Colleen Taylor’s Weblog

So, today I kept the little guy home for the first day of my little “keep-Isaac-home-2-days-a-week-and-see-if-I-can-get-anything-accomplished” experiment… let’s just say it’s not really working out.
 
for starters, he found a bag of uncooked alphabet pasta and “sprinkled” them all over the house… I wouldn’t be surprised if I could spell out BABAGANOUSH (not to mention a few other choice words) with the letters I found in the couch cushions alone!
 
Moving on… lunchtime was a real treat… he peed in a bucket outside and poured it in the dog’s bowl… which, of course, the dog immediately drank from (Note To Self:  Don’t EVER let the dog lick your face… EVER!)
 
Then we went to pick up “the other one” at school… that was a mistake    2 boys are exponentially crazier than 1.  I put them in their room for fighting with bats in the front yard and they promptly emptied an entire container of baby powder all over everything… the only reason I even checked on them was because I thought I saw smoke coming out from underneath the door.  I’m still choking on the dust.  (and the house smells like a baby’s bottom)
 
To top it all off, Isaac found a pair of scissors and proceeded to give himself a haircut… which I had to finish for him… let’s just say his new look fits him perfectly.  (see photo).  Yes, those are skull-and-crossbone underwear… and if you look real close, you’ll notice that the tattoo on his belly reads:  “Crash And Burn”.  ya just can’t make this shit up.
 
All this and it’s only Monday… and for those of you who were undecided about becoming parents… I’m glad I could help   

humor me for a sec… I just became a member of (www.simpleology.com) Who couldn’t use a little help learning how to blog?  so, they said if I post this piece of code on my blog, I can take their course for free… I’m game, probably because I have absolutely nothing to lose.  Or because I’m a sucker for free stuff.  Pathetic, I know, but the first step is admitting it, right? Oh, and I think if you click on the link, you can get it and try it out for free too…

So, here goes nothin’….

yep, you read that right… snow in San Diego!  well, let me explain.  Valentine’s Day was a total washout… it literally rained ALL day long.  (not very romantic… especially if you’re sharing it with a 4-year-old and his 6-year-old brother… but I digress.)  Rain down here means SNOW in the mountains… the local mountains.  The mountains that you can see from the beach… the same beach we spent the day at LAST weekend… I can’t decide whether to keep sunscreen in the glove compartment… or, well, gloves!  (does anyone actually use the glove compartment for gloves?) 

Anyhow, the 15th was BEAUTIFUL… clear skies as far as the eye could see… and lots of local snow on Palomar Mountain.  So we grabbed our yet-to-be-worn snow gear that Santa brought and headed up the mountain… (along with EVERYONE else in the county) In less than an hour, we were knee-deep in the white stuff… a very cool (if not cold) way to spend a Friday afternoon. 

Snow brings out the kid in all of us here in San Diego, since it’s something we very rarely see… unfortunately it also brings out the ‘knuckle-head’ in some.  There were people up there riding down the slopes on garbage can lids, cardboard boxes and even the occasional plastic bag.   I wonder if they know Wal-Mart sells these ’snow saucer’ thingys for like, 3 bucks… and they actually protect your ass!  Anyway, those people were fun to laugh at and still seemed to be having fun… so everyone was happy.

As it got dark, the boys and I were treated to a spectacular sunset. (well, the boys were… Mom was too busy shoveling as much “fun” into the back of the truck as possible… so we could savor this winter treat for another day)  Back down the mountain… and all that glorious white stuff got dumped onto the front lawn… and it’s still out there!

Remember back when you were small… when the excitement of getting something… ANYTHING in the mailbox addressed to YOU was almost too much to bear?  Well, my children are no different, in fact they fight over who gets to bring in the mail every day… hoping, I’m sure, that there’s something in the box for them.   It doesn’t happen often but when it does… woo hoo!  

So, yesterday they each received a Valentine from their grandmother… individually addressed in handsome red envelopes.  My 6-year-old tore his open in a flash… took a moment to read it aloud… then promptly tossed it (and that beautiful red envelope) in the nearest trash can…  (which I then had to fish out so we could at least display the card for a Valentine’s Day… ugh… boys!)

Onto my 4-year-old… much more sentimental than his older brother, he took the time to carefully peel the sticker off that sealed the envelope and place it on the tip of his nose… seriously!  He then took the card out and opened it up.  (and tossed the envelope over his shoulder and onto the grass, sheesh!) 

A puzzled look came over his face.  When I asked if he wanted me to read the card to him and he said, “No, Mommy… there’s no money in my card!”  (as a point of context I must point out that his birthday was in late January and he received quite a few cards with “dolla bills” inside… so I can’t blame the kid for asking)

I thought to myself, “This is a ‘teaching moment’, Mom… think, think!  What do I tell this child?”

