February 2016

Guys, nothing funny is happening in my life.

I’m not having many “Did That Just Happen” moments right now.

And, (with a worried sigh), I’m afraid I might not have many more.

You see, Mr. T has picked a college.

It is all becoming very real that the little boy I JUST HAD is growing up.

I made him stop and take a picture with me at a college visit the other day.

“Mom, we don’t need to now, there will be time later.”

“Get your butt over here and take a picture with me! Don’t make me go all mom on you!”

And you know what – there wasn’t time later!

Time is not linear for me, when I say it happened the other day, I could mean yesterday, or 6 months ago.  I don’t waste space in my brain for things like “time”; however, there is a pressure in my chest that tells me – either I’m having a heart attack – or that time is currently paying very close attention to me!

Here is the super-duper good news, though.  My son is bound and determined to expedite his college time and leave with the least amount of debt as possible.  He has saved up to take classes at the community college during the summer, and he is filling out every scholarship form there is… and… he is applying for the housing waiver.  He will live close enough to the school he wants to attend that he can commute.

He won’t be moving into the dorm (fingers crossed) in the Spring.  He’ll be staying at home.  And, while he is never here now, and will probably be here less in the future, it still gives me some peace that I’ll have a little bit longer to yell at him to not leave dirty dishes in the sink or to pick up his shoes from the living room floor because I tripped over them and almost broke my neck!

I look forward to that.

OH! But wait!  The other day I bought a new washing machine!  And Mr. T had exactly 1 hour in between Job #1 and Job #2, so he met me at Lowe’s to load up the machine (it wouldn’t fit in my car) and drive it home – and he unloaded it and set it in place for me before taking off to head back into town for work.

So, I made him some homemade donuts! 

Double chocolate donuts with a plain glaze.

Yeah, that just happened!

(and if you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll find the inspiration for that recipe, which of course, I modified.  Almond milk instead of regular, greek yogurt instead of sour cream and truvia instead of sugar… and they still turned out divine!)

Oh! One last thing – one of my SMART goals is to hit 50 miles per month with my running.  

Not only did I meet my goal, I increased my mileage from January, so #DoubleWin.  This month also included a longer run, added in an extra half mile towards the end of the month – and it was scary but it went really well!  I think I’ll work in a few more long runs now and work on increasing my stamina.  It’s been feeling good, and I haven’t always been able to say that about running!

Maybe I have a few more moments left in me yet!

January Recap

I can’t think of a catchy title for this blog… and since it will be a smorgasbord, I figured that “recap” is fine.  Okay, disclaimer over with it! Let’s get started!

One of my SMART goals this years, under “Personal Betterment” is

I welcome January 2017 in as a sharp-dressed woman, as I have made an effort to be more presentable, and accountable in my attire and stepped outside the house always dressed for success.

Honestly, I really thought this was a good idea.

And I’m not ready to abandon it yet… but…

Yeah, that happened.

This month, we celebrated my mom’s birthday with a family gathering.  Mr. T had to work, so he spent time with her and dad earlier in the day and had a pleasant lunch with his grandparents, but since I was busy, I wasn’t there and don’t have any pictures – so we’ll start with a picture I snapped of the two of them a few days prior!

They were having an intense discussion! Cassius, Lee’s boxer, came over for a visit, and if you look closely, even Shorty was taking part!

It was a fun gathering, and at the end of the night, it was time to take some pictures!

The best part was when Grammy wanted some pictures with her grand-kids.  This is what we posted:

This is the behind the scenes of what all we have to go through in order to get just a few good shots! I am sure this is something most of y’all can relate to!!

Notice how we were all jumping in to help.

Yeah.  Not so much.  We are more of a sit-back-and-laugh family!!

Remember that I mentioned being busy that morning so I couldn’t join Mr. T during his visit with his grandparents?

Boom! First 5k of the year done! *happy dance* Heroes for Hope run benefiting St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

BA ran with me, and after we had cooled down, grabbed some food and water, I checked, and they didn’t have a computer set up for us to check our official times, but they gave me the site I could log onto later – and then pointed me in the direction of the guy that had the print out!

I did not medal.

Well, if I’m not getting a medal, then we could go.  Not going to lie, there were 30 more minutes to go until the ceremony, and I couldn’t hang!

The next day I got on and checked the official time.

I did not medal, BUT…

I knocked 3 minutes off my race time!! 3 minutes y’all!!  It was insane!  I did start way too fast, and it came up and bit me in the butt at the 2.5ish mark, but again, I’m just amazed at the love of runners, I was struggling, and another runner came up beside me and slowed down, told me I could do it – and then stayed to run with me for a bit!  She and I kept together for a good bit, and it felt good.  I love the sense of community that has come with running, I really do!

