One Stop Boy Shop

or make that Handy Robert. For those of you who don’t understand the “Handy Manny” reference, it’s just further proof that I know toddler cartoons WAY too well!.   My husband is becoming quite domesticated! I used to only have “Daddy Do-Lists” because my step father is the handiest man on the planet. He made my beautiful built in bookshelves, my deck on the back of my house, the tile backsplash in my kitchen, added a door for my new laundry room (when I moved it upstairs) and countless other fabulous improvements to my home.

This past week, we’ve had some plumbing issues. I was blaming my 12 year old, who stuffed a WHOLE lot of food down the disposal at once before even turning it on. Both kitchen sinks backed up and would not drain. I was ready to call my Dad or a plumber.

Handy Robert stepped up to the plate! I didn’t know he had it in him, he’s definitely THE most intelligent person I’ve ever met but household repairs just aren’t his forte. He can fix any electronic known to modern man (not to mention those known to ancient man). He’s the go-to guy for any obscure question you can think to ask…. ask him why the bottom of the clouds are flat and he can tell you. Ask him how electricity works and he can tell you. Ask him why sauerkraut can prevent Avian Flu and he’ll know the answer. But ask him to hang a picture and he has to get out the stud finder, a level and an entire arsenal of techie gadgets and poke 5 holes in the wall and doesn’t consider it important to hang it in a place that looks good.

But yesterday, I was ready to call a plumber and he asked me to wait until he got home and he’d see if he could fix it. I rolled my eyes (shhhhhh, don’t tell him I said that) and said “suuurrrreee”.

But he did it!

And you know what the culprit was?  It wasn’t a 12 year old, over zealously shoving food down the disposal, but a 2 year old named “Trouble” who sabotaged our sink.  Want to know what all the fuss and mess was about?  A corn dog stick, yes that’s right.  A seemingly innocuous corn dog stick had clogged our pipes.

Oh the wonders of parenting 3 boys.  They certainly make life interesting.  Hip Hip Horray for my Handy Robert for saving us on a plumbing bill for a 50 cent corn dog nuisance.

I knew that there was a reason why I despised Corn Dogs besides the fact that they taste nasty (to me) and have little to no nutritional value.  I think they may now be exiled from my house.

Who’s there?

This is my 2 year old’s version of a Knock Knock joke.

We have no idea where he came up with the “Who’s there” portion but it might have something to do with him craving some of my yummy Banana Bread ! That’s one carb that the child will not pass up and the only kind of bread that I can get him to eat.

Nathan aka “Trouble” is becoming a bit of a bully.  I don’t believe that he is a “natural born bully” but rather he came by it naturally.  He’s had to defend himself from 2 older brothers since day one.  Paybacks are beginning already.  He’s not even 2 and a half yet, but can body slam his almost 5 year old brother in the blink of an eye.  He can bring tears to the eyes of his 12 year old brother in the form of a bat across the knees and we all know he’s been using me as a human pinata for a long time now.  How a child can be so adorable on the outside and such a brute on the inside is such a mystery to me.  I mean, just look at this face!

I remember when Nathan was about 8 months old and I was in the kitchen washing dishes when all of a sudden I heard Nathan crying.  I ran into the family room to see Ian standing on Nathan and Nathan trying in vain to get away.  I remember thinking (as I pulled Ian off of Nathan), “he’s going to get you back for that someday!”.

Then there is Ian’s constant stealing of toys out of the hands of his little brother.  I’ve defended Nathan for a long time now, but I’m now seeing the tables turned and having to defend Ian.  If Ian has something that Nathan wants, he just walks up, shoves his brother over and grabs the toy and runs screaming “MINE!”.

Nathan’s vocabulary has really taken off and he can make his wishes VERY clear both in words and actions.

A couple of days ago, Ian was sitting in a plastic bin, pretending he was in a ship.  Nathan decided he wanted that bin.  As I sat in watched, Nathan walked calmly up to Ian, grabbed the bin by the rim and flipped Ian out of it!

Then the kicker?  This morning, I was sitting on the couch watching Dora with Ian and Nathan.  Ian wasn’t doing anything to Nathan.  Nathan walked across the back (top) of the couch (yes he’s still a dare devil that gives me mild heart attacks daily), jumps down next to Ian and grabs Ian by the neck and throws him to the floor!

