Red and Green

No, this post isn't revisiting Christmas.  I promise.  But I am going to talk about the two typical Christmas colors--red and green.  As a little side note, red is my favorite color, and green is Full Man Grown's favorite color.  But I'm not really going to talk about that either.

Today is Wear Red Day.  It's a day dedicated to wearing red to bring attention to women's heart health.  Heart disease in women is a major killer, but most people focus on illnesses like breast cancer or other cancers.  These causes are very important, don't get me wrong.  But heart disease tends to be a more silent and less discussed illness in women.  And it shouldn't be, not when it's the #1 killer of American women.

My grandmother died from a massive heart attack nine years ago, just days before 9/11.  I still remember getting the phone call, late in the evening, and just sitting there in shock.  Brainiac was not even a year old and she, as well as any future children we would have, would never know what an amazing woman my gramma was.  They wouldn't know her infectious giggle, her wonderful food, her funny songs and stories, at least not from the true source.  Ever since then, I've been more conscientious about what I put into my body and how I take care of myself.  I try to eat healthy and I try to be active so that I can carry on my gramma's legacy and pass on her stories.  So please, take care of your heart--eat healthy, exercise, get regular check-ups.  And every time you wear red, please think of those who have been lost to heart disease.

In a terrible transition, now I will talk about green and why I will probably have a heart attack this weekend.  My boys, the Green Bay Packers, are playing in the Super Bowl.  If that's the first you've heard that, you need to get out more.  But really, I take my football very seriously.  I grew up in a football loving family and I've always been a huge fan of the sport.  In high school I was a football cheerleader and when Full Man Grown and I started dating, I started him on the love of the sport.  I watch or listen to every Packer game, the whole family will be decked out in shirts and hats, and if the game is a close one, I'm usually hoarse by the end of it from yelling at the tv.  Yep, I love them.  And they're in the Super Bowl, Baby!  So please cheer for my boys this weekend.  We'd all appreciate it.

Improvisation

Sometimes, I think one of the best skills to possess in life--especially as a parent-- is the skill to improvise.  When we are parents, nothing goes the way it's supposed to all the time.  I'd even go so far as to say it never hardly ever goes the way it's supposed to, whether we're talking a meal or an art project or a vacation.  It's a simple fact of life.  Sometimes things go horribly wrong, sometimes the wrong is so tiny we're the only one that even realizes it.  But we must all be flexible and be willing to improvise when the time arises.

Like this morning, for example.  This is one of the small wrongs/improvisations that I think only a parent can really appreciate.  Scrat was upstairs getting dressed for the day.  She was singing along, picking out her clothes and having a grand time.  Then the singing stopped, I heard a few groans, and she came stomping down the stairs.

"Mommy, I need you to help me."  She was holding her pants in her hand, so I assumed she needed help with the button.

"What's up, kiddo?"  I was checking FaceBook and having some funny banter with a girlfriend on her status update.  This girlfriend is in Germany so I seldom get to actually "chat" with her.  It was important and stuff.

Scrat proceeded to pull down her underwear and throw them at me.  "That tag is all itchy.  Can you cut it off please?!"

Now, Scrat really dislikes when underwear have an actual tag instead of the screen-printed labelling.  Not only did this new pair (which I didn't buy her--I know better) have a real tag, but this tag is in the side seam.  For Scrat, this is a HUGE deal and one of her biggest issues when it comes to clothes.  She simply cannot stand the side-seam tags on her underwear and has even been known to throw them away if I don't cut off the tag in time. 

Here's another thing about parenting--nothing is ever in it's place when you need it.  I have a pair of scissors that are not to leave my desk drawer.  So I grabbed the underwear, opened the drawer and...Nada.  Nothing.  No scissors.  I moved everything around in the drawer and on my desktop.  Nope, no scissors.  Then I remembered that Picasso had asked to use them the night before and apparently she'd forgotten to put them back.  Well, she was now at school so I couldn't ask her where they were.  I could have gotten up and gone to the kitchen for another pair of scissors, or even a knife.  But honestly, I didn't want to.  I was pulling a lazy.  But I still got the tag off.  With what you ask?

The tape dispenser.  Oh yes I did.  I sawed at the tag with the cutting edge of the tape dispenser and in about 5 seconds it was gone.  I proudly handed over the Tinkerbell underwear, put the tape back in the drawer where it belongs for future use, and continued my FaceBook banter without a blink of the eye.  That, my friends, is Improvisation.

Shopping is not easy

We live on a small hobby farm in the middle of nowhere.  Honestly, we're waaaay out there.  The nearest major store is Wal-Mart, and it's 35 miles.  The nearest big city is over an hour and a half away.  Our entire county has only 3 stoplights.  I'm telling you--Middle of Nowhere.  But we love it.  We love that we're off the beaten path, we know our neighbors (who may live over a mile away), we can go for walks or horseback rides and everyone waves at us, and the people in town know us by name.  It's great...unless you need to go shopping.

Last week, I needed to go shopping.  Bad.  Like 25+ items on the list.  We needed everything from bread and eggs to laundry detergent, with a little of everything in between.  Now usually, I do my weekly fresh shopping at our small grocery store in town.  That's where I get our bread, eggs, produce and anything that looks good in the sales ad or that I need in a pinch.  Our milk and cheese we buy right from the local dairy co-op's store.  When I have a large list, I go to Wal-Mart every 3 weeks or so.  But every so often, we make a run into the big city for Sam's Club.  This was one of those times.

Scrat and I left home as soon as Brainiac and Picaso got on the school bus and we arrived at Sam's just 5 minutes after they opened.  I grabbed one of their gigantic carts, reminded Scrat to stay right next to me and away we went.  Cereal, tuna, tampons, Ibuprofen, hot chocolate mix, crackers, laundry detergent, garbage bags, frozen vegetables...you name it, it was probably in our cart.  It was heaping and I kept having to shove stuff in.  I spent over $300.  I told you we were out or low on almost everything.  It was crazy.  And then, since it's Sam's and they don't do bags, I had to find room for everything and didn't I tell you?  We drove the truck because that's our family vehicle right now.  Oh, and it was 15 degrees out.  So I buckled Scrat into her seat, then froze my butt off trying to get everything into the rest of the backseat or in the cooler in the truck bed.  (Side note #1--we need to get a cover for the truck bed just like Full Man Grown wants.  Now.)

Please tell me I'm not the only one to do this.  I can't be the only mom/wife that lets her list get so crazy long and out of control.  It doesn't happen all the time, but I was kicking myself so bad with everything I had to precariously perch on top of the cart.  Sure, we still make periodical trips to Sam's if we're in the city but this trip was just plain insane.