Spring Break : Give me a break!

The Friday morning before Spring Break, we woke up to about an inch of the white, fluffy stuff.
Thankfully it melted by the day's end.

I think this was Mother Nature's way of warning me about the dangers of starting my garden too soon.

I started a couple of flats of plants with "Greenhouses" that I bought at Meijer on sale. Each tray contains 72 Jiffy Pots (peat packets) for a mere $5.99 on sale.

Note to self: Next year wait to plant squash & cucumber seeds outdoors, directly into the garden. I already have had to transplant into bigger pots and I still have about 6 weeks to go before danger of frost is over....

At least my indoor gardening has helped curb my Spring Fever!

Sing For Your Supper


The above photo is the scene that greeted me when I arrived to pick up my eldest son from track practice Friday afternoon.

I was running a bit late. Well actually I lost track of time at work when I received the "Mom? Are you coming to pick me up?" phone call. (what did Moms do before cell phones?) Thankfully I am just minutes away and was getting ready to pack it up and end my day. I told him I'd be there in 15 minutes or so.

When I pulled up at the school, I could not believe my eyes ( & ears). The kid was actually making good use of his time and practicing his trumpet. Some Moms might feel guilty... or even be a bit mortified. But not this mom!

"This.Is.Awesome!" I exclaimed as I threw the car into park and jumped out for a photo op. I was impressed at his lack of self-consciousness. And he actually sounded pretty good!

note to kid: Busking in front of a Middle School is probably not a great way of making money!

Other Musical Notes:

I also had the opportunity this week to attend a concert at our local High School for the area Middle School and the High School Jazz Bands. Alex plays piano (as well as clarinet in band) and Devon (as shown above) trumpet. The boys are in both Band and Jazz Band.

I was uber impressed at the quality of our district's music program. I was surprised that the auditorium was only half-full. We were encouraged to bring family and friends to the next concert. With all the negative stories in the media, it is so nice to see our youth doing something positive.

YouTube Concert Series

In an effort to encourage my younger two boys to practice their piano, I will occasionally film and post practice sessions. If you have kids that are musically inclined and have an account, feel free to pop by and "friend" us. I am hoping that peer-pressure and constructive comments will inspire them to work a little harder. http://www.youtube.com/user/badmommablogger?feature=mhw4

We have a Spring Recital coming up soon.

Happy Spring Break!

Random Wednesday Rants

In no particular order:

On Twitter, re this tweet:

"We all know that Haidi and Chili still need help, you can help by purchasing a gift basket of bathroom products and I will send it free.."

Rant 1: If you are tweeting about a fundraiser for "Haidi" & "Chili", learn to spell, it makes you more believable. #notbuyingit

Rant 2: I'm thinking the people in "Haidi" & "Chili" have more pressing needs than "a gift basket of bathroom products".

To the "Homeless" person on the corner with a sign about being hungry:

Rant 1: You might want to take your smoke-break in private. Makes people wonder how you have money for smokes but not food!

Rant 2: If someone offers you a sandwich, pretend to be happy about it as opposed to being angry they are not giving you money.

To the girl who works at the business at the other end of our building on being neighborly:

We've been your neighbor for 2 years, for which you have barely acknowledged our existence. Even when we cheerfully bring you your mail that was misdelivered.

If you are going to pop-out and ambush us with the catalog of home-party jewelry that you want to sell us, you might want to introduce yourself first.

Just saying.

To Station Managers & Supervisors at UPS:

Just because you are nervous for your jobs, it doesn't make it right to harass drivers with seniority about taking a minute to speak with customers or occasionally changing the order of afternoon pick-ups to help out a business that is running late.

It is not o.k. to sacrifice customer service for speed. This is how I may lose a good driver and you might lose customers! Perhaps management needs to watch the Waste Management Episode of Undercover Boss!


This concludes this installment of Random Wednesday Rants! Whew! I feel much better now! AND I didn't have to hurt anyone!

Spring Fever

One of my early plants for this year - The Primrose

It's been over a month since my last post. Between computer issues, winter blahs and lack of motivation, I have taken a much longer break than intended. It is amazing how much time I had been spending on our laptop. Even more curious was how much better my back was feeling during the time I was without it.

It is a constant struggle to balance work and home but I feel the need to maintain my blog. This month marks year THREE! The statistics are against me. 95% of blogs are abandoned. I refuse to be a quitter!

The last few weeks, as the weather has been improving, I feel the color seeping back into my life.


Books, Birthdays and Breakfast at Bob Evans

The boys perusing the sale tables in the courtyard of The Book Loft

Last weekend my "baby" celebrated his 9th birthday. Among his stash of gifts were several books that were purchased at our new favorite bookstore, The Book Loft. As much as we love Barnes & Noble, there is something special about independent book stores.

This book-seller was housed in an old building that reminded us of a "Harry Potter" shop. With 32 (tiny) rooms, I kept losing my boys as they roamed about searching for treasures as well as their way back to the entrance.

We also celebrated with a birthday breakfast at Bob Evans.

A week later, we finished the birthday festivities today by going to see the movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". My boys have read the series and Colin picked this as his "birthday movie".

Getting a Jump on the Garden

It may be a bit too early, but I decided to jump-start my vegetable garden by starting seeds indoors. I've already had to transplant the squash and cucumber plants into larger containers.
I also started the daunting task of cleaning up my flower beds, which appears to be a never ending project.

Free Ice

Taking a break at Rita's for their First Day of Spring Celebration.

This week I also have been attempting to get back into shape. I have started "Wogging" (a combination of walking and jogging). I enlisted the help of my boys to come along on bikes or scooters. This way I have someone to call for help if I collapse.

As a treat yesterday, we biked over to our local Rita's Italian Ice stand for their "First Day of Spring Free Ice Day".

It felt good to get the bike out for my first ride of the season. It also was a nice to get a free Lemon Ice. Something about "free" makes things taste even better. I even made it up the hill on our way home without having to stop and walk.

Well all good things must come to an end. It is now close to my bedtime and I have laundry to put away before I hit the sheets.

Happy Spring!