What The Ibex And I Have In Common

2 September 2010 by

Last night we were eating supper when I realized that I had COMPLETELY dropped the ball for something that was going on today. The sad part is that this is something that I’ve helped organize for years, and even two days ago I would’ve told you that I could pull off the whole shebang in my sleep. Only apparently that would’ve been a lie. Because I forgot to take care of two critical steps in the process. Which means that I can’t even pull off said activity when awake.

Anyway, after supper I made a phone call so that I could head off any potential early morning confusion, and I figured out a way that I could take care of everything I was supposed to do and still get the little man to school on time. It meant that we were going to have to leave the house pretty early, but that wasn’t a big deal since Alex views any early-morning activity as a WIDE OPEN ADVENTURE FILLED WITH EXCITING POSSIBILITIES.

Much like his mama.

(I can totally see you rolling your eyes at me right now.)

Given my disdain for really early mornings, I decided that I would go to sleep super-early so that I could maybe act like a human when the alarm went off at 5. I know I’ve mentioned it an annoying number of times before, but my preferred schedule (in a world with no responsibilities) would be to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning and then sleep until 9 or 10. Everysingleday. Why? BECAUSE I AM DEEPLY MATURE.

So at 8:30 last night I got in the bed. My plan was to watch a wee bit of TV, become very, very drowsy, sleep the sleep of angels until the alarm went off at 5, then wake up by stretching very gently and serenading my family with a medley of Disney theme songs. While a bird rested happily on my shoulder.

I dozed off around 9:15 but woke up about 5 minutes later because I heard the TV in the den. Dozed off again – then woke up when D let the dog outside. Tossed and turned and turned and tossed. Finally decided to watch “Top Chef.” Dozed off – then woke up when D let the dog back inside. Dozed off – then woke up because of the aforementioned dog’s INCESSANT PAW LICKING (I’m convinced the dog was wearing a microphone). Didn’t fall asleep until 1 – then woke up at 2 when a certain 7 year-old took a roundabout route to the bathroom that involved turning on about sixteen different lights. Dozed off. Woke up at 2:12 because the 7 year-old couldn’t find his pillow. Got up. Found the pillow ON THE SIDE OF THE BED. Tried to go back to sleep. Except that I was burning up. Got out of bed again and turned down the thermostat. Wondered how a little nighttime peace can be so hard to come by in a house THAT ONLY HAS THREE PEOPLE IN IT.

My alarm went off at 5, and I was just as tickled and delighted as you might imagine after my two or maybe even three and a half hours of sleep. Not a Disney medley in sight. If a bird had been nearby I would have swatted it. I managed to shower and get myself ready, and then I tried with everything in me to be cheerful when I told Alex that it was time for him to get up. He hopped out of bed, put on his clothes, brushed his teeth and was ready to roll in no time at all. I’d promised him a donut for breakfast since we were leaving the house so early, and he was all about it. Happy as a clam. At 6:05 in the morning.

We made it through the Starbucks drive-thru without incident – I would even say happily – but by the time we got to where I needed to be to do the stuff I was supposed to do, I was beyond frustrated. I was frustrated with myself for dropping the ball, and I was frustrated by all the NOT SLEEPING I did last night. Every little thing was just on my nerves, and after Alex was the lucky recipient of a couple of my on-edge responses, he said, “Mama, I feel like you’re being a little hard on me.”

My heart sunk. So I apologized, explained that I was tired and a little frustrated, and Alex said, “Well, Mama, it hurts my feelings when you use your exhausted voice with me and when I’m trying my best and you’re still hard on me.”

Since when did seven year-olds get so articulate? Has he been minoring in counseling when I wasn’t looking?

By that time I was finished with what I needed to do, and as we walked back to the room where we’d left our stuff, I reached for his little hand. He’d have none of it. He crossed his arms and walked behind me. I knew that he was upset – because Mr. Relational typically has two moods: 1) happy and 2) really happy. He doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in the angry zone. So I gave him some space and tried to pull my mood out of the gutter. We walked in silence.

A few minutes later I started to gather our stuff without saying a word. As we were getting ready to walk outside, I remembered a YouTube clip that I watched yesterday. And since I knew it would make him laugh and hopefully lighten his mood, I said, “Hold on, buddy – I want to show you something.”

Oh, my child laughed. He laughed and he laughed and he held his sides and he laughed some more. And as I watched the giggles overtake him, one very sobering thought popped into my head:

OH MY WORD – I’VE BEEN THE WILD GOAT THIS MORNING.

It’s the great paradox of motherhood, really: some days you’re the good-natured Disney heroine, and some days you’re a hissing, bleh-ing mess.

Fortunately, the funny video broke the ice and helped us mend our morning. The little man threw his arms around my neck and nuzzled his head into my shoulder. We smiled. And as we were walking out to the parking lot, he grabbed my hand.

Or my hoof, as it were.

Here’s to a better tomorrow.

Filed Under: Family Fun, Oh Howard

New Kellogg’s Giveaway

1 September 2010 by

Hola, internet.

Just wanted to let you know that the new Kellogg’s Love Your Cereal giveaway – with a $100 Visa gift card prize – is up and running.

