Work, Family, Love, Kids. . .

Three lacrosse games, work and trying to catch up with one home from college before he has to go back.  It is going to be a busy week for everyone in our house.  Oh, and let us not forget the hubbs interviewing for a new job.  He is still with the old company but I have said many times his industry is very volatile and they do not value employees.  These upper management people tell their employees, "make your numbers or you will be sorry," which is management speak for you will lose your job.  The hubbs and I are older and we were raised very similarly, we were taught a pretty strict work ethic and that has stuck with us.  I just hope our kids will follow in our way of thinking when it comes to work.  My hubby is very smart and the clients he calls on love him and see him as a valuable resource when it comes to his product.  When he was laid off a couple years ago, one of his clients offered to call his company and complain.  My hubby being the kind of person he is, insisted that he not call that it would not do any good.  My hubbs manager, knows he is a valuable employee but the top guys at the company have no clue.  It is funny how CEO's and VP's today do not understand that companies do not run on the backs of CEO's but on the backs and blood of the employees.  I would wager a guess that, with regard to my hubby's company, if you put one of their upper management people in the field to call on the offices that they would fall on their face.  Their product sales would dry up and blow off into the wind if these upper management types had to sell and be responsible in the field, half of them have never been in the field before and have no clue what the average sales representative does or has to do on a daily basis.  I really wish employers would take a step back and see the value in their employees.
I am excited for my hubby and his new job possibilities,  he has had one interview and has another one planned and even another one with a different company soon. 

Birthday Woes. . .

Celebrating another year this week.  My hubby is out of town and my boys are oblivious.  Ughhhh
This is one and probably the only time I wish I had a girl.  I think girls are more in tuned with celebrating things like a Mom's birthday.  That sort of thing is completely lost on boys or at least on my boys.   They are too tied up with their sports and video games to care that Mom has a birthday.   I think my husband texted Sprat to remind him it was my Birthday.  My very sweet hubby did send me flowers though and he has not done that in a long time. Maybe boys realize the effect of birthdays on women once they get older.  I guess there is still hope for my two scoundrels.  We went out to eat last night;  the boys, my niece, and myself to celebrate, that was very nice and I did enjoy it.
Big T asked me how old I was going to be and then he began trying to guess.  He said, 30 years old?  I said nope, I am 21 years old.  This brought up a very funny memory of my Mom.  I always believed what ever my Mom told me, why would my Mom tell me anything that was not true.  I asked very innocently how old my Mom was and she told me she was 21, actually it may have been Dad that said she was 21.  This was when I was in the third grade and obviously she was older than 21 since she was in fact in her 30's when I was born.  That next week I went to school and something was said about my Mom and I told them she was 21 years old.  My teachers all laughed and said that my Mom had done a lot in her 21 years.  They all knew she was older than 21 but they did not say anything to me about it.  They did, however, corner my Mom at the next PTA meeting and they all had a big laugh at silly me.
My hubby comes home today and I cannot wait to see him.  This is one part of his work I did not miss when he got laid off.   He does not travel much but you can count on at least 2 trips a year for national conferences.   He usually misses a Birthday or an Anniversary here and there.  

Things My Mom Taught Me. . .

Our mothers are our first friends, so to speak, and they are our first teachers.  What did your mom teach you?  My mom taught me that you always share what you have with others.  I remember my mom sharing what ever we got out of our garden with all of our neighbors.  We usually end up taking ours to Church and passing out cucumbers and zucchini as people make their way to their cars.  I love our Church family.  My Mom also taught me about respect and that you respect your elders.  Mom also worked very hard in our Church and she taught me to do the same.  Mom was over our nursery for many, many years and spent her own money to buy juice and cookies for the kids every Sunday.   Mom did not just teach by words she taught us by doing.  I learned more by watching my Mom than I could have learned had I taken a home economic class in school.  My Mom lead us by example,  I can only hope that my kids learn as much from me as I have from my Mom.
One thing my Mom was notorious for was making sure anyone that visited her house had plenty to eat.  I will never forget my roommate in college and I meeting mom and dad at the State Fair and the first thing out of my mom's mouth was; "how are ya and have you eat?"  She always fixed a ton of food to take to the Fair.  She was always prepared to feed the multitudes.  We usually spent several days there showing and of course they would catch a football game too.   Mom always made sure you had plenty to eat if you were around her.  She wanted everyone to be comfortable too.
Mom always worked in the yard, she mowed her own grass and plowed her garden and worked her gardens.  When I was in high school she had two gardens, one at the house and one at the barn.  I know I got my love of gardening from her.  I am thankful that my hubby's family was similar to mine.  He got his love of gardening from his dad.  
There are two things that I did not get from my mom.  Mom is very strong and can handle anything thrown her way.  I am not nearly as strong as mom, I think all of her strength went to my sister.  I am also not nearly as good at whipping up a meal as mom.  I remember my dad always came home for lunch every day and occasionally he may call at the last minute and say; "hey, I am bringing Bill with me for lunch today."  Mom could whip up a five star meal in the drop of a hat and it would feed whomever dad brought home.  I do not have that talent.
I am so blessed to have been raised by such a strong mom that taught me so much and she may not even realize how much she has taught me.  I would not be the woman I am today if it were not for the example that was set by my Mom and my sister.  I am truly blessed to have these two beautiful women in my life.  This black and white picture is of my Mom before she and my Dad were married.  The other is of my sister and my Mom at one of Big T's football games.

Book Club this weekend. . .

