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I have been undercover (ha!) at my child's old school these past few years and boy do I have an expose to write for you! First, the ha! was because I am probably the worst at being undercover. I didn't exactly have what you'd call a low profile at the school before I started my first long-term sub gig last year. I was PTA president then, so most teachers knew at least my name if not me personally. Plus, my child was then in 5th grade, so we had already worked out way through the grades and the teachers at that point. This year my child is no longer at the school, but our hearts and his mother still are there. I have the privilege to be a long-term sub again this year, and what I have learned on this new 'undercover assignment' has solidified everything I knew and thought I knew before. We all say and think that our teachers and staff members care for our children. I'm not sure though if I even knew how much. When I used to go to lunch when working in corpor...

Yesterday I told part of my story of my child's worst year of his life and I was reminded that I have always intended to write about it. So, here we go. When my child was in fourth grade he would come home and tell me he was being bullied. The things that he was initially telling me did not seem like bullying, but rather just kids being kids. Jerks yes, but still age appropriate kid crap. I told him that he needed to talk to his teacher and that I would also talk with the teacher. She assured me that there was nothing extraordinary going on, and that the kids were working it out amongst themselves. I left the conference feeling much better and resolving to not be "that mom" and to let my son work through some of these things himself. He started coming home from school in worse and worse moods. He constantly complained of stomach aches, headaches, and was throwing up almost every morning before school. I was still trusting an adult more than my own child and would give...

Being an adult can really suck sometimes. Bills, responsibilities, having to "act right", etc... Then you remember that you can eat ice cream for dinner if you want! Adulting is not so bad after all. Unless of course you have kids which means you ate said ice cream while hiding in the bathroom. <No I didn't, but I could have and that's what counts>

I've chosen my 2016 word of the year and it is Laughter. I have been lucky enough to have the past two nights full of laughter, the kind where you're wiping your eyes hoping there's no mascara running down your face. The type where your face literally hurts from smiling. The kind that comes from being with people who 'get you' and make you a better person just by being present in your life. So, Laughter is the 2016 word. May we share it, hear it, see it, seek it out, feel it throughout the year and years to come.

This weekend seemed like a wash to me. I had some sort of stomach bug and never seemed to feel 100%. I missed one the best Christmas parties with some great friends. I had dropped the kid off at my parents and should have had quite a good time with little responsibilities. I ended up staying home with Netflix and the dogs instead. Then Sunday happened and I had committed to working the Angel Tree with my Sunday School class. I rushed to grab the kid and we went to the mall where I locked my keys in the car. Furious with myself, I called a locksmith after exhausting all other avenues and being angry at myself for not having a hidden key or having the garage door keypad fixed. So forty dollars lighter and later I was in the car rushing the kid to a birthday party at the trampoline place. I was so looking forward to being home for that hour and a half before picking kid up and dropping him off for youth group. All weekend long I had an inner monologue of whining. Inner that sometimes w...

That damned Elf on a Shelf is back. I thought that last year was my last to worry about moving the elf and planning escapades for him...but then I heard the excitement in the boy's voice a few days before Thanksgiving, "Jakey-Poo will be here in less than a week!" I admit that for a brief moment I thought about outing that impish elf right then and there so that I wouldn't have to deal with him for the next month. I need to back up a bit and explain that I was one of  "those moms" with our elf. I had him doing adventurous things like parachute from the ceiling fan and make a snow angel in powdered sugar. I even took pictures of his adventures and for 2 years I had a Shutterfly books printed up with the pics and my editorialization of Jakey Poo's adventures. I wanted to keep the magic alive as long as I could, until I grew tired of it. I phoned it in the 3rd year, heck it wasn't even the same elf as I had lost the original and had to buy a replaceme...

In December a woman's thoughts are on the joys of the holidays, buying gifts, socializing, being with family. And then January happens and you suddenly realize that it's T-minus three months and counting until Spring Break. It doesn't help that all the "spas" in town start advertising various ways to remove hair from your body in December. <Just note here guys, no matter what these spas say, a woman DOES NOT want a hair removal system/plan for Christmas!! I don't care if your lady herself leaves gentle or not so gentle hints about wanting this for Christmas, don't fall for it. If you do please have a nice piece of jewelry as a buffer offering.> Now you have to think about hair removal and the inevitable bathing suit. So you begin the process of getting ready for a bathing suit. If you are one of those ladies who keeps it all together all winter you may want to quit reading. Or maybe keep reading as a warning to keep it up girl! Playboy has done a...