At the start of summer, I gave the girls 2 weeks to veg out on gaming. After the stress of last year and most of this year at home, I knew they would need a minute to just be and do whatever they wanted. Come week 3, though, it was time to get down to business.
One thing I had to fix, is the amount of time these kids spend at a device. So, they have tasks to complete before they can touch their devices. One of those tasks is completing a math assignment page and writing prompt. This is really beneficial for Thing 1 since she is in Gifted Education. She needs to be well equipped for Honors Math. Junior High in general, is no picnic. It will be challenging and I want her to be prepared. Sydney will benefit most from the writing. She DESPISES writing. It shows in her penmanship. I want to make sure she is prepared and doesn’t get assignments returned to her because her teacher could not read it. I also want her to slow down long enough to care about upper vs lower case letters.
So, today’s writing prompt was, If I could get a dog… This is what Thing 2 wrote…
#TheyGotBigButtsHuh
#THISKID
I don’t know what I am going to do with this kid! I was speechless! How can you challenge her creativity here? I couldn’t even comment on the capital letters. This girl gets a pass today!
I am a firm believer that God is right on time! He knows you, His child, and He knows what you need exactly when you need it!
Sooooooooo…I have been slowly getting my house in order. I feel like I have been doing this for months, but this time, I was finally closing in on a cleaner home. And by clean, I mean, my definition of clean. I must say that because my hubby is quick to remind me that the house is clean as is. My OCD does NOT agree! #NotJustClean #CleanClean #SqueakyClean
With that level of clean comes stress. It is a huge undertaking! In addition, my mom hasn’t been feeling great these last few days. I was stressed on top of stress. As the night winded down, the hubby and I were getting the kiddos settled in bed. Somehow, the conversation moved to this…
#CHEEKS!
Oh boy oh boy! You guessed it! Those are Thing 2’s CHEEKS! #VaselinedButtCheeks I lost it! Thing 1 mentioned her sister put a cheek on her wall about a week ago and it did not click. It wasn’t until seeing the cheeks that I realized the severity of the situation. This girl thought it would be hilarious to leave her sister with something to remember her by. In true Thing 2 fashion, nonetheless!
I laughed so much it hurt! Lord, you know exactly what I need when I need it. The gut busting laugh was much needed. This brought life to my soul! And when that wasn’t enough, you threw in more cheeks…
#SeaOfCheeks
I tell you what, it is going to take some paint and elbow grease to get the Vaseline cheeks off the walls, but it took no time at all to lift my spirits up! I can’t even be mad with Thing 2. She is doing what she does best…bringing her authentic self to this world…along with bringing the life to the party!
Today was busier than it was supposed to be. Late last night, I had the amazing idea to paint the basement ceiling for the hubby as a Father’s Day gift. The kids and I already got him some goodies, but this would be a little extra on top of that. In my head planning, I factored in what all I would need to get from Home Depot…a coverall, an aspirator, and a commercial paint sprayer rental.
In the meantime, we did the usual…breakfast in bed and gifts.
Belgian Waffles and Bacon for the Win!
After the usual, I went on over to the Depot to pick up my items. When I got home, things were slow going. I still had to tape up and wait for the hubby to get the paint sprayer out of the car and into the basement. #ThatJokerWasHEAVY
As I journeyed to the basement, the hubby said, call me if you need anything. Now, why would I do that? I have it all mapped out in my head what I need to do and how this will go. Trusting my ambitious head…big mistake!
For starters, taping up is a job within itself. One in which I wish I did last night while I was busy mapping this madness out in my head. Yeah, this is madness now. No longer a cute Father’s Day gift. I taped up the section I wanted to start tackling and went to fire up the sprayer. #HELP The first call to the hubby, after vowing not to, was made. He got the sprayer going and primed, then it cut out. After trial and error, he realized the sprayer was pulling so much juice it was tripping the fuse. #SugarHoney
Eventually, the sprayer was working consistently. First thing I noticed, though, was the smell of acrylic dryfall paint is HORRIFIC! I can smell the paint through the aspirator. The basement has windows, but they don’t circulate a lot of air. I had to take several breaks just to not die!
