Muffins with Mom – Labor Day and the lighter side of parenting

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It’s Labor Day, the holiday day established to honor and recognize contributions of the hard working people of the United States. Labor Day also celebrates the American Labor Movement. For many people, Labor Day is a day off from work.

Parenting is one job where you do not receive the day off for Labor Day. So, take a break from your parenting duties and check out a couple of stories.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

My mother spent a day with me just hanging out after my son’s football game. As we sat at the dining room table chatting, Mama remembered that she wanted to show me something. Her voice went up an octave as she said, “I got a sweatshirt for a bargain at Dollar General.”

Mama pulled the sweatshirt from her bag. It was a warm soothing pink color. “See, I can wear this when I work out.”

I tightened my lips together and said, “It looks like Pepto Bismal, the upset stomach medicine.”

Not wanting me to have the last laugh my mother said, “Maybe its Milk of Magnesia.”

“No Ma, that’s a different color antacid."

We both laughed as the sweatshirt was returned to its resting place in the Dollar General bag…until time for a visit to the gym. Watch out Powerhouse Gym, my Mama will be there soon styling in her beautiful Pepto Bismal pink. 

Red Light, Green Light

When I was a child we played a game we called, Red Light, Green Light. One person was “It” and stood with his back to the rest of the kids. When the “it” person said green light, everyone would tip-toe up to him and had to stop when he called Red Light. The object was to be the first one to touch the “it” person without getting caught moving.

While at a traffic light the other day, I had a different kind of Red Light Green Light experience. It was an indecisive moment. If you are familiar with the characteristics of some of the zodiac signs, you may know, indecisiveness is a characteristic of a Pisces. My birthday falls under the sign of Pisces (February 19 –March 19).

I don’t typically put much belief in the zodiac signs, but on this occasion, my actions held true to a Pisces characteristic. As I approached the traffic light, I realized that I was flashing green…and red at the same time. I eased my car up to the four way intersection with jumbled thoughts bouncing through my head – Do I stop, do I yield, who was here first? Grrr!

Red Light, Green Light. If I stopped and the person behind me didn’t realize I was stopping, I could be tagged “it” by her car.

I stopped, treated the intersection as a four ways stop and waited my turn to proceed, without incident. This Pisces had defeated the characteristic of indecisiveness and made a decision.

What stories have you experienced as a parent in your daily walk?

 

 

 

Fun Friday – Family Funnies – The road trip and other tales

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Do you have quirky, crazy family members? Sure you do, whether you admit it or not. That quirky person could be you. In my family sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s my brother. Most recently it was my mother.

It started with a road trip. My mother and brother traveled to the east coast to visit relatives. They packed their suitcases, bagged up snacks and rode off into the sunset. In an attempt to eat healthy, mom packed a variety of fruit – grapes, bananas and apples.

Mom lowered the sun visor as the bright sun beamed through the windshield on her side of the car. Struggling to find comfort, she turned on the air conditioner. The sudden blast of cold air had mom rubbing her eyes.

Not much time passed before mom saw fruit flies swarming before her eyes. Her comment to my brother was, “are those fruit flies coming through the vents?” They both swatted at the annoying flying bugs.

As my brother and mom drover further down the road, they made a discovery. There was a bag of warm fruit in the backseat of the car. That bag was the culprit that caused the fruit fly convention.

My brother wanted to get rid of the fruit one grape at a time out the window. Mom wouldn’t hear of it. The bag was closed tighter and disposed of at the next rest area. 

The Resume

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My teen son recently attended a resume writing workshop. The counselor talked with him and asked about his skills, job experience and volunteer roles. The end result was a draft of a resume. However, when I read the resume it didn’t totally sound like the teen who lives with me.

There was a section of my son’s resume that listed “Housekeeping Services.” One of the items listed under that category was, “wash and dry dishes.” When I read that, I looked at my son and said, “Really?  I have to beg you to wash dishes at home and I’ve never seen you dry them."

The next bulleted item said, “Clean and organize rooms, hallways…” I couldn’t even bring myself to form a sentence, all I could blurt out was text language – “OMG, SMH.” My son smiled as I shook my head in dismay.

I know that last bullet point to be partially true. My son will organize and clean a room, it may just take a few days after the request is made, for him to complete it. Needless to say, my son had a working draft of his resume, but it will need to be revamped.

Can you think of a time someone in your family did something wild and crazy?

Wordless Wednesday - National Yoga Month - Yoga Demo

As you view this video, remember all things are possible. Every expert was once a beginner.

YouTube Video Credit: Alessandro Sigismondi

 

Try a little yoga this month...for the health of it.