Mom of the year

     The father-daughter relationship gets a lot of attention. The phrase "Daddy issues" has been uttered in jest or judgement so often that virtually everyone knows what it means. Tonight as I watched my husband and daughter engage in their latest Daddy-daughter bonding ritual (she lays on her back while he rubs her belly, usually with her pacifier or toothbrush handy) it sparked a thought or two. I envy her sometimes, for the relationship she has with her Dad, and at the same time, I am proud of my choice in her father and I want to brag to the whole world that I picked a Daddy so brilliant, people should take classes from him. The funny thing about that is, he will tell you he has no idea what he's doing, he just loves her. Sounds easy enough, right? I don't think it is, for every man.      Our family has a mission statement. BE HONEST. That's all. It's what this family was founded on. It's what I have learned from experience is the most important thi

     I had an epiphany! I should start my own business, because I have a hobby I can profit from and a repulsion to working for other people, especially in a "team" environment. It has come to the point in our family where it's pretty hard to function comfortably on one income, and my experience lies in the service industry, which in Florida amounts to far below poverty wages. Unacceptable. My other option is to work for the family business, which used to sound interesting, but now I realize it's just retail and I'd rather wait tables. Except I don't want to wait tables. Starting the business was the quickest decision I have ever made, which is scary, but also funny because it shows how little I want to go out and get a "real" job.        The subject of family businesses and the food service industry reminds me of when I worked at Olive Garden, where they "treat you like family". Just in case you don't know, companies who tell you the

     I don't want to be Debbie Downer, I hate those kind of people. But here I am, Debbie Downer-ing. It's mostly because I feel sort of shitty and vulnerable at the moment. Mine and Gage's allergies are through the roof lately. Gage has always had this problem, and luckily we have been able to treat it quite well with Claritin and Nasonex, but here, his symptoms are far worse than in California, I assume just because he is getting used to new allergens. Here, the allergies cause him to get migraines. Poor thing. For me it isn't as bad, just mild sniffles and coughing, but the worst part is why I feel vulnerable...ear congestion. I am already deaf in my left ear, so to have my right ear clog up so bad that I can hear my heart beating is almost scary. I was at the grocery store today and couldn't hear a thing the cashier and bagger were saying. It was even worse because my bagger today was the lady with Down Syndrome and a southern accent.      People always get so

     I think poor husband was exposed to poison ivy, or some other poisonous plant life in our yard. At the moment, he is hopped up on Benadryl and beer and covered in Calamine lotion. The smell of him reminds me of having chicken pox as a kid *shudder*. Chicken pox sucked. The way I hear it, poison ivy rash sucks even worse. The other day he was trying to clear the huge amount of uncontrolled brush in our yard (shirtless), and when he told me he was pulling vines off the trees I got a little nervous, but talked myself into thinking I was just being silly. Here's why I went against my better judgement.      When we first moved to this house, which is owned by my in-laws, I was given the "leaves of three, let them be" warning. As I became more familiar with the yard, I realized that tons of plants had three leaf groupings, and I had no idea what was what. So I did a whole day's research and felt pretty confident that we had some poison ivy here. I asked my Mother