As I painted, though, I struggled to find the right spray setting. #HELPNumber2 The hubby came down and got the mode right. Everything was good until my goggles started fogging up (later I learned that was paint dust) and I started hearing and feeling dripping. While the mode was set to mist, it was still coming out too heavy and dripping after a few coats. #SugarHoneyIced A little backstory here, the guy at the Depot asked me what type of paint I was spraying. He searched high and low and found the tip that I needed. Sooooo…I should have been good! #ShouldHaveAreTheKeyWordsThere
If all of the drips on the floor weren’t bad enough, I got drips on my hair. My newly done hair that was supposed to be covered by the coverall‘s hood. #NOPE Why I didn’t think to wear a bandana too is beyond me!
The journey to paint the ceiling went on for hours. With the need to take multiple breaks, it was nighttime before getting to the last leg of painting…and I was spent. The hubby had been offering to help all day and I kept declining. #StubbornAndStupid I finally let him help and it was too dark to do much. The electricity was shut off to safely paint, so we ended up bringing my living room lamp down and getting light from the other side of the basement where power could be safely on. Wait…did I mention that at this point only a 3rd of the basement was mostly covered? Yeah, almost 10 gallons in and I did not make it all over the basement! #WTF
As the hubby painted what he could with the rest of the paint, I was super disappointed in what was completed in real life versus what all I had accomplished in my head. #LessonLearned
Here are a few pics of the journey…
Pre-Coverall2 Days Later with Light
Oh, and I asked the hubby plain before he got it in him to paint the walls…Are you SUUUURE you want to paint the walls before the ceiling?
Welp, the painters we hired to fix it have their work cut out for them!
I couldn’t type this out last night. I was too beside myself to formulate words. Let me start with a little supporting information…
I have a very sensitive nose…to the point where…I can smell your thoughts! I have been this way all my life, but it got even more heightened when I got pregnant. There were things I loved that had to go because it was no longer working for my nose. The hubby’s deodorant, cologne, McD’s french fries…these were all on the chopping block. I have never been the same since.
Fast forward to yesterday. I set out to clean my house. I have been working so much that I have given the rest of what I had left to my family. This house was falling by the wayside and I was going to attempt to bring it back to life. As much as I knew it was going to be a challenge, I ventured into Thing 2’s room. I knew she took after her father and just places items under her bed or in her closet to avoid putting them away. So, I set out to fix that. I started over by her window-wall next to her bed. I figured I’d work corner to corner. I stooped down and caught a whiff of one of the two most despised smells of any parent…PEE! #WaitWHAT???
I have been yelling this child’s name all day. She also gets into her fair share of trouble. She knew, by the way I yelled her name, she done did it AGAIN! I asked her, why do I smell pee over here? Now, pause for a moment. The answer I expected was the infamous, I don’t know! I even thought she may direct me to some old drawz she hid from a day she didn’t quite make it. #NOPE! What I got…what I heard…was far worse.
In her lowest voice possible (because she operates at 150 all day)…I peed over there. Wait…WHATTTTT?????!!!!!! #MindBlown I had so many questions. Then, those questions turned into my child losing all privileges…ALL OF THEM (make sure you clap once between each of those last 3 words so you get the full effect)! Of course, at this point, she starts to cry. Now, I am a softy for crying because I hate to see my children’s spirits broken, but this warranted a stand firm and let it happen. I left the room and told her she can take the time she needed to think about what she did and collect herself. I think had I not called her out of her room sometime later she would have stayed in there.
So, why did she do it, you ask. She said the bathrooms upstairs were occupied before her shower. Now, why she didn’t go downstairs instead is beyond me. She also said she had taken her clothes off already since it was shower time. She decided the corner of her room was the next best thing. #ThisWillNeverMakeSense #MakeItMakeSense #Please This story can only be confirmed when I do laundry. Because when I make it through those hampers, if I find pee fueled clothes, I am going H.A.M. again. That means she lied and I cannot trust the story, which, if I am being honest with myself, I don’t trust it anyway. You know the corner of your room is NOT where we deposit pee. The more likely explanation, she was playing and didn’t want to stop and the stream started and she could not stop it. This was her typical pattern in all previous accidents.
For now, nothing I can do, but blog here and pray. The only solace I have is knowing that I will share this story with her future husband! He needs to know these kid shenanigans only turn into adult ones! #FutureNotKawandraProblems
I don’t know what I am going to do about Thing 2! She keeps finding new and creative ways to let me know the shenanigans will never stop.
I keep a jar of Vaseline on the side of my bed. I do this, because it is inevitable that my hands (or any other body part) will get dry and require some attention. It is a nightly ritual that my mom used to do as well.
Imagine my surprise when I open my jar of Vaseline and see…
What is that, you ask? IT’S AN ERASER!!!!!
