Bad Mommy Award

Archive for April, 2010

Can I just ask, why me?

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 30 - 2010

This has not been a good year for pets. Our dwarf hamster of 3 1/2 years died back in November of old age. Our gerbil had a stroke at the beginning of the year. (How do I know such a little creature had a stroke? I actually took her to the vet to try to save her. Yes, I took our gerbil to the vet.)

This morning I woke up and our parakeet, Huck, had died overnight.

Not a great picture but he didn’t pose well for me. I am so upset. Huck was mine. The kids never paid much attention to him. I changed his food, I changed his water, I cleaned his cage, I spritzed him with a water bottle every once in awhile so he could take a little shower. I stood at his cage whistling and chatting trying to teach him to talk – which he never did. Some people have said that was crazy. Parakeets don’t talk. But I’ve read that they do. You just have to work with them a lot.

I stood there with my hand in his cage for 10-15 minutes stretches a few times a day, trying to get him used to it so he’d use my hand as a perch. He never did. But, he did stop flipping out every time I opened the cage door to change his food/water, so we had progress, it only took a year to get that far.

He wasn’t a baby when I got him. But I thought for sure he’d have a few years left. He wasn’t a rescue per say because he wasn’t abused or in a parakeet mill or anything, but this older lady on ReUseIt was getting rid of the parakeets her kid had left at her house and we kind of rescued Huck because she said if there were no takers he’d go to the shelter. They don’t euthanize birds do they?

Man, I miss the sound of him whistling and making funny little chirps while I blog in the morning. We’d whistle back and forth with each other.

The first thing I do when I get up is stop and talk to Huck. When I got up this morning, I went to his cage and he wasn’t on his perch. I looked down and there he was. Just laying there.

The circle of life stinks.

Life stinks period right now.

His cage is so empty.

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My Life

Green Golly & Her Golden Flute Review/Giveaway

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 29 - 2010

Green Golly & Her Golden Flute by Flute Sweet & Tickletoon

All mommies to little princesses and princes, you must read this review. I’ve listen to a lot of children’s music in my 11 years as a mommy. A lot. I’ve enjoyed a lot of it. I’ve been annoyed by a lot of it.

Green Golly & Her Golden Flute is by far my favorite. I adored it!

Rapunzel may have been horrified to spend her days trapped in that big old tower but not Green Golly – she was delighted! So inspired by all that whizzed past her window she couldn’t help but make music. Herein lies the charm of “Green Golly & Her Golden Flute” – this funny and extraordinarily musical event, featuring the music of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Gossec, Elgar, Bizet, Chopin and Copland, introduces children to the art of flute and the magic of classical music.“Green Golly” is also available in a version for flute, narrator and full orchestra.

The music is gorgeous! The flute is such a beautiful instrument when in the hands of someone better than me, ie: Barbara Siesel. I play a lot of instruments, but the flute is not one that my band instructor thrust into my heads. I’ve always loved the sound that it makes though. She is an absolutely amazing flutist.

The story is absolutely hilarious. We were driving the first time we listened to it and I was cracking up. Rolling. It’s a good thing that Pato was driving. I kept asking the girls, did you hear that? Did you hear that part? Keith Torgan is so wonderful as the story teller. His voice, his expressions, absolutely perfect! Let’s not leave out Jessica Krash, the pianist. She add so much with her playing.

You’ll be surprised to. It’s been a long time since I’ve played classical music and I am embarrassed to say that with my music background I couldn’t always put the song name to the tune until it started playing. Then you have that ah ha! moment. Once a song started playing, I immediately knew what it was and I bet you will too!

You probably wanted to know what my kids thought don’t you? Here I am rambling on and on about how much I liked it. My girls loved it. They love any fairy tale. If it has a prince or princess in it, they are all ears. Alyce kept asking me to turn it up. Turn it up mom! We’ve listened to it quite a few times since I received it and we haven’t tired of the story yet.

