and when is it just being a complete a$$?  Here’s the story so far…

Spouse asks me a couple of days ago to please take huge box to Post Office for mailing; he’s taken care of postage online, so it should just be a drop-off. Well, seems he neglected to check the dimensional weight and the postage was incorrect; thereby putting me in a bit of a spot at the P.O.  Several text messages, and 2 VERY patient and kind postal workers later, box is on its way via a less expensive service.

Tonight, I am rather snidely informed that a different box that he had arranged for pick-up on was delivered with no problems, and he didn’t calculate dimensional weight on that either. Well, he wasn’t the one at the P.O. with his box having the clerks tell him that they couldn’t send it with the label & postage he’d put on it the other day, now was he? Not my fault. So I tell him don’t complain to me, complain to the Post Office; I don’t set the rates.

Icing on the cake is that he seems to have a hockey game tonight, which has NOT been mentioned at all. He puts his gear in his car and leaves, doesn’t say word one to me about having a game, or leaving.  This, of course, is after the postage exchange.

So I ask, when is it inconsiderate, when is it rude, when is it childish and when is it just being a total a$$?

there IS a Santa Claus.

You will find him in Northern Virginia, at Tyson’s Corner Center, up until he has to depart for that famous ride on Christmas Eve.

During the year Santa masquerades as Michael Graham, a construction worker in Tennessee; however, for 5 weeks during the holidays, he becomes Santa Claus to thousands of residents of the Washington, DC Metro region. This man IS Santa.  Patience of a saint no matter what the child is like and knows all the tricks in the book to try to get a little one to sit for just one photo. Many residents of this area can’t imagine the Christmas without our wonderful Santa.  Should anyone have any doubt about his Santa-ness, just check out the suit, the boots, the beard, the rosy cheeks & twinkly eyes…re-read the Clement Moore poem, you’ll see what I mean.

I’m sure many out there heard about the flack prior to Thanksgiving regarding Mr. Graham and the mall’s management, ownership and hired photography company; however, he is there, and the residents of the region couldn’t be happier (except, of course, for those Grinchy types).  If you don’t know the story, please feel free to visit the Washington Post website and simply search on Mr. Graham’s name.

Thank you Santa, or Mr. Graham, for giving so many of us such wonderful holiday memories.  As for those of you who are disbelievers in Santa, or if it seems your heart is two sizes too small, take time to visit the real deal, if you’re in the area.  The visit is free, as it should be…just the photos cost money (and Santa has no control over that).

As for me, I believe…

For the first time today, I was reminded of a scene from the ever-so-hilarious film, “The Birdcage”, wherein Senator Keely’s wife, Louise asks “when is it my turn” in reference to my own life.

If you’re unfamiliar with the film, put it on your Netflix list ASAP.  It is absolutely hilarious and always good for a laugh.  Robin Williams & Nathan Lane are fantastic, but Hank Azaria totally steals the show as Agador, their houseboy.

Anyhow, I found myself trying to finish everything that needed to be done at the office & rushing around just so that I could get home so that the husband could go play hockey.  You see, ever since I told him that I’d be going into the office today, his day off, he’s been asking stuff like “how long are you going to be there”, “when are you going to be home”, etc. because he was more concerned with whether or not he’d be able to go play hockey this afternoon.  No concern for the fact that I had a boatload of stuff to do at the office, or that I REALLY needed a day away from being “mom”, just concerned with his ability to make it to the rink.

As I began thinking about it, it seemed like this was the standard pattern anymore.  I give & give & give, work my butt off taking care of the house, the family and working full time, yet I never get anything in return…except for less sleep, additional stress & a headache.  So, I found myself asking “when is it my turn”.

I also had to wonder, is this the commonality among mothers, or is this an abnormality?  How many mommies out there actually get time for themselves, where they’re not being called upon for something family or child-related?  Maybe I get a half-hour a week, if I’m lucky, to vanish into my craft room & do something I enjoy; however, that seems to be a rarity & not the norm.

Now I completely understand those women who went on strike from being “mom”.  To those women I say “you go girl!”.

So, we’ve got this great box of 16 large washable Crayola crayons and, presumably, the colors would all be different, yes?  Well, technically, they are different colors; however, they’re so similar that the difference is almost non-existent.

