As a mom, there are times when you feel unappreciated. Sometime in the midst of doing the housework, the cooking, the running around, between the fights over homework and chores, or while you are cleaning up all of life's little messes, you may wonder, if only for a moment, if this truly is the best job in the world.

Then one day you get lucky, and your sweet little angels say something to you that lets you know that not only are you doing a good job, but that they appreciate the job you do!

I had one of these moments just the other day.

Due to the recession, sadly, my husband is in the process of closing down his small business that has not only supported our family, but has allowed me to stay at home with our two beautiful children for over 8 years. The other night at dinner, we decided to break the news to the kids.

Hubby: "Kiddos, I want to let you know that Daddy is closing down the company."

After we got over all the Why?'s my daughter asked. "But Daddy! What will you do? How will we get money?"

Me: (jokingly) "Mama's gonna go make the money now. Daddy is gonna stay home with you."

Both kids: "No!!"

Our Boy: "I don't want you to go to work mama. Who will wash my boyscout uniform?"

Our Girl: "Yeah, mama. Who would get us snack and do our homework with us after school?"

Our Boy: (a little tearfully) "I just want you to be our mama. Don't go to work!"

Our Girl: "Please mama, I want you to stay home like you do now. "

Hubby: "Mama is going to stay home. Don't worry. Daddy will do everything I have to to make sure she can be home for you guys." (then to me) "Awww! Mama, doesn't that make you feel good?"

And you know what? It really did.

Sometimes my kids have asked me why I don't work like so and so's mom does, and I always tell them that I do. That this is my job, and it's the best job in the world. It's made me wonder though, what they think of it.

For the past couple of years, both of our kids have been in school all day, and I have really been struggling with whether I should go back to work or not. But my husband has encouraged me to stay at home and only wants me to go back to work if I really want to, and only doing what I really want to do.

So here I am, at home all day. A little bored sometimes, but happy, and pursuing my dream of becoming a writer with the full support of my husband and kids.

And yeah, I'm going to have those moments where I wonder if I should be out earning a living instead. Or those days where I don't think I could possibly tell the kids to stop fighting one more time, or I get frustrated over the new muddy footprints on my clean kitchen floor. But now when I do, I will remember that night and know that, even though they may not always say it or show it, my husband and kids recognize my role in our little family, and wouldn't want it any other way!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Okay, so we aren't the most romantic couple in the world. I don't have any beautiful roses, or a box of chocolates, or a sexy nightie, or a new piece of jewelry to mark this Valentine's Day. And my gift to the hubby was a bottle of Crown Royal and a 2 liter bottle of coke. But times are tough right now and I am a firm believer in the little things. So I'll tell you what I did get.

A morning snuggle followed by a little something, something. (wink, wink)

Coffee and the Sunday paper (with a cute little card he made for me folded in it) in bed while we watched Meet the Press.

A warm towel after my shower (because he took one down to the dryer and warmed it up for me)

Biscuits and gravy for breakfast (My favorite)

As long as I wanted to do my hair and makeup without him asking me if I was ready yet.

A day of NASCAR with our friends and family.

And a bowl of my favorite ice cream in bed while we watched the Olympics figure skating (rather than the usual documentary on the Military Channel about World War II)

The most romantic Valentine's Day ever? No. Not by anyone's standards. But I didn't marry him because he was the most romantic guy I'd ever met, I married him because he's the type of guy who, on Sunday's, makes his wife feel special. Valentine's Day or not.

MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX!!

Today my 9 year old daughter came home from school and said

"Mom!! You would not believe the drama at school today!"

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, at lunch recess Margo went and told the teacher on duty that Kenzie kissed Brandon on the playground by one of the buildings! She got Kenzie in trouble, and I didn't see Kenzie do it, so I told Kenzie that Margo was the one that told on her! And you know what happened?"

Shaking my head and biting my tongue so that I can hear the rest of the story, I asked her "No, what happened?"

"Well, Kenzie walked right up to Margo, pushed her to the ground, then grabbed her neck and punched her in the face!" (big sigh from me) "Then me and Kylie ran up to get the duty and tell her that there was a fight! Anyways, when we took of running to tell, Kenzie tried to run away, so the duty had to chase her down! Crazy, huh?"

