Happy Birthday Barbie!

Barbie is turning 50 this week. I'm hoping that she is just going through a little midlife crisis or maybe she just had too many martinis. Either way, Barbie went out and got a tatt. The Totally Sylin'Tattoo Barbie is just a little much for this conservative mom. My daughter will not own a doll with a "tramp stamp" this is just a little too much for me. I would never purchase one of those Bratz dolls because I think they are trashy but I thought I was safe with Barbie. The doll even comes with a tattoo gun so that young girls can give each other tattoos. Maybe if I did get Allyson this for her birthday she will have aspirations to be the next Kat Von D. Why can't we teach our young girls that being smart can be beautiful? Why does Barbie have to wear a mid drift and a tatt? Why can't there be more Barbie,MD., teacher Barbie or attorney Barbie? I'm not saying that I'm against tattoos or those that wear them. I was looking at getting a small tattoo at one point in memory of Andrew. I just feel that kids are already growing up much too fast. We just need to let them be little and focus on building self esteem through brains not beauty.

Pay It Forward

Yesterday Allyson had her fieldtrip to the Belton Library. This was a quick trip basically for story time, craft time, celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and to learn about the library. Before the trip I went to Allyson’s classroom to give a little gift to her teacher, Ms. Susan. I have noticed during this school year and during the fieldtrips that Ms. Susan has been having some difficulties with her digital camera. I could tell that the camera had put on many miles and she was talking about her husband buying her a new camera for Christmas. Well, last week during the fieldtrip I noticed that Ms. Susan didn’t even have her camera and when I asked her about it she said that the other camera barely works and things just came up during the holiday. Well yesterday before the trip I gave Allyson our old Kodak Easy Share camera (the one we bought the week before Allyson was born) to give Ms Susan. I have to admit I was a little on edge because I didn’t know how she would react to the gift. I didn’t know if she would be upset and view it as a hand out or if she would be embarrassed. I just prayed for the best. Right before the kids got ready to leave I took Ms Susan aside and just said that I wanted to give her something. I told her about how grateful I was for everything she has done for Allyson and how we are truly blessed to have such an amazing preschool teacher that really cares about the kids. I told her that I knew she didn’t get a camera for Christmas so I just wanted to give her our old one because hopefully it was a little better than the one she had. I was so shocked when her face turned bright red and her eyes filled up with tears. She told me about having to take in some extended family during the holiday and how they have given everything to them to help them out. She even gave them her car and has been walking to work. I was so excited that she was excited and I’m glad that our old camera found a “new home”. I’m not posting this to “toot my own horn”. I’m sharing my story so that maybe you can do something for someone to just pay it forward. In this word we live it at the moment just something small to you might make a difference to someone else.

This morning Brian sent me this email. It was the letter Ms. Susan sent home.

Dear Rhandi,

I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated the digital camera. I know that it will come in handy for my class projects and for whenever we go on fieldtrips. I enjoy being able to capture moments that parents don’t’ see of their child because they aren’t able to go on a trip with us because they are at work. I will enjoy this camera and will think about your sweet little Allyson every time I use it. Again, thank you so much for such a wonderful gift. God bless you and your family.

Sincerely,
Susan Moore

Brian said when he dropped off Allyson that Ms. Susan was already going around taking all kinds of pictures of the kids and was just so excited. What a great feeling…for both of us.

Living in a Daze

I just realized that since I started my new work schedule my blogging has become even more sparse. Something about working 60 hours in one week with the last 20 hours being a graveyard shift has been interesting. I get off of work at 6 am Monday morning (which is the end of the 60 hours)and go back in Tuesday morning at 6 am for the next 2 days to finish off the last 20 hours. I thought this would be great so that I would have 4 days off in a row. Instead I spend those four days just trying to get my sleep and sanity back. One may ask why I do this to myself and the answer is easy. I'm doing it so that Brian can study on the weekend and so I can spend more daytime hours with my kiddos. Oh, the things we do for our family.

Mornings with Daddy

Brian has been taking the kids to school for the last few months since the majority of my shifts start at 6 am. I really don't know how he manages to get everyone up and out the door. This morning I had to laugh when I found this email in my inbox.

"Allyson wanted to know why William's penis was red and had an erection this morning. I did not know what to tell her."

My response, "LOL, so what did you tell her."

His response, "That is just the way it is for boys. She said that girls do not have that right? Only boys do. You have one right Daddy."

I can only imagine what goes on in my house on school days in the morning.

I'm not your 4 am Florist

It is 4 o'clock Monday morning and I'm just about to finish up my 60 hour work week. I have been on the graveyard shift the last two nights and I'm running on about 3.5 hours of sleep. It would be an understatement to say that my temperament is a little short at the moment. For the last 30 minutes I have be receiving calls from the old guy who is trying to order a Valentine bear. Is he serious? Who orders a Valentine gift at 4 am? Well, apparently this old guy does. After numerous (okay only 3 times) of telling this guy he has the wrong number he wants me to dial this number that he heard on the radio for the Valentine bear. So sure, I do this just out of my own curiosity. So I dial the 1-800-dotbear to get the automatic recording that this is an invalid recording. At the end of the recording it gives the identity code of something like 0232. I guess he thinks that is my number that he is supposed to be calling. After going over with him once again that this is not the dot bear hotline he then calls back to ask what my number is for. I tell him that it is for people that take their medications incorrectly or if you get bitten by something like a spider or a snake. He then proceeds to tell me that he takes several medications but luckily for me he doesn’t elaborate on them. So I tell him once again that this is an emergency hotline so hopefully he will get it this time…I can only pray he does.

Walking for Andrew

Brian and I have decided to help the Scott & White Medical Education Alliance and Children's Miracle Network by being an online fundraiser for the 3rd Annual St. Patrick’s Day 5K Run/Walk & Kids’ 1K Fun Run. I am supporting this great event by asking my friends and family members for donations. The money raised from this event will be donated to The Children's Hospital at Scott & White in Temple, Texas. The money was used to purchase 6 laptop computers for the Child Life Department to be used by immunocompromised children to stay current with their school work and stay in touch with the outside world. We realize times are tough right now, so we appreciate donations large and small. Please help us meet our fundraising goal! This is our annual fundraiser that we do in memory of our own little angel Andrew Reed.

Month 1 of the Biggest Loser Contest

For those that may not know I'm doing the three month Biggest Loser Contest again this year. This year I'm doing the contest with my playgroup and it is so much fun because these women are a blast! Last year I lost 30 pounds and maintained 25 pounds for the rest of the year. This year my goal is 15 pounds for the contest. I know at this point that goal is a little unrealistic but if you are going to aim then aim high. So in order to find some accountablity I'm just laying it all out there. So my goal is 15 pounds and for month one I have lost 6 pounds! I know it could have been more but I seemed to have found a few social hours for the month. So 9 more pounds to go and 12 weeks until swimsuit season!