My SON!

At school yesterday morning, the parents were encouraged to stay to wave goodbye as all of the fifth graders lined up and made their way to the buses. I handed my camera to my friend and said, “Here, when Ajers comes out, I’m going to grab him out of the line and I want you to take a picture of the two of us, OK?”

She looked at me kind of funny. Actually, now that I think of it, she looked at me like maybe I was kind of psycho. Of course, her son going on the trip is her THIRD child. My son going on the trip is my FIRST child. This makes a huge difference in the world of parenting!

I grabbed Ajers out of the line, made him hug me and we smiled for the picture. I told him I loved him; I told him to be good. I kissed him in front of all of his friends and their parents, and he kissed me back and told me he loved me.

All of the moms made fun of ME once he got on the bus. How could I have embarrassed my son that way? And did I see how he was blushing? Then I felt horrible for my behavior. How could I have done that to my son! He would probably be mortified with me now, and he would probably be made fun of the whole bus trip. I hung my head in shame, feeling like the lowest of mothers. I didn’t know the protocol of the secrets of motherhood. I don’t know how to control my emotions. I’ve never let him go before.

I just did what felt right to me at the time. And what felt perfectly right to me was to let him know he means the world to me and that I love him so very much, and that I would miss him tremendously. And now, I probably ruined his trip by embarrassing him, according to all of these do-good mothers who were pointing out the error of my ways.

But then, I looked up to the window of the bus, and saw my smiling Ajers. He was waving to me and smiling the biggest brightest smile. I hadn’t embarrassed him. He was looking right at me, happy to be so loved and coveted by his mother.

And as all the other mothers looked on, my son, the one I covered with mushy kisses while all of them admonished me for embarrassing him … MY SON looked at me and mouthed the words, “I LOVE YOU” over and over and over again. And I did so back to him, loudly and lovingly, not caring about anyone else around me, because I knew at that moment, I was most definitely NOT embarrassing my child.

Those around me were missing the opportunity to let those they most cherish know how much they cherish them. And that, my friends, is one of life’s most important lessons. Don’t let the moments pass you by. Don’t let you lose it.

Ajers comes home in two hours and I cannot wait. The house definitely was missing something spectacular the past 36 hours. And it was my first-born son.

A Whole Lotta Busyness

Busy weekend here for the Manic crew.

Friday:

Met high school friend for lunch with our five children.

Went shopping.

Tried to sneak in a quickie with hubby but then the doorbell rang and coitus interruptus by kid next door.

Cocktails at The Dock (same place where this happened, and funny thing was, another wedding was going on, and after my second appletini, I said to our friends, same friends we were with when we crashed first wedding ... I said, "Come on guys, it's time to get our photos taken. PS. This won't make any sense to you unless you read the older post. But anyway, we were laughing about how funny it had been and how we still need to figure out how to get copies of those ambushed photos we had taken at the crashed wedding. Then my friend Emacy and I went to go use the bathroom. We see a chick sitting outside smoking. Emacy and I looked at one another in amazed shock. IT WAS THE SAME PHOTOGRAPHER FROM THE LAST WEDDING WE CRASHED!

She was working the wedding this Friday night TOO! We were thisclose to having her take our photos again at this random wedding. Can you imagine we start doing this all over the place and all these random photos of the four of us show up in unsuspecting newlywed photo albums? Anyway, she said the wedding that was going on was a Scottish wedding and the men were all wearing kilts. Of course, what did I want to know? Yep. "Were they wearing anything underneath the kilts?"

We did not find out. Because we had tickets to see a movie.

Saw Burn after Reading. Good flick. A little Pulp Fictionish. Three-and-a-half stars on the Manic scale.

Saturday morning:

Soccer photo for Tukey at 8:30 a.m.

Soccer game for Diva at 9:15 a.m. where she scored a goal and played awesome and I was screaming for the team, and was jumping outta my folding chair, and at that point I had a revalation. I am officially unequivocally (and yes, I had to totally spell-check that word!) a freaking soccer mom and I AM LOVING IT!)

Quick stop at Kohl's to buy Diva flip-flops cuz she forgot a change of shoes, and yeah, I find me a dress to buy, which I thought was a steal for $59 until I pay for it and discover it's super-super-duper on sale for $21! Yahoo! Even if I never wear the dress it's worth it!