I think music is so important to a child’s development. I try to surround my kids with many many different types of music. I personally listen to everything. Well, except for maybe death metal. To each their own I say. I want my kids to be like me. I want them to enjoy popular music because it’s so much fun but I also want them to enjoy classical, broadway, jazz, blues, latin, country, R&B, etc.

This CD is an awesome way to introduce children to classical music without them saying, mom! Turn on Hannah Montana. This is boring. I promise, I didn’t hear that once!

You can listen to track 1 here. This page has a couple of other tracks that you can listen to before you buy Green Golly & Her Golden Flute.

One other thing I totally loved about this CD was that at the end, each of the songs that is used for the story line is played on it’s own. I’ll admit it. I’ve totally popped that in at night when I’m sitting here and listened to it on my own. They are gorgeous classics that you will know and love.

I have got one copy of Green Golly & Her Golden Flute for one of my readers to win!

Are you ready to enter?

MAIN ENTRY:

Tell me either what your favorite fairy tale is or your favorite classical music piece

MAKE SURE YOU DO THE MAIN ENTRY BEFORE ANY OF THE EXTRA ENTRIES! THANKS!

EXTRA ENTRIES:

This CD doesn’t have social networking info that I can find.

Because I add things to the extra entries every once in and awhile and I want them to be consistent, the extra entries relating to me now have their own page. You can also do any of those things to enter this giveaway AFTER you do the mandatory entry. (That link will open in a separate window/tab for you so you don’t have to use the back button.)

Here’s a tweet you can use –

- Win the beautiful cd, Green Golly & Her Golden Flute from #HeatherM74 http://bit.ly/aocJXQ ends 5/30 please RT #Giveaway! US only

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway ends on 5/30/10 at 11:59 PM CST. ETA – WORLDWIDE! – Winners will be chosen by random number generator. Winners will be emailed and must respond within 48 hours or an alternate winner will be chosen.

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Kids Fun, Music

Jordan’s Joke

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 29 - 2010

or mind bender, or whatever you shall call it.

He said that I could pass this on to you guys. He stumped myself, my mom, and my friend Diane with it. Read through it once and then answer the joke. Don’t go back up and reread until you answer it. That would be cheating my dear friends and you’d break an 11 year old’s heart.

You’re the bus driver.

10 people get on the bus.

2 people get off.

5 people get on the bus.

1 person gets off.

4 people get on the bus.

3 people get off.

25 people get on the bus.

10 get off.

Scroll down a tad-

Remember, don’t peak!

What color are the bus driver’s eyes?

Your answer is?

Whatever your eye color is because you’re the bus driver!

He he he.

He is such a smart kid.

All 3 of us are sitting there going, ok 10 minus 2, plus 5, ya di da, carry the – etc. Get to the eyes part. Well, how the heck do I know? I don’t know the bus driver.

Oh, I guess I do.

What should we have for dinner tonight? I’m thinking crock pot. Kat’s got soccer practice from 6 – 7 so it has to be done before we go. If my roast wasn’t frozen solid, I get that out and throw it in for french dip sandwiches. I wonder how long it would take to thaw it in the microwave?

Speaking of thawing things. I used to say dethaw. Drove my mama crazy. She’s all Heather, you can thaw things or you can defrost things, you can’t dethaw, then you’d be refreezing it. Whatever. I like the word dethaw. I stopped using it though to make my mama happy.

Speaking of my mama! Go welcome her back to the internet if you have a moment. They haven’t had it at home for a long time because they were sick of dial up which was the only option in their area. Finally they get satellite! My mom is back up and blogging! My dad is going to school right now for IT and has to be online quite a bit. He didn’t fight her on getting the satellite because he now has to be online multiple hours a day for school. Though, I just got an email forward from him, I don’t think that’s what you’re supposed to be doing right now daddy. Study study study! I want to see those grades up where mom’s were when she graduated, you know 4.0. Easy peasy dad! I don’t think my dad reads my blog. Though he gives me lots of grief when we get together. Is this going to be blogged about? Now don’t you go blogging about this. Are we going to be on the world wide web? Yes dad, say cheese!

