A Little Pink On The Inside

So I’ve not been feeling well since yesterday. Initially I thought it might be the fish and chips I had for lunch yesterday. For some reason the fish didn’t look right, I ate more chips than fish, neither of which was a good idea. I made it through the morning today, still not feeling well, got through a two hour training session, came home and tried to make a game plan for the rest of the day. I didn’t even consider lunch. By my afternoon appointment, I was really worried they might see my...

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Dear Google.

Dear Google, I want to say thank you. Last week, during the first week of school, my sixteen year old son announced that he’d figured out all by himself what ‘natural numbers’ are. Well, I think it was natural numbers. Whatever it was, it sounded hard, and what he was looking up was for his new physics class, which meant I was not qualified to reply. My husband and I stared at him blankly as if he had just asked us to buy him a 2010 Camaro. We didn’t say a word because, well, we had no idea if...

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That’s Him with His Daddy’s Eyes

These are all my babies Lord knows how we survived The first one was hard and last was unplanned What a big surprise That him with his daddy's eyes. (Sugarland, The Very Last Country Song) Today is Jordan’s birthday. I love that song by Sugarland just because of that one verse. Jordan was certainly a surprise to us, but I would never say unplanned, because clearly he was planned by someone with much more creative ability than Robert and I could...

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Hello, Weekend.

It’s Friday night, this is where my husband found me, as he played with his new I-phone: the bath tub, with my supplies nearby. It’s been a long, long week. Work trip. Reports. Truck stops. Beef Jerky. Beaver t-shirts. Hotel Food. Zero sleep. Yuck. The first week of school has come and gone, we are already well into Algebra, Physics, Football and girls. Work ran past 5 pm today and will likely spill right on over into the weekend. I crawled into the bathtub at 9 pm or so and just tried to...

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You Look A little Uncomfortable

Today was my latest IST visit. So far, I’ve gone alone in order to get to know her and determine which of my many flaws we are going to address first. Only this time, my wonderful husband agreed to join me. By ‘agreed,’ I don’t mean I threatened him with bodily injury if he didn’t join me. I just let him know it was today, said he was free to come along if he wanted, and to my surprise, he agreed. We arrived early, sat in the waiting room, and chatted while we waited. No big deal. But, when...

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And English is Terribly Boring

I arrived home today from my work trip to Dallas, still feeling some of the mom guilt that crept up on me for missing the first few days of school. I’m sure the fatigue I was feeling had nothing to do with the 4 hours of beauty rest I got in the hotel, or the truck-stop-diet I started on the inbound trip (bad idea.) The business meetings wrapped up early and I hightailed it out as quickly as possible for the four hour drive home, feeling tired, and skipping every truck stop (no beef jerky...

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Like Sands Through The Hourglass

If you live anywhere near me and happened to look outside yesteday and see someone doing cartwheels down the street in their pajamas, that was probably yours truly. The school year is off to a start, and if the State of Texas started school on a weekend, I would have been toasting myself yesterday with Mimosas, Bloody Marys, or both. Well, maybe not both. I cannot do tomato juice that early. Mimosas, for sure. The kids headed off yesterday, scrubbed, immunized, shaved (I have a 7th grader that...

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I'm Just Saying....

If you're like me, and a working mom, here are a few tips if you happen to be out of town on the first day of school: 1.) Don't stop at a truck stop on your trip and buy beef jerky, praline rolls, AND Diet Cokes to eat on your trip, if you are overcome with guilt about not being there to greet your teenagers when they get off the bus, and you suddenly have a binge junk food spree. 2.) If you do decide to buy any of the above, be sure you buy lots of Pepto because by the time you reach your said...

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Your Mom Got Arrested for What?

I waited until the absolute worst possible day to take the kids to the mall for back to school shopping: the Saturday before every child attending public school in Texas starts. Yeah, brilliant, I know. I didn’t even try to park, headed straight for the valet. I would have paid $50 to not hitchhike from the edge of the mall parking lot. It was easily 100 degrees, and I had, after all, taken the time to put on makeup, just in case I ran into any of my clients out shopping. The last thing I needed...

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Saturday Morning Confessions

I’ve decided that on Saturday mornings, I’m going to do a sort of theme: too-tired-from-working-not-getting-my-butt-out-of-bed-till-noon-confessions. Why would you do such a thing, might you ask? Well, because usually on Saturday mornings I am in bed doing nothing particularly important other than trying to recuperate from the work week. And, I like to write early on Saturdays. So, there you have it. Saturday Morning Confessions it is until I change my mind, which as we all know, could be...

