Juggling Motherhood and Life

I work from home and I try my best to not let that get in the way of my main responsibility as a mother. Yesterday my parenting skills, time management skills and my person as a whole were tested.

I love my job as a writer, blogger, online merchant and social media expert. I sit in front of my computer and network with moms from all over the world. These online friendships mean a lot to me because I am stuck in this house with four small children all day long. Online is my only way of communicating with sane adults until my husband comes home.

Some days it feels like I have two jobs - my at-home social media job and daycare provider. Staying at home with my children is supposed to be fun, but most days it just feels like another job. I failed miserably at that job yesterday.

At 12:30 in the afternoon I finished my article on my blog and blasted it across all of my social networks. I had already commented on several blogs and finished checking my books for my online store. Excited about quitting early I realized that it was awfully quiet in the house. In fact it was too quiet.

All the kids were upstairs, including little monkey. "Sh*t!" I thought. "What are they up to now?"



I was horrified when I saw the destruction in the boys' bedroom. Somehow the three kids got into Goose's room and found a purple Sharpie. They then created elaborate drawings all over the walls. Every single wall in that bedroom of our beautiful RENTED house is now covered with bright purple marker. I nearly died.

Today I am questioning my parenting skills. Should I have been upstairs along with the kids instead of downstairs communicating to all of you through this fascinating online world? Maybe I need to think harder about how I manage my time. Or maybe this was just destined to happen and there is no way I could have prevented it. I still think I failed miserably.

As I write this I am waiting for Monkey to wake up from his nap so I can attempt once more to get all the purple marks off the walls. A friend suggested I try using lighter fluid. The fresh bottle of magic liquid is waiting on the counter for me. I'll let you all know if it works. If it doesn't then we need to confess to the management company and hope that they let us paint.

Wordless Wednesday | Close Up #1

I've been blogging for a long time now and enjoy participating in Wordless Wednesday every week but I thought I would try something new. Sure I love sharing photos of my kids and have fun looking at photos of your kids, but I think you will find this new kind of Wordless Wednesday a lot of fun. If you want to participate next week let me know and I will try to find a free linky so you can add your link to our blog. All I ask is that you link back if you will join me.

Here are the rules for WW Close Up. I will post a close up image of an every day object that you should have in your house. When you comment you need to guess what the object is. Next week I will reveal the complete image for you and post another close up. If you think this is fun tell your readers to link up to The Zoo for WW Close Up.



What is this?

If I get enough positive feedback on this I will continue posting WW Close Ups every Wednesday.

Are all Teens Drama Queens?

Goose turned fourteen yesterday. I feel so old when I think about being a mother of a teenager, but then I remember that I was just a teen when she was born and then I don't feel as old.

Goose loves to sing. She is in choir and she sings and dances to Broadway musicals with her sister. All weekend she was complaining about having a scratchy thought. She said that she wasn't able to sing high notes anymore.

"I used to have a beautiful soprano voice," complained Goose, "But now it is gone. All I do is squeak. I can't hit the high notes anymore. What happened to my voice? I want to sound like I did three weeks ago."

"You probably strained your larynx when you got in that argument with your mother on Wednesday night." The co-zookeeper told her. "Your larynx is a muscle just like any other muscle in your body, " he explained. "If you strain it then you need to let it rest so it can heal. But your talking voice sounds just fine."



"No it doesn't," Goose replied with a deliberate squeak. "The girl that I sit next to in choir says that my voice sounds off. I want my old voice back! I sound terrible. Why don't you believe me?"

"Your voice sounds fine."

"No it doesn't!" She said, again with a deliberate squeak. "Why don't you two believe me? "

"Stop talking," I said. "Your voice needs to rest."

"Why did this happen to me? I want my old voice back. My voice sounds terrible and scratchy." Goose continued to complain.

"Okay, then we can set up a doctor's appointment for you," the co-zookeeper stated, trying to be helpful. "Then we can find out what is wrong with your voice."

"No!" Goose yelled, obviously her voice wasn't that bad. "I don't want to go to the doctor. I just want you and Mom to believe me."

"I'm sorry, we just don't hear it." Her dad replied.

This went on for about an hour. It didn't matter how many times we told her to stop talking and rest her voice; she still refused to shut up. Are your teens this stubborn and sassy or is mine the exception?

This conversation took place on Saturday. Last night Goose was singing and dancing to her favorite musicals. That was a quick recovery.