Mom Sutras and Love

I just finished reading Deepak Chopra's PATH TO LOVE: SPIRITUAL STRATEGIES FOR HEALING. It was a pretty amazing book, to say the least. In one section, Deepak shares many of his personal sutras (or inspirations) such as:

"The mind judges what is good or bad. Love brings only good."

Or, one of my favorites...

"Dreams come true when they are held quietly in the heart."

Deepak encourages everyone to keep a notebook and write any sutra that comes to you in any given moment. So, since last night, I've been waiting for moments of inspiration to appear so I can share my sutras with the world. So far...

"There is truly a difference in having my hair professionally-colored, as opposed to using Sun-In."
"I need to wash my living room pillow cases more often. They look pretty without food stains."
"I'm not sure if I'm ever going to lose those five pounds."
"Headaches make me sad."
"Sunshine makes me happy."

Pretty deep stuff. Just for fun, I decided to ask my kids to tell me a few of their own sutras.

Alex: "The other night, I had a sutra! It was a song that I'm working on..." Unfortunately that's all she could tell me. It was too personal to share since it was about a crush.

Cole: "What? I don't have a song!" So, I explain in more detail the definition of sutras. He stopped me in mid-sentence. "Never had one. Never will." Of course, he was in the middle of a heated DS battle.

So maybe they're a little young. Maybe I'm a little young. Ooh! Gotta go. Outrageous Pumpkins showing on the Food Network. Maybe some sutras will come to me.

The Mother of Mothers

Perhaps I shot myself in the foot last weekend when I gloated over my happiness...now my house is filled with fever, coughs and chills.

Sick kids. Every mother's worry. Every working mother's nightmare. Next to letting my kids defend themselves against snakes, this is another area where my maternal instinct undergoes extreme conflict.

I have to go to work. But my kids are sick. But I need to get to work. But my kids are sick. But still, there's work.

Come on! Where are my priorities?

Thank God that I live near my mother who almost always will re-arrange her schedule to pinch-hit for me. She came over this morning so I could get a little caught up. (Never mind that she is now behind.) That's motherly love...perhaps I should take a few lessons from my own role model.

If there is one piece of advice I have for all young mothers out there...don't let anyone make you feel guilty about missing work for sick kids. I was lucky enough to have a mother around to help me out. But there are plenty of mothers who were made or are made to feel guilty about missing work for sick children. While I have trouble heeding my own advice, because I truly worry way too much about pleasing others, it's a ridiculous notion to put work over a sick child. Work will always be there. And, well, you know who won't. (Unless your me and are still calling your mom at the age of 40...)

The moral of the story...in ten or twenty years, who will remember if you missed work because of a sick kid?

Probably not your co-workers. But I bet your child will.

Oh Happy Days

Despite the lack of sunshine in Southwest Iowa and the fact that my hubby can't get his beans harvested, I am happy. Why you ask?

1-Saw Where the Wild Things Are last night. It was beautiful, a bit heart-wrenching and it made me cry. I love those movies.
2-Received a letter stating I had won "Honorable Mention" in Writer's Digest 78th Annual Writing Competition! And my story (Diamonds in the Woods) will be published with the group of winners and honorable mentions. I'm pretty darn excited about that one. I posted on my other blog a few months ago. Here's the link.
3-The Hawkeyes are undefeated! Certainly, we Hawkeye fans know that we must tread lightly, thus the glass might break.
4-Shrek (you know, the ugly feral cat whose tongue doesn't fit in his mouth?) allowed me to scratch his mangy ears this morning. That seals it. I am the cat whisperer. What do you suppose that say about my personality? I'd prefer to be known as a dog whisperer, but we are what we are.
5-Lastly, and of course, not anywhere close to least...my family and friends are the beautiful and loving.

TTFN

Guess what else happens at 40?

So I wake up yesterday, thinking about my schedule, when it hits me. It's doctor papschmere day.

At 3:45 that afternoon, I answer pleasantries from my doctor as he takes a peek at my you-know-what. "So, Doug getting a little nervous with all this rain? Uh, try and relax."

I'm as relaxed as I'm gonna get for the next thirty seconds. And just as we seem to be wrapping things up, my doctor throws in an extra surprise. "You're going to hate me for this, but now that your forty, there's one more thing I need to check..."

And before I know it, I'm clenching my teeth and holding my breath. Then I think about my hubby's sarcastic remarks before I left the house. He intimates that I'm probably looking forward to the annual exam -- as if it will be some sort of a sexual experience. Alright Dear, those comments just bought yourself a ticket to see Dr. Jellyfinger himself. Isn't it wonderful growing old together? Maybe we can schedule a couple of colonoscopies together in the next few years.