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It’s A Smaller World After all

As a teenager, I remember having several pen pals. I cannot recall how we originally connected with each other. The back of 16 Magazine or Tiger Beat, maybe? There was certainly no Internet, Facebook or MySpace. But, somehow I managed to reach out and touch a few other teenagers my own age, who lived in far off places like the France and Beirut. Weeks, months, would pass before I would receive a response to my American-teenage-girl, drama filled letters. I would instantly recognize the replies...

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Marriage Help

I may need some help with my marriage.      This is not something even the IST could tackle. I thought for sure my online mom friends could relate and provide some suggestions on how to cope with the crisis I am dealing with. Okay, here it is: my husband has gas. Now, I know that most husbands have gas. But we have a larger, more pressing problem. It seems as if no matter what room he is in at the moment, when the time comes, he ALWAYS happens to be near me when the...

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Smelly Shoes

As I was leaving for work yesterday, I tripped over one of my twelve year old son’s shoes.This can be dangerous. At 5’6, he wears size 11.5 shoes. I know this for a fact, because we had his feet measured last weekend when we bought our only school shopping item to date-shoes.I cannot comprehend being 5’6 and having feet that are size 11.5. That would equate to what I looked like on vacation in Hawaii: giant mask, snorkel and flippers, waddling down to the beach.I’m not sure how he walks without...

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Back To School Cash Crunch

  Here it is, less than a week now before school starts, and I am almost in panic mode. Yes, of course, I am Team Captain of the Cheerleading Squad for moms ready to send their kids back to school. Two-Four-Six-Eight, who do we appreciate? TEACHERS! (I would insert a back handspring here, but I might hurt myself.) Although we are a dual income family, at the rate we are going, I might need my younger two kids to lie about their age and get a job at a local burger joint to cover back...

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Rambling Self Portrait at 40

My big day finally arrived, came and is almost over.It was a great day, in all aspects.I didn’t notice a single extra wrinkle or gray hair.No more 30’s, no more subscription cards or church groups that are for people ‘Under 40.’ I’ve officially graduated to groups that start with the ‘4.’For all the joking I’ve done over the past few months about this day arriving, I couldn’t be happier.Yes, I actually woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and I realized how happy I am to be here, at this...

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Turning 40 on Facebook

So it’s no secret, today is my 40th birthday.I’ve been blogging, gabbing, texting and writing about this day for weeks now, it’s certainly not something I’ve made any effort to hide.This is the my first birthday since I joined Facebook last fall.The big day has finally arrived. I was wise enough to take off work today so I could celebrate in style and sleep late.I eventually drug myself out of bed, made it to my beloved coffee and booted up the laptop.Now, keep in mind, for the past 39 years or...

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The Final Countdown

Well, D-day is nearly here. Tomorrow is the big day, the big 4-0. I think today I might run to the grocery store and yank out a bunch of random magazine subscription cards just so I can check off all the demographic boxes that say ‘Under 40’ on them, before it’s too late and I have to lie. Or, I could go try to buy some liquor and see if I get carded so I can point out to the cashier that I’m 39? Just in case my husband and kids are reading this, remember, I took off work tomorrow to celebrate...

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Driving Mrs. Crazy

It's been two months now since Tyler got his drivers license. Ahh, the memories. It seems so long ago, those days of me toting him around. I was so sad at seeing him drive off that first morning. My first born son, taking the lives of his brothers in his hand as he drove them off to swim practice, three blocks away. I stood on the front porch watching, ready to throw my body down to stop him. My, how a few months can change everything. I still worry each time he leaves. There is still a teeny...

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Weekend Hair Woes

What’s the only thing worse than having hair that’s too short?Having hair that’s too short first thing in the morning. On a Saturday morning.I went to brush my teeth this morning and whoa buddy, I took one look at my new do in the bathroom mirror, and realized I’d stepped into Chapter Two of the chopped hair crisis.I normally drag myself straight to the shower, non-stop. So far, the crew cut hasn’t been an issue in the 72 hours since my bad hair moment turned into bad hair Ground Hog Day.That all...

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ISTology

I had my weekly IST visit this week.Not the pedicurIST or the acupuncturIST, although I clearly saw a hair stylIST if you’ve seen my head.If you’re new to my blog, I’m referring to the therapIST (I hate to use that word, since I’m so private and all, so I refer to her as the IST) I recently started visiting, as a way to get a third party opinion on how to find my life again, without using drugs, too much alcohol, or a straight jacket.After this week’s visit, I believe she might have just dropped...

