by Heather

Please excuse me if I make this brief. I’m still a little woozy after doing math homework while “goofy” on the cold medication.  Yes. I’m sick! I have the same crud that everyone else has or has had. Just last week I bragged about how I had avoided it and then Karma came back to get me.

I felt a little sick over the weekend after going to the Great State Fair of Texas and the UT/OU Red River Rivalry game. I’m not saying they pushed this bug into overdrive, I’m just saying they probably didn’t help.

The Great State Fair of Texas is a cornucopia of people, amusement rides, stockyard animals and fried food of every invention. You haven’t lived until you’ve had a Fletcher’s Corny Dog smothered in mustard! Personally, I can live without ever trying the fried butter, chicken fried bacon and the dozens of other heat attack producing, artery clogging, IBS triggering foods that come out of the Fair. But I do enjoy the corn dog just once a year. The kids like the giant fluffs of cotton candy.

Enjoying some cotton candy

The fair is expensive. They force you to buy everything with coupons. So you don’t realize that a corn dog is way-too- high or that a spin on the Texas Star is over-the-moon. You just know it’s 6 coupons for the fried food on a stick and 7 to 10 coupons for a ride. You just don’t realize you’re getting ripped off because your senses have been slowed by the grease, swarms of people and the dizzying array of lights. Besides it’s a tradition. So much so, they give school kids a free ticket and a day off to enjoy the big fair. (By the way… the fair raked in $25.7 million dollars on food and rides this year.)

http://www.bigtex.com/  (click here to check out the fair)

Now I’m not completely germ-a-phobic, but I don’t think the trip to the fair coupled with a day of screaming at one of the biggest college football rivalry games did me any favors. I lost my voice and now it feels like someone very large is sitting on my chest. Boo hoo… life must go on.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful family who basically let me checkout for the day on Sunday. I stayed in bed, wiped my nose, coughed and convalesced.

Sure my husband made eggs out of the stir fry pan, left the sink full of dishes, and let the kids scatter toys all over the place.  I didn’t have to look at it, so I didn’t care. Honestly he really didn’t have time to take care of that junk because he was busy taking the kids to the park and lunch. My hero

The very thoughtful family brought me a bowl of soup back from lunch. I was hoping for broth, but they served up cream of broccoli and a big piece of tiramisu (not the most sick friendly food, but still appreciated) My very concerned children patted me on the head, wrote me notes, and gave me a stuffed Labrador puppy to help me feel better. They told me they loved me without any prompting. It was so sweet I damn near cried.

My wonderful friend, Ashley, cleaned up the kitchen and ran the kids to birthday parties while my husband was working.

Sure I felt (and still do) like hell. But I think I’m the most blessed person on earth. My dear sweet husband took great care of me and the kids. My friend stepped in to help. And my kids gave me some really adorable Hallmark worthy moments.

 Hacking and coughing aside… It was even better than chowing down on a Fletcher’s Corny dog smothered in mustard. Besides it didn’t cost a coupon or give me heartburn.

(In case you were curious… that cream of broccoli soup was actually good!)

-H

–by Carla

This week I heard the wonderful news that the recession was over.

You’d think this former news girl would at least post a link or have the mindset to have remembered where she heard such a thing, so here’s a picture instead. I’ve got two gorgeous baby boys under age 2.5 and they both had yucky nose issues this week (their 2nd summer cold in 2 months…ugh) so I’ve been up to my thick Lebanese eyebrows in tissues, hand sanitizer (or as Toddler Boy calls it “hanitizer”), baby Vick’s and gunk stuck in my hair (that last one is pretty normal, actually). So you’ll pardon me for not accurately detailing for you what should have otherwise been the top story on every station across the country: “The Recession Is Over!”.

Um, K.

This news had about as much impact on me as did the news that we WERE in a recession when it broke at the end of last year. Hello, I’d just been laid off. Not a real shocker. But even before then, while I was still anchoring the news, about a year and a half, maybe 2 years ago, we did story after story about this expert or that analyst saying we WERE already in a recession, or explaining why were weren’t ..and so on. I was so tired of those stories. Then when Lehman Brothers failed a year ago and the cards came crumbling down, it was clear to everyone on earth and possibly even some passing aliens just outside our stratosphere that we were in deep doodoo. But the “official” news that we were “actually” “in” a recession came months later. (Once again, if I were a journalist worth my salt, I’d look up that information, copy the link, paste it here and let you know, but I haven’t showered in 2 days, my hair is clumped up in 2 clips and I’m wearing the same thing I had on yesterday. Having 2 sick kids is a total beat down.)

