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The Bloggess makes me pee my pants

Be forewarned: All the links contained in this post lead to a site that is rife with cussing, dark humor and lovely sarcastic wit.

I have a confession: I’m in love with The Bloggess.

No, I’m not in love love (I’m curious but not THAT curious) but I’m definitely into some hardcore admiration. She’s so delightfully witty and clever and random and oddball and naughty. Yes. All those things.

And she’s still called a mom blogger? She’s more of an antidote to the stereotypical mom blogger.  She is a mom, and she is a blogger, and I guess she does post some parenting type stuff . . . but I like it best when she’s just posting about random crap. Like giant metal chickens named Beyonce. HELLO.

I don’t want to turn this into a post about a blogger I’m jealous of because that’s NOT the case here. (I was, and am, jealous of Joni still – that girl has mad skills that I totally envy). But with The Bloggess I’m not jealous, per se. Or maybe jealous isn’t the right word. Admiration is all I can think of that fits. The girl’s got balls, man. Her mind twists and turns more than a corn maze.

Okay, I may be a tad bit jealous of her ability to turn a completely inane subject into something inexplicably, gut-wrenchingly, I’m-going-to-get-fired-for-laughing-too-much-at-my-desk-funny. Or maybe her ability to delight in and enlighten the masses on any morbid subject she has a fascination with and make it all seem palatable.

The Bloggess: “Well, now I’m all curious. I can’t smell my own eyeballs, dude. This exactly is why I got married.”

But really, most of all, I love the way she takes some random prose and slices and dices it to her bidding. The way she can say something so simple but so uber-effective. She’s succinct and goes straight for the jugular. She has a dry, sarcastic humor that really resonates with me.

Side note: My husband says my humor is really dry as well – which is why he gets mad at me sometimes and I have to yell, “DUDE I WAS KIDDING. HAVE YOU MET ME?”

So I read about Beyonce (the chicken, not the singer) a couple months ago and nearly had an asthma attack getting through the post. Later that night I read it out loud to my husband. I had to stop multiple times to take a breath, or potty break (and panty change), from all the laughing. He just looked at me like my my laughter was a foreign language. Though, at parts, he did smirk a little, but mostly he was like, “huh?”

The Bloggess: “Then I yelled through his door, “It’s an anniversary gift for you, a-hole.  Two whole weeks early.  15 YEARS IS BIG METAL CHICKENS.””

I’ve been sharing more of her posts with him recently and I think he’s really starting to appreciate her humor. Like last week, for example, I sent him this little convo between The Bloggess and her husband, Victor.  He (my husband, not Victor) wrote me back fairly quickly (SEE? He actually read it without me having to nag – that’s something right there.) and his response was, “oh dear god.”

So I totally think he’s getting it.

Then when I got home he leaned in and sniffed my eyeballs. He determined they were odorless. That’s a win for me on both counts.

I think we all work a lot and life is hard and if The Bloggess can write about random crap and make me laugh then I’ll take it. Levity? Yes, please.

But, deeper than the humor, she reflects a relationship with her husband that I think a lot of wives (and husbands, judging by the comments) can really understand. Marriage is really freaking hard sometimes and spouses are not meant to be clones of each other. Two people, one mind? No, thank you.

I like my husband the best when he’s doing something I can’t do. I also like it a lot when he admires a trait I have that he doesn’t. The Bloggess’s husband is the straight man to her schtick.  I counter-balance my husband’s act all the time – HELLO, he’s an actor – but at home we can switch those roles pretty easily. Being able to counter-balance each other is what makes it all work together.

Excerpt from The Bloggess:

Victor:  What?  I’ve never wanted a monkey.

EVERYONE WANTS A MONKEY.

Victor:  Not me.

 Well…that’s what’s wrong with you.

Victor:  I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU PAID $7 FOR THAT.

 I KNOW, RIGHT?!

(We were both yelling, but for two entirely different reasons.)

If you’ve never read The Bloggess I would start with Beyonce. Then go change your pants and come back and read some more. You won’t believe it until you read it.

Oh, and this:

IS GENIUS.

-Stef

Posted on by Wise Sass · 1 Comment

Thankful Thursday – The Greatest Gift

The greatest thing I’ve ever done is have my children. They are everything to me in a way that nothing else is.

