Unfit Mothers

The oldest continuous sporting event in North America has a new team -- the Unfit Mothers.

I figure since we have been getting up at 6:35am for nearly two weeks, it's safe to say that we have rowing team.

There's still plenty to learn but already we know stroke from bow side, how to "let 'er run" and what it feels like to row in the snow (see pic).

And this morning, one of us announced our first blister.... Tomorrow we learn to feather.

Easedropping on Children - Scene 1

INTERIOR. VAN. DAY.

FG and BEN strapped into car seat. MAMA driving them to school. FG is playing with her pink Dora cell phone.

Ben: Frances, do you know what the big button is for on your phone?

FG: No

Ben: It's for taking pictures.

Funny, that's exactly what we used phones for when I was 5....taking pictures!!

Where's My Goat?

Unlike the guys at Henge Productions, I know where my goat is. Or was.

Her name was Dodi - a boney-kneed, floppy earred, black and white beauty that 

I bottle fed. 

My father bought me a lot of pets: a pony, dogs, cats, gold fish, hamsters, a bull (ok, not a pet but I didn't eat Dan), rabbits and, one summer, an ant farm.  But there was something about Dodi.

When I was 11, my father bought her for me from Dr Norman in Whitbourne.  I don't remember asking for a goat, but I remember how cool it was to have her meet me at the lane after school. She was like a dog but better. Dodi could chase a ball across the grass, then stop for snack. We had the best trimmed lawn in Chapel Arm. 

But as she grew, I did too. And basketball practice, drama club and hanging out with boys meant I didn't always come home right after school. 

"No sense in having her barred in the barn, if you're not going to look after her," my father said. He later sold her to a man in Thornlea for $30.  I never saw her after.

The Colour of Money

Buh-bye mini-van. Hello CUV ("compact utility vehicle"). The kids are excited about it too. Ben likes the hidden cupholders and FG, she likes the colour.

"Mama, do you know the colour of our new car?" Without waiting for my reply she said, "L'argent. That means money in French."

You say working mom, I say juggler

You're wondering who he is too...you know, the person at Eastern District School Board who makes the call to close school when its 5 cms of snow and a bit of freezing rain. This week in St. John's, we had 2 snow days. Fun for kiddos or teachers or businesses that close -- tough for working moms.

Let's get a few things out of the way first. I love cuddling with the kids on a snowy day, staying in PJs and baking muffins but when your juggling work deadlines and torn between checking email and finding Polly Pocket's shoes, it's not so good. 

It's snow days, when I'm trying to "work from home", that I feel I can't do anything well. Nothing or nobody gets 100% of my attnetion. That's the strruggle. 

This week, I remembered the first time I felt like this. Shortly after Ben was born, I was invited up North for a "writers' retreat" weekend with some friends. I was still breastfeeding him, was sleep deprived - the whole kit.  I hadn't written in a year and now had to bring something witty and insightful for my writer friends to read. 

"I can't go, " I told my friend Gill who had organized the whole thing.

"Take Ben, dust off some old material and come up."

But I struggled with the idea of trying to juggle both. Nothing would get 100% anymore.

But Gill, gave me a new way to do my math, "At times like that, give everything a little - 50% to your writing, 50% to being a mom, 50% to work, 50% to being a wife, 50% to your friends, 50% to yourself. That will add up to way more than 100%."

So on snow days, I remind myself to do a little new mom math -- it gets me through.

Who's the guy who makes the call?

Sugar rush?

The other night the youngsters were wild - running, dancing, singing. When I wasn't joining in, I was exhausted just looking at them! I couldn't figure out where she was getting the energy.

At one point, I turned to FG and said, "What are you running on?"

Her reply: "The carpet!"

Miley and OMAoG

'Santa' gave Ben Miley Cyrus's new CD Breakout for Christmas. After listening to it, non-stop on the morning trips to school - I have a confession. I'm finding the songs...ummmm...catchy.

The worst (best?) is Wake up America -- its a boppy, poppy 'save the planet' song complete with a nice dig to parents in the bridge:
"I know you don't want to hear it;
espcially coming from someone so young
But in the backseat, yeah
They want to hear it
So come on, turn it up...."

So, if you haven't already do your Act O' Green.