Positively Mom Street

“Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom.” Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects Not that I need to know or anything. I’m totally asking for a friend.  Well, alright – maybe it is for me. I wish I had a really exciting story that involved lots of shots and lampshades, but I am 40 and those days are long behind me. It’s party time…and I’m feeling right…at least for about 45 minutes. Instead it’s a story of not paying attention to my body, seriously over-eating and a drink or two that just weren’t what the doctor ordered. All I know is one moment – there I was – just hanging out and having fun with all my friends.  ’Cause of course all my friends were there.  When you throw up at a house warming party it HAS to be the one with all your besties.  The next thing I know I was laid out and desperately sick.   Thankfully I had ridden over with a friend so I didn’t have to figure out how to get my pukey-butt into my ...

“No one has ever become poor by giving.”  ―  Anne Frank ,  diary of Anne Frank I’ve been doing this kindness gig for about 2 months now.  It’s been really fun to play the “random kindness super hero” game but it feels, I don’t know, too random?  Like I want to do something concrete & tangible that I KNOW will make a difference on a regular basis. So, the other day the kids and I went to Panda Express. Don’t judge me.  :-) Yes – I know it’s not “real” Asian food and no – I don’t really care. LOL.  My kids LOVE this place and I find it a great little guilty pleasure when I crave something Asian but don’t want to shell out $40 for the good stuff.  So I’m ringing out and the cashier says “Do you want to round up to $19 and donate your change?” Hmmm….that got me thinking.  First – YES – of course I want to round up!  Odd numbers make me nervous AND make it harder to balance my bank account.  Second – I’m a sucker for a ...

“Well, I ain’t always right but I’ve never been wrong. Seldom turns out the way it does in a song. Once in a while you get shown the light In the strangest of places if you look at it right.” - Scarlet Begonias, The Grateful Dead We recently returned from a week long trip to the East coast.  Hubs and I both grew up in Syracuse, NY and are the only ones in our entire family that left the area.  We try to get back as much as possible but it ends up being a yearly venture due to time and expense – getting a family of four from Colorado to upstate New York isn’t exactly easy or cheap but it’s incredibly important for our kiddos to know their family so we make sure to visit.   I’ll be honest – I was really dreading the trip this year.  It has been one horror story after another with people behaving badly on planes and I just KNEW, with our luck, we would be stuck dealing with an airplane crazy.  So, I packed our bags, added lots of Dramamine (if the peeps we...

“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...