Not the workout I planned on....

I was having a great workout on the bike trainer in the basement with my headphones on, when my daughter came down and said, "Mom, there's something wrong with the dog - he's in the bathroom shaking." In the past 24 hours our two dogs had somehow gotten into an entire pan of brownies and 1/2 bag of M&M's, so I was more than a little concerned. I ran upstairs and managed to coax him out of the bathroom to go outside. I encouraged him as he wandered around the side of the house, hoping that any issues would "pass". But as soon as he got to the backyard he was gone like a shot to the neighbor's house to visit.

So there I was, chasing the stupid dog through the yards in my spandex cycling shorts, a sports bra, and winter boots. My poor neighbors.

But wait that's not the best part. As I opened the door to go back in the house, I was blasted with the smell of five years of pizza cheese burning on the bottom of the oven. "Did the smoke detector go off before?" I asked. Of course it did. Only with my headphones in I couldn't know that, and didn't realize until after the chase, that the dog was in the bathroom hiding from the detector.

And do you think one of them could fill me in?

Where's your stuff?

I was pulling into the parent drop off line for my youngest, and asked her if she had her coat. She glanced around, shrugged her shoulders, and said, "It must be at school." "Are you sure," I asked. "Yeah, if not, I'll just grab another hoodie from the lost and found." As we pulled around and she stepped out of the car I said, "Where's your backpack?" "Hrmph. Must be at home."

Aside from the obvious fact that my daughter showed up at school without a coat or backpack and we were both ok with that, I was struck by something else - the change from 5 years ago. She was having a meltdown over her missing lunch and the teacher was out of ideas, so she called my older daughter off the playground to help! It took most of the afternoon to calm her down, and she has taken hot lunch most days since. What a difference!

Scouting - and not the girl scout kind.

On the phone the other day another parent and I were talking about our schedules, and she said, "You don't mess with basketball - it's a cult." She couldn't know how on the mark her comment was.

My youngest daughter had a game yesterday. A coach from one of the teams known for its active recruiting of talent, approached another dad from our team and gave him a business card for his daughter and mine. A week earlier we were approached by another coach scouting for a select/all-star team for summer. I have a couple of thoughts about all this:

• First of all, my daughter is good, but not great, and I can say this because I have two older players and know what "great" looks like. She's not there yet.
• Second, my daughter is in fifth grade. What if she has a growth spurt that leaves her hopelessly clumsy between now and then?
• Third, it's January. I am just getting back into the schedule for the second half of the regular season - I am not thinking about summer yet.

She will play competitive ball over the summer, for sure. If she doesn't, there are other girls who will, and talent gap widens quickly, even at this age. Today in most sports, if they aren't playing competitive leagues by the end of grade school, high school is a long shot. When I was a kid, we were lucky to have enough girls for a team. On the positive side, it will be good for her to play with kids that love the game like she does and have skill levels that can challenge hers. But scouting in fifth grade? Seriously?

I hired a driver!

I have always said when I make it rich, the first person I’ll hire is not a cook or cleaning person, but a driver. I have a lot of pet peeves related to driving (yeah, that's a surprise, isn't it), so I won’t list them here, but as a result, driving is just not much fun for me.

So for the unbelievable cost of a $415 (the fee for driver’s ed these days) I have hired a driver. I have her for the next five months, until she turns 16 and can legally drive alone. As we pulled into the school lot yesterday, she looked at me relaxing in the passenger seat and said, “You’re never gonna let me take my driver’s test are you?”

Not until the next kid turns 15-1/2....

It's a curse I tell you....

I am planner challenged. I can't seem to find the right fit.

If I was just responsible for me I could pick up any one of the free monthly pocket calendars that are handed out this time of year. I like monthly calendars, because I can see before we get to the "day of" that we have basketball, a fundraiser, and a girl scout meeting on the same night. But as the social director and transportation manager for four other people, those itty bitty boxes just don't do it.

So I switched to a weekly format. I tried 1 page per week, 2 pages per week and even tried making my own pages. But there is no room in a weekly for for other things like bills that are due, fitness goals, or grocery lists. Part of my obsessive organizing is list-making - that, or it's a highly developed strategy to compensate for my absolute lack of memory. Either way I cannot survive without lists and need to keep them with me, preferably safety pinned to my jacket. Last year I thought I had the right planner - I bought a Moleskine with the weekly calendar on the left and a blank page on the right. It was great for keeping schedules and lists in one place but still too small for our lives.

Now, add the one other complication that I am an aesthetics person. It matters to me what the paper feels like, how see through it is, how big the lines are, and what color the cover is. I like spiral bound so I can fold it over, and it has to be durable enough to take with me everywhere (that memory thing again). I am open to suggestions....

