Pamela Faith

Out of the 5 prompts, I want to write about this prompt:

3.) I know my kids really love me because…(inspired by Sarah from Lit And Laundry)

Here are 10 reasons I know my children love me…

1. When they see me laying in bed when they get up in the morning, they will ask me if I’m sick. I’m usually the first one up and already cleaning the house way before they crawl out their holes.
2. When we get a spare moment to visit a book store, they roll their eyes and sigh real loud, but they don’t cry and bang their heads on the floor in an attempt to get us kicked out.
3. Out of nowhere they will come and give me a hug and tell me they love me. This is not happening as much as it used to. I think my babies are growing up.
4. My kids offer to share everything with me. They will give me a drink or bite of anything they have. Unfortunately, when Motormouth (age 11) offers; I cringe inside. He still eats everything like a slabering two year old.
5. When my back itches in places I can’t reach, either of my children will scratch it for me without expecting anything in return.
6. When my kids and I go on our day adventures, they always seem to have the happiest faces (especially when we stop to eat). I’m glad they don’t hate to go with me all the time.
7. My kids do their chores and most other things that I ask them to do and they do it without cussing me out. At times I feel like Motormouth is borderline, but he does what I ask. I think it says something when your kids respect you.
8. If there is only one of a certain kind of food or drink left in the house, they will ask me if I want it before they take it.
9. Princess will make me homemade cards for special occasions and place money in them. She is real stingy with her own money, so it’s a big deal when she does this.
10. When we sit and watch t.v. I usually end up with them trying to squeeze into my chair or on the couch with me. Princess loves to do this more than Motormouth. With the baby, she doesn’t have room in the rocker with us.

I’m really proud to have a wonderful bunch of kids.  When I get tired and sleepy, it seems overwhelming. However, when I’ve had sleep and can think beyond a pillow and a bed, I can’t help but want to spend some time watching and listening to each of them.  They are pretty good. My Sweetie and the two older kids are working on me to have a fourth child. When I sit and think about how great my kids are doing, it’s real hard to say no. Late at night when I’ve been awakened for the fiftieth time it’s a different story.

Out of the 5 prompts, I want to write about this prompt:

2.) Divorce Dreams…a tempting alternative? A disaster to be avoided? Ever an option? Advice? What’s your take?

I had divorce dreams for a long time back when my older 2 children were very small. I even decided to follow through and get a divorce from My Sweetie. I had pictures in my mind about being able to work where and when I wanted to (yeah that happens when you have to schedule around daycare and taking days off with sick kids). I saw a house in my dreams decorated completely in pink and white (I was stupid). I imagined being in complete control of my future and discovering what I really wanted out of life. I thought I’d magically find a better Mr. Right who would cater to my every whim and support all my decisions no matter how small (very selfish of me).

Reality of divorce dreams: they become nightmares. I had to work my ass off to make ends meet. I remember thinking that My Sweetie was stingy with money (saving it for a rainy day). Many times I felt like he liked to control the money because he was the one making it while I sat at home with our babies. In the real world, shit happens and sometimes you need more money than your last paycheck. He was right about putting the money up and not spending it as we got it.

He was also right when he said that I should enjoy being at home with our children and not having the worry of paying bills. Once I was divorced, I spent many nights laying awake in the bed worried that if I missed another day of work that I wouldn’t be able to pay all of my bills. I hadn’t experienced that feeling when I was married. I took that part for granted. My Sweetie carried that worry (and he still does today) all by himself.

I remember divorce dreaming that I would be able to clean house on my schedule without someone asking me what I had done all day. (Eyes rolling)…every housewife loves to hear how it looks like they’ve accomplished nothing all day. Anyone with 2 kids under the age of 4, 18 months apart, knows that you can finish one cleaning job only to repeat it several times in one day, while trying to finish the other chores.

I remember divorce dreaming that I would be able to read every night before going to bed with the lamp on not having to worry about waking My Sweetie up. I could see the piles of books on my nightstand. In reality those books collected dust. When I was ready to go to bed, I was too tired to hold the book and my mind wouldn’t have been able to get into a book thinking about all the responsibilities that I now had on my shoulders.

My Sweetie and I were divorced for 2 years before deciding that we had learned enough from the experience to put our family back together. He no longer asks me what I’ve done all day. You see during our divorce, we split the time with our kids a little differently. Some of the months we decided the kids would stay 4 days with him, while I worked and then stay 3 days with me while he worked. I would come home from work some days and sit with the kids at his house, so he could get extra hours at work. We both got to walk in each other’s shoes.

