Feel free to be amazed by my wicked problem solving skills!

It’s been made clear to me that I have a huge problem – I apparently do not know how to relax! Yes, I kid you not, this is my big problem!

You see, I need to be doing multiple things at once or I am unable to function properly, for example, if I am watching TV, I will also be on my laptop… I am one of those people who consistently talk at the movies, or who will watch the same movie ten times and still miss parts of it!

Anyways, I’ve decided that tonight I am going to watch a movie and eat ice-cream – relaxing right? Only thing is I am not a big ice-cream fan, actually I am not even a small ice-cream fan, ok, me, ice-cream, and fan should not be used in the same sentence, but eating ice-cream is supposed to be relaxing, or at least so I hear! I do like ben & jerry’s though, and now their ice-cream also supports ONE.

So, umm, what do you do to relax?

Talk to me & my addiction

Since I was like “yey” big, I’ve loved watches, obsessively. In my lifetime, I think I’ve owed easily more than a hundred! They weren’t all ESQ and some were, admittedly of the $10 variety, but no less, I love watches!

Recently however, I have been put on a bit of a watch ban by the powers that be (ahem, mousehunter), and so I feel like I might be suffering from a little bit of withdrawal since I think that my last watch was bought about one and half years ago!! oh.the.injustice!

Anyways, I have to say that while I am attracted to those with, umm, high price tags, I am unnaturally fond of Fossil watches. No, this is not a Fossil review, but I honestly I think their styles are cool and the prices are very good, especially for addicts!!

So… which do you like?

- this one is very much my style, silver, bold, but pretty

- also loving the brown (though, I am not really a gold person per se, but it’s pretty!)

- cute!

- it’s been YEARS since I’ve owned a leather watch, but this is tres cute!!

- also fond of this one… my more “earthy” side, I guess!

Finding comfort

I’ve been sick for a while now… is it just me, or do sinus infections completely overstay their welcome?!

At some point last week, while I was feeling really crappy, I started craving French Toast, which is something I love, but rarely eat because I only like it the way that I make it and I don’t make it too often. It is one of those things that I find really comforting though, and since in addition to being sick, I was dealing with some really bewildering personal issues, I was seriously in need of some French Toast! Funnily enough, my 3 year old is now completely in love with it, and I’ve made it about 4 times since then.

Since my kids have turned into stereotypical boys, you know, jumping off sofas, sword fighting, transformer loving, headache inducing boys, I have been drinking a lot of coffee, it’s my crack people, I can safely say I cannot function without it! Somehow though, when I am in need of some tlc, I will choose tea in a second, I am not sure what it is about that substance, but I’ve just noticed that it is so charmingly lovely and calming.

I’ve had this conversation about finding comfort with my husband, who declared that sleeping is just about the only thing that comforts him, I wonder if that’s maybe just a “man” thing, because I honestly find very little comfort in just sleeping, although I would be easily swayed if there happened to be a newborn on my chest. I am one of those people that find enormous comfort in food, or is that just a “woman” thing, because for example, on cold, rainy days, I love really savory food, like lamb in hoisin sauce, or clam chowder, and when I am depressed, I’d have to go with dark chocolate truffles, (or pretty much anything, but let’s not go there!) and I think when I am just melancholy, French Toast is truly amazing!

Beyond my obvious and somewhat obsessive love of food, I find comfort in really sappy movies, the sound of a loved one’s voice, a hug, or just maybe a really good cry. How about you?

Talk to me and the hypocrite within

I like to think that I am an honest person, and most of the time I am, but sometimes, on particularly frustrating days, I think to myself, if my blog readers can see me now, they would probably feel so betrayed! Please accept my apologies for that, I don’t mean to misrepresent myself, it just happens.

In many ways my blog identity is my true identity, I’ve chosen to be my ‘real’ self online which does have its advantages, but also its challenges, and one of the biggest challenges I face is living up to being the mom that I write about in my blog, you know, the mom who can entertain her kids and not get frustrated, the mom who knows how to work from home efficiently, the mom who cooks everyday, the well adjusted wife even.

A while ago I made a decision to try to be inspirational on this blog, to try to help other parents, to add value where I could, and if I had to rant, it would be to open the topic up for discussion and hopefully get to a point where we can all benefit from potential solutions. This meant that on days when I just wanted to scream about how crappy being a mother was, I was forced to write about the more positive aspects, which in general worked out well because it helped me to get over the difficulties and focus on a solutions instead, but did have the distinct disadvantage of making me into a hypocrite at times.

My husband is on a 2 day business trip, and this morning I had the wonderful job of getting all 3 kids fed, cleaned, and dressed so I could take the eldest 2 to school, sadly, I completely lost it and started screaming for them to stop running around with only one shoe and concentrate on what they were supposed to be doing! It was not that it was particularly stressful, but I didn’t take my own advice about routines and schedules, being late was my own fault, being unprepared was my own fault, and ultimately, I didn’t “do as I say”!

I know that most of you would consider me to be a good mom, but at times I feel so unworthy . Do you find that it’s sometimes hard to live up to your parenting ideals or follow your own advice?

Talk to me and the proverbial straw

So you’re in the middle of the ocean with your significant other, who managed to get you both lost, on a tiny little row boat with only one paddle, you just ate your last morsel of food and drank your last drop of water, you’re just about to give up all hope of being rescued when you see an island way out in the distance! You are desperate to get to the island because you are not fond of water and this trip was your partner’s idea, you paddle as fast as you can until you just can’t do it anymore, then your partner takes over and somehow manages to lose the paddle!

No, I didn’t get lost at sea this weekend, but I did feel like I was losing my mind a little! I was an over-worked, under-appreciated, always-with-the-kids, work at home mom, I did not take my own advice and have a mom escape, I allowed myself to get to the point of exhaustion and it was not pretty.

It’s my first September as a work at home mom, and the challenge that this week presented me with was an unexpected and apparently difficult one, I let myself get lost in my deadlines, I did not prioritize getting the kids into a new routine, then at the end of my week, when I could hardly recognize myself, I decided that blame for all of it, and may be even global warming, should placed directly on my husband’s shoulders.

As I reflect upon it now, I think that we completely failed to plan for this new phase in our life, we just sort of remained in the free-spirited, routine-free, mindset of summer, but with the workload of fall and three kids that just acted out a bit more than they should have because they were not really sure what to do. My husband surely has contributed to this problem, although he does try to let me work, I think that he has the misconception that I do not require the same quiet time to work on my projects that I afford him, or perhaps I give him the idea that I don’t need support, because as you know, we moms can be control freaks sometimes!

Please tell me how you keep your balance during stressful times?