Positively Mom Street

“Be good to yourself when, nobody else will Oh be good to yourself You’re walkin’ a high wire, caught in a cross fire Oh be good to yourself When you can’t give no more They want it all but you gotta say no” - Journey So, I’m feeling just a wee bit stressed out.  Summer is officially over and I’m cranky. This has been the wettest, coldest, grayest summer EVER and I am so over it.  Just call me  bitter (and unseasonably COLD) party of one. Then – school started.  Yep – my kiddos went back on August 18th and there is nothing weird about ringing in the school year in the middle of August.   Not at all.   My oldest entered his final year of elementary school (5th grade!!!) while my  youngest started her first year (Kindergarten) and while I was thrilled to discard my $700 a month daycare bill (whoopee) I was a bit saddened to realize she is officially a school-ager. Can you just FEEL the excitement? Hayden is totally blase and Harlyn is ready...

“Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same — with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.” ―  Mother Teresa Someone stands in front of a camera, says a few words, and then has a bucket of icy cold water dumped on their head. I’ll be honest.  I hate videos and I resisted watching these for quite a while.  Mostly because I couldn’t figure out WHY everyone was suddenly taking an “ice water shower” and posting it on Facebook.  When I could no longer resist the temptation (those videos were showing up in my feed at an alarming rate) I watched one – and ended up pretty confused.  WHY was everyone dumping water on their head? I’m all for supporting a worthy cause.  My problem? Not a single video I saw mentioned anything about the actual cause – the reason behind the cold water wash.  After watching a few videos I turned to Google to figure out what ill...

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe. Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” Albert Einstein So, we have one standing rule in our house: Do Not Kill.   Pretty simple, right? This applies to everything from ants on the sidewalk, spiders in the house all the way up the food chain.  I firmly believe every living thing has the right to continue existing without our interference. Now, that said – I did grow up on a farm and am no stranger to death.  We had cows, pigs, chickens and for a short time a sad, lonely, single goat. Our animals (with the exception of the goat) eventually became our dinner.  I’m ok with that.  While I don’t like to kill – I do like to eat – and I love me some hamburger – so I get the whole cycle of life thing.  I believe it’s one thing to kill for sustenance – it’s another to kill for fun.   When we see insects on the side...

“I feel good.  I feel free. I feel fine just being me. I feel good today.  Oh so good today.” - Jon Batiste & The Stay Human Band It’s been a quiet week enriched with some very small, simple pleasures. Earlier in the week, I went to Walgreen’s to pick up a script and of course get some snacks for the family.  While in line, the guy in front of me didn’t have enough cash to pay for everything he had picked up.  After looking around – he said “put that back” and pointed to a Hershey chocolate bar.  Well, considering I was buying 4 chocolate bars for my family there was no way I was going to watch him put back the best of his cash out items! I quickly offered to buy the chocolate bar and he was really appreciative!  Score – chocolate for everyone and a warm, fuzzy “I did good” feeling for me! Yummy Kind Act! Fast forward a few days and I was grabbing a quick dinner at Qdoba.  I had a coupon for a free entree so I was totally excited tha...