I was wierded out at first because I didn’t know what it was at first. I fished it out and threw it away. I didn’t even ask Thing 2 about it. All I could do was laugh and say, “THIS KID!”
Never a dull moment. What’s next, Thing 2? What’s next?
I have quite the imagination. I can drum up the most out of the box storyline and it will feel real. Maybe I should have become a writer. If the world could see what this brain could do, it would be intrigued. I’ll put a pin in those thoughts for now.
In the middle of the night, I woke myself up several times because of my dream. It started off with me spending time in the pool with 2 other people…no clue who, but it seemed like we were all friends. Now, to know me, means you know…I’ll get in the pool, but I have a huge fear of drowning. In my dream, it was all fun and games until I decided to go underwater. I remember being in the deep end…that’ll never happen in real life…then, I just went underwater and took a huge breath in. I woke up from my dream taking a huge inhale and trying to catch my breath. I went back to sleep…same dream. I would surface to the top of the water and go back down, take a huge breath in, and wake myself up gasping for air. I did this a few more times. At some point, I went back to sleep and moved on to a new dream that I don’t remember.
I’m not one for analyzing dreams all the time, but this one meant something. In my life now, I’m drowning. My biggest fear…has become a reality. There’s so much happening in my life that I can’t catch my breath. It all came to a head this week and now it’s effecting my dreams…my sleep…the one place I can be and do anything I want, has caught up to my real life. #SomethingHasToGive
Today, I’m making it a point to change the narrative, both in my awake life AND in my dreams. I’m getting the family up and out to Starbucks for dessert at breakfast. Thing 1 will have a warmed brownie, Thing 2 will have a marshmallow dream bar (can we just call it a Rice Krispie treat, Starbucks?), and I will have a honey citrus mint tea with 2 raw sugars with a side of some breakfast item. The Father of All Things will likely say, “You can take me to Dunkin’ on the way back.” He ain’t the biggest ‘Bucks fan. But everyone is getting what they enjoy this morning!
My hope, this will be a great start to the day! Notice I didn’t say weekend. I’m taking this thing called life one day…one honey citrus mint tea…one brownie…one marshmallow dream bar…one trip to Dunkin’…at a time.
Recently, I put my phone on Do Not Disturb between the hours of 10p and 8a. It will ring for those deemed as emergency contacts, which is all I care about between those hours. I didn’t consider group text messages, though. So today, I got a call from my father as I sat in bed, contemplating if I was ready to take on the day. He said something like, I told your mother she shouldn’t be eating that cabbage at night. I was befuddled, but I speak my dad’s language and I immediately check my text messages. My mom was texting us she was not feeling well. #NowItMakesSense
This was day 4 of her first chemo cycle, so I had no reason to believe it was from the pills. And eating cabbage during dinner time ain’t never hurt no one. She was set to take a new pill in a couple of hours, so all I could do was get her to eat. She wasn’t able to get out of bed, so I went over to get some food in her and hopefully clear the nausea. I grabbed quick foods from my kitchen on the way out. #JustThrowItInTheBag
When I got there, I was able to get her to eat a bit. She started to feel a little better, but still nauseous. She must’ve called her Doctor because the NP called her back when I was there. My mom’s responses to the NP made me feel some kind of way, but I left it alone. As she and I were walking through her previous day, she reminded me she took her antibiotic 2 days in a row on accident. #AHA#Lightbulb
I messaged the NP to let her know. I explained that this was the first time in the months since taking these meds that she had made this mistake. I also asked for any concerns she had and when she should take the next dose. The message I got back in MyChart left me speechless…but only for a moment. #ImSorryWhat #CalmDownKawandra #LetsChooseOurWordsWisely #MammaBearIsAboutToGoHAM
The first thing she said to me was, why did she take her antibiotic yesterday? Now, I just got done explaining the answer to the question. She followed up by saying, she is supposed to be taking it M-W-F and she is supposed to be taking it with food. #WOOOOOOOSAAAAAAAAA As politely as I could muster up, I asked her to please show my mother some grace. I reiterated this being the first time she has made this mistake and told her, her words had some bass in them and I wasn’t here for it. Needless to say, I got a follow up message AND phone call behind that one. She apologized and recognized that her words needed some work. She said she didn’t want us to ever feel like we couldn’t call her. Then a thousand more apologies. #Ok #Noted #OneEyeWillForeverBeOnYou
Listen, don’t play with me or my family. I have no issue getting you all the way together, and no title or status makes you immune. #SheLearnedToday
I said all of that to say…the Do Not Disturb is no longer on my phone! #Open24By7
Today was a good day! I say that because I was not so sure it would be. See, a couple of days ago, I had a huge breakdown. I was spent and it took a trigger (dirty kitchen) for me to finally break down…
The issue…I do A LOT! Nothing new, but it is something that I have to work on and the people around me have to support. My mind is always running a mile a minute. It is typically never at rest because I am always managing through what is in front of me, while in another part of my mind, managing what is to come down the road. It is a blessing, sure. It is also a heavy burden. Even when I am sleeping, I am not sure I am truly resting. This is proven on nights when I physically cannot sleep because my mind is full and I am too busy working through the future in my head. On top of the mental tasks, there are all the physical ones…keeping the house clean, keeping the bills paid, ensuring the kids are current on school items, laundry, cooking, etc. Add to that, making sure my mom is happy, has what she needs, and remembers anything important. Oh, y’all remember I started working too, right? The demands of the new gig are so far outside of what I could have imagined I don’t even know if everything is done most days.