Holy Moley!  That is one strong child!  Paybacks are his but they certainly came much earlier than I anticipated.  He can even do a pretty good job of throwing his 12 year old brother around.  I swear I have never met a stronger 2 year old in my life.

The next 16 years or so are going to be VERY interesting at my house!  I just hope we only have battle wounds of bruises and not broken bones to remember it by.

Still Unfit!!  Wife #3 (Carolyn) has been cooking some darn tasty meals… so we can’t blame me, let’s blame her!

I had the injection done in my neck a week and a half ago.  It gave me some pain relief in my neck but didn’t stop my headaches/migraines… perhaps reduced them some.  I’m going in Tuesday for what I think is a nerve block behind my ear.

That’s all of my Fitness Friday News… now onto more interesting stuff!

My daughter Taylor (yea right, I know she’s not mine, humor me) has taken my oldest son Random under her wing and is determined to make him a “hot kid” at school.  Taylor is 13 and going into the 8th grade and Random is 12 going into the 7th.  They’ll be attending the same school.  We went back to school shopping last night and she picked out his outfits.  She’s right, he looks really good!  She’s going for the skater look with him.  He’s growing his hair out, (I’m not a huge fan of long hair on guys but not totally against it either.   And my oldest son DOES look good with long hair so it’s all good to me).  She put him in “Skinny Jeans” (very hard to find when your son has a 26″ waist!) and Cool Tee shirts with Vans shoes.  She’s also going to show him how to do his hair for school.  When we got home from shopping last night and he finished modeling his clothes for everyone, he ran up to her and gave her a big hug and said “Thank you SO much!”.  I only got a picture of him in one outfit, the others were even cuter (especially the shirts and skater short sets).  But here is one of his catwalk poses in his “Skinny Jeans” which I’m told is the new big thing for kids:

He’s never been popular in school and her goal is to show him another side and try to prevent him from being stuffed in a locker or a garbage can.  As a Mom, I can tell you that I’m All For That!!!!

The kids and I had a great time, and both are really looking forward to the new school year, at a new school and with new opportunities.

I have to admit that I just don’t get it.  I get the humor of Mom’s drinking to maintain their sanity while staying home with their kids but not the reality.  To be honest, I’d never considered that any of the mom’s that make suggestive remarks about alcohol and parenting were doing anything but jesting.  I’m talking about what I thought were tongue in cheek comments like “wine makes being a mom easier”, or “beer is a mom’s best friend”.  (for the record, those are not exact quotes from anyone that I know of, just examples and any semblance to anyone’s statements on their own blogs are completely coincidental!).

I just read this article called  “Mom’s Who Drink” article on Time.com by Ada Calhoun.  It seemed to me like they were focusing a lot on Mommy Bloggers and Mommy authors for encouraging or endorsing “drinking while parenting”.  Mostly they were saying that it wasn’t funny anymore.

That article really struck a nerve with me.  The primary subject of the article was about a mother in New York (Diane Schuler) driving drunk with her children and nieces in her car and was in a deadly car accident.  Only her 5yo son survived.  It’s a real eye opener.  And this was from a woman who supposedly didn’t have a drinking problem.  Well I see a problem right there!  She chose to drink, she chose to have children, she chose to pick them up and to drive with them while impaired.  I’m not wanting to cast stones at her.  I feel horrible for her, her husband, the parents of those nieces and for that little boy who survived and has now lost his siblings, cousins and his Mommy.  I feel horrible knowing all of the wonderful Mommy experiences that she’ll miss.  I feel horrible for the unknowing and non-participating strangers she involved and killed.  I feel horrible for ALL of the innocent casualties of her decision.

I really don’t want to come across as “holier than thou” or anything like that, but when you make the decision to have children, don’t you also make the decision to be a responsible parent?  Don’t those things go together?  They should.

