Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop

I haven't done a writer's workshop in awhile. Stop over to Mama Kat's Losin' It to join in!

Writing Prompts:

1.) Share a 4th of July inspired post.
2.) 10 things you learned in June. (inspired by Chatting At The Sky)
3.) Write a post inspired by the word: strawberries.
4.) Create a How-To post.
5.) Talk about something you were allowed to do as a child that you will not allow your child to do.

10 Things I Learned in June

10.) Grey's Anatomy is really addicting. I didn't want to jump on the GA bandwagon when it first aired. Plus, I was in college, so I didn't have a lot of spare time. Plus, we still had ER... Then, one night, we were flipping through channels and caught the tail end of on the season final and it was good, really good! Even though Netflix Instant is going to crap, it has GA available. Yay!! I'm up to the end of Season 5.

9.) Farmville was ruining my life. It used to be fun. Those digital little crops popping up were really exciting. Then they started changing it. Quests and quests after quests. Ask your friends for this, ask them for that... People were unfriending because I was flooding their wall with junk requests. I tried to quit once and one of my friends unwhithered my crops, so I started to play again. I really was addicted. I tried again to quit and blocked it, so I was no longer tempted to jump back in. I don't miss it at all.

8.) Bee stings really hurt! We had some yellow jackets build a nest under the soffet (sp?) on our porch and while Baby and I were playing on the porch, one came down and stung me right in the top of the head. It felt like my scalp was on fire. Then, while I was trying to get the door open, one got me right in the wrist. Bastards. When I was trying to evacuate, Baby was throwing a fit because she didn't want to go inside. I ended up dragging her inside by her arm, before she got locked into their little missile system. I was going to seek revenge with a flame thrower, but my husband vetoed that idea. Bastard.

7.) I can be in charge at work. I have 2 workers who outrank me at work. One is out for 8 weeks with a back surgery and the other has been on two weeks vacation. I managed to deal with the drama and keep the place alive. Hope I don't jinx myself for the next 2 days.

6.) I can't be a helicopter mom. I worry about every move my baby makes and it will kill me. She's scared of everything new, so I hover whenever we're in an unfamiliar situation, recently, the swimming pool. She was scared to death of the water. Her dad wanted to just throw her in, while I wanted to let her cling to me like a scared cat. Neither one of us were right. After she was in for awhile, she loosened up. When I got out to go to the bathroom, my husband pinched her nose and dunked her. Even though she wasn't thrilled with it, it didn't leave her traumatized like I feared.

5.) 15 minutes of cleaning/organizing does make a difference. I'm easily distract... oh look, something shiny!!! So, it can be tough for me to focus on a big cleaning/organizing task. To deal with this, I just don't do it. Unfortunately, the work all stacks up and it gets totally overwhelming. So, what I've been trying to do is set the time for 15 minutes every evening and work like a man woman to clean, dust, stack, put away, sort, whatever. If after the 15 minutes, I want to keep going, I can. If not, I quit. Even doing 15 minutes a day has giving a lot of order to our chaos.

4.) Even my perfect, well behaved baby will fall victim to the terrible twos. She's always been a good baby. When she started to walk, I'd tell her to stay on the carpet to keep her in the living room and if she was standing on the edge and her toe went over, she would scoot back a few inches. She got complimented all the time in restaurants because she was so well-behaved. Well, it's all changing. She climbs everything, she no longer wants to wait for others to eat when we are at a restaurant. If she's done, she's ready to roll. She's still a good baby and I'm very blessed, but the terrible twos won't be a breeze like I'd hoped.

3.) My mom was a champ. She read to me for 2 hours every night. Right now, we're lucky to finish one book. Baby likes to wrestle them out of my hands and sometimes tears the pages. Then, by the time we get home in the evening, eat, get ready for bed, there's not 2 hours TO read. I pretty much suck.

2.) Thinking really does have a lot to do with how we feel. I feel kinda hypocritical, because I tell my clients at work this all the time, but I've never done it for myself. The way we talk to ourselves in our head really contributes to our feelings. I've been trying to be more mindful of the words I use when thinking and I feel better. Just changing "this sucks" to "It's okay, you can get through this" made a crummy situation more bearable!

1.) I love my husband, even if he remembered his mom's birthday on June 21, but forgot our anniversary on June 20. He always tells me that I'm the one who forgets dates and that he'd remember, even if I didn't remind him. So I didn't. On the 19th, he asked me the date and I told him. I figured he was just being silly. Then he said, "My mom's birthday is Friday, so we're probably going to have to go over there" and I said "probably so." Then, on our anniversary, he came home from work empty-handed, no card, no flowers, nothing. I handed him a card and he asked, "What's this?" "A card." "Who's it for?" "You. Open it." *reads card* "shit... I remembered last week!" But you know, I don't really car all that much. I might have before, but I didn't. I don't know if it's because I have the baby now and anniversaries and birthdays just aren't that important anymore or what. I just didn't tell him that. He doesn't get off the hook that easily!

Phew! That was tough! June was only 30 days!