Monday Madness- Realationships

Realationships.

Yep. I know there's a typo in there. 

It's curious to me. I've always been a pretty good speller. I have a deep love for words and their meanings and and how they morph from the root to other words. I pride myself on spelling. 

What strikes me as odd is that I've repeated that typo at least three times in the last 48 hours. Is my subconscious trying to tell me something?  I mean, I KNOW  how to spell the word re-la-tion-ships. But when I noticed what I kept doing repeatedly, I paused. 

One thing I really love about Karen is if she is your friend, she is your real friend.  There's no covering things and you always know where you stand and you don't have to guess how she feels about something. She just tells you. Graciously. (Well, mostly graciously. Unless we are in The Pool of Truth. Then all bets are off.) But...What if all my re-lationships got real? What if they really were REAL-ationships? Then where would we be? What if we were friends with people, not for what they could do for us, not for company politics or ladder climbing or buddying up to me to sell me something, but friends because we were better people for having known each other? What if we had REALationships because we made each other think and just got along and knew how to laugh together? 

What if we just got REAL?

Yours, considering what makes a friendship a REALationship,

Melissa

Monday Madness-Because It's Monday

Do you have an idea how much I enjoyed Karen's last post? I'm finally getting some respect around here. ;) 

It IS hard to be a working woman with a husband and kids. In my case, I have two part time jobs which equal to more than one full time job. And I'm married. With two children. Sometimes I'm caught up on laundry. Most often I'm not. Grocery shopping kills me. To be perfectly honest, after a long day of working with people, the last thing I want is to go to the store and be around more people. Lately, I've found myself just wanting to come home (my sweet, sweet haven) and be in complete quiet. Well, with the occasional guilty pleasure of Real Housewives or Shahs of Sunset. Talk about perspective! I mean, seriously, have you ever watched them? Farthest thing from reality, ever. But I digress...

But Vanderpump Rules? Wow. Just, wow. The victimization and drama. And the way the others will chase after one particular person. What kind of power does one person have over the rest of the other people? How do people do that? 

Sometimes I wish I knew. But then again, I really don't. I'm just not built that way. And I'm okay with that. 

Yours, toddling off to bed now,

Melissa

Monday Madness- When did THIS Happen?

It's Monday. I'll be brief.

1.) He's turning 12 this week.
2.) She's turning 10 in 6 weeks.
3.) I can no longer rest my chin on top of his head without having to stretch my neck.
4.) Karen is moving to Florida. 
5.) Two of my musician friends, whom I love each so dearly, are moving on to different dreams within the next 5 months. 
6.)Yes, I'm a mess.

Lots of change going on all around me. Better get in there and enjoy every single minute while I can- even in the middle of the madness!

Yours, soaking up every minute of it,

Melissa

PS- Happy President's Day! If you have not seen the HBO mini-series John Adams with Paul Giamatti, you absolutely need to watch the entire thing. It will give you a much needed/deeper appreciation for what our founding fathers went through to set up this great nation. 

Monday Madness-Where Have We Been?

So sorry for our absence, dear readers. I had a major fundraising event a week ago Friday, Karen's been sick (Pneumonia? It's going around!) and then there was the election. All of that to say, yes, it's been quite chaotic as of late. And from all of these activities we go straight into the holiday season, which for the musicians, means a whole lotta work right now and not much after Christmas. Not that I'm tweaky about it yet or anything like that. :)

But today, I'm taking a moment to breathe. I'm doing the 21 day thankfulness challenge. And even though today's thankful list includes being thankful for steam cleaners and the extra time to clean up that coffee spill out of the carpet right away and the fact that The Hubs was not there to see me do it (priceless!), I still have to admit, we live pretty good lives. Yes, we all have inconveniences. And heart-stopping moments. We have even experienced catastrophic things. But we're still here, still chuggin' along, still finding things to laugh about. And for that, I'm thankful.

So go ahead- I dare you. For the rest of November- heck, the rest of the year!- find something every single day to be thankful about. Bet it just might do you some good.