You’ve actually seen that picture before, but it just felt right to put him up there for all the blogging jokes.

Love you dad!

I wanted to post a quick note about giveaway entries. I deleted this part of one entry so as not to embarrass that person when I brought this up. They had tweeted and said this is ridiculous above their tweet. I’m hoping they were joking because it was actually on a giveaway that has only been up a week. One – I run most of my giveaways for a month. It gives the sponsors more exposure and since they are kind enough to donate something for a giveaway, I’d like to give them that. They all have been happy with the month length. Two – you don’t have to do the extra entries. I hope everyone knows that. To enter, all you have to do is whatever the mandatory entry says to do. You don’t have to tweet daily if you don’t want to. I don’t mind. If you look back through my giveaways, I’ve had plenty of people win on their mandatory entry, so if you don’t want to do the extras, there’s still a good chance you can win just with the one entry. Just wanted to make sure you knew that the extras weren’t necessary to win. I know a lot of people join us in the blog giveaway world every day and it can be confusing at times because though a lot of the entry methods are the same, they differ a tad from blog to blog.

Happy giveaway-ing and have a great day!

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Ergobaby Baby Carrier

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 28 - 2010

Did you read my post awhile back about dangerous vs safe baby carriers? I have found a wonderful safe carrier that I am loving! Christiano is getting heavy enough that the ring sling pulls on my back and shoulders now. He is 14 months old and 27 lbs but still wants to be carried a lot. Plus there’s those moments that he doesn’t want to stay right with us when we’re walking. It’s a lot easier on my back to have him in a carrier so I have my other 2 hands free to hold Kat and Alyce’s hands also. Without the carrier Jordan is being put in charge of one other child so that I can keep my hands on 2 of them.

My girls are usually really good at staying right beside me, but at 3 and 6, they still can get distracted at times. (Read that as, run quickly in front of me to beat their siblings to the car. I don’t want Jordan to feel responsible if one of the girls wrenches free of his hand because they don’t listen to him like they do me.)

I was on the lookout for a new carrier that would be good for my back with Christiano. In steps in Ergobaby. They sent me their Black ERGObaby Sport Carrier to try out. I actually found them through another blogger who was showing some really cute pictures of herself carrying her toddler in back and her baby in front….at the same time! That’s coordination. In her comments she replied to someone else telling them that Ergobaby is the best carrier for carrying toddlers.

And there it is.

Saturday I took it with us to soccer to try out with Christiano. Pato helped me get into the first time because I wanted to make sure the straps were tight enough. You can carry the on the back, hip, or as I do, in the front. I’m just more comfortable carrying them up front where I can see them. I always have been like that with all 4 kids.

First person who laughs at my royally wind blow hair will be shown to the door. My bangs were shooting straight up.

Let’s start this out with, I’m a full figured mama. I don’t like my body, but it’s what I’ve got right now. I wear a size 16 pants but the chest area is what gets me. I had a reduction back when Jordan was 1. I was a 36B. After nursing 3 more children, I’m a 38D, pushing a DD. Why is it important that I share my TMI information? Because the carrier fits me. Comfortably. The straps come folded up so that they’d fit someone smaller in size than I am. I thought, oh crud, this is never going to fit me. I’m going to have to apologize for being to big and send it back. Then I unfolded the straps and there’s room to spare!

The test was trying to wear a 27 lb baby on me during a whole soccer game. Kat’s games run about 45 minutes. I’ve tried holding Christiano standing up at games before and my back and arms burn so badly that I have to put him down. Then he tries to join the game because you know that ball out there they are kicking around is on the field just to tease him.

After about 20 minutes I turned to Pato and said, you have got to try this. No pain. None. He nodded at me. He was waiting for me to hand Christiano over and tell him my arms and back were killing me.

