Lately, my poor blog has been neglected and sad, lacking of new activity, as it sits patiently — waiting for me to put up a juicy, new, informative post or even just a short, hurried blurb on the mundane happenings of my ever-busy, superhero life. Unfortunately, I have been so busy with life (imagine that!) and with learning the ropes to help my husband start his new, 24-hour emergency tire repair and service business (which serves the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex); so I am super sorry to have made you, my respected readers, wait so long. I do hope that you will understand, and I do hope to post more daily (or as close to daily as possible) as soon as my daughter completes her drama season debut and once I can figure out what the difference is between rotating and balancing, R16’s and R17’s, and what the heck a bolt pattern is. Thankfully I only manage the front counter, marketing, and the website (or the beginnings of one), and my very knowledgeable husband does all the work. Until I figure it all out, I hope you will still check back often for my sporadic posts, and please know that I appreciate all your comments and visits, and I know my now neglected blog appreciates it too as you make her feel a little less lonely.
Because of Tire Shop . . .
Whine Festivals and Pre-pregnancy Pants
At only twenty degrees, yesterday was a frightfully cold day in our local neck of the woods in Texas — so cold that the majority of schools either closed down or started late. Nevertheless, my three older, half-crazed, half-dazed, superhero monkeys and I woke up early planning for a regular school day. Little did I know what I was in for that morning.
Continue reading ‘Whine Festivals and Pre-pregnancy Pants’ »
No Frustration Resolutions
I admit, I have been avoiding this as much as I try to avoid handwashing a sink full of grease-stained and moldy, macaroni and cheese-crusted dishes, and this time, I am not talking about having to change my two year old’s poop-stained diapers. Believe it or not, I get frustrated with making New Year’s Resolutions. I envy those blog writers who naturally know how to narrow their thoughts to a few attainable goals, and I especially commend anyone who can stick to their goals until the end of the year. Unlike these great goal-setters, making realistic, honest resolutions that I know I can stick to and not break before the end of January has always been difficult for me. However, after much pondering (and chewing through the end of my pencil to the point of no recognition), I have finally come up with just a few goals that I would like to share. By writing them down and sharing them this year, I am also hoping that I won’t give up on my goals as easily as I give up on a pair of too-tight, pre-pregnancy jeans.
1) Spend more time with and show more appreciation for my family. I love my family and do all that I can to support my husband and each of my kids. I am there for them, praise and help them, and do all that I can for them; however, this year, I want to take more time to do special things for each of them to show them that I appreciate them. Through the busy and hurried confines of everyday life, I think my feelings of gratitude sometimes aren’t conveyed very well.
2) Grow and manage our finances better so that we can save. We aren’t people that like to splurge, and rarely do we find ourselves dining in fine restaurants reserved for only the wealthy. However, if we could cut the costs of unnecessary things (like spending high dollars on extra cell phone internet) or substitute non-name brand items for more expensive items, we could save a little here and there. We probably won’t become millionaires, but every little bit still counts in this economy. Finding more creative ways to market and grow our tire and car business to bring in more income will probably also help us in being able to put money away.
3) Make healthy choices. I am not talking about stuffing myself with only tofu-made concoctions and salads everyday. I am not a going to be the food Nazi here. However, if I moderate what I eat and when I eat it, change some cooking methods (e.g. broiled versus fried), and balance exercise with moderated eating habits, I can still achieve the same results.
After thinking long and hard about these goals, I also realize that these and other goals that I set for myself are not set in stone and that I may need to change them to meet the demands of our busy, ever-changing life and world. Too many times have I clutched ignorantly to New Year’s resolutions made at the beginning of the year. Too often have I felt defeat when I don’t meet those goals because things in my life have changed one way or another and I have been too rigid with myself in trying to meet my goals. This year, I vow to keep my goals attainable by changing how I can accomplish each goal when I need to, or by changing them altogether if they no longer apply to my life. With that said, I hope that you have resolved your own resolution frustrations, if any, and again, have a blessed New Year!
New Years Revisited
It’s a Brand New Year! It’s a Brand New Year! The whole internet is abuzz with 2009 reflections and 2010 resolutions as a new year rings in and the old year rolls out, while the evening before, families and friends gathered and drank celebrated the night away. I have to admit that since I have encountered the joys of parenthood, my husband and I have kept our New Year’s Eve celebrations to a rather tame level with non-alcoholic drinks and child-centered games. Of course, charades can still get out of hand regardless if your drunk or sober. The only difference is you won’t be doing something disturbing or X-rated that you’ll regret later.
As you may or may not have known, this is our family’s “second” New Year’s celebration. Our first festivities took place during the Hmong New Year which was observed during the weekend of Thanksgiving. This celebration was of a larger, more traditional capacity involving the whole Hmong community. Below is the repost of the Hmong New Year festival (with pictures from Texas) for your pleasure if you wish. I do apologize for the length and style as this was one of my earlier posts, so the writing may be a little “drier” than what you’re used to. With that, I would like to wish all of you in my blogging-sphere “Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tshiab,” Happy New Year!
HMONG NEW YEAR NOTES
No, I really am not confused nor am I trying to confuse you. This really is a post on the New Year. I know some of you are wondering why I am not writing a post on Thanksgiving or on Christmas when those holidays precede the New Year. That’s because the Hmong New Year celebration in Texas is this weekend, No
vember 27 and 28. This is our family’s first Hmong New Year celebration in Texas, so we are truly looking forward to it. I can’t tell you much about this New Year celebration yet, as it hasn’t happened. However, I can talk a little about a Hmong New Year celebration in general.