“Sweetie-Pie”, I said, “You got money in your birthday card but this is a Valentine’s Day card… it’s extra-special because your grandma put all of her LOVE inside and sent it to you.”  (I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with that on the spot)

Looking somewhat satisfied, but not completely convinced, he turned around to retrieve the crumpled red envelope he had ‘left for dead’ on the front lawn…  carefully unfolding it, he looked inside… then looked up at me and said, “Mommy, there’s no love in here either!”

So much for the ‘teaching moment’… Happy Valentine’s Day!

we’ve all heard this one before… “there just aren’t enough hours in the day…”  ain’t it the truth.  no matter how hard we try to organize ourselves, the time always seems to get away from us…  I think this general phenomenon has to do with the fact that we’re all just taking on too much in our lives… we forget to just kick back every once in a while and “do nothing at all”. 

I am a victim of this self-inflicted pain myself… there are times when I shudder at the very thought of my Outlook calendar… crammed to the max with phone calls, appointments, meetings and reminders to remind myself to remind myself about all of the above. 

So, lately, I’ve taken the advice of one of the great mentors in my life and added reminders to my calendar (which conveniently syncs to my Blackberry) to remind myself to remind myself to take frequent breaks… Even just taking 5 minutes every hour-and-a-half or so to lean back in my chair or sit on the floor and simply focus on breathing or stretching, has really improved my productivity… 

you see, I sit in front of a computer monitor for MANY hours each day… as I’m sure a lot of you do for work… and after a while I begin to feel like the “Hunchback of Notre Dame”.   I’m sure there are some people who would say I look like that at times, too.  (of course, I don’t speak to any of them anymore… but I digress)  Those few minutes every couple of hours that I “allow myself” to focus on stretching or breathing is beginning to pay off… 

I know  it doesn’t sound like much, but when I get back in my chair, even though I have just as much crap to do as I did 5 minutes before, (if not a few more emails to answer) somehow, as if by magic, it seems more manageable… maybe I’m delusional but I do know this… every once in a while you need to “turn yourself off” to the outside world and focus on the important stuff… and what’s more important than breathing?  even if you have to ‘remind’ yourself to do it 

ah, motherhood.  everyone knows kids don’t come with instruction manuals but they should at least come with warning labels.  like, “WARNING: I leak constantly.”  or “WARNING:  This one’s gonna cost you” or perhaps just “TORNADO WARNING IN AFFECT FOR THE NEXT 18 YEARS… (or until I move out, whichever comes first)”. 

Sadly, most of us are ill-equipped to handle such feeble attempts at dissuasion, so we go ahead and pop a couple of these ‘cherubs’ out without a second thought as to how they will change our lives… they’re so darn cute, afterall.  Take, for example, Ms. Spears… this girl just has NO idea which end is up.  One day she wants to be a mother… the next she’s partying with her panties off (not that I’m completely against the latter, by the way… just not in public, Britney!)  Some people just shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce.

I’m only half-kidding when I poke fun at this “anything-but-funny” situation she has put herself in… I am a mother of 2 beautiful boys myself… and I REALLY thought I had given ample thought to how my life would change when they arrived.  (most girls think about becoming mothers from the time they are about 2 years old… and I’m no exception) 

The problem is, most people think that their entire life SHOULD change as a result of becoming a parent.  I disagree.  I want to remain the same person I’ve always been, just… “enhanced”.  maybe that’s not the perfect word for it, but it’ll do for now.   more on this later, I’ve gotta run… one of my children is “leaking” 

working from Panera Bread today… free internet, free coffee refills!!!!!!  and all the noise you can handle! 

all kidding aside, if you don’t work virtually (at least a couple days per week) I’m really sorry!   I’ve been doing it for the past 6 years or so, and I highly recommend it.  In fact I feel bad for those who don’t get to enjoy it’s perks… no traffic, no expensive wardrobe, less gas consumption, no traffic, clothing optional, no cubicle, no showers (although I wouldn’t recommend this one every day), and did I mention NO TRAFFIC!?!  (unless, of course, you count the dog who loves to lay right in the middle of the hallway during your frequent trips to your personal ’snack machine’  (aka “the fridge”) 

so…  genius that I am, thought it would be fun to have a pinata at my son’s 4th birthday party…  that was until I handed him the bat.  not recommended.

Tom Petty ROCKS the house in Glendale as one of THE best halftime shows I’ve ever seen… they should just have him back every year.  I’m not a huge football fan (truth be told, I only watch the playoffs and the Superbowl) but I love me a good half-time show.  Living in San Diego, if the weather was nicer today I probably would have missed the game completely… but it has literally been raining ALL DAY NON-STOP… this was NOT in the brochure.

Okay, let’s try this again… my first post, which was DANGEROUSLY witty mind you, somehow got deleted instead of published…

I will NEVER claim to be a technical genius… but would like to thank Kris for getting me this far…