Surviving the Domestic Jungle

I was listening to the radio the other morning when I was taking Avery to school and the morning show hosts were talking about how 67% of American baby boys are not circumcised which totally shocked me. I figured it would be 67% were circumcised. I personally don’t care either way but I know a lot of women are very weirded out by the uncircumcised male member. Personally, I worry about other characteristics!! hehe! Anyway, I assumed that everyone did it to their new baby boys. I will to mine but the guilt that day might require therapy! I mean cutting my sons penis when he is brand new is not high on my list of priorities but I think it is a necessary thing for hygiene and for the ladies when he is older. I don’t know a heck of a lot about the hygiene issues but I know there is something with cleaning under the skin…. Boy this topic is more uncomfortable than I thought it would be!! LOL My whole point was, I was shocked by the percentage. I suppose I just assumed but if so many women are hung up on it and then become mothers to boys, wouldnt they do it to their sons?? Maybe not which tells me it is a handful of women who have spread the rumor that uncircumcised is weird looking. I think that if that many boys are walking around with extra skin, that no one really cares about it. I think that men may care once they are men and get out there in the world and get weird looks or ‘oh’ comments about it. Again, I dont really think it is as big of a deal as it is made to be but I will still circumcise my son just because it is something that I think is best for him in the long run. Ill carry guilt about causing him pain but at least he will hopefully feel comfortable with his manhood when he is grown up.

There is nothing like a nap to revive you and make you feel human once again. When I first had Avery, my sister in law who already had a child, told me that if you sleep for one hour, you will be good to go for one month and I never believed her simply because that didnt make sense to me but now it makes perfect sense. I can sleep for ten minutes and be good for a week! Yesterday I was in desperate need of a nap. I mean I was dizzy I was so exhausted and thankfully my husband watched the kids and I slept and slept and slept and now I feel like I could go a year! It is amazing as a mom what you learn to live with when it comes to sleep. Another thing moms develop is what I call the “mom ears”. A bulldozer could go through my bedroom and I wouldnt hear it but my daughters rollover in bed and I hear it. I hear coughs and whines and cries. I hear it all!! I dont hear my phone go off in the middle of the night when I have an email (the phone is literally 2 feet from my head on the nightstand) but I hear my daughters breathing. I think pregnancy prepares you for not sleeping  being that around the end getting comfortable is practically impossible and then when the baby comes you sleep even less. I think once you are a mom, you never sleep heavily again. My mom who hasnt had little kids in her house for quite sometime now, still sleeps lightly and hears me get up and hears the girls when we go visit her. She came here recently and Hailey was crying and crying because she has some digestion problems and was in pain and even though mom didnt have to get up and help, her mother instincts kicked in and she came in to help me. She’s a great grandmother. Anyway, they say sleep when the baby is sleeping and I usually never obey that but I need to start because that hour can make you feel like a superhero and who doesnt want to feel like a superhero!

Last night after dinner my husband and I were sitting there in our living room and he was going through the channels looking for something to watch and it dawned on me that tv absolutely is crap nowadays. Back int he 90′s you had sitcoms every night of the week to entertain you and now…..nothing. Most of the time it is one hour dramas which are not really viewer friendly meaning that you cant just turn one on and get a chuckle or two and know whats going on. Imagine tuning into the now deceased LOST and trying to figure out what is going on!! Not happening. There’s no more Friends or Seinfeld or anything even remotely like those shows on tv anymore. We watch a heck of a lot of educational tv most of the time anyway (history channel, discovery etc) but when there is nothing that peeks our interest, it is time to put on a movie because tv just isnt about the “family” shows anymore. Most of the one hour dramas are about crime scenes which no thank you!! I do enjoy some reality shows and would much rather watch those than the one hour dramas. I know that even reality shows are fake but thats ok with me because at least it is entertaining! I know this is really a silly topic to complain about but as a mother that watches cartoons more than I watch anything else, when I do get the chance to watch something, I would at least like there to be an option or two! Please tv executives bring back the sitcoms!!! Bring back the golden tv days of the 90′s!! I watch all my favorite 90′s shows occasionally on Nick at nite or channels like that and they are still good! Still enjoyable!! Maybe, one day, tv will be good again!

I had recorded the VMA’s and got to watch them this morning and I was not impressed. It looked unorganized and just wasnt all that amusing. Chelsea Handler was ok but my favorite host ever was Ricky Gervais when he hosted the Golden Globes. Now he is a funny guy! The VMA’s were a snore and I guess if you enjoy live music where the artists sound nothing like they do on the radio or on a cd then this show was for you. I fast forwarded through most of the show and most of Lady Gaga’s wins. I believe she is very talented and very deserving of winning awards but her clothes are just so…….dumb! Completely ridiculous choices and she could barely walk in her shoes! She is not a fashion icon in my humble opinion. She looks so dumb that it almost takes away from her credibility as an artist to me. You dont have to look like a lunatic for attention. Your music obviously speaks for itself. I love awards season and I record each and every show and watch from beginning to end and this was the first one I was just not thrilled with. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of life but my opinion nonetheless. I love to see what everyone is wearing as they all compliment each other and then the next day go on a fashion police show and rip each other to shreds. So catty! So High School! So Wonderful to watch! Sometimes I wonder if some women are paid to wear the atrocities they do. These women seem like level headed human beings and then they come to award shows in just crazy clothes. Lady Gaga is always in the crazy clothes so she doesnt count. Either way, it is always fun to watch and I vote that Ricky Gervais host’s every awards show from now to eternity. I look forward to the Oscars!!

