her in and do some work, you know really get things done.

Ha.

Hahahahahaha.

Hahahahahahahahaha.

Her surgery somehow increased the need factor of the entire house, right down to the dog.

She's ensconced in the den with her ice packs watching the Stanley Cup, while the rest of the house is wandering in circles, demanding her soft foods and turning up the volume on all the electronic devices in the vicinity.

Have cooked 2 pots of mashed potatoes already today and "broken" a TV remote.

She's doing well, minimal bleeding, some pain and swelling, but not too bad, but tomorrow will probably be a different ballgame.

She just now read the texts she sent out on the way home from surgery, they are hilarious.

She's all fired up because she has Vicodin, just like House.

If we try to make her go to rehab, she'll say, "No, no, no..."

Go figure, she had the anesthesia, surgery and meds, yet I'm the one exhausted.

I can hardly hold my head up and she's moaning about wanting a biscuit and some tater tots.

I think my problem is that I was up late with the weird weather we've had the past couple of days.

Armageddon arrived yesterday morning while we were at volleyball.

The sky went pitch dark, the wind was roaring (sounded like a hurricane) and the rain was coming in sideways.

That was fun.

Then, a smaller storm came through last night and our power went out six different times.

Good times living out in the country where we are on our own transformer.

We always have to remind the power company we exist when they are turning things back on.

It's taken me approximately an hour to write this much drivel, so I'm thinking that whole "get things done" fallacy won't happen today, either.

Way to go, Penguins, btw.

Sibling revelry

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:03:57 -0600

The sibling relationship fascinates me since I don't have any.

Siblings that it, not relationships.

Busy Girl and Busy Boy are only 22 months apart, and though they are very different, they were reasonably close when they were younger.

As they have gotten older, they seem to have grown apart.

I think part of it is the gender difference and part is this particular age.

Busy Girl is, well...a girl and she's in high school (that still sounds weird to me) and her world is a lot different from his right now.

She's probably also more mature than he is, and she has little patience for some of the little boy things he still likes to do.

I feel bad for him, since he doesn't always understand why they don't play or hang out like they used to.

I think when he gets to high school next year (good gawd) it'll be a little different.

We had a couple of school choices with Busy Girl, but it's always been important to me that they go to the same high school.

They don't necessarily have to hang out with each other, or even like each other, really, but I do want them to share some common experiences that they can draw on later.

She's gone a lot, and though he has Busy D., I think he gets lonely for her, sometimes.

I've tried to explain this to her, and I think she gets it, but she's involved (rightly so) in her life right now.

I was very proud of her when she was out of town last week and called to talk to Busy Boy.

There's also a glimmer of hope lately, as they are both in sports conditioning for the summer.

She's doing volleyball and he's doing football, and even though neither one of them thinks the other's is a "real" sport, they have started to run and bike together.

I love this for lots of reasons, but I wonder what they talk about when they are out there?

I probably don't want to know.

In only 3 short years (seriously?) she'll be out of the house, so I feel like they don't have a lot of time to make memories.

I know I can't force it, but someday it'll be them trying to decide what nursing home to put us in (Busy D. will probably get/take a pass since he's so much younger), and I suppose it'd help if they liked each other.

I didn't have that when my mother was sick, I'm hoping my kids do.

*************
If you're interested, I have some really cool giveaways going on:

Enter to win a great camera for Father's Day
How about a year's supply of Macaroni & Cheese AND help a good cause?
Or, win a shelter from the storm or the summer sun. Great for the beach!

Come on and spoon, spoon, spoon a-spoon...

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:10:00 -0600

Let's say you have a set of measuring spoons held together by a ring.

("You have a set of measuring spoons held together by a ring". Heh.)

You are cooking and need only the teaspoon, and it will need to go in the dishwasher.

Do you:

a. remove the teaspoon from the ring to use it?

b. use the teaspoon, leaving it and the other spoons on the ring so as to keep them together?

Discuss.

In which you don't really care about my summer schedule

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:16:52 -0600

I'm still waiting for the lazy days of summer.

