No More, Please!

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If you want to...

 

ask me to clean up your mess,

ask me for money,

ask me to find something you can't find,

ask me to do your laundry or some other chore,

tell me what to do or not do,

and how to do or not do it,

yell at me for not answering my phone,

yell at me for some other supposed misdeed,

or  if you just want to

laugh at me or criticize me in general...

 

take a number,

get in line,

and bring a snack.

You're in for a long wait.

The Gift of Life

15 years ago today, I received the greatest gift of all… my children.

 I gave them life, and they, in turn give me unexplainable joy.

Oh, I admit, they give me fits of exasperation as well. They ARE teenagers, after all.

But I am so grateful for them. They were a gift from God… my little miracles. And I would give anything, including my own life, for their safety and happiness. Happy birthday my darling gifts!

The Sunday Scribblings prompt today was give/gave/gift.

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Thursday 13

I just began my 21st year of teaching middle school English/language arts. It would be my 22nd year, but I had the good fortune to be a stay-at-home-mom for one year, four years ago. I LOVED IT! Here are 13 things I miss from that wonderful year in my life.

1. Being able to walk my children to school for 4th grade or take my step-daughters to school and pick them up.
2. Substitute teaching on days when it was convenient for me so I could still have interaction with students and earn some money, too.
3. Working part time at one of my favorite stores, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, for a few months.
4. Having time to do a thorough house cleaning on a regular basis.
5. Being able to plan family meals on a regular basis because when I'm working full time all day, I don't always feel like making a nice family dinner.
6. Having the flexibility in scheduling appointments of various kinds.
7. Having a candle business on the side with time to do home shows and interact with other adults.
8. Having the mental energy at the end of the day to help with homework.
9. Volunteering at the school store where my children attended.
10. Being able to have lunch at school with my children.
11. Having the occasional lunch with my husband.
12. Being able to volunteer at church.
13. Naps.

I know I could think of so much more (having a little "me" time, for instance)! I cherish my one year as a stay-at-home-mom even though it was probably just as busy, if not more, than I am now. Happy Thursday 13!

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Journal Buddies

Recently I received an autographed copy of Journal Buddies: A Girl's Journal for Sharing and Celebrating Magnificence. As a mother of tweens and teens and a teacher of this age group for 20 years, I realize how big an issue self-image can be. This Journal Buddy book is a unique and entertaining way to help develop a positive self-image. I am glad that I have this book to share with my 12 year old daughter.

Journal Buddies takes the diary concept and makes it interactive. The journal starts with an introduction to the concept of journaling as well as examples, ideas, and reasons why people journal. Each journaling section has a place where a buddy can record qualities she admires in the writer, and a place for the writer to do the same. Each journaling entry has a prompt such as "beauty" or "confident," or "amazing." The author concludes with a section for reflection of the journal entries. The process of completing the journal is an adventure! It a great confidence-booster and a place to examine a girl's own thoughts and beliefs. I even got some great ideas to use in my classroom with girls and boys.

The Dove Foundation's review of Journal Buddies states that it is "a very creative way to help encourage self esteem in young girls. It is so important in this day and age tohelp children with their self-image. This delightful ingenious journal will show them a way to capture their imagination, ideas and thoughts and share them withothers. Giving the diary concept a different look. This is a perfect gift for young girls." Journal Buddies interactive journaling systems are winners of the 2008 Mom's Choice Awards.

Journal Buddies: A Girl's Journal for Sharing and Celebrating Magnificence can be purchased from Amazon.com for 16.95. And, they have one for boys, too, called Journal Buddies: A Boy's Journal for Discovering and Sharing Excellence. Amazon also has the "look inside" feature enabled on these two books so you can take a look before you purchase them.

This post was written on behalf of Family Review Network and Journal Buddies.

Related Posts:

Real Girls, Real Pressure

Tweens' Back-to-School Concerns

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Questions

When kids are little, they are champs at asking, "Why?"

"Why is the sky blue?"