Didn’t happen.

Christiano didn’t even squirm for a long time. In fact for a little while he laid like this on me –

Note, bangs are down, the rest of my hair is blowing sideways. Should I note here that I am wearing Pato’s huge sunglasses? My new contacts dry out really bad in the wind and his cover my face so the wind doesn’t get in.

About 10 minutes before the game was over he wanted down. I let him down and didn’t even need to stretch out my back. It was awesome!

I was so excited for Sunday’s game and to be able to use it again. It rained. And Christiano fell asleep in the car. And the other team forgot their player cards. Our team won by default. I was kind of bummed. Don’t tell Jordan.

Here are the features on the standard carrier I got –

Waist belt extends an additional 5 inches from 30 inches to a maximum of 48 inches
Shoulder straps extend an additional 4 inches compared to our Standard carrier (to 27")
Sleeping hood is detachable, and can be stored in carrier pocket
Zippered pocket replaced by pocket with easy Velcro closure for sleeping hood storage
400 threads per inch cotton poplin lining and hood
Body of carrier is 35% cotton and 65% polyester
One inch, high density foam in shoulder straps
Quarter inch high density neoprene foam in waist belt
High Quality buckles tested by SGS
High quality webbing, matched to carrier color
Reinforcement stitching used at all fabric intersections
Interior rip-stop reinforcements at critical intersections
Machine washable – cold, gentle cycles, mild detergent, no bleach. Dry in low heat

The only thing that didn’t work for us that the features mentioned is the sleeping hood. I couldn’t get that to extend over Nano’s head, but that might be more for the little bitty babies.

They even have organic carriers for my eco-minded fellow mommies!

If your little one is 4 months or less, you’ll want to get the infant insert to cradle their neck and head. So see, this carrier isn’t just for carrying those heavy babies, like mine, around. It is good for newborns and up! No wasting money on carriers as they get bigger. This one will last from newborn on up to the recommended 40 lbs and possibly above. My 3 year old is only 35 lbs. I could carry her in it if I so chose. I’m actually tempted just to try it and see how she fits! Kind of like I want to also see Pato use it. He’s never tried any of my carriers before. He has been complaining lately after a few minutes of carrying Christiano around the store that his arms are starting to burn. That coming from my big strong 6’2” 230 lb husband.

Over on their website they have lots of information including their FAQs, instructions on how to use it, research, certifications, endorsements, and media, ask the DR., a photo gallery with parents showing how they use the Ergobaby, other parenting resources, and much more! I’ve spent a lot of time going through the website and it’s so much more than just selling baby carriers, back packs, front pouches, changing pads, and sucking pads. It’s just full of information for parents!

Can you tell how thrilled I am with the Ergobaby carrier? I am so excited to go grocery shopping, to the mall, anywhere that I would normally use a cart or the stroller for Christiano. It doesn’t take long before he is screaming to get down from them. Pato lets him walk when they are in the store. That’s a bad thing. I’m telling you. He thinks he has to walk everywhere now and the last thing I want to do is pick up everything he has knocked off the bottom shelf at Hy-Vee while I’m shopping. He’s happy being carried. Before I couldn’t do it for that long so it was a battle between the cart and my arms. If I can stand at a soccer game with him for that long without hurting, I can get through the grocery store with him in it also!

I haven’t done this in awhile, because honestly, I forgot I had it. But in light of this carrier, I think it’s time to bust out the big huge –

It allows me to carry Christiano and keep him safe without straining my back and arms, leaving my hands free to hold my 3 and 6 year olds hands while crossing parking lots. No one trying to dart away from me! Love it!

Absolute best carrier I have ever used in my 11 years of having children! Hands down.

Thank you so much to Ergobaby for providing me with the Black ERGObaby Sport Carrier to review. I loved it!