On a side note...for the second year in a row, my doctor disagrees that a tumor is growing in my stomach. If the jogging doesn't shrink the abdomen, I might have to demand an ultrasound.

Finding Laughter is Easy in our House

While I typically look forward to the first snow of the season, October 10th is a bit early for me. I looked out the window and my mood turned subfusc (meaning dark,gloomy...sorry, it happened to be the Word of the Day yesterday and I couldn't resist). But now the sun is shining, the snow is almost gone and Cole has fortunately provided me more reasons to laugh:

Today at lunch.

Part 1: A fart. A glance at Cole. Baby-blue guilty eyes. And then the remark, "Sorry, that was an inappropriate fart." As opposed to the appropriate fart...

Part 2: Lunch diverts to a conversation about surnames. Cole asks, "How do people get their last names?" My hubby quickly responds, "From their grandparents." Of course, Cole then asks, "How do they get their last names?" My hubby quickly responds, "From their grandparents. And they got their last name from their grandparents...." And before the pointless question/answer session goes too far, I interject.

"People of European descent typically have last names that are associated with their trade. For example, Grandma Ruby's last name 'Molgaard, in Danish, means a mill that stands on the farm. Have you ever noticed how many Danish last names end in "gaard" which means farm. I'm not really sure what Kramer means in German..."

Apparently, no one was interested in my dissertation and Cole decides to profess his own theory. "I think God makes up our last names."

We all ask, "Why?"

'Like duh' divulges his attitude as he responds, "Jesus?"

We shrug.

"Jesus had a last name. Jesus CHRIST."

Of course, Mr. Christ. That's why I pay for a Catholic education

131 days - Project Hawaii

I lost my walking partner yesterday.

As Cole and I enjoyed the waning warmth of the season yesterday evening, having our normal one-sided conversation of video jabber, Cole broke mid-sentence to scream that detestable word. "SNAKE!"

Like every other mother, I'd give me life to protect my kids. But when a loathsome creature, such as a teeny-tiny snake appears before me, my maternal instinct flees. My protectiveness comes down to one piece of advice..."RUN!"

Cole tried to crawl up my back, but I quickly shoo'd him down and said. "Bud - you're too big. You're just gonna have to hoof it!"

Luckily, we made it. The snake didn't hunt us down and we ran into the house without any venom dripping into our veins. Cole declared his walking days over. For now at least.

So, tonight I'm feeling a little blue about my expanding waistline, and I'm thinking, maybe I can work on Alex to be my exercise partner.

"Hey, Al? What do ya say we start jogging to get in shape for Hawaii? It's 131 days."

Amazingly she's immediately smitten by the idea. We measure our waists, which happen to be exactly the same right now at 34 inches....with a goal to reduce by February. (I have a feeling my tween will have much more success.)

And we do it. Of course, it takes us longer to get ready than the actual jog. I'm thinking we might be more motivated if we turn this venture into some sort of a fashion statement with cute scarves and caps. Alex is right on board. For now.

130 days to go...I'll keep you posted. Here's my new jogging buddy. (Look at us - just eating salads!)

Once Upon a Full Moon

Once in a great while, we are not exasperated by obligation. The house is clean (enough). Rain prevents one from operating the combine. Children's activities are not penciled on the calendar. AND (this is key), I don't drive everyone crazy attempting to plan the perfect family weekend.

Luckily, I've been just getting over some cold-like illness and my engine has lacked a little fuel. So, I pretty much let the weekend run its course without my usual interference. It's been quite delightful. A couple of highlights:

*Slept fairly late both days.
*Caught a movie that has made me giggle all weekend (The Invention of Lying...if you're a fan of Ricky Gervais, you'll like it.)
*Indulged my magazine addiction...even purchased the People Style Watch edition.
*Put aside a novel called STILL ALICE, which happens to be scaring the begeezus out of me...the main character is diagnosed with Ahlzeimer's at a very young age...
*Told my hubby I wanted a real book case for Christmas. (Have I ever mentioned my book case story? Perhaps I'll save for a later blog post.)

But the best part of the weekend? My kids came together in unison to create a delightful afternoon of carving pumpkins. There were hardly any accusations of copyright violations and the pumpkins turned out quite adorable...Ahhh yes, see what happens when I stay clear of planning? Remind me next weekend...