A day in the life of a "Mom"treprenuer: Don't Stop Crying

A day in the life of a "Mom"treprenuer: Don't Stop Crying: I was watching an episode of Oprah's lifeclass today and the subject today was "the feeling of love that you can get from an animal." Among ...

Don't Stop Crying

I was watching an episode of Oprah's lifeclass today and the subject today was "the feeling of love that you can get from an animal." Among all the stories on there including Faith, the 2 legged dog and the story of Nate who reunited someone with their dog from Katrina, this blog comes from the "Puppies Behind Bars" story.

Why do we, often men, say "I'm sorry" when we begin to get emotional? When we begin to cry in public we apologize? it really got me thinking. These prisoners who are the best example of "hurting people hurt people," were allowed to raise these puppies into service dogs for wounded soldiers. They are being taught how to love and be unconditionally loved through a dog. And when they are given the chance to share their story and how impacting this program has had on their life, they begin to cry. One prisoner notes," it's allowed him to have the feelings he has had for so long but you learn to restrain from them b/c of this hard environment we are in." Saying all of this while crying and apologizing for it.

Is shedding tears a symbol of insecurity, vulnerability, immaturity, weakness? I believe we are telling ourselves that when we apologize to others for our emotions. It's okay to cry! I believe it's a sign of strength. you are so connected to your emotions and not afraid to show them that it exudes a kind of honor. It got so emotional at this show tonight and I don't know why. I began to shed a little tear myself and i felt myself holding back and i was alone!! I thought why do we do this???? So instead of fighting it, I let the river flow!!! and actually felt better afterwards. It releases some hormone in the body when we  cry.  So think about that next time you begin to get emotional either alone or around other people. Do you say "im sorry" and where did you learn it? Do you hold back the tears for fear of seeming weak? I don't know what the reason is but next time you feel the tears coming, just go with it....

this brings up another thought....why are tears salty??? .....next post i guess....

Baby Proof=Cheap Art

When Grace was a baby, I didn't baby proof anything b/c she simply wasn't much of the investigator. She didn't put anything in her mouth and she was always quite content in a bouncer, exersaucer, or some other toy. Savannah is a whole nother story!!! When she was in the womb, she kicked so much and I remember saying to myself, "if this baby is anything on the outside what she is on the inside, i'm in for a wild ride." And so my prediction came true. She is into EVERYTHING!!! and anything she sees even a tiny crumb on the ground, she hones in on it, goes for it, crawls as if she's in a race against herself, and puts anything and everything in her mouth. There was even a little screw in my closet the other day from the alarm box we had to fiddle with and she went right for it, and almost put that thing in her mouth. Fortunately, I'm also running a race against her most days to get stuff out of her hands! I can't take my eye off her for a second! So ....
I had necklaces in my closet simply in organizers on the ground. and she was getting into them every single day. by the way, you may be asking, why is she roaming the closet? Well, I do still like the brush my teeth and wash my face most days and she is so not content in "toys" all the time, so we let her crawl around with eyes peeled to get energy out while i am taking only a few minutes to look halfway decent most days.
So, back to the cheap art, I had seen people do this and thought hmmmm how can i do this fairly inexpensively? I chose Hobby Lobby when they were having a 50% off frame sale, I found a premade frame i liked and if you go to the corkboard section, they have the exact size (large) that will fit in the frame. i think it was 23x30 but don't quote me on that. I asked the frame dept if they would put the board in the frame. they said "of course!" next question...how much? they said it was free. anything you find at hobby lobby they will put in the premade frames for free. good news!! so she nailed it in, taped it up, even put a hanging feature on the back for me and VOILA!!! I had my corkboard. Now i did have to put some ducktape on the back to secure the board in b/c the tape she used wasn't sticking. I bought the big thumbtacks you see and hung my necklaces right up!!! It totally "fancies" up the room and a great way to see your jewelry. you can do this for anything hanging; ties, bracelets, earrings, belts, hair accessories, etc. So just thought I'd share a really inexpensive way of how baby proof turned into art on my walls. think the whole project was around $50...
Have fun! and comment on any other cool projects you've done yourself.

