Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

With Mother's Day only a week away, my 8-year-old daughter asked me this question while we were clearing the dinner table.  We had just had a super-busy day, filled with homeschooling and errands and housecleaning and laundry. My first reaction (mentally) was, "WHY would she ask that?" Doesn't she notice the amount of time I've invested in her? Take homeschooling, for example.  I spend half of every day educating her.  After she goes to bed each night, I spend time learning to teach the way she learns, reading articles on parenting, and planning homeschool events and playdates so her social needs can be met (mine, too, but that's for another post). I watch her so closely - when I noticed she wasn't reading so well, we went and got her glasses.  When the dentist said, "orthodontia," we took you to the orthodontist to be evaluated right away.  When I noticed you were having spelling and writing problems, I busted my tail end getting a...

Last week, I had to take care of my mom. For the first time. I find it ironic that the same woman who changed my diapers, fed me for 18 years, laughed with me through my early mom foibles, and provided wisdom when the kids were sick - she needs me now. She was a nurse for many years.  She helped people have babies, took care of the elderly, watched scads of monitors, made people comfortable, and walked millions of miles up and down hospital halls, tending to her patients. Every time I had a baby, she'd come and stay with me a few days.  She'd catch me up on the dishes and laundry, hug and cuddle my babies, then travel back to Ohio.  I always had a warm, comfortable feeling when she was there.  I wasn't alone.  I could do this.  I would make it through this parenthood thing.  Mom was only a phone call away. Last year, my mom caught an illness that is yet to be diagnosed.  She is on all sorts of medicines and on oxygen all the time....

Dear Day Gone Awry, You and I were getting along so well!  The sun was shining.  I was full of energy and ambition. I was able to clean and organize so many things today.  I put away last summer's clothes.  I mopped the floor (first time in months)...due to an apple juice spill, but still.  That's besides the point.  We went to the library.  We visited grandparents.  It was glorious! I was feeling so good about myself and all I had accomplished today.  As the sun set and I closed the back door, I told myself I would make an easy dinner and check Facebook while it cooked.  I hadn't heard the stealthy "Bwahahaha!  That's what you think!" from you until it was too late! To continue my super-efficiency and awesomeness from the day, I plopped a piece of firewood and some cardboard boxes in the woodstove.  Little did I know that the whipping winds outside were consipiring to blow all the smoke my nice idea for a fire righ...