Real life. Real lessons.
I can’t remember who sent me this job posting. I wondered if the actual posting was part of their required writing/editing/proofreading test.
You’ll need to click on the image to make it large enough to read. It’s worth the click. 😉
Trying to look on the bright side – at least they know they needed help!
Let me know how many you find.
It wasn’t so long ago that we had three teenagers in our house.
When I started this blog over 5 years ago, I had a 17 year-old son and the 15 year-old darling twin daughters. And a whole lot of blog material.
I entered the blogging world with no expectations other than to share our real life stories and to write as my personal therapy. I saw how many “mommy blogs” were out there and the number has probably tripled since I started. I also watched as a number of these bloggers stopped blogging as their children reached middle school. Stories became less funny and their kids’ privacy was more important than their blog readership.
Because my three teens were in high school when I started blogging, I kept it simple by letting the teenagers preview any blog post about them. We’re all pretty transparent here at the Humpfreeze abode so for the most part they allowed me to share freely.
You, my blog readers, let me know how much you appreciated a glimpse into our real life and the life lessons we racked up on a weekly basis. The connections to other parents, friends and family is one of the benefits of blogging our stories. Finding the funny is really the gift. Laughing has kept me from another breakdown.
Still, the blog is the sanitized version of our life. I’m saving the more vivid details for the book.
Round 1 with three teenagers flew by with our fair share of struggles. Nothing huge. No giant crisis. Just the mental exhaustion that comes with trying to keep up in a battle of wits while living with the darlings who know they are much smarter than their nerdy, ridiculous parents.
You might think the wisdom of our experience would make round 2 with one teenager a breeze.
You would be wrong.
Our one teenager celebrated the beginning of her 14th year last Monday.
Happy Birthday Scary Baby…
She is beautiful and we love her dearly.
She continues to test our parenting skills on every level.
The stories are still here. Most of them in my head. I’m trying to sanitize a few so I can still be authentic without embarrassing her.
Or I could review the remaining episodes of Dancing With The Stars.
Stay tuned.
This post requested by Scary Baby.
Well really, she wanted to post a YouTube video.
Not happening but I told her I would blog about it.
I know I would feel guilty about my boot obsession and passing it on to my youngest, if it weren’t for my bargain shopping obsession.
So glad she’s excited enough to want to share the bargains on the blog.
Somehow she ended up with 4 pairs of boots and 2 pairs of flats when I only got 3 pairs of boots.
Okay, maybe that’s because my boots were a little pricier than her $8.00 and $10.00 pairs. And her feet are still growing so she really did need new shoes. I might have told her she is not allowed to ask for a pair of new shoes for at least one year and her feet better stop growing.
Nonetheless, it was our best boot haul ever!
Yes, bargain shopping does take extra time and we did hunt down the best buys at 3 different stores. Keep in mind that while I’m admitting to boot obsession, I really do not enjoy shopping and strategically plan my shopping around several best times of the year for when incredible markdowns are happening. This time in February after President’s day weekend is one of those times.
PhilBillPaul accompanied us on Friday night but begged off for our Saturday expedition. He still likes to ask what I do with all the money I “save”.
Did I mention he got 2 new Geoffrey Beene sweaters that were $65.00 each for $8.59 when I did a little online shopping last weekend?
See, I bargain shop for everybody!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the extraordinary service I received from the shoe sales associate, Susan at Belk in Gainesville, Georgia. She literally brought out every pair of leather boots in my size that she could find while I tried them all on right up until closing time.
Receipt #1 on right: Susan was also quick to point out that I saved $668.86 while spending just $199.17 for 5 pairs. That translates to less than the retail price of one pair of my boots. Yee haw! You gotta love a fellow shoe enthusiast who backs me up to PhilBillPaul on our massive savings. Receipt #2 on left was from another store on Saturday.
Do you shop the clearance racks or do you shop full retail because bargain shopping takes too much time?
In my Happy 2013 post, I revealed that I haven’t quite figured out how to start blogging again but I wasn’t ready to quit altogether.
Maybe a once-a-month blogging schedule will be the ticket to less blogging guilt.
Or not.
Right now, true confessions continue as I tell you that I laughed until I cried. Scary Baby said she hadn’t seen me laugh so hard in all her life about something I saw on TV and shared with her and PhilBillPaul.
After a week of serious health bad news about friends and family, I really, really needed to laugh.
The true confession part is that I’m sure this should not make me laugh so hard and then want to share it on my blog. I should not be so immature as a mother of 4. This should not be what brings me back to blogging.
Perhaps it was PhilBillPaul’s encouraging words “You should blog this” that compelled me to begin again. Immaturity attracts immaturity. At our house anyway.
I must type these disclaimers before you scroll down to find the source of my immaturity.
Disclaimer #1
In my diligent research as I did a quick search to find the video online, I found some people were appalled by this viral video and there was concern that the family was irresponsible for not stopping the video camera.
I think they were focused on the baby and not the dog. Nor did they want to ruin baby’s first steps by screaming at the dog and scaring baby Lydia which I clearly would have done. Scream at the dog and ruin baby’s first steps would have been me. Baby crying, mom crying and blaming dad for having a dog in the house with a baby.
Disclaimer #2
Some people believe dog poo can make a baby go blind.
I don’t know anything about this. But mom did take swift action.
Disclaimer #3
You do not have to click “play”. Just like the TV and radio and other electronic devices, you are still the operator in control.
I hope we can still be friends even if you don’t watch it. Or don’t think it’s funny. Or watch it twice. 😉
All said, this one minute video makes me laugh out loud each time I watch it.
Click here for video if you are reading via RSS or email and don’t see it below.
You have to admit, you could never stage this scene and get the timing of all this captured on film. Kudos to the family for remaining calm. I would use this priceless memory at Lydia’s wedding.
My blogging surge hasn’t happened.
But I did get around to making a Happy New Year card which is really just a very belated Christmas card.
I’m fine with that and I kind of like it that way.
If you have really great eyesight and can actually read the tiny print, please know that the actual card I mailed to friends and family did not say “SB” and “Scary Baby”. Just trying to respect the 13 year old’s privacy regarding internet strangers.
It has been 5 years since I started this blog and 5 years since I sent a holiday card. Probably not a coincidence as I felt everyone could get the Humpfreeze updates on the blog.
And perhaps because we had not taken a decent family photo since Scary Baby was one.
I’m still working on 2012 highlights and getting them on the blog for the sake of our family history. The timeline pressure is all mine and I can go at my own pace knowing that all that I have recorded in the past 20+ years is more than many take the time to do and release some of my guilt over my giant blogging gaps this year.
I’m not ready to stop but I still can’t figure out how to start again.
Thanks for hanging around here and reading when I do post. I love every comment and email I receive.
Happy New Year – may 2013 be the best year yet for you and your loved ones!!
xoxo