I don’t recommend divorce, because it’s pure hell, but it was the biggest learning experience of my adult life. I appreciate not being burdened with the finances and My Sweetie appreciates someone else taking care of the kids and the house.

I didn’t have enough to do so I’ve created a Facebook group for women who aren’t motivated enough to cook until their family is starved enough to make their own feed the children video for late night television. It’s basically a club for us women who’s always being asked, “What’s for supper?”. I make out a list of the meals we’ll be eating the next 7 to 10 days, but I do many repeat meals. I admit that I play with recipes every now and then, but I usually stick to the easiest and fastest.

Whenever we receive food from outside sources, you can hear my family making the oohs and aahs like they’ve never eaten before. My kids have begged to eat at the neighbor’s many times.  I think possibly I need to adjust my cooking style and at least give them a new flavor twice a month. Tonight I cooked pinto beans, fried chopped potatoes, macaroni, and cornbread. I admit that we have this about 2-3 times a week.

What’s For Dinner is going to be a fun way to get back in the apron and try again. It works like this…I assign you 2 cooking buddies. You pass a recipe to one of your buddies for them to cook. They must post a picture of the finished product on Facebook for the rest of us to see and learn from (whether it be what to do or not to do). While that cooking buddy is busy working on the recipe you’ve chosen for them, you’ll be working on the recipe that your other cooking buddy has assigned to you. The coolest part is that at any time you need a different recipe for whatever reason, just send a request to your buddy and let them know you don’t think that one is right for you or your family.

Our goal is to work on fixing 2 new dishes a month with your buddies. I will change up buddies after 2 rounds unless you specify otherwise. It’s a great way to meet other mommies and have fun cooking at the same time. We will also be hosting a group recipe. Once a month the group administrators will post a recipe for everyone to try and post pictures of. You don’t have to do the cooking buddy to do the monthly recipe. Heck you don’t have to do anything but sit and watch the rest of us play in the kitchen.

I’m thinking about working on something that will allow everyone to post their plans for breakfast or supper if they want to that is. It might help the rest of us decide what we want for the family meal in our own home. I hope to see some of you join us.

Out of the 5 prompts, I want to write about this prompt:

1.) Ask someone who loves you what one of your weaknesses is.
(inspired by Summer from Le Musings Of Moi)

First thing this morning I asked my Sweetie about what he thought my number one weakness was. This almost resulted into a fight where I ignore him and withhold food from him for a week. After much thought I knew he was telling the truth. He says that I never know the right thing to say and I always manage to say the thing that makes people think I’m being a b*tch. I was stupid enough to ask for examples. He was dumb enough to give me some examples.

Recently our UPS driver told us that she wouldn’t be doing our deliveries any more. I asked her if she found a better job. My Sweetie and her looked at me like I had 3 heads. She informs me that she was being transferred to another route. My Sweetie said that I made her job look lowly by making that comment. It took me some time to see what he meant. I never thought that her job was beneath any other job.

I mentioned to my mother that we should check on pricing a dumpster for a month so we could do some heavy cleaning of her garage and home. My mother was offended that I thought her stuff was junk and needed to be thrown away. My Sweetie thought it was outrageous that I would mention it all. What can I say? She has become a hoarder from too many years moving from here to there.  I thought it would make her feel better to have less things to keep maintenance on.

I would put a few more on here, but they are about some friends of my Sweetie that I managed to hurt their feelings (some I didn’t mean to). Just in case it opens old wounds, I’ll just leave it at that. I may get brave enough one day to open up about them.

If you have time, drop in and visit Mama Kat. She’s the mastermind behind these wonderful prompts.

I’m choosing to be late on this writer’s workshop, but I can’t seem to schedule time for fun stuff.  I have to just grab the time when I can (you know, when the baby’s asleep).

Out of the 5 prompts, I want to write about prompts:

2.) The strangest dream ever…
(inspired by Amo from Where A Woman Shakes Her Tablecloth.)

3.) Write a list of 10 things that can be done to stave off boredom.
(inspired by Lourie from CA Girl).

Just a few nights ago when I was able to snatch a couple hours of sleep (rare, considering my baby is a high needs baby), I had a dream that instead of having one baby girl, I’d actually had a set of twin girls. In my dream I was feeding my baby when I heard a baby whimper from another room. I put my baby down on my bed and went into the nursery where I found a small baby curled up under a blanket. I picked this baby up and noticed how puny the baby looked. She was pretty, but looked very starved. I took the baby to My Sweetie and asked him where the baby came from and he told me that it was our baby.