I love my husband, but he’s a grown man and I didn’t make him. His momma did and I’m quite sure she feels about him the same way I feel about my little dudes.

I love them both so much. They are so unique. Clever. Sassy.

Oy, with the sass. (At least they come by it quite naturally).

My 9 yo is so complex. He’s smart. He’s bossy. He’s introverted. He’s extroverted. He’s sweet. He’s sour. He’s gives great hugs. He’s shy. He’s just SO LAYERED. Which, I think, is pretty normal. (Whatever that means).

These days he prefers to play with Legos by himself in his room with the door closed. I’m attributing this to the first rumblings of Tween angsty-ness. He’s good at understanding nuances in other people’s words, tone or facial expression. (He says “SARCASM” whenever we are sarcastic – which is a lot).

He’s good at turning on the charm. Can be very Eddie Haskell-ish. He has a fake smile, but when he’s not thinking about it sometimes we see his real smile  and it’s to die for.

My little dude, my 7 yo, on the other hand is absolutely without artifice. Nothing fake here, people.

I read a comment in another blog about a gal’s Autistic son that really resonated with me. She said he’s just absolutely PURE. In his reactions and expressions. I absolutely feel the same way about my little bubba. He’s pure. If he’s happy then he’s unabashedly happy. If he’s mad then he’s all thunderous brows and angry eyes. It’s one of the two. No sulkiness. No manipulations. Just pure emotion. Pure love.

Having both of them is absolutely the best thing I have ever done. I am more than “just” a mother – I’m a wife and a daughter and a business professional – but nothing I do in my life will ever be more important than conceiving, birthing and raising these two wondrous creatures.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this gift. This gift of BOYS.

Posted on by Wise Sass · 1 Comment

The Spirit of Boise Classic

Last year I heard about the Spirit of Boise hot air balloon classic. It’s a yearly “festival” of sorts, where for 5 days they launch air balloons every morning at dawn. One night they have a “night glow” where they light up the balloons after the sun goes down but they don’t launch. And then they have a competition launch. During the one evening event they have a stage and band setup, they have food vendors, and it’s generally a very festive, fun, family-oriented atmosphere.

So last year I took my 2 boys to the night glow. I wasn’t prepared for the crowds, the dogs that people bring, and I wasn’t aware that they were doing the Mickey Mouse balloon early so it ended up being a rough night for us. My little Autistic guy had a meltdown when he realized we had missed Mickey. He had another meltdown later due to all the dogs and people. It was very difficult for me to do it on my own (my husband had another commitment that night). This year I was determined that the whole family should go, and that they should love it.

So they did! And the loved it. We should have taken jackets to the night glow, but otherwise it was perfect. We got there early. We were prepared with a blanket to sit on and a picnic. We had glow bracelets – very important for the kids at night events. The kids had so much fun they begged to come back for one of the morning launches – which we did this morning. We got up at 6 AM, before sunrise, to head downtown to the park where this event occurs and it was great. The balloons are just so majestic and awe-inspiring with their size, grace and beauty. I really want to go up sometime.

So here’s some pics from both events:

Boise State University Broncos won their first game of the season last night. The balloon had to represent this morning:

On the road before sunrise this morning! The sun is hiding behind those mountains:

Posted on by Wise Sass · 1 Comment

What kind of week has it been?

Well, my friends, it has been quite a WEEK. I tried to slack-off, I really did. Despite my best efforts I actually earned my pay this week. In fact, I may have kicked some well-needed booty too. (I’m being cheeky – just go with it).

No, but really, work is killing me. Like, to death. I have worked 10-12 hour days entirely too much this week. Early meetings with the Brits and late evenings playing catch up. I don’t typically talk about work here – and I’m not going to start now – but because of the horrendous week I seriously need a pick me up and OH MY GAWD thank goodness it’s Friday. Friday before a 3-day weekend no less – bonus!

So let’s look at some of the good stuff that has happened over the past 6(ish) days:

On Saturday we got our 7 year old a big boy bike and, oh my goodness, he’s actually a BIG BOY now. But he’s my baby too. Tear. He and his brother spent the weekend riding bikes together. Look at them on bikes together. Just LOOK. It was just YESTERDAY when they were babies, right?