Yours, thankful the coffee actually came OUT of the carpet,

Melissa

Monday Madness- Introducing Humor

Typical Monday morning. No one wants to get put of bed no matter how many times I turn the lights on. The thought of going to school is unappealing. The thought of having to go to work even less than appealing. Who made Monday anyway? Oh, right. That would be a God thing. My Monday Moodiness is probably the least of His concerns at the moment, yes?

The Hubs and I have been doing something for the last year that has really made a breakthrough in our marriage, thus in family life. We laugh at things. We laugh at each other. We laugh at ourselves. We tick each other off by making fun at each other and laugh until the other person has to leave the room. This morning was no different.

He was fussy because it was Monday and he was taking The Lolanator to the vet. I had already gotten the speech the previous evening about it was not his dog, blah, blah, blah, and he doesn't know why, wah wah, waaaah,(insert Charlie Brown's teacher's voice here) wahh, wahh, and why should he have to blabbity blah blah. So this morning he announces he is taking my car (the one he prefers, nay, tried to con me out of by telling me how much better I looked in his car- FAT CHANCE BUCKO!) because he has to take the dog. So Z2 looks at me, rolls her eyes and says,"FUSS -Y!" to which he got even fussier. To which Z2 and I immediately pounced on and started making fun of him. So he had to leave the room. He comes back in to get Lola and sees that I have the pincher collar on her. She's not a bad or mean dog- she's a big teddy bear. But she doesn't realized her own strength, so the pincher just lets her know when she is going too far. I get lectured about that- how the vet always gives him a dirty look when she is wearing that collar.

I try to explain, but am promptly cut off mid sentence. So I change her collar. He makes it six steps out the door before she escapes and runs down the street. 

Yup. Sometimes you just gotta laugh!

Yours, thankful for humor,

Melissa

Monday Madness

Yes, it's Monday. It comes every seven days. Somehow, I haven't been able to get it to stop. I keep trying, but Monday faithfully shows up. Ahhhhh, Monday, if there is ANYthing in life I can count upon, it is you.

And with the usual Monday Madness came Book Club.We just finished The Kitchen House, a gripping tale with the right amount of sunlight to give you hope to hang on to the end. I really liked it. But even better? My Book Club Company. We had a wonderful evening. A night where I got to be just Melissa. Which is really nice when you are a musician and have a job where you interact with people a lot. You don't always allow yourself to be as transparent as you would like to be. 

Which got me to thinking about Friday night. Friday night I went to a dinner celebrating Karen's birthday. She took her closest "sister friends" out to dinner. (The Melting Pot was unbelievable! Although, my clothing smelled horrendous afterwards. Completely worth it!)

Two nights in the last 96 hours where I got to just let my hair down, not worry about much and not have to think about things. It's amazing what that can do for a girl, even with the Madness that was today (teaching, groceries, cleaning, dinner, lunch and breakfast prep, getting a wayward math student to school early, etc.)

Make time this week to just be you. Just be. Just indulge- in mind cleaning head-space cleaning breathing time. You'll come away feeling refreshed, alive, and remembering who you are. Best three hours you can spend. Consider it an investment- not only for you, but for those around you. After you come back, you are a better version of yourself, more patient, smiling and ready to deal with the Madness that is Monday.

Plan it. It won't get done any other way. It's hard at first, but I can promise you, you will be glad you did.

Yours, looking at next week's schedule to plan some ME time,

Melissa

Monday Madness- So Close and SO Far

It's Monday. The second to last Monday of the school year. I have called the secretary every day for the past week with transportation changes. I have triple scheduled myself 3 out of the last 8 days. I turned in my grades a day late, one of which I don't even have a grade for one of the students.


YEP.


I'm right on schedule.


How is it that May always hits me as if it is hitting for the first time? I've really got to fix this. 


Right after I finish this blog, fold the laundry, start another load and get the schedule for the week straightened out.


Yours, still thankful in the midst of the madness,


Melissa

Monday Madness- A Great Way To Say It

My kids are growing up. We're beginning to hit some of those moments that make parents a little nervous. (Just wait until you read the Friday Funny this week. I nearly drove off the road!)

I was talking with a fellow parent whose child recently became interested in a subject that let her mom know that she was growing up a little bit. She was relaying the story to me and I said,"Oh my goodness! What did you say?!" And she replied:

If you are interested in something, ask me about it. I'm happy to talk about it with you no matter what it is. I know you are going to ask your friends, but they may have the wrong information and it might cause you to get hurt. They're just finding out about things too so they don't always have it right. I don't want to see you get hurt. So just ask me and we'll talk about it. 

