Today was our first day catching the bus since my car was stolen. It's amazing how quickly I got used to not walking. I'm sore now, I might be near dead in the morning. You know you're getting old when you're considering buying Ben-Gay.

I love my kids. I truly do, but I look forward to the day they all move out, so that I know that when I put down my pen, keys, purse, change, gloves, they will be in the exact same spot when I go to retrieve them.

Friday's Fast Fact

On average you swallow 450 bugs a year. Yum!

This is how AJ looked after his first day of kindergarten. He's going to a language immersion school*, so he didn't understand a word the teachers were saying anyways, but he didn't tell anyone that his head was hurting. So the teacher is speaking to him in a foreign language, he just wants to lay his head on the desk because it hurts, he wants to come home but can't and to top it all of the bus breaks down, so he spent over 3 hours on the bus. Needless to say he doesn't want to go back. My poor baby.
Three kids in school, two to go.

*He is learning French. A language I know nothing of besides "Bonjour!"

Geez, my daughter has a crush on Prince Michael Jackson. And she can't just say his name, she has to do "jazz hands" while saying Prince. Give. Me. A. Break. Please.

It's a little after 2pm and I just realized that my wrist doesn't hurt. The ER doc said I didn't break it, but it has hurt for nearly 2 months. That's more than a sprang, y'all. Doctors don't know everything, and tests, including x-rays, don't always show all. I broke my ankle before and they didn't believe me, until the 4th x-ray revealed a hairline fracture. The outcome would have been the same (a removable brace) so I didn't argue with this one. I'm just happy it's better.

My stalker was released from jail recently, so pray for me.

My dear friend is thinking of moving to Ohio. She will stay with me of course and I would love it. I miss her and our late night conversations. Except this time we won't be pregnant together 'cause I ain't having no more babies.

This morning while getting dressed I asked Lady Day how I looked. Her response is why I'm counting down to her 18th birthday when I can kick her out with no legal consequences: "Yeah, except your stomach is fat."



I heard a commercial with this song and it brought back alot of memories. They didn't get alot of air play, but I wore the CD out. Digable Planets "be to rap, like key be to lock."

My sister is headed to the airport. We had a great visit and it was nice to see all of them. We got into it because she wanted to buy my 12-year old daughter bootie shorts and a padded bra. I love my sister and I appreciate her spoiling my kiddos, but I don't need my daughter attracting the attention of men twice her age. She already looks 15 or more, my sister is trying to push that up. I can't take it. Do you other mothers allow your children to wear stuff like this? I know it's the current fad, but still. Do you think it matters if your child might be a little more developed than other girls her age. Do you think it matters if your child is more mature, or do you just say no?

I've been busy dealing with some issues, but I do peek in on your blogs when I can grab a minute. TJ, your stuff will be in the mail this weekend.

Deal with yourself as an individual worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way.
- Nikki Giovanni

This is a lesson I'm having to teach and they aren't wanting to learn, but I'm more patient than they are stubborn.