Traditionally, the Hmong New Year, or Peb Caug, is celebrated on December 30; thus giving it the name peb caug which means thirty. Back in Laos, the New Year festival lasted two weeks and was a celebration of the last harvest of the year. The New Year is also the only Hmong festival that is celebrated during the same time each year. My parents and other elders always brag that the New Year celebrations in Laos were grand and included many activities from folk singing to even bull-fighting.
Four A.M. Affections of a Two-Year-Old
I know that my little Arthur loves me and that I am the center of his little two-year-old world. For no other will he give wet, soggy puppy dog kisses that seem to linger even after I have wiped the saliva off my face. Only to me will he cling, wrapping his little body around mine like a piece of tight-gripping velcro and screaming at the top of his lungs if anyone should be so kind as to relieve me of my duties by taking him. It is for my privilege and mine alone that he saves his poopy, unchanged diapers. “Nooo! Mo-mee!” he would declare while crying and throwing a fit if anyone else dared to wipe his poop-stained, smelly bottom. Luckily for him, no one ever objects to his wishes, especially when they involve changing stinky, poop-smeared, two-year-old diapers.
Lethal Limbo Player
At just a little under five feet tall, I admit that I am vertically challenged. As a child, I was never the first, second, third, fourth, or even the fifth one picked for games such as basketball that require long, lanky legs and lengthy, elongated arms. In fact, I always watched as the crowds of kids slowly dwindled away onto opposing teams, until I was the last one left to face the grumblings from the team that finally acquired me. However, my littleness always allowed me to play a lethal game of limbo, and I was always fast and furious at flag football which allowed me to get back at the cranky kids who griped about me being on their team. Yet when I married and finally became a parent, I longed for kids with long-limbed legs and lengthy arms who wouldn’t have to endure the mockeries that I received as a child.
A Blogging We Will Go
Our once decorated and sweet looking Christmas tree is officially bare of all candy canes (we have a tradition of hanging candy canes on our Christmas tree). The presents are now long gone and in the hands of their (hopefully) happy owners. The many bags of wasted wrapping paper sit dormantly, waiting to be be shredded and made useful again as alternative packaging peanuts. Meanwhile, my floors are littered with a million pieces of tiny new lego pieces and my kids busily make noises with all their new-found Christmas toys while I cover my ears and check incessantly for lost legos in my poor, over-used vacuum cleaner. These are the signs that Christmas has been a joy for everyone! Since it’s all over, I can sigh a breath of relief and officially come back to pounding away at my computer and reading the millions of wonderful blogs out there. As I finally dusted my keyboard and logged into my blog this evening, I was pleasantly surprised to see a blog award from Ruby at Growing Up Blackxican (a really wonderful blog by the way). I admit that I am truly honored *blushing* to have received this award and am grateful to Ruby for thinking of me.
After receiving the award, I must continue the rules of the award which are:
- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
- Link to the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
This was really hard as there are so many great blogs out there, but I’d like to share my award with (in no particular order):
Time Slipped Past Me
Come this New Year, it will be ten years since my father-in-law passed away. As the world turns and the days pass by from year to year, my husband and I continue to miss him. He was a wonderful, caring, and loving man, and words still cannot express how we felt that horrific day that we discovered he had left this world. Continue reading ‘Time Slipped Past Me’ »
Holiday Wishes of a Newbie Blogger
My blogging addiction antics started but just a month and a half ago with my first post, A Potty Post (the writing was rather dry, I know), so yes, I am a baby blogger. I know I have probably irritated my handful of readers many a times seeing this gadget moved here, that gadget moved there, this sidebar changed, the font appearing much more unreadable smaller than before, and so on….and so on. However, I truly appreciate the patience and support that all of you have shown a newbie blogger. I am also especially happy for all the friendships that I have made blogging. Even if I may have had to: spend hours scrubbing red pomegranate juice off my walls, struggle from being penniless and jobless while still raising kids, endure the hassles of driving on crazy highways with kids in the car, or listen to the babbling of toddlers and four-year-olds all day long, I know that I can always blog away and be comforted by my friends in the blogging world. This Christmas then, as I celebrate the holidays with my family, I am also thankful that I have found you all, my blogging readers and friends. May you also have a blessed holiday season!
On another note, I would especially like to thank my Top Commentors and Entrecard Droppers. I love knowing that you are out there watching my blog and reading about the mundane life of a superhero’s mom.
TOP ENTRECARD DROPPERS
Teeming With Stupidity and Wierdness
TOP COMMENTATORS
Sixth Sense
I listened and held my breath as Arthur screamed at the top of his not so tiny two-year-old lungs. I had the sense that they were at it again, my two-year-old and my four-year-old. “Shae! Shae!” Arthur yelled at Rayner.
I put down the greasy, glass dish that I was just about to wash (by hand since my dumb dishwasher has been out, but that’s in a previous post), and wondered what crises was causing Arthur to cry as if his favorite toy had just been squashed to smithereens. I didn’t have to wait long as the plastic floor covering of our kitchen was soon filled with the tiny trampling of toddler footsteps.