"Why is the grass green?"

"Why do I have to take a bath?"

"Why do we have to pay for our food?"

"Why can't I touch the stove?"

Obviously, some questions of "Why?" are of more consequence than others. But the questioning nature of children is amazing. They WANT to know. They WANT to learn. They WANT to understand.

They are curious, inquisitive, and interested. And that's a good thing!

After the six-hundred-and-seventh "Why?" of the day, we tend to get exasperated, but would we really want it any other way?

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If you liked this post, here are some others you might enjoy:

Awwww, Do I Have To?

Idle Curiousity Killed the Cat

Have you seen my orange RSS button at the top left of the blog? You can subscribe to my blog in your favorite feed reader. Thanks!

School Supplies

I love school supplies! Thinking about going down the school supply aisle (not when it's crowded, but any other time) makes me happy! Really, it does. I love paper, pens, pencils, notebooks, folders, spirals, binders, tape, rulers, well... you get the idea. Is it any surprise that I'm a teacher?

My summer is winding down, and I'll be back at work in two weeks. The kids will be in full swing in three. As a way to help get us ready for summer, 5 Minutes for Mom is having a week of Back to School Giveaways. Click over and join the fun!

These aren't your every day school supplies, either. First up is a Dymo Personal Labelmaker. Boy, could I think of lots of things to use it for! Each giveaway requires a separate comment, so click over every day this week to see what they're giving away. Good luck!

UPDATE - The have added a new giveaway each day (today it's EZ School Supplies), so don't forget to check out 5 Minutes for Mom and sign up for each giveaway separately! Not that I don't want to win. I do! But I want all of you to win something, too. We can share!

Awwww, Do I Have To?

For Sunday Scribblings:

Certain requests are often met with the response, “Do I have to?” Some examples:

Clean your room.
Do your homework.
Practice your instrument.
Take a bath.
Brush your teeth.
Turn the television/game system off.
Go to bed.

Yes, you have to!

Why?

Because I’m the mom, and I said so. (That should be good enough.)
Because it will make you a better person.
Because I know what’s best for you (and me).
Because every day, we do things we don’t really want to do because we HAVE to. It’s part of life. It’s part of growing up. It’s part of becoming or being a responsible adult.

There is no getting around doing some of the things we do. The laundry, the grocery shopping (which I loathe), cooking, cleaning, and going to work. I don’t always want to, but I have to. It’s my job. I’m a parent.

Do I have to? Yes, I do.

BlogHop 08 Party Post and Giveaway

So typical! I'm late! No, I didn't FORGET! I just found out about this party, and if there's a blog party, I'm there! I can't wait to meet some new friends!

The preliminaries... If you want to join the party, the Mr. Linky is at Robin's blog, Pensieve, our charming hostess for this soiree. The adorable badge was designed by Karen at Simply aMusing Blog. Isn't it the cutest thing? And, last, but not least, I found out about this great carnival from Elaine at The Miss Elaine-ous Life. If you like scrapbooking, you'll love her blog!

Welcome to my blog! We all write about what we like, so here's a few of my interests:

1. My kids and family

2. Reading

3. Scrapbooking

4. Writing

5. Organizing

6. Trying new products

7. Learning and education

8. Blogging (duh!)

9. Amateur Photography

Please come in and make yourself at home. If you're hungry, hop over to AllRecipes for some tasty treats or even a complete meal. For the calorie-conscious, you could instead visit Anita's Tried and True Recipes.

If you'd rather talk about creating peace, order, and beauty in your home, you could visit Home Sanctuary. And if you need some help or motivation getting organized, try I'm an Organizing Junkie. If you have a reading addiction, may I suggest Reader's Anonymous? Last, but not least, if you enjoy scrapbooking, take a look at Scrapjazz.

