I should have been more specific when I said I was ready to rock and roll this morning…

Many happy returns of the morning to you, blogosphere!
(if only I could return a bit of this morning!)
Darma Z here, checking in for my theraputic regurgitation of the morning activities so I can go on about my day a lighter and more carefree kind of girl:)
Why read on, you might ask? Well, as opposed to being dumped on…I think perhaps you will add to your barrel of morning chuckles at our expense and I’ll gladly foot the bill…mutually beneficial relationship, see?
I was up at 6:00 am with coffee in hand. I knew it was going to be a wonderful, fabulous, absolutely dreamalicious kind of day because I didn’t have to start by taking the puppy for a 20 minute fruitless session outside because he had thoughtfully did a pee pee and then some on the hallway floor:) Love to you my puggy friend – I hope I can get to you soon enough to rescue you the next time the boys are trying to feed you a locust. I am a little slow sometimes…
I DID NOT waste time on Facebook…I was merely checking in to make sure everyone was okay and I think if I had made lunches instead, MC’s hotdog might have been cold by lunch (never mind that he got a sandwich instead because I ran out of time).
I got CNN up with plenty of time to redo her hair…7 kinds of product, three types of combs, and a curler on the pig tails – no worries (ok, it took a little longer than we expected because she was a little gun shy about the curling iron – jeesh, you drop a hot curling iron ONE TIME and they never let it go!).
I even delivered clothes for BB and MC early as Mr. Z requested because this would make it easier for him to wake MC at the proper time. (please note that MC flew through the kitchen to swallow his sausages whole 10 minutes late).
BB was up and at em and dressing himself (but really this doesn’t matter because his preschool starts next week and seriously, if you are going to join us on the jaunt to school you need ALL your clothes and shoes too) and he didn’t like his shirt, so he needed to get another one which he did while I was STILL doing CNN’s hair as she happily chomped her sausages like a propper little princess.
Next thing I know the whirlwind known as MC flies through the kitchen with clothes but no socks and shoes about to descend on his sausages. Now I know a bit about this young man and he needs motivation, people! If those shoes are not on BEFORE he eats, it might not happen(last year we did have a time or two where he went into the van in his calvin Klein briefs with shoes, socks, clothes, jacket and backpack at his feet with a warning that it only takes two minutes to get to school and when the car pulls up I am opening the door). I guess he’s just not a morning person, or an afternoon person, or a bedtime person…maybe it’s just when I interfere in his schedule that things go astray!
Mr. Z comes lumbering into the kitchen about this time with MC’s shoes and socks muttering about the fact that HE didn’t get any breakfast(REALLY???). I might sound bitter, but the fact of the matter is, I know his leisurely morning schedule and he has time to make his own damn breakfast as I get the loves of my life out the ever lovin door:)
The muttering continues and I didn’t notice that MC had snarfed his sausage and raced out the front door with his little brother in tow. The pig tails are nearly done when Mr. Z decides this is the right time to ask me if I realize we might be late and couldn’t I do CNN’s hair the night before and blah and blah blah blah and REALLY??? Where are your social cuing systems man? Do you not feel the JAWS music in the background? I am so very glad I don’t have the burden of deadly lazers that shoot out of my eyeballs because I would be explaining myself to the local authorities and I think they just might understand! HA!
You might think the tale is done and we are on our way to school – you would be silly and wrong:)
Next lunches are thrown together and I can tell Mr. Z was about to comment about fruit or vegetables, but picked up on a prickling sense of danger on the hairs of his neck, so he stood by quietly. With lunches and backpacks in tow I march out the door only to discover MC and his brother running through the neighbor’s sprinkler! He is totally going to school in whatever condition he is in! I decide I don’t want to wrestle him into the van as that could take way too long and he might need to burn off a bit of his fire in the run to school. Off we go and BB has no shoes and I tell him to stay home with Dad but Dad helpfully says he will drive his shoes up to him along the walk. THANKS for that.
CNN’s backpack is too heavy because of a 5 lb binder she brought home to do one worksheet of homework…the boys are collecting locusts and sticks and I think this madness will NEVER end when I realize that MC didn’t get his allergy medicine (ragweed folks! cranky as a bear when his nose is all itchy) SO I will be racing home to race it back to school. About then Mr.Z pulls up with BB’s shoes and I decide to shove the kids in the car so they MIGHT not be SO late…well they are stumbling on one another and arguing and trash keeps falling out of Mr. Messy’s car and I keep throwing it back in(because as you know I am NOT a litterbug, even in a crisis) and FINALLY they are off to school and I am flip flopping at a breakneck pace to get meds so I don’t pull MC from class too far into the morning (he has really had a great year so far and I don’t want to mess it up!).
Here is the happily ever after…after muttering to myself aloud all the way home and racing up to school and pacing while I waited, he happily marched into the nurse’s office and took his medicine. I tied his shoes that were stuffed with wet muddy socks and fixed his collar and sent him off to class with a kiss and a hug and got a million dollar smile in return.
He is a tornado and he makes me insane and he is mine and I do love him so:)
Have a great day MC!