#SPENT
Leading up to Mother’s Day, I asked that I not just get a good day…but I get a good days…year…life! I get it. Mother’s Day is a day where I am to be celebrated for all that I do, but in reality, I need those stops to be rolled out each day. Not the accolades, but the act of taking things off of my plate so that I can truly rest. I NEED more than a day to reset this battery if I am going to be the best mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend!
I hope that message was received. I had a wonderful Mother’s Day! I was able to lay around the house most of the day. My mom came over for an Olive Garden dinner. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.
I knew this day would come, so I started preparing for it 3 years ago. I sat my little-big girl down and started sharing little nuggets of information about the adventures of being a young lady. She laid beside me as we read our book, Celebrate Your Body (And Its Changes, Too!) The Ultimate Puberty Book for Girls by Sonya Renee Taylor.
All of this happened before the attitudes really got started. She was my innocent little lady who was soaking up all that this “big girl” book was offering. She asked questions and was so eager to learn. And things that I freaked out about, she just received it so “matter-of-factly.” #BigGirlStatus
Fast forward to today. I was on back to back calls. Stress levels were HIGH! I got off a call, took a sec to see what messages I missed, and noticed one from my little-big girl…
My heart sank for two reasons. First, because I missed this special moment and second, this is really happening! I raced upstairs faster than I thought my body could move. She was on her Live session with her teacher. She saw me coming as she peeked out the corner of her eyes. I yelled, “Congratulations, Pooh Bear!” I got the grin, with the barely moving mouth since she was on camera, and the low-voiced “thank you!” Not quite the celebration I had always imagined, but these things just don’t happen like that. #WorkResentment
When her day was over, she met me in my office. I immediately gave her my undivided attention and asked her how she was feeling. She and I had a very good bonding moment. I asked her for a hug. She gave me the biggest hug and said, “I feel sooooooo sorry for you!” As my baby was only an hour plus into her period day, she was already empathetic to what I have gone through all of these years. Leave it to this anointed child of mine to feel for me during all that is going on new with her. #SheHasTheBiggestHeart #SheGetItFromHerMamma #ForReal
For the rest of the day, the minion got spoiled. She earned it. She has reached a milestone that’s a big deal. I am proud of the way she handled it and at how she took charge when she couldn’t get a hold of me. I might have given her the tools, but she embraced this next step like the responsible young lady she is! #YouGoGirl#. #AndNowThereAreTwo
Well, I have been knee deep in work most days! I mean, I am grateful I was able to jump back into my career…even though most days I rethink that decision! It’s just the growing pains of being off of work for over a year and starting over at a new company. A lot of learning going on around here…but a lot of long days going on too!
That brings me to my question, Where did it all go? Well, we moved into our home several years ago. There were a couple of rooms that helped make the decision that this model house was “the one.” Crazy thing is, I can’t seem to find them. I have been holed up in my office putting in WORK and meanwhile, the rest of my house is starting to disappear. I think I figured it out…
Keeping house is what I do! I don’t enjoy clutter, disorganization, or dirt. I despise dust too, but that just seems to win against me every time! Here lately, I have been slacking on my housekeeping responsibilities (among other things). Because of COVID, I have had to forego my friend who just so happened to clean my house every other week. Now, I will be lucky if I find my kitchen table, island, or bedroom closet, for that matter. It literally drives me batty!
All I can hope for, is one day things let up and I have to strength to get this house back to the point where I can identify each room and find whatever it is I am looking for!
