{Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop}: Six Random Things

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The Prompts:

1.) A time you felt validated. (inspired by Adventures in Alyssaland)
2.) List six random facts about yourself.
3.) Talk about a trend you don’t care for.
4.) The last thing you lost.
5.) Pinterest Inspired! Share something you pinned and actually tried.

SIX Random things...

So I've kind of written this sort of post before...click here to read my list of 22 things I've done.

I'm really trying not to duplicate here, but I also have this list of gifts that I was born with (or received from God at a very young age).
Again, I'm trying to find things I haven't talked about before.

So here goes: I plan to write as quickly as possible on the first 6 things that come to mind and make as few edits as possible.

Ready?
Set!
Go!

1.) I am painfully self-conscious, but many people who meet me (even some family members) are shocked when they find out.  Somehow they perceive me as confident. I have an Uncle who is a Pastor and he uncovered some of these confidence issues in me during premarital counseling for my marriage.
Readers may know this, because it's easier for me to admit and share these things from a perspective of anonymity. 

2.) My memory...
it's unbelievable really.  I can meet someone once, at a party for instance, and remember their face and name indefinitely.  Even 10 years down the road, I can see someone in Walmart and, though I may not remember her name, I can tell you when and where I met her.  
While I don't have a photographic memory, I do recall written materials easily.  That made it easy to test well in High School, but didn't help me much in college when the pace of everything was much faster :-(

3.) I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn't want to be a mother.  I wanted at least 3 children and was mortified when E told me before we got married that he wasn't sure he wanted any!
Then I got pregnant with Sweetpea and the pregnancy and delivery were so challenging and drastically different than what I'd expected, that I didn't EVER want to do it again! I resigned myself to having an only child until my husband practically begged me to have "at least one more!"
What happened there?! 

4.) We all have them, but my family seems to have lots of black sheep and lots of "issues."
The kind of issues most of us try to hide.
Alcoholism, multiple incidences of children out of wedlock, drug abuse and prison time.  In the interest of authenticity (as well as helping myself deal with it), I have written about some of it here on my blog.
Please don't misunderstand my words as judgements - they aren't.  I just often have a heavy heart for anyone who struggles with hardship; my heart is heavier for family members.

5.) I'm funny!
Like in a ha-ha kind of way as well as a peculiar kind of a way.
I used to be really sarcastic; to the point that I hurt the feelings of friends pretty often.
To this day, I can revert back to that sarcastic tone easily, though I never meant harm or hurt to anyone.
I have learned to refine my humor a little and when I want to, I can crack up a whole room! Of course, I have to really loosen up for that since I'm usually too self-conscious to try (see #1).

And sometimes, I'm just odd! We all have our little idiosyncrasies, and I used to try to hide mine, but I'm learning to share them.  If people laugh, I understand why and I try to join them and laugh at myself too.

6.) In a similar vein, I think I am borderline OCD.  I mean, I like things to look a certain way.  I used to eat M & Ms ONLY 2 at a time and then I would debate whether to eat any leftovers or throw them out (I hate odd numbers).  Sometimes, I would even match them in two's by color as well.
I don't really eat M & M's anymore since I try to eat clean and low-carb and all that, but the M & M's are just one funny example I can think of.

Another thing is this: I wish the screws in my light switch covers all had the middle line precisely horizontal.  I know that's nuts, but it still drives me crazy if I can't make it happen.
Now don't misunderstand: while I am OCD about many things, it backfires on me when it comes to an always-neat-clean-uncluttered house.  Since I never have the time to do it like I want to, I often just don't do it :-)
I wish I were a better house keeper, but I am working on it (sort of a compromise really).

What about you?
What random things can you share?

Some things have to marinate a while...

It's the day before Mother's Day, when my Mom says out loud what I've been thinking all week...

"You have to wait a long time to really enjoy Mother's Day..."

and then I think she said something like, "but it's easier when your kids are grown and have kids of their own."

And just the day before that, a friend posted on Facebook how humorous she found it that all her friends with kids simply wanted to be AWAY from those kids for Mother's Day.

These and my own thoughts about what I wanted for Mother's Day {prompted by my husband's constant questions on the subject} had me thinking quite a bit about Mother's Day.  
What it means...if it means I should spend MORE time with the little people who make me a mother...if I should spend LESS or NO time with them so that I can recharge and be a better mother.

And all these thoughts were floating around for so long, just waiting to be posted.  I could not make them into a cohesive train of thought, much less a post that held together.

But then I read this and I realized how I set myself up.  Grand expectations for unrealistic events - based on what? Certainly not history! A Hallmark commercial? Sappy greeting cards?

And I chuckle at this chain of thoughts because isn't that the definition of insanity? Doing the same things but expecting different results?

I know my kids and my husband.  While they are sweet and I KNOW that they love me, Hallmark material - they are not!

And I am ALL FOR going into the next holiday DAY with no expectations and definitely no sense of entitlement.  