Wow. Simple. To the point. No pressure, no judgement, no boundaries. I went home and found my own Z2. I said the same thing to her. (I did add, "It might take me a minute, but just stay with me and we'll get through it. :)   But what a great way to explain to your kids that you want them to come to you- for their safety. Don't be embarrassed, don't feel ashamed... it's all normal and we'll get through it. 

Yours, working through those growing up questions,

Melisssa

Monday Madness- Unbelievable...

Yes, I know. I missed the Friday Funny. I tried several times, but to be honest, I just wasn't feeling the funny thing Friday. A million things happen through the week that just crack me up, but come Friday it was as if they all disappeared. ARGH. 


Something that HAS stayed with me, though, has been haunting me a bit since Spring Break. Remember how I said the kids went with me to sit in class while I taught? And we had so much fun and I took them to the bookstore and they picked out shirts for themselves and such? Well, Z2 picked out a Ladies' cut tee.    Really cute. In fact, she wanted us to have matching tees. So I bought her a small and me a medium. We didn't bother to try them on, because, well, I wear a medium and just knew that the shirt would be big on her. She's an average 8 year old. Average height, average weight.  I thought all would be well. 


We get in the car and she changes her shirt right away. It fit her perfectly, with the exception of it being too long. While I was thrilled it fit her so well, I was also surprised. Needless to say, the medium sized tee was not fitting me. At all. As in, NOWAY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH GONNA GET THAT THING ON MY BODY AND SET FOOT OUTSIDE THE HOUSE not fitting. 


Which got me to thinking.... she's eight and she's wearing a ladies' small? So I decided to compare her Webster shirt with one of her size 9 tees from Justice. The Webster shirt is all of one HALF inch wider. And this was prewashing. 


So what the makers of collegiate clothing are saying is that at age 18-23, I should be able to wear a size 9 or size 11 from Justice.


It's absolutely no wonder there are so many eating disorders in Amercia.  How in the world can I raise a beautiful young girl with a healthy self esteem if this is what I'm up against?


Yours, seriously considering getting on the phone to start tracking these people down,


Melissa

Monday Madness- Home Safe And Sound

It was strangely quiet around here this weekend. No loud laughter. No chasing the dog through the house. Z2 tried on her own, but it just wasn't the same. On Friday morning she was saying,"Wow, Mom. It sure is quiet. I don't know how much I like it!"
But by about 5:30 this evening, all was back to normal. Well, almost. Z1 got off the bus. I was hoping for a hug, but he wanted me to meet his new friend he had made. I started to hear details about the trip. And then, he got us all together. Family hug. Now it felt back to normal. Almost. 
Home. Dinner. Homework. Showers. And then we heard it. The Zs were sitting at the computer. It started as a little giggle. Then a chuckle. Then a chortle and an all out belly laugh.
Yep. That's it. Now all is right in the world.


Yours, happy to have all the chickies in the nest tonight,


Melissa

Monday Madness- The Times, They Are a Changin'!_

Monday, Monday, Monday.... today I considered calling in, just to rest from this cold, but that would have made me one in 7 million people who will call in the day after Superbowl (YAY Giants!). I figured it was probably not a good idea and that I should soldier through. I'm hoping to save a day off for something a little more fun, anyway.  :D


I'm hitting one of those transitional periods in life. When isn't one in transition, really? But these are more apparent, lately. I've finally registered my son for Middle School. I cried. I couldn't help it. It's not that I want him to stay little forever. Friends assure me that the teen years will take care of any feelings of "Please don't grow up and leave me!". But right now, it's hard to see that. 


On the other end, I was sitting in a meeting today and my cell phone buzzed. I looked down and saw it was my mother. I didn't hesitate. I answered it right away. Wait. When did THAT happen? I mean, when did I start looking down at the caller ID and wondering if everything was okay when I saw that it was her? And I'm beginning to fill in more lines in our book- The Caregiver Organizer for MY Aging Parents.    
Did it ever seem possible that our parents would age? I'm handling it about as well as I'm handling Middle School registration. I'm holding on for dear life and trying to soak up every single minute. I'm answering the phone. I'm making myself call more often. I'm making sure I'm home by the time the kids get home so I can have time with them and also taking them to see my parents more often.