I've been reading alot of mom blogs lately and I'm always amazed by the way parents (mothers especially) think. Sometimes we give ourselves way too much credit and other times not enough. One lady lamenting about spanking her son and the message it sends. Does she really believe that her swatting her son on his behind is teaching him how to hit? He didn't know how to hit before then? I doubt that. Maybe what she's teaching him is that there's a line he might not want to cross again. And that's okay. I don't advocate giving your child a beat down every time they step out of line, but I don't see anything wrong with a quick swat. Nanny 911 be darn, I'm not wasting my time trying to reason with a 2 year old.
A breastfeeding site praised Mayor Bloomberg for cutting out the free samples women receive in hospitals after giving birth. What? And that's a good thing because? That's all good for women that do breastfeed (and it is the healthiest option for mommy and baby and I really encourage it), but what about the women that can't? When it became clear that I couldn't nurse my daughter and son, that free sample really helped out, especially with my daughter when I didn't have the money to buy the formula. It held me over until I was able to get to the WIC office. Even with my daughter now, whom I'm currently nursing. AJ, my 3 year old, split his head open and I had to rush him to the ER, I was able to grab that sample can of formula to leave with my neighbor.
One forum was discussing whether or not celebrities (specifically Amy Winehouse with her recent Grammy wins) were a bad influence on children. Here's an idea: Why don't you be an influence on your children and not worry about those celebrities. I don't shield my kids from much of anything. My mother didn't shield us, and my sister at 20 was the youngest one of us (my siblings and cousins) to have a baby. I grew up watching anything I wanted on TV and at the movies (I remember going to see rated R movies at the drive-in with my family when I was still in elementary school). My mother's message was very clear, "I don't care what you see other people doing, this is what does and does not go down in my house. When you get grown, you can make your own rules, but as long as my money put food on your plate, this is what you're going to do." End of story. When my kids start to buck the system, I go to my desk and hand them a bill. They already know that means that if they plans on changing my rules, they have to pay a bill. Every situation is a learning opportunity. Everything you say sticks with them. It's when you go to college, not if. My daughter asked me once if I knew that some people don't go to college. I told her that yes, I did know this; however, "some people" don't live in my house. When we heard about Jamie Lynn Spears getting pregnant, Lady Day (who just turned 11 and is already a little sage) said that she's crazy because "First of all, she don't have no husband and that's just wrong, and no matter how much money you got, it sucks having to take care of a baby all the time. I hate watching my brothers and sisters." Mind you, she only has to watch them while I'm taking a shower, or using the bathroom, or whatever, but that little bit has taught her a little about the responsibilities involved with having a baby. She ain't having it, no matter what she sees others doing.
Then I read about women who get all bent out of shape because they can't do something that they really wanted to do. Well, they just piss me off. So what if you had to have C-Section? I understand about doctors performing C-Section's to save their butts and all that jazz, but when something is truly wrong and it's imperative that a C-Section is performed, why do they get all upset? Isn't the goal a healthy baby after all? Trust me, I've gone the natural route, it ain't all it's cracked up to be. It hurt and I lay there wanting it to be over, not bonding with the baby.
Other women who tick me off are the one's who talk about how difficult parenting is. No, it's not really. It's pretty much what you should expect. Of course it sucks not sleeping through the night (The Poet has sleep through the night for the past 2 nights-yea!), potty training is a headache, sometimes breastfeeding hurts (The Poet is obviously thinking her 2 new teeth are cool, me, not so much), my house is always in various states of needing a good scrubbing (long gone are the days of putting down a book and expecting it to still be there when I return 5 minutes later), and running to the store for a gallon of milk, now takes a hour when it used to take 20 minutes, but you know what? I expected all that. Some days I want to pull my fro out. I expected that. Some days I'm thisclose to calling the Salvation Army to ask if they accept children as donations, I expected that too. Some days I get a whole lot more than I ever knew was possible. You know what? I expected that too. A lot of these women have husbands, family near by, etc. I'm a single mother of 5 kids ages 11, 5, 3, 2 and 7 months. My husband is an alcoholic, so I get a whole lot of stress, but no support from him. My sister (my closest relative) lives in Arizonia, I'm in Ohio, from her I get an ear to listen and that's it. I know how hard it is to raise children. It's not the end of the world if your boobs start leaking in the grocery store.
I also hate mommy bloggers whose blogs are nothing but pictures of their kids. It's okay if the pictures are accompanied by a story, or a funny joke, then I like the pictures, but believe me when I tell you that no one cares about Little Sally playing with Toto the dog. She's your kid, you're supposed to think she's cute, the rest of us aren't so easily impressed. So either include witty comments with your pictures, or, well, there is no "or". Write something interesting to accompany the pictures.

“The only measure of what you believe is what you do. If you want to know what people believe, don’t read what they write, don’t ask them what they believe,
just observe what they do.”

Ashley Montagu
1905-1999




In honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week (11th-17th) I'm having my very own give-away. Leave a comment between now and Sunday, and one of my kids will randomly pick a name and we will send you some goodies. I have no idea what we will send, just be warned that I'm letting my kids decide and my kids are wierd. They are cute as all get out, but don't be mad at me if there is no rhyme or reason to what you recieve. Just know that I've already said no to a pair of used flip flops.