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Creating Chaos:)

A day of bliss in the kitchen!
With four kids scurrying about, I was a regular whirling dervish in the heart of my home. Karen Solomon inspired me with her book, Jam It, Pickle It, Can It, so I decided to dive in. She talks about how much better all of our staple kitchen supplies are when we make them at home, and then shares recipes that are relatively easy.
I started with homemade mustard…it was really quick to whip together and now has to sit and cure for three weeks. Then I moved on to ketchup – lots of spices, but easy and ready to go now! I also rendered pork fat to create my own lard for cooking. I might have missed a step on that one, so we’ll see how it turns out. There is supposedly nothing better than cooking with your own lard for pie crusts, vegetables, even a bit added into burgers! Next up was dilled green beans. I am very excited about these! They have to sit and cure for three days. They look so pretty in the jar! I finished up the jam session in the kitchen with another batch of laundry detergent.
BB felt the lack of attention at all my productivity and was pretty ornery – but I could have prevented that and his day ended well.
It is so terribly satisfying to create such simple things…Mama says she heard somewhere that every little thing you do in your home is saying a prayer of sorts. I like that.
Today I hope to hire a nanny and make some shower gel…after ZUMBA of course!
Peace out!

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Great quote of the day from mama!

You wake up in the morning, and your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. No one can take it from you. And no one receives either more or less than you receive.
– Dr. Thomas Arnold Bennett

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The 6th Hour Stretch

When I was a middle school teacher, it never failed that my 6th hour class which was right after lunch was just bananas in one way or another. It didn’t matter what grade I was teaching, or what content we were studying, or even the phase of the moon (although the full moon days were unusually special!). It was just a really tough transition time that I always tried to handle creatively. Some days were better than others:)
Of course, thinking back on it, I have all sorts of creative ideas for what might have eased the shift from lunch to class…but I’m getting off track here.
What I was thinking last night was that if I could handle the 6th hour “thing” all that time with other people’s children, then perhaps this time between the end of summer and the beginning of the school year is another “6th hour stretch” with my own little darlings. Because of who I am and what I’ve done for so many years, when all is crazy at home, when I’m on my game I just fake it and fall into teacher Darma. It usually works really well, and I think I need to do it more. So, I think I will!

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Reality Check

So…
Tuesday was pretty tough (and I don’t think it was all about Zumba withdrawl – although I’m quite sure Zumba would have helped!). I was slapped in the face with the reality that my beautiful children have been through some tough times and sometimes there is NOTHING I can do to compensate for that…other than ride the wave with them. That, my friends, sucks!
The good thing, I guess, is that when Mr. Z and I realized what had been going on, we were able to work together and create new boundaries for 2 children who let us know that they needed them. It also allowed us to have a conversation about how at different developmental stages, old baggage will surface…we can’t just “fix it” with hugs and “a firm hand” and be done with it. At first Mr. Z thought I was making excuses. He then realized and agreed that the kids WERE being held accountable for actions but also it is critical to realize the possible whys because it has everything to do with the way to respond.
I have learned from experience, studies, and our family therapist who knows a lot about attachment disorder in adoptive children that the way you respond in most every situation is the opposite of your instinct. Instead of time out, you have time in…a lack of high emotion reaction is imperative(and perhaps this works well in many situations), and the ratio(5 to 1) of positive exchanges to redirections for “normal” children needs to be at least quadrupled – if not even more – which feels insane sometimes!
All of this and still there are times where all you can do is clean up the mess and try to hear the message being sent by the behavior. It is really SO VERY HARD to remember that…that most behaviors are just communicating a need or message. All misbehavior is certainly a window into the needs of your child. Now I sound like I’m in some education meeting – it is so much easier to be clinical that feel the frustration of being a mom.
That’s life in the big city:) (today, anyway!)