My upbringing brought me up to a different path I guess.  When I was young, my parents drank….. too much.  My Dad were he alive would probably still be a drinker, my mom quit drinking many years ago.  As a young single, childless adult, I also “partied hardy”, I went out drinking and dancing all of the time!  I remember being a teen or young adult and making a promise before I ever had the desire to have children.  I made a promise that if I ever had kids they would never see me drink, let alone drunk.  I’ve kept that promise.  That doesn’t mean that I don’t have an adult beverage once or twice per year, but no where around my kids and absolutely not if I’m going to have to drive!  It’s meant missing out on a lot of social events, parties, happy hours, girls night out, etc., although I don’t decline BECAUSE there is alcohol, I could care less if other people choose to drink (but I care if they drive, I might be out there with my babies in the car!!!)….. but I chose to stay home with my kids and be the one that raises them.  I recently blogged about my decision to stay home a few weeks back and how my epiphany almost came too late.  Although it had nothing to do with alcohol, it is my explanation as to why I choose to stay home (AND that it was an option for me and it isn’t for everyone) with my kids rather than work.  To me, this also meant that I chose to be here for them.. to not participate in the social life that I used to have.

So I choose to be a sober mom, I choose to be a SAHM, and I choose to believe all the blogs that I read that make suggestive “drinking while parenting” statements are jokes.  I certainly hope that they are.  I know I’ve been guilty of saying things like “wow, after today I could sure use a margarita!” and I also know when I say that, I have no intention or true desire to have one.  I think the humor of statements like these are getting a bad rap for Mommy Bloggers and just Mom’s in general.  Certainly, statements about drinking while parenting are just jokes!

But we must protect our babies!  While in transit, they’re our precious cargo, they’re our prides and joy and something worth protecting at all costs.  I’m going to continue to believe that parents who say things like “better parenting through wine” or other statements like that are saying so in jest.

I’ve discovered something as a mom… something that entered my mind when I was younger but I never really “got” it.  Now I do.  Mother’s have an anger meter… sometimes it has nothing to do with the infraction or the circumstances that led to the initial hollering.  The anger meter rises exponentially as the mom tries to reprimand and continually gets the kids name wrong.

I  remember being the youngest of 4 daughters.   I knew I was really in for it when my Mom wanted to holler at me for something and she had to go through the entire list of childrens’ names until she got my name right.  It would start calm.. Julie… then BEth, then JILL, then NANCY!!!  At that point I knew I was in for it.. I could hear her exasperation increasing with each kids name that flew from her mouth.

I’ve found myself in the same predicament with my 3 boys.  My irritation grows, my anger meter increases drastically with each wrong name that I call.  “Nathan, RANDom!, IAN!!!!!! (I often end it with “WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS!”)  Get your booty over here for time-out!”  My initial reprimand might have been intended as a stern talking to, but as I called out each child’s name and got it wrong my anger meter reached for the sky and I decided on the harsher of the two disciplines.  Which actually assists me since I’m a pushover parent and tend not to put him in time-out often enough!

My daughter (ok, so we all know she’s not mine, I have 3 boys but I WANT her and I just loved the opportunity to say “my daughter” lol) Taylor and I were in the car on the way to the Expo this past Saturday.  We had talked about the Mommy Anger Meter and then continued onto other conversations….   Very shortly afterwards while still in the car, we were talking about her little sister and my son Ian and then SHE (Taylor) said “and then Taylor, IAN,,, ARGHHHHH, KAYNNAH did this” she was exasperated as she tried to get the right name out, even inserting her own!   I looked over at her and we both started cracking up with laughter…. I guess it’s not just a Mommy thing.  Either that, or Taylor is becoming well versed in the bane of being a Mommy.    Not too Fast Taylor!!!!!

I guess it all depends on how you measure “success”.

This past weekend, I had a booth for One Stop Boy Shop at the Balance Womens Expo in Austin.  My booth received a lot of traffic and some potentially VERY good future exposure.  A morning anchor woman from a local television station came by and introduced herself.  I’m wondering if I should name her or her station by name, I’d love to because I’d love to tell you how lovely she was in person, both personality and on the outside.. she’s not someone who is slathered in t.v. makeup to make her look better, she’s gorgeous…. but alas, I probably shouldn’t name her without her permission.  She said that her station sometimes likes to help promote small mom businesses like mine and that I should email her to see if there was anything that she could do to help me get some exposure.  HOLY COW, did that ever make my day!

