to the beat y'all

Happy Birthday to me…38.  Yup on the back end of some thirties, feeling like I’m 45 and looking like I’m 29.  Genetics, rock it, roll it, believe it!  This is my New Year’s Eve.  This is the day that I decide what comes next.  Got some new music loaded up on the iTunes.  Got some homemade cake & In n Out in my belly.  Got a 7 & 9 year old who drive me crazy, make me happy and help me channel my inner silly.  38 Y’all that’s what it is, that’s where it’s at.  Expect more to come from this mommy.  Things have been Harry Carey and dry, but the fountain is flowing and I think this twenty-thirteen shit is gonna be FUN! As always PLGC…out-

Uhm hello again 2010, I see your still here.

Hello dear internets. I know that lately I have treated you much like an old pair of shoes. You know the pair, they looked so good on the shelf but never quite fit with any outfit you've ever owned. Yeah that's you and this is me and maybe just maybe I found the right outfit.

I'd love to say that I have spent all of this time bettering my spirit and accomplishing all of those big things that I promised you in my post before last. Some of those things are true. I have have delved into a journey of discovering myself. To tell the truth my dears that journey has led me down a few deep dark holes and I have been clamoring to get out. Lets get brutally honest here, since that's pretty much the point. You and I both know that I love to use this blog as a good swift kick in my own ass. I mean I look kind of funny spinning around my living room trying to reach it and this is much more cathartic for me.

I suck! I am right now Mrs. Sucky McSuckerson of McSuckerville. Yup that's me. There is a pile of clean laundry that has been lying around for I won't tell you how long. My children are watching too much T.V. and playing too many video games. I have sequestered my self in this house with said children, letting them do too much of all the wrong things over the period of a week in early February. My dining room table is covered in crap that doesn't go there and there are dirty clothes on the bathroom floor. This is not me, this is not who I am.

So there are the things that have fallen to the wayside. Yes I know they are all completely fixable and yes they will all be tasks checked off my to do list well before Friday. So my point? I just thought y'all should know that it isn't always home-cooked meals and jelly donuts in Casa de Caliente.

On that note I have quite snapped out of whatever funk I may have been in. I thank y'all dearly for allowing lil' ole me to vent and confess just a little. So I can hear you all asking yourselves So what is GOOD with MC these days. (oh you weren't asking?) Well I don't care because if you've read this far, chances are you'll keep reading and find out.

I am once again in possession of my beloved Mommy Mobile and she, the kids and I have been stepping out. Sure we spent three days in a row at the same beach park, but we had good times.

My kids are in a T.V. and video game recovery program and I am watching episodes of Hoarders on demand to ensure that I do not become one. I decided to do a week long vegetarian detox over two weeks ago and have recently received my copy of The Kind Diet from Amazon. Don't worry I haven't yet forced my carnivorous clan to join in my craze. I have begun an exercise program with Tracy Anderson (well the free webisode until i decide whether or not to order the DVD). I have seriously committed to Thinking about starting running again. I have joined a lovely teleseminar that has really given me a lot of food for thought.

There is new music in my world and it makes me happy. I am reading things beside those old beat up romance novels I lugged along with me from NM. I am thoroughly enjoying my family. My children are turning into phenomenal little metropolitan beings. I am learning to be more independent while HD is out working his full time job and earning his Masters degree.

So those are the things going on in my world in a nutshell. I can't tell you all of my secrets dear internet but those are a few. I can say for certain that my outlook has lifted. I plan on posting much more often and I hope to provide you with a modicum of entertainment value. You can join me for my journey as vegetarian in a meat eating family. There will be recipes, there will be disasters. We'll get candid about the different ways 4 & 6 year old can talk back and how MC is coping with that. You'll discover how and where we fit in family time. I think this is gonna be quite a year my dears.

Peace, Love, Green Chile & Taco Trucks (PLGCTT)

Mamacita -out

Frustration into Fruition & over it...

Once upon a day...

I woke up and ran to Safeway for some coffee because we were out. Out of freaking coffee! Day two of tea was not really gonna be an option, after all I am a United State-ian. My favorite roast from peerless is French roast, so at this point I just need some Effin caffeine!

I digress.

