Starting off April not with showers

Since my posts on the plastic ties, my family (and we now include the boyfriend as part of us) likes to bring them to me hidden in their fists as if offering up a special prize. Haha, very funny.

Then I got an envelope in the mail from my friend Kim, and walking up the driveway I contemplated what in the world she could be sending me because it wasn't a holiday, nor my birthday, and the days of writing one another have longed passed.

I was totally clueless.

Okay, so I laughed. Another loud, belly roar where I clutched my sides and howled while the dog cocked his head to the side and worried for my sanity.

April Fool's!

Good one.

Me: "Look what I got in the mail."

Madison: "Wow! Fan mail from your readers!

Mail from a reader

I wrote a post about cleaning my oven recently due to a plastic bread tie--or, in this case, a potato bag tie. I hate these flat, plastic ties. Not only are they hard to put back on the bag--you have to twist the bag just so to get it between the notch to stay--they aren't useful. I can't use that thing to hold, say, electric cords, a stack of coupons, or even my hair. Whereas, those wire ties can do all of that and more.

Those ties are worth saving. I have a drawer full. When my mother died, I took her stash. I keep those that come in bulk with garbage bags. Because they're useful. They make sense. The others? Nothing.

Saturday, my husband showed me an app he got for his phone because a co-worker had told him about it. I don't know the name of the app--in all seriousness, I was only giving him fifty percent of my attention--but it's connected to the postal service, and it can tell you via a photo what was delivered that day in your mailbox.

I kid you not.

Like our Amazon delivery man, you can receive a picture of the mail in your box. So, in giving me this information, he showed me what was in our box. We had two pieces of mail. One was junk, the other was a card from my PA friend, Lois. 

I was excited. Not about the app, but about the card because Lois always sends little goodies in the mail like newspaper clippings about people and things she knows I like. I keep most of them. I have an article about Ben Roethlisberger (in my Steelers room) and one about Nancy Drew (in my keepsake box). So, it was with great pleasure that I skipped out to the mailbox.

To find only the junk mail. No card. 

Tom: "But it says it was there. Maybe it came yesterday?"

It didn't. I left him to ponder the hows and the whys while I worried about what neighbor had my mail and why they had yet to deliver it back into my hands. This happens. We have a regular mailman, John, but one in a while, he takes off on golf adventures, leaving us with a substitute. Sometimes I receive my neighbor's mail. All Saturday and all Sunday, I pondered the whereabouts of that card. 

I did it again today when I hiked to the mailbox while the dog did his business in our yard. Perhaps the neighbor would stick it in with my mail. Maybe John didn't see it on Saturday but he would today. Perhaps...

It was there! Inside a stack of mail was the tiniest card ever, and I had to rip the envelope just to get the card out.

What could she have sent? A new picture of Jason Momoa? An article on the NFL's CBA? A cry for help because her granddaughter had opened yet another gallon of paint in the backseat of her car?

I'm not going to lie.

I laughed.

A good time to say thank you

I was catching up with my cousin Jaimee's blog and read this entry about a visit to her son's school. Jaimee, if readers remember, had a surprise pregnancy years after tying her tubes and closing up shop after three kids. Those kids were heading toward their teens and were as shocked as their parents. Surprise!

It all worked out better than they expected. Little Nolan has five parents who love, cherish, and boss him around. Recently, Jaimee quit her job where she drove twice a day to another city two hours away with little Nolan in the backseat. The results of this change closer to home meant putting Nolan in a preschool, and her blog post had to do with a special event at Nolan's preschool. A circus. Jaimee took off of work for a couple of hours to attend, and when it was all finished, Nolan thought he was going home. 

He wasn't.

Reading this, my heart broke. Nolan had a meltdown and kept letting his mother know that he loved her as if this would change the outcome. Aww... It made me wish I lived near them so that I could've been there and whisked him home with me. Because as a SAHM, I got to do just that. 

We had special events at school and if my kids wanted to end their day right then and there? They did. We went home. (Okay, full disclosure, my kids would probably argue with that since school importance was drilled into me via my mother, but I'm mainly referring to Nolan's age. Although they also got to leave in their later years if the teacher agreed, although I know they will roll their eyes at that.) And I loved knowing that if they wanted or needed to come home, they could. Without stress for either of us.