Muchas gracias and adios.

Filed Under: Giveaways

Rabbit Trail

31 August 2010 by

Every single night I’m dead-dog tired by 8:30 but push through until I get a second wind. The second wind usually lasts until 11:30 or 12, and then I sleep for five or six hours and wake up and start the whole process over again. I would never presume to claim that this behavior is “wise” or “healthy” or “recommended by experts,” but the start of a new school year combined with a new work schedule combined with a whole bunch of deadlines combined with a complete inability to resist new episodes of “House Hunters” and “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” means that I’ve spent the last couple of weeks teetering on the edge of annoyingly overtired.

Honestly, the only thing that’s been keeping me going has been Chuy’s.

Well, Chuy’s and the Lord.

But last night? Do you know what I did?

I will tell you.

I went to sleep at 9 o’clock. Not to bed. To sleep. And when I woke up of my own volition at 5:11 this morning, I felt like a new woman. A new, very rested woman. WHAT A NOVELTY.

All of last night’s sleeping meant that I was feeling very productive this morning, and at some point I clicked over to Pandora so that I could listen to worship music while I was getting some work done. After a few minutes I noticed that a lot of the songs were old school – “Open The Eyes of My Heart,” “Awesome in This Place,” “Above All,” “The Heart of Worship,” etc. – and before long I decided that I had to hear Sandi Patty and Wayne Watson’s “Another Time, Another Place” RIGHT THAT SECOND. Now granted, it’s not really a congregational worship song, but oh my goodness – it was my absolute favorite Christian song in the early 90s.

And do you know why it was my favorite?

Because I wanted to sing it in a pageant.

Deeply spiritual. I was deeply spiritual.

But no kidding: I really did love the whole “Another Time, Another Place” album. I was at the front end of what would be five pretty rocky years in terms of my faith, so the fact that the songs on that album resonated with me so deeply is sort of a wonder to me. I remember thinking when I first heard the album that it was like Sandi Patty got tangled up with the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, and do you know what? THAT SUITED ME JUST FINE. It was the early 90s, after all.

I especially loved the video for “Another Time, Another Place” because Sandi stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean while she was wearing this billowy jacket thing that was part-Stevie Nicks and part-Suzanne Sugarbaker. Her hair was at an all-time high in terms of volume, and her voice was perfection. The only thing that would have made it any better is if there had been some choreographed dance moves scattered throughout, but that would have probably been too scandalous for the early 90s. Plus, Sandi’s hand gestures are in a league of their own, and why mess with perfection?

So this morning I decided that I desperately wanted to find the “Another Time, Another Place” video on YouTube, but it was nowhere to be found during the .34 seconds that I searched diligently for it. However, I believe that I found something that may have delighted me even more. For so many reasons.

For so many, many reasons.

Now there’s no question that the song is beautiful. BEAUTIFUL.

But I’ll tell you what: I was mentally and emotionally unprepared for the sight of all that early 90s hair. SWEET MERCY. And I’m not throwing hairstyle and/or fashion stones, mind you. After all, I once wore a formal dress with such ginormous shoulder pads that my date spent a good portion of the night introducing me to people by saying, “This is my date, Sophie. And these are her sleeves.”

WE ALL HAVE OUR FASHION BAGGAGE.

After I watched the video I made a comment on Twitter that I didn’t know whose hair delighted me more, and I spent a chunk of time this afternoon laughing my head off at people’s responses. I didn’t know how to get all of them in one screen shot, and I have even less of an idea how to link to them, so here’s a sampling.

For the sake of clarity, you should know that Jennifer is referring to the fact that her ex-boyfriend ended up owning the very jacket that Wayne Watson is wearing in the video. THE WORLD IS A PEANUT, Y’ALL.

And then, to top it all off, there was this response from Dori:

So I clicked through Dori’s link, and here is what I found.

Do you know what that is? THAT IS A BLESSING.

And thus concludes the story of how I woke up rested and then the internet made my day.

You’d better believe that I’m going to have an early bedtime again tonight.

There’s no telling what bits of 1990s treasure will be waiting on me in the morning.

Filed Under: Rambling, The Interweb

Kellogg’s Love Your Cereal – Post 4

31 August 2010 by

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kellogg’s.

About a year and a half ago I decided – I made a resolution, even – that I was going to serve a hot breakfast in the mornings. It’s something that my mama always did for us when I was growing up, and there’s something about sitting down to a table where there’s bacon and toast and cheese grits (we’re in Alabama, remember) that just feels like home. It’s comforting. I even think that it forces you to slow down and really enjoy what you’re eating, because eating that particular line-up of breakfast food in the car really isn’t an option.

Perhaps this is why you don’t usually see “cheese grits” on the drive-thru menus of your various and sundry fast food chains.

For the most part I’ve been successful with fixing a hot breakfast. It means that I wake up about 15 or 20 minutes earlier in the mornings than I would otherwise, but it also means that we make time to sit around the table before we start our day. That alone makes the earlier wake-up time worth it.