On Sunday I went crazy and got on a cooking trend that still hasn’t let up. Every day this week I’ve made something new. It’s my goal to eventually get the recipes up here, and the pictorials as well – for the ones I actually did pictorials on – but I can’t guarantee how quickly that will happen. In the meantime here’s a few things I made:

Because I knew I had a heinous week ahead at work and with my little one starting school this week I decided to make breakfast burritos in advance.

Here’s the ingredients:

And apparently I made 12. Aren’t these pretty? 45 seconds in the microwave and I have a portable, protein-rich breakfast meal. Yum.

Monday night I made fried rice for the first time. No pictures. I was in the zone. It turned out well. I said YUM and so did the hubby.

Tuesday I made pesto for the first time ever. Seriously! And with basil from my own garden. It was so, so good. And then I cooked some chicken, baked some pizza dough and threw it all together with zucchini and tomato for a yummylicious pizza. Like whoa.

And I’ve been obsessed with fruit this week. Pineapples and strawberries are manna straight from heaven. (I didn’t really cook anything here, except some whipped cream. I just had to include the picture because of the YUM factor).

It’s a good thing I’ve munched on so much fruit because tonight I decided to make sweet potato tempura. Deep fried (oh the horror) with a Greek yogurt and garlic dip. I ate it too quickly to take pictures. Nom nom.

I’ve also managed to work-out a couple times this week so far. Last night I really wanted dessert but I put my work-out clothes on and GOT ON THE ELLIPTICAL INSTEAD. Gasp. I can hardly believe it myself. I must have been a rainbow sherbetty blur on the elliptical in my pink yoga pants, orange tank and teal blue sports bra. Stylish, I am. (Thank goodness my husband loves me).

But do you want to know the best thing I did this week? The very best?

I was a mom to my boys. I squeezed them and kissed them and tucked them in at night. I sang a lullaby to them every night before bed. I got them up in the morning and picked out their clothes and helped them get ready for school. I fed them. I cuddled them. I loved them.

I made this one giggle and smile naturally. He doesn’t do that much; he’s usually all about the cheesy fake smile when the camera comes out.

And I got this one off on his first day of 2nd grade at a new school. I was so nervous, and we had some hitches from, as my mother-in-law put it, the “ineptitude of the adults around him” (not meaning us, but school & district officials) and he, my little dude, just breezed through and he’s adjusting wonderfully.

And that, my friends, has been my week. I guess it was pretty awesome after all.

Posted on by Wise Sass · 6 Comments

The Mourners

Every day on my way to work I pass a rather large cemetery. Sometimes I can see gravediggers doing their job and I know that somebody will be buried that day. If I drive by during a service and I see the mourners hugging, kissing & crying it breaks my heart a little bit. I feel for them. I feel for their families.

A few years ago I was driving past the cemetery and I saw a women laying next to one of the graves on her side with one arm propping up her head. She appeared to be talking to the grave. Talking to the grave as one would to someone laying in bed next to them. It was a very intimate moment. I can just imagine her lover, or a close relative, like her mother, buried there and it struck me as so sad – so touching, but just so, so SAD – that she had to come here, to where the soul’s vessel was laid to rest, to feel close to her loved one. I only saw her there once.

Over the last several weeks I’ve noticed something strange at the cemetery. Well, not strange per se, but it caught my eye and has me intrigued.

First I saw a small group of people, 3 or 4, sitting on a blanket on the grass nearest the road at the cemetery having a picnic. I didn’t think they were mourners. I thought maybe they had stopped there looking for a convenient place to sit under the trees and eat. Something like that.

Then I noticed they were there again. And again. And a grave near them was growing a small shrine of sorts – flowers, flags, the usual thing.

Last week I noticed several people around the grave. Maybe 5-7 people. And balloons. And more trinkets.

And then I noticed a couple of little teddy bears had been placed around the grave.

Now I can’t stop thinking about it. Through the course of my day I will naturally drive past the grave 2-4 times. Sometimes the family is there and sometimes they aren’t, but the little shrine is always there.