Oh the circle of life. I know it's a reality. Today it just seems a little more prominent. So I'll enjoy every moment I can and teach my children to do the same.  


And now, time to go get the Lola-nator who's gotten into a cloth bookmark and is trying to eat it while being chased and yelled at by Z2. Yes, I'll even enjoy THIS moment.


Yours, soaking it all in,


Melissa

Monday Madness

Yes, its been THAT hectic today! But I still have a hour and a half left to get my blog finished and call it Monday Madness. :)  Today began with making lists, getting four children to school, getting gas on the rental car (I had to call the rental place because I couldn't find where the button was to unlock the gas tank! Embarrassing!) and return the car, all before 9 AM. Then a quick run by the grocery and on to teaching class. Got there and realized I did not have my parking pass so detour to Public Safety. I didn't want to take a chance on that $35 fine for not displaying a permit. Teach a class then grab a hot dog and on to getting my hair done. AH. And hour and a half in the Sanity Chair. I love my hairdresser. LOVE her. Then on to a three hour rehearsal and do some email and return some calls and come home to a kitchen I JUST got cleaned. I'm supposed to be emailing my class right now, but then I remembered that I had to blog and then.... I realized that Thanksgiving is only THREE. DAYS. AWAY.


I am SO not ready! 


I think I have some sweet potatoes and a can of pumpkin. If I shift a few things around, I might find some green beans, but I cannot attest to their freshness lifestage at the moment.


Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow? 


Yours, wishing for the ability to clone and teleport myself,

Melissa

Monday Madness- Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween!  Always fun for the kids. I must admit, this year I've been a bit behind in fall decor. I just last night pulled out my Trick-or-Treat sign and jack-o-lanterns. I've been busy with other things. AS well, I'm a little jaded this year. Someone stole my kids' pumpkins right off my front porch. And I really don't have much of a porch. It's more like a sidewalk leading up to the front door with a nice sized landing space. Which means they had to come right up to my front door. Hooligans! May their candy be absolutely rotten and give them a good old fashioned stomach ache tonight. Hhmph!


And last night, in another brilliant move, The Hubs and I watched the end of, uhm, I THINK it was Halloween. It featured Jamie Lee Curtis and some guy in a mask and there were axes and knives and running people over with trucks. Pretty gory stuff with the masked guy popping out of creepy corners. Which was perfectly fine- until I had to take Lola for a walk on our deserted streets at 10 pm. Leaves make an eerie sound swirling in the wind. Quickest potty run ever!


Tonight we will also celebrate my mother's birthday. Yes. She was born on Halloween. A lot of things about me make sense now, don't they...  ;)


Yours, hoping you have a fun-filled trick or treating night!


Melissa

Monday Madness- CARDINAL NATION!!!!

If you are in St. Louis, or just not living under a rock in the world of sports, you know I have only one thing to say this morning.....

SIT DOWN BREWERS!!!!! LET'S GO CARDS!!!!!!!!!


So excited the Cards are going to the World Series!


Yours, celebrating The Cardinal Nation,


Melissa

Monday Madness- Sit Down, Brewers!

Dear Milwaukee Brewers,


I've got to give mad props to Pujols, Carpenter, Thierot, Molina, Berkman and the rest of the BIRDS. I think you just might want to save face and stay home. See you at Busch for Game Three!

Love,

The Rally Squirrel

The Madness Which Is Monday

It's Monday (no kidding). So let me just start first with the apologies. Might as well get them out of the way and move on to new things, right?

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!!!!!!!! She won't let me bring her birthday cake (see her last post) and it took me until 8:30 pm to call her (a disagreement with a family member threw me ALL kinds of off course yesterday) and she has a terrible cold. How awful to be sick on your birthday. This simply means whatever we do to celebrate it needs to be enough fun to make up for it. K- I hope you are feeling better and I love you tremendously!

