Happy Easter

It's a beautiful day! The Easter bunny came. The kids are thrilled.

In review of the past week:

Boo made kindergarten honors with A's in everything except telling time and matching big numbers. She sang Karaoke last night in front of a bunch of people at the country club. Old Mac Donald was her song choice.

JJ is competing with Boo for attention these days. He has been crawling around for two days because he hurt his foot. When he is thinking about something else, I can put pressure on it, and he doesn't notice, but he won't walk on it. It's not swollen, and there is no noticeable signs of it being hurt. He sang Dicky Dicky Dinosaur last night. The DJ didn't have the music, but we couldn't stop him.

Taz has a boyfriend by phone only, and I haven't seen her without a phone attached to her head for weeks. We may have to preform surgery to separate it from her ear. She also seems to be leading a secret life of confidential conversations, that I am sure consist of serious remarks such as, "I'm bored." "Me too." "What are you doing?" "Nothin'."

JJ and Boo are also learning to use youtube.com, which I have to watch closely, because I haven't seen any kid's-only site yet, so you don't know what they are going to get. I would love a G-Rated youtube for kids.

As for me, I seem to be gaining weight. Since I quit drinking caffeine, I have been gaining a pound a week. It's not the size I am at this time that is bothering me, but the trend has me concerned. I worked out every day last week and still gained instead of lost. I thought about trying that Ali diet, but haven't looked into it yet. On that note, I'm off to buy deserts for Easter dinner. Here is hoping my will power holds out, and I just push the food around the plate so nobody notices I'm not eating.

Is Free Time a Fantasy?

I'm snack mom today at JJ's preschool. I only have to be snack mom two more times after this and then preschool is over. Since I volunteer around ten hours a week for this preschool, and babysit one of the working mom's kids, this will free up some of my time.

Next year JJ goes to Boo's school, and I already volunteer 40 hours a year there, but it's 40 hours per family, so I don't have to volunteer an extra 40 for JJ. I'd like to split my time between the two classes and volunteer a little every week next year. It will be so great to have them both in the same school, and only have to drive to one place. I'll have five hours of free time a day next year.

I wonder where it will go? I really want to get back in the gym and work out three days a week. I'll probably end up taking part-time jobs in my off hours. I know something will happen to my free time. I really want to get into all of the cupboards of my house and clean and organize them. Right now we are always so busy, everything just gets thrown into the drawers. Basically every drawer is a junk drawer.

Well today's time certainly isn't free. I have three kids to get ready and a snack to make! Off I go..............

Ugly Dresses

Isn't this the time of year when Easter dresses are in style? I guess not for women my age, because I just came back from spring dress shopping and there were no classic dresses! I had money to burn, and I found very little to even try on. What's with all of the black in spring? Did pretty go out of style, because the dresses that I saw today were funeral inspired.? Most of them I would not wear on any occasion. I finally gave up and bought new blouses to wear over the tops of my old dresses and skirts. I figure with a few different accessories I can squeeze some more time out of the old wardrobe, until something I like comes back into fashion.

Measures of Success

I was thinking about success today. When you become a mom, all success is your kid's success. It's how well they do in school or sports. A stay-at-home mom has no successes of her own, except for maybe finding the perfect sugar-free snack on the very day she is snack mom.

I was trying to think of the moment in my life when I felt most successful. I had a part in a movie once. I was the female lead, but I felt more successful as a stand-in on a show with Dolly Parton and Henry Winkler. I was so happy that I had that job, and soooo star struck!

I won my 7th grade interpretive speech award. Five schools competed, and that somehow felt better than graduating with a B.S. and a 4.0 GPA.

I was a project manager for a Fortune 100 company, and although everybody was singing my praises, I never felt successful. I just felt the pressure to keep outdoing myself.

What are the measures of success as a stay-at-home mom? You make it through the kids dental checkup without any cavities? Nobody got hurt today, or at least no long-term brain damage?

It can't be based on the happiness of your family. I hope! There are always complaints. Someone doesn't like what is for dinner. Another got the wrong happy meal toy. The forcing of the homework. Where is the finish line? Is it when the kids turn 18? Then what? I think I have to go and read Oprah.com now!