my home friend

Last night I had dinner with a friend, not just any friend but my bestie.  Two hours that refreshed my soul.

For some reason we have this entire week off of school, who knows the logic, I sure don't, and we still have spring break in April so perhaps this is just some sort of teaser who knows.  But flyboy's away, we were off, so why not come home for a quick visit.

Ma had the kids, I was off duty, a last minute text that resulted in a last minute dinner, but that's just sorta the way her and I roll.  She's my best friend, my home friend.  We met in a crappy job fresh out of high school.

And please people, trust me when I say crappy, it was a student aide position in the Financial Aide office and they too joy in making our lives miserable, they actually took away our scissors at one point to make us feel like true idiots.

But we found each other there.  We were similar but different, she's barely 5" and I tower over her at 5"7.  She was a bit shy and quite and I was a bit louder, maybe that's why they took the scissors away from me first.  I dressed a la GAP and she was more goth, thank goodness she worked her way thru that one and joined me on the preppy side.

We were inseparable, we worked together, took classes together, ate dinner after school together, we just kicked it I suppose you could say.

Then we both transferred to other colleges and we drifted some, we got married, we both moved away from home, but yet we still find our way back to each other.

I think its a sign of an amazing friendship when you can go without talking and pick right back up where you left off.  We have that.

Sometimes flyboy will ask when I last talked to pen-meister I'll shrug and say "I dunno".  And he'll just make some kinda face.  But that's us.

We hadn't talk a lot lately, but dinner last night was great.  I laughed so hard I had to put my head down on the table.  For 2 hours, everything else in the world was on the back burner and we just talked.

About nothing and everything and anything in between.



hey friend.... shalom

GIVEAWAY!

GIVEAWAY!

Everyone has such nice things to say about our service stars and it certainly is appreciated, we wanted to do something nice so.... why not give someone the chance to win one, large or small!  

But fear not if you already have one, you can either get another one to give to someone as a gift or out can pick something else out our etsy store, Blue Bird Crafting!  It's yours for the choosing!

Here's how to enter:

And please PLEASE one separate comment for each entry, it makes it MUCH easier to pick a winner!

-leave a comment, nothing fancy just what you would pick

-put a link up on your blog linking to this giveaway {for 2 entries}

-tweet about the giveaway {@mrs_flyboy} you can tweet daily for entries! {2 entries}

- put this bad boy up on your facebook if you want, I'm still facebook clueless so I'll take your word on it.  {2 entries}

and last but not least, if you've purchased something from us in the past each purchase is worthy of an entry! {1 entry per past  purchase}

I'll keep the giveaway open until Friday night at 7pm.  Happy entering and thanks again for all the kind words!

Hey hey hey

I was channeling fat albert right there for ya.  I wanted to make sure that no one misses out on the chance to enter my kick ass giveaway {although everything around here is kick ass}.

If you want a chance to win either WHATEVER YOU WANT from our Etsy store, Blue Bird Crafting head over here and enter!

We have service stars, Americana wall hangings, burp cloths, and zipper bags.  Surely you'll find something you like. It's open until tomorrow {Friday} night.


Also, I'm going to go ahead with the Easter swap.  I'll get details and signup out there in the next week or so.... after all.... we have some time, but get ready folks, because a swappin' we will be. 

100 day project and why some parents suck

Last week was a big week in school.  Not only was it Valentine's day which I've said before, in elementary school might just be bigger than Christmas, but it was the 100th day of school.  That's right the big 1-0-0.

Which, if you don't have a school age kiddo, is apparently a BIG FRIGGIN DEAL. 

Hats were colored, snacks were counted into groups of 100, parades were held, 100 steps walked, and a 100 item project made. 

The directions came home the week before, have your child group together and display 100 objects, be they paper clips, stickers, what have you.  The directions made sure to say, provide minimal direction and help to your child, this is, after all, their project.

Yeah.  Some parents didn't get that part of the memo.

Dash-1 worked really hard on his project, but I will admit, it did look as if it had been dragged behind the bus for a stop or two.  He chose to take packing peanuts {you can not say that we do not have a sense of humor in our house, packing peanuts for the peanut free kiddo} and recycle and reuse them by gluing 100 of them on a recycled and reused cardboard container that had held water bottles on them.  