But some days – and I’m betting you’ve had these kind of “some days,” too – we just can’t get our act together. Maybe we oversleep. Maybe a certain mama forgot to transfer the previous night’s laundry to the dryer and finds herself running all over the house trying to round up some clean clothes. Maybe the sight of the full dishwasher discourages that same certain mama from pulling out even more pots and pans from the cabinet. Or maybe we’re just craving something easy.

Regardless, when I need a simple, no-hassle breakfast, there’s no question that cereal is our go-to choice. Sometimes, especially when I’ve been on a hot breakfast streak for a couple of weeks, I put cereal in our bowls, stare at it, and think, “Well, that took four seconds.” And because it’s not something that we eat every single day, the unexpected cereal option is always greeted with great enthusiasm in our house. Especially if these two cereals happen to be in the rotation:

Seriously. What is it with the Froot Loops and the Frosted Flakes? I don’t think I’ve ever known a child who didn’t love both of these cereals deeply and completely and who wasn’t completely enthralled by the toys on the back of the boxes. Whatever the reason, I am all about it. Because if we’re in a hurry, those big boxes of cereal make feeding my people a whole lot easier, especially when I’m trying to find a missing shoe and fill out a form for PTO and pack something for snack time and get everybody out the door.

So what about you? What are your favorite quick and easy breakfast options? Leave a comment with your answer, and you’ll be entered to win a $100 Visa gift card (and come back next week to enter again – because these giveaways will continue for the next 8 weeks).

And be sure to visit the BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page – you have 24 other chances to win $100 every single week that this program is running!

Mom’s Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids’ cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. To learn more about the program, visit www.loveyourcereal.com.

This giveaway is now closed.

Filed Under: BlogHer Reviews

A Few Friendly Reminders

30 August 2010 by

– You can still share a funny cooking story and enter to win The Laughing Cow $150 Visa gift card giveaway.

– The current Kellogg’s $100 gift card giveaway ends tonight; there will be a new giveaway in the morning.

– Don’t forget about the Nations Outfitters $100 gift certificate giveaway that’s open for a few more days – and thank y’all so much for your great response.

Okay. That’s all for now. I need to finish cooking supper.

We’re having pork chops.

I do hope you can contain your excitement over this absolutely riveting piece of information.

Filed Under: Giveaways

The Weekend Was A Good ‘Un

29 August 2010 by

– Remember these shoes? The ones I wanted earlier in this summer but felt some strange hesitation about buying?

Well, I bought them on sale Saturday.

FOR TWELVE DOLLARS.

Afterwards I told Melanie that I believed that the reason I experienced such unwavering patience for these shoes is because the Lord knew that I was going to have a wedge-prohibitive foot injury in mid-July and wouldn’t be back in wedge-wearing shape until late-August.

He’s the God of second shoe chances.

– We went to our first high school football game of the season this past Friday night. Fall is coming, and summer can’t stop it.

– Yesterday after church we decided to go to Chuy’s for lunch. We knew that TIME WAS OF THE ESSENCE because there’s a big Presbyterian church that’s closer to Chuy’s than our big Baptist church, and everybody knows that the whole point of Sunday lunch is to squeal into a restaurant parking lot on two wheels so that you can beat the crowd from a neighboring congregation.

No kidding: at the Methodist church where D and I grew up, people would look at their watches and clear their throats if the sermon ran past 11:55, especially if they started hearing car doors slam at the Baptist church across the street.

Anyway, we went to Chuy’s – even made it there before a few of the Presbyterians – and while it seemed to take awhile for someone to get our drink orders, we figured maybe the sudden onslaught of hungry churchgoers had thrown the waiters and waitresses off of their serving game.

Finally a waitress took our order – and we waited. And waited. And waited. Our waitress couldn’t seem to explain what was taking so long. FORTY MINUTES LATER we still didn’t have food. So I found a manager and told him what was going on. He was very kind and accommodating, solved the problem for us, and when we got our check at the end of the meal, it looked like this.

They charged us a penny so that we’d have an open ticket if we wanted to leave a tip. Which we did because I felt badly for our waitress even though it was her fault that we hadn’t gotten our food. But she was young. And it was really crowded. And I’m deeply co-dependent when it comes to these sorts of things.

By the way, I got the chile rellenos with chicken and cheese. They were spectacular. Our child got chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese AGAIN, but he vows and declares that the mac and cheese is delicious. And D and I split the tres leches cake and died.

– After lunch we ran over to Old Navy because there’s a certain seven year-old in this house who needs some pants that don’t put his ankles on display (GROWING LIKE A WEED, HE IS). I found what I was looking for in about two minutes, and as I was walking toward the cash register, something very, very special caught my eye.

An MSU t-shirt. Youth medium. Right here in the land of the Tigers and the Tide. It’s an SEC pre-season miracle.

– I adored the “Born To Run” opening number at the Emmys. And then I fast-forwarded through the rest of the show and felt a deep and lasting gratitude to the inventor of the DVR.

– SEC football starts in five days. College football starts in three.

MY JOY KNOWS NO BOUNDS.

And I believe it’s time to consult the DipTacular so that I can solidify my gameday dip options.

Go ‘Dogs.

Filed Under: Rambling
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