Back to school - boo.

Most parents are doing the happy dance right about now because in less than 24 hours the kids are back to school. I'm not one of them. I like having my kids at home. We stay up late, sleep in, eat donuts, watch movies, read, and have friends over - luxuries that don't happen during the school year as often as I'd like. So sadly, tonight I will set out breakfast, backpacks, and lunches, and get ready to send them off to school. I wonder if Starbucks will soften the blow?

That's it, time to pack it up....

I love our Christmas decorations. Every year when I pull them out I am reminded of past years: the felt doorknob mitten, the clothes pin angel ornaments, tissue paper and paper tube candle holders, and letters to Santa. So many good memories!

I have to admit, though, I am equally happy to put it away. As a somewhat compulsive organizer, it's challenging for me to have all the extra "stuff" in my house this long. I don't know how people who leave decorations up until April survive! It's time.

Jesus wore a big red suit?

Today's email from my sister....

While my Second Grader is being told keep quiet about her belief in Jesus instead of Santa, my Kindergardener came home with her weekly newsletter. And it stated,"This week we celebrated Christmas' of other cultures. We learned about Kwanza and Hannukah. Students made levened bread and played with a Dreidel. We also learned math concepts using Menorah Candles. We look forward to celebrating a traditional Christmas next week focusing on the man with the Big Red Suit."

Funny, I don't remember Jesus wearing a big red suit! Seriously, can they make it any harder for us to celebrate Jesus before anything else?!

Don't just stand there, grab a shovel....

I was shoveling the driveway tonight when the neighbor stopped and said, "you know it would be easier if you shoveled a path down the middle, the pushed the snow on the right side of the driveway to the right and the left side to the left."

"Yeah", I said, "but when I shovel it all to one side there is more snow on the sledding pile."

Duh, why else would I shovel the driveway at all? :)

My niece is THAT kid (the rant that goes with the story)

Throughout my parenting years, I have encouraged my kids' belief in Santa. My sister has taken a much more religious view with her children, and sticks to the nativity story.

This past week my niece was taken out into the hallway where the teacher told her that she was not to debate the "realness" of Santa anymore because of the conflict she was causing in the classroom. Yes, she was told to stifle her religious opinions to keep the peace.

Her teacher was given a brilliant opportunity to teach, and she took a pass. I am disappointed that the teacher was not equipped to deal with the topic of differing views more effectively. Someday soon it won't be Santa they fight about - it will be about religions, politics, or gender issues. Grade school is when we need to start giving kids the language of tolerance and acceptance.

Although my sister and I sit on opposite side of the S-man debate, our kids have existed peacefully all these years because we agree to respect each other's views about the holiday. Believing in Santa does not prevent my kids from enjoying the religious aspect of the holiday. Religious beliefs do not keep my nieces from enjoying the history of the Santa story. Our kids have common beliefs in an omniscient being who knows what they are thinking (and when they are asleep or awake), and they can appreciate the magic of carefully chosen, cleverly packaged gifts (like Jesus).

Yes, my niece is THAT kid.

My niece did not have such a great day at school today.

The kids were working in centers or 6-8 kids when the teacher noticed a commotion. As it escalated she went over to see what the problem was. Apparently on the eve of St. Nick, my niece had told all the kids that Santa was not real, and that parents brought the presents.

Some kids were arguing, some were on the verge of tears. The teacher took my niece out in the hallway and talked to her about over-sharing.

My poor sister is waiting for the angry phone calls to start.

I have a serious response to this, and you'll get that tomorrow. For right now I am just happy that I am neither a classmate's parent nor my sister!

I'd like to buy an "A"

I have issues with a lot of things that happen at school. Normally I let it go. But this one drives me crazy!

On the way home from school my daughter was desperate to stop at Walgreens. Why? Because the teacher is giving extra credit to kids who bring in a box of Kleenex, and my daughter really wants an "A" in that class. This is not the first time this has happened.

We struggle to make ends meet sometimes, and sending tacquitos for the whole Spanish class for Cinco de Mayo extra credit is not in our family budget. So what about the kids whose family is even more financially challenged than we are? They get to keep their "C" because they can't afford to buy their "B" like some kids can.

Level playing field? I think not.

I am so on my game

My family and friends know I have issues with time management (read about the Easter Bunny situation). I always seem to be caught off guard - holidays, lunch money, conferences.... Not only do I have St. Nick on my calendar, but I scheduled time to put up the stockings tomorrow for St. Nick to fill. I rock.

Um, what did the Easter Bunny bring you?