The other day I was watching tv, and it is very rare that I actually watch commercials because we have a DVR and we fast forward through all the commercials. On this particular day, we were watching live tv and I saw a commercial that I found to be really messed up. It was for an anti depressant pill and it went something like this: “If you are taking anti depressants and are still depressed then you need this pill too.” Ok, I have so many problems with this statement! If the anti depressant isn’t working, maybe you shouldn’t be taking it! Maybe you should not add another pill and look into alternative methods of healing yourself. Now I believe that there are many people out there with chemical imbalances who literally require medication to lead a productive life where as I also believe there are people who use medication as some sort of quick fix for feeling down. I think instead of medicating our selves all the time, we need to get to the root of the unhappiness! Work on our selves, seek therapy or maybe alternative therapies. I just couldn’t understand how this commercial would say if one pill isn’t working, take this one too! Heck why not take 100 pills all to make the pill before work properly! It saddens me because all we are doing is medicating people instead of actually helping them. Again, there are people who are in need and have real problems and I am not including them in my opinion. The next issue I had was one of the side effects was death. That is one hell of a side effect and I’ll tell you what, there is nothing more depressing than being dead!!!! I just can’t believe that commercials like that are ok and that death is an acceptable side effect. Maybe I’m the crazy one but maybe this isn’t the best way to deal with depression. Maybe there is a better way….. I know life can be a challenge and that times are tough and that it can really break up down but things get better and life goes on. I just don’t feel like people should have to worry about such awful side effects and taking a variety of pills just to feel fake happy. I have no other suggestions as to what might be a better suggestion but what I do know is it just doesn’t seem right to me.

Today is my birthday and I have to say the older I get the more birthdays lose their luster. I am happy it is my birthday mainly so Avery can enjoy the day! We have started a sort of tradition where she picks the cake, she blows out the candles while we sing her happy birthday! That child loves birthdays so much she plans her own birthday party all year! My main want for the day is to eat cake guilt free which I totally plan on taking advantage of! I can always feel guilty tomorrow and every day after that but today, today is guilt free so bring it on! I got to thinking about when exactly birthdays start losing their luster and came up with this: 10 is when you become double digits, 13 you are technically a teenager, 16 you can drive, 18 you are an adult, 21 you can drink, 25 you are a 1/4 century and I think that’s where age stops being fun and then every year after that it is just another year until 30 when you officially have to have your life together. Life goes by so quickly and with each passing year I feel more and more responsible and wise yet society says I am getting old and wrinkly. I’m sure there is a little bit of both going on but I do enjoy getting older and watching my kids grow up and living a life that I never in a million years would have thought I would live when I was a little girl. Life is interesting as heck and the year in between your birthdays can bring big changes and I enjoy the twists and turns. It has been an interesting ride so far and I look forward to what comes next in my life. The next chapter so to speak. As long as I have one day where I feel no guilt when it comes to eating cake, then I am happy. As long as Avery gets to blow out my candles she is happy and as long as I give Hailey most of my piece of cake, she is happy so we all win in one way or another. Happy Birthday to me!

When I started out in my domestic jungle, I did not and could not cook. I didn’t even really like attempting to cook because nothing I made ever tasted (or looked!) like I thought it should. I found it stressful and painful! There have been a few things I have always felt pretty comfortable making like pasta and homemade pizza and cookies but anything more complicated or less carbohydrate laden was not my speciality! As time has gone by, I have had to step up to the plate (literally) and start to try cooking. My children need to eat something other than things that come in boxes or packages and I was the one ultimately responsible for making sure they had healthy fresh food to eat! I have this cute little annoying thing where I love to read cookbooks but never really cooked much out of them so I have a great supply of cookbooks that I have experimented with and actually have come to enjoy cooking for my family. There was a lot of trial and error and even more burnt things but I tried and tried and now I really actually enjoy putting meals together in my head and hearing my family say “Yummy!”. As scary as it was to try and cook, I’m glad that I didn’t give up. Once you find the “Joy of Cooking” you really find that you can become fearless and ever willing to try new recipes! My mom and sister were here for a couple of days and we made dinner the first night then went out to eat breakfast the next morning and dinner that night and I am burnt out on eating out! I prefer to hop in the kitchen and whip something up. I’ll be glad to have a home cooked meal tonight. I haven’t quite decided what it will be but it will be good!!