*I swiped the quote from Out on a Limb

I really don't like extremists. I had a lady at church who is pro-breastfeeding try to convince me to continue nursing my daughter as long as possible. Yeah, that's kind of a personal decision and I'm thinking I'm going to make it without you. I was explaining to someone that I couldn't nurse my 3 year old and she wouldn't hear it. She kept insisting that I didn't try hard enough, that's the problem with the formula industry, doctor's not taking the time to properly teach their patients, blah, blah, blah. She kept talking long after I stopped listening.
For the record, I believe that every mother should attempt to nurse their children. It is natural and the healthiest option for your child. And it's crazy how much easier it is at 2am. However some mothers cannot nurse and they should not be treated like crap because of it. Some say I didn't try hard enough with my oldest daughter who never latched on properly. Maybe, but I drew the line in the sand when I saw blood. There are parts of my body that I don't ever want to see blood coming from and I include my breasts in that. I successfully nursed my son for a year. My third son (whom the lady a church took issue with) refused to gain weight. At 2 months old he weighed less than he did when he was born. We went through everything. He failed to thrive with my milk. Who knows why. I wasn't interested in starving him to death and maybe discovering the reason when they performed the autopsy on him. All I know is when I nursed him, he lost weight, when I gave him formula, he gain weight. He's healthy, happy and driving me crazy and that's all that matters.
I also believe women need to be discreet when they nurse in public. I agree that breastfeeding is natural and all that jazz, but the bottom line is we live in a society that sexualizes the breasts, so cover it up. I understand babies that pull the blanket away because they want to see (The Poet is as nosey as they come), but I pull my shirt down to her cheek so that I'm not exposing myself to people. Respect goes both ways.
Now I'm going to go ADD on you, what would you do if you won the lottery? I never play, but I like to dream. Seriously, after you paid off all your debt, brought your moms and sister a new house, traveled to France, told your boss to kiss off and whatever else. When the dust has settled, what would you do?

I've been very uninspired to post lately. Things have just been hectic at home. I've been working consistently for the past 3 weeks. While this is good for the pocketbook, it's taken some adjustment. None of us are morning people and we've been having to get up at 6, which is only an hour earlier than normal, but like I said, we ain't morning people. I'm normally wake up around 5 (I do have a 6 month old baby and I work on her schedule, not mine), but it's one thing to be half-awake, laying in bed feeding a baby, it's a completely different story when you have to funtioning at that hour. I'm trying to get hired on permanently, but the fee they would have to pay the temp agency is posing a problem, I can't get things to fall into place to get to the DMV so that I can get my car licensed (that would save me an hour in the morning and evening), my babysitter is acting flaky (did I mention I want hired on permanently? I can't be walking in late because you want to not be home when I need to drop my kids off) and the phone company conned me out of $32, because being a single mom to 5 kids, I have extra money laying around for big businesses.
On a completely random note, I don't like Eddie Murphy any more. A co-worker gave me the latest Ebony to read (I have a lot of down time at work) and he's on the cover. Eddie knew that baby was his. I don't care what the reason for breaking up with Scary Spice was, he knew that baby was his and he didn't have no business doing my sister like that.

I've been tagged by Rosemarie

The Rules:
Link to the person who tagged me, list 7 weird things about myself and then tag 7 others to play along. And, most importantly, let them know they have been tagged.


1. I don't wear socks. I don't even own socks. On the rare occasion when I've worn socks last year, I had to swipe them from my daughter. It's about 25 degrees outside and I don't have on socks. The most I'll do is wear stockings or knee highs if I wear heels.

2. I hate feet. The quickest way to get on my bad side is to put your feet on me. I don't even like to touch my baby's feet. I went to school to become a nail tech and bribed my teacher out of doing the required number of pedicures. I did one-with gloves.

3. I hate tomatoes, but love ketchup. Wait, make that Heinz Ketchup. I will bypass the $2 Hunt's and pay $6 for Heinz.

4. I'm a voracious reader so I love the library. The perfect day for me would be spent alone in the library. My dream job would be a librarian.

5. I love the Lord. I try to be a good Christian, and I enjoy religious discussions, but I have no tolerance for people who always talk about God. You know the ones. Their response when you ask how they are is, "Blessed," or when you say, "See you tomorrow" and they respond, "Lord willing." Can you just say "Good- bye?" You woke up this morning, it's a given that you're blessed. The sun don't shine without the okay of the Big Guy, it's safe to assume I won't see you tomorrow if He has other plans for you. Leave my Big Mac alone, I don't need you telling me that the Lord is going to give me diabetes for not eating right. Some people are so religious they presume to know the thoughts and will of God irritate me to no end.

6. I am anal when it comes to my refrigerator. My whole house can be a mess, but the milk had better be on the top shelf on the right or someone's in trouble.

7. I have a fish phobia. I can't stand to eat, smell, look at or be around fish. Or anything that lives in water for that matter. I stopped eating ice cream when I was a kid because my cruel older sister's told me it was made out of sea weed. They still think that mess is funny. I'm not so amused.

Tag, you're it!

Can you imagine the security detail on Obama if he wins? We've come a long way with MLK having his own holiday and all , but let's get real. There's going to be alot of ticked people if the White house turns Black.