So today was the BIG day. The day where we visit the brand-spanking new Ophthalmologist for EmBea's 4th follow up for her anisometropic amblyopia. Today was apparently a time to delve into the chaos of an over booked Eye Doctor's office.

We signed in, paid our co-pay, checked in with the Optometric technician, had Em's glasses assessed for the script and were assigned to room 3. Our lovely Ophthalmologist was very thorough. She determined that Em's old Rx was obsolete and also that she had developed astigmatism. Many eye drops were administered to dilate EmBea's eyes. She cried, she screamed and I held her eyelids open, Ala clockwork orange. This truly and completely sucked and felt cruel beyond all reason...

Cut to being told that our insurance did not cover refraction. (refraction=the final step of looking at the eyes after dilation -aka all of those effin drops) and that we could skip out or pay an additional $65. I am not a tortuous mommy, I paid up. Then the "primary" O.D. comes in. She then says OH..oh we need to refer you to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. WTH, seriously what the fricken heck..That is where I thought we were.

Lesson learned. When entering a new state of residence with an amblyopic child ask, ASK..are you a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. Do NOT ask; do you treat children with Amblyopia? If they can, they will say yes and you will find yourself being charged above and beyond your budgeted co-pay.

So am I down, am I upset, am I pissed the eff off? NO. I was a earlier today when I barraged my DH with frantic texts. Now, I am not. It was the honest mistake of a Mama of an Amblyopic child who had thus far had an "easy go". I will never again take for granted the lack of bedside manner of our Doc in Albuquerque.

My advice to any Mama planning a move; double and triple check with your insurance as to what may or may not be covered. Double and triple check with the office that you choose that they cover your child. Pediatric seemed to be the key word in my experience.

Other than that...

I have moved forward. I have a plan, a new Rx for my wee turtle and a fricken positive attitude. We will see the new Pediatric OD soon and EmBea will be wearing her fab new script. We'll rock, Rap and roll with the flow. Until then we are Patching Strong, 4 hours per day and looking to improve even more. Our progress from March 2009 to now..20/200 to 20/60. I have faith and belief that we will succeed and my daughter will beat Amblyopia.

Thanks for allowing me to vent dear internet.

Peace, Love, green Chile and a Taco truck in Oakland.

-out

adventures in babysitting...

I am constantly amazed and appalled by my children. They are such amazing little beings but they have the uncanny ability to go from 0-brat in 1.5 seconds. This summer has entailed an interesting change in my kiddos’ dynamic due to addition of CiCi. She is 6 and a kindergarten classmate to EmBea. The three of them get on pretty well but there are the inevitable personality/emotional/I’m 6 & your 4/we’re both 6 and moody clashes.

I often times wonder if I am too straight forward in my parenting tactics. If I am it is too late to turn back now. I am that mom who simply tells it like it is. Both of my kids are used to this. EmBea is on the gifted track and it is best not to sugar coat anything with her since she’ll just bug you until she gets it. The she says, matter-of-factly, “I get that.” CB is 4 and he can take things one of two ways; screaming crying fit mode or the classic sad sack “okay mom”. CiCi has been known to look at me cross eyed and sideways.

These are the things I can’t and won’t tolerate;

• Rudeness in any form or fashion. This includes face making and snarky remarks. 4 & 6 year olds have a surprisingly wide array of snarky remarks.
• Hitting is NEVER EVER ok.
• Whining. Okay so I tolerate it somewhat but I really wish I didn’t have to.
• Lying. I have a built in lie detector, which always amazes the child telling the lie, which I utilize often.
• Refusing to eat something “because I don’t like it”. The rule in this house is that you try it & if you still don’t like it then at least you tried it. This one works surprisingly well with picky CiCi and CB. (One bite often times leads to eating the whole meal before they realize they have eaten it.)

Those are the basics. There will always be that unexpected mediation that you play off the cuff but those are few and far between. Being in charge of a child who is not my own definitely gives me more patience. I am learning when to let something go and when to step in.

One of the other issues that I deal with is Brain Food. I am blessed with two wonderfully articulate and bright children. EmBea, as stated above, is gifted, so I have to make sure I am keeping her challenged while matching the learning level of the other two. Stimulation via arts and crafts is excellent. One of my favorite things to do is grab the laptop and pick a documentary on Netflix. Then I will coordinate an art project around the theme of the documentary. It works surprisingly well and the kids love it.

