Day 356

New Years Eve

<insert “year in review” blog post here>…maybe later.

This morning I woke up and felt like I should be doing something, but the only thing I had to do was clean the house. That’s it. No homework. No place to be. Just clean. That was an amazing feeling. School doesn’t start for another three weeks. So for now I just get to clean and relax. Since I know I won’t have a lot of time for this once school starts, I’m going to do my “Spring Cleaning” early. I am trying to decide if I should start at the front or back of the house. What a dilemma. I don’t know if I can handle that much stress or excitement.

I need to replace the sun visor in my car. It met an unfortunate end at the start of my road trip home earlier this week. I swear I wasn’t angry, but when I went to use it, it broke off. My brother referred to it as a “Hulk” moment. I also need to replace the stereo in my car. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have an audio book disc from the library stuck in the current CD player and it is WAY over due. Tuesday. Tuesday I will fix these things.

Little Mister still has a week before he goes back to school. I hope we don’t drive each other too nutty in the mean time.

And my fabulous Mr. B called me this morning to wish me a Happy New Year because it was midnight where he was. So he called so we could chat as his new year began.

 

Got to go, I have pizza in the oven and three little boys waiting to eat. Sleep over/NYE party at my house!

Day 340

I have a lot to say.

But first, I want you to save this article to read for later: 30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself.

I have to split the post because it’s too long, so be sure to click on “Read more” to finish up. Please and thank you.

 

1) Gender

Who made up the rule that pink is for girls and blue is for boys?
Who decided that only girls can paint their fingernails?
Why can only girls like Justin Bieber’s music?
Who said boys play with cars and bugs and girls play house and with dolls?
Who said only girls can be cheerleaders?

All of these things are superficial and silly. Not one of those defines a person as male or female. So when my son says “mom I want to paint my nails” I say “why not?” It doesn’t hurt anything, if anything it strengthens his confidence to be an independent and individual human being.

He learns the important things, like being confident/not being afraid to be different, to be kind, compassionate, honest, loyal and responsible. All of that other stuff? Does that even matter?

My son is fortunate (or misfortunate depending on your views) that my husband and I reject most “normal” societal rules. We are not in the least bit traditional. Will we let him do anything dangerous? Heck no, but we’re not going to keep him from defining himself simply because it’s “not what boys usually do.”

Day 338

I’ve written and re-written multiple posts since I posted last. I didn’t delete them, but I haven’t posted any of them because I haven’t felt that they quite captured what I’ve wanted to say here.

I started this blog to talk about the raw emotions of life. Let me tell you, there have been plenty of raw emotions over here.

The day is coming closer for Mr. B’s return. Little Mister and I are both feeling the anxious anticipation that comes with knowing it’s almost over.

With my semester drawing to a close and looking at that number (338), my anxious anticipation increase. It’s almost time. He’s almost here.

That freaks me out and makes me excited all at the same time.

What did I plan to accomplish this year? I’m going to go back and take a look and I’ll get back to you. I know that my big plan for the year was to grow my hair out, I think I’ve added 6 inches all together…I want to post before/after pictures within the next couple of weeks. We’ll see how that pans out.

This year has been a tumultuous one globally; we saw the fall of Osama bin Laden and the removal of troops from Iraq… crazy political upheaval and rioting world wide, just to name a few. Here’s a good summary of the year in photos: The Most Powerful Photos of 2011. There have been a lot of things even in my community; The IHOP shooting, the crash at the Air Races, the Caughlin Ranch Fire…and others. I can’t tell you how many accidents I’ve avoided just driving around this year--I counted 5 in one day last week. I am glad that I a) am a good driver and pay attention and b) am never in too big of a hurry that safety takes a back seat. Why do I mention all of these things? Because Mr. B has been gone all year...and no matter how far away or how close he is life is always precious.

My big accomplishment: I graduated from Community College with my Associates Degree and started my first semester at the University. The switch involved a little culture shock because a) I was taking online classes, and b) most people at the University are significantly younger than I am (Did I mention on here the boy I overheard complaining about his lab partner being “so old” at 28? He referred to her as looking “like the rest of us” and that she just “looked like a very tired 20 year old.”). I think I’ve gotten into the swing of things…maybe. I’m looking forward to my next semester.

It is time for me to conclude my post. As you can see, my post did not take the direction I wanted it to (again). I’ll talk about emotions another day…