ERGObaby on Twitter

ERGObaby on Facebook

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Baby

The Real Housewives of New Jersey – Season 1

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 28 - 2010

Those of you who have been here awhile know that we don’t have cable. Sometimes I hate my whole “the kids watch too much TV as it is” stance because I miss out on a lot of popular shows. The Real Housewives of New Jersey being one that I’ve caught bits and pieces of online and really wanted to watch. I got the Season 1 DVDs the other day, popped it in, low and behold, my husband had unhooked the DVD player from the surround sound so he could play the Wii off of it. Saturday I beg him, hook it up. Sunday – hook it up please. Monday morning he finally did. Monday night I had a Housewives marathon. I watched the first DVD and half of the second. Last night I finished the other 1/2 of the second and the third.

Bravo heads to the Garden State to follow the five most Jersey of all Jersey Girls as they live lavish lifestyles and deal with all the drama that money can buy.
The hair is big, but the drama is bigger in The Real Housewives of New Jersey: Season One. For the first time in Real Housewives history, the ladies are more than just friends – joining the cast are two sisters, who are married to two brothers – and one sister-in-law, bringing a whole new level of familial drama to the table. While family remains a priority for each of these women, their shopping, decorating, dating and even fighting are all over-the-top.
From their wild weekend in Atlantic City to the infamous table flip, watch every episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey: Season One including the two Watch What Happens episodes, The Lost Footage and the director’s cut of the season finale, all of 3 DVDs.

My verdict? Loved it! There’s just something about taking this voyeuristic peak into other people’s lives that makes me happy I am who I am. I’d love their money, I’d love to own 1/5 of one of their houses, I’d be ecstatic to have of their wardrobes but though each of them have their good points (and bad) I’m really glad I’m not as materialistic or dramatic as they are and my children aren’t spoiled the way most of theirs are. I used to consider myself a housewife, but I’m thinking somewhere along the line I got shorted because I definitely don’t make that much as a housewife.

If you watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say, my heart wants to go out to Danielle, but then my brain stops me. I do feel for her, especially when she talked about her childhood in Watch What Happens, I want her to get with the other ladies, for them to all to make nice, be friends, but then part of me sits here saying, come on. If I knew her in real life, would I put up with the stuff she does? No. Not that I would actually be friends with any of them, well, maybe Jacqueline. Maybe she wouldn’t mind so much that I don’t have the money they do. Plus, if Danielle didn’t do what she does, Teresa wouldn’t be flipping tables in the middle of a restaurant and then where we would be? I have to comment on the fact that Danielle exposes her daughters to too much. Maybe I’m just an old-fashioned type of mom and housewife, just saying. Too much.

I found the book on Amazon that caused all of the controversy on the show, it has some pretty cruddy reviews, but if you’d like to see it – Cop Without a Badge.

And then I had to follow links to see what Smoking Gun had to say about the situation.

And I noted that Danielle has released her own book – The Naked Truth: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewife of New Jersey–In Her Own Words. I kind of want to read that one now.

If you love some good drama – on TV, not in your life, I’m going to recommend The Real Housewives of New Jersey – Season 1. I had a blast watching it!

Now I either have to break down and get cable or wait until Season 2 comes out on DVD. Considering it will just start on May 3, I’ve got awhile to wait. You can always catch it on Bravo and clue me in! Please?

Check out The Real Housewives of New Jersey on Bravo.

Now, someone tell me how this compares to the other Housewives shows. Do I need to buy those DVDs? Are they just as good?

How close is Philly to NJ? If there are jobs in philly pa, we can move there and be closer to the RHONJ. Sorry, had to do that.

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Movies

It Is Working!

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 28 - 2010

First I’ll start off with some pictures from soccer practice last night. I got a few snapped before my battery died. I haven’t charged it in like 2 weeks and I use my camera a lot. I’m surprised it didn’t die before now.

Christiano, thinking he’s a photographer with my camera bag. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for me, my camera was in my hands and not in the bag.

I was zoomed in quite a bit for these pictures of Jordan, then I cropped them in closer, so they aren’t the clearest, but i still love them. Jordan going for a goal.