We also have plenty of outings. Kids go stir crazy too. Stir crazy kids + stir crazy mami = one bad day. I try to mix it up with the zoo, aquarium, library, parks. This is the usual rigmarole and they are always pleasantly surprised. I think the key thing to remember is that kids just want to have fun. They don’t want to be in trouble. I have to remind myself of that pretty much daily, but when I do the results are splendiferous.

Lest you think this post makes me sound like a saint…I have my bad days too. Yesterday I let forth a string of expletives that no child ears should hear. In my defense that fucking asshole driver in the big truck ran the stop sign and I had kids in the car!! I already let CiCi’s mom know, you know just in case. I have days were the “mommy voice” sounds more like a mommy yell and days when I just plain stick them in front of a movie with a bowl of popcorn. That’s okay too. I think I am doing a darn fine job raising interesting little kids and solidifying a childhood babysitter memory for another. I had an amazing babysitter when I was 6 so if I am in any way emulating her then I am on the right track.

PLGC- babysitters and the kids they care for

a wiggly jiggly loose tooth.

Embea's got no tooth.

I would like to start this blog with a shout out to my daughter's k-2 teachers! 3 more amazing ladies, you will never meet. I owe the title to them. I stole it from an end of the day song that serenaded those children lucky enough to loose a tooth in the confines of public school.

to preface..Embea has had this loose tooth for some time, (since late March, i think). She wanted so very badly to lose it in school. She has been eating apples and wiggling like crazy.

Tonight was crazy appetizer night.

We had a lovely family day watching the Isotopes play the OKC Redhawks. While I did take my first, (and many others), breath in Oklahoma, I WAS NOT in any way, shape or form rooting for them. I am a 'topes girl through & through.

sidetrack & long story short. That tooth was clearly coming out today. I turned to Mr. Novus and said, in fact; "That tooth is coming out today."

So, one requested course for our appetizer night was, in fact, an apple. Said half of apple was bitten into aproximately 2 times. Crazy, long-rooted tooth proceeds to fall out of my 6 year old's mouth.

I am verklimpt.

PLGC internet

-out

Photo Friday, just because.

they are so cute when they are actually getting along!

just beautiful!

being a kid is hard work, time to refuel.

Me and the kiddos.

They love self portraits almost as much as i do!

dancing in the rain

Power to kids who dance in the rain!


Pretty, pink and soaking wet, can it get any better?

oh no she didn't

do a bullet point blog...

• am on twitter these days and totally addicted.
• am also on facebook, but i kinda reserve access, ya know.
• have bea's followup appt for her amblyopia tomorrow.
• am sad that there are only 7 days left of kindergarten, i have a mega-mom crush on my daughter's teaching team. Shout out to Mrs. B, Mrs. C and Mrs D. (alphabetical purely)
• am about to make a major life change
• have recently cut my hair uber short like this
• have been laid off since 5/1 (thank you el queso grande for the extra time!!)
• have tried time out, yelling, reasoning and deep breaths all in one go when my son Bre was being obstinate!
• am working on more recipes but with photos for this blog.

well that's all the points i can handle y'all.

PLGC (and if you don't know, you better ask somebody)

The terrible 3.5's and she doesn't even drop the F-bomb

BB really is a good kid. He is quite articulate and lovable, most of the time. He has taken to throwing some hellacious fits these days. We have been under a lot of stress from varying factors and I can see that affecting the way BB and BG act.

I truly want to shelter them but at the same time I find myself treating them like little adults. They are expected to be responsible for their outbursts and deal with their feelings. As harsh as that sounds I literally tell them every day how AWESOME they are and that they can do anything they dream.

Most likely I am raising little contradictions who will be forced to seek therapy at an early age (providing there is not an apocalypse first). I just don't want them to have false expectations about the world. At the same time I want them to have strong self confidence and be little kids.

I don't think I am an unreasonable mom. BG was crying after every ballet practice this last term, so instead of pushing her to do one more plié we stopped going after her last recital. The teacher was making her cry because she wasn't disciplined enough. She's FIVE! I want her to smile not cry. If it isn't for her then it isn't for me.