As long as I was checking my time, I pulled up BA’s time.

And then I called him and asked “When I was checking the time sheet for me – did you happen to check it for you?  I think you medaled.”

No, he hadn’t checked the sheet, so I contacted the race coordinator, and sure enough, BA came in 3rd place in his group!  They are mailing his medal – it took several hours for it to really sink in with him, but all of the sudden, I think I can convince him to run with me again!

 

 

 

 

Experience Matters

Want to know a secret?

I didn’t go to college.

Well, I didn’t go to more than 1 semester of college.

We moved. Life happened.  Shrug.

I never really worried about it, there have been a couple of jobs that wanted college degrees, but we were able to count my work experience in lieu of a degree and I have managed to get along just fine in life.

This this started happening:

Acceptance letters have started coming in for Mr. T.

Our lives have been very focused on what colleges he wants to attend, what colleges are good fits, the program offerings, the degree program, what can he take at local community college and scholarships!

Lots and lots of scholarships!

The other night I attended a FAFSA overview at school.

College preparation checklist.

I’m pretty sure I will never be prepared!

Santa brought him a dorm fridge at Christmas.

And he got a small vacuum, lots of tupperware and some command hooks.

Time to get ready for dorm life!

This is a great experience, and if he gets good scholarship money (can we all just pray for this, please?) he’ll most likely be required to live on campus.  And we are excited and ready for this!

But the other day, we were talking, and he goes, “I’ve narrowed my selection down, I want to go here, and I don’t think they have dorms, so I’ll be commuting.”

Okay, not going to lie, I am totally okay if he lives at home while attending college.

But I understand that experience matters – and I want him to have that experience.  I don’t want him to limit himself.  I want him to keep his options open, we haven’t even done FAFSA yet, so we have time.

I imparted to him how I didn’t want him to deny himself the opportunity, to deny the experience.  It was important to me that he do what he wanted, we would figure everything else out.

And – as often as I marvel at this kid – sometimes he actually reminds me that he IS mine after all, and he let me know, that the “experience” didn’t matter, his goal was to go, learn, and do what he needed to do in order to get what he needed to succeed in this world.  That he has been researching and talking to administration and other teachers, and he thinks that he has found the best route to take.  So, we talked about it.

It made sense.

We returned the dorm fridge the other day and got a gift card instead.  And that gift card will be set aside until it is time, and he can decide if he needs a fridge or if there are other supplies he will need for school.

I guess experience is what we make it.

We Can’t Hunt Moose

Me: I’m just so over everything. Let’s move.
T: Move where?
Me: Jamaica.
T: No
Me: Well, where do you want to move to?
T: Alaska
Me: Alaska is boring. There is nothing to do.
T: We can hunt moose
Me: I think they are a protected species, we can’t hunt moose.
T: Did I say we were doing it legally?!?

Yup, that’s my kid!

I finally got the picture back from Senior Night, when I got the privilege of walking Mr. T across the field.  It was pretty awesome!

You will never have this day with your children again.  Tomorrow, they’ll be a little older than they were today.  This day is a gift.  Breath and notice.  Smell and touch them; study their faces and little feet and pay attention.  Relish the charms of the present.  Enjoy today, mama.  It will be over before you know.  -Jen Hatmaker.

 

Double Standard Anyone?

This weekend my reality was challenged.  It was very hard to let go and NOT have a double standard… In fact, these are the words that came out of my mouth “Well, if you were gay, I’d let you do it – so I don’t really have a reason why you can’t do it since you are straight.”

I didn’t have a valid argument.  This was a situation that in my mind shouldn’t happen because “you are a guy”.

And, it’s true, but not valid!

Here’s a hint:

Now, let’s back up and get the rest of the story!

First, we’ll start with a gratuitous shot of me and Mr. T – He’s in his Easter outfit thanks to Grammy and Papa – and just looking so handsome!

Really, there was no point to the inclusion of that picture!

Now onto the story, a few days ago My Amy texted me and the conversation went something like this:

Winter sucks

Yes, it does!

Haven’t seen you in forever!

I know, but I think the sun is coming out, so I’ll probably be leaving the house soon!

We should get together… want to do something this weekend?

Sounds great!

Want to go across the border?

Cha-ching!  Of course I do… because just across the border is where you’ll find the casino! She had to work that morning, and I was volunteering at the food co-op mid-morning, so we met at my place at noon, went and picked up another friend and took off!

FREEDOM!!!

It was so much fun! We walked the length of the casino and then back again, trying different machines along the way and just catching up with each other!