I am hosting book club this weekend.  I have been cleaning all week to get my house half way presentable for my lovely book club ladies.  I can now see my floor in the living room.  Why can I not keep my house clean once it is clean?  I know there are people out there that keep their houses clean and do so on a regular basis.  My excuse has always been my kids but, let's be honest, it's me too.  It is just so frustrating to clean and then have your kids or husband come behind you and leave things laying around.   I have enough laundry that I could wash every day and still not get caught up.  My dishes are the same, with everyone eating at home during the summer my sink can pile up in an afternoon.  It is amazing how big my living room is when it is not covered in shoes, book bags, sweatshirts, books, dog toys, and anything else that doesn't seem to have a home.
I have read some books and seem some things on social networking boards about organization and cleaning. I have tried to use those tips but I always get behind and end up trying to do a months worth of cleaning in a day or two.  I am beginning to think there is no hope for me and organization.  
I have a couple things left to do tomorrow and I should be ready for my book club party.  I may have to have the family over since my house is already clean.  I give it a week and it will be cluttered with new stuff, especially since we are getting geared up for school.

Book Club. . . Divergent. . .

We had book club on Saturday night.  We always have a blast.  This group of ladies are the best.  We have a great mix of women younger with young children and older with older children.   To be a diverse group we all get along well and we are not afraid to voice our opinions on any subject.  No shock there I am sure.  This month we read Divergent by Veronica Roth, it was good we all enjoyed it.  We are going to read the second book in this series for next month, Insurgent.  These books are on the Dystopian world after everything falls apart.  At the rate we are going these are looking more and more like a fore shadowing of our fate.  Ahh, but that is for a month of posts.
I enjoyed this book, it is not one I would have picked for myself.  I am glad I read it and I am sure I will enjoy the second one as well.  I personally prefer murder mystery books.  I would recommend this one though, it does have suspense, twists, some romance and mystery.  I like being in a book club because this encourages me to read other things and spread my wings to venture in areas I would not normally go.   So far we have read:  Water for Elephants, The Memory Keepers' Daughter, Wicked, and Divergent.  All good books, I think my least favorite was, The Memory Keepers' Daughter, just because it made me cry so much.    I am also reading Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child.   This is in the series that the movie Jack Reacher was based on.  It is good, I have not seen the movie but I think I would like it.
I like to read the books before I see movies.  When I was younger I always heard people say; "oh, the book was so much better than the movie."   Back then, I could not imagine a book being better than a movie, but now I see what they are talking about.   Your books give you more insight into characters that movies just do not have time for.   Sprat seems to be like me on this subject.  He read all of the Hunger Game books and read the first one before he saw the movie.  He agreed the book was much better than the movie.  He is anxiously awaiting the second movie.
I did not like to read when I was growing up, I did not begin to enjoy it until I found my murder mystery books.  The first author I got hooked on was Robin Cook, I think I like him because he wrote medical mysteries.  I am so glad that my kids have found subjects and authors that they enjoy at such an early age.   Both boys love to read and read well above their age level.  The each have very different interests when it comes to reading too.

Attitudes toward Women. . .

I am not an over the top women's liber but I do believe that we contribute more than our part to society and get little if any credit for the hard work that we do.   My husband is not one of those, thank goodness.  I was quite upset the other night sitting at a baseball game when I heard a "man" yell that these boys shouldn't listen to their mothers.  It just so happened that one of our kids was stealing home with everyone yelling run, run and he was tagged out.  We all thought he would make it.  That is when the comment was made.  The "man" also said, "what do they know about baseball anyway."  Well, that flew all over me.  I pride myself on knowing a little something about all the sports that my kids play.  I even went to the Wake Forest Women's Football camp several years in a row so that I could better understand football.  Yes, we had contact too, I learned how to tackle and block.  So you can see how that "man's" comment would really irritate me.  To make it even worse he is one of our parents.  Now, how bad is that, that this nit wit would rag the parents of his own team.  I have thought several times that I would say something to him but, I have not.  I do believe that it would fall of deaf and dumb ears.  I put man in quotes because a real man respects  women, all women.  Since he is on his second marriage I feel sure that may be his whole problem.  He has not learned respect for women and boy does it show.  Just to clarify this rant.  It is the Moms that  see that these boys are fed and ready to go to practice and it is the Moms that sit with them while they do their homework before games and practices.  It is the Moms that take them to practice most of the time and sit watch and cheer them on during practice and games.  It is the Moms that brought these boys into this world and it is a Mom that will cheer, fret over, and defend to the death these children.   Now that I have all of that off of my chest, I feel so much better.

PMS warning . . . .

Mark swears I have terrible PMS.   He said when we were first married and did not have the kids he used the mushroom defense.  He stayed real still and in the dark out of sight.  Then he said when Jack was born and starting to walk and be more mobile  he played the Jurassic Park defense.  That was when he stayed real still and did not make a move and let poor little Jack fall into the radar and then he would quietly sneak away.  I laugh about all this now but I must say I did have a problem.  I went to my doctor and told her that I wanted to scream just hearing the dog walk across the hard wood floor.  She wanted to prescribe medication for me of course.  I also talked with my sister and she said I should go to the gym.  I took my sisters advice over the doctors.   I found that on most days when I went to the gym I did feel much better and did not seem to get as aggravated at everyone for the littlest of things.   My niece says PMS stands for "prepare my shotgun."  HA HA!!  I liked that one.  I always said it stood for "putting up with mens' s*^+."  Well you get the picture.  My niece also says that everything that goes wrong with a woman starts with "men."  Menopause, menstruation, mental illness ect. . .  That girl is wise beyond her years.  
Oh, and Mark and I have been married 18 years in April.  HA HA HA!!  So PMS does not kill you.