Also, a very large and popular local radio station (and just so happens to be the station that I listen to!) offered to look over my press release to see if there was anything that they could help with also.  They also asked me to (and I of course said yes) record a sound clip of why I like their station… I snuck in “Nancy from One Stop Boy Shop” hehehehe.  I don’t know if it’ll make the air since the only time my children allow me to listen to the radio is when we’re in the car.

As for sales, I made quite a few.  Not enough to make a profit, with booth cost and product cost I’m $100.00 in the hole, LOL but the exposure is priceless and I really had a good time.  It was an excellent venue, in the air conditioning and very upscale.  My booth was in a wonderful location, very close to the stage where Kate from Kate + 8 spoke, Michael Johns sang and Dr. Laura appeared.

The one disappointment was that my “Be Aware” t-shirts didn’t sell well and I had them up front and center.  I only sold one.  They’re the product I’m most proud of and I really thought it would be a hit to have a fabulous Breast Cancer Awareness shirt for boys…. but nope.

I was able to meet the lovely ladies running the Hybrid Mom booth and networked with many other vendors.  I was also invited to have a booth at a local daycare festival.  A special score bonus was the booth next to me is going to come out and give me an estimate on replacing my carpet with hardwood flooring!  LOL

My mother and Taylor were there to help me out and were both excellent assests to me.  They were wonderful and invaluable.  All in all, I had a great day and a good experience.

Someday I’ll have something good to post on the Fitness Friday post but once again, I’m still unfit. 

This weekend is going to be a busy one, I’ve spent the last few days preparing for my One Stop Boy Shop booth at the Balance Expo for Women in Austin tomorrow.  Get this, when I filled out the paperwork, I told them that my company name as One Stop Boy Stop!   Thank goodness they caught it.. how in the world did I mess up my own business name!?  I know I was in a hurry because the boys were starting to stir from their naps, but geez…..   Taylor (my friend Carolyn’s daughter) was a HUGE help to me yesterday and cleaned my house and watched all of the kids while I made signs, and prepped.

My oldest son got a big eye opener yesterday.  In the morning, I told them both (Taylor who is 13 and Random who will be turning 12 in days) that I would REALLY appreciate their help that day as I had so much to do.  I try not to put much responsibility on the kids BUT at the same time, I love to leave them room to be responsible.  Knowing that neither ever gets paid for watching their own siblings, I put them in charge of each others siblings.  I never mentioned pay, although I was willing to pay up to $20.00 to them (combined) for a reward based on the work that they did.

Taylor got right on it.  Random did the minimum he could get by with and would immediately sneak off to watch his t.v. shows at every opportunity, he contributed probably 30-40 minutes of his time yesterday.  Taylor at one point even said “Random, we really should help your mom today”.  He missed the hint.  Taylor went straight to work.  She was organizing the childrens books without being asked and I noticed and sang “She works hard for the money, so hard for it honey”.  Random caught the hint for all of about 4 minutes then he was back to his electronics.  Taylor continued cleaning, straightening and organizing the toys in the family room, doing dishes, watching kids, reading to them, taking them out back to play… all without being asked.  In the afternoon when Taylor was still going strong, Random even asked her “Don’t you have anything better to do?”  LOL  At the end of the day, Taylor was presented with $17.00 for her help and Random received $3.00.  He was shocked!!!!

I explained to him that it isn’t because Taylor IS better, but that she knew better and that maybe he could now figure out what it means to be helpful without being hollered at to help out.  He’s woken up with morning with a new and improved attitude.  As I’ve been writing this, I heard him doing dishes and he is now reading to his little brother.  SCORE!  I think something has clicked!!!!

Tomorrow is the big day and I’m excited and nervous.  I really NEED to sell a lot.  I’ll be spending today finishing prepping and loading my car (Robert loaded the majority last night) and then this afternoon I have to go setup.  I will have less than 2 hours to perform magic.

Sunday we will have my oldest sons birthday party.  He’s going to be 12 on Tuesday!  Amazing!

Here it is Friday and I don’t have my Hybrid Mom post ready for Monday, although I did start one at 11:00 last night.  <gulp>  I have to work on that asap and catch up on websites.  I’ll try to squeeze all of that in this weekend also.  If you see me blogging, remind me I have LOTS of other things that I need to be doing.