I’d expect the usual…white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, orange, violet, brown & carnation pink.  They’re all there.  It’s the other colors that I found in the box that surprised & disappointed me…red violet, blue violet, red orange, yellow orange, blue green & yellow green.  It makes for a lovely rainbow; however, I really would have liked to see some greater variation in shades presented.  How about sky blue, apricot, goldenrod, midnight blue, jungle green & mahogany instead?  Still in the same color families, but definitely more different than the current batch of colors included.  There are plenty of others that would offer greater coloring variety that the current batch as well.

I could just as easily wish for colors that have been retired, such as maize, raw umber, teal blue & lemon yellow; however, I’m realistic & know that I should work within the current Crayola color palette.

So, kind people at Crayola who will probably never see this, consider the colors that you’re putting in that box, eh?  Parents color with their children and we’d like to see something a bit more varied for our coloring pleasure while we’re relegated to use of the washable box of 16 (oh, I remember the joy of that new box of 64 as a kid).

OMG, whichever Binney & Smith (aka Crayola) employee invented washable crayons was a GENIUS!  I gave a box of large size washable crayons to my kid today for the first time and, naturally, she colored on her play table as well as on the paper…knew that was going to happen.  Those suckers clean up SO fast & SO easily I have no plans on giving her regular crayons until I know for certain that all she’s going to do is color on paper.

Now, regular crayons are great and there are so many more colors to choose from; however, making a paste of baking soda & water then scrubbing them off of her little table does become a bit bothersome after a while.  Yes, if you ever find yourself with non-washable crayon marks, make a paste of baking soda & water and scrub away; the marks will, most likely, come off.

Thank you, thank you, unknown Binney & Smith employee.  Whatever you did to the crayon formula was absolute Genius.

Yeah, I’m still on the whole Facebook thing.  Seems the husband has decided that I MUST join Facebook, so he recruited a bunch of mutual friends & several of his relatives to send me that “be my friend on Facebook” message.  Thing is, I’m not actually friends with several of these people, I just know them because he does.  Heck, some of them I may know, but I don’t even like, let alone consider them a friend.  So why would I want to be their electronic friend, if I don’t care to be their friend face-to-face?

So, social networking, since that’s what they deem it, isn’t my thing.  Can’t he just leave well enough alone & be satisfied that I do not have any desire to join the land of the online clique?  Just like mom always said…if “everyone else” wanted to jump off the Empire State Building, does that mean that you have to also?

As far as I’m concerned, I can live without Facebook, the same as I can live without ever seeing “Titanic”…I know how it ends, the boat sinks.

Will someone please let me know what the appeal of Facebook is?  My husband is addicted to it and I can’t get him away from the stupid thing.  He’s supposed to be putting down our daughter, but he’s on the computer, on Facebook, and she’s running around.  I certainly understand the appeal of the Blog; however, Facebook has always seemed a bit more for the teenage & 20-something college set than for adults who have been out in the “world”, per se, for a while.

Maybe I’ve become increasingly cynical over the years, but I would think that taking care of one’s child would be more important than playing Texas Hold ‘Em, or whatever, on Facebook.  One of these days I’m going to block that website from every single computer in the house, password protect the block with something he’ll never guess, and just let him try to figure out what the heck happened.

The Mommy quiz created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Military momYou are the military mom and you certainly wear the boots around your camp! You can’t stand the thought of raising spoiled brats and you are not afraid to put your foot down. You make sure that your children are well equipped to live strong independent lives when they grow up and infact you see this as the whole reason you are a parent in the first place. Military mom 56% Do-it-all Mommy 38% Zen momma 31% Party animal mom 13% stay-at-home mommy 0%

OK, I’m not against vegetables; I actually like several of them…carrots, green beans, corn, potatoes, even broccoli.  My husband, however, somehow doesn’t think that any of the veggies I like and cook are “exciting”.  Have you ever seen an “exciting” vegetable?  Really?  I’d like to know what an “exciting” vegetable is.

When queried, my husband’s response was “leafy greens”.  So you’re telling me that a piece of wilty green stuff that looks like a weed from the backyard is more “exciting” than a fresh, wonderful ear of corn that I just got at the Farmer’s Market?  Not on my planet.

No, I’m not completely against any kind of leafy green veggie either; there are plenty of varieties of lettuces that I do enjoy.  As a matter of fact, there’s a lovely bunch of red leaf lettuce in my fridge right now (which the hubby doesn’t even know I got at the market today).

Why do the leafy greens need to be cooked?  All that does, as far as I’m concerned, is make them wilty and unedible.  My apologies to those who love collard greens; I do understand that there are millions of people out there who love them and I will not deny you your right to consume as much of them as you care to. I, personally, do not care for any kind of leafy vegetable that has been cooked, and probably never will.