I want to know the story. Whose grave is that? Is it a young child? What happened? I see a young woman there the most – is she the child’s mother? AND WHAT HAPPENED?

I’ve wanted to stop and look at that grave but I almost feel like it would be an invasion of their privacy to do so.

It tugs at my heart every day. I even thought about taking a different route to work – but I think seeing that cemetery every day, and the people in it, inspires an appreciation for my life and maybe fills me with a sense of, what? Humanity, maybe? Every day on my way to work.

An acquaintance of mine posted on Facebook the other day that we should all hug our kids more and longer. I found out he and his wife are going through something quite traumatic and personal. Maybe that’s why this grave is haunting me so much this week.

I don’t know if I’ll ever stop to look. I don’t know if I really want to know. Maybe I WILL just hug my kids a little tighter and enjoy their company a little more – BECAUSE I STILL CAN.

And so can you.

EDITED TO ADD:

Mystery solved, I’m upset, angered and altogether put-out, to say. I was having a lovely time with my son on Sunday. We had to run some errands. I drove past the cemetery on the way to the shops and saw the mourners there. On the way back they were gone. So I said, “Son, I’m going to take a detour here to look at a grave,” and I pulled into the cemetery. He was very curious so I explained about seeing the shrine and mourners. I warned him that it could be a child’s grave and that he could stay in the car if he wanted. No, he said, he wanted to go with me. So we did. I almost wish I hadn’t. I mean, now I know – but I almost wish I didn’t.

Born Nov 2007 and died May 2011. She was 3 1/2. My son asked me why she died and I didn’t know. He was very curious so I told him I would see if I could find out. I quickly Googled her name on my phone and, boom, a ton of results. I saw the first result and instantly knew who she was from the headlines back in May. She died very tragically.

I lied to my son. I told him she had been sick with a disease and he peppered me with questions the whole way home. He said, “I thought kids couldn’t die. How come she died? Can other kids die?” I tried to explain about accidents and illnesses and how they can affect anybody. Parenting fail – I probably should not have taken my son with me. On the other hand, he needs to know that sometimes people die when we aren’t prepared. I just didn’t have it in me to explain to him that sometimes they are the victims of violence as well.

When we got home I pulled my husband into our bedroom and told him the whole story. Then I sobbed for that little girl while he patted my back.

I’m happy I know where she’s laid to rest. I can drive by and know exactly why her mom sits at her grave every day. Every single day my heart will break when I drive past that grave. Every single day.

If you want the whole story you can get it here, but I’m warning you – don’t read this if you are easily affected. It stays with you.

RIP little Natasha.

Posted on by Wise Sass · 4 Comments

Bike rides & broken toes

Oh the horror.

Yesterday we decided to go on a family bike ride. My little guy, Bubba, just graduated to a bigger bike with no training wheels. (Oddly enough, he is already more confident and a better rider than his older brother – how does that happen?). Anyway, we got Bubba a bigger bike this weekend and decided to all go out yesterday. Sounds great, right?

Then we realized it was going to be 100 degrees and decided to go on a ride in the evening after it had cooled down a bit. So we went to the movies instead. (Winnie the Pooh at the dollar theater. Cute, but not remarkable).

I got crazy with some cooking in the afternoon and early evening (more on that later), and when we sat down to eat dinner it was about 7:30. It was nearly 8 pm when we said, oh, family bike ride. We should go do that. So we hopped on and away we went.

Now, this is the part where I admit that when I’m rushed (due to the setting sun, in this case) I don’t always exercise the best judgment. I don’t think I’m ALWAYS a bad mom, but I do think I sometimes don’t think things through.

Tangent: One of my favorite kid movies is “Meet the Robinsons.” Anytime I think about a plan not being thought out I remember the scene where the T-rex is being controlled by the bowler-hat guy and has the kid cornered and he can’t reach him because he “has a big head and tiny arms.” Then he says, “I’m just not so sure how well this plan was thought through.” Then I laugh.

Anyway, back to last night and my not-well-thought-through plan. Or complete lack of plan really.

Here’s my guilty confession: I didn’t make the kids put on helmets or pads.

*sigh*

I know, I know. I suck. We were riding to our neighborhood park which is about 3 residential blocks away and I just thought it would be fine. After all, kids are going to fall down every once in a while. I did. I never wore a helmet or pads. Anyway, there’s my flawed logic and have since understood the error of my ways.