I felt at this moment that it was time for me to fill my daughter in on how to deal with drama in the future and to mind her own beeswax!! I know that if my mom had done that for me, it would have saved me quite a bit of drama during Elementary School and Junior High!

So I sat her down and explained to her what she had gotten involved in, the possible repercussions, and the extra drama that she caused by making herself a part of it. Luckily she understood, and now knows one of the most important survival lessons that a young girl can learn. Mind your own beeswax!!

Flight of the Conchords- Business Time

A Classic for all you married folk!!

BABY..... I LOVE YOU!!! I AM ONE LUCKY GIRL!!

I am one lucky girl!!!

When you said on Saturday before we went out for the birthday party…
“No way! It’s my turn mama! You be the DD tonight! I always drive.”
And then.... Knowing how I am, and that I hate driving your truck, and that I am a total lightweight you drove anyway. Then you left the bar about an hour into it to get our friends, because I didn’t want them to bring their own car, because I just had to have G with me for the drive home when we rock out to 80’s music as loud as we can! Then you drove us home with the three of you boys in the front and us three girls in the back singing er...screaming the Mama Mia soundtrack and you quietly sang er.. mumbled along until the boys looked at you and you said “So what! I have an 8 year old daughter! What’s it to ya?!” Then when we got back to HD’s house at like 2 in the morning, us girls still had some singing and dancing to do, so you handed me a Budweiser and kissed me on the forehead before heading into the basement with the men. Then on Sunday morning when I was sure that the cerebral hemorrhage I was having was in fact going to kill me, if drowning myself in the toilet water didn’t do the trick first, and you brought me a glass of water and some Tylenol then kissed me before heading out to get the kiddos from Grandma’s taking your time to come home until I was feeling much better. Then when you helped clean house while I lazed it up watching cartoons with the kiddos…..

Yeah… I love you!

THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY: FREAK-OUT-ONOMICS

I am not, I repeat NOT, in any way, any kind of expert on economics but......

Here is my whole opinion on this "Economic Crisis".

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If you don't want it from an average American mom that doesn't know shit, then turn the page my friend.

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First a little analogy:

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If we were to turn on the news one morning and see newscasters broadcasting that the planet is about to be hit with a comet the size of a small city what would we do? We can't check. Well, maybe some of us with high powered telescopes and pocket protectors might be able to look into it, but average cool folk like us would just be like "Well shit! That sucks, what the f#@! do we do?" Then we would move our fat American asses and begin stocking up on shit like water, food, fuel, guns and other essentials.

The comet hasn't hit yet, but dammit, we are prepared for the worst.

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Now for my brilliant economic analysis.

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We did and are doing the same thing with our economy. It is sooooooo typical in an election for the opposing party to purposefully scare the American people into thinking that the other party has caused some sort of "crisis" and that we will all be "saved" by voting them into office.

That is standard politics people and both sides do it!

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Before I say my next piece, I want to say that there are real people out there hurting right now. The reason I am writing this is because we are one of them. We own a small business in construction and we took a huge financial hit with the downfall of new construction. We also took a hit with people wanting to save money because when they are saving their money they don't do improvements on their homes.

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So I am not saying that there is nothing going on or that we are not in a recession.

We are. I am merely saying that we are the cause of one.

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That was loaded! But....

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WE control the economy! Not those goons in Washington!

They came out and told us the sky was falling, and being who we are, and being unable to check the facts, we believed them.

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We stopped buying houses and cars because they usually come with long term payments and we "don't know what the economy is going to do".

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We started saving our money instead of spending it because

"there is a rainy day coming and we need to be prepared".

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All that money we withheld from the economy made businesses both small and large take a financial hit. So what happens when companies are taking financial hits? They start cutting the fat. Starting with employees, because they are often the most expensive.

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So now the unemployment rate is up and the newscasters have even more to scream about!

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It is a vicious cycle that has been repeating itself since last year.

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I wish that someone would just get on the air and tell everyone...

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"Hey you! Instead of putting that $50 in savings for a rainy day, why don't you go spend it."