I would like to say I was strategic and parlayed my small pocket change into a large fund; however, I wasn’t strategic! And, no, the casino didn’t end up giving me a big check; however, I won enough to make me a very happy camper!

I told Mr. T that I’d be paying off our weekend fun, but that we should do something special together with the leftovers!

He picked pedicures.

It was a good idea, there is something about being in those chairs that invites conversation, and really, who doesn’t love a good foot massage! As we were sitting there, he looks at me and goes “Can I get a color?”

No, of course you can’t get a color.  You. Are. A. Boy.

That’s what I said in my head.  Actually, I may have screamed it in my head!

What came out was “If you want.”

I grew up in a culture where boys didn’t wear polish.

But, my parents grew up in a culture where boys didn’t wear earrings and that never phased me. Mr. T got his ears pierced at a young age.  He doesn’t wear them often now; however, that never bothered me.

So, maybe I’m old fashioned.  Maybe I need to be the one to loosen up and let it go.

And, I’m not kidding, I told Mr. T that if he was gay, I’d totally understand him wanting polish – so I didn’t have a reason for saying no just because he was straight.

Then Mr. T goes “Can I get hot pink?”

Go big or go home, I guess.

And that’s how I ended up with a son with hot pink toes sitting next to me at the nail salon.

And that’s how I ended up struggling with the double standard.

It was hard letting him walk out the door this morning.  But really, is there a valid argument?

Because it isn’t societal norm. Because I’m not comfortable with it.  Because it isn’t done.

None of that is valid.

None of those statements represent the person I want to be.

On one hand, it’s outside my comfort zone.  On the other hand, I’m so proud of that kid for being who he wants and not being bound by societal norm.

Yes, it’s a double standard, and yes, sometimes I still struggle with it.

But this morning, I was the person I wanted to be and I watched my son walk out the door with hot pink toe nails being the person he wants to be.

And I smiled, ’cause yeah, that just happened.

Wordless Wednesday 12/17/14 – Cheerleader Competition

Mr. T’s first cheerleader competition! Sitting there watching all of the teams perform, it really was just like you see on TV!  Yes, we had a flyer fall, but Mr. T was a great base and caught her! And, since almost every team had a flyer fall, I wasn’t upset – I just think they did a great job!!

Mr. Chisholm Trail

I blinked and all of the sudden my little bit of nothing that I used to dress up every year for Christmas pictures was now voluntarily putting on a suit.  Not just any suit, but a real tuxedo, for our first (and only?!?) beauty pageant.

After the tuxedo fittings (yes, there was more than one), I was on the search for props!

Then the magical day was here!  Naturally, I snuck backstage!

Then it was time to begin!

Oh the opening number!

Then it came time for the talent portion. I never thought I’d enjoying seeing Mr. T in a cheer uniform; however, he did showcase his skills nicely!

Then it was time for my props to be put to use, in the swimsuit competition!

But don’t get me started on the formal wear!

He’s sexy and he knows it!

He was the winner in the swimsuit competition!

He was awarded Mr. Entertainer! And he was first runner up for Mr. Chisholm Trail!! 

Wordless Wednesday Beauty Pageant

Sometimes I get random texts from Mr. T.

It shows he loves me and thinks about me.

Sometimes they are witty, sometimes funny, sarcastic or serious.

Sometimes when I read them I don’t know if they are supposed to be witty, funny, sarcastic or serious.

Sometimes I end up in a formal shop waiting while my son gets fitted for a tuxedo because what I assume is a joke turns out to be real.

Yup, that just happened! I’ll keep you updated, the pageant is next week 🙂

It’s Called Acting

Mr. T finished his latest performance in theater this week.  Attack of the Muffin Man was written and directed by their assistant director, and I have to say, it was quite brilliant!

Due to his Mascot schedule Mr. T took a smaller part than normal, but he knocked it out of the park!

I sent a text to a friend of mine with pictures from one of the performances.

He looks really into it.  

It’s called ACTING.

I hope Mr. T looks really into it!  That’s what was supposed to be happening!

But, my sarcastic comment aside, it is actually a compliment when someone makes a statement like that – it means that Mr. T is doing his job and he is fully immersed in his role!

Now for your viewing pleasure!

There was drama

There was story time

There was singing

And there was dancing!

There was even an (almost) dead man walking!

And then there were the fun pictures afterwards 🙂

Wordless Wednesday 11-5-14

 

 

For #MCM (Man Crush Monday) Mr. T’s girlfriend posted, “If we could all just take a minute to appreciate how wonderful this man is, that would be amazing.  So proud of him in everything he does, from singing at church, to mascotting at school, to being involved in the school play.”

So, they aren’t my words, but she sums up my Wordless Wednesday perfectly!