Arthur's Chicken Pox

Grace, my 3 year old, occasionally watches Martha and Arthur on PBS television. the other day the episode was about Arthur having chicken pox. i thought that's a little strange since no one seems to "get" chicken pox anymore b/c were supposed to be vaccinated from them. I thought the message was good b/c it was funny and about no one wanting to be around him and then by the end, his sister has them.

This brings me to the thought of when my mom told me month's ago that they used to have chicken pox parties before there was such a vaccination. by the way, does anyone know how many shots a child is receiving before they are 6 mos? according to the immunization schedule  by the CDC, a 6 mos old child with no consideration to weight or premature babies is "supposed" to be receiving up to 18 shots!!!! I don't know about you but that's crazy! But back to the funny cartoon, it seems to be not too life threatening if they are showing Arthur get the chicken pox instead of him going to the Dr and getting the vaccine to "prevent" it or maybe he already had the shot. The majority of children getting these diseases have been vaccinated. Hmmm things that make you go .....hmmmmmm ...

So anyways, times have changed. I had the chicken pox when i was a child, my mom did, my sister did, my husband did and so on. none of us had the "Infected blisters, bleeding disorders, encephalitis (brain swelling), pneumonia (infection in the lungs)" that the CDC lists as disease complications. We are all doing quite well. I thought this  funny clip pretty much explained it all. 


So anyways not to sound overbearing, this really was a post on Arthur's Chicken pox and actually how impressed and interested it was to see him get the chicken pox since apparently no one does anymore!!! 

Sexy Kitten

After watching the premiere of Miss Representation on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network last week, I decided to take action and became an action rep. a little daunted by the idea of "am i going to have to go knock on doors or anything like that?" I decided to step forward anyways. I wanted to share with you the first letter I have received from Jenn, creator of this documentary and movement. I have had this feeling before and have noticed the differences as well. I hope you will join along and consider doing what this letter asks or joining your self.

Dear Catherine,

Last week, while browsing Walgreen’s pharmacy, I happened upon the Halloween section and spent some time looking around at what costumes were available for my children (both under two).

Like in so many other areas of society, the options were extremely limiting. The girl’s outfits were almost all centered on beauty and sexuality, while the boys were either professional (i.e. doctor) or violent (a majority of the boy's outfits included some kind of weapon).

I started to think about the impact of young girls being encouraged to dress up as sexy kittens while young boys are pushed towards hyper-masculinity and aggression. 

Halloween seems to amplify our cultural trend of women being raised to manipulate their bodies and boys being taught to master their environments. With these costumes, are we again teaching girls to value themselves only for their beauty and boys to glorify violence? When are we going to provide a wider array of opportunities for our girls to portray characters that aren't easily objectified or sexualized? Where are the costumes for my daughter that actually represent power or authority?

It's not just about our children either. On PartyCity.com the Halloween page features a "Sexy Costumes" section. There are only women's costumes in this section. There's a clear imbalance here: is Halloween now for girls to dress sexy for men? The way we adults approach this holiday has a direct effect on how our kids view it. And with more and more of us participating in Halloween each year, it becomes critically important for us to think about that effect.

This Halloween I urge you to consider carefully how you dress yourself and your young ones. But since the costume stores aren’t displaying much creativity, we have to help each other come up with interesting and inspiring outfits.

We’re starting a campaign to collect positive and non-gendered Halloween costumes online. Post pictures or videos of your outfits on our Tumblr page and leave a sentence about why you chose it! Together we can start new trends and make Halloween a little less disconcerting for parents.

2 glasses of wine....take as needed

I was watching Life as we Know it the other night where the parents pass away and will their 1 year old to 2 single people who don't really like each other. and as the stress and uncertainty begin to take over their lives, the "new mom" goes to the routine dr's appt and expresses her frustration and confusion of "why me" to the dr. and writes a prescription "2 glasses of pinot noir. take as needed." the next scene is the result of dr's orders!