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Crazy thought huh? But let's put it in perspective.

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According to the U.S. Population Clock there are 304,947,657 people in the US. today

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Of course this includes children so let's use this scenario:

Each family decides to save however they can. Let's say that between groceries, driving habits, not buying that new car or home, not eating out, etc. etc., they save $10 per day per person.

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$10 per person x 304,947,657 people = 3,049,476,570 either withheld or contributed to the American economy.

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$3 billion per day.

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So now you can imagine what millions of people withholding money because of an imagined "crisis" can do.

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Over the course of only 4 months of "rainy day" saving, we could potentially withhold almost $370 billion from our economy.

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Again, I am no expert but it seems as though withholding money in an economic crisis is the opposite of what we need to do, though some of us now have no choice.

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My Thought for Thursday is this....

What does our government and this new administration plan to do to encourage spending by average Americans?

SICK, STUBBORN, BULL-HEADED CHILDREN ARE NO FUN!!

My baby girl was sick last week. OK so she’s not really a baby, she’s 8 but you know how it is….. She will always be my baby girl

My baby girl is stubborn as a bull. Now picture this…..

The girl hates taking medicine!!

How frustrating is that? Not only does she hate medicine and gag at even the thought of taking it, but she is prone to very high fevers. Has been her whole life! Once when she was 5 she caught strep and her fever was 103!! She was even hospitalized for it as a baby. At that age we would just hold her down or give her suppositories. (Gross I know, but you do what you have to.) What the hell do you do when she is 8!!

I can’t hold her down now because she just runs from me or screams and cries at the top of her lungs. That was the scenario 2 days ago after a night of no sleep and her saying “I don’t care, I am not taking it” to every threat we gave her.

That morning, I ended up crying because I felt the worst sort of tyrannical-mean-mom frustration come over me and had to leave her crying in her room where I had cornered her armed with 2 small chewable Tylenol tablets and a cup of water. It was even worse because my husband was the one to walk in and stop me from trying to force her. He said that we couldn't’t so we would have to find another way. Nothing like having yourself dressed down for being a meanie in front of your daughter. I felt like one too, and after about only 4 hours of sleep because she had been up all night tossing and turning with a fever, I looked into those eyes glassy with fever and tears, the lips chapped and bleeding from hours of high fever, and that pale face from nausea at the mere thought of taking medicine, and something in me snapped. So, like the meanie I felt, I told her how disappointed I was that she was being such a baby, sent her to bed, and shut the door to her room so I could calm down. Then I sat on the couch crying for being so mean when she felt so sick, and asking myself “What do I do?”

The answer was, there was nothing I could do. After taking some time to calm down I went into her room, sat on her bed, and apologized for getting angry with her. I told her that some day when she was a mom she would understand the helplessness of watching your baby girl get sick and not being able to do much to help, and not being able to convince your girl to do it for herself.

After that I sent daddy to the store for whatever he could find that she might take. He could have brought me home diamonds and I would not have been happier. He brought me the savior of every mom who has to go through this with their child. He brought me tiny junior-strength ibuprofen tablets that you swallow.

No nasty taste and they are the perfect size. I have never seen them at the store, and had no clue that they even made them. I was excited. Armed with a cup of water and clinging to the pills like a life-line I approached my daughter.

“Honey, I am going to have to ask you again to take some medicine so you can get better”

Immediately her face goes pale and she slaps her hand over her mouth.

“I was wrong before, I don’t think you’re a baby. You’re not one. You’re just too big for flavored little kid medicine. So, daddy bought you something better. Medicine, for big girls like you.”

I place the tiny pills in her hand and she looked at me hopefully, seeing nothing threatening about the tiny white pills she held.

“They are just like the ones that mommy and daddy take only tiny just for you and your little throat. They aren’t for chewing you just swallow them. No taste at all. I promise.”

Totally trusting she pops the first one in her mouth and takes a sip of water. Wide eyed she pops the second one.

“Wow!” She says, “I like that so much better.”

So thanks babe for calming me down (even though it royally pissed me off at the time), getting our little girl a medicine she will take, and saving my sanity!