I felt Jaimee's anguish. I can remember that very feeling when we were deciding if I would return to my job after my maternity leave. It wasn't an easy decision, especially for me. Nor was it easy after the decision had been made for me to stay home. I loved my job. I had been offered a promotion. I was damn good at what I did. Not only did I save lives, but I also taught children and adults how to swim and how to protect themselves, and I trained and molded other lifeguards. It was hard to walk away. I lost a piece of myself when I did.

But Tom and I decided this was best for our family and I've never regretted it for a minute. I was born to be a SAHM. I genuinely believe that, but in saying it, I have to also give HUGE credit to Tom. Because he's the one who made it possible all these years.  

He sacrificed. He didn't get to sleep later or take a nap. Tom didn't get to attend every school event (although he was at most of them) or every sporting event, and he was the one who shouldered job stress and had fewer hours of cherub smiles. Like Jaimee, who had to walk away from a crying child begging for him to stay, we couldn't have done this without Daddy Tom.

Now that our nest is empty and my husband is at retirement age, I'm sure he envisioned I'd venture out into the workforce. Probably I too envisioned that back when we made the SAHM decision, but neither of us knew the future, and so he still gets up every day and heads off to his job while I putter around the empty house and have time to read other people's blogs. 

Hmm...maybe I should offer myself up as Jaimee's nanny.

Out of the mouths of my babes

This morning I awoke to seven text messages. Well, that and a bunch of LOUD birds, but I took care of them.

The test messages were in our family chat group from Darcy, written at 7:54 in the morning. She'd sent a picture of my cousin Jaimee's blog entry from three days prior. I'd already read the blog post, but I'm guessing it was on FB because my daughter doesn't read anyone's blog. At least she better not be reading someone besides her own mother!

The picture stated the blog title, A Simple Life, and the blog entry title, Out of the Mouths of Babes. Underneath the photo, Darcy had typed, "Plagiarism." 

I thought it warranted an exclamation point too, but apparently, she wasn't upset enough at someone stealing my blog title to add punctuation. But upset she was, nevertheless, or at least concerned enough to inform me of that shit was going down in our family. She knows it goes against everything taught to her by her English teacher grandmother, her English major mother, and by every English teacher she's ever had. It made my heart swell. My kid had my back!

Apparently, her sister did not because she responded first to the group.

Madison: "Why are you awake at this ungodly hour on a Saturday?"

Darcy: "I could ask you the same question."

Madison: "Work stuff. Touche."

Darcy: "Same."

And that was the end of the group text. 

The End! 

No discussion on the fact a relative was pilfering my blog titles. No indignation at the thought, the horror! No planning of repercussions or lawsuits. 

I suppose Darcy thought she'd done her duty, but I expected a little bit more--just a tad maybe, like a follow up from her sister.

Being a responsible parent, as well as having the back of my cousin and fellow blogger, I responded.

Me: "If you had bothered to read the entry, you would see that I was cited as the owner of the title. Every time she uses it. But thanks for having my back. Maybe I'll blog about it!"

And I used the exclamation point! Because it belonged there and because, damn skippy, I was blogging this sucker!

Full disclosure: My first thought after reading Darcy's plagiarism comment was exactly the same as Madison's response. What was she doing awake? That led to my second thought, which was precisely Darcy's response. Why was Madison awake? My last thought was of this blog. But what's the fun in that?

Proximidade Award to little ole me....

Thanks to my sweetie of a sister-in-law at http://susan-mythoughts.blogspot.com/ who gave me this Proximidade Award. I had never heard of it (sort of like the tagging thing) but I researched it and found some neat blogs. I'm not sure who started this thing, but I like it. I will admit to having to look up some of the words in the description so not only am I awarded, not only did I find some neat new blogs, but I learned some new vocabulary words as well!

Here is the scoop: Proximidade is described as follows: 'This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!'

This blog award should be sent to your favorite eight bloggers and they, in turn, should forward to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade (above) in your announcement blog.

Problem with coming up with 8 is that I really don't have 8 blogs to recommend. But here are 6 blogs that I visit. Some are family members. Some I visit daily. Some are goofy but entertaining. Some I'm not even sure are considered blogs. Enjoy!

• www.demographicofone.blogspot.com/
• www.grapevinecreek.com/
• www.dooce.com
• www.singleservecoffee.com
• http://thepioneerwoman.com/
• www.sarahnielson.com/