Mad Libs

Coloring books, maze books, flash cards, chapter books & Mad Libs adorn the back seat area of my vehicles, but with so many options for my kids, it usually looks like a tornado has whipped through. 

Last week my parents visited.  In an effort to show 'my daughterly respect' & to show I'd grasped onto any bit of tidiness my mom tried to instill, I cleaned out the backseat so she could sit with the kids.   As a busy mom, I always choose to exercise for an hour, over cleaning the car.

Since she's really into grammar & verbs etc..she'd be so proud of me she'd be for having backseat entertainment involving education as well.  I decided to open the Mad Libs book - I remembered them giggling a few days prior - & this is what I saw.  13 pages of them filled with verbs like "pooping, peeing, nose picking, farting, boobing,"  nouns like "butt crack, crap & doggy doodoo,"  plural nouns such as "peanises, boobs, bugars, testikals, turds."  And adjetives like "booby, peanisy."  On one Mad Lib they used peanis, peanisy, peanising & peanises for every blank spot!

That was a good laugh!

I gotta work on their spelling.

Manners

I try to model, practice, teach, preach & exude BALANCE; who knows how out of whack I'd be if I didn't have kids!  My goal being to nurture their creativity, enjoy their stages through childhood & simultaneously to introduce manners & useful tools that are accepted by most people so they can be confident, capable adults.

Raised by very mannerful parents, I was forced to regularly practice eating dinner very formally, no elbows on the table, certainly no burping.  Now a mom of 8 & 9 year olds, I was having so much more fun NOT enforcing those rules that I gave up & accepted our playful goofy dining experiences every night.  We laugh a lot & it feels really good.

I taught them once how to eat properly & thought they'd understand when to use it (with Grandma & Grandpa.)  But that isn't happening; my parents are appalled at their animal-like, hyper demeanors.  I'm so bummed to have to be strict like my parents were with me. (I was so sure I could accomplish the same results without being serious, but they don't take me seriously unless I'm really serious.)  So I've got to balance out their hyperness with some emily-postness.

I'm glad to have the foundation of proper etiquette & know it's beneficial in life.  So here I go, trying to halfway undo the years of burping & spinning & joking at the dinner table.  Maybe doing every other night serious & silly will work.

Most importantly what's for dessert?  I guess we'll have to stop squirting whipped cream into our mouths some of the time too.

Crash & Learn

The morning was fast - kids to school, run for exercise, bank, pack, check-in online & print boarding pass, then airport bound to Vegas by 10:45am.  As I drove to the airport a "center-yellow-line RE-painting" truck headed towards me, hanging a few feet into my side of the highway.  Suddenly I plunged forward as I was rear ended. Miscellaneous console crap bumped to the ground around my feet.  Reeling with adrenaline, I impulsively swerved into the vacant oncoming traffic lane & missed hitting the truck in front of me.  SHIT!  I'm going to miss my flight! 

I've never been in a car accident until this.  I was surprised how jittery I felt, like ants crawling under every inch of my body.  I shakily checked my rear bumper, wow, barely any damage, just a few scratches & a busted trailer plug... I think my tow hitch saved me!  Then I glanced up & looked at the car behind me...hoooooooooly moly!  Their hood was smashed up to their windshield, car scrap metal scattered the highway like a garage sale & the driver & passenger were hidden behind airbags.  In disbelief I pushed & pulled on my bumper & looked underneath my car.  Go Volvo!!!!

2 ambulances later loading in 3 other people, I felt no worse than I did after competing in Wipeout.  And luckily the Highway Patrol officer was amazingly efficient with paperwork; I was the first to be released.  

I arrived at the airport, miraculously found a parking spot within 10 seconds & charged directly for the moving security belt (checking in on-line had never proven so handy until now).  I was the last to board, my insides stirring like a swarm of bees. 

Today as I write this I'm relieved & glad to be reminded how lucky I am.  My life is full, one adventurous day leapfrogging the next.