OH!! SIDENOTE (of which I will blog about in the coming days...) My brother in law is brilliant and Karmel Publishing does not owe any tax penalties!!!!! I think that's good for a group happy dance? What say you?? Every one take five, get up and shake it!

Second, I'm sorry I didn't post a Friday Funny. Or a Saturday Sass. Not even a Sunday Song! Good night, what's wrong with me? It was a busy weekend, to be certain. Friday night and Saturday at the lake. Sunday morning- a long run (I'm in training for a marathon). Then church. Then house chores and finally dinner with my parents. Throw in quality time with The Hubs and kids and call it good.

And now we are back to Monday. I have already taken care of Lola, had quiet time, made breakfast, and the bed, gotten my children and the neighbor children off to school, called my insurance man, stopped at the pet store (training classes and a new collar), got a second breakfast (this training is wreaking havoc on my blood sugar!) stopped at the fruit stand, got a coffee and now I sit blogging to you about absolutely nothing and everything! In a few moments I will be off to meld the minds of future musicians. And clearly, most in this new batch are going to need an extra dose of reality with a splash of motivation in there. Maybe it's time for the "We are now on University Level, people" talk. What do you think? Is Week Two too early for that?

And what of your Monday? Anything like mine? Would love to hear what yours is turning out to be. I hate to be so one sided, you know. Do use the comment and let me know about your OWN Monday Madness. Hearing about others keeps me a.) humble and b.) thankful. So let it rip. I'm listening.

Yours, wishing you a happy and productive week,

Melissa

Monday and all of its Madness!

I have a dear girlfriend that I have known since my freshman year in high school. First day of ninth grade, I noticed she was on her own. It was pretty hard not to notice it when there's only about 110+ teenagers in your class. I walked up to her and said,"Hi. My name's Missy. What's yours?" We've been friends ever since. We've been through highschool, college, singleness, marriage, divorce, severe illness, having kids... we've waked through life together. Even when we haven't been with each other on a daily basis, we've still walked together. Have friends like that? They're a treasure.

My friend recently adopted a child. She and her husband found the birth mother and they were present for the delivery and the relationship between everyone has been wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, I've been wondering when it was going to hit. Not that I'm a cynic, but it seemed to be going so smoothly that it worried me. They bring the baby home. Life is wonderful for about two weeks. Everyone is loving the baby, my friend and her husband are over the moon in love with the baby and wouldn't you know it, the birth father, who now happens to be in prison, is deciding whether or not he wants to sue for the right to have his mother raise the child.

You're kidding me, right? Seriously? This guy is in prison and gets the right to a free trial while my friends have to fork over another 10K+ to defend the adoption? Something is not right here. I would understand if he was in for a petty crime with circumstantial evidence. Let's suffice to say this guy has a track record which would make any parent think twice about him having influence over a child's life. And he gets to wreak havoc for free. Actually, not for free... OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE PAYING FOR THIS.

Someone help me understand this... I'm trying to stay fair and balanced, but I'm just not seeing it. I think if he REALLY wants custody, he should have to fork over the money like everyone else. It's not like he is having an attorney to defend his freedom. That I would get. He's been convicted. Feels like he should have to give up this right too. But then again, that's probably my bias toward my friend talking.

Yours, hoping he drops his suit,

Melissa

Monday Madness- Putting Down the Pen

If you're a regular reader here at Macaroni and Chicken Fingers, you will know that we just released our THIRD e-organizer, The Caregiver Organizer for MY Special Needs Child. YAY! It's done!!!!! (Yes, I'm doing the happy dance. And it's a very, very happy one. Exuberant and a little bit over the top would probably be a better description, but I digress). I read Karen's blog the other day, the one in which she said we would not be writing anything for a while.

I could not be happier!

Seriously, I know I'm a writer, but there is a time to write, and a time to take a break. I'm quite proud (not in an arrogant sort of way, but more of a yes, we worked pretty hard on this and I'm really happy to be finished with it) of our accomplishment. We stayed the course and completed it!

And just in time for Christmas. Do you know there are only TEN days left? And probably only about EIGHT SHOPPING DAYS. I tremble as I type this. I have about half of my shopping done, none of my baking and none of my Christmas cards. Guess what my next writing project is about to be....

Yours, thinking there is RARELY a time when the pen gets rest,

Melissa