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zumba zumba creak!

I LOVE ZUMBA!!!
I’m not great. I miss some steps. Many mirrors are not my favorite thing. More important than all of this is how much I LOVE to dance!! I forgot that! I used to wake up the morning after a high school dance with whiplash and no voice…it was the best! In college I had my awesome dancing friend, I met new dancing friends, hell I even danced in bars where there was no dance floor. This is like running into your best friend you’ve not seen FOREVER! Well, something like that anyway…
I wonder if you can really dance your ass off…we shall see!
Today was my third class and it was by far the most challenging. The instructor was an ity bity thing and pretty pregnant but so very not slowed down. There was more hip hop to this class and I don’t know that I care to be that girl at this point in my life, but it was a really great workout. The 45 minutes goes by so quickly.
Sadly, there is no Zumba tomorrow. I guess the knees might need a break:)
The kids and Mr. Z had a little Zumba of their own in the living room while I was gone…what a great Monday!!!

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Marianne Williamson requests a tall order

It has been a long time, friends…
I have been plowing forward, one foot in front of the other, as our family has navigated this large boat of economic challenge. There is light at the end of the tunnel with opportunities this week. We will see.
In the face of challenge, I have been keeping busy instead of sitting and dwelling and worrying and being irritated because Mr. Z and I have been in one another’s space more than usual.
I found designer Kelee Katillac who started when she really had nowhere to turn. She happened upon a broken down chair and felt common ground. She put everything she had into that chair. The process was healing and so her business began. When you don’t know what else to do, create. Works for me:) Continuing on the path to our best self instead of camping out on a safe plateau is scary stuff.
Marianne Williamson said it this way:
” Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?”
Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated frm our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Let the liberation begin one step at a time…one chair at a time perhaps:)
Happy Monday.

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This old torn up house

Lord save me from myself…mostly what I mean to ask is to specifically save me from the URGE TO BEGIN EVEN ONE MORE PROJECT!!! 

I am certain I have some sort of attention deficit issue…flitting from one room to another like a little bee in the flowers – not like that…that might be pleasant to watch.  Me, I’m just making one hell of a mess all over the place.  I have primed most of the boys’ room, painted the actual color on one wall, stripped the stairs, painted the kitchen ceiling, painted a portion of the kitchen tile, started to strip an end table, and I have paint swatches taped to the dining room and living room walls. 

Do you do this?  I know I’ve left out a few things and we’re both glad for that. 

I  need to get all crazy about finishing things…I do believe that is it…focus…be the ball…

Ah hell!  Who am I kidding?  I’m already thinking about my next post

Whomever is in charge of my channel changer, please for the love of teenie bikinis STOP ALREADY!

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Lips and berries

have you ever noticed
when you eat a room temperatue, freshly washed strawberry
that you have awakened new nerve endings in your lips?
I ate a second berry just to be sure
sure enough!
perhaps it is only the beginning
of
an allergic reaction
hmmpf
totally worth it!

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Baby Love Gramma Style

The clouds parted
The sun blasted through
Right down on our chaotic kitchen table
The aroma lured them in long before I could call them in (AGAIN AND AGAIN!) to eat
They sat and waited…silent (FOR ONCE)
I served them up all my baby love gramma style
Fried burgers laced with love (the stretching the beef made room for Gramma’s love)
They’d never seen such a thing or smelled ohhh the smell mmmmmmmmmmmm
The first bite smudged on chins and cheeks
Big brown eyes closed and milk chocolate cheeks full and smiling
For once our dinner was quiet
Until
They noticed…
There was only one left

She sho did know how to fill a belly up with love

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