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Me and Kate, Minus Eight

No, I’m not posting a picture. I decided to get a haircut Tuesday night, about 3 weeks ahead of my scheduled appointment.I do this occasionally, cheat on my normal hair stylist, who I love dearly.She’s well aware of my tendency to be a little non-faithful once or twice a year.I just like a change every now and then.I’m sure it has nothing at all to do with D-Day this Monday. Not a thing.Usually when this mood strikes me, it occurs on a whim, perhaps a over worked mom hormonal whim although I’ve...

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A Happy Tune

Today didn’t start off much better than yesterday. I managed to get the coffee and breakfast in, but from the second the alarm went off, I could feel the stress. I had three training sessions to do before lunch and anytime I have trainings, I’m stressed. Not because I have to talk in front of groups of people for 4 hours straight. No issues for me with talking in front of people or even to brick walls. I can talk, that’s not a problem. No one even needs to be listening. Training stresses me...

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Change the Station, Please.

I’m tired.I accept full responsibility, but I’m tired.I’ve broken the #1 rule you should never break when you are a working mom:Do not over booketh thyself.Between back to back parties (apparently we are quite the jet setters now, two parties in a row and all,) immunization sticker shock, and back to school hoopla, I also have a harrowing work schedule this week.Today’s working mom load involved a 2 hour each way drive to College Station.I purposely set my alarm 15 minutes late, just to get some...

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The Countdown

The clock is ticking. Not just until my birthday, but obviously we are in the final count down until D-day, the day all my teacher friends hate, and all my mom friends wait 3 months for: the first day of school.I’ve been pretty excited myself, no surprise, until today. You know, OPEN, OPEN, OPEN.Grandpa, Nana, are you reading? Have I told each of you how much we love you lately?Our school shopping preparedness so far has been limited to 2 haircuts, $25 each, and ordering two pairs of shoes from...

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They Got Me

As most people know, I only get to check off the ‘under 40’ box on sweepstakes entries for about 7 days and 2 more hours, give or take a few. But who’s counting. In the typical chaos that is my life, my husband decided to throw me an early surprise birthday party. The fact that he managed to successfully pull this off with half of Houston knowing about it, and me not knowing, is in and of itself Ripley’s material. Yep, they got me. I was still in my snoopy boxers and pink Beatles t-shirt, no...

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John Hughes and Facial Cream

Given the impact filmmaker John Hughes’s movies had on my high school years, I thought it was touching that I had my own John Hughes movie moment yesterday. Last night I was very tired-even more tired than my normal Friday night delirium. At 10 pm, the kids requested tacos, and for some reason I obliged, which is odd-I’m not usually making tacos at 10 pm. Whatever, I agreed, put the meat on, and went to get ready for bed. I started cleaning my face and lathering on the anti-wrinkle potions,...

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User Error.

I don’t know how this happened. With all my talk of summer ending and sending the kids back to school, I somehow didn’t realize back to school is SO SOON. Yeah, yeah, I know as much as I’ve talked about this ad nauseam, people probably have visions of me getting up every morning and marking a big X off the calendar every day like a kid waiting for Christmas. But last night, Tyler poked his head in my room and said, ‘are we going to go school clothes shopping before school starts?’ I looked at...

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Mom Knows Best

They should have listened.My 12 year old youngest son was recently diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis and had a follow up visit with the Rheumatologist on Monday.Middle school football camp also started Monday.I’ve been worried about this for months.Jordan has always marched to his own beat. And it’s never been anywhere near the beat of a marching band at a football game half time.He spent hours drawing, writing stories, and teaching himself the piano when he was younger. Outdoor sports? Hardly.We...

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Temporary Insanity. Or not.

I may have lost my mind. I’ll let everyone know in a few weeks, give or take. I just signed up to be a sales advisor for Lia Sophia Jewelry. Now, if you know me well enough, and even if you don’t know me but you’ve read more than 1 blog from this website, this should make about as much sense as, oh, let’s say Rosie O’Donnell and Bill O’Reilly announcing they’ve been having a secret affair. I won’t even start on the my cup, plate and salad dish over-floweth already with way too much to do. I...

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The IST List

Jordan had his follow up visit yesterday at Texas Children's Hospital with our new favorite pediatric Rheumatologist.The good news: He is gene-negative for the form of arthritis that we think he has, great news! And, his MRI looked very good.The bad news: As my still-11-but-looks-14 year old son was stretched out on the way too short of an examining table, without warning, the doctor took off Jordan’s shoes to look at his feet joints. Did I say with no warning? Not smart.This was 48 hours post camp...

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