Busted

So the other day, Morgan got into the car and sat down in one of the van's captain's chairs and began to buckle up.

"Hey Morgan, get in your seat, you need to be in a car seat."

"Why?"

"Because you're only 4, and it's the law. If you don't sit in a car seat, you're breaking the law. Do you want to break the law?"

"You break the law when you talk on your phone in the car" (meaning while I'm driving).

Silence.

Me...to her, "Just get in your seat, and obey mom."

Grateful? Or Grumbling?

I fluctuate between 2 constant states of mind. A part of me says, I love this life of mine, I love my family, I love that I get to work part time with my favorite age group in the world, and teach students how to write introductions and thesis statements, and I actually love being really busy. However, I find myself more often vocalizing tired statements like, "well, I'm just so exhausted," and "there's just so much going on," and "It's just so hard to work and be a mom," blah, blah, blah.

Seriously, I'm annoyed by my own complaining.

So no more Debbie Downer droning from me folks, I'm moving on. Seriously, a new chapter is here. The next time I try to complain to you that I currently have a head cold, and didn't sleep half the night, I'm going to stop, and remind myself that it could be worse. Lice is worse than a head cold, and I don't have lice.

Or if I try to complain to you that paying for over-priced school pictures and carpet cleaning and new tires is really depressing because I'd rather just buy something fun and frivolous like a tiara, well, then I'll stop myself, and I'll remember my new chapter, my new happy, grateful chapter.

Yep. That's the new me. No more complaining. I'm not even going to mention the fact that I should go grade right now.

Or that my head hurts.

Or that I'm tired.

Or that my kitchen floor is dirty.

Nope.

Not ganna do it.

New me, new chapter.

Who Me? Tired? Nahhh....

Summer was moseying along, and then POW!

1. Soccer started, Dan's the coach....yay, oh yay. That means we

can't be flaky and miss practices because we're having an off day.

2. Guitar lessons started cuz I always said, my kids would try an

instrument when they turned 8, and whoa, I've got an 8 year old.

How did that happen? (and did I mention, I'll have to take a 2nd

mortgage out on the house if I want all 4 girls to take lessons of

some sort in the next few years?)

3. School started, school, you know that thing we go to, where all

4 of my girls are in 3 different classes, and I'm teaching 2 classes at

their same school, and they expect us all to be there with lesson

plans, and homework, and ironed uniforms, and lip gloss on by 8:30 each day? Well, maybe they didn't mandate the lip gloss but

please people, I am not an animal.

4. And then right after school started our family came to visit for

Labor Day weekend. That was fun, but did I mention, they have

SIX SONS UNDER THE AGE OF NINE? Did I also mention that my

house is less than 1400 square feet? Did I mention that?

5. And guess what I have Monday? TWO WORDS: JURY DUTY.

I love my country.

So yeah, I'm not tired, not tired at all, because being tired is for sissies, and I'm not a sissy, I'm a mom.

* Note: I'd like to say a special thanks to Auntie Bethie, my bestest and only sister for giving us a fun first day of school package to open the morning we all started, with presents for all of the girls and for me. (This is the part where all of you feel jealous that your sister is not as thoughtful as mine).

* Secondly, I know my relatives are all reading this, and I'd like to say for the record, that I did indeed enjoy the visit from my brother in law and his wife: Doug & Leah. We love them very much, and as much as I am not a kid person, especially when it comes to little boys, I will admit, that the boys were actually really good and really cute! And the chaos was sort of fun and very worth it because my girls especially had a BLAST with their cousins. The baby is missing from the 2 pix above, so you don't get the full effect.