He really wanted to use stuff from around the house, recycling and reusing is really pushed in his school so he wanted to recycle and reuse.  I just thought the peanuts were funny, what can I say, he's a better person at 6 than I am at 30.  

We tried a couple different types of glue and unfortunately most of them ate thru the peanuts so after quite some experimenting we settled on the glue gun.  This was really my only role in the project, you know to make sure he didn't burn my house down in a giant pile of hot glue or something equally fun like that.

We talked a bit about the best way to "group" the peanuts for the easiest counting.  Once he figured out groups of 10 was easiest he was off on his way.  

I did what the memo said, I let him do the project.  He glued groups of 10 alright.  Groups of ten this way, groups of ten that way, hmmm, that one didn't fit I'll just squeeze that one right here..... he wrote his title in his best handwriting, but when your a kindergartner, writing on cardboard isn't so easy.  

Nothing too razzle dazzle to it but dammit it really was his project.  He did it.  Start to finish.  He worked really hard on the project to make it his best work.

I was so proud.  

And later when I found dash-2 ripping the packing peanuts off with glee I was pissed, but that doesn't really fit with the story here.

The day after we did the project I happened to be in his school for something and I noticed that some 100 day projects were already hanging up.  

Holy poop batman. 

Now I should say.  I'm a crafter.  I love me a nice, perfect, precise project.  But there were projects there that were, in my opinion, out of my league let alone a kindergartner.  Someone made a picture frame out of paper clips complete with a picture, and not just some simple hook the paper clips together, they were interwoven and whatnot .  Oh and then there is the foam collage of the rain forest.  

Come friggin on people.  

The point of this was for the kids to do it.  Had the point been to show off our parental talents than bring it on, but that wasn't it.  

Did my kid send in packing peanuts glued to cardboard?  Yes.  Was it sparkly and fancy, no, not at all, but he's a kindergartner and again with the exception of making sure he didn't set my house on fire, he did the WHOLE darn thing by himself.  That's a helluva feat for a kindergartner.

Why do parents have to do that?  Why do parents have to get involved to overstep what their role is supposed to be and turn out projects that are way outside the possibility of kindergarten talents?  To prove that they can do it?  Trust me folks, I'm pretty confident with the exception of that tricky ven diagram worksheet that I can do kindergarten work.

And guess what, if you made the best 100 day project congrats, as a grown ass adult you outdid 5 and 6 year olds. 

Before you all say, "but the kids could have done the project!".  Yes, yes, maybe I'm wrong, maybe there are some kick ass talented project making kids in that grade.  However, after listening to some of the parents and seeing them in action, I find it doubtful.  You can pretty much look at a project and tell right quick if a kindergartner or a 30-something did it.

This, folks, is why we raise kids who can't read past an 8 grade level and don't see the need to do homework come later grades.  We don't hold them responsible to do the work that they need to do.  We are raising idiots.  It is their work, make them do it!

Yes, I made that leap from a 100 day project in kindergarten to the dumbing down of society.

I'm just bitter about that picture frame.....

And dont forget about entering my giveaway!!!

Easter Swap?

In utter anticipation of Easter and the candy that comes with it.  I was wondering, anyone interested in a swap?

If there seems to be folks who are up for it I'm all over hosting it.

Lemme know what you think.

My rant of the day

Buckle your seat belts boys and girls, mama's gettin ready for a rant.

{side note: Do I have any boys reading this? Besides flyboy, he blog stalks and never leaves a comment.}

So anyways, on the etsy front, things are going well.  Feedback is nothing but delightful, everyone seems really pleased with products that they've purchased, especially these bad boys, the Blue Service Stars.

And then today I got a call from my mother that someone sent us a nasty gram via a conversations {for those of you who aren't etsy-fied its kinda of a direct message}.  Apparently as a blue star mom she took issue with the fact that we sell our blue stars and are not just giving them away like she is. 

I sent back a very polite reply that we are all entitled to our opinions and that my mother has certainly does her fair share of giving and that since I'm part of the military community that she thinks we are taking advantage of I found her insinuation doubly insulting. 

Obviously I don't think we are taking advantage of military folks.  One, I'm military folk, two I'm not a scumball.  That really kinda sums it up. 

But you know I couldn't leave it there.... I'm too wordy for that.

