Edgy Mama

Mine are picky, fussy, persnickety eaters, are yours? Read my story at Mountain Xpress.

Happy Monday!

Here!

And on my gallery page.

I need to figure out how to embed a Flickr slideshow in Wordpress. Anyone?

Everyone in my family seems to get sick during vacation or while traveling. Except for me. I get sick when I have two deadlines, dental appointments for the kids, and an important sporting event in one day AND I’m single parenting.

So the boy vomited all over the house one night, which I managed to miss (remarkable, I know). It was over fairly quickly, and he ate four waffles for breakfast the next morning, so we assumed it was something he ate.

On Tuesday (my birthday), E-spouse woke up with a sore throat, so instead of getting into restaurant wars, we decided to invite some friends over and order Chinese in. About five minutes before dinner arrived, the girl splattered the contents of her tummy all over the bathroom (hey, she made it to the right room). She was much sicker than the boy, and woke up several times during the night to dry heave into the potty. She spent the next day in bed.

She seemed recovered on Thursday, so we continued with our plan of driving to Asheboro to the N.C. Zoo for the afternoon and thence to Chapel Hill for a couple of days with friends. Mistake. The girl was crabby and tired. The boy was tired because we’d let him go on a sleepover the previous night. Once again, we thought we could travel more easily than we did when they were babies, but we were confronted with moodiness, tears, and fighting. The baboons and the puffins saved the zoo trip (photos tomorrow).

Then yesterday, I looked at the boy as we were eating lunch and realized he’s having another outbreak of impetigo. Luckily, we were staying with two doctors, one of whom glanced at his sore and sent me with to a drugstore with a prescription. I could’ve kissed her.

Now we’re home and well. I think. It’s been one of those vacations that’s been more stressful than not being on vacation. Vacationing with kids just isn’t vacation. Unless you have a nanny, I suppose.

How’s your spring break been?

UPDATE: Literally an hour after I posted this, the girl vomited again. All over her carpet. Now I feel sick.

Check out Mountain Xpress’ Kids’ Guide, which came out today on-line and in print. I wrote two articles: To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, and Getting the lead out (of toys). There are some other interesting and fun articles as well. Enjoy!

See the daffs in the lower left corner?

On Monday, the first day of spring break, it snowed for about two hours. Nothing stuck, but watching the flakes spin around the yellow daffodils was beautiful.

There’s a tree in the yard next door that flowers early every spring. In the six years I’ve lived here, the tree has been spanked by a freeze every year but one. It sprouts these gorgeous pink, tulip-shaped flowers. But within days, it will freeze, and all the flowers will turn brown. This is a tree that needs global warming.

Top is the tree in April 2003, when we didn’t have a late March or April freeze. Below is the tree yesterday, after three days of freezing weather.

In this week’s column for Mountain Xpress, I discuss the difficulties we face eating out as a family. Next week I’ll cover eating in!

What do your kids eat and where do you eat out as a family?

Usually, I dread having the kids at home for a week. But now that they’re older, I find I’m enjoying it more and more. When they’re not fighting or whining, they’re a joy. They like going out to bars and some restaurants now. They like going for walks and bike rides. They like hanging around the house. In other words, they’ve started to enjoy doing some of the stuff I enjoy.

I’ve cleared my calendar, for the most part, of work next week, and I’m so looking forward to hanging with the kids. Of course, I’ve also made myself a to-do-around-the-house list, which may or may not get taken care of.

Then we’ll go off to Asheboro (the rocking NC Zoo) and Chapel Hill (the Tarheel sports museum) for a couple days for vacay. Well, Enviro-spouse will be teaching, but the kids and I will be playing.

Anyone else have spring break plans?

“Mommy, I know what a glitch is,” said my boy today. “A glitch is when your eyes turn green and you go wild.”

I’m not sure my blue eyes could turn green, but they do turn a rather stormy blue-gray when I’m going wild.

Conversation overheard between the boy and his best friend:

BF: Do you have anything cool in your car?
Boy: No. Except for the driving stuff.
BF: Let’s go see if we can drive it!

Yowza!

I was going to write a post about Schoolhouse Rock and The Great American Melting Pot and immigration and race relations, but I’m not ready to compete with Obama. Maybe later this week.

I had two different groups of magazine marketers knock on my front door within an hour of each other tonight.

The first was a pimply white boy who reeked of cigarette smoke and told me that he was selling mag subscriptions, not to win the grand prize of a trip to Hawaii, but to make money to go to art college. I explained to him that I’m environmentally opposed to magazines, which he didn’t get (you know, trees equal paper, postage equals gas consumption, burning fossil fuels equals global warming?). Then he gave me the “you can donate a subscription to a children’s hospital for $57″ line. $57? I sent him on his way.

The next knock was two young African-American women, also selling mag subscriptions, but claiming they work for an organization called Second Chance (not a non-profit, supposedly, but I can’t find it on-line, which makes me a bit suspicious). The women said they’re both single mothers trying to make it. One said she’s 21 and has three kids under the age of six and is a former junkie. Damn!

These girls seemed smart and together, although a bit on the make (they kept complimenting me, which made me feel weird). I gave them $20, signed their piece of paper, and hoped they’re for real.

So, since then, I’ve been Googling magazine marketers, and I haven’t discovered much about whether these folks are for real. Is it just a job or some kind of pyramid scheme? One of the women told me that there are more than 300 companies and organizations sending folks out on the streets to sell subscriptions. It must work. I do think it’s more difficult to say no to someone standing at your front door than to that same person on the phone.

So how do y’all handle door-to-door marketers? Do you listen to their stories? Do you turn them away immediately unless they’re Girl Scouts?

What about the political lobbyists? I’m more likely to talk to folks about politics, particularly if they’re on my team. Last week a young guy knocked and then handed me a flier about some dude running for state office. I glanced at the flier, read the words “conservative Republican” and said to him: “I’m never going to vote for one of those. Why do you give this to someone else?” He was nice about it and thanked me for my honesty.

In truth, I don’t like strangers coming to my front door. It makes me nervous and uncomfortable. I’m torn between my ingrained politeness and my “don’t tread on me” mentality.  I think I’d be most comfortable greeting strangers at my front door with a pecan pie in one hand and a shotgun in the other.

Unfortunately, unless the blinds are down, people coming up my front walk can see straight into my living room, so I can’t pretend I don’t see them. Nor do I have time to hide. Part of me wants to be crotchety and tell them to leave me alone, especially when it’s dinner time. But I’m too nice. Plus everyone’s somebody’s baby. Even if they’re on the make.

My column for this week’s Mountain Xpress explains the phenomenon of Momnesia. And I tell my most embarrassing Momnesia story. Wanna tell me yours?