I remembered!

I remembered what it was that I wanted to jump out of bed and write about the other night. I remembered it just before I went to bed LAST night. LOL So it's a good thing that I remembered after all that sleeping. :o)

I wanted to talk about people and how they deal with situations. Someone once said that people can be classified as two types.....the ducks and the eagles.

The ducks get into a situation and quack quack quack their way through it. You know they're dealing with the situation and exactly how hard it is to do it. The eagles are faced with a situation, figure out how to deal with it and just go and do it...soaring through it. Most times you never know that they are dealing with things.

I HOPE I can be classified as an eagle, although I admit I've been a duck on occassion. Generally though I think I am an eagle. I think most Tons of Kids (TOK) moms can be classified as such. It would be a miserable life for everyone if a TOK mom was always outwardly showing what she's dealing with on a day to day basis.

What brought this topic to the surface was an exchange I was a part of on Thursday morning. It was the last day of Carrie's "Summer Fun Club" with her teacher. They were meeting at the library from 9-11. Later that afternoon her teacher was having her class summer pool party at her house from 2-4.

While waiting for the library to open I was talking with Carrie's teacher and getting details (it had changed from the original plans) I figured out that I had eye dr appts and planned on going shopping in the opposite direction at 3...in the middle of the party. I stood there thinking a while and then told the teacher....we'll figure it out. (I lucked out that Tom had suddenly decided to take a half day off of work that day!)

I was getting in my car to leave and another mom came up to the group. She started talking about how hectic having kids is (she has 4) and she's going crazy dealing with all the different things! Carrie's teacher turns to me and says...You just deal with it, right Mrs G. I said yeah, no problem at all! LOL The mom says..."You wouldn't believe everything I have to deal with, with all these kids!" Carrie's teacher and her assistant at the same time point to me and say...She has TEN kids!!! ROFL!!! The mom countered with....Well I have twins and they can be a handful!!! (they are almost 10yo btw) I just smiled, told Carrie I'd see her at 11 and drove away. That was the first time that day that the Eagle/Duck personality hit me.

The second time was going through Wal-Mart the same day, filling my cart to the brim with school supplies. A lady with her two kids turns to me in an exasperated voice and says...School shopping with all the kids is ridiculous! This is just insane! Where do all these people come from!?! I wasn't too sure if she was speaking about me or just spewing to me, looking for a sympathetic ear. I just smiled, walked back to my cart and called the kids to follow me over to the pharmacy so I could pick up my prescriptions. I thought...another duck! What I felt like telling her is...Lady! It's a 24hr store! Put the little brats to bed and come back by yourself later tonight if it's that bad!

Don't get me wrong. School shopping is the pits (see my post earlier this week). I even threatened the kids with leaving the cart where it sat and walking out the door with NOTHING if they didn't stop fooling around so much. I guess I just wouldn't think to say something to a stranger about/against my kids in FRONT of my kids. Well, I wouldn't say anything to a stranger about/against them period. I'd like to think that I have enough respect for them to not portray them as a problem. Maybe it's just that I've conditioned myself not to complain because after all...I wouldn't have this problem if I didn't have so many kids!!! I hope/think it's the former.

The mail came!! Carrie and Drew got a package from Tom's Aunt Barbara Jean. It was a card and a Live Strong Bracelet for both of them! COOL! THANK YOU Aunt Barbara Jean! (for those that don't know....Carrie had a bone marrow transplant when she was 2.5yo. Drew was her donor)

A Live Strong Bracelet is a yellow band of rubber with LIVESTRONG stamped on it. The original price is $1, ALL of which goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I've heard about these all over the place and noticed Bob Costas was wearing one while broadcasting the Olympics, but I've never seen one in person. From what I've read these bracelets are on back order and are being sold for about $10 a piece on ebay. No comment.

My kids are now bugging me to buy some more so THEY can have one too. LOL We'll see. Hey! Maybe if I order it now, my order will come in time for Christmas. Hmmmmm....

Oh...and Michelle's skirt I was making. We've looked at it in the daylight and declared it a lost cause. It was a neat idea but the fabric was wrong for what she wanted it to do. So we'll think of something else for her, but she'll have to move to the back of the line for now. LOL Onto Val's skirt...hope this one fares a little better.