I hope you all don't feel that we are taking advantage of anyone, let alone the people who serve our country or the people who stay behind and parent alone, comfort upset kids alone, stick their hands down a toilet to retrieve an entire roll of toilet paper, clean up vomit at all hours of the night.... you guessed it.... alone.

{And yes, in case you were wondering, this week I did in fact get to pull out wads and wads of toilet paper from a pee filled toilet because someone thought it would be funny and then someone else figured they would still pee in it.}

We've priced these are low as we can get em, without actually giving them away, and well since I do love a giveaway, we do give quite a few away.  And my mother wouldn't like it if I pointed out all the nice stuff that she does on the dow low because she likes to stay on the down low. 

They are priced to basically cover cost and we try to keep the shipping as low as we can make it, in fact they are sized so that we could send them in 1st class mail vice priority. 

I'm not trying to turn this into some infomercial for how great our store is {but it is amazing check it out! Blue Bird Crafting } but I was annoyed and I wanted to clear the air.

Upon closer reflection this rant was kinda disappointing, I apologize. I was distracted a bit by dash-2 standing next to me in a fireman hat and his underpants. 

And I didn't want to upset my mother by going to town on what a clueless moron I might have thought that lady was.  I mean if you don't like something fine but you really shouldn't go emailing people and telling them, IN ALL CAPS, that you take issue with something when you don't know the whole scoop. 

Silly lady, that's what a blog is for.

Back to the vomit

So about the vomit.  Sorry for the lag, who knew that with kids in school Valentine's Day is the new Christmas?  I think more work on my part went into Vday than xmas. 

That and well, single parenting can for some reason absorb a fair amount of your time, especially with those pesky care laws, you know feed em THREE times a day, bathe them, take em places with you, you know that kinda stuff. 

So back to vomit.  {Which by the way is a fitting topic right now since both dash3 and I are sick with head colds and he keeps making this weird open mouth hacking sound that is either going to produce some vomit or a hairball}


Of my 3 kids dash2 is rarely sick.  He could rub himself with poo and sit in a room of ebola virus and he doesn't get sick.  Dash-1 can look at a person sneeze from within a safe room and 10 minutes later he'll get sick, case in point in a two month span he had the flu, pnuemonia, a cold, strep, and scarlet fever.  And God help us when he gets a stomach bug, when he had the flu he must have vomited 9 times in a 12 hour period.

Dash3 is somewhere in the middle.  I'm hoping as he gets older and used to more germs he'll lean more towards dash-2.

But. Dash-2 does have a nasty little habit.  And bless his heart it's certainly not his fault.  But its still really gross.

He has a habit of vomitting all over the floor at Sam's Club. 

And don't sit there in your vomit free tower thinking, well than, she shouldn't let him eat that crap food, because trust me, if I thought that was it I'd stop that most ricky tick.  He has puked after eating some of a hot dog. he has puked while eating {in my opinion the most disgusting}, he's puked while shopping and not eating, he's puked while standing still. 

I do not for the life of me get what it is about that place.  Is it the lights, the concrete floor, he just loves to watch me clean it up? What is it?!

So I guess that answers the question in my normal-there-must-be-a-long-winded-story kinda way.  I clean up my kids vomit.  And not because I like to or I think its not gross at all, but because if its gross to me, the woman who birthed these creatures and thinks that they might be the most adorable, beautiful creatures in the world {and its REALLY REALLY gross} than by golly its gonna be wrenchingly gross for someone else.  And I know its "their job" but there is no way in HELL they get paid near enough for them. 

I get the point that there are standards to which it needs to be cleaned up and I get that there are situations in which its not always possible {for instance the child is ready to spew again and you have GOT to get out of there} but I really do try my best.

My usually puke MO is that I sop up the bulk of the mess, they come over to clean it up and I quickly explain that I'll get it, and I must say I don't think I've ever had someone not take me up on it.  Well at the dr's office, but in that situation they are more equipped gag reflex wise I think to handle vomit and bodily fluids than the folks at Sam's Club. 

I generally do the nasty clean up and then they do a "spot check" with the bleach and all that good stuff. 

By the way, I've started carrying absorbent powder in my car should anyone vomit in the mom mobile. It gels the stuff up and helps with the smell. {and this isn't some paid post, this is a mom who cleans up a LOT of puke sharing this with other puke cleaners}

The reason I even asked this question was that I was surprised the other day in Sam's when dash2 puked and I went to town earning my keep cleaning it up.  I will admit, I'm embarassed when my kids puke, I'm afraid other people are thinking, why did she take him out, its random, trust me if I knew I was going to clean up puke with my bare hands I'd have stayed home.