So you can see that a recession “officially” having come to an end will likely mean little or nothing to most of us. It may do a little something something to Wall Street and Wall Street types, but there’s Wall Street and then there’s Main Street…and there are a bunch of houses for sale on Main Street. In fact, the story on the TV news the other night that followed the news that the recession was over was (no shiz) “150 Blockbuster Video employees are losing their jobs as the company closes several stores…” bla bla bla.

The financial experts and analysts and the smart people who do numbers and money for a living may have a sense of what’s going as far as “official” data, but it doesn’t change a thing for me or my family. I’m still a (very happy) full-time stay-at-home-mom now and we’re still living on a cop’s salary…and having a great time adjusting to this little curve ball.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited to see what happens in this new period of economic recovery, but I also think we need to be realistic about it and not think that life (those of us for whom life changed, that is) is automatically going to snap back to the way it was..with us gobbling up everything we could possibly cram into our ginormous houses that we could barely afford on 2 incomes and charging every last purchase we made, paying the minimum each month on our credit cards, putting debt out of our minds, leasing new cars every 2 or 3 years and not putting money away for the future.

Wait, come to think of it, I don’t want that life back.

By: Heather

Instead of paying bills, sorting laundry and writing my latest post yesterday, I made an ice cream sundae and watched a silly kids show.

Why would a grown up do such a thing? Because my 5-year-old son and  3 1/2 year old daughter asked me to do it. And I can’t resist these cute little faces and pleading  voices.

 

“Pleeeeaaaassseee…. mommy.”

“Well… I’ve got a lot to do.”

“Say pretty please with a cherry on top.” I request. They oblige.

I’m learning that sometimes the best “gifts” you can give your children are moments like these. And they cost nothing, but your time. Kids really don’t need all of the toys and junk we give them. They just want your attention.

They honestly want to soak you in, ask you questions, cuddle with you on the couch and give you random hugs and kisses.

 This won’t last long, so you better enjoy it I tell myself. But too often I get bogged down in the minutia of life. I’m running around taking care of this and that…. and that and this. It has to get done, but I really just need to stop and “hang out” with my kids. They NEED it. But “chilling out” seems almost impossible sometimes.

“Mommy that ice cream looks like poop!” My daughter shouts as I drop a blob of frozen chocolate yogurt into a small bowl.

“Appetizing. But it’s chocolate sweetie,” I say.

“Oh! I’m just joking me,” says the little one.

“You mean you’re joking me,” I correct.

“Yeah. I’m joking me,” she fires back.

This begins to feel like the “Who’s on first” joke. So I just say that’s nice and get out the whipped cream. My son joins the ice cream sundae party and asks for his cherries and “those sprinkle things he picked out.”

I fetch those as well. And we are in full Martha Stewart mode.

The fascination with ice cream sundaes began during father’s day weekend. We went to the grocery store, picked out the ingredients and made a surprise for dad.

Now let me point out that I HATE taking my kids to the grocery store. They always get locked into the “can we get that, we need that” mode. It’s always an ordeal. And someone usually has a meltdown.

There was no “meltdown” scene this time,  just a little flashing. My daughter lifted my skirt in the produce department and gave everyone by the bagged lettuce a good shot of my booty. I was so distracted I didn’t notice for a few moments. Thank goodness I wasn’t wearing granny panties.

We left with the busy store with ice cream sundae supplies, two fly swatters (their pick) and with me feeling slighty humiliated.

They LOVED going to the store. It was a thrill and didn’t cost much except some of my dignity. Again they NEED these moments.

“Let’s put on more whipped cream!” The kids demand.

They dig in before I can grab the spoons.

“Mommy I need 64 cherries right there,” my son says as he points to a large mound of whipped cream.

He gets three cherries on top. My daughter gets one.

“Yuck!” she screams as she throws the cherry across the room.

 We finish up and watch a mind numbing kid’s show. They sit on either side of me and I kiss their sweet little heads. It’s now past bedtime.

They NEED these moments, but really so do I. The calm, funny, amazing moments don’t last long. But they’re yours to keep and enjoy.

The kids soon get tired, we head to bed and I stay with each of them for “two songs each.” By now I’m too tired to write a recession mama post, so I opt for bed.

But before I crawl to my mattress, I check on the kids one more time. I watch for the rise and fall of their chests and listen for their peaceful breathing. It’s beautiful and perfect.

I love these moments. For me, it’s the cherry on top.