Actually, you'd think that I would have figured out by now that parents don't get too many lazy days.

Come to think of it, adultness in general prohibits many truly lazy days, no?

At any rate, the kids have been out of school for a couple of weeks, but we found out with rather short notice that Busy Dad had to teach summer school, which is an issue since he is our summer child care.

With Busy Girl and me both of out town last week, that wreaked a bit of havoc with what to do with the boys.

Busy Boy is nearly 13, so we can leave him with Busy D. (or, vice versa many times) most times, all day isn't exactly conducive to anyone's safety, especially the pantry's.

Busy D. did an All-Sports camp at Busy Dad's school, so we just had Busy Boy to schedule. He can stay home, but he gets bored and there's no telling what might happen then (see also: flame thrower).

So, he did a variety of things: went to a friend's house, went to work with me, went to work with Busy Dad and did yard work for my father.

For some odd reason, I had it in my head that this week would be better with Busy Girl home (yay! she's back!), but I was wrong.

Busy Dad is still in school and Busy D. will go to basketball camp.

Busy Boy will work at church at Vacation Bible School which is not as altruistic as it sounds, he needs service hours for Confirmation this year. But, that ends at noon each day, and then he has an afternoon camp at Busy Dad's school.

Busy Girl has volleyball conditioning 3 times a week in the middle of the day, plus her complicated social schedule.

When you say, "No, I'm not taking you there on Tuesday at noon, I have a job," you somehow find yourself not only taking her there, you have picked up 2 friends and are asking them what they want for lunch.

Seriously, she's that good.

Re: that whole job thing of mine: they're funny about wanting me, you know, there, so I have a bit of a dilemma.

Since I failed bilocation in college, I guess my dad will have to spend his "lazy" days driving people from point A to point B this week.

Busy Girl is having her wisdom teeth removed at the end of this week, and I'm suspicious that might be ugly as she has teeth pointing in directions nothing should be pointing. It's pretty bad all up in there.

So, this whole summer thing is a lot like the fall, winter and spring thing. We're still chasing kids around at night to get them showered and in bed on time, but at least there's no homework.

I hope things will be back to normal next week and we can continue to squeeze uncompensated household labor out of them like everyone else until we go to the beach at the end of the month.

Catapult!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:47:29 -0600

Lazy cell phone video, but you get the idea:

My stomach hurts so I don't need no stinkin' title

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:43:34 -0600

Made it back safe and sound from Madison, WI.

Will tell you more about the trip when I get my brain back as life keeps getting in the way of this whole blogging thing.

I got to see some friends, and I met some new ones, so the trip was a success.

Madison is a great town, so pretty between the two lakes.

There seems to be a lot of outdoor enthusiasts there.

I went to Marigold Kitchen for breakfast one morning, and I was the only one there not wearing something from The North Face.

I would have brought my Denali jacket (LOVE that thing, I don't care if you think I'm too old) had I known it was going to be about 5 degrees in June.

Busy Girl has been in Florida with friends and she comes home tomorrow!

It feels like she's been gone a year.

She's gone out of town without us before, this time just seems different since I'm more acutely aware she'll be off to college before I know it.

She texted me that her phone was acting up, and I asked her if something happened to it.

She replied, "It's just gotten wet a few times."

Lovely.

She has also conveniently identified the new phone she wants.

Speaking of Busy Girl, it dawned on me earlier today that she'll be getting her learner's permit in about 3 months.

Egads.

She's a good driver, it's the whole "stopping" thing that's the issue.

Yes, I tell that to her face all the time.

In other news, we are the proud owners of a 4 foot catapult in the back yard.

When Busy Boy gets something on his mind, he is single minded (I mean talks about something night and day) and there's no stopping him, and he's been talking about building a catapult or a trebuchet for several days.

He went to work with me yesterday and built one out of office supplies.

I call him Rainman.

Boy is he gonna be mad when he actually sees that movie someday.

Oh, I watched Glee while I was gone.

It was fabulous. Get thee to iTunes and get it.

Or, I think you can watch Glee online here.

Since Twitter is down, feel free to talk about whatever you'd like.