I remember shaking my head and beginning to cry. I told him there was no way that I’d forget about one of my kids and I’d definitely not let one of them starve like this baby. The baby was looking up at me and smiling. I quickly put the baby to breast. I woke up feeling overwhelmed with emotion. After thinking over the dream, I feel like it was because I sat and watched some of the happenings in Haiti. I am shaken over all those children with no one to take care of them. It makes me appreciate my lot in life. I have more than I’ll ever need.

Ok – I have to get that dream out of my head.

Here are my 10 ways to avoid becoming bored:

1. Top thing to do is visit someone in your family that you don’t like. The more you dislike them the better. (For any family reading this – I’m not referring to you.) You’ll be sure to entertain yourself for hours doing this. It’s even better if this family member dislikes you too.
2. Throw a cat into an empty garbage can (the really big ones). Watch the cat try to climb out.
3. Get 2 dogs together and throw one bone to them and watch to see which dog gets the bone. Be sure to have another bone for the loser. There’s no reason to be mean to an animal.
4. Wrap tape around all 4 feet on a cat. (My Sweetie showed me this. I should have known then that this small town didn’t offer much in the way of entertainment.)
5. Watch for your neighbor to be busy outside, call their phone (disable caller id before dialing their number), and hang up when they answer. Wait until they go back outside and repeat. (I have family that lives on both sides and I wouldn’t do this to them, or would I?)
6. Play Xbox 360. Prefer Battlefield: Bad Company online against 23 people you hope you never see face to face after knifing them in the back.
7. Download a romantic book from http://ebooks.eharlequin.com.
8. Draw and color pictures, scan them into your computer, and make them your desktop background. If you’re real good, build a website and give them away for free or sell them.
9. Start playing a game on Facebook.
10. Write a blog about your life or about other people’s life.

I’ve done this, maybe not perfectly. It’s the best organization tip I’ve ever used.

Watch Video

I used to have large filing cabinets full of documents that took up so much room.  Now I can pull up any bill on my computer. If you stick with it, you’ll love it. This is also something you can teach your kids. They can scan notes or school papers to coloring pages and learn to file digitally.

I think it is so fascinating that someone can invent a new puzzle game. What must be going through these people’s minds when they design a new game? Did it happen by accident or were they trying to create something new? I’ve recently researched a little bit about the Sudoku puzzle game. From what I can tell, Howard Garns, in 1979,  gets the credit for the puzzles in the United States. He created the puzzles and called them The Number Puzzle. However, earlier than that in Japan, they were created. Of coarse, the puzzles we see today are modernized and not like they were originally.

Addicting they are. I absolutely love to work these puzzles in the evening while the family gathers around the television. I’ve learned to “watch” tv with my ears. Here’s a sample of a Sudoku puzzle.

Sarah learns to patch up a quilt.

One afternoon Sarah was lying across my bed fingering one of the many holes in my quilt. Unfortunately my children love to do acrobats on my bed and my quilt takes a beating. She asked me why I didn’t fix the holes. It was like a light came on in my head. What better way for her to learn to sew. I got out my sewing kit and showed her how to get started. Believe it or not, it didn’t take us long to repair the many seams on the quilt.

She did a wonderful job and I can just about guarantee there won’t be any seams coming apart that we repaired.

I wanted to brag about a cross stitch project that I finished this past Saturday (November 7, 2009) . Ok, so it’s suppose to be an ornament for a Christmas Tree, but I haven’t figured out how to make it look like an ornament. As far as the stitches go – I am finished with that part. Here’s a picture.

I have plenty more ornaments to work on. It’s too bad Sarah hasn’t finished her project from her cross stitching class, but she’s getting close. She’d have fun with the Christmas patterns. I may encourage her to start a new one and finish the other one after we have several Christmas ones done. I am also working on a Paula Vaughn pattern. Here’s what it will look like when I finish it.

If you would like to see more of these type of patterns for sale, visit www.amazon.com.

1. Quilting
2. Cross-Stitching
3. Crocheting
4. Sewing
5. Lapbooking
6. Scrapbooking (Need to Learn)
7. Knitting (Need to Learn)
8. Jigsaw Puzzles
9. Homemade Storybooks for Kids
10. Dollhouse