Mommathon

Let’s just say the lady at Great Clips and I had a miscommunication and Liam ended up with the shortest haircut of his life; he looks like he is ready for the Army. It is not my favorite look on him and he doesn’t like it either. I woke up at about 4:45 this morning and I was terrified that somebody at school was going to say something to Liam about his hair that would be hurtful. I couldn’t get it out of my mind and so I just prayed about it. I was going to go have lunch with him at school today just to touch base with him, make sure he was okay and to give anyone who dared say something to him the evil eye. I decided not to go though. I decided he could handle it on his own. We had talked about what to say to anyone who might say something to him and I had to let him handle it on his own. He had a great day at school and a few kids did comment on his new “look”, but no one said anything hateful and one teacher even complimented him. Thank goodness!!!

Well, it was going to happen sooner or later…Liam has read his first book in which the dog dies and the reader is brought to tears. It’s my fault, too. I suggested he get it at the library this weekend. I remembered reading the book with my fourth graders, but I obviously didn’t remember the storyline. I guess I just thought it was going to be more like Balto, which is one the boys’ favorite stories. So, Liam told me he had finished it and I asked him what it was about. He started getting emotional immediately. As soon as he got past the first few sentences, he was sobbing in my lap and I suddenly remembered the plot. Oh, dear!!! I told him that there are a lot of books out there where the dog dies and they always seem to be books that you read in class. Why do teachers do that to the youth of America? I remember reading Where the Red Fern grows in middle school and crying. Then we watched the movie and I cried again. I had my class read it one year when I taught sixth grade and I cried then, too. Why can’t we read happy books in school?

I had to laugh to myself this week as I was playing hide and seek with the boys. If you play hide and seek and Colm is hiding, he will hide with you. The problem is that Colm is a heavy breather and can be found very easily. Second, if you are hiding, the dog will follow you making you very easy to find. You can shoo the dog away as much as you want, it won’t work. You can tell Colm to breathe more quietly, that doesn’t work either. So, if you are playing hide and seek at our house, prepare to be found.

I have avoided going to Whole Foods in the past months because it is so stinking expensive. The grocery store has their own little “organic” section, but it isn’t getting any cheaper either. Sean had a good idea. He suggested I take my receipt from the grocery store and highlight all the things on it that could also be purchased at Whole Foods and we’ll see which is cheaper. So we went to Whole Foods yesterday with our highlighted receipt and it turns out that many of the things that we buy every week are cheaper at Whole Foods: cereal, eggs, milk, soymilk, yogurt, cereal bars, pasta sauce and bananas. There were probably a few other things as well, but these are the ones that really struck me because we buy them all the time. There were also definitely some thing that were not cheaper. It’s good to know that there are options though.

I pack a lot of lunches. Sean, Colm and Liam all eat cold lunch most days of the week if not every day of the week…that’s a lot of Ziploc baggies! At the beginning of the school year I considered using cloth sandwich wraps, but figured I would end up washing them all the time. Saving on plastic and landfills, but using up water washing the darn things all the time. Today I found a happy medium…wax paper sandwich bags. I have been using regular wax paper to wrap Sean’s sandwiches for quite a while, but it’s not practical for some other things. I am not getting rid of my regular Ziplocs, they definitely have their place, but I think there are a lot of things I could be putting in the wax paper ones, too. If you want some, they are available at Whole Foods.

Sunday-Spaghetti and Meatballs
Monday-Pork Machaca
Tuesday-Mexican Salad
Wednesday-Sausage and Cheese Muffins, Scrambled Eggs, Grapes
Thursday-Salmon, Green Beans, Rice
Friday-Out to Eat

We have been waiting for Pizza Fusion to open for months. They had their “coming soon” sign out for so long we had started to give up on them. Well, it is open now so we thought we would go and check it out. I had a salad with Goddess dressing which was okay. Then we waited for quite a while for our pizza. I had a crimini mushroom, roasted tricolor pepper and zucchini pizza. I wish a had better things to say about it. My pizza was just okay. The crust was just okay, too, kind of burnt tasting. I tried the boys’ pizza and it wasn’t anything to write home about either. Sean’s pizza didn’t do much for him either. Verdict: Spin is much better and might even be a little bit cheaper.

Liam’s best friend is moving. We have known for a few months now and have been able to ignore it because he wasn’t moving until April. Well, April has arrived and his going away party is tomorrow. Liam woke up at 3a.m. this morning and I have a feeling this move weighing on his mind is the reason. Liam is such a sensitive little guy. I don’t know how to get him through this. I am going to do my best, but it is going to be hard.

I saw a postman flip a pedestrian off today. Not only did he flip the guy off, but he used both his hands…a double birdy. I think there were some choice words exchanged, too. Oh, the joys of going downtown every day.

Colm: What happens if you have to poop in heaven?

Me: I don’t know. I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.

How else was I supposed to answer that?