The same goes for BB, though at 3.5 there is not much more that pre-school. He loves it! He is good there, actually he is good in any public setting. I think it is just Mom he presses buttons with. I admit I have turned to a few of the nanny 911 tactics. I am not ashamed. The Screaming, that is apt to burst many an eardrum, during one of those sessions is less than appealing. I think however that I see progress.

I try to recall how BG was at this age and I scan through past blogs for insight. I don't think I quite have this motherhood thing figured out but this is what I do know...

I love my kids with every ounce and fiber of my being. I think they are stupendous little beings with infinite potential. Life will never throw at them more than they can handle and I will provide them the n'th degree of support until I shuffle off this mortal coil.

Oh and Sweetheart-CS-DH-the Hotness himself. I love you too.

PLGC -out

Separation Anxiety & the Hokey Pokey

My head is spinning, this time next week Saturday morning cartoons will have a whole new meaning. Ok, so maybe I am over exaggerating, but weekends in general will have a new feel. My Bebe Girl and her 4 year old self will be starting pre-K.

The Pre-K program here is supposed to be one of the best in the country. "Pre-K and Early Head Start Programs Enhance Children's Development" you can find out information regarding these programs nation wide at Education Atlas.

That little factoid does not stop me from being more nervous than a mouse in a rattlesnake cage! My baby is going to school! I am having some severe separation anxiety. Okay, okay so it is only 3 hours a day in the afternoon, 5 days a week. Wait that's like 15 independent from mommy hours, wowsa! Well really I am going to be pretty active as a volunteer parent. I plan on going to every field trip, and special event. How can I not. Well only 15-16 more years of this, (and that's not including college for both kids).

It's not like I am traveling to an alternate dimension to which no mommy has traveled before, I know that. Don't judge, just let this mommy have some anxiety, and then after I drop BG off I'll do the hokey pokey and turn myself around, because that is what it is all about. PLGC -out

Photo Friday: Attack of the "Killer" Tomatoes

Welcome to tha 'Hood

There was a show called House Party hosted by Art Linkletter from 1952-1970 that had the funniest segment called Kids Say the Darndest Things. Bill Cosby tried to recreate the hilarity from 1998-2000 with this show based on that segment. Books were published. So forgive me but I am gonna catch a ride on that wave people.

My daughter is quite the charmer and very outspoken considering that she is only 4. I know I sound like I am bragging, but there are days when my eyes glaze and I imagine a land where kid's mouths have zippers. Yesterday and this morning BG decided to share a couple of gems.

Scenario 1: Eating Pita Pocket sandwiches.
BG says "Mom I never liked peter pockets, but now I love peter pockets!" Can somebody please tell me when polly got a brother?

Scenario 2: We're eating dinner at my mother's house.

BG is talking...BB is saying everything she says, only a split second behind. My mom is trying to be serious and not laugh and then BG says "Mom I want to take Brother back to the baby store, 'cause he's ick-noxious." "I want to be alone and he never leaves me alone." HD and I shared a look, my mom broke a smile.

Scenario 3: Me, BG, BB driving home from the park.

BG made a couple of friends at the park. As we are driving home she says "Mom those girls live in the park neighborhood." BB says in his let's mimic big sis sorta way " Yeah I'm live in neighborhood too." BG then replies "NOOOOO brother, you live in the child 'hood."

Welcome to tha 'Hood?! PLGC-Out

Mmmm. French Toast

When I was a kid my mom made this amazing batter dipped French Toast. She would cut the bread slices in half to create rectangles instead of triangles. She then battered and fried them mmmmmm. I remember that this meal was always a much anticipated treat. Pancakes and waffles didn't hold a candle to that french toast.
Well yesterday it was way to early to call my mom for the recipe, so I hopped on-line to give google a whirl. I stumbled across this recipe for Batter Dipped French Toast from Kansas State University . What a find!
I cut the bread into rectangles and totally had a childhood moment. BG and BB were solidly impressed and proceeded to eat seconds, yes SECONDS! That does not happen a lot in this house, and as you know getting BB to eat anything that is not a tortilla was well worth it. I also managed to sneak in some sausage, yea me. The other reason that I recommend this recipe is that it re-heats extremely well in the toaster oven. It turned out nice and crispy.
Well who knew I could rattle on about french toast ad nauseam, but I did. Please share any recipes that your brood loves, or that just take you back. Thanks for tuning in, PLGC-out