Not getting your bag back mom.

Do you think it’s working? I’ll tell you what I’m talking about in a few.

Jordan loves his soccer friends. They’ve been playing together for many many seasons. Unfortunately, they are in different schools. I think our district is on it’s way to 6 or 7 elementary schools. I’m not sure if it’s 6 or 7 that is opening this fall. I wish he could spend more time with these kids.

For the record, Katiana is responsible for the headband in her hair. She found it in the backseat on the way and did her own hair on the way.

When you look at my girls, is the difference in the eye color not dramatic. With Alyce’s light blue eyes and Kat’s dark blue eyes, it still shocks me when you put the two of them together like that.

So, what’s working you might ask? I told you the other day that I thought all the things we are doing to help Jordan lose weight might be working.

He came home the other day from school just spilling over with excitement! He had walked into class that morning and a girl named Grace looked at him and said, Jordan are you getting smaller?

He said which way?

She said around? Are you sucking in?

He said no, this is sucking in.

She said yep, you’re getting smaller!

So it’s all working. He was so happy that someone noticed!

Pato noticed too. Which is huge because I could color my hair purple and he wouldn’t say a thing about it. I actually dyed it black and red and he didn’t say anything until I pointed it out 2 days later. Drives me nuts.

I’m so proud of Jordan. We’ll get him to a healthy weight yet!

A couple of funnies –

Last night I told Jordan to turn off his computer and go to bed. Christiano went running in yelling, OFF OFF OFF! He’s going to be my little enforcer I think.

Jordan finally turned off the computer and came into my room and laid down in my bed. I said, get out of my bed and go to sleep in yours. Now. Jordan just ignored me. When I count Jordan down that means he’s going to lose something for a few days. I said 1….. Christiano who had gone into my bathroom to get in trouble himself yelled out two!

Telling you, he’s going to keep the other 3 in line for me.

Have a great day!

P.S. Make sure you check out my new reviews and giveaways! I’ve got the prettiest piece of furniture coming up, it’s not rustic furniture but I still love it! I’d love some comments on the things I’ve reviewed for the businesses to get some feedback if you have a few spare moments. Thank you!

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That’s Over

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 27 - 2010

I missed yesterday. It’s that time of year again.

Apartment inspection. Well, they cloak it under air conditioner cover removal, but we’re inspecting too.

Last year we got inspected 3 times in 6 months. Not just our apartment. The whole complex. If I told you my apartment number you’d say, wow. That’s a big number. That’s what everyone says when I tell them where to address our mail to. It’s 5 digits. That’s our apartment number, not the building number. It’s a huge complex. Stretches down from me 2 miles. It straddles 2 school districts and 2 counties.

I kind of feel for maintenance at inspection time.

So Sunday was spent busting our butt doing deep cleaning, which I swear I just did but they are picky. I told you the other day about the toys and the notorious jalapeño peppers that I will never forget. I forgot to tell about the time that they actually instructed us all on how to use Old English on our cupboards. No other brand but Old English. I asked my neighbors. They got it too. Sorry, the cupboards aren’t that nice. Pledge will do. Thanks!

Last year when the manager came around with maintenance, a rare treat for all of us, she actually ran her finger over my canisters to see if there was grease on them. Just checking she said, because grease attracts little critters. Thanks, I never would have figured that out on my own.

Lucky for me, she wasn’t with them this time. I left a note on the table about the microwave, fridge, and shower. I told them I would be nursing the baby in the master bedroom and to please not go in there. They didn’t read it first. They pounded and pounded and came in and yelled – MAINTENENCE! Ya think? Then they set off the smoke alarms as I was getting Nano and I out of bed. Well, if he wasn’t awake before, he is now. I walked out here to 5 men running in 5 different directions getting things done. And I think one was a newbie because he was being watched over as he removed my cover. It’s real hard to remove 4 bolts. If I would have had a wrench handy, I would have done it for them so they wouldn’t have had to move my futon. I usually do do it every year so I don’t have to move furniture. Pato stole my wrench and it’s in the garage. I wasn’t feeling ambitious enough to walk both the littles out there to find it amongst his crap stuff. My favorite Spanish speaking maintenance man was missing. He is hilarious. He likes to complain about how stupid inspections are when he is in our apartment – in Spanish. He knows Pato and I are the only ones who get that he is ripping on the job, with a smile on his face.