Next to Sports Authority so Mr. Manic and Ajers can get shoes. Mr. Manic does not find shoes. Ajers does. And Tukey uses the rest of his birthday money for Heeleys, which I told him he should get the bigger size but did he listen to me? Noooooooo! of course not. And guess who now has to drive back to Sports Authority later this week? Yep. Me. To return the too-small Heeley's. Why the EFF can they not listen?

Drop Mr. and Ajers off at the football field and the three remaining of us go find somewhere to eat for lunch. We argue and bicker for 45 minutes all while driving around about where we should have lunch, and because Diva eats like two things (Bagels and french fries) this is not a fun discussion. Settle on pizza.

Back to watch Ajers football game that Mr. Manic coaches. It's hot as YOU-KNOW-WHAT outside and I'm sitting there with an umbrella to shade myself bitching about the heat. And telling everyone that I shouldn't be bitching because next Saturday when I'm sitting outside at 8 a.m. for Diva's soccer game, I'm sure it's gonna be snowing and then I'll be like, "Why was I bitching about the lovely weather we had last Saturday?"




Ajer's team wins. First game in three years. Everyone is happy. I have a headache. I think it's sunstroke. Or maybe the martinis from last night. A combination perhaps.

Back at home, I sneak in an hour nap, but it's not good because Tukey comes up like three times to cry about the Heely's that are too small for him. "I told you so." "Why don't you ever listen to me?" Then he comes back up and tells me he's going to try them anyway. "Fine," I say. "But if you put them on and ruin the bottoms, we CANNOT return them." He must have gone outside and tried them out because some time later he comes back into my room after I've fallen sufficiently asleep and he's crying and saying, "I'm such a jerk! I'm such a stupid idiot! They don't fit me! I should have listened to you! I'm such a bad person. Now I'm never gonna have Heely's that fit me."

Duh. Has no one ever heard, "Mother's always right?"

Up from nap and I have to get ready to go to my sister's 20th high school reunion. Yep, you read that right, my sister's reunion. Last year, at my 20th reunion, some of the class of '88's alum helped do registration at ours so we promised to help at theirs. I had a raging headache but pulled it together. Plus, I wanted to go in the spirit of my sister who could not be there.

It was fun, but I was exhausted, tired, headachy, and the headache was growing worse. Home by 9:30, having drank not one ounce of alcohol at the reunion, feeling like I was getting the flu, not sure which end was going to give way to the evils of being sick.

Took a vicodin and hoped for death or at least peaceful sleep. Got the sleep.

Woke this a.m. with no headache!

Went into the city to meet up with some friends who were in town from Philly. They were here to see the Bears kick the Eagles' butts. (we shall see, second half at this point, and I have no idea who's winning. You're probably in shock I even know who's playing. You're probably in shock I even know my town's team.)

Great lunch, conversation, people watching with our friends, then back home.

Get ready and go to our neighbor's surprise 50th birthday party.

So in one weekend, I hit it all--soccer games, football games, lunches with friends, 20th high school reunion, a migraine thrown in there, a 50th surprise party ... do you think I got any laundry done? Nah. Do you think I care? Nah. DO you think I'm ready for bed. Hell to the yes!

And tomorrow morning, my first-born baby leaves for an overnight trip through school. They have this thing called Outdoor Education in fifth grade where they go away for an overnight camping trip. MY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I won't be able to talk to him! I don't think I've gone his whole entire life without talking to him for more than 24 hours. How will I hold up? Will I make it through this harrowing milestone of parenthood? Tune in later for the continuation of Manic Mom's Mental Myriads ...

A Tukey Talk Installment and ... It Is Friday, What's Your Plan?

Me, yelling from upstairs: "Tukey, do you have clean clothes on?"

Him, downstairs: "Yes I have clothes on."

Me, all-knowing mom: "CLEAN ones?"

Him: "Oh dang."

~ ~ ~ ~

On a completely UNRELATED note, Mr. Manic and I have a babysitter lined up and the world is our oyster – we have the freedom to do whatever we want to tonight – we can go out to dinner, we can go ‘clubbing,’ we can go to a bar and drink appletinis till I fall on my face or puke on a wall. We can go see this movie, but I love him too much to ever make him see this one with me.

