Dear Electric Company

I know you must want to teach me a lesson, either in patience or pioneering, but I am tired of power outages. I understand that I am lucky, that my house isn't under water or wildfires aren't burning down the door, but still.

I like electricity. I like tv and lights and refridgerators. And fans! It is summer you know, and sleep doesn not come easily when it feels like it is 100 degrees inside at 10 pm. It would be one thing if I had a nice big house with large windows, but I only have windows on the northern and southern parts of the house. Hard to get a good breeze going with that. And maybe the night wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have a little girl who had a fever and kept waking from either the fever or just being hot in general.

So I have a request. Can't you just bury the electric lines like you do in all the ritzy neighborhoods? My in laws live just 3 minutes away and rarely ever lose power for more than a few hours, and they have underground wires. Please?

Thanks,
An on time electric bill payer

PS, and next time, maybe you will want to shut off the neighbor's power across the street. It just isn't nice to look out the window and see they still have power.

I"m a little bit country

But just a little. I grew up on a farm. In New Jersey. Yes, New Jersey. It isn't called the Garden State for nothing. Being back there visiting made me realize my kids are leading a different life than I did. When I was a kid I had acres and acres that I could run around and do pretty much whatever I wanted. In fact, I had a favorite game I liked to play. It involved walking in a corn field, trying to get myself turned around and confused of where I was, then seeing how long it took me to get out of the field and seeing where I ended up. I bet YOU never played that game! Anyway, my kids get to play in their fenced in back yard. We actually have a nice sized back yard, but still, they can't go exploring or wandering all around. A few times at my parent's house I didn't know exactly where Bailey was, but it was OK. He's not the type to go far.

In NJ, I realized that we don't spend as much time outside at home as I thought. Especially in the evening. Every evening in NJ we would go outside and enjoy the fact that it is summer. Here, there are so many darn bugs that it is hard to enjoy the outside. Now wouldn't you think the country would have more bugs than the suburbs? Ah, that wonders of bats! They are a good mosquito repellant!

There just seems to be so much to discover in the country. Like these little guys. Aren't they cute?


Who can resist a baby skunk? If you were wondering, they didn't smell, and they weren't bothered by us nearby.

There is a little part of me that would like to move back. Especially since there is a Wendy's 10 minutes away and no Wendy's here. And a great new custard stand (oh, how I love a twist!). But I think suburban life fits our family better. At least for now!

The Sassy 7's

I am long awaiting the day when the kids are "easier". If you have kids, you know what I mean. When they are newborns, you think "when they sleep through the night, it will be easier". Or "when they get rid of this colic they will be easier". Or "when they eat solids it will be easier". That turns into "when they can feed themselves it will be easier", then "when they stop making such a mess they will be easier". In a lot of ways Mackenzie is pretty easy. She is happy most of the time and can follow directions when she wants to. Right now I am thinking with her "when she is potty trained things will be easier" (I was changing 4 poopy diapers a day while on vacation which was getting old. And gross.) She is not very fun to take to stores, so I can't wait until she grows a little more patient with shopping. It should happen any day, because after all, she is a girl.

With Bailey, 7 should be such an easy age. He can do so much for himself and knows right from wrong. Unfortunately, he doesn't want to do much for himself, and tries to have me do everything for him. And his mouth. My goodness. Good thing he doesn't know any curse words or he would probably try to say them. The other day he told us that we suck as parents. Nice. We are trying hard to be patient through this trying time in his development, but it is getting old. I am thinking that boot camp sounds like a great option right now. He might come back actually appreciating us. Maybe.

I am not looking forward to the teenage years.

Back to life

Back to reality. Home from vacation, and at moments, have felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation. Not that I didn't have a good time, but it is hard when you are also playing single parent on vacation. Although my sister and my mom would take the kids and play with them to give me a break, it was still tiring at times. Especially since they enjoyed getting up early the whole vacation. And you all know how I do with waking up early!

One week of my vacation was spent at the beach. Or "the shore" as they call it in New Jersey. I have some of the best memories of being a kid at the shore. It was always a time where our extended family would get together. I have an aunt who lived in Vermont and she would always come down for a few days when we would rent a place at the shore, and it was so special to spend that time with her. In fact, she came down for a few days this time as well, so it made it seem even more like old times. If only Nanny was around, but I am sure she was watching!

We discovered while at the shore that Mackenzie is a beach bunny. She loves it!! Bailey was never too crazy about it. Last year was the first time that he didn't mind staying on the beach for more than an hour. He is a cautious child, so the waves in the ocean would scare him. He hates being dirty or wet, so the beach isn't really a great place for him. But Mackenzie is a totally opposite child. She likes the sand, the ocean, everything! Even the seagulls! It really makes me wish that we lived closer to the beach so we could go more often. The water was freezing the whole time we were there. You know how you get brain freeze when you eat ice cream? That is how it felt to your ankles when you were in the water, it was that cold. Mackenzie could care less. It seemed almost like child abuse to let her get in the water with it so cold, but it can't be abuse if they like it, right?

All said, we had a great time. But I missed my hubby and am glad to be home. My house has never looked and smelled so clean! Makes me want to leave him home more often while I go on vacation.

Made it!

Safe and sound! No problems or incidences. It was actually one of the easier times we have traveled. All the worrying was for nothing!

Stressed!

I think I usually handle life pretty well. I mean, I have been very blessed to have a fairly smooth sailing life. Not too much drama or bad things happening (this would be the moment where my husband would say I was jinxing myself, but I don't believe in such things).

Right now, however, I am feeling stressed. I am flying with the two kids by myself tomorrow and I am nervous! Mackenzie has only flown once in her life, and she was 9 months old at the time. She did great. But now she is more stubborn and I am not sure how happy she will be to sit for 2 hours. Thank goodness it is just a 2 hour nonstop flight!! Bailey is a flying pro. But he can get airsick, and that makes me nervous.

I know I shouldn't be worried. It's not like worrying would change anything. But I have waited a long time for this trip and I really want to enjoy it, from start to finish.

Some pictures

Thought I would share some from the past week or so. I am still in the early learning stages of my camera. Although I have been offered my first photo "gig". A friend of mine heard I was getting a DSLR and asked me to take pictures of her kids. They are 13 and 11, so it shouldn't be super hard. So I am going to have to practice a lot in the upcoming weeks!

Now that I really look at them, I need a lot of work!