They breezed in and out, removed the air conditioner cover, checked the window quilts to see if they needed rehung, that was that. Didn’t even stop to look in my kids rooms that I meticulously vacuumed and dusted and fought WWIII to have cleaned again. Hello! You are supposed to inspect. It’s what you do. You make my life completely stressed out for a week every couple of months in the summer.

They were mellow. The lady down the hall had made them cookies. Dude, I love you because you fix the dryer when it’s broke, but I don’t love you enough to dirty dishes for while I’m trying to keep the sink completely empty of dishes. Want a cup of coffee? No? That’s good actually. I only made enough for me. Plus, I don’t have anything to make cookies in the house. Plenty of weight loss products though, you know protein shakes, protein bars, lettuce. I don’t think you want a cookie with that.

They were the reason I didn’t blog yesterday. Well, them and The Real Housewives of New Jersey which I am currently addicted to watching watching for review purposes. I got Season 1 and am through disc 1 and 1/2 of disc two. There’s also a disc 3. Man, I want to be a real housewife. Whatever it is called that I’m doing does not pay as much as being a New Jersey housewife.

Yesterday morning I got up thinking it was 7:15. Got the kids in the shower. My sister called. Looked at my phone. It’s 8. When the heck did it become 8? My alarm clock died somehow. It’s not changing time. Yelling at the kids to hurry in the shower. I ended up driving them plus 2 little girls that also missed the bus to school. Then I came home and chased after the 2 youngest ones all day making sure they didn’t get anything on the floor before our inspection.

Last night I just sat and vegged watching the DVD. I don’t watch TV hardly at all. It was kind of nice just to relax and give myself time to do absolutely nothing.

Went to bed at 4 AM. Pato made me a deal. If I wouldn’t say I’m too tired, he’d get the kids up for school at 7. Ok. Fine. (Such enthusiasm I know.) Couldn’t get Christiano back to sleep until 2. Then he woke up every 15 minutes. (He’s got a cold.) Mood killer I tell you. At 3:45, I noticed the bathroom light go on. Pato. Pato! Whose in the bathroom? What bathroom? Our bathroom you big doof. Katiana has now been scarred for life. Actually, she didn’t mention it this morning so she must not have noticed. Thank God.

Finally get to sleep. Pato wakes me up at 8:35 to tell me the bus hasn’t come yet. The bus hasn’t come or you sent our kids out too late and the bus is gone? He told me Tyler was out there still and I have never seen Tyler miss the bus.

I went out and asked Jordan if the bus has come around yet. School starts at 8:50. No. Haven’t seen it.

I came in and asked Pato what time he sent them out? 8:15 – that’s the same time I send them out.

Called the bus barn. Turns out the bus had come and gone. And she had made 2 trips through the parking lots of the buildings near me because no one was outside yet. Well, dude, the bus isn’t supposed to be there until 8:20. We’re supposed to send them out 5 minutes early. What time did you get there???

Had to drive them to school again this morning. And Tyler. I don’t think my kids should get an unexcused tardy when the bus comes before they wake up. I might be exaggerating, but it did come before it’s normal time.

So now, I have nothing to do. Nothing but get back to The Real Housewives of New Jersey. I was supposed to watch it last weekend, but Pato decided he needed to hook the Wii up for surround sound and didn’t hook the DVD player up to anything. No sound. Yes, I am perfectly capable of moving the entertainment center out and hooking it up…….. if there weren’t so many cords and things plugged in to this and that and I didn’t have this horrible fear of being electrocuted if I mess with Pato’s system.