So everything was perfectly fine at first. Once we got to the park I said, “hey, let’s go through the park over to Bubba’s new school.” This entailed crossing one semi-busy road. We successfully got there with my older boy only falling on his bike once and luckily NOT in the middle of the busy street. We checked out where Bubba’s classroom will be and then decided to head back. Then my older boy wiped out again right in front of me and I had to brake severely to keep from hitting him. We got back up and went on.

It was getting duskier. My husband said he should have brought a light – just in case. And he said it was stupid of us to go this far without pads, helmets and a light. I didn’t say anything. I agreed but felt it was my fault so I just didn’t say anything. I was silently cursing myself though – stupid, stupid, stupid.

We got back to the park and that’s where my youngest wiped out. He got distracted, as he does, and rode into a flower bed. Luckily no real damage except to his pride, but he is Autistic and this is one of his things – he doesn’t like changes in routines or being surprised. So when he wiped out he was a crying mess for about 5 precious minutes before we could get him back on the bike. We were losing light like crazy.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t DARK yet. It was dusk. And the sun had sunk below the horizon at this point.

We persevered. We got through the park and into our neighborhood. We were two blocks from home and I remember thinking that I felt bad that the kids had fallen but, you know, being new riders I guess that happens sometimes . . .

Then my front tire caught a groove that I couldn’t get out of and the tire slid sideways. I went BAM. On my right side. On the pavement. Bike on top of me. Stunned. *sigh*

I got up, surveyed the damage and determined I would live. My chain had come off and it took another 3 minutes to fix before we could take off again. Porchlights were coming on at this point.

And, again, my older boy wiped out.

Oh, dear lord, I thought, I’m being punished for being a stupid, hasty momma. It will be just my luck if we get a broken bone out of tonight. And with the way he landed, and was screaming, I thought it was entirely possible he had a broken leg. Thank goodness he didn’t. Just scared him and made him hopping mad at his bike.

At this point my husband said, “It’s really too dark for us to be riding. This was stupid.”

So we metaphorically limped the rest of the way home. Got the kids cleaned and bandaged up and sent them to bed.

That’s when I looked down at my foot and, sure as shit, I had a broken toe. Deserved, I think.

I was going to take a pic but, trust me, it’s not pretty. All kinds of black & blue this morning. And maybe it’s not totally broken but just a sprain. In any case it will serve as a reminder to me to always make sure the kiddos, at least, are properly prepared before any future bike rides.

Learn from me. Don’t be a hasty momma.

Posted on by Wise Sass · 1 Comment

Ode to Idaho in IG


We moved here almost 6 years ago. We left a congested city, a small house, bad air pollution, and, the only bad part, my family. There have definitely been ups and downs, good and bad, but overall I’m so glad we made that move.

We have such a better living environment here. For reals. Bigger home, better neighbors, better feeling of community. It’s safer. It’s a healthier lifestyle for the whole family.

I miss my family terribly at times. It has gotten easier with every subsequent year, though, and I have found that I (mostly) get my fill of family time in our regular visits. It’s tough to miss the good things – like visits with my grandma, holiday celebrations, weddings, or baby births – but missing the drama, the inevitable family bickering or gossip or intrigue that happens with a close family, really balances things out nicely.

Here’s some IG to prove Idaho awesomeness:

We bought wood on the side of the road coming home from my in-law’s one evening. Just grabbed a bundle and put $3 in the money box.

Yep. NBD.

As the hubby was grabbing the wood, I snapped this pic. Farmland sunset. Hello? Gorgeous. This was taken 5 minutes from my house. And, okay, maybe I could get this same pic back in California but I didn’t. I got it here, in Idaho.

The drive-in. The only drive-in in the area and it’s about an hour outside of town. It’s extremely family-oriented, clean, and has been run by the same family (who live next door to the theater) since the 70’s. Oh, and all the bathroom stalls have doors. This is a step up from my hometown drive-in, believe it or not.


