Camp

Taylor's Hawaiian Luau 10th birthday sleep over party

Taylor spent her first long overnight away from Kong and I last week. Her school took her to a camp four hours north. She was gone for five days and four nights. As we packed and got things ready for her trip I didn't have any emotions about her leaving nor did I cry. In fact, I didn't think about it until I spoke with other moms who talked about how sad they were or how they wanted to cry. I wondered why I did not have the same emotions.

I am generally very emotional about my children, the idea of them growing up and about letting them go. Why wasn't I sad about my baby leaving for nearly a week? What kind of mother does not cry when her first born goes on her first, long, extended overnight?

All I know is that drop off was at 9:00am that Monday morning which was perfect because I had a 10:00am call. I anticipated a quick drop off but things didn't turn out as I had planned. I helped Taylor haul her things into the school atrium. Then I found myself waiting around until the children loaded into the bus. I was one of the handful of straggling parents who stayed around to help load their child's things into the coach bus. Next I found myself standing outside in the frigged temperature for 45 minutes until the buses pulled away. Before I knew it, it was 10:15 and I was late for my call. As the buses pulled awy I waived to my child even though I had no idea if she was even looking at me (the bus windows were tinted).

With no tears or sadness I got into my car and went on with my day. I am still reflecting and wondering what this experience and how I responded means. Not sure if I'll ever find the answer.

Princess Spaghettios

(Pooped out after a day of make over, luau and dancing)

Over the past few years I have slowly changed our family's eating habits. We have cut out red meats and do as much organic as possible. Aside from the cartoon "Arthur", there is not much partnering between organic brands and popular images like transformer, bratz, barbie, etc...What this means for the girls is that they miss out on the awesome power of branding on the most popular images and fads.

What's the significance of all of this? Well, Ayden's gymnastics has been collecting dried goods for a food drive. When I was at Cub Foods I picked up some canned spaghetti along with a few boxes of mac-n-cheese. The spahettios happened to be Disney Princess shapes. When I showed Ayden the items I had bought for her she asked me, "How come you buy Princess spahettios to donate to other children but you don't ever buy them for us?"

I went into an explanation of why. I know she understood but in her six year old mind it just didn't seem fair. You think as a parent your children will understand one day why you made the decisions you did for them. That or you hope they find a good therapist who will help them sort through how you denying them princes spaghettios at six is the underlying reason they need to validate their worth with brand name clothing and food. Ugh!

What is wrong with our society?

I was on a business trip this week and I was reminded of what an entitled society we live in. "Business trip?" you ask. Yes, I'm still working even though I quit my job. The only difference is I don't get paid anymore to work. Anyway, that's another post for another day.

When I landed at Midway in Chicago I took a cab to my hotel (which by the ways was beautiful Palace House Hilton, a historic hotel). When I told my cab driver that I would be using a credit card, he let out an audible sigh of discontent and reluctantly took me to the hotel. During the ride he was rude, almost got us into an accident because he gawking at another accident and he was talking loudly on his cell phone. When we reached the hotel I paid him using my Amex card (never leave home without it) and did not give him a tip. He boldly pointed out that I had not tipped him to which I replied, "No I did not." I'm not sure if he thought complaining would somehow change my mind about tipping but he made comments under his breath until he pulled a way.

The nerve of people. Is it just me or do people seem more entitled now? People expect extra money for performing the minimum requirement of their job. Am I the only person who thinks this is absurd? I am a generous tipper but I am not about to give the money that may family has worked hard for to someone who couldn't even pretent to appreciate my business for the 20 minutes he spent with me.

I'm sorry but if you work in a job that relies on tips then it is your responsibility to conduct yourself in a manner that is deserving of the tip. I was a waitress for many years and no matter how crappy the customer was, no matter how overworked (which I was because I worked for my father) or tired I was, I served my butt off for my tip. If you have an opinion on this I would love to hear about it.

Anyway, it's been a long time since I have blogged so here are a few recent pictures.

Working on the Schmidt Farm Butchering deer at the farmThe end of summer...monkeys playing