I do have to figure out what to make for supper. Jordan’s got soccer tonight. They are scrimmaging the team they were supposed to play on Sunday. That ticked me off too. I interrupted my cleaning frenzy to take him to his game at 1. It was raining. The baby was sleeping. We sat in the car. 30 minutes after they started (I couldn’t see the game from my car) Jordan comes running back. I said, you’re done? Yep! What? The ref won’t let us play. Why? The other team forgot their player cards. We won. They tried to scrimmage each other, but the ref broke that up real quick. No cards, no play.

It’s the coach’s job to bring the player cards at this age. If I would have been the parents’ on that time, and I had to drive from the south side of Des Moines down a gravel road to a soccer game in the middle of a cornfield, I would have been ticked.

Oh well. They are scrimmaging tonight – I don’t think the ref knows or he’d probably stop it.

Have a great day!

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My Life

Bad Mommy Award

Posted by Heather Manning On April - 25 - 2010

Before I tell you about how I deserve the Bad Mommy Award, I’ll show you some pictures from yesterday’s soccer game, where Kat made another goal! YAY! I’m so proud of her. She’s getting better season by season and it’s fun to watch her progress. She’s on her third season now. Pato was in charge of the camera because I was testing out a new baby carrier that I got to review. Review coming soon!

Kat’s in the middle – white shirt, long pony tail.

Ok, so it totally doesn’t matter that the game is going on all around us, we have got to dish about what so and so wore to school the other day, was it not fabulous? I wish my mom would go get that for me!

Kat and her friend that’s in her class at school stopping to discuss whatever they needed to discuss. They were holding hands after this picture. I’m surprised they didn’t start skipping down the yellow brick road.

Jordan practicing with one of his friends during Kat’s game.

Alyce knows she’s a star!

Kat going for the ball.

Nano and me with my windblown hair. Seriously, windy.

So, that was soccer. Then we went to Ryan’s for lunch because Pato lives for buffets.

Then we came home and no one helped clean so they are in for some fun today!

Off to pictures where the rain held off.

Then we went to the grocery store, taking 2 cars, one to hold the kids, one to hold the groceries. I got completely stressed out. I hate taking everyone to the store. I just want to go, get the stuff I need and get out. Not sit there and remind people over and over again, I suggest you stay with me or you can go walk around with your dad who is filling up another cart. Sigh We ended up spending $200 more than I usually spend because Pato had his own cart. It was impossible to get it all put away.

While I was paying came the bad mommy award moment. I was moving the cart out of the way, pushing it out of the check out aisle. Alyce started screaming as I am pulling the cart through. She had her pinky finger caught between the little check writing ledge and the cart and here I am smashing it and pulling the cart pulling her finger along with it. I cried with her.

Her pinky was purple and swollen and I’m sitting here telling Pato, you check out, I’m taking her to the hospital to make sure it’s not broken. Typical Heather. I panic. It’s what I do. Pato is telling me that he thinks that it’s not broken. Nice calm, cool, collected Pato. He picked Alyce up and took her down to Starbucks to get some ice. I finished paying. He’s felt along her finger, he couldn’t feel a break, but it looked horrible. Swollen bruised, skin scraped off. I went and got 4 band aids from customer service and taped her little finger to the other one that way.

In between tears as I am apologizing over and over again, almost crying along with her as people are staring to see what happened to the little girl who has an ear piercing shriek, Alyce says to me,

It’s OK mommy. It was an accidently.

Is she not the cutest sweetest doll baby ever?

I still feel like crap.

She hasn’t woken up yet today for me to see what her finger looks like this morning.

Ok, now hand it on over. I’ll accept the bad mommy award for almost breaking my 3 year old’s pinky finger, because I wasn’t paying attention to where all hands were when I moved the cart.

We’ve got more soccer today so I’ve got to go get kids ready.

Have a great day!

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