the good news the day before yesterday, yesterday and today

due to technical difficulties I didn't get the good news out for a few days, but I haven't fallen off the wagon I promise!

So here's the latest:

• found an acupuncturist (super good news)
• cooked till I couldn't cook anymore, ate good food with good company and had good conversation
• found a skirt for the Big 12 Comissioner's Dinner next friday on sale; enabling me to be the good wife with a cute outfit (some would say that one leads to the other)

Lots of good news here....

Good news item day 2

You know when you have something to mail that ends up riding around with you for much longer it should? Well today I somehow ended up parked right in front of a shipping store, totally unplanned! So keep your eyes on your mailbox, maybe you’ll have some good news soon.

project good news day 1

the good news for today is that I took on two extra kids to give a friend of mine some relief and we ran errands without any major crisis's, mishaps or me loosing my cool. Considering that I am a one kid kinda gal and didn't get a lot of sleep last night, this is pretty remarkable. What's your good news?

the good news

it seems like the only way we can get some good news lately is to answer the religious solicitors at the front door who want to "share the good news", well today I am going to try and change that.
Recently a friend of mine stated that she was 'down like the economy' and honestly I think all of us at some time could agree with her, so today while I was in the shower (my little think tank) I thought that maybe I could start sharing a little good news for each day until the end of the year. This little blog had gotten pretty dusty and needed some attention so what better venue to challenge myself to making one good news statement a day...you're more than welcome to join in...put yourself up to the challenge!

I just got validated...

and it wasn't a stamp on my parking ticket. Oprah did it. There I said it, Oprah. I know now I am one amongst many who can say Oprah changed my life, well the truth is she didn't, she just facilitated it. How you ask, well I just watched this: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090311-tows-mom-truth
and I ask, why did it take Oprah to break this out in the open?

Why is it that we as moms think we need to keep all these dirty little secrets about conceiving, childbirth, mommyhood and all the rest? For example, I had an emergency c-section, yeah yeah I know all the haters out there that will tell me I could have tried all my options, but really when it comes down to it my little guy was brought into this world healthy so who cares how he got here? Well part 2 of this is that I didn't do so hot in the c-section, to put it frankly I freaked out and they gave me good drugs and I don't remember naming my sweet boy. Yeah it sucks, but I'm done feeling bad about that, in fact if that's the worse thing I do as a parent I'm golden. So back to the super secret mommy society, shortly after having my sweet boy a friend had a scheduled c-section (go ahead all you haters, have an opinion on this too) because her baby was breach and her amniotic fluid was low. So she asked me what to expect, I was painfully candid: is sucked. Mind you this is a woman who has successfully brought two kids into the world "naturally", I honestly didn't think I could scare her. In steps a friend whom I love very much...but she kinda tested that at this moment...she tried to censor.

Why I ask, do we feel compelled to censor motherhood. Its a dirty job, the pay is awful, there's poor communication in the workplace, no sick days, no vacation (barring a hospital stay), there's no consistency and most of all we moms still feel inadequate most of the time.

This inadequacy part is what confuses me as well. In all honesty I think we're heroic, infinitely wonderful and minor miracle workers. So here's the deal, don't ask me how mommyhood is if you don't want the truth, because I will tell you. I let my boy watch dvr'd shows so I can shower, I consent when I just can't take it anymore, I don't wash his hands before he eats every time, the list goes on. However, I am leading a revolution right here in my little world, mommyhood ain't easy and I won't tell you it is...but I wouldn't trade it for the world, cause quite frankly I think I'm pretty darn good at it and so should you.

stuck in a middle that I can't get out of

Sorry U2, I had to rip you off for a moment.
Here goes, we leave The Republic (which now threatens secession, per the governor but that's a whole 'nother post) and head to the 'I' state in the middle to see the inlaws for Easter. Yay us, a 12 hour trip with a 2.5 year old. This was my first venture through the middle states of O, K, N and I'm still a little traumatized. So here's the deal, I'm a west coast girl and honestly I think I've lived in areas with pretty good looking people (there's always that exception) some more than others but I didn't feel surrounded by ugly. This I've found is not true everywhere. While driving through K (my apologies to the residents of the Wheat/Sunflower/Jayhawk State) I was disappointed, I mean this is "nations heartland" why is it so ugly? And further more, there seems to be an abundance of not-so-pretty people. What happened?

This leads to a question, are we truly a product of our surroundings? I had a friend who once said she couldn't live in the Golden State because "she wasn't pretty enough" and she was no ugly girl mind you. But I kind of agreed with her and more than once made the joke that the husband and I snuck under the beauty radar when we landed in America's Finest City.

But back to my question, so if your born in a not so pretty part of this country are you doomed? I want to think not, Hollywood seems to be a melting pot of folks from all over this place. Really I guess what I wonder, is it that are we that easily effected by our surroundings that we start to look different when we move beyond our 'native place'? And even more do we act different? Do we so easily loose who we are/were? (I think these questions weigh on me more that I have a little person and I don't love The Republic I live in and I want to offer him a broad world view, which is hard to do here.) Can we keep the thing that makes who we are even if we are geographically transient?

Who knows, maybe change is good... (but for the time being I'm still resisting)

overheard

the husband, boy and I are in the capital city of okie (dokie) as I have mentioned before this part of the world is like nothing I've ever experienced before and the trend continues. Today the boy and I were in a store and the two cashiers were having a conversation about restaurants, here goes:
1 "red lobster! I love that place, it has the best food, I love the shrimp"
2 "I don't eat shrimp"
1 "do you eat fish?"
2 "I only eat fish if its fried and dipped in ketchup"
(this is where I can no longer stifle a giggle/borderline snort)
1 "this lady is laughing at you"
me "not laughing, its just that I'm a west coast girl (my new title for myself in an effort to explain why I don't get it most of the time) and we don't fry fish"
2 "oh! so you don't like fried catfish?"
me (this is where I really pushed the limit) "I've heard that catfish is only good if its breaded, fried and dipped, to me if it has to be breaded, fried and dipped then it must not be all that good"
1 & 2 blank stares and silence

The best thing for me to do then was show myself the door, as I had once again proved that 1. I don't get it and 2. that I am a snotty west coast girl. This has led me to wonder all day why is it that geography can cause us to not work as "one nation under god". Why don't we get how things work in each part of this country and does not getting it makes us bad? I am struggling to convey my thoughts, but as the week has continued I find myself feeling more and more like I am surrounded by hicks...something I really hate to admit that I even think. I mean these are humans just like me who have all the same ingredients that I have, but for some reason I cannot relate to them and find myself thinking I am better than them. ick, I don't want to be that person. So I ask, how does one shift their thinking to align with geography? If I figure it out I'll let you know.

-your stuck up west coast girl