I live in a beautiful, community-minded city. This is a pic of the Saturday Farmer’s market. It spans 2 blocks one way and 3 blocks another way and it’s ah-maz-ing. Good food, good people, good vibe. I love that the downtown area is essentially shutdown for foot traffic only for like 5 hours every Saturday. Awesome sauce.

There’s so much more. The river that bi-sects the city. The 30+ miles of greenbelt. The Shakespeare Festival. The gorgeous parks.

I miss the ocean & the beaches of California. I miss Disneyland.

I can still visit those places, but I can really LIVE here.

Posted on by Wise Sass

It’s time for new things

I’m a fickle little thing and I’m feeling the need to change things up a bit around here at Hear Me Roar. Here are the likely changes you’ll see happening semi-soon:

1. I’m likely moving over to WordPress. I think so. I’m almost sure. I hate Blogger’s comments section. I want to be able to comment back on specific comments. I also want to section out my blog so I can have multiple sections – which takes us to point two . . .

2. I’m probably going to segment the blog out a little bit and add a section on cooking. This is primarily inspired by my niece, Jenell, who called me yesterday and said, “Aunt Stef, I need you to show me how to cook. Can I have some of your recipes?” She’s young, married just a few years with two little kids and a husband who works a lot. She needs some basic recipes and techniques to work with; the basics and a bit more. I said I would send her recipes and then I thought, OH MY GAWD, I can’t imagine organizing my recipes enough to send to her without doing something MORE with them, you know? Like putting them out there in a blog for other people to use. So, that’s just what I’m going to do.

3. Name change. Yep, I’m changing Hear Me Roar to something else. I have a few ideas. Nothing set in stone yet, but maybe something with “sassy” in the title. Because I’m sassy. (My husband says so). Hear Me Roar is always going to be aligned with the women’s lib movement and, though I’m AM a feminist, I don’t necessarily write about those things. I need a name that will reflect the foodie in me as well. So the name change is about finding a name that’s perfectly me.

Back to the foodie thing. I have to admit it: I am a foodie. I love good food. My husband said the other day that he thinks when we really cook a good meal it’s better than what we can get at most restaurants. Plus it’s made with love just for us and our friends and family.

I love cooking & baking. Love it. If I could quit my job I would go back to school to be a baker and open a bakery/coffee shop thing of some sort. (As if we don’t have enough of those, right?) But, seriously, my husband worked as a barista eons ago and managed a coffee shop – we could do this. The thought just absolutely makes me giggle. And if it was a used book store too? Heaven.

Okay, so that’s a bit of a pipe dream, right? Right. In the meantime I’ll be changing my blog so keep an eye out.

Posted on by Wise Sass · 2 Comments

Kids are really obnoxious

Okay, y’all know that I love my kids. They are a part of me – why I live and breathe every day. 

But, seriously, they are so LOUD. Loud, obnoxious and unrestrained. 

Things were so quiet when they were in California. I often talked out loud to myself when I was home alone. Just because it was so dang quiet. Not anymore! We’re lucky to get a word in with each other.

Last night we were in the car and my mom was sitting in the backseat between the boys and she was plugging her years because she was getting it from both sides. Bickering and playing with each other – in just about equal parts. 

On one hand, I’m happy my kids don’t feel inhibited or restrained. I want them to be able to speak freely to me, my husband and our immediate family – especially my parents. I want them to be kids and act like kids and let the creativity flow and if that means having competitions about which of them can sound more like a girl when they scream then so be it. (However, not in the freaking-ass car).

On the other hand, when they are being loud it makes it really hard to hear their parents or grandparents, it makes it impossible for us to talk to each other, and there comes a point where we cross from creative outlet to just plain ole bad manners. It’s a balance. Right now I feel like we are teetering a little over on the bad manners side – maybe because they are just home from a 3 week vacation and need to figure out their boundaries at home again? I’m guessing that’s it. 

In any case, I LOVE my children but they just might be the death of me this weekend until they get back in the groove. The grandparents are staying through Sunday morning and then we can get back to our normal lives.

Speaking of normal lives, we seem to have gotten into a bad sleeping pattern/night time habit with the kids. It doesn’t get dark here until 10 pm. Often we don’t make the kids to go to bed until 10 pm. It’s summer, it’s fine. But they stay up in their room screwing around, talking, playing, getting in each others beds for at least another 2 hours. It drives us crazy. At 10 pm, and definitely by 11 pm, we are ready for some adult quiet time. No obnoxious kids. 