This weekend my husband and I watched a lot of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations”. There was a marathon going on and we loved it! I had watched it maybe two or three times before but we really enjoyed it this time. We were watching his travels to Tuscany and then to Sardinia and my husband got upset because I guess he was unaware of how Europeans live so differently from us here in the United States. Anthony went to a “truck stop diner” that had white table clothes and courses to their meal and he was in awe of this! I was well aware that Europeans take their time to eat and it is pretty much their way of life to just enjoy their day. Everything moves a little slower there and everyone is more connected. They were focusing on a small town of course so the pace there was even slower but such a beautiful way to spend your life. Each neighbor made something that they sold to their neighbors Ex: wine or cheese and you get your meat from the butcher and your bread from the baker. I love the way they lived. Everything was about community and eating fresh, from the earth ingredients. One of the women he met whipped up fresh pasta that I wish I could have jumped through the tv and gobbled down! That’s the way to eat!! Fresh and healthy with an emphasis on family. In our country it is go go go and work work work and shovel your food down! Its sad that we don’t adopt a more easy going way of life when it seems so superior to me. Maybe we wouldn’t all be as stressed out and over tired and over worked!! If the opportunity presented itself to live in Europe I would take it in a heartbeat. Maybe not for the rest of my life but certainly I would love to try it on and see if it fits! My number one choice would be Italy and then after that Greece. After that perhaps England, Scotland and Ireland. Oh heck, pretty much anywhere would be of interest to me. Im going to do my best to adopt some of their culture and to make dinners from scratch (Im a housewife, I can find the time to do this….I hope!) and I already make it a point that we sit down as a family and talk. Family is always and always will be number one to me! I enjoy our dinners and to know that they are labors of love would make it even more special! My mother is arriving this evening for a visit and I have planned out a big family meal to welcome her into our home! With that said, I need to get to the grocery store to make all of this happen! Wish me luck and maybe try and take on the European attitude about family and food….They’re number one!!

This morning I put on “Beauty and the Beast” for my little ladies because I genuinely love that movie! It is such a fantastic movie from beginning to end and has a great message. Looks are definitely not everything and I say that from experience. Before I was a married mom, I was a single girl and met men and had a couple of boyfriends and they were never the “Hot” guy. I always fall for people with dynamic personalities and it sometimes left me with boyfriends who were borderline unattractive. Now not all of them were scary but a a few were and then I would get lucky and have what I considered attractive plus the personality! SCORE! I found the best of both worlds in my husband who is gorgeous and a has a great personality (when he isn’t being a pain in the ass). The point is, I like movies for kids that have a positive message instead of being mindless crap. Take “The Little Mermaid” for one. It is based on a woman so desperate for a man she sells herself to a witch in order to change everything about herself to go and be with him. Not what I want my daughters to do. I love that movie too by the way but the message stinks. Then there is “Aladdin” which is a love story based completely on a lie. Not good…. Basically most Disney movies are about the female lead sitting around waiting for mr. perfect and changing themselves to fit his life but “Beauty and the Beast” is about HIM impressing HER and working on his flaws and changing for her and in return she does fall in love with him for who he is inside. Such a great movie and a great way to start a Sunday morning!!

We did a little grocery shopping today and being that it is Saturday, they had samples everywhere. I for the most part never get a sample but today one little sample stand had my full attention. It was pancake batter in a squeeze bottle. Like squeeze cheese but pancakes. First of all, what the hell is in the can??!! It isnt fresh eggs and milk and whatever else goes into pancakes! It is one chemical after another flavored chemical. Things like that always just shock me that our government actually allows us to ingest food that isnt actually food and we as consumers go and buy it and happily gobble it down on a Sunday morning. Now trust me when I say I eat a lot of crap food but I do not eat nearly as much as my husband does! I just cant stomach it. Its also a bit of a mental block for me just because I just cant even imagine what the ingredients are in something like squeeze can pancakes. I would have my own vegetable garden and perhaps some chickens and a cow if I didn’t live in the heart of suburbia. Im not sure what my soil consists of and therefore am not willing to eat something grown in it! I would like to eventually have a garden though. Ive wanted one for a while but so far, not happening. Id have a compost as well! Plus the recycling, all we would need is some solar panels and we would be pretty green!! When it comes to the crap companies throw in a can and label as food, maybe take a minute or two and think about what you are actually buying. For starters buying your own flour, eggs and milk can be a heck of a lot cheaper, last a lot longer, and obviously you can pronounce all the ingredients. Yes you have to put in more effort than simply moving your finger but that extra effort is so worth it! Cooking from scratch is a real pain in a really big butt but so important for our overall health. Our bodies arent meant to digest chemicals so why the hell do we keep downing them like they are?? I wish I could change the world sometimes. All I can do is change me and speak about it to others. So, with that said, think before you eat it because some things are so horrible for you that you might as well cook with your bathroom cleaners! Care about your body, care about your loved ones bodies and serve food that actually is food!!