One of my favorite parts of my day is after i've done the rounds in the house at night. Checked on the kids one last time, double checked all the locks, let the dogs out to take care of business until the morning, and turned out all the lights.  the house is silent and I love it! sometimes i like to have a glass of wine or who are we kidding, maybe 2 and watch tv, read a book, BLOG!! LOL. it's just that time of the day i think most moms look forward to...naptime and bedtime. But no wine at naptime. that's usually filled with work and chores!

I filled up my glass the other night, took a couple sips and was so tired, i poured the wine back into the bottle and went to bed!!! Sometimes it truly is the thought that counts! So get the fancy glass out and enjoy some wine. or just pour the wine and head to bed! either way, it's what the Doctor ordered. and as a mom, I don't always listen to what a "person in a white coat" tells me (that's another more serious blog), but in this case, i have no problem with this prescription and am following orders quite often! cheers!

Coals or Diamonds?

If someone were to ask you would you rather be a piece of coal or a diamond, I would like to think that most people would sarcastically respond, "uh diamond.....of course."

But do you know how diamonds are made? Neither did I!

I'm currently reading Miracles Can Happen by Mary Kay Ash and in the chapter, plan your life like you plan your vacation (we do lots of those! wink) she mentions that "a diamond was once just a hunk of coal until it was put under pressure and polished to perfection."

This really propelled me to the thought, "are most of us willing to be put under pressure to become the diamonds we were meant to be"? We all want to be diamonds but sometimes it's hard to go through the process of "polish and pressure." so naturally what does it mean to be polished? Polish is defined as to make smooth and glossy, especially by rubbing or friction. Ouch! who wants that? most of us want to be polished by sitting comfortably on our couch in front of the television eating oreos and drinking milk (oh is that just me??? ). And what does it mean to be pressured? Pressure means the exertion of force upon a surface by an object. This reminds me of statements like "don't pressure me! I'm feeling pressured! Ah, the pressure!!" So if this is what it takes to be a diamond, is coal really looking all that bad anymore? 


Truth is if we want anything great in life, we will be polished, pressured, frustrated, rejected, frictionized, scared, alone maybe even rubbed...(the wrong way that is). But it's all just part of the process. There's definitely nothing wrong with coal. there's many uses for it which i won't go into here. But God does have a plan for your life and this reminds me of that famous quote by Maryann Williamson in A Return to Love that says:


Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”


Last time I checked, coal doesn't shine. Diamonds do! So go get pressured and polished today and let that little light start shining that is truly inside all of us!

Dream Big...but not really

As i stroll through well known kids clothing stores, i see shirts with the well known saying on them "Dream Big". And I've also heard it said that "kids will do what we do, not what we say." if this is true, do we as parents "Dream Big?" or do we just "get by, make ends meet, pay the bills, clean the house, stop daydreaming, get real, be realistic, get a good education, find a job, get in debt...?" A heavy topic to think about but one that needs to be reflected on if we embellish clothes and decorative items with these 2 words that can mean so much but seem to just be...well... a dream.
When our children are young, they're imaginations run wild. My 3 year old asks me probably 10x a day to play with her by stating 2 simple things..." i'll be the (fill in the blank) and you be the (fill in the blank) quite often these are mom, baby, doctor, ballerina, or princess. And while I would never say to her, "you'll never be a ballerina or a princess." isn't that what we are thinking sometimes? Oh these are just games, it's just fun, aren't they so cute...
Instead i've decided to tell my kids they can be anything they want to be and do anything they want to do. Success is just a mindset. half the crap we are trying to overcome as adults are the stupid things people told us as children. If we were told all positive things as kids, we wouldn't believe any different. The problem is most people will never achieve their dreams because they believe what they have been told. So this little saying "Dream Big" means more than just a tshirt. it can be life changing and truly teach us to lead by example. After all, I'm sure Kate Middleton's mom played princess with her when she was a girl. The words that she said to her daughter and the example that she set, we may never know. But I have to believe that somewhere throughout her life, she did Dream Big and wasn't shown anything otherwise because she did manage to attract the likes a very well known real life Prince who saw something in her that warranted his affection and belief in her.  And now she has a title of royalty.

So pardon me, while I end this post to go play a game of "you be the princess" with my daughter.