We can go shopping for diamonds or cars (maybe a new Lexus for me?), but I’m telling you, and I know I can clearly speak for him, it’s Friday, and we’re both zonked-out-of-our-minds, and what we’re really like to do is get each other in bed for 10 uninterrupted hours straight and …

... Snuggle and sleep.

That’s hot, isn’t it? So hot.

And PS. Tukey just came in here TWO MINUTES before the bus is supposed to come, and is wearing the SAME clothes from yesterday that, yes, he slept in. I said, "I BROUGHT YOU CLEAN CLOTHES TO PUT ON!"

Maybe I do need to go out and drink appletinis and throw up on a wall (read that if you want to read about the worst drinking night of my life!)? I just reread it and it makes me think I still don't want to ever drink again!

Jess Riley, Dane Cook, Jason Biggs, Kate Hudson

Update:

Saw it, loved it, TOTALLY WANT DANE COOK, that dirty boy! Read my review here.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If you didn't get a chance to win a copy of my pal Jess Riley's debut book Driving Sideways back in May, you have ANOTHER chance!

Hop on over to BettyConfidential, where I had the chance to interview Jess and you can enter to win her book over there. It's such a great book -- You can’t help but fall in love with Leigh, kidney-transplant recipient, who’s speeding along the road to recovery and rediscovery! She’s been given a second chance and she’s not wasting anytime making the most of it! Take a ride with Leigh and meet the characters that not only frame her life, but also help save her life as well!

GO HERE NOW to enter! While you're there, check out all the great stuff over at Betty!

And, I'm sick and tired of spending time with this freaking computer so I am going to go spend some time with hotties Jason Biggs and Dane Cook today. (Don't you all think Dane Cook is "dirty hot?") Oh yeah, I guess Kate Hudson will be there too. But I hear she's bringing her fat ass so I can live with that.

School

What do you think about this note that came home from the elementary school principal this week?

Dear Parent/Guardian,

This letter is to inform you of a situation that occurred today and ask you for your help in preventing future incidents. Today, one of our students brought a toy pistol to school. This toy pistol was brought in the child's backpack and shown to a limited number of students before school started this morning. The situation was brought to the attention of our staff immediately and handled very seriously.

ALthough this situation never put any child or adult in danger, it did remind us all of the need to talk to children about their responsibility in keeping school safe. Please take this opportunity to reinforce with your child that weapons, real ones and toy ones, are not allowed on school grounds. Children, very innocently at times, bring toys to school that you may allow at home but are not appropriate at school. Being very clear about policy with your child will help prevent situations at school that take time away from teaching and learning. Additional information in the handbook ... yadda yadda yadda ...

Thoughts?

And NO, it wasn't my kid. I know that's what you're thinking! : )

Build-A-Bear WINNER!

We have a winner for the $25 gift card to Build-A-Bear.

Drum roll please ...

First of all, thanks to all who participated, and for those GREAT poems that were submitted! They were so much fun to read, and they were so creative and clever! And as promised, it is a random drawing, and well, actually, there is no winner ... YET!

Until ...

The first person who already entered in the contest can accurately, identically recompose their poem in the comment section here. Yes, that's it. Copy your poem into the comment section HERE NOW. First person who does so wins. It has to match EXACTLY as you posted it in the entry blog post comments.

GO!

And then YOU will be the winner.

I'm waiting.

Dooce

Ignore the previous post.

I am graciously stepping down and taking myself out of the running for Best Parenting Blog over at over at Divine Caroline. I just noticed Dooce has also been nominated. In fact, why doesn't EVERYONE graciously step down from the contest!

'Nuff said! LOL!

Instead, go over here and write me a poem so you can win a $25 gift card from Build-A-Bear!

Forget Obama or McCain:

Vote for Manic Mommy!



over at Divine Caroline!

Yep, I've been nominated for one of the Best Parenting Sites, so stop by and cast your vote if you will! Yes, you'll have to register to vote, but come on, puhleeeease! I don't ask you guys to do much for me, do I?

And you can also still enter to win the Build-A-Bear $25 gift card here through the weekend!

Win $25 Build-A-Bear Bucks!

