He may be hot, but he sure as hell doesn’t listen to his wife when she tells him to wear sunscreen!

Popularity: 62% [?]

I have taken to heart the need to “unplug” for a while, especially this past holiday weekend.

July 4th

The holiday started out like any another other weekend for me - I went to work (I usually work weekends) and returned home around 3pm. I took it upon myself to do some laundry and force my boys to take late afternoon naps, as I knew we would be going to see some fireworks later that evening. They happily obliged.

8pm and we were off to my brother-in-law’s house for a fireworks show.

I tried my hand at photographing fireworks with my new Nikon, and I have to say I don’t think I did too bad of a job. Some were far away in another township, but we could see some of the larger ones…

Others were pretty up close and personal…

After being up three hours past their regular bedtimes, the kids finally decided it was time to go home and sleep. I happily obliged, as I knew I had to work again the next morning.

July 5th

Went to work again feeling like a zombie. Worked until 4pm, and got a message on my cell asking us to come to a fantastic pool/kiddie water park. I honestly did not feel like I could go, but I downed some caffeine and on our way we went, leaving my husband with a disaster of a house. In all the rush to get ready, I left my camera on the dining room table. The boys had a fantastic time and I vowed to return the next day with Nikon in hand. Upon our return home, my husband greeted us at the door with a mop in his hand. Looking over his shoulder, I could see the fruits of his labor - a spotless house. My dream come true, following this long day.

GG was all tuckered out after his long day and decided to “chill” out like daddy on the floor before going to bed…

July 6th

Working again (what else is new?). Another trip to the pool, this time with camera in hand…

We came home again to a clean house and a freshly mowed lawn. Heaven, I tell you!

Makes me realize that I should leave my husband home alone more often!

Popularity: 52% [?]

I took the challenge… Huckdoll’s challenge that is.

I turned off the computer, TV, and cell phone at exactly 9pm EST for an hour.

And you know what I learned?

I learned:

• that my son had a great time at the kiddie park today with his grandmother
• that he was afraid to ride the Merry-Go-Round, but not the boats
• that he rode the boats and cars at least 15 times
• that there are almost 30 verses to “Wheels on the Bus”
• that he had a nightmare about a purple snake during his nap today
• that my son likes eating the croûtons out of my salad, but nothing else
• that I can get in a good shower and shave in less than 20 minutes
• that the tooth whitener I have been meaning to start using really does work
• that my husband misses me in the evenings

And most importantly I learned that the internet will still be here when I get back, but those little things I would have missed had I been on the computer could have been lost forever.

So, go ahead and try it… turn your electronics off for an hour… I think you’ll like it.

Popularity: 65% [?]

Perfection is my Achilles heel. My life has in one way or another been ruled by my need for perfection.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be perfect. I wanted the perfect grades. I wanted to be great at everything I touched, and for the most part I was. I couldn’t understand how people couldn’t care less if they did something well, when I would study extra hard to get the 100% on my exams or when I would stay after school for hours practicing my soprano solo for the Spring musical. If I wanted to paint, I did it. If I wanted to travel the world, I did it. If I wanted to reinvent myself, I did it. And it was all done perfectly.

This need for perfection started to take it’s toll when I left for college. Before then, I pretty much had made my mind up that I could do everything perfectly if I simply wanted to. How wrong I was! Some subjects, no matter how hard I studied and quizzed myself - I just came up short. For example, Calculus III… had to take the damn class twice to even remotely begin to understand what the hell they were talking about. And you probably think, damn - Calculus III? Yes, I finally qualified for Calculus IV after two semesters. And look at me now - I think I add and subtract simple numbers once a week when I balance my checkbook. That is, if I actually get around to balancing it.

I label everything. I make lists for everything. I even make lists about lists. My OCD nature makes me jump for joy every time I cross anything off my list. Yet my lists keep getting longer, and sometimes I just can’t keep up…

So, now I try to be the perfect mother, and at times I feel like my perfectionism stands in the way of me realizing that I am doing a pretty good job. I have a toddler who doesn’t sleep through the night. I always have at least one messy room in my house. I have piles of laundry waiting for me. I can’t remember the last time I wore makeup. I am wearing the same sweats I wore yesterday.

Definitely not perfect, but good enough. Yet, I still yearn for perfection because that’s who I am. And that’s when perfection becomes the enemy of good, because I sometimes just can’t give myself enough credit to acknowledge that “good enough” doesn’t have to be perfect.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Now that I have DVR I can’t remember what I did without it. I can record programs whenever I like and then watch them later in the evening when the kiddos are in bed. So, when my DVR started acting up these past few weeks, I knew I had to take action fast! I did not want to be without this luxury for another moment!

So, today we had a scheduled cable repair man visit.

T3 is always so excited when new people come over to the house, but he usually doesn’t say much because he is a bit shy. Well, today the kid decided to be sociable and at the same time nearly made me pee my pants.

T3 asked me (out loud) “What’s Handy Manny doing at my house?”

For those of you not in the know about preschool programming, this is Handy Manny:

The handyman on the Disney channel who’s motto is “You break it, we fix it!”

He continues with “Is Handy Manny fixing the TV?” and then follows him down stairs while he goes to check the main cable box. “Mama, why is Handy Manny going into the basement?” Then the cable guy goes outside to check the connections, and T3 asks “Can I go outside with Handy Manny?”

When he comes back into the house, T3 asks him “Did you fix the TV yet Handy Manny?” Trying to stifle my laughter, I then say to him “You know, his name isn’t Handy Manny. Why don’t you ask him his name?”

At which point he turns to the cable repair man and asks “What’s your name Handy Manny?”

I think the cable repair guy was laughing about as hard as I was at this point.

In the end I got a brand new DVR box, which made me very happy. However, When the cable guy left, the happiness was cut short and I abruptly stopped laughing because I realized that I had lost about two weeks worth of recorded programs that I had plans to watch this coming weekend. Damn!

Popularity: 60% [?]