But when I finally looked up, sweaty, stinky, and blushing, I was shocked at the very sweet reaction that people had for me. 

One lady came over to give me some handiwipes to clean dash2 and I up with {of course I am a mom and have mulitple cleaning products in my purse but it was very nice}.   Another woman made a point of saying, that she hoped he felt better and that it certainly can't be helped.  Another couple asked if I wanted them to watch the boys while I went to the bathroom to wash up.  {I always feel like that's a test, "Bob, if she says yes, call the cops and report her as some bad mom who's willing to leave her kids with total strangers.  Get ready!"}

And everyone said that they were shocked I cleaned it up myself.  When the janitor finally made his way over he was even more shocked.  Well not so shocked when he saw it was us, this poor man gets scared every time he sees dash2 in the store.  He said he certainly doesn't expect people to clean it up but its always appreciated. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many of you reply that you too are in the cleanup brigade.  If you see a frazzeld woman cleaning up vomit in a Sam's Club anytime soon, stop by, it might be me.  {Yes, yes, dash-2 has puked in Sam's Clubs in various states.  I'm telling you, its some weird kinda thing I just can't explain.}

Question of the day - vomit

Question for you guys....

If your child vomits in a public place do you clean it up?  

Yay or nay?

I'm really curious what the answers are, public vomit may or may not have happened to me today and after hearing what some people around me had to say I'm really REALLY curious what the blogosphere has to say.

I'll share my answer with you guys tomorrow {or in a day or two knowing the way I move around here}.

Go on.... don't be shy.

to tweet a tweet about twitter, oh wait this is a blog.

I'm cheating on my blog.

Or at least it feels that way since I've found twitter {@mrs_flyboy}last year. I've got ubertwitter right there on my crackberry and so its always there, right at the end of my arm.

{And while my husband mocks me for always having my phone on having a Kindergartner with asthma and severe food allergies and a overzealous very on the ball nurse I get a call from school at least once a day.}

Since having adding dash 3, entering the school age phase shuffle, flyboy's {never changing} here there everywhere schedule, blogging sometimes takes a backseat.  That and I don't know what to say, dammit I've said it all on twitter. After all, think of something type it. 

Do you tweet?  Do you tend to follow tweets more than tweeting? What do you look for in a twitter tweeter?

I could use a few good recommendations, I'm in the market for some witty twitty repertoire.  Twitter recommends people but I don't quite get what the hell they are thinking with some of them.  Someone who tweets funny pictures of cats?  For God's sakes I don't even like cats.

So if you tweet who are your top 3 funny follows?
 

on the same page

There are times I think we should just install a door in our house, or that flyboy should just keep all his clothes and what not on his plane and just pack a small bag to come home and not vice versa.

There are times I think about how every year from the moment we got married 8 years ago has been the same, gone for a week, home for a week, gone for 3 weeks, home for 2 days, gone for a week, and. so. on.

Nevermind mixing in deployments to war and what not.

There are times that I think about how the longest we've even been together for one continuous time was 2 months.  EVER. 

There are times I think about how this schedule will keep up for the next 7 years we have left in the Marine Corps until retirement.


Seven more years of this insanity right? Seven more years of coming and going. It can, it will be done.

We had a bit of a "discussion" about working together, seeing eye to eye on things, and we are lucky, for the most part we really are on the same page, but its hard, since we do, a fair amount of time lead separate lives. 

He's on the road doing his plane-flying-Marine-kinda things, and I'm at home doing bill paying, laundry doing, homework checking, chauffeuring, and lest we forget, butt wiping kinda things.  It's tough.  Obviously I keep him up to date on things, but sometimes we just cant help but fall into the "hey I'll do my thing, you do your thing, we'll meet back here in a week, see you then" kinda rut.


I'm curious.... how do you guys make sure that you stay on the same page and stay "connected"?

a tidbit for you all

Since becoming a mom I have learned:

One minute your kid will say they don't want milk in their cereal, the next minute they will spit in said cereal to get it wet.  And while this is gross, I have learned that it is doubtful that this will be the grossest part of the day.

There. 

That's my mothering lesson of the day.