Yep, you read that right!

You can win a gift card for $25 to Build-A-Bear right here on Manic Mommy! My kiddos love Build-A-Bear -- we've celebrated plenty of birthdays by bringing home stuffed pals! Even the big football player kid, Ajers, has a few lovables, but don't tell him I told you!

Here's Diva with her latest, the brand-new Hannah Montana Build-A-Bear.

We named it Hannah Bear-Tanna. Pretty clever huh? Oh, and here's something else that's new and cool about Build-A-Bear -- you now get a code and can bring your bear to life on the computer. Diva's been playing with it, and in Hannah Bear-Tanna's world, there's some really great music and some fun stuff that keeps her entertained for hours!

So, while this is a completely RANDOM drawing, in order to qualify for this random drawing you have to write a four-lined rhyming poem with some reference to a BEAR in it. For instance, here's me quick thinking:

There was a bear named Johnny
Who loved to sit in the park
One day he sat too long
Until it was after dark.

OK, so that was totally lame, but it gives you a good idea that I'm not looking for anything special. Now ... GO WRITE ME A POEM and you could win $25 to Build-A-Bear!

Contest closes ... I don't know, later this week.

P.S. -- Sorry, my family members are not eligible (that means my sister and sisters-in-law, and other blood or marriage-related peeps!)

P.S.S. -- To be clear--at least a FOUR-LINED POEM THAT RHYMES! (Preferably ONLY a four-lined poem.) See how "park" and "dark" rhyme in my example? Do something like that. If it's not four lines, and if it doesn't have a rhyme in it, I don't put your name in the hat! Yep, I'm being mean! : )

Wedding Crashers

First, some business stuff: If you've come here from Dawn at Because I Said So, thanks so much! I love Dawn, she's become a close personal friend, and she's just as wonderful in real life, except she lied--we were NOT on our second drinks in this photo!

Can you guess which one is mine?

Now, if you haven't seen how my weekend started, go to Dawn's site, and check out our business lunch at Stir Crazy. Who has mai tais and Green Dragon martinis at noon on Fridays at lunch? Oh yeah, probably every male in the universe, so why not US!

So there!

Friday night, my friend Emacy and I had a Girl's Night Out and went to see Housebunny, which was pretty funny, and we actually went out to Taco Bell for dinner! Are we dorks or what? We didn't care! We had a limited amount of time, and te quero taco bell!

Saturday we had a wedding to go to. OK, well, not really. We weren't invited, didn't know who the bride and groom were, or anyone in attendance for that matter. We kind of crashed it.

Mr. Manic and I had planned on going out, and our friend, who we call the "Derailer" because he is Mr. Spontaneity and goes with the flow and throws caution to the wind, or would that be, "throws NO caution to the wind?" ... anyway, originally, it was going to be a nice, low-key date night for Mr. Manic and me. We were going to walk to the outside eatery at the golf course, have a drink or two, dinner, and then take a leisurely and romantic walk across the bridge home.

Then, along came the "Derailer."

Derailer shows up, and he's like, "I'll grab Emacy (his wife), and we'll join you!" So, we throw their two kids into the capable hands of my in-laws and off we go. And we get to the outside eatery at the golf course, and there's a wedding going on indoors. What a gorgeous night for a wedding. Perfect weather, a beautiful bride and groom!

Three vanilla vodka / sour-apple Pucker martinis later, and we decide to check out the wedding. Once inside, I see the photographer and the backdrop.

"Can we get our photo taken?" I ask.

"Sure!" she said.

So the four of us get our pictures taken at this wedding and the photographer is posing us in front of the backdrop and telling us to tilt our heads this way and that and we are busting out laughing hoping the chick in the white dress doesn't come by and tell us to get the hell out of her best day of her life because we're ruining it!

I CANNOT WAIT FOR HER TO GET HER WEDDING PROOFS BACK!

Even better, I wrote down my email address on the photographer's list so I will get a link to the photos so I can buy pictures too!

And then, when Emacy and I slip away to the bathroom, Mr. Manic and Derailer decide to have the photographer take some prom photos of just the two of them! Classic!

And we couldn't crash a wedding without snagging the little giveaways which originally I thought were mini-bundt cakes but they turned out to be like TRIPLE-DIPPED CHOCOLATE CARAMEL APPLES.