Last night was particularly frustrating. I started getting them ready for bed at 9:30. At midnight I made one of them go sleep on our bed and, later after he had fallen asleep, my husband moved him back to his bed. But before that we had to interrupt the movie we were watching about 6 times to tell them to settle down. It was just flat-out outrageous behavior. 

So, as a result of all this, I’m considering dismantling my office, my girl sanctum, and making separate rooms for the kids. It’s no longer so important to have a guest room (since my parents bought a travel trailer and will use that when they visit). The trade-off would be that I would take a room that has been traditionally a playroom/pets room and I would clean it up and re-organize my office space there. 

Con: it doesn’t have a door. It’s just one end of a long room. The other side of the room has the stairs up to my husband’s loft office and the door to the dog run. Oh, and I wouldn’t have a window facing the front of my house anymore when I’m sitting at my work station. I would have to keep a tortoise’s habitat in my office.

Pro: none for me personally. The benefit of peace and quiet that would come from the boys having separate rooms is a win for the whole family though.  Oh, yeah, and I would have a tortoise in my office.

The boys are 9 & 7 years old. What do you think about giving them their own rooms? Will it be a good thing or can this be seen as giving in to their tyranny? I think the alone time would be a benefit to them. They each kind of re-group when they are alone. But would it hamper their closeness? I want them to grow up close to one another. 


Help. Please. Thank you.

Posted on by Wise Sass · 2 Comments

Thankful Thursday: Too Much Good Stuff

I am indeed very thankful today. For many reasons:
  • Last night my boys came home after being with their grandparents in California for 12 days. I’m so thankful they came home safely to me. It felt weird having half my heart beating from another state. The two halves belong together just like my babies belong with me.
  • I’m thankful for having a mom & stepdad who would take my children for 12 days just so they can be with them and take them to do fun things. They went to the mountains, they kayaked, they swam a lot (and are still learning and getting better), they went to the Jelly Belly Factory, they helped my parents buy a travel trailer – okay, so not always fun for the kids. But my kids will get the benefit of that travel trailer (we’re already planning a trip for the 6 of us to Yellowstone next year) and how awesome are those grandparents? 

 

  •  I’m thankful for the time I had with my husband over the past weekend. We NEEDED to reconnect romantically without kids, parents and stressors and we did just that. And I was spoiled. He was spoiled. It was GOOD. After 12 years together (11 married) we don’t expect heart-shaped explosions all the time, but respect, understanding, caring, and a teacup or two of passion will put us in good stead for a while.
Date night. Downtown Boise. We saw BUCK and it was SO GOOD.
  • I’m thankful for the time I had alone. My husband had shows or rehearsals every evening so I had my house to myself. WOW. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was paralyzed in indecision from the options. Do I want to write a blog? Make dinner for MYSELF only? Clean house? Watch a chick flick? Pay bills? Work out? Paint the hallway? WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY SHOULD I DO? In the end, to be honest, I didn’t do much. I did the dishes some days. I watched some girl TV (we don’t need details. moving on.) I worked out. I watered plants. I did (some) laundry. I did NOT bake a darn thing. One night all I ate for dinner was Zucchini. It was awesome.
  • I’m thankful for friends who are like family. ‘Nuff said. 
  • Last, but not least, I’m thankful for my renewed work-out ethic. I came back from vacation with the intention of beginning my work-out regimen. That Sunday I got out mid-day and started day 1, week 1, of the Couch-to-5K program using the C25K iPhone app. I didn’t finish it. I ended up walking half the “runs”. Because, hello, I’m not in the best of shape. But I’m going to persevere. I’m going to get it done. I’ve been hitting my elliptical at night. I’m very proud of myself. Very proud of the effort I have been making and I hope to keep it up. In the last 12 days I’ve done 3.1 miles on the elliptical a couple times, and then about 1 to 1 1/2 miles a few other times. I’m using a Pedometer app on my iPhone to track the elliptical work-outs. This is good for me. Baby steps. I will get there. But first I need new shoes. 🙂 

 What are you thankful for today?