Stay awhile if you can, but if not, please accept my open invitation to come back and visit any time. And if you made it this far in the post, I have a little something for one of you. Please leave a comment on this post to be entered in a GIVEAWAY. I will draw one random winner from all comments left by July 26 (but I'm sorry that I can only afford to ship to a US address). The winner will receive a PartyLite pillar candle! (And if you're interested in some free, gently read children's books, see this post before July 20.)

I'm Gonna Scream!

I know this has NEVER happened to any of you! I read your blogs. I see your sweet angels. I hear your cute stories. So, this would never happen at your house, but at my house, it's about to drive me completely and totally batty. (no offense to you bat lovers out there)

The 11 year olds (boy/girl twins, in case you didn't know) are in 6th grade, and they are preparing for 9 week tests. These brother/sister twins are extrememly different, though they both make A's and B's in all subjects. My daughter - she's the meticulous one. Everything has to be "just so." It takes her an hour to complete a 9 question worksheet! I am NOT exaggerating! And math isn't my best or favorite subject, so we usually butt heads (hahaha - butt heads! I am so slap-happy right now) over how to do the math problems. It took her forever to get her math work done. Ten o'clock rolls around and she's finally out of the bath and she wants to study for science and math! I'm thinking, "You gotta be kidding me!" Well, we do, albeit in a hurry. The girl who's so tired and just wants to go to bed early and who has an ear infection - FINALLY got to bed about 10:40. Time limits for homework - nope. Won't work. Time limits for bath - nope. Won't work. This child moves to her own time and it seems like nothing I can do helps her get things done in a decent amount of time.

The brother, well, he's the opposite in that he'll get his work finished if I stay on top of him the whole time, but not if I leave him alone for more than a second. He'll wander off to bother his sister while she's trying to work. He's more apt to have careless answers or incomplete work. When it's done, then he wants to get on the computer, then he wants to make a flip book out of post-it notes, then he wants to watch "George Lopez." It is neverending. I must have told him 95 times to brush his teeth and go to bed tonight!

And the arguing with each other has driven me half silly already. And the talking back is driving me the other half silly.

It's finally quiet and peaceful here, but it was work! Now I have so little ME time. I know that none of you have any idea what I am experiencing because your kids do what you ask them to do when you ask them to do it... right? You can go watch a movie, take a shower, run an errand, and your kids will be right where you left them doing exactly what you told them. Right?

I'm so frustrated because this is a TYPICAL night at my house. If you read this far, thanks!

Works for Me Wednesday

We have a large household - the two of us, and each of our two children, plus a dog = seven. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep the house in order with so many people (and a dog). Sometimes it just seems easier to ask who is closest to go set the table or empty the dishwasher, but we have found that having a chore calendar motivates the kids to take their responsibility seriously, and running the household becomes more efficient.

This is not rocket science, but it certainly helps our busy family. We have certain chores that are the kids' responsibilities. Each child has an assigned chore or two for the week and another for the weekend. The chores rotate weekly so no one has to do the hardest chore every time, and they get some variety.

The chore calendar stays posted on the refrigerator for the month, so there is never a question about whose turn it is to do what. You can get the kids into a routine so that you don't even have to remind them to do their job. (well, in theory) And it doesn't take long to create one using the calendar creation in Microsoft Publisher. Once you get accustommed to creating one, it's mostly just copying/pasting. Publisher does most of the work.

This works great for our family! Maybe some of you can adapt it to fit the needs of your family. Have a great week, everyone!

Visit other Works for Me Wednesday participants by clicking here.

Tackle it Tuesday!

I tackled the business of getting a chart of household chores posted on the refrigerator. We have a home of five, sometimes six people, and I can not do it all and work full time, so I have assigned the kids relatively simple tasks for weekdays (unload the dishwasher, feed the dog, etc.) and some cleaning tasks for weekends (windex glass tables, upstairs bathroom, and so on), with a reminder that they can earn some extra $ for doing extra work (suggestions included), and another reminder that their first job is to be a good student, complete homework, and practice music. It's on my fridge and ready to go! Here's what it looks like:

5 Minutes for Moms

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