Yes, dark chocolate, regular chocolate, and white chocolate surrounded a huge caramel apple on a stick. Now that's some wedding favor! They must have cost ten bucks each!

We then headed to a nearby hotel to pool hop hang out at the bar and have cocktails and I brought my apple treat with me and some dude came up and said, "My wife is DYING to know where you got that!" Because obviously, I looked like I was enjoying it so very much!

I told him I was pretty much done with it, because even though Emacy and I had been sharing bites of it, there was no way we could finish it so I took it over to his table.

"Here, you want it? Seriously, I didn't bite off this side, and if you pull off the layers of chocolate here, it's totally OK to eat! Take it! It's AWESOME!"

So she did! And she ate it! How cool is that! This is what it's all about, my friends! Sharing the good fortune of a crashed wedding! Then Emacy and I remembered we stole THREE apples. Stole is such a strong word though, don't you think? Because by the end of the night, we were BFFs with Jerry, the groom's dad, and also Beverly and Dave, friends of the bride's parents, so it's not like we were really being thieves now were we? So, we went back to the car to get another apple to share with our new friends.

Later, we played music we wanted to hear, and also Emacy and I invented "Dumb and Dumber" pool, which is played exactly how it sounds, and not too difficult of a task when you've downed four vanilla vodka / sour-apple Pucker martinis.

One thing that struck me odd was I woke up this morning with a sore jaw and for the life of me had no idea why my jaw would ache, until I remembered gnawing on the bowling-ball sized caramel apple. Oh, and the fact that I tried to shove the pool cue ball in my mouth just because.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later this week on Manic Mommy:

I will be giving away a $25 gift card to BUILD-A-BEAR!

Win a copy of this fabulous book!

Check out the Neti-Pot video below. Yep, just scroll down ...

The Neti-Pot

Do you know what a Neti-Pot is? Here, let me demonstrate!

Sarah Palin ...

I don't know a donkey from an elephant ...

I hear white noise when anyone starts talking politics. I have never been interested in politics. Except for the time Monica Lewinsky wore that one Gap dress and did something crazy with a president and a cigar, this is the first time I've ever been interested in candidates and running mates and Democrats and Republicans. Seriously. I've often joked that I don't know which is an elephant or the donkey.

But, the intrigue that's in the news lately, and all the speculation that comes with it! When news of Governor Sarah Palin hit the media, the first comment I heard was from some Neanderthal man saying, "Did you see the hottie McCain picked?" As if McCain chose Bachelorette #3 on The Dating Game. Can we not be mature adults here?

Read the rest on BettyConfidential.com ...

[AND PS--NOT IN THE ARTICLE, BUT IS HER HUBBY NOT A HOTTIE TOO!!?!?!? I might start watching all these speeches on TV just for the glimpses of that gorgeous guy -- OK, who's the Neanderthal now? That'd be me!]

Mr. Manic Mating Call

First of all, enter this contest please!

Second, for the winners of the Mamma Mia! CDs -- great news! I have burned the CDs for YOU! I will get to the post office to mail them THIS WEEK! Sorry it has taken so long. Also, I saw the movie AGAIN! FOR THE THIRD TIME!

Third, this is what happened this morning:

So, I'm dusting,

(I'll wait a minute while you pick yourselves off the floor.)

because the house is a mess, and the two boys are outside playing

(Tukey riding his new bike because TOMORROW he turns SEVEN!)

and Diva is in the family room singing along to High School Musical on the Wii.

(Is that how you spell Wii?)

And I'm reaching up with the long-handled duster to snag a particularly annoying strand of webby thing that has been netting its way through the foyer for some time now, and Mr. Manic calls over to me:

"Do you got time to knock one off?"

Yes, this is Manic Foreplay.

post script cuz I just gotta tell you this: Before we "knocked one off," I finished dusting and I made Mr. Manic go into the office and type out the phrase "do you got time to knock one off" so I could remember it so I could blog about it later. AND ALSO, there was more I WANTED to write about what happened DURING the knocking of oneself off, like the little sound-bytes of what was said during the "knocking one off" but he'd probably kill me. Sometimes I wish to God this blog was anonymous just for the laughs.