That entitlement monster is one that really gets to me.  It's kind of like the Hulk - 
"You won't like me when I'm feeling entitled!"

And I find that it's an emotion (?) that can come so easily.  When I'm feeling so tired, running on empty, and unappreciated, what generally follows is...

"I deserve better than this..."
"I deserve to be appreciated..."
"I deserve a break now and then..."
"I deserve..."
"I deserve..."
"I deserve..."

And that's not really fair {for lack of a better way to say it}.

Don't I have so much MORE than I deserve?

Didn't I beg and plead with my husband and with God, to BE a Mother in the first place?

How dare I complain that I can never get away from these little people who call me Mom? How dare I complain that the best gift I got was a nap?

I. GOT. A. NAP!!!!

So regardless of the fulfillment of the day someone else deemed "Mother's Day," I am doing my best to enjoy every day as a day that I am blessed with two beautiful kids. 

I don't want to get to those Mother's Days down the road, when it {maybe} feels easier, and wish these days back.  I want to look back, proud of the way I enjoyed all the moments - easy and hard- that make me a mother.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day as well as wonderful "mothering" days since!

{Five Minute Friday}: SONG

{Five Minute Friday} AWESOME Song

So last week, for the first time ever, I linked up with Lisa Jo and did a Five Minute Friday post.

I liked it so much that here I am again, on Friday, writing for 5 minutes!

Start...

So I have a thing about the word, "awesome".  I think it's a word that our society WAAAAAY over uses, and I'm not even sure people know what it really means when they do use it.

If you click here, you'll see the first definition of "Awesome" means:

inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear; causing or inducing awe: an awesome sight.

Is there anything in existence that should cause this "overwhelming feeling of reverence" or "admiration" more than God himself {and all His creation, of course}?

 I started to notice the "awesome" trend a few years ago...
teachers use it to encourage students...
parents use it to encourage their kids...
we say it when we get really good news...
we just say it because sometimes we don't know what else to say when someone shares something THEY are excited about, and maybe we aren't :-)

But aren't there other words we can use?
How about amazing, terrific, fantastic, fabulous, great?
I could go on...

Every once in a while {and I mean less than once a month, truly}, I still catch myself using it in one of the above ways.  But I have taught myself and my kids to use it only in reference to God and His doings rather than everyday human things.

I know someone will probably argue that everyday human things are also "awesome" because they all come from Him.

I see your point; trust me, I do.

But isn't it the heart behind the speech that really matters?
If we KNOW that we are using the word "awesome" in reverence to Him and all of His greatness, doesn't that set us apart from others who use it differently?

And I think that the way we hear, think, and speak the word "awesome" {in our hearts AND from our mouths} is a beautiful song to sing to our Lord.

Don't you?

STOP

Baseball with my Son

Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!

The Prompts:

1.) Introduce a pet.
2.) Share something your child said or did that surprised you.
3.) Tell us about the story of your birth.
4.) Create a “May Bucket List”…what will you accomplish this month?
5.) The other week we some of created a list of Reasons My Son Is Crying based on the popular tumblr page. This week create a list of reasons your child is laughing. (inspired by Hollow Venture Ventures)

My son will be 5 next month and I figured a boy never turns down outside time right?  So yesterday, I took my son outside for awhile with the premise that Mama needed some vitamin D. 

Do you think that happened? Not so much!

Every time I sat, or tried to lie down on, my beach towel, there was an all out crisis that I HAD TO COME AND FIX.

His joy with the bubbles was short lived; plus, he spilled some of them-bringing on the tears.  "Mo-om! I spilled my bubbles!"

You would have thought he'd just wasted the last drops of bubble solution on the face of the planet - but no! Plenty of liquid left in the bottle, but he decided the lid most go on tightly, and RIGHT NOW!

Then it was on to the frisbee.  I reminded to be careful of the dog poo at the edges of the front yard, so he decided to throw towards the house.

Did I mention the grass was a little tall? Last weekend we spent time with both my Mom (an hour east) and my Mother-in-Law (an hour west) so hubby had no time to cut the grass. Buddy kept tripping over the grass and the towel I'd laid on the grass and he got frustrated pretty quickly with the frisbee.

Then he wanted to play baseball and comes out of the garage with his soft toy bat and several matching baseballs.  I offer a compromise: I'll set-up the automated baseball pitcher/net in one!

After 20 minutes of trying to get it working, I gave up with no luck.

I told him to throw it up in the air and hit it when it comes down {I know, I know - Lazy Mama! But I only had 30 minutes and I wanted to spend it soaking up sunshine!}.

He tried, bless his heart, he really did! It just didn't work for him! 

I took pity and starting pitching to him {I kinda suck at it, BTW}.  After the first round of pitching, he collects the balls and throws them back to me.

As he's doing so, he says, "I'm taking it easy on you, Mom, since you aren't a good catcher!"

Thanks, Buddy, thanks a lot!

What do your kids say that surprises you?