In the 14 years I have had children, you'd think I would have mastered the art of Easter and any other holiday that involves creatures who come in the night and leave stuff. Somehow I always find myself standing in Walmart the night before picking through the remains - knowing that in just a few short hours everything left will be half price. But as moms do, I suck it up and get it done, and all ends well.

This year I took it to a whole new level. Saturday night, on the way home from my best friend's 40th birthday party (she's WAAAAY older than me), my sister asked what the Easter Bunny was bringing to our house. So there I stood, after way too many Cherry McGillicudy's shots, in a 24 hour Walgreen's hoping for the best. When the youngest woke me this morning with a whispered, "Mom, the Easter Bunny came last night" I cringed as I asked, "and what did the Easter Bunny bring you?"

"Mom, I got really cool stuff - I'll go get it.

Ahhh, success.

5 reasons I love snow (an optimist's view)

1. Just saying "it snowed" got all three kids up and out of bed in 30 seconds flat, something that usually takes 20 minutes.
2. The dogs ran themselves silly in the yard, came in and collapsed on the floor.
3. I got to listen to my WHOLE playlist on the way to work this morning.
4. I don't have to look at the un-raked leaves in the yard anymore because they are "gone".
5. The people out shoveling (with 40 degree days predicted all week) make me laugh!

Way out of her league....

So, my oldest daughter had one of those it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time ideas. She and David decided as part of a prank to bring his brother's Halo 3 game to school. Predictably, it got broken, and predictably, the parents were not pleased.

My daughter felt responsible so the next morning - the kids had off school - she took her own money, and I drove her to Hollywood Video to pick up a new one. She planned to take it over that evening and apologize when David's parents got home from work. During the day she texted David, only to find that within 24 hours, his parents had already bought another copy of the game.

Obviously some of the things I tell her are sticking, because she made a couple really insightful observations all on her own:

1) Some kids can't live 24 hours without something they want.
2) There are no consequences for bad decisions - if you break it, someone will fix it.

The thing she was most frustrated by was that David's family didn't even give them the chance to do the right thing. She wanted to fix the situation, and was feeling pretty proud of herself for calling around to find the game, arranging a ride, apologizing to David's brother, and thinking about what she would say to his parents.

In the end she did go over there, talked to David's brother and parents, and offered to pay for it. They were very understanding, and declined. But this was a clear reminder of how different our family expectations are sometimes from the mainstream....

I hope you have an idea!

Those of you who know anything about me will not be surprised that despite being ultra-organized, I am also ultra-busy so unfortunately, I am the queen of the last minute.

It should come as no surprise that my youngest and I were standing in Target looking for a birthday gift an hour before the party. Feeling the crunch, I started suggesting ideas: how about a DVD? does she have an ipod? maybe a journal and some cool pens? clothes? watch? GIFT CARD???

I was nearing the breaking point because she couldn't choose, when she said, "Mom it's not that... it's just, well, those are all too teenish - she's a kid." Bad mom....

Working mom, and working, and working....

It's Monday. Since Friday I have:

• worked 18 hours at my first job
• worked 16 hours at my second job
• graded 40 essays for some contract work
• attended 8 basketball games
• worked the concession stand
• attended a basketball pizza party
• went to a girl scout meeting
• made 12 greeting cards
• attended the party to exchange them

All I say is thank God moms can multitask! It's time for a break. I'm thinking something fruity with a little umbrella in it....

Grainy stuff for lunch

My youngest was telling me about her day, and said, "Oh, mom! I had a really good lunch today. I had pizza dippers, an apple, and whole wheat bread."

"Whole wheat bread? How did you get whole wheat bread at school?"

"Well, it really wasn't whole wheat bread, it was brown with the regular crust - it didn't have any of the grainy stuff in it..."

I didn't think they had real wheat bread at school....

Fall cleaning... stand back!

I had the day off yesterday so I took advantage of the time to get a manicure, finish my scrapbook pages, and meet a girlfriend for lunch. Yeah, right. Actually I cleaned the house. Again. Like I do on every day off.

When I clean I don't mess around - ask my sister about her pantry after the time I babysat her kids. And with the forecast turning colder, I realized that if we are stuck inside for the next three months the dust and dog hair could kill us. It was time.

I dragged the shop vac upstairs and vacuumed everywhere. I did the blinds, the light fixtures, got the ladybugs in the windowsills, and even moved the beds to do underneath. All the extra blankets are in the wash, and I changed the furnace filter (I don't even want to know how long it's been since that was done), and the big pile of clothes in each kid's bedroom was purged while they were at school.

I know you're thinking, "Oooh, can you come to my house next?" I can, but when you ask an organizer who is probably slightly OCD to help, be careful what you wish for....