Blog to Book to Goodbye

I'm thinking about hanging up the ol' blog. Actually deleting it. Now that my kids are older I feel less like I have ownership of the things that are happening to them. I don't want to compromise any of that and though this has never been a blog 100% about the kids, I find my life heading in other directions.

I'd like to put forth some more posting on the hobby/cooking blog. Do things that will be helpful or useful to people without annoying my family. And I still like getting products for review...I AM the target demographic, so I think I have useful things to say.

Blogging hasn't jumped the shark, but for me, writing and reading the diary-like entries I used to devour every morning with my coffee...it's just changed, I guess.

In the meantime, I would like to save these archives before I delete them off the face of the blogosphere. A personal record for my own enjoyment later. There are things I would have already forgotten had I not blogged about them.

Does anyone know of a service that you've heard good things about that will turn your blog into read actual pages without costing a fortune?

And this isn't the last post...but it's close to it.
Love you all.

This One Might Be Worse Than Swearing

So, last night hubby is downstairs working on a cleaning project, had the radio on and "Single Ladies", which he hates, comes on.

He yelps in annoyance and runs over to snap the radio off.

Sammie, in a sign of solidarity, says, "Yeah, that song sucks".

Hubby says, "Well, we don't really need to say it like that".

Then Emersyn pipes up, "Yeah, you're supposed to say it SUCKS BALLS".

OMG, kill me now.

I Guess Hell Can Freeze Over After All

There are some scenarios, prior to being a parent, that you don't anticipate happening with your own kids.

For example, there was a time I realized that there would never be a need to teach my children how to operate a rotary dial telephone. Obviously, because of technological advances, you see that there woud not be a need. And that's just one example.

I also didn't think I'd be "friends" on a computer with my kid. Back when I was in high school taking my computer class, I never could have suspected that computers would become the tool they are today in every aspect of my daily life.

So, let's file yesterday's development in the "OMG, seriously?" file.

My 13YO son begged and pleaded, with $20 in hand from doing chores, to please get on Amazon and order him The Beatles "Abbey Road". IN VINYL.

Wow. Just wow. I may be speaking too soon, but this may be the salve that eases any future hurts....like incarceration or the like.

Never thought I'd see the day.

Slumber Party at the Meth Lab

I'm faced with a parenting issue I never thought in a million years I'd face. Ever. Never ever.

My 2nd grade daughter came home with a birthday slumber party invitation. This is not unusual, she's been to a few of those in the last year with her friends turning 7 and 8 years old. So, she got home from school one day, excited to show me and give me the lowdown on the festivities.

As I'm reading it, suddenly I'm realizing this isn't going to be as cut and dried as the usual "if we're not busy, of course you can attend" kind of slumber party.

I don't know the little girl, it's someone she's not had as a classmate yet, which isn't a big deal. In that case, when Sammie has made a new friend I call and chat with, usually the mom, and get as familiar as I can if the girls are friends enough to want to do things together.

It was the address that was problematic.

Yes, even here in small town Iowa we have "bad" areas. And this little girl happens to live in an apartment complex that has pretty much the seediest demographic of our population. Drug dealers, wife beaters, deadbeat dads, petty criminals, your usual dregs of society. Hubby, in the course of his onetime work for the sheriff's department paid many a visit here, and now, in his work for the fire department, had occasion to spend multiple nights in toxic gear breaking up meth labs. ACROSS THE STREET FROM OUR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

I'm assuming that this little girl and her mother (there's no dad around) are nothing more than too poor to live anywhere else. Heck, that used to be me once upon a time. I was the girl too poor with a single mother that didn't live on the right side of the tracks. I'm assuming that the little girl's mother is not part of the criminal element surrounding her.

So, my heartstrings are tugging a bit at the balance between my daughter's personal safety and what is, honestly, outright discrimination against a girl who doesn't deserve it. Because do I really want my daughter in an environment where, on any given Friday night, police will be by half a dozen times to break up a drug deal or altercation just outside the front doors of the building where a bunch of 7-year old girls are supposed to be telling ghost stories and playing Twister?

After discussing it with hubby, we came to the conclusion that our daughter will NOT be attending. We do have a wedding that Saturday and could technically make it work, but will be telling a couple little white lies instead about our circumstances in order to protect the feelings of the birthday girl and her mother.

Something as simple as a birthday party invitation and I'm filled with such a sick feeling about it. But, at the end of the day, I have to make smart decisions about my daughter's safety. And I wouldn't let her trick-or-treat at this apartment complex, let alone spend 15 hours there overnight from school dismissal to Saturday morning.

This was definitely not in the "What to Expect..." series.